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razorblade180 · 5 years

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An original story?

I finally have the time to answer the question @mrsevenplus7 asked about if I ever thought about creating an original story or world; the answer is most definitely! There’s several worlds over the years that I’ve created in my head and written things about. There’s one in particular that leans towards fantasy but still has realistic elements. (Keep in mind this concept was originally thought of when I was in middle and completely infatuated with RWBY/Final Fantasy. I’m in college now 💀) I apologize in advance for the words vomit.

Breakthrough

World building

This is a world that geographically speaking is much like ours. Rolling hills, scorching deserts, icy tundras, vast oceans, ect. Since the beginning, the make up of this world could be credited to eight elemental crystals. Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Lightning, Ice, Light, and Darkness.

Man since the beginning of their discovery of these crystals saw them as divine entities that helped them survive by giving them the potential to become stronger. It would’ve sound a bit ridiculous, if it wasn’t literally true. Around a certain age the human body gained an affinity to one of the crystals that manifested in a variety of ways. An ice user can be particularly skilled in creating objects out of the element while another used the property of snow. A fire user might envelope themselves in flames while a second user creates explosions. Even those with similar manifestations find unique ways to differentiate themselves through unique qualities of simple just being different people. It was quickly noticed the four basic elements were slightly more common than the others if only by a relatively small margin. Despite all the differences, one thing remained constant for all humans beings. An untapped potential that ran to the very essence of their power.

Many could feel this potential inside of them. These internal barriers that capped of the limits of their abilities. Some precived them as walls, while others envisioned them as chains or a fence but it was all the same. In time, people learned that with training of the body, the mind, their powers, and discovering a better idea of themselves, it was possible to overcome one barrier after another. They could break through and gain more power. This began an age of self improvement and technological advances. Knowledge was shared throughout the world. Civilizations expanded in even the most unlikely of places and it was common to mostly find people with the same affinity creating and living in places tailored for their needs.

Full blown cities that ran predominantly off of electricity. Fishing settlements and tribes that never feared the mysteries of the oceans thanks to their water control. Many other remarkable feats were achieved in the far future because of the power granted by the crystals. However, before humanity didn’t get to that glory over night. Before they reached the height of their progress they had to face the natural horrors of this world that went beyond the regular wildlife. The crystals might have given them strength, but it could also be the bane of their existence.

The elements itself had also taken the form of vast wildlife creatures that more often than not ruined what humans tried to build and seemed to have a natural aggression towards the species in general. Stallions made of earth with the power to cause tremors or mudslides as they stampede. Massive gust of winds that took the shape or large birds. Wolves that faded into shadows and stalked in the dead of night. Some “Elementals” were more difficult to dispose of then others but none could be taken lightly. A greater danger awaited once one was killed. Their bodies simply became like the element it was constructed out of and a black miasma like substance was expelled. Inhaling a small out was enough to hinder people and cause an incurable sickness that effects their powers. Inhale too much and your being would succumb and turn you into Humanoid Elemental that was devoid of any soul or the humanity they once had. All they had left was the strength they had acquired and a higher intelligence. It was one such monster that changed the course of history forever.

In universe lore

Something had happen back in the days where man was still getting the fundamentals tapping into their potential. Tales of a being in the form of a woman that had unlocked their full power spread across the globe. Not only that, but it had the power of all the elements and was laying destruction to any who barred its path. Such a tale was seen as just that, a tale. No one was ever that had the powers of each crystal. Also, such a person would surly had to have had some kind of spiritual balance if they had unlocked the end of their potential. Yet as ridiculous as it was, it soon couldn’t be ignored.

Slowly the weather became more treacherous. Stories of men, women, and children seemingly vanishing out of nowhere turned into entire villages being erased from the map. There was something out there and no one who has seen it lived to talk about it. The days themselves began to change which would bring on two more phenomena that were signaled by the moon. In the span of a month two events occurred. A blue moon that bathed the land in a light that enhanced powers for a full day. Then a red moon that did the same for the Elementals. All these strange things that could not be explained continued to raise more questions until humanity was given an answer in the form of a foe. Someone had finally lived to tell their tale. A battered man who was approaching deaths door.

He spoke about how a young woman with red eyes and ghost white hair came strolling into his village; the one closest to the wind crystal. The woman wore nothing but a worn out robe and her skin looked the color of bone. The only thing in her possession was an odd tool which would later be known as a scythe. Somehow she seemed drawn to crystal and new exactly where to go. His people forbade direct contact with it like all homelands did that were founded around it but she did not care. When warriors came to deter her, they were met with the same sight as anyone else. The look of a weeping women, then an instant death. The man didn’t see when she moved her arm but he felt the wind come off the attack before being sent flying and nearly blacking out. Barely conscious enough to see his people be slaughtered by Elementals of every type that obeyed her faithfully for she had created several before his eyes. The tale was true and terrifying. That woman continued to press on until it made contact with the wind crystal and caused the formation of a storm like no other. Not once did she ever smile. Only tears. But the man had seen something in her. An evil that ran deep and twisted as the darkest parts of humanity itself. Was this woman, this creature ever human? Or was it an Elemental that started off like this from the beginning? Stronger, faster, aware.....he asked it what it’s name was and it only said one thing. “Sin”

The man died shortly after telling the story but it had done the job it needed to, call people to action. Brave warriors everywhere rose to face this new threat and the beasts it brought along. Many of them confident in their unlocked potential to bring the being known as Sin down to its knees. Countless tried, and they failed. Hundreds upon hundreds either fell in a battle they weren’t prepared for or defending what they could. Soon all the crystals were thrown into a state of shock and the world ran rapid with extreme weather for years; humanity pushed to the brink and Sin vanished. It should’ve been the end. Until one day, one man met seven people and became legends.

This man have had enough of living in despair. Watching his people endure ever since the day he was born was painful. Being born in the tundra and granted power over ice meant weather was always an extreme to overcome from the start, but not like this. It was only possible with the help of trade from other villages which was all but destroyed. So he trained. He trained physically and mentally from the time he was a teenager until he was mid twenties like if it was his destiny to change things. Then one day he decided to finally put it to the test. The man traveled acrossd the icy landscape until he reached the coldest place near the center; the ruined homeland where the crystal still rest. Guarding it was massive and ferocious ice Elemental in the form of a snow fox. The man should’ve been dead on the spot. He was only armed with scythe as a way to tell the world that it could achieve power as boundless as Sin. Perhaps it was that belief that was the key. He slayed the beast and brought a calm to the crystal once more. It was a harrowing experience and he had partly a blue moon to think for it but he did it nonetheless. He showed the world that they weren’t gonna die so easily. And so began his journey.

The man sailed of to locate the other crystals and start putting the world back in order. Calming the crystal had brought him more understanding of his power and that brought greater strength. This brought him to a grassy plain where another who was tired of living in fear wanted to make a change and asked to join him on this quest. Despite how many times he denied this middle aged man the right to travel along, the ice warrior could not get rid of him! Days passed before they reached the wind crystal and encountered another deadly Elemental guarding it. This time it was a was a massive wind condor. The ice man thought beating it would be a simple task but he was wrong. It had nearly cost him his life if wasn’t for the older man by his side. Not only did he control wind as well, but he managed to deliver the final blow needed with the iceman’s scythe and brought another crystal to peace. He too seemed to have grown from the experience and found new strength. The two of them continued on as equals to save the world.

