Tapping on My Heart

The Desert of the Real

“What is real? How do you define real? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain.”

Morpehus from the movie the Matrix.

What is truth?  How can we know that something is true?

Human beings are thinkers and dreamers.  We have large brains that can coordinate multiple tasks at the same time and process information at lightning speed.  However, our brains can also be easily manipulated and fooled by our organs of perception into believing something which may or may not be true.  In fact, the way our brains work means it is just as easy for someone to believe the truth as it is for them to believe something which is untrue.  If this is the case, then how can we ever know if something is actually true?  Is there a way to develop absolute certainty?

I would like you to indulge me with a little thought experiment.  I want to ask you to remember a time when you were very deeply asleep and having an extremely vivid dream.  The dream was so vivid and real that you were totally wrapped up in it. Soon however, the morning alarm rings and wakes you, and slowly you come to realize that it was only a dream.  Based on this thought experiment, I would like you to consider two questions.  First, which experience is more real or true, when you were sleeping and dreaming or when you were awake? And Why? And second, who is it who is experiencing these states.  Write down your answers.

 Now, looking at question one, most people would say that being awake is more real than being asleep and dreaming deeply.  However, what exactly does that mean, more real?  When I am dreaming, and the dream is deep and vivid, at that moment the dream is the most real thing in my life.  I have completely suspended any thoughts that there could be another reality, called being awake, and this moment is the only truth and reality that I recognize.  In addition, if the awake state is so much more real than the dream state, then why do we fight with our minds to stay focused on the tasks we have to accomplish while awake, and even with our best efforts we often go off on multiple reveries and daydreams, much to the chagrin of our supervisors and teachers? 

Looking at question two, many people would answer that me, or I, am experiencing these states of being asleep or awake.  However, who is me?  Who is I?  Are your referring to the awake me, or the asleep me, or the me in the dream?  And who is the I who is asking these questions, and observing the me who is awake and asleep?  Is it me?  Or I?  Both?  Or is it a third person who lurks under the surface and observes what is happening? Have you ever wondered if there is an answer to this mystery? Have you ever asked yourself why our minds work this way?

We will examine why our minds work this way later, however for now it is clear that our minds are incredibly complex, intelligent, and are designed for imaginative flights of fancy and creativity.  It is also clear that what we call ‘truth and reality” very much depends on what our minds believe to be true and real, meaning we have the power to create what we consider to be true, and as a result reality. This is a great power, but it is also a great weakness, because others can manipulate this power for their benefit, and at our expense.    Like a dream we were sure was real until we woke up, we accept the reality we are given without question.  And unless we “wake up” we will continue to believe it.

There is a scene from the movie the Matrix where the main character, Neo, goes to visit the Oracle to see his future and figure out if he is the promised One who will lead the humans to victory over their machine rulers.  While Neo is waiting for the Oracle to come and get him, he is watching a young boy bend a spoon, seemingly with his mind.  Neo asks him how he accomplishes this, and the boy says:

 Spoon boy:  Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead... only try to realize the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Spoon boy: There is no spoon.
Neo: There is no spoon?
Spoon boy: Then you'll see, that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.

Reality, or truth, is often hidden, or veiled.  Many people believe that the word Apocalypse means the end of the world, but it actually means revelation, or the unveiling of hidden truth. This is the meaning of the spoon boy’s statement.  The spoon represents humanity, as it exists in society.  This mass of people called humanity is largely a fiction, created or “bent” to fit the shape imaged by those who create our reality.  In the movie the Matrix, reality or truth was created by the machines.  Humans are “bent” or “shaped” to believe it is real, but it is actually a computer generated dream. The Matrix is a metaphor for our reality, which is created by our culture and society. We do not question it because it is all that we know and have ever known.  However, once you realize the truth, that you are the spoon being bent and twisted to fit someone else’s idea of what the truth is, then you become free.  Then  anything becomes possible, and you realize that truth lies within yourself, in your ability to think, to reason, to feel, and to be creative.  You realize that there really is no spoon, only you having an experience.  And you get to decide what that experience looks like. It can look beautiful, and happy, and free, and lovely or it can be similar to a hell on earth.  The choice is ours.

