Getting clear on what I believe and stand for PART 9

In this final post in this series, I will talk about something that I believe is crucial when it comes to the times that we are living: to shift the focus from changing the world to changing ourselves. 

Even if we cannot know many of the ultimate truths, we can always understand ourselves better. We can get clear on who we are, who we want to be and what is truly important to us. We can always understand life and the world better. We can always become better. We can always become more present and pay more attention to what is going on. We can always widen our perspective.

On the other hand, I don’t believe that self-improvement should lead us away from feeling worthy. And I don’t believe that life should be an endless quest of self-improvement either. So, what do I believe when it comes to this? That is what I am going to try and bring some more clarity into here.

In a paradoxical sense, we are all already worthy, at the same time as we all fall short of what we potentially could be. On the one hand, we need to be tough with ourselves and constantly push ourselves out of our comfort zones. And on the other, we need to be kind to ourselves, forgive ourselves for our mistakes and shortcomings, and allow ourselves to simply feel pleasure and enjoy life. And somehow, we need all of this, the tough struggles, as well as the soft and playful, to feel meaningful and enjoyable. There is no sense in struggling for struggling’s sake. And there is no sense in empty sensory gratifications either. 

Where we need to begin, I believe, is in self-observation. We need to observe how we behave and speak, as well as what is going on inside our heads. This can be quite shocking at first. At least it was for me. When I started looking at myself throughout my everyday life, I found an almost entirely different person from who I thought that I was.

This is something I believe that we cannot get away from. If we wish to grow we must get to know ourselves.

If we want to do this in a healthy way, I believe that it is crucial that we compare ourselves not with others, but with who we were yesterday. I can honestly say that this has been a problem for me. When I see all of the people that have taken leaps out of their little selves and stepped into their bigger selves, I often feel discouraged. I’ve had to eat a lot of humble pie since the time when I walked around looking down at the world. And humble pie often comes with a bitter aftertaste of self-judgment and self-criticism. 

Then, at the end of all of this, I believe that there is some point where we can give up all of this speculation about what things should be and what they shouldn’t, just let go, always act out of love and follow the flow of life. I believe that this is a really simple state. We just need to realize on a deep level that everything is okay and as it should be. You might look at the world and say: “Are you kidding me?!” But if everything is in God’s hands, how could it be otherwise? And maybe it’s just my ego that likes all this complexity. That enjoys these endless speculations about life and my being in the world. But so what? I like to think about what it means to be human in general and what it means to be me specifically. Even if it’s ultimately possible to just let go and allow God to carry me through life. 

But I’m not there yet anyway, and in the meantime I need to think of how I best can live, grow and enjoy life while I’m still to a large degree governed by my ego. Besides, if I look at those that have arrived at their destination, it seems as if they all have had to take the road of complexity, before arriving at the simplicity that has been with them all along. And I have a feeling that when I reach it, I will look back at my journey, with all its struggles, pains and feelings of hopelessness, with nothing but joy and gratitude for all that it has entailed. 

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Getting clear on what I believe and stand for PART 8

My interests don’t compete with your interests. I believe that this is an illusion. Sure, if we believe that we are just decaying matter, destined to brief, pointless existences before we return to total oblivion, we might get the idea that we have to stimulate our five senses in ways that feel pleasurable as much as possible before we die. Not that it ultimately matters. But if we are no more than smart animals, why not live in a way that is consistent with that belief?

This used to be my belief until I started to understand that God exists. That there is such a thing as a spiritual reality. My belief was basically that when you die you die. And whatever you have experienced up to that point won’t matter, since everything that you are and ever have been will be as if it has never existed. And since these are the conditions everyone else lives under as well, whether my life makes the world better or worse ultimately makes no difference.

Now that I know that God exists and that life does not end with death, this changes everything. I don’t need the threat of punishment or the promise of rewards in the afterlife to want to become a better person and live in harmony with the world and other people. I know that from this perspective, even though pleasure is not unimportant, the pursuit of consumption and pleasure as the highest priorities in life means that one totally wastes one’s life on nothingness. From this perspective, which is the correct one, our relationship with God must necessarily come first. And our relation to ourselves, the world and other people must come in second. And all of these things are tied together. If you are dysfunctional in one of these areas, you will be dysfunctional in all of them. And almost all of us are dysfunctional here to different degrees. 

