I am trying to intuitively develop the concept of system distancing against the backdrop of our current technocratic and totalitarian circumstances. The first and most significant discernment I have been able to reach regarding system distancing is that it is spiritual rather than a material imperative.
Bruce Charlton confirms this discernment in a post published on his blog yesterday. In that post, Dr. Charlton offers a succinct summation of our current predicament:
We live in a world where there is a single, totalitarian and evil system - that has assimilated all major institutions, and controls both supply and demand sides of the economy.
The System is global, and it is aligned with the agenda of Satan; and also The System is what keeps everyone alive.
The measure of our situation (and what identifies these as the End Times) is that we cannot truly escape The System without dying.
I believe this is an accurate and sober assessment of the current situation. Taken seriously, it should also pour cold water on notions of "hope" in the System to provide meaningful material improvements in the foreseeable future.
In addition, Dr. Charlton's post lays the bare the paradoxical nature of the apparent dilemma in which we are immersed.
How can we spiritually distance ourselves from the System when we are physically dependent upon it to ensure our material survival?
I believe the answer to this question can be found in the way we think about, understand, and respond to material necessity from the core of our potential spiritual freedom. This requires a thorough re-examination of the apparent tension that exists between earthly bread and heavenly bread.
The tension between earthly bread and heavenly bread arises when the relationship between the two is understood purely as a dichotomy; that is, as two mutually exclusive and opposing parts in which nothing can simultaneously exist. This comprehension leads to a realm of stark choices; since one cannot be on the sides of both earthly bread and spiritual bread simultaneously, one is either on the side earthly bread or on the side spiritual bread.
Conceptualizing the perceived paradox of earthly bread and heavenly bread as an antinomy rather than dichotomy is more helpful, but it does not negate the inherent contradiction between the two forms of bread.
The solution to the tension between natural necessity and supernatural freedom can be found in the Bread of Life sermon in the Fourth Gospel (John 6), in which Jesus not only draws a sharp contrast between the material and the spiritual, but also insists upon the proper ordering of these considerations - a proper ordering built upon the primacy of the spiritual.
To paraphrase, earthly bread keeps us alive in this world, but heavenly bread grants us everlasting life. Thus, the proper use of the necessity of earthly bread is to nourish the potential for heavenly bread. Without this nourishing potential, earthly bread in our mortal lives is reduced to its purely worldly function, thereby denying the reality of our spiritual being. When we value and covet earthly bread more than we value and covet heavenly bread, we oppose the essential spiritual nature of our being and reject the gift of everlasting life Jesus offers to us.
Thus, one can be on side of earthly bread while simultaneously being on the side of heavenly bread as long as one understands the proper role, function, limit, and use of earthly bread as a means to further the potential for heavenly bread.
Whenever I write about the global coup of 2020 and the totalitarian conditions it has implemented, I do so primarily from a spiritual perspective. That is, I attempt to determine the spiritual implications of this new technocratic tyranny.
This does not mean that I have no interest in the worldly/material aspects of what is currently transpiring, but rather that I interpret the worldly/material aspects of everything we are experiencing today as secondary - secondary in the sense that they are only meaningful and useful if and when they are filtered through the primacy of the spiritual and an individual's own awareness of his or her spiritual purpose and destiny.
Of course, this should be the default position for all serious Christians regardless of external circumstances; not only because it organizes properly, but also because it provides Christians with the means needed to properly interpret, order, and resist the forces of determination and objectification within the material world.
The nature and scope of current developments are designed and have been implemented to confront and lay siege this default spiritual position. The twin demonic objectives of spiritual enslavement and damnation fuel the ever increasing and expanding forces of determination and objectification we are currently experiencing.
Above all else, the demons want undermine our belief and faith in the reality of God and everlasting life. They aim to achieve this by convincing us that we are ruled solely by external, material forces. This ramping up of perceived natural necessity increases the demonic pressure to become solely preoccupied with forces external to ourselves, which, in turn, challenges and inverts true conceptualizations of spiritual freedom, thereby locking us into the temporal world where we face the possibility of being rendered powerless against the deterministic and juridical machinations of the totalitarian System.
I have argued that the primary motivation for system distancing rests in the understanding that the System in its current form is intentionally and strategically opposed to God and Creation. As mentioned above, the necessity of earthly bread within Creation is a meant to be interpreted as a physical means that leads to a spiritual end. The System has negated this spiritual end and has made earthly bread a physical means that can only lead to a physical end.