 

 

 

Human Dignity

Human Dignity

The intrinsic worth that inheres in every human being. From the Catholic perspective (among other Christian perspectives), the source of human dignity is rooted in the concept of Imago Dei, in Christ’s redemption and in our ultimate destiny of union with God. Human dignity therefore transcends any social order as the basis for rights and is neither granted by society nor can it be legitimately violated by society. In this way, human dignity is the conceptual basis for human rights.

There is a phrase that is used often in politics and business, although it is not often repeated openly, that the ends justify the means.  Another way of phrasing it is the way it is often phrased by the mafia, which is that it is nothing personal, its just business.  The idea is, of course, that power and wealth are the ends, and the means to those ends are understood to be whatever is useful, effective, and efficient for the achievement of those ends.  In this sense, the only limit is what can be done most effectively and with as little cost as possible to achieve wealth and power.  If it means that certain people have to be sacrificed, then so be it.  After all, life is a game of survival of the fittest, and evolution is a blind master.  Either you evolve or you die.

This concept is embodied in the game of chess, a favorite game of the powerful for millennia.  There is a reason the game only has one King and Queen and numerous pawns; because the value of the King and Queen far outweigh the value of the pawns, making them easier and less costly to sacrifice.   Hence we see encoded in the rules of chess the belief system of the powerful, which has been called Social Darwinism, but could just as easily be called the Divine Right of Kings.  Some people are valuable, but most are not, and are therefore they represent the pawns and are, therefore, expendable.  This is the way the game is played, and has always been played both on the chess board, and in life.  It is not personal, its just business.

Opposed to this belief is the Judeo-Christian understanding of the inherent dignity and worth of every human being, which is linked to the Book of Genesis where all humans are said to be made in the image of God, and the Christian Gospels, which teach about the Incarnation of God in the person of Yeshua of Nazareth.  From this perspective, all people are equally important, from the lowliest poor person to the most powerful rich person, because each contains within them the image of God, the divine Power of the Spirit. As a result, when the powerful deliberately sacrifice other, less powerful humans in the pursuit of a selfish grab for wealth and power, this makes them enemies of God and humanity.  This is because they are impeding the purpose for which all people were created; union with God.  As you can see, the idea of inherent human dignity is not only diametrically opposed to the philosophy of the ends justifying the means, it has the potential of radically altering and reshaping human life in ways we have only begun to scratch the surface on.  But I am getting ahead of myself.

Most of us grow up as pawns, moved around the chess board of life by forces beyond our control.  This creates a situation called learned helplessness.  According to Wikipedia, learned helplessness is:

Learned helplessness is the condition of a human or animal that has learned to behave helplessly, failing to respond even though there are opportunities for it to help itself by avoiding unpleasant circumstances or by gaining positive rewards. Learned helplessness theory is the view that clinical depression and related mental illnesses may result from a perceived absence of control over the outcome of a situation.^[1] Organisms which have been ineffective and less sensitive in determining the consequences of their behavior are defined as having acquired learned helplessness. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learned_helplessness)

Learned helplessness functions as a powerful force which encourages the powerless to acquiesce to what appears to be their fate, and to refuse to change their situation even when they have the tools to do so.  It is the concept of being in a prison without bars or walls, a prison that exists in the mind of each individual person.  It is caused because we are being controlled and exploited by the powerful, however we refuse to believe that they are actually doing it.  Why do we refuse to believe it?  Because we have been taught, from a young age, to obey authority and to never question them because they have our best interests at heart.  So when the powerful say one thing but act in a manner that is opposite what they say, we excuse it as the “constraints of power” or “human weakness” or “playing politics.” We are incapable of admitting what is evident: that the powerful are liars and psychopaths, narcissists and schemers who do not have anyone’s interest at heart other than their own.  As a result, we remain trapped inside a prison or our own making, because we cannot, or we refuse to, face the truth.

Freedom comes when each one of us can face two fundamental truths, and attempt to integrate these truths into our lives.  First, that we are dependent on a transcendent spiritual source, and that two, most of us refuse to acknowledge this truth, thus causing all sorts of problems in our own lives, and the world in general.  Until we do, we will continue to feel fundamentally helpless, pushed about by forces beyond our control, and constantly afraid that whatever we have gained in life can be taken away at any moment.  We will exists as helpless pawns.

Yeshua of Nazareth offers us a way off the chessboard of life.  But how?  By refusing to play the game of the powerful.  A game only works when everyone agrees to play by the rules established for the game.  When a participant creates new rules, he becomes master of the game.  If the pawns refuse to be sacrificed, then the Queen and King become vulnerable.