Do you understand what I’m getting at? When we realize beyond any doubt that life has meaning, and that we need to look at life from the perspective of eternity and not finiteness, everything changes. Our priorities change. It makes no sense to compete for resources, strive for power and glory, seek gratification of the senses, or even to spread our genes for their own sake. We can still do all of these things if we find joy in them and can do them in a non-harmful way. But everything in our animal natures, that which is related to the survival instinct and places us in the frame of “survival of the fittest” becomes null and void in the face of a higher reality. Simply put, when we see that something is more important to us, and something is less important to us, it makes no sense to choose that which is less important, if it comes into conflict with what is more important.

With this higher perspective in mind, I don’t have to fiercely protect myself from others either, because it’s your loss and not mine, if you do something as stupid and pointless as hurting me for your own gain. 

The conclusions that I draw from this line of reasoning come in the form of a few questions: If you know that God exists, love is at the core of everything, that you will live forever and that all that belongs to your animal nature are things that you will have to leave behind when you die, what things are important to you? What do you need to prioritize? What is meaningful? What leads to true, meaningful happiness? I think that seen in this light, the cliché that “the best things in life are free” holds true. So why should I compete and cause harm, when there is something so much valuable in life that does not require any of that?

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Getting clear on what I believe and stand for PART 7

I believe that it's important to put things into perspective. To understand oneself and oneself in relation to the world. And to understand what world one sees when one does that. So, where do you stand in relation to the questions that I've asked myself during this series? What questions do you find important?

In this post I’m going to talk about what I believe about the world and the times that we are living in. I know that our political systems today are thoroughly corrupt. And I know that today there is a sinister political agenda for world domination centered around the World Economic Forum. Since I’ve written other posts about this, I don’t want to dedicate a whole post to this right now. I’ll leave links to these at the end of the post plus a link to a video explaining the whole situation. I know that there is a small chance that I and others are wrong about this, but everything so far points in this direction. At this point it’s more or less out in the open on WEF’s own homepage.

What I want to spend a little time talking about is what I believe should be done about this. Because I don’t think that this is a battle that can be won through resistance. Neither do I believe that we have to fear the future. I believe that fear is the last thing we need in the situation that we are in. This is because in the end, the basic choice in our lives is one between love and fear. The WEF want us to choose their solution out of fear. Fear of not being able to take care of ourselves, fear of the future of the planet, fear of scarce resources, fear of debt etcetera. What they don’t want us to do, is to come together in love, harmony, respect and unity to build something better. So this is what I, and many others believe is the solution to the situation that we are in right now. I/we believe that the way out is to build something better that is not dependent upon these structures. 

I can honestly say that I give in to fear now and then. I can often feel stressed out because I have allowed so much of my life to slip through my fingers. And because I have so much mess to clean up in my life. But I know that there is a higher meaning to everything. One that is hard to see the full scope of from my current limited perspective. So I have to do my best to trust that things will work themselves out, if I just do my best with what I’ve got. I know that me and my wife are not alone in this. Many others are waking up to what is happening on the planet, both the good stuff and the bad. So we won’t be alone with whatever is left of our mess when things really start to move. And in this everyone is valuable. I'm valuable, even if I haven't got everything together and my life puzzle completely figured out.

I also have a feeling that we are protected from the worst disasters that can befall us, even if this is something that I cannot say for sure. Whatever the case may be, I know that my and everyone else’s souls are immortal, which does provide lots of courage for the times ahead. The worst thing that can happen is that this life ends. Seen from the perspective of eternity, it’s probably not the disaster that we often make it out to be. It’s probably a good thing to not wish for death, to do our best to avoid it, but at the same time realize that fearing it is futile, as well as irrational and detrimental to our wellbeing. It’s both inevitable and not final.

Link to a really good YouTube video about the Great Reset (not mine)

My posts about the Great Reset:

We will not comply!

Changing the world?

