The Holocaust did not happen in a vacuum but was theoretically justified by appeals to pragmatism and the denial of transcendental spiritual reality…
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It’s been said that modern politics operates on the basis of the so-called “Hegelian Dialectic,” a method of social engineering based on a rather dismal theory about how precious little people can actually know (or be allowed to know). This theory can be easily traced to the “critical philosophy” of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), who taught that the human mind cannot transcend itself in order to apprehend ultimate reality. There are limits or boundaries to the mind’s ability to discover “things in themselves,” and at best we are left with methods (or paradigms) we devise (and imitate mimetically) by which we “manage appearances.” Even hard sciences, such as physics, can only deal with the phenomenal realm of life. The inner working of reality — the “noumenal” — is sealed off as essentially unknowable. We are left only with postulates, hypothetical constructs, models, etc., but knowledge is essentially constrained by fundamental structures of consciousness (e.g., the categories of space and time) from which we interpret any possible experience.
Instead of accepting the limits of the human mind that Kant outlined (the “antinomies of reason”), however, G.W. Hegel (1770-1831) went on to claim that the mind itself is its own endpoint, and therefore the interplay of ideas is itself ultimate reality. In other words, Hegel was an “idealist,” by which is meant that ideas (mental constructs) are the substrata of reality. The phenomenal realm is the product of the mind, after all, and therefore it is the very thing Kant said could not be known — i.e., the noumenal.
The Hegelian Dialectic is what I call “the devil’s logic,” based as it is on compromise, calling evil good and good evil, hissing out a seductive appeal to a supposed “higher synethesis” of esoteric knowledge, claiming superiority to the commonsense truth claims of experience, justifying human atrocities, barbarity, callous pragmatism, and even cold-blooded murder for the sake of power and control. From Hegel sprang Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), and from Nietzsche sprang Hitler and modern fascism. Propagandists and disinformation specialists are masters at the “Problem → Reaction → Solution” technique for coercing social change. It’s the prevailing dogma of the princes of this world, and it is regularly at work in the halls of power today.
Audio Podcast:
- Thoughts on the Holocaust (SoundCloud here)
Our present age is marked by anomie, lawlessness, deception, unconscionable treason, political propaganda and disinformation (i.e., socialized violence), and a Nietzschean “transmutation of values” which has inspired the present “postmodern” wasteland of narcissistic evil and moral amnesia… The foretold divine judgment is drawing close and soon the nations will be brought together in conflagration and self-immolation….
I have been feeling a bit uncertain and bewildered lately — not regarding the truth of the LORD and his promises — but rather about how we are to live our faith in the midst of the techno-fascist postmodern wasteland that marks our world today…. Maybe you can relate? It seems as if the judgments of God are increasingly falling upon the world system, and the godless world-spirit is hardening for its last stand. In this connection note how the world economies are being strategically undermined and systematically devalued to create a new global currency (based on a digital “credit” scheme), and how political forces seek a “coerced unity” under the banner of a global health “mandates” designed to catalog our biochemistry and DNA for the controlling powers… Note further how weak-mindedness, heartlessness, anarchy and despair are defining characteristics of the postmodern soul… Propaganda and cognitive dissonance are the “warp and woof” of the godless mass media monopoly that suppresses free speech, discounts questions that question the “science” used to justify political oppression, and that otherwise “cancels” those might dare to think clearly without following the scripted “group think” of the day.
Yeshua likened His relationship with his followers in terms using the metaphor of a vine and its branches: “I am the true Vine (הַגֶּפֶן הָאֲמִתִּית), and you are the branches” (see John 15:1-5). We derive our identity, life and strength from being made part of His life… The purpose of the branch is to be a conduit of the life of the vine. Vine branches by themselves are of little value, apart from the manifestation of fruit; they cannot be used for building things and otherwise are regarded as bramble (Ezek. 15:2-4). Notice further that the vine branch cannot bear good fruit while it remains on the ground: it must “climb” upward and be elevated. And if you look closely at a vine, it is often difficult to see where the vine ends and the branches begin.
Sometimes in our afflictions we may feel lost, confused, and uncertain of ourselves. We dare not doubt God’s love for us, though we may wonder how He might use such affliction to mend our hearts… As C.S. Lewis once said, “We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be” (Letters: 1964). There is a trust issue in suffering, and an intimacy that comes through its fires. As Kierkegaard reminds us, “It is one thing to conquer in the hardship, to overcome the hardship as one overcomes an enemy, while continuing in the idea that the hardship is one’s enemy; but it is more than conquering to believe that the hardship is one’s friend, that it is not the opposition but the road, is not what obstructs but what develops, is not what disheartens but ennobles” (Four Upbuilding Discourses, 1844).
Life is often a messy (and painful) business for us. We are weak. We are tempted, and we regularly fail. We are filled with ambivalence; we contradict ourselves; we struggle; we falter, we sin. At times we may even feel lost and inconsolably alone. But faith is a gift from heaven – the gift of God’s presence, and as such the miracle attests that “God is with us,” even in our times of darkness, in moments of sadness, heartache, confusion, anger, and fear.
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There is a gap between the “real” and the “ideal,” between our present sense of exile and our hope that one day we will be in our heavenly home; there is an inherent and ongoing dualism we experience as we sojourn through our days. On the one hand, if we make time to reflect on what is “real,” we will eventually encounter the “Parmenidean” realm of “being,” that is, the totality of sheer existence, the inescapable presence that surrounds and pervades any “thing” whatsoever: the “ground” of existence; the timeless sense of unity, perfection, and so on. The heart’s response to this awareness is humble acceptance – to surrender to all that is — in wonder over the miracle of consciousness and the sheer gift of life itself. The “real” is what “is” and that is a monolithic mystery…
From our Torah reading this week (i.e., 