Hardly thinking

He who thinks with difficulty believes with alacrity.

Ambrose Bierce

Cognitive functioning requires sustained effort and focus; it compels us to comtemplate the situational surroundings and analyze the relationships therein.  It is difficult, even for the most discerning and diligent  individuals, to think objectively about the dilemmas that confront us in our daily lives, and act rationally and responsibly.  Such behavior is anything but instinctual; it necessitates both instruction and continuing practice if it is to be mastered.  Unfortunately, many find expending such effort overwhelming; and rather than struggling to think, they would prefer the ease of embracing belief.  

The convenience of adopting platitudes rather than attempting contemplative reflection tempts the indolent mind; palatable bromides swallow easily when the desire for effortless consumption overweighs other considerations.  When such slothful habits are coupled with overweening prejudice; the mind petrifies into an impediment to logic and compassion.  Belief becomes synonymous with virtue, and a foolish constancy is deified.  

Eclipsing thinking hard by hardly thinking prompts belief with an alacrity both injurious and ignominious.

Principle freedom/free from principles

When I am weaker than you, I ask you for freedom because that is according to your principles; when I am stronger than you, I take away your freedom because that is according to my principles.

Frank Herbert

Whenever the talk turns to freedom, the principle behind the discourse tends to be hidden, for too often those shouting loudest for "freedom" are actually clamoring for power. Freedom to act without facing  consequences, especially when harming others, isn't the practice of a cherished virtue; it is an act of unbridled selfishness.  To insist upon such a right without accepting the responsibilities inherent in such a demand displays a contempt for the social contract between adults in a civil society.  

The just exercise of power rests upon responsible decisions made in the best interests of the whole community; not upon the rapacious desires of a select minority.  Limiting the rights of others to satisfy a craving for situational domination leads not to liberty, but to a subjugation of moral principles to ephemeral lusts.  

Rationalizing exploitation by invoking the principle of freedom reveals not a longing for liberty, but a covetousness for control.

In this vein, the pursuit of the principle of "freedom" leads to a freedom from principles.

Rebranding Bigotry

 The problem with hateful bigotry? No matter how cherished, the stench of such a vice can't be hidden.  Thus, whenever the realization dawns that a certain mindset reeks of this corruption, it must be obscured by rebranding to prevent piercing the bubble of willful ignorance.  

Harboring hate is problematic; especially when its patron wishes to profess allegiance to the virtues of love and acceptance.  Somehow, the loathing felt must be transmuted into an expression of concern and caring; a method is required to contort vile weakness to an acceptable, even admirable display.  

Thus, opposing hateful bigotry is branded as "politically correct", "virtue signaling" and "woke"; each phrase used until its nebulously defined term of contempt loses potency.  The function remains the same- denigrating compassion and open mindedness, and sanctifying prejudice.  

Pandering to willful ignorance and moral cowardice may be profitable, but it does require a talent for dissimulation and a lack of integrity.  Rebranding bigotry remains a tainted stigma; no matter how prettily the phrase is turned.

Worsen the better

Whenever we find that our religious life is making us feel that we are good - above all, that we are better than someone else - I think we may be sure that we are being acted on, not by God, but by the devil.

C. S. Lewis

Using religion to elevate oneself above others debauches the nature of faith.  A spiritual pride imparts not virtue, but a corruption of compassion and wisdom.  It obscures both the true nature of the observer and the observed; and serves to promote a venal mindset.  Selling integrity for self aggravation squanders morality and purchases the squalid comfort of feigned superiority; a bargain where only evil gains.  Humility demands a recognition  of one's own shortcomings, along with an acceptance that each person must deal with their own demons.  

One can't sanctify personal vice by the desecration of others; this only worsens the better of both.

Little big ones

Democracy demands that little men should not take big ones too seriously; it dies when it is full of little men who think they are big themselves.

C. S. Lewis

The smallness of stature prevails among many politicians.  This wouldn't be tragic, if they would acknowledge their diminutive nature, and act accordingly.  There exists, however, a breed of political animals that flourishes in the discordant and belligerent environment that dominates today.  These people have bloated themselves with self importance; forsaking humility in a mad pursuit of power.  Their willful ignorance blinds them to realistic self appraisal; and fuels egotistical behaviors based on an inflated self image.  As such, they reject compromise and accommodation as beneath their dignity, clamoring instead for ever increasing control over the civic policy by any means necessary.  

Thus, the process of democracy dies, killed by the aristocratic demands for domination.  In the pursuit of winning, even a the cost of chaos, a republic lies slaughtered.  Scavengers pick at the carcass; gorging themselves on the carrion that was a commonwealth.  

In the name of "freedom" the little big ones make the mountains of liberty into minuscule molehills of tyranny- and laud themselves as giants in such a land.

Tumor of the times

For pride is spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense.

C. S. Lewis

Willful ignorance depends upon more that just a lack of knowledge; it requires a rancid pride to sustain it against the reality it denies.  Of all failings, pride remains the most pernicious, the most intractable, and the most destructive vice common to all humans.  It breeds contempt, it spawns both arrogance and indifference; it is a disease as infectious as it is persistent in the minds of the many.  Pride proclaims compassion weakness; it devours the capacity to empathize with others; and it happily exterminates the capability to forgive.  

When pride overshadows humanity, the ensuing darkness cloaks vice in an impenetrable gloom; obscuring self reflective considerations that might mitigate ignorance and hatred.  Allowed to spread unchecked, pride consumes faith, hope and charity; ravaging rationality and temperance in an ever increasing desire to obtain power at any cost.  

Pride has become the tumor of the times; a malignant malady of the spirit that must be excised lest it kills those who cherish it. 

Eyes wide shut

One of the most cowardly things ordinary people do is to shut their eyes to facts.

C. S. Lewis

These are times where the "facts" are an alternative to truth.  When people are trained to disbelieve their senses for the sake of conscious convenience, they willingly embrace a cowardice that leads to destruction.  Life and liberty, concern and compassion, faith and fearlessness; all are cast upon the fire of fearful ignorance.  Steadfast refusals to admit a mistaken belief would seem ludicrous and laughable if they didn't involve a death sentence; individuals and families are torn asunder over the inability to concede that a mistaken course of actions has led to the termination of life. 

Trusting in magic potions and spells for protection may provide momentary comfort, but the reality of death brings "a peculiar clarity" to the most hardened believer.  Unfortunately, there will alway be those that pander to cowardice, mouthing platitudes about "freedom" and "independence " of thought, while stoking irrational fears into a conflagration of gutless hatred.  Painful as it may be, critical thinking skills must be deployed to learn the truth; parsing out the facts and acting accordingly is the kind of courage most needed now.

The task of ordinary people undertaking these deeds is nothing less that heroic; those with eyes wide shut to the facts embrace the most abysmal cowardice.