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Perhaps God is Waiting For a Revelation From Us

8/15/2022

William Wildblood has written an insightful post in which he explores God's apparent withdrawal from humanity (bold added):

So, God has withdrawn but why has he done this? Is it because of our wickedness? That would be a reasonable supposition but I don't think it is entirely correct. God has withdrawn to see how we get on without him. We have reached a certain stage in our unfoldment, one at which we have to start developing spiritual insight within ourselves. We couldn't do this if God were there holding our hand all the time. Therefore he withdraws to give us the opportunity to grow but also to see whether we will grow like this or whether we will refuse the opportunity. At the moment it seems as though most of us do reject God when he is not there to remind us of himself. We are failing the test of the heart. But perhaps as the situation changes and our material comforts are removed more of us may turn to God. He is merciful and will surely give us every chance to repent. At the same time, the repentance must be sincere. It must come from the heart.

I encourage you to read the entire post by clicking the link above.

I agree with William's assessment of our current spiritual circumstances and have made similar arguments concerning God's unresponsiveness to our communications.

As I noted in a comment on William's post:

I see much divine wisdom in God's apparent withdrawal. He is no longer interested in presenting us with revelations from above. He is patiently waiting for a revelation from us below -- from the depths of our innermost selves. He cannot initiate the revelation but will respond accordingly when it occurs.

William ends his post on a positive (bold added):

Something like this is happening to humanity. We are being encouraged to leave spiritual childhood and start to become spiritually responsible for ourselves. Humanity is going through a kind of initiation, both collectively and on an individual level. The collective initiation does not appear to be going well but the individual one depends entirely on you. Your individual success may even help the collective.

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Four a Day and I'm Already Up to My Eyeballs

8/15/2022

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My hens began laying eggs a couple of weeks ago. For the first few days, there were only two eggs a day. Then suddenly there were three. Over the past ten days, the number has gone up to four eggs a day.

Despite the relatively low level of production to date, my refrigerator is already overflowing with eggs, and I find myself wondering what I'll do when all twelve ladies click into gear and ramp up production. When that happens, I'll have ten-to-twelve eggs a day, every day -- at least until the dead of winter when production apparently drops off rather precipitously.

As far as I can see, I have only two options -- either I go into business, or I start gathering a volume of creative egg recipes. Since most people in my village have their own hens, I reckon egg recipes will be the way to go!

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Repentance is Impossible If Memory Yields to Pride

8/14/2022

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I have done that, says my memory. I cannot have done that, says my pride and remains immovable. In the end, my memory yields.

The aphorism above is one of my favorites from Nietzsche. Recent developments and experiences have got me thinking about that aphorism quite a bit. Everywhere I look I see memory yielding to implacable pride. I listen to people who know that they "have done that" flat out tell me that they, in fact, "cannot have done that." It truly is a thing to behold.

I'm not referring to System communications here because those loyal to the System care little about pride-memory issues.

On the contrary, most system apparatchiks appear to be perfectly immune to such things. Consistent, incessant, compulsive, pathological lying has away of eradicating potential conflicts between pride and memory, so it would be unrealistic to expect that sort of thing from people who orbit System circles. Memory-holing inconvenient "thats" is a big part of the System's game, which reveals much about the forces behind the System.

No, I'm talking about ordinary people -- some of them Christians. People who know damn well that they "did that" but conveniently dispense with it by allowing pride to overpower memory.

It's a sad and somewhat horrifying spectacle to witness because it extends way beyond matters of "saving face" and penetrates into the adamant and blatant refusal to repent.

Repentance is crucial in this time and place. Since we are all sinners, we all must contend with pride-memory issues all the time, but I sense that the events of the past thirty or so months have brought forth and are bringing a forth a slew of specific, event-driven pride-memory conflicts that most people seem eager to avoid. Better to simply forget about all the "thats' that were done.

