An alternative VISION to the one of the TYRANTS PART 4

TO PART 3.

If you’ve read my previous blog posts in this series you should have seen two common threads that intertwine in them. The first is that, depending on what we believe about God and spirituality, our priorities should change. Not because of a hope for a reward or fear of punishment, but because it just seems silly to try and get as much wealth and power for ourselves in this life, or experience as much pleasure as possible, when know that we are going to live forever with God. 

The second thread is that there is a right and a wrong way of acting. Objectively speaking. Because God has created a natural order. And knowing this, it should be self-evident that we want to strive to act in the right way. 

If these two propositions are correct, people that believe in them should be able to come together in a spirit of harmonious cooperation.

It’s not that people that believe these things will automatically agree on everything. We don’t have to. Disagreements don’t have to lead to hostility. We can cooperate and respect each other anyway. It’s just our egos that die a little bit when we recognize that we don’t always have to be right. We don’t die from not being right. Even if it may feel like it.

What if we could live in a world where the norm was that we took care of each other? What if we could live in a world where we did our best not to judge each other? What if we could live in a world where everyone freely contributed to making things better, while no one was forced to do anything that they didn’t want to? What if we could live in a world where everyone focused on what truly mattered to them? Where everyone was given the opportunity to do so.

I believe that we can create such a world. Not immediately of course. In the beginning, such a world will just be possible in small places, where likeminded people come together and decide to build the first steps towards such a world. 

Now I’m going to go ahead and single out a group of people that I believe is causing all of our problems. It’s not one of the groups that normally get singled out. I would never do that. 

No, I’m talking about people that, in one way or another, want to force their will on others. I don’t believe that these people have any place on the right side of history. One obvious exception is when someone stops someone else from forcing their will on someone. And of course I’m not talking about when someone willingly obeys someone else.

You may think that I’m talking about a utopia as unreachable as any other utopia in history. But we are many that are going through a shift on the inside right now. Some are showing signs of it outwardly. But I believe that this process, for most people, is still in its infancy. Many probably don’t even understand what is happening to them yet, until something makes them look up “spiritual awakening”. And even then they will be faced with loads of contradictory ideas. I honestly don’t know exactly what it is. I’ve been led to Christianity, which most people don’t seem to have been.

We are obviously on different stages of our individual awakenings. We may also have very different beliefs about what is happening. And our certainty about these beliefs may vary. But no matter where we are, to me there is no doubt that we’re supposed to come together. That we’re supposed to cooperate and build something wonderful. Something that is based on freedom, growth and cooperation, rather than coercion, crisis-management and oppression. 

In the end it comes down to making a shift from focus on what others do, to taking personal responsibility. Mainly in two ways. Taking personal responsibility for our own lives and growth. And personal responsibility for our role in the collective. Not because someone forces us to or even says that we should because we are bad people if we don’t, but because we know that this is right. Because we know that this is the way forward, if we want to create sustainable happiness and prosperity for both ourselves and those that are affected by our actions.

As for the tyrants, we don’t need to fight them. We just need to resolutely refuse to do as they say. Then we offer something better than what they suggest. Build something better than the world that they envision. 

An alternative VISION to the one of the TYRANTS PART 3

To PART 2.

In the two last posts in this series, I will talk about what I believe to be the future of us that want to build a better world. Those of us that don’t seek to dominate others, and don’t just want to manage problems as best we can in an ever more troubled world.

The questions that I will first ask you to ponder have everything to do with this, which I hope that you will see as the blog post progresses.

What is it that truly matters to you? How do you want to spend your time here in this world?

Many people go through their lives without taking such questions seriously. Or they believe that such questions become irrelevant because they drown in our everyday struggles. Questions of how to keep one’s head above the water, consume and build some security take precedence.

So, here’s what I want: To help waking people up and break free from the control system that preys on our lower natures. I want to give my contribution to an alternative vision of the future. One that is built on personal responsibility and voluntary cooperation instead of coercion. One that has meaningfulness, freedom and the striving towards something higher as its foundation.

Now, I’m still struggling with lots of things. I haven’t figured the human condition out completely. But I’m seeing things now, that I was blind to just a few years ago. I understand things about myself, about the world and my relation to it, that I’ve been clueless of for the vast majority of my existence on this planet. And the more I dig, the more I find.

Until I started to wake up, a little over fifteen years ago, nothing in my life seemed really real. And it wasn’t until about five years ago, around the time when I met my wife, that things really started to fall into place. 

Even though I do feel the constraints of everyday life, I use much of my sparetime to explore spirituality and try to understand what is going on. Because in this I’ve found something that I know to be absolutely true, even if I don’t know exactly what I have found yet.

