Francis Berger's Blog, page 58
November 12, 2022
Spiritual Creativity? Imagine Nietzsche as a Christian
I've written about Nietzsche sporadically on this blog. Those Nietzsche posts have inevitably drawn critical comments from some Christian or other lambasting me for having the audacity to write about a philosopher who was quite obviously and quite literally an anti-Christ.
Yes, well . . . I offer the following in response: Imagine if Nietzsche had been a Christian.
This line of thinking will strike most Christians as anathema. Nietzsche a Christian? Impossible! Nietzsche ranks among the most anti-Christian philosophers the dying West has ever produced! He rejected God outright. Moreover, he pined for some kind of classical pagan revival that put man and human creativity at the center of the cosmos.
I cannot rebut these points in any meaningful way aside from mentioning that though Nietzsche's ideas may have missed the point, his approach and motivation did not.
The thunderbolt of creativity that was Nietzsche was exactly what Christianity needed in the late nineteenth century, and it is interesting to consider how Christianity may have developed had Nietzsche been an ardent Christian rather than a self-proclaimed anti-Christ.
Nikolai Berdyaev touches upon this theme in The Meaning of the Creative Act and offers the following observations:
From this tragic problem of Christianity there can be only one way out: the religious acceptance of the truth that the religious meaning of life and being is not wholly a matter of redemption from sin, that life and being have positive, creative purposes.
The higher creative, positive being, though unattainable at the time when redemption was begun, when God was still transcendent to man, is attainable in another period of religious life, after redemption, when God in man is immanent.
Salvation from sin, from perdition, is not the final purpose of religious life: salvation is always from something and life should be for something. Many things unnecessary for salvation are needed for the very purpose for which salvation is necessary -- for the creative upsurge of being.
Man's chief end is not to be saved but to mount up creatively. For this creative upsurge salvation from sin and evil is necessary. From the religious viewpoint the epoch of redemption is subordinated to the epoch of creativeness. A religion of thirst for salvation and terror of perdition is only a temporary passage through a dualistic division.
In various ways men of our modern time have felt that the sources of creativeness are to be sought neither in the New Testament religion of redemption nor in the Old Testament religion of law. Men have sought the sources of creativeness in antiquity.
In the world of antiquity, in Greece, there were creative bases for an anthropological revelation: Greece is the homeland of human creativity, of beauty and knowledge. Every new impulse of human creativeness must of necessity turn back to the world of antiquity for its nourishment.
This problem reached its acuteness in the life of Nietzsche. He burned with creative desire. Religiously, he knew only the law and redemption, neither of which contains the creative revelation of man. And so he hated God because he was possessed by an unfortunate idea that man's creativeness is impossible if God exists.
Nietzsche stands on the world divide of an epoch of creativeness but cannot recognize the indissoluble relationship of a religion of creativeness with the religion of redemption and the religion of law; He does not know that religion is one and that in man's creativeness the same God is revealed as in the law and the redemption.
Yes, but imagine if Nietzsche had recognized the indissoluble relationship Berdyaev notes. Moreover, imagine what Christianity could be if Christians began to explore beyond the religion of law and redemption.
Yes, well . . . I offer the following in response: Imagine if Nietzsche had been a Christian.
This line of thinking will strike most Christians as anathema. Nietzsche a Christian? Impossible! Nietzsche ranks among the most anti-Christian philosophers the dying West has ever produced! He rejected God outright. Moreover, he pined for some kind of classical pagan revival that put man and human creativity at the center of the cosmos.
I cannot rebut these points in any meaningful way aside from mentioning that though Nietzsche's ideas may have missed the point, his approach and motivation did not.
The thunderbolt of creativity that was Nietzsche was exactly what Christianity needed in the late nineteenth century, and it is interesting to consider how Christianity may have developed had Nietzsche been an ardent Christian rather than a self-proclaimed anti-Christ.
Nikolai Berdyaev touches upon this theme in The Meaning of the Creative Act and offers the following observations:
From this tragic problem of Christianity there can be only one way out: the religious acceptance of the truth that the religious meaning of life and being is not wholly a matter of redemption from sin, that life and being have positive, creative purposes.
The higher creative, positive being, though unattainable at the time when redemption was begun, when God was still transcendent to man, is attainable in another period of religious life, after redemption, when God in man is immanent.
Salvation from sin, from perdition, is not the final purpose of religious life: salvation is always from something and life should be for something. Many things unnecessary for salvation are needed for the very purpose for which salvation is necessary -- for the creative upsurge of being.
Man's chief end is not to be saved but to mount up creatively. For this creative upsurge salvation from sin and evil is necessary. From the religious viewpoint the epoch of redemption is subordinated to the epoch of creativeness. A religion of thirst for salvation and terror of perdition is only a temporary passage through a dualistic division.
In various ways men of our modern time have felt that the sources of creativeness are to be sought neither in the New Testament religion of redemption nor in the Old Testament religion of law. Men have sought the sources of creativeness in antiquity.
In the world of antiquity, in Greece, there were creative bases for an anthropological revelation: Greece is the homeland of human creativity, of beauty and knowledge. Every new impulse of human creativeness must of necessity turn back to the world of antiquity for its nourishment.
This problem reached its acuteness in the life of Nietzsche. He burned with creative desire. Religiously, he knew only the law and redemption, neither of which contains the creative revelation of man. And so he hated God because he was possessed by an unfortunate idea that man's creativeness is impossible if God exists.
Nietzsche stands on the world divide of an epoch of creativeness but cannot recognize the indissoluble relationship of a religion of creativeness with the religion of redemption and the religion of law; He does not know that religion is one and that in man's creativeness the same God is revealed as in the law and the redemption.
Yes, but imagine if Nietzsche had recognized the indissoluble relationship Berdyaev notes. Moreover, imagine what Christianity could be if Christians began to explore beyond the religion of law and redemption.
November 11, 2022
Inflation Games Retailers and the Government Play in Hungary
Food and energy inflation in Hungary is among the highest in Europe. Official reports peg food inflation at 20%, but my experience informs me that inflation on some food items, such as cheese, bread, butter, and beef, is closer to 100% and, in some cases, much higher.
Yes, that's right. The cost of bread and butter have doubled in the past six months or so. The government's solution? Price fixes on certain specific items - 2.8% milk, some types of bread, chicken breast, etc.
The retailers solution? Stock very little of the price fixed goods and a great deal of the inflated substitutes. This allows the price fixed goods to run out almost immediately, leaving the majority of shoppers stuck buying the more expensive alternatives, like 1.5% milk, other types of bread, whole chickens, etc.
