The Artificial Mysticism of the Great Reset

It has been said again and again that secularism is a religion.  That assertion accurately reflects the secularism infecting the US and the world.  We see dogma, faith, reverence, hierarchy, infallibility, salvation – all the constituents of religion.

In fact, the secularist religion has matured to the point that it has its own mysticism surrounding the great “mysteries” of secularism, like the Great Reset.

In this article we compare authentic Christian mysticism with the artificial, and dangerous, alternative embraced by secularists.  And not just mysticism, but its counterpart, asceticism.

True Mysticism

“The devout Christian of the future will either be a mystic, one who has experienced something, or he will cease to be anything at all.”  Those are the words of Fr. Karl Rahner.  Make of him what you will (there is much room for thoughtful criticism of his work and, even more so, how his work is interpreted); what is relevant to this discussion is that mysticism, to the extent that it is an authentic encounter with God, has become a necessity for everyone.

In times not long past, the entire culture was Christian and there was more time for silence and reflection.  These days the prevailing culture forms us into a distracted, superficial and cynical lot.  We need a dramatic encounter with Christ, a real encounter with Christ, a mystical encounter with Christ to snap us out of our stupor (not necessarily you dear reader, but most of us).

Authentic mysticism provides that encounter with Christ and inoculates us against the hobgoblins of doubt and error.

We understand mysticism in the context of mystery.  The Christian recognizes spiritual mysteries not as murky and impenetrable unknowns but as things so glorious and limitless we can never fully comprehend them.  Spiritual mysteries are revealed to us by God and, while not fully knowable in this life, can be explored and partially understood through prayer and our spiritual power of intellect.

In practice, mysticism is how we draw ever closer to an infinite God who is also intimately close to us.  We often equate mysticism with dramatic mystical experiences (visions, locutions, raptures, and so on).  While those are quite real consolations from God, the greater reality of mysticism is nothing more or less than the practice by which we give the best of ourselves to God.  We give our mind – intellect, memory, imagination – to understanding Him (particularly in Christian meditation).  And we give our will to serving God and neighbor in our daily activity.

In time, and by God’s grace, we grow to bring more and more of ourselves into a relationship with God.  In that way, everything becomes part of the mystical experience and we arrive at mysticism in the pure, unalloyed words of John of the Cross – “God or nothing.”

True Spirituality

The spiritual life is the supernatural life.  It is a life of grace – sharing in the life of the Trinity.

Our Trinitarian God is pure spirit.  So our spiritual life, as the name tells us, is distinct from our material life.  The physical world matters only to the extent that it reveals and aids us in participating in the much greater spiritual reality.  We are “in the world but not of the world.”

The two pillars of spirituality are mysticism and asceticism.  As discussed above, mysticism is how we fill ourselves with God.

Asceticism is the discipline of self-denial (“whoever would follow me must deny himself…”).  We can only be filled with God (which is mysticism) to the extent that we are emptied of self through asceticism.  There is no advancement in one without the other.  And if we backslide in one, we backslide in the other.  As St. John the Baptist put it so well, “I must decrease that He might increase.”

Secular Mysticism

Let’s compare true mysticism with the secular counterfeit.

True mysticism is an intrinsic property of Christianity because God is infinite and we are finite.

Secular mysticism can only offer the artificial mystery of the utopian promises of the Leviathan (big government and the secular elites who wield it).

True mysticism is inexhaustible.  Even in heaven, we will remain mystics because God will still be infinitely beyond us.  We will perceive Him as perfectly as we are able, but there will be endless aspects of Him that remain mysteries for us to eternally explore in heaven!

Secular mysticism keeps creating new (and mostly empty) promises of the eutopia to come.

The unchanging wonders of Christian mysticism flow from the perfect and unchanging plan of God.

The cheap promises of secular mysticism change from day to day to satisfy the ever-changing whims of our fallen humanity.

True mysticism always elevates to the spiritual realm.

Secular mysticism always devolves to the material realm.

