When a Society Stops Responding to Reality
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.” — Matthew 6:22
On Monday night, President Trump posted more than seventy-five times on Truth Social.
His posts attacked political opponents, spread conspiracy theories about former President Obama, and quickly shifted from complaints to accusations to self-promotion. All of this happened as he prepared for a major summit with China, during a time of global instability, economic worries, ongoing wars, environmental problems, and threats to democracy.
I believe we need to say something openly that many people are avoiding: this is not normal behavior.
Most people would not post seventy-five times in one night while leading on the world stage. They also would not stay in a constant state of emotional turmoil while holding so much power. Yet we have gotten so used to this chaos that what should alarm us now barely makes the news for more than a few hours.
That normalization is dangerous.
Authoritarian cultures often change how people see reality over time. People get used to behaviors that once would have been unacceptable. What was shocking becomes normal, and what is normal becomes expected. In the end, people stop reacting not because things are better, but because they are worn out. We are seeing that now.
To be clear, this is not just about political parties. Leaders from both sides have struggled with ego, dishonesty, corruption, or abuse of power. People are complicated, and leadership has never been perfect. But what we are witnessing now feels qualitatively different.
There is a sense of instability at the heart of American public life that many notice in private but hesitate to talk about openly. There are emotional ups and downs, a constant need for attention, trouble letting go of grievances, nonstop performance, and a loss of balance between real events and emotional responses. Perhaps most disturbing is the fact that the surrounding system simply absorbs it all and continues functioning as though this is manageable.
When societies stop facing reality honestly, people soon lose their sense of right and wrong. Institutions lose trust, words lose their meaning, and people start ignoring what they see just to fit in or stay loyal to their group.
Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr wrote often about humanity’s tendency toward self-deception, especially when power is involved. Individuals may occasionally act selflessly, he argued, but groups and nations often rationalize behavior they would otherwise recognize as dangerous or immoral.1 The more power a society accumulates, the easier it becomes to confuse dominance with righteousness.
The spiritual traditions repeatedly warn about this kind of blindness.
The Desert Fathers believed that distorted thoughts could overtake entire lives if left unexamined. Evagrius called them logismoi, compulsive patterns of fear, grievance, vanity, and emotional fixation that slowly reshape perception itself.2 Spiritual maturity required learning how to notice these distortions before they gained control of the mind.
The Hebrew prophets spoke out against rulers who were surrounded by people who encouraged lies instead of truth. Buddhist teachings say that delusion is a main cause of suffering because people hold on to stories that protect their identity and power, even when things are falling apart around them.
Jesus speaks repeatedly about the importance of seeing clearly. “Those who have eyes to see…” he says again and again. That phrase feels important right now.
We need to recognize that ongoing instability at the top levels of leadership eventually spreads to the whole society. Families feel it. Markets feel it. International relationships feel it. Children feel it. The mood of a nation is shaped by its leaders.
Right now, many people feel a lot of anxiety because the systems meant to keep us steady are actually making things more chaotic. I do not say this with triumph or cruelty. Honestly, I say it with sadness.
Underneath all the politics, there is something deeply human going on. Our nation is trying to stay grounded while huge forces keep pulling at our fear, anger, resentment, and exhaustion.
The spiritual task before us may begin with something very simple:
Refusing to abandon reality.
Refusing to call instability normal simply because we have grown used to it.
Refusing to surrender our capacity for clear seeing, moral discernment, and truthful speech in a culture increasingly organized around distortion.
Our clarity matters now more than ever.
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
Where do you notice yourself becoming emotionally numb to behavior or conditions that once would have deeply concerned you?
How do you practice clear seeing without slipping into despair or contempt?
What helps you remain grounded in reality when public life feels increasingly distorted?
A Prayer for the Day
A Prayer For Clear Seeing in Confusing Times
Holy One, we are living in a time of noise, distortion, and emotional exhaustion. So much competes for our attention that it becomes difficult to think clearly. So much instability surrounds us that we begin adapting to conditions that should trouble us deeply. Help us remain honest. Give us the courage to name what we see without losing compassion for one another. Protect us from cynicism, from manipulation, and from the temptation to retreat into numbness simply because reality feels overwhelming. Teach us to love truth more than comfort. Teach us to stay grounded when public life becomes chaotic. Teach us to resist both denial and cruelty. And where fear and distortion have taken hold, help us become people who bring steadiness, clarity, and wisdom back into the communities we inhabit. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Returning to Reality
Today, notice how often your attention is pulled toward outrage, spectacle, or emotional reaction. Before immediately responding to news, social media, or political commentary, pause long enough to ask:
What is actually happening here?
What evidence supports this?
What emotional response is being pulled out of me?
Am I becoming clearer or simply more reactive?
Then intentionally reconnect yourself to something concrete and real.
