If the devil were to encounter Eve in the....Olive Garden (?) today, he wouldn't promise her that she would be like God, knowing good and evil. He'd promise her that she'd never feel shame. And that apple fritter would be GOBBLED down.
*They* are the big joke, which isn't actually funny until we realize WE are the power they seek with their weirdo religious rituals and signals and symbols and machinations and abominations. Total ugly-clown show.
I mean, seriously, I love you, real dudes, but "men disfigured to [supposedly] look like women are *more attractive* than biological women?"
As George Carlin often said, "Laugh, I thought I'd die."
It's no secret how we find ourselves face down in a gutter full of vomit. After facing down the existential threat of communism, the US handed the keys to the kingdom to a shameless, power-hungry, immoral grifter and her worthless husband Bill.
Decorum and dignity vanished from their oily wake, never to be seen again.
That day when Lady Mister Macbeth questioned the definition of the word "is" I almost laughed myself to death. But there was horror in that laughter. Some part of me knew what was coming down the pike.
Feeling shame for the "wrongs" we have committed is appropriate. There is no more important work than allowing the true Divine Light (not false-white-light) to wash over and through our being to expose those "wrongs" in order to become "right" again, in alignment with Natural Law. I like to call it The Refinery of Consciousness, a term coined by my friend Aurora.
A note about shaming others: I agree with you here as well that there is an element of righteousness which must be carefully employed in order to hold a mirror to our fellow mankind. However, it usually backfires in the moment because of cognitive dissonance which urges the person to recoil and yell "Pot calling the kettle black!" So, as painful as it is to watch the world become an even more twisted version of "The Maury Povich Show," I think it is all a necessary process of the apocalypse, the great unveiling of evil. Most people will *eventually* real-eyes the deception which caused their wrongdoings, even if that is — sadly too late — on their deathbed.
My mother, despite her serious, problematic "envy" issue, had the wisdom to frequently tell me to "do some soul-searching" from a very young age. She never defined "soul-searching," I simply intuited the process. This is lost in the Luciferian light-shows that are a constant source of distraction for viewers and the source of big money and false power for the deceptive producers of such evil works.
I think this is why people shout words like "Repent! For the end is nigh!" But yes, as you say these are usually shouted into the wind with no effect. I think that’s why I'm trying a different approach. Don't know if it will help or not, but I feel like it's my duty to try.
Great essay! What you described about the talk shows and their audiences reminded me of the "Juice by Tappy" scenes in "Requiem for a Dream." That movie has lost none of its terrifying power since it was made in the late 90s!
Definitely in the 90s, all the symptoms were there of a deadly cultural rot. To compare America to a crackhead (great video you embedded, by the way), the 90s were when America occasionally did cocaine at parties or on Vegas vacations, but the rest of the time things mostly still worked the way they were supposed to; the 2000s were when America's coke habit got so bad it started really messing up the money, so she had to do some shady accounting schemes to cover the bills some months; the 2010s were when America went from powder to rocks and started smoking pretty much every day, and she wound up getting arrested a few times and had to mortgage everything to pay her legal bills; and now in the 2020s, America's crack addiction has her in a homeless shelter, with ruined health and a future of whoring herself out for drug money. I suppose for an addict at that late stage, shame has been so deadened, that it's practically nonexistent. All that's left is for America to hit rock bottom.
"For those of you who encouraged the spending, all that’s left is to cross a few T’s, which look like raging Rubicons to the rest of us. And yet that bill is swiftly coming due."
"A gun is a tool, Marian; no better or no worse than any other tool: an axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that."
Hubby says most are still deadened to all the tragic yet somehow bitterly comical horror show going on all around us now because they have yet to really feel the pain of these bitter fruits swallowed whole. When that apocalyptic chicken finally comes home to roost all over the world and they can no longer deny or ignore the pain, there may be truly the awakening that is needed.
I hope God may offer a less painful route, but who can say?
The searing of our conscious occurs when we turn away from looking at our shameful selves. Over time this accrues, and then very bad things indeed happen to us and through us. As a culture we now appear be at, or approaching the zenith of the lack of this much needed and yet currently maligned state of being in many.
