Collected Essays of Valerie Lynn Stephens (Part 10)

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ISBN: 978-1-365-35197-6

©2021 Valerie Lynn Stephens

OOPS, I JUST CATHARTED: NOT SILENT & NOT DEADLY

Cathart-a deep sublimative release of mindly flatulence, if kept silent, very deadly.

There remains much to be said about the virtues of Sublimation-yes, that's “Sublimation” with a capital “S”. And perhaps it's no etymological coincidence that the word “Art”-yes, that's “Art” with a capital “A”-is perfectly housed within both the words, “fart” & “cathart.” Okay, so I made that last word up for my own amusement. Nevertheless, let us get the pedantic, humour-killing bit out of the way. The word “catharsis”: of Grecian origin, “katharsis” literally, “to purify.” According to the antiquated (1972) yet still rather resourceful dictionary that I happened to have on hand when I wrote this, the first definition given for “catharsis” is: 1. purgation, especially of the bowels. The second is: 2. the purifying of the emotions or relieving of emotional tensions, especially by art: applied originally by Aristotle to the purging of pity or terror by viewing a tragedy. Finally, the third definition given is: 3. Psychiatry: the alleviation of fears, problems & complexes by bringing them to consciousness or giving them expression. Of course, to that last definition I would add “non-violent” or “patently immoral” expression, which brings me to the main impetus behind this little ditty.

It is no exaggeration to state that many a times I have reveled in just how many lives (mainly of the homo sapiens variety) have been spared due to the fact that I, by my benevolent & righteous Creator, have been blessed with the gifts of artistic expression in its various guises. And I have often found it amusing-albeit also very annoying-how the current (& indeed, any cultural milieu of any given time in human history), cultural milieu, often pathologizes & demonizes those individuals who happen to be intellectually & creatively endowed among its throngs. Truth be told, we are often not feared & “scapegoated” because of our potential for “insanity” or “violence” being any greater than others, but quite frankly, because we are harbingers of Truth & Light.

And of course, without launching into any tedious proselytizing, we live in a world which seems to prefer a comforting-yet potentially detrimental “lie” to a glaring-albeit potentially redeeming “truth.” And these “truths” of which I speak include those “outer” more sectarian truths & those “inner” more privatized truths which many choose to stray from facing.

Moreover, & returning to the aforementioned tendency of the “media” to pathologize and/or demonize artists & the like, we not only have cathartic outlets but we regularly (& even religiously) utilize them! Thus, unless you fear the Truth & The Light, we are not the ones to look out for. Yet, having said that, all human persons possess the potential for evil, & commit it in its varying forms from “venial” to “mortal” on a regular basis. And by the way, catharsis also runs on a continuum & can assume many forms-not just “artistic.” One can find release & absolution from their innermost tensions & anxieties in any number of endeavours. Playing a good round of tennis can serve a troubled soul just as well as composing an opera (“opera”-Latin plural for “great work” of any artistic bent).

Indeed, even mere introspectivity (Okay, I made that word up, too) in & of itself can prove to be very cathartic. This is why we must, as a human society, continue to encourage the virtues & saving graces of an equably balanced life of both Extroversion & Introversion. Indeed, if one compiled a research compendium of all of the human individuals who have committed what can be deemed gross acts of evil & violence (including “violence” of the “psychological” variety), against other human beings, & conducted a psychological profile on all of them, there would be one salient feature which most would have in common: lack of insight.

This is a bit of a “clinician's” term, namely coined & used in the field of Psychiatry to denote a trait of introspective impoverishment demonstrated by a given individual. What I mean by “introspective impoverishment” is simply, to borrow a phrase from Psychiatrist & Author M. Scott Peck, an individual who “resists awareness of their own condition.” Broadly speaking, our society calls such persons “sociopaths”, & on the less “severe” end of the spectrum “narcissists” (although the two are different in some ways). Nevertheless, we can say with the utmost confidence, that “self-reflection” could easily be added to the list of not only “basic human rights” but “basic human needs!”

If one is to be & continue to grow into a healthy, wholesome human person, one must be willing to take not only “outward” accountability for oneself, but “inward” accountability for oneself, achieved through what M. Scott Peck once referred to as “crucial self-examination.” Yet sadly, many individuals of great potential flounder, due to their unwillingness to submit themselves to this very task. Indeed these individuals are the ones people should watch out for as they are even more vulnerable to falling prey to evil due to their staunch commitment to such self-deception.

Yet in keeping with the less-pedantic & more amusing tone which this piece began wanting to set, there may be many who would consider acts of violence to also fall under the category of being “cathartic.” Perhaps they are right, from a strictly primeval vantage-point, that is. Yes, kidnapping your enemy, stringing them up by the genitals, slowly & systematically torturing them for a few hours before the big dismemberment may be cathartic-it may indeed “exercise” those demons, but will they be “exorcised?” Besides, one must comport oneself, I believe, with a certain modicum of faith in one's own higher intelligence & with a certain contempt for behaving like a rabid animal. How insulted I would be by my own self were I to have murdered that person all of those years ago instead of penning that first novel of literary fiction! Slow doth heal, those wounds which men doth give themselves, as Willy once put it, right? Indeed.

Not being able to live with ourselves is usually the deciding factor for most of us who choose civil disobedience & a more artfully cathartic kind of battle with the destructive forces constantly taking up arms against us from within & without. Also, many others would deem the fulfillment of other “baser” urges to be “cathartic” in their own way, namely that of sexual release. Yes, this may be an 'urge' which many consider to be an intractable aspect of the human condition & experience, but I consider “catharsis” to be more aptly used when describing deeper, more internalized, psychospiritual phenomenon in occurrence. The bottom line is, when one is employing the finer art of sublimation, one should aim to transcend something, right? Otherwise, the main heft of the act goes right out the window.

I suppose I do tend to be one of those purists. Thus, my preferential use of catharsis usually has a higher goal in mind regarding something spiritual more than purely carnal. Indeed, I see the act of catharsis as existing for the sole purpose of not only mere psychological relief, but of the slow but sure mastery of soul-smithing, to borrow a phrase from T.S. Elliot, &, to borrow another keen phrase from Mr. C.G. Jung, “psycho-spiritual” edification. After all, I want to be able to say, without undue embarrassment, upon completion of the aforementioned act, “Oops I just catharted. But this one's no longer silent, or deadly.”

ON SO-CALLED MENTAL ‘ILLNESS’ AND DISORDERS

In our culture & society, many times people and things get demonized and pathologized that, in fact, should be credited for the pathologies which they actually prevented from developing in an individual had they not employed such psychological defense mechanisms. I personally am a survivor of systematic childhood emotional abuse which has continued at the hands of a larger society even (and oftentimes especially) as an adult. When I was younger, being the designated 'black sheep/scapegoat/'identified patient' of my dysfunctional and abusive family system, I was 'diagnosed' with many psychiatric conditions. I have pretty much been 'labeled' with everything in the DSM-IV.

However, looking back, and after having healed a bit from the wounds such labeling inflicted upon me, I realize fully now that what they needed to keep at arm's length (so as not to identify) by pathologizing and/or demonizing, were actually what not only saved my physical life but my emotional, mental and spiritual one as well. Had I not been 'schizoidal' in the ways that I was, had I not been bi-polar in the ways that I was, had I not been 'paranoid' and depressed and socially withdrawn in the ways that I often was, I would not have survived as intact as I did. Period.

In fact, what gets labeled as a 'Disorder' is actually a psycho-spiritual symptom of an intense internal conflict that we are experiencing as we are attempting to establish a moral 'order' from without ourselves and 'without' in our interactions with others. We have made some strides in our society concerning the enlightenment about such issues, but there is one constant that will always push against this: the tendency of some types of people to resist self-awareness out of fear. It took me many years and much inner soul work on myself before I finally realized, without just internalizing it, that whenever others treated me in a patronizing, dismissive or otherwise condescending manner regarding my healthy and well-developed sense of self-awareness and my honesty in sharing my story, it is only due to their fear of tapping into their own trauma and their own inner, private Hades.

