Today is the feast of Sts. Joachim and Ann, parents of the Immaculate Conception and grandparents of the Second Person of the Trinity. For some time now, I have wanted to share my thoughts about what I love in the modern American political left: sympathies with Mary, the Virgin Mother of God. As long as I have been following politics, about 13 years, I have not identified as either Republican or Democrat. This is the first year that I have followed the American experiment with an academic level of research and concern. In the past, I was a simple Catholic issue voter. I hoped Bush would be pro-life. He wasn't. I hoped Obama would end our imperialism. He didn't. I prayed Ron Paul could somehow win the presidency and 'end the Fed’eral reserve’s death-grip on Western economics. He couldn't. This year was obviously a new monster. I do not consider myself a political conservative or a modern liberal, I am a Christian. As far as I can tell, the left-right divide splits Christ’s Matthew 5 Sermon down the middle (intentionally?). Both the left and the right will scoff at this idea, but that just proves my point I think… I voted for Donald Trump, not because I thought he was an ideal candidate, but because his vision for America’s future most closely aligned what I felt the Holy Spirit wanted. I claim no superpowers in that discernment. The biggest issue that Trump confronts, in my opinion, is the overthrow of a mediocracy that has been controlling public consensus for decades. The problem is far reaching, affecting television news, popular academia, entertainment medias, and until now I imagine, the American presidency itself. Before moving on, I will just list the top 3 truths that this system has censored/distorted – and that must be freshly disseminated if our society is to survive:
Reflecting upon Luc Besson’s most recent epic, the film Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, I couldn’t help but think of Mary the Mother of God! Let me explain. [SPOILER] In the second half, this movie skirts into a super sci-fi pc social justice climax with an assertive female soldier extorting her military superior, against his better judgment to defy his sworn allegiance by bypassing the law and making unofficial reparations to a sexually androgynous race of illegal aliens who are refugees of a governmental conspiracy of violent imperialism! Wow, masterful. That covers topics in feminism, LGBT, racism, slavery, immigration, foreign policy, communist revolution, and anarchism. Does that remind you of Mary??? No… but it represents a broader theme on the left that should. A day or so after seeing Valarian, I revisited an old Hayao Miyazaki classic, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, a much more balanced artistic depiction of the holy feminine. Nausicaä is a virgin princess and sole heir who is trained in natural science, mechanics, politics, war, and diplomacy, but who freely chooses to focus her energy into botany, zoology, and the general cultivation of the life-giving arts (beauty). Her compassion for life inspires her to minister against the mutilations of revenge, eventually forcing her to give her life in active protest to world-war. In the film, Nausicaä grows into a prophetic savior figure who not only succeeds in quelling the rage of the oppressed classes (the sentient ‘insects’) but who also emerges as an inspiration to the women of her world – even converting a violent and power-hungry woman through example alone. Against my will, the character of Nausicaä reminded me of Valerian’s Laureline. Despite the extremism of her example, there remained in Laureline’s plee an echo of Our Lady at the feast of Cana: ‘They have no wine.’ And Valerian offers a similar response. Maybe it is ok to break the rules or laws sometimes for the sake of the suffering… Some people think that Catholic theology is a spider web of bureaucracy meant to cloud the issues that reason alone could settle. It is just the opposite. History provides all the proof. The Church is the Rock of Ages precisely because its doctrines are so difficult to logically improve. An indubitable evidence of conformity to reality (any reasonable person should say, see Dr. Jordan Peterson). The Christ doctrine is light on the way. Everything we desire is already there. Take the case of feminist activism. What does God say about it through the dogmatic proclamations of the Church? Well, God