Jim Palmer's Blog, page 15
January 17, 2015
The guts of the inner anarchy message
In a nutshell the Inner anarchy message involves the following things.
First, it involves turning away from those false beliefs, mindsets, narratives and ideologies that have been ruling our lives from within. For example, one of the false narratives that rule people’s lives is the religious teaching that we are all sinners and inherently bad inside. This false teaching includes the idea that we are rejected by God in our natural state and need forgiveness for who we are. It also carries this idea that we are all basically hopeless and powerless apart from the help and assistance of some God located somewhere beyond the clouds in the sky.
Inner Anarchy is also turning toward our deep feelings inside that emanate from that Spirit mind/source/dimension within us. Many of us have had those moments when something triggered deep feelings within us in which we felt something that didn’t line up with what we’ve always been told about ourselves, others, the world and life itself. Perhaps those feelings opened up inside and you had a deep sense that none of us are separated from each other and that we all comprise one connected human family, joined together in a bond of love. Maybe you felt this but doubted or dismissed it, or didn’t know quite what to make of it.
The third aspect of inner anarchy is lifting those deep feelings up out of ourselves into the world by speaking them naturally to one another in our own words. Most people operate out of their heads and all those beliefs, mindsets, narratives and ideologies that have been programmed inside them. Inner anarchy is switching sources from that stuff in your head to what is real in your deep feelings. But it’s not complete until we lift those deep feelings out of us and speak them naturally in our own words to each other. It takes some real courage to do this.
Lastly, inner anarchy is cultivating a true and authentic togetherness among us and others based on the common life, Spirit and source that run through us all. When we start listening to and lifting up what is real in our deep feelings than there will be a physical manifestation of what these deep feelings shows us in the real world. Those deep feelings have real power and authority to bring the old order down and to birth a new world.
I wrote the book Inner Anarchy to share this message. Here are a few ways to explore it further:
About Inner Anarchy
Inner Anarchy FAQ
Inner Anarchy on Amazon
Can our deep feelings save the world?
There a couple questions that came up this week that I answered in YouTube videos. One question was about these words of Jesus, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” So I did a YouTube video on the question: Is Jesus the only way to God?
The other question is about these “deep feelings” I’m often referring to with respect to inner anarchy. The question was: What exactly are these “deep feelings,” and are they different from our daily human emotions? I discuss this in this YouTube video.
January 15, 2015
Is Jesus the only way to God? #inneranarchy
A question came up in the Inner Anarchy Group yesterday about these words of Jesus, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” So, I decided to do a YouTube video on the question: Is Jesus the only way to God?
Stop arguing your beliefs!
It’s often the case that we have people with different belief systems battling each other. The way this works is that you attack what you consider false or detrimental beliefs in people by launching your so-called correct beliefs upon them. We can’t do this anymore. It doesn’t work.
First off, what we’re after can’t be worked out on the level of beliefs. Two people contending against each other with their beliefs are both part of the problem, regardless of how enlightened and progressive one might consider their beliefs to be. If we use belief systems to attack other belief systems then we are both stuck in the same corrupted cosmos realm. They are actually the same power source, and it get’s us nowhere.
There is never any real conflict between any of us… ever. Any significant conflict that happens between human beings is happening on the level of beliefs. There is never any conflict between the real you and the real me, and this applies to all of us. Any significant conflict that happens is happening behind the scenes on the level of the beliefs we are dragging around. What we have is a battle against belief systems, not other humans, although they will be manifesting these beliefs. People all over the world are being ruled and driven within by all kinds of beliefs, mindsets, narratives and ideologies. The way out of this is not to attack each other on this level.
So what do we do? We switch sources. We have to get out of this belief-system mentality and speak from what is real in our deep feelings. When we operate from that source we are activating that dimension within us that has true power an authority. That same source you are speaking from is also within them, which opens the possibility of you and that person connecting on a real level. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to happen and they may keep operating out of their heads, but at least you open that door of possibility that could have an impact in that moment or later.
The world and humankind is currently in gridlock because people are fighting things out on the level of belief-systems. You and I have to bust up that game! Firstly, we have to stop playing this game ourselves! Get out of your head and stop trying to battle against people with your new and improved and more enlightened belief system or philosophy. Instead, turn to what is real in your deep feelings and speak from them. Make the switch! Let fly what is real in our deep feelings and don’t fret over it. Speaking from that place has power and authority, and you have the whole “kingdom of heaven” behind you.
January 14, 2015
January 13, 2015
If Jesus offered freedom, why are Christians in chains?
“Jesus offered freedom but everywhere Christians are in chains.