To put this into some sort of perspective, I suppose it would be helpful to mention that the average Hungarian takes home the equivalent of about 700-800 US dollars a month. A year ago, 200 grams of butter cost about 1.25 USD. The price now is 3.80 USD. Three-eighty for butter might not sound expensive to a Western European or a North American making a Western European or North American salary, but for a 700-800 dollar-a-month Hungarian, 3.80 USD from 1.25 USD is a death knell.
The average Hungarian used to spend around 300 USD a month on groceries. That same family now spends 600-700 USD on food a month, which is the equivalent of an entire monthly salary for most people.
What is especially striking about the inflation in this part of the world is its gratuitousness. Despite everything, prices should not be this high. Yet for some mysterious reason, they are. I did a little investigating and discovered that the prices grocery retailers pay for wholesale goods are still a fraction of what they end up selling these same goods for in stores. The markup margins are clearly criminal in some cases.
Eggs are a good example. Last year, retailers bought eggs from wholesalers for about 8-10 cents per egg, and then sold the eggs in their stores for about 11-14 cents per egg. This year, the wholesale price for an egg is around 13 cents, but the retail price is a whopping 25-31 cents per egg -- double or triple the wholesale price. In some places, that's called price gouging. Here in Hungary, it's just business in a "war inflation" environment.
In an effort to save the day -- yet again -- the government donned its Superman cape and has stepped in and extended the price fix to eggs, setting the maximum price at around 21 cents per egg, which is still nearly double last year's price. God bless them in their commitment to "protect Hungarian households". Retailers have grudgingly responded by ensuring that sudden and inexplicable egg shortages are now almost guaranteed going forward.
Thankfully, I have my hens, but I don't have a cow, which means the System gets me via dairy products like milk and cheese . . . if I can find any that I am willing to buy at these inflated prices . . .
Yes, that's right. The cost of bread and butter have doubled in the past six months or so. The government's solution? Price fixes on certain specific items - 2.8% milk, some types of bread, chicken breast, etc.
The retailers solution? Stock very little of the price fixed goods and a great deal of the inflated substitutes. This allows the price fixed goods to run out almost immediately, leaving the majority of shoppers stuck buying the more expensive alternatives, like 1.5% milk, other types of bread, whole chickens, etc.
To put this into some sort of perspective, I suppose it would be helpful to mention that the average Hungarian takes home the equivalent of about 700-800 US dollars a month. A year ago, 200 grams of butter cost about 1.25 USD. The price now is 3.80 USD. Three-eighty for butter might not sound expensive to a Western European or a North American making a Western European or North American salary, but for a 700-800 dollar-a-month Hungarian, 3.80 USD from 1.25 USD is a death knell.
The average Hungarian used to spend around 300 USD a month on groceries. That same family now spends 600-700 USD on food a month, which is the equivalent of an entire monthly salary for most people.
What is especially striking about the inflation in this part of the world is its gratuitousness. Despite everything, prices should not be this high. Yet for some mysterious reason, they are. I did a little investigating and discovered that the prices grocery retailers pay for wholesale goods are still a fraction of what they end up selling these same goods for in stores. The markup margins are clearly criminal in some cases.
Eggs are a good example. Last year, retailers bought eggs from wholesalers for about 8-10 cents per egg, and then sold the eggs in their stores for about 11-14 cents per egg. This year, the wholesale price for an egg is around 13 cents, but the retail price is a whopping 25-31 cents per egg -- double or triple the wholesale price. In some places, that's called price gouging. Here in Hungary, it's just business in a "war inflation" environment.
In an effort to save the day -- yet again -- the government donned its Superman cape and has stepped in and extended the price fix to eggs, setting the maximum price at around 21 cents per egg, which is still nearly double last year's price. God bless them in their commitment to "protect Hungarian households". Retailers have grudgingly responded by ensuring that sudden and inexplicable egg shortages are now almost guaranteed going forward.
Thankfully, I have my hens, but I don't have a cow, which means the System gets me via dairy products like milk and cheese . . . if I can find any that I am willing to buy at these inflated prices . . .
November 9, 2022
Hope and The System - A Repost Redux
I sense the latest installment of "vote for the System" has led to dashed hopes, yet again.
In light of this, I will repost a repost of a post on nurturing hope for the System. Something to think about next time you are tempted to "get your hopes up" about anything related to the System.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
The first sin is simply the sin of despair. For any serious Christian, the mere notion of despair should be anathema. After all, how could any serious Christian ever lose hope in the example of Christ? Above all else, the Resurrection is a testament against hopelessness. When Jesus defeated death, he proved, beyond all doubt, that we have nothing to fear or feel hopeless about, neither in this world nor in life everlasting. The trials and tribulations of this world cannot destroy the next world if we follow His example and believe on Him.
The second sin is the nurturing of hope for a System that is inherently antithetical to God - that is, diametrically opposed to Truth, Beauty, and Virtue. The System is not only anti-Good, it has been meticulously engineered to actively wage war against the Good. Any experienced beneficial side effects of the System are either remnants from an earlier time (when the System itself may have been less inherently evil) or purely material by-products that offer nothing above the level of physical comfort, convenience, or pleasure.
To lose hope over a System that was designed to generate perpetual hopelessness, a System whose sole purpose in the past century (at least) has been to deny and destroy the Truth at every possible turn is akin to a Gulag prisoner losing hope in the proper, effective functioning of the Gulag that tortures him and keeps him captive.
The manner in which the System is faltering or collapsing (take your pick) is not something we should be celebrating or embracing. By the same token, it is also not something we should be resisting or despairing over. The System should have faltered or collapsed decades, nay centuries ago, but this development should have been achieved through our own willed decision to turn away from the System and establish a new mode of Being.
Yet we resisted and rejected that much needed shift of consciousness every time the opportunity to take it up arose. Instead of committing to this much-needed and, at times, sorely overdue consciousness shift we chose instead to double-down on our hope in the System. What we are experiencing now is an epic case of reaping what we have sown. Rather than despair, we should be feeling sorrow and shame - sorrow and shame that we collectively ever allowed ourselves to become materially-enslaved to such evil.
The faltering or total collapse of the System will undoubtedly generate much discomfort, hardship, and pain . . . perhaps even death. It is difficult and unsettling to consider what may await us all - our family, friends, loved ones, and the countless people we don't know - as the System continues to crumble, but we must never forget that all hope in the System is fundamentally sinful and misguided. The System was designed to abandon us. The System was designed to work against us. Hope in the System is, at best, hope invested in totalitarian, bureaucratic tyranny; at worse, it is hope invested in something even more sinister.
Any feeling of despair over the System is a declaration of the victory of evil. Hope, faith, and love are crucial in the here and now, but we should remain vigilant about where we place our hope, faith, and love.
