Old political orthodoxies are crumbling. A new vision has yet to form. Many criticize and critique the regime, but in the end, only Christianity can oppose the essence of the regime at its core.
Your insight into not using the techniques of the oppressive regime (ie managerial, rational, etc) to try to overcome it was apt. It highlights how a radical revolution led by the “vitalists” would simply be a changing of the guard with better aesthetics. In using the techniques, we would easily slip into the corruption (and cage) that technology and mass power grant their wielders. It also reminds me of Frank Herbert’s Dune series in which the prequel (https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000FA5TPG/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1689439690&sr=8-3) illustrates how mankind rejected the machines way of battle and embraced a religious power that ultimately broke the AI’s machine armies. The half-human/half-machines of the “Cymek” (century old human brains using powerful machine exosuits) are held captive to a tech AI overlord resembles the fate of those who do not rely on God alone. I’m really glad I read this article as it crystallizes much for me about the folly of certain approaches to our predicament.
I think this dynamic is impossible to guard against, and stood out to me as a key point in surmising the weaknesses of any system, but I'm not sure how one should negate this as a Christian, and what a Christian system (oops) would look like without this trap.
If I may offer my opinion on the form of the text itself: perhaps the first third or so could be condensed? You build the tension of the merely foundational analysis a bit too thoroughly for my taste. It truly comes alive (and very much so!) halfway through. There are nuances to be explored, so I understand the inclination to lay them out in detail.
Your work is so important, in that I don't really see anyone else doing the same thing as you and in such an encompassing and structured way, with your ideas. Much love and a complimentary tulip from Norway
Thinking about this, what we gain is not power, although God’s power is a thing. The desire for power is what drives technique and magic (which is a form of technique). Kenosis, the self-emptying of Christ and his sacrifice, is the self-conscious choice to release power/force. This is also what makes Tolkien’s LOTR so Christian in character. The ring cannot be wielded, even for good. It is pure technique. The goods you conceive cannot be had without the accompanying corruption and evil.
In the end, if you gain power that is not the point. The point is connection, restoring the fundamental wound that sin brings, alienating us from God, from each other, the creation and ourselves. The point is to commune with God and be at home with him.
Thank you. The supernatural presence of God is always dangerous. This is why you take off your shoes or there is the Holy of Holies. But in Christ, we are able to enter the presence of God. This is one of the points of the death and resurrection of Christ. But there is danger as well. The evil one is deceptive.
Thanks for the thoughts on the actual writing itself. A new form for me. So I learn.
"Competition, open discourse and the marketplace of ideas would determine truth."
Brings to mind Richard Hanania's recent anti-surrogacy with there's no data to say it's bad! and smearing people as "religious kooks."
Oh there the punchline is two paragraphs later.
And, "If you draw on the powers of technique, rationalized systems, organization and administration, you may be able to defeat the current iteration of the regime, but you will have retained the god itself, hoping that in your hands its powers will result in a new outcome, different from the first. Call me skeptical."
Really gutting one of the lines of thought I was considering exploring.
"If you read the gospels carefully, one of the things you will notice Jesus doing throughout the stories is teaching"
Remember when I was saying there was something in the ether? Yeah man, something floating around that a whole lot of us are keying into all at once. I am pretty sure Randy over at Egg Report is cooking up something else unless he abandons it having worked it out on Twitter. Monsieur Prude, et al.
"Ours fight has always been a great cosmic religious battle (Acts 26:12-18; Ephesians 6:10-20) the center of which has been a faith in the power of God to bring salvation, through Jesus, but also through us as his ambassadors, his representatives."
Having just read The Sign of the Cross (the Andreas Andreopolous one not the Bert Ghezzi one which I also have and is confusing that I have because Bert is RCC) the early(er) days of the Church understood the the Cross as many things including triumphant, marking his army (monks, as well as the sign in the Apocalypse {Revelation} against that of the Mark of the Beast), and spanning across time unto the new Age.
