183

Positive Thinking

Todd Hayen

I keep trying to feel good, and I try to see the good in my life, the things that I am grateful for, and the beauty all around me.

I don’t think I have a problem with this, as long as it doesn’t include trying to see the good in my government (Trudeau in Canada) or the good in the government of my country of origin (the United States—of which I am still very much a citizen).

I just can’t do that. There is very little positive there.

I understand, however, that this “looking for things to be grateful for” isn’t only about “things”—whether it be possessions (“I am grateful I have a roof over my head”) or concepts (“I am grateful I love my wife, and/or my children, and grateful for the love they give me”). It is also being grateful for opportunities and potentialities. This is when you can broadly state, “I am grateful for the goodness in people which will eventually prevail over evil.”

I think I do all that as well, although, as with most things, I could do it more. What I cannot do is ignore the things in my life that I believe should be corrected. I cannot go into full denial and see the injustice, the hate, the oppression, just as an “appearance” that I need not worry myself with. According to spiritual metaphysics these things I “see” are illusions, and the only truth are things that reflect the truth of God and love.

I believe this. But I have another way to interpret some of these spiritual tenets. These “other ways” may in fact be the interpretations that are actually intended. But from my experience it does not seem that many people are in alignment with them.

I do hear people these days getting rather testy with the spiritual types who are constantly touting positive thinking and criticizing those who say we must only look at the good things, hold love as reigning supreme and live life as if there is nothing ugly going on. These folks who are testy are typically materialists and “doers” and when they see a fire they do whatever they can to put it out. It angers them to see people seemingly sitting by the wayside contemplating their navel in meditation, or smelling the flowers on their morning nature walk, appearing to do nothing at all.

These star gazers are not the sheep who are blind, but are actually shrew-types who have chosen to look beyond the appearance of trouble in the world, which they believe is illusory, and look instead to the spiritual truth: peace, love, God—Christ Consciousness. I have no problem with these people.

Realistically, however, I believe there are actually very few of them who are actually doing what they claim. I will not pass judgment on them individually and make a conscious assessment, but as a group I think it is highly unlikely a large percentage can engage in this sort of spiritual discipline.

That being said, I do know a few who are. And I believe they are very important in this battle. They hold truth, like monks do in a monastery, through ceaseless prayer. They have no time for anything else but to constantly hold love in their hearts, and I am happy they are there doing just that.

I get a bit perturbed though when the folks who claim they are holding God’s truth start pointing the finger at me belching out ugly condemnations such as, “why are you always so disagreeable? Why do you create this evil world with your negative thoughts? You call yourself spiritual, but you insist on bringing manifestation to this dark world you think about, therefore create?”

I can always tell the authentic spiritually enlightened from the “wanna be” when I hear this. The authentic ones would see me as an illusion as well and wouldn’t give me a second thought. The wanna be sees my negative, Dr. Doom, self as a threat. There are no real “threats.” A threat is a fear, and people who have done real spiritual inner work fear little or nothing.

That is what I am getting at here: fear is the operative word. Jesus walked through the material world. He did not turn away from it claiming it was an illusion (although he knew it was) but instead he engaged in it. He faced it. He experienced it. And most importantly he tried to do something about it. What made him different in how he approached the illusion of suffering, hate, and death? He felt no fear.

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” This is probably one of the most important verses in the Bible, or at least one of the most important for our current times or during any time of despair (Psalm 23). You may not be the religious type. You may even be an atheist, so then the first part would be the only part appropriate for you. It is still a wise and truthful statement. Fear no evil. Fear nothing.

What is fear?

Fear is the belief that the pain you contemplate feeling in your physical and/or emotional body is overwhelming. That’s about it. You may say, “no, I fear for my children’s safety, I fear job security, I fear a lot more than that.” Ok, sure, but when you reduce it down, no matter how sophisticated you get, the fear always boils down to believing you will be overcome with pain.

But what is that? What is pain?

That question would take a book to answer, and the answer may still be lacking. Suffice it to say that pain, from a spiritual perspective, is illusory as well. A brave person is often said to face pain with the resolve that it will not take them down. We could all be a little braver.

Personally, I find facing the challenge of reducing fear of emotional pain in my life to be my primary challenge. I lost my first wife to cancer 20 years ago and I never imagined such despair. I still fear that sort of pain, but the other fears I do feel I have a bit of a handle on.

It is interesting that nearly every other shrew I have spoken to about such things does not fear death. I also do not fear death, easier said than done! But I still go through my life being careful to stay alive and not get seriously hurt, but I do not limit my life due to fear.

I think basically humans are built this way, but external sources are constantly telling us we need to fear disease and death—who do you think the pharmaceutical companies stay in business. These external forces weaken this natural belief that we are essentially “ok” to live a full and complete life.

Our Western culture has steadily been losing religion for the past 200 years. I think as a result, we have lost much of our ability to face challenges without a debilitating fear.

People who believe in God for the most part believe they are somewhat protected from an arbitrary and pointless death or arbitrary and pointless suffering. “For thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” Of course the church, over millennia, has done a good job instilling fear into believers, particularly the fear of the devil. Eternal damnation is a bit worse than just an earthly death.

Needless to say this forum is not the place to discuss the mistakes of organized religion. And although I do recognize those mistakes and the horrendous consequences of them, I still come out on the other end believing that what God represents to me is far greater than what the organized religions throughout history have portrayed His power to be.

So that is all a part of this “positive thinking” argument. And maybe I went too far into the weedy swampland with the position God takes in it, and the importance of a belief in the tenet, “there is more to this than material life, death, and suffering,” but I think it is important to bring it into the conversation.

Simply because I write, talk, and think about the crumbling of a material world structure (which includes humankind itself) doesn’t mean I believe that is the end. Far from it. All must die before rebirth. And I think, for me, and possibly many of you reading this, that my calling is to be engaged physically in this transformation (read my article “Hail the Dirt Warrior.”)

I believe that if God allows me to see a material reality that has already been made manifest, and it is evil, or ugly, or destructive, then my calling is to do whatever I can to bring it into a greater alignment with God: As above, so below.

Another calling for another person may be to hold truth passively—to keep love in their heart, and honour righteous materialization. This is my calling and that is theirs. I say this only because I wonder if some people reading this have had the same experience I have with people close to them calling them negative.

Keep in mind all callings must be exercised as free from fear as possible. You still must act in faith, and in a knowing that love will prevail. If you are a warrior, you still must go into battle fearless.

Yes, evil is an illusion presenting itself in the material world, but the defeat of evil is a human pastime that has enormous positive consequences. Our training ground (and proving ground) occurs in the manifest world.

That is at least what I believe, and the illusion this manifest world represents is only an illusion when placed beside the truth of God. To us while in our material form, it represents a physical distinction between good and evil. We are here on earth, in this material form, to reconcile that distinction.

Todd Hayen is a registered psychotherapist practicing in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He holds a PhD in depth psychotherapy and an MA in Consciousness Studies. He specializes in Jungian, archetypal, psychology. Todd also writes for his own substack, which you can read here

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landlubber
landlubber
May 8, 2023 11:56 PM

Yesterday I walked up a volcano t the summit under a full moon. We watched the sunrise. that was spiritual. Then walked down seeing the wonders we had missed on the way up. Connecting with nature cleanses your soul .It cleaned mine.

Straight Talk
Straight Talk
May 8, 2023 6:09 PM

I believe that water is our friend. Through water, liquified consciousness that covers most of this beautiful planet, we will heal our planet. Dr.Masara Emoto left this planet with crucial information into the power of human intent. Anyone who has ever focused on evaporating a small cloud or chemtrail knows what I’m talking about. Quantum physics revealed the power of observation. Can we use this power to focus on the evaporation of a tumor or healing a broken limb? Jane Roberts also left crucial information in her book The Nature of Personal Reality among a series of documented material. We CAN influence the weather, as we are also bioelectromagnetic beings. It’s time we dissolve victim mentality and get on with intentionally creating a beautiful world. It has always been up to us.

MadLady
MadLady
May 8, 2023 12:39 PM

Everyone is religious. Everyone is spiritual. This is true because it is how we are made. To say “I am not religious” is to say I believe nothing, which is impossible. The words religious, believe, ligament–all come from the same Latin root–ligare–to bind. We are, by our nature, religious, we bind to beliefs, any beliefs, our free will means we can choose to believe whatever we want. We are spiritual because we have a spirit as part of our nature. One can’t be spiritual but not religious. Or religious and not spiritual. It’s like saying I’m not an oxygen breather, or I’m not a heart pumper.

Howard
Howard
May 8, 2023 3:33 PM
Reply to  MadLady

This is an excellent point. It is indeed our nature to be spiritual. It doesn’t follow, though, that spirituality is something which cannot exist outside a realm of divine entities which have bestowed this spirituality upon us – as, unfortunately, way too many self-proclaimed “spiritualists” insist.

(BTW, I’m beginning to think Mssr. Algorithm is the very one that places a downvote upon virtually every single comment. Algorithms are like that you know.)

sabelmouse
sabelmouse
May 8, 2023 4:04 PM
Reply to  MadLady

indeed!
and he not religious often project this onto science/politics.

Straight Talk
Straight Talk
May 8, 2023 11:34 AM

Once again, Caitlin Johnstone breathes fire into her words with a rare depth and alacrity. Here, she captures the true meaning of spirituality:

Look With Both Eyes

sabelmouse
sabelmouse
May 8, 2023 4:07 PM
Reply to  Straight Talk

usually it’s the one eye we need.