God is a loving Creator. He will never abandon you. He will never work against you. He will arrange the material world in such a way that it becomes what each of us needs to nurture our continued spiritual growth and development. Our continued spiritual growth and development may not necessarily entail our continued material growth and development . This is a difficult pill to swallow for some Christians, but swallowed it must be.
God will never abandon us. God will never work against us. We must remember not to abandon or work against Him. In fact, the time has come to take up the cause our ancestors neglected to take up and begin working with Him creatively. That requires a total shift in consciousness, but that is what is needed, now more than ever.
Note added: Any feeling of despair, especially despair for the System, must be repented. We are all bound to taste despair in the weeks and months ahead. Having said that, it is one thing to taste despair and repent it; it is quite another thing to taste despair and then voluntarily feast on it.
In light of this, I will repost a repost of a post on nurturing hope for the System. Something to think about next time you are tempted to "get your hopes up" about anything related to the System.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
The first sin is simply the sin of despair. For any serious Christian, the mere notion of despair should be anathema. After all, how could any serious Christian ever lose hope in the example of Christ? Above all else, the Resurrection is a testament against hopelessness. When Jesus defeated death, he proved, beyond all doubt, that we have nothing to fear or feel hopeless about, neither in this world nor in life everlasting. The trials and tribulations of this world cannot destroy the next world if we follow His example and believe on Him.
The second sin is the nurturing of hope for a System that is inherently antithetical to God - that is, diametrically opposed to Truth, Beauty, and Virtue. The System is not only anti-Good, it has been meticulously engineered to actively wage war against the Good. Any experienced beneficial side effects of the System are either remnants from an earlier time (when the System itself may have been less inherently evil) or purely material by-products that offer nothing above the level of physical comfort, convenience, or pleasure.
To lose hope over a System that was designed to generate perpetual hopelessness, a System whose sole purpose in the past century (at least) has been to deny and destroy the Truth at every possible turn is akin to a Gulag prisoner losing hope in the proper, effective functioning of the Gulag that tortures him and keeps him captive.
The manner in which the System is faltering or collapsing (take your pick) is not something we should be celebrating or embracing. By the same token, it is also not something we should be resisting or despairing over. The System should have faltered or collapsed decades, nay centuries ago, but this development should have been achieved through our own willed decision to turn away from the System and establish a new mode of Being.
Yet we resisted and rejected that much needed shift of consciousness every time the opportunity to take it up arose. Instead of committing to this much-needed and, at times, sorely overdue consciousness shift we chose instead to double-down on our hope in the System. What we are experiencing now is an epic case of reaping what we have sown. Rather than despair, we should be feeling sorrow and shame - sorrow and shame that we collectively ever allowed ourselves to become materially-enslaved to such evil.
The faltering or total collapse of the System will undoubtedly generate much discomfort, hardship, and pain . . . perhaps even death. It is difficult and unsettling to consider what may await us all - our family, friends, loved ones, and the countless people we don't know - as the System continues to crumble, but we must never forget that all hope in the System is fundamentally sinful and misguided. The System was designed to abandon us. The System was designed to work against us. Hope in the System is, at best, hope invested in totalitarian, bureaucratic tyranny; at worse, it is hope invested in something even more sinister.
Any feeling of despair over the System is a declaration of the victory of evil. Hope, faith, and love are crucial in the here and now, but we should remain vigilant about where we place our hope, faith, and love.
God is a loving Creator. He will never abandon you. He will never work against you. He will arrange the material world in such a way that it becomes what each of us needs to nurture our continued spiritual growth and development. Our continued spiritual growth and development may not necessarily entail our continued material growth and development . This is a difficult pill to swallow for some Christians, but swallowed it must be.
God will never abandon us. God will never work against us. We must remember not to abandon or work against Him. In fact, the time has come to take up the cause our ancestors neglected to take up and begin working with Him creatively. That requires a total shift in consciousness, but that is what is needed, now more than ever.
Note added: Any feeling of despair, especially despair for the System, must be repented. We are all bound to taste despair in the weeks and months ahead. Having said that, it is one thing to taste despair and repent it; it is quite another thing to taste despair and then voluntarily feast on it.
November 8, 2022
Music to Accompany the End Credits in The Film About Your Life
Imagine your life as a movie; then imagine the end credits rolling to this tune -- appropriately called "End Credits". From the latest album of one of my favorite bands,
The Sadies
. Following the tragic loss of Dallas Good nearly a year ago, The Sadies are carrying on as a trio (see clip below). Much respect.
November 7, 2022
Sporadic Blogging in the Short Term - Blame Ahriman
The Ahrimanic Citadel of Darkness from which I draw my paycheck has been inundating me with obscene amounts of mind-numbing work lately, which has had a detrimental effect on my blogging consistency. Expect posts to be a bit sporadic over the next week or so.
In the meantime, allow me to share a snippet of the sort of Litmus Test agenda material that lands on my desk for proofreading and/or translation.
Long story short - the Ahrimanics still believe they will win the "long game" against Sorath.
Yeah, good luck with that!
Anyway, snippet below.
Bold and snark in brackets added.
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In a presentation entitled "The Status and Development of Digital Central Bank Currencies (CBDC)", Prof. Dr. Krauty Von Krautface - Dean of Some Evil Citadel of Darkness in Germany - highlighted the many questions that will arise in 2022 regarding economic sustainability, one of which is the intensive research and possible introduction of digital central bank currencies.
The topic is vital and is a core project of many central banks today. A central bank digital currency is a currency controlled by a country's central bank
(You don't say?).
Several countries have already introduced it, and more than a hundred other countries are researching and developing the possibility of introducing digital currencies via central banks.
(Hey, everybody's doing it! Let's join the fun! These guys really think they're going to survive what they have helped unleash. On top of that, they honestly think they will be able to capitalize on it. How cute!)
Dr. Von Krautface stressed that this topic receives little publicity, even though introducing digital currencies will be crucial for the EU economy.
(Yeah, I wonder why it doesn't get much publicity. Must be because of Putin or something.)
He analysed the function of money, with particular reference to digital money, the medium of exchange, the accumulation instrument and the unit of account.
He also mentioned the possible "competitors" of the euro as a digital central bank currency.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Now, if you'll excuse me, I am going to wash my hands á la Mr. Jaggers and then repent my involvement in this bureaucratic malevolence.
In the meantime, allow me to share a snippet of the sort of Litmus Test agenda material that lands on my desk for proofreading and/or translation.
Long story short - the Ahrimanics still believe they will win the "long game" against Sorath.
Yeah, good luck with that!
Anyway, snippet below.
Bold and snark in brackets added.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In a presentation entitled "The Status and Development of Digital Central Bank Currencies (CBDC)", Prof. Dr. Krauty Von Krautface - Dean of Some Evil Citadel of Darkness in Germany - highlighted the many questions that will arise in 2022 regarding economic sustainability, one of which is the intensive research and possible introduction of digital central bank currencies.
