Early on the morning of July 12, I had a very vivid dream about the world being in chaos. I then woke up thinking, “The world’s in chaos and needs voices of reason and guidance.” At that point, I decided that I need to spend less time doing rather meaningless activities and more time seeking to be an outspoken voice of reason and guidance. Please join me in that endeavor.
Is the world in chaos? Well, it is not as chaotic as I
saw in my dream that morning. But, yes, in many ways I think there are ample
reasons to assert that the world today is, indeed, in chaos.
The physical world is in chaos because of
environmental problems that are bad now and only going to get worse. For
example, the glaciers are melting, the seas are rising, droughts are
increasing, and reservoir levels are falling. We are experiencing the effects
of “overshoot,” about which some knowledgeable people have warned us about for
a long time.**
The geopolitical world is also in chaos in many places
because of wars (such as in Iran, Ukraine, Sudan) and widespread immigration
(because of necessity or desire). Co-Pilot told me that the world is
experiencing the highest levels of forced displacement ever recorded, driven by
war, persecution, state collapse, climate disasters, and economic desperation
In the world of ordinary people, chaos is seen in what can be called social
decadence. A large part of such moral decadence is due to the President,
about whom Michael Steele recently called a “disgusting man … with no moral
code. “(This was in March, said in reaction to Trump’s gloating over Robert
Mueller’s death.)
The current social decadence in the U.S. under
the present POTUS is
evident to anyone willing to look objectively. That decadence was quite
apparent in the primetime speech Trump delivered on July 16.
Paul Krugman is a Nobel Prize-winning economist (2008) and currently a
Distinguished Professor of Law. He has also been an Op-Ed columnist for The
New York Times. Early on July 17, he posted on his
Substack account “more or less every word he spoke was a lie, including ‘a,’
‘and,’ and ‘the’.”
And this is what Jen Rubin asserted on her July 13 Substack post: “To
pretend there is any moral equivalence between the parties when it comes to
handling moral depravity is to become an apologist for the party that has
eschewed every standard of decency in favor of ruthless pursuit of power and
cultist loyalty to a depraved narcissist.”
Fairly recently, I have become a regular reader of David Rothkopf’s
Substack posts. (He is a foreign‑policy analyst and author. Among his
many books is Traitor: A History of American Betrayal from Benedict Arnold
to Donald Trump, issued shortly before the 2020 presidential election.)
On the same day Rubin’s article was posted, Rothkopf (b. 1955) wrote
how the USAmerican society
became so degraded, our values so diluted by our
desire to be comfortable, that we allowed the most profoundly evil political
leader in our history to become president and to echo the Nazis and
authoritarians from centuries past as he compiled an administration, built a
government, of people who were equally morally bereft, amoral, and immoral.
That
is not to say that any democratically elected leader will be a saint or
perfect. That is impossible. But we can value moral rectitude more than we do.
What can we do to be a voice of reason and guidance in this
chaotic world? This is perhaps
the question that most of us have, especially those of us who were adults (at
least 18) when the U.S. celebrated its 200th anniversary.
One
of Jesus’ most challenging and most neglected admonition is “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me”
(Luke 9:23, NRSV).
As
you know, Jesus also said, “Come to me, all you who are struggling hard and carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Put on my yoke, and learn from me. I’m gentle and humble. And you will find rest for yourselves.”
(Matt. 11:28-29).
Most
Christians, including most preachers/pastors, have emphasized the Matthew
passage far more than the challenging words from Luke 9. But rest has meaning
only after strenuous efforts for doing good and being a voice for reason and
guidance.
_____
** Many of you will remember that I have written about
this in the past, inspired to do so by Michael Dowd (1958~2023), the
eco-theologian and “evolutionary evangelist.” Here is a link to a blog article
in which I wrote about Dowd and his challenging ideas:
https://theviewfromthisseat.blogspot.com/2022/01/facing-grief-of-looking-up-looking.html
Your call to be a voice of reason and guidance in this chaotic world is well made and I hope well taken by your readers. As you know, I suffer from a considerable degree of grief and despair over the loss of our country and the subsequent chaos in the world. For those of us with nearly zero power and whose own futures are obviously short, what you are calling for is about all we can do---leave on the public table sentiments of reason and guidance, while hoping in spite of the despair that humanity will someday aright itself and stop burning down the world.
