Collected Essays of Valerie Lynn Stephens (Part 2)

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ISBN: 978-1-365-35197-6

©2021 Valerie Lynn Stephens

THE EDENIC SCENE: AN EGEGETICAL SUMMATION

The tree of knowledge of good & evil is not merely symbolic of the inherent tendency of we human beings to stray from the will of God, but is also an allegorical representation of the “fall” from innocence & ignorance of both the good & evil within ourselves & within the world at large into the full prescience of these phenomena & of our inherent human weakness in the face of them. The “forbidden fruit” thus also symbolizes the epistemological and ontological limits God has placed upon humankind (us).

In essence, God is saying to us: “Surrender yourselves to my Sovereignty & Superiority alone or perish. Only I know all & can safely & effectively guide you through this mortal human life. You must therefore pay the consequences or “sin wages” for attempting to know what I know, as this is simply beyond that which you are able to handle, & I am your heavenly Father, & your eternal protector.” (Psalm 2:11-12 “Serve the Lord with fear & trembling lest he be angry with you & you be destroyed in your own way...”)

Thus, God is not some “Petty-Tyrant-In-The-Sky-God-Nazi-On-A-PowerTrip” or metaphysical fascist merely making rules which he knows full well human beings cannot & will not follow just so he can derive sadistic pleasure from torturing us or “punishing” us. That would be creating God in our image, as we can all attest to human beings behaving in this way from time to time. Rather, it is a matter of Him guiding us in the most fruitful & safest direction & teaching us the way to go so that, through our hard-learned surrender to Him & submission to His will, we can reap the fruits of true & everlasting Joy & Fulfillment. (Ezekiel 33:11 “As surely as I live,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways & live...”) (Romans 2:11 “For God does not show favourtism.”) For God does not wish to harm us, but to prosper us & to preserve us. (Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you; plans to prosper you & not to harm you.”)

Furthermore, although it remains to be self-evident that we are self-evidently limited in that which we can know & could benefit from knowing, there are, of course, provisions made for humankind to have some limited access to God's knowledge & His wisdom. For He must afford us some advancement in that we might be best equipped & honoured with the task of fulfilling His plans for the good of all & everything. (Psalm 18:30 “As for God, His way is perfect; the Word of the Lord is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.”) Yet ultimately, the eating of that forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden in & of itself is not the problem. Rather, the root of all human ills & depravity lies at the heart of how we fail to recognize “why” we have been granted that which God has granted us & how we “sin” (“hamartia” (Greek): to fall short of the mark) & fail to properly employ it.

And this is where that demarcation between “knowledge” & “wisdom” is most sharply drawn. For as God's Word tells us, all are privy to the wisdom of God who are willing to submit to God's will for its subsequent employment & engagement in & with the outside world. All in all, a loss of innocence (a gaining of knowledge) or “the fall” of humankind is not merely an intractable aspect of the human experience & condition itself, but is, in fact, a necessity as it pertains to the gradual spiritual refinement & salvation of each individual. For the loss of innocence, or the gaining of worldly awareness & indeed, even world savvy is necessary to cultivate to a certain degree within the psyche of each individual in that we may live most wisely & honestly. It is also significant to build up within ourselves so that we may successfully navigate the world towards the ends of our own self-preservation as it pertains to the higher good (or righteousness) & God's will.

Ultimately, becoming equally aware of or “mature of mind” to both “good & evil” is a prerequisite in order that we may defeat those evil forces which seek to deceive & blind us to their methods & means. Yet, we must also keep in mind, that evil can only truly be defeated with good in the end. (1 Peter 5:8 “Be self-controlled & alert. Your enemy the devil prowls about like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers in Christ throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”) (Romans 12:21 “Do not be overcome by evil; rather, overcome evil with good.”)

Hence, although we must wisely heed the call to grant the realization & vigilance of both good and evil equal deference & equanimity, the only true way to defeat the devil is to take ownership & inventory of the darkness which always resides deep within our own human recesses of desire & potentiality. (Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned & fall short the glory of God.”) Indeed, we all must, in our own way, and much like that of Christ Himself, descend to each our own Hades, if we are to not only know the enemy which we battle against daily, but if we are to have ultimate victory through Christ's power over him. Integration thus, is always key concerning both our virtue & our vice, as both light & darkness depend upon one another for their fullest actualization.