What I also know, is that if others would see what me and my wife have seen, their priorities would likely change too. Their egos might resist it at first. I know that mine did. And still does. But the real me, the one that holds my real wishes and desires, knows that I want to seek God and be part of something bigger than me. That this is undeniably what is truly important to me.

I know that this whole series contains lots of pretty words. But during my lifetime I fully intend to put my money where my mouth is. Or die trying. Because I refuse to let the trivialities of modern life have the last say when it comes to my existence on this earth. And honestly, life is only as trivial as we make it.

If I fail, I hope that I at least will have learned something when I leave this life and move on to what comes after.

Today I know that there are people in powerful places that have an entirely different vision. One that cannot be described with any other words than “tyranny” or “slavery”. They fly private jets and eat luxury meals while preaching to the rest of the world about how we need to live more sustainably. Which clearly means more oppressive control, radically less freedom, more surveillance and in general radical changes for everyone but our overlords.

Some will cheer on as this happens, others will live in denial until it’s entirely impossible to do so, and yet others will join their agenda because they won’t think that they have a choice. 

But I know that we can do better than just try to manage our problems as best we can. Because I know that we are so much more than what we have been led to believe. If more and more of us start to make conscious choices, we can create something that is infinitely better than what we’ve ever had. 

TO PART 4.

An alternative VISION to the one that the TYRANTS want PART 2

To PART 1.

The question ought not to be: “How can I change the world?” or “How can I change other people?” The question ought to be: “How can I change myself?”

Because as far as I can tell, most of us are pretty confused about basics, such as who we are and what we truly want. 

So why not start here, with the individual and the individual’s understanding of him/herself and the human condition?

Whenever manmade disaster strikes, you can always trace it back to someone wanting to force their will on someone else. Every time! Whether it’s overt coercion through violent force or quiet coercion through propaganda and taxes that are meant to alter people’s behavior, is in my estimation just a matter of degree.  

How about we just stop doing that and see what happens?

We’ve had many utopian visions in the past and they’ve never worked. But there is one we haven’t tried yet. And that is to build utopia one individual at a time, not through coercion, but through understanding of ourselves and our condition. 

I think that the time is ripe for such a vision and I’m not alone. This is not really a new idea either, even if I think that our understanding of ourselves today is new. At the core, this is classical liberalism, albeit a spirit-centered one. And I think that we actually got it right with classical liberalism. It’s the neo-liberal version that has turned liberalism into an abomination. 

I believe that peaceful anarchy, as far as earthly rulers go, is the natural end-goal of our political development. But it has to be a gradual process, where we get used to gradually more freedom and responsibility, while freely allowing God and Jesus to take control.

Again we are coming back to the individual. Focus on the individual is a natural consequence both of Christianity and of liberalism. Ultimately we should be as free and responsible for our own destinies as possible. And a well-functioning individual that has his/her priorities sorted out, should also naturally want to take on as much responsibility as possible for others and for the world at large. Without anyone having to force him/her to do so. 

And here we naturally come back to the question of meaning and trust in God. Because if we believe in a personal God that has a will for us, it follows more or less naturally that there is a natural way of functioning. That if we find out what this way of functioning is, we will gradually become a positive and not a negative force in the world. And if we believe this to be the case, it must follow that this is an important aim for each and everyone of us. To do our best to become the way God intended us to be. It is vital to our own wellbeing, as well as to other people and the world in general.

We are at a turning point right now. Because we understand more of our psychology and human nature now than ever. We also understand how changeable we are. Therefore we don’t have to accept our animalness as it is. We are more than animals. There is something higher in us. Something that is made in the image of God. 

So there is much hope on the horizon. But we are also facing what I would call our greatest threat so far. And I’m not thinking about what most people think when they hear such a statement. I’m much more hopeful about problems that we don’t seem to have control over than most. 

What worries me are those that want total control under the guise of wanting to save the planet. What worries me is the ideology of political correctness that is taking over the minds of mainly young people. An ideology that seems to be pushed heavily by the same people that seek to control us. 

What worries me is the nihilism and hopelessness that is so prevalent among people that don’t have a belief in something higher and only see a bleak future. What worries me are all the conveniences of modern society, that make people numb, sedated and lazy. 

What worries me is how our ever move soon is surveilled. What worries me is how algorithms govern our behavior. What worries me is that we get more or less the same policies no matter who we vote for. What worries me is that freedom more and more becomes equivalent with freedom to do what is bad for us, freedom from moral restraint and freedom to force others to go along with our beliefs. 