The power of wind meant sailing to the ruins of island of the water crystal possible without the destruction of their boat. However, they needed a proper guide of the sea and found that in a young women who also wanted to make a change. The three of them sailed of together and the beginning of a pattern started to form. It wasn’t that humanity had given up fighting, but finding those with the will and means to go on was scarce. It was hard to self improve when so much tragedy fell around you. Like the last two, an Elemental stood in their way but together they bested it and their new teammate managed to calm the crystal.

The cycle repeated. For each crystal they traveled to, someone eager and ready to join tagged along. Each time the ice warrior was wary but grew to appreciate their help. A menacing Elemental of unique form tried to kill them but never got the chance. They knew that it wasn’t just random animals either. It was always indigenous to the region and more importantly, had a sinister and potent miasma unleashed from them that was more dangerous than the regular foes they encountered. As the group slowly grew, they learned from each other. Their lives, likes, dislikes, training, skills, dreams, fears..... it was all shared. They had become friends. All of them more than capable of learning how to use a scythe in order to spread the ice warrior’s beliefs. Sometimes they faught but they would make up. The team eventually became eight strong; one for each crystal type. All that was left was light. Seven out of eight had gained exceptional strength from calming their crystal and they felt ready for anything. Not because of their individual strength, but because a new power they had discovered over the three year long journey of saving the world.

Working together, truly connecting with each other. It allowed for something that the warrior of water and darkness people believed in; they could use each other’s powers in combination with their own. The technique was difficult and way more straining than other things they had learned. Not to mention it was only possible to use one other power at a time, but done right had amazing results. Results they did not know they would need for the final Elemental. The group found themselves walking up a huge tower known as The Stairway to Heaven. It was here that the light crystal resided, but not guarded the same way as rest. No, instead it was guarded by a familiar set of blood red eyes and ghostly appearance. Sin stood in their way. It had been here the entire time. Only this time it was bathed in a brilliant holy light with seven dark pools around it. The aura it gave off was immediately recognized as whatever remained from the previous Elementals. Sin had divided its power in an effort to defend the crystal; all this time they had been fighting the being that was supposed to have vanished years ago. Now it was back at complete strength.

The group did not waver; not even the warrior of light who had still yet to awaken her power by the crystal. It was now or never. Save the world or die trying. The only thing left to do before the fight was ask why? Why had this creature throw the world into such chaos. “If you have the potential to do anything, why shouldn’t you do everything? Destroy it all and create from the ruble.” The answer was unsettling. Any person with simple morals and able to have achieved such power surly would’ve known being able to do something did not inheritly mean they should. The warriors asked what exactly was it. Human gone Elemental? An Elemental in the form of man? It simply grabbed itself and embraced the dark pools of its fallen counterparts. A range of emotions washing across its face before settling on a mournful expression. “I am the end result.”

The battle was fierce and savage. Nature itself seemed to scream as all it had to give was being used to clash with in a way, itself. Landscapes changed, wildlife ran, the battle could be seen for miles. Somehow in all the chaos the heroes managed to calm the final crystal; gaining a slight edge that slowly kept building. Sin had faced many people but none like this. It wasn’t their strength that overwhelmed it, or the eight to one odds. It was there teamwork; the bond allowed them to use each other’s abilities and perform feats like no one had seen at the time. Things that could not be learned alone. In the end, it led to Sin’s demise. A lethal blow dealt by all of them that render Sin unstable and fading, but with a catch.

“Power like mine does not fade. Sin does not fade....it festers” the miasma shot off into seven pieces once more and found its way into all the warriors except for the Ice warrior. Stricken with fear, he watched his closest friends writhe in agony as they desperately tried to hold onto their humanity as temptation at away at their soul. Wrath, Lust, Pride, Gluttony, Sloth, Envy, and Greed. Still connected through their bond, he couldn’t help but feel all the suffering inside of himself. What could he do? Was this really the end? Tears started to well up before a voice called out to him. “It’s okay...” it was the first to join his journey, the wind warrior. More called out to him. “Don’t let this be in vain.” said water

“You know what you must do...” Darkness cried out.

“Trust our bond.” Earth said calmly

“Alone we might not be strong enough.” Lightning said wary.

“Together though, we’ll stand.” Light exhaled exhausted.

“So what are you waiting for?” Fire proclaimed.

All of them gave their leader one final look of relief; satisfied with the end results as they seem more radiant than any crystal. The leader had no words. Only resolve as he took hold of his weapon and stood ready. Their eyes said all that was left to be said. “I can’t believe we did it.” He made it swift, and cut them all down in one slice. The world was finally returned to normal.

Humanity rejoiced. Finally it could once again get on track to growing strong and mighty. Many searched for the brave heroes they had to thank for this accomplishment but only found their weapons; each taken and placed by a crystal in honor of them. As for the ice warrior, he simply vanished. No one could find him. When people eventually reached the ice crystal it had his scythe mysteriously placed there with no clue how. He must’ve been alive somewhere. Legend says the man took ahold of the seven sins and placed them inside himself for the sake of the world, but he did not lose his mind. He simply wandered off. That the bond he had with the team he grew to love was beyond death and kept the sins in check within him. It also said that the man spread knowledge of the abilities his friends cultivated and is why we have them today. Now anyone who dares learn how to wield a scythe do so in the heroess’ honor and belief that unlocking one’s full potential means facing the odds with comrades.

As for the fallen heroes, they are clearly not forgotten. Some people believe their will lives on apart of the crystal and will grant strength to a select few who rise to the challenge of beating the odds.

Phew 😅

That was more tiring than I thought. That was just explaining the world and some extremely important lore but I never actually talked about the main characters, the plot, how powers work on a more conceptual level, or the setting. Maybe I’ll make a second one of these if you all really, and I mean really want more. Looking back at this I have realized something staggering. Aspects from this story have bled over into my many AU’s. I’m talking down to the idea of mental headspace and two very specific characters that I know realize somewhat live through Yujin and Tenzen; fighting wise anyways. (Personality too for Yujin which is nuts and I don’t know how to handle that. They are even blonde.)

#razor rambles #my oc’s #breakthrough #ask me stuff #fanfiction #i told you all this ran deep and im crazy

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theexleynatureblog · 4 years

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Veganism for Conservation

Wikipedia defines veganism as “ the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products, particularly in diet, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan.”

This is different than vegetarianism, which is a non-meat diet. Vegetarians still use animal products like eggs and dairy, while veganism does not. Some people that practice veganism extend the philosophy to their clothing, not wearing leather, and sometimes even wool.

A lot of us have probably interacted with vegans on the internet in posts such as this:

Personally, my interactions with people who practice veganism have been limited to glimpsing internet brawls like this. Because of this, vegans get a bad name. I’m sure Christians can relate: that one wild-eyed priest going on about how homophobia is a sin. He may speak for all Christians, but he cannot represent them.

My point of this is, going into this post, please approach veganism or vegetarianism with an open mind. This post is not hating on vegans, and it is not trying to convert anyone to veganism. By pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of vegan and non-vegan philosophies, I hope to increase understanding.

Where Veganism Succeeds

When it comes to images like this, vegans and vegetarians are sometimes the first to call out animal cruelty. This is not without substance. This PDF article from the University of Kentucky covers some of the issues very well. The main issue is Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) or “factory farms”. The ultimate goals of the factories are ‘cheap food’. Animals are kept in confined spaces, and given antibiotics and growth hormones to counteract the spread of diseases and parasites (in some cases it doesn’t work). Ironically, some of these drugs are outlaws in the UK, due to the adverse human health effects. Factory farms are a monopolized industry free of heavy regulations of other large-scale operations. Though the FDA and USDA oversee inspections and health regulations, it only helps so much. The Animal Welfare Act of 1966 does not extend to farm animals.

