Francis Berger's Blog, page 21
August 15, 2024
Contemporary Westerners Are Born-Again Sort of Pagans
I have privately begun to refer to contemporary Westerners as born-again sort of pagans, which is rather silly because, unlike pagans, most modern people of the West have no religion and do not believe in the reality of God or gods.
I was initially more inclined to the term born-again atheist, but that somehow disregards the mysterious allure of pagan externals, which appears to intrigue contemporary Westerners to no end.
Case in point, many Western people are drawn to things like tattoos, piercings, and other forms of body art—ditto for strange, anachronistic hairstyles. The underlying motivation seems to be the desire to look like a Viking or a gladiator without worrying about what assumptions Vikings or gladiators may have held.
I suspect that most Westerners want to project an image like this.
Or this. 
But most come off looking more like this. 
Or this. 
I was initially more inclined to the term born-again atheist, but that somehow disregards the mysterious allure of pagan externals, which appears to intrigue contemporary Westerners to no end.
Case in point, many Western people are drawn to things like tattoos, piercings, and other forms of body art—ditto for strange, anachronistic hairstyles. The underlying motivation seems to be the desire to look like a Viking or a gladiator without worrying about what assumptions Vikings or gladiators may have held.
I suspect that most Westerners want to project an image like this.
Or this. But most come off looking more like this. Or this.
August 14, 2024
Dog Days Indeed
There isn’t a beer cold enough to combat the heat waves that have plagued Hungary this year. Summers are normally quite hot and dry in this part of the world. Yet, this summer has felt hotter and drier than the previous nine I experienced since moving here.
Before anyone suspects me of forming a case supporting climate change emergency rubbish, let me just say that I see no trends in this current deluge of heat waves—merely a summer that has been a bit hotter and drier than the nine previous summers I lived through.
Hot, dry summers have never bothered me much. Still, my tolerance for energy-sapping heat diminishes as I grow older. If my current rate holds steady into the future, I predict I won’t want to go outside whenever the temperature soars above 30 degrees Celsius. Now? Well, I’ll be pouring concrete on Friday when the temps are forecast to reach as high as 37 degrees.
The dog in the dog days is not limited to the heat. This summer has just felt tougher than other summers. Too much to do. Too many people to deal with. Too few good nights for sleeping.
I haven’t been paying much attention to the news or the media, but I sense a kind of congealment settling upon the world—a sort of solidification and hardening; of things being set, so to speak. I don’t know what to make of that. All I know is that I must resist the congealment temptation and continue to flow.
I can hardly wait to return to work so I can finally relax. That’s the running joke I have been telling my wife for nearly a decade, but there’s some truth to it. Of course, I relax more at work because I don’t care much about it. Very little personal investment. Mostly just going through the motions.
Summer work is different. Far more personal; far more inspiring. Or at least it would be if it weren’t for the infernal heat.
Before anyone suspects me of forming a case supporting climate change emergency rubbish, let me just say that I see no trends in this current deluge of heat waves—merely a summer that has been a bit hotter and drier than the nine previous summers I lived through.
Hot, dry summers have never bothered me much. Still, my tolerance for energy-sapping heat diminishes as I grow older. If my current rate holds steady into the future, I predict I won’t want to go outside whenever the temperature soars above 30 degrees Celsius. Now? Well, I’ll be pouring concrete on Friday when the temps are forecast to reach as high as 37 degrees.
The dog in the dog days is not limited to the heat. This summer has just felt tougher than other summers. Too much to do. Too many people to deal with. Too few good nights for sleeping.
I haven’t been paying much attention to the news or the media, but I sense a kind of congealment settling upon the world—a sort of solidification and hardening; of things being set, so to speak. I don’t know what to make of that. All I know is that I must resist the congealment temptation and continue to flow.
I can hardly wait to return to work so I can finally relax. That’s the running joke I have been telling my wife for nearly a decade, but there’s some truth to it. Of course, I relax more at work because I don’t care much about it. Very little personal investment. Mostly just going through the motions.
Summer work is different. Far more personal; far more inspiring. Or at least it would be if it weren’t for the infernal heat.
August 9, 2024
Reacting to System Manipulation is not Genuine Action
We need to do something. We need to act.
A common urge among Christians when confronted by the System and its evils. Nothing inherently wrong with the urge if it leads to genuine spiritual action. Potentially fatal when it inspires only reaction.