Oftentimes, we will hear people say things mindlessly like: “Oh, but they probably just don't understand. You have to forgive them for that.” Yet I think that they very much do understand, and that is why they are behaving in the way that they are. The truth is, every human individual suffers from some 'trauma' of some variation. And the truth is also, that all human persons are fundamentally, and in a philosophical sense, similar enough to warrant treating one another with dignity and respect. I may not be able to completely empathize with what someone else has gone through, but I can, when examining my own life experiences, garner enough empathy to be careful not to dismiss or further wound the person revealing their vulnerability to me. We must be part of the solution, as individuals, by taking responsibility for that of our own healing process, so that we 'stop the cycle' of wounding and at least, in our own small but significant way, lift one another up instead of tearing one another down.

May we therefore let our words heal and not wound, may we therefore let our own wounds give us the strength and compassion to fight our own demons, so that we can be fully ready and available to help others do the same. When it all comes down to it, we cannot judge people by the defense mechanisms which they employ in order to prevent themselves from falling into greater evil. Rather, we should evaluate one another only upon how we treat other human beings despite that of our own sufferings and afflictions. After all, even our Lord Jesus Christ said, “It is not what goes into a man that makes him unclean, but what comes out of him.” (Matthew 15:11)

ON SUICIDE

Although society today in comparison to erstwhile attitudes, does seem to be a little more enlightened concerning mental health issues and issues concerning the general philosophical and theological 'problem of human evil', we still have a long way to go. One concern in particular that I will be addressing in this article, is on feelings of suicidality and their concomitant expression to others, and how others often re-traumatize us even more so with their reactions. About a year ago, I was attending a church in my area, and had the misfortune of being covertly abused, and then 'triggered', which eventually led to an emotional reaction on my part to this abuse that was occurring, whereby I (mistakenly) revealed to the people present in this group setting, that I had been feeling suicidal due to some stressors in my life that I was facing at that time.

And although my reaction was mainly due to the C-PTSD that I grapple with due to having survived systematic child and teenage-hood emotional abuse, which often brings us right back to where we have felt before, and I probably would not have acted upon it as I was now much further along in my recovery process, I also expressed these inner thoughts and feelings to them mainly to drive across the point to my abusers just how much their behaviour towards me was affecting me and the egregiousness and seriousness of their mistreatment of others truly is. To make a long story short, the police ended up being contacted, and my abusers merely re-traumatized me all over again. I do not think they realize just how deeply they disturbed and distressed me by their actions. For about the next two weeks, I was again cast back into a C-PTSD hell that only those who have been real with themselves about the evil that they see and have experienced themselves in this world will be able to admit to.

But sadly and disturbingly, there are many people who, as M. Scott Peck brilliantly summed it up in his book, “The People of the Lie”, “resist awareness of their own condition.” Self-reflection and honesty are definite virtues of a seemingly lost era, where the measure of a man was found not in his 'net worth' or in his 'public persona' but in his actual moral integrity and inward character. Furthermore, this way that certain types of people choose to respond to those who express any kind of humanity or honesty or vulnerability still to this day borders on 'civil' savagery. And, to add insult to injury, these people who did this to me at this church, then had the audacity to get me to agree with them that what they had done was 'understandable' considering what I had shared with them. But I think they were merely resentful of me for having stood up to them and called out their abuse for what it was.

Nevertheless, I humored them and went along with it just to safely extricate myself from the situation. After all, they had already demonstrated that they could not be trusted, and were, in fact, malfeasant and morally bereft individuals devoid of any authentic spiritual or emotional maturity. In truth, when people call the police on individuals who are sharing their feelings of despair and hopelessness, this is an act of abuse, and an act of criminalizing sufferers and their rightful feelings. This is NOT the proper or even honest, healthy or effective way to handle these situations! Yet the sad fact is, that evil and willfully ignorant people do exist. Wicked people who refuse to own their own humanity and self-same feelings, instead 'scapegoating' those individuals who have both the courage and the love and respect for themselves and others to be honest and authentic, do exist. And those who refuse to continue the cycle of abuse and psychological violence towards ourselves and our fellow human beings will run into them quite often along our journey.

Yet I have taught myself to see these kinds of people as a contrasting example of who I do NOT want to become as a person, and who I have chosen to allow the Lord to mold me into both despite and BECAUSE of the hell that I have known and the evil and darkness that I have witnessed and experienced. So, without them to provide this counterbalance, I may not be the person that I am today, and I thank God for creating a world with both good, God-fearing and loving people in it, as well as a world with depraved, malignantly narcissistic and character-disordered people in it.

Without the bad, we could not develop or appreciate the good. And without a descension or two to Hades, I would have never learned to reach for Heaven. And without being forced to look the devil and his horrors straight in the face, I would have never found my place in the arms of my Heavenly Father. Without taking that inward sojourn into my own truth, I never would have found the profound resiliency, peace, joy and abiding fulfillment that I have in serving the Lord and in serving others. And, on top of that, I never would have found my true identity, a child of God, and would have allowed my abusers to triumph-and worse yet, evil to triumph by becoming yet another 'flying monkey' for its circus of human cowardice, trickery, torment and malice. And those who re-scourge our wounds may think they have won the battle, but they haven't won the war-not with this seasoned Veteran of the Lord's Army. For the sword of Truth and the breastplate of righteousness are more finely honed and staunch than any of the devil's weaponry.

Moreover, my own personal experience, most people who take their own lives are not acting merely out of some pitiable feeling of hopelessness and victimhood. And neither are they acting out of malevolent and/or cowardly self-centeredness. On the contrary, the motivation behind why people attempt and/or succeed at suicide is highly moralistic and altruistic. We are either responding to an act and/or acts that we have committed in the past and/or that we fear we are on the verge of committing in the present. In a word, some people are driven by a very acute sense of moralism and concern for their fellow man, because they sense an impending evil about to consume them and manifest in their behaviour.

In a sense, we truly believe in those dark nights of the soul, that we are a danger to others and ourselves, and that the best course of action to take is suicide. The last suicide attempt that I made, I was motivated mainly by the acute awareness and hypervigilance, born out of being a survivor of systematic childhood emotional abuse and the C-PTSD that I was as of then undiagnosed with, of my own vulnerability to the evil in the world in the state that I was in. In my mind, I had vowed to never allow others with ill-intent to have that much control over me again. I saw no choice but to take my own life by my own hand, rather than allow society to slowly and systematically murder me in a more existential and psycho-spiritual sense day by day.

Now I recognize, having been properly self-diagnosed, that this was a feature of my C-PTSD and the deprogramming, reprogramming and healing process that I was going through. Yet a lot of people fail to dig deep enough inside of their own private pain and darkness to be able to understand the true motivation behind why anyone would take their own life. The bottom line is, it's nobody else's business but God's. Only He truly knows what we struggle with. I do believe that we will face a loss of reward should we ever take our own life, but for those who are truly reborn again and remained firm until the end (even though they created their own 'end'), they will not be eternally condemned.

NIHILISM: AN UNORTHODOX MESSIAH

What is it about the darkness that makes me feel so at home? Or perhaps, what is it about me? Why are we so crippled by the contradictory commands of our day? Or perhaps they are crippling due to our aching need and hope for the absence of such trilemma and the ruthless dictatorships forged in their place. For whatever nature of orders we are given, we respond with thrice more, thinking that any authority not granted to us, is that means by which we need even more follow our own dictates.