A common response is “Shut down farms!” But it’s not as simple as that. The next article covers the Pro’s and con’s of farming. Farms are run different in different places of the world, and always full of contradictions. Livestock can improve the health of prairie grasslands, but also overgraze them. Animal manure can improve soil health and pollute rivers. While places like America need less meat, poor families in Cambodia may need more protein in their diet. I whole-heartedly support shutting down CAFO’s, but farming in general. Small-scale family farms are a great example of farming with ecosystem and animal health in mind.

One problem with holding animals indoors - even if you feed them well, make them comfortable, keep them from getting sick - is lack of mental stimulation. No species on Earth processes the world the same way. Cows don’t think they same way humans do, but they are living animals designed to do certain things. A video I watched last year for my animal behavior class (If I could find the video, I’d add it) followed a group of hens brought from a factory farm to a new free-range home. A series of experiment were set up to observe their behavior. When presented with building materials, the hens proceeded to build a nest - even though a nest was already made for them by the caregivers. Animals have inherent behaviors that they will carry out if giving the opportunity. This may not have any impact on the health/quality of the meat or products, but it can give the animals mental exercise and therefor reduce stress.

Recent years have brought in increased in what is dubbed the “locavores.” Locavores is basically a person who eats locally, or within a 100mile radius. They may buy more produce from farmers markets, or get their meat from hunting and fishing locally. (Minnesota has a bag limit of 5 whitetail deer. A successful hunter could stock up food for their family for an entire year without ever buying meat from a grocery store!). Food handling, processing, and transportation takes up a lot of our yearly energy costs, not to mention food shipped from another country is going to be more expensive, and sometimes, less fresh.

The Locavores Movement wasn’t exactly pushed by vegans, but I’m going to include it here because it’s a win for everyone. After WWII, agriculture was becoming more commercialized. Big, industrial farms with lots of land and machinery was out-competing small family farms. Later on, the 60′s and 70′s sparked a ‘back to the land’ movement (a big time for environmental policies). It encouraged relationships between communities and local farmers. Though many small family farms are still financially struggling, the Locavores movement is increasing, as people are becoming more aware of where their food is coming from and their dietary health.

Where Veganism Fall’s Short

Animal anthropomorphization - defined as ‘ the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities’. Giving animals human-like appearances such as walking on two legs, fingers, eyebrows, and having them think and act like humans. This is present in any Disney cartoon regarding animals. Bambi is the most famous, and even created what is known as “Bambi Syndrome”, a belief based on the movie that paints nature as a garden of Eden with no natural predators - which is grossly inaccurate.

Anthropomorphization is not inherently bad, I enjoy watching Disney cartoons and sometimes its fun to imagine animals acting like people. However, there are people who seem to believe than animals really do process the world exactly like people do, and their interactions with the environment and other animals are similar to human - situations. Ex: a bunny rabbit and a deer chase each other around - they must be best friends! People forget that for wild animals, even suburban wild, is a constant struggle for survival. Humans partook in this once to, but now we have grocery stores and houses. We take for granted our ability to get food every day, and go home to a warm night’s rest. Animals don’t have that. Wild animals are focused 24/7 on survival - where to get food, are there any dangers around, ect. Once an animal has gained enough resources to survive day to day, then they can focus on reproduction. After that, in some cases, the focus is on rearing young. And then the cycle is repeated.

The biggest argument comes down to the idea of death. Vegans argue that the act of killing animals is immortal because animals fear death just as humans do. This is true: the fear of death is present in all species. It is an important driver for evolution. Organisms are constantly coming up with new ways to avoid death caused by changes in the environment.

But death is still a really important thing.

Death is something that has to happen, because that is how nutrient cycling works. One organism collects material from the environment until it stops, and those nutrients are redistributed to other organisms. The longer an organism lives, the longer it holds onto those nutrients instead of redistributing them.

The argument that ‘all animals want to live’ is obvious and does not address the fact that death is a natural and important part of our world - just as important as life. Why do humans make such a big fuss about it? Because we have the time and the resources to do so.

Giraffes don’t have time to sit around and contemplate life and death - they’re busy living. They’re busy foraging and migrating and kicking lions in the head. We have to remember the human experience of the world is unique to us - we are the only species that exploited resources so efficiently, we had the time and energy to build Society. Every word and concept in our mind is a imaginary construct, or translated from what we’ve seen in nature. This includes death - a natural process we witness and created an abstract essence around that both increases and diminishes our fears of the inevitable. (Sorry to readers experiencing existential crisis’ - hang in there, take your time. This really is mind-bending stuff when you think about it). Death didn’t have a name until humans created one. We created stories of Grim Reapers and Angels and Demons. We see shadows out of the corner of our eyes and call them ghosts.

But, do we have a right to cause the death of other organisms? Well, in nature, what is a ‘right’? Does the gazelle or the leopard have a greater right to live? My arguments may see really heartless and objective, but I am a biology student, so I have to look at this from an ecological perspective. Why do we look at the animal world through a tight lens of human understanding when we now have to tools to see more? How can we assign human concepts to a world that exists beyond our understanding?

One of emotions we have created do to the development of society is ‘guilt’. Its possible this emotion exists in other animals too, such as a mother who couldn’t protect their young. Guilt has evolutionary advantages of strengthening social bonds, and inciting a change of behavior. But humans are unique in that we extend this guilt beyond our immediate families to multiple other species. Pet owners may experience this when they accidentally step on their pet’s paw.

This philosophy of including other species in our perception of the world is amazing, and very important. Aldo Leopold, a professor of ecology at the University of Wisconsin, wrote in A Sand County Almanac that extending human ethics to the land and its animals was essential for conservation. We need more people involved in biology and environmentalism, but we need them to have a proper understanding of life and death processes of other animals.

Wild animals deal with death much more often than humans do, and not in the same way. An article from Stat News claims half of Americans now die at home in hospice care. I can’t hypothesize numbers, but its same to say that a lot of people, especially in rich countries, get a ‘gentle’ death - in bed, surrounded by family members, eased with pain medications. Animals don’t get that. The quickest, non - human way for animals to die is by being kill by something else. Lions tend to bite the jugular of prey to asphyxiate it. The animal is dead by the time the lions start eating it, but it did not die quickly and peacefully. It’s last moments were being chased by lions, having lions dig their claws and teeth into its body to knock it down. It will take at least a full minute or two to suffocate the animal before it dies. Imagine the last thing you see is a lion biting into your neck - that’s terrifying!

Some deaths are quicker - think of birds picking up ants or insects, quickly crushing them in their beats or swallowing them whole. The thing is, as mammals, we can’t really relate to insects on an emotional level, so that example doesn’t get us far...

Non-predatory causes of death are disease, parasites, starvation, injuries, and old age. Older animals are at risk for all of these combined. A wolf with a broken leg may be fed by the pack for a while, but eventually have to be left behind and starve to death. There are no gentle deaths in the animal kingdom.

Ironically, the fastest and least painful death animal can experience from humans are euthanasia, and a gunshot (as long as the shot is lethal). Euthanasia is common for pets and livestock by first putting them to sleep, and then injecting them with a lethal drug they cannot feel. Its the closest thing to a human dying in a hospital bed.

Gunshots have the potential to be the least painful and the most painful - depending on the skill of the hunter. A ethical shot to the heart or brain means that the animal will be dead before it even feels the bullet enter its body. That sounds a lot nicer than being chased or ripped apart by wolves, or stumbling around, infected by CWD.

