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Resolution? How About Working on Consciousness?

12/31/2022

After we've resolved to quit smoking, eat fewer carbs, be nicer to our mother-in-laws, and lose that "extra" ten pounds that's been making us feel blue all year, we may want to consider working on consciousness -- not as some kind of flimsy resolution aiming for superficial self-improvement, but as an active choice for God and Creation.

Teenagers can physically become adults but still remain teenagers in their hearts and minds when it comes to how they think about, understand, and relate to themselves, other beings, the world, and God. Thus, becoming an adult is not merely about maturing physically. An active choice for adulthood must also be made. It must come from within rather than from outwith.

The same applies to consciousness and spirituality. How we think about, understand, and relate to ourselves, other beings, the world, and God should emanate from within rather than from outwith. Testing our current state of consciousness is as easy (actually, quite difficult) as stripping away everything external from how we think about, understand, and relate to God.

Try it.

What are you left with once you remove tradition, churches, doctrines, customs, and all the rest of it? Start from wherever you end up, and then continue working inward rather than outward after that. Begin working externally once you know you have reached a solid point from which to proceed internally.

Why bother?

Because mature religious consciousness doesn't just happen; it must be chosen. The real work begins after the choice, and the work is not easy, but it is the only way to overcome the alienation, objectification, and externalization that plagues the world.

Note: Working on consciousness should not be construed as self-improvement or becoming a better person. It is more a matter of discovering the self and becoming a person.

Some thoughts to start the process from Berdyaev' Slavery and Freedom:

“The theological doctrine that God created man for His own glory and praise is degrading to man, and degrading to God also…. God as personality does not desire a man over whom He can rule, and who ought to praise Him, but man as personality who answers His call and with whom communion of love is possible.”

“Consciousness which exteriorizes and alienates is always slavish consciousness. God the Master, man the slave; the church the master, man the slave; the family the master, man the slave; Nature the master, man the slave; object the master, man-subject the slave. The source of slavery is always objectification, that is to say exteriorization, alienation.”

“Man can be a slave to public opinion, a slave to custom, to morals, to judgments and opinions which are imposed by society. It is difficult to overestimate the violence which is perpetrated by the press in our time. The average man of our day holds the opinions and forms the judgments of the newspaper which he reads every morning: it exercises psychological compulsion upon him. And in view of the falsehood and venality of the press, the effects are very terrible as seen in the enslavement of man and his deprivation of freedom of conscience and judgment.”

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My British-Italian Pianist-Composer Namesake

12/30/2022

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Francesco Berger (1834 - 1933) was a pianist, composer, teacher, professor, and Philharmonic Society member. Born in England to an Italian father - a naturalized British citizen - and a Bavarian mother, Berger had his first opera performed in Trieste, Italy when he was just seventeen. He was educated mostly in Central Europe, but spent the bulk of his life in London where formed a long-lasting friendship with Charles Dickens.

I had never heard of this namesake until today. History claims that he was a prolific composer, but I found only a few audio recordings of his compositions online, suggesting that Berger's music was very likely "of its time" and has more or less remained locked in the Victorian Era. Of course, I could be wrong about that, but that's what the lack of online material seems to indicate.

Anyway, I did find this playful, charming little piece called Titania (A Dance Measure), played here by YouTube pianist Phillip Sear.

Enjoy!

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What Can Christian Parents Do to Protect Their Children?

12/29/2022

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I am exploring this question because I occasionally get some indirect criticism concerning my apparent lack of concern about the fate of my child and Christian children in general.

The criticism is connected to salvation. The thrust of the criticism is the individual, personal choice for salvation on the part of Christian parents and how this does little to help their children who, it is assumed, will be left to fend for themselves in an increasingly hellish world once the parents depart from mortal life.

I suppose I could get into the problems of framing the matter in such a way or approaching the subject from the perspective of anxiety, but I won't.

Instead, I will touch upon some basic metaphysical assumptions I hold. When approached superficially, these metaphysical assumptions may provide little comfort to anxious Christian parents concerned about the well-being of their children in a world that grows darker by the day, but I hope that said anxious Christian parents will engage the assumptions I have outlined regardless.

The first assumption is that my child is God’s child first. That God knows him and loves him as much as I do – and more. God allowed my child to be born into this world in this time and place because He understands that the experience offers my child the opportunity to reap immense spiritual benefits accessed only through the experience of mortal life. He would not have allowed my child to be born into this world in this time and place if the opportunity for such benefits were inaccessible or impossible. Because God loves my child, He has faith that my child possesses -- or can access -- what is needed to make the choice for salvation and will work actively to guide my child toward this choice.