The topic is vital and is a core project of many central banks today. A central bank digital currency is a currency controlled by a country's central bank
(You don't say?).
Several countries have already introduced it, and more than a hundred other countries are researching and developing the possibility of introducing digital currencies via central banks.
(Hey, everybody's doing it! Let's join the fun! These guys really think they're going to survive what they have helped unleash. On top of that, they honestly think they will be able to capitalize on it. How cute!)
Dr. Von Krautface stressed that this topic receives little publicity, even though introducing digital currencies will be crucial for the EU economy.
(Yeah, I wonder why it doesn't get much publicity. Must be because of Putin or something.)
He analysed the function of money, with particular reference to digital money, the medium of exchange, the accumulation instrument and the unit of account.
He also mentioned the possible "competitors" of the euro as a digital central bank currency.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Now, if you'll excuse me, I am going to wash my hands á la Mr. Jaggers and then repent my involvement in this bureaucratic malevolence.
November 3, 2022
Permacrisis or Permacreation - The Choice is Ours
A few days ago, UK-based Harper Collins -- publisher of the Collins English Dictionary -- declared the noun
permacrisis
to be its "Word of the Year" for 2022.
Defined as "an extended period of insecurity and instability", permacrisis apparently epitomizes the "dizzying sense of lurching from one unprecedented event to another as people wonder what new horrors might be around the corner."
In my opinion, permacrisis is the perfect word to describe the post-2020 "given world"-- that heavy, burdensome, stifling, un-creative, impersonal, stultifying, terrorizing, oppressive, objectified world that demands unconditional obedience and submission to its obscuring of Reality.
The word fits because crisis has become the default setting of the given world, which will intentionally remain in crisis mode until it is eventually overwhelmed by the perma-crises it willfully generates, implements, and foments.
Those who remain obedient and submissive to the dictates and machinations of the given world will experience and live the "reality" of permacrisis in the same way they experienced and lived the "reality" of the one of the given world's Words of 2021 -- vax.
While permacrisis suits the "reality" of the given world, it is not an accurate definition of Reality -- more precisely, God's Creation.
Permacrisis does not and cannot exist in Creation. What exists in Creation is creation itself -- the acts, thoughts, and processes of ongoing and open creativity inspired and motivated by love, hope, and freedom between and among Beings.
Permacrisis may be the given world's Word of the Year for 2022, but it does not apply and cannot be applied to God's Creation. To do so would be a category error.
The only way to overcome the given world and its Words of the Year is to become aware of Creation and begin to think and "live" the reality of p ermacreation .
Defined as "an extended period of insecurity and instability", permacrisis apparently epitomizes the "dizzying sense of lurching from one unprecedented event to another as people wonder what new horrors might be around the corner."
In my opinion, permacrisis is the perfect word to describe the post-2020 "given world"-- that heavy, burdensome, stifling, un-creative, impersonal, stultifying, terrorizing, oppressive, objectified world that demands unconditional obedience and submission to its obscuring of Reality.
The word fits because crisis has become the default setting of the given world, which will intentionally remain in crisis mode until it is eventually overwhelmed by the perma-crises it willfully generates, implements, and foments.
Those who remain obedient and submissive to the dictates and machinations of the given world will experience and live the "reality" of permacrisis in the same way they experienced and lived the "reality" of the one of the given world's Words of 2021 -- vax.
While permacrisis suits the "reality" of the given world, it is not an accurate definition of Reality -- more precisely, God's Creation.
Permacrisis does not and cannot exist in Creation. What exists in Creation is creation itself -- the acts, thoughts, and processes of ongoing and open creativity inspired and motivated by love, hope, and freedom between and among Beings.
Permacrisis may be the given world's Word of the Year for 2022, but it does not apply and cannot be applied to God's Creation. To do so would be a category error.
The only way to overcome the given world and its Words of the Year is to become aware of Creation and begin to think and "live" the reality of p ermacreation .
November 2, 2022
Some Difference
Tell me, what's the difference between the modern, mainstream, conventional Christian submission to comfort, security, safety, pleasure, and physical well-being and the modern, mainstream, conventional leftist/atheist submission to the same?
The Christian will insist that the comfort, security, safety, pleasure, and physical well-being to which he submits is virtuous and wholesome.
And that's about as far the Christian will take it. He rarely stops to consider that the real problem may lie in the submission itself.
The Christian will insist that the comfort, security, safety, pleasure, and physical well-being to which he submits is virtuous and wholesome.
And that's about as far the Christian will take it. He rarely stops to consider that the real problem may lie in the submission itself.
November 1, 2022
"Amnesty" Does Not Want You To Learn From Experience
So, the "Amnesty" piece recently featured in The Atlantic -- a particularly egregious example of System communication if there ever was one -- has achieved its assumed secondary aim of triggering knee-jerk reactions around the internet, which got me wondering about what the article's primary aim might be.
My gut instinct tells me the System is working to get ahead of the rising swell of birdemic disillusionment, but at a deeper level I sense that the System is aiming for a more profound spiritual goal -- encouraging people to not learn from experience.
Because evil utterly abhors people who are capable of learning from experience.
The remainder of this piece is a re-post of a post I wrote back in February, 2020. I have also included the excellent audio version of the post featured on New World Island's YouTube channel:
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Evil Does Not Want You To Learn From Experience
I am of the conviction that the primary purpose of our mortal lives is to learn, more specifically, to learn from experience. Our time in this world is fundamentally about the choices and decisions we make and the subsequent actions and thinking these choices and decisions inspire. Our ability to discern the benefits or consequences of our choices, decisions, and actions determines the quality and effectiveness of our thinking and our ability to learn from experience. Learning from experience entails a conscious aspiration toward good consequences and a determined avoidance of further bad consequences.
From a spiritual perspective, learning from experience can be boiled down to choosing Good over Evil. Good is everything that is aligned with God and Creation; Evil is everything aligned with Satan who works to undermine God and Creation. At its most basic level, a choice, decision, or action that is not aligned with God or Creation will generate bad consequences. The first step in learning from experience at the spiritual level involves recognizing and understanding bad consequences. The second step is repentance of the choice, decision, or action that led to the bad consequences. The third step involves ensuring this repentance positively influences future choices, decision, and actions in an effort to avoid further bad consequences.
But spiritual learning from experience is not exclusively about the negative, but also involves recognizing and understanding when choices, decisions, and actions are aligned with the positive, with God and Creation - that is, when we are aligned with the Good. It is also about being able to discern the benefits that derive from this alignment.
These benefits are not always explicitly clear, in the same way that the bad in bad consequences stemming from dis-alignment with God and Creation are not always explicitly clear. On the surface, bad consequences might appear good, and good consequences might appear bad. This suggests learning from experience is not always straightforward and that some lessons might have to be repeated many times or might take up great expanses of time.
