The Apocalypse

Now, one might think of the End of the World as a bad thing--death, destruction, anarchy, etc. But in the apocalyptic tradition, the End of the World precedes the Millenium, a Second Golden Age. Plus, all the bad people (the ungodly) get slaughtered in the Apocalypse, which, in a way, gives the godly their chance to exact revenge on the godless and ungodly for all their iniquity.

Some choice quotations on this subject, with commentary.

First, from George Steiner, In Bluebeard's Castle (discussing nineteenth century ennui: "It is precisely from the 1830s onward that one can observe the emergence of a characteristic 'counterdream'--the vision of the [modern] city laid waste . . . . An odd school of painting develops: pictures of London, Paris, or Berlin seen as colossal ruins, famous landmarks burnt, eviscerated, or located in a weird emptiness among charred stumps and dead water." (p. 19)

There is, even in non-religious art, a curious fascination with images of destruction on a large scale. I think of semi-recent movies such as Independence Day, Armageddon, and Deep Impact, the last two about asteroids and comets, one of which has a surprisingly biblical name. Now, in film, the End of the World serves a dramatic purpose, placing characters in an extreme situation. But those special effects guys love crumbling buildings--or, at least, they did before 9/11. I can't think of a big explosion movie since then. Although, I don't think that it's a stretch to suggest that the replaying of the WTC footage from 9/11, over and over again, worked on a similar level.

Second, Norman Cohn, The Pursuit of the Millenium: "The coming of Antichrist was even more tensely waited. Generation after generation lived in constant expectation of the all-destroying demon whose reign was indeed to be lawless chaos, an age gien over to robbery and rapine, torture and massacre, but was also to be the prelude to the longed-for consummation, the Second Coming and the Kingdom of the Saints. People were always on the watch for 'signs' which, according to the prophetic tradition, were to herald and accompany the final 'time of troubles'; and since the 'signs' included bad rulers, civil discord, war, drought, famine, plague, comets, sudden deaths of prominent persons and an increase in general sinfulness, there was never any difficulty about finding them." (p. 35)

The point here is that the End of the World was something that people, at least some people, wanted to happen. Cohn argues that those members of the lower strata of society, displaced by social and economic upheavels in the Middle Ages, were drawn to Millenialism because of its promise of destruction of the existing order (and its replacement by the Kingdom of the Saints).

At first, one wants to say that this kind of apocalyptic thinking demonstrates an otherworldly worldview, so to speak--a rejection of this world and an eagerness for the next. But most millenialistic thinking posits an earthly millenium. (Rejected by Augustine, but that's another story.)

The frustrated, the displaced, the rejected--such people dream apocalyptic dreams. George Steiner suggests that the bored also dream apocalyptic dreams. Steiner also points in a Freudian direction with his references to Civilization and Its Discontents. Freud posits two instincts--the life instinct and the death instinct, or Love and Strife--as warring in the human psyche. The life instinct, Eros, love, brings people together. The death instinct, Thanatos, divides them. Freud also posits that the greater the triumph of social order, the more internalized the negative aspects of human nature must become; thus, members of civilized societies find themselves wracked by their own consciences, their own anxieties, when external targets of negative emotions/instincts/aggression are cut-off by laws, social mores, etc.

So the Apocalypse can play an important role in the mental/fantasy lives of many different people.

Where is this going? Not sure--just something I've been thinking about. Certainly, the early Mormons believed that they were living in the Last Days.