Darkness Before Dawn

I first came across reference to The Tytler Cycle at Msgr Pope's excellent post titled "The Eight Stages of the Rise and Fall of Civilizations" a few months back. It offered perspective and a sober analysis of our current state of affairs as a democracy.

Where would you say we are? 

One interaction with a millennial today and I think we can rule "Courage" out. Perhaps the founding of our country in the 18th century would be the truest expression of "Liberty"--but not now. In an age of polarized wealth and 1% oligarchs, "Abundance" does not ring true for many Americans. You could make the case for "selfishness," but I think we're passed that, along with "Complacency." We've even moved beyond "Apathy," I would argue, and moving out of the tail end of "Dependency." I would argue, as an American society, we are entering into a period of true bondage. 

The original "Benedict Option" of the time of the founder of western monasticism, St. Benedict of Nursia in the 6th century (you could argue earlier, with St. John Cassian in the 5th century), emerged during a time when Christians were becoming comfortable and complacent. The persecutions had largely ceased under Constantine's Edict of Milan in 313 AD and those seeking a more rigorous life of self-denial and penance fled to the desert. Later centuries saw similar periods of complacency, decay, and revival. 

The "cycle of democracy" in the Tytler model above has a cycle life of about 200 years. That would put us about on course to finishing up and coming full cycle.

I try not to be a fatalist, but the times, they are a-crazy. The writing seems to be on the wall. If we are truly entering into the darkness of bondage (final stage), we will have quite a storm to weather as a democracy. I love our country and our unique model of a Republic, but I also really do not think things are getting "better." The sense of virtue wedded to civic responsibility is all but lost among 99% of the population, and once gone it is almost impossible to recover except through destruction and rebuilding among the ruins. The Left has gone off the deep end, and the Right with all their talk and love of liberty and freedom has failed to couple it with virtue and so it is destined to be impotent, since the only way our Republic stands and the American Experiment works is when we our ideals of liberty are bounded by virtue. Trying to find civic and moral virtue in government today is like trying to find a winning Powerball ticket.

These are dark, stained and sordid days we are living through. But I have hope. Not hope for this world or for our democracy, but an eternal hope for a home in a kingdom not of this world. What other recourse do we have? Our period of bondage, the "labor pains" of a new birth--not in a new age way of thinking, but a true eschaton, where we should not hope for (but also not be surprised at) the demise of our democracy.

If our inability as a society to have reasoned discussion with those we disagree with beyond emotionalism and party slogans, and recognize the Natural Law, among other things, is not apparent to you now, it should be. I think we are passed the point of no return.

At the darkest hour, dawn is just on the horizon. The rainbow comes after the flood...for those on the ark. But you have to get on. Our hope is in Christ, and our ark is His Church, founded on the promise to Peter that the gates of Hell will not prevail against it. "Do not put your trust in princes, or in mortal man, in whom there is no salvation" (Ps 146:3-5). Like the disciples, we ask when all turn away towards destruction, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of everlasting life!" (Jn 6:68).

So hold on, and wait like a centurion for the dawn. It's going to be a bumpy ride.