In finale, we must also remember, that integration of our “shadow” or our “dark side” does not necessarily have to entail a full embrace or a complete engulfment by or immersion into its goading & callings. For wholeness, if we are seeking it in the righteous place through the Holy God & His Spirit & will themselves, is intrinsically synonymous with goodness & with eternal moral victory & salvation, not that further dehumanization, demoralization & fragmentation which this current world, ruled as it is by evil, can offer.

Therefore in closing, we must: (Ephesians 6:10-18 “Finally, be strong in the Lord & in His mighty power. Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil & his schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh & blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world & against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground & after you have done everything to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, & with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all of this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation & the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers & requests. With this in mind, be alert & always keep on praying for all the saints.”

A MOMENTARY LIGHT AFFLICTION

"We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed but not despairing, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed. Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary light affliction is producing for us, an eternal light of glory far beyond all comparison." (2 Corinthians 4:16- 17)

“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13)

“...being confident of this one thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6)

The search and fulfillment of naturalistic human longing & desire often leads to the unleashing of some kind of evil or deleterious effect. Therefore, the question is: Should one keep oneself safely confined within the barbed-wire bounds of worldly abnegation or puritanical asceticism and thus quite bound within moralistic “freedom” from the flesh, or unleash oneself in sublimative actuality, thus risking both infernal & eternal engulfment? Indeed, sometimes it often seems that the whole task of this human experience & existence is in learning how to surrender, how to let go & submit ourselves to the will of The Lord. For more & more, & contrary to common wisdom, the older we get the more vulnerable we become-not the less. And here is where the message of 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 comes keenly into focus: That His power is made perfect through our weakness.

Truly, we must all continue to relearn that fine, higher art of finding strength only in utter vulnerability before God, man & those "spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12)". I think one of the main obstacles we continually put before ourselves is in how we have been conditioned by the phenomenon of socialization (the wounds that others have left us with) to fear that submission to the orthopraxis of humility will only lead to humiliation. And all things considered, some other people will exploit us in this way, but most people will not, if anything, because they are beholden to the same vulnerabilities & fears that we are. As someone once observed, “Fear keeps us sane.”

Furthermore, we all, as God's progeny, fear the loss of our eternal souls through that uniquely human quest to quell the flames of the flesh & its never-ending yearning for unbridled sensual indulgence. Yet the Holy Writ again consoles us with the reminder that he or she who wishes to be released from most mortal vagaries must first, and quite paradoxically, submit first to self-abnegation (at least, to be sure, as it concerns one's originally "sinful" nature). However, this is also not to be confused with the escapist sentiments of Eastern mysticism, as they believe there is no “self” to abnegate believing in no such thing in an individualistic way.

And yet, that soundness of mind granted to us through the Holy Spirit clarifies this issue by revealing to us how we must first agree to the relative enslavements of moral prudence if we can receive the rather misnamed “unconditional” gifts of both adequate comfort & prosperity here on Earth & absolution & reward to come in heaven. For ultimately, the Scripture very explicitly calls us to submission to the will of the Lord most pressingly, if we are to breach the transcendence of Eternality which will be granted to those who belong to him. (1 John 3:4-6 "But you know that he appeared that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.")

Moreover, keeping a disciplined & vigilant mind's eye on Eternity as we wrestle with Temporality is again, perhaps the highest, noblest & most sweepingly epic quest of humankind. And, for adequate hermeneutic synthesis, God offers these words (and all others throughout Scripture taken in holistic context): “We are afflicted in every way but not crushed, perplexed but not despairing, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed. Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary light affliction is producing for us, an eternal light of Glory far beyond all comparison So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal..” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

Although it is true that the more a human being becomes what Carl Jung termed "psycho-spiritually" edified or evolved, the more they will, by virtue, become more endangered in a worldly sense. However, this is all a test (and perhaps the ultimate test) of our faith & fortitude. And, from a strictly Darwinian perspective, of course, many of this line of thinking mistakenly believe that as an organism complexifies & develops itself, the more of an advantage it has, or the less vulnerable it becomes. However, the human experience itself testifies to the fallacy of such thinking.

