culture

The Cross Disintegrates

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I’ve been wondering about how people will regard Christianity in America in the future. This is for obvious reasons (the religious right, hypocrisy) and the personal (I love to speculate). Truth be told, I don’t see it being anything good.

First, it’s really obvious that the Religious Right et al has made Christianity synonymous with “Bigoted, sexist, homophobic, reality-denying wealth-worshiping asshole who’s a total hypocrite.” Yes, plenty of American “Christians” violate their own religious tenets which is obvious as hell when you have even a passing understanding of the teachings of Jesus. They also do not care that they are hypocrites and have no spiritual curiosity, if they ever had any. Honestly it’s kind of a joke how Christianity has gotten branded.

Secondly, the media has run with this because the Religious Right is loud. They have money, they are publicity hounds, and they are of course politically active – and useful. The Religious Right has been happy to get involved in everyone else’s damn life, and of course the media amplifies that. Plus the American media loves to both-sides things even when people are ranting or opportunist.

Third, the Religious Right is and will be defined by horrible things. Climate denial. Cruelty towards immigrants (despite a lot of that being critiqued in the Bible). Racism. Selling out. People will be hurt by this, people will be hurt by them, and they seem to enjoy that.

Fourth, and sadly not addressed, I think that non-religious right Christianity hasn’t really fought back. Sure I see some truly good people, you can find all sorts of people doing good things. But I don’t see a fight for the soul of Christianity in America which you’d think would be really freaking necessary. There’s so many people being utter assholes in the name of Jesus, you’d think there’d be a willingness to battle.

But I just don’t see it. Some of it sure, but not enough that’s big, bold and in your face. Christians should be utterly pissed at the legacy of grifters like Robertson and Falweel and the like. They should be out there in people’s faces. Heck, maybe some kind of big public act of repentance and penance that would name names.

For whatever reason, the Religious Right has defined Christianity these days. I don’t see that going away, barring some kind of gigantic Great Awakening/Bonfire of the Vanities type activity. Which might happen, but I’m not holding my breath.

So the future of Christianity, in America, is that the Religious Right has pretty much won. They have the dominant description of Christianity. It’s a cruel, greedy, unstable, pile of hypocrisy glad to elect and worship any grifter that comes along. I don’t see it changing too.

What this means is that in future political and social changing, Christianity – even people who aren’t religious right – will be judged as if they are. People won’t be looking to be Christian if they’re not into the whole asshole paradigm That is if anyone is even looking for a specific religion.

I feel a strange . . . sadness to all of this? First, that there’s just so many assholes, of course. But I feel bad for the non-asshole Christians even if I’d wanted them to fight more. I supposed I’d have liked to see a transition to a broader spirituality, but it feels like part of it will be utter, life-ruining, life-endangering failure.

But I don’t see a future for American Christianity where “Christian” isn’t at least secondarily associated with “awful person.” Maybe there will be some kind of syncretic reformist movement, but that’s just maybe.

–Xenofact

Screaming Through The Cracks

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I’ve previously speculated that some conspiracy theorists and spiritual grifters don’t so much have beliefs, but an internal narrative they’re trying to keep up. These people are constantly telling a story, and can’t really interact with people so much as constantly self-soothe by making their internal narrative external. I believe I’ve witnessed a case of someone transitioning to this stage.

Unfortunately, it’s Russell Brand. So this might get rough because he’s painful to deal with.

I had followed Brand with some interest because of his transition from weird actor to accused sex criminal to weird right-wing anti-science religious crank. There was something strange about the man, but the podcast/videocast On Brand helped me understand Brand better – though be warned, if you listen to On Brand, you’ll find Russel even more annoying in large doses.

They had been following Brand for some time, and analyzing him. This got into my sphere as it intersected with my interests in conspiracy theories, politics, religion, and medicine. Russell had been heading for crankdom for some time, but the accusations of committing sex crimes seems to have accelerated his decline – obviously crying “conspiracy” is a way to insulate himself.. Curious about what I might learn about him, I tuned in to On Brand, and faced the verbal firehose that is Brand.