chose a woman to be the only perfectly created human person – that is God’s feminism. Mary is metaphysically superior to the rest of humanity. It seems to me the woman's movement could not find a deeper well. But it requires us to see otherness as more than a tool of oppression. A nirvana without difference or distinction is not better than a hierarchy where everyone is equal. Yes, God can do that. Traditionally, Mary embodies the Catholic Church, infusing the Christian West with eyes to see where freedom crosses over to sin, developing in her children a discernment of offenses and sensitivity of conscience. G.K. Chesterton suggested that, originally, the majority of women did not want to vote – as in the later labor movement feminists who didn't care for suffrage: Helen Keller, Emma Goldman, Mother Jones – because politics by design is a violent sport – government is always ultimately coercion at gunpoint. Maybe those women saw as Nausicaä did. There has been a beautiful evolution in human sensitivity from which much of the social justice movement arises. I say this is undoubtedly a Marian charisma. Mary does not overlook the experiences of the individual, anyone, ever. There is no collateral damage in her decisions (emotionally or physically); her love passes-over no one. However, this also means that Our Lady does not exchange the enemy of evil or suffering for the enemy of republicans or capitalism. The Leftist technological collectivism is no less abhorrent to her than imperial nationalism. The Right does need the Left to remind it of those moments when reason deserves deviation, as the Left needs the Right to remind it when ‘the time has not yet come.’ We must all live in the restrictions of the conversation as two-tongued, lest we attempt again to supplant our God. The fear of this tension is at the root of all faithlessness in religion, marriage, and politics alike. It is the paradox that united man and God in Jesus Christ, an idea that spreads whenever its speared to a tree. You do not get to say you understand it, but neither may you reject the power of its witness. We are allowed to believe in our divination as individual cosmos’ called the children of God. Either there is nothing and you don’t matter, or there is one and no you at all, or the one is in the many and the many in the one in the house of the Lord. “As it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him’.” - 1 Corinthians 2:9 NKJV Here's a beautiful bi-partisan review of 2017 politics and the Catholic Church by a much higher authority than mine: Strangers in a Strange Land
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HBO’s “The Young Pope” tells the story of a middle-aged American priest who is, young... The show follows Cardinal ‘Lenny’s surprise election to the office of Supreme Pontifex in an otherwise believable near-future. An opening theme attempts to paint the new pope as a comet firing radical change through a pristine line of ‘tradition’. Tradition in this series turns out to be the Vatican’s particular species of ‘political correctness’ rather than any deep penetration into Christian doctrine. Lenny takes the name of Pius XIII, a literal symbol of his devotion to the papal office and its formalities. From the start, the Holy See is portrayed as a political institution, albeit of an alien branch, with all the bureaucracy and corruption of a typical state. With due appreciation for this acknowledgement of the worldly elements in the Church, the illustration is too projective to paint a true picture of the Church’s many-colored coat. No doubt this bias only reflects the general agnosticism of Western believers today and perhaps serves its purpose in meeting such as those in their not unpopular position of amateur religiosity. As so, this show will not provide much spiritual sustenance to the devout, with exceptions, beyond the familiar social commentary. Not that we expected much – the holy people will understandably never watch HBO in the first place! Personally, I wanted to know what spin they would put on my beloved (Catholic Church) so that I could, if necessary, defend her to any caught in HBO’s typical gnostic propaganda. After watching, I was surprised at the only mild offensiveness of the series. The secular reverence in Paulo Sorrentino’s directing manifested as only soft satire with occasional notable insights. Here are my highlights and corrections.
