Vague Apocalyptica: Capitalism, Humanism and Democracy in America by Louis D. Lo Praeste

Author:Louis D. Lo Praeste [D. Lo Praeste, Louis]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: philosophy, culture, politics
Publisher: Snow Creek Press
Published: 2017-05-01T16:00:00+00:00

“Contemplation is the lamp of the heart. When it goes away, there is no light for it.”36

— ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Alawī al-Haddād

In the opaque London dawn of November 9th 2016 I was woken up by a loud knock on my door. My colleague, who’d been up all night watching the U.S. Presidential election results, stood in the dim light with two take-away coffee cups and said, “You’re not going to believe this.”

Like many people, I was surprised, and then not surprised at all. I’d managed to dupe myself and now, the reality set in. The election of a real-estate tycoon to the highest office in the country, in the most powerful country in the world, made perfect sense if you were paying attention to the decline of both civics and the overall civility of politics since 1987.

I do not share the vitriol many people have for Mr. Trump, but I do understand it. I do not share in the rampant hatred for him because he is not what should be hated; I reserve my righteous indignation for far more endemic issues. I have empathy for both sides—for those whose candidate lost, and especially for those whose side won—because the candidate they voted for may well not be what they get. The transformation from candidate to President is always this way. I do not see the point of “hating” Mr. Trump or his followers because to do so would be to deny my own complicity in a society that has created the phenomena of both. This is my main point to the reader: our ire is misdirected.

One month after the election, after ninety days in London working on a fund with an investor, I flew from London to Boston and then from Boston to Lebanon, NH. I then drove two hours into the deep Vermont woods to do guided work with a spiritual teacher and therapist, to learn, as it were, how to be more kind to myself. We all need more kindness, and as such, I thought I should begin with myself.

Kindness to one’s self means first and foremost that we do not pull the wool over our own eyes. We do not mistake cliché for insight and we do not fall prey to petty or trivial people. Kindness to one’s self might sound like a polite way of letting ourselves off the hook for being human and flawed, but what it truly means is holding ourselves to certain standards, like civic responsibility and active engagement in the democratic process.

Mass media and social media, populist politics, and endless fascination with banality are pandemic distractions. These universes composed of raw appetites, random thoughts, conspiracies, rumors of electoral college do-overs, secession movements, and more, more, more political spectacle, obscure the deep and disturbing truth: we are ever more alone and lonely despite how “connected” we are.

There is a theme within all this. Echo chambers like YouTube, Google, LinkedIn and Facebook do not encourage the day-to-day mingling and personal involvement necessary in a healthy democratic society.

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