The title of this post refers to a book by the late Carl Sagan, in which he argued that scientific naturalism was a light that could drive out the demons that have bedeviled humanity throughout most of history.
He’s right about the bedeviling, and the need for a positive force to keep the demons at bay. Nature abhors vacuums, and not just physical ones. But he might be overestimating the ability of mere science to fill a vacuum of the heart and soul — and it is becoming increasingly clear to more and more people living through this era of Western collapse (did you watch the Grammys?) that the systematic hollowing out of our civilization’s spiritual heart is allowing something much darker to enter, and to grow in power and confidence.
With a hat-tip to Bill Vallicella, here’s a plangent essay about this, by Naomi Wolf.
When I was a younger man, I wouldn’t have taken seriously the things that Ms. Wolf says in her article, any more than Carl Sagan would have. Now, however, I think that she’s probably got this exactly right. Read her essay, and read Bill’s post about it here.
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Agreed with you and Naomi, Malcolm. I used to question the existence of demons on the metaphysical plane but not anymore. I’m not sophisticated enough to hammer it out theologically but that seems to be the simplest explanation. It’s beyond the mere bestial; it’s depraved, unnatural.
Trump and the Deep State reaction to him has been immensely clarifying. Lightbulbs going off in the most unexpected heads: Naomi Wolf, James Howard Kunstler, Megyn Kelly. I think even Shia La Boeuf is on our team at this point. He’s lucky; he almost ended up succumbing to demonic hate like Jim Carrey and Kathy Griffin.
Extraordinary times.
A commenter elsewhere mentioned the article noting “The Brownstone author just can’t mention the UN Agenda 21/2030 or the systematic placement of WEF politicians and businessmen throughout international organizations as having anything to do with the international coordination of the recent ‘ahistoric’ authoritarian usurpation of civil society.”
Maybe a part, I don’t know.
“Demon” is a term that is often used loosely or figuratively and to remedy this here’s some pertinent Christian context on the concept of demonism in the modern/postmodern world by Romano Guardini. There is more and wider relevant context in the book (cited below) but I think this quote will stand by itself somewhat.
“[…] the risk is growing day by day that man will not use his power as he should. The present lack of an ethic-—one both true and effective—-for controlling power’s use tends to breed further illusion. The use of power is accepted simply as another natural process; its only norms are taken from alleged necessity, from either utility or security. Power is never considered in terms of the responsibility for choice which is inherent in freedom.
“Of even more significance, the development of power has created the impression that power objectifies itself; that is, power cannot really be possessed or even used by man; rather, it unfolds independently from the continuous logic of scientific investigations, from technical problems, from political tensions. The conviction grows that power simply demands its own actualization.
“Yes, this does mean that power has become demonic. The term “demonic” is torn and tattered of true reference, as are all the important words bearing on human existence. Therefore, we must bring careful reflection to its real meaning before we apply it further.
“There is no being without a master. As far as being is nature—or the non-personal creation—being belongs to God, Whose will is expressed in the laws by which this being, this nature, exists. As far as being is taken out of nature and into the sphere of human freedom it belongs to man and man is responsible for it. If man fails in his responsibility and does not care for being as he should, it does not return to nature. To think that it does is a negligent assumption, one with which the contemporary world has consoled itself with more or less awareness. But it is not something which one can dispose of by putting it away in storage. When man fails in his responsibility toward the being which he has taken from nature, that being becomes the possession of something anonymous.
“We may express this psychologically by saying that being is then governed by the unconscious. The unconscious, however, is a chaotic disorder in which the possibilities for destruction are at least as strong as those for healing or consolation. Nor does this end the story. Demons may lake possession of the faculties of man if he does not answer for them with his conscience. We do not use the word demons as it is used in ephemeral journalism. We are using the term in the precise sense given it by revelation. We mean spiritual beings who were created whole and good by God, but who fell away from Him by electing for evil and who are bent on befouling his creation. These are the demons, then, who rule man once he has abdicated his responsibilities. They rule him through his apparently natural but really contradictory instincts, through his apparently logical but in truth easily influenced reason. They rule him through the brutality committed by his helpless selfishness. If we reflect upon the events of the last years without either rationalistic or naturalistic prejudices, man’s manner of conduct, his intellectual and psychological vagaries, speak to us with sufficient clarity of these things.
“The modern world forgot the fact of “demons” because it had blinded itself by its revolutionary faith in autonomy. The modern world thought that man could simply have power and rest secure in its exercise. Some kind of logic inherent in things forced them to behave in the realm of human freedom as dependably as they behaved in the realm of nature. This assumption is false. The moment that energy or matter or a natural form is grasped by man, it receives a new character. No longer is it simply a part of nature; it has become part of the world surrounding man, which world is man’s own “creation.” The thing of nature becomes involved with, even partakes of, human freedom; in so doing it also partakes of human frailty. It has become ambivalent, carrying a potential for evil as well as good.” (Romano Guardini, “The End of the Modern World,” ISI Press (1998), pages 83-85)