Jesus and the Sleeping Disciples
Todd Hayen
Sleeping Disciples Louisa Anne, Marchioness of Waterford 1818-1891 Bequeathed by Adelaide, Lady Brownlow 1917 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/N03223
Shouldn’t we not rest until every man, woman, and child alive on earth has a roof over his or her head and food to eat and clean water to drink? Wasn’t that what Jesus was getting at? At the very least? But no, that has never even been close to happening.
People, for the most part, do not live their lives “in service” to the greater good. They don’t survive on the minimum and give the excess to the poor. They don’t focus their creativity, their fortitude, and their industry, on saving the world from despair. In fact, for the most part, they do the opposite. Me included. Forgive me Father, for I have sinned…as most of us have.
I do give to charity, and some years it seems like quite a lot, but I do not sacrifice. And if I really was “putting on the mind of Christ” I would not even see it as a sacrifice. As long as there is even one starving mouth out in the world, I should not get a penny more than I need to stay alive myself.
“Whoa, righteous bucks, man!” Yep. Who the hell am I to point the finger? Well, I don’t consider this as any sort of finger pointing. I am really only asking a question. How can we really complain about the world’s inequities, God’s seeming blindness to our needs, the “unfairness” of life when it is completely in our power, our individual power, to change the lives of countless human beings with the snap of a finger?
I am not necessarily saying it is our duty to change our ways and live in a cardboard box under the freeway so we can feed starving children in Africa (or wherever they may be) but really, why do we blame God, or even other people, for all the suffering in the world, including our own, when we have so much power to do something about it all ourselves?
I’ll say it again, I am not proposing anything—I am just making an observation. We can keep on living the way we are living, where those of us in the middle to upper classes in the West have 90% of the world’s wealth—but if we do that, we should stop complaining—at the very least.
It is interesting to note, and of course this is a guess, that if we saw everyone in the world the same way we see our immediate family, and if we were basically decent people (that could be a stretch depending on who I am addressing!) then we probably would make sure our immediate family (the entire world in this hypothetical) was at least well fed. Why is it that we don’t do that?
Well, it surely has to do with the way our basic psychology is wired—tribe mentality and all that. We also have a pretty complex wiring around self-preservation, and somewhere through time that wiring has tricked us into thinking that having a new Mercedes Benz in the driveway is “self-preservation.”
This is no joke. I honestly believe that human beings are wired to believe the most mundane, and superfluous, of material possessions are required not only for pleasure and happiness (which is a given) but also for survival—literally. Neither is true.
That’s pretty weird.
We also seem to be wired to cut our empathic connection completely off if the space between our empathic subject and the empathizer (us) is beyond a certain distance, both physically and emotionally. Empathy is one of the tenets of psychological health, but it really has a very limited range, if it exists at all with the modern human. (I am curious to know if primal cultures had an empathic sense that is equivalent to what we expect in modern times.)
Obviously these points developed evolutionarily to end up at the state they are now—basic disconnection with other human beings on the planet if they are too far away—too far away in physical distance as well as too far away in a variety of other aspects.
Going back to the title of this article. Is that what Jesus meant when he said “stay awake for me, I am just going over here to pray” (paraphrasing Matthew 26: 36-46). Jesus asking the disciples to stay awake for “only an hour” is a metaphor for how quickly we forget there are other humans in the world worse off than we are, the disciples falling asleep and “forgetting what Jesus asked from them” while he “went over there to pray” is a metaphor for “how quickly you forget if I am not within your immediate presence.”
In Luke 22:57 Peter denies even knowing Jesus, which is another example of “out of sight out of mind.” Of course there is more to it than this in the Bible, but you can see how it relates to my point. We are basically designed to ignore or forget anything that is uncomfortable for us. We are pain resistant and comfort motivated.
Of course everything I am saying here is materially driven (not the quotes from the Bible, they were presented only as an illustration of human behaviour). The problem I am presenting regarding starving children and our world suffering due to a multitude of grievances, is a problem that exists primarily because the rich people of the world (which includes us from a relative perspective) are too greedy to share the wealth.
As I said earlier, our “system” believes having the Mercedes in the driveway is equivalent to the discovery of a stash of grubs or a bucket of honey in an old tree trunk that could sustain the family or the tribe through the winter. And if you shared this bounty with the folks over the hill, you would surely die. Today we tend to see opulent wealth as a means to basic survival, which it certainly is not. Our drive to acquire “things” beyond what we need is hardwired because we have been brainwashed to believe everything we want, we need.
So what do we do? Well, as you know, I usually don’t supply top down solutions. I might suggest a bottom up solution, but they are usually too simple and are really only useful during the days following the holocaust when the entire world is destroyed and only six people have survived.
That said, I do think we can all be a little more aware of what we are dealing with. It may help to be kinder to those in need—maybe pay more attention to the homeless people asking for a handout, or be more generous with other charitable donations.
That is indeed “top down” problem solving, but as with lots of top down stuff, if practiced tirelessly, change of deeper systems that really do make a difference do occur over time. We need to prepare for the new world approaching, and I don’t mean the WEF’s New World Order, I mean the real new world—the beautiful and vibrant new world left behind after the smoke clears and the floods recede. It will indeed come, and for that world, God’s intended world, we must be prepared.
