Gods

It has become a commonplace amongst the Island’s detractors that we will fail, and fall, as a nation because we do not have a viable national identity. This is a myth worth debunking. To do this, we shall have to look into the elements of national identity.

One of the strongest markers of national identity throughout history has often (but not, admittedly, universally) been a national religion – we see this in many examples such as

England, with King Henry VIII and the Archbishop of Canterbury,

France and her warring daughters, Catholic St. Anne and Secular Marianne,

Holy Russia of the Tsars (later Mother Russia of the communists, and then more recently Holy Mother Russia of Putin),

Israel.

Given the strength that religion imparts to national identity, it could be argued that there is in fact an extremely strong national identity on the Island.

But what, you ask, is this religion? We proclaim ourselves a secular society; there is no unifying national or state religion.

The answer is obvious to the point of being invisible. We here on this Island believe in the Gods of Survivalism – of Material Existence and Prosperity. And there are two of Them. And these are no mere cheap Neil Gaiman knock-offs, outbursts of literary catharsis. These are the very animators of our reality. We Islanders worship these Twin Gods in various forms – in thought, in word, in deed. Singa the Lion is but the chosen earthly beast, the Elder Lee the High Priest, of this Pair. They are:

Technokratos, Manifold Giver of the Engine, Society's Artificer, Mechanic to the Organic;

And

Pecuniarius, Eldest Son of Mammon, the Lord Calculator, the Prince of Pricing.  

There are of course the lesser pantheon, but these are the minor deities, the supporting celestial cast:

Consumptia, Mother of the Endless Hoard, Keeper of the Cornucopia, She Who Hungers Eternal,

Paranoia, Old Man Insecure, the Sleepless, Marker of Competition,

Self, the Attention Seeker, the Individual Entitler, the Sole Consideration.

We deny these, our Twin Gods and their minions, in our churches, our temples, our mosques, our schools, our offices, our homes.

But in our existence as a nation – these are our Gods.

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Afternote:

And we worshipped the Twin Gods, and it was good.

Much better, at any rate, than those who worshipped the spiritual, non-material Gods.

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Post-Afternote:

The recent and earlier events this year and our prayers for the nation have brought to light an interesting intersection of politics and religion. While we were so quick, so eager, to praise the Elder Lee, and his creation, I thought that many subtler nuances were lost. After all, the man and his legacy contained no higher principles than material survival and earning money in a hostile environment. (All the rest of it – meritocracy, multiracialism, incorruptibility – were just stepping-stones to that outcome.) Survival therefore becomes elevated to the highest form of morality. Not dying to self and giving up one’s earthly possessions for a spiritual, non-material calling. If our religion had a codified lexicon, it would contain no words for the concepts of altruism and charity. It would have more than three hundred for the concept of profit. Can we pass through the eye of the needle?

One way of resolving this apparent contradiction is to see materialism as the means to the spiritual ends. Then the secular nation and state fulfils the former role – providing the basis of prosperity for there to be money available for charity. But ultimately it is the church that has to provide that latter role, to outline those spiritual ends – but then we are confronted with other alternative spiritualities and moralities. And what if our ends jeopardise our own means? What if charity discourages honest labour and indulges criminal laziness?