By Doug “Uncola” Lynn via TheBurningPlatform.com
I saw the tears of the oppressed—
and they have no comforter;
power was on the side of their oppressors….
– Ecclesiastes 4:1
In viewing the daily headlines and reading various online blogs, it appears many of these have converged into discussions on law and rights. Two examples of ongoing national conversations include mass shootings versus the Second Amendment and Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s preference for prosecution of process crimes in a bogus election hacking conspiracy, over a real investigation into documented corruption at the highest levels of American government.
On April Fools Day it was revealed the Washington DC permits for the March 24, 2018 “March for Our Lives” event were acquired months before the Parkland Shooting even took place. The irony is palpable. One would think that would be the smoking gun (pun intended) evidence of a conspiracy, but no. Nothing shall prevent the children from wielding their emotional wounds, like a Samurai sword in a Tarantino flick, against the Second Amendment; and Laura Ingraham’s right to free speech.
The very next day, on April 2, 2018, Deerfield, Illinois nullified the U.S. Constitution and gave their residents 60 days to turn in their guns or face fines of $1,000 per day per gun.
The day after that, on April 3, 2018, a previously undisclosed memo was unveiled proving illegal collusion between Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and his co-conspirator, Robert Mueller, in the special counsel investigation of President Trump.
An August 2017 memo from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to Special Counsel Robert Mueller surfaced late Monday evening in a court filing. Mueller used the memo to defend his scope of the investigation against a recent motion Manafort filed to dismiss his case.
In the heavily redacted memo, Robert Mueller admits Rosenstein’s order appointing him to Special Counsel was intentionally vague.
‘This violates the special counsel law that requires a specific statement of facts to be investigated’, says Attorney Gregg Jarrett.
So let’s get this straight: Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller to be special counsel, signed off on at least one of the misrepresented, and therefore illegal, FISA applications on Team Trump for a counterintelligence investigation. His aforementioned August 2, 2017 memo to Mueller is now being used to justify the July 26, 2017 home invasion on Paul Manafort after it happened. Now Mueller is, instead, investigating Trump for possible obstruction of justice for firing former FBI Director, James Comey.
As Fox News Legal Analyst, Greg Jarret has additionally pointed out regarding Mueller and Comey:
The two men and former colleagues have long been friends, allies and partners. Agents have quipped that they were joined at the hip while at the Department of Justice and the FBI. They have a mentor-protégé relationship. The likelihood of prejudice and favoritism is glaring and severe.
This, even though the special counsel statute specifically prohibits those having “a personal relationship with any person substantially involved in the investigation or prosecution.”
This whole special counsel fiasco is more incestuously disturbing than some hillbilly siblings getting hitched on the Jerry Springer show.
Furthermore, while reports of Trump’s fictitious collusion with the Russians continue to dominate the Lamestream Media’s talking points, the actual sale of twenty-percent of America’s uranium deposits to Russia, which resulted in the Uranium One payments to the Clinton Foundation, remains, shamefully, ignored. This, even though it was confirmed by the New York Times in 2015 and Obama’s FBI and DoJ were aware of the crime:
Federal agents used a confidential U.S. witness working inside the Russian nuclear industry to gather extensive financial records, make secret recordings and intercept emails as early as 2009 that showed Moscow had compromised an American uranium trucking firm with bribes and kickbacks in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, FBI and court documents show.
They also obtained an eyewitness account — backed by documents — indicating Russian nuclear officials had routed millions of dollars to the U.S. designed to benefit former President Bill Clinton’s charitable foundation during the time Secretary of State Hillary Clinton served on a government body that provided a favorable decision to Moscow, sources told The Hill. The FBI Uncovered Evidence that Russian Money Was Funneled to the Clinton Foundation
Who was the Director of the FBI at that time?
Robert Mueller.
Who led the investigation into the Uranium One sale?
Rod Rosenstien.
Now these same co-conspirators are investigating Trump? Like Batman and Robin gone bad, the real-life dynamic duo must be giggling like the Joker at how their plans came together. Indeed, these Neros are fiddling while America burns. Just yesterday, the Justice Department, missed the House Judiciary Committee’s deadline to hand over FBI documents on FISA and the Clinton Foundation.
What an extraordinary convergence of events.
At the same time the U.S. Government is being exposed as exceedingly corrupt at the highest levels, the Second Amendment is simultaneously under unprecedented attack.
Coincidence?
But what about the law? What about the rights of U.S. citizens? Well, obviously, those were only valid under the old, constitutional, plan.
The English philosopher, John Locke, once wrote:
The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created beings capable of law, where there is no law, there is no freedom.
– Locke, John. Second Treatise of Government, Ch. VI, sec. 57
Today we stand at the intersection of Liberty and Tyranny. We’ve seen this final fork in the road coming for some time. In truth, we’ve taken many decades to get here.
Corrupt government officials, greedy bankers, corporate pirates, and profiteering politicians have hijacked the nation and shredded the Constitution; but they are not the only reasons for America’s decline. They were, in fact, encouraged and facilitated by the decimation of American education; combined with manifest materialism and a pervading apathy in the hearts and minds of the people.
However, although the majority of the nation has abrogated their rights and responsibilities as free citizens, it doesn’t necessarily reflect negatively on the U.S. Constitution. On the contrary, it was great while it lasted.
From the times of the first songs, mankind has oscillated between civilization and savagery; from liberty to tyranny.
There are those who believe rights come from power because, after all, power passes laws. Moreover, in the example of the U.S. Government today, as well as third-world shitholes, power also breaks its own laws at will. It’s how James Comey decreed Hillary Clinton’s obstruction of justice as “extremely careless”. If only those who now stand convicted by Robert Mueller for process crimes could be so lucky.
Evidently, the government giveth at will; and the government taketh away.
The German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, believed the will to power was the main driving force in humans. He was influenced by his Deutschland predecessor, Arthur Schopenhauer, who embraced Wille zum Leben, or will to life; which is, essentially, self-preservation. Self-preservation occurs in both civilized and barbaric societies; yet by differing means and towards separate ends.
But where is power actually derived from? A divine source? A piece of paper? The people? The end of a gun?
If I said there were no real answers, per se, but only choices – would you agree? Either way, cognitive constructs, like human governments, require the acceptance of certain principles, or premises.
Therefore, let us consider this foundational question:
What is the essence of mankind that separates his existence from lesser forms of life?
Plants are alive but they have no emotions or cognitive function. Animals have emotions, limited cognitive abilities, and even emotional memory, which some define as a “soul”. But what divides Man from all other animals?
Is it not his awareness of the concept of Time? Isn’t that at the core of Man’s consciousness? Think about that for a second (get it?). Without a perception of time, how could consciousness or free will exist? Without a comprehension of a beginning, middle, and end, or alpha and omega, there would be no means for logic, reason, and volition to occur. Whether the understanding of time was a divine spark from a deity’s fire, or it evolved like magic through the ages, it now allows mankind to cognitively travel beyond this instant. And, without that ability, the actuality of opposable thumbs would have provided zero benefit.
Now let’s mentally launch from this moment and consider mankind’s travails through history in relation to time and space. Assuming Einstein was correct in proving these as commutable; is not volition, then, indicative of direction?
From the times of Eden, consciousness and free will was manifested as an understanding of “who”, “what”, “where”, and “when”. In the case of Eden, we would recognize these, in order, as Adam and Eve, the apple, the garden, and a long time ago. The canvas of spacetime, or at least an understanding of it, is required for the latter three. Adam and Eve, then, accordingly, were symbolically, or literally, representative of volition and, therefore, direction.
Perhaps it is direction after all, by which the standards of quality, morality, and common sense are defined; and by degree, as good and bad, for better or worse.
If all that were true, then wouldn’t authority simply be a matter of selective, or mandated, preference? In other words, if time were a bus, we are either driving or riding, but we can choose this day what we will serve:
– Chaos / Anarchy – (Self / survival of the fittest / savagery)
– Constitutional Law – (U.S. Founding Fathers / Judeo & Greco-Roman canon)
– Theocracy / Islamic Law – (Unseen or deceased lawgivers / Allah / Muhammad)
– Martial Law / Dictatorship / Communism / Socialism – (Big Brother / the collective)
Of course there are other choices, including amalgamations by degree, but the point is this: We are free to decide and if we don’t choose, then it will be chosen for us; in one direction, or another. For example, the first choice above, “chaos”, typically transmutes to “order” via the remaining choices (i.e. Ordo Ab Chao).
When considering authority, law, liberty, and free will, I am reminded of Victor Frankl’s book “Man’s Search for Meaning”. Therein, Frankl proposes three ways by which people find meaning in life (paraphrased here):
– Through one’s life work, creation and action; devotion to a cause
– Experiencing beauty and through loving others
– And, what Frankl calls the last resort of freedom (realized as he stood naked in an Austrian concentration camp): Choosing one’s attitude towards any situation no matter how dire.