Yeshua knew well that the ultimate weapon of the powerful was, and still is, the killing and silencing of anyone who escapes from the game.  Therefore, he knew well that eventually, he would be violently killed to send a strong message that the masters of the game will tolerate no one creating their own rules.  However, they did not count on the resurrection, which was confirmed in the lives of Jesus’ earliest followers.  They were willing to die in order to create a life outside of the control grid because they did not fear death. 

In this way, they achieved union with God and in the achievement, emboldened more people to step outside of the game and achieve the same goal.  This was accomplished by creating a contrast society called the New Testament Church.  This new society lived as a decentralized family unit, with God as their Father, Jesus as their brother,  and the Earth as their mother.  As a result, everyone, but especially the most powerless, were invited to join them and be “reborn” into a new way of living. They challenged the Roman order because they had figured out a way to be free of it.  They stepped outside of the chess game and created their own game.  And they were persecuted mercilessly for it.

Of course, later, they were conquered by Rome through bribery and corruption.  However, the promise and genius of the New Testament Church remains and can be revived once again.  Free your mind and the rest will follow.

The World as it Is Part II:  To be as Gods


In the story of Adam and Eve in the Book of Genesis, the author offers us an "explanation" for the problem of sin and sinfulness. He offers it to us in the form of an allegory, which of course is upsetting to those who would wish the story to be literally true. However, having said that, there is much truth contained in the story, especially regarding the sin, the famous original sin, which is symbolized by the action of eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Woven into the infamous story of humanity's fall is the obvious theological explanation by the author of the "problem of sin." However, I submit that the story also foreshadows the end of history. Why would the end be found in a story about the beginning of creation? First, because any good story teller will hint at the climax in the beginning of the story, in order to keep the reader interested. Also, all scripture is prophetic and the famous story of the fall of our first parents offers clues for future generations on the plan that God has for overcoming the problem of sin, and how God plans on saving the human race from complete destruction because of its new found power. Of course, like most scripture, this meaning is "hidden" in the sense that you can only understand it if you are willing to accept it as it is, and not try to justify your own religious beliefs by reading them into the text. As a result, this essay will attempt to show how the eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was obscured so that we could fully understand it only during our time, the time when the "error" of our first parents will run its course, and God would correct the mistake of sin. In doing so, I will compare the two trees, the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and show how they are archetypes of the struggle between human mind and divine spirit.

Adam and Eve

According to the story, Adam is made from the dust of the earth, (his name literally translated is "earth-person"), that is he has a material or physical body. What makes Adam different from the other physical creatures(animals and plants) is that God breathes into Adam's nostrils, making Adam a "living soul." This implys two things: 1. intimacy(you must get close to someone to breathe in their nose) and 2. Adam is like the "sons of god" (angels) in that Adam has divine spirit, making Adam both matter and soul, body, mind and spirit. Adam is unique; the point by which the spirit of God makes its way directly into our dimension, the dimension of matter. The sons of god have the ability to dwell in this realm as well, however they are not made "of the dust of the earth;" they are pure energy, pure spirit. Therefore, Adam is "one of a kind." Adam is also close to God, in fact God is the very breath that Adam breathes. Imagine this: every breath you take in is God, flowing through your body, animating every cell you have with life. It is a powerful image, and represents the reality that we share as inheritors of the Adamic life, that God is the ground of our very being.

Adam represents something new, and something new is always exciting and unusual at the same time. It appears that Adam feels a bit overwhelmed by all this, and does not know quite what to do. Adam attempts to find a help mate among the animals(as if to say "someone help me figure this out!"). All are unsuitable because they are not hybrids, like him. God decides to surprise Adam by performing an operation, removing one of Adam's ribs, and creating a helpmate. Adam is pleased for the helper is the same as him, bone of Adam's bones, and flesh of Adam's flesh. Adam, being of dual nature, (body and spirit) could never be happy alone. As a result, Adam is given the one who will be called Eve. The two appear to be quite happy and content, living in the paradise of Eden, completely connected to the God who created them. They are complementaries, the yin and yang, one flesh existing in two distinct natures. Creation is in balance.

