Christianity and New Age?

I believe in unity and not division. I believe in having an open conversation, rather than condemnation. I believe believe in hearing people out instead of putting a label on them and dismissing them because I already think that I know what there is to know about them. 

I also believe that we can have an open conversation with other people without trying to convince them that we are right and they are wrong. A conversation where we embrace our commonalities rather than fight over disagreements. Commonalities such as a belief in God or that we are living in, from a spiritual perspective, extraordinary times. 

Let me also propose that there are more important things to consider, than the labels that we attach to ourselves or what these labels mean to us personally. Such as what kinds of people we are or the fact that we are living in, from a spiritual perspective, extraordinary times. 

I repeat myself here for an important reason. Namely that I believe that those of us that live spiritual lives that we take seriously are facing a situation where we cannot afford to be divided anymore. For some reason it’s mainly Christians and New Agers that see the control system that is emerging for what it is. 

I am someone that has spent time with people from both of these groups and I willingly confess that I’m standing with one foot in each group, while having reservations with regards to ideas within both. I believe in one, personal God, I believe in the message of Jesus and I believe in the importance of living a moral life in line with Christian values, when it comes to my interactions with other people. But I also have had personal experiences with the chakra system (Hindu in origin, but adopted by Westerners within the New Age). I’ve seen the benefits of yoga. And I’ve experienced the practical value of several books that by many are considered New Age, even if the term is so vague at this point, that it encompasses things that I believe has no place in it. 

I believe that there are good reasons to be cautious with what ideas we choose to adopt on both sides of the fence. And as said, we don’t have to change anything about our beliefs in order to have an open dialogue with others.

I want to conclude with a point. At the basis of it is the classical statement that “Jesus was not a Christian. He was a Jew.” This is quite important in this context. Because basically none of what is Christian today existed during the time of Jesus or his first followers. And I would like to bring up the altar dedicated to an unknown god in Athens in the Book of Acts. These athenians were honest, spiritual people even if they did not know the one God. And they were recognized as such by st. Paul. My point is that there may very well be people in the world today, that are good, sincere seekers of spiritual truth, but that do not know or understand the message of Jesus. There are things about Jesus that I still wrestle with, even though I’ve studied him and his message for quite some time. 

And maybe, just maybe, the most important thing isn’t whether someone calls him- or herself a Christian or not. Maybe it is more important if the person, knowingly or unknowingly, tries to follow the example set by Christ.

Just a few thoughts. If this angers anyone, so be it. All I'm saying is that maybe we should talk to each other and try to understand where other people come from.

We will not comply!

We will not comply! 

 

This is something that more and more people need to start saying. Because the only reason that the world is headed towards global tyranny, is because people comply with it. The people are many. Those that want to enslave us are few. We don’t have to resist or change anything. We just need to not do as we’re told when we somewhere know that it’s wrong.

Sometimes it’s hard to hold on to the belief that everything is going to be okay. I still believe that everything is in God’s hands. But even though I believe that all will be well, I at the same time believe that the choices that we make matter. I can’t exactly explain how or why they matter. Isn’t God just going to come down and save us? In one way or another I believe that God will. But I don’t know how. And somehow I still don’t believe that sticking our heads in the sand and hope for the best is a good option. Maybe God will eventually wake enough people up to what is going on, so that more and more people do stop complying with the madness.

Now, it takes courage and some discernment to practice non-compliance. And a belief in God will help a great deal as well. Because right now it’s pretty safe to stand up for ourselves. At least here in the West. But depending on what we do now, it might not be forever. And then it’s good to know that one way or another we can rely on a higher power, in this life or the next. 

What is the alternative? Our freedom is being attacked right now and many don’t even seem to notice. It is no longer a given to be able to go out or be wherever we want. We have gotten used to having to prove our medical status to have access to many facilities. We’ve gotten used to having to be careful with what we say on the internet or we risk censorship. Our economies are crashing due to the measures taken during the situation that we have been in. Measures that we had no say in, even though we are supposed to live in a democracy. A “rescue plan” is being developed by the global elite in the World Economic Forum, which will make the rest of humanity dependent on them in a way that resembles China. And unless you want the government to own you and be able to control every minute detail of your life, you don’t want to live in China. 