The paradox of earthly bread is that it can never lead to a state of freedom - temporal or otherwise. Yes, we need it to survive in the world, but this necessity reveals the un-free nature of earthly bread while simultaneously dismissing the real nature of supernatural freedom.
Daily portions of earthly bread can sustain the illusion of temporal freedom, but this illusion dissipates the moment earthly bread is withdrawn, which brings to mind Nietzsche's barb about the belly being the reason why man does not take himself for a god.
But even if physical hunger never comes into play, the consistent consumption of earthly bread sans a simultaneous hunger for heavenly bread results in one, and only one, end - physical and spiritual death.
Contrary to Nietzsche's quip, the belly is not the reason why man does not take himself for a god; the reason why man does not take himself for a god is because he is under the false conceptualization that his being is solely defined by and limited to his belly (and other aspects of natural necessity). This is the pressurized lie the System is enforcing as it seeks undermine the promise of everlasting life and convince souls to willingly choose self-damnation.
The recognition that our mortal lives should not be solely defined by or limited to our stomachs - or any other natural necessity - is the driving force behind the spiritual imperative of system distancing. This spiritual imperative does not deny the reality of natural necessity, but opposes any force that attempts to use natural necessity (external forces) to subvert spiritual freedom (internal forces).
Natural necessity is an inescapable fact of our mortal lives. Without earthly bread, we cannot physically survive in this world. The key to system distancing is the understanding that the inescapable necessity of earthly bread to survive in this world should never eclipse the desire for heavenly bread to attain everlasting life.
The System is currently opposed to God and Creation because it has weaponized natural necessity in an effort to destroy spiritual freedom. The System believes it can crush spiritual freedom under the burden of earthly bread and pressing physical necessity, but it can only achieve this aim if we willingly abandon the offer of heavenly bread in favor of earthly bread.
Above all else, system distancing is the recognition that the System keeps us alive, but it can never grant us everlasting life. Moreover, it is the explicit understanding that the System in its current form intentionally and strategically opposes the gift of everlasting life.
As such, we must abandon all hope in the System and see it for the malevolent force it has become. This abandonment does not entail turning our backs on the earthly bread the System provides. Instead, it entails an honest and dignified understanding of the end goal the System is attempting to achieve through temporal necessity.
For all intents and purposes, the System has established a monopoly on physical necessity. It has done so for the express purpose of eliminating spiritual freedom. The only way to counter this monopoly on physical necessity is to maintain one's spiritual freedom.
This may or may not lead to acts of material resistance, but material resistance should not be the ultimate goal of system distancing.
As Dr. Charlton points out in another post:
And since all major institutions are assimilated (more or less) into the System; then any resistance will be 'me against the world'.
Once this is realized; we can put aside prideful and grandiose fantasies of material resistance or 'opting out'; and focus our effort on spiritual discernment and repentance; on salvation and theosis; on learning from worldly experience to prepare for resurrected Heavenly life beyond biological death.
. . . Yet, it so happens that this is also the most effective possible form of material resistance - since God can work through a repentant, God-aligned Man.
The excerpt above provides some clarifying insights into my own intuitive understanding of system distancing a spiritual rather than a material imperative. I imagine many interpret what Dr. Charlton suggests above as a spiritual sidestep or an evasion and that our true spiritual imperative is to confront the evil currently facing us head on in the physical realm.
Though there may indeed be times when an individual is impelled to do so for spiritual reasons, I sense the reactive impetus to don armor and physically fight dragons actually plays right into the enemy's hands at the current moment. But if we utilize system distancing as a spiritual rather than as a material imperative, we remain firmly entrenched in the territory the enemy most wants to occupy.
If the success of the 2020 global totalitarian coup has emphasized anything it is this - our worldly freedom has been firmly and systemically curtailed and restricted. Resisting these restrictions to regain lost worldly freedoms will only suffice if it is motivated by deeper spiritual motivations.
Without these deeper spiritual motivations, we will have gained a little more world and little else. With these motivations intact, we can maintain our spiritual freedom and alleviate the full force of the physical slavery the System has imposed upon us.
System distancing is about nurturing and maintaining a state of spiritual freedom in which we remain receptive to heavenly bread and the call of God even when our worldly freedom has been curtailed.
Note added: I don't believe there is a one-size-fits-all formula to system distancing. Though the basic concept remains the intact, individuals must use their discernment and judgement to tailor their own necessities. This includes repenting those thoughts and actions in which individuals were unable to properly order earthly and spiritual bread.