To Be or Not to Be

The two trees represent the two aspects of the human soul: human mind and divine spirit. Both are very closely related, and they are meant to be complimentary, not exclusive. The tree of life represents unlimited human potential, when human mind and divine spirit are united and working in harmony with truth(in the story truth is identifed with God and God's law). When Adam and Eve are eating only of the tree of life, their mind is in line with their spirit, and there are no conflicts. They are in harmony with nature, and exist in a realm that is truly beyond good and evil. This is represented by the fact that they did not know they were naked(they had no shame, because there was nothing to shame them). In fact, in this realm, good and evil do not exist because there is only one way; the way of life, unity, and completion without end. The tree of life in the story is completely available to Adam and Eve, and God places no warning or limitaiton on it because it represents the perfect union of the human being, body, mind, and soul with the mind and spirit of God. In such a relationship, there can be no limitations, only infinite growth and potential, or life without end.

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil represents the separation of human mind and divine spirit, with human ideas and concepts taking the prominent position. If Adam and Eve eat the fruit of this tree (and we know that they do) then they will place their own capacity to think and create reality above any other law, or any god. The only truth they will honor is whatever they decide is true for them, and therefore they will, in truth, create their own reality. They will become gods who know,( knowledge in this sense is experiential) and decide what is good and evil. They believe they will emancipate themselves from having to be dependent upon a truth greater than themselves. They will become Nietzschean superhumans.

In Beyond Good and Evil, Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future (Jenseits von Gut und Böse. Vorspiel einer Philosophie der Zukunft, 1886), Nietzsche identified imagination, self-assertion, danger, originality and the "creation of values" as qualities of genuine philosophers, as opposed to incidental characters who engage in dusty scholarship. Nietzsche also took aim at some of the world's great philosophers's key presuppositions, who grounded their outlooks wholeheartedly upon concepts such as "self-consciousness," "free will," and "either/or" bipolar thinking. Alternatively, Nietzsche philosophizes from "the perspective of life" which he regards as "beyond good and evil," and challenges the deeply-entrenched moral idea that exploitation, domination, injury to the weak, destruction and appropriation are universally objectionable behaviors. Above all, Nietzsche believes that living things aim to discharge their strength and express their "will to power" -- a pouring-out of expansive energy which, quite naturally, can entail danger, pain, lies, deception and masks. As he views things from the perspective of life, he further denies that there is a universal morality applicable indiscriminately to all human beings, and instead designates a series of moralities in an order of rank ranging from the noble to the plebeian: some moralities are more appropriate for dominating and leading social roles; some are more suitable for subordinate roles. So what counts as a preferable and legitimate action depends upon the kind of person one is. The deciding factor is whether one is strong, healthy, powerful and overflowing with ascending life, or whether one is weak, sick and on the decline.

How tempting to be free to make the rules that govern one's existence! How liberaitng to be the master of your own destiny, and the master of other human beings as well! I wonder if Adam and Eve thought that the result of their error would be the emergence of a creature who would (as Nietzche states) discharge their strength and exert their will to power? Unfortunately, that is the very demon that will be born when and if Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit.

Apple Anyone?

Those familiar with the story (and who is not?) know that Adam and Eve were tempted by the serpent and ate the fruit they were commanded not to eat; the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Thus sin enters the world. And sin is not simply the breaking of some arbitary divine command. Sin is the desire to want to be like God, because as the story tells us, Adam and Eve were tempted by the serpent with the promise that if they ate of the fruit of the forbidden tree they would be like gods, knowing both good and evil. Adam and Eve were tempted by absolute power. And as explained above, the complete separation of human mind from eternal spirit, enthrones humanity as the ultimate law in the universe. However, there is a price for the attainment of this new found power. The connection of human mind and divine spirit, symbolized by the tree of life, has been irrevocably broken, and can never be put right again (unless God decides to do it). True, a new creature has been born who proclaims the death of God and the birth of the Nietzschean Superhuman. However, this superhuman is not super at all, but impotent, lost, and full of shame and regret. The Adamic life no longer exists. The garden has been abandoned, and the way back guarded by a flaming sword. In the brave new world of emancipated, god-like humanity, it is only those that seek and gain power who matter, for they get to enforce their will to power. The powerless are simply genetic rejects who can be used or abandonded depending on the will and whim of the powerful. God and truth are still there but have gone silent, and can only be heard in the lives and struggles of the powerless, the downtrodden, and the outcast. And it is this struggle, between the hubris of the powerful and silence of the powerless that God will "fix" our error. And it is here that we see the message for our time as well.

