After dinner, I can do nothing...no work, no reading, no conversation...except watch, on TV, either the news or a good drama, preferably a thriller, spy, romance, or mafia movie. What I watch on the news, of course, is politics, national and global. It strikes me: they are really the same thing. With politics and drama we are observing performance of a narrative involving love, hatred, loyalty, violence, infidelity, conflict and a conclusion, happy or sad. But on a deeper, philosophical level we find these so fascinating because in our own real lives, however routine and normal, we are ourselves always engaged in drama/politics. I will subsume them both into one category, POLIDRAMA, and define it as the interaction of two or more freedoms in love or hate. Polidrama is only possible for a spirit, a being with intelligence and will, the capacity to decide in freedom. Things (including IE), plants, and animals are incapable of it. Angels and humans are. The monogamous God of Judaism and Islam is capable of drama with us, but not within himself as he is simply One. The trinitarian God of Christianity is an endless, infinite Polidrama of love, an eternal and ecstatic event, imminently, even without creation, as he also engages with us in creation and history.
For a Catholic, then, politics as we know it, for example the blue/red conflict in the US, is a small aspect of the immense dynamics of human polidrama. We will see that in the final scheme of things, national/global politics is not nothing, but it is relatively small. This is relieving: we can all sigh with relief! No, Donald Trump is not at the center; he is way out on the periphery!
Imagine a person's life as a number of concentric circles, going outwards from the center. These indicate the horizontal dimension of human life, with the smaller ones, closer to the center being the most important engagements or polidramas in a kind of subsidiarity. The outer circles are the most distant. But before we consider the different circles, we need to see that at the very center of the circles, that precise point is the person who also connects vertically, to the supernatural realm, heaven above and hell below.
The human polidrama was preceded by two others. First, the eternal interaction of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit...the infinite event of love...out of which lower dramas are created. Second, the angelic polidrama in which the angels, pure not-bodied spirits, decided, uber-dramatically, in a single decision, to serve God or Lucifer.
And so, the many human polidramas of love, power, competition, revenge and so forth occur always in the light of the more ultimate, profound engagement of the human soul with heaven and hell: faith, disbelief, love, hate, competition, surrender, control, loyalty, betrayal, and so forth. The politics and drama of family, romance, war, governance, power, generosity, and revenge all are enacted within this more primal spiritual politics and drama. So, while we are ourselves free agents, with limits and impediments to our exercise of freedom, we exercise this limited liberty within the greater war between heaven and hell. And even our minor decisions mysteriously feed into and out of this greater polidrama.
Returning to the horizontal concentric circles: The inner, closest, smallest one involves the drama/politics of the most intimate community: spouse, parent/child, and nuclear family. The kindness, resentment, power plays, forgiveness, contrition, magnanimity, trust and joy here is far more important than all the other circles combined. The second circle would be the broader, extended family: grandparents/children, cousins, aunts and uncles, in-laws, and very close friends. Moving to the third circle we have broader engagements: work, neighborhood, voluntary and recreational associations, and such.
We pause here to consider the Church. Normally, the local parish is there as part of the third or perhaps second circle for those more engaged. But the Church is far more than the specific parish or association. The Church is the Body of Christ, it is the illumination of the Holy Spirit which radiates out to heal, strengthen and sanctify in all the circles. So, the Church is a vertical dimension that pervades all the circles. Likewise, hell, the kingdom of darkness, the reign of Lucifer also permeates all the circles.
The hermit is an interesting anomaly. He detaches from all the circles, certainly from politics but even from spouse/children. He situates himself at the precise center of the concentric circles, surrendering himself to the vertical, opening with complete transparency to heaven, directly combating the demonic. From this position he radiates out to all the circles, even Gaza and communist China, the heavenly illumination of the Holy Spirit in a manner we cannot understand.
Work is an ambiguous category. For those with priestly or religious vocations their daily work is the very first, inner circle. For those who have a job that provides income but very little meaning work might be out toward the outer circles: fourth or fifth or sixth. For those with meaningful professions...doctor, nurse, teacher, counselor, politician, activist, scientist...work might be close to the center, second or even first circle in some cases.
The furthest, most distant from the center circles would be national and global politics, the stuff we watch on the news every night. Many, like myself, are political junkies that follow the stuff like others do the NBA, or college football, or an afternoon soap opera. Others have virtually no interest of knowledge. Engagement in such polidrama is NOT obligatory. No, it is NOT a civil duty to vote. It is an option. It is in a way a calling, for those with the interest and inclination. If you are entirely ignorant about the issues and the players you do everyone a favor by refraining from the electoral process, guilt free.
So we conclude: the politics we know of the national/global circle is the furthest and therefore in a way the least significant. It is not nothing. But it does not merit ruining more important, intimate relationships. It is an arena of moral conflict. Those of us drawn to it do well to educate ourselves; participate; and compete...always soberly, respectfully, charitably, if passionately.
In all things, illuminated from the Divine center of the concentric circles. Love and Truth.
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