Obeisance requires its own massive stores of energy. Yet in the scheme of human affairs, we are left with nothing, making revolt disappointingly chronic albeit soon quite dull and arbitrary. So, how to give it up without giving up? Life and its success or failure is directly commensurate with a trick of constant measure, whose scale’s units read like some dyslexic, cryptic codex, more being less, less being more and still, the space in between, determining fortune or catastrophe. For in Truth, equitability is an abomination, a perversity of those fallible yet malleable phenomena of human vitiation and imaginings.

Ah, what terrible webs our minds do weave, when first we practice to believe, for belief is but the portent of assured repudiation. Thus perhaps only the nihilists of any culture are christened for true greatness, as they leave room for that endless epiphanous redemption which cannot be preaned from the snares of all definitive “knowing.” For they are of quite another kind of mind, as they know all too wisely to coddle objective indifference & to search fruitlessly for neither question nor answer.

Thus do they find, in their aimlessness, direction and resolve, in their wealth of despair, can they buy out the indigence of careless ignorance, finding true exultation. For the nihilist, through his flagrant apostasy, finds salvation, and through his humble agnosticism, comes closest to God. And yet he finds with such abundance, because he does not seek. For Truth is already here, there and everywhere.

And when man seeks for that which he has never lost, loss of Truth finds him, blinding him with cataclysmic and paralytic grief for the rest of his days. And the more he tries to remember, the more he slowly & painfully forgets. And it is past this point that he, the zealous believer, has become his much dreaded world-without-meaning. Implosion occurs in nauseatingly infinite syncopation & with stunning reverberation, and neither the deepest sea of longing nor the highest lofts of asomatous aspiration can offer any reprieve. And one day, the only thing left to save him from complete annihilation, will prove to be the crafty but wise counsel of the nihilist.

DO ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN?

A BRIEF EXEGESIS ON THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALIAN SOULS

Many have often wondered whether or not animals have souls. In the Bible it does not specifically say that God breathed life into one animal or even plant. However, in man’s case it does declare in Genesis 2:7 that “… the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” In some other versions of the Bible the words, “spirit” or “soul” are replaced for “being,” but at least man having a soul or being or spirit come directly from God Himself, is not in question. It also states earlier in Genesis 1:26 and in verse 27 that “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

Off note, verse 27 also answers the question of female humans being, in God’s eyes, just as equal as the male human being. So, from these three verses taken from Genesis, we can conclude that both the male and female person were granted the life of the Spirit, which is that of their Creator, God. However, in Genesis 3:14, it strongly suggests that, although God did not breathe life directly into any one animal or anything else of His creation, these creatures still have a direct connection with and towards their Creator, God. For God “…said or spake to the serpent…” Yet this does not answer fully the question of whether or not animals or any of God’s creation other than us, have a soul, or in other words, will take any part in the afterlife.

Furthermore, there are specifically two other places in the Bible where this question is partially answered. The third place is contained within, again, an Old Testament scripture to be found in Genesis 9:3. In this scripture, God grants to Noah and all humankind “…every living creature that breathes and moves…” for food. And it is important to note that it does use the word “every” living creature, therefore not excluding any creature from the serpent to the tiger to be appropriate and edible as a source of food for man, child and woman. And I suppose that even insects and other reptilian creatures would have been included in this feastful menu. So, for humor’s sake, John the Baptist probably wasn't chastened, for his taste for honey and locusts!

All throughout most of the Old Testament it does speak of not eating any meat from an animal or creature which still has its lifeblood in it. But the serious implications of a punishment wrought from this moral abomination in God’s eyes, was compensated for or “fulfilled” by the life, crucifixion and completion of all sacrificial and otherwise rituals, in the death and resurrection of the Lamb Jesus Christ in the New Testament. This means, simply that we no longer need to use the lifeblood of any animal as atonement for our sins. Out with the old, in came the new covenant. But this subject is, I suppose fodder for another essay.

In continuum, the fourth scripture which deals with the spirit of the animal vs. that of man and woman comes into play also in Genesis 9:5, where God speaks to Noah, “And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting, I will demand an accounting from (and “from” is the key word here) every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man.” Now, let’s stop here and conclude that animals, contrary to post-Darwinian sentiment, do not kill merely out of “instinct” without any wrongdoing actually having been done. For God clearly states here that animals, too, are to be held accountable for any killing of any man.

And having a master presupposes generally, that not only is the person or animal accountable to this master and inferior to this master, but also where there is an “accounting” there is also something wrong or “bad” to be accounted for. In other words, animals must eat not unlike us to survive, but any killing not directly done out of this basic survival need for feed is not a completely justified act whether it be by man or beast. But this scripture may suggest that animals do have souls, since they must answer to their God much like we must.

In addition, and on a side note, in the part of scripture Genesis 9:5, where God says that man will also be held accountable for any killing or lifeblood shed in regards to his fellow humans, we can conclude that God finds any deliberate taking of the life of another human being wrong. Now, philosophically speaking, some believe it to be okay to kill another human being as long as one is protecting or preserving one’s own life and/or the lives of others in the process. But in this case, that would not be premeditated but would be more instinctual & reflexive. The main premise is that to not do so would be not honouring & valuing your own life or those of others. However, I don’t think one should “aim to kill” but should instead aim to “maim” in these instances. Mainly because we do not possess God's omniscience into that person(s) character or life circumstances.

In other words, one does not have to shoot one in the heart or the prefrontal cortex to render a person no longer a danger to oneself and/or others. Although, this does sometimes, out of reflexive action, happen. But this gray area becomes quite white and clear in Genesis 9:6 where God says, “Whosoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.” Without straying too far from the main thesis of this essay, the first part of the scripture is not to condone what we call today in the West, “capital punishment”, although this may be necessary in some cases. My understanding of this scripture means that in killing another person, I will naturally be gaining a lot of individuals who will want to do the same to me and who may succeed in doing so. Revenge or vengeance is a part of our natural desire, but it is a sinful desire that does not come from God. As we often say, however, what goes around comes around-even if not from our own hand.

In finale, getting back to the question of whether or not animals have spirits, or rather, have the spirit of their Creator within them much as we do, the fifth scripture is to be found in Ecclesiastes 3:18-21. In this scripture, the teacher, Son of David, King of Jerusalem pontificates rather brilliantly, “I also thought, ‘As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. Man’s fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other.” And it goes on, “All have the same breath (in the footnote it says “or spirit”), man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust and to dust all will return.”

Most significantly we have verse 21 where the teacher ponders, “Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?” As for the first part of the verses, where he says God tests us “to see that we are just like the animals,” the only thing we can conclude this to mean is stated in the second part which is that everything will die eventually, and even the earth itself has a limited span of life. He also did not mean that we are held any less accountable for what we like to endear as our “instinctual” or “animalistic” drives because we are like the animals.

Now, as for our last verse, verse 21, we are still left questioning, but this concludes that, although we are creations of the same God and we as humans were given dominion over all, that we must also not forget to forgo some of this control, for we are also, after all, mortal and ruled over by and accountable to a superior being, God. Thus we must live our lives as such, respecting our place in the order of God’s wondrous universe, while also respecting the places of all others as well. For the one who is granted the most power and capability, in the end, will also be held most accountable.

BETWEEN REASON & FAITH

Why do I believe Judeo-Christianity to be the one true Religion?

Judeo-Christianity is the only system of worship which requires complete submission of one's will & life over to the will & laws of God alone.

All other philosophies & religions have at their core, an egocentric, escapist &/or hedonistic aim.

I also believe in Judeo-Christian Scripture as the ultimate source of all wisdom, earthly & metaphysical.

This has been tested through the application of Judeo-Christian Scriptures to my own life & journey, & I have found it thus far to be consistently inerrant.

