Cynicism is simply recognizing the true fate of mankind
Absent God
A Cynical Fate
We Are Not Made for Peace
Made to War)
Many have envisioned a utopia where there is no more war and strife. Many have proposed by what method we could achieve such universal peace, though every attempt has failed. It is a strange paradox. Whether we have peace or not is obviously in our own hands, and it is hard to think of a more common goal, so why does it continually evade us? Why can’t we just stop fighting?
Because we are not made for peace.
We are a people that are designed to do battle. It is simply in our nature to fight. It is in our nature to draw a line and make war with whatever is on the other side of it. Yes, there is a part of us that craves calm and rest, but that part will always be overrun by our stronger, warrior nature. Battle is inevitable, and all of us are called to it. The need for war isn’t lessened by previous victories or having a rich life. The previous fathers’ wars do not satiate the hot blood of the rising generation.
This principle was found to be true in the shocking Universe 25 experiment with rats. The rodents were given a perfect Rat Utopia, with all the food, space, and sociality that they needed to thrive. And in every case, the rats eventually turned to self-destruction and brought about their own extinction. We may not be rats, but we carry that same fire within us.
A Divine Purpose)
But just because we are made to battle, does not mean that we have to use it for evil. Indeed, our warrior heart was given to us for a good purpose, and it is only when we twist it or suppress it that it bursts out in violence and hate.
God gave us warrior hearts so that we would have the motivation to battle our own inner demons. God made us restless in times of peace, because there is no end to the onslaught of temptation. God made us itch for a fight so that we wouldn’t be complacent about our flaws.
All of our lives are meant to be a struggle, though in the afterlife it may very well be different. Perhaps the part of us that yearns for peace looks to the afterlife, while the part of us that yearns for a fight looks to this life.
But one has to choose to wage war with the inner man. One can, instead, run from that fight, surrender to his worst impulses, and then his warlike nature has nowhere to go but outward. Even worse, because he gave control of his spirit up to the author of evil, his noble warrior heart becomes corrupted to one of cruelty.
Resolved to the Better Fight)
Trying to numb our desire to fight is misguided. That is trying to change our fundamental nature, which we cannot do.
Peace in this life will not be found by removing our desire to fight, but by each of us turning that fight inwards. Conflict never dies, but it can be transplanted. The global conflict can be internalized by the populace. We will only know peace in our society as we each accept that we will never know peace individually.
It may be a sobering reality: a lifetime of never-ending battle within the heart, but ironically, you can make peace with that war. You can accept it as a necessary component of life, something that you just have to do, and then it becomes easier. There are no easy answers, but there are at least answers.
A Pivotal Moment- The Death of God
Mankind Ascending)
In the late 19th century, Nietzsche boldly proclaimed the Death of God. The world had passed through its Enlightenment Era, scientific discoveries were breaking barrier after barrier, and industrialization would see a dramatic increase in the average wealth of the everyday citizen. With things becoming so self-manageable and positive, what need was there for God?
Even as he made this observation, Nietzsche’s words also showed extreme caution. He foresaw existential quagmires as people gave up their traditional morals and purpose. Would we be able to find a new source for motivation and decency, or would we be blessed all the way into a state of despondency and depravity?
As it turned out, humanity’s ascension was not without serious setback. There was a crippling depression, terrible world wars, organized crime waves, and continued racism. Did these serious problems dispel Nietzsche’s vision of a godless society? Actually, no. If anything, they seem to have hardened that vision in our cultural mind. So now mankind was ascendant, but also cynical, a most dangerous combination. As a whole, we still believed that we didn’t need God, but also a growing resentment against Him, one another, and all of creation.
Competition and Nihilism)
Though Nietzsche might have hoped that we would find some new unifying principle, we never did, and so shifted into a zero-sum game where every side seems to feel that they can advance only at the loss of the others. Significant portions of society have bought into the idea that everything is a struggle for power. This mindset pits poor against rich, women against men, and black against white.
If we are not all children of God, members of a universal family, then why not look out for our own interests and play for our own advantage? From this perspective, we have only to look at whoever was doing best at the turn of the century, and clearly those people were “winning,” so now everyone else needs to compete against them and grow by taking away from them.
So obsessed have we become by this game, that we have ignored the fact that no one even cares about the prize anymore. They want to win just so that they can say that they are winning, but they’re the most miserable “winners” the world has ever known. Not only have we not found a new unifying principle outside of God, but we also haven’t found a purpose outside of Him either. We say that all we want now is career, fame, and fun, but do those goals really sustain us?