We must not be among those people. We must not let our memory yield to pride. The spiritual implications of allowing memory to yield to pride are too immense.

If we did "that", then we must take the first step toward repentance and acknowledge "that". Once done, we must take the next step and own "that". We must ensure our memory yields to pride. Doing so will help maintain harmony with Creation.

Allowing pride to overwhelm memory works against God and Creation because we are essentially forcing the unreal upon the real. We also obstruct our chances for genuine repentance.

Note added: Nietzsche's aphorism is primarily a psychological observation, but it is readily applicable to spiritual concerns, particularly repentance.

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The Evolution of Consciousness Reveals How Christians Know, Understand, and Relate to God

8/13/2022

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Christians appear to be immensely confused about what "the evolution of consciousness" means from a Christian perspective.

Most assume evolution here has something to do with Darwinian natural selection -- with some sort of deterministic biological development that mysteriously makes our brains bigger, smarter, or more efficient.

Some are under the impression that the evolution of consciousness has something to do with the acquisition of "new powers" like extra-sensory perception, astral projection, or clairvoyance.

The language used to describe the evolution of consciousness from a Christian/religious perspective often hinders more than helps.

To begin with, the evolution of consciousness is not to be equated with Darwinian natural selection but with development -- with a movement from immaturity to maturity.

Secondly, the evolution of consciousness contains linear, non-linear, and regressive movements, both at the individual level and the collective level (churches, communities, nations, empires, eras, etc.).

For example, an individual can be born into a certain kind of consciousness and remain ensconced within that form of consciousness for his entire life without ever experiencing any sort of development or evolution at all. On the other hand, an entire nation of Christians can (and have) collectively moved from one form of consciousness to another, often within a relatively short time.

So, what exactly is the evolution of consciousness from a Christian perspective?

Well, on this blog I have usually described it as the manner in which Christians know, think about, understand, and relate to God, themselves, others, and the world.

That's it. No new powers like extra-sensory perception or astral projection. No "evolved" brain with twenty percent extra data storage capacity. Just the development or unfolding of different ways of thinking about, understanding, and relating to God.

Remember back to when you were a child. How did you conceptualize and perceive God when you were a kid? How did you understand and relate to God when you were an adolescent? When you enrolled in university or took your first job? Did your understanding of God change at all after you became an adult?

At the most obvious level, our knowledge and understanding of God is strongly connected to our cognitive development and maturity, but cognitive development and maturity alone cannot explain the evolution of consciousness from a Christian perspective. If it could, then all a Christian would need to do is grow up and, voila, he or she would gain a mature understanding of God without having to do much to gain it.

This is obviously not the case, which implies that consciousness development is not merely a passive process but also requires some forms of active participation and choice from the individual.

Another way to think about the evolution of consciousness from a Christian perspective is to envision it as a quest to draw closer to the Being that God is.

I'm not talking about a quest that involves the acquisition of esoteric or Gnostic knowledge, but a journey through which an individual's (or society's) understanding of God and Creation matures and deepens through time.

A good way to comprehend the evolution of consciousness is to list a series of "gods" Christians have believed in or, in some cases, still believe in. The list does not contain different gods. It contains the different ways Christians understand, know, and relate to God – the different aspects of God that believers are "conscious" of.

This sort of list is not an original schema of mine. Many theologians, writers, and thinkers have presented this information in a variety of ways, sometimes merging them with certain spiritual/cognitive/psychological frameworks. It is also not meant to be comprehensive or definitive. All it does is present some of the ways Christians have/continue to understand, know, and relate to God. None are wrong in a sense that would immediately disqualify a Christian from being a Christian. At the same time, some are clearly "closer" to God than others.

The Magic Deity

God as a deity of magic. Unpredictable. Mysterious. Relates to individuals who lack the comprehension to understand external events. God often chooses to interact with and relate to man but always from "up high". Most of the things He does are a mystery/inexplicable. God can be cruel as well as loving.

