Apocalypse, Archetype, Singularity

Where are we now?

Religious historian Karen Armstrong

“The time has come and the Kingdom of God has already arrived.” — Mark 1:14–15

Reflecting on Trump’s AI-generated Pope Selfie inspired more thoughts about Christianity, its origins as an opposing force to Rome’s dominance, and Christianity’s eventual transformation into the most powerful instrument of a hegemonic, global Empire that enslaves, commits genocide, exploits and colonizes.

How did we reach a situation where current followers of Christianity act in ways that completely and obviously contradict the basic doctrine they claim to follow (“love thy neighbor,” etc)? I still find myself naive enough to be surprised by this, even though it has been going on for 1600 years.

I thought it would be helpful to look back at the origin of Christianity, and consider how we reached this sad state of affairs. “From the start, the gospels present Jesus as an alternative to the structural violence of imperial rule,” religious historian Karen Armstrong writes in Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence:

Setting up an alternative to the violence and oppression of imperial rule could hasten the moment when God’s power would finally transform the human condition. So his followers must behave as if the kingdom had already arrived. Jesus could not drive the Romans from the country, but the “kingdom” he proclaimed, based on justice and equity, was open to everybody—especially those whom the current regime had failed. You should not merely invite your friends and rich neighbors to a festivity, he told his host: “No, when you have a party, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.” Invitations should be issued in “the streets and alleys of the town” and “the open roads and hedgerows.” “How happy are you who are destitute [ptochos],” Jesus exclaimed; “yours is the kingdom of God!” The poor were the only people who could be “blessed,” because anybody who benefited in any way from the systemic violence of imperial rule was implicated in their plight.

I find it fascinating that so many of the millions of people who fervently support “Trumpism” identify as Christians. They read these passages from the gospels fervently, yet lack the self-reflection to relate this to harsh policies against the poor or illegal immigrants, or devastating environmental policies that lead to cancers and so on. Trump isn’t exactly welcoming the poor and crippled to his high-ticket shindigs at Mar a Lago. He seems ready to attack peaceful Greenland and refuses to rule out a military invasion of Canada.

As I have written before, I believe we are solidly within the “archetype of the Apocalypse” now. From a Jungian perspective, archetypes are constellations of psychic energy that eventually reach a certain level of intensity and then manifest completely in the historical and human reality.