Learning from experience is often painful. It often involves swallowing our pride - the humble understanding and acceptance that we were wrong coupled with the desire to turn the wrong into a right. At its core, the essence of learning from experience at the spiritual level is remaining open to and accepting of the reality that the main purpose of our mortal lives is to align ourselves with God and Creation. And this openness and the effort that should follow is paramount to our continued journey after our mortal life ends.
If learning is the primary purpose of our mortal lives, then it is only logical to assume that the forces opposing God and Creation work diligently to hinder and obstruct learning at every possible turn in an sustained effort to undermine God and Creation. The ideal world for evil is one in which learning - learning from experience in particular - is considered undesirable and unsavory - not worth the effort. But the world evil really strives to bring about is one in which learning for the purpose of aligning oneself with God and Creation is not only considered undesirable, but is made increasingly uncomfortable, and, in some cases virtually impossible.
This kind of world would first motivate individuals to callously dismiss all notions of God and Creation, thereby severing all true sense of the distinction between good and evil. It would then work to invert all notions of good and evil by presenting evil as good and good as evil. It would also reduce all semblances of good and evil to the hedonic level of pleasure and pain whereby all bad choices that create immediate, short term pleasure would be regarded as good, and all good choices that created immediate, short term 'pain' or discomfort would be regarded as bad. Any 'real' pain resulting from a 'real' bad consequence would be met with pride instead of humility, and defiance instead of acceptance, thereby negating any chance at true learning.
Evil does not want us to learn from experience because it wants to lock us in darkness and prevent us from approaching the light. Evil does not want us to continue our journey - and it accomplishes this rather effectively by obstructing our ability to learn from experience.
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil, that put darkness for light, and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! (Isiah 5:20)
And greater woe unto them who fall into this trap and refuse to learn from experience because they are allowing themselves to be misled from the very purpose of mortal life itself.
My gut instinct tells me the System is working to get ahead of the rising swell of birdemic disillusionment, but at a deeper level I sense that the System is aiming for a more profound spiritual goal -- encouraging people to not learn from experience.
Because evil utterly abhors people who are capable of learning from experience.
The remainder of this piece is a re-post of a post I wrote back in February, 2020. I have also included the excellent audio version of the post featured on New World Island's YouTube channel:
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Evil Does Not Want You To Learn From Experience
I am of the conviction that the primary purpose of our mortal lives is to learn, more specifically, to learn from experience. Our time in this world is fundamentally about the choices and decisions we make and the subsequent actions and thinking these choices and decisions inspire. Our ability to discern the benefits or consequences of our choices, decisions, and actions determines the quality and effectiveness of our thinking and our ability to learn from experience. Learning from experience entails a conscious aspiration toward good consequences and a determined avoidance of further bad consequences.
From a spiritual perspective, learning from experience can be boiled down to choosing Good over Evil. Good is everything that is aligned with God and Creation; Evil is everything aligned with Satan who works to undermine God and Creation. At its most basic level, a choice, decision, or action that is not aligned with God or Creation will generate bad consequences. The first step in learning from experience at the spiritual level involves recognizing and understanding bad consequences. The second step is repentance of the choice, decision, or action that led to the bad consequences. The third step involves ensuring this repentance positively influences future choices, decision, and actions in an effort to avoid further bad consequences.
But spiritual learning from experience is not exclusively about the negative, but also involves recognizing and understanding when choices, decisions, and actions are aligned with the positive, with God and Creation - that is, when we are aligned with the Good. It is also about being able to discern the benefits that derive from this alignment.
These benefits are not always explicitly clear, in the same way that the bad in bad consequences stemming from dis-alignment with God and Creation are not always explicitly clear. On the surface, bad consequences might appear good, and good consequences might appear bad. This suggests learning from experience is not always straightforward and that some lessons might have to be repeated many times or might take up great expanses of time.
Learning from experience is often painful. It often involves swallowing our pride - the humble understanding and acceptance that we were wrong coupled with the desire to turn the wrong into a right. At its core, the essence of learning from experience at the spiritual level is remaining open to and accepting of the reality that the main purpose of our mortal lives is to align ourselves with God and Creation. And this openness and the effort that should follow is paramount to our continued journey after our mortal life ends.
If learning is the primary purpose of our mortal lives, then it is only logical to assume that the forces opposing God and Creation work diligently to hinder and obstruct learning at every possible turn in an sustained effort to undermine God and Creation. The ideal world for evil is one in which learning - learning from experience in particular - is considered undesirable and unsavory - not worth the effort. But the world evil really strives to bring about is one in which learning for the purpose of aligning oneself with God and Creation is not only considered undesirable, but is made increasingly uncomfortable, and, in some cases virtually impossible.
This kind of world would first motivate individuals to callously dismiss all notions of God and Creation, thereby severing all true sense of the distinction between good and evil. It would then work to invert all notions of good and evil by presenting evil as good and good as evil. It would also reduce all semblances of good and evil to the hedonic level of pleasure and pain whereby all bad choices that create immediate, short term pleasure would be regarded as good, and all good choices that created immediate, short term 'pain' or discomfort would be regarded as bad. Any 'real' pain resulting from a 'real' bad consequence would be met with pride instead of humility, and defiance instead of acceptance, thereby negating any chance at true learning.
Evil does not want us to learn from experience because it wants to lock us in darkness and prevent us from approaching the light. Evil does not want us to continue our journey - and it accomplishes this rather effectively by obstructing our ability to learn from experience.
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil, that put darkness for light, and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! (Isiah 5:20)
And greater woe unto them who fall into this trap and refuse to learn from experience because they are allowing themselves to be misled from the very purpose of mortal life itself.
October 31, 2022
A Few Halloween Thoughts About Fearing God, Holy Horror, and Similar Concepts
Christians often speak of fearing God and use terms like Holy Horror, Holy Dread, and fear and trembling, but I have never been comfortable with this line of thinking, and it has never made much sense to me.
Yes, I have had Christians of various stripes and denominations explain the concepts to me, and I understand that the fear of God actually refers to being in a state of reverent awe of his majesty and power -- a reverent awe that should inspire us to submit to His omnipotence in complete obedience.
I have also listened to Christians elucidate on the reality of hell and God's divine judgement whenever the subject of fearing God comes up.
I get all that. At the same time, I don't get it at all. More precisely, I understand the reasoning, but I have never experienced the *reality* of the reasoning.
I don't believe God wants people to spend the bulk of their mortal lives marveling at his majesty and greatness. I don't believe God works to hold people in fear and terror. I don't believe God desires that man experience any sort of shrinking in His presence -- at least not spiritually.