One of the reasons why there should probably never be a young pope is the obvious fact that age brings experience and wisdom; there is analogy between the physical and spiritual body. No shortcuts can bypass individuation, despite the unfailing pretentions of the youth. Our culture keeps forgetting the Church’s most brilliant innovation, that is, the repositioning of value to the individual person. The Christian collective consists of independent members in spiritual communion, a complete contrast to the utilitarian model of the hivemind. Without appreciation for the servant-leader framework of Christ, one assumes the post-modern perspective of reducing every authority to an oppressor. The paradox of consubstantiality between material royalty and spiritual poverty is not sufficiently played out in ‘The Young Pope’, especially in those moments when its explication would be most enlightening. Since the primary purpose of the Church’s wealth has always been beauty more than power, the idea that every form of hierarchy constitutes exploitation is far too shallow a view of human motivation. There can be great humility in accepting a seat of authority and its accompanying rituals. Instead, the ‘Young Pope’ is as pompous about his station as one could imagine. Lenny’s arrogance implies a devolution of Church consciousness back to Medici times, echoing again the flat trajectory of modern philosophy, an arc that simply does not follow the history. The Catholic Church has always taken its surrounding zeitgeist seriously into an open dialogue, not withstanding brief interruptions, but ultimately resulting in the incredible theological and pastoral developments that mark the Church’s genius. The Church is not an ancient monolith, it is an ancient person, and the pope is not a CEO, he is a missionary. The series continually misrepresents celibacy as it has been historically theorized and lived by the Catholic Church. It is a mild modern reaction to the sexual revolution that rightly esteems the heroism of marital fidelity. However, in this cultural spirit there is also an implicit repudiation of celibacy as a cowardly escape from the duties of familial life. Scripture and the Church’s tradition are very clear that celibacy is freedom for the sake of a full-time ministry of charity. To remain children in the sense of never becoming a biological father or mother is also to be able to give one’s heart more broadly and to imitate the love relationships of heaven in that way. Priesthood is not a hide-out for the psychologically immature as anyone who has been through the modern gauntlet of priestly formation can attest. HBO presents ordination as a career path for the socially timid. This goes in hand with a general mood of anxious uncertainty about life within the Vatican’s clergy. It draws a sloppy caricature of Christian doubt when it looks no different than secular skepticism or cynicism. That kind of doubt sometimes preludes conscious participation in Christianity but it dies with the initial awakening to natural mystery that begins mature faith. The darkness of a spiritual doubt, like John of the Cross and Teresa of Calcutta recounted, is a vastly different phenomenon, entirely unrelated to atheism. The ‘dark night of the soul’ is faith in God at the apex, it is the pain of losing sight of one’s own needs; altogether poured out in service to the point of confusion at the persistent presence of a crucified self. Psychologically ‘The Young Pope’ only makes it as deep as the simplest aspects of Freudianism. Having no parents, Lenny’s metaphysics are reduced to an archetype of his stunted nurturing. It seems these premises underlie the motivations of every soul in this show’s worldview. A person never transcends their experiences of low human relationship. Likewise, a person is double predestined to act out the pattern of woundedness transmitted to them. The Church then is just a sexually repressed child, a victim, deserving as much sympathy for its sins as the rest of the sexually corrupt society. But this philosophy neither appreciates the intensity of attack against the Church nor the heights of glory that its holiness can reach. It appears instead that the Church advertises its own carrot-on-stick like any other competitor in an economic market. ‘Mystery’ is a shoddy product that must be sold. Again… mystery alone is pre-catechumenal. What the Church actually offers is more than any outsider can swallow or any tv show dare admit: a healed life, more truth than naked science, and a nuptial relationship with God. Only someone who has not penetrated the mystogogy of the Catholic Church could depict her as merely human, more bureaucratic than mystical. On the positive side, HBO’s first season of Popery gives a cool depiction of the priest as a mediator of the family, precisely through the sacrifice of his own sexual desire. I think this is exactly the truth. There have even been surveys that evince married people being more comfortable receiving counsel and reconciliation from a celibate person. As they say, chastity means a smooth functioning sexuality, while promiscuity exposes a broken engine. There is another beautiful insight revealed in the sanctity of caring for the simple minded or otherwise physically disabled. Christians alone are capable of doing this work as it ought to be done, since only Christianity allows us to see God, literally, in the eyes of the sentient and suffering. The fact that the Pope smokes also speaks to something perhaps uniquely Catholic, that is, a certain indefinite suspension of judgment that is neither moral relativism nor an excuse to be silent to evil, but definitely a conflictual call to dialogue. I think its fair to say that the Church is generally “tough in principle, soft in practice.” Ambition and corruption is real in the Church as it is real in each human soul, but the Church is also as divine as Christ and immune to the systemic failure that overcomes all other institutions over time. This idea was conveyed brilliantly in the sinner, Pope Pius XIII, who performed his miracles accidentally. The recent election cycle and its subsequent developments have led me to a deeper reflection on the devolution of the American mind. We know that the nineteenth century American at the age of 18 had the reading level and comprehension of today’s masters-degree students. The implication of course is that our contemporaries, between 18-40 let’s say, are generally as intellectually sophisticated as a sixth grader. That’s more than 30% of the population. Another, roughly, 25% are those under 18. Notwithstanding the age fluctuation of the last six years, that leaves 40-45% of the population that may or may not have developed an adult level of rational and emotional intelligence from engaged experience (according to 2010 census data).
