Francis Berger's Blog, page 120

Recovery - A Brief Break From Blogging

Despite previous reservations, I decided to undergo a surgical procedure for my hallux rigidus problem, which I briefly described here.  After numerous consultations with doctors, I came to the conclusion that surgery was the best option in my case.

I underwent the same day procedure yesterday morning. It was a walk-in and then hobble out sort of deal, and I and am now at home, my swollen, bandaged right foot elevated on a stack of pillows. I doing quite well all things considered; however, the doctor has instructed me to do as little and rest as much as possible over the next few days.

In light of this, I will be taking a brief break from blogging, probably for the remainder of this week (unless I become extremely restless from all the recovering). I hope to be back by the weekend at the latest. 

Until then, all the best. 

Note added: Special thanks to Bruce Charlton and stef for the information they shared with me regarding this condition. 

Captured Glimpses Of Nineteenth-Century Rural Life In Hungary - Gyula Aggházy

Gyula Aggházy (1850-1919) painted mostly in what is referred to as the naturalist style. Some of his finest paintings, like the second one below, have an almost rough, somewhat unfinished, sketch-like quality about them, while many others are as polished as gems.

​Either way, Aggházy - who was equally interested in music and played violin at the National Theatre in Budapest for a short spell - had a wonderful way of capturing the magic and beauty (or raw emotion) within the seemingly mundane.  Girl at a Stove To Be Angry With You Light in the Grove

Marxism/Communism = No Lives Matter

Contemporary leftists who fall under the pernicious spell of Marxism/communism tend to do so because they assume the grievously mistaken belief that human lives matter within the utopian framework the ideology espouses.

Nothing  could be further from the truth. Though the point has been solidly stressed many times by many people in many ways, I would like to take a moment to make to a declaration which, at this point in history, should not even have to made; under the banner of Marxism/communism, no lives matter. Full stop. End of story. 

For the sake of elucidation, let's briefly make our way through a non-comprehensive list of lives that did not matter under Marxism/communism.

Some lives didn't matter from the get go. 

Royal lives.
Bourgeois lives. 
Capitalist lives.
Fascist lives.
Counter-revolutionary lives. 
Traditionalist lives. 
Christian lives.
Other religious lives.
Traitor lives.
Nationalist lives. 

Other lives mattered for a while, and then didn't matter anymore.

Intelligentsia lives.
Proletariat/working class lives.
Agricultural smallholder lives. 
Peasant lives.
Red army/military lives.
Jewish lives.
Women's lives. 
Children's lives.   
Party member lives.
Informer lives.
Enforcer lives. 
Party leader lives.

And so on. When all was said and done, no lives truly mattered. All lives were considered potential threats. All lives were open to the possibility of liquidation, even the lives of the people who helped establish Marxist/communist regimes. 

Tens of millions of lives from Russia to China, from southeast Asia to Africa, from Central Europe to Central America; none of these tens of millions lives (perhaps more) mattered.

In light of the lists above, I must say I find it unsurprising that the latest (rather lame and farcical) incarnation of Marxist/communist revolutionary slop parades under a flag declaring that lives matter. In this specific case, the lives that matter are of a particular skin color. Likewise, the ruling global elite have also increased their communist-inspired rhetoric about improving lives, leveling the playing field to provide opportunities for the marginalized and the oppressed, and ensuring dignity for all human lives. 

The premise behind Marxist platitudes is elementary. There is an oppressive system in which some lives matter more than others. Marxism purports it can change that through the elimination of oppressive structures, thereby creating a world in which it would be socially, economically, and politically impossible for some lives to matter more than other lives. At its core, communism professes to be an emancipatory force, one that not only liberates the oppressed from their oppressors, but also liberates the oppressors from their burden of having to oppress. Simply put, Marxism liberates. 

Though it sounds alluring, history has shown that the only real emancipation Marxism/communism offers is emancipation from mortal life.

Something to keep in mind should the Marxist/communist rhetoric currently on display intensify going forward.

