"I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!" (Luke 12:49)
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| Image by Cristian Ibarra from Pixabay |
How do you view the world? How do you see the world? I think that Kant was partially right in that we view the world through the subjective lens of the mind. But I think this lens itself is not static, but in formation throughout a person's lifetime. The way we interpret the world can change over time, and the way this lens is formed can either allow us to see the world objectively, or this lens can distort reality.
The Christian claim is that through the lens of faith, we can see the world as it really is. "I once was blind, but now I see." My own experience is that this is a process. As I look through the lens of faith, I begin to trust this faith as I see clearer than before. And the process continues as faith makes sense of the world.
Indeed, we find meaning through faith. And metaphysically, this makes sense if the Christian claims are true. God is Being itself ("I AM Who AM" Ex 3:14). God is Truth itself. Jesus, the incarnate God, said, "I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (Jn 14:6). God is the light by which we see light (Ps 36:9). We come to see objective truth through faith.
But this is not the only way of seeing the world. One way of viewing the world is through the lens of ideology. That is, instead of shaping his lens (his world view) through his experience, a person chooses to shape his lens through ideology, a view of the world through a particular political perspective. The person gives himself over to this ideology in a similar way as a person gives himself over to a faith. But like a dangerous cult, the ideas forming the ideology closes a person off from seeing reality clearly, admitting no other perspective (e.g. lens) but that of the ideology. An ideology is a faith which won't be tested by the world as it really is. Rather, the ideology forces itself on the world.
And in a similar fashion, conspiracy theories are formed. It is a way of viewing evidence to fit a narrative.
The common feature of ideologues and conspiracy theorists is a sort of self-righteous pride. The claim is that only they see the world as it truly is, and that an enemy prevents others from seeing as they see. With an ideology accepted by ideologues, this can get really dangerous when ideologues judge that the only solution is to purify the world of evil persons who refuse to get completely onboard with the ideology; the orthodox must expunge the heretics. It becomes an evil parody of the Christian religion; the spiritual battle is waged only in the material realm.
In Christianity, the spiritual battle is waged in each individual's heart -- not the material heart which pumps blood throughout the body, but the very core of a person's identity, that thing which defines a person as he truly is. In Christianity, the virtue of humility is the gateway for all other virtues. It is not the virtue of making one see himself as worthless, but rather it is the virtue of seeing oneself as he truly is -- a sinner loved by God, a person of infinite worth. This is where God's grace truly changes the world -- not from the outside world forcing itself on the person, but from an interior conversion bringing an interior love to the outside, setting the world on fire with God's love.
With the interior change, a person truly sees. "I once was blind, but now I see."