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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Jesus Christ, Super Star 🌟 Looks Like A Woman & He wears a Bra 👙😂
Haven’t heard that jingle in a long time!
We did JCSS as a school play. We used a rope and red paint for the scourge, some parents were not impressed!
Only a 3.5 rating so far? I think you did a fly-by Todd!
Excellent thank you, I love the storm you stir in the comments.
I appreciate the simplicity of your point, though it took decades to do so.
(Anyone ever read “Clan of the Cave Bear”? The author suggests a species born with the memories of their parents. Imagine, hit the ground with all the experience of ones ancestors.)
I rue for homo sapiens.
corr: “one’s”
A fantastic article. Thoroughly enjoyable and poses meaningful questions. It made me think of The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman.
Curious fact:
Jesus wasn’t a Christian.
“Christian” is an epithet.
Giving is good, but better is changing oneself. For if everyone gave 10% of their income to the poor, but had not removed the beam in their own eye, nothing will change. People need to follow and emulate Christ, then the charity becomes part of that and also it’s when real change will occur.
Remember that wicked people give to charity. It’s the wickedness that needs curing. And no better way to do that then surrender to Christ.
Absolutely, that is why forced altruism is a killer. It all has to be volunteer…all of it. And to have an “all volunteer” society that is a good and loving society, the natural good in people must be nurtured by parents and the culture from day one. A strong natural character must be developed through an encouragement of moral values (notice I don’t say “taught”…although the process may appear to be teaching, but is in fact a reinforcement and support of already existing internal values.)
I’m afraid that you’ve taken on a subject that goes far far beyond what can be expressed in a few paragraphs of text. But it’s a commendable effort, the time is more than ripe to discuss things of real substance and engage in serious introspection. After all, the world is at a crossroads, ain’t it. Anyways, so many ways to look at this, so many angles, so many issues involved in the dilemma of how a person should approach life vis-a-vis his personal well-being and and the well-being of others, the collective humanity. To simplify how I see generally things, I think that everybody should be as self-reliant and as ascetic as possible in relation to oneself but as generous as possible toward others. If practiced by everybody, the world would be pretty much okay. You can’t save the world by the ‘rich’ giving stuff to the ‘poor’. Everybody has… Read more »
Do babies “earn their keep”? And what about the disabled, those with mental impairment, the very elderly? We can’t take the attitude of simple self-reliance; some people (many many people) are not capable of it. And mutual reliance and responsibility builds a far more caring and loving world. But it can’t be dictated from above, it is up to each individual (I mean each individual who can help others — who is able to decide and act upon that decision.)
You probably didn’t read what I wrote above or failed to process it with your brain, provided that you have a functioning one. Try again.
Babies gotta earn their keep by learning to earn their keep. We live in a world where babies are put on a fucking pedestal, made the center of the universe, swarmed with luxuries, protected from having to make an effort, endure discomfort, etc. The result? A society of total weaklings. Chickenshit pussy cowards. Entitled brats.
I don’t know how many many people are or aren’t capable of self-reliance, but everybody gotta strive to be as self-reliant as possible.
There is no need to be nasty in your tone. I do have a functioning brain. What was the purpose of that remark? Just because someone doesn’t agree with you 100%? I will try again, as you suggest, although I suspect it is futile, as you seem to read even less carefully than you say I do. I responded to your first comment because I thought some sections of it made sense, and indeed there is nothing at all wrong with self reliance and with encouraging it. And you did point out that generosity is important. But I wanted to point out that not all human beings can attain self reliance, and many need ongoing help. at least from time to time. And encouraging self reliance must must must be balanced with a spirit of willingness to help those in need. But much of the tone and content of your… Read more »
“Wasn’t that what Jesus was getting at? At the very least?”
So, the promise first given in Genesis, and throughout all the scriptures, was really about the promise of a Social Justice Savior?
Since you pose the question: It wasn’t ALL that Jesus was about — but He did say, after all, “the first shall be last and the last first.” He held His followers to a higher standard of conduct (for example: “Love your enemies” — not an easy one!). He reiterated that the values of this world system (of His day, but also applying to our own) would be turned upside down, and that this applied not just to some future time Kingdom but to a kingdom to be built here on earth, starting right now, by those who followed his way. (How this was to be done is maybe the key question and followers of Jesus don’t always agree on this! St Paul lays out some guidelines in his letters, but they have been interpreted in various ways). And what the values of this world that are to be overturned?… Read more »
Good response, mjh, thanks.
Actually, my question was fueled more by annoyance than ignorance. First and foremost, Jesus Christ came to redeem and reconcile whosoever will believe on Him, that He is the promised Messiah who offered His body as the final sacrifice to end all sacrifices. What happens after one believes and is born again is where your entailed expectations should take shape primarily through good discipleship not authoritarian dictates (ie institutional religion) and which fruits are ultimately between God the Father and His redeemed, adopted child.