The Establishment Is Itching To Initiate The Bright Side Of The Crisis

As the world continues to grapple with the effects of COVID-19, no part of society seems to be left unscathed. Fears are surmounting around the economy’s health, and dramatic changes in life as we know it are also underway.

The dramatic spread of COVID-19 has disrupted lives, livelihoods, communities and businesses worldwide. All stakeholders, especially global business, must urgently come together to minimize its impact on public health and limit its potential for further disruption to lives and economies around the world.
 
But the sum of many individual actions will not add up to a sufficient response. Only coordinated action by business, combined with global, multi-stakeholder cooperation – at exceptional scale and speed – can potentially mitigate the risk and impact of this unprecedented crisis.

On the bright side, many experts are also looking to this recovery trajectory as an opportunity for a “great reset” of our global systems.
                                              - selections taken from the World Economic Forum's site.


The purposive pursuit to end something usually indicates a desire to start something new. I feel no kinship for or affiliation to our current System. It is clearly an obstacle. A barrier. It needs to be dismantled and sent to the scrap yard in order for something better to emerge. But the dismantling I am seeing now will unlikely lead to anything better. More likely, it will lead to something worse. 
                                            - excerpt from one of my earlier blog posts

I can't stand it, I know you planned it,
I'mma set it straight this Watergate.
                                             - Sabotage, The Beastie Boys

COVID-19: What are the biggest risks to society in the next 18 months?

Trying To Learn All The Details Of The Global Totalitarian Agenda Provides No Great Advantage

Most people are still utterly oblivious of the successful totalitarian takeover that took place at the height of the birdemic hysteria in March and April of this year. Nevertheless, a small but growing number of people have sensed or are beginning to sense the stench of authoritarian permanence emanating from what were initially advertised as strictly temporary circumstances and measures. Becoming aware of the tyrannical coup is an unpleasant experience. I imagine many who have become cognizant of the global autocracy now ruling the world wish they had remained mired in ignorant bliss. 

In all fairness, I can't say I blame them, but we are designed to spend our mortal lives experiencing and learning, not pining for states of inexperience and unintelligence. In this sense, becoming aware of something like the recently installed global dictatorship should be considered a blessing rather than a curse because this awareness presents a massive opportunity for learning. Although learning is often difficult and occasionally unpleasant, it is vitally important, especially from a spiritual perspective. Once we have understood the central role of spiritual learning in mortal life, it is only natural to want to acquire all the information we can digest in an effort to facilitate the learning.

​This holds particularly true for events like the recent ascendancy of global authoritarianism. An impulse to know everything we can about it flares up within us. We spend hours scouring the internet for the latest news and views. We entertain elaborate and complex conspiracy matrices professing to connect all the dots in the global web of evil. We commit to chasing the latest opinions and observations splattered across the soggy soil of social media. We compare notes with kindred spirits as we attempt to unravel the meaning behind it all. We endlessly search for those elusive but vital details that will provide us with a comprehensive understanding of exactly what is happening and how things will eventually unfold. All of this can certainly be considered a part of the learning process, and some of it can actually provide lucid insights into our current predicament, but most of this kind of learning is not really learning at all. Much of it is unessential and, whether we care to admit it or not,  superfluous and counterproductive.

To begin with, it is impossible to become well-versed in the minutiae of what is transpiring at the moment. The amount of information is overwhelming. Much of it is questionable and dubious. A great deal is purposefully misleading. A great deal more comprises outright lies. On top of that, many of the specifics are nothing more than trivialities. Nonetheless, some of the information is true and can provide real insights. On the other hand, not all information that is true is necessarily insightful. A few days of intensive research in the quest to become informed about the machinations of our totalitarian overlords are enough to reveal that the Establishment and the System it controls are encoded in convoluted complexity that has been purposively crafted to confound. After a while, we begin to understand that most of the active players that are hardwired into the System barely know the details either. That much is kept from them; that most are in the dark and act by following the leader without any real concept of who the leader truly is.