The second assumption centers on my understanding that mortal life in this world is inevitably and unavoidably entropic. Entropy continuously chips away at the temporary order we sometimes experience. Every person who embarks on the journey of mortal life dies. Some die young, some tragically, and some violently. Others live long, extended lives filled with vitality and vigor, but even they ultimately succumb to the forces of sickness, age, and decay. Thus, the material aliveness of individual beings in this world is temporary. Nothing “material” in this world lasts forever. Barring sudden accidents or illnesses, we will grow old, wither, and die like our great-grandparents, grandparents, and parents. Our children, my child, will do the same. However, the entropic state of the world also allows for the possibility of creativity. Our worldly creations are not free from entropy, but the creative acts themselves live on eternally.

The third assumption accepts the reality of suffering in this mortal life. The continuous onslaught of disorder on temporary order ensures varying degrees of suffering, primarily physical. Yet physical suffering also induces psychological and spiritual suffering. A big part of our experience in this mortal life involves “dealing with” suffering, including my child’s suffering.

The fourth assumption concerns Jesus’s gift of salvation and eternal life. Although we inhabit an entropic world of unavoidable suffering and death, we can choose to overcome this world by believing on Jesus and following Him into everlasting life. This gift of salvation and eternal life is also available to my child who, like us, is an eternal spiritual being. I, as a parent, must accept that my child existed before he came into this world as my son. Moreover, my child’s experience in this entropic world of suffering and death is the only knowable means through which he can accept Jesus’s gift of salvation and eternal life. Without this experience, my son would likely not have the opportunity to follow Jesus into Heaven.

The fifth assumption – a fact rather than an assumption – stems from the understanding that the choice for salvation and Heaven is deeply individual and personal. As a Christian parent, I may succeed in providing my child with the best possible material and spiritual conditions in this entropic world. I may even succeed in protecting him from much of the evil infesting the world; however, in the end, nothing I do as a parent protects him completely (nor should it) or guarantees his salvation for the simple reason that his salvation is entirely up to him, in the same way that my salvation is entirely up to me. I can guide, nurture, and assist my son toward choosing salvation and Heaven, but I cannot decide for him. I cannot ensure his salvation. Nor can I force him into salvation and Heaven. I must accept that my child may – despite my best intentions and actions – reject Jesus’s offer.

I could go on, but I think the above suffice to paint a fairly clear picture of my basic assumptions concerning protecting children and ensuring their salvation. These assumptions do not entail that there is a set formula for raising children in this world and protecting them from evil, but they do provide a basis – at least for me. Having said that, all parents must do their best within the conditions of their own individual circumstances.

So, with all that in mind, what have I done to protect my child and guide him toward salvation?

In terms of externals, my wife and I took the opportunity to move away from the Anglo world and settle in a rural part of Hungary. We hoped the move would shield my son from some of the blatant evil that permeates the Anglo-West, particularly in education. However, Hungary is very far from immune from the evils that plague the West proper. Nonetheless, we believe the move has managed to spare our son from some of the most obvious harm.

It helps that nearly all of the families in the village we live in are cohesive and Christian-oriented. Divorces and “dysfunctional” families are the exceptions rather than the rule. Living in a small community of six hundred has also allowed my son to nurture relationships he may not have nurtured in larger, urban settings. The pastoral surroundings have also imbued him with a closer connection to nature, but the entropic nature of the world is still there, chipping away.

Being able to purchase a home debt-free has alleviated some of the financial stresses and struggles that sometimes taint family life.

Attending the small Roman Catholic Church in the village and the Roman Catholic school in a nearby town provides my son with a sense of community and some of the externals of Christianity, which I believe are helpful for children. Thankfully, the Catholic faith here has not been completely poisoned by leftism, but it is still very much aligned with the System. Three years ago, my son made the personal choice to serve as an altar boy and continues to do so to this day. Though I hope my son eventually becomes a Romantic Christian, I know that Romantic Christianity is an adult choice. For now, it is enough for him to understand basic Christian beliefs about salvation and Heaven “as a child”.