Bruce Charlton confirms this discernment in a post published on his blog yesterday. In that post, Dr. Charlton offers a succinct summation of our current predicament:
We live in a world where there is a single, totalitarian and evil system - that has assimilated all major institutions, and controls both supply and demand sides of the economy.
The System is global, and it is aligned with the agenda of Satan; and also The System is what keeps everyone alive.
The measure of our situation (and what identifies these as the End Times) is that we cannot truly escape The System without dying.
I believe this is an accurate and sober assessment of the current situation. Taken seriously, it should also pour cold water on notions of "hope" in the System to provide meaningful material improvements in the foreseeable future.
In addition, Dr. Charlton's post lays the bare the paradoxical nature of the apparent dilemma in which we are immersed.
How can we spiritually distance ourselves from the System when we are physically dependent upon it to ensure our material survival?
I believe the answer to this question can be found in the way we think about, understand, and respond to material necessity from the core of our potential spiritual freedom. This requires a thorough re-examination of the apparent tension that exists between earthly bread and heavenly bread.
The tension between earthly bread and heavenly bread arises when the relationship between the two is understood purely as a dichotomy; that is, as two mutually exclusive and opposing parts in which nothing can simultaneously exist. This comprehension leads to a realm of stark choices; since one cannot be on the sides of both earthly bread and spiritual bread simultaneously, one is either on the side earthly bread or on the side spiritual bread.
Conceptualizing the perceived paradox of earthly bread and heavenly bread as an antinomy rather than dichotomy is more helpful, but it does not negate the inherent contradiction between the two forms of bread.
The solution to the tension between natural necessity and supernatural freedom can be found in the Bread of Life sermon in the Fourth Gospel (John 6), in which Jesus not only draws a sharp contrast between the material and the spiritual, but also insists upon the proper ordering of these considerations - a proper ordering built upon the primacy of the spiritual.
To paraphrase, earthly bread keeps us alive in this world, but heavenly bread grants us everlasting life. Thus, the proper use of the necessity of earthly bread is to nourish the potential for heavenly bread. Without this nourishing potential, earthly bread in our mortal lives is reduced to its purely worldly function, thereby denying the reality of our spiritual being. When we value and covet earthly bread more than we value and covet heavenly bread, we oppose the essential spiritual nature of our being and reject the gift of everlasting life Jesus offers to us.
Thus, one can be on side of earthly bread while simultaneously being on the side of heavenly bread as long as one understands the proper role, function, limit, and use of earthly bread as a means to further the potential for heavenly bread.
Whenever I write about the global coup of 2020 and the totalitarian conditions it has implemented, I do so primarily from a spiritual perspective. That is, I attempt to determine the spiritual implications of this new technocratic tyranny.
This does not mean that I have no interest in the worldly/material aspects of what is currently transpiring, but rather that I interpret the worldly/material aspects of everything we are experiencing today as secondary - secondary in the sense that they are only meaningful and useful if and when they are filtered through the primacy of the spiritual and an individual's own awareness of his or her spiritual purpose and destiny.
Of course, this should be the default position for all serious Christians regardless of external circumstances; not only because it organizes properly, but also because it provides Christians with the means needed to properly interpret, order, and resist the forces of determination and objectification within the material world.
The nature and scope of current developments are designed and have been implemented to confront and lay siege this default spiritual position. The twin demonic objectives of spiritual enslavement and damnation fuel the ever increasing and expanding forces of determination and objectification we are currently experiencing.
Above all else, the demons want undermine our belief and faith in the reality of God and everlasting life. They aim to achieve this by convincing us that we are ruled solely by external, material forces. This ramping up of perceived natural necessity increases the demonic pressure to become solely preoccupied with forces external to ourselves, which, in turn, challenges and inverts true conceptualizations of spiritual freedom, thereby locking us into the temporal world where we face the possibility of being rendered powerless against the deterministic and juridical machinations of the totalitarian System.
I have argued that the primary motivation for system distancing rests in the understanding that the System in its current form is intentionally and strategically opposed to God and Creation. As mentioned above, the necessity of earthly bread within Creation is a meant to be interpreted as a physical means that leads to a spiritual end. The System has negated this spiritual end and has made earthly bread a physical means that can only lead to a physical end.