Fortunately, those of us whose shame meter is still operational can and should bring before God those for whom it is broken, while it is still possible to do so. It is part of the system God created for believers, that through prayer we can be advocates for those who still bear the great burden of their sin and shame. Just because they’ve deadened themselves to seeing it and or/feeling it does not mean it has been erased or ceased to be. Your grief in your retelling of those hapless people enacting and watching the parade of shamelessness in that study room in years past Mark is very much a prayerful state of grief on their behalf. May it bring forth some good fruit in the lives of those involved.
I try to read a Spurgeon devotional each day. I knew he had touched upon this theme of shame and what it’s lack means. May the Lord always keep our conscience and hearts tender and open to His call.
Where art Thou?
Shame is an inherently negative thing. Charles Spurgeon rightly viewed shame as a direct effect of the fall. There was no shame in the Garden of Eden until sin entered it, and with sin came shame. Spurgeon, addressing his congregation as though they were Adam, highlights the shamefulness of the fall of man. Whereas before they had “preferment,” now they have “disgrace.” Instead of “the clothing of angels,” now they are “naked.” Instead of “glory,” now they have “shame,” and in this moment Spurgeon asks “Adam, where art thou?” Or, more pointedly, “sinner, where art thou?” And while our historic parents reached for fig leaves we too often “try to bury [ourselves] in [our] business, so as to forget that urgent enquiry…. Where art thou?”
Shame is so abhorrent “to man that it is one of the ingredients of hell itself,” indeed “one of the bitterest drops in that awful cup of misery.” Human nature is such that we will do whatever is in our power to cover up our shame. However, there is nothing that will suffice except for that work which unfolded from Gethsemane to Golgotha. Only when Christ “covers you with the garments of salvation” can shame be taken away, for Christ is the Redeemer. He redeems humanity, and in His infinite power He has redeemed shame itself. What was once “one of the ingredients of hell” is now a tool in the hands of the Holy Spirit to guide men to repentance. Accordingly, Spurgeon believed, “Where the poor broken-hearted sinner lies prostrate in the dust,” that is where Christ “comes in his glory and majesty, and says to him, ‘I am thy salvation…and laid down my life that I might save thee.’” Truly, no one would be able to “see Christ in his glory and majesty” unless “you have first seen yourself in your degradation and shame.”
Yes, but they aren't shaming people for doing things that are genuinely shameful. In fact, most of the time, they're shaming people for telling the truth.
The thing I was mostly trying to convey here is the lack of the capacity to feel shame at all. I suppose that holds true for most targets of cancel culture too (from what I see they don't feel usually "ashamed" from the attacks, but rather scared, angry or resentful). But whether they did something worthy of shame is a separate question.
I do not think there is any lack of a capacity to feel shame, since shaming is a key activity carried out by sociable humans that keeps people aligned with one another - whether for GOOD or for ILL. People feel shame when others point out their "lack of alignment" in the same way that people bleed when cut with knives.
I grant you that shame turns more easily to fear, anger or resentment if the shamers are not making it clear what actions lie within your power to make amends and re-align yourself. If you are being shamed for what you ARE, instead of for something you have DONE, then, for sure, there is nothing that lies within your power to DO about it.
As you say, though, the things people are shamed FOR differ wildly from one time & place to another. And it would be nice to be able to align oneself more with the society of people aspiring to be, say, more honest, more true to one's inner light, more competent, and so on, where shaming (that stinging, raw feeling of non-alignment) might produce, as you say, lessons worth learning.
Anyway, I like the essay, and agree with much, but I am not at all certain I can agree with the proposition that capacity to feel shame has diminished. Perhaps it is more that the capacity to *wield* shame has been degraded, in many cases, to mere silliness, and in other cases, to the message that one has no right to continue to exist.
Maybe "capacity" wasn't the best word to use, I grant you. I think the problem I'm having with shame is the same one I had with "honor" in the podcast, in that it has both noun and verb forms. Shame is something you can feel in yourself for falling out of alignment with a principle (integral) or something you can do to others for your perception of them having fallen out of alignment with the same (e.g. "public shaming rituals").