Look at the end result of these worldly pursuits: incredible rates of depression, suicide, singleness, childlessness, abortion, obesity, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, media consumption, complacency, declining education, indifference, dearth of creativity, crime, and mass murder to name a few. So now we’re striving against each other to get at the top of the heap, but one has to stop and ask, what is even the point?!
A Current-Day Analysis)
It is a most disturbing picture. Nietzsche correctly saw that humanity was entering a new era, but it did not turn out to be the utopia that so many hoped it would be. The dream has become a nightmare. Suddenly, old and “quaint” fables like the Tower of Babel and Icarus flying too close to the sun become incredibly relevant. We have ascended on high, but was to our ruin and not our salvation?
As I said in my previous post, the world seems to be shifting again, but I am undecided as to whether it is to something better or worse. Now that we have this deeper analysis of society in front of mind, we are ready to look at some of those changes in the proper context and can discuss what they do or don’t say about this deep underlying sickness.
The Richness of Scriptural Symbolism- Eternal Wisdom
The Perpetual Relevance of Symbols)
The Bible is a library of many different things, including historical accounts, legal instructions, moral teachings, prophetic sayings, psalms, letters, and gospel testimony. One of its defining features is its rich symbolism, which people continue to find new interpretations and new meanings for even today.
Some of the text in the Bible is, at a minimum, over 3000 years old. It is a rare thing to have words from that long ago that still resonate and have meaning to us today. Such an accomplishment demonstrates a profound understanding of the human condition, for it is only by identifying and representing something that is fundamental to humanity itself that these symbols can be consistent through all changes of culture and context. A symbol that is tied to the very core of the human soul will re-manifest itself perpetually, keeping its importance forever new.
They say that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. But history is but a record of how people reacted to their fundamental human nature, and since fundamental human nature persists, history will repeat itself again and again, whether we have studied it or not. Every great setback that we will face in the future has already been observed, and the way that each of those setbacks will be overcome is also already knowable. When the old evils return, it is the timeless symbols of ancient scripture that will guide us back to the light.
The Qualities of Good Symbols)
So far, we have identified one hallmark of good symbols: that they represent a core part of the human soul and thus reappear eternally through each generation. With the rest of this study, I want to consider what other hallmarks of good symbols, so that we may know how to separate the perpetually useful from the context dependent.
It will be necessary to provide specific examples of scriptural symbols as a part of this study, and when I do so, I will specifically use ones from the Bible. This will serve a secondary objective of this study, which is to demonstrate the intrinsic value of that book. That being said, this study will by no means be a comprehensive list of all the greatest symbols within the Bible. It remains the responsibility of each of us to find those nuggets for ourselves and to integrate them into our own lives.
Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 19:3-6
3 And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;
4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.
5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
After Moses ascended into Mount Sinai the Lord called out to him, extending a promise and a covenant to all of Israel. My initial reaction to the things that the Lord is saying to the Israelites was that it seemed out of the ordinary. There are two qualities here that feel out-of-place for the Lord to be extending to the Israelites. One is such direct and frank communication from God, the other is promises of great blessings.
Thus far in the Biblical record, hearing God’s words and receiving His promises had been reserved for the prophets and patriarchs who had dedicated their entire lives to Him. Noah, Abraham, and Moses may not have been perfect, but they were clearly striving to be righteous vessels of God, which is more than can be said for the Israelites at this point of time. So why would God be giving messages and promises to population that was still so prone to wander?
But then I realized, that’s kind of the whole point. Moses’s great value to the Israelites was that he did have the close and intimate relationship with God where he could receive the Lord’s word and promises, and then he could then carry those back to the people who were still finding their way. Every Israelite could receive the word and promise of God, whether they were worthy of it or not. And certainly this is also the case today. Even the greatest of sinners today knows the word of God. They know about the golden rule, and that they should love their enemies, and that heaven is the reward for the righteous. They also know about God’s law for humanity, and the promises He extends to those that enter His fold. Regardless of whether they live according to these pearls of wisdom or not, regardless of whether they would ever hear these messages directly from the mouth of God or not, they still know these things and have the opportunity to accept them.
Through Moses, and the prophets that followed him, the transcendent became common. The unnatural became familiar. The divine condescended to the level of the ordinary man.
And what was the great promise and covenant that Israel received? That if they would obey God’s voice, and keep the covenant that He would reveal to them by degrees, then they would “be a peculiar treasure” a “kingdom of priests,” and a “holy nation.” In short, they would be lifted up from the base and the worldly, becoming a people set apart for the work of the Lord. They would be the Lord’s community, even while living in the midst of a fallen world. They would be the overlap between heaven and earth, a lifted and glowing ideal that no man could attain on his own, but could attain through the Lord.
