Thanks for this Paul. I plan to gift the 3 one month subscription to my siblings for Christmas. This summary is helpful I believe in introducing them to you and your writings. At least they may know what I mean when I say ‘The Machine’ is wearing me down, but at the same I’m hopeful in what’s coming because I know I’m not alone with this community.
Thanks for the summary, Paul. I thought I had read all you postings up to now, but it appears I might have missed some of the early ones. I look forward to filling the gaps while I eagerly await your next piece. I'm also grateful that you listed many of the books your starting points. I believe you introduced me to the work of Jeremy Naydler, and as a result I have read one of his books and have two more on order. His insights into the consciousness that helped usher in the calamity we now find ourselves in have been very helpful to me.
I am so grateful for and intrigued by all that you have offered here Paul. IMHO you are in a class of your own as a synthesizer and diagnostician. I can't wait for more and join others in hope that this all shows up in print. It's a tour de force.
“The crumbling of the West would lead to a turn back to real religion” My immediate response upon reading those words was, “Well, what religion?” I read later that your intention is to speculate on the nature of that coming religion. I then thought the phrase “real religion” should be “a religion”. Will you be working with the thoughts of Seraphim Rose and other Eastern Orthodox writers as you consider the question? Do Spengler and other writers you have referenced above speak of this new religion? As a evangelical, Pentecostal type I have my own thoughts. I see Christians being returned to the status they had under Rome, people with a weird religion, not respected.
I see Queen Elizabeth’s funeral with its explicitly Biblical, Christian, Jesus as Lord and Savior scriptures and hymns as symbolically being the funeral service of a deceased Christendom. Christendom being a 1700 year old failed effort/experiment to make the kingdoms of this world the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. We can be light and salt and do wonderful good as believers, but Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world” and in Romans the kingdom of God is defined as being “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” a kingdom realizable in individuals, families and in congregations and on the church as a whole in the here and now and for the Orthodox, miaphysite churches, Catholics in hermits, convents and monasteries.
“The triumph of the machine is the triumph of the merchant” I would trace the beginnings of the machine to the 1200s Italian merchant roots of banking and monetary system. Saint Francis at that time saw the coming of money as being the measure of all things and rejected it as seen in his turning away from his wealthy merchant father and Francis’s only accepting material donations and refusing donations of money.
Dec 5, 2022·edited Dec 5, 2022Liked by Paul Kingsnorth
I have read many of the books you refer to....and have many similar thoughts about the line of travel - but the stark clarity that comes across in that summary is really incredible.All I can do is pour another glass of whisky and say 'bravo'. I work in a university and the sense of working in the deepest 'heart' of the Machine is now so overpowering that I dread each semester. It's like the Borg from Startrek
Thank you for this very useful roundup. With the big picture laid out before us, it's easy to confirm what is now a personal conviction of mine (largely shaped by your work here at The Abbey): Modernity is a carefully thought out plan to banish God and real devotion, so that a few power-thirsty individuals - who I hesitate to call 'human' - may take over and rule the Earth according to their will. In this light, the collapse of Christendom, for example, wouldn't be an accident but the most crucial part of a strategy of domination. They've known what they were doing all along, and it's all about to culminate in apotheosis or catastrophe - or, more likely, both.
Thanks, Paul! I accidently fell into your series of essays about 6 months ago, made curious after reading your essay 'The Cross and the Machine' which resembles my own story of being turned 180° from being absorbed by the Machine, towards following the Cross, now a year ago. I missed the complete first part of your essays and some of the second part, and I do have plans to read them all. This summary essay provides to me the overview of the total until now. Thanks for that! Looking forward to the last essay of this series and to part three! In my opinion you are spot on in your view about the Machine. Thanks again!
Thank you for the summary, Paul. It made it easier for me to see which essays I want to go back to, and refresh, and think about more.
I am looking forward to thinking about ways of resisting, confronting what I have found, after much thinking, with what you will propose, and seeing how our views converge, and sometimes conflict, possibly.
And I am looking forward to being with the people in this community that I have begun to single out a little bit, although I have many questions about how the Internet does much to favor a new empire of technology, underpinned by yet another universal project for a "new" Man.
And how we are willing accomplices ? in all of this.
Paul, thank you.
If collected into a print book, about how many pages do you think you have?
This has been a phenomenal journey together. Thank you for refreshing the milestones. I cannot wait for Part 3!
Thanks for this Paul. I plan to gift the 3 one month subscription to my siblings for Christmas. This summary is helpful I believe in introducing them to you and your writings. At least they may know what I mean when I say ‘The Machine’ is wearing me down, but at the same I’m hopeful in what’s coming because I know I’m not alone with this community.