Moreover, contrary to the almost militant Manichean paradigm still so prevalent in Western thought, one can be both systematic-minded & spiritually-minded as well.

A cultivation of both Intellect & Spirit is not only possible, but is necessary towards achieving a full & authentic sense of faith & understanding.

Intelligence & Spirituality are not mutually exclusive phenomena, but are complementary.

As for the Augustinian postulate of "fides ante intellectum” (faith before understanding), I propose that such things must not necessarily proceed in this order.

Sometimes, in the process of cultivating one's intellectual comprehension of something, one also finds faith and/or “higher understanding”, otherwise known as “wisdom”.

Thus, we can proceed adequately from either a stance of "fides ante intellectum" or "fides post intellectum" (faith after understanding).

Although it is true, from an ontological standpoint that one's intellectual understanding of “spirituality” or of the metaphysical may indeed be quickened by the precedence of faith, just as one's faith can be quickened during the intellectual syntheses of theological inquiries & edification, let us just assume, from “analogia entis” (an analogy from being) that it is inherent in human nature itself to possess a general thirst for truth & understanding as well as a desire for faith (higher wisdom) as both a mentor & a consolation.

In finale, Judeo-Christianity holds each and every one of us fully accountable and manages to achieve a rare & perfect synthesis of Faith and Reason. This is why I find it to be both most challenging, as well as compelling regarding its relevance & legitimacy.

THE MYTH OF COLLECTIVISM

It is often assumed by the more conformant members of any society, that the collective as placed before the individual, is of a higher moral order. And while traditionalism, in itself, does perhaps initially seek a higher moral imperative just as non-traditionalism does, the latter approach is, in the end, more holistic and sound. The issue with blind obeisance and conformity is that it fails to employ, as a kind of psycho-spiritual tool, the necessary resistance to the very system which it supports; a system that is inevitably ill-fated to transmogrify into its moral opposite in the face of human turpitude and lassitude.

Swiss philosopher and psychoanalyst Carl Jung once defined individuation as the end result of the strivings of the individual's own need to more authentically actualise itself in the face of oppressive collectivism. It is, in a sense, a psychic collection of 'scars', skills and revelations acquired in the struggle for self-mastery and fulfillment. Further, assuming that the 'individuated' and more 'actuated' self should naturally have more to contribute to society as a whole and not less, and in a much healthier and efficacious way, the latter approach of individuation over conformity more comprehensively addresses the moralistic gravitas and ethos of each individual's higher calling and needs as well as those of the society they dwell in.

Furthermore, concerning the current taxonomy of speciation, every human being is, when all is seen not only as is, but as it is enacted upon by the 'external' world, their own species. Moreover, the same could probably be safely deduced about most forms of life on earth. But this especially applies to human beings, as we are all each so uniquely calibrated & so complex and ever-evolving, both philosophically speaking and physiologically speaking, especially on a 'quantum' or subatomic level. To be fair, taxonomical systems serve their attendant purposes, most of which are well-intentioned. Nevertheless, this can very quickly devolve into a kind of reductionism and myopia which, in turn, can do more harm than good, particularly on a humanistic & moralistic level.

Furthermore, let's explore the 'dark underbelly of the beast' known as blind conformity. During many dark periods of human history, many individuals, full of malice and motivated by all sorts of reprobate and evil ideologies, have caused unimaginable suffering to the human race, all rationalized and indeed, even championed, under the guise of nationalistic, religious or otherwise general communal 'solidarity'. And as Oscar Wilde once observed “Patriotism is a virtue of the vicious.”

Although I personally think the word “nationalism” to be more apt, what he was getting at was, that the 'majority rule' does not preclude a system of moralistic checks and balances which needs to be operant in order to ensure less abuses of power. In fact, many would surmise that, the more people who seem to be blindly and vigorously jumping on the bandwagon about something, the less likely what they are supporting is both rationally and/or morally sound. Thus, bringing me to my main point concerning blind conformity as an inadequate and actually sinful substitute for individuation.

The main ways that blind conformity contributes to more evil rather than good in society is that it interferes with the mental, emotional, spiritual, social and vocational health, genuine self-esteem & wholeness of each person who adheres to it. Societal evils such as physical, sexual and mental/emotional abuse, especially of children become prevalent. Many do not see the connection between this, but I guarantee you, there absolutely is. One's own personal accountability for one's own life trajectory are essential to each our own ability to proceed in a positive and pro-social manner towards psycho-spiritual growth and functionality.

Moreover, many character disturbances and disorders are both directly and indirectly the result of neglect of one's own spiritual, moral and general existential responsibilities to the collective & the individual. Moreover, a daily application and practice of self-reflection and examination are moralistically imperative towards the proper development of our innermost being and character.

In essence, we must first 'Know thyself,' if we are to be able to contribute in any healthy and robust way to those persons and causes whose paths we will cross and whose tasks we shall undergo out in society. After all, the world is so much better off and much more interesting and challenging with each our own truest selves being deployed in it! And although this journey can be frightening and arduous more often than not, at least we have paved the way for the next brave soul who follows in our footsteps on their own path to self-actualization. Thus, we can see how the striving for self-actualization and individuation enables us to be the best that we can be both for ourselves and for others. For every person who chooses the long, hard and often lonesome road of inner truth, that many more choose the wide and smooth road of blind conformity, and the world does suffer for it.

Furthermore, applying a taxonomically inductive solipsism, if you will, no matter the similarities which may exist between two human individuals, these similarities are almost so generic and ambiguous as to be rendered superficial and moot. Because ultimately, we live in a world which thwarts vigorous individuation & actualization at every impasse. I have often found it amusing how Western culture is referred to as “Individualistic”. In truth, conformity & mediocrity, or the status quo is encouraged and even coercively enforced. And perhaps the illusory concept of & the almost militant adhesion to “The Collective”, is an ersatz manifestation of this. To be sure, on the surface, a ruggedly individualistic “Marlboro Man” persona is encouraged, especially amongst the male human population, but upon further analysis, this is just that: an illusion & a persona.

That is to say, that genuine & robust individualism or individuation, to borrow a Jungian term, whenever people attempt it, is not only met with suspicion, but often outright contempt, hostility & interference. And this is truly a travesty of epic proportions. Because this not only effects the individual in very deleterious & profound ways, but also adversely impacts the larger collective from achieving upward psycho-spiritual mobility. It hinders collective health & vigour by engaging in oppression dynamics which prevent individual persons from being able to excavate & employ the skills & talents which only they can offer in the precisely calibrated & configured manner which only they can.

Moreover, all organisms thrive in the right environment. And many who take up the cross of individuating themselves find to their chagrin & abiding existential angst, that no 'room at the inn' will probably ever be extended to them on a less than contingent basis. And so they must somehow become almost existential vigilantes in constant pursuit of the plunderers & pillagers of their own rightful dues & lot in life. Yet this soon exacts from them, more energial reserves than they have to spend. For they truly need to learn how to not devote such time & energy trying to get others who oppress them, to become enlightened in all of the ways that they, themselves, have become awakened. Instead, they hopefully learn how to cull all of their resources, both inward & outward, in order to carve out their own niche no matter how long it may take.

BY THE LIGHT OF THE DARKNESS

The more we try to hide from ourselves and others, the more translucently we are revealed. When we are at our most enlightened is when we are floundering in the dark, and a light switches on without warning, illuminating the damp, dark, festering crevices of the duality-bound human entity. The heart always bleeds while the modern day mind knows not. But the heart determines all and thus must the neoteric mind surrender to the workings & ministrations of the Spirit, if the heart is to reign pure. For all good things take root in preponderance & deep contemplation, as all things venal take root in haste. Delusions do often serve their purpose, but must be clung to only at the pricey cost of Truth, at the cost of Grace, Absolution & ultimately, that Redemption Eternal.