In continuum, as noted above, we do seem to grow increasingly more vulnerable as we age & increase in both fleshly infirmity & in our worldly and spiritual knowledge & wisdom. This is perhaps exactly what lends the choice of truth over inscience and growth over stagnation, their concomitant virtue & spiritual merit. As one rabbi put it: “A truly devout man cannot be ignorant.” And, as the Holy Writ declares it thus: “But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation-if you continue in your faith established & firm, not moved from the hope held out in the Gospel.” (Colossians 2:22) Yet, we must also take heed of the Scripture which warns us of the accumulation of too much secular knowledge at the expense of higher truth & wisdom: “Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them (the Word of God). Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body. (Ecclesiastes 12:12)

Thus, in all things, he merely guides us towards moderation & a healthy, fruitful balance when we submit ourselves to His will & Law. Ah, again it reigns true that there is an ill for every scripture & a scripture for every ill. How sweet & satiating is the bread of the Word of God evermore. It goes down to the inmost parts, rooting out every toxic tare. (John 6:51 "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever.") Nevertheless, when the battle scars of the human soul's earthly pilgrimage are felt upon the phantom limbs of memory, clarity can so easily become obfuscated. Sometimes we begin to doubt where we are in our Journey, & if we are on the right path. Some days are better than others, as the adage goes. It’s part & parcel of the human condition and our inherent limitations.

On darker days like these, we may be tempted to draw that black, velveteen cloak of Apathy, Nihilism & Inertia back up 'round us again, letting it all fall away. And yet, the paradox is, that it is in these very moments of letting it all go, that we find inner sanctity, wholeness & balance once again. We can find peace & consolation through every word that comes from the mouth of God, & through every promise we can have faith will return unto us, a recompense for our earthly spiritual victories & casualties. (“...man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” Deuteronomy 8:3) Because it is only when we are weary beyond that of our own will & power, that The Lord God is made perfect in His strength within us.

In essence, we must let go, to hold on in this life. And oftentimes, it seems a slight embarrassment that the basic human rights we should just be able to take for granted, are denied us, & no less, by our very own selves. Even I used to believe in self-improvement. Now, I believe in self-acceptance-but even better yet, I believe in submission to the will of He alone who saves. (Matthew 7:21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord', will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.") The Greek theological term for this process of emptying the self, often used in relation to the attributes of Christ Himself is “kenosis.” For again, paradoxically, we must lose our lives to save them. We must lose our “self” to redeem them. (John 12:25- 26 "The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; & where I am my servant will be also. My Father will honour the one who serves me.")

Popular psychology tells us, in so many words & in so many of its ways that we must “bolster our self-esteem” & “assert our basic human right to happiness & fulfillment.” But where these secularist philosophies fall short is that they place far too much power & competence in the hands of human beings who can never live up to these things-at least, not for long. Don't get me wrong, yes, we do have a right to be whole, & to be loved, but only as far as we surrender ourselves to the only source that can adequately offer this to us: The Grace of our Heavenly Father & atonement through His Son Jesus Christ. For we must always bear in mind that we will reap only what we sow.

If someone were to ask me why I believed that Judeo-Christianity was the one & only true religion & adequate philosophy to devote my discipleship to, I would merely say: “Quite frankly, because it is the only religion that holds each & every one of us fully morally accountable for our life choices & lifestyles.” In other words, I am a disciple of Judeo-Christianity precisely because it is the least reasonable road to take (at least inasmuch as we each now dwell in a "buy-now-pay-later" actuality). I suppose a proper play on words would be that such a belief is augmented by a kind of theological "credo quia absurdum", if you will. And of course, the reasons for my believing what I believe by no means stop at this.