Jesus as exemplar for yielding ‘my life’ to the true Movement of being, meets the visceral fear of death in the ‘garden’. (Just as such a sense of self-masking phished Adam in the garden). If your mind opens at Infinity you will notice the urge to recoil, to think, and to make thinking ‘solid’ or normal. To stay conscious is to abide with Me, in with-ness, but to recognise the mind has been distracted in its own think – so as to dissociate or ‘sleep’ is the grace of noticing within the Movement of being. So forgive or release your mind of judgement by extending appreciation now. You know you are released by your reflection in your brother. If you seek error in your brother your will ‘sleep’ in judgement and receive the measure you have set yourself – as IF at the hand of another or a blind and… Read more »
I welcome Todd’s sentiments as a positive focus on todays problems. If there is one undeniable fact about the human character, it is that human-being has worked to double the size of ‘the economy’ every ~25y for at least 200y [Hudson et al.] Who did and does that? Everybody. Human economic behaviour is a species-specific trait that has grown to include the economic agency of everybody, all the time, everywhere…. But why? Who controlled this species-specific behaviour? Nobody in particular and everybody in fact. The species-specific behaviour is the sum totalisation of all-encompassing local patterns of behaviour. That is population-wide cooperation of extraordinary high degrees of integrated totalisation amounting to a “species-specific singularity.” Who chose to act as an integrated economic species with globally disseminated divisions of labour, skills, species-specific distributed cognition, collectivised knowledge-generating, and so on? Nobody in particular and everybody in participatory conformity. We cooperate as a species-specific… Read more »
Dear god, it really is true that only atheists read the Bible. I sure wish I knew why. Anyway, Jesus certainly never said one word about putting a roof over the heads of everyone on Earth (or “clean water” LMFAO – Jesus never drank water in his entire life and vehemently opposed the practice). In fact, Jesus was quite enamored with how self-sufficient birds are as opposed to silly people who work all day in the fields and yet still remain destitute. Furthermore, if I had a billion dollars, the LAST thing I’d do is try to get more people indoors. Why would I? Indoor living is what’s killing us all. As for the rest of this dopey article, good luck managing your suburban guilt. But if you really want to know where the starving children are, they’re right in your own country. Africa doesn’t need your pity, a—-ole. Just… Read more »
Where is your claim that Jesus vehemently opposed the drinking of water founded?
Living God through all Creation is not ‘self-sufficiency’ but true Nature as functional or integral wholeness.
Yes, surely Jesus didn’t turn every drop of water he encountered into wine! 😉💦🍷
Sam, it is responses like yours that cause me to lose whatever faith I might have left in the human race. You can certainly disagree, that doesn’t bother me in the least. But thinking you know everything about an author from reading a handful of 1200 word articles presenting rather difficult subjects is so naive and pitiful I can’t even muster up the words to describe it. What gives you away, and others as well, is your reliance on ugliness to make your point…”dopey article” and calling me an “a—-ole” among other attacks. Why do you think you know what contributions I make to help assuage my “suburban guilt”?…are you about 5 years old? I think most of us have given up on such tactics to make our point a few years after puberty. What you have to say may indeed be important. The manner in which you say it… Read more »
I get you, Todd. I think that those in the know aren’t necessarily complaining about going without or with less, since many are at least in the middle-middle class or beyond. I’m finding that many in the lower middle class are simply intent on the material side of things with an occasional penny thrown to the poor. For the most part, people are generous enough to give to charity, I believe. The reason why there are still people starving, without clean, running water, electricity, good adequate food and a roof over their heads is the corruption of governments and the charity gatekeepers. One example: The SE Asian tsunami of several years ago. Australians of every social stratum gave generously to the Red Cross in order, in particular, to help those who lost their homes and businesses in Bali. There was a special donation drive for Bali’s most impacted, and Australians… Read more »
Can’t bring yourself to mention capitalism?
Wish we HAD capitalism – that would be better than what we have or had until recently – instead of crony capitalism. You know, communism for the corporations and cold, cold capitalism for the individuals and very small businesses.
Yeah, my missile from my article was aimed in a slightly different direction, but I still find strength in the masses, and even though the governments who are truly the culprits, I do believe the sheep masses do their bidding. But everything you say here I do agree with.
The author’s message is not for everyone in these forums, for certain. If people want to view the bible as a document as opposed to the Holy Scripture, it is possible to extract some very basic information as a basis for forming a fundamental moral code. We can acknowledge the 7 sins of people. Pride Envy Anger Sloth Greed Gluttony Lust We can acknowledge the 7 virtues: Humility Charity Chastity Gratitude Temperance Patience Diligence Then we can acknowledge the 10 Commandments, and place God into what that means to you. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall make no idols. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. Keep the Sabbath day holy. Honor your father and your mother. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You… Read more »
An FOI request has been made to government to furnish an isolated, purified sample of God, and they have shit. Therefore, there is no God.
Simplify the above as follows:
“Thou shall not fuck around”
Everybody will understand that.
So you prescribe to the cosmology of nothing?
Do you think a tornado can run through a junkyard and drop out a functional automobile?
Do you think that government is s the progenitor of truth?
The state of the “do as thou wilt” world says your motto isn’t working.
I prescribe nothing. It’s up to others to find something to subscribe to.
Ever heard of a thing called humor.
I don’t get sarcasm.
I agree with David Icke that removing the causes of evil in this world is far more effective than finding “solutions.”
People are the cause of evil.
The easily duped, compliant, and fearful masses are part of the problem.
If you only remove the leadership of evil, the masses will just be hibernating waiting for the next demon.
Have to fix the masses, while at the same time taking out the evil leadership.
IMHO.
I think our current Globalist leaders are currently “fixing the masses.”
“People are the cause of evil.”