Since my teens, I have fought viciously with superficiality, not always in a healthy way. But how easy it is to play the game of word association. It’s easy because it requires no confrontation between the conscious and the unconscious psyche. What comes up, comes out. Bear… fur. Grape… fruit. Monkey… man. I see a half-naked woman on a billboard and I think, passively, about imagined sexual encounters. I hear the colloquialism ‘hashtag’ and I think, willlessly, about artless pop-culture. There it is: my sins laid bare. Impulses reveal everything. And they tell you nothing about the future. The instinctual reaction is only the beginning of thought. Or it should be. Too often it is confused with spiritual intuition and made an idol. Only a saint – one who has allowed Jesus Christ to transform his or her subconscious to completely align with the conscious will – should be allowed to give undiplomatic credence to their intuitions. Sophistry, on the other hand, decorates and disguises reality with words. But, since saints don’t know they are saints, no one should pretend, to self or other, that intuition makes a bare logical claim. Nor should intuitions be ignored. Emotions must be tested to discover their hidden meaning, which may turn out to be quite contrary to the initial sentiment. Here is a microcosm of the war for freedom. The macro version of this battle occurs in television/radio/magazines/hollywood everyday. The elite class attempts to program our unconscious minds to feel particular passions upon being ‘triggered’ and to believe that the work of reconciling passion and reason has already been done by someone else, usually called an ‘expert’. One of the positives in our present social upheaval is that the Jungian ‘collective unconscious’ of America is out of hiding. Thus, the process of individuation, if it can apply to a nation, is ripe for its rite of passage. If you follow the analogy, Donald Trump is the perfect archetype for this American existential crisis. Here are some words why. I’ve been a fan of underground hip-hop since the early 90’s. For the first time in 15 years or so, since my awakening to the social sciences, I no longer agree with the political opinion of most of these rap artists, many of whom I consider true intellectuals. These are generally not the rappers you hear on the radio, though some have slipped through the fingers of the fascist fist. Many of these men and women have been my teachers because they are genuine truth seekers. So, standing just outside of the hiphop culture myself, having only dabbled, I take these almost exclusively African-American men and women as my compass of black opinion generally, although I doubt there is such a thing. Historically, racism is universal, as it is simply tribalism. But race relations in America have been unique. It’s not as most people suppose, simply the result of African slavery. Modern racism in America was vitalized and incited by a targeted campaign of eugenics propaganda and urban ‘renewal’, decades post-emancipation. Having prejudices about social groups in which you don’t travel is unavoidable. And repeating a stereotype is not necessarily indicative of ideological racism. The real racists tend to be compulsively politically correct, because they so fear showing their hand. I have no reason to believe he is actually racist. Rhetorically untrained, abrasive in language, but not literal in his hyperbole. Show me a guy in construction that doesn't talk like that, black, Hispanic, white or otherwise... you'll be hard pressed. There is an elite ruling class who think of themselves as a genetically superior species. They are experimenting with the overwhelming majority of the population on earth. Healthy people, however, adjust their presumptions as they encounter persons who contradict them. Trump shows every sign of being normal in this regard, challenging the label of Narcissist. I targeted the man as a sociopath myself initially, but then I realized I was only seeing short clips from two or three cable stations. The man appeared much more balanced when I listened to his full campaign speeches and read his book. In context, nothing Trump has said about ‘others’ is truly hateful. Distasteful to the well-mannered, I’d admit, but not morally corrupt. And because of the arrogance of previous administrations (the huge discrepancy between their gestures and deeds), the common American does not trust well-mannered politics anymore. The hyper virtue signaling about racist arises in this culture because its moral energy has been repressed and is seeking outflow (because no one dares talk about religious truth claims