Francis Berger's Blog, page 74
March 10, 2022
Davos Says Nyet
If mainstream news and Davos sources are to be believed, the WEF is turning its back on the world's biggest country in terms of landmass:
The World Economic Forum said Wednesday it was freezing all relations with Russian entities, and would not allow anyone on the sanctions list to take part in the annual high-powered meeting in Davos.
So, we can add the Davos Crew to the growing list of System organizations and companies giving Vlad and Co. the cold shoulder. The System is "systematically" shutting out of the eighth most populous country in the world. Moreover, Russia is also apparently preparing to "cut itself off" from the global internet.
All of this decoupling from the System surely means something in the bigger scheme of things -- despite Russia's kowtowing of the 2020 global coup and the birdemic until now.
The World Economic Forum said Wednesday it was freezing all relations with Russian entities, and would not allow anyone on the sanctions list to take part in the annual high-powered meeting in Davos.
So, we can add the Davos Crew to the growing list of System organizations and companies giving Vlad and Co. the cold shoulder. The System is "systematically" shutting out of the eighth most populous country in the world. Moreover, Russia is also apparently preparing to "cut itself off" from the global internet.
All of this decoupling from the System surely means something in the bigger scheme of things -- despite Russia's kowtowing of the 2020 global coup and the birdemic until now.
Manipulation and Coercion: An Example of How It Works
Until November of last year, I held a part-time position in a small university of applied sciences in Austria. In September, the institution implemented a heath and safety monitoring system that required every person who stepped onto the campus to show proof of being pecked, having recovered, or a negative test.
I ignored the requirements for the most part. After a couple of months, I was finally confronted. When asked why I refused to comply with rules that were put in place to keep the campus "safe", I responded that I wanted to do my job, but that I did not believe in the measures, and that they were also a direct violation of my fundamental rights.
I was immediately terminated. The "danger" I posed justified the firing and the trampling of my rights.
A week after my termination, Austria declared a nationwide peck mandate it would implement and locked down the country. A few weeks later, it eased the lock down for the pecked, but kept the unpecked locked down.
The country's media unleashed a brutal assault on the unpecked. It dehumanized them. Marginalized them. Threatened them. Lawmakers went into overdrive and issued all sorts of "none are safe until all are safe" legislation that would make life impossible for any person who chose to remain unpecked.
The legislation suggested that the unpecked would eventually be barred from employment, services, and society. They would also face hefty annual fines that were commensurate with a third or half of an average annual salary in Austria.
In the months that followed, the number of pecked adults rose from about 65% to 75%. My former place of employment embraced the peck mandate with great enthusiasm by declaring it be "the only way to end the birdemic."
The peck mandate -- which was engineered to "legally" force the peck on every single Austrian adult -- went into effect at the beginning of last month. Today, a mere four weeks later, the Austrian authorities have decided to suspend it. The reason for the suspension? "The law's encroachment of fundamental rights could no longer be justified by the danger posed."
So, aside from intensified open warfare on Austria's citizenry, what did the "none are safe until all are safe" peck mandate accomplish?
Well, it achieved nothing in terms of keeping people safe, but it did lead to a ten percent increase in the number of pecked. Simply put, it got the pecked numbers up. And that was all the mandate was meant to do.
Once the numbers stopped going up, the mandate stopped being useful because it would entail a lot of work -- messy things like implementation, fines, jail time, paperwork, etc.
This reveals that the Austrian government never had any intentions of keeping the mandate in place. It was all just manipulation aimed at coercing its citizenry into "making the personal choice" for the peck. Once the influence behind the manipulation began to fade, the whole thing was suspended.
Roughly 700,000 Austrians allowed themselves to be manipulated into the peck via the mandate and its associated terror campaign. This increase in pecked people has not increased safety in the country. It has not ended the birdemic. On the contrary, if official data is to be believed, Austria is currently experiencing an extremely high level of "cases". But who cares? What matters is this -- 700,000 "voluntarily" chose to be pecked.
You see how that works?
The next round of manipulation, which is bound to come eventually, will happen when then next big threat emerges. When that happens, the government will reverse its current logic and declare that "the danger posed can no longer justify the respect for fundamental rights." It will then focus its attention on the remaining 25% of its citizens that have thus far managed to overcome the coercion and manipulation.
The future threat may not involve in the birdemic or the peck, but rest assured it will feature some danger that can only be overcome via the three things every individual must be "forced" into "freely" choosing -- enslavement, destruction, and damnation.
I ignored the requirements for the most part. After a couple of months, I was finally confronted. When asked why I refused to comply with rules that were put in place to keep the campus "safe", I responded that I wanted to do my job, but that I did not believe in the measures, and that they were also a direct violation of my fundamental rights.
I was immediately terminated. The "danger" I posed justified the firing and the trampling of my rights.
A week after my termination, Austria declared a nationwide peck mandate it would implement and locked down the country. A few weeks later, it eased the lock down for the pecked, but kept the unpecked locked down.