Furthermore, big tech companies are always gathering our data and they are more and more cooperating with the governments. The merging of state and corporate power, one of the pillars of fascism, has been going on for a long time. And honestly, I don’t think that we can defend ourselves against the data gathering. All we can do is make sure that it doesn’t go so far that the data gets used against us. 

We will not always come to the same conclusions about what lines authorities should never cross. But here ares some examples that I believe in. To me it is a given that we have an inalienable right to do what we want with our bodies. And to refuse any forced mandates with regard to our bodies. It is also a given that we should be able to go out whenever we want and freely take part in opinions and information. It is also a given that everyone takes responsibility for the situations that we face. If the economy is shaky, the consumers are not the only ones that should take the hit. The people should have a say in all major political decisions. Not just the small number that the mass media tells us to focus on. We should have the right to decide what data about ourselves that others have access to and how that data is being used. We should also have a say in where our tax money goes and the government should not be able to monitor every little financial transaction that we make. And if we truly live in a democracy, every vote should be counted equally. Which means that corporations should have zero say in policies that affect the peoples. 

To name a few.

Non-compliance is still pretty cheap. Practice it before the stakes go up.

Fear is an energy that attaches itself to the heart

I’ve noticed something in my yoga practice recently. Namely that I come to a point in my breathing, where it feels like I don’t get enough oxygen. A feeling of panic arises in my chest. But if I just accept the feeling, neither reacting to- nor resisting it, I feel how blockages get released inside my body and head, especially blockages around the heart.

I have noticed that there is a huge block here. And the more I release, the more I am able to let love into my life. What I believe that this means, is that there is a real, physical way of experiencing the fundamental truth, that life ultimately comes down to a choice between love and fear.

Fear ultimately comes down to the fear of death. It is not always physical death. It can also be the fear of living a life that feels like one has already died.

Since I experienced this and the more I practice this non-resistance during yoga, I’ve noticed that it becomes easier and easier to feel these stored emotions even when I don’t do yoga. And when I truly don’t react to them at all, as I feel them inside my body, but just allow them to be there and to be felt fully, I am able to let them go. 

I want to talk about this more in depth in another post, but the foundation of this is to learn to stay present inside our heads and not let our attention drift elsewhere, while at the same time feeling whatever goes on inside the body without reacting to it. In the beginning there will be a tendency to react when we feel these blockages. But with practice we will become better at just feeling whatever it is that we are feeling.

In the beginning, at least for me, it was difficult to feel these emotional blocks inside my body. I just felt them as stiffness and constriction, but not the emotions behind them. But the more I put focused attention on what was going on inside my body, the more I started to get into contact with the emotions behind these blockages.

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.

Is reality an illusion?

When I started to understand the concept of reality being an illusion, there was something that clicked in me. It is in line with what some of the great spiritual masters have been saying. For example, the Indian mystic Ramana Maharshi had a spontaneous awakening, where he basically saw that everything was generated by his own mind. 

Before continuing, I wish to interject something that I’ve said before: Once you realize beyond any doubt that reality is more than we can perceive with the five senses, anything becomes possible. Keep this in mind as you read. And why not ponder the implications of this.

A while back, I had a similar experience, where I still was me, in my body, but there was no absolute separation between me and the rest of the world. My wife was with me, and I could on a deep, undeniable level feel that in a sense she was me. 

In connection with this, one person after the other that I read or listen to, has talked about how everything is energy and frequencies and that we just decode those energies and frequencies in a way that let us perceive them as, well… as the reality that we perceive. I think that this is also why, if we enter into an altered state of consciousness, we cannot just alter our visual perception of reality, without also altering our perspective on- and thoughts about it. But I’m not exactly sure of how this works. If it can even be put into words.

What all of this seems to mean, is quite paradoxical. But life is full of paradoxes once you’ve started to look beneath the surface. The paradox here is that in one sense, we are completely alone in the world. And in another sense, we are connected with everyone and everything. 

