Blog Archives

A Few Halloween Thoughts About Fearing God, Holy Horror, and Similar Concepts

10/31/2022

Christians often speak of fearing God and use terms like Holy Horror, Holy Dread, and fear and trembling, but I have never been comfortable with this line of thinking, and it has never made much sense to me.

Yes, I have had Christians of various stripes and denominations explain the concepts to me, and I understand that the fear of God actually refers to being in a state of reverent awe of his majesty and power -- a reverent awe that should inspire us to submit to His omnipotence in complete obedience.

I have also listened to Christians elucidate on the reality of hell and God's divine judgement whenever the subject of fearing God comes up.

I get all that. At the same time, I don't get it at all. More precisely, I understand the reasoning, but I have never experienced the *reality* of the reasoning.

I don't believe God wants people to spend the bulk of their mortal lives marveling at his majesty and greatness. I don't believe God works to hold people in fear and terror. I don't believe God desires that man experience any sort of shrinking in His presence -- at least not spiritually.

My intuition informs me that fear and awe are rarely good advisors and that overcoming existential and spiritual fear should be primary goals in mortal life for the simple reason that this overcoming is what *really* brings us into harmony with God.

Note added: Terms like Holy Horror and Holy Dread also strike me as blatantly oxymoronic, incongruous, and paradoxical -- but not in the "hey, it's a Holy Mystery" sort of way.

4 Comments

Re-illusionment Offers No Solution to Disillusionment-Induced Depression and Despair

10/30/2022

10 Comments

A little over two years ago, I argued that recognizing and acknowledging "things coming to a point" was the point of 2020.

Recognizing and acknowledging things coming to a point can be a painful experience for some because it entails the recognizing and acknowledging that the trust, faith, and confidence one invested into most of the people and things that comprise the world were built upon illusions, not reality.

From a spiritual perspective, this sort of comprehensive disillusionment must be considered a great blessing rather than a curse, as Dr. Charlton noted in the linked post above (bold added):

In sum, when things have come to a point - life-choices will be substantially (this can never be absolute, due to our mixed-nature and mixed-motives) simple, dichotomous and direct. The choices will be between God, Love, Beauty, Truth, Virtue, Harmony... and the negation of these.

Once we have people choosing against-Good, against God, consciously and with their eyes wide-open; then that will also be the situation when people will choose eternal damnation in preference to the gift of salvation and eternal life as Sons and Daughters of God - they will reject Heaven and choose to reign in their own personal Hell.

This is the end game; yet we can see that this must be carefully prepared if the situation is not to 'backfire' from the perspective of evil...

The clearer that choices become, the more likely that the mass of distracted, cloudy-minded, muddled, partly conscious and not-yet-fully-corrupted people will perceive the situation and choose Good.

So - a world of things coming to a point is also a world in which it is easier to discern Good. Much easier...

The iron fist has emerged from its velvet glove; the wolf has shrugged of his sheep's clothing. Strategic deception becomes a thing of the past.

For Men of Good intent - life becomes clear and simple - right choices are easy to recognise.

After that - it is up-to-us, each as individuals.

Dr. Charlton further clarifies the matter in the following:

The Good side are those who support the goals of God's creation, and who hope to join with God in the eternal work of creation - the evil side are those who oppose this.

Things coming to a point mean that it is becoming ever-more clear cut whether we choose the Good side or the evil. There is less blurring, less chance of confusion. Our choices, therefore, cluster - since the Goodness and evil are so clear and separated; when we choose, therefore, we know what we are doing.

Our choices are more conscious, more deliberate - more significant.

Unfortunately, as I noted in a post from March of this year, choosing Good remains a challenge for many who (finally) perceive the situation the point has "thrust" upon them. Instead rising to overcome disillusionment, many allow themselves to sink into depression and, eventually, despair -- which places them on the path toward potential damnation and spiritual death:

. . . the disillusioned -- that slowly increasing and expanding patchwork assembly of people experiencing varying degrees of disappointment, despondency, and dismay at the discovery that many things of the world are not as good as they hoped or believed they would be.

They are confused and mortified by the failure of democracy, the cratering of free markets, the trampling of human rights, the encroachments upon individual liberty, the splintering of society, and all the rest of it.

Like betrayed lovers, they feel as if their entire world has been wrenched out from beneath them, and they look around frantically for someone or something to trust, to commit to, to believe in.

Even worse, many of the disillusioned begin to regard a state of "re-illusionment" as the only possible solution to the agonizing disillusionment inflicted by their recognition and acknowledgement of "things coming to a point":

Deep down, the disillusioned know the System has not lived up to its promises, but they can think of no alternative beyond the possibility of a reformed or improved System.