The country's media unleashed a brutal assault on the unpecked. It dehumanized them. Marginalized them. Threatened them. Lawmakers went into overdrive and issued all sorts of "none are safe until all are safe" legislation that would make life impossible for any person who chose to remain unpecked.
The legislation suggested that the unpecked would eventually be barred from employment, services, and society. They would also face hefty annual fines that were commensurate with a third or half of an average annual salary in Austria.
In the months that followed, the number of pecked adults rose from about 65% to 75%. My former place of employment embraced the peck mandate with great enthusiasm by declaring it be "the only way to end the birdemic."
The peck mandate -- which was engineered to "legally" force the peck on every single Austrian adult -- went into effect at the beginning of last month. Today, a mere four weeks later, the Austrian authorities have decided to suspend it. The reason for the suspension? "The law's encroachment of fundamental rights could no longer be justified by the danger posed."
So, aside from intensified open warfare on Austria's citizenry, what did the "none are safe until all are safe" peck mandate accomplish?
Well, it achieved nothing in terms of keeping people safe, but it did lead to a ten percent increase in the number of pecked. Simply put, it got the pecked numbers up. And that was all the mandate was meant to do.
Once the numbers stopped going up, the mandate stopped being useful because it would entail a lot of work -- messy things like implementation, fines, jail time, paperwork, etc.
This reveals that the Austrian government never had any intentions of keeping the mandate in place. It was all just manipulation aimed at coercing its citizenry into "making the personal choice" for the peck. Once the influence behind the manipulation began to fade, the whole thing was suspended.
Roughly 700,000 Austrians allowed themselves to be manipulated into the peck via the mandate and its associated terror campaign. This increase in pecked people has not increased safety in the country. It has not ended the birdemic. On the contrary, if official data is to be believed, Austria is currently experiencing an extremely high level of "cases". But who cares? What matters is this -- 700,000 "voluntarily" chose to be pecked.
You see how that works?
The next round of manipulation, which is bound to come eventually, will happen when then next big threat emerges. When that happens, the government will reverse its current logic and declare that "the danger posed can no longer justify the respect for fundamental rights." It will then focus its attention on the remaining 25% of its citizens that have thus far managed to overcome the coercion and manipulation.
The future threat may not involve in the birdemic or the peck, but rest assured it will feature some danger that can only be overcome via the three things every individual must be "forced" into "freely" choosing -- enslavement, destruction, and damnation.
March 8, 2022
Cross in the Mountains: What Christianity Comes Down to Now
Cross in the Mountains (Tetschen Altarpiece) David Caspar Friedrich - 1808 David Caspar Friedrich caused quite a stir when he presented the altarpiece he had been commissioned to paint for a Catholic chapel in Tetschen, Bohemia. Unsurprisingly, his blending of landscape with Christian iconography elicited a cold reception.Some critics complained of Friedrich's attempt to smuggle landscape painting into the church. Others were annoyed by the "Germanness" of the image. Others still by its Romantic elements, which they believed to be incompatible with Christianity.
For his part, Friedrich remained true to his Romantic notions that traditional Christian iconography placed a wedge between man and God. In this sense, Christ in the Mountains is Friedrich's solution to that wedge -- the wedge he and his fellow Romantics believed kept man from experiencing a mystical union with God.
For me, Cross in the Mountains represents the epitome of what Christianity comes down to now, which is Romantic Christianity.
The painting depicts the crucified Jesus on a lonely, silhouetted golden cross upon a rock in the mountains surrounded by fir trees. He faces the two sources of light, neither of which is naturalistic in style -- the light of a sunset or sunrise, and the light of divine that emerges in five pillar-like rays from the other side of the mountain.
Christ is not only alone, He is also turned away from the viewer, toward both the natural and divine light. The viewer stands nearby, presumably on a neighboring outcrop of rock. Christ is both close and distant; and though He does not face the viewer, His image beckons the viewer to bridge the chasm and ascend the peak upon which the cross stands.
No other human figures or constructions exist within the composition. No church, chapel, cabin, or bridge stands below. No climber scales the rock face toward the cross. The world is reduced to a mauve and gray wash of sky, the mountain, the trees, and Jesus on the cross -- and the cross stands alone. Christ is alone looking over the expanse of the earth and heavens. Yet He silently invites the viewer to draw closer -- to make the personal choice, to seize the moment of freedom, and to commit to the ascent.
The painting's first critics were correct. Cross in the Mountains is not classic Christian iconography. Yet this sort of criticism hardly qualifies as criticism at all because David Caspar Friedrich had not aimed to create classic Christian iconography. On the contrary, he had aimed to paint the sort of scene in which man could experience a mystical union with God.
In this sense, Cross in the Mountains is an extremely prescient, perhaps even prophetic painting. Though he had created the work in the early nineteenth century, Friedrich appeared to have sensed the inevitable decline of conventional, external, moderate, everyday Christianity -- the inevitable decline that culminated in Nietzsche's declaration of God's death toward the end of the same century.
