Why the Jewish and Messianic Arc of History Always bends to the Left

There was never any change and never will be any change

Gnostics faced the crisis with the explanation of creation. Why would a good God create this obviously bad, cruel and unjust world? The answer was “change”, with a twist. The good God didn’t create the bad world, they said, the world was created by a rogue God Demiurge in Greek or Yaldavaoth (from the root “birth”) in the original Aramaic.

The task of good God is the partnership with the believers in taking back the “sparks”. Changing the world for the better. And banishing Demiurge, who is the “bad god”.

The Kabbalists ignored the Gnostic creation myth (they modified it with shviras hakeylim or breaking “vessels” of the universe into sparks) but kept the “change” part and the sparks. At some point, it was perhaps a single Jewish esoteric tradition.

Fast-forward to our time, forget the sparks and the creation, but we still believe in change. In fact, this one idea that people who live in post — Judeo-Christian civilizations believe unconditionally. Not only Obama, but every Miss America contestant swears by one unshakable dogma, the holly change! And all believe that the change of the entire world is up to them individually.

You see, I haven’t used the word Messianic yet. But in fact, it’s the core belief of Messianic civilizations that everyone can change the world. And it’s a profoundly false belief. Because there is no change and never will be any change. For the left, the belief in change and progress (another name for change), it’s not even part of the ten commandments, it is the one commandment at the root of all others. When the traditional religions recede, one core principle still demands a life-defining fervor, the worship of change.

Surely things do “change” on the surface, in science, plumbing, dentistry, sometimes even in individual lives, but there is never a change in the human condition. I would argue that a messianic belief in change in Judaism, Christianity, even Islam and certainly Communism, brought more deaths and tragedy than all other beliefs combined. This seems obvious.

The left is the successor to messianic religion through Enlightenment and Marxism. The left doesn’t believe in God, but they worship change. And they still believe that one and every man can change the world. A profound utopian Chutzpah!

This also explains the centuries old Jewish romance with the left. The messianic idea is so fundamental to Jews that they have a hard time giving it up completely, they still worship change, and they claim it gives them purpose. Especially as the traditional messianic framework faded away.

P.S. It also explains why Chabad is such a natural fit with the left, in essence it’s one single heresy. The fundamental and urgent belief in change, brought about by an individual effort.

Light that candle to change the world, comrade! It’s all up to you.