The New Gods,  and the Final Battle Between The Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

 The new godlike humanity must be at odds with God, (however one concieves of God), because the concept of a God implies a transcendant force which is greater than, and perhaps even the source of, humanity and its will to power. In fact, the new godlike humanity cannot exist in the same universe with anything greater than itself, so it is therefore by nature in competition with God. The new godlike humanity is also in competition with all other human beings because each human has enshrined his or her personal reality as the ultimate judge of right and wrong in the universe. I do not need to detail the problems and conflicts that are caused in human society because of this fact, nor the psychological disorders which arise when people realize their "power" is actually quite limited, and they are incapable of coping with difficulties in life. I believe everyone is familiar with many examples. However, even though there are numerous examples of the personal and societal damage caused by the separation of human mind and divine spirit, the world goes on as it always has, attempting to construct the Tower of Babel and storm heaven, removing God their enemy and rival from the picture, and finishing the work of Adam and Eve. An entire belief system, which goes by many names but is often associated with the occult or Satanism, has developed around the emancipation of the humanity, the denial of divine truth, and the exaltation of man over God. An example of this can be found in the beliefs and practices of the founder of the Church of Satan, Anton LaVey:

http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/satanism/churchof.html
BeliefsThe Church of Satan can best be described as a religion that mixes a hedonistic philosophy with the rituals of black magic. The Church of Satan does not promote the belief of Satan as a supernatural being; rather, it uses Satan as a symbol of defiance and rebellion against a conformist, God-fearing society. However, LaVey felt that it was necessary to build a church in the religious sense because he believed that humans still needed rituals and symbolic worship to reach a deeper level of meaning. In his own words, "People need ritual, with symbols that they may find in baseball games or church services or wars, as vehicles for expending emotions they can't release or even understand on their own" 5 .

There are 9 satanic statements 6 which convey the beliefs of the Church of Satan:
Satan represents indulgence, instead of abstinence!
Satan represents vital existence, instead of spiritual pipe dreams!
Satan represents undefiled wisdom, instead of hypocritical self-deceit!
Satan represents kindness to those that deserve it, instead of love wasted on ingrates!
Satan represents vengeance, instead of turning the other cheek!
Satan represents responsibility to the responsible, instead of concern for psychic vampires!
Satan represents man as just another animal, sometimes better, often worse than those that walk on all fours, who, because of his "divine spiritual and intellectual development," has become the most vicious animal of all!
Satan represents all of the so-called sins, as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification!
Satan has been the best friend the church has ever had, as he has kept it in business all these years!

The Church of Satan proposes that emotions such as greed, lust, and hatred are natural instincts and the denial of these feelings is utterly incorrect. They point out the hypocrisy that stems from people worshipping laws that they can't possibly follow, then feeling better again once they have confessed their sins and repented. Members would descibe themselves not as beings full of hatred and sin, but normal people who have come to grips with the carnal nature of humanity.

Yet the Church of Satan also uses much spiritual ritual and symbolism in their meetings. There are three main types of magic ritual employed: sexual rituals to aid in attaining physical ecstasy, compassionate rituals to help loved ones, and destructive rituals to release anger and hatred. Some ceremonies include the use of symbolic elements such as music (organs, gongs, vocalizing), costume (hooded robes, masks), candles, pentograms, and female nudity. A much used symbol is the Sigil of Baphomet, which is an point-down pentogram in a circle, with a goat's head inside the pentogram. The Sigil of Baphomet and closely related symbols have long been used in satanic tradition.
The Church makes a point of keeping a clean public image and steering away from unlawful activities. Following the Church's formula of "nine parts respectability to one part outrageousness," the Church of Satan has discouraged illegal activites, and has even banished grottoes associated with unethical or illegal behavior. LaVey also strongly discouraged the use of illegal drugs, not only for legal issues, but because they cause people to lose control over their lives. Church membership consists largely of respectible citizens in their middle ages, as opposed to the wayward teens that are often characterized as Satanists in the media.