It is because they were falsely led to believe that by adding Jesus to their lives by saying the “sinner’s prayer,” or “accepting Jesus as their savior,” or “becoming born again,” etc… that life would be complete. This is magical thinking. Jesus never said that he would save or free anyone. He did not say, “I will set you free.” His exact words were, “When you know the truth, the truth will set you free.” What sets you free? THE TRUTH.
Jesus never caused anyone to be saved. First off, you don’t need to be saved – not from God, not from yourself, not from sin. You do, however, need to cast aside your spiritual ignorance. But even this Jesus cannot do for you. It’s not something anyone can do for anyone else.
The idea of conversion transformation is yet another example of magical thinking that is pinned on Jesus. The idea is that if you “accept Jesus as your savior,” “get saved,” or become “born again,” then everything will instantly be fixed in your life. Jesus never said this. You couldn’t get any closer to Jesus than his first disciples and they were clueless half the time. Why? Because they would not accept, embrace, or walk in the reality of the truth Jesus taught and demonstrated. It’s the same then as it is now – you must embrace the truth in order to be free. There is no substitute for that – not even the nice-sounding Christian formulas.”
- Jim Palmer, Notes from (Over) the Edge
January 11, 2015
Stop acquiescing!
We are suffering from mutual acquiescence. It is the social adhesive that cements the bricks of oppression which structure our daily lives into a wall of domination. False religious and worldly beliefs, mindsets, narratives and ideologies do their business in our heads… and we let them.
We must ferment disorder – that is, destabilize all those false beliefs, mindsets and ideologies that have been ruling in our head. How? We turn away from them. We start listening to, trusting and following what is real in our deep feelings.
It is not true that if people are left to their own devices than they are corrupt and will do corrupt things. This is what the systems of this world want people to believe in order to legitimize their existence. What is corrupt are the notions, beliefs, and mindsets that have been programmed into our heads. If each of us began to listen, trust and follow what is real in our deep feelings than we could birth a world and leave all those systems behind.
There is a physical manifestation of us learning to lift up what is real within our deep feelings. When we start speaking to one another from that dimension and following what is real deep inside us, a new atmosphere will open up and an authentic togetherness will break onto the scene. What happens from there is probably beyond what any of us can imagine. What I am finding along the everyday paths of life is that there all kinds of people who feel like something is shifting and are open for something new to happen. I think they feel it inside themselves but not quite sure what it is or what yet to make of it.
January 9, 2015
How the Christian religion dropped the ball #inneranarchy
“The Christian church has constructed a belief system that denies and twists the powerful spiritual truths that Jesus taught and lived, and in so doing has preached a powerless gospel that has led countless people into a religious maze that goes nowhere. Our colossal error was telling people that they are inherently bad, separated from God, and should not trust what is inside them.
For the past two thousand years the Christian religion has been the immovable stone that has sealed off the tomb of the eternal life-giving Spirit within us. Christian leadership can’t even come to a unified agreement and oneness among themselves. Surely that fact alone gives us grounds to rethink a few things.
I was once one of those religious leaders. As I mentioned in the first chapter, I was the seminary graduate with a master of divinity degree. I was the successful senior pastor whom people turned to for truth. I was the religious leader and Bible expert whom people trusted. But I was the one who preached that powerless gospel, held up that carrot and the stick, handcuffed people to that false God, misrepresented Jesus, and misused the Bible—all the while claiming to be divinely anointed. I was sincere in doing all of these things, but I was sincerely wrong and ignorant.
This is an appeal to others out there like me. We are the “priesthood” that dropped the ball. We created quite the clusterfuck that has led people in circles for centuries. We have sufficiently buried the entire spiritual dimension that could have saved this world beneath layer upon layer of theological doctrines, worldly mindsets, and religious constructs that have no power. We have conditioned people into a dependency upon external things—Sky God (aka “Father”), the institutional Christian system (aka “church”), religious dogma (aka “Bible”), and religious gurus (aka “pastors,” “authors,” “spiritual leaders,” and “teachers”)—and have failed to connect people to the eternal, life-giving Spirit within them.”
- Jim Palmer, Inner Anarchy
The Charlie Hebdo Question – “How do we fight against radical ideologies?”
This morning I was watching the raids in France that killed 3 terrorists, including the two wanted in the Charlie Hebdo attack. “How do you fight against radical ideologies?” – this was a question that a panel of people were discussing on CNN. I have the answer.
There are no enemies. I wrote in Inner Anarchy:
But consider the possibility that the current futility of the world is actually no one’s fault. The world is simply the way it is as scientists describe it. There are no people to blame or scapegoat for the suffering and misery of our existence. There is no person or people who are the enemy. Then what is? Isn’t the enemy the beliefs that rule and drive us from within, and many of those beliefs have existed for thousands of years?
