A vicious cycle that tends to afflict dissidents is the white pill-black pill rollercoaster. You see this phenomenon when some news story seems to signal a reversal of–or at least a pause in–the West’s long cultural decline. The white-piller gets a dopamine rush that puts him on cloud nine.
When society resumes its tumble down the slippery slope, our white-pilled dissident’s bubble is burst. He takes to social media, ringing a bell and wearing a sandwich board proclaiming the end of days.
This emotional whipsawing from euphoria to despair based on the ebb and flow of the news cycle is another symptom of Late Modern male effeminacy. Too many men lack the temperance and fortitude to govern their own emotions, much less oppose government tyranny.
Exacerbating the effeminacy epidemic is the almost universal comorbidity of excessive attachment. We never tire of ragging on Gen Y’s nostalgia for plastic toys, sugary breakfast cereals, and TV series that amounted to commercials for both, but everyone has been subject to corporate culture for decades. And that culture broadcasts the nonstop message to attach yourself like a lamprey to your favorite brands.
Even BoomerCons online push a form of commercialist patriotism, demanding we maintain an attachment to ‘Murca for the freedom to buy Chinese junk at Wal-Mart, fight endless wars for corporate oil and weapons interests, and wolf down Big Macs.
Considering the money at stake, the global cultivation of attachment to created goods isn’t surprising. What’s shocking is that hardly anyone is sounding alarms about the spiritual dangers of such attachment and teaching people how to overcome it.
“What’s wrong with attachment to good things?” you may ask. “After all, we’re not Buddhists. Creation is good!”
The key to understanding the disorder lies in the second statement above. Creatures are good precisely because they are created by God, and they are good only to the extent that they participate in His infinite goodness. As such, no creature is to be loved for its own sake–that’s a soft form of idolatry. The spiritually mature attitude is one of love for created things for God’s sake. That’s the supreme virtue of charity in a nutshell.
When we divest ourselves of attachment to creatures and cultivate attachment to God, we attain serenity. Loving created things solely for their own good constantly invites anxiety and disappointment since created goods can always be destroyed. In contrast, God is the perfect, eternal, all-powerful, and Absolute Being from whom all being flows. He is impassible, unchangeable, and undefeated. That’s why He alone is trustworthy when all else fails.
Toys break. Boobs sag. People and even nations die. Only God is forever. Decide this day which you will serve, and rest easy under that yoke.
Once again, Fr. Chad Ripperger shows us the way. Watch here.
Get off the white pill-black pill rollercoaster. Stop paying people who hate you.
I’m compelled to recall an anecdote I once read about American POWs in Vietnam. Many of them believed such things as “we’ll all be home by Christmas,” or “we just have to hang in there a little longer and we’ll all be out. Those men were often the first to die in captivity, their will to live having been crushed as arbitrary deadline after arbitrary deadline passed. It was those who knew that there was no end in sight – those who knew they were in it for the long haul – those were the men who were able to steel themselves to endure the hells of captivity and, eventually, made it home
Exactly. Note how the Q cult pushes the former mindset.
And each of their deadlines got more unlikely as time passed. Trust the plan doesn’t work unless you are talking about God’s plan.
Anything else just causes Bystander syndrome.
Kaiser Wilhelm II was known to oscillate between elation and defeatism at the news of Germany’s victories and defeats—as though he were bipolar.
Don’t be like Kaiser Wilhelm. Be like the kaiser of kaisers, Jesus Christ.
Amen
This is a very salient point. I find little to say about it, other than to observe that it is true and pious.
Give the glory to God.
Consider this entry link-spammed to the moon like your “Tale of Two Cults” by me.
Understood
Thank you. I have been living on the White/Black Pill for the last 10 years. 2020 to this year it is gets tiring. I am in Australia and you can image the pain at the moment. With praying to Jesus and reading the Bible this makes things easier to get through, vs hoping for humans to change. By the way i have read about 70% of your book Don’t give money to People who hate you. Great read so far I will post a review soon.
Thank you.