Richard
Richard
May 8, 2023 4:11 PM
Reply to  Straight Talk

Caitlin Johnstone???? Hah! You men the fake ‘alternative journalist’ who consistently pushes the fake Ukraine ‘war’ narrative and who didn’t consider the scandalous, murderous Convid scamdemic worth commenting upon???

Junious Ricardo Stanton
Junious Ricardo Stanton
May 7, 2023 4:54 PM

“I believe that if God allows me to see a material reality that has already been made manifest, and it is evil, or ugly, or destructive, then my calling is to do whatever I can to bring it into a greater alignment with God: As above, so below.”
Thank you for having this conversation. The great mystics/ metaphysicians throughout human history taught the power and efficacy of consciousness, thought, emotions and right action. The true essence of this material world is spirt; comprehending this allows us to see beyond the illusions this system creates.
The great thinkers have always grappled with the origin and causes of evil in the world. There is evil in the world there is suffering, pain and sorrow in the world and today wickedness and corruption seem ubiquitous. Our job is to transform the world, raise the vibratory energies to transmute fear, conflict and uncontrolled ego into love, cooperation, harmony and purpose. You have a right to “see” the world as you see it knowing there is a higher purpose and calling. The saying “Life up your heads O Ye gates and the King of Glory Shall come in…” is not referring to holding your head up high or having erect physical posture, it means raise your consciousness, raise your vibratory frequencies and enlightenment shall come to you, you will experience higher thoughts, insight and the courage to deal with the challenges of life. This is what the Biblical mountain top stories of Moses, Elijah and Yeshua mean; going higher in consciousness which will give you the insight/power to neutralize and change the people in rebellion (your own negative thoughts and emotions), an evil queen (worldly authority) and the lepers, dis-ease and suffering in you and subsequently in your environment.
Stay strong and continue to do what you are doing to spread enlightenment.

sabelmouse
sabelmouse
May 8, 2023 9:56 AM

metaphors abound, the last supper, 7 seals/churches, mansions.

Sam I am
Sam I am
May 7, 2023 1:17 PM

Begin the sermon with some humor.

A comedian argues that church is for stupid people.
Every week they go and listen to the pastor and
as they leave the church they reiterate what they learned.
“Good…is evil…no…do evil…no……snap!
I guess I’ll go back next week and try again to get it.”

Here it is:

The purpose of life is service.
The secret to happiness is sharing.

God is love.
Individual responsibility.
Brotherhood.

When the world implements those universally then
the world will be transformed.

futurist
futurist
May 7, 2023 10:35 AM

What a twisted religion, singing happily for the bloody murder of a man. Oh, and eat the bread , symbolic of his flesh, and wash it down with his blood ( wine ). I was raised as a catholic, a alter boy for six years . It always turned my stomach. Even as a child I knew this was wrong…Robbin@gentry

Many of you didn’t fall for Covid but it seems you fallen for the biggest
mind scam ever….
religion. 

Todd Hayen
Todd Hayen
May 7, 2023 2:03 PM
Reply to  futurist

I can understand why many people have a difficult time with fundamental “religion” and “literal religion”…like your comment on “singing happily for the bloody murder of a man.”

But I am repeatedly taken aback by people’s refusal to look at, and find profound meaning in, metaphor, story, and myth.

Richard
Richard
May 7, 2023 7:32 AM

There is no God – ‘God’ is a stupid, babbling fairy tale the purpose of which is to fool the gullible into accepting their ‘place in the scheme of things’ and to provide justification for atrocities committed by the psychotic ruling class ….”if God does indeed exist it would be better for his reputation if he did not”. (Jules Renard)

Will - Admin3
Admin
Will - Admin3
May 7, 2023 9:09 AM
Reply to  Richard

Except for the fact that spiritual belief is far, far older than any theocracy or monarchy.

It seems you’ve swallowed the material reductionist cool aid and have decided that you know the unknowable… Which is a little arrogant, and just as zealous and unfounded as any other idealogy.

Will

sabelmouse
sabelmouse
May 7, 2023 9:59 AM
Reply to  Will - Admin3

when people hear ”god” they tend to think christian, and stern , punishing ”father” .
sad, and detrimental.

Todd Hayen
Todd Hayen
May 7, 2023 2:18 PM
Reply to  sabelmouse

The word “God” has unfortunate connotations. It is a convenient word to use, because most people who believe in some sort of order and intelligence in the universe will understand what is being implied.

For those true hardcore materialist atheists among us I would have to disagree with their worldview. But I still love them! And I do not think they are “sad” or “unenlightened”…who knows, they may be right (on some points)…at least be right in their own reality.

What I call “God” I know. I know that sounds arrogant and cliché but that’s all I can say. Just like I “know” I exist. But that pronouncement certainly does not mean I understand God fully, or even can describe what God is. And I have to say, after enduring the last three years, I am beginning to wonder if God and the Devil are more literal than I previously thought.

sabelmouse
sabelmouse
May 7, 2023 2:46 PM
Reply to  Todd Hayen

hardcore christian’s god as stern , punishing father is the sad/off-putting thing.
according to ACIM the ego, sort of what some call satan, tends to rule us. until we see reality.

like i said elsewhere, i never quite got ACIM until mirdad explained it, in videos, and his book ” the heart of a course of miracles”.
straight forward, well structured, easy [ for me ] to actually understand.
the original ACIM is structured in a way that seems to make it an endurance test.

anyways, after spending 2 years screaming i now do believe that this is the end times/revelation, and path to heaven, not in a fundy way, where only a few go, we all go, or nobody does.

i work on myself to bring more light to the world.

if we all [ co ] create reality we’ve created this too, including the ” bad ” people doing the reset thing, and those who support them.

all each of us can really do is become beacons of light.

Howard
Howard
May 8, 2023 3:52 PM
Reply to  sabelmouse

A couple things: 1) please say what ACIM stands for. Several of the comments have referenced it; but none have actually explained the acronym.

2) my view of what a “god” would be is far more in line with the “pagan” view of god/gods. To me, if there were a “God” or “god,” it would be best defined as “That which kicks you when you’re down.”

sabelmouse
sabelmouse
May 8, 2023 4:03 PM
Reply to  Howard

i would have thought that it would come up on google. a course in miracles.

according to which god is love. and we’re all meant to be christ, as jc showed us, we’re all 1 son/child og god, who is only complete love, none of that stern old punishing man, only sees love and good for us, and it waiting for us to come to our senses and to return home. to god, who made us.
we made the world of misery that we think we see.
i recommend ” the heart of a course in miracles” by michael mirdad as the best intro.
or videos, like intro to …

Richard
Richard
May 7, 2023 10:18 AM
Reply to  Will - Admin3

Hmmm….no….my point is there is no God in the Abrahamic religious sense, not there is no such thing as spirituality, indeed I believe completely in a force of good and a force of evil (the latter currently being very much in the ascendancy). The whole ‘God’ concept is one best left behind…it’s a centuries old excuse for control, manipulation, lies, sexism, homophobia, bigotry and genocide. All I’m saying is…don’t talk about ‘God’ (indeed, labeling Universal forces that we will probably never understand in this short life that we live is truly an example of the arrogance you mention…) talk about good and evil (which are not concepts or fairy tales but things that are tangible and real) and understand that your words and actions add to the greater sum of good (or evil) in the world – leaving everything in the hands of some random, imaginary bearded and be-cloaked old dude in thesky is just a cop out!!

Placental_Mammal
Placental_Mammal
May 8, 2023 12:35 PM
Reply to  Richard

The word homophobia was coined by a pornographer. Anal sex is not natural. I have never been sodomised and I have never sodomised anyone.The idea turns me off completely. Winston Churchill was sued for sodomising a fellow cadet at Sandhurst. He comitted genocide.

Howard
Howard
May 8, 2023 3:57 PM

What a truly odd reply to a comment.

Placental_Mammal
Placental_Mammal
May 9, 2023 5:23 AM
Reply to  Howard

None of it demonstrably false.

Will - Admin3
Admin
Will - Admin3
May 9, 2023 7:48 AM
Reply to  Richard

Why is the phrase “universal forces we don’t understand” better in your view, than the word “god”?

I take issue with any quibbles based solely on words and language, if you don’t buy the Abrahamic view of a Creator– a bearded judge in the sky– then explain that.

Ideas of divinity are far older than the old testament, and no holy book holds the copyright.

Will

Todd Hayen
Todd Hayen
May 7, 2023 2:04 PM
Reply to  Will - Admin3

Wow…I could have not said this better myself! Very well put…

Howard
Howard
May 8, 2023 3:46 PM
Reply to  Will - Admin3

I would respectfully question your assumption that “spiritual belief is far, far older than any theocracy or monarchy.” My doubt stems from the close association between hierarchical society (i.e., “civilization”) and history itself.

Prior to the advent of a theocratic and monarchic type of social organization, we have only cave and rock paintings. They may portray “gods” or (as the History Channel’s “Ancient Aliens” series insists) they may portray alien beings. Or they may simply portray humans.

At any rate, we cannot be sure of any mental/emotional/spiritual human characteristics prior to the ability to record and preserve things.

thinking-turtle
thinking-turtle
May 7, 2023 10:31 AM
Reply to  Richard

This view of God is a half-truth. Perhaps rulers sometime invoke God for nefarious ends. But that’s only one aspect of it. Like the German poet Schiller wrote:

Be embraced, Millions!

This kiss to all the world!

Brothers, above the starry canopy

There must dwell a loving Father.

Are you collapsing, millions?

Do you sense the creator, world?

Seek him above the starry canopy!

Above stars must He dwell

Every human can sense the creator.

