In this podcast episode, we discuss living well amidst a culture of death. Here’s the TL;DL (Too Long; Didn’t Listen):
Politics is downstream of Culture, and Culture is downstream of Metaphysics (or Spirituality);
While it may be helpful, or even necessary, to treat symptoms of an illness, treating the symptoms is no substitute for treating the underlying illness itself;
The symptoms of illness we see in our politics are a product of the spiritual sickness ravaging our culture — our culture is under the sway of a Spirit of Nihilism, and to quote Walter Sobchak from The Great Lebowski (when he compared Nazism to Nihilism), “Say what you want about the tenets of national socialism, dude, at least it’s an ethos” — the illogical, inconsistent, ever-changing ideology of the Globohomo American Empire (GAE) and its Marxcissist apparatchiks is just a smokescreen to conceal a black hole of bottomless nihilism — their utopia has to be impossible, their revolution can never be completed, because if they ever ran out of things to “fix” in the world, they would have nothing and no one left to blame but themselves, and this is a reality they will avoid at all costs — they would rather destroy the entire world than deal with who and what they actually are;
Though our culture is in the terminal stage of this spiritual cancer, it has been sick for so long, nobody alive today really remembers a time when our civilization was spiritually cancer-free — given the state our culture was in 50 years ago, or 100 years ago (or who even knows how long ago?), even then it was inevitable that we would reach our current state of accelerating decay and collapse — in other words, there’s no going back to some romanticized vision of a past that didn’t even exist;
Those with eyes to see are recognizing that something big is happening — for a couple of good examples from Twitter, check out «this» and «this» — it’s like the charged atmosphere right before a lightning strike, where everyone’s hair is standing on end and you can feel the energy building up dangerously around you;
In Romans 7:21-25, St. Paul distinguished between the Law of God and the “law of sin and death,” and that distinction provides a helpful conceptual framing or metaphor for the spiritual conflict underlying our cultural and political conflicts;
Think of how an American embassy or military post can be located within the territory of another nation, yet operate under the Law of the USA, as an analogy to St. Paul’s discussion about the Law of God — you can be in Kuwait, but if you are within the boundaries of Ali Al Salem Air Base, you are under the Law of the USA;
Our civilization is clearly under the law of sin and death, the law of nihilism, the law of suicide and murder, whatever you want to call it — on a civilizational level, things are heading very quickly in a very bad direction;
If we are in a culture that is subject to the law (or logos or tao) of nihilism, but it is possible for us to connect with God and reorient our consciousness and lifestyle towards Life rather than death, then we can be in an analogous position to the personnel at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, who are in Kuwait but not of Kuwait — we can change the governing principle (or logos or tao or law) of our lives from nihilism to Life, from separation from God (and alienation from ourselves and each other) to communion with God (and inner healing and healthier relationships with others);
In a world of nonstop lies and manipulative propaganda, where institutions and historical records have been corrupted by duplicitous men with malicious intent and then amplified by millions of unwitting dupes and true believers, it can be extremely difficult to know what is of God and what is not, but a helpful heuristic can be abstracted from the words of Jesus in John 10:10:
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
If something brings more abundant life (i.e., greater health, increased strength, more joy, more peace of mind, stronger family relationships, more friendship and camaraderie, more good will towards others, etc.), then it is probably of God; if it causes the loss of these things, then it is probably not of God (but a good character is needed to discern the difference reliably, and of course this highlights a chicken-and-egg problem which is unavoidable);
Another helpful heuristic can be abstracted from the distinction between Truth (which sets you free) and deception (which enslaves you) — if we catch someone intentionally lying to us, especially if they are doing so to influence our decisions, such a person is operating under the law of sin and death (see, John 8:31-44); and
Life entails continual growth, whereas stagnation means decay and death; therefore, another good habit to foster is setting good goals and working towards them;
had an excellent post on Twitter about this (with some insightful follow-on comments): https://twitter.com/Partisan_O/status/1728537075459244306.
In this episode, I also mention the ongoing troubles in Ireland, where the government is actively trying to destroy and replace its own citizens and the citizens are fighting back;
has an excellent post about this, entitled The Day the Irish Snapped. ’s post on this topic is also definitely worth reading. In Ireland, you see a regime dropping the psychopath’s mask of sanity and openly manifesting the law of sin and death. Ireland is not unique in this — every Western nation is under the same regime, effectively — it’s just that Ireland’s government is behaving more clumsily and trying to push its nihilistic agenda even farther and even faster than most other nations’ governments are comfortable doing right now, but it is precisely the same spirit governing Ireland that also governs the rest of the West. This is what we’re up against, and this is why we must be intentional about choosing a Spirit of Life, because in our world, the default is the spirit of death.Thanks for listening, and please let me know your thoughts in the comment section below — or if you’re listening to this on a podcast app or streaming platform, you can comment on the Substack post for this episode at https://aghostinthemachine.substack.com/p/living-well-amidst-a-culture-of-death
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