anymore and this is where moral energy belongs). These angsty marching people need a scapegoat in order to forget their own complacency in the neglect and destruction of the human family. They are the citizens screaming at a face on television in Orwell’s 1984, angered by all the wrong triggers. I grew up around men who behaved like Trump and I found that getting on their side (without compromising oneself), and loving them, is the best way to channel their egos into constructive channels. What I am saying is, Trump is the perfect personality for democracy because he thrives in popularity. He also grows more competent in the face of conflicting opinions. It has always been and will always be our job as a constituency to define what is popular, and personalities like Trump’s will be our followers in that sense. I’ve seen it play out many times in other similar persons. Backing a man like that into a corner is dangerous for everyone, including the soul of the man himself. What we need to do is approach Trump as supporters and then organize the voice of our suggested reforms to his policies, if and when necessary. I believe he is the type to actually listen. A blanket rejection of the president does nothing but damage our effectiveness as a country and exposes our own psychological baggage. If we all do our part, then the free-market that he supports will run its course by the will of God. Multiculturalism is a new false idol, just like sexual liberation was. Human beings are inherently religious and so are cultures – you’ll never read an atheist who doesn’t still hold disguised religious beliefs. Thus, we need to accept and allow a free market of religious systems. Islamaphobia is a legitimate fear because it is a culture that has historically promoted violence at a doctrinal level. You don’t have to indict every Muslim, but you should recognize that a justification for every one of the seven deadly sins can be found in the latter pages of the Qur’an, because any tactic whatsoever is permissible as a means to the absolute end of spreading the Islamic state. For those who love to make the bad comparison, the Catholic Church is doctrinally anti-violent, with a clause for the double effect of self-defense. Among multiple imperfect ideas, one idea can still be much less imperfect than others. The lifestyle called Christianity, and what it gave us, directly or indirectly, is every fundamental liberty we take for granted in America. I don't buy this idea that you can estimate the challenges a person has faced in life, or the quality of their character based on superficial markers such as race, gender, fetish, or accent. The human condition itself does most of the work of building equality between us. For example, statistics show that the higher you climb in wealth, the more likely you are to commit suicide. I imagine everyone has a label they can hide behind and claim it as the source of their persecutions. I prefer the label of 'sinner', and to accept that my persecution comes only from myself. I am much more God's image than I am male, or 'white', or middle class. If other people don't see me as God does, I pray for the scales to fall from their eyes, but I do not rely on their understanding. I refuse to see myself as a victim, because it is a waste of time. Instead, I work hard to love as I have been loved, and in the process the Truth will give witness to Itself, to my glory or to my humiliation, it matters not. The state does not give me my rights or my dignity. These in-group politics appear idolatrous to me. We need to defend universal dignity, emotional validity, and intellectual balance as a single reality in every human person before we are even prepared to comprehend the significance of being a minority. There is plenty of counter-evidence to the myths of male privilege, white privilege, straight privilege, etc. Jesus: "But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?" - Matthew 5:44-46 The truly relevant protesters, the ones that knew JFK was hit by the CIA, that Vietnam was started by a false flag, that the twin towers fell by a controlled demolition, most of these people voted for TRUMP. Trump has recognized the corruption of government and given more than lip service (like Obama) to cleaning it up. Today's protesters are indoctrinated children, most of whom cannot even articulate their grievances beyond regurgitated talking points from a fascist mind-controlling media class that have no relationship to the real journalists of our time. It's was a generalization, but it fits the scene on the streets. I know there are a scattering of thoughtful people in the mix. Many are