Fasces
Plural of "fascis" meaning "bundle."
"A bound bundle of wooden rods, sometimes including an axe with its blade emerging."
***
If everyone subscribes to the same belief system, there are no distinctions to dispute.
Whenever "the faithful" subscribe to universal accords, there can be no discord.
The promise of uniform "solution" - of "dissolving" life's problems - guarantees the appeal of fascism, not in the horrifying World War II sense, but in the sense of "binding together" in the fasces, the symbol of ancient Roman power. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasces
In a world born-and-bred to "isolated tribalism," homogeneity is, at least transitionally, more "workable" than heterogeneity.
The short-term "superiority" of (presumed) Oneness is true for ISIS, white supremacists, Jewish purists, Russian nationalists, Catholic traditionalists.
Humans find it unusually seductive to fault "others" - while exempting anyone who shares their own identity; anyone who demonstrates, by dogmatic litmus, that s/he is "identical."
The safest place to reside is within our own identity.
We feel safer still by extending "The Bubble" to include other selves whose formulary identity we can pretend to incorporate.
The safest place to reside is within our own identity.
We feel safer still by extending "The Bubble" to include other selves whose formulary identity we can pretend to incorporate.
Psychological Projection
(Psychology may be a soft science but "projection" of personal shortcoming onto "others" is nailed like a coffin lid.)
This mechanism of "projection" applies to the immune system as well.
As soon as "self" defines its boundaries relative to "not-self," the former contrives to destroy the latter.
Although this is not an opportune time to elaborate, Yeshua's psychological sophistication reaches full stride in his description of the "splinter," the "plank" and their relationship to those punctilious churchgoers most confident of their righteousness. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+7:3-5&version=NABRE
As soon as "self" defines its boundaries relative to "not-self," the former contrives to destroy the latter.
Although this is not an opportune time to elaborate, Yeshua's psychological sophistication reaches full stride in his description of the "splinter," the "plank" and their relationship to those punctilious churchgoers most confident of their righteousness. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+7:3-5&version=NABRE
Socially and politically, insistence on self-righteousness focuses the welfare of "self" and the concomitant derogation of "others."
Often, nothing short of "eternal damnation" is fit retribution for "infidels."
Often, nothing short of "eternal damnation" is fit retribution for "infidels."
Admittedly, this mechanism for self-justification is pure.
Very pure.
On its own terms, it is devoted and noble.
In the eye of the beholder, it is even "godly."
Very pure.
On its own terms, it is devoted and noble.
In the eye of the beholder, it is even "godly."
But it is also un-real, counterproductive and ultimately anti-Life.
"The terrible thing about our time is precisely the ease with which theories can be put into practice. The more perfect, the more idealistic the theories, the more dreadful is their realization. We are at last beginning to rediscover what perhaps men knew better in very ancient times, in primitive times before utopias were thought of: that liberty is bound up with imperfection, and that limitations, imperfections, errors are not only unavoidable but also salutary. The best is not the ideal. Where what is theoretically best is imposed on everyone as the norm, then there is no longer any room even to be good. The best, imposed as a norm, becomes evil.”
"Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander,” by Trappist monk, Father Thomas Merton
More Merton Quotes
At the social level, "impossible purity" contradicts the history (and pre-history) of mass migration.
Consider Abram of Ur.
The Jewish diaspora.
Your own ancestors.
Consider Abram of Ur.
The Jewish diaspora.
Your own ancestors.
At the personal level, "impossible purity" contradicts the irrepressible desire of every "Romeo and Juliet" to scorn their forebears' purist constraints and "identity politics."
In the end, dogmatic homogenization proves intrinsically catastrophic, resulting in crusade, inquisition, witch hunt, jihad, Holocaust, apartheid, flag-as-shroud-nationalism and every other "killing field" conjured by True Believers.
If terrestrial Armageddon comes to pass, it will manifest as a self-fulfilling prophecy wrought by "religious" people whose Incandescent Truth not only can, but should, immolate all others.
Are these infidels not already damned in the eyes of God?
Do we not know that extra ecclesiam nulla salus?
I have come to believe that human violence is disproportionately motivated by religions that postulate eternal punishment, thus enabling devotees to disguise their own "smiting vindictiveness" as God's.
"Time To Expunge Catholicism Of Texts And Traditions That Represent God As A Terrorist"
Where would the Middle East be -- right now -- if God did not tell George W. Bush to end the tyranny in Iraq?
What if Saddam Hussein -- Ronald Reagan's linchpin ally at the very moment The Butcher of Baghdad was "at his worst" -- were still in power?
George W. Bush: "God Told Me To End The Tyranny In Iraq"
"George Will Documents Reagan's Collusion With Saddam's Use Of Chemical Weapons"
Frontline: "Losing Iraq"
"Bush's Toxic Legacy In Iraq"
Dogmatic homogenization also lies at the heart of Blaise Pascal's admonition: "Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaise_Pascal
Absolute insistence on doctrinal uniformity creates a sense of "lofty" solidarity whose shadow-side propels murderous separation, isolating division and ramifying subdivision whose only apparent purpose is the addition of new "circles" to the floor plan of Dante's Inferno.
"I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said "Stop! Don't do it!" "Why shouldn't I?" he said. "Well, there's so much to live for!" "Like what?" "Well... are you religious?" He said yes. I said, "Me too! Are you Christian or Buddhist?" "Christian." "Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant ? "Protestant." "Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?" "Baptist" "Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?" "Baptist Church of God!" "Me too! Are you original Baptist Church of God, or are you reformed Baptist Church of God?" "Reformed Baptist Church of God!" "Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of Go "Die, heretic scum", and pushed him off." Emo Phillips
In his novel, "Beautiful Losers," Leonard Cohen observes that "grief makes us precise."
True Believers are aggrieved by the loss of their various "Golden Ages" - thirteenth century Christendom, Islam's 7th century Caliphate, the towering grandeur of David and Solomon. (Never mind that David was a philandering, murderous fellow who danced naked in public and "loved Jonathan like no woman," slicing off 200 Philistine foreskins when the agreed-upon "bride price" only required a hundred. My acknowledgement of these behaviors does not diminish my admiration: in many ways David's unbridled passion is quite appealing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David)
Convinced that their particular version of Absolutism demands total surrender -- particularly the surrender of mercy, compassion and forgiveness -- True Believers will, with the certainty of tides, transform certain "visions of heaven" into veritable "hells on earth."
***
With that preface in place, here is the best summation of Pope Francis I have yet read.
"Pope Francis: Works Of Mercy Trump Dogma And Doctrine.
Talk Is Cheap"
And here is a fine companion piece:
And here is a fine companion piece:
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