Shortcomings of Non-Vegan Philosophies

Hunters and anglers don’t have all fail-proof ideas either. When it comes to conservation, America tends to prioritize animals useful for human consumption - as in, harvesting or observing. “Game” animals, like deer, elk, grouse, and waterfowl, have most of the public’s attention and protection. “Non” game animals like reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates, are overlooked and at greatest risk for extinction due to lack of funding.

Americans in general, eat too much meat. A quick Google search pulled up multiple articles that said the same thing. These articles are not pushing vegan/vegetarian philosophies, they are approaching the problem from a healthy diet standard. This article from Popular Science covers the American heritage around meat and animals that dates back to colonial times. In medieval Europe, many of the large game animals like stag and bison were gone due to overhunting, and the remaining wild lands were reversed for nobility sport hunting. Important predators like wolves and bear were also removed due to fears and superstition, so, the ecosystems of Europe were...a mess. When settlers came to America, they discovered a land of bounty, and developed a ‘take whatever you want’ philosophy that led to the extinction of the passenger pigeon, and near extinction of the bison and turkey. We eventually realized our mistake and worked up some protection, but still have a ways to go.

Is Veganism helping conservation?

Yes and no. It has it strong and weak points. The strongest, like I said, being pointing out the flaws of factory farms. However, the belief that replacing animal products with plant/synthetic materials will help the planet is troublesome.

The picture is one that comes up when Googling ‘soil degradation’. The land is so dry, it is cracked. The vegetation looks dead and dying, and the soil color itself is a light sandy brown - lacking the deeper shades that indicate the presence of organic material, essential for soil organisms and plant growth. Soil degradation is a problem all around the world, appearing in various forms. It’s leading cause is poor management of agricultural fields. A vegan lifestyle means greater dependence on these farms, but there is never any mention of this problem.

Vegan or not, as an American, I believe it is in our best interest to eat less meat - not totally get rid of it, but have more balanced diets. Soil degradation is a problem for everyone. Luckily, soil scientists are at work discovering new ways to put nutrients back into the soil and lock them in, increasing the health of the soil ecosystem. The plants and animals that depend on it (including us) will be healthier, and some of these techniques can even take greenhouse gasses out of the atmosphere. The Soil Conference at Gustavo's Adolphus College brought in some of these speakers. Video are available on YouTube, and posted to my blog.

A trademark of veganism is refusing authentic leather. It is replaced by synthetic and plant based materials called ‘pleather’, ‘faux leather’ and ‘vegan leather’.

Some sites say these terms are interchangeable, but some say they’re each a little different. Leafy Souls defines ‘pleather’ as leather made from plastic. This is a big problem, because plastic materials, when washed, release micro plastics into waterways. The major problem is these plastics aren’t as easily identifiable are water bottles washed ashore on the beach. Not a lot is yet known about these pollutants, but we have found them everywhere - including inside our bodies.

Luckily, not all vegan leather products are made of plastics. Alternatives have been made from plants, leaves, cork, and even stone!

The big argument against leather and fur products is - it is cruel to kill animals just for there skins. And I actually agree with this. I was never one to buy into the fashion industry, and personally, I think it’s a little outdated, and pointless.

The process of factory made leather from cowhide is a bit disturbing. The manufacturing of leather is contributing so some major environmental issues like the release of greenhouse gasses and water pollution. Some questionable chemicals are also used to treat the leather.

The good news is livestock are not being killed solely for their skin. The cattle sent to slaughter are the same cattle that we get most commercial leather from. Of course, this doesn’t really comfort anyone heartbroken over the commercialized treatment of animals.

Leather manufacturing is also being linked to child labor and poor warehouse conditions. It’s a common American business practice to send labor production oversees to places labor is cheaper - cheaper because workers are paid less for longer hours in poor conditions. The leather industry is not alone in doing this. How we change this? Boy-coting certain products is one way, but some of these companies have monopolies on products. A book by a Michigan State University professor discusses the growing monopolization of food products.

How do we solve problems like this? I don’t know, but something this complex needs a just - as complex solution that may take years to undo.

Fur

Minnesota got its early start as a center for fur-trading between Canadian pioneers and native tribes. Unfortunely, the luxury that was fur turned the market extremely competitive. Since nature is not built for capitalism and competitive markets and commercialism, the fur bearer populations of the state took a dive. (Luckily, all have now recovered).

Fur markets were as bad as market hunting in terms of conservation, but unlike the latter, fur trapping is as persistent as ever today. Thanks to protections and regulations, trapping is able to persist at nearly the same capacity as it was in the 1800′s without threatening a population. (Also, there are significantly less people partaking in trapping).

Personally, I do not care for killing animals solely for the fur or leather. I would prefer to trap animals that also provide food - like rabbits. My believes are that if you kill an animal, you use as much as you can from it - meat, skin, and maybe even some of the bones. Its a way to pay respect by making sure the animal didn’t die for no reason.

Like leather, fur has synthetic replacements. However, I could not find as much environmental information. The main material for faux fur is acrylics, which are basically plastics that do not degrade when released into the environment. It is another source of micro plastics.

Manufactured fur, like real leather, is treated with chemicals like formaldehyde to keep from degrading. Naturally, after discovering this, I Googled health affects of wearing real fur. Problem 1: I couldn’t find a trustworthy website. The websites that came up were strongly anti-fur. I wanted to find information from a neutral website, like a college university article. Problem 2: I could not find anything. I expected to find articles about odd rashes or allergic reactions, but there was non. Instead, I re-discovered an article I used in a previous post about vaccines. Vaccines actually use doses of formaldehyde in them. It’s a scary substance, because we automatically think about it in the process of embalming bodies, but the truth is, it has many practical uses that are safe to human health. Any substance can be harmful or helpful, it all depends on the dosage and chemical makeup. I was reminded that formaldehyde isn’t as scary as everyone makes it out to be. It is actually naturally produced in our bodies, and it probably doesn’t have any adverse effects to being added on our clothes.

Another problem arises when questioning the affects of formaldehyde in the environment. When we wash our clothes, dirt and chemicals end up in our water systems, including micro plastics and formaldehyde. The usual dosages of the chemical is to small to cause us individuals adverse health affects, but the story can change when dumped in large qualities. Our tendency to dump large amounts of waste into confined areas is not natural - animals tend to discharge (biodegradable) waste evenly across a habitat, or at least in quantities than can be broken down. The way humans discard waste in large quantities means that basically anything - including caffeine from our coffee consumption - can have adverse environmental effects. So, the problem of releasing formaldehyde is not on the chemical itself, but more on our system of waste treatment and pollution in general.

Conclusion

I am overwhelmingly tired of the vegan vs non-vegan argument. The more I see people pointing their fingers at each other, the less I want to partake in either one of their ideologies. Great minds think alike but fools seldom differ.

I believe it all comes down to balance. No matter how we exploit resources, there is going to be a downside. Vegan or non-vegan, there is an up and down to every choice. We have to work together and find a middle ground.

If we completely stopped using animals today, there would be changes. CO2 emissions would drop a little, but they may change sources. The same amount of people would need the same amount of food, and 1/3 of that food would come from a different source. There may be more habitat loss from increases agriculture farms, and come communities may became protein-deficient.

If the opposite were to happen, and we increases animal products, there would also be adverse effects. To feed those animals would also require more agricultural land. Factory emissions could rise, along with health effects of too much red meat, like increased cholesterol.

