For many of you who have been checking in on this blog, or reading the book, you know that our goal is one of total domination in their hearts and minds. As I’ve said before, I just want more space; you know the space that defines them. As part of my toolbox I’ve always used distraction to deter them from truly considering the world as our opponent wants it. I like it better when they become fascinated with the things that do not feed their souls. In the old days, of course, we had bread and circuses, but in the age of technology we have even more wonders at our disposal. I am looking forward to the day when they implant entertainment chips in their heads that they just blink to activate. Those are days to look forward to if their present lives are any indication.
Consider recent events among some of them in the United States. They are obsessed with politicians and their moral failings. They have press scrums and feeding frenzies over twitter pictures and self-deception on a stunning scale. We don’t mind them amusing themselves, but where life really matters, what’s going on? We don’t want them to focus their attention there. The ways they construct their society, the type of human beings those environments create, and the material effects of those communities must remain hidden from them. We don’t want them to cultivate ways of living that bring them together. We want them torn apart, polarized, and at each others throats. Any question about how they should live needs to be buried under the scandal of the day. Is society moving toward a plutocracy that will narrow life for millions who used to have hope they could make life better for their children? Look, Anthony Weiner and his mini me! Are they building structures that will diminish life for those unable to pay the costs of their new world? Look, over there, Lindsay Lohan!
They are easily distracted are they not? This means that the disciplines they need to cultivate to resist the powers that are creating their world are unknown to them. Just the simple realization that power and money are corrupting forces in every society in history must not enter into their thinking about how they should live. In fact, it would be best for us if it were built into the very authorities they live under. Oh, wait, never mind. No, I want an entire planet entertaining themselves to death. No, seriously, I mean it. If they start to think seriously about the world they build and see the possibility that the world could be different, well, it’s time to Release the Kardashians!!
I have really gotten a lot out of the “space” image. I try to say the same thing, and get nowhere. I have now used the idea of the devil taking up space and some people seem to get it. They can see that Survivor, tabloids, take up space that means they do not have time for serious thought. Devil’s Ink, the book, is great reading.
Thanks, Bob, for the kind words. When I first thought of this book, I imagined space as the thing that we could think about when we try and understand the effects of evil. I was thinking about both mental and physical spaces, which are manifestations of the spiritual (or, at least in my mind). I was hoping that I could provoke the church to think in different ways about how we become colonized by the effects of evil, often not even realizing it. I have been told that there are some churches that are using the book for adult study. This is just the type of conversation I was hoping to begin.
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