The Great Punisher and Negotiator

God as both punisher and rewarder. This aspect God knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake. God often tests people to see the depth of their faith. God is willing to listen to man and negotiate with him. If he finds the individual to be well-oriented, he is open to changing his mind about punishment. Otherwise, he can be quite cruel and vengeful.

God the Protector and Defender

God as a being who takes care certain individuals and their group/nation. God protects and defends the group/nation from evil, albeit inconsistently. Of course, any removal of God’s protection from the nation is to be taken as an indication of the nation’s wickedness (see punisher God above). At the same time, God the Protector and Defender never forsakes righteous individuals.

Law and Order God

Autocratic. Organizer and sustainer of law and order. Demands submission, fealty, and obedience; determines right from wrong.

Liberal God

God as a tolerant grandfather figure who appears to be somewhat caught between his old autocratic self and the confused value systems of the world. He is at once open to new ideas, yet remains stubborn about certain concepts.

Universal God

God loves and embraces all of humanity from a somewhat altruistic perspective. He no longer dispenses judgment when it comes to good and evil, between good and evil nations, or between good and evil individuals because good and evil are inherent in each nation and individual. God as sufferer, as a being capable of weeping for his Creation.

Personal-Cosmic God

God as cosmic and transcendent, yet personal and immanent. God as Creator who yearns for his children to become co-creators and loving companions. God as a being that yearns for his other.

Anyway, the list presents but a handful of the many ways Christians have understood and/or continue to understand God. Needless to say, each understanding of God comes with its own package of trickle down effects that seep into everything including man’s relations with God, the role of society and culture, value systems, etc.

That’s a lot of ways of knowing, understanding, and relating to God, and there are many more. Regardless, the list doesn’t even touch upon things like omniscience or omnipotence. Nor does it directly include Jesus. It also excludes contemporary modes of consciousness like atheism, despiritualization, or anti-Christianity.

Those who scoff at the evolution of consciousness as it pertains to Christianity seem to scorn at the very notion that the manner in which people know, understand, and relate to God has changed throughout history and is still very much in a process of change.

All the evolution of consciousness does from a Christian perspective is point to the undeniable reality of that change, and to the reality that more "mature" understanding of God does not "just happen". It must be actively chosen and pursued. It also suggests that God desires this "maturation" and that Creation is geared toward the possibility of this maturation.

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Pre-2020 and Post-2020 Thinking and Discernment

8/10/2022

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I sifted through this blog the other day and noticed a marked difference between the posts I wrote before 2020 and the posts I wrote after 2020. Sure, many themes and interests exist on both sides of the 2020 demarcation line, but other themes and topics have virtually disappeared.

For example, before 2020, I sometimes wrote about politics. I rarely, if ever, write about politics now. Before 2020, I occasionally waded into "woke" issues. After 2020, I have barely touched them.

Prior to 2020, I was extremely prone to extend people the benefit of the doubt, reserve judgment, and hold out a sliver of hope for some appendage of the System. In the two-plus years since 2020, I only trust those who have earned it, I judge almost immediately, and I have rid myself of all hope for the System.

On the surface, my thoughts and attitude are far darker and more cynical than they were two-and-a-half years ago. However, when I stop and consider everything that has transpired in those thirty or so months and envision what lies ahead, I often wonder if my thoughts are dark and cynical enough.

That said, I must confess that I am not in a dark and cynical place. On the contrary, I have never felt more bathed in light; and I feel an inexplicable sunniness about mortal life in this world despite everything. This buoyancy boils down to what I would call "an increased sense of freedom".

For the first time in my life, I find myself at the liberty of not having to care or worry about things like politics, woke issues, or the general and glaring destruction of society. This "carefree" attitude does not stem from apathy or indifference but rather from the increasingly urgent understanding that there are far more important and pressing matters to care about.