Maybe the requirements of living on this plane of existence are the cause of evil?
Who promised that life should be easy?
Maybe overcoming the requirements of living in this world is how you defeat the evil?
“Who promised that life should be easy?”
The serpent in the Garden, maybe. Or maybe God in the Garden, before the serpent showed up. After being kicked out of the Garden, God makes it pretty clear that life is not going to be easy. The first law is survival,and many fine things fall to the dust before it when put to the test.
The promise of a serpent is anything but.
God, Heaven and this world, as one, is what the Garden of Eden was.
Taking a bite of the apple, pushed God and Heaven away from the world.
Hell is this world.
Forge your soul into a useful tool, else get thrown back into the fire.
I don’t know my scripture as well as some of you do, but would it be appropriate to say that the Garden of Eden, Paradise, was really a metaphor and never really intended to be sustainable? We cannot really amount to much of anything if we do not come to God on our own free will.
When the substantial number of humans are moral and of good character, we can have a world that is closer to paradise.
When we have the substantial number of humans that are amoral and of poor character, we create hell on earth.
It is an analogy of how being close to God, and being close to sinless and being truly virtuous can create a paradise like existence.
Yeah, that is partially what I was trying to say. You said it better, bolder, thank you.
Since when did empathy become a “virtue”?
You’re right. Virtue is a sub-category of empathy. That is to say, without empathy no virtue is possible.
That’s an interesting consideration. I’m not sure I agree with it, but I’ll think about it.
Firstly, as the plandemic has proved in spades, the 1% of 1% have gained a strangle-hold on the wealth of the planet; thanks to their machinations over decades, nay centuries in banking, finance, education, government, corps, ngo’s, npo’s, foundations, etc.. So, when you state, ‘We can keep on living the way we are living, where those of us in the middle to upper classes in the West have 90% of the world’s wealth—but if we do that, we should stop complaining—at the very least.’; it is obviously obfuscating aforesaid reality (i.e., 1% of 1% owning the world) by conflating the two socio-economic classes – i.e., middle and upper classes – with one socio-economic class being responsible for said dire straits. Secondly, even if you believe in the idea that the middle class/upper class is responsible for said troubles in the world, you still have not identified the underlying reason for… Read more »
First of all, nice article or thesis, Todd. I can never understand why people attack the word, when it is only an exchange of ideas. What do you think?, is the only question. Critical thinking is important. It feels as if we all have some understanding that we are all one and connected to everything, so when we see people homeless or drug induced, or rich or in positions of some sort of power we can then realize it is ourselves in a different realm of psychological mind control, as we wade through the fiction of the virtual simulated reality. LOL, Having said that…it’s no wonder!! King Uruash and his FIVE FAMOUS SONS, IS IDENTICAL IN SUMERIAN RECORDS AND INDIAN LISTS IN NAMES, TITLES AND ACHIEVEMENTS; They spread civilization throughout the World. The prison. The language is changed to separate the many and different societies established throughout the World. The… Read more »
“Why is it that we don’t do that?” Because WE don’t have any input on deciding policy and future policy. THEY the 1% decide FOR US because WE allow them to do it. We can look at “colonial settlerism” for the script that facilitates in-denial selfish behavior. It is time to no longer accept excuses why their “civilization” has become, instead of an Ecotopia, Dystopia for the bottom 90% and Utopia for the sociopathic top 5%. At a time when there is the greatest need for consent or rejection from Humanity to move ahead with vast artificial technologies, we get railroaded by the rich and powerful because they know we’ll say NO. We are not hardwired to be greedy and selfish, we are brainwashed to NOT be consciously generous and active in policies that manifest an egalitarian society. If their SYSTEM can create a derivatives market that is one thousand… Read more »
100% agree, mr. Hayen! As for the ‘days following the holocaust when the entire world is destroyed and only six people have survived’ , it may well be the case even too soon. I also think that we can learn from history that all those ‘1000-year Reich’s’ fall to the ashes much sooner than their overlords expect, and I DO hope that within the next 20-ish years the entire New World Order will be only another sad history lesson. And also a chance, and, hopefully, one that we won’t miss this time.
No – curing the world of poverty is not our job – this is our job: “Make disciples of all nations….” – https://crushlimbraw.blogspot.com/2023/04/jesus-christ-to-his-church-do-your-job.html?m=0 – and the snoring in DaPulpits and Pews has been going on for hundreds of years!
This sounds like Far Left equity crap to me. Who is this writer and why is he writing on AT?
Thinking for less than a minute, I realized that when you have a family member that is self-destructive and won’t take the help offered, you eventually wash your hands of them and let them starve or figure it out on their own. This would invalidate all other points made by the author. Otherwise you are just perpetuating the existance of a big child that cannot take care of themselves.
Which is exactly what the Far Left wants all of us to be!
I blame myself for you not understanding the nuance of my thesis. It is anything but far left equity crap.
It’s not your fault some only see things in the right vs left binary. You can lead a horse to water….
How odd to turn one’s back on a family member or a friend. Prodigal Son nonsense notwithstanding, turning away from someone a person once (supposedly) cared about suggests a certain shallowness in that person’s ability to care.
Was it the family member or friend one cared about? or was it the place they were supposed to occupy in one’s hierarchy of acceptable traits?
