Friday, February 27, 2015

The Institutionalization of Man's Depravity

Although Truth inheres in man -- in our spiritual substance -- it seems that this substance is susceptible to corruption. That would be the whole fall thingy. As a consequence, "there is a veil separating [man] from the inner light while nonetheless allowing a glimmer to filter through" (Schuon).

Or, maybe there's just this annoying veil between God and man, time and eternity, necessity and contingency, and we have invented myths and stories to explain why it's there: There extand by now one thousand and one stories, all told, of the same (JJ).

But in adam event, it's there alright -- more in some than others, granted -- and that's the main point. We forget it at our peril. And the left specializes in forgetting it.

You might say that denying the fall is the left's gnasty reason for beasting, or its first principle. Without this accursed principle it would never occur to anybully that the state can compel goodness instead of just preventing worse badness. Besides, who will compel the statist dogooders to do good?

Isn't this exactly what it is that makes Obama such an insufferable assoul? It is the very principle behind the diverse manifestations of his blinding assholiness. It is why Giuliani was wrong to call him unpatriotic, because he isn't even unpatriotic.

Being that he is a dick in "so many ways," it is tempting to point to this or that particular flacet, but Obama's asshattery is hierarchical in nature, which is why he is rotten from the tip of his ass to the top of his hat; in the distaunt tweet of the Iowahawk we have heard that the unicorn always rots from the horn.

But in turn, there is nothing new about Obama. He's just the same old slime mold, just a fadograph of a yestern scene (JJ). He's befouled this nest before and will be black this way again, who knows, maybe in two years if Nurse Ratched succeeds him.

Remangle the old testimony about pride before a slide and a haughtynaughty befalling a fool? This implied that pride and hubris sowed the slide of the humptydump that bumped our rump from its stump and into the sump. Thump!

Well smell, Schuon agrees that "pride is able to accommodate all the virtues so long as it can poison them, thus emptying them of their substance."

That's one of those cracks that maybe sounds abstracked or smackulative, but think of how the left can ape any virtue or good in the service of its opposite: democracy for tyranny, freedom for slavery, self-expression for self-indulgence, equality for discrimination, constitution for lawlessness, charity for robbery, justice for unfairness, nuance for having it both ways, etc.

Now, "under normal psychological and social conditions," writes Schuon....

Normal? Right there we've offended the left, for whom "normality" can only appear in scare quotes, and is always wielded in the service of abnormality anyway.

Nevertheless, under noumenal psychestances, "to have virtue is practically speaking to have faith, not necessarily a particular faith, but certainly faith as such."

This reminds us of what Kant said about his bewonderment at the starry heavens above and the moral law within, or in other words, about the miracles of existence and virtue, or truth and goodness.

For which we are not responsible. Therefore, the antinormal absurcumsdunces of the left profess "to have certain moral qualities, but at bottom it is to prove to oneself that one has no need of religion and that man is good by nature." Which means that the left denies man's fall while institutionalizing its depravitational force.

Which is ironic in a self-appointed community organizer, in that the very basis of community, or of the possibility of collective life, is grounded in adherence to virtues that precede and surpass us -- in the permanent things, not the progressive things that oppose and undermine them.

12 comments:

mushroom said...

Instant classic!

Besides, who will compel the statist dogooders to do good?

I'm guilty. When John Ashcroft was AG, I said that I wasn't worried. "Our guys" would never turn on us.

Pro Tip: None of them are "our guys".

julie said...

Yep.

I think Bob has hit on the best way to get past the internet overlords to come. I suspect few internet robocrawlers will grasp the nuances of freeform pundamentalism.

Which means that the left denies man's fall while institutionalizing its depravitational force.

They'd have us all base jumping without parachutes, all the while insisting that if we just go with it, we're really flying.

julie said...

Normal? Right there we've offended the left, for whom "normality" can only appear in scare quotes, and is always wielded in the service of abnormality anyway.

Yes, normal is a dirty word; the only thing they're convinced of is that nobody is normal, and anybody who appears to be is probably a monster in private.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

"But in turn, there is nothing new about Obama. He's just the same old slime mold, just a fadograph of a yestern scene (JJ). He's befouled this nest before and will be black this way again, who knows, maybe in two years if Nurse Ratched succeeds him."

If Obama had written The Hobbit he would call it There And Black Again.
He would also tell us to get off our high horse (or high pony) and quit blaming Smaug, who was a victim of poverty and institutionalized dragonphobia.

Barry O said...

Smaug shoulda been allowed to stay because Finders Keepers, and anyway he's an immigrant who just needs a place to live a decent life. The dwarves should have been cool with him staying there, and if he ate all their livestock and a few stray younguns, well, a dragon hasta eat.

Barry O said...

Plus, he's grazing locally and not eating processed food.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

"Normal? Right there we've offended the left, for whom "normality" can only appear in scare quotes, and is always wielded in the service of abnormality anyway."

Those on the left are the abinormals.

Joan of Argghh! said...

Ana Marie Cox: a Christian.

Not yet a raccoon. Still in the teeth of liberalism, but by a great Grace has made the beginning steps of loving Truth.

julie said...

Interesting, and I hope she finds much growth and wisdom along her way. It's amusing that she hasn't realized yet that being Christian - really being it, I mean, as opposed to just sort of "believing" in a general sort of way, is far more punk rock than punk rock.

I suspect part of her problem at the moment is that she doesn't know enough Christians. Or conservatives. Most I know who would question Obama's faith do so because, as I mentioned last week, it seems doubtful (by his actions, certainly) that he actually believes as she does that he has a personal relationship with his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Obama rather gives the impression that he has a personal relationship with his lord and savior, Barry O.

Joan of Argghh! said...

She couldn't avoid the cheap shots at Conservatives even while giving a quite valid, if "new believer" witness to saving grace. But I was moved toward what moved her: Christianity will accept anyone.

She put her liberal bona fides in the piece to ward off the Prog hate, and yeah, she's not EVEN radical, but there is much that smacks of a precious humility in her frank confession. A goodish start. And, if she thinks Fox News employees are Conservative (she uses it as an example of her fears) she really is still in her bubble. Saying that, she is beginning to think that truth is important in her media presence and is deleting tweets that are false political rumors.

The path of the righteous is as the dawning light of day. Her journey has just started in the misty half-light of morning. If she can learn to love Truth, all will come about uprightly.

julie said...

Yes, just so. Anybody who starts each day on her knees in prayer the way she does is off to an excellent start.

I almost feel a bit sorry for what she'll probably be going through, actually. Once Grace really takes hold, ones tastes tend to undergo a radical change. At some point, she may well look at all the ways she currently identifies herself - "a progressive, feminist, tattooed, pro-choice, graduate-educated believer" - and cringe.

Gagdad Bob said...

Last week we spoke about the need to mix truth with falsehood in order for people to accept it. I suspect that Cox requires an unusual amount of the latter. Funny, but ever since that idea came up, I keep running into it, for example, Angie -- or was it Emily? -- Dickenson saying Tell all the truth but tell it slant. Elsewhere I read of how in addressing man, revelation must submit to human limitation, AKA ignorance. God could "have eliminated all limitation," but at the cost of "treating men as un-men." Etc.

Theme Song

Theme Song