Talk with someone face-to-face. Spend time outside. Read something thoughtful and historically grounded. Sit in silence for ten minutes without consuming information. Pay attention to your breathing and your body.
The goal is not disengagement from the world. It is learning how to remain psychologically and spiritually rooted while living through instability.
A healthy society depends on people who can still see clearly.
Protect that capacity within yourself.
Upcoming Events That Might Be of Interest…
My team and I launched a new experiment we are calling “The Commons.” It’s an online space centered around communities of practice: groups of people who share a common concern, set of problems, or passion for a topic, and deepen their knowledge and expertise by interacting on an ongoing basis. Join the community here.
May 17, 2026 - NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION FOR DEMOCRACY - In a moment when so many communities are feeling the erosion of political voice and representation, this gathering is an invitation to move from concern into collective action. I hope you will consider joining me in Montgomery, AL or attend in other cities as we demonstrate our commitment to justice, dignity, and democratic participation. Learn more and register here: Black Power War Room Day of Action.
May 27, 2026, 12pm ET - FREE WEBINAR - I will be hosting an online experience titled “Reclaiming the Power of Imagination: A live experiential webinar with Jackie Sussman." Jackie, a psychotherapist, author, and leading expert in Eidetic Image Psychology, has spent over forty years helping leaders and individuals unlock creativity, uncover hidden strengths, and move through limiting patterns. During this session, she will lead a live Eidetic process shaped by mythic imagery, offering a direct experience of the work. REGISTER HERE.
October 18-21, 2026 - PREACH! 2026 Conference- I’ll be co-hosting PREACH in Minneapolis with Church Anew, a new gathering for preachers, storytellers, worship leaders, and spiritual communicators navigating what it means to speak with clarity, compassion, and courage in a changing world. If you’ve sensed that the preaching moment has changed and are longing for thoughtful community and renewed imagination for this work, I hope you’ll join us.
I drafted a Strategic Framework for Congregations as we move into the coming years of increased authoritarianism around the world. If interested, you can download it here.
Fun Things My Friends Are Up To…
I get to work with such amazing, creative people. This section is my way of celebrating them—no paid promotions, just joy in what they’re creating.
Perhaps some of you know some women religious who might be interested in this offering: Join Land Justice Futures for our first Summer Read, featuring Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting Our Past and Reimagining Our Future by Patty Krawec! Women Religious Communities (vowed members, lay associates, staff, volunteers, etc.) are invited to come together to deepen on our journey of repair as we consider how our faith is calling us to look anew at the legacy we have inherited and imagine a healing, just future. The series begins on June 29th. Register here.
My colleague, Dr. Tim Eberhart, is offering a summer course that I wish I could take! Regenerative Mission & Ministry: Ecological Practices for Land Repair is a 7-week course for those seeking to integrate eco-theological reflection, earth-based spiritual wisdoms, and regenerative design principles for land repair. Participants will journey as a community of learners through a cultivated curriculum that incorporates selected readings, video instruction, ecological practices, and more aimed at healing social and ecological relations for the sake of mutual flourishing. It starts on June 3, so sign up soon if you’re interested!
The University of Victoria (UVic) offers an online course, A Meta-Relational Approach to AI. The course is designed for participants who are interested in thinking about AI in ways that challenge modernity’s extractive programming patterns in both humans and machines. The next cohort starts in NEXT WEEK. Registrations are open.
If you are a leader or member of a congregation looking for consulting support in visioning, planning, hiring or staffing, please consider Convergence.
Reinhold Niebuhr, Moral Man and Immoral Society (1932).
Evagrius Ponticus, Praktikos & Chapters on Prayer, translated by John Eudes Bamberger (Cistercian Publications, 1970).
Loving your admonitions about power and self-deception and also your genuine care not just for the President but also for those of us being tormented by him. On the night he set 8 p.m. Eastern as the time to blow up an ancient civilization about 70 of us gathered at the United Church of Gainesville. We only knew we wanted to be together. at the end of our simple liturgy we signed the "bulletin." We copied and sent it the next day with our handwritten signatures to all the electeds in Florida, both sides. We expressed our serious concern for the President's mental health and how dangerous it was -- equivalent to letting the killer stay in the schools. We expressed this concern with as much grace and mercy left in us after the anger abates. Since then, we have received a profound response to our request for appointments. One woman cried on the phone as she set up the appointment with our local representative. Why am I rambling? Because Jesus refused to have an enemy. We must also. Instead of an attitude of F ICE, our tone must find its way, slowly, to compassion for a human terribly out of control of himself whose only direction is controlling others. Revenge? What did happen to him? We have to tell the truth. And to tell the truth with what little love we can muster.
Cameron, I appreciate greatly your finding, again and again, something worthy of being said and saying it well day after day, week after week. Your courage and heart encourage me. Yes, we are in this together.