My intuition informs me that fear and awe are rarely good advisors and that overcoming existential and spiritual fear should be primary goals in mortal life for the simple reason that this overcoming is what *really* brings us into harmony with God.
Note added: Terms like Holy Horror and Holy Dread also strike me as blatantly oxymoronic, incongruous, and paradoxical -- but not in the "hey, it's a Holy Mystery" sort of way.
Yes, I have had Christians of various stripes and denominations explain the concepts to me, and I understand that the fear of God actually refers to being in a state of reverent awe of his majesty and power -- a reverent awe that should inspire us to submit to His omnipotence in complete obedience.
I have also listened to Christians elucidate on the reality of hell and God's divine judgement whenever the subject of fearing God comes up.
I get all that. At the same time, I don't get it at all. More precisely, I understand the reasoning, but I have never experienced the *reality* of the reasoning.
I don't believe God wants people to spend the bulk of their mortal lives marveling at his majesty and greatness. I don't believe God works to hold people in fear and terror. I don't believe God desires that man experience any sort of shrinking in His presence -- at least not spiritually.
My intuition informs me that fear and awe are rarely good advisors and that overcoming existential and spiritual fear should be primary goals in mortal life for the simple reason that this overcoming is what *really* brings us into harmony with God.
Note added: Terms like Holy Horror and Holy Dread also strike me as blatantly oxymoronic, incongruous, and paradoxical -- but not in the "hey, it's a Holy Mystery" sort of way.
October 30, 2022
Re-illusionment Offers No Solution to Disillusionment-Induced Depression and Despair
A little over two years ago, I argued that recognizing and acknowledging "things coming to a point" was the point of 2020.
Recognizing and acknowledging things coming to a point can be a painful experience for some because it entails the recognizing and acknowledging that the trust, faith, and confidence one invested into most of the people and things that comprise the world were built upon illusions, not reality.
From a spiritual perspective, this sort of comprehensive disillusionment must be considered a great blessing rather than a curse, as Dr. Charlton noted in the linked post above (bold added):
In sum, when things have come to a point - life-choices will be substantially (this can never be absolute, due to our mixed-nature and mixed-motives) simple, dichotomous and direct. The choices will be between God, Love, Beauty, Truth, Virtue, Harmony... and the negation of these.
Once we have people choosing against-Good, against God, consciously and with their eyes wide-open; then that will also be the situation when people will choose eternal damnation in preference to the gift of salvation and eternal life as Sons and Daughters of God - they will reject Heaven and choose to reign in their own personal Hell.
This is the end game; yet we can see that this must be carefully prepared if the situation is not to 'backfire' from the perspective of evil...
The clearer that choices become, the more likely that the mass of distracted, cloudy-minded, muddled, partly conscious and not-yet-fully-corrupted people will perceive the situation and choose Good.
So - a world of things coming to a point is also a world in which it is easier to discern Good. Much easier...
The iron fist has emerged from its velvet glove; the wolf has shrugged of his sheep's clothing. Strategic deception becomes a thing of the past.
For Men of Good intent - life becomes clear and simple - right choices are easy to recognise.
After that - it is up-to-us, each as individuals.
Dr. Charlton further clarifies the matter in the following:
The Good side are those who support the goals of God's creation, and who hope to join with God in the eternal work of creation - the evil side are those who oppose this.
Things coming to a point mean that it is becoming ever-more clear cut whether we choose the Good side or the evil. There is less blurring, less chance of confusion. Our choices, therefore, cluster - since the Goodness and evil are so clear and separated; when we choose, therefore, we know what we are doing.
Our choices are more conscious, more deliberate - more significant.
Unfortunately, as I noted in a post from March of this year, choosing Good remains a challenge for many who (finally) perceive the situation the point has "thrust" upon them. Instead rising to overcome disillusionment, many allow themselves to sink into depression and, eventually, despair -- which places them on the path toward potential damnation and spiritual death:
. . . the disillusioned -- that slowly increasing and expanding patchwork assembly of people experiencing varying degrees of disappointment, despondency, and dismay at the discovery that many things of the world are not as good as they hoped or believed they would be.
They are confused and mortified by the failure of democracy, the cratering of free markets, the trampling of human rights, the encroachments upon individual liberty, the splintering of society, and all the rest of it.
Like betrayed lovers, they feel as if their entire world has been wrenched out from beneath them, and they look around frantically for someone or something to trust, to commit to, to believe in.
Even worse, many of the disillusioned begin to regard a state of "re-illusionment" as the only possible solution to the agonizing disillusionment inflicted by their recognition and acknowledgement of "things coming to a point":
Deep down, the disillusioned know the System has not lived up to its promises, but they can think of no alternative beyond the possibility of a reformed or improved System.
The disillusioned understand that they have been deceived and cheated, but they refuse to recognize the illusions as illusions and remain committed to the "reality" of everything that led to their disillusionment.
I make note of all of this now because I believe we are entering a dangerous new phase of the massive assault against God and Creation that began in 2020 with the highly publicized and propagandized birdemic fear campaigns, and continued into 2021 via the botched attempts to install an overarching system of surveillance and control through the peck under the banner of "none are safe until all are safe".
Many of those who have entered the ranks of the disillusioned succumbed to birdemic fear campaigns and/or allowed themselves to be manipulated, coerced, or rationalized into taking the peck and supporting the peck agenda.
Increasing numbers of people have joined (or are currently in the process of joining) the disillusioned because they have become or are becoming acutely aware that they have been tricked and lied to.
As noted above, this kind of disillusionment can clear the way to the possibility of an incalculably positive spiritual choice for Good. However, it also opens up the possibility of negative choices that lead to negative spiritual states, including depression and despair.
To make matters even worse, those in the grips of depression and despair often look to “re-illusionment” as the only possible solution to the suffering their disillusionment has inflicted upon them.
With this in mind, I would like turn your attention to a Scott Adams video I happened to stumble upon via one of the “anti-peck blogs” I visit from time to time.
For those of you that may not know, Scott Adams is the creator of the Dilbert comic strip. He is active on social media sites and has a You Tube channel through which he offers social and political commentary. Though I have appreciated his Dilbert work over the years, I have not paid much attention to nor followed any of Adams’ other endeavors.
Through Vox Day’s site, I learned that Adams’ took the peck and was generally supportive of the peck agenda.
Today I read Vox’s reaction to the Scott Adams video I mentioned above. In that post, Vox writes:
The countdown has begun. Scott Adams is giving himself just one more year to live after life punctured his Delusion Bubble.
Vox then lists some of the highlights of the video segment in which Scott Adams reveals the details of his disillusionment (bold added):
So here’s what happened to me in the past years.
That matrix-like mask kind of fell off. And I lost my illusion for a while.
