Dear Friends, Known and Unknown,
This last weekend I have perused the latest copy of a magazine I dislike. The magazine is Time, and the reason I dislike it, is its tone of subtle, ‘soft’ TOTALITARIANISM.
By this I mean that time and again, Time presents its readers with the image that there is no alternative available to the world, other than capitalist globalisation.
One can feel this image, for example, in Time’s attitude towards France. At least, in reading Time's 'reportage', I myself find a continuous, editorialising tone, which runs something like this – when will the elements of French culture opposed to capitalist globalisation, finally get **real**, realise there is no alternative, and ‘get with the beat’?
Get with the global capitalist beat. ‘Resistance is futile’ – to borrow the chilling words of the Borg from Star Trek … It is futile for France or anyone else to mark out a different path.
Never mind that many French feel an alien ‘Anglo-Saxon’ ideology is being imposed on them – now is the time for the French to embrace unhesitatingly the values espoused by Time magazine. Or suffer the consequences.
This is what I mean by 'soft' totalitarianism. Margaret Thatcher’s brutal devastation of Britain’s social patrimony was founded on a similar principle. A famous speech she gave in the 1980’s was nicknamed by the acronym TINA: There Is No Alternative. All of this strikes me as little other than totalitarian – subtle or not.
Be that as it may, I have spent more time with Time this weekend, because of its issue (on sale now) devoted to Global Warming. A poignant picture of a Polar Bear walking on breaking ice adorns a cover with the headlines: 'Be Worried. Be VERY Worried. … Earth at the TIPPING point'.
The magazine then offers further heart-breaking imagery of droughts, flooded communities, forest fires, endangered species and more.
But nowhere do I see much sense of any alternative to the capitalist consumerist lifestyle, that is bringing this horror and suffering. Time it seems, can only hope that capitalism will find a technological fix.
Yes cleaner energy is a necessary goal, but I fear the only REAL solution involves addressing a vast, collective addiction to materialism, lived in a hyper-individual context. We will need to live more collectively, less atomised, and more simply.
All of this may seem far removed from the theme of these confessions. But for me, it is not.
The suffering of humanity, animals and nature depicted by Time is very real. And if our problem is addiction to such an extent that the media forces which guide and shape us, cannot even *begin* to imagine another alternative, we will need to deal with that addiction.
And it seems to me that, more than ever, we will need a different spiritual framework, with which to engage it. The framework of Time, its sponsors, priests and teachers will not do.
Now hardly surprisingly, I no longer believe that the ascending, even dominant New Age spirituality is up to the task. In fact, after living nearly two decades with New Age spirituality, I suspect that there are basic flaws in its model, which may even weaken people in terms of their capacity to address the suffering of the world.
Yes, I am concerned that the practical consequences of much New Age spirituality may involve both a slumbering of the heart in certain regards, as well as a certain inability to accommodate the demands of a suffering world, and of social justice.
And why I fear this, I shall expand upon tomorrow. In time, I also hope to draw out elements of Catholicism, which seem to me, far more genuinely counter-cultural and less accommodating to secularist capitalism, than much of the New Age.
I also hope to suggest that this counter-cultural stance naturally flows from a spirituality oriented to both the tragic realities of suffering and to the **supernatural** Grace of Redemption …
5 comments:
Dear Roger,
I couldn't agree with you more. It is rather funny, if not so tragic. The imperialist American model is the worst example of how to run a wealthy modern society.
I work for one of the largest retailers in the world. They are on an ecological 'kick' right now. They want to buy clothing that is grown from organically grown cotton, as one example. And of course, buy goods from the Third World that is not made by child labor (which ends up shutting the whole business down, and the whole family out of work!). Its all such a manipulation.
They don't want to see that the very purpose of the retail business IS the problem. Seeing the volume of detergents, knick-knacks, paper towels, paint, etc. that it sells you get an overwhelming sense of the scale of environmental devastation at the end point of the production from raping the earth, polluting it through manufacture, and then throwing it out after one use.
It is tragic that this is irreversible. It is ironic that the model Time espouses is accepted by China, which will usurp American economic hegemony in a few years.
I am also 'tickled' by your insight into the totalitarian nature of this capitalist model. Americans would never accept that they actually live the Marxist ideal: abundance, relative peace and democracy, and workers owning the means of production if they want (the stock market). Its like saying the Church is doing the devil's work. Whereas the devil is just pointing out the obvious.
The New Age movement, in my view, is much like the environmental movement. Small pockets of dissipated effort leading to little. They do not get to the root of the problem because they do not have a powerful combination of penetrating, circumspect belief, nor a language that can penetrate the culture compellingly.
Environmentalists operate like any other manager, trying to fix the components of a car engine, the environment, but having no ability to stop the rust. New Agers are the same. And much of it is in defensive mode, not interested in engaging the root cause. That would question many practitioners own comfort zone, and reveal that much of it is merely therapy.