Reasons for Disbelief- Social Pressure and Rationality
I spoke a little bit yesterday about how some are more loyal to a group than to God. They let society be the highest authority of what is right and what is wrong, or of what can be believed and what is preposterous. I’d like to delve a little deeper on this matter, examining the reasons for this “popularity ideology,” and how it gives people reason to stop believing in God.
Abbreviated Learning)
A major contributing factor to this is that people tend to optimize their learning by relying heavily on their trust in an authority. We do not all look through telescopes or microscopes to discover what can be found there, we just accept what we have been told by those that have.
And this predisposition to trust isn’t a flaw in us, either. It is an essential characteristic for us to progress as a race. Taking things on authority allows us to “stand on the shoulders of giants,” depending on the discoveries that came before us to be valid so that we can build something greater on top of them. Research and discovery is conducted at the outer limits of the human understanding, pushing the boundaries further than they’ve ever been pushed before. Were it otherwise, and each of us had to individually reinvent the wheel, our progress would be limited to only the things that can be accomplished in a single life-time.
While building on past work without a full context can result in catastrophic errors, and occasionally has done so, the net result has clearly been positive. We move forward and improve more often than we stumble and fall backward.
But what is the point of all this? Simply that we should recognize that we have this built-in instinct to believe anything claimed by another person, so long as they seem rational and decent. We hear what they say, and we try to update our model of the world with that new information so that we can save the time it would take for us to verify it on our own. As already discussed, this is a good thing in many cases, but clearly it also creates the potential for us to be manipulated from time-to-time.
A War of Ideas)
If a seemingly-rational person teaches a principle that does not perfectly align with the beliefs that we held before, we tend to stretch and rotate our convictions to make the new one fit also. If we cannot make the old fit with the new, because the two are in direct contradiction, we will find ourselves divided, which is both logically and emotionally painful. Sooner or later, one conviction will give way to the other, if only to restore our inner equilibrium.
All too often, the decision of which side to align oneself with has less to do with the strength of the arguments, and more to do with social pressure. It is far easier to turn one’s back on a passive object, like the Bible, than the people who are actively arguing against proper theology. It is easier because the Bible’s arguments can be shut out by just refusing to read its passages, whereas the messages of society crowd in on us no matter what we do. We feel much more obligated to give some sort of response to the challenge of other people than to faceless books. Thus, just to restore a sense of logical consistency, we might very well discard the old faith, abandon the texts it comes from, and replace it with the philosophy espoused by the incessant babbling.
So what is Reason #3 for Disbelief? Allowing our convictions to be overrun by our instinct to adopt the views and opinions of other people. This mostly represents the rational side of social pressure, but obviously there is an emotional side to it also. Tomorrow we will examine that.
Do I Even Have an Addiction? -Part Two
Try Breaking the Shackles)
In my last post I said that if are unsure whether your negative behavior qualifies as an “addiction,” simply make a sincere commitment to stop doing it. I’ll further add that when you do, be sure to consider the usual excuses people give for giving up their resolutions and promise yourself that you won’t give in to any of those pitfalls. Promise yourself that you won’t ever say “well this next time will be the last time.” Commit to never say “I’ll make the change when I hit this next milestone in my life.” Assure yourself that you won’t be dissuaded by situations or friends. Acknowledge that the desire to do this behavior will rise again and resolve that you won’t give in to it even so.
And if you feel like you don’t agree with one of these commitments, then have an honest conversation with yourself about why not. Perhaps you want to stop overdrinking but not drinking altogether. Perhaps you want to commit to eating healthy when on your own but also want to leave the door open to getting a burger with friends. Perhaps you don’t want to keep viewing pornography after you’re married, but you figure in the meantime it isn’t hurting anyone.
If you find yourself making such concessions, then I would advise still making the commitment to cut the behavior out entirely, but you can make it temporary if you’d like. Say that you won’t do the behavior, not even for any of your usual exceptions, for three months. After that, after you’ve proven whether you can have your indulgence or leave it entirely at your own whim, then you’ll know whether you’re in control of the situation or not.