The first two involve making choices within the freedom to act. The third involves a choice even when one is physically helpless. Therefore, in EVERY circumstance, free will presupposes choice. Whether by commission, or omission, decisions are made. That is to say, some selections are conscious and others are made by default, or negation. Either way, we believe, we choose, we act. What we believe, therefore, serves as the foundation of our conduct.
Whether one supports Donald Trump, or not, there remains the possibility he could be the final gasp of a patriotic, liberty-loving minority in a dying Idiocracy of effete snowflakes who barely know how to unlock their car doors when the batteries die in their keyless remotes.
If Democracy fails, who will fight the Second American Revolution? It’s a good question because, just as Dorothy was not in Kansas anymore, neither is it 1773 AD when the Sons of Liberty destroyed a shipment of tea in the Boston Harbor. In our age of technological centralization, surveillance, drones, and advanced weaponry, our choices could be limited; if they aren’t already.
Even if things go allegorically south, and America descends into a Second Civil War, the post-industrial collapse will resemble neither the days of Lincoln and Lee, nor the ascendency of industrial civilization. In the new American collapse, EBT cards will revert from magic breadbaskets back into useless pieces of plastic faster than a fat kid chasing an ice cream truck. There will be rampant crime in both overpopulated and rural areas. Family will be pitted against family. Neighbor will rise against neighbor and battles will be waged over food and water.
Within the chaos, there will be voices screaming, in unison, for a return to order. This will, most likely, result in gang rule or little kings reigning over little fiefdoms. Or possibly, as many of the Christian persuasion are now predicting: A larger beast exiting stage left with a 666 tattoo on his forehead and a credit-card reader in his back pocket.
With the technological powers at the disposal of those in control, the key to centralizing power becomes easier than game of Whack-a-mole. Besides, when bellies become empty and smartphone batteries are depleted, who will fight? The Millennials who voted for Bernie Claus? Of course not. In a politically correct nation of participation trophy winners, most people will likely slip on any collar for a slice of bread and learn to love their new “necklace”.
What, then, will be the final destination? I suspect it will be global communism: a day’s labor for a day’s rations; also called slavery.
From the time Karl Marx first dipped his quill pen into the black, the attraction of Communism to its adherent’s has continually appeared like cancer from remission; across all ethnic and national boundaries. The common desire, it seems, is for Man to create heaven on Earth; a longing no doubt derived from empty vessels and clouds with no rain; from flawed and spiritually vacated people promising paradise from the vacuum in their own souls. In the end, however, the result is always the same: civilizational savagery, widespread violence, starvation, and death.
In another era, governmental checks and balances were the preferred choice. Why did America’s Founding Fathers prefer Constitutional Law over totalitarianism? Why didn’t we? These are questions for the ages.
The Catholic Archbishop of Philadelphia, Charles J. Chaput, quoting the French author, Georges Bernanos, once wrote:
The world will be saved only by free men. We must make a world for free men. When trouble is looking for you it’s primarily a question of facing it, since it would be still more dangerous to turn your back on it.
There are laws, like gravity, that are hard to fight. It’s like standing on high ground watching a flooded river and waiting for it to recede. Time flows forward and whatever happens next, virtue always points in the right direction; back to better. Some choices will be more valuable than gold and silver, or digital cash, in the days ahead. Some laws may be inevitable but, at the same time, some rights are inalienable.
Beware the patient ones. They’re out of time.
Here you go. 4 minutes of an average citizen about tired of his local government thinking about the criminals and not the law-abiding citizens. Great presentation. https://youtu.be/vo_X53dNTS8
Christians will be the scape goat this time cause Christians are the only ones that will to put up a fight . That be white Christian men who know the Bible and therefore the evil of all communist big government systems. This is the reason they want to disarm white people. The Jews and the Anglo Saxons trailors know Blacks are to stupid to put up a fight and all the other people of color will do what they are told to do to eat .Only armed white people stand in their way.
As to your last sentence, yes we do. Count on it
//Further, All Self Hating White People Need To Kill Themselves//
But, but … haven’t you read?? There are 25,000 SEALED INDICTMENTS!!! The fearless Q-army under the command of Grand Inquistor Sessions is going roll this gang of crooks into the big house any day now!! (so say the Q-faithful).
Sorry to be a mean old skeptic, but under what passes for “law” in the Fake Banana Empire one must understand that there are some folks who are simply TOO BIG TO JAIL. This would seem to include career deep-state nomenklatura like Rosenstein, Mueller, Horowitz, Comey, etc. – not to mention folks like the Clintons, Podesta, Obama, Jarrett, Holder, Lynch, Soros, etc. There’s a fine term which has surfaced in recent years to describe those who bitterly cling to the idea that there is a ‘rule of law’ in the Fake Banana Empire: This bitter clinging is known as ghost-dancing, and those who practice it are ghost dancers.
Kong,
There is “rule of law” in Fake Banana Empires. That’s the point of the article: The inevitability, that is; like gravity.
April showers…
“But what divides Man from all other animals? Is it not his awareness of the concept of Time? Isn’t that at the core of Man’s consciousness?” ——- article
Ok. So, how do you square that with the concept of eternity in heaven?
Does eternity allow for time? In other words, is eternity (as most folks believe) the never ending passage of time? [Time + time + time + time + time … to infinity = Eternity]
Or, is eternity something altogether different — literally timeless? If eternity is timeless, then do we have consciousness, or not?
——
OK, I am aware of the many passages some believers use to indicate that there IS time in heaven. None of them convince me, for four major reasons.
Two Religious Reasons.
1. Time is a measurement. The Earth takes 365 days to go around the sun … and 24 hours to make one complete rotation …. and that can be broken down into teeny pieces, like a nanosecond. However, Revelation says that;
“The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp”
No sun, no time.
2. Revelation 10:6 seems pretty clear on there being no time in heaven/eternity.
“And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer.”
Two Logical Reasons.
3. Did time exist before God created the universe? No. Before God, there was nothing … not even time. Therefore, God himself is timeless. Where did God “live” or exist before he created the universe? Well, exactly where he “lives” or exists today …. in a timeless state! Or, did God move once he created the universe? (Since believers will be with God, they also by necessity will live in this timeless state. How can they not?)
4. From a scientific point of view, almost everyone agrees the universe had a beginning … and it WILL have an end. Is the universe (stars, planets, moons, … and other PHYSICAL MATERIAL things etc.) eternal also?? Of course not, only God is eternal. Therefore the universe must end. (Now, perhaps God has to create, and recreate to infinity (because, eternity requires it) endless universes. But, there is zero Scripture to advance that conjecture, and even less scientific reason to think that’s possible.)
In other words, time does not exist independent of matter; if there is no matter there is no time. It’s that simple. (Also, a minor point, … aren’t our bodies in heaven resurrected as “spiritual bodies” and not flesh-and-blood bodies? Again, if we are spirits, and not matter, then time is irrelevant … and, if I understand your point correctly, this means we lose our conscious selves …. which sounds scary as hell!)
“What, then, will be the final destination? I suspect it will be global communism: a day’s labor for a day’s rations; also called slavery.”
Since when is getting paid wages for one’s work communism/slavery? I am totally confused with that.
A day’s work for a day’s sustenance. Slaves are fed because their work pleases their masters. Slavery has always been rooted in economics. It’s been that way from the time man first crushed grapes.
Ahhh … I see it ….. you did say “for a DAY’S RATIONS”.
Missed that part.
Why haven’t the globalists thrown the idea out there again, perhaps with a new title, one that represents life on easy street…
Universal income. It sounds so pleasant, so comforting so easy. Who wouldn’t jump at such an offer? Those who know an invitation to slavery when they see one.
when it is forced and there is no other option.
Hi Stuck,
Glad to see you back posting again.
I tend to think of time as a marker for this dimension. Eternity, on the other hand, would be a higher dimension. The whole of time would still exist, but outside of eternity. It would be like someone in three dimensions viewing a flat, 2-dimensional, sheet of paper. Conscienceness (i.e. – the ability to conceptualize time / beginning, middle, end) would be a required manifestation in either dimension.
Of course, I could be wrong.
Time and eternity just makes no sense to me … even if moved to another dimension.
But, that’s my problem, not yours. 🙂
I keep thinking of it in terms of the “Flatlanders” as illustrated at the end of my alien article from last fall:
I find the metaphysical aspects of “spacetime” fascinating. This is also a good forum for the discussion, although when writing the articles, it can be challenging walking the tightrope between science and theology.
