A Cosmological View of the Failing West Pt. 1

Cosmological View of the Failing West Pt. 1

In the last few posts I have been, as a scientist would, putting a hypothesis, and then testing how it measured up to observed reality. My hypothesis has been that some malevolent super-human being has been at work. In every way we have found that the sort of changes occurring in the past half century (or more) are exactly what such an intelligence would seek to introduce for the purpose of sowing mayhem, increasing human misery, and destroying the benefits introduced and refined by God-fearing men and women over a very long time.

Now it is time to step back and fit this into a cosmological framework. This is made harder by one more change in our current socially constructed “web of belief” - one which again would undoubtedly suit our hypothesised malevolent being! We have largely discarded belief in the super-natural. Our forebears had no problems with belief in spiritual beings, but we have invented the idea that our “scientific” society has outgrown such infantile ideas. (Yet ironically we are simultaneously destroying the intellectual rigour and honesty necessary for real science, and forgetting that much scientific method was developed by devout Christians who looked for cause-and-effect because of their belief in the nature of God and hence of His creation.) So I may be battling on two fronts: upholding a view that science depends on the existence of absolute truth, and that as well as the physical environment which we can test scientifically there are spiritual realities which we cannot.

So let me expand my cosmology to the traditional Christian one. (this is not the same as the popular one. The “folk religion version of Christianity” is often contaminated with a good deal of the pagan cosmology endemic in places before Christianity came to them)

In our cosmology we have of course God. As philosophers have said “the un-caused cause, the un-moved mover and un-created creator”. For Christians our concept of God is different to all other religions. As regards the being of God, for instance, Moslems envisage a simple being: we see God as Triune – we can neither adequately explain nor envisage this, we can at best say that God is one, but internally Father – Son – Holy Spirit in relationship. Hindus (and hence the derivative Buddhism) see God as subsumed in the physical world. We see God as quite separate from His creation, though the Son did take human nature, and being born of a woman lived on earth at a particular place and time (which we term His “incarnation”). So the Christian concept of God's being is much richer than the Moslem, and totally incompatible with Hindu & Buddhist.

We also believe in angels – beings that are “spiritual” by which we mean not of the substance of the physical universe – although they can manifest as people. We believe that some of these spiritual beings – led by one we call the devil or Satan – rebelled against God. They are, as many other religions agree, evil. But we alone of religions say, of much less power than God (as against the common Eastern “dualism of good and evil”). Indeed it is the central tenet of Christianity that God, through the Son in His unique human-divine nature gained total victory over the devil by Christ's death and resurrection. We get into murky waters when we try to make the dynamics of this victory understandable to the society of our day, but the result is simple enough: God can because of it be true to Himself and yet forgive sinners who turn to Him, and can at a time of His choice destroy the devil and the evil spirits aligned to him.

In the meantime the devil and his angels – like many a retreating army devastating the land they once held captive - seek to hurt and destroy all that is dear to God, which most of all is the human race. Christians hold that God has set a day when he will end this and destroy the devil and all, both human and angel, who have chosen evil. Before that time, both human and spiritual agents of the devil have freedom to cause harm – but only up to a certain point.

This gives Christians a unique cosmology, and one which adequately explains the observable facts of the world and particularly of human behaviour and society. More next post.

Kingdoms Rise and Fall

Kingdoms Rise and Fall

The Ottoman Empire ended with WWI. Before that it had been styled “the sick man of Europe”. Before before that again the Roman Empire based in Constantinople had at one time been a flourishing and powerful civilisation, But by the time of the Muslim invaders had lost its inner vitality and fell.

Then in the Middle Ages, the centres of learning, of science, mathematics and philosophy were all in the Muslim East. But then they declined and the West advanced and with the Industrial Revolution completely dominated.

In England one can visit ruins of centrally heated Roman villas and baths that indicate a level of comfort at least that was not regained until the nineteenth century.