Of course, both forms map directly to the principle(s) themselves. It's possible a person could look at the little fat boy in the dress and cheer him on, because that aligns with an integral principle that they hold (for some reason). The question becomes something like, "How do I know I'm upholding the right principle, and therefore shaming the right people?"
That's where the rubber meets the road. Because in order to feel or project shame in a positive way -- meaning that the person will try to align his future behavior to act more honorably -- we need to have a North Star of some sort, under the light of which the entire network of principles and value assessments is consistent and sensible. I think maybe the best way to evaluate such a network is to probe it for contradictions and special case exceptions. The more inconsistencies, the more likely you are doing it wrong.
What I am seeing is people who don't appear to have a North Star at all. Or, if they do, it's one that is so warped and degenerate that any principle they hold is flexible to the point of meaningless. Take something like entirety of DEI and CRT structure, for example, which supports statements like "Black voices and the lived experiences of black people should be elevated and amplified." But not if that black voice/experience belongs to Larry Elder. Or Thomas Sowell. Or Candace Owen. Or a whole host of blacks with divergent opinions that land them in the category of race traitors or worse (recall that Larry Elder was labeled "The Black Face of White Supremacy" when he ran for office).
This inability to hold a general use principle as sacred is a big hint that the shamers and those who feel shame from their accusations are not engaged in the real process, but some twisted simulacrum of it that's maybe different enough to require a different name. "Bullying" and "bullied" might suffice, but even that might be too mundane to describe what they're doing/feeling.
I agree entirely with this... :) Having a North Star to align to is very helpful if you want to find out where you are, and determine a useful direction.
Most people who establish a connection with the divine will begin to align with something other than popularity with whoever one hangs around with.
And the gods generally do align us (and also help us to align) with something more "uplifting" than ordinary life does.
Still, what I think you put your finger on with your examples is not so much a matter of inconsistency. More a matter of confusing the proper relationship between theory and practice. (Or ends and means) In practice, I do not think there is any theoretical "good" that is worth the sacrifice of a single hair on the head of an actual person. Likewise no matter how good your "end", if your means do not align with it, you cannot get there. Your actions will *always* align you with your practical means, and never with your "theoretical" ends.
Perhaps I should clarify that no theoretical "good" is worth the sacrifice of a single hair on the head of an actual 'nother person... Making one's own sacrifices, voluntarily, is an entirely different kettle of fish.
Still, I take note of Eric Hoffer's observation that people who are willing to sacrifice their own lives for a theoretical "good" may not jib at sacrificing the lives of others... ;)
The only reason your article ISN'T labeled "an unhinged rant" is because you have a terrific open-minded audience here on 'Stack. If anyone from the MSM echo chamber read it, they would try to certify you with a mental illness and add you to their TI list. 😆😳😬🥳 (Been there, on Medium [dot] com.)
McLuhan was great reading for me when I returned to college in my late 40s to earn a degree in Communication Studies. He was brilliant, basically forthcoming about everything mediatized, and not without a fabulous sense of humor.
If the devil were to encounter Eve in the....Olive Garden (?) today, he wouldn't promise her that she would be like God, knowing good and evil. He'd promise her that she'd never feel shame. And that apple fritter would be GOBBLED down.
What's funny is that shame is basically the first thing Adam and Eve felt, upon digestion.
Was about to wonder how she's supposed to have known that feeling *before* sinking her teeth into fruit oops fritter 🤭
And there you have the Luciferian agenda of The Cosmic Androgyne, a horrific mockery of our Divine duality as males and females.
One of many destructive jokes, yeah.
*They* are the big joke, which isn't actually funny until we realize WE are the power they seek with their weirdo religious rituals and signals and symbols and machinations and abominations. Total ugly-clown show.
I mean, seriously, I love you, real dudes, but "men disfigured to [supposedly] look like women are *more attractive* than biological women?"
As George Carlin often said, "Laugh, I thought I'd die."
As Morrissey sang, "That joke isn't funny anymore."
It's no secret how we find ourselves face down in a gutter full of vomit. After facing down the existential threat of communism, the US handed the keys to the kingdom to a shameless, power-hungry, immoral grifter and her worthless husband Bill.
Decorum and dignity vanished from their oily wake, never to be seen again.
