Let’s start the New Year right. Let us begin with dwelling on all the bad stuff that is about to come down on us. You know what I am talking about. Life, as we know it, is finished.
Whatever your own political beliefs, you know the tropes. We are doomed. One way or the other, the end is in sight. Are you on the left? The Earth is dying of climate change. On the right? The totalitarians are coming to kill you with the jab. In the middle? You’re thinking, “Hey, how can I get a new Tesla out of this deal, and avoid the jab?”
Back in the day, prophets would drop into town to give us bad news. Doom was always around the corner when sin was big. Prophets would ask us to repent. What is interesting is that the prophets talked the talk of Earth ending, because human beings had been bad, bad, bad. Usually, the badness was about not adhering to the laws of a god or the big God. The new prophets don’t refer to gods, but they do stick with the storyline that we humans are rotten. We need to repent by buying an EV, or refusing the jab. Either way, their modus operandi is to get on social media and complain. The left wants millions to die. The right wants a savior.
Say, that is what many prophets predicted: a savior would come, sometime in the future, to save us from ourselves. The saviors were usually half god, half human.
Jesus of Nazareth wasn’t the only savior around. There’s also Theseus, who saved the children of Athens, and killed the devil of his day, the Minotaur, who was half animal, half human. Then there’s Herakles, (Hercules) who saved the god, Prometheus. Theseus was supposedly fathered by Poseidon, human mother, Aithra; and Herakles by Zeus, human mother, Alcmene.
And then there’s Dionysus. He wanted to save us by wine. He was no Gloomer.
Gloom and doom can be entertaining. But we have to ask the question. Why are people everywhere, seemingly filled with dread? I want you to put your own theory down in the comments section following this essay. As for me, my theory is this: we have too much good stuff, and we are bored with it all. We need a good challenge to get our butts out of bed in the morning. Certainly, we are bored with the politicians. They are the biggest gloomers around. Well, can’t blame them. That is how they remain in power. The political classes’ entire MO is telling you, the voter, how much you need them. Because they will fix life for you, make everything all better.
Say, doesn’t that sound like mommy stuff, when she would fix things for you?
Your mom did not know how to fix everything. She kissed away many of those troubles. She had to because she was young and inexperienced herself. The same with politicians. They are not even trained to do the job. They have their life experience, and some knowledge, to go on. Except in the modern age, their life experience can be iffy, since they too, are bored. But at least they got off their butts to run for office. There is that. Once they win, they know they will be in office for an extended period of time, like 20 years, and more. That ends their boredom, because when they have perks and power, well, what could be better? At that point, they no longer need you so much, except at election time.
I am giving you the simple version here. To give you the complex would take a book.
What happens to these politicians, once elected, is that the R turns out to be rather like the D. Both know the secret to their power, is the bureaucracy. Yes, my fellow Americans, we have turned out to be no different from all those others nations out there. Bureaucracy is a growth industry, worldwide. It is where the middle class works.
A job in the bureaucracy is the savior of the middle class.
The other group of saviors-yes, there are many saviors out there-are the oligarchs. Not all oligarchs, mind you. Some, the old fashioned kind, just love making money, hanging out with other oligarchs, and making sure there are enough wars to keep them in cold cash. Make that gold. The new fangled oligarch is guys like Bill Gates. Gates wants to be a savior. Because he got bored with creating stuff and employing people. So mundane, yes? Then there’s Soros, who is really into causing chaos. He’s the devil to Gates’ savior.
The oligarchs trend towards the Earth is doomed through man, scenario. We humans have sinned, once again.
This sinning thing is getting old. It is always our fault. BTW, oligarchs are sinners as well. On the right, there’s that one huge sinner, Donald Trump, who rather likes that savior role for himself.
Trump is all human, no gods begat him. He makes a better prophet than a savior.
Reza Aslan, in his book, Zealot, which is an historical and contextual look at the story of Jesus, makes the point that of all the prophets in the world, Jesus’ followers outlasted all the rest. For 2000 years, he’s been the savior of billions.
Truly, the people of the Western traditions, need a savior. However, without a god, they turn to other humans to handle the job. Nonetheless, with, or without a god, humans believe in the concept of sin.
Sin: an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law; an act regarded as a serious or regrettable fault, offense or omission.
What, exactly, is our sin? In this world, millions have turned away from gods, and yet chastise others for the sin against the Earth, its non human creatures, and people who have darker skin. To be white, i.e., a European, is to be a sinner. In the other corner, we have those who embrace a god, turn away from the medical world, thinking it is involved in the sin of omission: they lie about the vaccine, and Covid. The God fearing fear the left, much more than they fear their god.
What are we to do with these two sides that make such a mess?
The left and the right are the enemy of the reasonable. To defeat these screeching cats, is to study them, to come to an understanding of their gloominess. To ask, what are they looking for? Who are they waiting for? What do they seek? Why is it, in these days of abundance, when most are fed, clothed, have a roof over their heads, a car to drive, and an urgent care on many corners, why is it they cannot seem to get out of this funk?
This is where we ask that most profound question: What’s it all about Alfie? Our modern world is filled with those asking that question.
Ancient wisdom told us to seek the arduous path, to maintain the struggle. We are to love all, to walk forward and leave our sins behind us, to go to the mountain, to practice self-discipline, and conduct ourselves well, with others, and with ourselves. This sort of wisdom is readily available to anyone who wishes to partake of it. No need to pay cash, libraries are full of the teachings of Buddha, Ptahhotep, Marcus Aurelius, Jesus, Moses, Plato, and so forth. None of those guys will steer you wrong. The key here is that you have to pick up the book, you have to read it, you have to change, and you have to lend your hand in the making, and progress of the world. This is especially so if you believe God created you in his image. Because God doesn’t sit on his hands and complain. When he sees the human race messing up, he does something about it. Usually he does things that force us to take a hand in saving our own butts. Ergo, if God takes action, what is stopping you, his copy?
Perhaps this era is a big test?
Okay, enough of the questions, enough of the sermon. Give your answers below.
One last thought: Carpe annum. Carpe amare. Carpe Deum.