The fact of the matter is, we all kill animals, directly and indirectly, simply by taking up space. The things that make you you - the proteins and carbons and lipids and nutrients - came from another organism. The fact that you have them now means something else is denied them. The cars we drive, the fields we plow, the pollutants we throw out, those are all killing animals as I type this. It sucks. I absolutely hate it. It has happened for the past millions of years, but right now, we are doing it at a faster rate than anything before us.

I cannot fully support veganism in regards to animal ethics, due to the tendency of anthropomorphization and biological misinformation. But I due support the legitimate environmental concerns, and I think a lot more people need to understand them as well.

#biology #animals #science #ethics #philosophy #veganfriendly

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dreadlock-detective · 6 years

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All of my 5th ed D&D characters together, by order of appearance: Adi the Paladin (Crimson Crow Campaign), Beatrice the Monk/Cleric, Cirilisa the Wizard, Dindelion the Sorceress, Elenor the Ranger/Wizard, and Adi the Cleric (Curse of Strahd Campaign) (yes that’s A B C D E, and then A again)

My characters tend to have rather large issues that would, if they were left on their own without their respective groups/getting caught up in the campaign, ensure they’d never actually succeed in their goals. As such I’ve really enjoyed distilling each of them down to a single word, an essence of what lays behind their entire psyches. And they’re all bad. Yes, even “Justice”, due to the circumstances~ Ramble about each of them after the cut~

Adi the Paladin (of the Crimson Crows) is a bit of a special case, the only one whose impediment to their success isn’t strictly speaking herself. The child of nobles who collected ancient artifacts, it is said one day they lost themselves to madness. Adi was taken in by her aunt and uncle who raised her the best she could, but as she grew they found she too was prone to bouts of madness and hysteria. One day, when the man they had hired to exercise whatever demons lay upon her mind was found upon the floor, the girl bloodying his face with her fists, she was deemed incurable and quietly shipped away to join a peace-keeping force of ex-criminals and other undesirables known as the Crimson Crows.

She always thought of herself as a hero - a warrior of good and bringer of justice. The problem lays in that she was, originally, a warlock/barbarian of a Great Old One (Nyarlathotep), which warped how she saw the world to fit how she saw herself. For example, if she killed someone, it’s because that person deserved to be killed - if not for the reasons she was attacking them, then for something else. A self proclaimed Hero of the People who’s powers came from something far more likely to destroy the world, manipulating her towards its goals.

She had a rather happy ending, though - some of the other PC’s betrayed her trust and managed to sever her connection to Nyarlathotep, afterward she became a Paladin and through the power of friendship (with a colony of Mind Flayers - its a weird story) she managed to become the hero she always thought she was, ending a war with minimal bloodshed and bringing down an ancient evil.

Beatrice the Monk/Cleric of Death The young Bea, in a desperate attempt to save her clan from a powerful and deceptive mage, ended up selling her soul to a litch, turning her into a pseudo-undead herself. As it turns out, her clan who hunted the undead as abominations and mislead by the mage didn’t take kindly to that story, and she joined the Crimson Crows instead of facing their wrath. Faced with the knowledge that she had become the thing she had sworn to destroy to save those that now cast her out, she lost hope that she could ever reclaim her soul and, even among her new family of misfits, feared they would abandon her as well.

Sadly, she never got an end to her story - she got switched out for Adi when the campaign Adi was originally in was abruptly abandoned. Later on her and her wizard friend (another PC who had left the game) who both were hunting that evil mage found themselves mind-controlled into helping him resurrect an ancient draco-litch. She was saved by Adi & co, but now was worse off than ever, having played a pivotal role in bringing back a terrible undead horror, no matter how unwillingly. If we ever play another campaign in that world, I’d love to give her a proper story.

Cirilisa the Wizard Oh precious Ciri, the littlest Drow~ When a rival house murdered her entire family she became a young murder hobo in the underdark, growing up sickly and frail. Eventually she attempted to get her revenge but only managed to steal and sell some artifact from the family, along with getting a massive scar across her midsection from a blast from the family’s matriarch. Somehow escaping to the surface, her unconscious body was found by scouts of the Crimson Crows, who brought her back to relative health and gave her a new home, where she eventually set herself on becoming a moderately accomplished wizard. Her loss in childhood had deadened her already drow heart, but living among the surface world she saw so many people with so many emotions. She didn’t understand them, but she secretly coveted what they had.

I had planned that she would start to fall in love with the first PC that went out of their way to protect or help her from a serious problem - a plan that was designed to end poorly. The three candidates were a loner dwarf who didn’t want anything to do with anyone else, a were-bear orc who was 100% gay, and a minotaur who was already in a committed relationship. But even though the feelings wouldn’t be returned, she would FEEL things and grow as a character... well...

I didn’t expect that character (the orc) to protect her from drow assassins who nearly managed to kill her... and then THE NEXT NIGHT sacrifice his soul to a revenant of a man he had killed to protect the party. Before Ciri even had a chance to start acknowledging or understanding what she was feeling the object of her affections was dead and buried along the roadside. Instead of love, she grew bitter and angry, desperate to find a way to save the orc’s soul, all without really knowing why. She died before she could - her heart ripped from her chest by a wraith of vampiric spirits in a climatic boss battle. But that group’s leader, a PC vampire named Walter, destroyed the wraith, took it’s title and powers as Blood Lord, and raised her as a vampire. She’s still a ball of piss and vinegar, but she’s in a way found herself in a new family, charging herself with constantly keeping the Blood Lord in check and making sure he never gets too full of himself.

Dindelion the Sorceress If you don’t know about Dindel you haven’t been following me long. A homeless vagabond who hides her natural born ability to heal others for fear it would be exploited, she’s internalized many negative things about herself and rarely trusts herself to make decisions that won’t end in disaster. Add in a mother that disappeared when she was young, a drunkard gambler of a father, and a city decades in decline full of poverty and abuse by those in power and she’s got more than a few trust issues for other folks as well. She also has absolutely no idea how a healthy relationship is supposed to work, and a head full of stories and romance that have absolutely not lined up with her experiences since the campaign started.

Her father, the only constant in her life and the other half of a fairly unhealthy co-dependent relationship, got taken away by essentially the mob for not paying debts and it’s up to her to find some way to pay it off. To her great luck, she ran in to the wandering soldier Vale who, apparently wanting to make up for past sins, agrees to take her along to join a new venture he heard about, leading to the campaign proper. She was actually specifically designed to have too many trust issues to actually get in a relationship with anyone, but between how Vale cares for her and how absolutely shitty she’s found the outside world to be, those issues have actually mutated into something new as their romance has grown. Its... not any healthier a mental state though. I’m excited to see where it goes!

Elenor the Ranger/Wizard Elena was once a promising apprentice wizard, learning the weave with 4 other students. Always feeling a step above the others and not content with how slowly their teacher was progressing them, she devised a plan to work with the others to impress their teacher - to show her they were ready for bigger things. They were going to summon a creature from the planes of hell! Specifically, a Lemure, a relatively harmless blob of a twisted soul. An impressive feat and without much risk from the creature being summoned. Definitely within the capability of someone as great as her.

As sharp chains lashed out from the summoning circle her left arm was torn away. A great beast emerged, tossing her across the room. As she looked up she saw her rival, a young man named Osvaldo, brandishing an axe, standing over her, and looking quite pleased with himself. And the axe came down.

She would come to in a crypt standing near a coffin bearing the family crest of Osvaldo. Her body stiff and her mind cloudy, she slowly realized she had not survived that night at all - she was now a reanimated corpse, but had somehow regained her sense of self. She also found the nearby townspeople did not care enough to distinguish between mindless undead and herself. Eventually she found the place she had once studied - destroyed, some time ago it seems, by that night’s events. Lost and adrift, the life she once knew was over, even her memories were fragmented, but she would forever remember the names of the four who had done this. Osvaldo had convinced them to change the ritual - to summon that creature, and to use it to kill her. She was certain of it. And that hatred kept her going as years of nothingness passed her by. One day she was hired by a tunnel elf, a professed seeker of knowledge, as a guide through the wilderness and though she could not stand him they soon encountered others, mostly strange folk - a tabaxi, a triton, and a snake-like dragonborn in particular - and she stuck around to entertain herself.

Little did she know they were about to be pulled into saving the world from consumption by a forgotten and terrible deity. She thinks their chances aren’t even worth mentioning, but still she cannot allow existence to end before she has wrought what vengeance she can on those that wronged her, and so she will fight with everything she has to keep the world going.

Adi the Cleric of Nyarlathotep As Adi of the Crimson Crows discovered as she worked with the mind flayers, she was not the only Adi. Not even close. Hers was a soul connected to a power outside of time and space and finds itself drawn into worlds over and over, each incarnation as much the same as they are different. Perhaps the Crawling Chaos did not want to repeat what had happened before, maybe it was just twisted curiosity, but this iteration of the girl was born through his direct influence, raised in a town he had visited and driven mad. She was his disciple, and she would spread his teachings across the land.

Through a series of misunderstandings she has found herself in the land of Ravenloft, under the watchful eyes of the vampire Strahd, and in this land she came upon a terrible, bewitched house. A house with paintings of the owners and of a woman bearing a striking resemblance to her. A house where the ghostly children said their littlest sister was named Adi. The child had died in infancy, sacrificed in some dark ritual by its father.

And down in the depths of that place Adi found it was the truth. And there, along the alter, sat a book bound in human skin that called to her. A book of rituals devoted to her god, the Faceless Father. And there, upon the alter, she left the corpse of one of those who had traveled with her, who had brought her there.

She isn’t certain why the Faceless Father has guided her to this land, but she will carry out his will or die trying, though all things considered, perhaps the world would be better off with her in the ground, the cult’s voice silenced

#Dungeons and Dragons #D&D #Dnd #5e #characters #Adi #Beatrice #Ciri #Cirilisa #Dindel #Elena #Paladin #Monk #Cleric #Wizard #Sorcerer #Ranger #dreadlock detective

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ruffoverthinksthings · 7 years

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There's something I have to ask you that has some of its roots far before Descendants, but seriously....wtf is up with Frollo?! I'm interested in his character because of his deep complexities for a Disney Villian (never mind the Hugo novel), but why cant he get a grip on raising children and building a healthy family? Even as a product of the medieval era , that can't be an excuse for his dysfunctional relationships with others(progressive people like Esmeralda and Phoebus existed back then 1/2

Mymain question to you is ,what do you think it is about him that cantsee the pain he causes to claudine/ not esme and the entire HONDcast? What ever happened to him in his childhood ( nature vsnurture), that makes him nearly impossible to reach past his veil ofdarkness. Even in his attempt to redeem himself in the eyes of hisLord, with Claudine, is he forever delusional? Can he change in thisuniverse and what would it take? 2/2

There’sthree key concepts that explain why Frollo still can’t redeemhimself, see the pain, the suffering, the wrongdoing he’s causingin the name of God and his ideas of what is “Good.” These are:

CognitiveDissonance

TheMyth of Redemptive Violence by Walter Wink, and

SexualSuppression in the Catholic Church, and the ideas of ReligiousLeaders being beyond the common man

Allof these are actually easily explainable using the lyrics ofHellfire:

BeataMariaYou know I am a righteous manOf my virtue I amjustly proud

BeataMariaYou know I'm so much purer thanThe common, vulgar,weak, licentious crowd

Thentell me, MariaWhy I see her dancing thereWhy hersmold'ring eyes still scorch my soulI feel her, I seeherThe sun caught in her raven hairIs blazing in me outof all control

Here,we see what Frollo thinks of himself: a saint among sinners, a man ofstrong faith in a land of unbelievers, someone who does Good whereasthe rest fall into Temptation and Sin.

Likemajority of the leaders of the Catholic Church, and especiallybecause it’s in the Medieval Era, he is seen as someone who isinherently above his fellow man, better, purer, more virtuous, whichis why he deserves to hold his position, and use all the power andinfluence that affords him.

Butthen, Esmeralda comes along, he is tempted by her beauty, and herealizes that he is not as invulnerable and incorruptible as hethought he was.

Unfortunatelyfor all of us, he refuses to take responsibility for it.

It'snot my faultI'm not to blameIt is the gypsy girlThewitch who sent this flameIt's not my faultIf in God'splanHe made the devil so muchStronger than a man

Here,he refuses to believe that there’s any fault in him, that he isstill prone to temptation despite his beliefs; rather, he engages inwhat is called “Scapegoating,” putting all the blame inEsmeralda, going so far as to irrationally cast her as some wickedenchantress with powers that he doesn’t stand a chance ofresisting, than just a woman he is fully capable of getting over.

However,that involves him admitting that he was wrong about his belief thathe is incorruptible and “holier than thou,” and he wants toprotect that idea, more than he actually wants to be it, simplybecause it’s less distressing for him.

Thisis called Cognitive Dissonance, the stress someone experiencesfrom having a belief or more than directly oppose their actions andbehaviours.

Otherexamples of Cognitive Dissonance are:

Someonewho believes themselves a healthy person despite having a pack-a-daycigarette habit;

Someonewho buys a product or a service and it doesn’t turn out nearly asgood as they thought it would, so they make all manner of excuses andjustifications to make it better (in their minds); and

Someonewho stays in a relationship that has long past its expiration date,because they don’t believe themselves to be someone who gets it“wrong” with something as important as romantic relationships.

Peoplesuffering from cognitive dissonance often find ways to “spin”things and defend their original beliefs, rather than reevaluate whatthey thought was true and their identity. Rationality, logic, orconsistency ceases to matter to them; sparing themselves from thedistress that they were wrong or are acting against their beliefstakes priority above everything else.

Withthe above examples:

Thesmoker convinces themselves that cigarette smoking isn’t reallythat bad for their health (it’s actually worse);

Thatthe price, the manufacturer, or some other quality of the product orservice automatically makes it better despite the reality of it, likewith the exploding Samsung phones incident, and people refusing toreturn them in spite of the danger to themselves and everyone else;and

Thatthey can still salvage the relationship, that all the problems andissues are not nearly as bad as they are, and that they simply haveto try harder.

WithFrollo, he chooses the Myth of Redemptive Violence.

Inits essence, it’s “Good Vs Evil,” “The Final Clash,” theBook of Revelations where the forces of the Righteous do battle withthe Wicked, purging all that is unholy and ushering in a new, betterworld, or bringing all those deserving into heaven.

It’sinteresting because you see this constantly with all of Disney’sfilms with a classic “Villain” antagonist: there’s PrincePhilip slaying Maleficent; Tiana and Naveen outsmarting Dr. Facillierand letting his Friends from the Other Side do their thing; andTarzan doing battle with Clayton.

Theymay or may not have a direct hand in bringing about theirdoom—Clayton accidentally hung himself because of his refusal toaccept Tarzan’s help, for example—but it’s always VERY clear tothe audience that A) the protagonists are “good” people, B) theantagonists are “evil” people, and C) there is no redeeming the“villains,” there’s only killing, jailing, or trapping them inan enchanted lamp, because they will never turn to good.