That day when Lady Mister Macbeth questioned the definition of the word "is" I almost laughed myself to death. But there was horror in that laughter. Some part of me knew what was coming down the pike.
Feeling shame for the "wrongs" we have committed is appropriate. There is no more important work than allowing the true Divine Light (not false-white-light) to wash over and through our being to expose those "wrongs" in order to become "right" again, in alignment with Natural Law. I like to call it The Refinery of Consciousness, a term coined by my friend Aurora.
A note about shaming others: I agree with you here as well that there is an element of righteousness which must be carefully employed in order to hold a mirror to our fellow mankind. However, it usually backfires in the moment because of cognitive dissonance which urges the person to recoil and yell "Pot calling the kettle black!" So, as painful as it is to watch the world become an even more twisted version of "The Maury Povich Show," I think it is all a necessary process of the apocalypse, the great unveiling of evil. Most people will *eventually* real-eyes the deception which caused their wrongdoings, even if that is — sadly too late — on their deathbed.
My mother, despite her serious, problematic "envy" issue, had the wisdom to frequently tell me to "do some soul-searching" from a very young age. She never defined "soul-searching," I simply intuited the process. This is lost in the Luciferian light-shows that are a constant source of distraction for viewers and the source of big money and false power for the deceptive producers of such evil works.
I think this is why people shout words like "Repent! For the end is nigh!" But yes, as you say these are usually shouted into the wind with no effect. I think that’s why I'm trying a different approach. Don't know if it will help or not, but I feel like it's my duty to try.
Yes, we have an obligation to be role models who uphold Natural Law. You GO, man! I love your approach.
You too. At some point, one or more of us might hit a jackpot.
Great essay! What you described about the talk shows and their audiences reminded me of the "Juice by Tappy" scenes in "Requiem for a Dream." That movie has lost none of its terrifying power since it was made in the late 90s!
Definitely in the 90s, all the symptoms were there of a deadly cultural rot. To compare America to a crackhead (great video you embedded, by the way), the 90s were when America occasionally did cocaine at parties or on Vegas vacations, but the rest of the time things mostly still worked the way they were supposed to; the 2000s were when America's coke habit got so bad it started really messing up the money, so she had to do some shady accounting schemes to cover the bills some months; the 2010s were when America went from powder to rocks and started smoking pretty much every day, and she wound up getting arrested a few times and had to mortgage everything to pay her legal bills; and now in the 2020s, America's crack addiction has her in a homeless shelter, with ruined health and a future of whoring herself out for drug money. I suppose for an addict at that late stage, shame has been so deadened, that it's practically nonexistent. All that's left is for America to hit rock bottom.
Nice analogy.
And as we know, she can go two ways after rock bottom. Let's hope it's not clown-fetish porn.
😳😵🤯 I hope not!
"For those of you who encouraged the spending, all that’s left is to cross a few T’s, which look like raging Rubicons to the rest of us. And yet that bill is swiftly coming due."
Such a great line!
A neglected person-shaped creature wipes diapsidian(* tears with ragged edges of a fading nightmare...
--
(* added as per irresistible request 😇
Rebrand those tears as "crocodilian" and I think we have a winner.
Thanks, Skeptical1!
Don't go shame, papa needs you.
"A gun is a tool, Marian; no better or no worse than any other tool: an axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that."
🗨 Why do you always have to spoil everything? 🫢
Like the scorpion, it's in my nature.
BTW, Robin Hood marries Maid Marian at the end.
Luminous 🤩 Was a skosh hesitant to quote, in case it doesn't land, but dead curious as to response all the same 🤸
I've heard that you're a low down Yankee liar.
Hunger will be the great leveler, the only awakeneeeen for the emotionally broke.
Let's hope it doesn't come to that. But, we've seen other horsemen charge these plains recently.
Hubby says most are still deadened to all the tragic yet somehow bitterly comical horror show going on all around us now because they have yet to really feel the pain of these bitter fruits swallowed whole. When that apocalyptic chicken finally comes home to roost all over the world and they can no longer deny or ignore the pain, there may be truly the awakening that is needed.
I hope God may offer a less painful route, but who can say?
Yes, this!