Will we have a dystopian future? PART 1

Will we have a dystopian future? PART 2

Getting clear on what I believe and stand for PART 6

I know that there is a spiritual awakening going on on the planet. Whatever that means. I'm still trying to figure this out.

My spiritual awakening has entailed a component that is very much Christian. This is however not true for most that go through these awakenings. And yet, from what it seems like to me, this Cristian component is universal and not just particular to my or a few people’s spiritual awakenings. This does not mean that I believe that everyone else is wrong or evil. What I believe that this is a piece of the puzzle that is not yet in place. It’s not for me either I might add, since I myself am not sure what to make of this yet. All I know is that it isn’t leading me to any type of conventional Christianity. Neither the conservative nor the liberal kind. Basically I’m much too open to ideas, teachings and perspectives outside the Christian world to be conservative. And I can’t say that I buy in to every word of st. Paul, even if I take the things that I have a problem with seriously. 

On the other hand, I do believe that the Bible offers many valid teachings and valuable perspectives, that clash with our current secular morals. This includes questions that woud place me outside of the liberal Christian fold, even if I try to never be judgmental here. I don’t believe in eternal damnation, but I do believe that we can damage ourselves through our actions, and not just those that cause obvious harm to us. And I believe that we can create our own personal hells here on earth if we fall deep enough into our unconscious behaviors.

So, this is a little something about my beliefs about Christianity. I look at the Bible and the life of Jesus as blueprints for how to live and what attitude we need to take towards life, if we want to live in harmony with God, each other and God’s creation. In other words not as a set of laws that we can break and get punished for. Or a set of beliefs that we need to force ourselves to believe, also in order to avoid punishment. 

My thinking about this is a work in progress though. But this is what I've concluded so far.

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Getting clear on what I believe and stand for PART 5

Tying the previous two posts in this series together, I want to talk specifically about the potential I believe lies dormant inside each and everyone of us. As I said, I believe that the truth is to be found in the Bible. But I don’t believe that it’s wise to dismiss everything that other religions and spiritual systems have to offer. I want to emphatically state that this does not mean that I’m a proponent of some “anything goes” liberal theology. I believe that there is a natural flow behind everything in life and when we choose to engage in actions that run contrary to this natural flow, there are always consequences. 

However, what I believe is that if we find something inside ourselves, such as the chakra system or different energy channels, they must have been put there by God. These at least are not spelled out in plain words in the Bible, but can be found in other religions and spiritual systems. I don’t think that they are necessary for our spiritual lives and our connection with God either. But if we feel inclined to explore these things, there might not be anything wrong with it either. Maybe what is most important in the Bible, is what Jesus taught about how we should treat each other. And maybe the warnings against other religions are open to some interpretations. 

What I’ve come to believe, which is what I brought up in the beginning of this post, is that at the heart of everything is connection. In other words interaction with other living beings. Ultimately interaction with our creator. This is why the message of Jesus is the most important message of all religious doctrines. Jesus taught us how to live fully with God and with each other. But if opening our third eye or our heart chakra can help us to become better at living as Jesus lived, should we then conclude that this is wrong because this was discovered by Hindus? Or if Buddhist psychology, that tries to understand the nature of suffering, as it relates to our habitual resistance and attachment to our experiences can deepen our understanding of what Jesus taught, should we regard this as wrong? Or if meditation and yoga can help us to let go and live in acceptance of what happens in our lives, in other words of God’s will, should this be regarded as wrong?

I know that I may be wrong about this. And I don't believe that any of the above is necessary for living a good, spiritual life. But if I feel called to these things I don't think that I can allow fear of making the wrong choices dictate my actions.

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We don't need the SURVIVAL INSTINCT anymore

Jesus said: “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” 

As with many other quotes from Jesus, I believe that this one has several different meanings. I believe one of them to be that when we make survival and things related to survival the most important thing in life, we will waste our life. 

This is especially true in the times that we are living in right now. People’s survival instinct make them stockpile money way past when they have enough to get them through hard times. It makes us live in constant fear of the future, fight each other for resources and do all kinds of things to preserve our lives. It makes us agree to things that we normally never would. Something that we have seen a lot of during the past three years and which we will in all likelihood see more of in the near future. 