This acute awareness of the fading and weakening of external, conventional Christianity inspired Friedrich to seek new, unexplored means through which man's connection with the divine could be both maintained and intensified. Instead of reviving traditional motifs, Friedrich embarked on a mystical path -- the path of individual free choice separated from all Christian externals save for the image of Christ Himself.
Cross in the Mountains is an important painting because it depicts what Christianity comes down to now. For me. For you. For everyone who desires to become a serious and genuine follower of Christ. It comes down to a decision that does not depend on any externals whatsoever, but a decision that comes from within the innermost parts of ourselves -- a decision inspired by gazing up at a cross upon a summit.
A decision inspired by the crucified Jesus who calls upon you to believe on Him, to take the risk and rise above the objectified, external world, ascend the mountain, and join Him at the peak. Nothing more is needed. In fact, anything else would be too much.
The kind of mystical union with God Friedrich depicts here is available to anyone at anytime. It may soon become the only kind of authentic union available. It doesn't require mountains, mauve and gray washes of sky, or summit crosses. All it requires your free commitment to believe on Jesus and the direct knowledge that God also believes on you.
Do that, with love, and the mystical union is sealed. Now and forever.
Berdyaev on Freedom in The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor
Excerpted from The Russian Idea; bold added
A very original feature in Dostoevsky is that freedom is to him not a right of man but an obligation, a duty. Freedom is not an ease, it is a burden.
I have formulated this idea in this way, that it is not man who demands freedom from God, but God who demands freedom from man, and in this freedom He sees the worth and dignity of the God-likeness of man.
On this account the Grand Inquisitor reproaches Christ on the ground that He has proceeded as though He did not love man, by laying upon him the burden of freedom.
The Grand Inquisitor himself desires to bestow upon millions and millions of people the happiness of feeble infants, by withdrawing from them the burden of freedom which is beyond their strength, taking from them freedom of spirit.
. . .
The denial of freedom of the spirit is to Dostoevsky the temptation of the antichrist.
Authoritarianism is the principle of antichrist. This is the most extreme form of the rejection of authority and compulsion which the history of Christianity knows, and Dostoevsky here passes beyond the frontiers of historical Orthodoxy and historical Christianity in general an eschatological Christianity and a Christianity of the spirit, and discloses the prophetic side of Christianity.
A very original feature in Dostoevsky is that freedom is to him not a right of man but an obligation, a duty. Freedom is not an ease, it is a burden.
I have formulated this idea in this way, that it is not man who demands freedom from God, but God who demands freedom from man, and in this freedom He sees the worth and dignity of the God-likeness of man.
On this account the Grand Inquisitor reproaches Christ on the ground that He has proceeded as though He did not love man, by laying upon him the burden of freedom.
The Grand Inquisitor himself desires to bestow upon millions and millions of people the happiness of feeble infants, by withdrawing from them the burden of freedom which is beyond their strength, taking from them freedom of spirit.
. . .
The denial of freedom of the spirit is to Dostoevsky the temptation of the antichrist.
Authoritarianism is the principle of antichrist. This is the most extreme form of the rejection of authority and compulsion which the history of Christianity knows, and Dostoevsky here passes beyond the frontiers of historical Orthodoxy and historical Christianity in general an eschatological Christianity and a Christianity of the spirit, and discloses the prophetic side of Christianity.
March 7, 2022
Listen to What is Not Being Said
Any communication from the System is manipulation, not communication.
Analyzing the manipulation as manipulation is one way to determine "what is going on". Another way to examine System manipulation is to focus on what the System is not talking about or broadcasting.
This is particularly relevant when it pertains to certain themes that the System had previously obsessed over but then -- suddenly and mysteriously -- no longer talks about or broadcasts.
System noise is manipulation containing mostly lies. Conversely, System silence tends to communicate a great deal.
Hear that silence. Listen to what is not being said.
Analyzing the manipulation as manipulation is one way to determine "what is going on". Another way to examine System manipulation is to focus on what the System is not talking about or broadcasting.
This is particularly relevant when it pertains to certain themes that the System had previously obsessed over but then -- suddenly and mysteriously -- no longer talks about or broadcasts.
System noise is manipulation containing mostly lies. Conversely, System silence tends to communicate a great deal.
Hear that silence. Listen to what is not being said.
March 6, 2022
A Few Thoughts Concerning Those Who Call For the Emergence of a Stronger West
I've encountered many posts and articles speculating about how the West can use the current war as an opportunity to "emerge stronger."
This line of thinking immediately raises a couple of key questions.
First, what is "the West" to which the authors are referring?
Second, what is the nature of the "stronger emergence" these authors imagine?
One would like to assume that the authors and thinkers currently endorsing the West and its "stronger emergence" believe in the central characteristics of the West as a civilization. These central characteristics include:
DemocracyRational thinkingIndividualismChristianityCapitalismModern technologyHuman rightsScientific thinking
Thus, when said authors speculate about how the West can emerge stronger, they are undoubtedly committing themselves to the potential ways in which the characteristics noted above can be defended and fortified.