The searing of our conscious occurs when we turn away from looking at our shameful selves. Over time this accrues, and then very bad things indeed happen to us and through us. As a culture we now appear be at, or approaching the zenith of the lack of this much needed and yet currently maligned state of being in many.
Fortunately, those of us whose shame meter is still operational can and should bring before God those for whom it is broken, while it is still possible to do so. It is part of the system God created for believers, that through prayer we can be advocates for those who still bear the great burden of their sin and shame. Just because they’ve deadened themselves to seeing it and or/feeling it does not mean it has been erased or ceased to be. Your grief in your retelling of those hapless people enacting and watching the parade of shamelessness in that study room in years past Mark is very much a prayerful state of grief on their behalf. May it bring forth some good fruit in the lives of those involved.
I try to read a Spurgeon devotional each day. I knew he had touched upon this theme of shame and what it’s lack means. May the Lord always keep our conscience and hearts tender and open to His call.
Where art Thou?
Shame is an inherently negative thing. Charles Spurgeon rightly viewed shame as a direct effect of the fall. There was no shame in the Garden of Eden until sin entered it, and with sin came shame. Spurgeon, addressing his congregation as though they were Adam, highlights the shamefulness of the fall of man. Whereas before they had “preferment,” now they have “disgrace.” Instead of “the clothing of angels,” now they are “naked.” Instead of “glory,” now they have “shame,” and in this moment Spurgeon asks “Adam, where art thou?” Or, more pointedly, “sinner, where art thou?” And while our historic parents reached for fig leaves we too often “try to bury [ourselves] in [our] business, so as to forget that urgent enquiry…. Where art thou?”
Shame is so abhorrent “to man that it is one of the ingredients of hell itself,” indeed “one of the bitterest drops in that awful cup of misery.” Human nature is such that we will do whatever is in our power to cover up our shame. However, there is nothing that will suffice except for that work which unfolded from Gethsemane to Golgotha. Only when Christ “covers you with the garments of salvation” can shame be taken away, for Christ is the Redeemer. He redeems humanity, and in His infinite power He has redeemed shame itself. What was once “one of the ingredients of hell” is now a tool in the hands of the Holy Spirit to guide men to repentance. Accordingly, Spurgeon believed, “Where the poor broken-hearted sinner lies prostrate in the dust,” that is where Christ “comes in his glory and majesty, and says to him, ‘I am thy salvation…and laid down my life that I might save thee.’” Truly, no one would be able to “see Christ in his glory and majesty” unless “you have first seen yourself in your degradation and shame.”
XVIII c. sage Samuel Johnson aka Dr Johnson had a rhyming take 😊
🗨 Shame arises from the fear of men, conscience from the fear of God.
Would you not say that cancel culture's whole schtick is public shaming?
Yes, but they aren't shaming people for doing things that are genuinely shameful. In fact, most of the time, they're shaming people for telling the truth.
The thing I was mostly trying to convey here is the lack of the capacity to feel shame at all. I suppose that holds true for most targets of cancel culture too (from what I see they don't feel usually "ashamed" from the attacks, but rather scared, angry or resentful). But whether they did something worthy of shame is a separate question.
I do not think there is any lack of a capacity to feel shame, since shaming is a key activity carried out by sociable humans that keeps people aligned with one another - whether for GOOD or for ILL. People feel shame when others point out their "lack of alignment" in the same way that people bleed when cut with knives.
I grant you that shame turns more easily to fear, anger or resentment if the shamers are not making it clear what actions lie within your power to make amends and re-align yourself. If you are being shamed for what you ARE, instead of for something you have DONE, then, for sure, there is nothing that lies within your power to DO about it.
As you say, though, the things people are shamed FOR differ wildly from one time & place to another. And it would be nice to be able to align oneself more with the society of people aspiring to be, say, more honest, more true to one's inner light, more competent, and so on, where shaming (that stinging, raw feeling of non-alignment) might produce, as you say, lessons worth learning.
Anyway, I like the essay, and agree with much, but I am not at all certain I can agree with the proposition that capacity to feel shame has diminished. Perhaps it is more that the capacity to *wield* shame has been degraded, in many cases, to mere silliness, and in other cases, to the message that one has no right to continue to exist.