A couple of hippies stole an apple a few thousand years ago and we’ve been paying for it ever since. Can’t we just hand over reparations for the theft and forget about it?
It was a sting operation. Adam and Eve were set up. God, being omniscient, knew exactly what they were up to – yet did nothing to intervene. Then said “Be Gone!” without the slightest shame or irony.
You could be right. It’s always seemed to be a bit shifty to me. Do you think he might have manufactured the entire event just to promote his Book?
No. They were there by free will. But somebody betrayed the scene. I always wonder why everybody always blame God day and night for this accident and all other failures. Why are you doing that?? Because you are afraid to mention the devil. You refuse to point at the devil because you fear the devil and by your fear you show respect. You think God is the weak one you therefore can treat with contempt like your mother who always washed your socks and underwear.. God can just take all your bs and his son can just get the f…finger, because you are a so valuable so he and his son will always love you and forgive you no matter how deep you sink and no matter how much you piss on both. But you are wrong man, you are so so wrong. The one you really really should fear… Read more »
Oh… er… OK then Erik. Thanks for clearing that up for us… :-/
YES brother, amen.
Not to overly nitpick, but God and Satan are one and the same. Just different masks, that’s all. Good cop-bad cop.
I found the bible to be logical if you break the symbolism.
It makes sense. God created the perfect world, Satan interfered out of envy, tried to steal it, tried to bypass and betray and be above and better than God.
We see the same pattern during our human history, and today. We were created in Gods picture. Same story.
We create something, another one steal it, envy you, and try to be above you.
Jesus also makes sense. We as humans failed. But we got a chance to correct it.
Are you on God’s side or are you on the betrayers side, the liars side, thinking you are and can do it better than God??
God and Satan cant be the same. Its illogical. Absurd. Day and night is not the same. They are part of the same universe yes. Thats it.
Kalvin and Howard – Many thanks for the laugh!
That’s a classic, hippies falling for a sting op!
Yep it’s the Luciferin Doctrine.
The trouble is Adam and Eve were probably white!
Exactly. They used their white privilege to take that apple. The bastards!
Middle-to-upper class covers a lot of territory. And most of the middle-class people I know (the ones with houses, anyway) owe more than they actually own. No, whatever their failings may be, I don’t think the middle-class is the one that controls most of the “world’s wealth,” so I don’t think they’re primarily responsible for this problem. It’s a lot like the climate-con: blame all the little people, but let the world’s ruling élites off the hook.
First of all I did not separate “middle class” from upper class, and I did not say the middle class was “responsible” for financing the world’s problems. I am saying that if people who are higher on Maslow’s pyramid of needs started thinking from a place of global empathy, things in the world MIGHT be different. This is not a solution of “redistribution of wealth” through an authoritarian strong arm, it is simply shifting from a consumer/materialist paradigm to one of consciousness of the heart with a foundation in love. It won’t solve everything, but it would be on the right track.
It does surprise me that some readers here equate “love of fellow humans” with a communist ideology. Marxism has nothing to do with “love your neighbor.” And my article has nothing to do with Marxism.
Well said Todd!
Bravo!
The foxes have holes and the birds have nest but the Messiah had no where to lay HIS HEAD.
WHY? BECAUSE THIS CORRUPTED EARTH IS NOT HIS HOME.
THE SERVANT IS NOT GREATER THAN THE MASTER.
THE Messiah YAHSHUA came to Establish the LAW of HIS FATHER YHWH. COMMANDMENTS AND ORDINANCES.
HE SAYS FOLLOW ME OR YOU OR NOT WORTHY OF ME. (GRACE)
THE BABYLONIAN WHORE ( CHRISTIANITY) which you clearly are of. Has taught you under the doctrine of that’s not what GOD MEANS. Leading you to deceive others that it’s about having a home here not in heaven..
It is no coincidence that the primary pockets of hunger just happen to be in some of the richest land on Earth.
There’s always someone to come along and seek the riches buried away in these lands; and force the people living there to dig or mine these riches. And in doing so, hurting or destroying the land’s ability to feed its people.
It’s an age-old dynamic and shows no signs of ending or even slowing down until, mercifully, all the riches are gone.
I personally have plenty. A roof, a running vehicle, a dog. I also busted my ass my entire life to get what little I have. I help my friends and family with time and often money. I used to be more generous with people on the street until they started moving their tents in behind my small home. The approximate 40+ acres is our communities water source. We hike and run our dogs there. Nature is abundant in this still wholly native environment. I’ve always picked up trash back there, sometimes cleaned up an occasional campsite, but now it’s different. It’s a daily occurrence of huge piles of clothing, tents, belongings, excrement all abandoned. The worst campsite I cleaned up was from a woman having her period. Bloody underwear, bloody tampons and napkins everywhere. I discovered the campsite because my dog ran out with a tampon in his mouth. A… Read more »
The expression “busted my ass” reeks of subjectivism. What does it even mean? And what truly constitutes busting one’s ass?
Does working 18 hours a day at something one loves bust his/her ass, no matter how strenuous the work? Or does working 9 to 5 at a cushy job one hates come closer to busting one’s ass?
Many of the homeless are mentally ill. Giving them free treatment for that would be evil socialism, would it not? Not that the benefit of psychiatry is something to write home about.