On the surface, this is all very noble and high-minded, but it ignores an essential and glaring reality -- the West has not only abandoned all of its central civilizational characteristics, it is also presently waging war against all them, to the point that it is not outlandish to declare that all of the central characteristics of Western Civilization have already been destroyed and are, effectively, a thing of the past.
So, what is Western Civilization today? The simplest way to conceptualize it is to put the prefix "anti" before every single one of the central characteristics noted above and before the many other highborn characteristics not included on that list.
Thus, the West is presently:
Anti-democracyAnti-rational thinkingAnti-individualism (unless its in the form of "alone together atomization and alienation")Anti-Christianity (unless it is sycophantic System Christianity)Anti-capitalismAnti-modern technology (unless it is used to control, enslave, monitor, distract, destroy, and damn)Anti-human rights (unless the rights are manufactured, perverted "rights"Anti-scientific thinking (no real explanation required)
For this reason, anyone who calls for the emergence of a "stronger" West is in fact calling for the nourishing and buttressing of a blatantly evil System that is not only anti-West in the most fundamental of ways, but also anti-God and Creation.
Anyone calling for the materialization of a stronger West is -- knowingly or unknowingly -- calling for the continued development of an evil, soulless, dishonest, enslaving, soul-destroying, satanic, technocratic, form of anti-God and anti-Creation totalitarianism hellbent on destruction and damnation.
Furthermore, anyone who fails to recognize or understand that the West has already been thoroughly gutted and fatally corrupted is either hopelessly deluded or intentionally evil. There is no gray area here!
Equally important, anyone who believes that the "classic" concept of the West can be revived is either pitifully confused, woefully deranged, or intentionally devious.
The previous form of the West cannot be reinstalled on a whim. Notwithstanding, the West, in its current form, cannot be allowed to continue.
None of this is easy to say, let alone accept, especially for us Westerners. Yet it must be said, and it must be accepted. To do otherwise is to set oneself up for damnation.
I, for one, do not want the emergence of a "stronger West" because to desire such a thing in this time and place is to desire the destruction of God and Creation.
Any "stronger emergence" of the West at this point in history will result in the strengthening of satanic totalitarianism.
What I want is the emergence of a God-aligned West. I sense that we'll get there eventually, but only after this catastrophic period of darkness, despiritualization, dehumanization, decomposition, and destruction is recognized for what it is and thoroughly rejected and repented.
The West is effectively dead. What parades around as the West now is not the West, but the anti-West. The West's only hope lies in resurrection, but this necessitates serious repentance as well as the desire for divine transformation and new life.
This line of thinking immediately raises a couple of key questions.
First, what is "the West" to which the authors are referring?
Second, what is the nature of the "stronger emergence" these authors imagine?
One would like to assume that the authors and thinkers currently endorsing the West and its "stronger emergence" believe in the central characteristics of the West as a civilization. These central characteristics include:
DemocracyRational thinkingIndividualismChristianityCapitalismModern technologyHuman rightsScientific thinking
Thus, when said authors speculate about how the West can emerge stronger, they are undoubtedly committing themselves to the potential ways in which the characteristics noted above can be defended and fortified.
On the surface, this is all very noble and high-minded, but it ignores an essential and glaring reality -- the West has not only abandoned all of its central civilizational characteristics, it is also presently waging war against all them, to the point that it is not outlandish to declare that all of the central characteristics of Western Civilization have already been destroyed and are, effectively, a thing of the past.
So, what is Western Civilization today? The simplest way to conceptualize it is to put the prefix "anti" before every single one of the central characteristics noted above and before the many other highborn characteristics not included on that list.
Thus, the West is presently:
Anti-democracyAnti-rational thinkingAnti-individualism (unless its in the form of "alone together atomization and alienation")Anti-Christianity (unless it is sycophantic System Christianity)Anti-capitalismAnti-modern technology (unless it is used to control, enslave, monitor, distract, destroy, and damn)Anti-human rights (unless the rights are manufactured, perverted "rights"Anti-scientific thinking (no real explanation required)
For this reason, anyone who calls for the emergence of a "stronger" West is in fact calling for the nourishing and buttressing of a blatantly evil System that is not only anti-West in the most fundamental of ways, but also anti-God and Creation.
Anyone calling for the materialization of a stronger West is -- knowingly or unknowingly -- calling for the continued development of an evil, soulless, dishonest, enslaving, soul-destroying, satanic, technocratic, form of anti-God and anti-Creation totalitarianism hellbent on destruction and damnation.
Furthermore, anyone who fails to recognize or understand that the West has already been thoroughly gutted and fatally corrupted is either hopelessly deluded or intentionally evil. There is no gray area here!
Equally important, anyone who believes that the "classic" concept of the West can be revived is either pitifully confused, woefully deranged, or intentionally devious.
The previous form of the West cannot be reinstalled on a whim. Notwithstanding, the West, in its current form, cannot be allowed to continue.
None of this is easy to say, let alone accept, especially for us Westerners. Yet it must be said, and it must be accepted. To do otherwise is to set oneself up for damnation.
