Truth Over Tyranny: Biblical wisdom for defeating the Technocrats.
These are my insights for defeating the Transhumanist Technocracy movement, based on the teachings of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, of blessed memory, on the weekly Bible portion.
It has become very clear that the Transhumanist Technocrats are trying to “play god.” Here are just some of the ways they are trying to take over as the “creator, provider, and ruler of all:”
They are trying to eliminate aging and death, for the benefit of themselves.
They are trying to restrict world population size, also for the benefit of themselves.
They are trying to ration world resources, for the cumulative benefit of themselves.
They are trying to replace the natural food supply with laboratory products, but not for themselves.
They are trying to redefine the human psyche, beginning with the transhumanist illusion of changing biological sex, and the reaffirming of delusional thinking.
They are trying to block puberty and reproductive capacity, with surgery and chemicals, but with a focus on other people’s children.
They are trying to direct the evolution of DNA, of all species, towards “Biodigital Convergence.”
They are trying to deny both the existence of Godly Soul and the relevance of Free Will.
They are trying to remake humankind to fit their own self-image.
Those of us who have even the slightest inkling that there is a God – a true God, who cares for His people, and wants nothing but the best for them – know that He is not taking these atrocities lying down. He is simply not going to tolerate these intrusions on His turf. By any moral standard, they are nothing but evil, and have absolutely no place in His world – a world in which good things are supposed to happen.
No doubt He is making good things happen as we speak, in direct refutation of these affronts to everything He stands for. But how do we know? How can we “see Him in action,” and feel emboldened to join Him in this fight against the malevolent usurpers?
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks gives us some tips in his commentary on Parashat Tzav called “Giving Thanks.” The key is having an “attitude of gratitude.”
https://www.rabbisacks.org/covenant-conversation/tzav/giving-thanks/
He points out that giving thanks is the basis of Jewish religious practice:
“The first words we are taught to say each morning, immediately on waking, are Modeh Ani, ‘I give thanks.’ We thank before we think. Note that the normal word order is inverted: Modeh Ani, not Ani Modeh, so that in Hebrew the ‘thanks’ comes before the ‘I.’ Judaism is ‘gratitude with attitude.’ And this, according to recent scientific research, really is a life-enhancing idea.
“The source of the command to give thanks is to be found in this week’s parsha. Among the sacrifices it itemises is the korban todah, the thanksgiving offering: ‘If he offers it [the sacrifice] as a thanksgiving offering, then along with this thanksgiving offering he is to offer unleavened loaves mixed with oil, unleavened wafers spread with oil, and loaves of fine flour well-kneaded and mixed with oil’ (Lev. 7:12).
“Though we have been without sacrifices for almost two thousand years, a trace of the thanksgiving offering survives to this day, in the form of the blessing Hagomel: ‘Who bestows good things on the unworthy’ said in the synagogue, at the time of reading of the Torah, by one who has survived a hazardous situation. This is defined by the Sages (on the basis of Psalm 107), as one who has survived a sea-crossing, or travelled across a desert, or recovered from serious illness, or been released from captivity.[1]”
Giving thanks is a way for all people to connect to something spiritual and transcendent:
“For me, the almost universal instinct to give thanks is one of the signals of transcendence[2] in the human condition. It is not just the pilot we want to thank when we land safely after a hazardous flight; not just the surgeon when we survive an operation; not just the judge or politician when we are released from prison or captivity. It is as if some larger force was operative, as if the hand that moves the pieces on the human chessboard were thinking of us; as if Heaven itself had reached down and come to our aid.
“Insurance companies sometimes describe natural catastrophes as ‘acts of God’ Human emotion tends to do the opposite.[3] God is in the good news, the miraculous deliverance, the escape from catastrophe. That instinct – to offer thanks to a force, a presence, over and above natural circumstances and human intervention – is itself a signal of transcendence. Though not a proof of the existence of God, it is nonetheless an intimation of something deeply spiritual in the human heart. It tells us that we are not random concatenations of selfish genes, blindly reproducing themselves. Our bodies may be products of nature (‘dust you are, and to dust you will return’), but there is something within us that reaches out to Someone beyond us: the soul of the universe, the Divine ‘You’ to whom we offer our thanks. That is what was once expressed in the thanksgiving offering, and still is, in the Hagomel prayer.”
Science has proven there are physical benefits as well to giving thanks:
“Not until the early 1990s did a major piece of medical research reveal the dramatic physical effects of thanksgiving. It became known as the Nun Study. Some 700 American nuns, all members of the School Sisters of Notre Dame in the United States, agreed to allow their records to be accessed by a research team investigating the process of ageing and Alzheimer’s Disease. At the start of the study the participants were aged between 75 and 102.[4]
“What gave this study its unusual longitudinal scope is that in 1930 the nuns, then in their twenties, had been asked by the Mother Superior to write a brief autobiographical account of their life and their reasons for entering the convent. These documents were analysed by the researchers using a specially devised coding system to register, among other things, positive and negative emotions. By annually assessing the nuns’ current state of health, the researchers were able to test whether their emotional state in 1930 had an effect on their health some sixty years later. Because they had all lived a very similar lifestyle during these six decades, they formed an ideal group for testing hypotheses about the relationship between emotional attitudes and health.
“The results, published in 2001, were startling.[5] The more positive emotions – contentment, gratitude, happiness, love and hope – the nuns expressed in their autobiographical notes, the more likely they were to be alive and well sixty years later. The difference was as much as seven years in life expectancy. So remarkable was this finding that it has led, since then, to a new field of gratitude research, as well as a deepening understanding of the impact of emotions on physical health.”
So how can an “attitude of gratitude” help us persevere in the battles of daily life?
“Since the publication of the Nun Study and the flurry of further research it inspired, we now know of the multiple effects of developing an attitude of gratitude. It improves physical health and immunity against disease. Grateful people are more likely to take regular exercise and go for regular medical check-ups. Thankfulness reduces toxic emotions such as resentment, frustration and regret and makes depression less likely. It helps people avoid over-reacting to negative experiences by seeking revenge. It even tends to make people sleep better. It enhances self-respect, making it less likely that you will envy others for their achievements or success. Grateful people tend to have better relationships. Saying ‘thank you’ enhances friendships and elicits better performance from employees. It is also a major factor in strengthening resilience. One study of Vietnam War Veterans found that those with higher levels of gratitude suffered lower incidence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Remembering the many things we have to be thankful for helps us survive painful experiences, from losing a job to bereavement.[6]
Most of all, it can help us overcome our natural instinct to stay in self-protection mode:
“Hence the transformative idea: giving thanks is beneficial to the body and the soul. It contributes to both happiness and health. It is also a self-fulfilling attitude: the more we celebrate the good, the more good we discover that is worthy of celebration.
“This is neither easy nor natural. We are genetically predisposed to pay more attention to the bad than the good.[8] For sound biological reasons, we are hyper-alert to potential threats and dangers. It takes focussed attention to become aware of how much we have to be grateful for. That, in different ways, is the logic of prayer, of making blessings, of Shabbat, and many other elements of Jewish life.”
I would add this: regardless of our own particular religious or spiritual orientation, whether formal or informal, we each need to have the kind of life through which we can stay focused on the good. The God that we believe in – the One who directs history towards good ends – is making good things happen right in front of us. He is doing so even while our attention is focused on the bad actors. By adopting an attitude of gratitude, we can make ourselves aware of how He is pushing back, and join Him in the effort.