The Brave New World of the emanicpated, godlike human is a world of selfishness, competition, vengence, fear, lust, and the dominance of the weak by the strong. It is the world as a police state. The world of new godlike human means freedom for the few, for the gods among us who can handle the burden of freedom. In the words of the Grand Inquisitor: http://www.tameri.com/csw/exist/dostgi.html

"Thou wouldst go into the world, and art going with empty hands, with some promise of freedom which men in their simplicity and their natural unruliness cannot even understand, which they fear and dread -- for nothing has ever been more insupportable for a man and a human society than freedom. But seest Thou these stones in this parched and barren wilderness? Turn them into bread, and mankind will run after Thee like a flock of sheep, grateful and obedient, though for ever trembling, lest Thou withdraw Thy hand and deny them Thy bread." But Thou wouldst not deprive man of freedom and didst reject the offer, thinking, what is that freedom worth if obedience is bought with bread? Thou didst reply that man lives not by bread alone. But dost Thou know that for the sake of that earthly bread the spirit of the earth will rise up against Thee and will strive with Thee and overcome Thee, and all will follow him, crying, "Who can compare with this beast? He has given us fire from heaven!" Dost Thou know that the ages will pass, and humanity will proclaim by the lips of their sages that there is no crime, and therefore no sin; there is only hunger? "Feed men, and then ask of them virtue!" that's what they'll write on the banner, which they will raise against Thee, and with which they will destroy Thy temple. Where Thy temple stood will rise a new building; the terrible tower of Babel will be built again, and though, like the one of old, it will not be finished, yet Thou mightest have prevented that new tower and have cut short the sufferings of men for a thousand years; for they will come back to us after a thousand years of agony with their tower. They will seek us again, hidden underground in the catacombs, for we shall be again persecuted and tortured. They will find us and cry to us, "Feed us, for those who have promised us fire from heaven haven't given it!" And then we shall finish building their tower, for he finishes the building who feeds them. And we alone shall feed them in Thy name, declaring falsely that it is in Thy name. Oh, never, never can they feed themselves without us! No science will give them bread so long as they remain free. In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet, and say to us, "Make us your slaves, but feed us." They will understand themselves, at last, that freedom and bread enough for all are inconceivable together, for never, never will they be able to share between them! They will be convinced, too, that they can never be free, for they are weak, vicious, worthless, and rebellious. Thou didst promise them the bread of Heaven, but, I repeat again, can it compare with earthly bread in the eyes of the weak, ever sinful and ignoble race of man? And if for the sake of the bread of Heaven thousands shall follow Thee, what is to become of the millions and tens of thousands of millions of creatures who will not have the strength to forego the earthly bread for the sake of the heavenly? Or dost Thou care only for the tens of thousands of the great and strong, while the millions, numerous as the sands of the sea, who are weak but love Thee, must exist only for the sake of the great and strong? No, we care for the weak too. They are sinful and rebellious, but in the end they too will become obedient. They will marvel at us and look on us as gods, because we are ready to endure the freedom which they have found so dreadful and to rule over them -- so awful it will seem to them to be free. But we shall tell them that we are Thy servants and rule them in Thy name. We shall deceive them again, for we will not let Thee come to us again. That deception will be our suffering, for we shall be forced to lie.

Opposed to this hell on earth is the concept of the Kingdom of God. Jesus said that it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter God's Kingdom. And we can see why. Riches and power only serve to "feed" the disunity caused by the desire of humanity ot be the single cause of reality. Riches, wealth, and power divide humans into the camps of "worthy" and "unworthy" because the new human created at the fall must put people into categories so that the gods of wealth and power can keep their position in life. In response, Jesus commands the rich young man to sell all he has and give it to the poor. Why? Because the strength of this world is really weakness: competition, will to power, riches, fame, empires, etc. are all a manifestaiton of the impotence of fallen humanity. Since the world created is built not on truth, but instead on rebellion, it can only end in disaster, and with the destruction of all human life. This is the paradox of the nuclear bomb: all nations want it to protect themselves, but to use these weapons would mean destruction on such a scale that no one would survive. God offers us truth, the truth that perceived weakness (such as poverty, being unpopular, mercy and compassion, non-violence) are actually strengths because they are roads to returning humanity to the garden, and access to the tree of life. However, humanity is incapable of accepting the truth of God and denying the falshood of humans as gods.  As a result, the destruction of this man made hell on earth will only come through struggle. The new tree of life is the cross, and it is only through the struggle of crucifixion that we can experience the reurrection to new life in the Kingdom of God.

