Some weeks are simply shit.

I’m not talking here as much of sites closing, though Christian Men’s Defence Network and Complementarian Loners are both shutting up shop. I’m talking about domestic news: while my son in law is recovering from illness a colleague has just lost a babe late in pregnancy, my daughter has managedd to break her food (intelligence runs in the family. Coordination does not), and the news is even more bleak with Israel along with Turkey being dragged into the mess in Syria.

I’m thinking of what to say to a mother who has lost her child. There really are no good words. This passage is not really for her, it is today for me.

James 1:1-15

1James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.

2My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, 3because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; 4and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.

5If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. 6But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; 7, 8for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

9Let the believer who is lowly boast in being raised up, 10and the rich in being brought low, because the rich will disappear like a flower in the field. 11For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the field; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. It is the same way with the rich; in the midst of a busy life, they will wither away.

12Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. 13No one, when tempted, should say, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one. 14But one is tempted by one’s own desire, being lured and enticed by it; 15then, when that desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and that sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death.

My usual moans — about exams, the children, difficulties and work, are made petty by real suffering. It is real suffering that we should challenge.

7man is closing CL with these words. He has gone through suffering and it has left him clear eyed. It is when lose everything that you realize you don’t need that much.

Most people are so vested in the status quo and hope our civilization will muddle through that they cannot let go of their wishful world view. People must believe that their 401k/IRA/stocks are safe, they will still have a job and still be able to make their mortgage payment. They must believe everything they have amassed in their lives will be preserved because if not, their entire life’s work would be rendered moot.

People have to believe the world will continue to work as it always has and then they will be OK, because all their plans are based upon linear thinking and a belief that how things have been in the past will be how things will be in the future. This includes the belief that their credit cards will always work to purchase gasoline and groceries from stores that are always open.

Since I have lost everything and survived, I can accept a different view. Many men of the manosphere have experienced great losses (betrayal, economic, family, children) and so they woke up. They re-evaluated their beliefs and found the courage to look at things differently.

Losing it all before the economic collapse is a blessing. Since I had nothing, if I now spend my current resources on preparing for an alternate future, …., this is why our blog must end, since people must suffer a great loss before they can change their world view and preconceived notions of the way things work. At this point the mass of people are not ready to hear and those that can wake up have already done so

James wrote to a church in trouble that temptation and trial was our lot. So let’s not delude ourselves with ideas of prosperity or a better tomorrow. People get hurt by those fantasies, and people are more important than any fantasy.