“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, assuming human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human, he humbled himself…” Philippians 2: 5-8
This same mind is the one in which Pope Francis lived and died.
And this same mind is the vaccine for the Musk Mind Virus.
I am a sort of Forrest Gump. Through no conscious intentions of my own, and certainly not because I’m anybody special, I have repeatedly stumbled into front-row seats in the theaters of history. It all began when I started my career as a pastor in Palo Alto just as Apple took off, and I got to know some of the key players in the advent of personal computing and the internet. I wrote articles for Whole Earth Review, the magazine started by the futurist Stewart Brand. His Whole Earth Catalogue, a fat, regularly-updated compendium of creativity in tech, practical hacks, and alternative lifestyles, was the nearest thing to the internet at the time, and a lot of Silicon Valley techies were profoundly influenced by it. Referencing the tech revolution, he famously declared: “We are as gods and might as well get good at it.” Some folks in Silicon Valley ran farther with Brand's dictum than he ever intended.
One was a friend of mine - a brilliant scientist who ran one of the most important and prestigious Silicon Valley institutions. He was a nice guy who suffered from what I would now call the Musk Mind Virus. He had been told that he was preternaturally intelligent from his early childhood, and over time came to believe that his mind was so extraordinary that it was capable of paranormal powers. It took me a while to realize that he truly believed that he was going to be the savior of humanity. He drifted into the study of New Age literature and practices. He confided in me that he was frustrated. He was certain he was close to unleashing his extraordinary power but just couldn’t quite break through with it. We’d take hikes in the redwoods above Palo Alto and talk. As gently as I could, I urged him to reconsider the nature of spirituality. “It’s not about superpowers,” I told him. “It’s really simple and basic. It’s about paying attention and being kind.” But he just couldn’t hear it. He believed that his god-like nature was a thing to be grasped. Sadly, his hubris ended up wrecking his life.
Our government is now being trashed by a grown man who sincerely believes he is a superhero. Elon Musk read a lot of science fiction when he was a kid. He identified with the protagonists so completely that he convinced himself he was one of them. He believes he is “as a god”, and that it is a thing to be grasped. The Musk Mind Virus has become an existential problem for the United States.
Recently, in the course of my work as a pastor, I met with an undocumented woman who has lived and worked hard in the US for twenty years and has two young kids who are US citizens. She is now petrified by the prospect of being deported. “My kids don’t even speak Spanish! If I am sent back to my home country, what will I do?” she lamented. I counseled her as best I could to stay brave, know her rights, and know that our church people and many others will stand with her in solidarity through this frightful time.
On our nation’s current trajectory, she’ll be but a bug-speck on the window of Elon Musk’s Starliner. In his addled mind, the little people - the immigrants, the poor, the vulnerable, and the sick - are expendable distractions from the pursuit of a grand and glorious future super-human civilization colonizing space. Musk is focused on his imagined humanity of the future, not on the welfare of real people today. His is the mind behind Adolf Hitler’s last words, adjuring his followers to make way “Für den Mann der kommt nach mir”… For the coming man. The uber-mensch master-race of the future - not actual humans here and now. Musk said to Joe Rogan recently: “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.”
Another vector of the Musk Mind Virus is Peter Thiel, the Silicon Valley venture capitalist who mentored JD Vance. Thiel is a libertarian who has declared that freedom and democracy are incompatible. He has advocated for “sea-states” created by billionaires that would exist apart from the sovereignty of any nation. He is one among a cabal of billionaires, lost in their hubristic fantasies, certain they know what is best for everyone else.
Let Pope Francis’ rejoinder to JD Vance, on the topic of how immigrants and refugees should be treated, continue to vibrate within us as a vaccine for the Musk Mind Virus: “Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups.” Folks like that immigrant woman, whose tears flowed before me as she poured out her heart in fear of deportation, should be front-and-center in our consciousness. We must empty ourselves of arrogance and take on the form of humble servants to each other. The survival of democracy and human decency depends on it.