Law without sanction is merely advice. There must be consequences. And they’re coming.
In the definition of Theocracy, did you leave off the word God, on purpose?
That’s because, with perhaps one exception in history, every theocracy has been governed by its ministers. Therefore, I leave any extrapolations to the reader.
In today’s theocracy, the state is god. But, like ‘god’ in every other religion, the State as an entity can’t speak, so the men in charge of the state speak for it, as though speaking from on high. Same as any other theocracy, its just rule by men who fancy themselves above the rest of us. Replace ‘god’ with ‘government’ and view this government worship like any other religion, with the god in this instance being every bit as fictitious as traditional religions. But, unlike modern christians who typically leave us unbelievers alone about it, modern worshipers of the state can’t do that. Everyone must bow before the all powerful state. These people scare the shit out of me for a simple reason – that belief system has left the biggest pile of bodies in history.
Gator,
As usual, your perspectives are excellent.
You say:
Again, I keep coming back to Daniel in Babylon.
Communism is merely death, as every society that has tried it has found out. It’s asking slaves to produce not only their own sustenance, but something more that the masters can steal for their sustenence. Post apocalypse lots of atomized groups will try many things. Communism won’t carry the day; it can’t feed itself. It’s easy to look at the ever increasing statism of the last 100 or so years and project it on a straight line to infinity, but my bet would be on yawning, entropic discontinuity-anarchy and chaos. The model is the aftermath of the fall of the Roman Empire. Non self-sustaining order gives way to chaos, not increased order.
Good article, though, and I’ll post it tonight.
“yawning, entropic discontinuity”
I really like that, Robert. However, I still tend to think technology will be the glue that binds in the post-apocalyptical world.
That said, I hope you are right and I am wrong.
for those who believe the Bible, post Revelation would see the end of technology.
I believe, old white guy, you are referring to the post-post-apocalypse. In the interim, or the time immediately ensuing the apocalypse, technology will bind; but not beneficially. Just a hunch.
Uncola,
“Racing Towards Armageddon” by Britt Gillette has a lot to say about technology gluing the post-apocalyptical world together.
Another rock solid post…you are building a mountain range.
Might the whole universe be just a snowglobe sitting on a desk in a non descript office at a DMV. Picked up once in a while for shits and giggles to be skaken but not stirred.
The Universal Bond Theory.
A place with no beginning.
Where what is always was.
Time doesn’t matter.
Vermouth is Plenty
Martini’s shaken
Not Stirred And
The Chicks are free
annd they got big boobs
like the ones on TBP!
shaken but not stirred.
The Universal Bond Theory.
—
I see what you did there.
really it is “they fought the law and the law won” anyway ,,,
Given that unjust laws are continually proposed and passed while just laws are not being enforced currently, the title was arranged as an “ambiguity” in the present tense.
That said, however, I have two primary dissatisfactions with this piece: the title and the ending paragraphs. I struggled with these until I got tired of looking at them. I think it’s because I would have rather not written any of it, but the need to purge compelled me.
And a correction–Illinois did not ban magazines and rifles, the town of Deerfield did, in violation of not only the SCOTUS ruling in Heller, but also Illinois State law, which bans municipalities from legislating in this area.
Preemption.
Clark County was only recently reined into Nevada’s preemption laws regarding, what else, gun control.
The article says “Deerfield, Illinois nullified the U.S. Constitution and gave their residents 60 days to turn in their guns”
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/632650.Advice_on_Dying
There are filters designed unto our species that prevent us from alighting on eternity. Sometimes these filters are removed such as when a person becomes baptized in fire;
Matthew 3:11 “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire”
a Seraphim does not wear shoes, it comes up from the lowest chakra like a spiraling serpent. (kundalini) time becomes like four hundred and thirty three million increments between each and every second though it will be many many seconds before the mined(mind) becomes cognizant of what happened one second ago.
The four hundred and thirty three million increments between each second are like honeybees transitioning from the sockets of our disposition simultaneous as from one socket come all of the honeybees that have ever existed as the “past”. From the other socket incoming all of the honeybees that exist as the future. They are seamless without movement of any wings as if to entice you with prelude with eternity. After 100 of these existential seconds (melt) , the presence has yet to be realized as it went away with the initial visualizations as each of the four hundred and thirty three million increments are beacons of light expanding monumentality without constraint our ones ability to process or keep up as if the bottomless arises with the serpents head to the moment where we forget to breath.
I am here to remind us to breath, to inhale with courage because it is within this moment that presence begins to re animate itself from a frequency that initially sounds like an eternal scream (initiation). Wthriceith the first breath all of the increments formulate with all of the living increments of the presenc9e as each increment exponentiates itself as if all of the honeybees start up their wings simultaneous (Thrice) Holy! Holy! Holy!
(past presence future) one tense
Blessing? as if time were sipped from a vessel made from timeless, the timelessness to be enjoyed.
psychic dismemberment (figurative) although literally spiritual, we are souls occupying bodies from conception, trying to retain our souls privilege without transgressing (sin) from human conviction as if contorting through scripture left for us by our host (The Lord)
There is no sense in trying to ascertain infinity or eternity, its Gloriousness without flesh,
with a body it can be unpleasant and recovery is hit or miss. There are people that have passed Nirvana w/remainder to share it’s testimony , the light is living , alive. It might sound disturbing to mix with a swarm , (the soule ) metaphor.
In other words, I could try to describe, non stop, the next forty years what awaits us in the passage from this life to the intermediary , and not come any where near the extraordinary beauty that initially could be difficult , though it eases as our sins are digested through heat, though we’ve been around technically for millions of years, and it becomes recognizable as our bodies deteriorate, it all becomes so clear , Love is a generating condition of totality, as the presence supersedes any sense of past or future of which are already ordained, the idea is we can stimulate change (destiny) from static quo (fate) through unrealized stance with righteousness; as it is in motion with moment , it is not ever grasped, the way water is held between palms; refracted thirst.
The Angels have been here all along, the ones not from this earth. They are hidden insight, sometimes in words peering from our like of complete periphery as if all of all consciousness were combined on a plate and through concise understanding of language , perhaps trying to , perhaps connect as if linguistics were a common ground , you be the neutral, this be the hot .
Matt Bracken, Navy SEAL and now a great author, calls it “Bosnia X’s Rwanda” and I add X’s 320M people to reflect the total involvement of the population. Yes boys and girls “they” really do want to destroy the USA to implement the Globalist world governance agenda. So remember its not really about taking the guns, curtailing free speech or even Agenda 2030 and cramming all people into tiny houses for Gaia.
Nope its a little worse than that…..get rid of those deplorable white males with those icky guns because that is the group that really does stand in the way. Civil war would be acceptable, Nuclear war with China or Russia just as good. Release a pandemic, steer in an asteroid all work.
I think the combo kill shot of an EMP and some kind of pandemic would be the best. Least damage to takes out grid but rest of infrastructure, roads, bridges buildings etc all there for new inhabitants and maximum kill ratio of existing Americans.
Batshite crazy….maybe 10 years ago…..today the above is not only semi-mainstream but seems likely.
Perhaps Martel,tis one reason why many prep for tomorrow while enjoying today.Your scenario enacted being ready as best as one can more important then ever as many as possible survive the initial shock and become a fly in the ointment.
I also believe that many nuke plants would melt down ect. in such a case,making in the short term of history the land inhabitable.I also believe a few US subs nuke capable would go rogue and thus as the dust settles let their displeasure be known,country of course at that point in really tough shape.
Voting our way out of this seems not a viable solution,hopefully enough see this and act to find other ways to get the republic back.
“I also believe that many nuke plants would melt down ect. in such a case,making in the short term of history the land inhabitable.”
Thats an inevitable outcome of nearly every apocalyptic scenario people predict will happen, but is left out of most people’s predictions of what happens afterwards. By law, plants are required to have generators and a week’s worth of fuel at every plant and cooling pond to circulate water and refridgerate the cooling ponds, lest the water boil off. Once that diesel is used up, and the grid is still down, all that water in the cooling ponds across the country is going to boil off, and once those spent fuel rods touch air, they will catch on fire, melt down, and start spewing all kinds of nasty shit into the air, poisoning everything for hundreds or thousands of miles downwind. Picture this, at every single reactor site across the world, then see how you think this post apoalyptic scenario will really play out. If we really do go completely post technology, nowhere in the northern hemisphere will be inhabitable.
Easy to find evidence of their treachery; they hide in plain sight. The forced immigration is for much more than voter manipulation, rigged elections have been very productive for the bad actors. Consider where these people are drawn from, places not exactly renown for their intelligence.
MH,
I was prepping for the Bat Shit crazy long before it was cool!