And what worries me is that all of the worries above, seem to fit into one and the same agenda?

If we truly want to be free, it’s pretty obvious that we cannot allow someone else to set the parameters for how we use our freedom. 

You are free… To eat as much processed junkfood as you want, drink yourself to death, watch pornography, decide what gender, or even age you are, have as much casual sex with strangers as you want in any way you want, as long as it is consensual, watch whatever mindless entertainment you want or mindlessly scroll on your phone all day.

Of course I’m not saying that any of these things shouldn’t be allowed. And maybe some would choose some of them even if they truly knew who they were and what they wanted. But we don’t know that, since most of us are more or less strangers to ourselves. Strangers that are influenced by all kinds of factors beyond our control, whether it’s from our own psyches or from manipulators in our society.

And while I believe that you should be allowed to do whatever you want with your own life, provided that you are an adult, as soon as you want to force others to do or say things, you overstep a moral boundary. And as soon as you start manipulating others into a certain behavior, you are also stepping over a moral boundary. 

I’m not alone in my views by the way. There are many public figures, such as Jordan Peterson, Russell Brand and Joe Rogan, that believe the same thing. Admittedly people that are considered controversial by the mainstream. But isn’t it the mainstream that has become extreme? 

So, to reiterate: We stand before a unique time in history. What this time means and where it will end no one may know for sure. But if I’m right, what is needed is an internal revolution. One that entails that each and everyone of us start to take responsibility for ourselves and for our choices. That each and everyone of us start seeking what is higher and let go of all that which corrupts and enslaves us. No matter how far we have fallen, there is something noble and good inside of us that is calling on us. If we embrace this, we embrace meaning and dignity. If we persist, we can day by day become forces for good in the world. We will more and more naturally gravitate towards creation instead of destruction. This will happen both on an individual and a collective level. These levels are intertwined. But it always has to begin with the individual. It has to be freely chosen.

We are so much more than intelligent, pleasure seeking animals. It’s time that we recognize this and start to aim for what God intended for us.

To PART 3

An alternative VISION to the one of the TYRANTS PART 1

Beliefs matter. And beliefs about the fundamental nature of reality matter in a fundamental way.

When I found my faith in God it changed everything for me. I still have a lot of things to figure out when it comes to it. And there has been lots of struggles over the years. Struggles with behaviors and habits that I didn’t want to recognize as problematic. But I can confidently say that I would be in a very different place in my life if I hadn’t found my faith. 

At the core of this was the shift of going from viewing life as meaningless, to viewing life as permeated with meaning. 

In a sense, our beliefs truly create our reality. Because we act on our beliefs and our actions create our reality, both on an individual and a collective level. 

Right now many consider us a burden on the planet. We often hear that there are too many people. Many consider humanity a problem that has to be solved. Some even go so far that they think that it would be better if humanity was wiped from the planet. 

I think that such conclusions are easy to come to, when you see a world devoid of an ultimate meaning. And it’s obvious why you would dismiss the idea of such a meaning. People look at all expressions of religion spirituality and say: “where is the evidence?” But slapping the label “belief without evidence” on all religion and spirituality, and thereby dismissing it, is beyond narrow minded. I will get back to why I believe this to be the case in a moment. So please bear with me.

Now, what if a higher meaning is what our future is dependent on? I keep coming back to this over and over again: It’s either freedom in God or some sort of tyranny. On a personal level, we can freely choose to live as God intends, or we will be ruled by our instincts and impulses. And on a collective level we can either put our trust in those that claim that we need stricter regulations to save the planet. Those that say that we need to be monitored, manipulated, taxed and forced into compliance. Or we can put our trust in God. In that he will not let us perish from problems that seem to require unacceptable solutions. Solutions that may not work anyway, I might add. Because we have never been very good at predicting what our measures lead to.

When we have faith in a higher meaning and a life after this one, our perspective shifts. We no longer need to take what we can during our brief, meaningless existence. Because we have something in our lives that is infinitely more important than the sensory gratifications that this short life has to offer.

Said hunt for kicks and empty sensory gratifications was more or less my life, up until I was twenty-three, which was the time when I embraced faith. You may think that I could have been a decent person anyway. Because quite frankly, I wasn’t. What I'm trying to do here, is not to excuse bad behavior. What I want is to show you how my beliefs affected my approach to life.

Now, I think that the kind of nihilistic lens that I viewed life through is much more common than people realize. It’s just that most people don’t spell it out for themselves and live out its consequences as much as I did. Because I was quite clear about my views and their consequences for how I chose to live my life. 

