November 9 2022
DARKNESS AT NOON
“Since the invention of the steam engine, the world has been permanently in an abnormal state”.
That’s what Arthur Koestler wrote in his depressing book, Darkness at Noon, in 1940. He also wrote, “The capitalist system will collapse before the masses have understood it”.
I bought the book on August 30 1985, and never read it until this past week, at the very moment when the abnormality wrought by the use of carbon fuels, such as coal and oil, is becoming evident, and also the planetary political scene is poised to play out perilously, causing the dimming of both the ecological and the economic prospects. Indeed: Darkness at Noon.
What is “Christian”?
The word “Christian” is banded about by the Republican Party. Koestler observes that, “Do you know, since the establishment of Christianity as a state religion, a single example of a state which really followed a Christian policy? When I read comments from those who advocate a Christian regime, I never hear Jesus’ words: “Love your enemy”. The Old Testament language of revenge and bloody murder seems to rule their politics.
The USA may be on the brink of civil war. Arthur Koestler wrote, “They who oppose dictatorship must accept civil war as a means. They who recoil from civil war must give up opposition and accept the dictatorship.” Is that the future of the “Christian” USA? The Christian word, REPENT, comes to mind: Metanoia is the Biblical word, a total overhaul of our carbon-based mindset: is that still possible? If not, collapse is guaranteed.
It seems the United States of America, armed to the teeth, is on the cusp of civil conflict, featuring not the 1861-65 North versus South divide, but terrorism, guerrilla warfare and ethnic cleansing, spelling the end of a great nation: Canadians and Mexicans, brace yourselves for a wave of US citizens fleeing north and south.
Darkness at Noon.
My take on this book is that dictators destroy the flower of the nation to hide their own mediocrity. Darkness will be plainly in view in the next weeks at the COP 27 meetings in Egypt, where apocalyptic messages will dominate, which will fail to move the rich nations, while Africa will bear the brunt of the weather disasters: the continent least guilty in bringing on catastrophic calamities.
This still timely book describes a concept of an ideology, Communism, a distorted form of Christianity, which closely resembles the current theology, in which everywhere Christianity is being distorted to fit a certain mode of belief, totally alien to biblical teaching, testing both the essence of historic ecclesiastical movements and fundamental Democracy.
How God disappeared.
The book also reminds me of Geert Mak, a Dutch writer of some fame, who, some 30 years ago, wrote a book with the Dutch title, “Hoe God verdween uit Jorwerd”, How God disappeared from Jorwerd.
I started with “Since the invention of the steam engine, the world has been permanently in an abnormal state”. Geert Mak describes how prior to 1951, Dutch rural and small village life centered on local activities, not unlike Tweed, where I live. With the advent of the automobile and the tractor, city shopping and greater choice killed the grocer, the butcher, the small farmer, destroying the soul of the land, and God disappeared, also in the churches.
A dangerous trend.
The USA is following a dangerous trend: Italy turned right, so did Israel, suggesting that the populace distrusts the prevailing notion that the ‘elite’ has the answers. The rich do well for themselves, but the ‘invention of the steam engine’ has put a wrench into the democratic gears, and it does not take much to derail the system, a process currently on the way.
It was Churchill who said, “Democracy is the worst form of government – except for all the others that have been tried.”
Jesus said: “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand”, (Matthew 12: 25). These words are still valid today. The American election casts an ominous shadow over the entire electoral process. Add to this the enormous USA National Debt, now approaching $31 Trillion, or almost $100,000 for every living human in the USA, the financial future looks funereal. With interest rising, the cost to serve this debt is now some $15,000 per family, not counting mortgage or personal debt. Add the growing cost to repair environmental damage, the aging population, the looming recession, and a collapse of some sort is very possible.
Where will it lead?
Not only the USA: the entire world is teetering. Climate Change knows no borders. COP 27 will emphasize the injustice of heat and drought hitting prominently the poor: will that lead to international terrorism?
All bets are off! Abnormality will be the new normal.