More plainly spoken, I know I am on the right path when I am in adherence to Judeo-Christian principles, every word of the Lord God proves its absolute inerrancy time & again. We have all felt that mysteriously compelling yet serenely superconductive life force when The Holy Spirit is once more ennobled within us once again, & we suddenly feel the full weight of Jesus' words, bearing that lighter yoke as it relates to our human condition & mortality. It is undeniably a feeling unlike any other (& with no egregious bodily harm & after-effects, I might add). Furthermore, one thing we all come to learn (if we are showing up for class) is how we simply cannot, while on this earth & in this stricken & infirm human condition, cease being wounded. We indeed, must take up the cross of each our own sufferings & afflictions. (Matthew 16:34 "If anyone would come after me, he must take up his own cross & follow me.")

Thus must we learn very quickly, no matter how difficult it might be, that highest art of all arts: How to remain malleable in the face of the call of raw survivalist mentalities, which goad us on to harden ourselves, & to become intractable. In other words, we must stay open to our humanity & especially, our vulnerability, if we are to reap the benefits of this life's fullest & truest purpose as it relates to the life to come. This is why, after all, Satan has set up the world to humiliate & persecute any & all displays of true emotional honesty & transparency. It is because he knows that the conduits of the heart & the Spirit are the only ways we human beings of God's splendid design can fruitfully experience the metaphysical.

This, too, I have learned thus far upon my journey towards he who dwells in that unapproachable Light spoken of in the Scripture: (1 Timothy 6:16: “...(Christ) who alone is immortal & lives in unapproachable light whom no one has seen nor can see.”): We cannot harden our hearts. We must stay in touch with feelings. Of course, feelings balanced by that moral reason & soundness which can be found only through dwelling in the absolute truth of God in each our daily wanderings. And the Evil One knows how difficult it is for us to do this, as he knows we also possess a keenly disturbing sentience of the method of demonic entities also afflicting us through our human emotionality. It is one of the most harrowing & often ravaging things we must vow to ourselves, but it is well worth it, once yet another battle has been won through Christ from within ourselves over the forces of this dark world.

Yet we also must remember that, as the old common colloquialism goes: It ain't over 'til it's over! We will suffer until the end of our mortal days. This is the burden we all must bear willingly & fully if we are to bear that fruit which brings complete nourishment & resurrection unto God's Kingdom. “For you were once in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness, righteousness & Truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.” (Ephesians 5:8-11). We all grow faint & weary, but as long as we look inward in complete humility & honesty at ourselves through the eyes of our Lord, asking Him through prayer & supplication to root out any possible evil in us, we will, in due time (in His time), mount up with wings as eagles.

So, the next time we torment ourselves in doubt: Have I even made any progress? Or am I just deluded, seeing only what I want to see? When will this end? The Lord will always answer us, when we are ready to receive him: “...being confident in this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6) No human on the face of this planet has no obstacles to overcome within themselves, despite the facade of those whom we often perceive are not in tune with the truth & the light within themselves & yet deceptively act as if they are. But again, the Scripture also consoles us in any possible way we may need, not to envy those who triumph in their evil, for their ways will someday perish. (Psalm 37: 1-2) We must first humble ourselves before the shabby shrine of our human inadequacy & susceptibility if we are to someday be able to approach Him in His Holy dwelling.

Indeed, time & time again, He brings many prodigal sons & daughters home after many dark travails (even if most are taken along the road of one's own neurogeography) to realize that we can possess full power in & through Him only when we have surrendered to our own powerlessness. And we must be prepared, for many demons will indeed, rise up to slay us once we have fully committed again to our spiritual ripening & quickening in Christ. Yet we must “...continue to work out your (our) salvation in fear & trembling, for it is God who works in you (us) according to his good purpose.” (Philippians 2: 12-13)

All in all, perhaps one of the main purposes for our individual and collective human experience is to learn how to fall, surrendering ourselves only to all of the right things & for the right reasons. For even if our humanly (& yet beautifully) scarred psyches cannot see the fullness of His glory when we cannot access a feeling of worthiness or clarity within ourselves, nothing can separate us from the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is not dependent upon our perfection in order to bring His perfection into manifestation. After all, He tells us to be still & know that He is God. In finale, we all have been, according to The Lord God's perfect justice & design, equally blessed and equally cursed in each our own ways. Yet we still have a condition placed upon us in that we may receive salvation on the day of Christ's return. We are called to submit our will, despite the ways we might resist Him, in sincerity, humility & reverence towards the gradual actualization of the gifts & abilities He has granted to us.

