Jesus Christ, Crisis Manager?

As we move toward upcoming elections, we will be bombarded once again with political ads, and I suspect that, once again, we will see politicians asserting that we would be best served by reelecting them. As qualifications, they may cite their acumen in the handling of crises, as demonstrated by their performance in the pandemic.

As the omicron variant grinds to a halt, one wants to breathe a sigh of relief but for two years, we have been dealing with an entire world in a state of crisis management, and our current situation seems to beg two questions: What exactly is crisis management, and will current crisis managers be willing to give up the ground they’ve gained?— in other words, what crises await us in the wings?

The term crisis management rose to prominence in the 1980s and was first used primarily in reference to the large-scale industrial economic melt-downs of the day. Though it is an oft-uttered term in our age, culturally, aside from its original application to the industrial/economic concerns for whence it earned recognition, we don’t really have any sort of philosophy undergirding the management of crises, largely because many among us don’t really have a philosophy undergirding much of anything.

Many of our politicians proclaim themselves to be pragmatists. Let’s be clear—pragmatism is the antithesis of philosophy; it rests soundly upon the concept of doing something—anything—to get through the current crisis, and it does so without having any philosophical foundation for the legitimacy of the actions that may be taken.

Classical philosophy—notably the science of metaphysics: the study of existence—has been largely abandoned. Metaphysics is arguably the foundation of western thought. Throughout recorded history—from the God of Abraham and Moses, the great “I am who am”; to the ground-breaking Metaphysics of Aristotle; to the God-man who said, “Before Abraham was, I am”; through the Church’s Patristic period and into the Scholastic theology of the High Middle Ages—humanity finds itself, and defines itself by seeking its origins in the very origin of existence itself. The Creator does not simply exist: He is existence— “I am who am”.

However, Renaissance philosophers began the ambitious abandonment of metaphysics, taking existence from center stage and putting man at the center, somehow above existence, as though existence itself were of little to no consequence.  Of course, if existence is of little consequence, then humanity is of little consequence (and that is often the end game of pragmatism).

It will be argued that denying the existence of a creator does not diminish the importance of existence, but rather enshrines it, and us in the process. And thus, we end up with the eternal universe concept, which is perhaps the most easily dismissed non-theory of all time. An incontrovertible scientific axiom states that any system left undirected, decays into chaos. It is common sense 101. An infinite universe has no beginning because if it does, it’s not infinite and would require what Aristotle called a “prime mover” to kick things off.

Without a beginning, we would have an infinity of descent into chaos; that is, chaos times infinity. Taking one quick look around us, at the highly structured universe in which we live, tells us that that is simply not the case, and therefore, this is not an eternal universe; therefore, existence had a beginning, and the study of that beginning is not only a legitimate science, it is the preeminent science.

So, what does covid have to do with metaphysics? you may ask. Clearly, our current lack of appreciation for metaphysics did not spawn a virus. But this article isn’t about covid, it’s about crisis management, and I posit that the lack of a solid foundation in our culture certainly contributed to the mismanagement of the spreading virus. If we can say that about our management of a health crisis, we can say it about any crisis, and that is exactly the point; it’s exactly why everything around us seems, more and more, to always be in crisis.

So, how does one manage a crisis? To use your house as an analogy, if it’s falling down because the foundation is crumbling, you can manage the crisis by bracing up and fortifying the walls. Of course, doing so will not solve the foundational problem. The sagging may break water pipes. Gaps between the sagging foundation and the framing may allow precipitation and vermin to intrude, resulting in rot and mold, stench, or electrical shorting.

Eventually, the house becomes a stinky mess, fire or mold hazard, and a serious threat to the lives of the residents. In short, everything about the house is in crisis until the foundation is fixed. The now-declining, the so-called pandemic was/is not a crisis; only the handling of it is because everything in our culture is a crisis now, has been for quite some time, and will remain so until we get securely back on a foundation.

Metaphysics has been largely abandoned as a pseudo-science; relegated to the dustbin of history. Its disappearance has left a very sinister void, a void that has quickly been filled with darkness, the quest for short-term gains, or hatred for existence itself. In an age of political pragmatists who lust for power, be assured that they will not “let a crisis go to waste”; they will use it to drive wedges between supposed opposing groups in order to further their own agendas, and they can easily do it daily because everything is in crisis.

Crisis is addicting. As covid winds to a close, there is something bone-chilling about the thought of its coming replacement. Oh, there will be one, on that you can depend because pragmatism requires it and pragmatists don’t give up power easily.

So…what about metaphysics? Is it a real science or not?

Metaphysics is a real science, though kind of a hybrid in a class all its own. To make some comparisons, mathematics is a pure science, not an observational science like the natural sciences; that is to say if you do a thought experiment in math, and the numbers work out, you’re done—no working in the lab till the wee hours of the morning running up the gas bill with your Bunsen.

Metaphysics, like math, is a pure science, but unlike math—which can be entirely abstract—it cannot really function without observational input, that is, without some reference to the natural world. If we could not divine God from nature, we would not know of him (unless, of course, he appeared to us in a burning bush). Some people will downplay metaphysics because it is, at least in part, a speculative science.

