Invisible Reality

By: Mr. Curmudgeon
mrcurmudgeon@inthepublicsquare.com

In 1975, Vera Rubin, an astronomer at the Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C., presented findings that shocked her colleagues at the American Astronomical Union. In analyzing the motions of galaxies Ms. Rubin found that stars in the outer spiral arms rotated at nearly the same rate as stars near the galactic center. She concluded that the only explanation for this anomaly was a larger quantity of matter in galaxies than was observed by optical or radio telescopes. In fact, the mysterious substance accounted for most of what galaxies were made of. Whatever the substance was, it was invisible and could be detected only by its influence on the observable universe. She dubbed this unseen reality Dark Matter.

Unseen realities also animate human events. The painter attributes his inspiration to beauty; the poet to his muse; the soldier to his love of country. The aforementioned are neither measures nor weights in the physical sense. They do not exist as material things. Yet they are, nevertheless, very real and indispensable to our existence. It is unfortunate, therefore, that for much of the post-Christian era, mankind’s great and mundane thinkers have worked strenuously to define all human action as having only physical reality, while systematically jettisoning the invisible reality of Judeo-Christian meaning.

The current war on religion is a case in point. Our Constitution is a written declaration recognizing “certain unalienable rights” as “endowed by our creator.” The First Amendment protects religion from coercive state power. Today, the First Amendment is reinterpreted as a mandate for government to protect American society from religion. This is part and parcel of the nihilist’s war on invisible reality. Separated from the invisible reality that surrounds us, we are unable to distinguish between what is foolish or wise, good or evil.

No one is more attuned to this metaphysical void than the politician. He seeks to galvanize the vast army of empty souls to transcend the void by joining a political crusade to give the sensation of meaning to their otherwise numb, empty lives, while garnering for himself maximum power in the process.

There is no better evangelical advocate for the Gospel of Better Living through politics than the secular media. President-elect Barack Obama brilliantly tapped into this void. With little in the way of specifics, other than uttering the rhythmic cultic mantra “change,” he galvanized an army of lost souls (mostly young) into a force to reckon with. It remains to be seen what form Obama’s “change” will take.

This emptiness is easy to condemn for its rank stupidity and pointlessness. But recent history shows that this metaphysical void is also a profound danger. Europe was spiritually empty before the Second World War. While most of Europe descended into empty hedonism, the German people filled the void by embracing the secular religion provided by Hitler’s National Socialism.

Today, while the Western World continues its downward nihilistic spiral, Islamic Fundamentalism and its stateless fanatical armies seek to destroy the vestiges of Judeo-Christian civilization. If current population and immigration trends continue, Islam will conquer a soulless Europe without having to fire a shot. Even more tragically, Europe – in its depraved nihilism – does not seem care.

Across the ocean, here in America, those who would distract our nation’s army of empty souls by confronting Islamic Radicalism disturb the nihilist. For him, the only reality is the one he constructs, and he will fight the unseen metaphysical truths that surround us with all the power blind denial can muster.

The nihilist, therefore, is by nature self-destructive. His blindness to the unseen truths that surround him has led the innocent down the path to war, subjugation and the death camp. It is a small remnant (let's call them the “Salt of the Earth”) whose opposition to suicidal nihilism has preserved the Western World thus far. Empty nihilism, history shows, leads to oblivion – and that truly is a dark matter.

--Mr. Curmudgeon