The survival instinct causes us to live in fight or flight mode, in a society where the natural threats are gone. And instead the emotional energy is stored in our bodies as tensions. It’s what turns those that we love into enemies, because our brains interpret them as threats to our lives when we get into conflicts with them. It’s what causes us to see other people as enemies and competitors in general. The survival instinct hinders us from coming together and cooperate, instead of “looking out for number one”. 

We do not need this anymore. In abundant countries there is no such scarcity anymore. And this is not even a necessary state in poorer countries, even if a change is a few steps further away in those. 

I think that it’s hard to completely get away from the fear of death. Even if I know that life goes on after I die and I have a strong belief that I will find something wonderful on the other side, the unknown is still scary. But if I let this fear guide my actions, I will probably be even more afraid in the future, when I look back at an inauthentic life, where I may have acted against my conscience to preserve it. 

If I on the other hand live after what I truly value in spite of the dangers that it may entail, chances are that when the end comes, no matter when it comes, I can look at my life as meaningful. If you want to see a good story about this, I would recommend the movie Million Dollar Baby. 

And I don’t think that it’s ever too late for this. Sure, our individual lives come with their limitations. But no matter where we are, we can always start choosing to say no to survival mode. Not in a way where we start taking risks. It could be that. But what I’m talking about first and foremost, is to stop taking actions out of a fear of dying.

Many people are losing their hope of the world. On an individual level we can always surrender to the present moment. Accept what is and what the future may bring. Maybe this is what we need to do on a collective level as well. Maybe we can flip the dystopia that we see looming on the horizon. Maybe if we stop trying to desperately hold on to our lives, we can turn the dystopia into a utopia.

Photo by Avel Chuklanov on Unsplash

Getting clear on what I believe and stand for PART 4

I have come to strongly believe in openness and understanding. I believe that the truth is to be found in the Bible, first and foremost in the person of Jesus. But I cannot believe that all other teachings are false. This does not mean that I believe that everyone should believe the same things or that everyone is equally right. But I believe in the importance of unity among those of us that believe in something higher and that want a better world. And I believe that we can and must discuss our differences in an open, respectful manner. 

I know that something very strange is happening on the planet. That the world isn’t what it seems. I know that there are people that run the world from the shadows and that they don’t have our best interests at heart. Ultimately, I believe that these people are as misguided as anyone that does harm to others, albeit in a much more sinister and elaborate way than the average sinner. And I believe that the correct response to this is to build something better, be clear on who we are, live as authentically as possible, do our best to simply avoid what these people have to offer and turning the other cheek if we get attacked.

If we want to do all of this, I believe that it is crucial that those of us that truly want something good for the world an humanity, start setting our differences aside. That we start cooperating and listening to each other with open minds and hearts. Not because we need to change anything unless we want to. And certainly not so that we can find fault with each other’s views, so that we then can set them straight. If we truly believe in the rightness of our beliefs, we don’t convince others of this by talking. We show it through the people that we are, who we are becoming, the lives that we live and the lives that we are creating for ourselves. 

We need unity and not division if we want to be as strong as we need to be in the times ahead.

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Getting clear on what I believe and stand for PART 3

I know that we have so much more potential within ourselves than we have been lead to believe. We are not little pointless creatures that live meaningless lives where we have to grasp for every little pleasure that we can get our hands on, before we wither away, die and descend into oblivion. 

It doesn’t mean that we should always take ourselves dead seriously. But I believe that we should treat ourselves with a bit of dignity and respect. We were not meant to work jobs that we hate so that we can watch TV-series, play video games, eat junk food, and chase likes on social media on our spare times. Or pay off debts because of over-consumption. Or get drunk out of our minds and chase sex in the weekends. If this truly makes you feel fulfilled, then go for it! But if it doesn’t, maybe there is something better out there. I would say that this type of life, even if we live under the illusion that we are making free choices, is not a life that we choose freely at all. It's just stimulus response, stimulus response, stimulus response... Sensory gratification, instincts and habits.