LET THE HAND THAT WAS WOUNDED BECOME THE HAND THAT HEALS

Preface: I share this, along with all of my other works in the hopes that, despite my 'dysfunctions' and pathologies, I can share a little light & Truth with my fellow human beings, & help even if just one person, to feel a little less alone, a little less hopeless, a little less weary.

Most relationships for me are brief. But as long as I learn something valuable about myself, I have not completely wasted my time. In fact, that pretty much sums up my philosophy on relationships. They are there not only to quell our ennui, but to aid in our growth, both intrapersonally and interpersonally. A recent fallout in a personal relationship of mine has helped me to realize something more fully about myself, and I am immensely grateful for this experience for illuminating this for me. I am incapable of sustaining relationships. Not merely “unwilling”, or “just not ready yet”-I am incapable. Others sometimes console me by saying, “Maybe you just haven't met the right person yet.” And I appreciate their kindness, but my kind values truth over kindness, namely honesty with myself. And I know myself very well. I have neither the desire nor the need to delude myself about anything and am a strong individual with no tolerance for abuse or lowering my standards. My earliest parental relationships have molded me, as they have all of us, into a certain kind of person, both for better and for worse. And one of my disabilities, or dysfunctions as a person is the inability to sustain long-term relationships. It is just a part of who I am.

Although, all hope is never lost, for I have taught myself how to work around my limitations, and have emerged an even stronger, and more capacitated animal than I ever could have been without them. And that is the beauty of adaptation, of course, the kind of a more metaphysical, psycho-spiritual sort. Nevertheless, I have also had to make personal sacrifices in order to assume the responsibility of someone who has no business being involved in long-term relationships with others. I just simply do more harm than good whenever I try to let myself have these sorts of things. I will not become the kind of monster that my insides want me to be. Mind you, within every child of God, also lies a saint, but I must keep the other at bay if I am to devote myself to the pursuit of Truth & Light & Virtue. I have had to assume upon myself the cloak of lonerhood, if you will, to protect others from my sort of pathology. Psychiatry has designated my particular condition as: C-PTSD and Schizotypal Personality Disorder.

Schizotypal Personality Disorder is often thought to be something other than what real & often quite psychologically healthy & very sane people who live with it experience it as. The best definition of it that I have read, is that it is an inability to sustain long-term relationships due to having experienced early home environments that were systematically abusive and traumatic in some way. It is classifiable, in part at least, under the category of Reactive-Attachment Disorders. Nevertheless, despite my “disorders” (and we all have at least one of these) I chose to commit myself to a social life philosophy whereby any sacrifice which spares others the horrors, and the afflictions of that which was done unto me, is well-worth any loneliness, or existential dissonance which I experience as a part of being my particular kind of beast. Many assume that those who isolate themselves must do so out of a fear of being hurt by others. In some cases, yes, this is so. But in my particular case, I abdicate my throne of commonly accepted and practiced social rituals, etc, in order to protect others from being damaged by me.

That whole concept of 'normalcy' is actually just a kind of fantasy for me that I play around with every now & then. I know that is not a scenario that I could actually and successfully thrive or survive within. It's just not who I am or ever could pretend to be for very long. I just simply cannot bear the sight and the thought of hurting other people, when it is within my power to protect them from those broken and dark parts of myself by remaining with them only for a short while. Perhaps that is one of the motives behind God the Father's directive to His Son Jesus Christ to remain with his people only for a perfectly-timed duration. Anything or anyone exposed to the ravages of this evil world for long enough, will cause even what is good to turn bad.

And then I think: “But does that mean that I should completely deny myself the same creaturely comforts such as marriage, etc.?” Well, I have already explored that one many a times, and it simply does not change who and what I am. I can only go so far in relationships. Period. I have tried that whole fantasy of normalcy on for size. It it is just not who I could ever be. I accept myself for all that I am. I've never been one to have a deficiency in that, at least. To all creatures, great and small, Our Creator grants, our compensations. Because eventually, through enough trials and error (yes, that “s” on “trials” was deliberate), we come to realize that, beyond the myth of self-improvement lies only, self-acceptance.

Yet we must also not forget to embrace our brokenness, to embrace our wounds, for therein, lies our gift(s). We are all damaged. And in some cases, we are just simply, damaged-beyond-repair. Yet though the hand which heals is often the hand which wounds, the hand which wounds must also be given a chance to be the hand that heals. Thus shall I remain, despite my failings with my fellow human beings, willing to at least try-for as long as my nature will allow me. But, don't get too attached. It’s for your own good.

TRULY, WHAT IS ‘SANITY’ AND WHAT IS ‘INSANITY’?

Sometimes the ones running the asylum are the true psychopaths.

-V.L.S.

There are many misguided and, indeed, harmful ideas floating around out there about the subject of 'sanity' vs. 'insanity'. The first and most commonly shared 'folie a deux or trois...etc.' (and this is a true form of 'insanity'-I'll expound later), is that any sign of creativity or display of strong emotion is a sign of emotional/mental instability and indeed, even turpitude. I personally have always found this to be an ironic notion, considering the fact that, artistic expression in and of itself, is a direct (and indirect) sublimative outlet for staving off that very thing!

Namely, I was always a highly creative and intellectually-inclined person mainly due to the fact that I was trying to preserve my so-called 'sanity' in the very face of evils in this world which truly deserve such an assignation! Another thing I noticed is how certain behaviours, and personality and/or character traits or qualities which society glorifies and accepts in children, become pathologised and even demonised in adults. For example, let's say there is a child carrying on an animated conversation with another person and/or persons whom we might not be able to 'see', but that the child interacts with as if they are 'there' in both an emotional sense and a physical sense.

Then, we say, “Oh, how nice. They have an imaginary friend.” And that's that. It is accepted as 'normal' and even a kind of 'milestone' of childhood and we move on and let them be. However, imagine that this person in the above scenario is an adult person, carrying on an animated conversation with someone that they may 'sense' but that we cannot. Then too often that person is either assumed to be crazy, dangerous or 'retarded' or 'challenged' in some way or all of the above and in most cases, is treated in such a derogatory, demoralizing, condescending and hurtful manner.

Yet most people who commit acts of violence, be they physical, sexual or of the more insidious, covert and psychological/emotional variation, fail to properly engage in more constructive and/or creative outlets for their inner tensions and anxieties and choose to instead use others as 'identified patients' and 'scapegoats' for their own projected evils. After all, how many artists and intellectuals can truly be said to be 'crazy', when these are, in most cases, some of the most conscientious and tough-minded individuals we will ever meet-not to mention the most interesting, genuine and empathetic.

Furthermore, there is another misconception concerning 'sanity' vs. 'insanity', and who's who and what's what. In law they use a term called the 'insanity defense' in some criminal cases to determine whether or not an individual can be legally held accountable for their own actions. Then, there is something termed, 'moral insanity', which, while not a purely legalistic term and definition, is rather, a philosophical one. In fact, the denotative definition of moral insanity allows for certain sinister character qualities to be present in an individual without the accompanying intellectual impairments, as is assumed in the 'insanity defense.'

The earliest usage of this term, 'moral insanity' was in a treatise written by James Cowles Prichard in 1835. Furthermore, the M'Naghten Rules of 1842 established the distinction between 'legal insanity' and 'moral insanity', whereby the former required a manifestation of some sort of delusions or affective and/or reasoning impairments. In my view, the only true form of 'insanity' is moral insanity, or as we theologians and laymen alike refer to as the 'original sin human nature.' Personally, although this form of character disorder and deviation may not meet 'legalistic' definitions of true 'insanity', the deleterious effects inflicted upon its victims is nevertheless quite 'maddening'.