Many people attempt to do exactly this and are shocked to find that the future version of themselves goes entirely off rails from what they had previously decided. They come to realize that there are two persons living inside of them, one who is calm, in control, and rational, and another who throws all that out the window in a moment of impulse. We often make the mistake that addicts are always addicts. Sometimes that is the case, but more often I would say that addicts are only addicts some of the time. Because of this fact, the majority of addicts actually don’t know that they are ones until they try the sort of test that I described above. Nothing proves whether you are a prisoner than when you see if you can open the door to get out. It is sincerely trying to stop, and utterly failing to do so, that one becomes convinced that they really have an addiction.
Or, at least, this is the point where some become convinced that they have an addiction. Even after all this, some will try to write off their failure as a fluke, as a result of improper commitment or methodology. They remain convinced that they really are their own master, they just need to have the right approach in swearing off their troublesome behavior.
Very well, let them try again and again, by all manner of different methodologies. Let them read and employ every self-help book that promises to give them full control of self. Let them have as many failures as is required to finally surrender and say that they are a lost cause.
If at any point they do manage to break free, and permanently, then well enough. They have proven something to themself and they have managed to right their ship. But in my experience, it is very much the minority of people that will ever achieve this. Most often, by the time one even begins to wonder whether they have an addiction or not, the shackles are already thick and heavy.
Your Common humanity)
It might seem a shameful and discouraging thing to learn that you are a slave to your behavior. You might feel that that classifies you as the very worst of humanity, but nothing could be further from the truth. If you felt so sure that your vices were only minor indiscretions, and then discovered that they were addictions run amuck, you can be sure that there are untold billions for whom this pattern holds as well. In fact, you are in a more elevated minority simply by having come to accept the truth of yourself. Most people choose to remain completely self-deluded.
The fact is none of us get a free pass in this life. Either some tremendous hardship, or addiction, or both will take us all. We each will be broken by something that we cannot control. The fact that you don’t have the power over your own behaviors only means that you are human. Along with learning that you are no better than the rest of us, also be sure that you are no worse.
Or, perhaps, even after testing your resolve and finding it lacking you still feel anxious about the label of “addict.” Perhaps you acknowledge that you have a problem, that is it out of your control, but you still have some bias that prevents you from describing that problem as an addiction. Tomorrow we will begin examining the semantics of it, and the social influences that cause us to shun these labels.
Perpetrator and Victim: Part Four
The Victim’s Veil)
In my last post I discussed the reasons why an addict who has hurt others will avoid facing the realities of his crimes. I discussed the difficult questions that come up when one contemplates the wrongs that they have done and what those actions imply about them. I also suggested that while the truth might be grim, it is nonetheless necessary to embrace it if the addict is ever to reclaim their soul.
And I don’t think that anyone would disagree with me on any of these points. I think we can all agree that the perpetrator of abuse is clearly in the wrong and needs to own up to his mistakes. All of us wish that the people who have hurt us would do exactly that.
But what I believe is less universally recognized is that the victim is often also detached from reality. Suffering at the hands of another is a profound experience, one that often shatters the victim’s worldview and introduces some false perspectives that, just as with the perpetrator, divorce the victim from truth and healing.
A common theme in this series is going to be that both the perpetrator and the victim have a different, yet parallel journey to walk. Both need healing, both need reconnection to their Maker, both need to be saved by grace. Many victims might initially balk at the idea that they need to do anything as a result of being hurt by another. They don’t have any guilt in the matter, so why do they have to make any change? This is a completely understandable reaction, and there is great need to be sensitive in these matters, but just as the perpetrator must face the reality of their situation, no matter how unpleasant it may be, so the victim must as well. At least they must if they ever want to be whole again.
Today we will look at one broken worldview that the victim might hold. It may not apply to all victims, but it certainly applies to some. Today we consider the danger of vilifying perpetrators and viewing victims as being incapable of any wrongdoing.
We Are All Perpetrators, We Are All Victims)
I mentioned yesterday how we tend to divide humanity into different groups, and how the most fundamental division is into people that are good and people that are evil. We all have our personal rubric by which we decide which people go into which camp, and I pointed out that perpetrators avoid facing the reality of their sins because their actions have betrayed their own rubric, so the moment they face the full weight of those actions they have to start realizing that that means they are one of the bad ones.
In the victim, these divisions of good and evil are perhaps even more pronounced. Clearly, their abuser is in the camp of the evil, and since they view themselves as being the opposite of their abuser, they must be on the side of good. They may not think this consciously, but the fact that they suffered at the hands of evil becomes an evidence to them of their own rightness and virtue.