All the same, for the sake of argument let's pretend you managed to get your hands on the one and only copy of evil's detailed manifesto to rule the world. The volume contains all the names, organizations, blueprints, schedules, schematics, flow charts, diagrams, and specifics concerning the Establishment's plans for the world for the next fifty years. What would you do with this information? Would you make this information known to the world? If so, how? Who would believe you? How would the information help you personally? Would you use it to find a way to beat the Establishment? Or would you use it merely to get you and your loved ones out of harm's way? How could you even be sure the manifesto was authentic?

Yes, I'm belaboring the point, but I am belaboring it in an effort to build up to a larger point, which is this - we cannot know all the details of our current circumstances and, more importantly, we shouldn't strive to learn them all. This comes off sounding counterintuitive in light of what has been said about the importance of learning in mortal life, but it begins to make sense if we stop and ask ourselves what kind of learning matters after we become aware of the manifestation of something like a totalitarian coup.

The examples I have listed above are primarily external, information-based means learning. Although valid and necessary at times, this form of learning can also be intrusive and inconsequential to spiritual learning. It's worth remembering that most of these external, information-based resources are disseminated by the Establishment itself. As such, the majority of what we encounter serves a purpose that is diametrically opposed to our own individual purpose in life, especially if we take what we encounter at face value. Yet reading between the lines and decoding the Establishment's endless avalanche of information in an effort to find the truth also has its limits. Independent sources often supply good and useful information, but some of it is just as pointless and unreliable as the material the Establishment makes public. 

When we become aware of events like the recent totalitarian coup, we are often compelled to find out all we can about it, mostly from external sources, because we are under the impression that this effort to understand is an essential part of our learning in our mortal lives. Though this kind of learning has some benefits, it is not essential.

In other words, knowing all the details provides us with no great advantage because very few of the details we discover are likely to provide anything meaningful to the particulars of our own individual circumstances and our own individual spiritual learning and development. Being aware of the evil inherent in the recent global totalitarian takeover and being able to identify the motivations behind the evil are enough.

Once we have achieved this, we should turn our attention inward and focus on the minutiae of our own individual lives. More importantly, we should allow our awareness of evil to intuitively filter out the useful from the useless and allow it guide us to the kinds of external information that might prove meaningful and useful to our own particular circumstances within the larger framework of the totalitarian system. Most importantly, we should put our trust in faith in God and the Holy Spirit, allow ourselves to proceed on a need to know basis, and keep our channels of communication open to Divine communication. At the same time,  we should match this communication with our own concerted efforts at creative, intuitive thinking. Eventually, the external details we need to know will emerge, and with them, all the advantage we require.

Note added: I am not suggesting external information-based resources be avoided or details be ignored, but rather that these resources be vigorously sieved through the filters of our own intuitive and spiritual learning and knowing. As is the case with most things in life, being informed is far better than being uninformed. At the same time, a relentless pursuit of details, details, details coupled with a steady diet based exclusively on external information could lead to a state of being vastly over-informed - a state in which we allow external information-based materials to drown out or overwhelm our own intuitive and spiritual faculties to know and understand. This could confuse priorities and dull discernment and lead us into a state where the overabundance of information actually makes us misinformed about what is most important in our mortal lives. 

Will Misotheism Become The Supreme Moral Imperative Of Our Times?

When did atheism first become a moral imperative? The Enlightenment? The French Revolution? Some time in the nineteenth century? The moment Nietzsche declared the death of God? The First or Second World War? The Sexual Revolution?

It is extremely difficult to pinpoint the exact time unbelief in the existence of God became a strongly-felt principle that compelled our civilization to act in ways it had never previously acted before. Nevertheless, somewhere in the above-mentioned span of history lies a tipping point - a point at which all the small, accumulated changes accrued over the centuries initiated a significant change in the world. Somewhere within that stretch of time, rejecting the existence of God went from being considered an acceptable thing to do to being considered the right thing to do. 

The moral imperative driving atheism has held up rather effectively. Unbelief in the existence of God is now viewed as a sign of sophistication, reason, and intelligence. Atheism is the mark of self-respecting individuals who understand 'scientific' reality and refuse to let their lives be cowed by superstitious fairy tales and obsolete medieval morality. 