The paradox of earthly bread is that it can never lead to a state of freedom - temporal or otherwise. Yes, we need it to survive in the world, but this necessity reveals the un-free nature of earthly bread while simultaneously dismissing the real nature of supernatural freedom.
Daily portions of earthly bread can sustain the illusion of temporal freedom, but this illusion dissipates the moment earthly bread is withdrawn, which brings to mind Nietzsche's barb about the belly being the reason why man does not take himself for a god.
But even if physical hunger never comes into play, the consistent consumption of earthly bread sans a simultaneous hunger for heavenly bread results in one, and only one, end - physical and spiritual death.
Contrary to Nietzsche's quip, the belly is not the reason why man does not take himself for a god; the reason why man does not take himself for a god is because he is under the false conceptualization that his being is solely defined by and limited to his belly (and other aspects of natural necessity). This is the pressurized lie the System is enforcing as it seeks undermine the promise of everlasting life and convince souls to willingly choose self-damnation.
The recognition that our mortal lives should not be solely defined by or limited to our stomachs - or any other natural necessity - is the driving force behind the spiritual imperative of system distancing. This spiritual imperative does not deny the reality of natural necessity, but opposes any force that attempts to use natural necessity (external forces) to subvert spiritual freedom (internal forces).
Natural necessity is an inescapable fact of our mortal lives. Without earthly bread, we cannot physically survive in this world. The key to system distancing is the understanding that the inescapable necessity of earthly bread to survive in this world should never eclipse the desire for heavenly bread to attain everlasting life.
The System is currently opposed to God and Creation because it has weaponized natural necessity in an effort to destroy spiritual freedom. The System believes it can crush spiritual freedom under the burden of earthly bread and pressing physical necessity, but it can only achieve this aim if we willingly abandon the offer of heavenly bread in favor of earthly bread.
Above all else, system distancing is the recognition that the System keeps us alive, but it can never grant us everlasting life. Moreover, it is the explicit understanding that the System in its current form intentionally and strategically opposes the gift of everlasting life.
As such, we must abandon all hope in the System and see it for the malevolent force it has become. This abandonment does not entail turning our backs on the earthly bread the System provides. Instead, it entails an honest and dignified understanding of the end goal the System is attempting to achieve through temporal necessity.
For all intents and purposes, the System has established a monopoly on physical necessity. It has done so for the express purpose of eliminating spiritual freedom. The only way to counter this monopoly on physical necessity is to maintain one's spiritual freedom.
This may or may not lead to acts of material resistance, but material resistance should not be the ultimate goal of system distancing.
As Dr. Charlton points out in another post:
And since all major institutions are assimilated (more or less) into the System; then any resistance will be 'me against the world'.
Once this is realized; we can put aside prideful and grandiose fantasies of material resistance or 'opting out'; and focus our effort on spiritual discernment and repentance; on salvation and theosis; on learning from worldly experience to prepare for resurrected Heavenly life beyond biological death.
. . . Yet, it so happens that this is also the most effective possible form of material resistance - since God can work through a repentant, God-aligned Man.
The excerpt above provides some clarifying insights into my own intuitive understanding of system distancing a spiritual rather than a material imperative. I imagine many interpret what Dr. Charlton suggests above as a spiritual sidestep or an evasion and that our true spiritual imperative is to confront the evil currently facing us head on in the physical realm.
Though there may indeed be times when an individual is impelled to do so for spiritual reasons, I sense the reactive impetus to don armor and physically fight dragons actually plays right into the enemy's hands at the current moment. But if we utilize system distancing as a spiritual rather than as a material imperative, we remain firmly entrenched in the territory the enemy most wants to occupy.
If the success of the 2020 global totalitarian coup has emphasized anything it is this - our worldly freedom has been firmly and systemically curtailed and restricted. Resisting these restrictions to regain lost worldly freedoms will only suffice if it is motivated by deeper spiritual motivations.
Without these deeper spiritual motivations, we will have gained a little more world and little else. With these motivations intact, we can maintain our spiritual freedom and alleviate the full force of the physical slavery the System has imposed upon us.
System distancing is about nurturing and maintaining a state of spiritual freedom in which we remain receptive to heavenly bread and the call of God even when our worldly freedom has been curtailed.
Note added: I don't believe there is a one-size-fits-all formula to system distancing. Though the basic concept remains the intact, individuals must use their discernment and judgement to tailor their own necessities. This includes repenting those thoughts and actions in which individuals were unable to properly order earthly and spiritual bread.
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