The impulse is still there though, even in many that don’t consciously embrace nihilism as a philosophy. And it guides their actions and allegiances. 

As for finding meaning in religion and spirituality, I understand the whole idea of that the burden of proof falls on the shoulders of the one that claims something. But isn’t that the world is only what we can perceive with our five senses also such a claim that needs to be proven? And isn’t the testimony of countless people throughout the ages, that swear that something higher exists, worth anything in this context? Since subjective experience is the foundation of our being in this world, can we really dismiss it? 

Admittedly, the difficult thing with subjective experience, is that unless it can be tested somehow we only have people’s words. On the other hand, testimonies are used as evidence in trials all the time.

In this case, the testimonies may not point clearly towards one particular view or interpretation of a reality beyond our physical. But they do point to the fact that there is such a reality. 

You may even partially see this blog as a testimony of this kind. Because since I met my wife almost five years ago, we have had some really strange experiences together, that have confirmed the faith that I’ve been carrying for seventeen years now. 

This is the crux of the matter. Today me and my wife and many others know that there is a spiritual side to reality. We know that God exists, even if we sometimes have a hard time putting our trust in God, at times when life’s difficulties seem insurmountable. Because of the nature of our existence, there is no way of proving that God or this spiritual reality exist. But I know. My wife knows. Many other people know. Contless other people throughout history have known. Because our experiences tell us this, in no uncertain terms.

Throughout this text, I think that I have made a pretty strong case for the idea that the belief in God changes how we act in the world. Because our priorities ought to change when our beliefs change. Fundamentally it’s the difference between a perspective of finitude and meaninglessness, contra one of infinity and meaningfulness. And ultimately it’s a choice about what to put our faith in. 

To PART 2.

Being introduced to ourselves and our egos

One of the most important insights on a spiritual journey, is that we have an ego. To begin understanding what the ego is. That this ego is something absolutely real and paradoxically an illusion at the same time. And that this ego is not our real selves. But also that we have a real self, which is the self that God intended for us to be.

One of the fundamental characteristics of this ego, is its lack of free will. Things happen in the world and the ego reacts to them, while deluding itself that it is making free choices. 

Lately both me and my wife have gone through rather rude awakenings. We’ve both become aware of behaviors that we were unable to see in ourselves, even though they were quite clearly visible. We discovered them in our interactions with each other. But we had to discover them for ourselves. When any one of us pointed things out to the other, it only resulted in defensiveness. Keep this in mind as you read on. Because just as this is true in relationships, it’s also true in other areas of life.

In some ways it was a bit easier for me to see these things, but not because of any flattering reasons. It has something to do with the quote from Jesus that he came not to “call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32). While my wife has, for the most part, been a kind and well-ordered person, I’ve engaged in actions, words and thoughts that have been blatantly abhorrent. 

The point is that when we don’t stray too far from what is considered socially acceptable behavior, it’s harder to see our errors. Both because we constantly check our behavior against cultural norms and because we receive feedback from the people around us. 

This, by the way, ought to be a cause of concern, when cultural norms start to drift towards full acceptance and even celebration, of destructive behaviors. But we must never make the mistake of pointing fingers towards particular individuals or groups. If anything, we need to criticize our culture and the effects that our cultural values have on people. We always need to do it from a place where we first and foremost look at ourselves and what we are doing to contribute to the current situation. And whether our criticism comes from a genuine place, or from the ego, is not a simple matter.

When observing my and other people’s egos in action, I’ve noticed that it often adopts one of two ways of operating in the world. Either it wants to be totally free to follow whatever whim that currently holds it in its grasp. Thus it becomes a slave to desires and instincts. Which makes it a slave to the world.

Or it adopts a rigid belief system and navigates through the world using this system. Thus it escapes the tyranny of our animalness, but instead becomes a slave to a particular way of thinking and perceiving. 

And the thing is that both of these ways of functioning usually results in us pointing fingers towards others, rather than looking at ourselves. Because our belief systems give us a sense of moral superiority. This often, in turn, leads to a confused mess of wanting others to respect our freedom of expression, while at the same time conforming to our standards of what our egos have deemed as “right”.

To wrap this up, I want to go back to the core of the message of this blog post. Namely that we are usually blind to our own behavior and that we seldom make truly conscious choices. This is so crucial if we wish to understand our condition. We may, on the surface, be good, upstanding people. We may be well-adjusted and get along fairly well with other people. But it doesn’t mean that we are free. There may be all kinds of selfish, or even destructive, motives hiding behind our words and actions. We may be playing out pre-determined scripts , that make us just react to our experiences. 