Nevertheless, early self-professed atheists understood that their right to un-believe in the existence of the Divine was intrinsically connected to the rights of others to continue believing. Though most atheists considered theists to be misguided, superstitious, and foolish, they tended to respect the right of believers to be believers. But as is the case with most issues that boil down to rights, this ideal state of mutual respect became untenable. As the moral imperative driving atheism continued to expand and strengthen, it gradually drove believer norms, practices, and symbols out of the public domain. Thus religious unbelief, which began as a private, individual right, soon became a public moral imperative, while religious belief, more specifically in the West, Christianity, was systematically relegated to the margins of the public sphere.

The moral imperative driving atheism began to fade the moment unbelief in the existence of God became dominant. Once atheism (Godless leftism) became the dominant belief system in the West, it ceased being a moral imperative and became more of a prerequisite. Within this framework, belief in the existence God was still technically permitted, but only if it was subordinated to the ruling temporal system of unbelief represented by idols such as science, reason, humanity, democracy, equality, liberalism, and all the rest of it. As a result, belief in God has become a moot point. Though the issue of belief versus unbelief in the existence of the Divine technically remains open to debate, the debate itself has been declared unimportant and devoid of any practical value.   

When this occurred, atheism began to shift toward the moral imperative of antitheism. To truly do the right thing and live in the right way, atheists had to do far more than harbor unbelief; they had to adopt the view that belief in God was not only silly and misguided, but positively wrong and harmful. Thus, antitheism - recently promulgated and made famous in the public sphere by Dawkins, Hitchens, et. al - has replaced atheism as the new moral imperative.

In this time and place, unbelief in God is no longer sufficient. Being on the right side of civilization and history now demands belief in the existence of God be vociferously attacked, criticized, and ridiculed in the public sphere. Furthermore, the moral imperative of antitheism also demands religion and belief in God be ruthlessly singled out and blamed as the root cause for nearly all of humanity's maladies and suffering. This milieu makes it morally unacceptable for atheists to remain purely atheists; being accepted as politically and, more significantly, morally correct requires far more than mere unbelief; it also entails treating all belief in the existence of God as positively stupid, offensive, and, at its core, evil. 

The moral imperative of antitheism continues to drive our current time and place, but in my estimation we are coming to the tail end of this period. Though atheism and antitheism have both proven extremely effective in turning people away from God, I get the sense both of these moral imperatives have essentially served their respective purposes in the spiritual war. Atheism has lured people into consciously and willingly rejecting the very idea of the existence of God and the existence of the Truth that God radiates, while antitheism has succeeded in relentlessly attacking and undermining those who continue to maintain their belief and faith in the Divine and Divine Truth.

Don't get me wrong, not believing in the existence of God and denigrating anyone who believes in the existence of God are still 'the right things to do' in the here and now and will continue on unabated, but I get the sense that this poisonous fusion of atheism/antitheism will soon be augmented by a new overarching moral imperative, one specifically crafted for the times we are currently experiencing. This new moral imperative will appear in the form of active and open misotheism - that is, in the form of explicit expressed hatred of God.

Here's the thing - atheism and antitheism both stem from the principle of unbelief. The atheist and antitheist rejection of God and Truth is based on the relativist, positivist, and reductionist  conviction that God and Truth do not and cannot exist in reality. However, the metaphysical rejection of the existence of God also includes the metaphysical rejection of the existence of supernatural evil. Put another way, for most modern people, the active and willing atheist and antitheist rejection of God also denotes a refusal to believe in the existence of the devil. For the atheist/antitheist, neither God nor Satan are real.

For the demonic forces waging war against God, Truth, and Creation, this arrangement represents a compromise. It has been argued that the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn't exist, and the devil has certainly succeeded in doing that. The demonic forces understand that tempting people away from belief in God also necessitates the relinquishing of belief in Satan. This unbelief in both God and Satan alleviates the explicitness of rejecting Good in favor of Evil, but it has come at the price of compromise. I suspect this time of compromise will soon come to an end.