We see the beginning of this final struggle today between those who want to establish world peace through violence, increased state and church authority, and mind control with the truth of God which asks us to freely trust in His Word that God will be victorious. Since the garden this struggle has been on going. Today, we may be begining to see its culmination.

Free Your Mind

Human beings possess powers which are, potentially, without limit.  These powers, for the most part, remain unused and dormant, or are channeled unconsciously without purpose and intent, causing all sorts of problems and mischief.  These human powers are spiritual, because all true power is spiritual.  However, they are formulated and expressed exclusively through the human mind.

Is the human mind the power we are speaking of?  No, the power we speak of is expressed through the mind, however it resides somewhere else.  Since the power is without limit, we cannot say with certainty where is resides, or where it is sourced.   We only know that humans, all humans, have the ability to access this power, a power which is not sourced in them, but which they can access and use (or abuse). 

Many people may then ask, “if all humans possess unlimited power which can be accessed through the mind, then why do I not see evidence of it in my life?”

This is an excellent question which deserves a response.  This essay will attempt to answer that question, and others like it.

Gog from Magog

There is an obscure story from the Book of Ezekiel, chapters 38 and 39, which details a war against Israel by a leader named Gog from Magog, the chief prince of the land of Meshech and Tubal, or what is today modern day Turkey.  In this story, Gog assembles a mighty horde from the North, and they sweep into the land of Israel to kill and plunder a peaceful people who appear to be completely helpless and vulnerable to the hordes of the mighty prince Gog.  However, what Gog does not count on is that the God of Israel, Yahweh, is protecting the people and thorough Yahweh’s mighty intervention, the hordes of Gog are slaughtered and destroyed.  The story also appears in the Book of Revelation, however the hordes of Gog are extended in that book to the “four corners of the earth” implying that almost every human on the planet is somehow aligned with the Gog confederacy.  However, the result is the same, Gog is destroyed completely and shortly afterward the heavenly Jerusalem descends to earth to establish justice and peace.

If taken literally, the story falls apart because of the logical inconsistencies.  However, if taken symbolically, which I will show was the author’s intention, the story presents to us a master key which can explain why the unlimited power spoken of in the introduction remains largely hidden and unused, or used poorly.  I will show that it caused by the deliberate and intentional deception of the powerful who desire to use our access to this power for their own benefit.  I will also show that it has been going on for millennia, is continuing today, and we may be witnessing the end of its long rule over our lives.

The Master Key

The word of the Lord came to me: ² “Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of^[a] Meshek and Tubal; prophesy against him. (Ezekiel 38: 1-2)

Gog is translated in Hebrew as Mountain, and Magog is translated as top.   Mountains in the bible always symbolize truths, or beliefs which are enshrined and encoded in human society, and the top of the mountain always symbolizes the summit of truth, or the heavens where God (or the gods) live and rule, and where all truth is sourced.  So the author of Ezekiel is telling us, in the first two verses, that Gog from Magog is not a person, but is a system of truth and belief which claims divinity, and therefore desires homage and obedience, and rules the lands to the North of Israel. 

North always represents darkness and ignorance in the bible.  The author of Ezekiel has given us a further clue.  The system of belief and truth which is called Gog from Magog is not truth at all, but ignorance, confusion, and evil, because it comes from the North.  Therefore those who worship Gog from Magog are worshipping deception, lies, and evil. Israel, because it resides in the south, represents true knowledge, true inspiration, and true belief.  It appears to be helpless to stop the hordes of Gog, completely vulnerable and defenseless.  However when Gog invades the land of Israel, he is destroyed on the Mountains of Israel, symbolic of divine truth.  The ignorance, lies, and deception of Gog are destroyed by the truth of Yahweh. Truth ultimately prevails over deception, which is symbolized by the descent of the perfected City of Jerusalem.

The Mind is the Battlefield

Another excellent example of this use of metaphor to explain this phenomenon is in the story of the Tower of Babel from Genesis.  In this story, the Tower represents the desire on the part of the people of Shinar (or Babylon) to build a mountain to heaven, symbolic of a man-made system of truth and belief.  The people are all speaking the same language, meaning they worship the truths being erected, brick by brick, on the Tower as they attempt to conquer heaven, or to obscure divine truth.  However, God confuses their language and scatters them over the earth, symbolizing that divine truth overwhelms the deception that is symbolized by the Tower, and they abandon their project.  God changes their minds by revealing truth, and destroying the lies. He empowers them to walk away from their project of lies and begin their lives anew.

