Reflections on an ancient and timely concept.
John Leake
During
the COVID-19 pandemic, shortly before Dr. Peter McCullough gave his
first Senate testimony about the official pandemic response, he had a
conversation with his church pastor, Andrew Forrest, about medical
centers refusing to administer certain safe and effective treatments to
desperately ill patients.
“It’s as though, for the first time in
history, our medical system is opposed to caring for the sick,”
McCullough said. “What on earth is going on?”
Pastor Forrest wasn’t surprised.
“There
are times when evil prevails over good in a large way,” he said. “We
know from the dark periods of history that this has happened before, and
now it’s happening again. What you describe is Satan working in the
hearts and minds of people, sowing fear, confusion, and anger. All you
can do is keeping trying to do good until it turns the tide.”
At
the time Dr. McCullough related this conversation to me, I thought
there must be some material and natural explanation for what we were
seeing, most likely garden variety fear, greed, and stupidity. However,
that conversation five years ago got me thinking about our ancient
concept of the devil, which is a key concept of my forthcoming book, Mind Viruses:America’s Irrational Obsessions.
I
still don’t know if the devil exists, or if he is merely the mythical
personification of the madness and malevolence that may, under certain
circumstances, spread like a contagion, causing masses of humans to
commit extremely destructive behavior.
I find it fascinating that the Greek word for devil, diabolos, derives from the verb diaballein
(”to slander” or “to attack”) which literally means “to throw across”
or “to throw apart.” Since 2001, our civilization has been barraged by a
series of purported threats that have thrown us apart, dividing us into
hostile camps, and causing rifts even among old friends and family
members.
As
was recently revealed in the release of the Epstein Files, our current
ruling class is as wicked as it has ever been. The disclosures may
provide us with a unique opportunity to usher our ruling class into
disgraced retirement—something akin to Napoleon’s final exile on the
island of Saint Helena—in which it will be limited in its ability to do
further harm.
The revelations are also spectacular evidence that
we cannot blindly trust our institutional leaders to represent our
interests. Unless our rulers are closely watched and held accountable
for the gigantic messes they make, such as the 2008 Financial Crisis and
the COVID-19 pandemic, they will continue yielding to the temptation to
serve their own interests and those of their elite friends at the
expense of everyone else.
Like many observers, I noticed the
undeniable fact that, right as the extended release of the Epstein Files
was producing a drumroll of high profile resignations, Israel and the
U.S. attacked Iran, thereby completely changing the subject. The
situation instantly reminded me of Madison’s famous observation about
the corrupt use of warfare.
Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt [in the homeland] was apprehended.
For
example, on February 26, World Economic Forum (WEF) President and CEO
Børge Brende announced his resignation following an independent
investigation into his ties with Epstein. Hostilities commenced two days
later.
While pondering this, I reviewed the Ayatollah Khomeini’s "Great Satan" (Persian: Sheytân-e Bozorg)
speech on November 5, 1979. In his addressed, he characterized the U.S.
as an imperialist power whose CIA was responsible for overthrowing the
democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953 and
installing the autocratic Shah.
Khomeini believed the
Great Satan was not only a political adversary, but a spiritual enemy,
and he characterized America as a "world-devouring" power that seduces,
murders, and imposes sanctions on oppressed nations.
If, in the
year 2019, you asked me what I thought about Khomeini’s speech, I would
have told you that he was a deluded and superstitious fanatic. However,
after observing the events of the last six years, I’m not so sure.
Here
I want to emphasize that the purpose of this essay is NOT to defend
Khomeini and the regime he erected, but to ponder his representation of
the U.S. government as he proclaimed to have understood it.
This
morning I did some research on how Satan is characterized in Shia Islam,
and I found the following. Note that Shia Islam was established as the
state religion in Persia (Iran) in 1501 by Shah Ismail I, the founder of
the Safavid dynasty.
Satan (Shaytan) disobeyed God due to pride. He is a tempter who whispers evil suggestions (waswasa)
to humanity. He acts as an enemy of humans, always aiming to mislead
them. Satan was cast out of Heaven for refusing to bow to Adam, an act
driven by arrogance and disobedience. He uses temptation and
psychological influence to incite sinful behaviors like envy, greed, and
lust. He is known as Al-Garur (the Deceiver), who makes sinful actions appear harmless or attractive.
One
might argue that Khomeini was himself a Deceiver who seduced the
Iranian people into following him so that he could enslave him. Maybe
so.
The quandary in which I now find myself arises from the
fact that the United States government has, in my eyes, lost all
credibility. This quandary leads me “to an overwhelming question”—that
is, who to believe?
The CIA?
The Pentagon? The mainstream media? Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff?
Hillary Clinton (who is now praising Donald Trump)? Donald Trump?
While
most of human affairs are messy, confusing, and driven by multiple,
complex factors, there are distinct moments in history that possess
enormous and undeniable significance to any reasonable person who is
paying close attention to them.
Suetonius famously captured
this idea when he described Caesar’s decision to cross the Rubicon in
49 BC with his army, in direct defiance of the Senate. “Alea iacta est” — “the die is cast” Caesar said.
President
Trump might as well have said the same thing when he viciously opposed
Thomas Massie’s valiant campaign to release the Epstein Files. At that
moment, the president lost all moral credibility.
A total loss of
credibility is catastrophic for a U.S. president who attacks an
enormous nation of 94 million people with the assurance that its regime
is immoral, aggressive, deluded, and dangerous.