The Un-Civil Discourse

 

Xenomorphone

Bp. Joseph Boyd (Ancient Church of the West)

Western secular life is meant to “uncivilize” us in a way that is both aggressive and also insidiously affective. We understand human psychology and motivations like never before, and this information has been turned around upon us to be used as propaganda and social control - not to make us more cultured, more civil, more able to think and make nuanced decisions, but in order to capitalize upon our basest urges and make us unable to resist the most ridiculous advertisements and social media trends. 

Our culture and educational systems have been grossly abused to create consuming, selfish automatons, who are broken into the smallest relational units possible by no-fault divorce, porn, gaming and radical feminism. The multigenerational family fell 80-100 years ago, and the nuclear family fell within the last 40. 

Now the individual is under mental attack from smartphones, fast food, the gig economy, heavy debt, a lack of fulfilling marital and parental relationships and the fear of having children. The last two years of quarantines and lockdowns have only made the situation worse, as the personal gravity of loneliness continues to collapse us into individuated black holes. 

We have ended up an isolated, depressed, fearful, reactionary, angry mess, and now this confusion and disorientation is being channeled towards politics - Socialism on the Left and radical racist and fascist ideologies on the Right. Young people can't image getting married or having children of their own. 

We have nowhere to go but down, folks, if this uncivil way of life is not radically challenged, and I am not seeing nearly enough of our leadership talking about it! Heaven help us! These are the last thralls of a suicidal, Western un-civilization!

"What is the solution", you might ask? 

My honest opinion is that the local, communal, liturgical, spiritual Tradition of the Church - face to face and off-line - is the only thing that will save us! We have to intentionally limit our access to technology, so that we can become human again. 

It might seem like the hardest thing in the world to do, requiring us to shut down social media, put down our smart phones, and talk to people we don't know at the supermarket. But, it is the only way forward, if we are going to become real Christians, and not just Instagram models of Christianity. This is the new asceticism. This is the new "desert." Withdrawing to a place where we can think, pray, and be, without constantly worrying about how we appear to others. It's humbling and limits our sphere of influence. That's the point. Becoming local, focusing on face to face encounters, worshiping in community, makes us become real to ourselves and others. 

May God help us to put down our phones and pick up our Cross and follow Christ!