Seansaighdeor
Seansaighdeor
May 7, 2023 4:54 PM
Reply to  Richard

Well, that’s just like your opinion man…

SeverelyRegarded
SeverelyRegarded
May 7, 2023 4:58 PM
Reply to  Richard

Atheism can’t answer the important questions though; the Big Bang and natural selection theories are absurdly flimsy. There are also practical reasons to believe in God, like Pascal’s Wager or an improved quality of life.

Howard
Howard
May 8, 2023 4:02 PM

The Big Bang and natural selection are “absurdly flimsy?”

But an invisible master craftsman tinkering away day and night to keep trillions of pieces of matter in some sort of balance – that’s not flimsy?

You sure made a believer of me!

lesonline
lesonline
May 7, 2023 1:46 AM

As babies we had to learn to talk as no groan-up understood us…They had forgotten how we communicate…It’s been Babel ever since !!

Howard
Howard
May 8, 2023 4:03 PM
Reply to  lesonline

Great comment; and one of the greatest truisms of human experience. Thank you.

correspondencecommitttee
correspondencecommitttee
May 7, 2023 12:28 AM

It’s what people are doing, beyond what they’re believing, where goodness is found. Disembodied spirituality too often seems little more than compensation for compromises made with lies.

Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose from having lived true to loving truth more than one’s own life, beyond the fear and obedience compelled by all the false gods promising refuge from our radical insecurity as finite beings comprehended by, and barely comprehending, infinity. Not how or why the world is, but that it is, is the mystery (Wittgenstein).

Faith is a leap into what cannot be known without living. That thou art. We are the path.

Veri Tas
Veri Tas
May 6, 2023 11:49 PM

I can deal with the meditative navel gazers – it’s their business, after all … but I cannot begin to like the evil deniers, those who look only to the perimeter of their own dinner plate and f*^%k the rest of the world, except when it comes to treading on the “others”, the unmasked, unvaxxed, which is when these types launch into action.

Todd Hayen
Todd Hayen
May 7, 2023 2:05 PM
Reply to  Veri Tas

I agree.

sabelmouse
sabelmouse
May 8, 2023 10:22 AM
Reply to  Veri Tas

those aren’t spiritual.

Nick Baam
Nick Baam
May 6, 2023 10:56 PM

We can all be grateful you didn’t mention the Nazis.

Placental_Mammal
Placental_Mammal
May 7, 2023 4:25 AM
Reply to  Nick Baam

A possible first ?

Todd Hayen
Todd Hayen
May 7, 2023 2:06 PM

Ha ha!! Funny…yeah, it took a lot to avoid my “go to”…the Nazis are such a perfect little system to refer to in this grand experiment.

sabelmouse
sabelmouse
May 8, 2023 10:25 AM
Reply to  Todd Hayen

and so very fitting.
andv astrologically speaking there are similarities re pluto/outer planet transits. i recommend https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/603050.The_Outer_Planets_Their_Cycles as well as this article, for a general intro to some concepts https://www.astro.com/astrology/in_wounding_e.htm

nylon
nylon
May 6, 2023 6:31 PM

My pet is aware of me but he cannot grasp the complexity of my life, the thoughts,the languages,etc.
He is not equipped for it. He is not meant to understand me.
I see myself in the same position in relation to whatever we call god.
I am aware of his existence but I am not equipped to see the full extent of his power.
I am not meant to understand him.
I can only let him be.
I am suspicious of anyone claiming to be equipped for that kind of knowledge or to own books with revelations

Howard
Howard
May 6, 2023 10:12 PM
Reply to  nylon

I think your pet has greater awareness of you than you do of him. He (especially if he’s a dog) monitors everything you do when he’s not sleeping. Like Santa, he knows if you’ve been good or bad; but you don’t always know if he has.

nylon
nylon
May 7, 2023 8:28 AM
Reply to  Howard

Santa, always a crowd pleaser.

sabelmouse
sabelmouse
May 8, 2023 10:27 AM
Reply to  Howard

🙂

The Coming Revolution
The Coming Revolution
May 7, 2023 12:39 AM
Reply to  nylon

Knowledge is very much overrated IMO. Your pet may very well understand you without having to be aware of the complexities of modern human life; at the end of the day, it’s the effect on us of the kind of life we lead rather than the kind of life itself that needs to be corresponded with a sympathetic, on-same-wave-length company.

sabelmouse
sabelmouse
May 8, 2023 10:27 AM
Reply to  nylon

funny how people keep on seeing god as male humanoid though.

Stop The Prison Mentality
Stop The Prison Mentality
May 6, 2023 6:24 PM

and the only truth are things that reflect the truth of God

And here we are, 2023 and still this junk.

If you want to start compiling a list of reasons why we, as a species, are totally fucked, put that one at the top.

Not a single shred of any evidence, and if there is any it’s to the contrary, yet here it is in all it’s glory.

As Einstein noted, only two things are infinite ….

Paul Watson
Paul Watson
May 6, 2023 9:12 PM

Seek and you will find, knock and the door will opened to you.

Stop The Prison Mentality
Stop The Prison Mentality
May 6, 2023 9:29 PM
Reply to  Paul Watson

Bollocks.

Stop The Prison Mentality
Stop The Prison Mentality
May 7, 2023 12:37 AM

Given the negativity it appears the presbyterians have taken over the asylum.

May I suggest a cold flagstone seat and some unbuttered stale bread to calm you down.

Seansaighdeor
Seansaighdeor
May 7, 2023 9:35 AM

Given your response to PW above you obviously don’t do irony. It also notes a ‘lack of awareness’ which may be an insight into the hostility.

Stop The Prison Mentality
Stop The Prison Mentality
May 7, 2023 4:23 PM
Reply to  Seansaighdeor

Bollocks

Seansaighdeor
Seansaighdeor
May 7, 2023 4:54 PM

The complements pass when the quality meet.

thinking-turtle
thinking-turtle
May 7, 2023 10:36 AM

Downvotes mean people are interested in your opinion but disagree with it. That’s not negativity. People who see you as negative will ignore you.

Stop The Prison Mentality
Stop The Prison Mentality
May 7, 2023 4:27 PM

It was just a turn of phrase based on the significance of the numbers, not a statement about sentiment.

sabelmouse
sabelmouse
May 8, 2023 10:28 AM

ego!

Clutching at straws
Clutching at straws
May 6, 2023 4:54 PM

For me, religion is the attempt to explain away the impossible- our very existence.
From an early age I have questioned the impossibility of infinity.
It is simply not feasible that there is something (The universe) and next to it nothing.
For ever.
So we can’t exist.
Unless I missed that science class, that seems to be a logical explanation of where we are.
Obviously, much more comfortable to invent a supernatural explanation.
Phew! That feels better!

(Just don’t ask where your supernatural being came from)

Sam I am
Sam I am
May 6, 2023 4:00 PM

Ask a scientist  😀 

Ok, I was promoting Fauci types just for kicks.

But imagine (or not) if the scientific type some day
dominated the search for life’s meaning. [Couldn’t find the emoji for putting one’s finger down one’s throat]

This could happen.

(Jeepers, another dystopia to worry about.)

Bookcovers from 2323:

Polling those Blinded by the Light
Scientific Measurement of Soul Quanta Emissions
The Soul and 12 Proven Techniques to Have One

el Gallinazo
el Gallinazo
May 6, 2023 4:00 PM

I highly recommend one reads David Icke’s latest book, The Trap. Much of it is autobiographical, and if one has little interest in Icke’s life (as opposed to his ideas), you might skim through these chapters. The last several chapters are mind boggling (at least for me), not so much for many of the basic concepts, but rather regarding the details of how the simulation (Matrix), often mistakenly referred to as the physical or “real” world, works. Trying to wrap my head around it reminds me of the effort I spent in university many years ago in regard to the study of quantum mechanics as applied to chemistry. Quoting from the great film, Little Big Man, it gave me “a pain between the ears.” IMO, to quote this time from American baseball, the book hits it out of the park.

Erik Nielsen
Erik Nielsen
May 6, 2023 3:17 PM

“You should fill your heart with love and be without fear”. Easier said than done.
People must first find God inside themselves by search by heart.

Howard
Howard
May 6, 2023 2:52 PM

A life is a terrible thing to waste.

Writing our lives off as illusions effectively delivers those lives to the dung heap, atop which we can sit for three score and ten awaiting the day we keel over and awaken a nanosecond later in the non-corporeal “real world” of heavenly bliss.

If it’s all an illusion, what does any of it matter? So what if the clot shot is mandated upon us – it’ll just bring that glorious Last Judgment a little closer.

Sorry if I sound smug; but this is one area where the materialists can crow a little bit. We know THIS IS REAL. Simple as that.

Evil is every bit as real as good. It is not an illusion to be swept aside once a divine aura vacuums us out of its clutches.

The saving grace – and yes, even for materialists there is a saving grace – is that, evil being essentially the MO of psychos, not enough rational thought goes into it to make it absolute or eternal.

As they say, “This too will pass.”

paul
paul
May 6, 2023 2:47 PM

Some of the tall tales propagated by different faiths understandably generate a certain amount of derision, but you have to sympathise with these efforts of simple human beings to make any sense of the world we live in.

The universe we inhabit is nothing special. It’s called the Milky Way. They named a chocolate bar after it. If you could travel at the speed of light, 186,000 miles a second, you could nip across it in a mere 100,000 years. Quite a cosy little place. It contains 400 billion stars, one of which is our tiny little sun. There are other stars in this universe which are a million times bigger. And we know there at least 100 billion other universes, each with their billions of stars, all around our little universe.