When it comes to Christian “teaching” at home, my wife and I have chosen to employ a light touch. Though I sometimes speak about general Christian matters, my wife and I have intuitively decided upon a “show rather than tell” approach. When my son is older, I hope to be able to discuss Christianity with him in a more direct manner.

In terms of media, my wife and I make efforts to shield our son from noxious material, particularly online, but we do not expressly forbid him from exploring secular media, for the simple reason that we know such prohibition would likely only increase curiosity and generate rebellion.

These external choices have served us well thus far, but they have their obvious limits. There really is no “place” you can go to protect your child. Some places may be better than others, but no place is “safe”. Furthermore, there's only so much you can do to protect your child and being overprotective probably does more harm than good.

For example, our current location puts us fairly close to the raging proxy war in the east and another potential conflict simmering just to the south. As far as countries go, Hungary is still firmly within the EU and the System. It has a tragic history, mostly because of its location, and that inherent historical tragedy is still unfolding today. Many Hungarians are no better than their atheistic, leftist counterparts in the West. The culture is predominately secular and materialistic. Furthermore, even if I could provide my son with the ideal “place” to grow up, that ideal place will change, or he may decide to move away to a less ideal place one day.

The current economic environment ensures that whatever financial freedom we have enjoyed as a family is steadily being encroached upon and eroded away via inflation and various “global crises.”

Attending church and a religious school offers no protection against anything, including rejecting God. On the contrary, such experiences often breed passivity or System conformity or, sometimes, fortify the choice against God and Creation. Modeling and infusing Christian living at home likewise guarantees nothing. Avoiding or criticizing leftist media and culture also offers no safeguard against the media and culture.

And none of what I have outlined above addresses unforeseen challenges, misfortunes, and tragedies in the form of accidents, illnesses, war, economic collapse, or what have you.

When all is said and done, I view family life in this world as an ideal. It is an ideal that I must approach with the right motivations and into which I invest a great deal of effort. Naturally, I wish to protect my son from evil and guide him toward salvation. However, despite my best intentions and motivations, I know I cannot fully protect my son, nor can I ensure his salvation.

I can do my best to make the world a positive, nurturing, loving place, but I have to accept that the world often works in the opposite direction. I also have to accept that this is "the best that can be done".

Also, I can do my best to make my son aware of Jesus’s offer and encourage him to accept it, but I cannot, as a parent, make that choice for him. Neither can Christ. The choice is his. Such is the nature of freedom. Such is the nature of his personal agency and "power."

All I can do after I have honestly done my best is have faith – faith that my son will align with Truth on his own. Faith that I will be able to help my son should I depart this world before him. Faith that my time with my son will not be restricted to our time together in this world.

There are a thousand more things I could say or should say, but I'll leave it there for now.

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Remember, They're the Good Guys

12/26/2022

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As 2022 draws to a close, the fine folks over at the WEF have taken the opportunity to remind the world about how wonderful the Davos Crew and its Davos Manifesto are:

The 'Davos Manifesto', created in 1973 and renewed in 2020, lays out the principles of stakeholder capitalism - or a system of shared goals for businesses - such as those outlined in the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda.

Ah, yes -- nothing says goodness like globalism and the UN's SDGs.

At the same time, the WEF is more than a little perturbed by the criticism that has been leveled against it:

Davos has nevertheless weathered criticism as a gathering of elites and in recent years the Forum has been targeted by disinformation campaigns.

But the LSE suggests the stereotype of the so-called 'Davos Man' is less relevant today as "issues of social inclusion and environmentalism" have taken precedence: "In sum, the WEF now has a larger modus operandi: It not only builds consensus through dialogue, but also identifies leaders and galvanizes them to take action."

Despite criticism that suggests the contrary, Davos Man or Davos Woman or Davos Trans or Davos whatever are all on the side of good. So, who are these people that meet in Davos, Switzerland every year?

Chief executives and chairs of the Forum 1,000 Partner companies actively engaged in initiatives and communities such as the International Business Council, Community of Chairpersons and Industry Governors.
Public figures from across the world including G7 and G20 countries, as well as heads of international organizations.
Leaders from the foremost civil society, labour and media organizations as well as top thinkers and academics.
Members of the Global Innovators and Technology Pioneers community, the Community of Global Shapers, the Forum of Young Global Leaders and the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.

That's just about everyone and everything in the System.

Well, as we approach 2023, I wish the Davos Crew and the nefarious figures that lurk behind the WEF the best of luck. They still seem smugly confident about their supposed control over the destruction they have unleashed and appear equally arrogant and self-assured about the destruction they continue to foment.