The System is calibrated to trigger negative spiritual participation, primarily through lies, deceit, and manipulations that aim to provoke reaction. Reacting to System manipulations may look and feel like positive spiritual action, but it is anything but.
The actual act remains within the System domain; the re-action is primarily a Pavlovian response. Reaction assures the System of the effectiveness of its conditioning and manipulations. The more we react, the more assured the System becomes.
Jesus instructed us to turn the other cheek. Modern man interprets this as pacificism. A terrible error. Turning the other cheek signifies the transcendence and transfiguration of a reactive state.
The person striking you on the cheek expects a reaction. He anticipates your striking back. He does not anticipate the turned cheek. His “model” of reality shifts. He finds himself in an undiscovered country, suddenly uncertain about what may come next.
Christians talk a lot about transfiguring themselves and reality; however, they cannot transfigure anything in a reactive state. Why? Because reaction is not genuine action.
Reaction is not doing. Reaction is having things done to you.
Reaction defies transformation because it keeps you locked in the faux reality of determinism. The only thing reaction confirms is how impossible it is for you to have made any other decision or performed any other action.
The System loves that sort of thing.
The urge to do something must motivate Christians to act, genuinely act, rather than merely react.
The root of such motivation is in thinking.
A common urge among Christians when confronted by the System and its evils. Nothing inherently wrong with the urge if it leads to genuine spiritual action. Potentially fatal when it inspires only reaction.
The System is calibrated to trigger negative spiritual participation, primarily through lies, deceit, and manipulations that aim to provoke reaction. Reacting to System manipulations may look and feel like positive spiritual action, but it is anything but.
The actual act remains within the System domain; the re-action is primarily a Pavlovian response. Reaction assures the System of the effectiveness of its conditioning and manipulations. The more we react, the more assured the System becomes.
Jesus instructed us to turn the other cheek. Modern man interprets this as pacificism. A terrible error. Turning the other cheek signifies the transcendence and transfiguration of a reactive state.
The person striking you on the cheek expects a reaction. He anticipates your striking back. He does not anticipate the turned cheek. His “model” of reality shifts. He finds himself in an undiscovered country, suddenly uncertain about what may come next.
Christians talk a lot about transfiguring themselves and reality; however, they cannot transfigure anything in a reactive state. Why? Because reaction is not genuine action.
Reaction is not doing. Reaction is having things done to you.
Reaction defies transformation because it keeps you locked in the faux reality of determinism. The only thing reaction confirms is how impossible it is for you to have made any other decision or performed any other action.
The System loves that sort of thing.
The urge to do something must motivate Christians to act, genuinely act, rather than merely react.
The root of such motivation is in thinking.
August 8, 2024
Truth is Not Objective, Ordinary Reality
The following is commentary on an excerpt from Berdyaev's Truth and Revelation. My thoughts in italics font.
Truth is not objective, ordinary reality, reflected in the knower and entering into him from outside, but rather the enlightenment, the transfiguration of reality: it is the introduction into the world's data of a quality, which was not there before truth was revealed and known.
Christians tend to regard truth as an objective, ordinary reality that enters from the outside. I can’t count the many ways Christians have informed me of this using all sorts of evidence to support their point.
“You want reality? Try flying off a building by flapping your arms. Better yet, let me punch you in the face. Feel the pain? Good! That’s reality!”
That’s all fine until you notice that this approach to reality differs little from the sort that pure materialists like August Comte promulgated. At best, partial truth is the only thing an “objective reality” approach reveals— a reality stripped of spirit; hence, not reality at all.
Reality runs deeper than people reacting to external stimuli. Reality seeks spiritual participation.
Reality is what happens after the aggressive Christian punches me in the face, and the pain subsides.
Reality is how I decide to think about the punch and what I do about it afterward. During those moments, I can step beyond the objectiveness of reality and transfigure it through my subjective being and freedom. I can inject a quality that was not there before. See or reveal a reality that was not there before the truth of the punch in the face was known. Reality goes beyond what and asks why.
Truth is not conformity with what we call being but the kindling of a light within being.
