Imaginary Empires

The Abstracted Mind, by Bp. Joseph Boyd

(Ancient Church of the West)

When I first learned

That other men

Believed in ways

I did not

The gauntlet thrown

To my feet

To explain this on my own 

In thought

I first attempted

To simply frame

The world 

With sacred writ

And when science failed

And history prevailed 

Then conciliarity admit 

But then upon

Further study

The Fathers were not agreed

The myth of absolute unity

Was made for human need

Instead, what was left

Was a Semitic culture

A Platonic theory

A Roman Empire of thought

No parts were smooth

Pre-fabricated 

Mutual love and submission 

It was not

At this point

Most people look

For whatever group

Gives them benefits

Political protection

Financial stability

A place of honor

And then they project

Their knowledge

Into a premade story

Of superiority 

And Divine Preservation 

Overlooking the problems

Confirming the biases

Creating an Imaginary Empire

If you do not do this

You become a prophet

Crying in the wilderness 

The next step after this

Unwilling to see any loss

Is to protect the empire

And colonize the enemy

All of this done with others

Who inhabit your imaginary space

So wars are waged online

Over definitions and projected meanings

Rites, Art styles, Music and Iconography

All commandeered to serve 

The One True Empire 

Colonies turn into backwaters

Ruled by tiny tyrants

All committed to a vision of power

That never existed in history

Families fade away

Languages are lost

Real historical and economic realities fade

And the imaginary empire

Becomes an amorphous excuse

For anything you desire -

A vagante bishopric

A vestment fixation

An apologetics blog

Where you are the Emperor

And you are 12 times the tyrant 

Of the dreaded Pontius Pilate

No real ministry is done

No real people are fed

No real worship in community

No real “people’s work” of liturgy

And the positive cenobiticism 

Of a real monasticism 

Is replaced by the toxic hermitage

Of a grumpy, self-willed, fake

Knowledge-puffed up “Christianity”

That looks nothing like Christ

His Apostles 

The Early Church

The compassion-filled, awe-inspired saints 

This imaginary empire

Is an apple

So much worse

Than the one Eve took

This imaginary church

Is an idol

More demanding of human sacrifice

Than a golden calf

Human pride is subtle

It knows it is a noxious thing

And so it disguises itself as humility

It claims that, personally

It is nothing good

Then it pours all of its expectations

Its love of power

Its desire for control

Into an abstraction

Of which the self may become a part

And the part may claim the whole

And then under this disguise

It is infallible, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-defining 

And the little man on the Internet

Has declared himself god of all

The Orthodox who declares Protestants as “mini-popes”

Is now the judge of all popes

I am nothing

My empire is everything 

I am the empire 

Bow down before me

Low

And, thus the worst pride returns

And sours, divides, destroys 

All while the self-deceived 

Think they are doing God’s work 

Now, when I hear

That others believe

In a way that I do not

I am silent

I listen

I watch myself

I know that every opportunity 

Is an excuse to hide my sin

To act as an authority

And to try to control or manipulate others

And this makes me stay silent

Because I know I cannot answer all questions

To stun or awe those I speak with

To push down on those who do not belong

To my imaginary empire

Because in so doing

I am propagating the very problem

I see in others

By Bp. Joseph Boyd