I don’t know what the answer is. All I can say is I’m praying a lot these days. That God will not forget America, and that He will forgive us for not defending her — or His truth. That He may give us yet another unearned blessing!
Spirited: As I stated previously to Dirty Harry, the battle that rages is not of flesh and blood, but of opposing
ideas, that is, the thesis vs the antithesis.
The battle then, is a metaphysical battle made immeasureably more difficult by the fact that many Americans no longer believe in the reality of the metaphysical. Hence they are truly blind to the forces that have captured their minds.
We are witnessing the awful tragedies and realities of spiritual blindness, for as the mind is the citadel of the soul, its capture means the capture of the soul.
We must become more effective at articulating the right ideas in a manner understandable to every person. We must do this simultaneous to exposing the illogic, inner contradictions, and consequences of the opposing ideas, or antithesis.
The Bible tells us that as a man believes, so he is. We now know—for we can see the evidence everywhere we look-— the profound meaning of this truth.
Basically I agree with what you're driving at here, spirited irish, and think and believe that your conclusion is true.
I'd just put the matter in slightly different language. I'd do that, because "thesis" and "antithesis" are abstract terms that do not mean anything to most people. They are devoid of actual meaning for just about anyone who isn't a professional philosopher. Instead, I'd use the motif of First Reality, and the conscious creation of alternative or second realities formed for the exclusive purpose of eclipsing First Reality and its universal order. But then, would I have made any improvement over your model of thesis–antithesis? To speak of First and Second Realities reeks of abstract philosophy as well!
To get more practical, let's just say that First Reality definitely includes God as creator and sustainer of the universe. This is an ancient idea, one that goes back in the human record some six or more millennia by now. Typically, the most notable motive of the construction of second realities is the purposeful eviction of God from the order of the universe; e..g., the God Is Dead movement.
Anyhoot, my strong preference, by culture and experience, is First Reality, which specifies the great hierarchy of being: God–Man–World (i.e., the natural world)–Society.
The seeds of Second Reality have borne much (noxious) fruit within the human living and historical memory, notably such movements as socialism, communism, fascism, and (arguably) scientific dogmatism. The common denominator of all is: the banishment of God from all human and natural affairs, the claim that He does not exist except as a hallucination in the brains of morons. Thus you see the denizens of Second Reality are usually found to be such "charming people" — NOT!!! LOLOL!
What finally confronts America right now is not so much a "metaphysical" problem or crisis, but a spiritual one. Too many people have fallen spiritually blind and dead to God. But without Him, we have no universal criterion by which to know the good, the true, the moral, the just; we have no Source or Defender of inalienable human rights — inalienable because they are gifts of God; nor any unshakeable foundation of the liberty and dignity of each and every unique human person. Further, we have no possible rational explanation for the order of the universe and all things in it.
The American public seems to have performed a mass lobotomy on itself. Spiritually blind and spiritually dead, they have been set up as the intended victims of the entrepreneurs of Second Realities, who would use them as so much fodder for the fulfillment of their perverted, evil dreams.
With human liberty vanquished and vanished, we shall become as meek as cattle, to be sure. Or else....
So I continue to pray for our nation, for the American people, knowing full well we haven't done a thing in recent times if ever to merit God's blessings on us.
Still, He has evidently blessed America in the past. And it seems to me that God still loves His "prodigal son."
And so I constantly pray: In all things may His will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Thank you so very much for your outstanding essay, spirited irish!