This same mind is the one in which Pope Francis lived and died.
And this same mind is the vaccine for the Musk Mind Virus.
I am a sort of Forrest Gump. Through no conscious intentions of my own, and certainly not because I’m anybody special, I have repeatedly stumbled into front-row seats in the theaters of history. It all began when I started my career as a pastor in Palo Alto just as Apple took off, and I got to know some of the key players in the advent of personal computing and the internet. I wrote articles for Whole Earth Review, the magazine started by the futurist Stewart Brand. His Whole Earth Catalogue, a fat, regularly-updated compendium of creativity in tech, practical hacks, and alternative lifestyles, was the nearest thing to the internet at the time, and a lot of Silicon Valley techies were profoundly influenced by it. Referencing the tech revolution, he famously declared: “We are as gods and might as well get good at it.” Some folks in Silicon Valley ran farther with Brand's dictum than he ever intended.
One was a friend of mine - a brilliant scientist who ran one of the most important and prestigious Silicon Valley institutions. He was a nice guy who suffered from what I would now call the Musk Mind Virus. He had been told that he was preternaturally intelligent from his early childhood, and over time came to believe that his mind was so extraordinary that it was capable of paranormal powers. It took me a while to realize that he truly believed that he was going to be the savior of humanity. He drifted into the study of New Age literature and practices. He confided in me that he was frustrated. He was certain he was close to unleashing his extraordinary power but just couldn’t quite break through with it. We’d take hikes in the redwoods above Palo Alto and talk. As gently as I could, I urged him to reconsider the nature of spirituality. “It’s not about superpowers,” I told him. “It’s really simple and basic. It’s about paying attention and being kind.” But he just couldn’t hear it. He believed that his god-like nature was a thing to be grasped. Sadly, his hubris ended up wrecking his life.
Our government is now being trashed by a grown man who sincerely believes he is a superhero. Elon Musk read a lot of science fiction when he was a kid. He identified with the protagonists so completely that he convinced himself he was one of them. He believes he is “as a god”, and that it is a thing to be grasped. The Musk Mind Virus has become an existential problem for the United States.
Recently, in the course of my work as a pastor, I met with an undocumented woman who has lived and worked hard in the US for twenty years and has two young kids who are US citizens. She is now petrified by the prospect of being deported. “My kids don’t even speak Spanish! If I am sent back to my home country, what will I do?” she lamented. I counseled her as best I could to stay brave, know her rights, and know that our church people and many others will stand with her in solidarity through this frightful time.
On our nation’s current trajectory, she’ll be but a bug-speck on the window of Elon Musk’s Starliner. In his addled mind, the little people - the immigrants, the poor, the vulnerable, and the sick - are expendable distractions from the pursuit of a grand and glorious future super-human civilization colonizing space. Musk is focused on his imagined humanity of the future, not on the welfare of real people today. His is the mind behind Adolf Hitler’s last words, adjuring his followers to make way “Für den Mann der kommt nach mir”… For the coming man. The uber-mensch master-race of the future - not actual humans here and now. Musk said to Joe Rogan recently: “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.”
Another vector of the Musk Mind Virus is Peter Thiel, the Silicon Valley venture capitalist who mentored JD Vance. Thiel is a libertarian who has declared that freedom and democracy are incompatible. He has advocated for “sea-states” created by billionaires that would exist apart from the sovereignty of any nation. He is one among a cabal of billionaires, lost in their hubristic fantasies, certain they know what is best for everyone else.
Let Pope Francis’ rejoinder to JD Vance, on the topic of how immigrants and refugees should be treated, continue to vibrate within us as a vaccine for the Musk Mind Virus: “Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups.” Folks like that immigrant woman, whose tears flowed before me as she poured out her heart in fear of deportation, should be front-and-center in our consciousness. We must empty ourselves of arrogance and take on the form of humble servants to each other. The survival of democracy and human decency depends on it.