One need not be a political analyst to understand that Trump’s first three weeks in office have been a bit of an erratic roller-coaster ride, not only for Americans but for all the world. There are many who believe that it might be a secret plot to throw the resistance off balance and create a fascist order, and this has yet to be proven false. It also is possible that there is no “method to the madness”, and that the erraticism is a result of confusion and inexperience, or worse.

Regardless of the conclusion one reaches on that issue, there is another dimension to the situation. None of the analyses that I have read looks at the man from a theological perspective, something that I would like to do here. In order not to get bogged down, I’ll summarize briefly some of my earlier reflections. We all search for meaning in life, at least those of us who are able. As we work to organize the myriad influences impacting our development, we begin to impose an order on reality that’s not really there. We become egocentric and parochial, wrapped up in our own little worldview. As we move along in this process of isolation, we begin to have a sense that all is not right, that something is missing from our lives, as indeed it is. We live in the actuality of the day to day, but have lost a connection with the reality that transcends the limited world we have created for ourselves. That’s not a good feeling. We sense an absence, an emptiness, a void, and we try to fill it, attempting an escape, in order to lose ourselves in our anesthetic of choice.

Suppose we apply this analysis to Trump. Wherein has he tried to lose himself and find false meaning? The answers are painfully obvious. Self aggrandizement tops the list. Even when asked how he thought about god, he could not help himself- he talked about how great he himself was. The size of his inauguration crowd has become an obsession, as have polls. Everything he does is an attempt on his part to show how great he is.

Sexual conquest has been one of his prime fill-the-void escapes. Of late, this escape route has no doubt been compromised by age and a drug he uses to retain hair on his head, a drug that apparently is implicated in creating sexual dysfunction as well as mental confusion.

Making money is always a good way to fill time, and he at least seems to have done well at making the deal and working the system. Most of us work to make ends meet, so that we can enjoy life, but there are some who are just into the game of it, and he is one of those people. You really don’t need a few billion dollars. Wealth for the super rich is a contest, a game really, and accumulation is the only goal. There may be some oligarchs who have a philosophy that they hope to impose on the world, but even that is a void filler. Most play the game in order to escape the void. I remember a movie starring Danny DeVito in which he plays a tycoon who just lost everything because the IRS changed a rule. He was being ribbed by someone who claimed he was now all washed up to which he responded: No. They can change the rules but they can’t stop the game. Did we really expect Trump to walk away from the game and put his business into a blind trust? He would rather violate the constitution.

And that is another escape- pushing the limits. How much can I get away with? It’s sort of like an extreme sport, except that the thrill is purely psychological. They call me the most powerful man in the world. Let’s see how far I can push the limit.

There is one more escape that requires special mention, and that is lording power over others, a ploy that plays well in certain segments of Trumpland. If you are not doing well, if your life is devoid of meaning, if you need a little excitement, take it all out on someone else and the group that they belong to. Ban Muslims or immigrants or refugees, hate blacks or gays or Jews, and blame it all on the press. A scapegoat enables us to take the attention and the blame away from our own weakness and shortcomings and blame our misfortune and unhappiness on someone else, and Trump has created lots of scapegoats.

What he also has done is to set clearly before us what life in the extreme void looks like, and it ain’t pretty. There are here a plethora of negative words (racist, misogynist, etc) that are applicable and well known. And all true. Although not to the same extreme, none of us are totally innocent. In a way, he is holding a mirror before us, because, to a limited extent, we all play the games of money, of sex, of power over others.

Most of us have those moments of encounter wherein we are liberated from our egotism and set free to reach out in love. Until this week I had believed that Trump was devoid of such times until I read some words from Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots. Asked about his 20 year friendship with Trump he responded that when his wife died, Trump called him every week for a year, asking how he was doing. Apparently the wall he has built up around his mind has a crack or two in it. None of us are beyond hope.

That is certainly true of Glenn Beck. Once a ranting arch right winger Beck has reversed himself on almost all major issues, and he attributes that change to the Obamas, whom he previously had cursed as agents of the devil. The world that we create for ourself and the escapes from the ensuing emptiness are subject to dismantling. We can neither predict when nor guarantee whether such moments will come, but we know they are possible.

And Trump? Who knows? Some say he is delusional. Illiterate. Clever. Lonely. Unloved. Betrayed. What would it take to open his world? Perhaps the face of a refugee. Perhaps the rejection by most Americans. Perhaps worldwide resistance to his person and policy. Perhaps old age.

The problem, of course, is that the world can’t wait.