Where E Michael Jones And I Disagree -- Guest Post by Ianto Watt
Mike Jones says we’re winning. I believe him. Seriously. But no, not politically. You can’t ever really win at that game. Why? Because of our lack of a homogeneous society, both religiously and culturally. Politics is always downstream from those two, as some bright guy once said. And don’t forget, when it comes to ‘Democracy’, who is it that now seems to have ‘Dominion’ over all creation?
But politics is not what counts, ultimately. Getting to Heaven, not Washington, is the goal. We’ve already seen what happens when things begin to look too comfy down here. We go to sleep. And wake up to a nightmare. One which gets worse the more ‘woke’ we become. Politics can’t fix that. In fact, politics is the problem, not the cure.
Like me, Mike looks at things differently. He has bought into jiu-jitsu on a cosmic scale. He says, in his magnum opus, Logos Rising, that every un-healthy alliance results in a civil war between the erstwhile allies, once they have de-throned the hegemon-de-jour. A perfect example of this was the Catholic-American alliance that supposedly destroyed Communism (think of Poland in 1979). And then ‘Christian’ America turned on the Church by becoming more leftist than Moscow ever was.
In other words, every revolution begets the next revolution. It’s all part of the Hegelian dialectic where there is an endless cycle of conflict that leads inexorably to the next new player, and the next new confrontation.
Here it is in a nutshell. Mike says, like the Apostles did, that The World Spirit (a.k.a. the Holy Spirit) is capable of extracting The Good from any situation. Any situation. It’s all part of the inexorable march of Logos. Logos, as in reason, order and harmony. That is to say, The Word. Which is what Logos means, in Greek. The Word that perfectly reflects The Father. Which is why St. John’s (last) Gospel is so seminal. He is the one who fully revealed the essence of the creation, and its ultimate purpose. Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.
Marx and Engels had it exactly backwards. There actually is an unstoppable march of pre-ordained history, but it’s not in the direction they thought. It’s not forward, further into the outer darkness, towards the New Materialist Man. In fact, it’s backwards, back to the Light, to the Old Spiritual Man. Named Jesus. And no matter what new variant the marketers of The New Man dream up, Mike says mankind is actually progressing towards a greater understanding of the cosmos, through the Light of Logos. But to get there, we’ve got to turn around. Take the next exit and double back. In fact, don’t wait for an exit. Jump the curb, crank the wheel and gun it.
Jones’ work in Logos Rising takes us on a post-Deluge world tour of civilizations, and shows the attempts in each succeeding culture to explain the cosmos, following mankind’s self-inflicted exile at Babel. The division of language plays a critical role in mankind’s frustrating search for reason, as most nations had no words for what Logos, ‘The Word’ represents. Thus, they could not express reason in a reasonable fashion.
In fact, it wasn’t until the Greek trinity (Socrates, Plato and Aristotle) that most of the words (and concepts) of philosophical thought began to re-emerge into man’s consciousness. And Philosophy was simply the beginning step on the Pagan march towards Logos. A march that Jones and I both see.
The Greek world, (which includes Persia, according to Mike, and I agree), lacking personal revelation, was stuck in an Aristotelian cul-de-sac that basically said there was a First Mover, but why would He bother to move? What motivated Him? Necessity? Impossible.
The Hebrews, on the other hand, had the right answer, that is to say, revelation, via Special Delivery, but hadn’t the means of expressing it to the nations that they should have enlightened, but didn’t. They hid their lamp under their bushel basket. Why? Because they dealt only with the just dictates of God the Father, and not the merciful reasoning behind it. And that reasoning was expressed in The Word. They rejected Him, because accepting Him meant they would lose their exclusive status as The Chosen Ones. After all, if anyone can join, what’s the purpose of an exclusive club? Oy vey!
Then came Christ, who showed mercy to those who thought they needed it. And were willing to ask it. Sorry, Pharisees. But again, in the early Church, there was no explication of Reason, as mercy was (and still is) more important. At least, to those of us who perceive that. I once had an argument with a wonderful priest who chastised me on my lack of concern for Thomistic thought. It’s not that I didn’t value it. I simply put it second place. When I asked him if a Down’s Syndrome child could make it to Heaven, he said 'Of course!'. Then I asked him if they were usually conversant with St. Thomas. He growled and went away. The idiot wins again.
Then came The Enlightenment, which sought to convince us that matter was either eternal, or else it was self-generating. Either choice meant there was no need for a God. Which conclusion then led to making gods of men. Which, of course, was always the goal. Never mind the fact that either choice (eternal turtles or self-creating turtles) was ridiculous, from the standpoint of logic and reason. Which is to say, Logos. And so, the past 500 years have been spent by humanists trying to dodge the pregnant question: Who’s your Daddy? Not sure? Well, ask Thomas.
Now Jones, ever the researcher, spends 750 pages describing in exact detail how every civilization has taken a wrong turn onto a dead-end of either self-defeating turtle paradigm. This then allowed Reason (Logos) to defeat their flawed GPS system and then to advance another step in the right direction. That step usually consisted in the destruction of the previously-wrong explanation (which is a good thing) immediately followed by two new Hegelian steps in another wrong direction (which is a bad thing). Which leads into the next cul-de-sac.