Unlike their victims and minions, demons cannot harbor unbelief in God for the simple reason that they know God exists - they know God is real. They know God is real because they know they themselves are real. In light of this, they understand that God and Creation are Good, and that Satan and Destruction are evil. They know the value of Truth, Beauty, and Virtue. They are painfully aware of the beauty and truth of Creation and the promise of eternal life in Heaven beyond this world, but they reject it - all of it - and work feverishly to tempt every individual human soul to do the same.

As stated earlier, inspiring unbelief in the existence of God has served the demonic forces well, but it has come at the price of inspiring unbelief in the existence of Satan. Under this arrangement, demonic forces have successfully manipulated people into believing that turning away from God does not implicitly or explicitly involve turning toward the devil, but instead involves a turning toward a 'real' higher good (humanism, equality, democracy, hedonism, whatever) that exists firmly within perceived material reality.

This paradigm is quickly coming to an end. The devil no longer desire to convince the world of his nonexistence. On the contrary, he wants to emphatically assert the reality of his existence, but he understands that any true validation of his existence can only occur through the full acknowledgement of the existence and reality of God. Consequently, we have reached a stage in which the demonic forces feel confident enough to push humanity from the unbelief path to damnation and steer it firmly onto the path of fully conscious and aware self-damnation. Demonic forces are working to make the reality of their existence obvious to everyone, but this endeavor automatically includes raising human awareness about the  existence of God as well. Like God, the devil now seems to want people to become fully aware of the metaphysical reality of Good and Evil; to ensure everyone knows that he and God are real. 

The inversions and manipulations the demonic forces have utilized over the centuries to turn people away from God are becoming increasingly blatant and transparent. The perceived gray area in which many have erroneously sheltered is diminishing and will soon disappear. The reality of Good and Evil is becoming evermore obvious and undeniable, even to those who refuse to believe in such realities. Satan is currently asserting the reality of his existence. The Prince of Lies wants every soul in the world to accept the reality of his truth and make it a new moral imperative going forward. And what is the reality of Satan's truth?

Misotheism - a voracious and limitless hatred of God.

Declared, open, and explicit hatred of the Divine - a hatred based on firm belief rather than on unbelief in the existence of God - will become the moral imperative of these times. The demonic forces are confident that the vast majority of humans will reject the Divine even after the reality of God's existence is made explicitly clear. More than that, the devil seems convinced most humans will actively choose to join his endless and terrible hatred of God, and by doing so, become fully and consciously committed to destruction and their own self-damnation via a choice made from a position of belief rather than from a position of unbelief.

I harbor hope and faith in an opposite outcome for many individuals. In the meantime, I suspect the moral imperative of misotheism will become increasingly detectable and prevalent in the coming weeks and months. 

If Normal Was A Crisis, The Great Reset Will Be A Catastrophe

One thing I have learned since I began perusing the World Economic Forum's website a week or so ago is this: the victorious, post-coup Establishment is steadfastly committed to doing everything it possibly can to ensure the world never returns to any semblance of pre-birdemic normal for the simple reason that "normal wasn't working." 

At the purely superficial level, I can't help but agree with our newly self-crowned totalitarian overlords. They're right - normal was not working, but my agreement with this premise does not entail that I support or endorse the conclusions and plans the Establishment is gathering and promulgating in its efforts to alleviate this sudden "crisis of normal."

In my mind, normal wasn't working because our civilization is metaphysically confused and mostly opposed to God and Divine Will. In the Establishment's demonic mind, normal wasn't working because our civilization is not metaphysically confused enough and has still not committed itself willingly and completely to self-damnation.

The only reset I would welcome would be one involving the primacy of the spiritual. The Establishment's idea of a reset involves something else entirely. On the surface, it all sounds so alluring and wonderful. I mean, take a look at what the leader of the WEF has said about the opportunity the birdemic presents:

"The COVID-19 crisis is affecting every facet of people's lives in every corner of the world. But tragedy need not be its only legacy. On the contrary, the pandemic represents a rare but narrow window of opportunity to reflect, reimagine, and reset our world to create a healthier, more equitable, and more prosperous future."

