The Spiritual Corruption of the Elite

This is a blog about spirituality and I usually stay away from political or social matters because they distract from the main issue, and only have any relevance in the light of that main issue anyway. But sometimes the two overlap. The recent referendum in the United Kingdom about whether to remain in the European Union or leave seems to be a case in point. It has brought certain issues to the fore which go beyond the purely mundane or economic which is why so many people in the establishment cannot comprehend the result. That's a positive thing but I still regard the whole process as potentially a lose-lose situation because, whatever the result had been, the outcome was always likely to be further division, more polarisation and nothing good. As it is, the establishment may be shaken by the result but they will probably soon get themselves back into pole position in one form or another.

If the remain side had won the political and intellectual elites would have tightened their grip on society, and the European project of dissolving individuality into uniformity, with the subsequent certainty of greater control by an anonymous centre dedicated to an atheistic liberal/left programme, would have been given the green light to be taken a step further. But the fact that the leave side won, and did so by a very narrow margin, does not bode well either. First of all, the narrowness of the margin draws out and highlights the divisions in society with the consequence of greater antagonism between the two sides.  But secondly, because the leave side is made up of people with widely different and conflicting agendas, there is no way to satisfy one part of it without further alienating another. The most probable outcome now is that the elites will retrench, in maybe a slightly different form but motivated by similar forces, and the situation will carry on, to all intents and purposes, as before. Plus, of course, there is the question of whether these same elites, or ones similar to them but based elsewhere, will wish to punish the errant erstwhile member of their club (or "prove" it made the wrong decision) by subjecting it to economic discipline.

Some see this result as a rebellion by the ordinary man and woman and hope it might even lead to a kind of spiritual revival. I can't see much likelihood of this. I'm sure that a small minority of leave voters were motivated by a desire to reassert divine principles in a society that has abandoned them and replaced them by soulless humanistic aims and goals, but the majority were not acting from this perspective. They were either wishing to recreate an England of the past but with no spiritual aspect to it (the secular right) or else simply rebelling against an elite that has ignored, marginalised and taken for granted, if not actively despised, them (the traditional left). Fair enough, but this is not the basis for any kind of spiritual rebirth. Let's be honest. Voters on both sides are equally in thrall to the materialist ethos of the present day. They are hardly ready to turn away from their goods which is what a proper spiritual revival would require.

What everything really comes down to is who holds the reins of power nowadays and what their motivations are, and the way I see this is that on all sides there is basically the same intellectual and political elite who may seem to have different agendas outwardly but who are all, at root, part of the same process. They have all made the same Faustian pact and are dedicated to different forms of the same anti-spiritual end.

Whether the members of this intellectual elite are actively evil, as in hate the good and work to subvert it, or passively so in that they have no feeling for the good and simply will do what is required for their personal advancement, and so are easily used and exploited by the demonic powers, makes not much difference. The agenda of the destruction of truth, beauty and virtue continues through them. (No doubt most are only passive participators in this but they participate all the same, and, as we have been told, "He who is not with me is against me".) One of the difficulties of countering this dismantling of higher truth is that it is presented as a good (as it must be because few would follow evil if it is plainly labeled as such), and so the spiritually naïve and ignorant will go along with it, thinking they are being virtuous or at least falling into line with contemporary morality. All this arises from the denial of God or, if he is theoretically accepted, from his demotion to a being whose goal is merely our happiness in the context of the reality of this world.

To understand what is going on in the world today we have to look behind the scenes. We can't take things at face value. So I will just state that much of what is taking place is due to the machinations of demonic powers whose agenda is the destruction of spiritual truth and the promotion of beliefs that will separate man from God with potentially disastrous consequences for human souls. I know this idea will not be acceptable to most modern educated Westerners but that's because we imagine ourselves to be cleverer than we are and so think the idea of demonic influence is superstitious ignorance. However anyone who knows anything about spirituality knows it exists. There may be some individuals who are willing accomplices of these powers of darkness but there are many more who aid their plans unwittingly though, it has to be said, that is only possible because of their own character flaws which make them impressionable and more easily manipulated. Thus there is no organised human conspiracy but there is a demonic one, and this has been understood by all serious Christians since the beginning. But it is coming to a head at the present time, and it is important for all spiritually inclined people to recognise it for what it is and not allow themselves to be deceived by the pseudo-spiritual idea that everything is good, and evil does not exist. It does exist and it must be recognised as such.

However there may not be much that we, as individuals, can do about it other than not allow ourselves to get caught up in its lies and illusions. Even that is not easy, so widespread are they and so cunningly presented are they as good. But if we are true to our hearts and our conscience, and if we have the courage to hold out against the opinion of this world and are not concerned by its praise or its blame, then we will be able to stand firm in the face of what can often seem an irresistible force. Through prayer and dedicating ourselves to God we can resist the outer dominance of the Prince of this World.

The modern intellectual elite is, by and large, completely under the power of all that is summed up in that biblical phrase though they know it not. Hence I describe them as spiritually corrupt. This does not mean that every individual in the elite is corrupt but the body as a whole is, and it will be hard for anyone to succeed in that milieu unless they make compromises. No doubt that has always been the case to some degree but it is overwhelmingly the case now when we live in a world in which the reality of God is denied, if not in theory then certainly in practice. Which brings me back to the European Union. This organisation is certainly not on the side of divine truth (its hollow flag without a centre is strangely appropriate), but leaving it without a very clear idea of the reality and nature of divine truth is likely to be a case of exchanging one set of lies for another. 

Realistically speaking, that is the probable outcome but it is not the certain outcome. If the awakened spirit of patriotic self-belief can be harnessed without falling into separatism or nationalism (and, despite liberal prejudices, the two are quite different things) there is a chance that some kind of renewal can take place. There will be formidable forces ranged against it, some to block, some to pervert, and there is no obvious channel through which it might manifest. Moreover it could only work if the motivations animating it were positive and not merely against someone or something. Possibly only if it were the result of some kind of genuine metanoia, perhaps, dare one say it, caused by economic hardship. Frankly I would be surprised if this did happen but at least the ruling powers, both incarnate and discarnate, have had a salutary shot across their bows. They have been served notice that they cannot have everything their own way and that can only be a good thing.

Some of what I have written here may seem to give the impression that there is no hope and things will only get worse as the powers of nihilism increase their stranglehold on the world. On the contrary! They may indeed increase in outer power. That has been prophesied and is not unexpected. But their end is assured for, despite appearances, they have no real power. All is in God's hands and, when the time is right, he will disperse the darkness. Besides, it must never be forgotten that the real conflict is spiritual and on the level of the soul. What happens in the outer world, though not unimportant, is incomparably less important than what takes place in the soul of each individual, and there, believe it or not, we have complete control. If we want it.