Now that we have Nero...
How do we live without being overwhelmed by despair as the outlines of the new Nero's regime became clear? What practical things can we do to maintain perspective?
Most people who read this article are better off, and safer, than the vast majority of people who have lived throughout history. And we are likely to remain so, despite this new Nero. The Doomsday Clock has been close to midnight for all of my life, and in many respects, Nero succeeding Biden is just are more emperor. The United States has done pretty much what it wants in the world long before the first-arrival of Nero. Objectively, nothing much has changed. The world is, as my colleague Nathan notes in a sermon draft, "a total shit show out there… " After commenting on the horrors being perpetrated by Israel, they say "We could work our way around the globe – Ukraine, Sudan, Yemen, Burma, Venezuela – and the stories don’t get any better." The question is how to live so that the horrors of the world do not drive us to despair despite all its beauty and wonder.
There are things we can do. Some involve disabusing ourselves of false notions of "progress" The others are behavioural changes that I have found to yield significant alterations in my perspective. These are not based on a few ideas dreamed up since November 5. I write as a depressive personality who too frequently struggles not to give in. to total despair.
First, the theology: Our basic task is to "inhabit" the Christian story rather than being sucked into the stories told by empire. Perhaps the key thing to remember is that loved by God though we are, we are not special above other people, and are not owed a particular privilege in the universe. The idea that we are somehow special is one of the key idolatries that sneak into our faith life. Rather than being special, we have lived in a momentary bubble in history where many of us "ordinary" people have been rich beyond the dreams of our grandparents. This is not our right. Indeed, when the prophets cry out at the rich we are likely in their sights.
For a small moment in history, we in Australia have been one of the more privileged vassal states of the bickering empires. And I have relaxed in my fortunate status, forgotten my complicity with those in power, and have been seduced by my privilege to feel as though it is somehow owed me, rather than being a moment of good fortune which is now fading.
We have mistaken the riches built on colonial empires' thievery as "progress." Blessedly, the love of Christ has infected the world. Most of us correctly assume fundamental human rights that were unthinkable in his time. There was no such thing as a war crime, and no problem with slavery. These were simply the rights of the victor. Women were the property of their significant male until very recently, and still often are. But we are not building Utopia, and never have been. There is always a backlash to earth's glimpses of the kingdom of heaven as the those at the top negotiate away to subvert them to their own use.
Christianity, awake to our idolatry, has always been an eschatological religion. Saying this is not to succumb to the the foolishness of fundamentalists and evangelical Americans. It is orthodox theology which we have too often forgotten.
In the meantime, Christ, and the Kingdom of God coming near, destabilise empire. The old habits of tribalism and scapegoating are ceasing to work, for too many of us (and most certainly not only Christians) see their underlying violence. We are ashamed of ourselves, but because we will not follow the Christ we fill our world with rage and instability. Cancel culture becomes as violent as the scapegoating, violence,and abuse that it calls out and seeks to amend. Trump's appeal to so many of us is here: His gospel is that you don't have to be ashamed of being shamefully hateful, racist, misogynistic, or anything else. The world loves this because
We will vote against our interests, attribute divine status to charlatans, sacrifice the well-being of others, spend farcical amounts of money, anything to obtain meaning, or to hold onto meaning, prevent ourselves undergoing the loss of any meaning which suggests that we are special, worth something, not like them, whoever “they” may be. (James Alison)
In short, life is proceeding just as the Faith has always imagined. We who have been seduced by the comfort of our little bubble are being done a bizarre favour by Nero. He has jolted us out of our complacency and denial.
The final point we need to constantly remind ourselves is that faith is not the acceptance of intellectual propositions. Such propositions are vital, but faith is, first of all, a doing of trust in Jesus. What are we doing in this moment? James 2:18 is true:
But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith without works, and I by my works will show you my faith.
How do we do?
Living compassionately opens us to the joy that is an antidote to the world's empires. In trying to live compassionately, assisting others, I have seen some of the worst of our human behaviour but, at the same time, seen the startling beauty and transcendence of our humanity. As Nero settles into his throne we can live like Jesus, welcoming Nero's outcasts and scapegoats. Matthew 25 says that in the doing of this we meet the Son of Man himself.
Media
I find it necessary to be judicious in my exposure to the media. I avoid the Murdoch Press. Murdoch is both Nero's enabler and Nero's manipulator. He wants us to be angry, fearful and despairing, for then we are easier to manipulate. His press is a Liturgy for Empire. It rehearses outrage, normalises scapegoating, and fosters hatred.
I read the independent press, even subscribing to one paper. I believe it is a Christian responsibility to be informed, so I note the headlines and bylines each morning, but consciously limit my consumption of "bad news" articles, reading on a few of them. I take care to give at least equal time to the human interest/good news stories, for these remind us that humanity is more than the USA and Nero. There is much to rejoice at in the world, and in which to hope, if we will give it a hearing.
The last thing to say is that "doom scrolling" whether on Facebook or in our favourite news paper is a recipe for despair. I do not have Facebook access on my phone or tablet, and it's one of the best things I have done.
Go outside
I seek to spend significant amounts of time outside, and exercising. I' m talking a half hour to 40 minutes a day with at least a couple of longer stints. This simply makes our body work better. In that alone, exercise outdoors is a good antidote to depression, but nature also resets our sense of our place in the world. Having a magpie sing to us, or talking with a crow is an antidote to heroic pretentiousness.
Self Medication
Very occasionally I will buy a half bottle of wine because I need to blunt my anxiety. But I am aware that this temporary blunting is very close to avoidance. Avoidance stores despair up for later. I use the phrase "self-medication" because we do similar things with caffeine, sugar, nicotine, marijuana, and more. Each has a cost which can easily outweigh its undoubted temporary benefit.
People & Worship
I am a deeply introverted person who finds gatherings of more than a few people together somewhere between exhausting and panic inducing. But deliberately fostering friendship, even by letter, keeps me on an even keel. My church, with its careful rehearsal of the faith in each week's liturgy is healing. Social isolation is poison. People drag us out of our rumination and despair. They are good for us.
Examen and Prayer
I can spend a longest and most tiring day's night wide awake processing, obsessing, and worrying. This has remained true even during the frequent exhaustion of my current post viral fatigue. It feels like I'm "made" to be depressed by Nero and all the other ills of the world.
Especially if I am not sleeping, but in any case, I do my own examen: the good, and the things I'd like to have done better. And I add to that a rehearsing of my gratitudes: my wife and children, friends, the beauty of the Linear Park, and so on.
Then I say the "prayers." I have committed these to memory: poems and hymns of faith, funeral prayers, and psalms. I have chosen them to form a liturgy of our place in the world: the wonder of creation, God's love for us. Gods' care for us in death, ending with Kevin Hart's On the Last Day, when "everything is stripped from us, even our names." Often I am asleep before the end. Other times, I may do a couple of cycles. This practice rehearses the whole Faith, countering empire's claim to be what is real. Despite the temptation to despair, despite the fear, and despite the grief of this time, I find stability. I am still here. It works in the doctor's surgery, on the bus, in the loneliness. And it is cumulative.
Despite the real damage that Nero has done and will do, life is good. It is far greater
than anything he can do. In the final reality, no matter what they do to us, Nero cannot touch us, cannot come near us. We belong to someone greater.
(Andrea Nov 2024)
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