I think you’ll find, Mr Hayen, that ’empathy’ outside the family is a ‘Peace Dividend’. So when there is a war on (and right now, the 1%ers are instigating war to the death with the 99%), it’s pretty unlikely that you’ll empathy in society flourishing too much. My experience of how people worked was this: Put the best employees under absolute total coercive surveillance, steal all their best work and then try and make out that they need to leave. Always punish down but never take responsibility for your own uselessness. Forget your own voluminous pile of sins but trash the smallest one of those you want to destroy. Women were every bit as bad as men, worse in many ways because of their repulsive self-righteousness as feminists. Some truly repulsive homosexuals played those sorts of games too. I can’t comment on Jews and Muslims as I never worked with… Read more »
I worked with Jews a lot. They are as different as Christians are.
The stealing of ideas may be delegated to consultants during a reorganisation. This is also a chance to rip off wealth from the enterprise by blaming the former management or changing contractors.
when it is completely in our power, our individual power, to change the lives of countless human beings with the snap of a finger? Can you help people by giving them money? My experience is mixed. You can help someone overcome a short term setback. But longer term? Living on gifts of money causes dependency, loss of meaning, hopelessness. Charities are a mixed bag. The local church seems to do real good. But they also had a director who skimmed lots of money. Larger charities have unbelievable graft, where you wonder if any money at all ends up with the intended audience. I’ve got some money set aside for giving to beggars. There are not many of them here in The Netherlands, so I manage to give to most. Some get offended when you give them a dirty banknote, some play an uplifting tune on their instrument. It’s a strange… Read more »
No, you are right, giving money is not the ideal or only solution. It is a more complex situation, and at the moment, is not really the most important problem.
It’s most unfortunate that “meaning” in life is somehow always tied to achievement. No achievement, no meaning. Simple equation.
But as Ayn Rand noted, “Don’t bother trying to understand a folly, just ask yourself who profits from it.”
Indeed, for every “achievement,” you may rest assured there is someone who stands to profit from it in some way or another.
The problem I have with charities is the often eye-watering salaries some of the CEOs take down, while their minions on the shop floor volunteer their time for free.
Some actual religious advice on money:
– Keep increasing your wealth through work or investment.
– Wealth does/does not reflect virtue.
-. Usury is/is not OK.
– The wealthy will get even more wealth.
– Give away all your weaalth.
– Poverty will not be resolved.
Maybe people are following the teachings of the old testament (the overwhelming majority of the BIBLE.)
You now that eye for eye bit while following that go forth and multiply command.
Spoiler Alert: Jesus is not coming back to save the world. He told us to save it… save us… ourselves. He didn’t say this, thinking we couldn’t. He said it because he knew we could.
Jim Palmer
Why do this guy’s misinformed ramblings keep getting published?
“those of us in the middle to upper classes in the West have 90% of the world’s wealth“
“Empathy is one of the tenets of psychological health, but it really has a very limited range, if it exists at all with the modern human.“
“ I might suggest a bottom up solution, but they are usually too simple and are really only useful during the days following the holocaust when the entire world is destroyed and only six people have survived“
How much do your clients have to pay for an hour of your time, Todd?
Re: empathy, “if it exists at all with the modern human.“ That must have been written by Harari.
So you think Harari has empathy? There are many that seem not to…do you believer there are not? There are many as well that do still possess empathy. It is interesting to me how some people do not understand what I mean with a statement like that.
My entire point is that Harari doesn’t have empathy. How can you misread that?
You are criticising my statement, saying it sounds like something Harari would say (right?), And therefore is suspect or untrue (unless you are an admirer of Harari). But if you believe Harari is wrong (if he made such a statement that humans lack empathy) then your view would be in alignment with my question. I am asking if modern humans lack empathy, you are saying Harari lacks empathy (or implying it), he is an example of what I am suggesting.
So if Harari, as you imply, doesn’t have empathy, then you are agreeing that my question “if [empathy] exists at all with the modern human” is a valid question to ask. Harari, and many many more like him, make my point.
Suddenly the misreading becomes easier to understand since I haven’t a clue what any of your last comment is even supposed to mean. Forget Harari. He was obviously a badly chosen prop to make a point. Here’s what you say: “Empathy is one of the tenets of psychological health, but it really has a very limited range, if it exists at all with the modern human.” Empathy is much deeper than any “tenet of psychological health” but that’s not really the point here. Your statement “if it exists at all within the modern human era” is a piece of glib cynicism which Stewart above rightly pulled you up on. You are suggesting that empathy may not exist at all with the modern human. I thought this an absurdly contrarian view that felt as if it was designed to impress with some kind of swaggering radicalism. But it’s nonsense. And of… Read more »
I think you and Todd are misunderstanding each other here!
I think also they’re both substituting “empathy” for “sympathy.”
Empathy and Ideology are mutually exclusive. It’s impossible to empathize with anyone outside one’s ideological framework – therefore, impossible to empathize period if one has an Ideology.
That’s a very good point. I had not thought of that. Again, in my view, an ideology is added to the psyche’s operating system. Empathy is possible if it is removed.