Aligning with God and Creation is not a lifelong conformity project. If it were, then God would be the same as the totalitarian demons destroying the world. Aligning with God and Creation is not about complying with God’s plan via submissive obedience. Instead, it is the realization that God’s plan depends on our plan. The two plans must meet—and align. We are not just seeking the light of God; God is also seeking the light in us.
I am in darkness and seek the light; I do not yet know truth, but I seek it.
Those who are in darkness are slaves, but those who are seeking light in the darkness are utilizing their freedom. The act of seeking is a preeminent indicator of spiritual freedom.
By this very fact, I affirm the existence of Truth and light, existence in another sense than the existence of the world's realities. My seeking is already the dawning light, and the truth is already beginning to reveal itself.
Objective reality truth is an oppressive, mundane imposition that demands unthinking subservience. Those who seek beyond that level of truth begin to understand that truth is an awakening of the spirit leading to the communion of spirit.
Objective truth is knowledge of reality. Spiritual truth is reality itself. Objective truth is lower truth.
Truth is not objective, ordinary reality, reflected in the knower and entering into him from outside, but rather the enlightenment, the transfiguration of reality: it is the introduction into the world's data of a quality, which was not there before truth was revealed and known.
Christians tend to regard truth as an objective, ordinary reality that enters from the outside. I can’t count the many ways Christians have informed me of this using all sorts of evidence to support their point.
“You want reality? Try flying off a building by flapping your arms. Better yet, let me punch you in the face. Feel the pain? Good! That’s reality!”
That’s all fine until you notice that this approach to reality differs little from the sort that pure materialists like August Comte promulgated. At best, partial truth is the only thing an “objective reality” approach reveals— a reality stripped of spirit; hence, not reality at all.
Reality runs deeper than people reacting to external stimuli. Reality seeks spiritual participation.
Reality is what happens after the aggressive Christian punches me in the face, and the pain subsides.
Reality is how I decide to think about the punch and what I do about it afterward. During those moments, I can step beyond the objectiveness of reality and transfigure it through my subjective being and freedom. I can inject a quality that was not there before. See or reveal a reality that was not there before the truth of the punch in the face was known. Reality goes beyond what and asks why.
Truth is not conformity with what we call being but the kindling of a light within being.
Aligning with God and Creation is not a lifelong conformity project. If it were, then God would be the same as the totalitarian demons destroying the world. Aligning with God and Creation is not about complying with God’s plan via submissive obedience. Instead, it is the realization that God’s plan depends on our plan. The two plans must meet—and align. We are not just seeking the light of God; God is also seeking the light in us.
I am in darkness and seek the light; I do not yet know truth, but I seek it.
Those who are in darkness are slaves, but those who are seeking light in the darkness are utilizing their freedom. The act of seeking is a preeminent indicator of spiritual freedom.
By this very fact, I affirm the existence of Truth and light, existence in another sense than the existence of the world's realities. My seeking is already the dawning light, and the truth is already beginning to reveal itself.
Objective reality truth is an oppressive, mundane imposition that demands unthinking subservience. Those who seek beyond that level of truth begin to understand that truth is an awakening of the spirit leading to the communion of spirit.
Objective truth is knowledge of reality. Spiritual truth is reality itself. Objective truth is lower truth.
August 4, 2024
Stray Thoughts About the Man-Woman Punchy Face “Scandal”
While some Christians are up in arms about all the poor female boxers some Algerian male is beating into a pulp at the Olympics, I find myself wondering why something like women’s boxing even exists.
Who gets a kick out of watching two women play punchy face?
Seriously.
I mean, what kind of woman sees a punchy face match and decides, “Yep, that’s the sport for me!”
Moreover, I feel little sympathy for the women here. They are experiencing and living the consequences of centuries of incoherent feminist ideology and assumptions. Some learning is long overdue.
Anyway, personal opinions aside, I covered the whole women being reduced to nothing in sports angle five years ago when I still had some faint interest in that sort of thing.
I can’t say I care much about these sorts of issues anymore, which helps explain why I don’t write much about them these days.
Who gets a kick out of watching two women play punchy face?
Seriously.
I mean, what kind of woman sees a punchy face match and decides, “Yep, that’s the sport for me!”
Moreover, I feel little sympathy for the women here. They are experiencing and living the consequences of centuries of incoherent feminist ideology and assumptions. Some learning is long overdue.
