“I have praised the past, the present, and the near future with all the insight God has given me. Peering into the farther future, I have seen nothing but obscure and terrible things which it is not in me to praise. So it is certain that I have fulfilled my task, and may now rest.” -- Olaf Stapledon, Odd John
Have you ever felt that way?
Yes, it’s going to be one of those mornings.
Though little known and appreciated today, Olaf Stapledon was a giant of early 20th Century speculative fiction. His novels Star Maker and Last and First Men are considered seminal to the science-fiction field, though there’s little of scientific or technological speculation in them. Both of those, and Odd John quoted above, display a height and breadth of imagination few modern writers have equaled. Yet his tales were notably pessimistic, even fatalistic in tone, whatever his personal inclinations may have been.
It seems that in some sense, Stapledon recoiled from his own imaginings. The monk Langatse into whose mouth he put the words at the top of this piece certainly didn’t like what he foresaw. Of course, one can always suppose that was purely for fictional purposes. Whatever the case, an Englishman who lived and served through World War I can be forgiven for a bleak view of existence.
Old men often acquire such a view, even if they’ve lived in a golden age. Age can do that to you. It’s born from a dislike of change and a sense of impotence.
Ours may someday be recalled as a golden age, even if many alive today would not agree.
I’ve often thought it a blessing that we cannot see the future clearly. I think it would conduce to a fatalism that would be difficult to overcome. Think of the records of those cults that believed that they could see what was coming. Did any of them end well?
A major benefit of Christian faith is its optimism. Though he can control little of what happens in this world, the Christian believes that he can control his own fate in the life to come. It’s entirely up to him; no other force, personal or impersonal, can take that from him.
One who disbelieves in the life to come doesn’t have that balm for his temporal wounds. This life – indeed, the present moment – is all he has. If he’s a news junkie, the effects can devastate him beyond recall.
Christian or not, immersion in current events is not good for us. It leads to foresights, whether accurate or inaccurate, that darken the soul. That so many of us are so immersed does not bode well.
What can we make of developments such as the ones in Britain and Australia today? Is it not clear that a time of trouble is coming for those nations? If we turn to America, where much that’s in progress parallels the course of events in those other lands, does the future look any brighter?
When a decent man confronts a story such as this one:
0 AP stories on this deadly attack
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) September 7, 2025
0 PBS stories on this deadly attack
0 NYT stories on this deadly attack
0 NPR stories on this deadly attack
0 WSJ stories on this deadly attack
0 BBC stories on this deadly attack
0 CNN stories on this deadly attack
0 WAPO stories on this… pic.twitter.com/962qmFOBNm
...it takes a mighty effort to turn aside from the rage and horror it induces. The same is true of the multitude of stories about racially and ethnically motivated attacks on innocent individuals. Most of those attacks are by groups of blacks on individual whites. The determination required to turn away from the fury produced is enormous. Some don’t manage it.
Even those who do manage it experience a change in demeanor. No matter how pleasant or peaceful one’s own existence, the specter of all-encompassing violence that can strike anyone, anywhere, at any moment darkens one’s vision. It’s certainly darkened mine.
It’s among the biggest of the influences that’s draining our benevolence from us.
Yet having said all the above, I can’t go on to say don’t pay attention to the news. The news often tells us what we need to know as individuals. It’s the foresights that result from news immersion that wound us.
Many alive today know a prosperity and security that no previous generation has experienced. (Yes, even those of us who still have day jobs.) One reaction to the torrent of reports of ugly events is to isolate ourselves, shut out the noise – to wrap ourselves in our personal circumstances, pull them tight around us. Howard Beale described that reaction in Network:
“We know things are bad — worse than bad. They’re crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don’t go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is: ‘Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won’t say anything. Just leave us alone.’”
Others become frenzied, and strive to build a fortress against the threats. Still others are filled with hatred and fury. And some simply give up.
Those are the consequences of too dark a foresight.
A fake fortuneteller can be tolerated. But an authentic soothsayer should be shot on sight. Cassandra did not get half the kicking around she deserved. -- Robert A. Heinlein
I have no idea what state of mind Heinlein was in when he wrote the above, but I suspect it had some elements in common with mine at this hour. I have a misty vision of Western society’s near future, and it is not pleasant. I have a somewhat more solid vision of my own future, which is more agreeable. For I am one of the fortunate ones; I enjoy a “personal golden age.”
I could, should I choose, “turn off the news” and simply enjoy my own circumstances. I’m often inclined to do so. After all, I have plenty of food, clothing, wine, living space, diversions, and entertainments. (And guns.) I could take refuge in those things, pull them tight around me, and ignore the general descent into chaos and squalor. I could easily justify doing so.
But I don’t. I keep track. And on this eighth day of September in the Year of Our Lord 2025, I can’t say exactly why. Yes, it gives me plenty to write about, but what other good does it do?
So I’ll end this morning’s ramble with a question:
Is it the course of prudence to strive to remain well informed, or is it folly to concern oneself with what’s beyond one’s power to redress?
Have a nice day.
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