Why did Jesus say: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17)? Because what Jesus did abolish, was blind obedience. Blind obedience that was necessary while humanity was in its infancy. But and obedience that would gradually be replaced by a life lived from a changed inside. A changed inside that transcends words and commands, but which still can be checked against one’s willingness and ability to do what is right. And if we want this inner transformation to take place, we need to take our focus from what other people are doing. Instead we need to shine the light on ourselves. 

This is at the core of what Jesus taught and there is no other way out of our problems. We can kick, scream, protest and feel offended and mistreated. We have the right to do this. And there are for sure things that we need to refuse to cooperate with if we want to avoid tyranny. But when we try to force our wills on the world and other people, rather than looking at ourselves, we only dig ourselves deeper into a hole. This is how it is whether we like it or not. And facts don’t care about feelings or opinions. 

What is the alternative? If we just make everyone think and act a certain way everything will be fine? How has that approach worked so far?

Speaking MY truth?

There is a lot of talk within New Age circles about speaking one’s truth. But the issue that I’m going to talk about here is really an issue about how we view truth in general. I believe that there is one important question that we need to ask ourselves in this context. One that has big ramifications: Do I sincerely search for the truth, or am I looking for the “truth” that pleases me the most? This, I believe, is not a question that should be taken lightly. Because it’s very possible to say that we want the truth, but unconsciously look for the “truth” that doesn’t require us to change or put in any effort. How do I know? Because I’ve believed many such “truths” throughout my life.

As I’ve said in other posts, I believe that in the extraordinary times that we are living in, it’s important that we talk to each other. We don’t have to agree on everything. But in open, humble, friendly discussions where we assume the best about each other, we might be able to find out the truth together, in areas where it’s still unclear. There are people in the world with a lot of power that want to hurt us. And therefore it’s important that those of us that are waking up to this fact stand together. This is the reason why I want to have a conversation with the New Age community, while at the same time lifting issues that I believe concern everyone.

As with so many other ideas, “my truth” can mean more than one thing. This was sort of implied in the question I posed a moment ago. And as with so many other ideas, it can create a lot of confusion when we think that we talk about the same thing, while in reality we’re not. 

I firmly believe that the truth is to be found in the Bible, even if I think that we have yet to find it out completely. The concept of progressive revelation is quite firmly established within theology and other forms of biblical interpretation, so this is to be expected. This basically means that much of what was written in the Bible, was meant to be revealed in the future. Prophecies is an obvious example. But I also believe that many of Jesus’ sayings have an esoteric side. Some of this has been revealed to mystics. But I believe, as other things about the special times that we are living in are being revealed, more and more people will understand more and more these teachings.

The Bible is also a masterwork of statements with multiple meanings. For example: “The truth shall set you free” (John 8:32) can mean spiritual truth. But it can also mean that there is a natural law where lies enslave us, both on a personal and collective level. It can also mean that when we confess our secrets, something happens. We are no longer burdened by carrying the weight alone. Observing the effect this statement has when put into practice, is one way of discovering that there is a spiritual reality underlying our lives in the physical world.

This also highlights another issue. Are we talking about factual claims about our physical world? Factual claims about science, politics or standards for beauty? Or are we talking about the fundamental nature of reality? Or about moral truth? I’m talking about all of these things and I believe that when spiritual truth is the foundation, all of these things come together. And to make it clear, I’m an objectivist when it comes to all of them. I will explain more about what this means in a moment.

Another thing that I want to make clear, is that I don’t believe for one second that we have the right to interpret the Bible any way we want to. If something is there, it’s there for a reason. And neither science nor cultural norms are valid reasons to discard it. The only valid reason I can find, is when circumstances change in such a way that some particular statement does not apply anymore. And to be clear, I’m talking about actual, factual circumstances. Not our knowledge about the world or human nature. Or what we now think that we know. What qualifies as science within the soft sciences today, for example, is tainted by ideology. This distorts the lenses through which researchers view the objects of study. And much of what is produced in the universities today should be viewed as propaganda. Even though the propagandists often don’t realize that they are engaged in propaganda. 

So, where am I going with this? In the beginning I talked about how “my truth” can mean two different things, which is something that I’ve been trying to illustrate with the prior discussion. On the one hand, it can be the truth the way I see it, when humbly doing my best to understand it as objectively as possible. This view acknowledges that there is such a thing as “objective truth”, while also acknowledging that when it comes to most contested matters, we may be wrong in our beliefs. We try, to the best of our ability, to take into account as many factors as possible, that distort our perception, when we try to figure out the truth.