Anyway, personal opinions aside, I covered the whole women being reduced to nothing in sports angle five years ago when I still had some faint interest in that sort of thing.
I can’t say I care much about these sorts of issues anymore, which helps explain why I don’t write much about them these days.
If Leftism is a Religion, Then Religion is an Exclusively Exterior Force that Aims to Reduce to Nothing
Many equate leftism with religion—a superficial comparison if there ever was one. If leftism is a religion, then religion is nothing more than socialization and exteriorization.
Leftism is leftism because it is exclusively exterior—exterior in its focus, in its aims, assumptions, composition, in its execution, and so-called faith. The explanation for this uber-exteriorization is simple—leftism lacks interiorization.
Leftism is all outside because it has no inside. It has no inner being. More precisely, its inner being is non-being. At its most fundamental level, leftism is the ultra-exteriorization of non-being and nothingness, and the only possible end game of projecting non-existence into the world is annihilation.
Reflect upon all the classes, nations, groups, movements, politics, economics, individuals, and revolutions leftism supposedly defended and supported in the past. The white male worker ranks among the most obvious of these. What has leftism done to the white male proletariat? What about women? How about its visions of economic equality and its many other glorious, exclusively exterior endeavors?
Annihilation all the way down.
To annihilate means to reduce to nothing. The overarching goal of all leftism is to reduce everything and everyone to nothing.
A force that aims to reduce everything and everyone to nothing can hardly be called religion.
Religion—real religion, not entirely exteriorized, predominantly ceremonial and societal religion—is elementally interior. It is rooted in freedom and being. It exteriorizes much of this freedom and being, primarily through language and symbols; however, such exteriorizations do not form the bedrock of religion; they only reflect and represent it.
The reflections and representations of religion in the external world are the cooled by-products of a primary internal awareness and force that ultimately seeks to create.
The yearning to create is, or should be, a central driving force of the religion people refer to as Christianity.
Unlike leftism, which seeks only to reduce being to nothing, Christianity aims to increase and expand freedom and being, not merely within the confines of mortal life in this world but from the perspective of eternity.
Leftism is leftism because it is exclusively exterior—exterior in its focus, in its aims, assumptions, composition, in its execution, and so-called faith. The explanation for this uber-exteriorization is simple—leftism lacks interiorization.
Leftism is all outside because it has no inside. It has no inner being. More precisely, its inner being is non-being. At its most fundamental level, leftism is the ultra-exteriorization of non-being and nothingness, and the only possible end game of projecting non-existence into the world is annihilation.
Reflect upon all the classes, nations, groups, movements, politics, economics, individuals, and revolutions leftism supposedly defended and supported in the past. The white male worker ranks among the most obvious of these. What has leftism done to the white male proletariat? What about women? How about its visions of economic equality and its many other glorious, exclusively exterior endeavors?
Annihilation all the way down.
To annihilate means to reduce to nothing. The overarching goal of all leftism is to reduce everything and everyone to nothing.
A force that aims to reduce everything and everyone to nothing can hardly be called religion.
Religion—real religion, not entirely exteriorized, predominantly ceremonial and societal religion—is elementally interior. It is rooted in freedom and being. It exteriorizes much of this freedom and being, primarily through language and symbols; however, such exteriorizations do not form the bedrock of religion; they only reflect and represent it.
The reflections and representations of religion in the external world are the cooled by-products of a primary internal awareness and force that ultimately seeks to create.
The yearning to create is, or should be, a central driving force of the religion people refer to as Christianity.
Unlike leftism, which seeks only to reduce being to nothing, Christianity aims to increase and expand freedom and being, not merely within the confines of mortal life in this world but from the perspective of eternity.
August 2, 2024
What Are the Limits of Patience?
I have always wondered about the limits of patience.
I’m not referring to the varying degrees of patience individuals possess or display; I’m talking about where one should draw the line concerning patience.
At what point should one refuse to bear problems, delays, or suffering without becoming irritated about them?
Calmness, composure, self-restraint, and forbearance are all admirable qualities, perhaps even virtues, yet at what point do they fail to bear fruit, stop helping spiritually, and become impediments?
Jesus reached His limit most dramatically during the cleansing of the temple. Yet, His patience wore thin on many other occasions, albeit far more subtlety.
What are the limits of patience in this era of limitless tolerance for everything but the rejection of the Litmus Test issues?