I have actually had to eat 25 year freeze dried food I bought in the end of the first Reagan term because the due date was coming up. It wasn’t bad.
Good post.
Much of the article and comments may be over my head.
We are finite beings, and as we age we grow wiser, but also weaker.
The “we” of it all have already been conquered by a huge bunch of opportunistic
bullies. Daily they rub our faces in it, threaten us in all ways, and dare us to
balk…they then will just kill us. It is so blatant, so corrupt, so insidious, that
most can’t even believe it is true.
The USA is a corporation. The bankers and their useful idiots rule our world.
Millions are maimed, killed, and their lives destroyed to further the riches and
power of the colluding cabal. Do the ones that know these things really think we
can “fight back”?
At best we can try to evade the powers. They plan to starve us out. They plan to spray
plagues into the air. They plan theft, and a complete destruction of our present
system. We have only ever had the illusion of freedom.
suzanna,
I agree with everything you said.
I find solace in prepared defiance to all that is closing in…spiritual truth first as I decipher it from the Bible and then in the world.
As far as “fighting back” Bang a Gong Lets Get It On…and when the gong is struck I will probably die at the hands of the “opportunistic bullies”. So what? What is coming could even save me from the Nursing Home Horror Drag if i live this life too long.
My freedom isn’t an illusion…its the ultimate eternal reality to me and and I will die for it like a seed being planted in the ground.
Great post Uncola. Many thoughts to ponder.
Speaking of fights, FEMA in its infinite wisdom, just declared that our property is changed from flood zone C to flood zone A. The later requiring that we must purchase flood insurance required by the 1973 Flood Disaster Protection Act (and as amended by the NFIRA of 1994). No new findings, no new surveys, no chance for us to challenge the “ruling”, just “big brother” say so. How do you fight that? If we refuse to purchase flood insurance the mortgage company will do it “on our behalf” and then charge us. Where’s the “law” in that? Does that sound like a free society? Property rights? What property rights? We’re all slaves to the machine.
My theory is that with all the payouts due to the recent hurricanes on the Texas coast that FEMA is running short on funding and is simply “expanding the pool” of purchasers of National Flood Insurance as a way to cover their bills. More salt in the wound as we prepare to pay an additional $6,500 in federal income tax by April 15th. It sure sucks to be part of the 20% paying 90% of the taxes that get WASTED by our Federal overlords… Chip
“My theory is that with all the payouts due to the recent hurricanes on the Texas coast that FEMA is running short on funding and is simply “expanding the pool” of purchasers of National Flood Insurance as a way to cover their bills.”
Thats exactly why they are doing that. Its yet another way the government makes the working/middle class subsidize the rich: the only reason insurance is available at affordable rates for ocean front or near ocean property, typically owned by rich people, is by expanding the number of people nation wide that live in extremely low risk areas paying into the system to subsidize the rates of those that live in high risk areas. John Stossel did a really good piece about this on his show a while back. It’s socialism, pure and simple, with the rich being the primary beneficiaries. Essentially, us serfs each pay a little bit so the insurance on their beach houses isn’t prohibitively expensive.
Great response. Thank you… Chip
Pointless rituals and mindless superstitions , the only thing that seperates is from the animals !
Men and women of good conscience prepare to defend yourselves . The deep state and it’s badge wearing minions inability to use intellect and reason can and will kill you . “THEY” can and will kill you while repeating to themselves it’s for your own good or the greater good . You want to be kept safe don’t you ?
Keep your powder dry and remember forgiveness comes from GOD so we must be prepared to arrange that meeting for those that would do us harm !
Forget Me Not !
Communism cannot feed itself which means it cannot sustain itself. Interesting thought. So this says that communism is death. Conversely the biosphere which includes man is life and life eats to sustain itself.
It appears that in America we have two types of people; those that want life and those that want death. So how can this be reconciled?
It can’t.
@Stucky. The visible is our proportional measure of the invisible. Eternity is timeless yet time is contained in it. Consciousness is only a field of many fields in the universe where activity occurs. Our attention is a cursor that tracks activity. It is a point in eternity and also a key in unlocking the secrets of immortality. Think not?
Can you observe your attention as it flutters around and is attracted to the different objects in the objective world? Or in your inner world or recurring thoughts and feelings that come and go in your field of consciousness?
Ever notice when you are driving that everything seems to move? Like building and stationary objects moving past you or in the distance changing position in relation to your position? This is our brains perception of space in movement; our limited mind seeing in three dimensions. When you look at a farmhouse in the midst of the biosphere what are you looking at? Are you not looking at the secondary creation of man standing in the middle of GOD’s creation?
Time is nothing more than the succession of events and occurrences. In eternity these events and occurrences are recorded so time can actually be played forward or backwards. Think not? We do it now with music and movies. Why not in eternity?
Your expressions in writing seem to pin GOD to a personality that exists in time and space. But GOD is not in time and space. Rather GOD seems to observe time and space through attention; our attention. And though our attention in the right circumstances can influence events and occasions.
Attention seems to be immortal and exists in eternity. Without it we don’t exist. We are born with attention. Observe a new born baby. Is it not all attention? Now observe all the people on the streets. Where is their attention directed? Many are now lost in the virtual reality of their iphones. Now observe all the people in rest homes in old age. Where is their attention? For many their attention is gone; only bodies existing in a vacuum of empty consciousness.
It is my belief that when we are done with life here our attention will take our mental body either into eternity for further experience or back to the hyle for recycling.
If we make our life purposeful we will please GOD that created us for purpose and will fit into GOD’s plan whatever it is. If not we will be recycled into the hyle.
Will, Being, Function. That is our life.
@ Thunderbird:
What I find so gratifying about blogging are the return volleys, so to speak. In my mind, just one comment can justify the time it takes to write an essay. Then take that multiplied by 50 or 100 and, for me, it’s definitely worth time.
Without ascending into theology, or drifting overly far into bong-speak, I have collected the following ideas over time. I can’t say where they come from for sure because I never kept a log, per se – and – there is obviously no way to vet any of it fully.
Einstein’s Theory of Relativity claims time stops at the speed of light. Therefore, if one could transcend time – they could, theoretically, go backwards in time.
There are some who believe a corporeal element (Memorex?) exists in humans that interfaces between spirit (consciousness?) and body that actually has a weight of 21 grams. I suppose whether anyone believes any of that, or not, is a personal matter.
Regardless, what if thought waves (spirit? consciousness? soul?) are faster than light waves and this is how thoughts / ideas (or spirits or souls) transcend time? Perhaps this is why we can both mentally travel out of time and, therefore, also have the awareness of its existence.
Furthermore, within the construct of time, we all have no choice but to think in a linear manner (i.e. – beginning, middle & end) – even when our minds run in circles.
Maybe that could also explain why during near-death / afterlife experiences people are deceased for only minutes on the operating table but, when they come back from the experience, they say it seemed like days.
Also on the topics of time and consciousness: One time, many years ago, I heard a lady on Johnny Carson propose that: “love is the fastest form of thought”.
If so, does that mean the Beatles were right? That “love is all there is”?
And, if “time is a fire by which we burn”, then some thoughts may actually be “gold and silver” and will last; and other constructs are “hay and stubble” that will pass.
Only time will tell.
In the meantime, when you wrote above about “attention” I thought of “focus”:
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@Uncola:
“What I find so gratifying about blogging are the return volleys, so to speak.”
Love 15 serving back at ya.
Great camera image for focus!
@Uncola “Einstein’s Theory of Relativity claims time stops at the speed of light. Therefore, if one could transcend time – they could, theoretically, go backwards in time.”
Love 30
time4teeth clock- or a compass – 4 ordinal points as reference – Work (do something of value to others) – Worship (study and practice the sacred and secular) – Play (recreate what makes life worthwhile) – Family (where you first learn about Love)
@Uncola
“Furthermore, within the construct of time, we all have no choice but to think in a linear manner (i.e. – beginning, middle & end) – even when our minds run in circles.”
Exactly. However, I think of the billiard balls paradigm as non applicable when it comes to divine matters of humans. And then there is that dimension of quantum that jumps around. So I believe in choices/consequences and babble about things beyond my understanding aka indecipherable causes.
(In the 1920s and 1930s, Bohr, Schrödinger, Heisenberg and others discovered that the atomic world is in fact full of murkiness and chaos, and not the precision clockwork suggested by classical theory. Classical physics can be considered as a good approximation to quantum physics,..https://www.physicsoftheuniverse.com/topics_quantum.html)
@Uncola “…does that mean the Beatles were right? That “love is all there is”?
There is work, worship and play too. And without love involved they lack focus.
Love 40
What is really interesting about that you tube video of this guy defending the right of gun commerce in his town is the position of the mayor and city council.