Perhaps in centuries to come history will say the same things about our time. Perhaps they will talk of the Anglo-American era, or use some other name for what will seem to them a tiny blip of “democracy”, middle class wealth, prosperity, health and scientific achievement. It may be millennia before what we enjoy now is regained – if ever.

Think for a moment what we take for granted.

Rule of law: this is fundamental to universal prosperity. It is in itself a superlative “good”. It is part and parcel of a free society. Historically it has not been common, let alone the norm. Even in our time, few third world countries enjoy it (that one reason for their poverty in places that abound in natural resources or rich soil). China as I write is sweeping away the last vestiges of rule of law as Xi Ping tightens his grip on power. Even Western nations are dallying with progressive socialist notions that “the end justifies the means” to discredit it.

Freedom from poverty: True “the poor are always with us”, but it is relative poverty, not the absolute poverty of the third world! We live in a time of wealth, not for the few but for the masses.

Good housing, clothes enough to keep us warm, food – not just for survival but in vast choice and quantity such that obesity is a common health risk! Natural energy for heating, cooling, lighting, labour saving machines and transport. We forget just how well off we are.

Science and technology. I can't even begin to catalogue the technologies that would have astounded our forebears even two hundred years ago! In the field of health alone we understand so much about disease that we can take effective preventative measures. (sewerage systems are possibly the biggest lifesavers ever). We have diagnostic tools that for most people are beyond our comprehension – bringing the danger that we simply equate them with the “voodoo” of folk medicine. We have surgery that improves and prolongs lives. We have antibiotics – but we risk loosing the race against microbes becoming immune to them. We have mass vaccination – but risk loosing communal immunity by pseudo-science convincing people immunisation is bad. And the politicisation of science we are currently seeing in the West risks destroying the core integrity essential to it and in turn destroying our ability for scientific achievement.

Freedom of speech, and religion. We have recently had a plebiscite on “same Sex Marriage” in Australia. 80% of voters responded. Of them 61.6 were in favour and 38.4 against. The only electorates where there was an overwhelming “No” vote were the predominantly Muslim enclaves. Firstly we have here illustrated why Muslims see us as decadent and irredeemably immoral, giving us some insight into why Islamist terrorists can recruit among home-born Muslims, and portending ill for the future. Secondly it shows that Judeo-Christian values have been rejected by the majority. Thirdly it is becoming apparent that this was not an end in itself but largely desired as a device to suppress freedom of speech and the suppression of Christianity. Time will tell how this plays out.

Education. Never has information been so readily available. The printing press was revolutionary in this regard. The internet is orders of magnitude more so. But information alone is not education. Training in the tools of “reading, writing, and arithmetic” is a big part. Learning a framework – whether of history, science, literature and so forth so that one has something to “hang” pieces of information on” and analytical tools to sift truth from error – or downright falsehood are essential to “education”. Discipline – then internalised as self-discipline, the duties we owe as well as the rights we should enjoy are all part of the socialisation that rounds out the education process. True we have universal schooling, we have a high rate of literacy (not universal – I found it Common in a farming community that wedding applicants would have the girl fill in the form because the boy only literate.)

But …. Asian countries are leaving us behind in the levels of training they are achieving. Not a good sign for our future. Worse, we are failing to teach the basic tools – in physics for instance not teaching the basic laws and how to apply then to new problems. In discipline … we have failed utterly and this is already coming back to bit us! Worst of all, Marxists, who have been infiltrating our education systems and training colleges for the past century have triumphed! Kids are being indoctrinated not educated. Socialist dogma is fed to them all the way through their school (and university) time. We are turning out young people convinced of the truth of socialist politics but ignorant of the devastating effect it has had on the lives of people and the wealth of nations wherever it has been implemented.