emotionally confused extended adolescents who have been caught up in a wave of propaganda. People are not appreciating the evil that President Trump has held at bay for us by halting the globalist eugenic agenda, and at the price of his own continued humiliation and his own wealth. Trump's 'lies' have been minuscule and circumstantial that I have seen, nothing compared to the lies of Obama and Hillary (killing millions in the Middle East the last 8 years). Trump stated clearly that he played the media game to get attention in the beginning and he was aware of his own hyperbole. He won that game and got the nomination, he played dirty because they all play dirty. He was refreshingly transparent about it. The media went out of its way to demonize and decontextualize many of Trumps polemics, way beyond their normal sensationalism. Aren't we all imperfect sinners? Why decide to march around as gods casting judgment? Another sign of immaturity. Argue ideas and policies, that's good, not pretending to know the state of people's souls. Why does everyone ignore Trump's virtues, like tenacity, confidence, leadership, patriotism, cleverness, a sense of humor, a fantastic family, a fearlessness in the face of imperial warlords? The man succeeds at everything he does and does what he says he will do. That in itself puts his character miles above Obama in my opinion. Also xenophobia is a legitimate fear because people who don't respect the law are prone to commit greater crimes in the future. Islam is a constitutional political and doctrinally violent faith. Some Muslims are great people, but those are not following the Quran very closely as I understand it. It doesn't compare to Christianity morally, not even close. I could teach a history course explaining why. As for the misogyny, 90% of the people in this country are sexually perverted, at least he is open about it and apologized for it. His family and friends attest that he is in a redemptive upswing from his previous playboy days. Let's not pretend he's wrong about many American women throwing themselves at rich men. It's not assault when women disrespect themselves. Most of these anti-Trumpers have taken a foolishly narrow view of a complicated human being because it's convenient to their unresolved psychological wounds. You shouldn't make a villain out of a man who has repeatedly risked his own life to stand with the people against the rise of real evils, such as those that occur in middle eastern countries everyday. You protesters shouldn't disrespect the political process of a country that has given everyone just as much privilege when compared to history and the rest of the world. I don't need to be a woman to understand a lot about women, nor do I have to be gay or brown or poor. I know these people and I love them and thereby I have seen as they see. Not all of them agree with this anti-Trump pro-socialist cause either. The mutual creative reciprocity of the sexes is something I believe in deeply, but that's not the same as blanket equality. When did we forget that we are all fools? When did we forget how to love a fool? Remember how Jesus came to the world. Not as a powerful and beautiful prince. As a Christian I believe in Original Sin. The lengths to which God has gone to redeem us reveals the depths to which we have sunk. Thus, paradoxically, it the Christian’s higher estimation of who God is that also leads to his equally low estimation of human merit. Redemption favors the lowly. Trump has been humbled by the presidential campaign. He continues to grow in the face of resistance to his presidency because he takes his responsibilities seriously, as his story shows. Although I will not feel satisfied with my vote until the results start rolling in, I have a lot of hope for the Trump presidency based on a relatively thorough (albeit unavoidably second hand) assessment of his personal individuation. Opinions can and should be expressed and challenged and improved over time just like moral behavior. Hence the prematurity of my defense. Buy things from people like Alex Jones @ www.infowars.com. Redirect your currency to the people of the true resistance, the common business man at every table in the free market. Boycott the globalists, and the voice of the modern Pharisees on ABC, NBC, and CNN. Praise the Lord. All will be well. True patriotism is gratitude to your country, because it has given you more than you can ever repay. --St. Thomas Aquinas, S.T., 2-2, 101.1 I need to write more regular and spontaneous reports, diaryesque entries for the craft. Minimal editing. I am God's son. AMDG.
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