Sunday, September 12, 2010

Obama in 'O8! (and Forever)

Sunday morning, nothing else to do, I thought I'd dig down in the archive and begin the sisyphishin' expedition of trying to organize it. No deal. I gave up trying to roll that crock up the hill in under three seconds.

So next I read this insightful piece by Dinesh D'Souza on just what motivates D'O!bama. Then I thought to myself, I wonder when was the first time the name "Obama" was uttered on this blog?

Turns out that it was in early '08. No, I don't have any magical powers. It was just a case of using my 20/∞ cʘʘnvision to see into the shadowy future casting its darkness into the past for any gnocturnal b'atman to see. Let's face it, it doesn't take much to know more about Obama than Obama knows about America. So here's my first and last impression of him in '08:

****

Will brought up a very important point in a comment yesterday. It was in response to my questions, "What great world-historical events are invisible to the jaded elites of the present? What great vertical energies (↓) are entering the world today, undetected by a spiritually oblivious moonstream media?" Will's reflections on this are worth reproducing in full:

"There is a danger here, I think, given that this might be the age when 'Spirit pours out on all flesh,' i.e., the vertical energies actually do become, in a way, more visible, more tangible, even to the oblivious MSM.

"The danger is this: the influx of vertical energies for the most part cannot find suitable spiritual anchoring, do not result in a growth of spiritual insight and wisdom, but rather the vertical energies might be suborned by the horizontal in an entirely unwholesome way.

"An example: hypothetically speaking, let's say... oh, let's say, some political candidate who's running for... oh, let's say, for president of the United States... Let's say this candidate uses the influx of vertical energy in such a way that it does not invest him with any particular wisdom -- in fact, this candidate mouths and apparently believes in the same old amorphous lefty platitudes. Only... this candidate seems invested with a peculiar type of charisma that has citizens from coast to coast virtually swooning in some orgasmystical ecstasy... no one's higher intellect is sharpened, only their *feelings* are set on fire by this candidate in some peculiar way...

"Well, as was said re: the days when the Spirit pours out on all flesh, one must be very careful not to fall for false messiahs and whatnot... meanwhile, there are those who indeed are spiritually anchoring the vertical energy influx and are doing so invisibly and with a certain amount of travail, as is necessary at this time."

***

First of all, let's get this out of the way at the outset. Are we calling Obama the antichrist?

Yes, of course.

Nah, just kidding. Let's just say an unwitting vehicle of the antichristic principle, which anyone can be at one time or another. Please, let's be mature, and discuss this in terms of abstract cosmic principles, without getting polemical or personal. No need to demonize someone just because he's an instrument of satan. Besides, he's just the vehicle, not the driver. The surfer, not the wave.

Now, what do we mean by "antichrist?" I would say that, as Christ is Word-made-flesh, the realm of the antichristic would analogously represent the "lower principle" made flesh -- the instantiation, as it were, of the energies of the Fall.

So first of all, to go along with our analysis, one must believe that man is in some sense a fallen being with a built-in -- or at least inevitable -- dasein flaw. You certainly needn't be a fanatic about it, since this comports with common sense and with virtually infinite historical examples.

You have only to know that "something ain't right" with the earthlings, however you wish to conceptualize it. Being aware of this principle is one of our greatest inoculations against utopian leftist schemes to perfect mankind, which always result in unanticipated cosmic belowback, AKA "hell on earth."

Secondly, you would have to believe that it is possible for the energies responsible for the Fall to be personified -- or, let us say, both focused and dispersed like a beam of darkness through the concavity or convexations of man's heart. As Christ is a blinding light, antichrist would be, oh, a hollow darkness visible.

Thus, to those who live in spiritual darkness, it would appear as a false light -- as, say, a single match is brighter than the sun in an enclosed room, cut off from the real source of light. And the hollowness would be mistaken for fulness as a result of its receptiveness to primitive projection. Thus, a spiritually normal person sees Obama as unusually empty while others project all sorts of wonderful things into him -- intelligence, wisdom, sophistication, prudence, courage, temperance, etc.

The Serpent -- to paraphrase our best Unknown Friend -- sssymbolizes advanced intelligence ("the most cunning of the beasts") turned wholly toward the horizontal. Thus, it is a perversion of man's intellect, as it represents a self-sufficient naturalism and total (small r) realism that betrays -- literally, for it turns against it in rebellion -- the vertical source of human intelligence. As such, we would expect one aspect of the antichristic to be high intelligence combined with extraordinary vapidity, at least for those with spiritual discernment.

But this cannot merely be the philosophical vapidity of the doctrinaire atheist or scientistic materialist or ideological Darwinian, or it could never gain traction in the human heart, which always hungers for Spirit, even (or especially) if it is the false and meretricious kind (otherwise, Balthasar or Schuon would sell more books than Deepak or Marianne Williamson).