But wait there's more: Marxists are now using current tide in favour of homosexuality to introduce destructive teachings that even Marxist countries would stamp out – though of course their introduction into free societies to facilitate social destruction and revolution are part of their play-book. Homosexuality is being pushed to the extent that normal kids are being made feel they must be homosexuals. Gender fluidity is being pushed. (My wife yesterday had lunch with an old school friend who told her that one of her daughter's friends had just had a baby and the couple have announced that they will let the baby choose its own gender!) Boys and girls are being made to doubt that they really are male or female – and even have sex change operations at young ages when they cannot comprehend what they are doing and have not yet experienced the normal hormone rush of puberty. This is so terrible I do not have words to express my feelings! But it is happening in our schools!

My conclusion is that we have been living in a golden age – but also in a fools paradise. We are neglecting to do the hard things necessary to retain let alone improve what we have enjoyed.

As olden day civilisations succumbed so shall ours unless there is awakening.

Social Stresses Weakening Nations

Social Stresses Weakening our Countries.

Unintended consequences destroy the best laid plans of mice and men. 

But on my hypothetical “super-human spirit intent on causing misery to humans and destruction of Christianity and all godliness”, unintended consequences are a delight. One can motivate us dumb humans to adopt policies firmly - fanatically even, believing that we are doing so for the good of humankind all the time kept blind to the fact that the real consequences will be just the opposite.

I live and work in a small suburban fringe town 10kM from the next hamlet. Traffic is not a problem! But for workers in the inner suburbs an hour each way to and from work in frustrating traffic jams is the norm. For those on public transport routes waiting for an already overcrowded train, tram or bus and the subsequent jostling ride is only marginally better. So people arrive at work already stressed and cranky – how easily the day only goes downhill from there on! Then they arrive home exhausted and frazzled – kids to bath? Family dinner to make? It all seems a crushing burden: no wonder birth rates are dropping alarmingly in first world countries!

Then our well intentioned activists shout: “No more freeways!” “Public transport is all we need” and “The future is car-free”.

Half a century ago those of us at school were taught that cities were like concentric circles with CBD and industry in the centre and transport routes radiating out. Residential development surrounded these or made ribbon development following the train lines. Maybe once cities were like that. Not today! True there is still the “downtown” area. But additionally there may be multiple CBD-like centres scattered around it. Some of these may be particular areas of heavy industry. But most people travel, not to the centre or even to a subsidiary centre, but cross-town from where they live to the small businesses and factories scattered all over the city. You simply cannot service the bulk of a modern city's travel-to-work needs by public transport. It is just too complicated a web. Add to that all the tradesmen – and there are lots of them in a western city – needing to carry heavy tools and materials and the problem magnifies. The idea of a car-less city is an impossible dream: but its currency serves to stifle good road planning and development – and adds to the build-up of social frustration and time waste.

Then there is lack of provision for the needs of working women. In the last half century or so the ideal of the stay-at-home mother has vanished like the morning mist. But provision for her to still be a mother and balance career with the vital role of nurturing kids has not followed pace. 

I had one parishioner who was a highly competent executive. When she had a baby she looked for part time work. There was nothing to be had at her level. She was told repeatedly that it was “all or nothing”. She chose the “all” but you can guess the extra stress this generated.

Another lady worked as a high level consultant for the United Nations. In every studyshe wrote up the UN insisted that she include a section detailing how it would affect women's lives. So you would think the UN would be sensitive to the needs of the women it employed. Not likely! She would start early because, as she explained to bosses, she had to leave on the dot of 5pm to get to the child-care centre before it closed. Did they accommodate this reasonable request. No! The bosses liked to start late and never got round to commencing the meetings they wanted to have with her until nearly five! She had to give up that job.

You probably know many similar examples. The point is that “we” being Western societies have made one huge change in life and work practices, but have not made the subsequent necessary changes for it to work out well for people. Result: stressed out people and families missing out, giving stressed and fragile communities.

These are just two areas to demonstrate how unintended consequences are coming back to bite us.

