Distilled Shades of Desire

Nostalgia represents an interesting illusion. Through nostalgia, humans wish for things that never were. The positive memory is the one that sticks. Over several generations, the positive memory tends to weed out more and more of what really existed, refining down to a distillation of haunted desires.

Frank Herbert

Nostalgia remains one of the most intoxicating spirits.  Readily available and addictive,  it distorts memory as it besots reason and perception.  The false recollections about the past distort the present, and taint notions of the future.  Desire crowds out reality, and delivers a contorted sensibility which easily disfigures truth.  Worse, it motivates individuals towards creating an existence based on illusion; and fuels fury when the recreation fails to live up to the dream.  

Phantom cravings create ghosts of paradise pasts; spectral images that bedevil the dark corners of human minds.  These dismal spirits frighten away reason and compassion; drowning hope and happiness in bitter dregs of haunted desires.

The pit fear full

The fearful are often holders of the most dangerous power. They become demoniac when they see the workings of all the life around them. Seeing the strengths as well as the weaknesses, they fasten only on the weaknesses.

Frank Herbert

The inability to face change and accept it as a natural progression of life breeds a fear founded upon ignorance that disables courage and engenders hate.  This pit of dread and destruction swallows not only those who spawn it, but threatens to devour those within reach of the afflicted.  To focus blindly upon only weakness denies the strength also present, and threatens to raze the entire structure of creativity.  

Creation depends upon the ability to build together; pooling resources to achieve something that didn't previously exist.  It relies on an acknowledgment that individuals produce better together; a trust that valuing the contribution of others leads to greater deeds.  Fear casts out trust; it seperates and isolates in a way that precludes cooperation.  This weakens community, and strengthens suspicious belligerence- a recipe for ruin.  

Digging the pit of fear ensnares not only others, but ourselves.  Once full, such a pit becomes a trap which hinders both hope and happiness; where despair seems inescapable.  

Faith in badness

If you live in bad faith, lies will appear to you like the truth.

Frank Herbert

For those who deceive themselves, their faith can not be anything but bad.  Truth becomes elusive, even expendable when desire for gain supersedes the value of veracity; and those who abandon impartiality abandon their integrity as well.  When the craving for victory overwhelms the hunger for fair play and justice; lies flourish and nurture a contempt for any disagreement.   Without an honest introspection concerning one's own motives, and an utmost desire for clear sightedness; lies become accepted as truth.   Indeed, moral cowardice demands a rejection of any objective scrutiny lest it upset the precarious fabrications necessary for self deception.  

One who lives in bad faith adopts a faith in badness- whether or not they allow themselves to recognize it.

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.