Rather, it would have to come cloaked in some sort of seductive or hypnotic faux verticality. It would indeed have to be charismatic and charming, bearing in mind the root meaning of former, which is "divine gift," and of the latter, which is "incantation" or "magic spell."

A spiritually normal person would be alarmed and even deeply creeped out if he possessed this kind of influence over others. At the very least, it would be an occasion for the deepest humility, combined with concern over the precarious state of the spiritually famished souls under his influence.

Most people, if they knew the implications, would not want this power, because they would know that they are neither worthy of it nor competent to deal with it, any more than they are competent to perform brain surgery. But a person with narcissistic issues will be too intoxicated by the feelings of adulation to care about the souls with whom he is toying. They are just props, part of his psychic furniture.

This power is a serious responsibility and is not to be taken lightly. The spiritually normal person knows that this charis is only on loan to him (or courses through him locally from a nonlocal source), and that he is not free to use it as he will. At the very least, one could not purposely lie to those who place their trust in you, let alone on the grand scale committed by Obama.

Rather, one is only free to use this power if it is aligned with its vertical source and with vertical principles, i.e., Truth, Love, Beauty, and Unity (not relativism, idiot compassion, aesthetic barbarism, and fractious pseudo-diversity).

There is something coming through the charismatic, not from him, and as soon as one realizes this, it is an occasion, yes, for gratitude, but also fear and trembling. It is analogous to the power to send men to die for their country, only on the vertical plane. It is the ability to inspire selfless martyrs, but for what purpose? Our satanic Islamist enemies are clearly selfless idealists under the influence of charismatic leaders. So what?

Our Unknown Friend asks the questions, "Can one produce artificially intellectual, moral or spiritual inspiration? Can the lungs produce the air which they need for respiration?" No, of course not: "the very process of breathing teaches the laws of obedience, poverty, and chastity, i.e. it is a lesson (by analogy) of grace. Conscious breathing in of the reality of grace is Christian Hatha-yoga. Christian Hatha-yoga is the vertical breathing of prayer and benediction -- or, in other words, one opens oneself to grace (↓) and receives it."

Unknown Friend goes on to say that the antichristic represents "the ideal of biological and historical evolution without grace." This is a key idea, for what is a progressive? A progressive is someone who believes fervently in progress while fanatically denying its possibility, since progress can only be measured in light of permanent truths and transcendent ideals. Absent the transcendent, there is only horizontal power.

The antichrist "is the ultimate product of this evolution without grace and is not an entity created by God," since divine creation is always a vertical act or descent. Yes, all things ultimately "come from God," in the same sense that all light comes from the sun, but think of all the infernal uses to which man may put the light, darkling! For the light falls on the righteous and tenured alike.

Now, in this absurcular dialectic, Obama is ultimately a creator of those who created him. Unknown friend writes that, just as there are spiritual beings who reveal themselves "from above," there are what he calls egregores, which are "engendered artificially [and collectively] from below."

Thus, "as powerful as they may be," they "have only an ephemeral existence," the duration of which "depends entirely on galvanising nourishment on the part of their creators." [As Obama's projected power begins to fade and the illusion is punctured, we'll see more and more of his former supporters publicly asking, "what was I thinking?" in empowering this intellectual cypher. The answer is, "you weren't. You were fantasizing." Of course, others -- the true believers -- will "dig in."]

As such, the really frightening thing about these kinds of amorphous demagogues is that they are given life and nourished by the rabble they nourish and to whom they give life, in a spiritually barren cycle. The result is either spiritual asphyxiation or starvation, or probably both. And starved and suffocating men are capable of anything. [So in terms of the future psychic weather, look for a kind of blinding "psychic frenzy" from the left, much of which will be carried out in the dark.]

Ultimately, the antichrist is the shadow of the totality of mankind, as Jesus was the immanent shadow, so to speak, of the transcendent Divine Principle. The antichrist represents all that man is, and can be in the absence of divine grace. It is he who transported Jesus to the highest earthly mountain "and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory" and said to him All these things I will give you if you will fall down and worship me.

The secular extremist or fanatical progressive worships his own creation, and in so doing, gives birth to the antiword. Materially, it results in a lefthound Tower of Babel (i.e, the all-powerful state), whereas spiritually it results in a gelatinous tower of leftist babble (i.e., the vacuous but seductive demagogue who will lead the people in the direction of their most base impulses and envious desires).

Again, please bear in mind that we are simply discussing abstract meta-cosmic principles. The events depicted in this post are fictitious. Any similarity to any biologically living or spiritually dead person is merely coincidental.

15 comments:

Tigtog said...

To Gagdad re:

"The Serpent -- to paraphrase our best Unknown Friend -- sssymbolizes advanced intelligence ("the most cunning of the beasts") turned wholly toward the horizontal."