Ok…I recant my statement. You are right. I was not thinking clearly, and yes, it was a glib statement, like saying “I wonder if evil is everywhere these days!” I am angry, sad, and disgusted. I will make such unobjective statements. Practically nothing I say is definitive because I don’t believe much of anything is definitive (some things are, but it seems to me to be very little). I should have worded that statement something like this, “with all that is going on it would seem that empathy is a difficult commodity to find these days, particularly within people at the higher levels of control in the world.” I also would have to include many of the “sheep types” who are constantly virtue signalling but seem to have no real empathic sense for those of us who have chosen to avoid the vaccine, or cry injustice, and fear our freedoms… Read more »
I am always the first to admit I am guilty of all the things I complain about. Not as much as some, and more than others. I am informed by my own experience and what I have learned.
“Misinformed ramblings”? Misinformed, sometimes, ramblings, yes. Some people get something out of it. Sorry to hear you do not
I read OG articles to learn about varied points of view and to reflect on things stated. I really don’t understand why YOU need to be drawn to say disrespectful comments about a writer. Of course you have the right to disagree and support your view, but these unnecessary nasty comments are not appreciated by me or others.
By “misinformed” I meant plain wrong
so I was actually toning it down
Or do you think that 90% of the wealth of the planet is held by “west” and that “modern humans” have no empathy?
Quite right!
I wonder who is paying who
He gives advice here for free, Stewart. And we do all have to earn a living. Giving people the sort of psychological and spiritual advice that Todd gives strikes me as a pretty socially useful work to do.
“We can keep on living the way we are living, where those of us in the middle to upper classes in the West have 90% of the world’s wealth”
An illusion of wealth-printed money and debt is not real wealth.
The whole system will collapse very soon and then you will see who cares about who.
God’s plan is eternal, life here is just like water vapour..
Of course it is not real wealth. And maybe that 90% is not literally and geographically in the “West”…but I think, or thought, people would know what I meant without splitting hairs. (not saying that was you, it wasn’t).
The whole earth/human being/system will indeed collapse. And God “may not have the stomach” to try again with this experiment (I have a feeling He will). But yes again, “life here is [indeed] just like water vapour” that is probably why we don’t seem to see it as being all that precious.
“We should stop complaining, and be prepared for God’s world”.
Well taken, butt this is a message to true worshippers in church. I am not sure the non-believers will understand a clue of what you say.
The middle class or Kleinbürger or petty bourgeois proverb is, “he who give until he lies, he shall die as flies.
So for the non-believer Jesus message is just an opportunity to get even richer from a jerk who just made himself even poorer and therefore only receives contempt.
This the real problem.
It’s not obvious to me what this means. Is “until he lies” a euphemism for “until he dies”? And what aspect of “flies” is invoked? Poverty, buzzing around excrement, multitude?
What can you explain about this saying?
Its a proverb from another language, a little difficult to translate. So I tried, not very successfully, with these flies.
But the meaning is, that the “middle class” or as above said about modern man without empathy, only see gifts or good advices as weakness, with contempt and as an opportunity for exploitation.
So the apostle have a hard job. That was my whole point.
Thanks! What’s the proverb in it’s original form?
Hard to disagree with that!
“Den der giver til han tigger, skal slås til han ligger”.
The one who gives until he begs, shall be beaten until he lies on the ground..
It might surprise you to know that some of us “non-believers” put far greater store in Jesus’ message than many true believers.
Ahh you cant score on that one. Too lightweight.
It is indeed “lightweight” because far too many true believers slant Jesus’ message toward their ideological bias. So it’s hardly anything to crow about to “put far greater store” in that message.
Off topic but potentially important.
This is a link to an item about covid passports:
https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/coronavirus-response/safe-covid-19-vaccines-europeans/eu-digital-covid-certificate_en
It says the WHO take over after 30th June (Next week)
Anyone know what happens after that ?
We start slapping some faces.
That´s what happens.
nothing is top down, all is what we decide.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F7MZf9KEzg&list=LL&index=2
https://www.youtube.com/clip/UgkxC9L2L8QitGs4kAI_Bc71yGk-s4WaN6sI
https://www.youtube.com/clip/UgkxYppkBVXqKI3axFnI0JTn4-u0WWI1hbMk
https://www.youtube.com/clip/UgkxcjIlb-fMv7H1g0JpelyFqoARt07jwzHI
https://www.youtube.com/clip/UgkxdlYdQul1cKM225UhCGIKuQqbG_xSU0r4
https://www.youtube.com/clip/UgkxEtBu8U2qjjxZRymcpv0TOqnPyEjWWzT8
I gave £50 to the tsunami appeal in 2004.
When Aceh, one of the recipients, decided to invest my money in rattan canes to flog people in the street, I wrote to the Indonesian government and asked for my money back.
I’m still waiting.
I hear ya. The charity that I give the most to in Egypt (just a pittance really) I am on the board! And I know exactly where every penny goes. Fortunate.
I only give directly to a person or family. Buy chewing gum from street children, make street youngsters wash my car, help young maids to finish their school, etc.
Some times I give wrong, piranas succeed to exploit me. Im really confused whether it is worth it to give or help.
Never pay to aid organisations, it only goes to 5 star hotel rooms, expensive restaurants, corruption and meetings on how good we are.
But in Latin direct help is seen as a necessary act if you are to be respected as a person.
Famous football players makes training for the young in the slum 1-2 days a mth to help society, m.m.
Its good style by the Latins in my view.