Although they claim to be good, I see them, and I'm certain that I'm not the only one.

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Merry Christmas!

12/25/2022

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Merry Christmas to all who read and comment here!

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Unfortunately, Not Everyone is in the Christmas Spirit Around Here

12/24/2022

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It's Christmas Eve, and my wife took some photos of our tree.

And zooming in to what's under the tree . . .

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A Brief Observation About "Saving Matt Damon" Films

12/23/2022

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In the 1998 film Saving Private Ryan, the United States Department of War orders a detachment to rescue Private James Francis Ryan, played by Matt Damon, from behind enemy lines following the Omaha Beach landings on June 6, 1944. Why? Because the Ryan family back home in America had already lost three of its four sons to the war. To put this into the proper perspective, the US War Department was willing to risk the lives of an entire detachment of men for the sake of the Ryan family's fourth son.

The film's premise was very loosely adapted from the story of the Nilands, a family from upstate New York who, it was believed, had also lost three sons of its four sons to the war. When the War Department learned of this, it brought the only known surviving son -- Frederick "Fritz" Niland -- back the US. Of course, the department didn't dispatch an entire detachment of men to rescue Fritz or anything. It just ordered him onto a plane or boat and shipped him home. Later on, it turned out that another Niland brother, who had been assumed dead, was alive in a Japanese POW camp.

In The Martian (2015) Matt Damon needs to be rescued again. This time he plays a botanist-astronaut who is accidentally abandoned on Mars during a mission to the planet in the year 2035. The Matt Damon character manages to survive by rationing the remaining food, creating his own water, and growing some potatoes. He also succeeds in contacting NASA to inform the fine people there that -- despite everything -- he is very much alive and, well, and would really like to return home.

NASA -- which initially had assumed Matt Damon had died of explosive decompression -- ums and ahs about what to do for what seems like an eternity, and then finally decides to work with the Chinese space program and spend billions or trillions of dollars to rescue its Martian Robinson Crusoe. Naturally, all of Martian Matt's crew mates -- who are already halfway home by this point after years of being out in space -- unanimously decide that it's worth risking their lives to save him.

Now, the United States War Department would not have risked an entire detachment of soldiers to save Matt Damon in 1944, but it's good to know that they probably would have brought him home if he wasn't in action or behind enemy lines.

It's also good to know that in 2035, world governments and NASA will gladly risk gazillions of dollars worth of cutting edge technology to save Matt Damon from having to live out the rest of his days as a Martian potato farmer.

With that in mind, I must admit that watching Saving Matt Damon films is difficult in this time and place. I simply cannot bring myself to believe that any of today's world governments or global organizations or space crews would be willing to risk anything to save Matt Damon from behind enemy lines or Mars or anywhere for that matter.

Sorry Matt. Them's the breaks. Better start looking elsewhere for saving.

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A Sample of My Eleven-Year-Old Son's Deep Thoughts

12/23/2022

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"Think about this . . . empty is the only word that means the same thing even after you remove all the letters you use to spell it."

Keep in mind . . . I have to live with this kid.

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Given World Weltschmerz

12/22/2022

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By given world, I am referring primarily to the unreal psychotic and spiritual contagion most accept as the real world. Yes, for that world and that world alone, I experience acute world pain. It wearies me, saddens me, and sickens me.

Not because it fails to live up to the expectations of my mind, but because it fails to live up to any expectation of any mind at all. None of the given world’s noxious permeations strives to live up to anything. On the contrary, the dominant movement in the given world is living down; the lower, the better.

Thankfully, the manifestly malevolent elements of the given world can be overcome in the heart, assuming the heart is pointing in the proper direction. However, in that direction, the heart quickly encounters the given world’s second layer, which is considerably harder to overcome.

This second layer is the barrier layer of the given world; it obstructs all attempts at transformed vision. It is a surface layer of superficialities that only demands perception while simultaneously hindering thought. It is the layer of “out there” truth; it insists you can only come to know it while you remain where you are -- “in there.” It is a curtain that lures you toward lifting it with the promise that it will reveal all once you do, as long as you stay in your bubble, your little cut-off alienated shell.

One part goes in one direction, fueled by its own power, and consumed by its activities. The other part goes in another direction entirely, fueled only by its separateness, driven by unknown forces in unseen places. Connections between the two parts are random occurrences, signifying nothing beyond the surface of the connection itself.