It’s unlikely that any human being will ever comprehend how this came into existence, or whether there is any purpose behind it. It’s probably like an ant trying to make sense of a skyscraper. At his most difficult moments, Frederick the Great of Prussia contemplated the night sky, and suddenly all his problems seemed very small.

Current scientific thinking is that all these billions of universes with their billions of stars came into existence around 14 billion years ago, in something akin to a gigantic explosion, and that everything, including our little planet, us, and everything on it, everything that has ever existed or ever will exist, were created from a tiny speck of matter you could fit on a pin head. An immortal speck of matter.

This may very well be true, but sometimes it appears even more difficult to comprehend then any tall tales of gods and monsters and talking snakes.

KiwiJoker
KiwiJoker
May 6, 2023 7:46 PM
Reply to  paul

Our Universe has no name.
There never was a big bang.
The phenomena described by some as the milky way is named in other more ancient cultures as the river of stars.
The ‘planets’ and stars are infinitesimally small and very close to us.
The moon is an extinguished sun that is why they are the same size and very close by and also too small to land on, if you could get there, which you can’t.
We live on a planette because Eden is flat.

Sam - Admin2
Admin
Sam - Admin2
May 6, 2023 7:58 PM
Reply to  KiwiJoker

Be careful or people won’t get the sarcasm.

Richard Aston
Richard Aston
May 6, 2023 9:46 PM
Reply to  Sam - Admin2

yeah I got the sarcasm but didn’t get why the sarcasm

dom irritant
dom irritant
May 7, 2023 2:54 PM
Reply to  Sam - Admin2

how do you know it is sarcasm? we mostly do not have clue kj’s comment is as valid as any other theory

The Coming Revolution
The Coming Revolution
May 7, 2023 1:26 AM
Reply to  paul

Humanity has lost its way; this much is evident – the only species that actively and deliberately creates the means of its own extinction (all sorts of weaponry). It is trying to find it back. That happened IMO ever since it developed self-consciousness, a sense of separation from nature as you describe, a sense of an inside and outside. I think we feel very lonely in our existence as a species in the middle of this universe; like the first night we spend alone in a new city or country. Hence our projection on to that outside of a comforting being who is good, beautiful and just; a trinity much older than the Christian trinity; probably a reminiscence of how we were before we lost our way (the Fall). Also our feverish scientific activity to “rediscover this unknown outside” is an attempt to make it part of us again, reincorporate it, make up for that loneliness.

When we lose our way, we need some fixed mark to get our bearings; that’s what God is, I think. Like the child who’s afraid of the dark asks her mother to leave the door ajar so that some light enters the room.

lesonline
lesonline
May 7, 2023 1:39 AM

What do you mean “lost its way” ? What is a “Way” ? Is that a roadmap, or path ? Do you mean “it has lost its Mojo”, or maybe “its Mojo aint working !”

The Coming Revolution
The Coming Revolution
May 7, 2023 11:15 AM
Reply to  lesonline

I don’t know what the way is; perhaps a life without unnecessary suffering? Thousands of tons of food wasted/lost every year on one hand and starving people on the other hand; a life without these sort of contradictions…

mgeo
mgeo
May 7, 2023 9:07 AM
Reply to  paul

Theoretical physics or cosmology (“current scientific thinking” as you put it) consists of multiple sects with differing postulates, theories and followers. One of them even posits that the entire (content of the) universe is a hologram projected onto the surface of a sphere 14 billion light-years across.

Seansaighdeor
Seansaighdeor
May 7, 2023 9:41 AM
Reply to  paul

Current scientific thinking…‘ – ah ‘The Science’. Are we back onto believing that again now Covid has officially been declared ‘over’?

thinking-turtle
thinking-turtle
May 7, 2023 10:39 AM
Reply to  Seansaighdeor

Moses went walking with the staff of wood

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Newton got beaned by the apple good

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Egypt was troubled by the horrible asp

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Mister Charles Darwin had the gall to ask

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Schroedingers Kater
Schroedingers Kater
May 6, 2023 2:36 PM

Hi,
and thank you for sharing your thoughts!
I’ve come to read the Off Guardian regularly since a while and really enjoy your writing. Makes me feel less lonesome ;-), and that there are at least some cats out there whose thinking and writing flows free and unhindered by self-imposed thought control and Dogma.

Could you post a link to the article you mentioned (“Hail the Dirt Warrior”)?
I can’t find it – not even with the help of my most trusted (and untrustes) search engines.

thinking-turtle
thinking-turtle
May 6, 2023 3:04 PM
paul
paul
May 6, 2023 2:00 PM

The 23rd psalm has a wonderful, poetic and lyrical quality whatever beliefs you do or do not subscribe to. It represents a triumph over death. It was believed to have been written by King David of Israel 3,000 years ago. Whether it actually was or not, and whether David himself actually existed, is open to question. Some people think he was more of a semi mythical figure, like King Arthur. But whatever the truth of that, it was already very old when Jesus walked the earth, and Jesus would have known of it.

sabelmouse
sabelmouse
May 6, 2023 3:07 PM
Reply to  paul

i especially like this one

THE LORD’S PRAYER IN ARAMAIC:
Avwoon d’bish-mAya
=Our Beloved Creator Who is All and Eternal…the one I choose and love
nith-kaddash shim-mukh
=Sacred and Holy is your Name
Te-they mul-chu-tukh
=Let Your Consciousness be experienced
Neh-weh say-we-yanukh achanna d’bish-mAya ap-barr-ah
=Let Your Will be done throughout the earth, just as it is in Heaven
How-lan lakh-ma dsoon-kanan yow-mana
=Fulfill for us, our personal and spiritual needs
O’shwook-lan kho-bayne ei-channa dap-kannan O’shwook-lan khai-ya-wayne
=Teach us to forgive and release ourselves as well as forgiving and releasing others
Oo’la te’lan-l’nisyuna I’lla-pasan-min-beesha
=Lead us when we are in temptation, but deliver us from harm and illusion
Mitol de-lukh-hai my-choota o’khai-la
=Because only You are the Consciousness and Power of the universe
O’Tish-boh-tha la-alam al-meen
=All glory, songs, and praise—throughout all ages—belong to you.
Amen=And this is what I choose and believe! And so it is!

SeamusPadraig
SeamusPadraig
May 6, 2023 3:39 PM
Reply to  sabelmouse

sabelmouse
sabelmouse
May 6, 2023 3:50 PM
Reply to  SeamusPadraig

lovely!

Veri Tas
Veri Tas
May 7, 2023 12:23 AM
Reply to  SeamusPadraig

Beautiful!

Literally nobody
Literally nobody
May 6, 2023 1:59 PM

Great essay.
More than the Watchman for Day Break… brothers…

Jerry Alatalo
Jerry Alatalo
May 6, 2023 1:34 PM

“We shall some day catch an abstract truth by the tail, and then we shall have our religion and our immortality.” – Henry (Brook) Adams (1838-1918) American historian, Quoted in Ernest Samuels, Henry Adams: The Middle Years (1958)

Also from Henry (Brook) Adams: ” A science cannot be played with. If an hypothesis is advanced that obviously brings into direct sequence of cause and effect all the phenomena of human history, we must accept it, and if we accept we must teach it. The mere fact that it overthrows social organizations cannot affect our attitude. The rest of society can accept or ignore, but we must follow the new light no matter where it leads.” Presidential address, sent from Mexico as a message to the American Historical Association, by its president, 1894

Nee, ne
Nee, ne
May 6, 2023 1:27 PM

Dear Todd Hayen,

Unfortunately, I am not one of the blessed ones who can earn a quite decent income from an academic education. I’m one of the unwashed masses who have to put their asses on the line for a few pennies. 

And let me tell you, from my point of view, the conditions are not an illusion, but they threaten my life if I dare to breathe them away. Without a warm flat – which rent I can afford less and less – for example, I freeze to death quite quickly in winter. So I have to submit to violence, there is no other choice. And with that I let fear into my life. The fear that my labour will not be in demand (which I and millions of others have already experienced in their own bodies (matter), the fear of starving, freezing and falling ill. The fear of death has an all too real basis for us.

So I, like most of humanity, shimmy from penny to penny, from tossed bone to tossed bone.

Of course I wonder why this God thinks this is such an aspirational life for his creation that for millennia now he has letting evil win . That our life (matter) is such misery we must rebel again and again and are subjugated again and again.

It must be because God is without a body. It must be that he needs our suffering from the constraints of matter to become complete, because without a body he knows neither fear nor anger, neither power nor powerlessness, neither satiety nor hunger, neither sickness, old age, death or even helplessness.

He feeds on our soul pains, he feeds on our finitude, he drinks our limitations and our powerlessness to finally be that perfect being he has been prentending to be from the beginning. 

Come Judgement Day, He will have a lot to explain!

Todd Hayen
Todd Hayen
May 6, 2023 2:05 PM
Reply to  Nee, ne

I hear you, and cannot offer anything of any value to you. I have often said that I believe God doesn’t really care about human suffering…the evidence surely points in that direction, but if that is true, then what good is it to believe in God?

For what it is worth, my heart reaches out to you. I have suffered in my life, not as much as many, of course, but I know how it has felt to be so deeply in despair I honestly did not believe I could manage living another minute. God did not come to me in a vision to save me, but something did. And maybe it was not really best for “me” (spirit) to be saved from physical destruction. I DO believe there is more to “us” then our physical bodies and physical experience.

Take care…

sabelmouse
sabelmouse
May 6, 2023 3:11 PM
Reply to  Todd Hayen

god does not do any of this.

