I often start my day at about 6:30 or 7:00 am listening to Trans world radio which is a Christian evangelical program full of exhortations and reading the scriptures and this morning in particular I was focusing on my ‘jump out at you’ department to bring me the thing to work on today.
Putting it more succinctly, when I rose at about 6:30 to make my coffee, there was nothing in my mind and no plans to write anything and then suddenly, while listening to the program, a script came into my mind from nowhere.
If that is ‘nowhere’ I want more of it.
There was a lovely story told from someone who put in large wooden letter blocks on his mantelpiece LET GOD. One day some wind blew through the room and the D disappeared and he saw that as a message from God to LET GO. Now obviously without discipline this would not succeed but it did give me a good model to consider the weekend that I went on last weekend to refer to and how new information should change our lives.
This is not a sanctimonious piece but me writing stuff down it as it occurs to me without any knowledge of what I’m going to write. It is after all, inspiration not expiration I believe I pick things up from the universe.
The origins of Political Correctness
Back in the day the 1920s to be precise a German Marxist group called the Frankfurt group created the idea of something called political correctness in connection with their ambition to destroy western society from within when political methods had failed.
Political correctness, which is the doctrine that you might offend someone by what you say or do, has been exported with spectacular results to western culture and has in large measure taken hold compounded by the LBGT etc. movement where a particular view is forced on us and we become frightened of even thinking lest we cause ‘offense.
We need to combine this understanding with an authoritarian teaching method that until recent decades was routinely used in schools so the net result is that people are frightened of thinking about things never mind speaking out and this has done great damage. Mercifully, I have been spared this, goodness knows why, but I’ve always been a square peg in a round hole and praise God for it.
I was struck by a certain reluctance by some to engage on the topics of people on the Mary Magdalene weekend that I have so voluminously written about. I am still full of the wonderful effects of this transformative workshop which bought so many apparently kindred spirits together. However there is a rider- when you are with a group of strangers it is very easy to simulate interest in something but the test comes when you go home to your familiar environment. Do you lapse back to your normal habits?
A weekend retreat should not be an escape from reality though I agree there absolutely has to be an escape from the everyday life with its bustle, noise, and duties. Maybe I’m expecting too much of most people because as a self-employed person admittedly of retiring age I do not have any preoccupations like a dependent relative or dysfunctional partner.
I do wonder, and I would stress that I don’t know, whether people saw this as an escape bubble and then as soon as they got home they switched off and went back to their normal lives. I have learnt over the years to be active or should I say proactive and I will carry something forward with what I admit is quite a lot of courage.
The perils of speaking the truth
Have you noticed how any demand for traditional values is considered to be far right? Even for speaking about Christianity, the family, never mind items that involve people of other races you will be called racist even if that was not in your mind
Speaking the truth these days is a bit like playing a violin with a pneumatic drill working in the background. It is in technical terms called the signal to noise ratio and basically if there’s more noise than signal no one can hear me. The remarkable thing about the two presenters in the Mary weekend was that they were quiet enough inside to listen to what other people had to say and give them space.
The point Is that you can’t speak the truth to others if it is not enshrined in yourself and that is a daily matter of discipline and to be frank – self love and self regard. I have written about love before, the various types of love for which I refer you to the Greek or you can read my previous excerpt here.
So if we love people we respect them and want the best for them and if we see a feature that we would like to draw their attention to inclusively it is simply cowardice not to mention it and swallow your tongue. We are not telling people what to do but just introducing an idea to help them see something from another point of view.
I’m getting very attuned to whether people are walking their talk. If people are just mouthing something without believing it they might as well read the instructions on a packet of flour for all the difference it makes. It is a question of the space from which you are speaking and if that space is Godly then you will draw people like a vacuum cleaner irrespective of the subject matter.
When Jesus was on earth I’m sure he didn’t spend his time just preaching but also laughing and joking with his disciples and others though jokes were not recorded probably because they were not considered theologically significant. Joking is part of sharing and those who know me will testify to my sense of humour and my dreadful puns.
If I am correctly aligned spiritually, I will have the instinct to speak out to other people not necessarily about Christian things but about showing that I value them as individuals and recognise their potential contribution.
I am fond of telling people that when I am out on the street or visiting somewhere on my own, I am never alone because the public place is full of potential brothers and sisters in God and the only difference is that I don’t know them yet so my mindset has been over the years adjusted accordingly and I’m never lonely
Good vs Evil?
Strange: ‘Evil’ is Live spelt backwards.
