Every culture and political tradition has their problems. In modernity, the biggest problem is not big government, but big politics. Everyone is told they must be political. To fulfill that obligation, people feel they must be kept up to date on current events; their focus is on the secular state and all of its mechanizations. They must develop informed opinions which then leads them to make political decisions – decisions which are realized (and then left behind) first in the political rhetoric they expound upon, and then in the votes they make. Then the process starts over; new opinions and decisions need to be made. Of course, the one who sees the system for what it is, sees it is empty, that no one really has the power proclaimed by the system. It is a diversion which keeps people inactive and in their place. As long as they think they have power, they can be easily manipulated (nothing manipulates more than flattery). In the cycle of big politics, the average person can do nothing which will have any real, lasting impact. But the illusion of such power allows them to sin as if they had it, and so the temptations of power, even if no real power is there, remains and is increased because of the delusion which confronts us on a daily basis. And, with the sense of obligation one has to the system, with the sense of needing to be constantly informed about what is going on in the system to keep a sense of power and control over it intact, one is being led quickly away from where their real power and authority lies: in their own spiritual quest.
There is no greater evidence of the delusional nature of modern politics than the spiritual rot which comes out of it. It imitates the religious with its holidays and obligations. It has its saints and holy buildings. Informed opinion takes the place of an informed conscience. They might at first appear to be the same, but they are not; opinion is based upon facts, not principles, and what one does with them is not naturally intuitive. Such opinions misdirect our perception of the world by becoming the hermeneutical lens in which we interpret it. The conscience, on the other hand, leads by principle. It doesn’t generate mental defilements which interfere with our interaction with the world, but rather, it frees us from them. To be informed in conscience is to be informed in how to use it, to let it speak instead of to mute it by the voice of our opinion.
If we want to improve the world (and it is indeed something we are called to do as Christians) we must do it through ourselves first; politics have a role but should be secondary instead of primary. It was never meant to be a field in which all participate in all the time.
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