“The world is too much with us; late and soon

Getting and spending…

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!” 

– William Wordsworth

It would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter Heaven, Jesus said. But I don’t think Americans are feeling the message that selfishness thwarts spiritual growth.

They should, since selfishness also thwarts political growth; a nation of selfishness makes a nation of cynics, and a cynical nation is a place in which you can trust hardly anyone. A change at the White House and in Congress won’t fix this problem.

Our society suffers from a myopia of the soul, in which only the things and people closest to us matter. Many Americans have pursued selfishness to its extreme, exhibiting outright disrespect for neighbors and countrymen. They’re proud in their disregard, loathing the “others” as they safely hate in groups, pitting themselves (the Good People) against anyone who doesn’t toe the progressive line.

You cannot be a self-absorbed person and expect to make America great again. The nation may become great again in the future, but if it happens it will be despite such types, not because of them.

It has been noted that sexual immorality is a defining characteristic of what many call the “new paganism.” While it is the most glaring aspect of the Woke New Immorality (abortion being the epitome of cultic ugliness), the lines are not clearly cut between the old morality and the new relativism immorality. There’s a lot of overlap.

Good Christians and other believers are now tacitly part of the consumerist cult, in which we all are one or another type of cargo. We objectify others and ourselves and demean all of humanity, sometimes damning our soul.

Materialism is now the true ethos of today’s Western societies, regardless of your politics or religion of lack thereof. Things and experiences, having them and boasting about them, are the most important to most of us regardless of what we profess. Get them while you can, and don’t stop until you croak. 

But folks who have a consumerist view of the world tend to start objectifying everything, including people. And when you constantly objectify people, you are bound to abuse them, sometimes without even thinking it’s wrong. This is true regardless of your religion or political affiliation.

Abortion is an example of how what is “progressively” devalued eventually becomes disposable. How many millions of conservatives have committed this sin?

How do we roll back this generations-long devaluing of the human soul? We need a new Great Awakening, which must be born in our souls long before it will become a social movement. We also need to discriminate—to call out filth for what it is, and to separate ourselves from it as much as possible.

If you’re a greedhead or self-absorbed twit, you are what the good folks should be fighting against and undermining. And we are overrun with such types—imported and homemade entitled pigs.

Pull your heads out of your keisters, Americans. You can’t be a stingy, entitled, self-absorbed, immigrant-hiring snob and also make America great again.

Be generous, and not just with the cash, though that’s a start. Don’t just talk a good game about your faith, show it. Find an American contractor to hire to work on your house, even if you have to look around a bit to find one or pay a bit more. Lose the entitlement.

Answer the phone call or email of someone who might benefit from chatting with you even if you think it’s beneath you. Help someone who would never dream you thought of them, without expecting a pat on the back. Lend a hand to someone like yourself, who wasn’t as lucky in life.

Force yourself to consider how you can help folks who you already like, who you know really need help, even if you (delusionally) think you are a self-made type. No one is.

Express your faith in Heaven or humanity through good deeds, and actually help Americans without constantly worrying about your bottom line. You never know how that one act of kindness or momentary connection might ultimately help the world.

Image from Grok.