So being depressed is not about being in the wrong state of mind, which is the problem.
In my case, being depressed was being in the right state of mind. …
The part that made me depressed is when I saw things clearly.
And I worked since then to rebuild my illusions.
So when you ask me if I’m feeling better or depressed, I’m sort of in the process of rebuilding an illusion that I can live in without pain.
And I’m not quite there yet because I could still see too much ugly.
And I can’t live happily in a world with this much ugly around me.
I don’t mean physically ugly. I mean ugly ideas and thoughts.
And I’m trying as hard as I can to rebuild a protective, imaginary shield of “everything’s fine” when it isn’t. It definitely isn’t.
But you have to build up a little wall of imaginary protection.
So I’m building up a little wall of imaginary protection as efficiently as I can. But it’s hard work.
Then physically, I haven’t figured out how to fix my physical problem.
So, exercise — I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to exercise again.
Let me just give you an idea. It’s possible that I will never have another personal relationship for the rest of my life.
It’s possible that I’ll never exercise again for the rest of my life. Because that’s my current physical situation.
Now, it could be that I can work through those things and everything will be fine. I can do better by next week.
But the length of time it’s been, and the fact that I don’t even have a clue of what’s wrong — and I’m at that that certain age where things will fall apart — suggest that I could be at the end of my life.
And on top of that, [I’m] feeling physically that I’m literally at the end of my life.
But let me also tell you that I have a sort of at least a one-year minimum optimism buffer.
So my one year optimism about it works like this. If it looks impossible, I still give myself a year. That’s like a rule.
So the system —doesn’t matter what the problem is. Doesn’t matter how much it hurts. Doesn’t matter how much I want to stop.
I’ll give myself one year to just fix that thing.
Vox is on point when it comes to understanding what Adams really needs:
What Scott actually needs is Jesus Christ, hope, and love, in that order. But unfortunately, he’s turning inward, toward himself, again, and relying upon the hope that he can reconstruct his Delusion Bubble in order to protect himself from the unpleasant realities of life.
Jesus Christ, hope and love are characteristic of the third group of post-point individuals I categorized in my disillusionment post back in March:
The first group of disillusioned are the Scott Adams of the world.
The second group comprises the un-dillusioned – the nothing’s really changed, everything is still normal, muddle-headed, despiritualized, mindless drone types.
I described the third group of individuals in the following manner:
The third and final group is not really a group at all but more of a miscellany of individuals sprinkled thinly over the vast surface of the world. Like the disillusioned, the individuals in the third group are acutely aware that many of the things of this world are not as good as they previously believed them to be.
Unlike the disillusioned group, the third group has moved past all despondency, bitterness, discouragement, and dismay. For them, disillusionment is not a let down, but a "raise up".
Instead of brooding on the loss of cherished illusions, individuals in the third group are becoming aware of the reality beyond the illusions. The wrenching away of the world amounts to little more than the wrenching away of untruth.
Individuals in the third group are free to act, learn, love, and believe in ways individuals in the other two groups cannot even begin to fathom. Rather than brood on disillusionment, individuals in the third group quietly work toward a new revelation that can only arise from freedom, creativity, and love.
For them, the end of illusion marks the beginning of creation.
I would classify the third group as Romantic Christians – those who are able to follow Jesus Christ in hope and love AND in freedom and creativity -- regardless of external circumstances in the world; regardless of personal difficulties, suffering, and challenges.
I mention this because I am becoming increasingly convinced that some of my co-religionists may be in or may soon find themselves in a situation that is similar to one Scott Adams is currently experiencing:
“in the process of rebuilding an illusion where I can live in without pain . . . but I’m not quite there yet because I can still see too much ugly. I can’t live happily in a world with this much ugly around me – not physically ugly, but ugly ideas and thoughts and stuff. I’m trying as hard as I can to rebuild a protective imaginary shield of everything’s fine when it isn’t . . it definitely isn’t . . .”
For a Romantic Christian, a world where everything isn’t fine does not represent an end – but a beginning . . .
Where the illusions fall away is where Christ lives and breathes!
Note added: I urge to watch the 46:00 to 54:00-minute segment of the video below. I post this not to "knock down" Scott Adams but to draw attention to a crucial spiritual challenge in this time and place. Take heed.
Recognizing and acknowledging things coming to a point can be a painful experience for some because it entails the recognizing and acknowledging that the trust, faith, and confidence one invested into most of the people and things that comprise the world were built upon illusions, not reality.
From a spiritual perspective, this sort of comprehensive disillusionment must be considered a great blessing rather than a curse, as Dr. Charlton noted in the linked post above (bold added):
In sum, when things have come to a point - life-choices will be substantially (this can never be absolute, due to our mixed-nature and mixed-motives) simple, dichotomous and direct. The choices will be between God, Love, Beauty, Truth, Virtue, Harmony... and the negation of these.
Once we have people choosing against-Good, against God, consciously and with their eyes wide-open; then that will also be the situation when people will choose eternal damnation in preference to the gift of salvation and eternal life as Sons and Daughters of God - they will reject Heaven and choose to reign in their own personal Hell.
This is the end game; yet we can see that this must be carefully prepared if the situation is not to 'backfire' from the perspective of evil...
The clearer that choices become, the more likely that the mass of distracted, cloudy-minded, muddled, partly conscious and not-yet-fully-corrupted people will perceive the situation and choose Good.
So - a world of things coming to a point is also a world in which it is easier to discern Good. Much easier...
The iron fist has emerged from its velvet glove; the wolf has shrugged of his sheep's clothing. Strategic deception becomes a thing of the past.
For Men of Good intent - life becomes clear and simple - right choices are easy to recognise.
After that - it is up-to-us, each as individuals.
Dr. Charlton further clarifies the matter in the following:
The Good side are those who support the goals of God's creation, and who hope to join with God in the eternal work of creation - the evil side are those who oppose this.
Things coming to a point mean that it is becoming ever-more clear cut whether we choose the Good side or the evil. There is less blurring, less chance of confusion. Our choices, therefore, cluster - since the Goodness and evil are so clear and separated; when we choose, therefore, we know what we are doing.
Our choices are more conscious, more deliberate - more significant.
Unfortunately, as I noted in a post from March of this year, choosing Good remains a challenge for many who (finally) perceive the situation the point has "thrust" upon them. Instead rising to overcome disillusionment, many allow themselves to sink into depression and, eventually, despair -- which places them on the path toward potential damnation and spiritual death:
. . . the disillusioned -- that slowly increasing and expanding patchwork assembly of people experiencing varying degrees of disappointment, despondency, and dismay at the discovery that many things of the world are not as good as they hoped or believed they would be.
They are confused and mortified by the failure of democracy, the cratering of free markets, the trampling of human rights, the encroachments upon individual liberty, the splintering of society, and all the rest of it.