Thus, without dispensing of the term moral 'insanity' let's just assume this form of 'madness' to be, albeit in a league of its own, nevertheless a mark of a very disordered, disturbed and diseased mind indeed. Moreover, these individuals whom we would deem today as suffering from 'personality' and character 'disorders', are very much accountable for the untold and long-lasting damage that their abuses and exploitations cause to their 'victims/survivors.'

However the 'insanity' inherently assumed in my designation of 'true' insanity refers mainly to the gross distortions of moral truth and order which this kind of human evil contributes to and even, champions. Judeo-Christian Scripture refers to this as “the lawlessness of sin.”(1 John 3:4: “Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.”) And although these individuals cannot rightfully claim the 'insanity defense', the confusion, chaos and senselessness which they contribute to in the world is plain for all to see.

Yes, ladies and gents, oftentimes the ones running the 'asylum', are the true lunatics and sociopaths. Now that's truly insane. But we survivors can console ourselves with the fact that the 'scapegoats' are the ones who are set free in the end. And that’s justice wrought by the Most High Author & Prince of Peace and not discord, and perfect order and not chaos. For true ‘sanity’ is determined not only by the soundness of one’s mind, but by the deepest motives of one’s heart.

THE EXISTENTIAL STRAW MAN CRISIS

So many people create all of these distractionary 'fake problems' in order to not have to deal with the REAL ones. It is, in essence, a kind of existential straw man situation. Look at all of the so-called 'Reality-TV' shows there are out there right now! Because it is, in fact, a subverted and mostly fabricated 'reality.' Furthermore, this human tendency & phenomenon extends unfortunately into socio-political arenas as well. It is mostly on a subconscious level when it is being done, but can be deleterious nevertheless, when people are diverting attention & resources towards everything BUT those issues which need to be individually addressed.

ALL GOOD THINGS

God never doles out anything that has not been earned. The devil, on the other hand offers up worldly delights and rewards with nefarious ease.

To start, discernment is granted only to those who have tested things and held onto the good.

1 Thessalonians 5:21: “...but test them all; hold onto what is good; reject every kind of evil.”

There are also graces which God extends to those who are undeserving and afflictions which He allows to be visited upon those undeserving of them, such as monetary wealth or impoverishment and physical health or infirmity.

Ecclesiastes 7:15: “In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these things: the righteous perishing in their righteousness and the wicked living long in their wickedness.”

Furthermore, God grants intellectual prowess to those who have faithfully humbled their faculties to the One Who programs and guides them. The devil also grants carnal and worldly knowledge and savvy to his minions, but of a very limited range and depth. This, God's children can find some security and encouragement in.

Contrarily, the Prince of this World quickens the reprobate mind with all sorts of sectarian 'smarts' & schemes that pale in comparison to that higher knowledge which holds the keys to both Life & Death.

Romans 12:2: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Colossians 2:8: “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.”

James 3:13-18: “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.”

The godly virtue of humility is rewarded to Christian disciples only after they have endured enough 'humiliation' at the hands of an unjust world. But the devil prematurely and eagerly promotes the proud and the wicked. Things work at a more organic and authenticating pace when the heavenly realms are orchestrating them. But in Satan's realm, all 'good' things come to those who plunder and pillage. But these 'good things' concern the ultimately meaningless strivings of the ego and the flesh.

Psalm 37:1-9: “ Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.”

God grants the authenticated spirit of Charity to those who have been made repeatedly impoverished by worldly avarice & inequity. The devil opens his purse wide for any & all who trade their piety readily, for his ultimately worthless wares.

Proverbs 10:2: “Ill-gotten treasures have no lasting value, but righteousness delivers from death.”

James 1:14-15: “But each person is tempted when he is lured & enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, & sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”

Psalm 37:4: “Delight thyself in the Lord, & He shall give you the desires of your heart.”

God grants Peace to those who have known both discord & violence unjustly inflicted, but who resisted its naturally reactive outward trajectory. The Prince of Lies becalms the mendacious mind into a false sense of security only: “Buy now, PAY LATER.”

Romans 12:17-21: “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Matthew 7:13-14: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

God grants the fruit of kindness to those who've been scourged & lynched upon the sycamore of Cruelty. The Evil One crafts the wiles of his dark disciples to master the art of mere mimicry & charm. His apt pupils hide in the plain sight of status quo-at least until their mask slips.

Proverbs 11:17: “Those who are kind benefit themselves, but the cruel bring ruin upon themselves.”

Luke 6:35: “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.”

Colossians 3:12: “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”

Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

Philippians 2:1-10: “Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.”

HOW NON-RESISTANCE TO NATURE SERVES THE ULTIMATE GOOD

What really is the force of evil? Of good? The devil? God? Are they really forces not unlike electromagnetism or Newton's gravity albeit on a quantum/subatomic level? Or is it perhaps a bit less compelling and mysterious as unseen principalities and the likes of such wizardry that the Judeo-Christian tradition accepts? Maybe it is all just the flow of cause and effect without any particular moralistic or spiritual significance or agenda? But then cause and effect require the interaction of living as in conscious and acting beings, or forces. With such a plethora of life reaching out for life and with the living things of the universe possessing such an obvious dominating role in life itself, how can this not possess any deeper meaning and ends? For not every cause creates the usual effect which we expect.

Moreover, due to the phenomenon of the human being possessing a will and most significantly, the freedom to exercise this will in their given lot, there are an infinitude of ways that humans can react to any given cause. And with our proven limitless imagination and capacity for invention, it seems that after all is tried against it, life just frankly cannot be simplified enough to satisfy those in want of absolute answers. But perhaps a deeper probe into the conceptual human psyche which defines these forces of creation and destruction that it perceives in the external landscape can bring us all a little bit closer to a singular and workable approach to the complexities of life.

In continuum, let us divert to our original questions of good and evil. Similar to the irreducible complexity of how life is lived and observed lies perhaps the most influential, not to mention archaic and inflictive paradox of life itself. Of course, I speak of the reliable observation that there are destructive, negative forces and happenings as well as there are seemingly creative, positive forces and events which compose the template of human consciousness which we call nature, the world or the universe. For most, a very strict partiality is maintained in the belief and assumption that neither evil nor good ever switch roles, or that they cannot ever interchange in their causes and effects. However, what I will propose in this essay will explore and suggest whether or not evil and good indeed can and do interact along with doing so oppositionally, synchronously as well.

Furthermore, it is important to begin by siphoning off any threads of doubt about my thesis by granting recognition to the fact that when we are speaking of the forces of good and evil, we are not perchance speaking of realities or actualities but concepts. Thus, this essay will approach its subject from a more existential, science of mind perspective. And as to the definition of reality and actuality, this would better be explored in its own separate essay. So, more on the classic Plato vs. Aristotle discourse later. But now we will focus on the even more ancient battle of good and evil or that old geezer God and his equally crusty archnemesis, Satan himself. The most common theme of the human condition is that concerning each individual's search for identity through meaning, and happiness through both meaning and a nobility of identity and existence.

To put it another way, the thing which we all end up devoting so much of our lives to is the answer to the age old ponderance of what is the best possible life lived. Primarily, where are the elements, after one knows what they are, that will aid in the construction of such a life? After this, how, once the ideal life for each person, both on an individual and universal level is constructed or known, does one live within only the parameters of this life? More specifically, how will one defend their life structure against the tsunamis of antithetical and nullifying effect? Or most importantly, will one maintain what one values while also perceiving lucidly and confronting neutrally, those things that are a threat to those values? For one surely cannot ignore them completely.

To use a common example to best clarify what I mean, let's say you have a brother who is homeless with nowhere else to go but to come and stay with you. Any decent, respectable human being of course, at first thought would take him in under set conditions of course. However, there is a conflict of loyalties not to mention a lot of other issues which might make it not such a good idea to do so for either just yourself or yourself and your family if you have one. Let's say that you do have your own family to care for which includes an infant son. In normal circumstances, there would be no apparent reason why this could not work. It may even, in fact, prove to be a blessing in disguise for maybe this new tenant could lend a hand or two with the house, the son, etc.