Notice that the chamber is set up like a courtroom and these figures sitting above the people is like a court of inquisition.
This is what local government has come too. It is not the place of the local government to control and regulate commerce. Yet they do it under color of administrative law.
The character of these people in office is to smear their opponents running for their place and offering nothing of substance in dealing with the concerns of the people.
Yes people can come to meetings and present their concerns but in the end it is about politics and the arrogant decisions of the mayor and council under color of administrative law. It is the same with the judicial system in these towns and cities.
We are not living under the constitution (the color of common law) but rather an oppressive system of administrative law really the Admiralty law of kings.
What has happened is crafty men have taken over the reigns of government and using law enforcement (that is administrative law enforcement) with force; they are making laws that serve their own interests and using law enforcement to ram them down our throats.
This is what local government has come too. And what is amazing is since these laws are costly to enforce they just tax us more without our permission and use the law to enforce their robbery.
We have come full circle to pre-revolutionary war times. Except that our communist controllers have replaced the King! lol
How did people get so stupid to let this happen?
@Uncola… I like your awareness
I do try to stay focused. I really could have went off into the weeds in response to your above sentences as follows:
While in an airplane, it’s fascinating to see distance appear to lower the speeds of vehicles on the highways below. Yet, with a Class 1 Lever, distance and spatial positioning of a fulcrum changes force in the “resistance arm”. Somewhere therein gravity meets the unbearable lightness of being. It’s getting too bright, turn down the music.
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Enjoyed the article and comments. I am not sure if awareness of time is the perceptual difference between man and other creatures; I would venture a guess that it is an awareness of death. From this awareness comes the entire concepts of religion and spirituality; perhaps even the idea of God. Yes, I would agree that animals recognize and even mourn death upon encountering it but am not sure if this means an awareness of the certainty of our own demise.
Until recently, I thought of time as measured motion but have had my thoughts about the nature of “now” challenged so until I am able to resolve this internal dilemma, my ideas regarding time and motion are on hold. Am I witnessing the continually shifting transverse separation between present and past which is tactically effectual but only perceivable in retrospect or is it the ongoing act of creation which is concealed by our perceptual constructs and memories; Sartre’s becoming?
Sadly, many are embracing socialism for various reasons, the most obvious is ignorance. A loser in a free society will also be a loser in a communist one and almost every society created has had classes. Young people who think they are seeking equality through communism should consider that in such a system the politburo, the party members and peasants or proletariat all live different life-styles under different conditions.
I agree there is an ongoing effort to disarm and disenfranchise the white population, particularly the males for this group is the largest single threat to their goal; I do feel there is a pushback which is gaining some momentum. At this point, we will benefit if we try to speak with those younger than ourselves; hopefully, we can educate some to the dangers we face and the possibility of coming conflict.
Mike,
If time manifests as beginning, middle, and end, I don’t believe an awareness of death could manifest without a comprehension of time?
Metaphysics and ontology can be like chickens and eggs at times.
I enjoyed your comment immensely. Thanks
Hi Uncola, Thanks and right back at you. You hit right on my dilemma; if, what we are seeing is the perpetual creative act, then the chronology of beginning, middle, end would become inapplicable as there would be the continual “present” which would, in effect, be new with each living moment. This is, of course, little more than mental masturbation, but entertaining for me.
Perhaps, it is that life and our perception of it are two different experiences? I have had experiences which make me consider the possibility of this; for as long as most of us can remember, we were told what is what, what can and can’t be, how the world is and so on.
I am a painter and know that if I look at the same scene in life, every time I see it, it is different. I also believe that with the development of language and subsequently conceptualization, we are often viewing or more accurately perceiving our descriptions of life rather than life itself. As an example from my current understanding, life is 3 dimensional, it’s appearance is 2 dimensional but the effect of the appearance is 3 dimensional.
As far as the actual visual information we take in, life has no third dimension visually; there is no depth nor form. However, we have experienced this third dimension to such a degree that we believe we see it when we don’t. If you look at a person near you and one far away, the mind tells us the smaller person is further away when in fact, he is visually smaller. If you look at a white ball, we see it as round but what we are really seeing is light and darker variations which we interpret as roundness.
It is difficult to understand the power of conceptualization and almost as hard to see it in action. To make my point, imagine a man who was blind from birth, try to explain to this man the color red. All is like this, we offer names to give understanding but these words only have meaning provided we have had existential moments or experiences with which to relate to the words.
If this is not confusing enough, we also have words for which there can be no experience such as God and the soul; then there are concepts which exist in the minds of men which often guide us but have no absolute meaning other than on a personal level, I call these ideals such as goodness, beauty, perfection and honesty. Thanks for listening and as I said, mental masturbation.
Very cool. I see you also paint with words.
You say:
Addressing the social forces in your latter portion above: You mentioned Sartre earlier, and I believe he called that “bad faith”. In a sense, it’s the type of gas-lighting those in power today are afflicting on the people. False orthodoxies, dependencies, and otherwise creating the conditions by which the sheeple shear themselves. Actually, this goes to the heart of my above piece; which is ironic given Sartre’s penchant for Marxism.
I, too, find these mentalbations entertaining. I would even more so if the posers would stay out of our business and stop wrecking our progeny’s future. But then again, like I concluded above, we’re out of time.
Thanks but I must disagree that we are out of time; if this were the case, we would not be having this exchange. As far as Sartre goes, well, he was French.
In our own personal lives as well as society, it is more difficult to undo than do and this is our main challenge. Some people are waking up and things are being discussed now which were taboo not so long ago, this is a beginning. When speaking with others I try to remember that one good question brings ten more questions and their purpose is not to provide answers or prove or disprove but to stimulate thought.
When I was single there were two approaches to dating, hunting and fishing. Hunting can work but often we pass by something good because this isn’t what we are hunting for. I always preferred the fishing method, I would just dangle my worm in the water and see what nibbled on it. This is how I look at my conversational exploits in search of potentially kindred spirits; I am often surprised who takes the bait. I try to remember that a person convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.
I am also enjoying this thread.
Just a few addendums to your very astute comment above:
When I say “out of time” there is a double meaning: We are anachronisms living at the end of an age; the end of the Bretton Woods financial system, the end of America, capitalism, Norman Rockwell, etc.
And
Regarding your descriptions above, I’m thinking “hunting” is like advertising (an ad looking for a buyer) and fishing is more akin to marketing (capturing buyers looking for a deal).
Just please use caution in describing your fishing method in certain company, and areas, as there may be ordinances against that type of behavior in public. ?
Thanks for your warning but rest assured I retired my fishing pole a long time ago to my private pond.
America has been evolving or devolving for a long time; this is the crux of our on-going struggles, 25% want to continue on our current path, 25% want to reverse course towards a more original intent of the country and 50% just don’t care. Not surprisingly, this is the same figures I have read about during the Revolutionary period.
Breton-Woods is toast but should it bring about a backed currency it may be worth it once the crying is over. Capitalism hasn’t existed for quite some time and has been replaced by crony capitalism or fascism if you prefer; whether or not, this is permanent remains to be seen. America is not yet dead but is in another of a long series of self-definitions. Was this not the real genius of the founding fathers in that they gave us a republic based on ideals but also the ability and duty to redefine what these ideals mean for each subsequent generation?
In sort of an interesting way, this now all circles back to the salient points of discussion: attention, perception and language.
In today’s world too many people don’t understand they are being played by master prestidigitators who focus people’s attention on what they want them to look at. In this world of misinformation, disinformation, corporate media and the tech giants, most folks see what they are directed to see with little regard to it’s source or agenda.
Similarly, the perception of many towards America has been manipulated for such a long time and from so many arenas, it is no longer a shining light on the hill but instead has become a red light to be hidden under a basket, if not outright extinguished. Those misguided souls who espouse this view never consider that it is the very liberties they find fault with which enables them to voice their opinion without fear and move towards their very destruction.
This brings the conversation to language, the blessing and bane of humanity. The first instance I am aware of where language was manipulated to change meaning was with FDR’s Four Freedoms. With the first 2, Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Worship, things stayed pretty much the same but the last two were game changers. When he stated Freedom from Want and Freedom from Fear, the entire concept of freedom shifted from one of liberty to one of protectionism. With this comes two obvious questions, who will be protected and what will be the price of protection?
I found The Burning Platform circa 5 years ago and mainly just skimmed the articles initially. Over time, I discovered the teeming underworld comprising the comment sections and jumped into the fray a year after that.
Just out of curiosity, Mike, how long have you been lurking, versus commenting, here on TBP?
Obviously, it’s none of my business and you’re under no obligation to answer. I’m mainly curious to know if you’re new here or if you’ve been around a while.
Molon labe
James,
Depending on the situation we may need a tribal Greek phrase for a gun level: “Preemptive Strike”.
