An Anti-Commercialist/Anti-Capitalist/Dostoyevskian/Schleiermachian Sermon

Dostoyevsky once wrote in Brothers Karamazov about people subjecting themselves to powers, saying "We know nothing of guilt or sin, only hunger. Make us your slaves, only feed us." I thought to myself how that sort of picture lends itself to an understanding of the book of Revelation and the last days, when Satan as antichrist will supposedly be given free reign to set himself up as an idol to which people will subject themselves. I thought that you don't really need Satan roaming free in the last days for this kind of subjection to happen. Allow me to explain.

If Satan were to appear and proclaim (in whatever flowery, deceptive language he wishes) "I am your Lord now. Worship me, and I will sate your hunger," that would be superfluous. We already have idols today for that very purpose. I thought to myself, that's what capitalism in a pluralist society already is. It's a society without guilt but with an emphasized sense of hunger. I thought to myself that in the last days, if they are to come, we won't be subjected to Satan as some foreign power coming into the world, enslaving us through our dominant sense of hunger. That can't be the case, because that very thing has already happened. We are already enslaved by powers through our dominant sense of hunger. In the last days, we will be subjected to sinful systems that we ourselves founded, progressed and allowed to mature. Schleiermacher would no doubt agree. After all, he wrote (contra to Augustine) that sin is not some disease passed down in some meta-biological form, but a power that propagates itself through sinful social structures. That's how sin is passed down, in social/cultural structures that are themselves sinful.

It should be noted at this point that in certain conditions (like capitalism, for example) where hunger is the sole driving motivation for living, sin flourishes. The downward spiral of all societies motivated by hunger features degradation of the worst sort. The Capital in the Hunger Games closely resembles the disgusting affluence of late Rome, and to a slightly lesser degree, the disgusting affluence of today in the capitalist West. In both cases, hunger is the power at work. Doesn't it seem familiar? "Make us your slaves, only feed us." Isn't it interesting that the affluent Capital citizens are never without something to eat, and yet they live in daily craving for novelty, new trends to follow, new Tributes to cheer for in the Games? Isn't it interesting that the modern West knows nothing of real physical hunger, and yet it lives in an environment where hunger is constantly emphasized? Further, isn't it interesting that the trend of the century thus far is the trading of freedom for security and convenience? Dostoyevsky anticipated this as well. We hunger for product and convenience in equal measure, and our idols, embedded in the social and cultural order that we daily affirm, bend over backwards to make us promises of sating our hunger. "Make us your slaves, only feed us."

This is not to say that hunger is in any sense wrong. My body needs sustenance, so I feed it, and that is good. I hunger for non-physical things like justice and peace, and that is good. I personally hunger for the world God has promised, where justice and peace are perfect, and all needs are met. This is ultimately no different from the kind of hunger we experience in our culture. The only difference is that where I look to God as a perfect authority to sate my hunger, commercialist culture looks to manmade products and systems to sate hunger. "Buy this product and you will be happy." That's the condensed message of all commercialism. Strange that even though we are constantly promised that our hunger can end, our hunger persists, year after year. We are ignorant of our own all-pervading hunger. We think ourselves well fed, and yet our daily lives depend on sating a never ending hunger.

That is what we will bow to in the last days. Not to Satan establishing his power, but to the sinful powers we have already subjected ourselves to. The end will find humanity looking to itself for salvation, like an emaciated creature begging its own reflection to feed it.

Huh. Might need work. Interesting, though.

This is the Idiot, signing out.