But in this case, the reason your brother has difficulty maintaining housing and employment is due to the fact that he actively engages in antisocial behaviour & endeavours. Now you see why this added element creates a conflict of morals and even if momentarily, nonetheless, a paralysis of will. For whatever you choose to do or not do will be the result of a lot of anguishing consideration. You love your brother and desire to protect him from the bad conditions of the streets and homeless shelters, but you also love your family and want to protect them from any unsavory influences as well.

One option would be to give him a chance to stay with you on the condition that he not associate with any of his dealers and that he look for work and a place of his own and also, of course that he not engage in those activities while staying with you. If he does this, you let him stay. If he doesn't you do all that you can, but do not enable him in behaviors which could be potentially fatal or deleterious for you & your family. But this is just a simple example of the ways in which each and every human decision is dichotomized into two or more often irreconcilable dilemmas.

Thus, one can see why it is so imperative that the subject of good and evil be recognized and explored. For no matter what we call them, these are phenomena that, without our comprehension and mastery over them, might cause our lives to flounder. The very act of breathing, however autonomic it may be, involves us in the game of existence. For the very nature of existence is two-fold. It is like the old riddle of the man who has never made a decision in his life. Obviously, this man decided not to decide! In the scheme of mortal life, even the negatives or the not-doings are loaded with their own implications. The point is we must face the fact that life is up to us.

Furthermore, we must equip ourselves with the power of as much insight as possible. We must do this, for our quality of life depends directly upon what we think and/or know. Although I must say, that the two are certainly not mutually exclusive, for what we think we know but do not know, or what we think we do not know but actually do know, fulfills the prophesy of itself whether or not it is true as the mind makes it true. So, thinking and knowing often make for strange and even quite combative bedfellows. Thus, one can see why finding a place of solid convictions about what one believes of good and evil is so essential. Because the mind is a wily creature that is never quite honest with itself about what it knows and even thinks or perceives. Having convictions is one of the starting points to living one's life. Hence we will now explore the various ways in which "evil" is defined.

First and foremost, there are two main branches of phenomenology. The 1st is the world of direct sensory experience, or the physical, material realm which we also refer to as the external world. The 2nd is the non-direct, abstruse, intangible realm of what we sometimes call the 6th sense of experience or intuition, and subjective perception, or most comprehensively what is offered up as that delectable, ever variegating smorgasbord of the human condition and experience. The first we can summarize and label "The Heart of the Matter," and the second, by doing a little flip-flop we can call it, 'The Matter of the Heart." And although the two subjects are generally mutually exclusive and cannot happily and peacefully coexist in one distinct and set template of observation, they seem to both desire the undivided attention of the mind and cannot be denied one for the other.

The lattermost phenomenon is what makes Sartre's ' 'Irrational Man" such a comical and equally compelling and often tragic character. It is also why we spend most of our lives not being what we are, but instead spend a good portion of it in keeping the duality within our being which it causes, in proper perspective. In continuum, it is only after we have learned to keep it all up in the air in a consistent cycle of suspension that we can throw more pins into the juggling act. The only way we can be at our best is in fueling the energy normally used in sponsoring our worst towards becoming better and better at being our best. And as with any goal in life, perfect 20/20 hindsight is more often than not, a nonentity.

Thus, a certain point must be reached through the natural process of living in order to first come to those insights essential to successful pursuit of our task. For if the sun knew of the rain beforehand, it just might steal all the clouds away. And if the prey always outsmarted the predator, well, I suppose that is self-explanatory. Which brings us into the 2nd most controversial definition of what evil is and is not. Heraclitus, the ancient Greek philosopher, was the first recorded to stress the significance of the interdependence of each thing to another in our universe. The way he saw it, evil did not exist. Instead, Heraclitus reasoned, that all things, just the way they were created to be, were good and quite harmonious in fact.

And concepts such as the pleasant, soothing reverberations of the term "harmonious" are not what we conventionally ascribe as synonymous with the concept of evil. This was the ahead-of-his-time genius that was apparent in these higher observations. It parallels what would come later in the first Chapter of the book of Genesis which stated that God saw all He had made and saw that it was good. Heraclitus managed to sound both logical and intuitive, respectably modern and appealingly primitive at the same time without compromising either. And Heraclitus was even perhaps the unembodiment of that anomaly hanging askance, the essence of Sartre's "Irrational Man."

Perhaps he had the secret to the art of reconciling coherence with contradiction in the human soul and mind. If he had, it is a loss indeed that he did not illuminate upon that or set that on record as well. This perhaps would have altered the course of human history itself'. Nonetheless, what Heraclitus did contribute to the leagues of ideology has given a very feasible alternative way in which to avoid the inherent dangers of fundamentalist theological conjecture and fanaticism. In a word, he showed us a good way of thinking of the bad. Furthermore, what other ways are there to define evil besides the Gnostic Manichean two-fold way of good vs. bad as light vs. darkness, respectively?

There are the Chinese forces of yin and yang, or feminine vs. masculine, respectively. The feminine force, or yin, is thought to be the passive, negative force and the yang, the positive, dominant force in the universe. Just another way to give us females a bad name. And this is not far from the synthesis with the majority view of what evil and good are. It is true that in most religions, a parallelism with the Judeo-Christian concept of a benevolent, creative deity and force existing in opposition with an antithetical, destructive nemesis exists. It shows a highly corresponding probability with the naturalistic characterization of evil and good into specific phenomenal laws.

Now, let me speculate abstractly upon what other possible ways in which evil can be defined. Let us totally reverse it for speculation. What if everything we now call good is evil and everything we now call evil is good? Oh, wait! This has already been said and done! No, it is being done as we speak! For the world calls bad, good and good, bad. I just hope I haven't committed the one unpardonable sin of blasphemy! May lightning not strike me now. But for speculation, what if all that we have been taught is wrong? Contrary to popular sentiment, I really don't think that humans need to be inundated with guilt inducing notions of damnation or salvation to be able to live decent, healthy lives. For many who see good and evil in different ways, even including God, are living virtuous upstanding lives. But the first commandment holds me to it: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." And so it seems that I am already stuck in my ways. But I will do my best to transcend this very common human tendency, nonetheless.

Furthermore, another way evil can be defined is by calling it all of those words, body language and deeds or non-actions that get in the way of good being manifested through us and in the world. In this version, evil is the distraction vying for our attention at the expense of any mode of being and living which will promote the best things to be had and manifested during each our own human experience. Evil taketh away from all of the joy and peace that focusing upon and bringing about the good can bring. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, Satan is in competition with God for not only souls, but for disciples and followers. And whomever we choose to devote our utmost attention to, our souls will become property of as well.

There is the Scripture that one cannot serve two masters. And there is the Scripture that God is a jealous God. Then there is the Scripture which speaks of the tactics of the devil increasing, as the time is short on the earth for this age old battle. And evil does not always have to manifest itself in dramatically violent or catastrophic ways. In other words, the force of evil is at hand in very subtle ways as well. For example, there is the notion of good that one refrains from doing as being in itself an act of direct, although usually unconscious, evil. In fact, evil can be seen in its most pervasive form as a general apathy and indifference towards life. It is the apocryphal, deadly sin of sloth, sloth in physical motivation and slothery of mind and heart.