It is like when Jesus told His following some hard truths about His message, and lost half His flock! We are a 'comforting and nurturing' society, if nothing else!
The 'Remnant,' those who understand the transformative power of the Spirit, its difficult passage through 'letting go' of your falsehoods, does not have, right now, a conduit to connect together and express to the world the truth.
The Church offers a personal transformation. But can it see its limitations and go through the difficult transformation if it wants to help the world's situation? As an institution of God, can it grow from its traditions, or will it sink into them?
I fear the latter would put it in the same boat as New Agers and environmentalists.
Blessings,
Sun Warrior
Thank you Sun Warrior.
Regarding what you say of the Church
"As an institution of God, can it grow from its traditions, or will it sink into them?
I fear the latter would put it in the same boat as New Agers and environmentalists."
Yes - I am aware of the danger in my writing of being black and white about the Church.
Church - good. New Age - not or not good enough.
I need to acknowledge that I see positive and destructive tendencies in all of these things.
The Church in particular is a vast, multifaceted entity - and to capture these paradoxical facets in this blog space is tough for me.
Nonetheless, I will shortly be putting up an entry, suggesting why I have ultimately more faith in the model given by the Church than the New Age.
The model - even this is so limited!
Limited when what I really believe is that the Sacraments of the Church wherever they exist (not simply in Catholicism) are mediating Christ ...
I am speaking of more than a model! But I must come at this from differents facets - one facet at a time ...
Re:
"They don't want to see that the very purpose of the retail business IS the problem."
I think this is very succinctly and nicely put indeed.
And your description that follows is very poignant indeed.
This is HARD ...
Though I may look naive in the extreme however,
I cannot accept your word 'irreversible'.
Naive ... crazy though I may sound, I have to have HOPE.
But my *only* hope is in a very different model of spirituality than that of atomised New Age-ism.
It seems we will need to live more collectively and co-operatively ...
And so I become ever more traditional - as I see that in the Occident, Orthodoxy and Catholicism, whatever their other sides, facets, shadows offer something of that communion the Reformation broke apart.
I struggle with all of this. I believe the Reformed Churches can and do express radiantly the beauty of Christ as well. I am deeply grateful for their proclamation of the Gospel and the good work they everywhere do.
Yet my own reading of history limited and partial as its leads me to feel Weber was onto something regarding 'the Protestant work ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism'.
In the destruction of the tradition, communion was broken and Western humanity accelerated along an ever more atomised, hyper-individualised path.
In these replies, as I say, I permit myself a crude rough off the cuff quality. I hope to try to develop the above ideas more clearly and consistently as the blog stumbles along.
Thank you again for all your insight and heartfelt feeling.
Bless you,
Roger
Dear Roger,
Yes, it was a bit drastic, the word 'irreversible.' But I fear that the spirituality that you and I long for may come, not by modern humans rationally and spiritually coming to the right conclusion and changing. But from the ecological disaster now enveloping the world.
Our economy is very fragile. Most people don't realize how fragile. If the grocery store is empty, millions starve. There is no other way to feed us, for example.
Once the panacea of consumerism is shut off, people will be forced to 'wake up.' That will be a tough struggle for many. The need for the Church will never be greater if and when that time comes.
I look forward to your next post.
Blessings,
Sun Warrior
Dear Sun Warrior
Thank you. I have am thinking of:
The balance.
What if:
The forces leading us to disaster may be worse than the most pessimistic of us can ever imagine ... Really, much, much worse ...
So that what you say is not really that 'drastic' - because though you may be awake to how bad it is - it is even worse than you imagine -
While at the same very same time
the forces of hope, real HOPE are far greater than the greatest optimist can ever imagine ...
There is far more hope 'off our radar screens' than we ever conceive ... ?
I find it very hard indeed to find the balance.
With warm appreciation,
Roger
Dear Roger,
I think true connection with God is the basis for all life. Do you love God? Do you trust God? Will you go where He will take you?
What we have created as civilization, as owners of the earth, using knowledge instead of wisdom as the basis of our decisions, is really the crux of the matter. How do you break out of this basic structure of consciousness we are born into.
We are in so 'deep' now, how does both the individual and society dig itself out? When we reach our limits, what happens? That is where the saving Grace of God comes in. If we nurture our hearts with God, we have the strength to get through those limitations. The superficial nature of our intellectual society is not the basis for a relationship with God. Our hearts are. If God knows that you can listen, trust and learn, all the concepts and ideas become unnecessary. A university degree is not needed in heaven. The deeper reality of who we are is.
The early Christians had heart to stick by God through thick and thin. I find the fealty to God of the Native Peoples through their holocaust is another example of this depth. Learning from these will get the 'Remnant' through any catastrophe that mind-man can dream up. I think the biggest test will be seeing our fellow humans being torn apart because they never discovered this. Every life goes through this. But globally, capitalism is hurling us in a direction of its logic that will collectively test us all together.
Blessings,
Sun Warrior
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