I, for one, do not want the emergence of a "stronger West" because to desire such a thing in this time and place is to desire the destruction of God and Creation.
Any "stronger emergence" of the West at this point in history will result in the strengthening of satanic totalitarianism.
What I want is the emergence of a God-aligned West. I sense that we'll get there eventually, but only after this catastrophic period of darkness, despiritualization, dehumanization, decomposition, and destruction is recognized for what it is and thoroughly rejected and repented.
The West is effectively dead. What parades around as the West now is not the West, but the anti-West. The West's only hope lies in resurrection, but this necessitates serious repentance as well as the desire for divine transformation and new life.
March 5, 2022
System Distancing Must Remain In Place Even as Birdemic Measures Are Lifted
The draconian birdemic measures that have been a hallmark of the 2020 global totalitarian coup are currently being rolled back all around the world. The removal of these restrictive, nonsensical, and humiliating restrictions create a feeling of relief and consolation. After two long years are finally being provided with the opportunity to return to some semblance of normal. The world begins making sense again. We allow the confusion, injustice, and outrage of the past two years slowly fade and allow ourselves to be tugged toward a feeling of warm complacency about the present and the future.
Though welcome as a development, the lifting of birdemic measures does not signify the end of the 2020 global totalitarian coup. On the contrary, it may portend an intensification of satanic totalitarianism by other means.
First, the easing of birdemic measures inspires us to lower our guard. Instead of demanding answers and repentance, we succumb to the temptation of getting back to business of day-to-day life as if the events of the past years had never occurred. Instead of remaining vigilant in our discernment, we give into the temptation of re-trusting the System. Instead of applying all we have learned to our continued spiritual learning and growth, we dive back into the hullabaloo of the "liberated" world.
Second, we are lulled back toward the fantasy of a spiritually neutral or benevolent System. We face the risk of considering the lifted restrictions as evidence of self-correcting mechanisms within the System. Instead of remaining steadfast in our discernment of obvious spiritual evil, we start giving the System the benefit of the doubt. We begin to entertain all sorts of excuses and explanations for the evil we personally experienced.
Lastly, the lifting of birdemic measures now does not rule out the re-introduction of birdemic measures in the future. Equally important, the easing of measures does not negate the plethora of other weapons the System has deployed against us in its war of destruction and damnation. For example, not wearing a mask won't mean all that much if we are inexplicably frozen out of our bank accounts, or if our country's currency suddenly collapses, or if the price of groceries doubles overnight. I'm not saying these things will happen. What I am saying is that lifted measures does not mean the end of the war.
The only way to counter all of this is to maintain system distancing:
. . . the first and most crucial step is to acknowledge the System as evil – not merely corrupted or slightly debased, but evil – evil in motivation and evil in design.
Part of this acknowledgment involves the understanding that the evil in the System is, fittingly enough, systematic.
More specifically, that the evil present in the System is not the result of unfortunate but inevitable glitches, flaws, defects, screw-ups, missteps, mismanagement, or malfunctions occurring in an arrangement that is otherwise fundamentally “good”, but the realization that the evil in the System is intentional, planned, orderly, organized, routine, efficient, precise, methodical, all-encompassing, and businesslike . . .
. . . Any attempt to utilize any part of the System to reform, rejuvenate, or re-align the System as a whole is not only futile, but counterproductive. Rather than bring reform and rejuvenation, attempts to use the System for good are quickly absorbed, inverted, and used for evil by the System itself.
Thus, System distancing involves the comprehension that any faith or belief in the System as a principal force for Good is not only false, but enslaving.
The choice to spiritually distance yourself from the System is literally the choice between freedom and slavery . . .
The dangers of not maintaining system distancing are already apparent. It's troubling to witness how many people have already sided with the System in its current rallying cry against a "hot" war, while simultaneously forgetting all about the evil the System made them endure in their own countries over the past two years. And that's just the tip of the iceberg!
System distancing is a spiritual imperative for all serious Christians. As such, it should not be thought of as an option , but as a duty .
But this requires two key points of understanding:
1. The System is irredeemably evil. It's only objectives are damnation and destruction.
2. Any spiritual thinking/action that remains confined within and dependent on the System serves the System, not God and Creation. The only way to serve God and Creation is to think and be outside the System.
Whenever people succeed in thinking/acting/being outside the System, they succeed (for a while at least) at becoming instruments of divine providence:
Divine providence provides the positive imperative of system distancing with a graspable and utilizable motivation that extends beyond merely freeing ourselves from the System. Divine providence bestows much-needed depth to the spiritual motivation of becoming free-for God via system distancing.
A truly active, positive motivation!
Though welcome as a development, the lifting of birdemic measures does not signify the end of the 2020 global totalitarian coup. On the contrary, it may portend an intensification of satanic totalitarianism by other means.
