The Spirit of Irrationality

In principio erat Verbum – Jn 1:1

The spirit of our age is one of irrationality. We are suspicious of people that make (universal) truth claims. We are suspicious of our own ability to reason and arrive at such claims. Our Post-Modern age has fallen into despair that there even is the faculty of reason. Modernism promised that once we threw off the yokes of superstition (i.e., religion) and tradition (i.e., inherited truth), and instead followed the pure light of unadulterated reason (as practiced in the scientific method), then at last universal peace and harmony would be realized. Then humanity would together transcend its squalor and rise up in global fraternity and justice.

Such aspirations were dashed against the rocks of the failed ideological projects of the past century. Unmoored from superstition and tradition, science provided an abundance of wealth and prosperity. Indeed, within these marvelous advancements there was a specter haunting the world. It traversed the world as a gift to all, pouring out upon billions a quality of life previously unimaginable as they rose from destitution. But it whispered in its wake, “Do not mind the hundreds of millions who have perished as our ability to destroy life outstripped our ability to reason about our technological progress. Ignore the destruction of peoples and cultures. Worry not about the eradication of species and poisoning of lands. Pure reason will solve all problems.”

Just as the morning stupor eventually wears off, so too we are coming to realize with distressing clarity that there was something wrong in our pursuit of modernism. In the rubble of these broken promises, and the long-abandoned wisdom of superstition and tradition, the current age turns upon reason itself just as reason had been weaponized against this age’s forebears. Into this void the Nietzschean lion of power prowls in the darkness and the father of lies whispers non-truths to a mind turned against truth. From this rubble the cult of irrationality is arising. Not the simple irrationality of positing mutually contradictory statements (i.e., the rejection of the principle of non-contradiction), but a more profound irrationality of the despair of being able to arrive at truth wherein one exports the use of their own reason to another.

The hope of the past century is fading into the darkness of despair. We have seen the horrors that our pure reason justified, and our trust in our ability to use our reason to arrive at truth has begun to falter. But our very essence hungers for truth, our intellect longs for it; and so when we find that all the avenues to truth are blocked and torn up, we despair of ever satisfying this existential gnawing. In our personal despair to arrive at truth, we nevertheless madly pursue it, for we must find it somewhere. And so many forfeit their personal pursuit of truth and in turn yoke themselves to one who will give them truth.

The Rise of Influencers

There are many ways by which such irrationality is manifested, but the Influencer is the ur-manifestation or archetype of this trend. We often think of Influencers as a contemporary phenomenon which exists just on social media among the “youth.” It is certainly a more recent phenomenon since it is a post-modern phenomenon, but it is erroneous to think of the Influencer as only online or attractive to the youth. No, the Influencer is one who exists to influence the thoughts of those who interact with them. What is most important for the Influencer is not them as a person, or what they are attempting to convey, but them as a typos, a symbol, an idol. What makes an Influencer an Influencer is that their audience comes to them to be influenced. It is somewhat irrelevant whether the person behind the persona desires to teach truth, or to teach lies, or to make money, or any of the many motivations which the person themselves may have. No, what matters is the expectation of the audience, the seekers, who come and sit at the feet of the Influencer.

This is not to say that the moral character of the person behind the Influencer is irrelevant; it certainly is important. The seekers will destroy the person underlying the Influencer without hesitation, but they will only do so if the person threatens the Influencer which they follow; that is, if the symbol of the Influencer is threatened, then the seekers will destroy that which threatens the symbol, even the creator of the Influencer itself.

But why, why would they do that? Why do people come to Influencers? Because we need truth and we do not trust ourselves to come upon it ourselves with our own intellect. And so we need to go somewhere else, to someone else. We lack confidence in our ability to acquire truth, but the Influencer seems so confident in the truth which they have. Upon finding the Influencer, the seeker thinks, finally, here in the community of the Influencer is somewhere to rest; and so the seeker exports their responsibility of reasoning to the Influencer. The Influencer does the thinking; they take on the unbearable burden and moral responsibility of thinking. The seeker then merely needs to receive without reflection what the Influencer gives.

This is irrational. It is the despair of reason, and it is not only the digital influencers and youth who are seduced by this. Whenever one exports their own thinking and their rational faculties to another entity, they create an Influencer. A news host, a podcaster, a blogger, a politician, all of these and more become Influencers when they become our source of truth, our thinking agent. This is also what makes an Influencer different from a teacher, since an authentic teacher does not tell the student what to think but guides the student in growing their capacity to think.

Further, it is precisely the exportation of our most essential faculty of reasoning, and our despair of coming to truth on our own, that creates such violent contradictions between the followers of different Influencers. For there can be no dialogue between the different followers of an Influencer since there is no logos by which the different adherents can congregate. There is just the logos of the Demiurge . . . Creator . . . Content Creator . . . Influencer, and in so far as there are coherences and synergies between the logoi of the different Influencers, then there can be cooperation. But if there is not, particularly when the Influencer says there cannot be, then a priori there is no epistemological grounds for dialogue.

The Rise of Scientism

Among the seekers there is a group who bear the trappings of the modernist vanguard and continue to congregate around Science. These are for the seekers of scientism. And at first glance it seems contradictory to place something related to science within the realm of the irrational. But by scientism we mean the belief that science alone produces or manifests or articulates truth. All other methods of intellectual research, to the follower of scientism, cannot present truth. Sure, there may be value for other pursuits, but they are unable to attain to truth. On face value, though, this does not seemingly make scientism irrational.