The disillusioned understand that they have been deceived and cheated, but they refuse to recognize the illusions as illusions and remain committed to the "reality" of everything that led to their disillusionment.

I make note of all of this now because I believe we are entering a dangerous new phase of the massive assault against God and Creation that began in 2020 with the highly publicized and propagandized birdemic fear campaigns, and continued into 2021 via the botched attempts to install an overarching system of surveillance and control through the peck under the banner of "none are safe until all are safe".

Many of those who have entered the ranks of the disillusioned succumbed to birdemic fear campaigns and/or allowed themselves to be manipulated, coerced, or rationalized into taking the peck and supporting the peck agenda.

Increasing numbers of people have joined (or are currently in the process of joining) the disillusioned because they have become or are becoming acutely aware that they have been tricked and lied to.

As noted above, this kind of disillusionment can clear the way to the possibility of an incalculably positive spiritual choice for Good. However, it also opens up the possibility of negative choices that lead to negative spiritual states, including depression and despair.

To make matters even worse, those in the grips of depression and despair often look to “re-illusionment” as the only possible solution to the suffering their disillusionment has inflicted upon them.

With this in mind, I would like turn your attention to a Scott Adams video I happened to stumble upon via one of the “anti-peck blogs” I visit from time to time.

For those of you that may not know, Scott Adams is the creator of the Dilbert comic strip. He is active on social media sites and has a You Tube channel through which he offers social and political commentary. Though I have appreciated his Dilbert work over the years, I have not paid much attention to nor followed any of Adams’ other endeavors.

Through Vox Day’s site, I learned that Adams’ took the peck and was generally supportive of the peck agenda.

Today I read Vox’s reaction to the Scott Adams video I mentioned above. In that post, Vox writes:

The countdown has begun. Scott Adams is giving himself just one more year to live after life punctured his Delusion Bubble.

Vox then lists some of the highlights of the video segment in which Scott Adams reveals the details of his disillusionment (bold added):

So here’s what happened to me in the past years.

That matrix-like mask kind of fell off. And I lost my illusion for a while.

So being depressed is not about being in the wrong state of mind, which is the problem.

In my case, being depressed was being in the right state of mind. …

The part that made me depressed is when I saw things clearly.

And I worked since then to rebuild my illusions.

So when you ask me if I’m feeling better or depressed, I’m sort of in the process of rebuilding an illusion that I can live in without pain.

And I’m not quite there yet because I could still see too much ugly.

And I can’t live happily in a world with this much ugly around me.

I don’t mean physically ugly. I mean ugly ideas and thoughts.

And I’m trying as hard as I can to rebuild a protective, imaginary shield of “everything’s fine” when it isn’t. It definitely isn’t.

But you have to build up a little wall of imaginary protection.

So I’m building up a little wall of imaginary protection as efficiently as I can. But it’s hard work.

Then physically, I haven’t figured out how to fix my physical problem.

So, exercise — I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to exercise again.

Let me just give you an idea. It’s possible that I will never have another personal relationship for the rest of my life.

It’s possible that I’ll never exercise again for the rest of my life. Because that’s my current physical situation.

Now, it could be that I can work through those things and everything will be fine. I can do better by next week.

But the length of time it’s been, and the fact that I don’t even have a clue of what’s wrong — and I’m at that that certain age where things will fall apart — suggest that I could be at the end of my life.

And on top of that, [I’m] feeling physically that I’m literally at the end of my life.

But let me also tell you that I have a sort of at least a one-year minimum optimism buffer.

So my one year optimism about it works like this. If it looks impossible, I still give myself a year. That’s like a rule.

So the system —doesn’t matter what the problem is. Doesn’t matter how much it hurts. Doesn’t matter how much I want to stop.

I’ll give myself one year to just fix that thing.

Vox is on point when it comes to understanding what Adams really needs:

What Scott actually needs is Jesus Christ, hope, and love, in that order. But unfortunately, he’s turning inward, toward himself, again, and relying upon the hope that he can reconstruct his Delusion Bubble in order to protect himself from the unpleasant realities of life.

Jesus Christ, hope and love are characteristic of the third group of post-point individuals I categorized in my disillusionment post back in March:

The first group of disillusioned are the Scott Adams of the world.

The second group comprises the un-dillusioned – the nothing’s really changed, everything is still normal, muddle-headed, despiritualized, mindless drone types.

I described the third group of individuals in the following manner:

The third and final group is not really a group at all but more of a miscellany of individuals sprinkled thinly over the vast surface of the world. Like the disillusioned, the individuals in the third group are acutely aware that many of the things of this world are not as good as they previously believed them to be.

Unlike the disillusioned group, the third group has moved past all despondency, bitterness, discouragement, and dismay. For them, disillusionment is not a let down, but a "raise up".