Before they come?
You know what they say: “All politics are local”…and most of the guns will be too?
@ Uncola. “If time manifests as beginning, middle and end, I don’t believe an awareness of death would manifest without a comprehension of time.”
Good observation.
Time seems to follow a horizontal line that is really a circle and where beginning meets end there is a transformation back into a new beginning but either in a higher or lower level. A kind of offset in the eternal pattern. Eternity seems to follow a vertical line where different patterns of time exist at the same time in the same space.
If we did not have the conception of time in our mind in the form of a word would we notice it? Yes we would because we experience time as the succession of events and occurrences and our passing train of thoughts as sensations in our consciousness. We just would not know what to call it. But to give substance to time we have to experience it with our attention. Which comes to the notion of “Now.” To me ‘now’ is the point of our attention observing the succession of events and occurrences passing before us and at the same time our attention observing our internal bodily reaction to these passing events and occurrences in the form of thoughts, feeling, and bodily movements.
See how valuable attention is? And even Mike’s notion of transverse separation between the present and the past comes to mind as the attention watches the present fade into the past.
Now is a focus of attention that Uncola so nicely points out with the camera. And it is true that changing your mind changes your reality. Focusing on what is important is called mindfulness. It eliminates the trivial and worthless drivel from our minds eye and the useless drama so many people try to impose on others.
Just one more thing related to Mike’s post. Equality is bogus. Only ignorant people want equality. Every society has classes. Our society has the classes of the servants, workers, tradesmen, mangers, professionals, elites, rulers, and such & such. The great thing about our society is a person can be in any class they want as long as one works for it.
Every society has it’s begets and racists and equality is not going to make it go away. In our society of today everyone in every class has the chance to succeed. What holds people back is negativity in themselves. The artificial imposition of equality in this country has only caused division and incompetence to rise to a higher level then competence in the work force and leadership positions.
Something I have not addressed, but you and Mike have very aptly communicated, is language.
When we speak of “death”, what would it be without the word and meaning?
Nevertheless, do you notice how even language unfurls in a linear way? Could we even speak, or read and write for that matter, outside of the construct of time?
You say:
Although you meant something else – it made me think of Strauss and Howe: The generations roll like wheels through history but, like clocks, the math remains linear; only bent for better cycling.
Uncola, to a previous comment, I found this site maybe 6 months ago and only comment infrequently as most people find me to be tedious, boring and a know it all.
Here we call it lively, stimulating, and assertive. But that’s why “most people” favor Jerry Springer over blogs like this one; in their dimwitted decent from the middle.
Thunderbird, You raise some interesting points. I would agree that attention is our means of focusing our perception but am unsure with your statement that to give substance to time we must focus our attention on it. Have you ever been driving and your mind drifted and you missed your exit?
In my mind, I don’t view life and time as one in the same. I believe time is a construct
created for the sake of convenience and the passage of life is different. If I were in a coma, it may be that I would be unaware of the passage of time yet my life would still pass. I think to view time as a succession of events is probably right but for me this is life not time. Perhaps I am playing with semantics but am not sure; when I remember events, each memory is complete and recalled as happening in the now, if I recall the preceding event, it occurred in the now and the events only form a chain due to comparative relations.
I have often wondered if I were to experience now in it’s totality, would there be a succession of events? I don’t know. When we talk about attention it brings to mind two questions: what is it and what are we focusing? If I assume that now is a creative act, is not the attention also a creative act and by focusing we are not merely acknowledging or recognizing but actually creating? I also wonder, if attention is a focal point, why can’t we focus our attention on itself or our perception?
Moving on, you are right that equality is a myth and a lie. If men were truly equal, we would have no science, medicine, art or any of the other achievements which have occurred. When our founding fathers said all men are created equal, I don’t believe they were referring to capabilities but instead, since we are all created by God, we all should have and expect the same rights and opportunities. What we do with our abilities however great or meager is entirely up to us and the beauty of a free society is we are able to reap the rewards of our abilities and efforts and hopefully help others in some way. I have enjoyed this thread very much.
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Oy!
It would be a long response indeed, to contrast time and eternity. I won’t even begin to try to do. For the Christian in faith, eternity is beyond time – it needs no measure. Any “fear” is unfounded – for “As Christ is risen, so to, shall we live a new life.” Rom 6:4 There will be a physical resurrection of our bodies, whether one chooses to believe so or not.
It is an article of faith. Can’t be proven or disproven. I believe it and have peace about all I see and know is occurring around me. Little of it seems to be “good” – but the ultimate outcome? None of us know. To say we do is nonsense. As a confessional Lutheran pastor (Em.), I have much experience with the various Christian cults making all manner of predictions of dire doom and gloom. But to be frank, those clowns are mere pikers next to the present crop of political/existential/sometimes halfway meta-physical prognosticators predicting doom and gloom these days!
Time as we know it is but a construct of God for our sake. He is not bound by it, nor by its supposed logical restraints as they apply to us in this realm. He makes it quite clear there is a difference between time and eternity; He does not do so in terms of our logic, but of his “theologic.” We make such a distinction, He does not. He operates freely without time; it is we who are mired in time, and do not know or understand what being free of the constraints of time even mean, never mind being experienced. Our conjecture from our limited point of view from only the perspective of time leaves us the poorer for wanting, rather than knowing certainties.
The Lord nowhere says we shall lose our conscious selves, but rather, that such consciousness shall be raised far beyond that of which we conceive within the constricts of “time.”
JB, Thanks for your comments. I have a simple faith but not your knowledge.
I know nothing of time and even less about eternity. I must agree that there are many fear mongers out there who are making a living frightening people. Even the mob knows if they can instill fear, they can sell protection.
I try to keep my attitude and comments positive. Yes, there is much that is distasteful in today’s world but I also see a lot which is good and focus on this.
Mike –
Very good comment! Same page, so to speak!
Keeping attitude and comments positive is a very good thing. Given the weird collar I wear, it is difficult to keep very positive at times – Ephesians 6 is true – there is a real war going on out there! We indeed do need the whole armor of God. And truth be known, I wish many days I did not know as much as I do – so my “knowledge” is often troubling. But I knew that going into the Ministry.
You wrote: ” . . . but I also see a lot which is good and focus on this.”
Yes, Mike, there is much that is good about this present life, despite the many, many negatives. And one in the Faith should, as do you, focus upon those. As we are saved through the grace procured by Christ on the Cross, we of the household of Faith cannot help but be eternally hopeful and focus upon the good.
Jesus told the Apostles – “When you pray, pray like this” – and gave them the Lord’s Prayer. Every proper petition to God is contained within that prayer. Even the entire liturgy of the Church is constructed around and about that “Prayer.”
Do not, I beg thee, Mike, think I am superior in knowledge. I am not. I am but one who “to whom much has been given, and of such much is expected.” (Luke 12:48) I know certain things in areas perhaps you do not – YET – in the humility of your seemingly simple response, it is clear you are far superior in understanding some matters than am I. Kudos to your faith.
Pax Domini, my friend – jb
JB, Thanks for your kindness but perhaps you give me credit which is not due. I am just a guy who enjoys the labor of thought and the beauty of language.
I have inadvertently insulted many religious people by saying I think believing is one thing and knowing is another; between the two I prefer belief. In my heart, my attitude doesn’t detract from anyone’s faith nor my own but often when I speak, I offend without meaning to. This does bother me as I am not a hurtful man.
Many of the “conclusions” I have arrived at took decades of soul-searching and often these seem to make sense only to me. I have always felt the greatest impediment to learning is that which we already know and that the more I study something, the less I really know about it. Maybe I am just crazy, I don’t know but I must admit I often feel like a stranger in a strange land.
I agree we are in a war, my opinion is this is the greatest spiritual war since Satan rebelled against God. For my money, I’m betting on the Lord.
I am a man who may seem to have the gift of gab and people often confuse this with certainty but nothing could be further from the truth. From my limited perspective, life is full of repetitive occurrences and assumptions which often disguise themselves as truths. I have spent the past 45 years seeking knowledge in my own limited way and have found that knowledge is a terrible thing; it removes the illusion of continuity and security to the point you may find yourself alone in a crowded room.
Thanks again for your kindness and blessing.
Methinks another INTJ may have found home:
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Mike –
Yours is the “confession” of an honest man. Very good on you!
There need not be a distinction between “belief” and “knowing.” There would be no Christian Faith without the capacity to incorporate both. Do not worry that being honest might offend another – that is THEIR problem, not yours. You need not consider it as giving offense.
And yes – the more we know, the “even” more we come to know how much we don’t know. Very few come to that realization! That in itself is a good bit of knowledge all by itself! Pax Domini –
jb
Thanks.
