Btw, "But wherever God is painted as a punitive authoritarian who must be bought off by some messianic figure, I suspect some punitive authoritarian holds the paintbrush." – brilliant
'"Justice” or arightedness, as I prefer to translate the word these days, is a restoring of the web of relations. This cannot ultimately be legislated or managed"
This seems to me to be one of the key ruptures of our times, and something your introduction to Illich, along with Dougald Hine's writing, has helped me to think with. Adopting a posture of faith, of arightedness (I love that translation), involves accepting of the limits of what we can or should control. Not easy, for a culture habituated to measuring and managing everything by percentage and degree.
I'm interested in the tension between this posture of arightedness and the Messianism you've been exploring. In some ways the desire for everything to be properly controlled and managed feels like the desire for a Messiah - a false one, perhaps, a benign dictator who sets things right through legislation rather than a way to restore the web of relations. Looking forward to reading more!
Yes I think you're right Angharad. Messianism is so interesting to me, partly because it's definitely not a silver bullet toward redemption. There are so many disturbing messiah figures, not least, as you mention, the controlling strongman who forces everything into line (I believe Trump was hailed "the Lord's anointed"). In that respect the idea kind of feels like a mirror of the political imagination of its adherents. I somehow feel there's something helpful about externalising and personifying those ideas as the messianic thought experiment makes possible. Perhaps it helps us clarify what we don't wish to believe in, as well as what we do.
This feels very real to me; it is tightly woven and holds up to scrutiny. It comes for me at a time when there is difficulty adopting a prudent yet benevolent opportunity for 'accused' and
'accuser'. And a good starting point for decisionmaking and web-building. Thank you!
Thank you for the superb insights AND writing!
Btw, "But wherever God is painted as a punitive authoritarian who must be bought off by some messianic figure, I suspect some punitive authoritarian holds the paintbrush." – brilliant
Yeah...that bit.
'"Justice” or arightedness, as I prefer to translate the word these days, is a restoring of the web of relations. This cannot ultimately be legislated or managed"
This seems to me to be one of the key ruptures of our times, and something your introduction to Illich, along with Dougald Hine's writing, has helped me to think with. Adopting a posture of faith, of arightedness (I love that translation), involves accepting of the limits of what we can or should control. Not easy, for a culture habituated to measuring and managing everything by percentage and degree.
I'm interested in the tension between this posture of arightedness and the Messianism you've been exploring. In some ways the desire for everything to be properly controlled and managed feels like the desire for a Messiah - a false one, perhaps, a benign dictator who sets things right through legislation rather than a way to restore the web of relations. Looking forward to reading more!
Yes I think you're right Angharad. Messianism is so interesting to me, partly because it's definitely not a silver bullet toward redemption. There are so many disturbing messiah figures, not least, as you mention, the controlling strongman who forces everything into line (I believe Trump was hailed "the Lord's anointed"). In that respect the idea kind of feels like a mirror of the political imagination of its adherents. I somehow feel there's something helpful about externalising and personifying those ideas as the messianic thought experiment makes possible. Perhaps it helps us clarify what we don't wish to believe in, as well as what we do.
Arightedness. The word is a gift. Thanks.
Very glad. Might explore it some in a future post.
This feels very real to me; it is tightly woven and holds up to scrutiny. It comes for me at a time when there is difficulty adopting a prudent yet benevolent opportunity for 'accused' and
'accuser'. And a good starting point for decisionmaking and web-building. Thank you!
Thank you for reading Karen 🙏🏻