As normally depicted in art, the serpent is always seen coiled among the branches of the Tree Of Knowledge. I wonder if this is why leftist's always feel the need to tell you how smart they are, and conversely, how dumb their adversaries are? Remember, Carter, Mondale, Clinton (x2), Kerry, and Obama are real smart, but Reagan, Bush (x2), Dole and McCain, are such dullards. I actually agree that Dole and McCain are dullards, but you get my point. Why the desperate need to be seen as smart? Given their track histories, only Billy Clinton ever struck me as smart among the leftist executives. His wife is clearly a plodder. Obama is an absolute moron - thus the constant need for a teleprompter. I honestly never thought anyone could be worse than Carter, but then along came Barak Hussein.

How many real serpents really need a teleprompter?

Gagdad Bob said...

Yes, it's always intelligence without wisdom, which is no intelligence at all -- or at least it takes revenge on itself and becomes dysfunctional. It is intelligence that forgets its sufficient reason and no longer conforms to its proper object.

Tigtog said...

To Gagdad re: Blessed Day

Today is the first normal day of NFL football. As I have said before, you are welcomed to embrace the Washington Redskins. This means that you not only pull for the Skins, but push against the Cowboys, Giants and Eagles. Its a full time job. Basically being a Skins fan means you have two teams; the Skins and anyone playing Dallas.

Gagdad Bob said...

The wife is a big NY Giants fan. Had season tickets as a child, and attended every game. In fact, when her mother was pregnant with her, she went into labor while climbing the steps of the old stadium where they used to play. Her mother also dated Frank Gifford prior to marrying her father, FYI.

Tigtog said...

To Gagdad re:

"Her mother also dated Frank Gifford prior to marrying her father, FYI."

Glad to see your MIL has a good head on her shoulders. Frank is a bit of bird dog.

Giants may have a tough year coming. No meaningful running game and the defense is suspect. Good luck.

julie said...

In fact, when her mother was pregnant with her, she went into labor while climbing the steps of the old stadium where they used to play.

Whoa, that's dedication! We took L to the first pre-season game. He lasted about 15 - 20 minutes before the noise was too much. The speaker systems there are ridiculously loud. Luckily, there's an inside lounge area where it's a lot quieter and we could still watch the game, but it's probably his last one for a few years.

Joan of Argghh! said...

So many good things in this post. It has held up quite well.

In keeping with musical Sunday, Sippican has the most delectable Van Morrison video I've yet to experience. Go give it a listen.

Don't listen to wv: later. Go now!

Tigtog said...

To Gagdad re: Giants

Its a real good thing that Carolina has QB that likes to throw INTs in the end zone. Shoosh. Imagine 21 points thrown away.

julie said...

JP was asking the other day why politics should matter. Dr. Sanity breaks it down quite nicely, complete with Bobological quotes:

METAPHYSICS (What is existence?)----> EPISTEMOLOGY (How do we know it?)

The answers derived from these two branches lead directly to the Ethics (how should we behave?) that one chooses to adopt and to the Politics (what degree of force is permissable?) that one practices.

Gagdad Bob said...

Dr. Sanity is a mensch. Or the female equivalent thereof.

Rick said...

You know, Bob, I've thought about this post quite a lot over the past 2 years or so. When you wrote it, and maybe there were a few posts around the time you wrote this one, I was thinking, man I hope your right, Bob. I was a little surprised by your confidence. Because of course I was worried things would just get worse and worse, you know, the country, and for good. But you were right and a little more so every day.

Right about this too:
"Of course, others -- the true believers -- will "dig in."

I'm seeing that now. I mean, right across the street. And these people will have it very very difficult. I can't see making it more difficult for them to wake up. They need to. We need them to. That's why I don't like those billboards so much. The ones that ridicule them for their vote. On a blog is different. You can ignore a blog, but a billboard on the way to everywhere you have to go, may lead to for some...

"So in terms of the future psychic weather, look for a kind of blinding "psychic frenzy" from the left, much of which will be carried out in the dark."

So you're likely right about that too. Doesn't sound too pleasant for anybody.

Rick said...

Anyway, maybe the point is not so much that you, Bob, predicted what is playing out, but that it is predictable. As in of course it will go down like this. It can't not go down like this. It always was ineveateapple.

Gagdad Bob said...

To know first causes is to know last ends.

Stephen Macdonald said...

Once a month or so I peek in at LGF to see if Queeg is more or less insane than the previous month.

More.

It's only a matter of time before he 1. flips on Israel
2. claims Dan Rather was right all along

What's the opposite of a mensch?

Van Harvey said...

I do miss Will's comments.

NB asked "What's the opposite of a mensch?"

Perhaps a Stench?

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