This essay series is a phenomenal piece of work, one that I sincerely hope will appear in print at some point.
Thanks for the summary, Paul. I thought I had read all you postings up to now, but it appears I might have missed some of the early ones. I look forward to filling the gaps while I eagerly await your next piece. I'm also grateful that you listed many of the books your starting points. I believe you introduced me to the work of Jeremy Naydler, and as a result I have read one of his books and have two more on order. His insights into the consciousness that helped usher in the calamity we now find ourselves in have been very helpful to me.
I am so grateful for and intrigued by all that you have offered here Paul. IMHO you are in a class of your own as a synthesizer and diagnostician. I can't wait for more and join others in hope that this all shows up in print. It's a tour de force.
“The crumbling of the West would lead to a turn back to real religion” My immediate response upon reading those words was, “Well, what religion?” I read later that your intention is to speculate on the nature of that coming religion. I then thought the phrase “real religion” should be “a religion”. Will you be working with the thoughts of Seraphim Rose and other Eastern Orthodox writers as you consider the question? Do Spengler and other writers you have referenced above speak of this new religion? As a evangelical, Pentecostal type I have my own thoughts. I see Christians being returned to the status they had under Rome, people with a weird religion, not respected.
I see Queen Elizabeth’s funeral with its explicitly Biblical, Christian, Jesus as Lord and Savior scriptures and hymns as symbolically being the funeral service of a deceased Christendom. Christendom being a 1700 year old failed effort/experiment to make the kingdoms of this world the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. We can be light and salt and do wonderful good as believers, but Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world” and in Romans the kingdom of God is defined as being “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” a kingdom realizable in individuals, families and in congregations and on the church as a whole in the here and now and for the Orthodox, miaphysite churches, Catholics in hermits, convents and monasteries.
“The triumph of the machine is the triumph of the merchant” I would trace the beginnings of the machine to the 1200s Italian merchant roots of banking and monetary system. Saint Francis at that time saw the coming of money as being the measure of all things and rejected it as seen in his turning away from his wealthy merchant father and Francis’s only accepting material donations and refusing donations of money.
I have read many of the books you refer to....and have many similar thoughts about the line of travel - but the stark clarity that comes across in that summary is really incredible.All I can do is pour another glass of whisky and say 'bravo'. I work in a university and the sense of working in the deepest 'heart' of the Machine is now so overpowering that I dread each semester. It's like the Borg from Startrek
Appreciate the summary -- very helpful.
"its manifestation today"
https://takecontrol.substack.com/p/invisible-prison-digital-id?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=317627&post_id=87671221&isFreemail=false&utm_medium=email
https://www.2ndsmartestguyintheworld.com/p/china-in-five-tweets?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=400535&post_id=88563445&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email&fbclid=IwAR1uVUpDsCrAXrzpLMy3gHNbNl61hmnLBMXpI5aRBWW7RU1MIJbqIUBAVz8
Thank you for this very useful roundup. With the big picture laid out before us, it's easy to confirm what is now a personal conviction of mine (largely shaped by your work here at The Abbey): Modernity is a carefully thought out plan to banish God and real devotion, so that a few power-thirsty individuals - who I hesitate to call 'human' - may take over and rule the Earth according to their will. In this light, the collapse of Christendom, for example, wouldn't be an accident but the most crucial part of a strategy of domination. They've known what they were doing all along, and it's all about to culminate in apotheosis or catastrophe - or, more likely, both.
Wow more to read , excellent news.
I didn’t realize the full series- I will be sharing this.
On behalf of the Machine, thank you Paul. I am sincerely grateful for your eye openers.
Thanks, Paul! I accidently fell into your series of essays about 6 months ago, made curious after reading your essay 'The Cross and the Machine' which resembles my own story of being turned 180° from being absorbed by the Machine, towards following the Cross, now a year ago. I missed the complete first part of your essays and some of the second part, and I do have plans to read them all. This summary essay provides to me the overview of the total until now. Thanks for that! Looking forward to the last essay of this series and to part three! In my opinion you are spot on in your view about the Machine. Thanks again!
Thank you for the summary, Paul. It made it easier for me to see which essays I want to go back to, and refresh, and think about more.
I am looking forward to thinking about ways of resisting, confronting what I have found, after much thinking, with what you will propose, and seeing how our views converge, and sometimes conflict, possibly.
And I am looking forward to being with the people in this community that I have begun to single out a little bit, although I have many questions about how the Internet does much to favor a new empire of technology, underpinned by yet another universal project for a "new" Man.
And how we are willing accomplices ? in all of this.