What this means exactly I haven’t really figured out. I will probably write more about it as I think about it more. There is the classical double slit experiment, that demonstrate how at least elements of reality change by being observed. This at least proves that there is some sort of interaction that goes beyond mere perception, when we observe something. You can easily look it up on the internet if you want to find out more. 

Believing is seeing?

Many modern spiritual teachers tell us that if you first manage to believe that you will receive something, you will receive it.

This description is admittedly simplified and many add other things into the mix, such as that you have to imagine having what you want and get into the emotional state of it. And I don’t know. Maybe there is something to these a bit more expanded versions.

But I think that “believing is seeing” on its own is false and could even be harmful. What I believe, is that it’s actually a tainted version of something true, which I will get to in a moment.

Why do I believe that it is false or even harmful? First because it’s unfalsifiable. If you go around believing but you are not receiving, you can always say: “Well, I must have not really believed it.” While if you for some completely other reason receive it, you may take it as a confirmation that it works. But I think that there is a bigger issue here. Namely that we train ourselves to believe in a way that does not conform to how reality and our minds operate. We don’t always need evidence to believe something. But in the absence of evidence, we do need some other valid reason. 

So, what is the alternative then? Well, the alternative presupposes a belief in God. Now, I cannot prove that God exists, so as in many of my posts, I’m talking to those of you that have this faith. In this context, since what I’m criticizing is essentially belief without evidence, what I’m talking about is not such a belief. I’ve had plenty of experiences in my life that have confirmed my faith and I know that many others have as well. I know that God exists, but since I cannot prove it debating is useless. Either you have this knowing or you don’t. But know that everything that I talk about presupposes the existence of God. 

What I am proposing is that we can believe that we will receive something in the future, but that it is tied to God. If we truly put our faith in God, ask for what we truly want, which ought to be the same as God wants us to have and let our belief in God shine through our actions, we will receive what we ask for. Faith seems to be the key here. And it seems as if faith comes in a package. God wants us to trust him. And he wants us to demonstrate that trust through our attitudes and actions. 

So if I for example say that I trust God (this is an example from my own life), but blow up every time that I get an unforeseen expenditure, do I then really trust God? If I say that I believe in God, but have a hard time swallowing my pride, lie or put my own selfish interests before those of others, do I truly believe? 

I believe that this is a package deal. If you remove one piece of the puzzle all of it falls apart. I believe that this is the true meaning of “seeing is believing”. To summarize, the formula is as follows: We put our faith in God and trust him even through our hardships, which means that we believe that the bigger picture will turn out to be a good one, even if it doesn’t look that way in the moment. And we do our best to demonstrate this faith through our actions, thoughts, words and attitudes. In other words, we do our best to behave in a way where we show that we truly believe that God is watching us. And we strive to become people worthy of such a faith.

Eternity perspective vs. finitude perspective

I know that I’m going to live forever. And yet, I often act, think and feel as if this is the only life that I’ve got. And so I get into FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) mode. And it doesn’t do anything good for me to think this way. Because this causes me to live in the future instead of in the now. It causes me to think of what I don’t have instead of what I have. It causes me to worry about what I may never have. In short, it causes me to push my happiness into the future.

I think that it has something to do with that my brain is wired to think of existence as finite in an absolute sense. Is it wired like this from birth, or have I been conditioned to view life in this manner? I don’t know. 

A funny thing in all of this, is that it is not just about adopting the eternity perspective because it’s the right one. Paradoxically this perspective will also make us happier in the now. Because when we know this, we shift focus from the results to the choices that we make. Our choices may affect eternity, but the results in this life won’t. 

Something just struck me. There is a moral philosophy called utilitarianism, which basically says that we should strive for the best outcomes. That this should be our guiding moral principle. An obvious problem with this philosophy, is that we can allow morally reprehensible things, if it leads to the highest amount of good in the end. But there is more. I, personally, have landed in a moral philosophy of coherence. And from a finite perspective, maybe utility trumps morals. But not from an infinite perspective. If we look beyond this life, it becomes much more clear why certain values cannot be broken, even if they lead to the maximum amount of good for the maximum amount of people in this life.

A little side-note there. Let’s continue.