But I think all of us can appreciate that this is a grossly oversimplified view of the world. One example that shatters this black-and-white sort of thinking is the fact that “over 75% of serial rapists report they were sexually abused as youngsters.” All of us have our heart go out to those who are abused as children, and rightly so. At the same time, most of us passionately condemn those who forced this abuse upon the children. But rarely do we consider the fact that there is a massive overlap between these two parties. How do you resolve the fact that the poor, victim child is also the sinister, abusive villain? At what point do you stop caring for him as the victim and start hating him as the perpetrator instead?
One example of this blended reality is when we see perpetrators of abuse justifying their behavior by bringing up their own suffering. They had a hard life, they weren’t raised in a good home, they were denied the opportunities that others had, they were victims of family, friends, and society. In the most extreme cases we see people using this sense of victimhood to try and get out of literal murder!
Even without going to such extreme cases, we probably all know people who dodge every-day criticism by holding up a shield of “well you can’t talk, because you haven’t gone through what I have!” They view themselves as above reproach. Their suffering has given them a lifelong get-out-of-jail-free card.
Another example of how we ignore the connection between victimhood and abuse came to me as I served a mission for my church in a foreign land. One day I watched a mother beat her toddler son. I asked her what she thought of boys who grew up to strike their wives and children and she suggested a very particular form of dismemberment for them! I then asked where she thought they learned to hit people that were smaller than them in the first place. She had no answer for me.
The simple truth is that all of us have suffered at the hands of others and all of us have made others to suffer as well. We make a mistake when we view these at two separate camps. Really they are one unified whole.
Two Sides of the Coin)
None of which is to suggest that we excuse acts of abuse. None of what I have said means that the victim should not feel hurt, or that the perpetrator should not face justice. Wrong still remains wrong, and the fact that the perpetrator was wronged before does not justify the wrong that he then perpetuates upon others. But we cannot point out the fact that there are perpetrators who inappropriately justify their crimes by their past victimhood, without also proving that there are victims today who are starting to inappropriately use their pain as a shield as well. The two notions are inseparably linked.
Just as the perpetrator is at risk of living in denial of his past wrongs, the victim is at risk of minimizing their future wrongs. Each of them need to be able to face the abusive transaction between them and make space for the pain that was endured, but do this without enmeshing it with their personal sense of rightness.
The victim that feels justified and exonerated because they have been the sufferer of abuse must recognize this tendency of thought and deny it. They must embrace a broader, truer view of themself and the world, one that allows for both justice and pity for all people, whether they are perpetrator or victim or both.
Of course, there is also the matter of the victim taking the opposite path, and viewing themselves as fundamentally bad and broken because of the abuse they suffered. Tomorrow we will consider this form of disconnection from reality, and how it is just as disastrous.
Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 9:1-4, 6
1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth
2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
6 Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
Today’s verses continue the theme of a new beginning for humanity. God is renewing the exact same commandments that He gave in the Garden of Eden, such as for mankind to “be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,” and to have dominion over the animal kingdom.
The instructions are not completely the same, though, there are are a couple of differences. Now God mentions that the meat of animals is given as a food item, while in the Garden of Eden He had only mentioned fruits and herbs. There is also a new forbidden food item for humanity. Not the fruit of the tree of the knowledge anymore, but blood. And speaking of blood, mankind is expressly forbidden from murder, and a punishment is assigned if that commandment is broken.
It stands out to me how the story of Noah presents a shift in the relationship between God and man. All of the previous instructions between God and man took place in a simpler, idealized setting: the Garden of Eden, and as such the rules were much simpler. Adam and Eve were still innocent then, and therefore only needed very basic instruction. With Noah God is restoring His prior covenants, but several details have been added due to the more complicated nature of fallen man. In fact, I would say that God’s relationship with Noah is something of a middle ground between the simplicity of Adam and Eve and the even greater complexity of Moses and the Israelites.
Indeed we will see that the relationship between God and man becomes more and more complicated throughout the Old Testament, until the arrival of a Savior who is able to answer most of that complexity through his atoning sacrifice. Then things are able to be made far more simple again.
Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 8:20-22
20 And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. 22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
I mentioned yesterday how Noah represented a new beginning for mankind, and this notion is further echoed in today’s verses. And here we see that God is establishing a new covenant with mankind. The natural order of the world, its cycles and seasons, its days and nights, all these things will continue, and there will not be any more mass extinction.
And He promises this even knowing that man will go astray again. He calls out how “the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth,” but that doesn’t change His promise. Jesus would accurately observe “he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). From this point on it is official and covenanted: God knows that is committed to seeing this human experiment all the way through. No matter how many rebellions we make He will continue to work with us.
Spiritual Wanderings 