“Thou shalt not lie”: On the Destruction of Worlds

What separates Man from the beasts

My new book Grand Narrative is being released chapter by chapter for paid subscribers. My paid subscribers give me hope of an alternative professional future. Thank-you.

CONTENTS:

PROLOGUE: The Oxford Union has betrayed British Values

The Oxford Union has betrayed British Values

INTRODUCTION: Who’s afraid of grand narrative?

Who's afraid of Grand Narrative?

BOOK 1: LANGUAGE: THE MODERN TOWER OF BABEL

1.1: Living a Lie

Living a Lie [Grand Narrative, Chapter 1.1]

1.2: “Thou Shalt not Lie”: On the Destruction of Worlds

See below

1.3: Corruption of the Masses

Corruption of the masses

1.4: The Dangerous Confusion of Language

The dangerous confusion of language

1.5: The Great Genocide Lie

The Great Genocide Lie [Chapter 1.4]

1.6: Hands off Churchill!

Hands off Churchill! [Chapter 1.5]

1.7: In Praise of the British Empire for Abolishing Slavery Worldwide

In praise of the British Empire for abolishing slavery worldwide

1.8: Declaring War on Post-Modernism

1.8.1: Part 1: With “Authentic Feeling”

Declaring War on Postmodernism [Part 1]

1.8.2: Part 2: A Genealogy of "Woke" Linguistics

A Genealogy of "Woke" Linguistics

1.9: The Problem with Atheism

The problem with atheism [Grand Narrative, Chapter 1.8]

1.10: Justice Lost

Justice Lost: From Plato to Hamas

1.11: Word Inflation

Word Inflation

1.12: Freedom of speech?

1.13: Democracy cannot survive in a world that accepts lies as truth

1.14: The Silent Image

BOOK 2: TRUTH: ON THE BIRTH OF HUMAN AGENCY

BOOK 3: SOVEREIGNTY: ON THE DEMOCRATIC NATION

BOOK 4: NARRATIVE: ON THE FULFILMENT OF MEANING

BOOK 5: FREEDOM: ON WRITING THE NEXT CHAPTER

BOOK 6: COVENANT: ON CREATING A NATION OF NARRATIVE

BOOK 7: NATIONHOOD: ON EXPANDING THE NARRATIVE

BOOK 8: LEADERSHIP: ON REACHING THE PROMISED LAND

BOOK 9: PEACE: THE END OF THE JOURNEY

Chapter 1.2] “Thou Shalt Not Lie”: On the Destruction of Worlds

What separates Man from the beasts

[Flooding in Zaragoza, Spain, July 2023]

The living human contradiction

The human being is a living contradiction, at once beast and sage. We live in two worlds: One physical, one spiritual. Like our relatives in the animal Kingdom, we sit in the dirt, yet our heads point upwards towards the sky. This isn’t poetry. Neither is it religion. It is a description of two very real realities.

Both these worlds were created. And both these worlds are in danger of destruction. Just in very different ways. And this is where the inane science-religion debate gets it all wrong. For when we speak of the creation of God and the creation exploded into life by the Big Bang, we are referring to two entirely different worlds created in two entirely different ways.

How the two worlds were created

The scientific account speaks of the physical world. It relates how humans and their nature-dwelling brothers and sisters came to be. Now no doubt the scientific account is full of holes; in two hundred years from now we will laugh at its simplistic naivety and pompous pretensions. But it’s the best we’ve got. And it’s a genuine attempt to reach the truth through a sound method of enquiry. Over time, the discoveries of man will be refined. Yet one thing’s clear. We will never wake up to find science “proves Genesis”; or any similar Eastern or ancient creation myth. For the spiritual account of creation, no less true, is speaking of another realm of existence entirely.

Genesis is testifying to the birth of civilisation. That which separates us from our primate cousins. And what does separate us? Nothing more and nothing less than the ink on this page. The Word. Language.

Less us take a trip back to our childhoods and remember: how did God “create the world”? Through words. ‘And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.’¹ The raw material for the elevated plain of human existence was that which allows me to communicate with you now. “God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.”² God gave definitions and those definitions created a new reality³. Until these concepts had been defined they literally didn’t exist. And before human beings were able to make their own definitions, they were mere equals of the chimpanzees that swung through the jungle next to them.

To concede that human beings were created through evolution concedes nothing. For before the Word there was no human exceptionalism. Language created a world previously non-existent; and without the Word we would not be human in the elevated way that we now understand it.

With every new letter, paragraph and book printed, the Word continues to create exponentially. Indeed, by the very act of me sitting here, penning previously unpenned thoughts, I am creating new worlds and that’s what makes me truly human.

How the two worlds can be destroyed

And so it was that two different worlds were created with two different sources creating two different realities. But by the same token, these two worlds are at risk of destruction in two different ways. And we must be careful; for to save one world we must be alert to the danger of degrading the other.

The risk to the physical world needs little explanation. In short phrase sentences, we can express all that needs to be said. Climate change. Deforestation. Pollution. Oceans filled with plastic. Overconsumption. These issues are very, very real. And a worrying, present danger.

Yet the threat to the world of human civilisation is no less stark and no less serious. If we were to destroy the Word, we would regress ipso facto to mere beasts. And even if climate change were reversed and plastic pollution halted, we would have ceased to exist. We would have descended into being just one more set of animals wandering mindlessly on the face of the Earth.