On a more personal level, what are the limits of patience with strangers, friends, and family? When can or should one say enough is enough and give impatience free reign?
There is no definite answer to any of the above. Individual results depend heavily on individual circumstances and inevitably vary. I understand that. Just thinking aloud.
I’m not referring to the varying degrees of patience individuals possess or display; I’m talking about where one should draw the line concerning patience.
At what point should one refuse to bear problems, delays, or suffering without becoming irritated about them?
Calmness, composure, self-restraint, and forbearance are all admirable qualities, perhaps even virtues, yet at what point do they fail to bear fruit, stop helping spiritually, and become impediments?
Jesus reached His limit most dramatically during the cleansing of the temple. Yet, His patience wore thin on many other occasions, albeit far more subtlety.
What are the limits of patience in this era of limitless tolerance for everything but the rejection of the Litmus Test issues?
On a more personal level, what are the limits of patience with strangers, friends, and family? When can or should one say enough is enough and give impatience free reign?
There is no definite answer to any of the above. Individual results depend heavily on individual circumstances and inevitably vary. I understand that. Just thinking aloud.
July 31, 2024
A Sad Ending to the Workshop Swallows Mini-Saga
As I feared, the last swallow youngster did not survive the night. All three swallow chicks died within two days of each other. I assume the two that made it through their respective plummets from the nest succumbed to internal injuries of some kind a short while later.
The success rate for nesting barn swallows is between 70–90%. My workshop swallows are clearly in the 10–30% failure margin. The adults hung around the workshop for a few hours before vanishing into the blue sky from which they had come. I plan to remove the nest tomorrow.
Sad. I was looking forward to watching at least one fledgling leave the nest, ready to take on the world.
Anyway, we’ll now return to our regularly scheduled blog.
The success rate for nesting barn swallows is between 70–90%. My workshop swallows are clearly in the 10–30% failure margin. The adults hung around the workshop for a few hours before vanishing into the blue sky from which they had come. I plan to remove the nest tomorrow.
Sad. I was looking forward to watching at least one fledgling leave the nest, ready to take on the world.
Anyway, we’ll now return to our regularly scheduled blog.
July 30, 2024
The Workshop Swallows Take a Tragic Turn
The swallow nest in my workshop originally contained four eggs, and I assumed they all hatched; however, the other day, I noticed the nest housed only three chicks. Things appeared to be going well for the little bird family all week, but yesterday, I walked into the workshop and noticed one of the chicks on the floor. It was still alive, so I picked it up and gingerly placed it back in the nest.
In the morning, I found the same chick on the floor again—dead this time. It looked the same as the day before—no sign of further development— which informed me that the chick had likely died soon after I had placed it back in the nest. A few hours later, I found another chick on the workshop floor. This one was more developed than the first but lifeless.
The nest went from three chicks to just one in less than a day. I made sure to check the workshop floor every hour after I found the second dead chick. The sole survivor appeared oblivious to the fate of its siblings and leaned precariously over the edge of the nest throughout the day.
Around six o’clock, I noticed it had also fallen to the floor (an approximately two-meter drop). Like the first swallow chick, it had survived the fall. I returned it to the nest and took a moment to study the structure the swallows had built. Though an impressive feat of engineering, the nest lacks the depth needed to keep the chicks safe. I observed a similar nest issue with a pair of black redstarts in the same building a few years ago.
Although adult swallows continued to feed the youngster after I had returned it to the nest, my optimism concerning the swallows has all but evaporated. I have a feeling that more misfortune will greet me in the morning.
On a more positive note, the four young storks are all practicing their flying. I see them circling in the sky with their parents throughout the day.
In the morning, I found the same chick on the floor again—dead this time. It looked the same as the day before—no sign of further development— which informed me that the chick had likely died soon after I had placed it back in the nest. A few hours later, I found another chick on the workshop floor. This one was more developed than the first but lifeless.
The nest went from three chicks to just one in less than a day. I made sure to check the workshop floor every hour after I found the second dead chick. The sole survivor appeared oblivious to the fate of its siblings and leaned precariously over the edge of the nest throughout the day.
Around six o’clock, I noticed it had also fallen to the floor (an approximately two-meter drop). Like the first swallow chick, it had survived the fall. I returned it to the nest and took a moment to study the structure the swallows had built. Though an impressive feat of engineering, the nest lacks the depth needed to keep the chicks safe. I observed a similar nest issue with a pair of black redstarts in the same building a few years ago.
