Hell for a Thinker: The Never-Revolution

Revolution. From the Latin word "revolvere", meaning "to turn". Meaning: a sudden, radical, or complete change.

Note: not from the Latin word "cambiare", meaning "to change". Every revolution is a change; every change is not a revolution.


So I'm a Marxist; not because I read Marx first and agreed with him, but because I drew my own conclusions first and he agreed with me. I had a professor years ago who briefly mentioned Marx; this was before I had any interest in Marx. The professor was discussing Marx as a person, and according to this professor, Marx's contemporaries referred to him as, and I quote, "an asshole".

Well... I'll at least say this. If he was an "asshole", then he was an asshole with good reason. Why was old Marx so grumpy? Because he had a dream that he would never live to see come to pass. And he knew it.

And I can't say I don't share the sentiment. You want the truth of the matter? Okay. Here's the bold-faced truth: it is more likely that the end of days will transpire and Jesus Christ will return and restore the Earth before any of these so-called "revolutions" take place.

Why? I can give you reasons all day. But I'll keep em broad and general:

1. 90% of what people call "revolution" is but small change (literally and figuratively). A revolution by definition overturns all previous things for the creation of a new order. The vast majority of what people coin "revolutionary" is simply taking what has already been established and improving upon it; i.e., reinventing the wheel, but this time throw some D's on that b!tch.

2. Revolution starts in the heart. It starts with caring for the welfare of our fellow man. And we don't care; we're super-individualized. Matter of fact, there are those of us who benefit from the downfall of others; we don't have heart enough for revolution.

3. The most important battle for revolution is in the mind. Bandwagoning is not revolution. Why? Because bandwagons just take advantage of stupidity; it's mindless. Anything that you were forced into, that you joined because your friends joined, that you gotta ask the person next to you "what are we marching for" is not revolution.

4. Revolution isn't comfortable. We don't want to sacrifice the stability, the "progress", the tradition, the luxuries, the lives, the muscle, the time, the ingenuity, the personal agendas, the self-righteousness, the rank, the money, or anything else that makes a revolution tick.

5. Revolution has to stop somewhere, and we wouldn't be prepared for that. I guarantee if we did have a revolution right now, we would throw out the old way without ever deciding on a new way. Cuz revolution is a hype more than a reality.

6. Revolution requires a single entity being overthrown. If we had a "revolution", it would be 25 different causes trying to get promoted coagulating into a world-wide free-for-all ending in total destruction. 'Falls right in there with 4 & 5.


No, there won't be any revolution. At least, not in our time. And Marx knew this. See, people think Marx was all about "communism now" or something. No. The truth is, Marx was a believer in capitalism just as much as he was a proponent of communism. See, he didn't like capitalism, but he believed it was a "necessary evil" in order to reach something higher. He didn't deny the productive potential of capitalism, but he also recognized its self-destructive tendencies that would lead to its downfall.

See, there's a 7th reason for no revolution:

7. Revolution is a process. It won't happen overnight. It won't happen over decades. Only after the status quo has run its course will revolution be possible.

So, here was a man who had a dream, saw his dream afar off, but realized his own life would end before he reached it. Ain't that some bull: the very thing you work so hard to understand and promote, you can never attain for yourself. Talk about being robbed of one's labor. And they wonder why he was an "asshole"...

So what did this "asshole" do? He simply promoted those things which would bring the dream closer to reality for everyone, not just himself. He spotted movements and through his support behind them. Each one brings revolution one step closer. But the steps are hundred-fold; we're still nowhere near revolution.

This is just a glimpse of the hell it is to be a thinker. Solomon wasn't kidding when he said, "with wisdom comes sorrow". Me? well, I'm a lot like Marx in that my eyes are off in the distance, but I can only contribute to my present state. See, I know how powerful my enemies are, so I know my limits. I also know that they're not invincible, so I continue to relentlessly "throw sand at the machine" with intent to bury it. I also know that it takes more than one set of hands to finish the job... but even with two sets of hands, we must be throwing at the same machine. It's disheartening.

BUT, the good news is, from a spiritual standpoint, there are other battles to win on a one-on-one personal level. And the most important battle was won with the birth, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And like I said, by the time revolution arrives, His revolution wil probably already have taken place. So I gotta pretend like I don't see what's apparent, I guess, and do my part to see that the cause of Christ is promoted.

But I wonder how victoriously we'll ever live with so many invisible forces restricting us that we don't even recognize. Will we ever truly be revolutionary Christians, or are we doomed to continuously just throw some D's on our beliefs every few years and call that revolution...

Gather wisdom, (Prov. 8:11)

but wisdom brings sorrow, (Ecc. 1:18)

and this is the sorrow I'm wise to (Rev. 13:18)


Revolutionary is a State of Mind B-J