Therefore I truly believe that it is time for each and everyone of us to take a look at ourselves. At how we choose to live our lives and what we choose to give our time and attention to. There are some tough times ahead of us. But those tough times are meaningful times. If we understand this we can find joy in our hardships. Not just because we know that they are leading to something wonderful, but because we know that they contain a meaning that was not so clear before. Because we know that we walk with God while we experience them.

We can still suffer even if we are pain-free and sometimes, struggling and dealing with hardships is what makes us feel most alive. And no matter what, if we try to numb ourselves and run away from our challenges, life will catch up with us eventually. It did for me. I choose to accept that and do my best with it. 

I know that I would gladly trade comfort and security for true meaningfulness every day. Even if it means that I have to struggle, feel negative emotions and take risks. I believe that everyone who truly and honestly thought this through would. 

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Learning who I really am and how to act that way

A while back it hit me hard that earlier in my life, I lost sight of who I really was in trying to express my uniqueness, while I complained that others lost sight of who they were in conformity. In retrospect, it’s easy to see that it’s two sides of the same coin and that no one side is better than the other. I’ve written things about this before. And it is because I think that I truly have stumbled over something important here.

A standard response that you get from many people when we bring up questions about who we are is: “We know who we are, don’t we?” But do we really? Do our words and actions ring true when we interact with others? Do I really feel that it’s me speaking? Or is it a social mask, constructed from who I think that I ought to be? Made from who I want others to perceive me as? 

I used to be one of those people that said: “I don’t care what anyone thinks.” What I could have added was: “And I really really want everyone to know how much I don’t care what anyone thinks.” In other words, I did care. What I’ve learned is that those that say these things often are the ones that care the most. Often they are, just like I used to be, people that try to project a tough, rebellious image.

Jesus speaks of occupying and/or guarding one’s home on several occasions. One’s home is an obvious reference to one’s mind and one’s life. This, in turn means something very exact. What I mean is that I have noticed, both within myself and others, how often no one is home. The words that I and others say don’t really mean anything. It’s just part of a social game of expectations, appropriateness, perceived wants, needs and desires. There is no genuine connection. 

I want to bring this back to what I said in the beginning. Namely that when we don’t think consciously about who we are and who we truly want to be, not who we want others to perceive us as, metaphorically other characters move into our heads instead. We will let the world, other people, our unconscious reactions to the world and other people and all kinds of irrelevant factors that we are not aware of, shape us into something that we are really not.

I’m probably using a lot of text to say: Stop playing roles, find out who you really are and how to act that way! But I wanted to put this into some kind of perspective. 

Getting clear on what I believe and stand for PART 2

Photo by Mads Schmidt Rasmussen on Unsplash

What I wrote in the previous post feeds nicely into the second thing that I stand for. Namely that we need to do our best, in all our fallibility, to emulate Jesus. To follow him and the example he set with the life that he lived. We of course all fall short of this ideal. But I truly believe that Jesus was the first perfect person in the world. One that lived free from sin. But I also believe that if one person manages to free him/herself from sin, that person will become like Jesus, no matter what he/she has done previously. 

A while back I wrote about how our lives are programmed by the world. And the thing is that there is a natural state that we can function from. And it is most clearly presented in the person of Jesus. Jesus walked fully with God throughout his life. You may debate whether the story about him is true or not. This does not interest me very much. We will always have a limited perspective of history and it will be harder and harder to discern facts from falsities the further back in time that we go. 

The important thing is that the story about Jesus is psychologically and metaphysically true. Psychologically because it tells us something about what the life of a fully functional person looks like. And metaphysically because it shows the perfect way of relating to the hidden laws that govern our being in the world. 

The way Jesus is portrayed, he lived with total love, kindness and compassion towards other people. And he lived in total obedience to God’s will. He accepted life fully, even up to the point of his painful execution. 

I don’t think that most people appreciate how radical Jesus’ message was. He was born into a culture of “might is right”. And if we look to the animal kingdom, this seems to be our natural state. This was the prevalent philosophy in the Western world. 

There have been other teachers outside of the West, such as the Buddha and Lao Tzu, that have proclaimed similar teachings. And I do believe that we have important things to learn from them as well. But I would argue that none of them embodied the perfect life. Only Jesus did. 