Planet earth in general – sorry to say – is on a decline and my previous piece about forgiveness and grace refers to this. Much so-called music is deliberately designed to destroy the more sensitive parts of our mind, damage our pineal gland, and make us vulnerable to all sorts of force which in a sane environment we would not tolerate.
However in spite of wars, lies, false pandemics, I do perceive a rise in consciousness which I believe has far more to do with the effect of the greater universe than anything mankind can do. As an example do listen to this piece of optimism by Pam Gregory who happens to be a Christian as well as an astrologer. I know it is long, 1:12:13 but it is full of optimism and vision which we could use some of in spade-fulls.
I think it requires an enormous amount of work to have an open mind because an open mind is a secure mind which is free of fear and that can only happen if your relationship with the universe is not based on ignorance but on knowledge. Jesus said that perfect knowledge casts out fear. I do paraphrase a bit because in the 1st letter of John he says that there is No Fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, for fear has to do with punishment and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.
I know that many of my readers will have long ago dismissed the Bible as irrelevant but if it is true that God made us then what he says directly and through others amounts to ‘manufacturers instructions’. He made us so he should know how we work and if we were created in love then the manufacturer’s instructions would have been given in order that we manifest to our full potential.
So I’m thinking again of the people I was with on my weekend. They were mostly women of a certain age – and in additiion I was the only male – and they gave the impression – sorry to say – of not being emotionally free and I feel if you’re going to come along to a weekend you need to open yourself up, warts and all, to be honest about your belief or lack of belief.
In my letter of thanks to the organisers of the Mary retreat I noticed a feature that I’ve seen many times, that the more effusive people are in their thanks, the less likely they’re going to do anything about it and this applied in my view.
I’m being judgmental here – or am I just being observant – However I know from previous experience that this is probably going to be more true than not of most people attending anything, never mind the weekend I went on.
However some seeds have a long period of gestation and who knows – words may be acted upon 1 month, 1 year or 10 years from when they were first heard.
When in a spring not a spring
My main point is if if we love the truth we cannot help but speak out, in same a way that a spring cannot help being a spring. A spring is not a spring if no water is produced so people going around saying they are Christians and not actually speaking about anything, never mind altering behaviour, I do have my doubts.
It does say in the Bible that a tree is known by its fruit. I think that’s a lovely timeless analogy for saying that God will know us by what we do, not by the boiling pot of unsolved emotions and anxieties within us. I do not think you can be too open and if you rub people up the wrong way, in other words if you remind them of situations they have not resolved, that is not down to you.
It takes two to tango and I believe we have a prima facie duty to express what is going on in our hearts as an expression of our desire to know more. We may be a pain in the neck, well so be it, people don’t get to heaven through smiling and being nice you get to heaven through being authentic.
I hope to go to a heavenly place when I depart but my decision is to take as many people with me as possible and this requires a letting go of internal inhibitions I’m just getting on with it and speaking your truth and if you can’t do that then what are you? Someone said once that we were born originals and die copies and this is always stuck in my mind that we are a unique individual and there will be no one like us on the planet so can we act with concomitant self respect? Is that asking too much?
If you’ve got this far reading the article I’m probably preaching to the converted but I will continue this for the rest of my days so long as there is breath in my body.
Can we beat the system?
We could of course pretend we’re in heaven on earth while we’re still here and act as if we’re in heaven but that is an act that requires considerable amounts of faith and imagination and I guess most people are not up to it. Eternal values are called that for a reason for two reasons actually 1. they are eternal and 2. they are valuable. In other words something that has value. The clue lies in the name and how often do we say something without considering what it means.
We can fly at 10,000 feet with all the clouds and bumpiness or we can fly at 30,000 feet in the clear air. While we are in this body the choice is up to us
So the time is 08:41 and coffee in hand I conclude the start of my day.
Wow, now that’s a question.
Of course this title has a broad spectrum. Do I love someone enough to tell them ,they’ve got half their breakfast wrapped around their beard . Or to shut up and sit down because they’re digging themselves into a hole they’ll never get out off.
Or do we mean the person who says,” I am the way the TRUTH and the life.” Truth is a person, Jesus, So it is impossible for him to speak a lie. John 11; 25-26. ” I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me ,though he may die, he shall live.
“And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this ?” Now that’s truth, but Jesus asks the question, “do you believe this”? or should we use something shorter ? ” Unless you repent you shall all like wise perish”.
Enjoyed your article, seems like you had a few mixed feelings on those who go on retreats. Although it sounds like you had a good time expanding your knowledge, coupled with a time of rest.
“Perfect Love casts out fear,” I know you know this I’m not sure if there’s anyone who has ‘perfect knowledge’ apart from God.
Then again ,what do I know.
Keep up the writing