In the Judeo-Christian scriptures, God talks about spitting the lukewarm out of His mouth, for God rather prefers that we get excited about this existence which He has granted to us to do His works. Hence, passion, contrary to its typical controversial connotations, is a virtue in kind, and reserve, a sin. However, it is important to note that when I say "passion" I mean the purest form of it of course. The passion for pursuing the fruits of the spirit rather than those of the so-called "flesh." And likewise, if one is indifferent towards the right things, then lukewarm-edness is justified in God's eyes. For example, if I have a tendency to refrain from fornication then, although it would be rare for me not to naturally feel a desire for it, to cultivate and affect enough of an apathetic attitude towards it is serving the highest good for myself, God and others.

It is, for the most part, how we need to look at different things which will determine how our lives fair. Hence, the subtler ways in which the devil plies his trade are often the most effective and the most insidious. Often, to sum it up, evil is coddled by what is not said or done-in passivity. Much like the Chinese theology of yin which I mentioned earlier, with the feminine, passive force of the universe being seen also as the evil or negative, destructive force. This way of viewing what 'evil' is basically says that anything which somehow hinders or interferes directly or indirectly with any good that could be allowed to manifest itself, is evil. cannot be rushed. We must allow all to unfold as it naturally is wont to do. Live intuitively and get right with nature and all will be well.

And in truth, perhaps Anarchism is merely a more politicized & radicalized variation of Taoist sentiment, and likewise is Taoism a variant of spiritualized Anarchism. Furthermore, it could be argued that 'wildness' or 'savagery' is not an inciting or invocation of applied will. It is a giving in, a surrender to. For we are, wild of nature. We have always been and always will be. Thus, we must just give in to it. And the fact of the matter is, an embrace of primitivity is not what turns us into savages, but a denial of our raw, pure naturality. That is to say, that there is a certain savagery to civility. We are kidding ourselves when we point the finger at the methodology of communal refinement and cosmopolitan acculturation as the antithesis of man's moral deficiency and worldly afflictions of body, mind and soul.

And it is delightfully contrary to what the majority otherwise believes, that the very neglect of that so-called 'animal within' by the tyrannical demands of spurious attempts at socialization and fanatical homogeneity are the cause of every single ill which we instead project onto only our 'inferior' pre-historic (although this is a misnomer, for that, too, is a part of our history) identity, which causes so much estrangement from all that man can become, for the cause of good. We can transcend our nature only if we first learn to recognize it and let it be, peacefully, what it is. For in letting it be, we gain control over its inevitable tyranny over us.

Furthermore, over the years, many social, political and even material scientists have, through endless research, validated this hypothesis for themselves. Yet we still go on castigating the wrong enemy. For we do not believe that we can preserve our cultivated intellectuality, efficiency or sufficiency, while also kneeling at the shrine of our primordial leanings. To a certain degree, this is a legitimate anxiety, but only if one caters to only the superfluous surface interpretation of the human entity. This brings us to another derivative of our fear of all things archaic. Simply put, most people dare to go only so deep. Most persons go to great lengths to quiet that abysmal, esoteric entity's voice whenever it speaks to us from its dark, dank depths. But it reminds us, even the darkness is borne of the light. It could not exist without it.

And we have nothing to fear, for it brings one into a world and a way of experiencing which emanates with the light of a Truth very much its own. A light and Truth that is unlike anything we will ever know or crave again, once we have surrendered to it. A Truth and light which was borne of the Creator of both the light and the darkness, who Himself is light. The holy God created all of the transcendental and unrivalled wonders of our existence and the universe. The lights beneath which contemporary man gleans his esteem and spirit are not only glaring and deceptive, but in the end, are very unflattering to his

image as a human whole, and perhaps this is why we still have not returned home to ourselves.

For it is assured that while man is in the light, he transports with him always, a mirror into which he can look with pitiable conceit upon his so-called superior self. And when the light turns, revealing the true form he has, all along, reflected to himself, others and his God, he forgets in his fright and rage, that even this self is just an image reflected by a different light. And he attempts to murder the whole self which he sees, only to end up with shards of glass in his third eye, and another seven years of bad luck to boot. For this has never ceased, this cycle of self-delusion and awakening, since his beginning.

As a matter of course, people the world over are serving time as we speak within this prison of the ideal self. Overall, we will never as a world community, get out. But we can choose to end the vicious cycle for ourselves. And when we do this we are also allowing for the Truth in others to shine forth. And this is the greatest, most civil, progressive accomplishment we can hope to achieve. For we are truly allowing our self, all of it, to be and to live. And nothing but the Truth, the whole Truth can set us free.

TRUE VIRTUE

Certain character traits and virtues once celebrated, nurtured and honoured have become increasingly denigrated and devalued. In Susan Cain's seminal best-selling book “Quiet: The Power of Introverts In A World That Can't Stop Talking”, she expounds upon the impacts that the industrial revolution has had upon society and Western culture.

The impacts which she speaks of mainly refer to those of a more 'intangible' nature. She makes a brilliant deduction about how those inward virtues and qualities of character which used to be respected and venerated, with the boom of a more commercialistic, and extroverted society rather than an agrarian and more pastoral one, began to become unpopular and less and less 'desirable.'

For example, purity of heart or 'congruency' and sincerity of intention in today's society and culture are often disparagingly regarded as being infantile, weak and 'soft-headed.' Although as anyone who possesses a true sense of things of a more philosophical and humanistic nature knows, the moral courage required to remain virtuous in an increasingly depraved world, takes the toughest-minded as well as the softest-hearted amongst humankind to actualize its vision.

Inward life, self-reflection, contemplation and the like, it seems, have fallen out of favour. Post-industrialist society is more about transient and hollow impersonations than it is about authenticity and integrity and depth of personality and character. It's more about instant gratification rather than tenacity and dedication.

Moreover, things have, as explored by Susan Cain, become less and less about the 'inner world' and more about the 'outer world.' And I believe this to be partly due to the human tendency to resist anything that one deems to be too frightening, or painful to acknowledge, especially as it relates to the inward psyche of each individual.

Of course, there are as many variations of the human 'species' as there are in the 'animal' kingdom, thus, self-reflection, more generally referred to as 'introspection' comes easier to some than to others. I myself, personally am more afraid of allowing the 'outer world' to master me, and thus have always sought to cultivate my inward personage and character.

And, I also happen to enjoy the process of contemplation, often intensely. Thus, different strokes, as they say. We must beware the devil's tactics to exalt those qualities which deserve our contempt or pity, and seek to honour and cultivate those inward virtues which make the world a much better and much safer place for our having been in it.

THE PEOPLE-WRANGLERS VS. THE PEOPLE WHISPERERS:

ON OVERT & COVERT LEADERS

There are two types of leaders in this world: Overt Leaders & Covert Leaders. Overt leaders are the types whose influence is both immediate & obvious.

Covert leaders are those types of people who lead without others even being aware that they are being led. Indeed this latter kind, are often unaware themselves, of the influence which they have upon others.

And interestingly, most Overt Leaders are more often than not the types who prefer to be led from without, by other Overt Leaders.

And most Covert Leaders prefer to be led from within themselves, preferring instead, a more systematic & subtle approach with others.

We are all learners & we are all teachers, each in our own ways. And there is more than one way be 'proactive' in life.

And whether or not you are a People Whisperer, or a People Wrangler, there is only one cliched yet tried-and still true mainstay you need to keep in mind: Stay true to yourself & you can't go wrong.

MANICHEAN MECHANICS

We learn compassion through surviving cruelty.

We learn peace through surviving discord.

We learn wisdom only after enduring senselessness.

We learn how to see only after being blind for so long.

We learn how to hear & to speak only after we've been silenced.

We learn how to be generous only in destitution.

We learn humility through humiliation.

We learn progression through oppression.

We learn how to be free only in bondage.

We learn how to love after the devastation of hate.

We learn how to serve others after the pain of isolation.

We learn to feel again after numbness hurts too much.

In the end, although Evil is a very real & destructive force, it, too, is under the rule of a Perfect & Holy God.

Even the Darkness serves the Light.

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