Like betrayed lovers, they feel as if their entire world has been wrenched out from beneath them, and they look around frantically for someone or something to trust, to commit to, to believe in.
Even worse, many of the disillusioned begin to regard a state of "re-illusionment" as the only possible solution to the agonizing disillusionment inflicted by their recognition and acknowledgement of "things coming to a point":
Deep down, the disillusioned know the System has not lived up to its promises, but they can think of no alternative beyond the possibility of a reformed or improved System.
The disillusioned understand that they have been deceived and cheated, but they refuse to recognize the illusions as illusions and remain committed to the "reality" of everything that led to their disillusionment.
I make note of all of this now because I believe we are entering a dangerous new phase of the massive assault against God and Creation that began in 2020 with the highly publicized and propagandized birdemic fear campaigns, and continued into 2021 via the botched attempts to install an overarching system of surveillance and control through the peck under the banner of "none are safe until all are safe".
Many of those who have entered the ranks of the disillusioned succumbed to birdemic fear campaigns and/or allowed themselves to be manipulated, coerced, or rationalized into taking the peck and supporting the peck agenda.
Increasing numbers of people have joined (or are currently in the process of joining) the disillusioned because they have become or are becoming acutely aware that they have been tricked and lied to.
As noted above, this kind of disillusionment can clear the way to the possibility of an incalculably positive spiritual choice for Good. However, it also opens up the possibility of negative choices that lead to negative spiritual states, including depression and despair.
To make matters even worse, those in the grips of depression and despair often look to “re-illusionment” as the only possible solution to the suffering their disillusionment has inflicted upon them.
With this in mind, I would like turn your attention to a Scott Adams video I happened to stumble upon via one of the “anti-peck blogs” I visit from time to time.
For those of you that may not know, Scott Adams is the creator of the Dilbert comic strip. He is active on social media sites and has a You Tube channel through which he offers social and political commentary. Though I have appreciated his Dilbert work over the years, I have not paid much attention to nor followed any of Adams’ other endeavors.
Through Vox Day’s site, I learned that Adams’ took the peck and was generally supportive of the peck agenda.
Today I read Vox’s reaction to the Scott Adams video I mentioned above. In that post, Vox writes:
The countdown has begun. Scott Adams is giving himself just one more year to live after life punctured his Delusion Bubble.
Vox then lists some of the highlights of the video segment in which Scott Adams reveals the details of his disillusionment (bold added):
So here’s what happened to me in the past years.
That matrix-like mask kind of fell off. And I lost my illusion for a while.
So being depressed is not about being in the wrong state of mind, which is the problem.
In my case, being depressed was being in the right state of mind. …
The part that made me depressed is when I saw things clearly.
And I worked since then to rebuild my illusions.
So when you ask me if I’m feeling better or depressed, I’m sort of in the process of rebuilding an illusion that I can live in without pain.
And I’m not quite there yet because I could still see too much ugly.
And I can’t live happily in a world with this much ugly around me.
I don’t mean physically ugly. I mean ugly ideas and thoughts.
And I’m trying as hard as I can to rebuild a protective, imaginary shield of “everything’s fine” when it isn’t. It definitely isn’t.
But you have to build up a little wall of imaginary protection.
So I’m building up a little wall of imaginary protection as efficiently as I can. But it’s hard work.
Then physically, I haven’t figured out how to fix my physical problem.
So, exercise — I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to exercise again.
Let me just give you an idea. It’s possible that I will never have another personal relationship for the rest of my life.
It’s possible that I’ll never exercise again for the rest of my life. Because that’s my current physical situation.
Now, it could be that I can work through those things and everything will be fine. I can do better by next week.
But the length of time it’s been, and the fact that I don’t even have a clue of what’s wrong — and I’m at that that certain age where things will fall apart — suggest that I could be at the end of my life.
And on top of that, [I’m] feeling physically that I’m literally at the end of my life.
But let me also tell you that I have a sort of at least a one-year minimum optimism buffer.
So my one year optimism about it works like this. If it looks impossible, I still give myself a year. That’s like a rule.
So the system —doesn’t matter what the problem is. Doesn’t matter how much it hurts. Doesn’t matter how much I want to stop.
I’ll give myself one year to just fix that thing.
Vox is on point when it comes to understanding what Adams really needs:
What Scott actually needs is Jesus Christ, hope, and love, in that order. But unfortunately, he’s turning inward, toward himself, again, and relying upon the hope that he can reconstruct his Delusion Bubble in order to protect himself from the unpleasant realities of life.
Jesus Christ, hope and love are characteristic of the third group of post-point individuals I categorized in my disillusionment post back in March:
The first group of disillusioned are the Scott Adams of the world.
The second group comprises the un-dillusioned – the nothing’s really changed, everything is still normal, muddle-headed, despiritualized, mindless drone types.
I described the third group of individuals in the following manner:
The third and final group is not really a group at all but more of a miscellany of individuals sprinkled thinly over the vast surface of the world. Like the disillusioned, the individuals in the third group are acutely aware that many of the things of this world are not as good as they previously believed them to be.
Unlike the disillusioned group, the third group has moved past all despondency, bitterness, discouragement, and dismay. For them, disillusionment is not a let down, but a "raise up".
Instead of brooding on the loss of cherished illusions, individuals in the third group are becoming aware of the reality beyond the illusions. The wrenching away of the world amounts to little more than the wrenching away of untruth.
Individuals in the third group are free to act, learn, love, and believe in ways individuals in the other two groups cannot even begin to fathom. Rather than brood on disillusionment, individuals in the third group quietly work toward a new revelation that can only arise from freedom, creativity, and love.
For them, the end of illusion marks the beginning of creation.
I would classify the third group as Romantic Christians – those who are able to follow Jesus Christ in hope and love AND in freedom and creativity -- regardless of external circumstances in the world; regardless of personal difficulties, suffering, and challenges.
I mention this because I am becoming increasingly convinced that some of my co-religionists may be in or may soon find themselves in a situation that is similar to one Scott Adams is currently experiencing:
“in the process of rebuilding an illusion where I can live in without pain . . . but I’m not quite there yet because I can still see too much ugly. I can’t live happily in a world with this much ugly around me – not physically ugly, but ugly ideas and thoughts and stuff. I’m trying as hard as I can to rebuild a protective imaginary shield of everything’s fine when it isn’t . . it definitely isn’t . . .”
For a Romantic Christian, a world where everything isn’t fine does not represent an end – but a beginning . . .
Where the illusions fall away is where Christ lives and breathes!
Note added: I urge to watch the 46:00 to 54:00-minute segment of the video below. I post this not to "knock down" Scott Adams but to draw attention to a crucial spiritual challenge in this time and place. Take heed.