Your insight into not using the techniques of the oppressive regime (ie managerial, rational, etc) to try to overcome it was apt. It highlights how a radical revolution led by the “vitalists” would simply be a changing of the guard with better aesthetics. In using the techniques, we would easily slip into the corruption (and cage) that technology and mass power grant their wielders. It also reminds me of Frank Herbert’s Dune series in which the prequel (https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000FA5TPG/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1689439690&sr=8-3) illustrates how mankind rejected the machines way of battle and embraced a religious power that ultimately broke the AI’s machine armies. The half-human/half-machines of the “Cymek” (century old human brains using powerful machine exosuits) are held captive to a tech AI overlord resembles the fate of those who do not rely on God alone. I’m really glad I read this article as it crystallizes much for me about the folly of certain approaches to our predicament.
Thanks for the kind words! Glad it was helpful.
"Do the adherents gain power through worship?"
I think this dynamic is impossible to guard against, and stood out to me as a key point in surmising the weaknesses of any system, but I'm not sure how one should negate this as a Christian, and what a Christian system (oops) would look like without this trap.
If I may offer my opinion on the form of the text itself: perhaps the first third or so could be condensed? You build the tension of the merely foundational analysis a bit too thoroughly for my taste. It truly comes alive (and very much so!) halfway through. There are nuances to be explored, so I understand the inclination to lay them out in detail.
Your work is so important, in that I don't really see anyone else doing the same thing as you and in such an encompassing and structured way, with your ideas. Much love and a complimentary tulip from Norway
Thinking about this, what we gain is not power, although God’s power is a thing. The desire for power is what drives technique and magic (which is a form of technique). Kenosis, the self-emptying of Christ and his sacrifice, is the self-conscious choice to release power/force. This is also what makes Tolkien’s LOTR so Christian in character. The ring cannot be wielded, even for good. It is pure technique. The goods you conceive cannot be had without the accompanying corruption and evil.
In the end, if you gain power that is not the point. The point is connection, restoring the fundamental wound that sin brings, alienating us from God, from each other, the creation and ourselves. The point is to commune with God and be at home with him.
Thank you. The supernatural presence of God is always dangerous. This is why you take off your shoes or there is the Holy of Holies. But in Christ, we are able to enter the presence of God. This is one of the points of the death and resurrection of Christ. But there is danger as well. The evil one is deceptive.
Thanks for the thoughts on the actual writing itself. A new form for me. So I learn.
"Competition, open discourse and the marketplace of ideas would determine truth."
Brings to mind Richard Hanania's recent anti-surrogacy with there's no data to say it's bad! and smearing people as "religious kooks."
Oh there the punchline is two paragraphs later.
And, "If you draw on the powers of technique, rationalized systems, organization and administration, you may be able to defeat the current iteration of the regime, but you will have retained the god itself, hoping that in your hands its powers will result in a new outcome, different from the first. Call me skeptical."
Really gutting one of the lines of thought I was considering exploring.
"If you read the gospels carefully, one of the things you will notice Jesus doing throughout the stories is teaching"
Remember when I was saying there was something in the ether? Yeah man, something floating around that a whole lot of us are keying into all at once. I am pretty sure Randy over at Egg Report is cooking up something else unless he abandons it having worked it out on Twitter. Monsieur Prude, et al.
"Ours fight has always been a great cosmic religious battle (Acts 26:12-18; Ephesians 6:10-20) the center of which has been a faith in the power of God to bring salvation, through Jesus, but also through us as his ambassadors, his representatives."
Having just read The Sign of the Cross (the Andreas Andreopolous one not the Bert Ghezzi one which I also have and is confusing that I have because Bert is RCC) the early(er) days of the Church understood the the Cross as many things including triumphant, marking his army (monks, as well as the sign in the Apocalypse {Revelation} against that of the Mark of the Beast), and spanning across time unto the new Age.
Glad this piece really hit you. More to come on these themes.