Maybe "capacity" wasn't the best word to use, I grant you. I think the problem I'm having with shame is the same one I had with "honor" in the podcast, in that it has both noun and verb forms. Shame is something you can feel in yourself for falling out of alignment with a principle (integral) or something you can do to others for your perception of them having fallen out of alignment with the same (e.g. "public shaming rituals").
Of course, both forms map directly to the principle(s) themselves. It's possible a person could look at the little fat boy in the dress and cheer him on, because that aligns with an integral principle that they hold (for some reason). The question becomes something like, "How do I know I'm upholding the right principle, and therefore shaming the right people?"
That's where the rubber meets the road. Because in order to feel or project shame in a positive way -- meaning that the person will try to align his future behavior to act more honorably -- we need to have a North Star of some sort, under the light of which the entire network of principles and value assessments is consistent and sensible. I think maybe the best way to evaluate such a network is to probe it for contradictions and special case exceptions. The more inconsistencies, the more likely you are doing it wrong.
What I am seeing is people who don't appear to have a North Star at all. Or, if they do, it's one that is so warped and degenerate that any principle they hold is flexible to the point of meaningless. Take something like entirety of DEI and CRT structure, for example, which supports statements like "Black voices and the lived experiences of black people should be elevated and amplified." But not if that black voice/experience belongs to Larry Elder. Or Thomas Sowell. Or Candace Owen. Or a whole host of blacks with divergent opinions that land them in the category of race traitors or worse (recall that Larry Elder was labeled "The Black Face of White Supremacy" when he ran for office).
This inability to hold a general use principle as sacred is a big hint that the shamers and those who feel shame from their accusations are not engaged in the real process, but some twisted simulacrum of it that's maybe different enough to require a different name. "Bullying" and "bullied" might suffice, but even that might be too mundane to describe what they're doing/feeling.
I agree entirely with this... :) Having a North Star to align to is very helpful if you want to find out where you are, and determine a useful direction.
Most people who establish a connection with the divine will begin to align with something other than popularity with whoever one hangs around with.
And the gods generally do align us (and also help us to align) with something more "uplifting" than ordinary life does.
Still, what I think you put your finger on with your examples is not so much a matter of inconsistency. More a matter of confusing the proper relationship between theory and practice. (Or ends and means) In practice, I do not think there is any theoretical "good" that is worth the sacrifice of a single hair on the head of an actual person. Likewise no matter how good your "end", if your means do not align with it, you cannot get there. Your actions will *always* align you with your practical means, and never with your "theoretical" ends.
Perhaps I should clarify that no theoretical "good" is worth the sacrifice of a single hair on the head of an actual 'nother person... Making one's own sacrifices, voluntarily, is an entirely different kettle of fish.
Still, I take note of Eric Hoffer's observation that people who are willing to sacrifice their own lives for a theoretical "good" may not jib at sacrificing the lives of others... ;)
If the shoe fits, I suppose I'll wear it.
What am I, if not a classic?!
Of course, that probably also means I got a ton of rust.
Yes! And this sentence perfectly sums up how the Natural Order has been inverted and overlaid with all manner of perversion:
"[The Jeremiad] is often perceived with derogatory overtones."
You, Mark, the rest of your discussion group, myself, and many more of us are uprighting the Jeremiad back to HONOR.
I just can't wait until it's labeled an 'unhinged rant." That's when I'll know I'm really onto something.
The only reason your article ISN'T labeled "an unhinged rant" is because you have a terrific open-minded audience here on 'Stack. If anyone from the MSM echo chamber read it, they would try to certify you with a mental illness and add you to their TI list. 😆😳😬🥳 (Been there, on Medium [dot] com.)
Crazy like a fox. Hopefully. 😉
Fuck yeah.😉
Not without a bright side 😉
🗨 The only people who have proof of their sanity are those who have been discharged from mental institutions. ~~Marshall McLuhan
McLuhan was great reading for me when I returned to college in my late 40s to earn a degree in Communication Studies. He was brilliant, basically forthcoming about everything mediatized, and not without a fabulous sense of humor.
He still is all these things 🤸
🗨 Many a good argument is ruined by some fool who knows what he is talking about.
Otoh,
🗨 I don't necessarily agree with everything that I say.
😁