First, the easing of birdemic measures inspires us to lower our guard. Instead of demanding answers and repentance, we succumb to the temptation of getting back to business of day-to-day life as if the events of the past years had never occurred. Instead of remaining vigilant in our discernment, we give into the temptation of re-trusting the System. Instead of applying all we have learned to our continued spiritual learning and growth, we dive back into the hullabaloo of the "liberated" world.
Second, we are lulled back toward the fantasy of a spiritually neutral or benevolent System. We face the risk of considering the lifted restrictions as evidence of self-correcting mechanisms within the System. Instead of remaining steadfast in our discernment of obvious spiritual evil, we start giving the System the benefit of the doubt. We begin to entertain all sorts of excuses and explanations for the evil we personally experienced.
Lastly, the lifting of birdemic measures now does not rule out the re-introduction of birdemic measures in the future. Equally important, the easing of measures does not negate the plethora of other weapons the System has deployed against us in its war of destruction and damnation. For example, not wearing a mask won't mean all that much if we are inexplicably frozen out of our bank accounts, or if our country's currency suddenly collapses, or if the price of groceries doubles overnight. I'm not saying these things will happen. What I am saying is that lifted measures does not mean the end of the war.
The only way to counter all of this is to maintain system distancing:
. . . the first and most crucial step is to acknowledge the System as evil – not merely corrupted or slightly debased, but evil – evil in motivation and evil in design.
Part of this acknowledgment involves the understanding that the evil in the System is, fittingly enough, systematic.
More specifically, that the evil present in the System is not the result of unfortunate but inevitable glitches, flaws, defects, screw-ups, missteps, mismanagement, or malfunctions occurring in an arrangement that is otherwise fundamentally “good”, but the realization that the evil in the System is intentional, planned, orderly, organized, routine, efficient, precise, methodical, all-encompassing, and businesslike . . .
. . . Any attempt to utilize any part of the System to reform, rejuvenate, or re-align the System as a whole is not only futile, but counterproductive. Rather than bring reform and rejuvenation, attempts to use the System for good are quickly absorbed, inverted, and used for evil by the System itself.
Thus, System distancing involves the comprehension that any faith or belief in the System as a principal force for Good is not only false, but enslaving.
The choice to spiritually distance yourself from the System is literally the choice between freedom and slavery . . .
The dangers of not maintaining system distancing are already apparent. It's troubling to witness how many people have already sided with the System in its current rallying cry against a "hot" war, while simultaneously forgetting all about the evil the System made them endure in their own countries over the past two years. And that's just the tip of the iceberg!
System distancing is a spiritual imperative for all serious Christians. As such, it should not be thought of as an option , but as a duty .
But this requires two key points of understanding:
1. The System is irredeemably evil. It's only objectives are damnation and destruction.
2. Any spiritual thinking/action that remains confined within and dependent on the System serves the System, not God and Creation. The only way to serve God and Creation is to think and be outside the System.
Whenever people succeed in thinking/acting/being outside the System, they succeed (for a while at least) at becoming instruments of divine providence:
Divine providence provides the positive imperative of system distancing with a graspable and utilizable motivation that extends beyond merely freeing ourselves from the System. Divine providence bestows much-needed depth to the spiritual motivation of becoming free-for God via system distancing.
A truly active, positive motivation!
March 4, 2022
Recognizing Lies Is Not The Same As Discovering Truth
Spiritual discernment has become a major theme of this blog, mostly because there doesn't appear to be a great deal of it happening in the world today. The glaring lack of spiritual discernment is understandable. After all, people who have effectively despiritualized themselves cannot be expected to make sound spiritual judgments or exhibit profound spiritual wisdom. Nor can they be relied upon to make any sort of sound judgment or exhibit much wisdom about anything.
Obvious examples of this are the predictable Pavlovian reactions to the current "hot" war projected against the mystifying obliviousness of the "secret" war of the 2020 global totalitarian coup and the birdemic, both of which remain major elements of the largely dismissed and denied spiritual war of evil against God and Creation.
This does not imply that all Christians began to salivate the moment the Establishment started ringing its latest external stimulus bell. On the contrary, some immediately recognized the lies flooding the world. This indicates of a certain level of awareness, perspicacity, and sagacity.
Detecting lies is an indispensable part of spiritual discernment, and it serves as a foundation that supports the other elements and qualities of discernment. Yet discernment that begins and ends at detecting lies is no better than a foundation upon which nothing is ever built. This is particularly true of Christian spiritual discernment, the ultimate purpose of which is personal and responsible decision-making that aligns with God's will and Creation.
Getting to the point at which knowledge is gained or a personal decision can be made involves going from the external to the internal and employing our innermost spiritual resources to open up a conduit for divine communication. The key here is not to find the "truth" behind some event like the current, heavily-promoted "hot" war, but to discover what such external events reveal about the innermost, divine aspect of ourselves in relation to God and Creation.
That is the truth that matters because it enables spiritual learning and proper action. More importantly, this activity "creates a truth" into Creation, a truth that had not fully existed before the spiritual discernment took place.
