Recently I watched the documentary, The Edge of Democracy which describes recent events in Brazilian politics. Brazil has been on the edge of a new totalitarian regime for a while. Too many people don’t seem to remember the horrors of the military junta (1964-1985). The risk is very high now if current president Luiz Inàcio Lula da Silva loses the runoff election against Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, scheduled for next Sunday.
Bach and director, Petra Costa, combined, offered to me a glimpse into the depth of evil, not in an abstract sense, not defining for me evil in general, but showing very concretely the absurdities of the charges against Dilma and Lula, the bloodthirsty words of their opponents, and the misery awaiting the poor in Brazil whenever the Bolsonaro gang gets the upper hand. I think indeed that the passion of Jesus as recounted in the Gospels maps very well onto the recent history of the democracy in such a country.
Democracy, not as an abstract series of procedures, but as a living organism, the imperfect yet real manifestation on earth of justice and freedom for all. In the same book cited above, Matthew gets directly to the heart of democracy, reaching for its spiritual roots. He is not saying that democracy as we have known it has ever been perfect, but that Meister Eckhart celebrated the dignity and equality of all people four hundred years before the birth of American democracy, and that only by reaching the depth of such roots can we hope to defeat the current upsurge of evil.
To the depth of evil must correspond the depth of our understanding of it and our fight against it. Just yesterday, some of Bolsonaro’s supporters were pleading with Trump to bomb their own country in case Lula wins the runoff. Such is the depth of the death-wish that we are confronting. Obviously this transcends politics into something more fundamental. The psyches of so many Brazilians have been warped and are prey to the archetype of evil. How else would you explain such statements?
In 2023, not willing to leave power, Jair Bolsonaro staged a storming of the parliament and even an assassination attempt of legitimately elected Lula. Bolsonaro is now serving a long sentence, but few doubt that if his son gets elected, he will be out the next day.
Lula and his government have implemented some socialist measures which brought relief to the suffering poor of Brazil, but most interestingly they have morphed from the revolutionaries they were into defenders of democracy as such.
The Bolsonaro family instead is made of common thugs. The destruction of the Amazon forest through a technological and commercial agreement with Trump is, in short, the proposal of the right for the prosperity of Brazil — meaning essentially, the prosperity of their pockets.
The edge of democracy means also the edge of decency. It means the risk that the prince of lies will triumph for quite a while in a country so vast, so populated, and so rich in resources that the whole world would be negatively affected. We may not want to speak of the devil literally, but surely the power of evil is not metaphorical in our times.
Banner image: Brazil, located on the globe. Image by Sanjay Rao. Wikimedia Commons.
Queries for Contemplation
Do you know other musical or artistic works depicting evil in a way that helps recognizing it and thus confronting it?
Related Reading by Matthew Fox
TRUMP AND THE MAGA MOVEMENT AS ANTICHRIST: Recognizing the Archetype of Evil in Our Time
The Beloved Will Guide You: St. John of the Cross and the Triple Dark Night of Our Times (Available for pre-order.)
Creativity: Where the Divine and Human Meet
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society
Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision for a New Generation
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth
