A World Without Sin Would Be Terribly Dull

Many pray for a world without sin, but such a world would never advance to achieve anything noteworthy.   Temptation drives us to strive beyond our basic physical needs.  Greed that drives economies.   Sensual pleasure is behind our luxury accommodations and dining choices.  Power and all that comes with it has been a force behind all human interaction.  Noble values are there but are drowned out by the bright lights and sounds of modern temptations.

 

Removing the temptation does not remove the sin.   Outlawing a human behavior has never stopped anything.  Outlaw booze and more people drink.   Outlaw drugs and the drug deaths skyrocket.  Outlaw medical treatment like abortion --- it will happen anyway and with far more dire outcomes.  The only way to alter behavior is to change the human heart, not by painting the behavior as black and sinful and something all decent people avoid.  Instead we work better when we find positive reasons to alter our actions.

 

Tobacco use has fallen drastically, not because it has been outlawed, but because society found strong positive reasons not to smoking.  Not only is it unhealthy for the user, but finally science proved that it was just as dangerous to all those exposed.  Hotels, restaurants, airlines and rental car companies have discovered the money saving bliss of not having to empty ashtrays, steam clean upholstery and replace items with cigarette burns.

 

One treatment of sinners remains: shunning.   In the past it was believed that a sinner's sin would contaminate anyone who came into contact with the sinner.  It was believed, for instance, that leprosy afflicted the sinful and contact would spread the disease.  Which, of course, was true.  And also totally wrong.  Sin is sin and leprosy (Hansen's Disease) is caused by bacteria.  While we might assume that any shunning of sinners was currently limited to the wacky folks on the Christian right, in fact, there is ample proof that Karenism is the new leprosy.

 

All those people who went out of their way to gain attention while making someone else's life miserable, those now dubbed "Karens," have found their lives upended by a few thoughtless moments in public.   Jobs lost, marriages ended, blocked by friends, ridiculed worldwide with a total loss of anonymity.  They might as well be required to ring a bell and yell "unclean" as they pass through Walmarts.

 

Perhaps the reaction is more than is necessary to make the point, but we must all accept that we live in a world of cameras and microphones.  If you give vent to your innate bigotry and hatred in a public space you should expect it to be recorded and broadcast.  Be sure your outburst is going to be worth it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No Kings Rally 18 October

I dread seeing patriotic flag displays on houses, cars and clothes.   It's now more likely to come from a fascist traitor.

I no longer identify as Christian because I don't want any possible connection to the current brand of Christian Nationalism, the rise of Evilangelicals and the heresy of the "Prosperity Gospel."

And now I choose the bear.   I was raised to fear black men, but quickly figured out they are the nice ones.  It's white guys, especially the younger ones, who scare me.

My ancestors helped found this country.  One signed the Declaration of Independence.  Another hosted Lafayette and Washington before the Battle of the Brandywine.  Colonel Noah Phelps entered Fort Ticonderoga as a trader, got a shave, and detailed the fort's layout to Washington. 

I was raised to be patriotic, not performatively, but as an actual core belief.  I was raised to be a devout Episcopalian, but that meant a thorough understanding of Christian history and theology.  Sadly I have come to realize that Jesus had some nice ideas that no one now actually believes.

I am lucky to know many diverse men, and have met very few who are fully toxic.   But the ones who infect our culture with their misogyny and patriarchy have had an outsized effect, tarnishing all men.

So it's time for me to honour my ancestry and spiritual beliefs.  I plan to be at the rally in LaVale, MD on Saturday.  Big or small, near or far, come out to reclaim the soul of the United States of America.

Christianity Lost Its Way At The Council Of Nicea

 

I had long ago lost interest in the church history, but recently I have reflected on the fact that I really don't believe much in the Nicene Creed.

I believe in one God,

the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.

I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come.   Amen.

Much more compact and makes far fewer assumptions.  Once I realized how little of the Creed I still supported I started looking at the Council of Nicea.  Please see 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxQCrdsFYNQ&t=184s

For some reason I can't make this link to to YouTube. 

I had long suspected that was the problem, those damned bloody interfering Romans!  Jesus  never ever intended to found a worldwide system of hegemonic domination.  Jesus returned to Palestine after more than a decade in India to spread the message of the Buddha to the people of Judea, but carefully nuanced to fit with the local Hebrew population.  It did not work out well in the end.

The message of universal connectivity and the acceptance of the oneness that is GDW was lost in the morass of Roman overlordship of the always unruly Jews.  By 325 CE an unholy alliance of power and politics had completely drowned out Jesus' actual message, replacing it it with one of abject obedience to the will of the Roman Catholic Church.

As with all things human, power corrupts.  Absolute power corrupts absolutely.  Everything that has always been wrong with Christianity is still bloody wrong with it.  We still have mass panics like Rapture 2025 caused by idiotic interpretations of dubious scripture.  I just can not be a Nicene Christian anymore.  Hence my exploration of Gnosticism.

 

Can Shunning Be Compassionate?

If nine people willingly sit down with a Nazi there are ten Nazis at the table.

Like so many these days I have to deal with people I truly love turning out to be bigoted assholes.  They have joined the Cult of the Baddies.  I have to remind myself that I do not want to hurt them, but neither can I give tacit approval to their unhinged ideas.

I confess there's that part of me looking for schadenfreude, imagining groveling apologies and abject humiliation when my views are finally vindicated.  I am only human after all.

We are called to look after one another, but not necessarily to sacrifice ourselves.  Ultimately there is no self, but in this world of dichotomies I need to find a path that serves the needs of as many as possible.

So I am looking at this with compassion.  If I contact any of these people I am not likely to avoid a confrontation which will only serve to further erode our relationship.  Ultimately at this stage the kindest thing I can do is cut contact and remember this isn't out of anger.   It is out of love.

Zen Gnosticism & Other Beliefs

  

"...To let understanding stop at what cannot be understood is a high attainment.   

Those who cannot do it will be destroyed on the lathe of heaven."  

 Chuang Tse: XXIII (3.0) 

 

My favorite quote again.  Most religions try too hard to answer too much, answering with certainty when they haven't a clue what the answer is.   Rather than deny other religions, Zen Gnosticism includes all human knowledge from all times, all places, all races.   No system has all the answers, so Zen Gnosticism leaves room for the unknown.  Zen Gnosticism is content to shrug and accept that we don't know nor should the drive for knowledge be allowed to push us to madness.

As a Zen Gnostic I think of religion like the children's stories humans have always told to teach important life lessons.   Religious myths and folk beliefs are treasured cultural archives, but humans wrote them, all of them.  Can't humans be influenced by God to transmit His will via human communication?

Well, of course GDW can influence us, but how do we tell the difference between the genuine inspired word of the Divine and a malignant narcissistic?  Our species has a long history with religious delusion that has resulted in bigotry, hypocrisy, and the worst abuses ever recorded.  

Being skeptical of one's beliefs is healthy.  It does not mean you lack faith.  It means you do not lack common sense.  Consider the people who are fooled repeatedly by Rapture hoaxes.  I think I am on my fourth Rapture and looking for another one to start tomorrow.

No matter big you think your God is, GDW includes yours.  

 

 

 

 

 

Crossing the River Dao

So yet another analogy.   Imagine the flow of Dao like that of a great river.  This is the moving current of life.  Upon birth we enter on one back and swim until we reach the far bank.  The question is:  Do we aim for straight across and fight the current all the way?  Or do we angle our course, swimming with the current while aiming for some point further down the far bank?

 

Lao Tzu describes the Dao as being like water.  Nothing is more gentle and life giving.  Then again nothing is more powerful, eroding stone and sweeping away all in its path.  To be with the Dao is to be like water.  Flowing constantly, always finding one's own level, moving inexorably to join the greater whole.  To be one with the Dao is to achieve Christianity's "peace which passeth all understanding."

 

There are no shortcuts to the far bank.  Life is life.  You can fight the current or flow with it. 

Zen Gnosticism Is Simple

I am no religious scholar and now in my latter years I have neither the time nor the resources to engage in exhaustive research.  So, like every religion and philosophy in human history, I can pick and choose what I add to my Zen Gnostic beliefs.

Daoism Is What

The Dao De Ching takes about 45 minutes to read and 45 years to understand even a fraction of it.  The Dao is the cosmic Force (yes, like the one from Star Wars).   From Daoism I take the concept of the Dao and the practice of Wu Wei.

Buddhism Is How

Much of my Zen Gnostic practice stems from Buddhism, which itself was influenced by Daoism.  Hence, my use of Zen.

Meditation is a core practice of Buddhism, as it is for Daoists.  There are no specific deities mentioned in either early texts.   The way to peace here and a shorter route through the Hedge Maze beyond can be achieved on your own without resort to priests and rituals, unless you find those cultural aspects of value.

Gnosticism Is Why

This isn't restricted to specific early Christian texts.  I include beliefs from the Greco-Roman philosophers, such as the Stoics.

That early pre-Nicean Jesus is very likely to have spent more than a decade studying in India, learning from yogis, lamas and other learned people.  Read through the eyes of someone who is looking beyond the edges, the story of Jesus takes on poignant new meaning.  It really was about being a good person who looks after others.

 

Zen Gnosticism 

Humans have a terrible habit of complicating even the most simple things.   We create huge pantheons of deities that must be appeased.  We add dominions of minions -- saints, angels, devils, demons, Jinn, Kami, fairies, sprites, elves, monsters, etc.  We then create priests, ministers, shamans, each with their own hierarchies who interpose themselves between us and the deities and their minions.  And those who are doing the work of standing between us and the divine require special buildings, special clothes and special rituals which cost money.  And then the whole thing evolves into yet another human greed fest.

 

I want to find a better way.  Just a single force which I call GDW.  Meditation to clear our links to the divine, allowing the current to flow through us and letting us go with the flow of GDW.  If we focus on doing the right thing for the right reason at the right time, wu wei will guide us to the best course of action.

 

Knowing that the cycle is ongoing and ever-changing we can drop our fear of death, both for ourselves and others.  We know we control nothing but ourselves, and that there is no point in worrying about things beyond our control.  Instead we focus on what we can do, rather than what we can not do, and we ignore anything that doesn't actually affect us.