The second view is that there are no absolute truths and that therefore everyone carries their individual truths. This view means that we are free to believe what we want and no one is more right or wrong than anyone else. Except, perhaps, when it comes to hard, indisputable facts. 

In philosophy, the first stance would be called “objectivism” and the second would be called “relativism”. 

While the second option might seem humble and inclusive to many, it in reality leads us into a fantasy land where there is no common ground to stand on. It also sort of makes everyone the god of their own world, which does not sound so humble anymore. Furthermore, if there is such a thing as objective truth, we will almost inevitably end up in the wrong place if we discard the idea that there is such a truth. And in my humble opinion, there is absolutely and undeniably such a truth. Even when it comes to moral issues. I have a somewhat simple view when it comes to this. One which cannot be used in an absolute sense. But what I basically believe, is that the best way of determining moral truth is when a particular moral stance is put into practice. And most ideas have been put into practice, in one way or another.

For example, if our current cultural values create a well functioning society, happy individuals and leaders that lead our countries in a positive direction, then our moral values are true. If not, they are false.

Many of our brightest minds tell us that we are nothing more than intelligent, pleasure seeking animals. If this is true, those that put this philosophy into practice should be the happiest, most well functioning individuals in society. I can of course only speak for myself. But during the time when I put this philosophy into practice in my teens and early twenties, I was poor, lazy, overweight, emotionally numb and I engaged in destructive partying every weekend, which would have led to addiction eventually if I had kept it up. I know that I’m an extreme example. But I met many people like myself in my youth.

Now, let’s get back to the question of “my truth”. We can use the worn out analogy of the map. Let’s say that we are going to walk through a forest. This is not the typical kind of forest. It’s a forest full of traps. Luckily, many people have gone before us through to forest. So there is a map that they all have contributed to. Someone gives us this map. It contains both the right direction and the traps clearly highlighted. But we take one look at the forest and the map, whereupon we decide that we want to find our own way. Following a map is no fun and the forest is much more beautiful in places that deviate from the known route. I think the answer is obvious to the question of whether this is a wise choice.

Is this analogy correct? Or am I simplifying things too much? Well, in my experience we don’t usually really know what we truly want. Our capacity self-deception is almost endless. Many end up destroying themselves. And even among those that don’t, many reach the end of their lives realizing that they have prioritized the wrong things. Which leads to a bitter end to an, on the surface, successful life. And even if we don’t feel this way when we reach the end of our lives, it’s still possible that we have prioritized the wrong things anyway. 

This possibility is what I wish to wrap this up with. I’m not going to pretend that I know exactly what is going to happen after we die. Or if we are in danger of something bad happening to us after death if we make the wrong choices in this life. What I do know, is that life goes on after death in some way. Therefore, if we don’t view our life from the perspective of eternity, we will have the wrong perspective on a very fundamental level. 

I also know for a fact that God exists, has an intelligence, a will and is personal. I know that God cares for each and everyone of us. Therefore, if we don’t view our life from this perspective, we will have the wrong perspective on a very fundamental level. 

These two perspectives, if taken seriously, will have implications for how we view the factual claims about the world, as well as how we view moral truth. They will be the very mold that shapes our lives. They will demand things of us. Require us to change and become different from who we are. If we believe that we are going to live forever, many things that seem important from a finite perspective, such as career, wealth and social status, become unimportant. But I don’t think that the opposite is true. Our friends, family, our character and our moral choices are important both for this life and for the one to come. But some things that from a finite, atheist perspective are not just unimportant, but utterly nonsensical, such as going to church and in other ways spend time with God, become very important.

Therefore, I believe that these two perspectives need to be the foundation of the road that we travel on. They are true and written into everyone’s heart. And we don’t just need to believe that they are true. We also need to live as if they are. If we can’t feel them in our heart, it means that our hearts are numb. And if we don’t like the conclusions that they lead to and therefore decide to take a different route, we will inevitably get lost and fall into traps. This is why I believe that objective truth matters, no matter if that truth is about the physical world, spirituality or morals. In the end, when we start to see things clearly on a fundamental level, all of these areas fit together.

What does "spiritual" mean to me? PART 2

Continuing what I talked about in the last post: When it comes to practice and experience, I have a daily meditation, prayer and yoga routine. To me, this is also an essential part of spirituality. Spirituality follows me throughout the day, but it is also something I consistently practice while I’m alone. And just like with God, I think that even if some sort of daily routine is not a necessary component of spirituality, something is missing if one does not have such a routine. The same goes for trying to be a decent person by the way.