SeamusPadraig
SeamusPadraig
May 6, 2023 3:49 PM
Reply to  sabelmouse

No, of course not. But the thinking man will still ask: ‘So if He really is omnipotent, then why does He let this happen?’ That’s the rub. The only sensible answer I have found to this troubling question is that it’s really we who let this happen … and we are God incarnate! That, I believe, is what Christ came to tell us: that we are divine, and therefore responsible for remembering and awakening to that fact so that we can ultimately triumph over ignorance/suffering/sin (which are all the same thing).

The sad fact though, is that most of the Christians absolutely hate this idea, which they regard as ‘new age luciferianism’. So although I pray to (and identify with) Christ, I yet do not consider myself a Christian. I certainly do not believe in the passive soteriology peddled by the mainstream churches.

So what am I to do about all this? The truth is, I still don’t know. That’s a real conundrum, isn’t it: being ‘omniscient’ but still not knowing! But of a Zen koan, isn’t it?  😉 

sabelmouse
sabelmouse
May 6, 2023 4:37 PM
Reply to  SeamusPadraig

it is we, we cocreate the whole everything. god’s just waiting for us to come to our senses/home.

become love/light, forgive everybody, including whom we see as evil [ does not mean condone/enable ], and ourselves. even god, really, for ”letting us ”rampage about .

why i love michael mirdad’s take.

i watched 1 video and i was shouting : why did nobody explain this to me before! i’d all but thrown ACIM across the room 30 years ago.

then lost my path completely and went into cynicism, and despair.

this last year was illuminating to say the least.

he incorporates everything. tao/zen/, everything.

it’s weird about christians, i understand churches liking control over people, but many people seem to like it too, self responsibility is to scary?

Howard
Howard
May 6, 2023 10:22 PM
Reply to  sabelmouse

There are things that cannot and must not ever be forgiven. Torture is at the top of that list. Not even God (if it existed) has the right to forgive torture. Period.

sabelmouse
sabelmouse
May 7, 2023 9:56 AM
Reply to  Howard

forgiveness is for ourselves, and to reduce hate overall. forgiveness does NOT mean condone/enable.
god does not even see bad things, only love.

SeamusPadraig
SeamusPadraig
May 7, 2023 5:12 PM
Reply to  sabelmouse

When you’re lost or feel completely helpless, being controlled by someone powerful, or belonging to a ‘tight-knit’ (i.e., very nosy and controlling) group can seem to be the answer to your prayers. So, the short answer to your question is: Yes, an awful lot of people do like being controlled. Didn’t you notice that during the ‘plague’ psy-op?

sabelmouse
sabelmouse
May 8, 2023 9:54 AM
Reply to  SeamusPadraig

i noticed that they did not recognise what’s going on. re any/all of it. i’ve always been an outlier , if that’s the word.

Nee, ne
Nee, ne
May 6, 2023 4:09 PM
Reply to  Todd Hayen

Thank you.

Erik Nielsen
Erik Nielsen
May 6, 2023 4:23 PM
Reply to  Todd Hayen

Its because your suffering is self-inflicted.
Why should God care about your own disobedience from his advices and your continues lack of meeting your own obligations and your lack of appreciation of what was giving you?

We are men and put here as masters of the earth and have an obligation to acquaint ourselves with knowledge on how our universe function and is designed.

To help us in mastering the ship through the times we got the most wonderful creature at our side, the woman, not only to assist us in organising the inner work of the more protected areas of the ship, but also as a joy to all our senses.

There is a limit on how many times God is willing to be nanny for spoiled crybabies who want to realize their own teenage ideas only yes?
We were promised hard labour and hardships, and only by grace and faith in our saviour can we be freed.

Howard
Howard
May 6, 2023 10:26 PM
Reply to  Erik Nielsen

“We are men and put here as masters of the earth….”

Oh my, please – please – rethink that one. Because man’s presumption of being master of the earth is what’s destroying everything on the planet.

It would be nice if something, even a bacterium, survives man’s mastery.

Erik Nielsen
Erik Nielsen
May 7, 2023 10:24 PM
Reply to  Howard

Ok. “We are men and ORIGINALLY put here as Masters of the earth……”.

“…………but we ended up in the comfortable cabins inside the ships masturbating to a porn movie, cheating on the stock market, dancing around in women’s clothing to Captains party.”

“Leaving our God giving assistant pregnant and her two children on the command bridge, to climb up to the mast top in stormy weather to rectify the messed ropes, freeing the sails, so the ship could get on right curse again”.

“Telling God a fairy tale we were supporting women’s liberation and wanted to make Leadership from behind”.

and God became pessed.

Fixed!

sabelmouse
sabelmouse
May 6, 2023 3:10 PM
Reply to  Nee, ne

as someone who has recently ”found god ”, through ACIM, , well, it’s all very different from what religion tells us.
ACIM is not easy to understand, i gave up on it in 92, only reconnected again last year and my world view expanded.
it was michael mirdad’s explanations that helped me.

SeamusPadraig
SeamusPadraig
May 6, 2023 3:58 PM
Reply to  sabelmouse

Coincidentally, I just did ACIM last year myself for the first time! I found it quite helpful. The thing I liked about it the most was how it related (reinterpreted?) Christian theology to one’s own psyche. That’s probably why mainline Christians think it’s ‘new age trash’. But I liked it a lot.

sabelmouse
sabelmouse
May 6, 2023 4:28 PM
Reply to  SeamusPadraig

religion tuned me of off jc, i’m very glad i found this.
christians seem to like a controlling god/church. some of them at least.

paul
paul
May 6, 2023 3:13 PM
Reply to  Nee, ne

God has a fall guy in the form of the Devil.
According to the official narrative, Satan and a few of his mates made a takeover bid in heaven and tried to depose God, in a sort of early colour revolution.
But in the ensuing fracas, Satan and his mates came off second best and were cast out down to earth, where they have been in control ever since.
So as Candide said, the world was created by the Devil to drive us mad.
And God will (eventually) sort everything out and put the world to rights.
So when you ask for an explanation on Judgment Day, he will probably just say, “Not me, guv.”
I don’t know if that helps at all. Probably not.

SeamusPadraig
SeamusPadraig
May 6, 2023 4:07 PM
Reply to  paul

God might be said to have a second fall-guy by the name of Jehovah. Both Jehovah and Satan work together to keep mankind down by playing an elaborate good-cop/bad-cop (God-cop/bad-cop?) routine. They keep the wheel of opposites spinning round eternally: pleasure and pain, order and chaos, life and death. All of these games are thrown at us to make sure we never wake up and discover are true nature, and to make sure that we neve realize we don’t need (or want) either of them. That’s right: Jehovah isn’t God any more than Satan is. In fact, like Satan (and Brian Cohen), he’s a very naughty boy!

Nee, ne
Nee, ne
May 6, 2023 4:12 PM
Reply to  paul

I don’t think so. I rather think, that the devil is part of god. His “shadow” if you will.

paul
paul
May 6, 2023 4:59 PM
Reply to  Nee, ne

If you look rationally and logically at Christian theology, the role of Judas, Caiaphas and the high priests, Pilate and the Jews who were baying for Jesus’s blood as opposed to other Jews who were supporting him, were all essential in bringing about human redemption through the ransom sacrifice of the Son of God. If they had behaved differently, there would have been no possibility of salvation and an after life. Maybe a strange way of looking at it.

If Pilate had said, “You can get lost, this man is obviously innocent,” it would have spoiled the whole thing.

Lazaro
Lazaro
May 6, 2023 3:24 PM
Reply to  Nee, ne

This belief the author of the article has that fear and evil are illusions, is a mistake that has been enrooted in many religious people now. Fear and evil are quite real. The issue to address is how to truly distinguish what to be rightly afraid of and what is truly evil. In this world and in our flesh, we are inclined and incited to be afraid of things we truly shouldn’t fear, and to judge as good what is truly evil.

Yes, the god of this world does seem to need suffering and pain to feed on it and grow stronger… while it destroys itself and all of those who follow such god. The god of this world, to which most religious people unwittingly pray to and invoke under many names to deliver them from evil, does feed on and incites that very evil on everyone… even on the so called non-religious types, who belong to it as well. Yes, this is contradictory and confusing, just like this world that is ruled by such god.

But the God and Father of Christ, is not that god. And He is not letting the evil of that god and his witting and unwitting followers win. Not at all. On one hand that god has been limited, conquered and already doomed. Its time is short. On the other hand, and more pressingly, the true God of the living has already given the way, the truth and the life to those who truly seek and love Him. He already gave the way of true peace, righteousness, justice and goodness in this corrupt, crooked, evil and full of turmoil world. Yet, this Way has been hidden behind many diverse lies by the god of this world such as organized religion, ideologies, cults, so called science, values, aspirations and so on. But the Way is still open. The Light is still visible amidst the darkness to those who have eyes to see. You and anyone who truly and faithfully wants to reach it, can do so. It is not easy and it does carry a cost that to many seems to high, know that. But it can be reached.

Nee, ne
Nee, ne
May 6, 2023 4:02 PM
Reply to  Lazaro

Just tell me: were is the point of being incarnated in the flesh when you have to transcend it to find your peace?

Light and darkness are one. Body and soul are intertwined. Believe does not change material reality.

Lazaro
Lazaro
May 6, 2023 7:10 PM
Reply to  Nee, ne

The point of being incarnated in the flesh is to learn how to effectively rule over it and not be ruled by it. Transcendence from the flesh is what happens after truly ruling over it. But peace is found not after transcending the flesh, but while ruling over it according to the Word and Wisdom of the Creator and true God. He placed us in this world to learn to rule over it, in Him and for Him being in Us and for Us if indeed we come to be One.