Some people have a problem with the idea of obeying God’s will. But what I’ve come to realize, is that we are so governed by forces that we don’t understand, that if we don’t freely choose God’s will, we give our will away to the world. This is what I will talk about in the next post that I will save for next weekend. 

Getting clear on what I believe and stand for PART 1

It’s crucial to sit down and take time to really think through what we believe and stand for. Otherwise we will hesitate and question ourselves forever. And the world’s ideas will more easily infect our minds.

There is a lot of talk about “my truth” nowadays. And since we are beings that only have access to our own subjective experiences, this is unavoidable. But there is an obvious difference between “what is true for me” and “what I believe to be true for everyone”. What I’m going to talk about here is what I believe to be true for everyone, regardless of whether we believe in them or not. If you think that this makes me the opposite of a moral relativist, you would be correct. It’s important however, to make clear that I don’t see any of this absolute requirements for living a good life. I, for example, believe that following Jesus is the best way to live a good life. But I believe that all of the world religions contain teachings that would lead to such a life. I even believe that there are secular philosophies that qualify, even if they miss the most important part of life. 

Which brings me to the first thing that I stand for: faith in God. I don’t believe in God. I know that God exists. It is not important to me to convince others about this because of some need to be right. But since I know this for a fact, that everyone can have a relationship with God, that this is the biggest joy of my life and what I believe is the whole purpose for our existence, I of course want this for everyone else as well. This has changed my life on so many levels. It has transformed me as a person, given me meaning, a sense of purpose, made me feel much more, enjoy life more and… I could go on forever. Having this constant presence in my life is wonderful. And to get these little signs and other experiences that constantly reaffirms this knowing, and guides my actions, fills me with wonder and excitement. 

Of course it’s not always easy. Before finding God I never worried about morals, character or where my life was going. This felt more safe in many ways. I considered life pointless and I was fine with that. When it ended, it ended and it didn’t matter what I had done during my journey from start to finish. Now I worry a lot more. But it is a meaningful worry. 

This also feeds into my next strong belief. Namely that what will get us out of the mess that we are in, is not to try and change the world, but to understand and change ourselves. That this is how we go from creating the hell on earth that we are now seeing, to heaven on earth. And I truly believe this. That we have the means to create paradise on earth. But we have become deeply corrupted by the ways of the world. The ones that tell us to take as much as possible before we die. To hold grudges, to judge other people and to categorize others as more or less valuable depending on their achievements and material possessions. 

What is the alternative to living by this essentially animal nature? I think that the best alternative is to do one’s best to follow Jesus. And I will talk about this in the next post.

The importance of VALUES in a world full of LIES and MISTRUST PART 2

To part 1.

I want to talk about some values that I believe in, just to give a few examples and show why I think certain values are important. 

I believe in the absolute value of the sanctity of human life. If we forego this value and start to regard human lives as disposable, as something that can be done away with when convenient, we forego our humanity. Then we are no more than mere cattle. This does not stop here either. I also believe that whatever else may be true, no person is inherently useless. Every person has an intrinsic value, regardless of the person’s practical value in the world. 

I believe in the absolute value of free will. To be human is to make choices. Without free will we are reduced to animals. I believe so strongly in this value, that I would rather lose my life than my free will. 

I believe in the value of freedom. More specifically, I believe that I have the right to do whatever I want as long as I don’t hurt anyone else or, objectively speaking, put anyone at risk. 

I believe in honesty. Now, I know that I’ve done my fair share of lying, even quite recently. In a few instances out of nothing but sheer cowardice. But I truly believe that lies both hurt the one doing the lying and erode the trust between people and in societies in general. It doesn’t matter if we lie because we believe that it serves some higher good. I believe that we need to tell the truth and trust that it will lead to the best results.

Finally, I believe that love trumps fear every time. This is difficult in a world where we are so cut off from ourselves and each other. But we can come back to ourselves and each other. We have to. 

This means that I will do my best to refrain from taking action based on fear. It also means that I will do my best not to support political measures taken from a place of fear. This should be seen in light of the values of free will and freedom. I am never going to give up my free will or my freedom for security and comfort. Not even with a gun to my head or in the face of a threat of impending doom. Because I refuse to allow fear to dictate my decisions. Because I don’t believe that my life is worth preserving at any cost. I do not believe that the survival instinct is what should govern our actions. I believe that it is something that needs to be transcended. 