Spirituality to me also means awareness of the fact that I have an ego. The ego, the way I see it, is basically a lower self that is ruled by instincts, seeks instant gratification and cares only about its own little wants and needs. The ego is the unconscious beliefs that one is one’s thoughts and living from it means to live in a reactive mindset. Something happens and we react to it. Over and over again. The ego is absence of free will and the illusion thereof. Among other things. Spirituality for me entails a wish to transcend the ego so that it does not run my life anymore. 

Spirituality is finally a source of meaning. A belief, or in my case a knowing, that life serves a higher purpose than to just live in an ultimately pointless universe, die and then be gone forever. That there is a meaning to all of this and that we go on living in some way after we die. What this afterlife is I don’t know exactly. I don’t think anyone does. It’s hinted at in religious scriptures, but all of them, at least in a literal sense, cannot be right. And what is actual descriptions and what is mere symbolism is unclear. 

A higher meaning can be an antidote to the mindless hedonism and ego-gratification just mentioned. Because when life has a higher meaning, it becomes essential to try and be one’s best, so that one is capable of seeking and living this higher meaning.

What does "spiritual" mean to me? PART 1

Our language is full of words that we sort of, but not really know the meaning of or what they mean to us personally. That in itself is quite interesting.

“Spiritual” is a word that means many different things to many different people. To me, at the core, it means to have a belief in, relation to, knowing of and connection with something transcendent. To me, this transcendent is ultimately God. And forgive me if I step on some toes here, but I believe that any spirituality that does not include an intelligent, personal God that cares for us misses the, by far, most important component. But while I believe that this is an essential component in spirituality, it is not an absolute part of the definition of spirituality.

Contrary to many other people, I don’t make a clear distinction between “spirituality” and “religion”. The way I see it, both are relating to the same transcendent reality. Religion seems more oriented towards rituals, morals and tradition, while spirituality seems more oriented towards practice and experience. But personally, I think one needs both and that they overlap a great deal. There is something to be said in the defense of some tradition morals, as long as they don’t become stale. Namely that that which has been transmitted over generations for a long time generally has been transmitted because it has served some sort of function, even if it isn’t always clear what that function actually is. But if this is all that one’s religious/spiritual life becomes, I think that it loses its vitality. 

Back to spiritual. For me it also has to do with how I conduct myself in my day to day life. What I choose to fill my days with and what I choose not to fill my days with. Even if I’m far from perfect and do lots of things that I know that I shouldn’t do when my emotions get the best of me, the spiritual side is something that I always relate to in one way or another. It’s always in the back of my mind. 

Badmouthing part 3

I have also noticed that when I’ve said something bad about someone, I feel uncomfortable in their presence. I feel like a phony when I sit there and pretend that there is nothing wrong. I didn’t use to feel this way. Probably because I saw no problem with badmouthing people and therefore pushed down any discomfort that I experienced in their presence. A question that naturally arises is: Was the discomfort always there, but I just didn’t see it? Or did it arise when I changed my perspective? I’ve started to realize that there are so many things going on inside, that I’m not consciously aware of.

Badmouthing part 2

I also wish to take this one step further. You see, I don’t just walk around badmouthing people randomly. There are certain things that trigger me. Two that I can think of right now, since I have fresh examples of them, is laziness and decisions with no regard for the consequences. When it comes to these decisions, it’s especially true when I have to help cleaning up the mess. I think that this has something to do with the fact that I used to be lazy and make such decisions, which has caused the problems that I currently have. So, as usual, my negativity can be traced back to me. 

Badmouthing part 1

I’ve caught myself badmouthing people a couple of times lately. Not in any severe way, not about something that wasn’t true, not about something that doesn’t affect me and not without the hope of things changing. And it happens less and less frequently. But still… I wish to live a life of love, acceptance and free of judgment. So this habit (I would still call it a habit, since it happens now and then and I’m not in full control of it) has to go. 

Can we trust ourselves? Part 2

Maybe we can learn how we can trust ourselves? Maybe if we can clearly see the state that we are in and with God’s help find the tools to transcend it, we can recognize the voice of God without having to rely on external sources, confident that we won’t be led astray by the forces inside and outside ourselves. Maybe Neale Donald Walsh’s books should be read in this way. That is, not as a literal conversation with God, where God’s words are coming through perfectly. But rather as one man’s attempt to discern God’s voice, among all of the other voices that occupies his mind. Maybe, if we’re cautious of our impulse to accept different teachings as gospel (pun intended), we can study different spiritual teachers without fear of being led astray. 