Light and darkness are not exactly one. But they do closely coexist as principles of choice and as opposite forces. The god of this world will have you choose darkness, lawlessness, ignorance, bitterness and many diverse lusts to be ruled by the flesh and away from the God.

Belief does not change material reality, but true knowledge – that is, truly justified true beliefs – changes material (and spiritual) perception and understanding, which in turn greately affects how we interact with material reality.

SeamusPadraig
SeamusPadraig
May 6, 2023 4:24 PM
Reply to  Lazaro

Beautiful, Lazaro!

Martha
Martha
May 6, 2023 11:48 PM
Reply to  Lazaro

You sound like a Gnostic. Have you read John Lamb Lash?

thinking-turtle
thinking-turtle
May 6, 2023 3:34 PM
Reply to  Nee, ne

As it is, people with a “decent income from an academic education” compare themselves to physicians. Physicians compare themselves to executives. Executives compare themselves to bankers. They all feel unhappy.

For most of history, humanity has lived without a warm flat. Most of the world’s population has less money and energy than you do. Some children are born without sight or hearing. Why not compare yourself to others who are less well off?

Nee, ne
Nee, ne
May 6, 2023 4:03 PM

Just think, turtle, before you judge.

County Girl
County Girl
May 6, 2023 8:04 PM
Reply to  Nee, ne

Nee, ne – I didn’t read thinking-turtle’s comment as a judgement. S/he raised some interesting points, questions and truths in their short comment. Having re-read their comment several times, I still see no judgement.

The Coming Revolution
The Coming Revolution
May 7, 2023 12:58 PM

Glad the workers of the XIXth century who were working 10 hours a day didn’t compare themselves much to those less fortunate who worked 12 hours a day, and demanded and got us 8 hours a day at a high price. If they did, they’d probably have resigned to their situation, as this attitude tends to strengthen the status quo.

Nee, ne is talking about starving, freezing and problems of rent, not a decent income. This isn’t the case of two decent incomes comparing themselves. He/she doesn’t need to compare him/herself to the deaf, the blind and the homeless; I’m sure if he/she gets to know one, he/she’d sympathise genuinely, misery being misery however diverse is the cause; this would make up for any intellectual comparison he/she’d fail to make with them to console him/herself.

Erik Nielsen
Erik Nielsen
May 6, 2023 3:41 PM
Reply to  Nee, ne

I think its opposite. YOU will have a lot to explain.
Many like you complain why God didnt served you or serve you, but have yourselves done your homework?
Have you followed and lived after the Commandments? Have you acquainted yourself with the Creation so you know your Master’s work?
Have you by sincere prayer and heart asked for help to find the way to your saviour?
Or have you just like most been crying over you have to do hard labour as was promised you after the first sin?
If you search by heart God and find him, you will see the world in a complete different way.
You will be released and free from seeing the hardships, and suddenly you will realize life is so full of small wonders and joy which all belongs to God’s work, even with small money and even in hardship situations.
Every lake on your way, every tree on your way, every bird on your way is part of God’s amazing design and full of joy and intelligence.
A cheap bamboo flute can fill you with joy your entire life. https://youtu.be/PirgK3mhG9U

Erik Nielsen
Erik Nielsen
May 6, 2023 4:01 PM
Reply to  Erik Nielsen

Finding out how rainwater was designed to give drinking water to all living creatures and rain down on your head to secure you dont die from thirst.
You just have to give out your cup to the rain and drinking water is there to serve your need as an universal principle.

So God has been there and is there all the time serving you. You were just too bitter, selfish and too stupid to see it, appreciate it and be grateful for it.

The Coming Revolution
The Coming Revolution
May 7, 2023 2:01 PM
Reply to  Erik Nielsen

This guy lived in the Sahara. He took your advice and handed out his cup to collect the rain…

comment image

So your advice is not absolutely valid, unless either the Sahara is transformed into a livable place or the population is transported to live where it rains regularly.

But that’s a long and complicated story, connected with things called money and politics and so on; you wouldn’t want to hear about it. It’d spoil everything. Better sit back comfortably and go on preaching the good news. Where were you? Ah yes, hand out your cup and quench your thirst! God is everywhere to serve you.

Erik Nielsen
Erik Nielsen
May 7, 2023 10:40 PM

Even in Sahara there is humidity, in the air and occasional oasis.

But you describe our civilisations problem and our sins.
You drive out and accommodate in dry areas and start whining why God is not serving you with cold water in a crystal glass and ice cube on a silver plate here.

And you dont understand why God lost his patience with you. You cant understand it.

Martha
Martha
May 6, 2023 11:42 PM
Reply to  Nee, ne

I don’t want to start any blasphemous rumors, but I think that God’s got a sick sense of humor. And when I die, I expect to find him laughing.

Erik Nielsen
Erik Nielsen
May 7, 2023 10:43 PM
Reply to  Martha

I can tell you for 100% certain this is not God’s type humour. I think you are talking about a red guy with horns.

Martha
Martha
May 8, 2023 12:08 AM
Reply to  Erik Nielsen

These are lyrics to a song called Blasphemous Rumors by Depeche Mode.

Erik Nielsen
Erik Nielsen
May 8, 2023 6:41 PM
Reply to  Martha

My apology. It was a little too advanced for me to understand :-).

The Coming Revolution
The Coming Revolution
May 7, 2023 1:39 PM
Reply to  Nee, ne

It’s only fair to know that you’re against middle class people who profited from the system but now they’re complaining because the system is letting them down. They can’t see that their religious beliefs are dictated by their social position, and think these beliefs are absolute; they fail to see that if they were in your circumstances they’d have the same justified beliefs that you presently hold. So, instead of transcending the apparent contradiction of both positions, they remain in their trenches and say you’re wrong.

ZenPriest
ZenPriest
May 6, 2023 1:23 PM

It’s a fallen world we’re in. Those born again no longer cling to it, and lose much of their fear that proliferates that matrix. When Christ is born again in you it changes you completely.

Todd Hayen
Todd Hayen
May 6, 2023 2:05 PM
Reply to  ZenPriest

Agreed.

zenpriest
zenpriest
May 6, 2023 7:12 PM
Reply to  Todd Hayen

Was a lovely surprise to read this article Todd. I did not realise you were so conscious of Christ.

ZenPriest
ZenPriest
May 6, 2023 1:18 PM

I searched for truth my whole life and it led me to Christ. At first I thought it was the answer and the antidote against spiritual evil. It is these things, but I came to see Him as more than just a philosophy to use – He is truth itself.
The transformative power of Christ is beyond compare. And that to me is proof that He lives.

Todd Hayen
Todd Hayen
May 6, 2023 2:06 PM
Reply to  ZenPriest

Are you familiar with A Course in Miracles?

sabelmouse
sabelmouse
May 6, 2023 3:14 PM
Reply to  Todd Hayen

exactly what helped me this last year. i gave up on it in 92, but thanks to michael mirdad’s explanation/s i finally GOT IT. halleluiah, seriously, it was like that.

zenpriest
zenpriest
May 6, 2023 7:16 PM
Reply to  Todd Hayen

I am not. Would you recommend it?

wardropper
wardropper
May 6, 2023 1:03 PM

Definitely one of the most thought-provoking articles I have read here.
Thank you, Todd.

Todd Hayen
Todd Hayen
May 6, 2023 2:06 PM
Reply to  wardropper

Thank you for saying that.

sabelmouse
sabelmouse
May 6, 2023 3:14 PM
Reply to  Todd Hayen

i agree

Vedex
Vedex
May 6, 2023 3:37 PM
Reply to  Todd Hayen

Todd, have you gone Conservative on us.?

Placental_Mammal
Placental_Mammal
May 6, 2023 1:00 PM

Monotheisms

The monotheisms have little to do with the creator of the universe, the vast variety of beautiful creatures and so much else. They were created by ambitious bankers over many milennia. They were created to make the world more totalitarian and materialistic and to make it’s people look up to the banksters.They were joined later by the godless philosophy of Marxism. Marxism led to bloody dystopian regimes, some of which survive into the present. The hatred of nature central to these philosophies is demonstrated well by Chairman Mao’s successful if horrifying program to eradicate the Chinese sparrow.

The false binary of monotheism vs atheism is promoted by contrived debates between necon arsehole Christopher Hitchens and assorted monotheist clerics.

Todd Hayen
Todd Hayen
May 6, 2023 2:08 PM

I don’t necessary believe in “monotheism,” although I do not get into arguments with monotheism—there is a way that that “explanation” could “work” (unity consciousness and all that.)

Clutching at straws
Clutching at straws
May 6, 2023 12:04 PM

It is hard to remain Zen when you can see your world being stolen from you.

But the hardest thing is to watch your world being stolen with the assistance of the majority.

The majority will call you a swivel-eyed loon for pointing this out.

I used to get upset at being called a swivel-eyed loon

Now, I’m very proud of my official swivel-eyed loon status and I am open with anyone who is interested in talking about it.

It really is very liberating.

It’s a funny old world !

Todd Hayen
Todd Hayen
May 6, 2023 2:08 PM

ooo…I love that…”swivel-eyed loon”….I would like to join that club…

Clutching at straws
Clutching at straws
May 6, 2023 3:24 PM
Reply to  Todd Hayen

Todd, you are the founding member and you know it !

Howard
Howard
May 6, 2023 3:03 PM

The problem isn’t “your world being stolen from you.” Rather, the problem is thinking such a thing as “your world” exists. It isn’t yours, or mine, or “theirs” (i.e., the psychos who posture as masters of existence and seek to rule everything and everyone). It isn’t anyone’s.

