The End Of Eternal Truths and The New Paganism

Pope Benedict XVI, who had been in office for almost a decade, died last week at 95. His life was marked in his belief in the supremacy of an eternal truth. In 2008, he spoke out to Catholic educators at the Catholic University of America. “Truth means more than knowledge: knowing the truth leads us to discover the good….[W]e observe, with distress, the notion of freedom being distorted. Freedom is not an opting out. It is an opting in – a participation in Being itself. Hence authentic freedom can never be attained by turning away from God.”

There is truth. It must be pursued. Falsehood is the only way to get there. Over the millennia, human beings have discovered eternal truths. To discard them in favor of subjectivism can be crippling. These eternal truths stem from the belief that God created us in His image. He gave us roles and responsibilities. True freedom is in making choices within those boundaries.

What happens if we forget these truths?

When disaster strikes.

We lose our belief in Higher things first, then we lose our belief in ourselves.

This two-step process is causing real problems for us.

Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist, explained what happens when our gaze turns inwards instead of outwards in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal. He said that Generation Z has been drawn into a vortex filled with jealousy, narcissism, and isolation. Haidt says that there have been many changes in the world. “never been a generation this depressed, anxious and fragile.” Particularly for girls, replacing roles with constant self-assessment is a path to hell. “You post your perfect life, and then you flip through the photos of other girls who have a more perfect life, and you feel depressed.” The new cultural ideology “valorizes victimhood. …You’re not going to take chances, you’re going to ask for accommodations, you’re going to play it safe, you’re not going to swing for the fences, you’re not going to start your own company.”

Civilization has been shaped by new gods. The pantheistic god nature, revenging on us for our capitalist excesses, is the most obvious god. What else could you ask for? “60 Minutes” Paul Ehrlich, author of widely discredited false green Paul Ehrlich. “The Population Bomb”? Ehrlich famously said in 1968 that billions of people would starve in the 1970s or 1980s. Now, half a century later, it is clear why. “Humanity is not sustainable. To maintain our lifestyle (yours and mine, basically) for the entire planet, you’d need five more Earths. Not clear where they’re gonna come from.”

Ehrlich is not right. It is the question of why Ehrlich is still respected. The truth is that all religions require prophets. Environmental catastrophism, like any other, is no exception.

The West is losing its connection to traditional wisdom and its philosophical moorings. Without those moorings being strengthened, the consequences will be devastating. And they can only be reinforced by those who have the courage to defend eternal truths – not merely hide behind the tolerance of pluralism, a repository for the cowardice of conservatives who correctly stand with free speech but incorrectly think that stance sufficient to win the day.

Either truth or lies will prevail in the end. In 2012, Pope Benedict XVI spoke to the Bishops of America. “The Church in the United States is called, in season and out of season, to proclaim a Gospel which not only proposes unchanging moral truths but proposes them precisely as the key to human happiness and social prospering.” The same is true for all traditional values.