Yet, & we all forget this too easily: We must do it in His name & according to only His Word & good plan. If it is said, at least according to secular (and, ultimately misleading) wisdom, that we cannot escape from the world, but must escape into it, let us acknowledge, with due diligence, our earthly & socio-political realities & responsibilities while carrying out the due diligence towards our spiritual stewardship. Only then can we fulfill the Holy adage to be in the world, but not of it. We will continue to “fall short of the mark” (Greek “hamartia”: sin, to fall short of the mark), yet Christ fulfilled our atonement when he made that epic descension to Hades as a condition of His divination.

Therefore, it is not perhaps so much that we, too, must descend to Hades so that we can someday become divine, but that we can work most gainfully towards our salvation only when we fully take up the yoke of submitting ourselves to the actualization of His will and His will alone. And although we also must keep in mind that what we feel we are missing out on in the way of earthly gratification & sensual indulgence, the Lord will some exultant day, more than compensate with the full reward of His promise of heavenly inheritance. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord; plans to prosper you & not harm you, plans to give you hope & a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11) “No eye has seen, nor ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)

MINDING THE HEART

"Follow your heart but take your brain with you."

-Alfred Adler

Bringing pain to others is inevitable. It is as inevitable as that of our own immanent mortality. For no matter whatever side we think ourselves to be on, that of God and doing good or that of the Devil and doing evil, can we ever avoid harming none? What is the way one should conduct oneself in Life? Should we let our passions and whims reign or Reason and so-called righteousness? But truly, some will inevitably get scathed in the process of that of each our own self-actualization & search for fulfillment. I think justice to be a subjective matter just as much as an objective, strictly abstract, legalistic matter and concept.

This is why perhaps we cannot live a life mapped perfectly out as to how to live or not live. Perhaps the true semblance of order and beauty breached is when we are just being, just living by that which we most naturally & authentically, are. Perhaps this is the only true virtue, paradoxically so, arises out of those moments when we are focused upon doing what we need to be & do first for ourselves & the cause of our own inward sustenance & balance. For true Altruism cannot be conceived, let alone born from the barren womb of Self-Neglect.

Furthermore, the most violent & insidious variations of Savagery, in actuality, often resides within Civility, or rather, within the heart of the socially engineered Beast. It is also a force external which enters into our minds, confounding us to our truest state of inherent Grace & Wholeness. And it comes from what I believe, as a follower of Judeo-Christianity, those “principalities unseen” (subatomic, "quantum" forces). For the human entity only wishes to harm itself &/or others when its most authentic self is stifled & so battered by the “outside” world, making us thus vulnerable to that fear, doubt and self-loathing which eventually becomes both imposed upon & exploited by others.

Thus perhaps as it so often turns out to be, the answer to how we should be or live our lives in a manner most conducive to the stoic causes of self-preservation, self-actualization & collective social interest is contrary to what the unbearded bards of Positivism so often tell us. In finale, perhaps authenticity of being is that one Virtue unmerited, & when left unheeded, is that one secret of the truest saints of this Earth. Perhaps self-acceptance in all of one's glory & infamy, is the one & only Master Key to those gates of Heaven residing both above & here below. For religiosity may indeed be dogmatically unsound, but a deep & abiding Spirituality knows that God & all things transcendent reside only beneath the seeming Chaos & exquisitely bewildering complexity of God's Creation.

We would do well to let our hearts be our mind and reserve for that reasoning organ, the Intellect, the task of minding the heart only when it has forgotten its true purpose, only when it has forgotten the logistics of its own inherent existential geography. For the answers are always there within us as they were breathed into us by our Sovereign Creator Himself. In the beginning, God created it all and saw that it was good. He still thinks so, but has left it up to us what we will choose to do with what He has granted us. Accountability rests squarely within each our own individual laps. What will we choose in this moment: good or evil? Eternity weighs itself without ceasing, upon this pole. For we all know that there is, indeed such a thing as absolute truth, & absolute "right or wrong" despite how we may have been misinformed.

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