Asstated above, Frollo believes himself to be a righteous man, theepitome of goodness, the Holy Servant of God, and people that don’tfit into his worldview are declared “Wicked” and must beslain. He has killed numerous gypsies, has been responsiblefor the death and/or suffering of numerous innocent civilians, andalmost drowned Quasimodo in a well, if it weren’t for the ArchDeacon warning him of his hypocrisy.

Inhis views, there is no salvation, no forgiveness of the sinner, noramending for your wicked ways—there is only judgment, and yoursentence is death.

Protectme, MariaDon't let the siren cast her spellDon't let herfire sear my flesh and boneDestroy EsmeraldaAnd let hertaste the fires of Hell!Or else let her be mine and mine alone

Here,Frollo shows just how extreme and devoid of nuance his sense ofmorality is—either you live, or you die. He also shows more of hisCognitive Dissonance and Redemptive Violence once more, where hepleads that—against the customs and the traditions of the church,and the scandal that would erupt— Esmeralda be “given” to him.

Thisis especially poignant as the Catholic Church has a massive,well-known history of suppressing sexuality and policing the sexualbehaviour of their followers and especially their ordained leaders,usually to disastrous results.

Insteadof giving them a chance to it in healthy ways, or to treat havingsexual urges as a natural thing, the Catholic church paints it asweakness, a flaw in you, a sign that you have failed and that you areshameful, awful, and a sinner for having them in the first place.

“Shaming”someone is the BEST way to get someone to do the thing you’reshaming them for—as you cut their self-esteem, and make thembelieve that they are weak and deficit in some manner, the morelikely they will be to do the vice or the crime because they want tofeel better, and the more likely they will accept that they truly AREbeyond saving, that there’s no hope for salvation, so fuck it,let’s do the thing.

Itgets even worse in the ending of Hellfire:

HellfireDarkfireNow gypsy, it's your turnChoose me orYourpyreBe mine or you will burnGod have mercy on herGodhave mercy on meBut she will be mineOr she will burn!

Here,Frollo shows the depths of his hypocrisy and the amazing mentalacrobatics he’s performing, saying “God have mercy” whilstpromising the opposite of mercy: death, or enslavement.

Here,Frollo shows that he’s no longer following the doctrines, the laws,or the traditions of the church, what God decreed or Jesus relayed tohis followers.

Here,Frollo shows that all he truly follows is what he believes to beRight—what is Right for him.

Iassumed that this behaviour follows him onto the Isle, where he has avery warped sense of religious morality that is really just hisselfish desires, being justified in his eyes by tacking the name ofGod onto it, much like Richard “Rick” Ratcliffe.

Whycan’t he get a grip on a loving marriage, relating in healthymanners to people, and building a loving family life for Claudine?

Because,like the rest of the Villains, he wasn’t marrying and having kidsfor unselfish reasons, he was using his ex-wife Salome to satisfy hissexual needs, is still using Claudine as a means to fulfillhis broken dreams and ambitions, and is unconsciously using them bothto serve himself first and foremost.

Thesexuality that was Frollo’s downfall has not disappeared—it’sstill there, and I’d argue it’s actually stronger consideringthe constant state of stress and despair in the Isle that forcespeople to resort to their basest instincts, and engage in whateverwill give them some measure of relief.

However,instead of going the healthy route of acknowledging that he isflawed, and that he should return to attempting celibacy in spite oftemptation, Frollo merely twists his lustful desires into somethingthat would be acceptable in his beliefs, and that of hiscongregation.

Howdoes he achieve this? Marriage, with all the intercourse for thepurpose of reproduction, and reproduction only.

I’dimagine that, after becoming the only Catholicreligious leader alive or not yet renouncing his faith, and thedeplorable state of everything and the VKsbeing raised, he sees himselfas some kind of New Adam,meant to be the progenitor of anew race of “Good, Christian People” who would eventually becomethe inheritors of this wretched hell, take it away from the hands ofthe Demon Queen that rules it (Maleficent), and rebirth it as aparadise.

Beforeyou ask, yes, he could be the CELIBATE steward of this new world,taking care of his non-ordained congregation’s children, but thatwouldn’t let him satisfy his sexual needs, and is thus not anoption in his mind.

Andbefore you ask why he doesn’t get flack about this, all of thepeople on the Isle are criminals, and if you weren’t living in thedeplorable conditions they were BGU, you learn to loosen yourstandards right quick here.

That,and they can be manipulated easily and lead to believe that undercertain circumstances, marriage and sexual intercourse with Judgesare possible—a lot of these people can’t read, and have noconcept of critical thinking.

Whyis he like this with Claudine, raising her up to be an ideal ratherthan a person?

Becausehe know he’s old, he knows he’s weak, and he’s essentiallytrapped in his church and a small area around it in Temple Way—he’sunable to bring the fight to the Islanders (not including hiscongregation, because they’re obviously theexception), be it ideologically or especially physically, so he hasto raise an army to do it for him.

Claudineis not just his daughter to him, or his Flock—she is a Messiahfigure to them, the “child that will lead them” as the actualJesus Christ was, the true successor to Frollo’s church when heinevitably passes away.

Sowhenever she starts to deviate from his ideals (i.e. growing up to beher own person, independent of her father’s desires), he doesn’tsee it as cruel and manipulative to mess with her emotions likethis—he sees himself as a sculptor making sure that this livingclay does not end up malformed, that she is completely, absolutelyperfect in every waypossible.

I’dalso be remiss not to mention that poor nutrition, dementia, and oldage have taken a serious tollon him.

Ishis being a product of the Medieval Era an excuse for hisdysfunctional socialinteractions?

Itis, actually!

Phoebusand Esmeralda are shown to be progressives in the movie, but theproblem is, they’re still the exception,not the rule; the world ofFrance in 1482 is nowhere NEAR the level of multiculturalism anddiversity we see today.

Mostpeople of that erawill never even leave the towns they live in, let alone be able tohave the means to travel vast continents and entire oceans to meetpeople unlike themselves—and as European Spice Expeditions haveshown, the interaction is more likely to be lethalto the natives than friendly, let alone romantic.

There’salso the fact that if a foreigner lives in France, it’s usuallyfrom a slave trade of some sort or as part of a roving band of apersecuted minority, like Esmeralda and the rest of the Romanipeople.

Thetimes they live in are very xenophobic, with very black and whitemorality—there are only sinners and the faithful, and again, withFrollo, there is no room for outsiders like Esmeralda and the Romanipeople, whom he believes only deserve death.

Andagain, there’s also the fact that Frollo is a Judge, and alongsidehis religion and his authority, believes himself to be inherentlyabove and better than people, and that he cannot do anything wrongbecause he is of that high position, as only a “Good” person canhold that office.

Tohave a wicked, sinful man capable of cruelty and madness would beparadoxical, and would absolutely never happen! (/sarcasm)

Thisis why he can’t see the pain and the suffering he inflicts onothers with his actions—he simply believes himself to be BEYOND andincapable of doingevil.

Withthe question of nature and nurture, I won’t headcanon aboutFrollo’s childhood, since the Nurture has the lion’s share ofblame here.

He’svery old, he’s obviously a very senior member of the church, andhas a lot of respect—he has spent almost all of his life beingtreated as higher and better than his fellow man, he has massivepower other people, and the beliefs of his church (and consequently,himself) is that he is a reliable, infallible authority for what is“Good” and what is “Evil.”

Andas the saying goes, power corrupts.