Those who lack spiritual discernment are conditioned to respond to whatever external stimulus or force happens to impose itself onto the screens of consciousness. Some people will ignore the external stimuli and continue occupying themselves with other external stimuli. Others will fully internalize the external stimuli and offer nothing beyond the level of conditioned responses.
Those who are able to detect the lies behind the external stimuli but make no effort to determine deeper levels of discernment leading to truth -- not about the external event but about the divine self and its connection and relation to God and Creation -- neglect a vital and positive aspect of spiritual discernment.
Those who detect lies in the external world and use the awareness to discover how it can increase alignment with God and Creation -- with a particular emphasis on Jesus -- move beyond mere perception and move toward the act of creation. Instead of merely recognizing and rejecting falsehood, this level of spiritual discernment strives toward truth -- not abstract, distant truth, but the personal, concrete truth of God and Creation.
I believe this connects well with the C.H Spurgeon's famous quote, "Discernment is not simply a matter of telling the difference between right and wrong, rather it is the difference between right and almost right."
Perceiving lies and falsehoods in the external world is the state of almost right. Being fully right involves using that perception to discover personal spiritual truths, which inevitably involves thinking, decision-making, and, perhaps, action.
I believe this ties in well with Solzhenitsyn's reformulation of the old Russian proverb: One word of truth shall outweigh the whole world.
Perceiving a lie is important, but this perception alone does little to reveal or bring truth into the world. Only the deeper levels of spiritual discernment can do that. Activating these levels involves turning inward and thinking in a primary, heart-oriented way. This sort of thinking may lead to a direct kind of knowing that is not dependent on the external world. Truth that is discovered at that level of spiritual discernment will equal the one word of truth that outweighs the world -- even if the one word of truth is never explicitly communicated to the external world.
Obvious examples of this are the predictable Pavlovian reactions to the current "hot" war projected against the mystifying obliviousness of the "secret" war of the 2020 global totalitarian coup and the birdemic, both of which remain major elements of the largely dismissed and denied spiritual war of evil against God and Creation.
This does not imply that all Christians began to salivate the moment the Establishment started ringing its latest external stimulus bell. On the contrary, some immediately recognized the lies flooding the world. This indicates of a certain level of awareness, perspicacity, and sagacity.
Detecting lies is an indispensable part of spiritual discernment, and it serves as a foundation that supports the other elements and qualities of discernment. Yet discernment that begins and ends at detecting lies is no better than a foundation upon which nothing is ever built. This is particularly true of Christian spiritual discernment, the ultimate purpose of which is personal and responsible decision-making that aligns with God's will and Creation.
Getting to the point at which knowledge is gained or a personal decision can be made involves going from the external to the internal and employing our innermost spiritual resources to open up a conduit for divine communication. The key here is not to find the "truth" behind some event like the current, heavily-promoted "hot" war, but to discover what such external events reveal about the innermost, divine aspect of ourselves in relation to God and Creation.
That is the truth that matters because it enables spiritual learning and proper action. More importantly, this activity "creates a truth" into Creation, a truth that had not fully existed before the spiritual discernment took place.
Those who lack spiritual discernment are conditioned to respond to whatever external stimulus or force happens to impose itself onto the screens of consciousness. Some people will ignore the external stimuli and continue occupying themselves with other external stimuli. Others will fully internalize the external stimuli and offer nothing beyond the level of conditioned responses.
Those who are able to detect the lies behind the external stimuli but make no effort to determine deeper levels of discernment leading to truth -- not about the external event but about the divine self and its connection and relation to God and Creation -- neglect a vital and positive aspect of spiritual discernment.
Those who detect lies in the external world and use the awareness to discover how it can increase alignment with God and Creation -- with a particular emphasis on Jesus -- move beyond mere perception and move toward the act of creation. Instead of merely recognizing and rejecting falsehood, this level of spiritual discernment strives toward truth -- not abstract, distant truth, but the personal, concrete truth of God and Creation.
I believe this connects well with the C.H Spurgeon's famous quote, "Discernment is not simply a matter of telling the difference between right and wrong, rather it is the difference between right and almost right."
Perceiving lies and falsehoods in the external world is the state of almost right. Being fully right involves using that perception to discover personal spiritual truths, which inevitably involves thinking, decision-making, and, perhaps, action.
I believe this ties in well with Solzhenitsyn's reformulation of the old Russian proverb: One word of truth shall outweigh the whole world.
Perceiving a lie is important, but this perception alone does little to reveal or bring truth into the world. Only the deeper levels of spiritual discernment can do that. Activating these levels involves turning inward and thinking in a primary, heart-oriented way. This sort of thinking may lead to a direct kind of knowing that is not dependent on the external world. Truth that is discovered at that level of spiritual discernment will equal the one word of truth that outweighs the world -- even if the one word of truth is never explicitly communicated to the external world.
No "Order" From Chaos, Please
If there was ever a point to bring the destructive events triggered by the 2020 global totalitarian coup to a screeching halt and reverse them, then it's somewhere behind us, hidden in the chalky residue of the past two years.