It exists; you exist; we exist; they exist (oh no: have I stumbled into a Woke swamp here?).

Clutching at straws
Clutching at straws
May 6, 2023 3:23 PM
Reply to  Howard

It is/was my world where, thirty years ago I could smoke in a pub or go to a restaurant without being asked for my papers.
Without the coming threat of mandatory injections or being arrested for “hate speach”

At this moment 7 other people who have read my post also feel that “their” world is being stolen from them.

I’m curious as to why you don’t share our opinion.

Howard
Howard
May 6, 2023 10:33 PM

Perhaps I was reading too general a stand in your comment – as in this world Earth. But I realize you were referring to your social milieu as a “world.”

I would call it a “way of life” rather than a “world.”

Clive Williams
Clive Williams
May 7, 2023 12:47 AM
Reply to  Howard

I’am surmising CAS is referencing Social Public house act of our Countries not the United States or the founding Thirteen States at present.

Clive Williams
Clive Williams
May 7, 2023 12:31 AM

Those I can’t do’s anymore were spread by the Publican liberalists.

zenpriest
zenpriest
May 8, 2023 9:23 PM

We come and we leave with nothing. We are born to live a brief worldly life and yet people believe themselves owners of the earth. But everything belongs to God!

Ambrosa
Ambrosa
May 6, 2023 11:07 AM

God exists just that everyone of us is having a personal relationship with Him.So He is not the same for everyone, He is perceived differently by each and everyone of us.

sabelmouse
sabelmouse
May 6, 2023 3:18 PM
Reply to  Ambrosa

it is not [ only ] male for starters.
not even in the old testament this is apparently mentioned according to sue monk kidd’s ” dance of the dissident daughter”
nor a stern punisher.

futurist
futurist
May 6, 2023 10:53 AM

comment image

S Cooper
S Cooper
May 6, 2023 11:07 AM
Reply to  futurist

Todd Hayen
Todd Hayen
May 6, 2023 1:13 PM
Reply to  S Cooper

George Carlin was brilliant.

wardropper
wardropper
May 6, 2023 1:49 PM
Reply to  Todd Hayen

He was indeed. Brilliant and very hard-working.
He was also what I would call a ‘good’ man.

Despite the rough vocabulary, there is footage of him being interviewed on serious subjects which shows him to have been a very thoughtful, fearless and highly critical thinker.
He was also a compassionate man, and that shines through his extraordinarily polished and fluent command of the English language – American warts and all.

His views on religion, however, make me think that his upbringing left some serious scars and some unresolved anger underlying the whole subject.

That’s the only area where I have ever seen his mind close up somewhat, and he sometimes resorted to the dismissive quips typical of Christopher Hitchens.
I’d like to have had a chance to discuss religion with him, but I fear he would have lost patience with me before we got very far.

Why worry?
What he could do was far more worthwhile than arguing with another individual, and I love listening to him.

Howard
Howard
May 6, 2023 3:14 PM
Reply to  wardropper

So far as I can tell, George Carlin was born and raised Catholic. I mention this simply because I’ve noticed a certain “trend” among Catholics (myself included) to become at least agnostic.

I think this is because, unlike, say Baptist, the Catholic religion is almost entirely a top down religion. At no point does it really become something that becomes a part of a person’s inner life. The Catholic hierarchy is far more interested in ruling its members than becoming a soul-mate to them.

SeamusPadraig
SeamusPadraig
May 6, 2023 5:56 PM
Reply to  Howard

The thing is, the other religions of the earth are, in reality, just as top-down as the RC church; they just disguise that fact better. Ultimately, whatever their origin, all the religions of the earth — past and present — either ultimately fell under the control of the Illuminati at some point, or else they were created by them from the start.

We know that the Illuminati certainly do prefer hierarchical social structures (with themselves at the top of pyramid, of course) when they can get them; but if they can’t, they can still use crowd-control techniques that rely on peer-pressure to achieve roughly the same effect. Just look at our pitiful ‘democratic’ societies if you need a good example of how that works.

Bottom line? Even the more ‘democratic’ churches, such as some versions of Protestantism, where you can elect your own preachers and bishops, aren’t necessarily any more ‘democratic’ than the Vatican in practice. They just have to go through the additional step of convincing you that you (or your ancestors), ‘freely’ chose their dogma rather than somebody else’s. But once you accept that dogma, all else flows from that as a natural consequence. Or, as we Americans are sometimes known to say, ‘freedom isn’t free.’

Clive Williams
Clive Williams
May 7, 2023 1:22 AM
Reply to  wardropper

Mr Iceland mud pool.
America (english) will not change until finally its American language encompasses African in 2028. Wink wink.

SeamusPadraig
SeamusPadraig
May 6, 2023 5:47 PM
Reply to  S Cooper

Religion is not God, and God is not religion.

Erik Nielsen
Erik Nielsen
May 6, 2023 7:14 PM
Reply to  S Cooper

“There is no God”. All right, but why dont you prove it instead of stating what there isnt?
There is no Batman, Santa Claus, Uggi Buggi man, Dr. Manhattan, Loch ness, Tarzan, Alien, no igloos in Sahara, no cars driving on the Sea.
What is the purpose of saying that?

All you “There is no God” supporters, tell me where it all started, how and why, and make me a little more impressed than this bs.

Erik Nielsen
Erik Nielsen
May 7, 2023 10:52 PM
Reply to  Erik Nielsen

When atheist professors found the DNA molecule, it was said to be the ultimately proof of design.
If you look around this is a logical explanation.

But, inconvenient for all the things you guys have said and done in your lives………………………..LOL.

Gosh…….you red face guys are so uncomfortable by this news…….LOL.

Johnny
Johnny
May 6, 2023 11:32 AM
Reply to  futurist

Suffice to say that Love exists, or simply IS.
We can’t see it, touch it, measure it, or take a picture of it, but sure as there’s little green apples, we can feel it.
In fact, Love is the most real thing we can feel, apart from Life itself.
Scientific proof? There is none.
Love even defies evolution because science comes from our heads. Love comes from our hearts.

wardropper
wardropper
May 6, 2023 1:00 PM
Reply to  futurist

The premises underlying that short, ‘wise-sounding’ statement are logically fallacious:

1) Who says the books we have on the subject seek to ‘explain’ the existence of God? “Explain” is not the right word when what Dan Barker really wants is proof of the existence of God, and the Bible is full of quotes to the effect that the essence of faith is not to be found in ‘proof’.
Just try proving why a sunset, or a Mozart symphony, is beautiful to somebody who just doesn’t see or hear it.

2) Preachers do not ‘explain’ God either.
A good, sincere priest seeks to spread the word from his own conviction, not to deliver a doctoral thesis to be peer-reviewed later.

3) “The fact that He can’t do it Himself…” Seriously?
Any decent speaker at a high school debating society knows the difference between “can’t do it Himself” and “doesn’t do it Himself”.
In this context, “can’t” is evidence of nothing.

Ask yourself, Dan: Is the fact that a large meteorite didn’t obliterate your house last night evidence that it can’t?
The parameters involved in that equation are much broader than you, or your house.
Nor are we going to settle the question of Jesus turning water into wine by putting a bottle of water on the table and waiting… and waiting… and waiting…

Even though this is a religious subject, the laws of logic still apply – but only to the material aspects involved.
The spiritual aspects have their own, spiritual, logic, but our high school debater isn’t yet educated enough to have learnt them.

Howard
Howard
May 6, 2023 3:29 PM
Reply to  wardropper

Couldn’t agree more. The reasoning behind that particular statement is…well, it’s simply not there. Of course, that statement was clearly taken out of context for the sake of a meme; but I have no inclination to pursue the entire lecture.

God is a metaphysical impossibility. That which has no substance cannot exist in a universe of matter. And if it exists outside that universe, then it bears no relationship to that universe whatsoever; and could not possibly have created it.

Even time has substance, though Physics has yet to discover it. One day it will – just like Physics finally discovered gravity waves. It will eventually discover time waves – then it will incorporate the discovery into its body and say it knew it all along. Ah! the wonderful world of Science!

SeamusPadraig
SeamusPadraig
May 6, 2023 6:08 PM
Reply to  Howard

‘Substance’ and ‘matter’ aren’t necessarily the same thing. After all, even matter, down deep, is just our way of perceiving energy. So it’s actually energy, not matter, which is the true substance (substantia: literally, standing underneath).

There! Once you’ve escaped the materialist box, understanding Godhead as a kind of pantheism becomes possible.

Howard
Howard
May 6, 2023 11:55 PM
Reply to  SeamusPadraig

Substance and matter both exist in a realm of reality; both can be quantified. There’s nothing elusive about energy: energy is an existent the same as any other kind of matter. Energy is a form of matter – it cannot exist otherwise.

The difficulty, as I see it, is that the concept of matter is so commonplace that it’s taken for granted.

“Oh yeah,” someone might say, “matter is that pebble over there. Big deal!”

To which I say “Damn right it’s a big deal. It took existence billions of years and perhaps billions of tries to get that pebble over there just right.”

The lowly pebble is as awesome as any god.

Howard
Howard
May 7, 2023 12:05 AM
Reply to  wardropper

One other thing. When you mentioned a beautiful sunset, I couldn’t help recalling a time when I was walking my dog and there was the most beautiful sunset I had ever seen. And my dog had his head down sniffing the sidewalk.

I don’t know what I expected; but I do know it actually saddened me that he was unable or unwilling to look up – that whatever he was sniffing was more important to him than the sunset; so he missed it entirely.