Solving the crisis of our world is not a matter of removing certain individuals or groups from positions of power. It goes deeper than that. The enemy is not the people, but the attitudes, narratives, mindsets, and belief systems that have poisoned us all and rule in our minds. These are the principalities and powers that have cast a darkness over our world, and they must be challenged and struck down. If you want to get angry about something, get angry at the false myths and ideologies that are governing our existence. Here’s something else to get angry about—these ideas, myths, and ideologies are living inside your mind and ruling your life right now!
The truth is there is never any real conflict between any of us… ever. Any significant conflict that happens between people is happening on the level of beliefs – it’s when those beliefs, mindsets, narratives and ideologies that are ruling within us clash with the beliefs, mindsets, narratives and ideologies inside another. At its most horrific level, the manifestation of these warring belief-systems within us is what we saw happen in the Charlie Hebdo massacre, and all the inner volatility that led to it.
There is never any conflict between the real you and the real me. There was no conflict between the real person inside the Kouachi brothers and the real person inside the Charlie Hebdo victims.
No person is the enemy. In our real selves we are not in conflict with any person. The enemy is the stuff that has been programmed into our heads and running our lives. How do we solve this? Anarchy!
We need anarchy! It’s time to revolt.
Yes, anarchy! Not political anarchy, but inner anarchy, in which we topple, dethrone, defrock, kick out, and cast aside the current ruling ideas that are programmed inside us. Those ideas have failed miserably. They were given plenty of time and opportunity to prove their legitimacy, and they have not succeeded. They cunningly and ruthlessly rule over us and continue to argue and fight among each other on the battleground inside us. This is the day of reckoning. Let all ideologies be put on notice. This is an indictment against all the bankrupt and powerless precepts that are governing our lives from within. They keep driving us relentlessly. Their authority must be decisively stripped away. They block us from being who we truly are. It is time to free ourselves from their power and control. It is anarchy or die!
Those ruling mental constructs must be expelled from within us. They are standing in our way. But they are not going to go easily. As futile as they are, they have become our security and our friends, and we fear striking out from them in independence. We have all built our little kingdoms and worldly statuses by using these beliefs, so they accuse the hell out of us if we try to drop them. We must get unreasonable to overthrow the current system that is ruling our world from inside our psyches. The old system is not going to fade quietly into the night without a fight. Our habitual way of reasoning has a titanic amount of energy driving our world and lives forward. We must unplug ourselves from the source of these powerless ideas.
We have to wake up! It is time to overthrow the system of ideas that rules our world and fills our heads.
When are we going to refuse and deny the false mindsets and ideologies that are ruling us from within and running our lives, and start listening to what we know is real in our deepest feelings? The world is constantly trying to find unity based on some sort of shared belief system. It makes no difference how open, progressive, educated or tolerant that belief system is, it will never bring about true unity, and at best it will only create a man-made, pseudo, fragile, and temporary getting along. We cannot have true togetherness based on any beliefs or belief system.
There will never be unity in this world until people turn toward what is real deep within them. What we must do is turn toward what is real and natural in our deep feelings. It is there that we are truly one. Yes, different and unique as we are as individual people, but one on the most fundamental and foundational level. We must speak from that real and natural place within us to each other.
That’s how you “fight against radical ideologies.” You rid yourself of those false beliefs, mindsets, narratives and ideologies that pit us against each other. You switch sources – you stop taking your cues from all that stuff that has been programmed into your head, and you turn toward what you know to be real and true in your deep feelings. I’m not talking about flighty and sappy emotionalism. I’m talking about what you know is real – those substantial and powerful deep feelings that rise up within you when something triggers them. You know exactly what I’m talking about. You have felt it! We need to have the courage to lift up out of us what we all know is real in our deep feelings. People are stuck in their heads. I don’t give a damn what you “think.” Tell me what you feel in your gut!
January 8, 2015
Our brilliance can’t save us
Consider the possibility that the need of the moment is not to accumulate more data and knowledge. The answers we are searching for are not contained in any book, including my own. What we are looking for is inside ourselves. It’s not something we access on the level of taking in new ideas in our head. It is accessed in and through what is real in our deep feelings. A person who is illiterate is at no disadvantage to stepping into and touching what is real. A child has not yet developed an elaborate or sophisticated mental processing capability and yet Jesus said it would be better for us to become children in order to grab a hold of the truth. One day we will figure out that it’s not our mental brilliance that’s going to save this world. I just hope its soon.
#inneranarchy