Russell is a fast talker, what one wit once called his “Artful dodger” routine. He comes on fast, goes in loops, says the same things many times, asks and answers his own questions and keeps going. He also will talk to utterly objectionable people while still maintaining he’s all about Jesus, love, humanity, and so on – and of course he keeps going. There’s not a moment of self-relfection in there, and in fact it takes time to figure if he’s talking about anything.

(Often he isn’t).

But as I listened, while only occasionally regretting my choices, I could feel him trying to make leaps of logic to deal with his situation. Verbal diarrhea to try to not deal with what he’s talking about, throwing out questions as opposed to answers, and constantly not settling on any one thing. The man wasn’t just trying to do a narrative, it felt outright avoidant of reality or any form of solidity.

There was a painfulness to it, not just cringe, but it felt like part of him knew he was full of bullshit. Brand wasn’t to the stage where he was entirely lost in his narrative, he knew down deep he was bullshitting, or at least wasn’t good enough to cover up the fact he was. Somewhere in there was a person that knew he was full of it.

It was unsettling. Brand’s an objectionable person, probably outright sex criminal (if not yet tried), and is probably going to end up founding a cult before things degenerate. But he didn’t have the decades some would-be gurus had, didn’t quite have his story as smooth, and you could tell. There was a bit of cringe, a bit of fear, just enough that you knew he knew what he was.

An actor that knew he was acting while ignoring his own acts.

In time, I’m sure he’ll be lost in his narrative. But for now I could look at the man, listen to him, and see someone in transition to that constant narrative, that endless self-soothing. Much as my first experience with Knowledge Fight helped me see self-soothing behavior in conspiracy figures, On Brand helped me see the transition.

I saw an awful person who still had bits of humanity in the cracks, as he worked to seal them away. I see people like him and how they work to be awful, and see how much work goes into becoming such monstrous, devouring, living narratives. It’s uglier than I would have thought.

  • Xenofact

The Ecosystem And Greater Development

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I’ve been reading “McMindfulness,” a book on how a kind of stripped-down Buddhism became a big fad by promoting “mindfulness.” Basically you learn to be aware of stress and decisions, while of course doing crap-all to make the world a less stressful place. It’s a few techniques used as a kind of though-stopping cliche. Also it’s written rather angrily by a Buddhist, and angry Buddhist writing is an experience.

One thing the author notes, repeatedly is that such “Mindfulness” techniques are bereft of things like ethical teachings, the importance of community, etc. The famous “Eightfold Path” which is sort of integral to leading an effective lifestyle for a Buddhist is missing. Its just awareness exercises otherwise, and you’re not that aware without them.

This struck my own experiences in what I call “the ecosystem.” My meditative work, Taoist-derived, is far far more effective, insightful, and useful combined with a “big picture” set of efforts. Ethical and social considerations, reading the Tao Te Ching, use of symbolic systems like the I Ching to interpret states, and so on. Meditation without a larger structure is just different ways to sit there but not “sit there” if you know what I mean.

It dawned on me that having an ecosystem is necessary to spiritual practice and without it you’ll develop little if at all. In fact you might just be self-centered and more withdrawn, being really aware of how you’re not doing anything with your spiritual awareness.

The ecosystem provides a way to support your growth – and often that involves supporting others. To deal with ethical considerations, choices, and operate among people is vital for spiritual development. You often need people for that development anyway, even if some of us really wonder about being hermits now and then. To exist in society and pursue spiritual growth requires a framework.

The ecosystem also primes you for real growth. To ask about moral considerations, one’s role in society, and so on is to prepare you to use those insights. Your spiritual growth is not trapped inside a bubble of self- it helps you become a much larger person.

Finally, the ecosystem is a form of meditation. What does the Eightfold Path really mean to a Buddhist? What do Taoists mean when they say that sounds can “deafen the ear?” To have an ecosystem of ethics and social practices is to ask why they exist and give you more to contemplate.

Meditative practices, mindfulness practices, do not end at just being a bit more aware. That’s the beginning, and to remove the larger ecosystem of ethics, social principles, etc. is to strip down meditative practices to nearly nothing. Certainly enough nothing to be marketed in endless seminars where people are taught to put up with all the crap in the world.

I’m not yet done with this book, but I’m getting why the Buddhist writer is pissed off.

–Xenofact