Numbly Comfortable

If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair.

-C.S. Lewis

As the nation debates the history of racial bigotry in America, voices are raised in apprehension around the teaching of this history in schools.  Some parents decry the attempts to instruct children in mistakes of the past; arguing that to convey the truth about white exploitation of people of color will make some uncomfortable.  

Sacrificing truth for comfort teaches contempt for truth; scorning veracity to alleviate cognitive dissonance numbs the mind and spirit to the harsh reality of the pain caused by a callous indifference to the suffering of others.  Humans tend to  accept such unshared misery as normal; blaming the victims for their adversity.  With this acceptance comes a diminished humanity; a wanton cruelty that numbs compassion.

In this state of disposable truth, nothing is strong; and the wishful thinking of the numbly comfortable leads to a despair of progress and improvement; a despair that ends in self destruction.

Who's driving the bus?

When religion and politics travel in the same cart, the riders believe nothing can stand in their way. Their movements become headlong - faster and faster and faster. They put aside all thoughts of obstacles and forget the precipice does not show itself to the man in a blind rush until it's to late.

Frank Herbert

Jaime Escalante: You only see the turn, you don't see the road ahead.

The quest to infuse politics with religion tempts the pious.  Looking at the depravity of power displayed within the gears of government disheartens even a sanguine citizen; graft and deception flourish in nearly every system and the repairs seem distant and difficult.  Revising a structure that debases elected officials and deprives their constituents of life and liberty would seem an obligatory task, but one that eludes even the most diligent seekers of reform.  In an attempt to rectify such a situation, many are drawn to the conclusion that adopting a religious basis for the state is both just and expedient.  The problem with such a solution is that it combines the power of religion- eternal, divine, and unlimited- with the temporal, terrestrial and finite powers of politics- to the detriment of both.  

The art of communal accommodation  that government seeks to embody often offends some religious mindsets. There can be no compromise when virtue and vice are concerned; thus political opponents morph into demons, vile creatures that must be destroyed.  In the pursuit of a truly good system, power becomes paramount; and laws become commandments.  Objections and reflective considerations challenge not earthy participants, but God.  In the rush toward directing the nation, those assuming control blind themselves to possible detrimental destinations, trusting that celestial guidance will protect the faithful.  

In the end, the bus is driven by desire, and the end is often terminal.  

Righteous wrong turn

God will not be used as a convenience. Men or nations who think they can revive the Faith in order to make a good society might just as well think they can use the stairs of heaven as a shortcut to the nearest chemist’s shop.

C.S. Lewis

In a society where convenience is worshiped, God becomes a tool to justify employing odious means toward loathsome ends.  Sanctifying cowardice, hallowing hatred, glorifying violence; all are easily accepted underneath the shroud of a deity designed to serve the depravity of human desire.  When Faith becomes subservient to sin, the best intentions lead ultimately to the stygian depths, and those who follow find themselves perdition bound.   Let us ensure the path we follow is guided by love, humility and courage lest we make a righteous wrong turn.

 

The undeserving maintain power by promoting hysteria.

Frank Herbert

Across the nation, the practice of inflaming passion to facilitate manipulation has ignited a blaze of willful ignorance and hatred.  The will to power has overwhelmed honesty; a conflagration of emotion has charred reason, and left logic in ashes.  Day by day, the blaze of outrage consumes critical thought and scorches consideration and compassion.   Unchecked, this uncontrolled inferno of senselessness threatens not only those deemed enemies, but the wielder of such weapons menaces their own integrity as well.

Where responsibility is abrogated in pursuit of hegemony, those in authority no longer deserve to rule.  To promote hysteria in the pursuit of power is to render oneself unfit to command; no matter what grandiose goals are sought.  Abandoning rationality torches the fabric of justice; and weaves a tangled web of corruption.

Do not let us mistake necessary evils for good.

-C.S. Lewis

One of the most pernicious mindsets used to poison public discourse is the notion that  adopting lesser evils to prevent greater harm somehow sanctifies those difficult choices.  Incarceration may prevent individuals from rending the social fabric of interdependence; but depriving other of their liberty is destructive, and the damage caused can not be considered a blessing.  

It may be comforting to redefine the harm caused to others as "good", but it lures one onto the path of corruption.  In a desire to avoid cognitive dissonance , it becomes easy to proclaim that the admirable ends justify loathsome means, and that loathsome means are now hallowed actions.  With such rationalizations, the concept of virtue begins to warp until "virtue" is indistinguishable with ones own desires.  

The carnage wounds all parties involved; the toxin pollutes indiscriminately.