When we are fond of sweet emotions, we forget that there are other kinds of dark emotions, writes Father Dwight Longenecker, showing how sentimentalism can turn into hurt, anger and revenge.
XVI. Pope Benedict coined the term "dictatorship of relativism," but relativism is (by its very nature) a touchy subject.
In my book Decapitating the Hydra, I wrote that trying to counterbalance relativism is like wrestling with an octopus in the dark in an oil bath. Indeed, relativism is an underlying philosophy that manifests itself in various ways. Like the Father of Lies himself, relativism wears many guises.
One of its most dangerous masks is sentimentality. By sentimentalism, we mean when someone makes their decisions based solely on their subjective feelings. Sentimentalism is fundamentally woven into the culture of our time. For a number of reasons, which I discuss in detail in Decapitation of the Hydra, sentimentalism is part of the genetic code of modern Western society. It's like the air we breathe. It's everywhere: advertising, politics, the education system, love, social and mainstream media—our whole world is full of sentimentality.
Why? Because emotions motivate me. In fact, "emotion" and "motivation" come from the same root. There is an old Russian saying: "The heart moves the feet." Good storytellers know that a story will be successful if it somehow touches a person's heart or strikes some other emotional chord, be it fear, dread, anger, horror, insult, etc.
Sentimentalism is a natural consequence of relativism, because if there is no such thing as truth at all (and relativism means this in a broader sense), then one cannot rely on anything but one's emotions. Of course, you can say: “Wait! But what about the human ability to think? What about rationality?” However, rationality only works if one believes that truth exists.
Rationality feeds on truth. No justice? Then there is no rationality. No rationality? Then there is nothing left but the emotion.
You might think that's not so bad. The emotion means love, tenderness, tolerance, it means we are kind and cute, right? The feeling means Valentine's Day, a pink happy idyll, hearts and flowers, adorable little children, puppies and kittens, and you don't forget grandma's birthday, do you?
It must be true, because everything that is sweet, beautiful and good is an emotion.
However, when we are fond of the sweet emotions, we forget that there are other dark emotions, such as hurt, resentment, rivalry, anger and revenge.
These are emotions, too, and therein lies the trick: as soon as we surrender to the dictatorship of sentimentality by being charmed by honeyed emotions, we begin to believe that our emotions are good in and of themselves, and therefore we are good people because we have tender emotions. We call this "virtue signaling", which is a trendy English term for self-satisfaction.
We believe that our honeyed emotions are good because they give us a wonderful warmth, and it is especially good when we feel this wonderful warmth towards ourselves. We trust our emotions more and more, we don't question them. We keep going because, like all drugs, the emotion gets you high. And like all addicts, we go back for more, and then we feel even better. Then, when we have fallen into the captivity of our own sweet emotions, and someone dares to question our emotions or our actions and decisions based on our emotions, we get angry, like all addicts. Like a baby losing its pacifier.
This is when people start sulking and playing the victim. They use emotional blackmail and start abusing those who might oppose them.
They scream, yell, and throw themselves like a spoiled little child when they can't do what they want. Others are blamed for being evil, racist, heartless, intolerant. This pointing at others can become very violent, as the sentimentalist attacks those who oppose him.
The next step is that the dictatorship of sentimentalism really turns into resentment, anger and revenge. The sentimentalist goes on the attack, but by now he has come to believe that his feelings are good and he himself is good. Therefore, not only does he believe that the hurt, anger, and desire for revenge he feels are justified, but he also believes that these emotions are actually good and that he is an even better person for having these noble emotions.
If not stopped, the sentimentalist will use these emotions to act violently against the person or property of others.
Beware of joining a gang where others share your anger, rage and desire for revenge. They band together against their perceived enemies, using all manner of persecution, harassment and (eventually) violence. I explain this dynamic Eternal Warfare
Written by Father Dwight Longenecker, USA
Translated by Edit T. Nagy/ zarandok.ma
Featured Image: Pixabay
