Perspectives of a Wanderer

We are constantly bombarded with requests to boycott this or boycott that for many different reasons.  Usually it is because some person or group has been offended (sometimes valid, many time not) in one form or another.

Boycotts are completely worthless without viable morally sound alternatives.  People simply cannot or will not do without certain goods and services.  And, in some cases, there are not alternatives for these due to the rampant plague of Global Capitalism consolidating the means of production in the hands of an increasing diminishing number of companies.

In addition, there would be no need for “boycotts” if there were many morally sound alternatives since many would gravitate to those without the need to call for “boycotts”.

We must look at either developing these alternative and/or breaking up the oligarchic and monopolistic control of production of Global Capitalism. That is, implement a socio-economic structure based on distributive principles based in Catholic Moral and Social teaching before it is impossible to do so.

Yes, I know it sounds weird living in a society that is infected by plagues like Relativism, Socialism, Materialism, Liberalism, and Global Capitalism, but I am wondering if it could be a viable to completely living in today’s society.

Many Catholics, including myself, belong to various third orders and/or confraternities that share in the spirituality of a particular order or movement but are not religious members of that order.  From what I have read, and that has been very cursory at best, what I am looking at has existed in the past in one form or another with the best example being that of Third Order of St. Francis.

At the present, I am still researching this idea of mine but what I am looking at is where a group lives in a community, but still works outside of the community in many cases or in jobs associated with the community.  These communities can be set up anywhere but should be as self-reliant as possible.

These communities, based on the actual size will be broken up into a number of groups.  These groups would include, but not restricted to, married, single males, single females, and those inquiring and/or actively pursuing a religious life.  These communities would also follow a particular rule that could be completely based on a current rule, one of the most famous being the Rule of St. Benedict, a modified version of one of those rules, or a completely new one.

One thing that has consistently been mentioned when I suggest these types of thing is that I am trying to set up communities/societies completely separated (i.e. isolated) from current society.  This is not true.  What I envision is an alternative within the current framework of society that could become the norm.

There is more that would go into these types of communities but, at the present time, I am looking mainly at the possibility, viability, and examples of (both historical and present) communities.

I will admit, my prayer life has been a roller coaster for years now.  There are points, including recently where it has been extremely high and points where it has been practically non-existent.  Usually the lows come immediately after a period of extreme high.  I am currently at the point of extreme high that I have not reached before and I am now feeling the start of the burnout phase.  I do not want that to occur since other things tend to happen when I hit those low points.

The problem is finding the proper level of prayer life to avoid the highs and, thus, cause the lows to occur due to burnout.  There are a number of prayers that are obligatory for me.  These include Divine Office (also known as the Liturgy of the Hours), the Rosary, certain prayers to the Holy Guardian Angels, and Eucharistic Adoration (although not absolutely mandatory is encouraged).  All of these are related to investitures and/or groups I belong to.

Other than that, all other prayers are not required of my obligation.  Yes, I still want to say them, but maybe not all every single day.  I need to figure out a schedule for these prayers so that they are said only once or twice a week.

Another advantage of a measured approach to my prayer life is that I will avoid the tendency of rushing my prayers due to time constraints.  This is not no much of a problem on the weekends, but is during the week.  As it is right now, if I do the prayers at the proper pace, I do not leave much time in the mornings before work to do anything else.  This is the time here I feel most rushed.

I will be working on this the next couple of days and will probably speak to one of the priests I know about setting a proper prayer life.

We all, at least most of us, have heard the following Bible story of the “Tower of Babel”:

Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; and nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. (Gen 11: 4-9 RSV)

In the story, man was so united that they were becoming like gods in the sense that nothing they put their mind to was impossible.  Our Lord decided that this was not to be and scattered them across the earth unable to communicate with each other.

Although there are still many languages and people are scattered all across the globe, I see us getting very close to a “Tower of Babel” like situation today.  Why I see this is twofold.

First, the technology today makes it so distance, and in many cases language, barriers have practically fallen.  People communicate at the touch of the button and it is getting to the point where those communications can be automatically translated into their own language.

The second reason is more of ideological in nature.  With the rapid onslaught of secular based society due to the plagues of Relativism, Socialism, Liberalism, Materialism and Global Capitalism, man is either putting himself above God and/or saying God is irrelevant or non-existent.

Now, I am not saying that we need another “Tower of Babel” scattering, but I see this as a real threat to the moral fabric of society. Will God have to do something or will we discover the folly of our ways and return completely to the fold.  I do not hold out much hope of the latter, but I am praying that God does not take too drastic of action (although a return to the Medieval type society would not be undesirable).

Many of know that yesterday was Solemnity of All Saints, but few remember that today is the Feast of All Souls. On this day, we are to pray and celebrate Masses for the soul of those departed that have not attained the rewards in heaven due to not being perfectly cleansed from venial sins, or have not fully atoned for past transgressions.  These are the Poor Souls in Purgatory.

