You could not miss the ads in this part of the state: the Shen Yun Performance Arts dancers were coming to Madison, and they would be a marvel to see. I thought nothing of it until our son announced that he thought it would be a good idea to go. He has had unusual suggestions in the past that have worked out better than we could have imagined, and so we ponied up the pretty large price of admission (I think our seats went for $125.00 each) and waited for the special night where we would be inconvenienced by a trip to the Big City.
To be sure, we had read the review of this group on Wikipedia beforehand and it was not only not good but nearly dismissive. The company and the dancers, it had told us, were nothing but right-wing extremists who spread propaganda against the CCP. They were controlled by a freaky religious cult, Falun Gong (or Falun Dafa), which despised the communist regime. For Jeff, that was one of the biggest reasons to go: if an apologist for the CCP disliked this group, it had to have some merit. This is not to mention the great costumes the dancers had in the ads, and the promise of a display of traditional Chinese beliefs that had guided the people for millennia before the imposition of the glorious People’s Republic of China. It could not be all bad, we thought, and besides, it was February. Cow tipping would have been just as welcome, if done in a nice, heated arena.
We got there in plenty of time, and parking, believe it or not, was convenient both in finding a space and in its proximity to the Arts Center. Once within this massive structure, we found artwork that was modern, yes, but not freaky modern, such that it was accessible to even country bumpkins such as ourselves. And although we did not partake, there were also 5 wine and beer bars on the first floor alone, although with city prices. The vapors of alcohol drifted throughout the building as we walked the spotless marbled floors and stairways to our theater. The seats were tight yet comfortable, the view of the stage and orchestra unobstructed. All in all, it seemed that heaven was with us that night, at least so far.
Heaven did not disappoint. The costumes were indeed glorious, the dancers flew through the air, the stories they told were interesting, and the movie-style panorama background was ingeniously employed. The stories and choreography may not have been the most sophisticated, but they captivated this rube. Surprisingly, they captivated the sophisticated audience of this Wiscon-sin city as well. For the most part, we gave it two thumbs up. The Wikipedia review, we decided, was arched towards the politically correct, and maybe in line with some Tik-Tok CCP algorithm.
With, I must add, some notable exceptions: in some skits, the dance troupe was overly enthusiastic with their religious and political messages. These made it quite clear that Falun Gong was a serious spiritual movement intent on evangelization. These also made it clear that the organization despised not only the New China, but also the world-wide secular movement in general. Their primary foes, expressed several times by screen signs on three of their modern-life segments (the others were of traditional tales from the distant past) were atheism and evolution.
I almost gasped when I saw this motto the first time. How would progressive Madison react? Much worse, how would people who are otherwise in league with the spiritual, react to this rejection of evolution, which most hold to be largely true? Why, I thought, did they have to be so blunt with their message, and why would they include evolution as a primary evil, a concept that West has been spoon-fed since the 1920’s Scopes monkey trial?
Considering the first, atheism, the crowd in Madison was nonetheless overjoyed with the performance. Perhaps they were the ones who disagreed with the great majority in this progressive city. On the second, evolution, they apparently did not care. Personally, I did not either, but not because I disregard evolution. Rather, the evil in evolution to me is captured in Darwinism, whereby selection of traits for evolution is done randomly by nature alone. Forget that nature and its laws are made by God; in Darwinism, we are expected to believe that there is no plan in the interplay of living nature. This eliminates the hand of God. But in planned evolution, or Intelligent Design, God works through nature to fulfill His intentions. This could mean that the physical form and animal traits of humans might have been derived from a common ancestor to the apes through natural selection (again, created by God), while the development of their spiritual selves might still have been divinely ordered since time immemorial.
While it might be that the philosophy of Falun Gong disagrees with me here, it shouldn’t matter in the larger sense. Much of the “propaganda” in the modern skits was based on the very real persecution and murder of those who practice Falun Gong in the CCP. Falun Gong is not a religion of the martial arts, as were the Boxers in China in the 19th century. Rather, their beliefs are based on the traditional Chinese version of Buddhism, with – or so it seems to me – a good dollop of Christian humanism thrown in. Since this is the case, why would Communist China persecute them? As we see through the traditional dance performances, spirituality brings beauty and hope to people, regardless of the fantasies they may conjure. There are angels and dragon beings and shining celestial cities and, in the end, the triumph of the good. Why would any government try to stop that, especially with such brutish force?
This is a question that has been asked and answered again and again about Marxist regimes. After the immediate rulers, the first thing that Marxists attack is the religious structure, even if, as are the Falun Gong, they have few resources and no desire for physical power. Why? The social science answer is that a ruling power often perceives that it cannot remain in power while competing with another. Thus it was, for instance, that the Spanish Inquisition crushed Protestant rebellion within its borders after the Reformation. In this, however, we can see from what was happening in Europe at the time that the Reformation was a true threat to its power. This is simply not true of the Falun Gong religion in China today.
What is more likely is that the Chinese leadership does not want to legitimate a return to the beliefs of Old China. But in this we have to ask again: why? How could a Buddhist spiritual perspective harm the state control of property and the redistribution of wealth, those things that are most touted by a Marxist regime?
It is clear from this animosity to religion that financial control and redistribution are not the real goals of Marxism. Rather, the one primary goal is to change one’s entire perspective on reality by eliminating the spiritual element from social discourse. This has nothing to do with fairness or equity. Rather, it is a counter-punch to Christ’s admonition that a house divided cannot stand. For Marxists, spirituality is a threat to the elevation of the state, and thus Man, to the level of God (or the gods, or the supreme spiritual realm). This is in line with the primary plan, to put it bluntly, of Satan. From the very beginning, the greatest temptation to Man brought by Satan was the promise to make Man into God. We find this in the story of original sin played out in the Garden of Eden, where humans were tempted by the knowledge of good and evil, so that they could become “like God.” Whereas this was Satan’s first work, Marxism is meant to be his last work. He (or it or whatever form evil takes) knows that if humans rule without spiritual guidance, they will be lost to the whims and depravity of whoever happens to be in power. This will lead to an emptiness of soul and loss of purpose, followed quickly by collapse and ruin.
So, yes, do continue Falun Gong; all power to you in your work against the destruction of what is most beautiful in people’s minds and hearts. Continue to show us in your dances the marvelous and the colorful and the fanciful and, most importantly, the workings of the spiritual in our lives. The Marxist counter to this is grayness, flatness, loss of self, loss of artistic vision, and eventually, loss of hope. May Heaven be with you in your struggle for selfless, heavenly glory.
RSS Feed