Left Brain

Now the faith is old and the Devil bold

Exceedingly bold indeed.

And the masses of doubt that are floating about

Would smother a mortal creed.

– Hilaire Belloc, Pelagian Drinking Song

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If you are like me (which I hope you aren’t, for it is becoming an increasingly unenviable position), you cannot help but notice the rampant contradictions borne aloft on the Winds of Change these days. And since most people are blown by the wind, this is a catastrophic forecast. “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell from whence it comes or where it goes.” Substitute “man” for “wind” and one has a fairly good idea of the current state of things.

There was a time when the Four Winds blew with the high and holy fire of the Holy Ghost. ” And suddenly a sound like a violent rushing wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. And divided tongues like fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.” For all fire needs air. And yet with all the hot air floating about it seems we have smothered the fire with fuel.

One of the most damaging consequences of this tempest is surely the farcical relationship the Left claims to have with Science. Anyone who follows politics knows that it is the special prerogative of the Left to appeal to Science. It is their dogma to accuse Conservatives, particularly Christians, of a dogmatic fundamentalism that is fundamentally incompatible with Science. Now, apart from their diatribes against Young Earth Creationism (with which I am inclined to agree, but that is an article for another day), I find most of their positions laughable. This is mostly because they do not have any positions. Like the sands in which their heads are buried, they are constantly shifting — and many are fast sinking in this ideological quicksand. The Holy Wind blows, the Ocean swaggers and sways, and the walls of their sandcastles come tumbling down like Jericho at the Final Trumpet. I fear (and hope) we ourselves are approaching our own Final Trumpet (and perhaps our first Trump — yet another article for yet another day, however many we have left).

Now, it seems their heads are in serious danger while so buried in the sand. And I mean this almost literally. For the relationship between the Left and mental illness is here my primary concern. And it seems, on the sandy beaches in which their heads are stuck, their close proximity to the deep sea has had a most curious effect: they have sprouted many sticky hands, like the squid, with as many contradicting opinions as hands. For on the one hand, they move to de-stigmatize mental illness (and indeed deny its existence), and on the other, they label their opponents with entirely fictitious pathologies. And like the tentacles of the squid, it is difficult to pry loose these fallacies for the strength of the suction. Like their one-eyed deep sea approximation, these Leftists would do well to hide in the deep, fearing lest they be exposed to the light.

Think of the rampant gender ideology that is dominating the social sphere today. As the ocean is said to be the final frontier of exploration, transgender rights are said to be the final frontier of civil rights. Personally, I am more inclined to see them as the first frontier of uncivil wrongs, but be that as it may. In saner times, this phenomenon was known as gender dysphoria — a disorder. Yet, today one would be called insane for so much as insinuating this scientific fact. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.” Proponents of transgenderism seek to normalize a legitimate mental illness, much to the detriment of those who truly suffer from it. Instead of normalizing delusion, we ought instead to treat it as the mental illness we once understood it (rightly) to be. In fact, those who suffer from gender dysphoria have the highest attempted suicide rates of any single demographic the USA, at roughly 40%, both before and after gender surgery. This is clear scientific evidence of a mental illness. However, the Left in this case does not appeal to science, and for obvious reasons. If one appeals to the Science, which the Left does whenever convenient but rarely otherwise, one finds that there are two possible sets of chromosomes marking the DNA of every cell — XX and XY. There are two sexes. And there are two genders. For gender is not a construct of society. On the contrary, society is a construct of gender. For the fundamental unit of society, the family, relies upon precisely such a natural and indeed supernatural design in order to perpetuate the human race. The family, under attack as it is by feminists, atheists, pro-choicers (that is to say, the Left), is the most precious of human relationships and must be protected, or else we will have nothing left. There was a time when families had nearly as many children as there are letters in LGBTQQIP2SAA. And children, in all their holy innocence, are indeed among the most vulnerable targets of radical Leftism.

There is in our perverse times a move to “de-stigmatize pedophilia.” One need only Google this most evil phrase to see of what I speak. In fact, the American Psychiatric Association has updated its syllabus of psychiatric disorders by distinguishing between pedophiles who act on their desires and those who do not. The latter are no longer classified as mentally ill. The incomprehensible folly of seeking to normalize an immense perversion is frankly disgusting, not to mention unscientific. That one does not act on a desire does not mean that it is not a disordered desire. This is a non sequitur and plainly non-sensical,  not to mention gravely evil.

The Left, while denying and de-stigmazting plain mental illness, turn around and label their conservative opponents with fake pathologies — all of which it seeks to stigmatize. For instance, those who reasonably hold that Islam is a threat to the West are called Islamophobic. Their error is clear. A phobia is an irrational fear and an uncontrolled impulse. A reasoned and entirely legitimate opinion is neither irrational, fearful, nor impulsive. And, in a cruel twist of irony, those who oppose the Islamization of the West (i.e. the implementation of Sharia law) are in fact doing more to protect homosexuals and transgenders than their Leftist allies. Further, those who hold the perfectly reasonable view that gay marriage is a teleological impossibility and that religious people ought to be free to refuse to conduct gay marriages, are labeled as Homophobic. For their error, see the explanation above. Further, those who believe that gender dysphoria is an illness to be treated, not an expression to be celebrated, are called Transphobic. See above. This contradiction, like so many others, lies at the heart of the regressive Left of our time, and it is, ironically, damaging above all to themselves. At a time when we are removing pedophilia from the syllabus of mental illnesses, the Left has added Rational Thought as its replacement. There are two ways of achieving a mentally healthy society. One is to promote mental health. The other is redefine mental illness as mental health. I greatly fear we have chosen the latter.

I believe holding such contradictory opinions is known among psychologists as “cognitive dissonance.” Of course, all of this psychobabble is a result of the thoroughly modern reduction of man to an animal, governed by mere instincts and the subconscious. This school of thought (which, like most schools these days is not a place of any great learning or thought), pioneered by men like Freud, practices psychology without the psyche. A precarious position indeed. To sum up my opinion on the man, I defer to the words of G.K. Chesterton:

The ignorant pronounce it Frood,

To cavil or applaud.

The well-informed pronounce it Froyd,

But I pronounce it Fraud.

This technocracy of the psychologists has made this world unintelligible. But Brain Science (BS) has taught us at least one thing of value: the Left would do well to learn from the side of the brain which shares its name. Their beloved Science tells us that the Left brain is the seat of reasoned analysis, the antithesis of the current Leftist movement, which is full of cons and contradictions. Until we return to an understanding of man that is rooted in his divine origin, and his soul, we will continue to render him unintelligent and unintelligible. It is evident, on every level, that the Leftists are not Right. We are no longer directed by the Wind of the Holy Spirit, but by the Wind which is the Spirit of the Age. One can only hope that it will blow over quickly. I take courage from nature: masses of hot air cannot survive a good storm.