Godliness is Human Attrition

Greetings dear friends, it has been too long. Two weeks to be exact. I would provide you with an explanation of my absence, but I do not have one. I was here, and quite present. However, I felt my last post triumphant enough to sustain my audience for twice the normal period. When striking a beautiful note, let it ring out. 

This week I thought it particularly important to delve into history. For our purposes, we need wind backward nearly two centuries to the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution. We need venture back to the writings of one Andrew Ure (1778-1857), another old friend of mine. Through his writings we can extrapolate a modern doctrine that vindicates his period and our own.

Proclamation: The attrition of humanity brings humans closer to God.

Ure wrote in his "Philosophy of the Manufacturers"(1835) that "in the factory, every member of the loom is so adjusted, that the driving force leaves the attendant nearly nothing at all to do, certainly no muscular fatigue to sustain, while it procures for him good, unfailing wages, besides a healthy workshop gratis." I concur, dear Andrew. When I first learned that factory workers voiced discontent at their menial occupations, the former was my response. Unfortunately, the working class fails to grasp the joy in their reality and tends to lash out irrationally [often using molotov coctails and other household explosives]. Whole governments are based on this insanity. [China, Russia, Laos, Vietnam, France, Detroit]

Exhale, exhale more. Feel the weight of living float off your shoulders. This is the reality of the factory worker. Yes, my friends, factory work is dehumanizing. Yes, it turns man into an "appendage of the machine." Yes, it destroys the family ties that bond and unite us. But, is it evil? 

Of course not. Early Christian mystics [who got so many other things wrong] got it right by claiming: the journey toward God is journey into darkness. As we get closer to get God, we get farther away from humanity. Factory work is the most efficient at destroying the former. Therefore, dehumanizing factory work is a journey toward God. The less human we are, the closer to God we become. The fewer ties to humanity that constrain us, the easier it becomes to rise above existence toward the heavens.

We must understand the modern implications of this conclusion. Clearly, a wave of contentedness should wash over the huddled masses. Cries will be silenced not just in the Great America, but o'er the entire earth. In fact, as Americans we can look at everything we use [clothes, electronics, musical instruments, etc.] and know that they played a part in bringing one lucky human closer to God.

Naysayers will point to my early argument regarding suffering and say "isn't this a contradiction?" No, I never contradict myself. Dictum 1 insures I am always right. I do not know what would happen if I contradicted myself, God only knows. To be sure, Human Attrition is not suffering, it is beautiful and Godly. Suffering still plays no part in the Christian experience.

Now get back to the assembly line.

Calhoun out.