JB – Malcolm Muggeridge, the British journalist, satirist, soldier, spy, said:
To get the message, at times, one must read between the lines. Welcome to the 21st century, digital Table Talk, sans the beer.
Un C-
Dude – you are talking to a retired Lutheran pastor. It is wise not to say “sans beer.” Heh! I like my beer. Besides – I am Irish amongst a bunch of Germans and Saxon. I should drink a coke?
Then again – you got “Table Talk.” Good on you.
I rarely comment. Just me. It took Muggeridge his entire lifetime to “get there.” His comment, as you quoted –
“Every happening, great or small is a parable by which God speaks to us and the art of life is to get the message.”
Since the proper theological definition of a parable is “an earthly story with a heavenly meaning” – I cannot nor would I argue about what he said – digital or not.
My welcome was sincere.
Some would argue Martin Luther preached doom and gloom to the cult of Catholicism whereas others claim he was the third most influential man of the millennium; right behind Johann Gutenberg and Isaac Newton.
I’ve read Luther struggled with depression, enjoyed his beer, and married the right woman, Katharina; a former nun who supported her husband by breeding cattle and running a brewery.
I’ve thought about an entire post on Luther but debated if this was the proper forum; although some here would enthusiastically embrace his views on the Jews; which were quite “pessimistic”, to say the least.
Still, if Luther were alive today, I could envision him as a blogger:
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Un C –
I knew your welcome was sincere. Thank you.
Would Luther blog in this day and age? In a heartbeat! Although I am certain he would be quite suspicious of FaceBook. He was a sharp cookie!
Far too many write on his supposed anti-semitism without the least bit of context. No one ever mentions his tremendous attempts at outreach to the Jews. But that doesn’t fit the narrative.
Being an Irish Lutheran pastor (Em.), it is hard to imagine the blessing of Katarina as wife brewing beer and raising cattle. Proof that the man was totally sane – rib-eyes and beer – done by his bride. Who of us has married better. Heh!
Doug – were you to write a longer post on Luther, I would be most interested in what you have to say. James Swan – although he is admittedly Reformed, (http://beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com/) – dispels most of the common nonsense floating around out there about Luther. You might contact him if you decide to do an insightful piece.
I AM enjoying this thread!
My slant would be along the lines of Luther speaking truth to power, comparing and contrasting his time with ours, empowering the people, as well as the economic and political machinations from which he (& the Protestant Reformation) greatly benefited.
Something like that? I’m still thinking about it.
do it cola,it would be interesting–
Doug –
I, by my profession, write sermons and teach. While I have furrily decent writing capabilities, yours are much better than mine.
One caution – the Reformation was “Lutheran” – not Protestant. Luther was not about a protest, but upon a change in the Church to move the Rule of Faith and Practice back to what it once was.
It was Jean Cauvin (Calvin) who brought about the myriad of denominations and the fracture within the Church. Luther was “reformational.” Calvin was a revolutionary – a point most miss because it is intellectually easier to lump them both together. Nothing could be further from the truth to the honest scholar.
To speak to it from the perspective of our contemporary situation – Luther would easily be the “conservative” – and Calvin the leftist.
Your self-suggested over-all theme is a good one. Again – I would be very interested in whatever you choose to write on the subject.
Pax Domini – jb
JB,
I appreciate your very interesting perspectives.
We may be slipping and sliding slightly in the semantics, so let’s just say Luther was a seminal figure in what later became known as the Protestant Reformation.
You raise some very interesting points regarding Luther and Calvin. Ironically, though, Luther was more accepting of government then was Calvin, yet was less inclined to sublimate his spiritual calling for the sake of societal transformation.
However, interesting as all that is, I would likely focus primarily on Luther’s life and times for any article posted here; with, perhaps, a mention of how the economic and political forces at play during Luther’s life set the stage for the ensuing societal transitions we now refer to as the Protestant Reformation; which, in turn, contributed to the individualistic ethic that shaped modernity.
In any event, the emphasis of the article would be more on the historical aspects while leaving room for theological debate and discussion in the ensuing commentary.
That is, if I write it at all. I’m still not convinced this would be the right forum for such a post. In truth, the only friendships I ever lost we’re over politics or religion. ?
@Mike: What I mean as giving substance to time is using attention to observe events and occurrences as they pass the “now” and fade into the past. The attention senses movement in the mind as well as movement in the world. Passively it is a sensor of activity or movement and actively it is a cursor that can follow movement.
“Have you ever been driving and your mind drifted and you missed your exit.”
Yes, but this was not my mind drifting but my attention drifting. The mind is just our field of consciousness. When our attention drifts out of our awareness is this not called sleeping? We do this more than we think. Our bodies are always dreaming. When we lose track of our attention the body dreams. When we miss our exit and suddenly realize it our awareness returns and our attention becomes focused again of the world around us. Next time this happens to you and you wake up instead of focusing on finding the next exit focus on what you were dreaming or thinking. Awareness is hard to maintain. It takes work to maintain awareness.
“I have often wondered if I were to experience now in it’s totality would there be a succession of events?”
Why do you think that? Now is the present moment . What is more total than that? If you mean the “now” in eternity; if you experienced that then I would say it would blow your mind. Our mind is not equipped to see eternity. We are eternity blind. Our mind operates in time.
“In my mind, I don’t view life and time one in the same. I believe time is a construct.”
What is a construct? Is it not an abstraction? In my mind time is a sensation of the succession of events and occasions.
“I also wonder, if attention is a focal point, why can’t we focus our attention on itself or our perception?”
Now you are bringing up a great mystery about attention. Perhaps we cannot focus on attention because it does not belong to us. We can only use it when we are aware of it. It can notice perceptions because perceptions are a product of sensation and therefore attention can observe both sensation and perception. Say we smell a rose. The act of smelling produces a sensation and this sensation produces a perception in our mind of something that we abstract as a rose. Attention can track all this provided our awareness directs our attention to track it.
Where attention comes from is a mystery but I do know we can use it to develop our self-consciousness and our objective consciousness. Subjective and objective are really very limited terms in describing consciousness.
So what are we if not attention? The best answer I can give is we are “Will, Being, and Function” in it’s highest form in the biosphere as man. Man is the highest animal in the biosphere because man is capable of self awareness and abstraction.
So what is our purpose in life? That is for each of us to investigate and find out. One thing I sense from my conscience is if I do not work to develop I will be recycled back into the hyle. Think not?
Look at America. What has developed lately in America? The universe does not stay static. There is a constant transformation of energies. The biosphere is changing the crust of the earth. America is in a transformation. Either America will transform into something greater or it will be recycled to create something else; perhaps lower.
Thunderbird, As you have noticed I have far more questions than answers and am grateful for this. Where to begin? When I say time is a construct, I don’t mean it doesn’t exist nor that there may not be a linear progression occurring. I think time in the linear sense is a means of categorizing and accounting for the sake of convenience, storage and retrieval. When I say I view life and time as different, this may be my way of not confusing myself more than I already am. We have all had instances in which our awareness of time vanished, yet life passed; and it may be semantics but still my awareness of time was not present while my awareness of life was.
Years ago, I was visiting my granddaughter when she was little, she asked when I was leaving and I said on Friday; she replied she didn’t even know what day it was. At this point, time keeping didn’t exist for her which makes me wonder if the reason it exists for me now is that I have been taught this. Perhaps, I am looking for phantoms where none exists but I still have to ponder.
As a man who loves the art of language, much to my and everyone else’s dismay I am not very good with it. I am unsure about your statement of passive and active workings of attention; I agree she is a fickle mistress but don’t know if she is ever passive. If by passive you meant acting without conscious guidance on my part then I could accept your premise. I wonder if this isn’t what we are alluding to, meaning the act and practice of trying to direct purposefully our attention. As you well know, this is almost as hard as catching smoke but not impossible.
I agree that for me, mind and attention are not the same thing and having said this I admit, I don’t know what either are. My experiences lead me to believe that my perception is the totality of my awareness and contained within it are many names and concepts; whether or not these “things” are a product of sensory or spiritual input, teaching, legend or imagination, I don’t know. All are present within my perception but are not my perception; much like eggs, flour and milk are in a cake but not a cake. Everything I know or can name is included in this list of ingredients, my perception is comprised of sensory input, thoughts, memories, emotions, feelings, concepts, ideas, ideals, beliefs and a extra large dose of bullshit.
As for the totality of now, I have had experiences during which my perception of life was out of the ordinary, shall I say; that which I normally perceive ceased to exist and yet I was aware. My recognition and recollection of self was no longer present and the conscious duality of observer and observed was diminished almost to the point of vanishing. Needless to say, I’m one of the craziest apes in the jungle but that being the case, I have spent many years trying to understand what I experienced and only recently have mustered to courage to try again to replicate it. It is these experiences which I call the totality of now.