Although adult swallows continued to feed the youngster after I had returned it to the nest, my optimism concerning the swallows has all but evaporated. I have a feeling that more misfortune will greet me in the morning.
On a more positive note, the four young storks are all practicing their flying. I see them circling in the sky with their parents throughout the day.
July 28, 2024
What if the Olympics Opening Ceremony Had Been Reverent and Pro-Christian? What then?
I ask all Christians who were so shocked by the blasphemous spectacle of the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics that they immediately took their blogs to write scathing posts lambasting the Establishment and its demonic System to pause and consider the following points:
What else did you expect the Olympics Opening Ceremony to be? Does it matter how, why, or to what degree demons and the demonically affiliated desecrate Christian art, themes, and symbols via the mass media? Isn’t this getting a bit stale at this point? I mean, how can you honestly be shocked by anything the demons and demonically-affiliated do to Christian art, symbols, etc? Have you ever paused to consider that your vehement, outraged reactions might be what the demons and the demonically affiliated are aiming for? How would you have reacted if the Opening Ceremony had been uber-religious, reverent, and packed with pro-Christian themes, symbols, language, imagery, slogans, and messages?
Concerning the last question, I offer the following speculation. Here’s what you would have done.
You would have taken to your blogs and written posts eulogizing the organizers for their piety, reverence, and devotion.
You would have written post after post praising all the symbols and language (and drone crosses) the organizers broadcast.
You would have inferred that the reverent Christian symbols and language signaled the beginning of a great and long-overdue mass awakening.
You would have been brimming with optimism, overflowing with joy, and bubbling with expectation.
Perhaps you would have gone as far as to discern the hand of God at work within the operation.
And you would have done all that because you remain stuck in symbol and secondary thinking.
The criticism of the sacrilegious display and the hypothetical lauding of the fantasy Christian-themed opening both miss the mark because they are locked in the realm of secondary thinking— the unreal level of the symbol.
Christians have two options here.
They can continue operating exclusively at the level of the symbol and secondary thinking and be little more than the perpetual playthings of demons and the demonically affiliated, i.e., reactive, manipulable, distractable pushbutton automatons.
Or they can begin dedicating themselves to the level of primary thinking and direct knowing where they can start working creatively with God, beyond the reach of all demons and the demonically affiliated.
Note added: I didn't watch the opening ceremonies. Why would I?
What else did you expect the Olympics Opening Ceremony to be? Does it matter how, why, or to what degree demons and the demonically affiliated desecrate Christian art, themes, and symbols via the mass media? Isn’t this getting a bit stale at this point? I mean, how can you honestly be shocked by anything the demons and demonically-affiliated do to Christian art, symbols, etc? Have you ever paused to consider that your vehement, outraged reactions might be what the demons and the demonically affiliated are aiming for? How would you have reacted if the Opening Ceremony had been uber-religious, reverent, and packed with pro-Christian themes, symbols, language, imagery, slogans, and messages?
Concerning the last question, I offer the following speculation. Here’s what you would have done.
You would have taken to your blogs and written posts eulogizing the organizers for their piety, reverence, and devotion.
You would have written post after post praising all the symbols and language (and drone crosses) the organizers broadcast.
You would have inferred that the reverent Christian symbols and language signaled the beginning of a great and long-overdue mass awakening.
You would have been brimming with optimism, overflowing with joy, and bubbling with expectation.
Perhaps you would have gone as far as to discern the hand of God at work within the operation.
And you would have done all that because you remain stuck in symbol and secondary thinking.
The criticism of the sacrilegious display and the hypothetical lauding of the fantasy Christian-themed opening both miss the mark because they are locked in the realm of secondary thinking— the unreal level of the symbol.
Christians have two options here.
They can continue operating exclusively at the level of the symbol and secondary thinking and be little more than the perpetual playthings of demons and the demonically affiliated, i.e., reactive, manipulable, distractable pushbutton automatons.
Or they can begin dedicating themselves to the level of primary thinking and direct knowing where they can start working creatively with God, beyond the reach of all demons and the demonically affiliated.
Note added: I didn't watch the opening ceremonies. Why would I?