When I look at life from a finite perspective it’s so easy to get lost in thoughts about all the time that I’ve wasted on nonsense. But from an infinite perspective, all that really counts is who I choose to be today and tomorrow and what I choose to do with my time from now on. And whether I succeed or fail ultimately doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is that what I do feels meaningful. That what I do feels like what I’m meant to do. Then it’s up to God what results it leads to in the world. If I can look back at my life and say that I lived it to the best of my ability, both when it comes to morals and efforts, from an infinte perspective there is no failure. 

How I plan to live a productive, stress-free life

What hasn’t worked so far, is to wait for inspiration and then take inspired action. I need clear goals and a schedule for the day. And since I have a full-time job, I need to work quite a lot if I want to get closer to my goals. This is actually, now that I think about it, quite a large issue. Namely the issue of finding a way to work systematically and disciplined, without losing the joy of working and turning it into something that I do out of a sense of duty, rather than a sense of joy.

What I don’t need though, is stress. Things must be allowed to take their time. Instead I need to observe myself while I’m working. I need to look for where my efficiency drops and in general what I can do better. In other words, as with so many things, present moment awareness and self-observation is much more valuable than perseverance and a high tempo. 

I’ve noticed that I need a day off from have-tos. One day where I don’t have to do anything productive at all. I can do some fiction writing at this day if I choose to. But no studies or even blogging. This seems to be true for many people. So maybe this is another one of those things where the Bible proves to be right. There is a problem with this though. Since I work my regular job five days per week, I only have Saturday and Sunday for my projects. Because when I get home from work I’m too tired for most things. I can however do some courses and work on projects that don’t require too much mental effort. So if I’m mindful of my limitations and adjust accordingly, I will probably be okay. And as said, as long as I take a relaxed approach to my Saturdays, I will probably be okay.

However, re-reading this post I realize that I've already cheated with my Saturdays and worked hard on stuff that I said I wouldn't. So, it's not always easy to stick with one's decisions. But I'll have to treat this as a work in progress. I can't say that I've really cracked the stress-code. And honestly, if I want to live a truly stress-free life, I probably need to learn a bit more about things such as finances, budgeting and how to run a successful business. Things that are essential if you want to thrive in life, but that we, for some reason don't learn in school. Probably because we have to learn so many other things that are guaranteed to be useful throughout our lives... LOL!

And how do I balance this so that I don’t slack off instead? Because I at least, live under the constant threat of ending up on the sofa, watching movies and doing nothing.

Learning to recognize the ego both in the active and the relaxing part of me, is the first thing that comes to mind. Learning that the ego can both tell me to just keep on pushing when I need to rest, and it can also tell me that what I know that I should do today can wait till tomorrow. 

Changing the world?

Yes and no. I don’t think that there is any use resisting the politics directly. What we need rather, is to start building alternatives and help as many as possible to wake up. The major events are in all likelihood unchangeable. We don’t know what exactly will unfold. But every person that turns their back on the corrupt system is a victory. Every time that people come together and agree to start building something better is a victory. 

And this is where I believe that we can actually make a difference. By warning everyone that is prepared to listen for what’s coming. At the same time, it honestly makes me sad that people that I hold in very high regard do not see what is right in front of them. At this point, it seems blatantly obvious to me that the criminal elite has a plan for ushering in a new world order of global tyranny. But intelligent, kind people that have been my friends for a long time dismiss this as paranoid conspiracy theories. I’m not going to get angry at anyone for this. Even though I myself can’t understand it, there seems to be something that makes people much smarter than myself, blind to the fact that we are heading towards a dystopia that seems frighteningly much like a mixture of the biggest dystopian novels of the 20^th century, 1984 and Brave New World. 

I know that there will be something infinitely better at the other side of this. I also know that many will reject the system that is approaching. And I will do my best to prepare for it. Hopefully, at the time when it arrives, I will be in a situation where I’m prepared enough so that I can be of at least some help to those that are not prepared, but still have decided to reject the new world order. Hopefully those will be so many, that utopia can already be on the way when The World Economic Forum starts building their dystopia. 

As I’ve said many times before, I have great hopes for the future. Where I feel uncertainty, is how much suffering that we will have to endure along the way towards this bright future.