Though possible, the emergence of other pivots or inflection points in the future seems unlikely. The Establishment will get the chaos They seek, but They will fail to impose the planned order They so eagerly wish to impose.
Destruction is not merely coming, it's already here, and it will continue to be here for the foreseeable future. The Establishment currently welcome the destruction because They believe They control of it.
That may have been the case a few months ago, but like the potential reversal point mentioned above, the Establishment's control also resides in the past. In the present, They are merely managing the destruction. Soon the destruction will be managing Them.
Worldly means can no longer halt the destruction the Establishment has unleashed. On the contrary, such means will only serve to exacerbate the destruction. The more conditions deteriorate, the more the Establishment's dark dream of imposing Their anti-human order will fade. The destruction will intensify, and the Establishment will discover that the only thing They will be able to pull from the chaos is more chaos.
The chaos will swallow everything. It will not allow any order to emerge from it. But if we're fortunate, Reality could push through instead.
So when the time comes, yearn not for order . . .
Though possible, the emergence of other pivots or inflection points in the future seems unlikely. The Establishment will get the chaos They seek, but They will fail to impose the planned order They so eagerly wish to impose.
Destruction is not merely coming, it's already here, and it will continue to be here for the foreseeable future. The Establishment currently welcome the destruction because They believe They control of it.
That may have been the case a few months ago, but like the potential reversal point mentioned above, the Establishment's control also resides in the past. In the present, They are merely managing the destruction. Soon the destruction will be managing Them.
Worldly means can no longer halt the destruction the Establishment has unleashed. On the contrary, such means will only serve to exacerbate the destruction. The more conditions deteriorate, the more the Establishment's dark dream of imposing Their anti-human order will fade. The destruction will intensify, and the Establishment will discover that the only thing They will be able to pull from the chaos is more chaos.
The chaos will swallow everything. It will not allow any order to emerge from it. But if we're fortunate, Reality could push through instead.
So when the time comes, yearn not for order . . .
They Are All Great, But My Favorite Dance Is the Fourth
It figures that the most widely-known "Hungarian" compositions were the brainchild of a German rather than a Magyar.
I am speaking of course of Johannes Brahms and his 21 Ungarische Tänze. Brahms was essentially a Romantic composer, which helps to explain his attraction to the lively themes and movements inherent in traditional Magyar folk songs and csárdás . Equally important is the underlying attraction to the emotions within these folk songs and dances, emotions that epitomize the paradoxes of the Magyar soul (or psyche).
Fundamental among these paradoxes is an incredible capacity for stoicism in the face of suffering and hardship coupled with the carefree and often reckless surrender to joy, particularly when there is seemingly nothing tangible about which to be joyful.
Encountering the Magyar psyche is akin to riding a roller coaster while blindfolded -- long, drawn-out periods of seeming calm and expectation suddenly punctured by exhilarating, dizzying, thrilling and, occasionally, gut-wrenching turns, twists, and plunges.
The Magyar psyche is the sort of psyche that can attend a funeral and a wedding on the same day and embrace the contrasting emotions immanent in both fully and completely. Put another way, the Hungarians can go from melancholy to elation about as quickly as most race cars can go from zero to sixty.
Brahms captures this innate whiplash of emotion with outstanding precision in his Hungarian Dances, the most famous of which are Dance 1 in G Minor - Allegro Molto and Dance 5 in F♯ Minor: Allegro - Vivace (see below).
I love these and all the rest, but if I had to pick my favorite, I would choose Dance 4 in F Minor - Poco sostenuto Vivace because I believe it best reflects my own experience of Hungary and the Magyar soul.
I am speaking of course of Johannes Brahms and his 21 Ungarische Tänze. Brahms was essentially a Romantic composer, which helps to explain his attraction to the lively themes and movements inherent in traditional Magyar folk songs and csárdás . Equally important is the underlying attraction to the emotions within these folk songs and dances, emotions that epitomize the paradoxes of the Magyar soul (or psyche).
Fundamental among these paradoxes is an incredible capacity for stoicism in the face of suffering and hardship coupled with the carefree and often reckless surrender to joy, particularly when there is seemingly nothing tangible about which to be joyful.
Encountering the Magyar psyche is akin to riding a roller coaster while blindfolded -- long, drawn-out periods of seeming calm and expectation suddenly punctured by exhilarating, dizzying, thrilling and, occasionally, gut-wrenching turns, twists, and plunges.
The Magyar psyche is the sort of psyche that can attend a funeral and a wedding on the same day and embrace the contrasting emotions immanent in both fully and completely. Put another way, the Hungarians can go from melancholy to elation about as quickly as most race cars can go from zero to sixty.
Brahms captures this innate whiplash of emotion with outstanding precision in his Hungarian Dances, the most famous of which are Dance 1 in G Minor - Allegro Molto and Dance 5 in F♯ Minor: Allegro - Vivace (see below).
I love these and all the rest, but if I had to pick my favorite, I would choose Dance 4 in F Minor - Poco sostenuto Vivace because I believe it best reflects my own experience of Hungary and the Magyar soul.
