"Truly He taught us to love one another
His law is love and His gospel is peace
Chains He shall break, for the slave is our brother
And in His name all oppression shall cease."
- Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure, 1847
You've probably heard Anita Bryant sing it, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. But not together. Or probably not even on the same CD. But if you're like me and make playlists on your iPod, probably on the same playlist. It's a beautiful song, though in my mind mostly a meaningless hymn to an uncaring god. I heard the verse above this morning while I was walking through the frozen remains of a Winter Wonderland to buy a package of shredded cheddar cheese, and at the end of it I thought, "Do we live that way? Really? Love and peace don't seem to be what our lives are about, and there is plenty of oppression. If the verse is true about Christ and Christianity, then this supposed 'Christian nation' seems to be a very unChristian place."
No, Christ is no more relevant in America at this time of year than he is at Easter or any other time of year. Christmas is about Consumption in modern America, where the unifying Creed is a nihilistic narcissism -- or is it a narcissistic nihilism? Let's stick with the first one. Narcissism, or extreme self-absorption, without any driving belief or purpose behind it, is the sum of the messages we are fed every day. As Barbara Eirenreich, Matt Taibbi, and surely others point up, the most visible and vibrant "Christian congregations" in America feed those very same messages, more and more in the very same language. I claim not to be a Christian, probably mostly because of my disgust with what passes for Christianity today.
This is not a "there was real christianity back when I grew up but it's all gone to rubbish today" rant. No, I came to the conclusion somewhere around the age of 12 that if Jesus came back today, the Christians would be the pharisees and sadducees he railed against. He would hang out with -- as he did then -- the whores and druggies, the working poor and the desperate. Our American government would be the Caesar he would dismiss. The superrich he would condemn the way he did the ... superrich of his day. "The poor you will have with you always," he said then. He may as well have said "the rich you will have with you always," and it would mean roughly the same thing.
No, America has been converting to this Nihilistic Narcissism since at least the mid-60s. Does it come naturally with hegemony? Is it the moral complacency of the man on top?
all good things come to an end
the second law of thermodynamics
for every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction
actions have unintended and unforeseen consequences
matter is neither cerated nor destroyed
to do one thing is to foreclose the opportunity to do something else
These are all things that we know to be true: natural laws, if you will. And yet, we as individuals and a society live as if none of them apply to us, as if we can get around them. We live like children who think they are getting one by their parents. In fact, I argue that modern society is designed to reduce all Men to the status of children. It is a conspiracy, a Conspiracy of Everyone. They are conspiring to control us, and we are conspiring to give up responsibility.
We've also turned away from our received wisdom. The "old sayings" and the biblical principles and the findings of writers and thinkers from ancient times -- or any time before our own. The "old sayings" became cliches because they were the product of generations of experience. We don't listen to things like "neither a borrower nor a lender be," "judge not lest ye be judged," and the Seven Deadly Sins. No, that's all old-fashioned and not applicable to The Modern World."
No, in The Modern World, our job as citizens is to Consume. Borrow to the limit of our income stream's capacity, then beyond. Always Procure More. We must do so in order for the economy to constantly expand, and produce More and Greater Profits. Take care of your credit score, it is your measure of personal value. If you want it, go for it. If you want to do it, just do it. You can have it all. Have it your way. You can be whatever you want to be, if you just put your mind to it. Extreme. No limits.
I don't want to continue to live that way. It is unsustainable. I want to live in a way that if the system collapsed tomorrow, I would be able to survive. What if I had to be a hunter-gatherer again? Or with a little agriculture? I want to use only cash and think about others and be part of a community that is concerned for each other and takes care of all. I want to not watch TV, and keep my mind free of the messages from the narcissism culture.
"Rise up rise up
With wings like eagles
You run and don't grow weary
Take my hand
and Hold on
Hold on tightly"
It's Christmas Day. The holiday means very little to me. It seems to have more of a negative meaning to most people. They approach it with a desperateness and panic that indicates fear of disapproval. Damn, I don't want to go shopping for gifts, but everybody will get pissed if I don't get them something good. Gotta have the most extravagant light display. Gotta get together with family even though none of you might really want to do it. Supposedly to celebrate something very few of us really believe in. It's a fake holiday, a creation of charlatans and advertisers. And there I was at 6 AM, in Walgreens, looking for something for my wife, because I knew my effort had been insufficient. And in a few hours, I will climb into my car and drive hours to eat with my parents, which none of us really want to do. Oh well, can't change the world in a day.
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