Sleep of reason spawns monsters

"What had been in his far-off youth a merely aesthetic repugnance to realities that were crude or vulgar, had deepened and darkened, year after year, into a fixed refusal of everything that was in any degree other than himself... He had willed with his whole heart that there should be no reality and no truth, and now even the imminence of his own ruin could not wake him. "

C.S Lewis- That Hideous Strength

I would maintain that those who worship power believe in only those things that further their ambitions. There is not some objective reality to which they are beholden, merely an ever shifting calculation of what would be of greatest benefit to their situation. At a basic level their fear, cowardice, pride and hatred override all other considerations.

Ignorance, arrogance, and COVID-19

Ignorance and arrogance make a dangerous and deadly combination.

Right now the nation faces the worst epidemic I have observed in my life.  New cases are soaring, hospitals are full to the bursting; and the economy is becoming overwhelmed.  Where a month before the flames seemed to be diminishing, now we face a wildfire raging through nation.  The rush to rekindle the economy has set the plague roaring back with a vengeance; now the nation is ablaze with pain and fear. 

This is an inferno of our own making, ignited by ignorance and stoked by arrogance.  Where nature sparked the initial contagion, it took a willful ignorance to fan the flames; and a frightful arrogance to create a conflagration capable of torching an entire nation.  

The spawn of Smaug

There is a place that worships all the dragon attributes- greed, power, sloth, vanity and cruelty.  It is not so much a place in space or time; rather it is a place within one's self.  The fear and cowardice hidden beneath hatred and rage; the core of selfishness that seeks only to rule.  Rule others, rule situations, rule the material world through pain and violence; this desire for control over others overshadows the lack of self control needed to rule oneself.

 Not so much a desire to possess, but a desire to prevent others from possessing; this dragon mindset hordes the status quo like mountain of treasure.  The current situation may be at times uncomfortable as a bed of stolen gold, and of little use to further any happiness, but let the slightest bit of privilege find another's hand; and the wrath of the great worm explodes in a fiery spew.

Those that would adhere to such a set of values are the true spawn of Smaug; the secret of such reproduction lies not in an entwining of two entities, but in the foul parthenogenesis from a creature unwilling to share anything but hate; unable to give anything but pain.

Score

The passage of time in gainful employment marks one in different ways; some beneficial, some damaging, and some utterly devastating.  While the monetary enrichment and personal relationships grant one both security and growth, and the physical degeneration from years of toil take their toll on the flesh; the moral degradation derived by exploitation of self and others can provoke the greatest changes to an individual.

For twenty years, I worked for the same company; through success and failure, hope and despair.  Observing the changes in myself and others proves difficult, as the incremental shifts in mind and body may seem stark in retrospect, but nearly invisible on a daily basis.  As I look back, I find it disconcerting to note the scars scored upon my personality, and the responses I have made.  Perhaps my reactions to the work environment display a weakness in character, or a failing of will; but how  does one best respond to a system of toxicity?

   Hatred we can manage. The tension of human nerves during noise, danger, and fatigue, makes them prone to any violent emotion and it is only a question of guiding this susceptibility into the right channels. If conscience resists, muddle him. Let him say that he feels hatred not on his own behalf but on that of the women and children, and that a Christian is told to forgive his own, not other people's enemies. In other words let him consider himself sufficiently identified with the women and children to feel hatred on their behalf, but not sufficiently identified to regard their enemies as his own and therefore proper objects of forgiveness.


But hatred is best combined with Fear. Cowardice, alone of all the vices, is purely painful—horrible to anticipate, horrible to feel, horrible to remember; Hatred has its pleasures. It is therefore often the compensation by which a frightened man reimburses himself for the miseries of Fear. The more he fears, the more he will hate. And Hatred is also a great anodyne for shame. To make a deep wound in his charity, you should therefore first defeat his courage.

C.S. Lewis-The Screwtape Letters

In the times where fear runs rampant, and courage runs the gauntlet; hatred becomes the sustenance of cowards.  To face fear with courage creates the ability to love.  Facing fear with cowardice spawns the debauchery of malice.   

If the manipulation of other people for the sake of control  becomes a means to success; exploiting fear by inciting hatred tastes not only palatable but delectable.  The bitter flavor of rancor is an acquired savor, but once a tongue becomes accustomed to it, a ravenous hunger for hatred consumes without remorse or regret.