Superficially, my experience of life post-2020 has been wholly paradoxical. The deeper the world burrows into unfreedom, the freer I feel; but it all begins to make sense as soon as I remember what I am freeing myself from, what I am freeing myself for, and what I am eagerly striving to be free with.

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If The Development of Consciousness is Not a Real Thing . . .

8/8/2022

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. . . then history is meaningless and Jesus's mission is impossible. I'll try to explain in a somewhat sloppy and roundabout way.

The painfully casual, flippant, and lazy manner in which Christians reject the development of human consciousness is truly a thing to behold. Most Christians equate ideas about the development of human consciousness with new age quackery and steadfastly insist that how people relate to the world, themselves, others, and God has not changed much throughout history.

The only thing that has changed, they claim, are external conditions. What may be interpreted as consciousness development is nothing more than people thinking and acting differently according to the stimulus, conditioning, and culture the external world doles out.

This perspective assumes an extremely static idea of human consciousness. It stipulates that the only differences between you and a ninth-century pagan Viking are the passage of twelve centuries, geography, technology, language, religion, culture, etc. Strip all of that away, and you and the Viking are pretty much the same when it comes to how you both understand and relate to the world, yourself, others, and God (or gods, in the case of the Viking).

In other words, consciousness is and was mostly passive regardless of where and when people live or lived in history. Consciousness did not influence the external world or history all that much but was, rather, influenced by the external world and history. Any development we perceive in consciousness can simply be chalked up to shifting external factors. Take those factors away, and consciousness is the same as it always has been – mostly inert, static, and passive.

When Christians encounter concepts like “the evolution of consciousness”, they immediately and inevitably equate it with “un-Christian” nineteenth-century ideas about natural evolution and progress rather than consider “the evolution of consciousness” from the Christian perspective of spirit – that is the unfolding and development of spiritual, religious and, particularly, Christian thinking and understanding over time.

Thus, the development or evolution of consciousness is closely connected to spiritual/religious development and progress. The notion that spiritual/religious thinking and understanding can and does progress (or develop or unfold) provides deep layers of meaning to both the external world and history. The external world and history are no longer merely random meaningless accidents but instead aim toward goals or, perhaps, an ultimate aim or goal.

The unfolding of spiritual consciousness implies that history is more than the changing and shifting of the external world. It implies that the various periods and eras of world history were imbued with spiritual progress – an inner spiritual dynamic unfolded into being and drove the events rather than being driven by them.

Christians who glibly reject the reality of consciousness development tend to view the world from the perspective of static orthodoxy; that is, from the perspective of a static and immutable truth entombed within a definite form rather than from the reality of truth as something dynamic and unfolding.

Put another way, Christians who reject the development of consciousness regard Christianity as an essentially “finished product”, to which little or nothing need be added nor taken away.

Most, if not all, of the essential questions have already been answered and settled. All that needed to be revealed has been revealed. All that needed to be created has been created. Man’s only spiritual responsibility is to adhere to and obey all that has been revealed and created.

The problem with static orthodoxy is its blindness to its own dynamic movement through history. Christianity, as a religion, did not appear in the world as a complete, static, and inflexible truth enshrined in a definite form. On the contrary, it came into the world as a dynamic truth, often in the most hostile of environments.

Christian dogmas, liturgy, and organization emerged from its earliest “expecting the Kingdom of God in my lifetime” origins and “progressed” through the centuries. The early movements of the Church were fueled by spiritual creativity leading to development, not by strict, static adherence or obedience to accepted dogmas and forms. When the Church -- or Christianity in general after Christianity began splintering away into its various factions and denominations – was moved by this dynamic force, it remained in touch with the spiritual unfolding of God’s Divine Plan.

Those we consider traditionalists today – like St. Thomas Aquinas -- were the modernists of their own times. More specifically, they were grounded in what came before them but understood the deeper spiritual implications and callings of their own times.