Since this day, unlike the Solemnity of All Saints, is not a Holy Day of Obligation and is not a “pagan party” like Halloween has become, it has, for the most part, become a forgotten day along with the souls that are in Purgatory.

Folks, these people are saints even though they have not attained the rewards in heaven. We are to pay for and celebrate Mass for those souls to aid them in attaining those rewards.

It seems we only pray to saints when we want them to intercede for us, it is high time return the favor and pray for those who will attain sainthood and will attain it quicker through our prayers.

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine.
Et lux perpetua luceat eis.

Fidelium animae, per misericordiam Dei, requiescant in pace.
Amen.

Yes, becoming a saint is the goal for many of us (And for the ones that it is not their goal it should be).  I bring this up because, according to both the old and new liturgical calendars, today is the Solemnity of All Saints, also known as All Saint’s Day honors of all saints, known and unknown.

No matter which calendar you celebrate, the Gospel Reading today was the same (a rarity theses day) and one of my favorite sections of the Bible, the Beatitudes (Mt 5: 1-12).

The Beatitudes begins Our Lord’s “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew Chapters 5 – 7) which is our blueprint to sainthood.  In these chapters, Jesus instructs the multitudes on how one should live their lives in accordance with God.  These are the basic tenets on how everyone should live.

Of course, these days they seem to be merely suggestions and not rules.  It also seems to be the same way with the Ten Commandments.  Now it seems that they are the “Ten Suggestions”.  Guess what, in either case, they are not.

We must return to the teachings of Our Lord if we are to have even a sliver of a chance to save society from it impending implosion due to the rampant immorality that has infected today’s society.  My “suggestion”, since I have absolutely no authority over anyone, is to go back, read, re-read, and continue to re-read these chapters and start living them.  Only then will we have a chance to save society and, for us, to become saints.

Consider Psalm 14 (RSV):

¹ The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none that does good.
² The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any that act wisely, that seek after God.
³ They have all gone astray, they are all alike corrupt; there is none that does good, no, not one.
⁴ Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon the LORD?
⁵ There they shall be in great terror, for God is with the generation of the righteous.
⁶ You would confound the plans of the poor, but the LORD is his refuge.
⁷ O that deliverance for Israel would come out of Zion! When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, Israel shall be glad.

This was one of the Psalms that were part of my prayers for today.  Although it was written millenniums ago, the first four lines seems to describe today’s society very well.

It seem what we, especially our so-called leaders, have forgotten God entirely.  Greed and corruption are rampant and people are just means to and end.

People do not seem to matter unless they are usable. How else can one explain the wholesale slaughter of the unborn and the growing euthanasia utilization? For many, these people (not things) seem to not be productive part of society so they must be gotten rid of by any means possible.

In addition, those who do still believe in God are to be persecuted by the Godless society we live it.

But this is what we get for letting the plagues (I have heard some of them called parasites) of Socialism, Relativism, Liberalism, Materialism, and Global Capitalism to get a foothold.

Fortunately, if we remember that, our reward is not in this world, but the next if we remain faithful to the Lord.  Furthermore, there is always the hope that we can reverse the effects of the plagues on the world and rid ourselves of them.

Or: Another reason to create a separate, but within, society

Consider the following definition for the “Occasion of Sin”:

Any person, place, or thing that of its nature or because of human frailty can lead one to do wrong, thereby committing sin. (Modern Catholic Dictionary) An occasion of sin is considered remote if the danger it poses is very slight while it is considered near if the danger is “certain and probable.”

Today’s society, with its rampant immorality from the socio-economic plagues like Relativism and Materialism, one could make the argument that it could be considered one big “occasion of sin” both near and remote based on the person.

Whether it be businesses, entertainment, or something else, I tend to see this as being essentially true.  However, I do see pockets of where this is not true but they are few and far between.

We need to combat this and, although some will not like my idea, we should considered starting to set up a separate, but within, socio-economic structure to counter today’s society.  This socio-economic structure must have a sound foundation based on Catholic Moral and Social teachings.

While I say “separate”, I also say “but within”.  We cannot separate ourselves from society and I am definitely not advocating that (at least right now).  What we need to do is start setting up morally upright alternatives for as many things as possible in today’s society when there is none available.  If they are available, we must use them exclusively.

By, using and setting up morally sound resources, we can become examples for the rest of society and bring them back from the brink of implosion.

In Going Local, I explained the reason why we may “Go Local” whether we want to or not due to factors that are out of control.  Now I would like to give a reason why one may want to “Go Local”.

One of the advantages of having many contacts on Facebook that are Distributists are that they post links to many interesting articles.  Many of them I cannot get to due to a busy schedule.

However, this morning a link to The Ruin of the Small Storekeeper by Hilaire Belloc over on ChesterBelloc Mandate was posted. In there, Belloc points out the moral and material sets of causes that work against the small storekeeper (i.e. the small business man).