It is worth it to give; even if they misuse the money, it is worth it. It keeps you open to the spirit of generosity. And giving people jobs to do, and then paying them what it is worth, is also great. Some people have become so discouraged that they no longer bother to look for work, and you may give them hope.
You are right. I love to give a man who did a proper work his salary and this promptly.
I often see people humiliating a man or company who did the job, either by seeking to avoid the payment or by dragging the payment out.
Treating people fair is a good feeling.
Oh boy, here we go again. Normal people can’t and should not be held accountable for the systemic inequalities in the world – this is the responsibility of our so called “world leaders” and people in positions of power. They have shown with the utmost clarity how much they care about the suffering of others – it is nonexistent and expressions of their charity are crocodile tears at best, at worst yet another rich man’s ploy to follow some nefarious agenda (ie sterilizing African women with generous schemes to administer “vaccines”). So you can stuff your 10 dollar bill into an envelope (or the digital equivalent) and send it to some kind of aid agency where 90% of the donated amounts will go to salaries and bonuses to other well off white middle class do-gooders who administrate this scam, while the US defense budget alone is enough of an annual… Read more »
I agree…I understand where the real problems are, and you are right, they are not with the individual. But as a mass we do have power.
We need to use that power to boot out these forces that wish humanity no good.
We have the power and the ability to give assistance and comfort to one person at a time, as best we can, be that aid and comfort material, psychological or spiritual. Give money to street beggars, even if it is just a few cents — don’t ask yourself if they deserve it — and (here’s the hard part) look them in the eye as you do it, and say “This is for you, friend.” Jesus said “Give to everyone [every ONE, not every charitable organization or business claiming to be helping other] who begs of you.” (Luke 6:30) Why shouldn’t I ask if they deserve it? Because does any of us deserve it. Thank God we don’t get what we deserve!
Ah yes, the Ideology rears its
uglybeautiful head. It’s always “them” who’s to blame. It’s never “us,” who partake of the riches exploited at the expense of others’ sustenance. All “we” do is work our butts off and reap our meager rewards.What: are we supposed to ask where those rewards came from? That’s not our concern – that’s “their” concern. Never ours.
Recycle your plastic yoghurt cup like a good little pleb while John Kerry jets off in his private plane to the next climate conference. That’s how ordinary people save the planet! /s
When just 5% of the US defense spend could literally end world hunger, but it’s not being done, the dollars you dutifully put in an envelope and send to Africa are not gonna matter. I’m sorry but that’s the cold hard truth here. Systemic change is needed.
Recycling yoghurt cups has nothing to do with having an attitude aimed at helping those in need and a spirit willing to act.
It was a stab at the equally ridiculous “normal people can save the environment if they recycle and eat less meat” idiocy. Point is, we need systemic change, you can’t save the world as an individual that should be fairly obvious by now.
I saw through the Recycling farce the day after it started. I have little interest in “saving the planet” since we’re only “saving” it for ourselves, not for all its inhabitants.
My perspective is a bit broader than the here and now.
Ahh your promised utopia, I bet you it doesn’t come
If it does, it will not be a utopia. Life exists in the tension of the opposites. So conflict is necessary to live a meaningful life. But there is certainly room for improvement. It could be better than what we’ve got now. But who knows, maybe not.
And while they slept or waked, He anguished. Luke 22:42:
““Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.
The cup that the good Rabbi Yehusha hesitated to drink was filled with public vilification and torture to despair and death: God’s ultimate sign that The Creator has willed to share with His creatures in the pain of Living.
“Who then designed the torture? Love.
Love is the unfamiliar name
Behind the woven shirt of flame” — TS.Eliot.
We must also consider that fellow human beings of the parasite class have so much more money than the rest of global society. They could in fact eliminate poverty in a flash and a blur. I am not calling for redistribution of wealth, but considering that the worlds 2153 billionaires have more wealth than the combined 4.6 billion people being 60 % of the global population I feel no guilt.
Believe it or not, those people are the primary ones my article is aimed at.
‘People, for the most part, do not live their lives “in service” to the greater good.’
Wrong assumption. People for the most part, do live their lives “in service” to the greater good.’
It all depends on the definition of ‘greater good’. For most ‘greater good’ equates with: ‘what respectable society judges as ‘greater good’ or ‘success’ (which they equate with salary and respectable names like professor, scientist, etc). When times are morally rightful the greater good will be equated with Christian values. When times are not, well… they are not.
what respectability looks like
More than half a century ago, when my young wife was pregnant, our GP assured her that she could safely continue to smoke. Actually she did not smoke.
A white-coated sepulchre. Like those modern medics who condemn millions of people to Death by RNA Vaxx.
but who listened and why?
The “why” is answered by the word, laziness.
It’s much easier to let other people make our decisions, just so long as they don’t make us feel guilty about it.
Decades of fine-polishing have made their sedition seem quite acceptable to us by now. (Apologies for using the Royal, “us”…)
well, yes.
Half a century ago finding out information (about health, for instance) was much more difficult and time consuming. It is now that there is little excuse for not finding out. Yes, laziness is a factor, but so is a lack of mental capacity. In addition, sorry to say, is an unwillingness to admit that authorities like the government or authority figures (like the doctor in that advertisement) can be actually lying to us in order to directly profit themselves. It is sad and tragic how many of my well educated friends just believed everything that was told them about Covid.
When I say “greater good” I am assuming God’s definition of good.