Yet from these origins, from this early dynamic unfolding, the Church and all forms of organized Christianity eventually lost sight of its dynamism and creative mission. The static ontology or metaphysics that possesses most traditionally-minded Christians today is bound up in fixating on the past – more specifically, on a particular era in the past, which is then held up as the very epitome of Christianity. All previous or contemporary spiritually-dynamic movements in Christianity are spurned in favor of affixing Christianity permanently to this one external paradigm and the belief that this one paradigm, this single aspect or movement of the religion represents the beginning and end of Christianity, a beginning and end to which all believers must inevitably return or else cease to be Christian.

The problem with this sort of thinking is obvious. The inflexible, universal order traditionally-minded Christians believe in does not exist. Not here and not in eternity.

Contrary to what traditionally-minded believers think, Christianity is not a finished product. This means that the creation of the world is also not finished, and neither is the creation of man. Heck, Creation is not finished. It is always moving toward goals. Consciousness determines our awareness of these goals.

Viewing Creation as a finished product, as something static, stems primarily from the Old Testament, but if the world was indeed a finished product after the seventh day, then the appearance of Jesus and the very nature of Christ’s mission – which are historical and cosmic facts -- make no sense. The dynamism and spiritual creativity Jesus introduced into the world also make no sense.

If human consciousness or spirit is static and passive, Jesus’s coming and mission is not only impossible but incomprehensible!

At the very least, it denigrates Jesus’s mission to the level of “mere external factor”.

To claim that human consciousness is shaped merely by external considerations and historical pressures is to claim that the immense effect Jesus had on the development of human consciousness and spirit can be attributed solely to external factors rather than to the deep inner workings of spirit, creativity, and freedom Jesus ignited within man.

Traditionally-minded Christians do not believe in the development of consciousness because we currently inhabit a period of spiritual regress. Since they regard evolution in the Darwinian sense of improvement, they point to the spiritual inferiority of modern man as proof of the unreality of spiritual development.

This reveals a rather deterministic attitude. Instead of a free, dynamic, and creative process, the traditionally-minded expect to see something akin to clockworks or train schedules. Instead of a fluctuating process that moves toward good, then toward evil, closer to God, then farther from God, and sometimes all the way to Satan, traditionally-minded Christians expect to find uninterrupted forward movement in the form of good, better, best.

Whether or not the traditionally minded ever accept the reality of consciousness development (or spiritual development) is largely beside the point. Either way, development will happen – is happening.

Against the backdrop of ever-increasing despiritualization in the world and against the backdrop of static theological framework and metaphysics, a new, more refined, creative, dynamic, mystical type of Christianity is on the rise.

Note added: The current developments in organized forms of Christianity (churches) are not to be taken as good or as an example of "free, creative, and dynamic spiritual development". On the contrary, nearly all of the movements within organized Christianity are aligned with global totalitarianism. How Christians think about and understand these movements within their respective churches will help determine the future of these institutions. For the time being, things do not look good for churches, nearly all of which appear intent on sabotaging themselves into oblivion. How Christianity "progresses" from this spiritually is of the utmost importance.

Further note added: Some of what I have noted above stems from Berdyaev, but I can't remember which work.

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The Highest Belief

8/6/2022

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If belief in God is man's highest belief, then is it too much of a stretch to assume that belief in man may be God's highest belief?

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Obsessing About Evil When Things Come to a Point is Not the Point of the Point

8/4/2022

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The recognition that things essentially came to a point in 2020 is no justification for obsessing over the evil that brought things to a point.

Evil must be acknowledged in order to be resisted and overcome, but if evil becomes an "object" of obsession, it can be neither authentically resisted nor overcome.

Things coming to a point dissolves the gray areas and makes choices between good and evil clearer and sharper, but these choices involve more than crude rejection.

A strong disavowal of discerned evil is only meaningful if it is supported by a much stronger avowal of Good. Likewise, a strong avowal of Good is only meaningful if it inspires an even stronger avowal of Good.