The moral causes, in my opinion mostly can be categorized into one of the socio-economic plagues that are infecting society.  That plague is Materialism.  Many see the small storekeeper as inconvenient due to the fact that they cannot get all of their “so called needs” in one place and are “wasting time” by going to various different places.  I can see why one would believe this.

However, if one takes an inventory of their “needs” they would see many of them are “wants” not “needs”.  In addition, by going to places where one can “get everything in one place”, one tends to “get things” that they do not need since they are “conveniently there.”  This convenience explains the rise of the “megastores” and the “mall” or “mega shopping center”.

The second set, material” of clauses, in my opinion are more insidious since they actively against the “Small Storekeeper”.  They are the competitive advantages of the second socio-economic plague that infects society.  That plague is Global Capitalism (or big business).  Whether it be the “economies of scale”, “control of production”, and/or “preferential treatment” by banks and/or regulators, the Global Capitalist definitely has the advantage and uses it to either bring the “Small Storekeeper” under his control (i.e. franchise) or destroy them all together.  In either case, the “Small Storekeeper” is either reduced to a “wage slave” at the beckon call of his “master” the Global Capitalist or a slave of the State via welfare or employment.

Now, one can say that there are many “small stores” in the mall or along “Main Street”.  However, if one takes a close look, they are mostly either franchisees of global companies, sell products of the global companies, or sell goods that the global company has no desire to sell.  In all cases but the last, they are nothing more than the extension of the global company.  This is especially true of the stores in the mall.

Many will say that Global Capitalism is good.  I say it is just the opposite.  Except in the rare case, Global Capitalism is oppressive of those who want to compete in the same line of business, reduces people to wage slaves, and promotes the plague of Materialism.

We must look at our buying habits and determine if we really need the products and, if we do, try to find truly local “Small Shopkeepers” to buy those products.  Only then will we be able to crush the plagues that are infecting society.

Will it come whether we want it or not? And, how will you adjust?

As usual, I was at one of the local Borders tonight looking at possible books to buy. One of the books I have been looking at is Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization by Jeff Rubin.  The premise of his book is that oil is going to get consistently more costly due to it dwindling supply and we are going to have to look more locally for our needs.

While I agree that energy, especially oil, is going to get more expensive, I do not agree it will be because of dwindling supply.  There are too many alternatives, albeit more expense, alternative sources of oil that is being developed that will more than replace the supply of oil.  However, I digress.

There are many more reasons then just “oil” that may force localization whether people want it or not.  More and more, we are hearing in the news about tainted products from overseas where quality standards are lacking or non-existent.  This I have discussed before.

Secondly, are economic factors that are coming into play now due to the downturn in the economic health of the country?  How much longer are people going to let jobs be shipped overseas while people are losing their jobs?

However, there is another economic factor that may come into play, and that is the falling value of the dollar.  With the drop, imports become more expensive.  At some point, it will (and probably has in some cases) become cheaper to produce goods in the country rather than importing them.   This is going to become more of a factor if the drop in the dollar continues.

The third is more of a psychological than a real factor.  And that is the constant reports of new diseases or new strains of existing diseases.  Yes there is a threat there, but it may force a consideration of the risk factors of importing goods from the far reaches of the world.  Is it really worth importing goods that are more of a luxury than a necessity?

Finally, there are geo-political factors.  Many parts of the world are becoming very unstable.  This has always been an issue, however, where the geo-political problems are now could adversely affect the supply of oil, which, of course, will dramatically increase the price of energy.  This, in turn, will increase the costs of shipping and, ultimately, the final costs of goods that are imported.

There are other factors, but these are the major ones.  However, all of these will probably force people to look locally more and more for the goods needed to survive.

With this shift, many changes in lifestyles will have to be made.

We will have to look for local alternatives to goods like coffee, tea, and many fruits and vegetables that have become commonplace all year round.  Yes, some of these will be available fresh when they are in season.  However, when out of season, one will have to look for alternatives, use in preserved forms (i.e. frozen or cured), or do without.

We will also have to make changes in our leisure activities.  Traveling to exotic places whenever we want to will not be an option if travel becomes too expensive.  We will have to look locally for recreation.  This is not necessarily a bad thing.  It may promote a greater sense of community.

Distributism, which I am an advocate of, looks to place the means of production of all goods at the most local level as possible.  However, it does not stop there, it promote the self-sufficiency of the family as much as possible while not promoting individualism.

An additional benefit, in my opinion, is that Distributism, in its purest form, is rooted in Catholic Moral and Social teachings.   Because of that, it can be used to rebuild a moral foundation to a society whose foundation has been rotting away from the ravages of the plagues of Relativism, Globalism (in the form of Global Capitalism), Materialism, Socialism, and Liberalism.

“Going Local” is not a bad thing.  In fact, it is a good thing since Global Capitalism is proving to be, like it opposite Socialism is proving to be a dismal failure.