That sounds swell, doesn't it? My only concern is this: the enlightened individuals demanding the global reset are the same enlightened individuals that shaped, constructed, controlled, and profited from the normal that has suddenly stopped working.

But at this point, it doesn't really matter what the Establishment says anymore. They have secured all the power they need; all they have to do now is force their plan through. Here's something to keep in mind - resets usually occur only after prior systems become unsalvageable. The Establishment is currently working to ensure their prior system - the old normal - becomes just that.

Unsalvageable. 

The Establishment wants to convince the world that normal is a crisis. Normal may indeed be a crisis, but I can guarantee the new normal the Establishment hopes to create will be far worse than a crisis; it will be a complete catastrophe. 

Prayer Request

My friend and fellow blogger S.K. Orr posted the following prayer request on his blog today: 

Our eldest son Jason was taken to hospital this morning. "Feels like someone standing on my chest," he told my wife.

We're awaiting the cardiologist to perform a catheterization.

Please pray for Jason, for his wife, for his children, and for my wife.

Haydn In Eisenstadt

I seem to follow Haydn everywhere I go in this region I now call home. I have written earlier about Haydn's time at the Esterhazy Palace in Esterháza (Fertod), Hungary, which is located very near to my village, but I have only touched upon Haydn's main place of residence at the Esterhazy "Schloss" in Kismárton, known today as Eisenstadt, in Austria.  While the palace in Hungary served mainly as a summer retreat and hunting lodge, the palace in Austria served as the Esterhazy's primary residence. I discovered the Haydn link quite accidentally shortly after I began working at my part-time university position in Eisenstadt, Austria.

Though fifty kilometers closer to Vienna than the Esterháza Palace, the palace in Eisenstadt was still considered to be 'in the sticks' during Haydn's time; so much so that the composer often lamented about feeling isolated from the vibrancy and creativity of the capital. 

In an effort to attract tourists to the region, Eisenstadt bills itself as "Haydnstadt" on many of its tourist pamphlets and brochures and hosts a veritable avalanche of concerts featuring Haydn's music every year. I have not had the pleasure of partaking in any of these yet, but I would really like to do so this summer. One prominent musical ensemble in "Haydnstadt" is the Haydn Trio Eisenstadt who focus exclusively on Haydn's smaller concertos and chamber music; as far as I know, they still perform in the town today.   

Relying On Intuition Is A Sign of Cognitive Disempowerment

Though the Global Establishment readily acknowledges the existence of bonafide conspiracies such as the Volkswagen emissions test scandal, the not-so-secret players that recently pulled off their unprecedented coup du monde during what they themselves have begun referring to as The Great Lockdown continue to insist that any and all criticism of the official birdemic narrative, or any other officially-endorsed agenda item, resides firmly within the heinous and embarrassing realm of conspiracy theory.

In addition, the Establishment wants everyone to understand that all conspiracy theories stem from something called cognitive disempowerment. No kidding. Here's a booklet all about it. So, what's the best way to stop conspiracy theorizing in its tracks?

Cognitive empowerment! What else? And what does cognitive empowerment entail? Well, for starters, it entails not relying on your own intuition. 

Conspiracy thinking is associated with feelings of reduced control and perceived threat. When people feel like they have lost control of a situation, their conspiracist tendencies increase. But the opposite also applies. When people feel empowered, they are more resilient to conspiracy theories. There are several ways to “cognitively empower” people, such as encouraging them to think analytically rather than relying on intuition.

I have drawn attention to this for one simple but very important reason - intuition matters. What's more, the Global Establishment understands intuition matters. Intuitive thinking and knowing is cognitive empowerment, not disempowerment. What's more, intuition represents a threat to the Establishment and their plans; which helps explain why the powers-that-should-not-be work so vigorously to denigrate and disparage intuitive thinking every chance they get.