Instead of brooding on the loss of cherished illusions, individuals in the third group are becoming aware of the reality beyond the illusions. The wrenching away of the world amounts to little more than the wrenching away of untruth.

Individuals in the third group are free to act, learn, love, and believe in ways individuals in the other two groups cannot even begin to fathom. Rather than brood on disillusionment, individuals in the third group quietly work toward a new revelation that can only arise from freedom, creativity, and love.

For them, the end of illusion marks the beginning of creation.

I would classify the third group as Romantic Christians – those who are able to follow Jesus Christ in hope and love AND in freedom and creativity -- regardless of external circumstances in the world; regardless of personal difficulties, suffering, and challenges.

I mention this because I am becoming increasingly convinced that some of my co-religionists may be in or may soon find themselves in a situation that is similar to one Scott Adams is currently experiencing:

“in the process of rebuilding an illusion where I can live in without pain . . . but I’m not quite there yet because I can still see too much ugly. I can’t live happily in a world with this much ugly around me – not physically ugly, but ugly ideas and thoughts and stuff. I’m trying as hard as I can to rebuild a protective imaginary shield of everything’s fine when it isn’t . . it definitely isn’t . . .”

For a Romantic Christian, a world where everything isn’t fine does not represent an end – but a beginning . . .

Where the illusions fall away is where Christ lives and breathes!

Note added: I urge to watch the 46:00 to 54:00-minute segment of the video below. I post this not to "knock down" Scott Adams but to draw attention to a crucial spiritual challenge in this time and place. Take heed.

10 Comments

Praying For Divine Intervention in This World Is Not Spiritual Creativity or Co-Creation

10/28/2022

2 Comments

Praying for God's help in this world is all fine and well, but it is crucial to understand that such appeals do not qualify as spiritual creativity. Also significant -- any answers to such prayers or appeals cannot be considered co-creation.

Praying for God's intervention in this world usually stems from some feeling or thought attached to the world's necessity. Feelings or thoughts that originate from or circle around the world's necessity do not emanate from a state of spiritual freedom, from the innermost and inexplicable depths of that state, but from somewhere far more shallow – from reaction to the external, the moderate, the everyday.

Why is this important? Well, because only he who is spiritually free -- at least intermittently -- is capable of spiritual creativity. Without spiritual freedom there can be no spiritual creativity.

God may respond to prayers for intervention, but it is important to remember that any subsequent divine response or intervention comes from "up high", as it were, rather than from "down low".
Why does this matter? Simple -- the revelation of spiritual creativity and the potential for co-creation are not revealed from above but from below. To paraphrase Berdyaev, creativity is an anthropological revelation, not a theological revelation.

God may very well "perceptively" respond to prayer, and He may "perceptively" answer a call for help by intervening in some worldly matter or other, but such responses and interventions are not co-creation.

Creativity and co-creation are man’s answer to God’s call, not God’s answer to man’s call. Put another way, spiritual creativity is man’s response to God’s prayer, but God’s prayer has nothing to do with the world’s necessity. Spiritual creativity and co-creation begin where the world’s necessity ends.

Prayers for divine intervention and co-creation are both divine-human matters, but they are very different divine-human matters.

2 Comments

Stuff My Ten-Year-Old Son Gets a Kick Out Of

10/27/2022

5 Comments

When my ten-year-old son isn't elaborating on his comprehensive, flatulence-based re-imagining of the Star Wars franchise -- long, long ago, in a galaxy fart, fart away . . . Fart Wars, featuring Fart Vader, Luke Skyfarter, Bubble Fart (Boba Fett), R-Toot-D-Toot, Three Seepy Farts, and the ominous power of the Death Fart, "may the fart be with you" -- he gets a real bang out of videos like the one below, featuring Wrinkle the Duck.

Yes . . . I live under the same roof as this kid.

5 Comments

Landscapes - Antal Ligeti (1823-1890)

10/26/2022

0 Comments

Visegrád - 1854

Trencsén Fortress - 1870

Romantic Riverside Landscape with Figures - 1886

0 Comments

Where My Christianity Starts and Ends

10/24/2022

5 Comments

My Christianity starts where society and politics end -- and ends were society and politics start.

Society and politics now exist and operate as little more than evil abstractions. Both inform me that I am their product, and that I owe my existence to them. Society and politics are firmly controlled by the System, which has harnessed both to fulfill a suicidal mission of corruption and damnation ending in destruction and chaos.

I aim my Christianity beyond these imposed boundaries and strive to operate at the level of concrete spiritual relationships between beings in Creation.

5 Comments

If Even a Fraction of the What the Anti-Peck Blogs Are Reporting Is True . . .