This is something that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. As my spiritual journey progresses and I gain more experience as I go along, the lens through which I view what I read becomes wider, since I can compare it with my personal experience. I don’t think that there is any point for me to take to heart that which I cannot relate to. It doesn’t mean that I have to dismiss it altogether. Sometimes I might sense that there is something with certain teachings, even if I don’t understand them as I’m reading them. I know that this was the case when I first read Eckhart Tolle. I intuitively felt that he had understood something. And now that I am more present in the moment, now that I can see more clearly when I am resisting what is and now that have gotten more in touch with my inner body, I understand what he’s talking about. And I can see myself moving closer to the state of inner peace and silence that he’s talking about.

And what I can also see, is that the more I am in this state, the easier it is for me to have discernment. For one, I pay attention much more, which makes it easier to see what is relevant in any given situation. It also makes it easier to pay attention to the voice of God inside. And maybe the truth is that simple. That when functioning from this calm, present, silent state, discernment becomes easy. Effortless. But, as I said in the beginning of this post, as long we are not on this state constantly, we might need to know as much as possible about the condition that we are in. I believe more and more that Jesus’ teachings are what will come naturally to us, once we function from this state and not via all of the ego-voices that are not really us. This might be why some say that the ego doesn’t really exist. Because what we truly are, is completely natural and effortless. The rest is just constructs in our minds. It is not real. At least, this is what I’ve come to believe. I’ve also come to believe that the more we understand about our condition, the easier it is to see when we’ve gotten off track. Maybe this means that in the end, complexity and simplicity converge naturally and turn out to be two sides of the same coin. As above, so below.

Can we trust ourselves? Part 1

I want to begin this post by asking a second question: Can we trust any authorities? 

These are quite troubling questions for me. On the one hand, I understand enough about self-deception, the unconscious, unconscious motives, manipulative forces in society and a bunch of other stuff that imply that “no” would be the correct answer to the question in the title of the post.

On the other hand, I can’t see how the answer would be to just blindly follow everything in the Bible no matter what. I’ve experienced enough strange and wonderful things, that traditional Christian teachings simply don’t seem like a viable option. 

Let’s get into the absolute beginning of my spiritual journey. I was a Laveyan satanist (basically ago-affirming atheism, at least on the surface), from the age of 17 to the age of 23. I actually started questioning my beliefs a year earlier. But this was when stuff happened that gradually, over a few days or months, shattered my beliefs. I don’t really remember what exactly took place in my mind, but afterwards I’ve just received more and more reasons to strengthen my belief in God and a spiritual reality. 

Since I had vacation to take out, I took a week off from work to think things through. At the time, I lived in Gothenburg and in connection with the vacation, I visited the big shopping mall called Nordstan at the core of the city. I thought that I wanted something to read that could… What? Stimulate my thoughts and help me make sense of things I guess, even though I probably didn’t put it into these exact words in my mind. So I visited a regular bookstore. And as I remember it, the first book my eyes fell on was Neale Donald Walsh’s Tomorrow’s God.

So, I bought the book and read it over the week. And even though I felt a bit uncomfortable with the style of the book, where the author does sort of an interview with God, the book rang true somehow. 

But maybe Satan led me to the book to trick me somehow, just when salvation was within my reach. I’m not kidding here. If Satan is real (something I mostly don’t believe in a litteral sense), wouldn’t this be exactly what could be expected of him, when he sees that he’s about to lose his grip on my soul? The question of the devil deserves to be taken seriously, until we can dismiss it on firm grounds. We are after all talking about the beliefs of hundreds of millions of people, and it is a part of the narrative of 2.5 billion people, even if all of them don’t believe in him. And 200 years ago, the absolute majority of the people in the Western world believed in him.

But I’ll leave that discussion for another post. The point is that we have a tendency to filter the information we take in, keep what we like, discard the rest and view it in a way that supports the “truth” that we prefer. To make matters worse, we don’t always prefer the most favorable truth. Our culture and upbringing shapes what we wish to believe in as well. Plus that we have a bunch of other biases as well. We might have a tendency to believe boring or painful “truths” more, since we might have a tendency to believe more in someone that says something uncomfortable, than someone that just seems to tell us what we want to hear.

So maybe this is the truth. That there are no ultimate truths. And that we therefore are free to do what we want with no spiritual consequences whatsoever. Or maybe we can at least just discard everything that cannot be agreed upon from a religiously neutral stance. This idea seems pretty appealing, doesn’t it? We can just go out, have fun and enjoy life in any way the we please and then we’ll go to heaven when we die. Or reincarnate as a better version of ourselves in another life. I know that I find such thoughts appealing.

But then we come back to the problem of our bias towards believing what we wish to be true.