The second layer of the given world is the manifest dualism that refuses to acknowledge any depth in connection. Subjects and objects frequently intermesh but never penetrate each other. In this layer it is always us and them; natural and supernatural; reason and revelation; secular and sacred; being and non-being; immanent and transcendent; matter and spirit; active and passive; subject and object.

The “and” groupings in the second layer are barriers that limit and restrict Creation to either/or. Here, the given world will only allow you out of your shell if you lose yourself and merge into the One. But the One is not an “and”; merely a variation of either/or. In the given world, only one side is allowed to "win".

Unlike the first layer, the given world’s second layer does not arise from psychic or spiritual contagion but from psychic and spiritual exhaustion – the lassitude and listlessness of being unable to engage with the other world that is the only world. The world that is alive, here, now.

It is this spiritual lethargy that causes even the best of us to falter at the threshold of the Created World.

And with every collapse, we surrender ourselves and all beings to tyranny of barriers.

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What Will the Abyss See When It Gazes Into You?

12/20/2022

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The other day I read a secular blog post outlining the “inevitable” elimination of cash and the introduction of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The post informed its readers that a CBDC would permit globalist forces to control the material world and quickly extinguish “liberty” once and for all.

The post ended with the words, “Do not comply!” Interestingly enough, the first brief comment immediately following the post offered an exasperated challenge to the noble, defiant command. “Do not comply? How in the hell am I supposed to not comply with that?”

It’s a pertinent question. We saw how quickly people complied with the peck when threatened with job loss. Most never even made it that far and gave in the second they faced ultimatums concerning school attendance, travel restrictions, going to nightclubs, eating in restaurants, playing sports, and so on.

Of course, people who complied with the peck for any of the reasons above will undoubtedly have little or no reservations about falling in line with a central bank digital currency, especially if the Establishment introduces the CBDC as a “solution” to a pressing, overriding “problem” that requires an immediate solution. But what about the people that are serious about not complying with a CBDC? What choice(s) will they ultimately have?

The ominous threat of a cashless society has loomed on the horizon for decades, so despite the ever-increasing headlines on the subject in the media, I think it is unwise to obsess over things like CDBCs. There’s no guarantee that the Establishment will ever implement such a system (they may just be issuing threats). If it does, there’s every possibility that the system will not work (the technology may be flawed; they may lack qualified people to oversee such a system; the public may resist, etc.) That doesn’t mean we should be complacent about the Establishment’s agenda; it just means that we shouldn’t assume that everything the Establishment promulgates via the media will come to fruition or work in the way the Establishment envisions it.

Returning to the exasperated comment about non-compliance, let’s assume the Establishment successfully implements a “Mark of the Beast” financial system in the West. Let's also assume it is a system from which no one -- not even the most gun-happy, bunker-stocked, bomb-sheltered, gold and silver-laden prepper/survivalist -- is immune. How can we / do we not comply?

We do not comply when we actively choose to see/understand the thing for what it is and remain firmly aligned with God and Creation despite everything.

Seeing/understanding the thing for what it is means seeing/understanding that a CBDC, like the birdemic and its peck, is a product of pure demonic evil with no redeeming, God-aligned qualities whatsoever. That means no personal rationalizations, justifications, or excuses like the ones we witnessed and experienced during the birdemic and its subsequent peck agenda.

Remaining aligned with God and Creation is the active choice to adhere to the created world while the given world appears to overwhelm it. This choice is eternal.

I’ll refer to everyone’s favorite “anti-Christ” philosopher whose most famous aphorism “Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you” is known even to those who have never read Nietzsche and would struggle to spell his name.

A CBDC system would be the totalitarian capstone of the Establishment’s highest Ahrimanic ambitions. Everyone will be gazing into the abyss if such a system comes to be; however, how we gaze into the abyss matters.

Will our gaze welcome and embrace the abyss? Will we gaze into it with fear and terror? How about resentment? Despair? Or will we choose to gaze into the abyss differently?

Moreover, while we are gazing into the abyss, the abyss will also be gazing into us. What will it see when it does? Will it see an inglorious reflection of itself and its demonic motivations, or will it see something else entirely?

What the abyss sees is entirely up to us. That is where "do not comply" matters because it is there that our choice for God and Creation will sear into the abyss for all eternity.

Oh, and by the way, the abyss is always gazing into you in this world . . . or at least trying to.

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