What these stories, and others like it, are telling us is that there is a war, and this war is being waged right now for control of the infinite power within each human being, expressed through the human mind.  This war is ancient, is has been prosecuted by the great empires of the world, and is still being waged today.  To sum, the reason most people do not see evidence of the unlimited power of mind is because they have been tricked, deceived, and are under the spell of those who seek to control their access to this mind-power.  As a result, they are unwittingly channeling their connection to the power into the construction, brick by brick, of the controller’s deceptive tower.  In this way, humans offer their homage, their obedience, and their very lives to the worship of what Revelation calls “The Beast.” This empowers the deceivers and makes those who submit to the deception impotent, and that is why so few people see evidence of this power in their lives because the power is being channeled by the deceivers for their benefit only, and not for those who it was designed to empower.

The war is for your control of your mind. And that is why Gog, Babylon, and the “Beast” appear so powerful because they have fooled and deceived everyone into accepting their truth, and willingly supplying them the power they need to rule.

The Way Out

Jesus said that you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free.  He also said that God desires those who will worship in spirit and in truth. 

The Gog system needs everyone to remain obedient to it in order for it to function properly.  Everyone must “speak the same language” as it says in the story of the Tower of Babel.  As George Bush said, you either with us r the terrorists. This can only continue as long as the people remain spellbound by its deceptions, or full of fear of its power.  When people unplug themselves from the system, and refuse to channel their power into it, it will fall. However, the fall of the beast will never lead to real and lasting change unless people understand their power and learn to use it properly.  And this comes from worshipping God in spirit and truth.

This again is a metaphor, and is not a recruiting tool for church membership, which is simply another arm of deceptive Babylon.  Spirit is the power.  It is not ours, humans are only channels of it.  We can abuse it, we can misuse the power, but it is not sourced in us.  The way to use it properly is to understand real truth, to exercise our minds to search for wisdom, clarity of thought, and to express ourselves in love and service to all humankind.  In this way we fulfill our mission on this earth.  If we refuse this mission, then the forces of control will deceive us into living our lives in futility and service to them.  They know this power exists.  They use it themselves like black magicians, and are completely and totally dedicated to winning this war because they know if enough people realize that they have inside them all the power they need to live full, meaningful, happy, and interesting lives WITHOUT THEM, the game is over.  The Tower they are building will be abandoned.  And they also know that if they lose this time, then the game will be over for good.

The Twin Towers

Ironically, the destruction of the Twin Towers on 9-11, which may very well have been an inside job, has heralded the end of the current version of Gog from Magog.  Amazingly, it is the retelling of the story of the Tower of Babel, for those who have eyes to see, and can interpret events metaphorically. While the controllers thought they were deepening their deception by destroying the towers, they instead have awakened many people to the power which has thus far laid dormant or improperly channeled within us all.  People are beginning to speak their “own language” In addition, the controller’s  greed and arrogance, which caused the financial collapse of 2008, has freed up even more people to begin the process of thinking, questioning, and deciding for themselves what is true.  Thus the destruction of the Towers, which could be seen as the conquest of Gog, instead represents a prophecy of the end of his reign of lies.  And the unemployment of millions has given them the free time to learn how to make it on their own, by using the power which lies within.

Question Everything

The key to life is to question, and to discover truth and wisdom and to use this to make a unique and valuable contribution to life. Faith is important, but obedience is not faith.  Unfortunately people equate obedience with faith.  Faith believes in things which are unseen, but it continues to question until those things are confirmed by experience.  Obedience refuses to question, and believes without proof in experience.

Free your mind and the rest will follow.

 

There are moments in every life when the illusions of pretense and convention need to be blasted away.  We live in a time of great danger from a variety of sources. There are three major crises which threaten to converge and destroy what we call civilization; climate change, peak oil, and the instability of  neo-liberal economics.  Each one of these alone would be sufficient to derail our way of life, but the three together could combine to change completely our "way of life" more than any Muslim Terrorism, and perhaps within the next 20-30 years.  And yet, no one is paying attention.  That is why the need to drop all pretense, and come to grips with what is coming our way.

Jeff Rubin presents a great explanation of why the game of globalization and unlimited growth are over.  The simple answer is oil is going to be too expensive to support what we call modern society.