Stressed Nations Succumb Pt 2

Stressed Nations Succumb  Pt 2

Last post I said that our nations were in a state of psychological civil war, but then I got a bit off the topic. Let me finish that idea and then I will go on to look at some of the factors making our societies stressed.

Nearly a decade ago I was struck how some of my friends (OK one in particular!) could not talk about then President Bush without bubbling over with anger. It was an anger that really amounted to hatred, not just of Bush's policy decisions but of the man himself. This friend really saw Bush as an evil man.

In the past year democratic elections have supported “Brexit” and elected Donald Trump as president. Progressives have not stoically accepted these reverses as people on both sides of politics have in our past, but have been enraged. In the US we saw demonstrations by people who actually wanted to overturn the result of the election! This only used to happen in third world countries! And in third world countries the elections may have been rigged, but in the US the election was carried out according to the law of the land. So to actually want to overthrow the decision of the voters was a very serious and disturbing development.

We are getting to a situation where progressives are increasingly minded to use all the devices of their Communist or Fascist philosophical forebears against their fellow citizens to make them toe the “party line”. The “silent majority” (if they are still a majority!) keep silent out of a very real sense of fear, but come elections where they can vote in secret they make their voices heard, hence Trump and Brexit.

As Jesus said “A house divided against itself cannot stand”. Neither can our divided societies.

Now for some of the stressors weakening us. Many of these are being pushed now by progressives, but “come the revolution” when collectivists are in power the proponents of these will go to the wall. Others are just conditioning people to accept collectivist and will become much worse.

Take “climate change”. Collectivist China is not silly enough to destroy its industry by following this. No. No. you may say: “they signed up to the Paris accord”. Well of course they did! It does not require them to do anything 'till 2030 and they are already the biggest producer of CO2. So their economy is not hampered – but those of Western nations are! Could they ask for anything better! (True they have terrible smog – I've been there and seen it – but that is not CO2, that is particulates and similar pollutants – and they are curing that often by shutting down old and inefficient plants.) Russia with her huge gas fields … if you believe she will leave that in the ground you will believe anything! Besides in Russian eyes global warming would be a god thing – think of the vast froze wastes that might become farmable!

This applies whether or not you believe in human climate change – I say human because earth's climate is continually changing – it has been through 5 ice ages, and periods when it was much warmer than now – Oh, and times when it has had 15 or so times the present level of atmospheric CO2, so of course in the future it will be different to now – it's just a matter of whether we do or can influence it and whether it's going to get warmer or cooler (we may be enjoying the warm spot in an ice age!)

But in the West activists are making us do really silly things. In Australia for a start out electricity prices are going up and up because the government is mandating increasing levels of “renewable” sources. I the one state where the government is leading in this the've had blackouts because if the sun don't shine and the wind don't blow they don't get enough electricity. You can imagine what this is doing to industry, and the effect on ordinary huseholders. In other states sitting on huge gas reserves, utilisution of this gas has been banned, so people and industry face shortages and high prices. We have huge reserves of coal which used to provide very cheap electricity. Now it can't be used. There is a huge coal basin an Indian company wants to develop to export to India where they need cheap coal powered electricity for development – but activists are making banks and governments block it.

It is looking increasingly as though anthropogenic climate change theories will go the way of the flat earth theory! But supposing it is right – China and Russia are still going to push thing over the edge! But very conveniently for them, in the meantime we are destroying our own nations in the name of “climate change”.

This likely weakening of our economies and loss of jobs and living standard will make it easier for extremists to overthrow our democratic system and bring in a totalitarian one. It also makes us more vulnerable to invasion. Either way once a new dictatorship is in power there will be no more talk of climate change or “renewables” it will be produce, produce, produce. Those “useful idiots” - the climate and environmental activists will have a very quick change of mind – or a quick trip to the gulag!

That took up more words than I intended, so I'll postpone talking about other social stress factors til next time.