But each cycle of this materialist game results in Logos being the reasoning agent that destroys the previous materialist paradigm. And so, Logos reigns briefly after each iteration, but is then immediately attacked by the newest philosophical ‘variant’. And we are then fed the latest ‘vaccine’ that supposedly cures it.
The most enlightening part of Logos Rising, for me, is the part Persia (Iran) plays in this whole thing called history. Mike rightly points out that history (meaning ‘time’) really wasn’t understood until Augustine of Hippo, in his City of God, made the point that there was a meaning to it all. A Telos, as Aristotle and The Gang would say. And that it was not cyclical.
That’s not to say, as I pointed out in my book, that mankind doesn’t repeat its own mistakes, endlessly. Thus, the cyclical nature of error. But time itself has a destination that endless cycles do not. No matter what new (or old) errors arise, Logos will defeat it as it marches forward to The End. The End that reveals the meaning of all things. Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.
St. Augustine perceived all of this, and put time into eternal perspective. That is, that it is a road that leads somewhere. It’s not an eternal round-about. And here’s where Mike and I diverge. Because Mike seems to think that there is a kernel of Catholic truth hidden within the Persian (Shiite) version of Islam. And that this kernel of truth will eventually lead them to the true path.
OK, a little back-channel discussion is needed here. Mike also thinks that Russia is now a truly Christian country. And that Russia, in true jiu-jitsu fashion, follows in the footsteps of Logos. He (rightly) sees that on the surface of things, Christian America and Bolshevik Russia have traded places. And that, as I have said for a long time, makes it possible to conceive of a Catholic Church headed by a Russian. So far, so good. At least, on the surface, as I said. And Mike has bought this line. No, not the part about the Pope being from Russia. But in all other aspects, we (America) have traded places with Russia in the eyes of Logos. And again, I agree. On the surface, that is.
And here, I think, is where Mike gets waylaid. Mike sees the de-facto alliance of a putatively Christian Russia and Shiite Iran as confirmation of his theory that Shiism can be seen as Aristotelian in nature. And therefore, that Iranian religious beliefs, like Aristotle, can be conformed to The Church. He has seemingly elevated Averroes (the Shiite philosopher) to the Islamic version of St. Thomas, who rectified Aristotle’s metaphysical construct. But only Thomas could lead us past the dualism that constrained the Aristotelian paradigm.
I must admit, Mike knows his history. Better than anyone else I know. He is truly diligent in tracing the steps of time and beliefs. I’ve read all his stuff, (Slaughter of Cities, Degenerate Moderns, The Revolutionary Jewish Spirit, Culture Wars, and so on ) over many years, and he has not been wrong once. Until now. Why? First of all, because he doesn’t believe Anatoly Golitsyn (New Lies For Old). And evidently, he doesn’t believe Our Lady of Fatima.
I know, that’s a pretty heavy charge. Not the Golitsyn part. No, others have fallen into disbelief in the ability of Evil to plan ahead, and conceal itself. In fact, if I was a visitor from Mars, I could buy into the Russia-is-Christian (and therefore America is the Great Satan) schtick. And here is where everybody makes the basic error. They think it has to be one or the other. That it couldn’t be both. That is, that there could be two Great Satans. One is the Roman Empire, and the other is the Russo-Roman Empire-in-waiting. It’s the typical false dichotomy.
Anyway, Mike thinks the ‘religious’ Khazars can plan and conceal (via the Talmud) , but the recent Ruskies can’t (New Lies For Old). But the Khazars, in one of their many secular forms, ruled Russia for at least one bloc of 72 years. Eh?
Think about it. Why the Hell would El Diablo ride only one horse? There’s four in the Apocalypse, after all. No, he’s busy buying every jockey on every throne. The game is rigged. He can’t lose. But as Mike so rightly noted, before he went into his Farsi Dead-End, Logos is the only One who can’t lose.
So, here’s where Mike goes wrong. He’s angry. And that has clouded his judgment. He’s mad, at someone. I’m not sure who, but he’s mad, nonetheless. And who’s he maddest at? Traditional Catholics, that’s who. Did you see his Twitter rant about how Traddies are the opiate of The Masses? Great pun! He sees Traddies as being idiots who are hiding out in the basement, like Joe, busy ignoring the real problem in the Church today. The same problem, he rightly points out, that has afflicted the Church hierarchy for a thousand years and more. And that problem? The Jews!
He’s right, as far as that goes. He doesn’t spare anyone here, Novus Ordo or Latin alike. Avoiding the question of the subversive nature of Jewish elements in every society has led to the successful subversion of every society that ignores it. I agree. But now comes the problem for Mike. He’s blind in his right eye.
He can see every (Jewish) enemy to the Left. Every damned one. No one escapes his gaze. And no useful idiots either. He can see every Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of State and even County Commissioner that George Soros has bought and owned. But he can’t see what’s right in front of his Right (Russian) eye. And the Persians with them.