10/23/2022

6 Comments

Back at the beginning of the summer, I responded to the apparent "death of the birdemic" with the phrase "long live the birdemic".

Though I did not know what details would unfold, I had a strong sense that the powers-that-should-not-be would be quite reluctant to completely release their grip on the birdemic -- or, more precisely, to release the grip the birdemic has on the world.

Well, it is now mid-autumn. Thankfully, the masks, social distancing, and other birdemic restrictions have remained largely on the sidelines.

On the other hand, peck mandates continue to persist -- the most recent and by far most egregious example being the CDC's 15-0 vote in favor of including the birdemic peck in regimens for preschool children.

Though it is difficult to shock me these days, I must admit that even I was bewildered by that particular piece of System communication. Then again, System communication is about manipulation and coercion, not information, so there's no knowing what the communication actually means or what -- if anything -- it might actually lead to.

Speaking of information, I spend an hour or so a week browsing the various articles and posts created by what I would describe as the anti-peck blog subgenre.

Though I am and have always been squarely against the peck and all of its associated evil manipulations, lies, and coercion, I often don't know what to make of the information I encounter on these anti-peck blogs. Some of it seems sensationalistic; some of it seems skewed; and some it seems downright speculative.

All the same, much of it rings true, and some of it seems utterly undeniable, which inevitably leads to me to the following thought:

If even a fraction of what the anti-peck blogs are reporting is true, then the birdemic is very much alive. Moreover, it has entered or may soon enter an even darker phase.

Note added: By sensationalistic, skewed, and speculative, I am referring to specific side effect claims like the peck will hook everyone up to some kind of central 5G network or that it has *already* killed billions or specific predictions like every pecked person dying by Christmas and so forth.

I have no doubt that the peck is evil, harmful, and potentially deadly. I am sure that it has already caused many side effects and deaths and is likely to cause many more. Moreover, I am also certain the System is doing everything in its power to hide and obscure data about the peck's harms. At the same time, some of the side effect claims and numbers I have encountered on anti-peck blogs strike me as dubious.

6 Comments

Testing Directly-Known Convictions Against Indirectly-Known Yet "Correct" Criticism

10/23/2022

0 Comments

Convictions that do not arise from direct-knowing -- direct, experiential contact with beings within Creation -- but are arrived at indirectly through the thinking of others and the secondhand critique of others' opinions are susceptible to ressentiment via the adoption of criteria systems for evaluating and testing the "correctness" of convictions.

When such criteria systems are internalized, the testing of convictions to determine if they stand the test of indirect criticism becomes a far more vital task than learning about or coming to know the directly-known conviction itself.

0 Comments

An Italian Take on the Hungarian Csárdás, Played Here by a German

10/22/2022

4 Comments

The csárdás is a traditional Hungarian folk dance that takes its name from csárda, which was the name given to roadside taverns in the 18th and 19th centuries. Csárdás (music now, not taverns) tend to contain many shifts and modulations -- they usually start off slow and somewhat melancholic but then explode into fast tempo of rhapsodic energy.

The csárdás ranks among the most representative of Hungarian music and attracted the attention of a variety of Hungarian and non-Hungarian composers, including Liszt, Brahms, Strauss, and Tchaikovsky.

One of the best known csárdás was composed by the Italian Vittorio Monti in 1904, played here by the German violinst, David Garret.

It must have been a wonderful experience to feast in one of those old roadside taverns somewhere in the Hungarian countryside and enjoy a night of revelry to such music.

Noted added: For a more "authentic" (non-orchestral arrangement) rendition of Vittorio's Csárdás for piano and violin, see video below:

4 Comments

Try the Eternal Spiritual Being Experiment

10/21/2022

7 Comments

Give this a try some time. Regard every person you interact with, meet, encounter, or see as an eternal spiritual being. Not simply an invisible soul locked away somewhere beneath a layer of flesh but as an actual eternal being incarnated in this world for the spiritual experience of mortal life.

The people you meet are unlikely to look, act, or sound like eternal spiritual beings. Moreover, nearly all would probably deny being one if you happened to ask them about it, but that is irrelevant. Just focus on yourself as an eternal spiritual being interacting with other eternal spiritual beings.

You don't have to do anything special during this "experiment" other than remain conscious of the fact that you are regarding yourself and the people around you as eternal spiritual beings.

Once you have "mastered" that, extend the awareness to everything else you encounter or see -- plants, trees, clouds, animals, landscapes . . . all of it. Treat everything as eternal beings or parts of eternal beings interacting dynamically within Creation.

Keep track of how long you can "keep this up" and then reflect upon the experience after your consciousness drifts or falters out of the experiment and settles back into "the real world".

7 Comments

<<Previous