To find the irrationality, we need to define science as understood by these seekers. For them science is the application of the scientific method to all forms of intellectual exploration. They enshrine the scientific method as the method, and so they in turn also enshrine empiricism as the measure of truth. The seeker only permits truth claims which are articulated empirically. And here the well-worn criticism that such a premise is itself not empirically verifiable wants to resurge. But that is not a problem for such a person; such rational critiques are not a worry for them; the follower has already jettisoned pure reason as a criterium. The follower is acting irrationally, after all.

But how are they acting irrationally? By accepting the premise that only those truth claims which are empirically verifiable can attain to truth, the person is exporting their reason to the tools of measurement. They accept that they cannot trust their judgment upon datum and instead they trust the judgment of an instrument to measure reality over and against their mind. That is, they reject their reason in favor of the reason of instruments. Under the guise of exalting reason, the position of empiricism alone strips reason of its place in the pursuit of truth since reason (as a spiritual or immaterial faculty) is not empirically verifiable. Once the seeker has forfeited their intellectual faculties to the method of science, they then no longer have the ability to reason about the very science itself, since that is not a matter of empiricism. As a result, what is needed is an Influencer to provide the seeker with the thoughts to think about the science which is itself the outsourced product supplanting their thought. This Influencer then takes on the priestly robes of a scientist to explain the science to such seekers.

The Rise of Traditionalism

The seekers of scientism are not the only group of seekers. To every revolution there is a reactionary group. Within the revolt of the post-modernists against the modernists, the traditionalists have arisen in reaction against the post-modernists. Now traditionalists should not be confused with those who accept the validity of tradition as a vehicle for attaining to truth. Tradition properly speaking is the handing on of truth from the past into the present. It is the living link of immortal Truth across time and space. However, regarding this exalted patrimony, this inestimable treasury, the traditionalists act as pretenders to the inheritance, false claimants to the deposit.

As all reactionaries, they are more of their culture than they like to imagine. The traditionalists will use the language of the past and speak of the wisdom of their forbearers. They have citations and quips ready upon their tongue in response to any argument presented by their opponents. But cracks begin to appear the moment a situation arises for which they have not prepared. The moment a thoughtful opponent confronts them, one who is attempting to apply their own reason, they struggle to respond. Despair creeps into their heart and violence in speech pours forth.

What is wrong for the traditionalist? Why do they react in such a way? Well, they too have been acting irrationally. They have exported the use of their reason to past authorities. They are infected by the post-modernist skepticism of their own reason and so have fled to figures of the tradition. They seek to find the proof texts to silence their doubts, but the deposit of tradition is large; it is hard to comprehend. These giants of thought require intellectual acumen to digest. Who are the traditionalists to even feign to understand such luminaries? That would be folly; they cannot trust themselves to think, let alone understand other great thinkers. And so, like the followers of scientism, the traditionalist needs an Influencer; they need someone to tell them what to think about their supposed tradition. They export their reason to the Influencer, since, surely, they will be a more faithful interpreter of the tradition than the seeker.

The Rise of Conspiracists

In all great social changes there must be prophets, those who see into the depths of the changing sea, who comprehend the changing of the winds; even more so in a world which rejects the capability to use reason to arrive at the great metanarrative of history. We need our prophets. The human intellect, no matter how much we attempt to suppress it, cannot be silenced. With a gnawing hunger deep within we need intellectual order, and the prophets provide it.

In our age and its many confusions the conspiracists have stood up to serve as our prophets. Like the prophets of yore, they have no true political affiliation. These modern prophets can be found speaking words of comfort to the powers that be, or in the digital wastelands crying out in condemnation. Wherever these prophets may be found, they exposit clear and unflinching meaning behind everything. Their metanarratives are sprawling and omniscient. Everything becomes comprehensible to the seeker at the foot of these prophets. They need not provide evidence which holds up to the scrutiny of reason. Reason is fallible, after all. But they have seen the truth, and once you see the truth, then you will receive a new logic which fits all the pieces together just so. Then you can assuage your ravenous desire for truth; everything is in its place; no matter how dark or bright that place is, everything is in order.

Conclusion: The Divine Light of Truth

Et lux in tenebris lucet, et tenebrae eam non comprehenderunt. – Jn 1:5

There is a Spirit of Irrationality which haunts the world. It is pervasive and subtle. Logical proofs (though necessary) will not turn back the tide waters of post-modernism, at least not in the short term. The post-modernists are inoculated by the failures of the modernists against such direct assaults. Instead a brilliant light must flash before them, a flash so brilliant that they are unable to deny it. The sun must be brought within the cave, since they will not turn to look at the light themselves. That is, we must show the “glory [of Christ], the glory as of a Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.” (Jn 1:14 NRSVCE) The resplendent beauty of God must be made to shine forth.

This requires us to first abandon our Influencers, and to reclaim the arduous work of using our own intellect. We must come before the Lord upon our knees and ask him to heal our minds, so that we might be conformed to his eternal truth. As we bathe in God’s radiance, we will take on his own radiance. After doing so, we can then return into the cavern of despair, where the world gazes upon shadows, and manifest the glory of God as we bear Christ’s own light from within our very being. It is only an alter Christus than can bear such a witness to satisfy the hunger for vision of the people who sit in darkness longing for a great light. (Cf. Is 9:2, Mt 4:16) It is for us Christians to be such refulgent luminaries for the world, guiding all peoples into the light of Truth. For we alone have the words of eternal life that can satisfy the longing hearts of humanity. (Cf. Jn 6:68)