Well, probably by now you are as confused as I am.
Wondrous Words here from Doug and the new commentators. Welcome!
I am triggered to comment this, that rises to the top of my thinking about these things.
[this is not about the Frankfort School we love to hate]
“According to the Frankforts, “ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians”—the Frankforts’ area of expertise—”lived in a wholly mythopoeic world”.[7] Each natural force, each concept, was a personal being from their viewpoint: “In Egypt and Mesopotamia the divine was comprehended as immanent: the gods were in nature.”[8] This immanence and multiplicity of the divine is a direct result of mythopoeic thought: hence, the first step in the loss of mythopoeic thought was the loss of this view of the divine. The ancient Hebrews took this first step through their doctrine of a single, transcendent God:
“When we read in Psalm 19 that ‘the heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork,’ we hear a voice which mocks the beliefs of the Egyptians and Babylonians. The heavens, which were to the psalmist but a witness of God’s greatness, were to the Mesopotamians the very majesty of godhead, the highest ruler, Anu. […] The God of the psalmists and the prophets was not in nature. He transcended nature — and transcended, likewise, the realm of mythopoeic thought.”[8]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mythopoeic_thought
“…Go on, be a hero,
Be a photograph
Make your own myths,
Christ, I hope they last
Longer than mine
Wider than the sky
We measure time by…” Janis Ian: Watercolors
light a light
time4teeth
Knowledge and understanding are two different things. Knowledge comes from books and understanding comes from experience. One can read books all their live and never understand what they have read.
Since I was a little under the weather this weekend, I decided to try something different on this thread and engage the commenters directly, and more frequently, as if we were taking turns at a podium or around a circle.
In accordance to, perhaps, Thunder’s Will, Being, and Function, something new was tried and something again happened:
At first I took steps (actions) in tentative uncertainty before later having experiences that can’t be denied.
Focus and wonder go together like chicken soup and the soul.
Mike I think I comprehend what you said in your last post. From what I gather from your explanation of your perception I call this my mind. It is a place where all my perceptions reside.
Thank you sharing your thoughts with me. I also thank Uncola for letting me go off track with the intent of his essay so I can share my ideas with others and get feedback. I am continually learning as you are and feedback let’s me know if my ideas ring a common bell with others.
As someone I knew once said “We are all swimming in the same kettle of fish.” What gives us relationship in that kettle is how we use language and our understanding of the meaning and not the definition of words. For example the word value is now defined in the modern dictionaries to include material things but in philosophy it’s meaning relates to non sensual ideas like faith, love, hope, etc. When the sun disappears around the horizon people call that a sunset when in reality it is not a sunset at all but rather the earth is turning away from the light of the sun. I have experienced that sensation when I lived in Micronesia and Hawaii. Look at how the sun appears to circle the earth when in reality the earth circles the sun and the spinning of the earth is what gives us day & night.
It is really important for clear communication that people agree on the same meaning of a word. This is why math is such a beautiful language to communicate in. Unfortunately most of us have a limited knowledge of that language.
But I think we done well in our communication and I appreciate that.
Getting to the subject of “they fight the law and the law wins” this is because this law called Administrative law was not intended to regulate the people and people don’t know that. This law was created by congress in the 1930s to standardize government operations and regulate corporations. But due to hubris by our legislators, administrators, and elected & unelected government officials on the local level this law is being used to regulate and micromanage the people. It is being misused to take away rights and circumscribe the Bill of Rights. The color of administrative law is that of Admiralty Law; the law of the sea. It is contract law. The sooner people get wise to this and wake up to the fact that amoral men are using this against the people the sooner I think we can get this law of our back. Law enforcement are being misused to impose by force these laws on us. They know not what the are doing. There is no recourse to what this law is doing to the people. Certainly not through the administrative courts. That is like asking the tiger not to eat you when it has you in it’s jaws.
It looks like the only was out is massive public resistance to the law.
Doug:
Read your entire post to my family this morning, and have read and enjoyed ALL of the comments. Your writing is outstanding, and I have nothing to add except to please keep it up. Your work, and TBP are bright lights in an ever increasingly dark world. I pray for us all.
Reposted at http://gab.ai/hammersthor
Thank you Hammer. I am simultaneously grateful, honored, and humbled, by your kind words and encouragement.
Doug –
There is no reply box to click after your last comment, for whatever reason.
I would encourage you to write something – you would hardly alienate me (obviously!), and it would be a great bit of education for the regular readers of TBP.
Before you do so I would suggest you read the Augsburg Confession which was penned by Philip Melancthon, but under Luther’s supervision, as well as the Apology, his Small and Large Catechism, and the Smalcald Articles. They are not long reads per se, but they give great insight as to how the man thought, and his aim in writing. Roland Bainton wrote great little book on Luther entitled “Here I Stand” which puts the man Luther in a fuller perspective. Not perfectly, but who can? Next to Christ, more has been written about Luther than most anyone else.
And the Confessional books (Google Book of Concord) after you finish with all of them, might give you a fresh perspective on the extreme differences between Luther and Calvin. I am not trying to convert a soul in saying so (not that I would mind, mind you) Most interesting to me is the difference between the two men in the matter of predestination, and free will. I believe you would find that very fertile ground for research and a good “write” – or several!
As I said before – I would be very interested in whatever your write, if you decide to do so. I am in an “ever-learning” mode always – and if in your prep to write and in your words you come upon some unique twists – that would be super! Go for it. Post it here. My humble site has but a few regulars, but I can get the word out to others of my persuasion theologically.
Whether you write a piece or not – might the Lord bless and keep you and yours this night and always.
jb
JB,
Regarding the reply boxes – the comments stack only so far to the right beneath any particular comment – so – if you don’t see a reply button just go up to the next highest one, click the “reply” tab, make your comment, then submit/post and it will appear in order on the chain.
Thank you for the hat-tips on the research and the information has been duly noted. I was aware of the Lutheran canon and have read much of it; although I am no theologian.
That said, and in a spirit of ecumenicalism, I was thinking you might enjoy the article that was linked towards the very end of my above piece (i.e. – “Charles Chaput, quoting the French author, Georges Bernanos” paragraph/quote).
Although I am not Catholic either, I came across the article as it was linked into another piece on philosophy.
Again, I’ve appreciated your input and perspectives.
Un C/Doug –
I appreciate your civility – you have to know how uncommon that is online.
I have read much of Chaput’s stuff at First Things – Fr. John Richard Neuhaus’ site set up before he entered glory. A good site for those who kinda/sorta lean that way.
I thank you for your kind comments in your responses. But I really would like it if you undertake the task of writing on Luther. If you are fair/actual/honest (which I believe you are), I think you will do a good job of and at it.
Pax Domini – jb
Some wonderful and compelling comments for sure. We live in very interesting times and have some very simple choices to make. I’ll add my three cents here…
grace and peace to each and everyone…
@ JB & GCP – although I am no theologian – I have speculated if Calvinism’s predestination was not only odds with free will, but John 3:17 as well.
Moreover, according to the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah (65:11), “Destiny” and “Fortune” we’re out of divine favor long ago.
Thank you both for commenting.
Thank you for providing the excellent place on which to make comments!
Speaking of Divine favor; have you heard of the mystery revealed to the Apostle Paul? It is the key which unlocks the entirety of scripture. No theological degrees need apply… ?
I encourage your exploration and any questions on my own home on the interwebs.
Ephesians 3…
grace country pastor, I think you are on the right path. I have contemplated the tree of good & evil. Good & evil is a Dyad relating to polarity. It is made up of polarity; a force that creates strain and disturbance. There is no way relationships can be formed in polarities. It is naive dualism. Look at the world today and you see polarities everywhere. Rich poor, me other, democrats republicans, oneself and not other, Eastern nations Western nations etc. etc. etc. All these polarities are thought of as good & evil opposites opposing one another.
When I think of the Tree of Life I think of the Trinity. The Trinity is a triad. Three independent factors are joined to make one. One could say affirming, denying and reconciling forces working together to produce dynamism. The father (male) the Holy Ghost (female) generating the Son; the resultant of the relationship between the father and Holy Ghost producing the son a virgin birth. And the word was made flesh.
Isn’t it this way in all of creation? Isn’t life the middle ground in the universe? We have the molecules that form the material elements, the cells that form life, and the plasma of the stars. The hyponomic, autonomic, and hypernomic. And what is developed by life? Consciousness.
Just my thoughts. And again I think you are on the right track. GOD bless your efforts.
There is no way relationships can be formed in polarities.
I think you are on the right track. GOD bless your efforts.