So, how can it be important if it’s just speculation? Let’s be clear—any scientific theory is just that: speculation. The theory of relativity is speculative. The theory (if, in fact, this bizarro explanation can actually be said to rise to the level of a theory) of quantum mechanics is speculative. Theories are by nature speculative; that is, they are an attempt to formulate that which would explain certain observed natural phenomena. In fact, St. Thomas assured us that the science of theology is primarily speculative in nature. If it were hard science, no faith would be required. Creating a theology that requires no faith is the stuff of madmen and modern philosophers, but I repeat myself.

Metaphysics is a means to explain the phenomenon of existence itself. It is the first building block of all knowledge. This is the absolute genius of ancient Sacred Scripture, the ancient Greek philosophers, and the Scholastic theology of the middle ages—they started with the foundation; theirs is no house built on sand. My definition of sophistry is science or philosophy freed from metaphysics.

It is good to bear in mind that scientific theories are called so because they have not been proven. Believing them requires a certain amount of faith in the intelligence, expertise, and methodology of those who elucidated them. How is it more scientific to place your faith in a recent theory simply because it is recent? There is no scientific evidence or theory that invalidates metaphysics, and there never will be.

Without a foundation, rules go out the window. Personal gain and power become everything—they fill the void left by the missing foundation. Without knowing why we are here, our purposelessness pervades all of our decisions. We end up living our lives for purposes that are assigned, not divined.

We may be globalist or nationalist, communist or capitalist, socialist or fascist, federalist or anarchist, but without a foundation, we will never be fully human! Secular humanism—that placing of mankind on a paper throne—is the antithesis of what it means to be human. It severs humanity from its metaphysical roots, occluding the spark of divinity. Civilization cannot survive without Christ; without the Judeo-Christian heritage. We are devolving into something lower than cavemen, and what could be more dangerous than cavemen with terrifying modern weaponry?

Antipathy for metaphysics easily becomes a distaste for intuitive first premises and for natural law itself, which happens to be the only sound basis for the American Bill of Rights. Our Constitution declares the truths of the natural law to be self-evident. But the golden rule—do unto others as you would have them do unto you—seems to have lost its glimmer.

We see it in the covid experiment (oh, do not doubt that it is a social experiment!). The legal and very common off-label use of FDA-approved drugs was suddenly off the table for covid—to hell with the law, “This is a crisis!” they screamed at us. Apparently, crises demand totalitarianism, not diversity—certainly not diversity of treatment! We must have equality of outcome, no matter how dreadful the outcome.

Politicians and bureaucrats were suddenly better trained and better informed than doctors. Governors became medical experts overnight which allowed them to ignore real doctors and the law they’ve sworn to uphold. And we watched the gold in the golden rule turn to lead before our eyes as some among us began to narc on our neighbors while their government leaders cheered them on—that’s good boys and girls! Snitching is now a virtue. It’s right up there with diversity; diversity of what? who can say—certainly not of opinion! Or of medical treatment!

Freedom of speech, and of the press, and of free association—those silly old natural law things—are fine when we’re not in a crisis, but when we’re under duress they’re the dangerous enemies of a people whose woke government is all-wise and all-knowing. (The governing class loves covid for the same reason it loves war. Governments justify tyranny during war because of the crises war creates in all facets of life.)

Easily the saddest part of all this is what we witnessed within the Church, as we watched the defenders of the cornerstone abandon their posts to partake in the pragmatic, propped-up crisis management of the day. It seems that the transition from a keeper of the fire to a perpetrator of smoke screens is seamless and easy.

What about that headline—”Jesus Christ, Crisis Manager?”—can you even picture that? Is reacting what defines good leadership? To be sure, there were good crisis managers in his day. Take for example Pontius Pilate. He sacrificed an innocent man to prevent a riot—truly pragmatic. That’s crisis management! He ignored Roman law to allow what he perceived as expedient to meet the needs of a crisis. Rome would understand. Easier to ask forgiveness than to seek permission.

Then there’s the High Priest, Caiaphas. He arranged the sacrifice of a just man to save an entire nation. And he successfully sold this counterfeit justice to his fellow Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the scribes. That is to say that he successfully peddled his complete and utter sell-out to Roman wealth and influence as the wisdom of a good crisis manager. Pragmatism par excellence.

Jesus Christ is the cornerstone. A cornerstone is not a crisis manager; it is a crisis preventer. Despite all the machinations of current Church leadership, the cornerstone remains. The foundation can be rebuilt. Are we strong enough? Perhaps not. But God is, and prayer is a much mightier weapon than political correctness.

Those who scuttle eternity and strive for glory in this life always end up throwing each other under the bus—they always end up eating their own; It is the pragmatic thing to do. We need to pray for the failure of their self-aggrandizing schemes and for the salvation of their eternal souls. There is no sweeter hymn floating up to heaven than the sound of the faithful praying for their enemies. Unfortunately, it is a chorus not heard nearly often enough.