Spiritual/Political/Philosophical Blog on the Nature of Truth and Falsehood and Heaven
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| Sunny Days in Heaven Spiritual/Political/Philosophical Blog on the Nature of Truth and Falsehood and Heaven |
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Monday, April 22, 2002 Thought from a Sunny Day (from my book Contentions) 37 The world is trying to parody Heaven; that is, to create heaven on earth - which is why I disagree with the churches' emphasis on building the city of God on earth - on improving the world and making it Christian. Here is some of the world's parody: the goal of instant and constant global communication. The goal of all human knowledge instantly accessible anywhere. The goal of rapid (as possible) travel to anywhere. The goal of world government or shared justice system. The goal of borderless, global economies. The goal of a single military police system to enforce good behavior among nations. The goal of a single global, popular culture and language (American language and culture exported and produced everywhere - whether people like it or not.) The goal of global mores regarding environment, population, human rights, egalitarianism in health, education, wages, and opportunity. In heaven, travel is instant and effortless. So too, communication with others anywhere in the universe; so too with information and knowledge from God. There is no government in heaven because Love reigns. The economy has no monetary basis or trading - only in sharing as everyone is pleased to share. All goods are free. There is no police force or courts of law. Culture is not popular but infinitely diverse. There are no morals or issues or claims or rights. Now, what seems so bad about what the world is attempting to create of heaven? Add this: the goal of medical science is to increase human life spans to an indefinite length. The goal of all the sciences is to know all there is to know. What's bad about that? Science will do anything it can do to further its research. It has no morality. Neither has government in conflict between expediency and human lives. The secular human effort has a goal of endless prosperity, pleasure, and health: immortality under Law, productivity for all, usefulness in everything and everyone. The goal is for a civilized tyranny, an enlightened police state, a total society and culture. Not even free of religion because it will all be essentially neutered except for a few small, quaint groups of nuns, monks, or Amish type people here and there. Society will accommodate everyone so long as they are not too obnoxious or expensive to endure. Even so, this brave new world doesn't look so bad. It is civilized after all. People live and work as usual, and inequalities will eventually be ironed out. There'll be the super-rich and then a vast middle and working class. The evil in all of this unifying decency is the godlessness - the utter despair and bankruptcy of real human life. It is peace without real peace; work without real meaning; pleasure without real joy; life without true wisdom or vision. People will live longer and will genetically design their offspring, but we shall not conquer biological death. I wish people did find a cure for aging. Then they might have time to truly get bored with themselves and sick of life. (But people who get bored and sick of life usually turn to evil for pleasure and not to God.) The world's goal to parody heaven is unstoppable. It is the vision driving Man since the Fall - desire for Eden on earth. And it is God's plan to allow Man his ultimate folly; but it is a faithless and loveless endeavor, for its chief characteristic is fear - the sowing of endless fear. Not just fear of death but fear of love. St. John who wrote the book of Revelation (or perhaps Daniel in the Hebrew Scriptures, too) was probably the first to notice this tendency toward a total culture, commerce, and government in human life through witnessing the Pax Romana and its underlying drive - absolute organization. Any head of state is, in essence, an anti-Christ: that is, a practicing parody of Christ - good or bad in varying degrees. We say Lincoln was a good Beast while Hitler was a bad Beast. Both were Beasts, though. Same with any Pope of Rome or Archbishop of Canterbury or Metropolitan of Athens. Or local Catholic parish pastor. The incompatibility between love and power always remains. Most people deny they are powerful or want power, but they do not see control as a form of power. Power is a grandiose word or idea. Control seems like a reasonable expectation, a rational desire. But control is the same evil - fear drives it, and it becomes an obsession - sometimes obvious, sometimes hidden. Self-love never wanders far from us and with it comes desire to control. Self-hatred has its roots in frustration, inability to gain a satisfying measure of control. posted by Mark Butterworth | 12:40 PM | |
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