Look no further than the mystical vision of the Great Reset.  You will find limitless expectations of the power of the collective, harnessed by a new world order.  That is the mystical touch – the thrilling promise of tomorrow.

But authentic mysticism is grounded in Truth and the practice of encountering God in the reality of day-to-day events.

One must search long and hard for any grounding in truth or reality in the Great Reset.  There is a vague discussion of new approaches to resources, ownership, and governance; and unleashing the power of the 4^th industrial revolution (the creepy synthesis of mind and machine).  From there, the outsized utopian promises of the Great Reset are focused on material comfort.  You will find only the vaguest nod to man’s spiritual needs.  And you will find no trace of God.

Secular Asceticism

As discussed above, true mysticism always goes hand-in-hand with asceticism.  True asceticism is an act of freedom.  We freely choose to say “no” to the lustings of our fallen nature (“the flesh”) so that we can be filled with God and, through Him, become our true self.

Put differently, the transformation promised through mysticism requires something of us – we must participate in it through our free will.   This is an act of love.

As it turns out, secular mysticism also requires something of us.  An all-too-real asceticism of sorts.  “Submission” is a better word.  We are crushed into submission to the Leviathan.  There is no distinction of the false or true self, all of it is crushed and we are molded into whatever is demanded by the overlord elites of the Great Reset (“you will own nothing and be happy” and “you will give up your job and be re-trained as a ‘coder’, and you will be happy” and “you will practice ‘worship’ on our terms, and you will be happy” … you get the idea).

Secular Religion

Authentic mysticism is grounded in Christianity.  Secular mysticism is centered in the secularist parody of religion.

There is faith (the fanatical belief in dubious science, and salvation through “tech” and the Leviathan).  There is dogma and there is heresy (sorted out by the fact-checkers and cancel culture).  There are miracles of sorts (pseudo-scientific interventions that are “proven” by manipulated data).  There is scripture (the “narrative” of the mainstream media).  There is evangelization (indoctrination).  There is a prelature (the scideologists).  There is liberation from our fallen nature (transhumanism).  And there are legions of conversions (to wit, in the span a few months much of the world was “converted” to covid-mania).

Why Mysticism is the Key

Whatever we choose in life, be it good or evil, spiritual or material, Christian or secular, the business of seeking and choosing is guided by mysticism.  It is deep in our interior to be always searching for something more.  The psalmist words it thus, “deep calling on deep.”

But in our fallen nature, we are all too prone to “deep settling for shallow.”  That is why secular religion goes awry with how it completes St. Augustine’s cry of the heart, “Our heart is restless until it finds its rest in _________”

The secularists seek their rest in the utopian promise of “tech” wielded by a benign world government.  The elites who wish to capitalize on that hope solidify their control by offering mystical experiences reinforced by the secular religion.  What else do you call the manufactured election of Joe Biden if not the miraculous answer to everyone who “screamed helplessly to the sky”?   What else do you call otherwise all-natural health fanatics who are convinced that being injected with a poorly understood genetic cocktail is something to celebrate because it joins them to the mystical experience of community and #inittogether?

The power of mysticism is that it is the basis for belief.  And as Karl Rahner pointed out, in a cynical age, only the mystic is the true believer.  Those who have been drawn into secular mysticism will not easily give up the faith.  Facts and reason won’t bring them back to reality.

Only a greater mysticism will prevail.  The façade of secular mysticism will shatter against the reality of authentic mysticism, which is the personal experience of Christ. Mother Teresa’s single mystical encounter with Christ sustained her through a life of spiritual dryness.

It is said that Pope John Paul II’s secret weapon against communist Russia was a small army of cloistered nuns praying constantly for conversion (particularly through the Rosary).  The great Saint’s secret weapon was a mystical weapon.  And one that we wield as we travel the mystic path through mental prayer, the Rosary, and living a Sacramental life of service to God and neighbor.

As we do that, grace is unleashed in the world, people are brought to Christ and experience Him for themselves.  And they say with Job, “By hearsay, I had heard of You, but now my eye has seen You.”  (Job, 42:5)

The secular religion has nothing to counter that.