Clive Williams
Clive Williams
May 7, 2023 3:45 AM
Reply to  wardropper

Wardropper
Questioning God will lead straight to extreme right wing protesting innocence.
Your net worth will be the only exchange of principles you will have.

Todd Hayen
Todd Hayen
May 6, 2023 1:12 PM
Reply to  futurist

A person that comes to final conclusions about the “existence of God” with this sort of logic reasoning is approaching it from the wrong perspective. I certainly understand what they are doing and why this sort of reasoning is so compelling…but…Bottom line is believe what you want, none of us really can explain it.

Victor G.
Victor G.
May 6, 2023 1:47 PM
Reply to  Todd Hayen

A good opportunity to once again quote Primo Levi; “C’è Auschwitz, quindi non c’è Dio. Non trovo una soluzione al dilemma. La cerco, ma non la trovo.”
Translation; There is Auschwitz, and so there cannot be God. I find no solution to this dilemma. I look for one, but I do not find it.”
He spoke from experience. Luckily, like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, god needs humans more than they need him. Let’s show him the door along with the USofAs and the legions of mystifiers who have oppressed us for millennia.

sabelmouse
sabelmouse
May 6, 2023 3:23 PM
Reply to  Victor G.

victor frankl.

SeamusPadraig
SeamusPadraig
May 6, 2023 6:11 PM
Reply to  Victor G.

‘god’ may need humans, but God doesn’t. It is we, rather, who need Him.

Victor G.
Victor G.
May 7, 2023 1:21 PM
Reply to  SeamusPadraig

Damn, that’s subtle …

Todd Hayen
Todd Hayen
May 6, 2023 2:10 PM
Reply to  Todd Hayen

And when I say “wrong perspective” that is just my humble opinion…I should have made that clear…

Clive Williams
Clive Williams
May 7, 2023 6:45 AM
Reply to  Todd Hayen

Non-confirmation Reglious act is still based on an ethical Principle centre where We come from. Protecting that Right of a Religious Non-Conformist to Worship.
Questioning The Very Existence of an Individuals God…leads to Violence War on that Person.
Let me ask Mr Hayen what protection do you travel under visting living in other Countries more often than not and that Countries Reglious Affiliation.
Thank You
Ps. I fail to see why we are having this discussion when facts are deeply Personal.
Thx again.

Erik Nielsen
Erik Nielsen
May 6, 2023 4:51 PM
Reply to  futurist

What a joke. What an utterly complete 100% idiot. Its impossible to be more stupid than that. Libtard?

Lets take a giraffe and a kolibri. Did they just jumped into the scene by a big bang, or came out from the cro-magnon man, or could they have been designed by higher intelligence?
Designed is the most probably yes? So God has already explained himself everywhere anywhere in front of Mr. Barker’s smokey eyes.

SeamusPadraig
SeamusPadraig
May 6, 2023 5:45 PM
Reply to  futurist

So in Barker’s theory, how did the mere concept of God first arise at all? I mean, if God’s existence is no plain, empirical fact that can be sensed in our environment, then where did it come from? Somebody had to write those books and school those preachers, right? If Barker’s right, then you’re left with basically three possible explanations as to how the concept of Godhead first appeared: either A, human intuition informed us of the concept right from the start (my view); or B, that it was somehow deduced or inferred from the existence of all else (Aristotle, Einstein); or C, God himself told us — “divine revelation” itself was simultaneously the source of our knowledge of God and proof of His existence, as John Locke once argued.

So what’s your pick?

thinking-turtle
thinking-turtle
May 6, 2023 10:49 AM

Thanks for an interesting article!

Imagine an ant. He is worried about ant hill collapse, a river flood, an enemy colony. Looking from the outside one sees the futility of this worrying. We understand that if the ant is carrying food home, and starts to talk about river floods, the other ants will think of him as spreading negativity.

An ant pretending to be a colony is like a columnist pretending to be a nation.

Todd Hayen
Todd Hayen
May 6, 2023 1:16 PM

Nice . . . There is a certain reality in what our senses experience. And once our senses experience something, then that “something” has indeed been made manifest. If that something negatively impacts human material bodies, then as a material being ourselves, we should not ignore that something and pretend it does not exist as SOMETHING. It is a complicated concept to wrap a head around, but ultimately it does make sense.

thinking-turtle
thinking-turtle
May 6, 2023 3:21 PM
Reply to  Todd Hayen

Inside your white fence

The glass house you’ve created

Things are getting tense

Don’t feel appreciated

Glance out of your window

It looks like sun to me

But you just count the clouds

Sigh and beg for sympathy

sabelmouse
sabelmouse
May 6, 2023 10:02 AM

Christ Consciousness.
the only thing that counts, really.
telling others to be more positive, putting anybody down, is NOT christ consciousness/spiritual living.
it’s part of spiritual bypassing.
sadly others then use that to reject spirituality.
nor does christ conscioussness/love and forgiveness mean passivity/lack of boundaries/enabling hurtful behavior.

wardropper
wardropper
May 6, 2023 1:15 PM
Reply to  sabelmouse

I very much agree with all of that comment.

One of the hurdles in the way of recognizing spiritual things is the terminology involved, but of course we have to use some terminology.

“Christ Consciousness” is certainly a goal for those who have already taken some steps on a certain spiritual path, but to most people it just sounds like an arcane phrase typically used by ‘spiritual’ people who think they are better than the rest of us…
It begs the question, “Christ Consciousness? What on earth is that?”

I’m not sure how one can overcome this problem, although when discussing religion I do try myself to avoid priestly rhetoric and phrases which are not self-explanatory.

sabelmouse
sabelmouse
May 6, 2023 3:03 PM
Reply to  wardropper

christ consciousness is very much NOT religion. generally, in my experience, neither christians/religious people , nor atheists like it.

Erik Nielsen
Erik Nielsen
May 6, 2023 7:26 PM
Reply to  wardropper

Christians has been smeared, eaten by lions and burned on the stack since 2000 years by pagans telling us we all come from an flee infested ape and our brain is like a computer, just the computer is better than us, and a handgranade created everything.

So you who are above pls forgive me for telling these pagans we ARE better than their big bang and ape bs, and I give a f… for their hurt feelings.

Todd Hayen
Todd Hayen
May 6, 2023 1:16 PM
Reply to  sabelmouse

Bliss ninnies…spiritual bypass…I’m not a fan.

sabelmouse
sabelmouse
May 6, 2023 3:02 PM
Reply to  Todd Hayen

me neither, but people should learn the difference between that, and real spirituality.
outing that is part of the psyop , i think.

Straight Talk
Straight Talk
May 6, 2023 9:57 AM

Naomi Wolf just wrote an important article: The Crime of “Talking to Tucker Carlson”
In it, she grieves for a nation that was more hopeful and prosperous, when deregulated capital didn’t turn our world upside down with hostile fascism. Those that remember should band together to keep that memory alive and strive for ethical sanity to prevail.

Rhys Jaggar
Rhys Jaggar
May 6, 2023 8:57 AM

It’s impossible to hold ‘truth’ in your heart if you refuse to engage with evidence. You can hold ‘instinctive hope’, which is often what people in fairly helpless situations use to prevent their souls disintegrating and gives them the stoic capacity to help their children reach better stations. ‘Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth’ has little evidentiary truth the past 2000 years, but I’m sure many children have benefitted from their poor parents holding it to their hearts….

What I find totally objectionable is those claiming to be ‘elders in a Christian church’ spouting Government propaganda firstly about Ukraine (hatred is truly in their hearts over that me thinks) and then Covid vaccination jabs. To have someone with not even an undergraduate degree in biological sciences tell someone with 10 years of specialist research experience in virology what the truth about vaccines is, all to maintain ‘status’ in the hierarchy, is the heart of unchristian evil, but it won’t ever be punished. Christian Churches are there for children in adults’ bodies to be forgiven without having to be punished or corrected for their abominations. You won’t be surprised to learn that I am not a member of any organised religion…..

If you make any study of ‘religious’ organisations, what you find are just the same petty pathetic power-based hierarchies that you find in ‘satanic’ ‘money-obsessed’ businesses. Objective truth is not what matters, status, position and hierarchy do. To those who occupy the hierarchy at any rate. It goes without saying that the only people likely to join such organisations are those less intelligent than those up the hierarchy. From my experience, that lessens the potential target market for dupable recruits quite considerably…..

Clutching at straws
Clutching at straws
May 6, 2023 4:45 PM
Reply to  Rhys Jaggar

As Bono said before he sold out:
“The God I believe in isn’t short of cash, Mister”

Johnny
Johnny
May 6, 2023 7:55 AM

Wise words Todd.

The Bible is open to so many interpretations it is mind boggling. That’s why there are hundreds of Christian ‘sects’ and breakaway groups. No one can be certain, though most will claim certainty.

Jesus is also supposed to have said:
‘I am in the world but not of it’
What I take this to mean is that the ‘world’ is what humans have made: buildings, vehicles, roads, industry, commerce, art, music etc.
And the Earth is what God or Life has created: Mother Nature, creatures and natural wonders.

So Jesus was speaking for all of us.
We are OF the Earth, OF Life.
Worlds and Empires will come and go, like they always have.
God, Life, or whatever we choose to call it, will endure, because Life has no beginning and no end. It is time-less. We invented time as a reference point. It has no existence outside of our minds. Show me the past. Show me the future. It can’t be done. We can only truly experience Now.

This is what we can glean from all the great teachers who came before us. We are beholden to them.

It’s not Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu or any religion. It is simple Truth.