ReplyDeleteI'm rather uncomfortable raising a critical question and that's with regard to the presumptive quotations from the gospels of things Jesus is unlikely to have said. And I hope it's not a matter of quibbling because I have great admiration and respect for your deep faith in the religious tradition you and I have both grown up in and served with energy and enthusiasm. This chaotic world is full of religions with varying amounts of claims, often naively held and asserted as truth claims. As you know, I've been wrestling for years with the idea that religions, especially our Western traditions, are inherently authoritarian since they attribute authority outside human experience and reason that then presumably trumps human experience and reason. Insofar as they are, perhaps they nurture psychologies with an elective affinity for authoritarianism. In other words, I'm wondering how fully we can legitimately carry a voice of reason and guidance while affirming any specific religious tradition as the ultimately true one over all the thousands of religions humanity has created for itself over many centuries? I don't know the answer to this, but I'm leaning in the direction of asserting that it's important within our own Christian tradition to recast our faith in a more more self-critical and more universal direction.
In any case, thanks so much for this blog entry. It's something I needed this morning, other than the headlines appearing in my many newsy morning newsletters.
Thanks for your comments, Anton, and for raising significant issues. I pondered about whether to use the citations from the New Testament Gospels in the blog article, but I decided that since most of my Thinking Friends are either professing Christians or people who grew up with Christian roots, I would include those words. But please recall my May 11 blog post (the link is below) about being a progressive Christian, which includes a recognition that there are a variety of religious and non-religious voices which all deserve us paying attention to. My views about this are still deeply rooted in the thought of Michael Polanyi.
ReplyDeletehttps://theviewfromthisseat.blogspot.com/2026/05/why-i-am-progressive-christian.html
Dr. Seat, as expected, your insights incite to reflection. It is true that a depraved US president cannot be a healthy model for all, not even in the matter of promoting respect for law and the US Constitution, of which he is illiterate and contemptuous. Worse still, his model encourages the spirit of Abbaddon and the desecration of our better order; the citizen even if not loved should be able to expect equal treatment before the law, whether that citizen obeys the law or flouts it at every opportunity, being fairly assured he is likely not to be held accountable. Sad, ashamed to say, our federal government and courts are variously riven and torn, rendered caustic by power-mongers who demonstrate their fundamental atheism and greed.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy so much reading the comments from your Thinking Friends. I wish more were responding. Your blog is a call to radical Christian action. How can anyone think otherwise reading Jesus' words in Luke 9:23? Briefly, When asked what was his moral foundation for his decisions, Trump responded he follows his own moral standards. That explains a lot. Mr. Jacobs raises the valid issue of authoritarianism in western religions. To follow the heartbeat of Jesus is to place all authority in the hands of God and an unbiased reading of the Bible. His guidance says we are to serve each other, not rule over each other. Even where someone has to be in charge, it must be done from a servant perspective. We are in a chaos of our own making.
ReplyDeleteWhat can we do? Act like servant Christians in our own little world. Bug our government representatives until they are tired of hearing from us - with a servant attitude of course. Finally, in conversations don't be afraid to say what we believe about the moral needs of our country. In some circles, whether left or right, our thoughts might not be accepted. Do it anyway, but do it speaking the truth in love.
Here are brief comments from a Thinking Friend who lives in the St. Louis area. (He is one of only two friends from the ten years in the town where we grew up as well as from college, seminary, and graduate school, who is still living.)
ReplyDelete"I COULD NOT AGREE MORE. I can’t understand how anybody can swallow his lies! We better wake up or we will not have a country anymore!"
Given the world's highest levels of forced displacement, renewed authoritarian leadership, etc., your vivid dream of a world in chaos certainly describes our current nightmare. And your vision of being an outspoken voice of reason and guidance is one that every person of faith should share.
ReplyDeleteOn July 15, I started posting one thing each day that I have done in seeking to be a voice of reason and guidance. I have had something to post every day so far since then, and I want to keep this up indefinitely. I encourage you to join me in doing the same.
ReplyDelete