Do you understand what I’m saying here? If, in the near future, if your are given a choice between two options, what will you choose? The first is to believe in a higher meaning. To trust that we can and will be better and that there is something better on the way. The second is that we live in an ultimately meaningless world. And that you need to protect yourself from the world, the state of the world and other people. What will you choose: love or fear?

The importance of VALUES in a world full of LIES and MISTRUST PART 1

In a world where we cannot trust the information that is being presented to us values are crucial. Why? Because when we don’t know what is true about the world, we cannot use hard facts to guide our actions. What we then are left with, is our values. What I believe, is that there are some absolutes that we can lean on, regardless of the circumstances that we are facing. It doesn’t mean that they are always going to lead to the best results in every given situation. That is not the point. Since we cannot predict results, especially when we are unsure of the facts, we cannot rely fully on the results that we wish to achieve.

It is as interesting as it is frightening to note that while it becomes less and less certain what is true, with regards to what is going on in the world, the objectivity of values is also being called into question by the philosophy known as moral relativism. We thus find ourselves in a situation where we cannot trust the world or other people. And if we don’t have an inner guidance system in place, we cannot trust ourselves either. And even if we have such a guidance system in place, if we believe that it’s fundamentally arbitrary it becomes powerless. Why? Because it falls flat in the face of expediency. If someone manages to convince me that the situation requires me to abandon these types of values, I will do it. But if I believe that some values are absolute, I will never abandon them. 

To be clear, I believe that there are some values that are as important as being itself. That by abandoning certain values, we abandon our humanity and render our existence meaningless. And this is important. Because some of our values are what separates us from animals. One of the core tenets of satanism, as it is presented by Anton Szandor Lavey, the founder of the Church of Satan, is that humans are just another animal. Lavey also believed that it is the right of the elite to rule the masses through manipulation. Just saying…

I believe that because of certain values we are more than just animals. And if we do away with these values, we reduce ourselves to animals. The core values here are love and free will! If we do away with our free will, we become like animals. And we do likewise if we reduce love to nothing more than an electrochemical process in our brains and bodies. 

Remember this in a few years, when you are being asked to sign away your life, to a system that takes away your free will, in exchange for comfort and security. Remember that it is satanic.

To part 2.

Everyday life and the spiritual life are one

I’ve noticed that many mystically inclined people tend to frown upon more “regular church goers” or their equivalents in other religious traditions. And many of those church goers for their part, seem to look at mystics with some suspicion. As if mystics somehow operate outside the boundaries of acceptable religion and thereby associate themselves with dark forces. 

What I’ve come to realize is that most of us need a little bit of both. Some of us might be more inclined towards just being good people that strive to follow Jesus in our everyday lives. While others might sit in meditation, experiencing higher realities throughout most of their days. But for most of us, I think our spiritual needs are best being met by being somewhere on a scale between these two extremes. Most of us can’t have mysticism without the everyday-part. Because our everyday lives are spiritual lives. We don’t just meet God in meditation, yoga, contemplation, prayer, the reading of sacred scriptures and other spiritual practices. We also meet God in our everyday lives. We meet God in our interactions with other people. We meet God when we share meals, work or when we go to the gym. 

But most of us also need to truly feel a connection with God that goes beyond mere belief. For some it can be to simply see a deeper meaning in events in their daily lives, where others just see random accidents, while for others it can be experiences of total bliss and ecstasy as they completely let go of the world and merge with God. Or anything in between. 

I believe that there is a reason why Jesus focused so heavily on ethics and why the more mystical aspects of of his teachings were toned down or veiled in symbolism or allegory. If we don’t allow our spiritual experiences to shape us as individuals, our character and how we conduct ourselves in our everyday lives, these experiences become empty. But we also want to avoid that our lives become consumed by dry, spiritless legalism, that many of the pharisees served as a warning against. 

I believe that this is ultimately a question of the importance of letting the brain and the heart work together.