Francis Berger
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No More Faustian Grandeur

5/4/2019

2 Comments

 
Everything in the material world has a price. In general, gaining or acquiring a thing in the material world happens through an exchange mechanism. One material thing can be exchanged for another material thing of relatively equal value. Money, labor, favors, property, connections, and time are among the most common material currencies. In theory, one should be able to acquire almost any material thing with one or any combination of these currencies, and in some rare cases, one still can.

Yet it is becoming increasingly difficult to acquire material things with material currencies alone. More is required. Although money, labor, favors, property, connections, and time are all still valid and valuable currencies in the physical world, they pale in comparison to the most valuable currency of all – spirit. 

The lords who walk secretly among us have little interest in accumulating more of the material. They own almost all of it already. For them, the material is investment capital - a means to an end. The lords are playing for legacy. They employ end game tactics and winner-take-all strategies.

In earlier eras, they offered vast sums of the physical in exchange for the metaphysical, but times have changed. The lords have convinced modern people that the immaterial truly is immaterial. At the same time, they have also worked diligently to mold world mechanisms into an intricate and complex system of industrial-scale damnation.

The results thus far? 

In our contemporary world, even the most trivial of material transactions requires the expense of spirit. Consider it a testament to the system’s conveyor belt efficiency and assembly line effectiveness, which have not only succeeded in ramping up the destruction, but have also efficaciously stripped the transactions of all their former Faustian drama and grandeur. 
2 Comments
bruce charlton
5/5/2019 08:35:58

I think I know exactly what you mean. Another word for it is disenchantment - through my life enchantment has been systematically destroyed in one area after another.

It is the old Romantic impulse, that is so important to me - I must have an enchanted world - and must means must!

But it seems that enchantment cannot itself be the main purpose - but comes as a side-effect of the main purpose, which (it seems) must be Christian... hence my notion of Romantic Christianity.

Reply
Francis Berger
5/5/2019 09:36:36

Bruce - Agreed. Enchantment is important, but it must be within the proper framework, which in turn is grounded in purpose.

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