Here’s the final element that proves his madness. If, as Mike says, that Traddies are truly a problem because of their unwillingness to submit (sounds Islamic, no?) to proper authority, they are actually harming the unity of The Church. Their resistance to Vatican II and it’s change in rubrics makes Traddies the equivalent of the Raskolniks of Russia when they resisted the reforms of Patriarch Nikon in 1666, thus splitting the Greco-Russian Orthodox Church into pieces. This, in turn, has caused The Church in Russia to be subservient to the state. (Mike never says anything specific about this logical chain, but he can’t.)
If Western Traddies, (that is, Latin Rite adherents) are the source of division because of their attachment to rubrics over dogma (as Mike says in his rant, and in so many other ways), then the Pope is right to suppress them, correct?
But here’s my problem. I never hear Mike’s dog that doesn’t bark. Why? Because he doesn’t bark! Yeah, Mike’s got a dog. And it’s in this fight. His dog is the Greco-Russian Orthodox Church. The Eastern Traddies, that is. Who, by the bye, happen to be guilty of exactly the same charge Mike levels against Western Traddies. That is, the attachment to rubrics to the detriment of dogma. But Mike’s dog-ma won’t bark when he looks east. And judges that Russia is actually a Christian land. The only problem, unspoken by Mike, is that this estranged Eastern segment of the Church, is far more guilty of the crime he perceives in the western version of schism. Which, interestingly enough, the previous two Popes have judged not to be schismatic in their valid attachment to the Old Latin Rite. And all that it means.
In other words, Mike is at odds with the two previous Popes he lionizes. All the while as he defends the one he doesn’t like. Something’s funny here.
Here’s the scene. Mike is convinced Russia is converted. In which case, according to Our Lady of Fatima, there should have been a period of world-wide peace that ensued. So, Mike, where’s the peace? Simple question. Where’s the peace? ‘Christian’ Russia seems to have strange bedfellows in Shiite Persia (and China?), Mike.
But don’t get me wrong, I am in favor (like Mike) in going out and preaching the Gospel to all the nations. It’s our duty. So, I think it’s right to engage the Muslim world at an intellectual level. That of course rules out the Sunni’s, who deny the existence of Philosophy as a concept (as their god is pure will, and no reason is needed). But the Shiites do have some strain of Aristotle in their past, so dialogue might be possible. But here’s Mike’s other problem. He spends half his book showing how Thomistic reason is the key to understanding (to the extent that we can) God’s motivation (love, vs. necessity) in going from being the Unmoved to the First Mover. The first cause. And thus, the final cause.
The problem, Mike, is that you lament the destruction of Thomistic thought (and the institutions that fostered it, like Notre Dame), and so the only place left where you can find Thomistic studies (which are needed to dialogue with the modern-day Averroes’ you met in Iran) is guess where? In the seminaries of the Traddies! And of course, Mike can’t address that fact, or it destroys his current thesis about Western Traddies.
Mike’s answer seems to be that there are a bunch of ‘despicables’ in The Church that aren’t buying the putative Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of The Beautiful Lady. And that these despicable Traddies (Latin Mass folks, for you who aren’t aware of anything recent) are the only roadblock to peace within the walls of Holy Rome. Don’t get me wrong. Mike sees plenty of evil in The Church that has come from Vatican II. But he can’t quite bring himself to believe that El Diablo might be at the heart of it.
He thinks that the incorrect implementation of that Council’s documents and proclamations are the heart of the matter. In other words, that individual Bishops (and their rebellious priests) are the problems there. Which is fine, as far as that goes. But have they done all this without the aid of El Diablo? Have all those Secretaries of State done all this without the aid of George Soros?
So Mike attacks the ventilator that keeps the patient alive, ignoring all the while the viral agent that has infected it. And the lab that produced it. Way down South in the Land of Diablo.
What then explains this line of thought? If Russia is Christian (and I will be the first to admit, the Eastern Orthodox are Christian, but still in rebellion to authentic authority), where does Fatima come into this thought? Let’s do a thought experiment here. Where, in the global scheme of things, where do you think the most prayers for the Consecration of Russia have come from for the past century?
Well, Portugal, sure. And by way of extrapolation, Brazil (Greater Portugal). But where else? Russia? No. No way. The people of Russia have been kept from this story since it first broke in 1917. And that’s not their fault. Chalk that up to their Orthodox clerics, who can read the handwriting on the walls of Constantinople (and Moscow). No, Fatima never happened, in their world. It’s all been a giant Vatican dezinformatsiya campaign, in their telling.
Now Mike is telling us that we, the Traddies who believe in the Fatima promises (and that the question of the Consecration of Russia), are the main problem in The Church. He’s echoing Pope Francis’ mantra that the unity of The Church is threatened by those who would wonder about those who can’t understand one simple question; where’s the promised peace?
Well, Mike, where is it?
Subscribe or donate to support this site and its wholly independent host using credit card or PayPal click here