Thus, affirming that one is "against" evil is but the tip of the iceberg. The affirmation is only meaningful if it is supported by a a larger and stronger desire "for" Good.

Without this mass, this bulk of Good, the tip of the iceberg has no basis or foundation. Icebergs are identified but not much is done about them, at least not at the spiritual level. After a while, the iceberg tips become too numerous to avoid. They jut out of the water everywhere like menacing fangs and eventually cause a collision.

Discovering and confirming the Good that one is "for" must form the mass of all "things coming to a point" choices. From a spiritual perspective, that mass -- that positive "for" for Good cannot remain submerged beneath the water but must instead "roll over" and emerge to the surface, thereby superseding the affirmation of evil.

At the same time, attempting to discover, affirm, and navigate Good while remaining in a state of intentional or unintentional oblivion to the reality of obvious and clearly discernible evil renders one blind to the dangers present in the water. Ultimately, collisions ensue.

Unfortunately, "point"-blind navigators rarely, if ever, understand what they hit or what hit them. Quite often, they don't even register the collision! In worst-case situations, they deny the reality of the collision altogether!

Things coming to a point is not about balance; it is about the discernment of evil followed by a powerful upsurge of being for Good that eclipses the discernment.

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Missed the Point? Dismissed the Point? Then What's the Point?

8/3/2022

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Belief in the existence and reality of the spiritual war is a major tenet of Christianity. With this in mind, one would have presumed that Christians would have been percipient to the spiritual substance, significance, and seriousness of what transpired in the world in 2020.

One might also have expected that Christians would have been at the vanguard of recognizing, understanding, and resisting the immense evil that tore through the world in 2020 and continues to ravage the world today.

And by resisting, I do not mean running out into the streets fueled by revolutionary zeal, pitchforks firmly in hand. The resistance to which I refer happens primarily in the heart – in the perceptive discernment and rejection of evil, which then ignites a fiery hunger to push on with greater determination toward God and Creation.

And in cases where a Christian individual or institution succumbed to the immense demonic pressure that the spirit of non-existence and self-annihilation unleashed in 2020, well, one would have hoped such failure might lead to repentance – to the sincere acknowledgment of weakness, corruption, and sin – so that the weakness, corruption, and sin could be washed away instead of compounding the demonic pressure.

One would like to believe that Christians really do care about their salvation; that they would go to great lengths to defend it. More importantly, that they would use this defensive “from” position as a launching pad to aspire toward a glorious “for”. That they would not merely cower to protect themselves from evil but would courageously aim for the Good with increased devotion and ardor.

Because Christians believe in the existence and reality of the spiritual war, one would not have expected the leaderships of most Christian churches to side – willingly and fanatically – with the spirit of non-existence and self-annihilation when he declared the churches to be non-essential “services”. One could not have anticipated that most of the believers within these churches would so sheepishly obey the anti-Christian dictates and trustingly tolerate the oppressive abuses.

And now, more than two years later, one is dismayed to find many of the most intelligent and well-read defenders of the faith callously dismissing the spiritual substance, significance, and seriousness of 2020 via a seemingly endless stream of rationalization, justification, obfuscation, and denial.

One is discouraged to see the keenest Christian minds – steeped in centuries of precious tradition – resort to word games, strategic thinking, and self-deception whenever they are asked about the obvious evil that has been flooding the world since 2020.

One assumed that these Himalayas of the mind would have been among the first to recognize the point of 2020, but even if they missed it then, one holds out hope that they will eventually “get it” and stop flippantly dismissing it.

But most have dismissed the point.

So what’s the point?

There is still world enough and time to get the point, but that requires honesty and the right motivation.

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The Romantic Christian Maxim That Has Apparently Shaken Christianity to Its Core

8/3/2022

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Be vigilant! Take personal responsibility for your individual discernment.

Such sacrilege is insufferable! Insufferable, I say!

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