Mostpeople behave in fear of some higher authority, be they the police,their parents, or that of your superior at work. Unfortunately forall of us, Frollo only really fears two people: the Arch-Deacon, andGod.

Thewords of the “commoners” matter not to him. Maleficent has longknown that these people are beyond reason or are not worth it, sodoesn’t exercise her authority. And even within hiscongregation—more of a cult, at this point, really—dissent isimmediately silenced, murmurs that “Father Frollo” might not beas virtuous and holy as they think he is shushed like a motherreprimanding her child during Sunday mass.

Toend this rather long, lengthy tirade, can he ever break free of thedelusion, and can he truly change his ways?

Realistically,no, and no.

Unlikeactual dogs, you can’t teach Frollo new tricks, especially onesthat contradict his worldview, and he’s already shown time andagain that he won’t accept any objective evidence that he’swrong—every action of his is justified to him, and that subjectivedecision is what makes it “Right.”

Itdoesn’t help that, as I’ve said in other headcanons and mentionedabove, the people of the Isle of the Lost tend to be the ones whohave lost all hope, and are desperately clinging onto whatever it isthey can for comfort.

Ifyou bring him to Auradon, and have him meet up with the (much sanerand reasonable, but not entirely) congregations of Auradon, it’dlikely end in shouting and claims of heresy and going against God.

Havingyour everything pulled out from under you and getting throwninto the great big unknown is terrifying and painful.

Andfor many people, they’d rather be wrong and not realize it, thansuffer that—thus, Cognitive dissonance, and belief in RedemptiveViolence, with both exacerbated by the Catholic Church’s stance on“deviant” sexual behaviour.

#Descendants #Disney #headcanon

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mousedetective · 7 years

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Never Will I Forget The Deep Shadows, Never Will I Waste The Moon’s Light (1/15 or 16)

So yes, I did not finish it last night. ::hangs head:: I will finish it today, though, mark my words! This is a very Sherlock-centric story, but there is also a ton of Molly (though not Sherlolly...we’ll leave that for a possible sequel, as I wanted to leave this semi-S2 compliant) and an epic magical confrontation with Moriarty and...

Oh. Did I mention that Sherlock is a magician? Because he is.

Anyway, I’m reposting the existing chapters leading up to the reveal on WIP Big Bang, along with the new chapters, so it’s all starting over on AO3 so new people can discover this story.There is also pretty art by Red Bess Rackham that I will have properly linked on the first chapter hopefully soonish, so please enjoy!

~~~

Never Will I Forget The Deep Shadows, Never Will I Waste The Moon’s Light - The Holmes brothers come from a long line of powerful magic practitioners, but they are forced to keep their skills a secret. When Molly accidentally finds out about Sherlock’s powers and doesn’t turn away from him he slowly realizes that this pleases him, but soon enough he gets careless and is put in a position he would rather not be in, especially when others find out that she knows and attempt to use her as a pawn in their own games and machinations.

Read Chapter 1 @ AO3 | Buy Me A Coffee? | Send Me A Prompt

Mycroft stood regally by the fireplace in his study. ”You know you have to keep it a secret, Sherlock. No mortal can know.”

He was lounging in the chair he favored, his leg over the arm. Only when he really wanted to annoy his brother did he toss all sense of decorum and propriety out the window, especially since the chair wasn’t that comfortable to begin with and the position made it less so. ”Easy enough for you to say. Your assistant who’s tied to you nearly twenty-four hours a day is one of us.”

“Well, that’s what you get for going and getting attached to a mortal army doctor, a mortal pathologist and a mortal inspector at Scotland Yard,” Mycroft said, a hint of snideness in his tone.

“And a mortal housekeeper,” Sherlock said, rolling his eyes. “Yes, I know. I set myself up among mortals. I purposefully chose to live among them. It’s my own fault for that. Etcetera, etcetera. You’ve had this tune for years.” He couldn’t stand the position anymore so he put himself to rights and then simply slumped to the side, resting his elbow on the arm of the chair and settling his cheek on his knuckles. “At least I didn’t become a hermit like Sherrinford.”

“Sherrinford had no other choice,” Mycroft said quietly, gazing into the fire. “Not after the incident.” He lifted the snifter of brandy in his hand and took a sip. “And if you aren’t careful, Sherlock, with your continued pushing yourself to your absolute limits, you might be next.”

Sherlock bit back a sigh. His brother had always felt himself his keeper, ever since he was young. It appeared that would never change, not in a million years. He wondered when he would ever get out from under his brother’s thumb. Possibly never, he supposed. Perhaps if Sherrinford…no, it didn’t do to dwell on that. No one in the family talked about it. No one admitted that Sherrinford existed, for the most part. He was an afterthought these days, as though he had never really been a part of the family.

He supposed if he wasn’t careful, one day, he might be an afterthought as well.

The world knew he was different. They knew he was a genius, a man who could solve the trickiest of tricky crimes. The ones that were deemed unsolvable by most. His reputation had grown steadily larger as time had gone by, ever since John had come into his life and started keeping the blog. The Detective and the Blogger, the Crime Fighting Duo. Oh, there were so many monikers for them, so many names. He was someone the world thought they knew every fascinating tidbit about, and what they didn’t know they wanted to learn.

But there was one secret they absolutely couldn’t know, as his brother was just now reminding him.

He, William Sherlock Scott Holmes, had been born with the ability to do magic.

Not the cheap parlour tricks that stage magicians could do, the illusions meant to wow and mystify and audience, the type of stuff that could be easily debunked. No, he knew real magic. Old magic. The kind of magic that traveled through bloodlines as old as time immortal, the stuff Druids talked of long ago. He could do almost anything, really. For one as young as he was, for someone who honestly didn’t study ancient texts half as hard as his brothers had or practice anything near as much he was twice as powerful as they were.

He just…didn’t care. It made him different, even more different than he already was. His brilliance had set him apart in many ways; being able to do magic, being something separate than mere mortals had been icing on a cake he had simply not wanted. When he had been a young child he had reveled in it, but when he got older, when Mycroft pressed the importance of hiding his abilities, hiding the truth about himself, when he saw what happened when someone trusted the wrong person…he was more than eager to do so. Being seen as just a cold, egotistical genius was fine by him.

And yet when Donovan had called him a freak he’d hated that term so much. He’d always kept that icy demeanor when she said it but the words hit like a blow to the gut. It was the worst thing to hear, the one insult that actually hurt. When the children he’d been around growing up had called him that, he’d held back tears until he had absolute privacy, then let tears fall. When he’d heard it as a teen, and later in his university years, he’d turned to heroin to numb it all away. By the time he was an adult he’d swallow it down and let it sit there, cutting on the way down, making him hate the world just a little more.

But his friends had healed those bits of him. It was true they didn’t know they whole truth, they could never know the whole truth, but over time, John and Molly and Lestrade and Mrs. Hudson had made him feel…normal. Or at least more normal than he had ever felt in his life before. He appreciated that more than he could tell them. He wasn’t great at showing it, unfortunately; the Christmas party had made that abundantly clear, but he was willing to try harder. He supposed he could say it was a New Year’s resolution, if he actually believed in that type of twaddle. They had done some good for him; he supposed he should be better at showing them that they were important to him.

Even if they were mortal, and that meant he had to listen to his brother make snide commentary on the fact.

Mycroft turned to him. “You can’t afford to go into withdrawal, Sherlock,” he said. “I do not have the time, energy or resources to bring you out of it without questions being raised.”

Sherlock rolled his eyes. “You’re worried I’ll get careless and get caught because I’ve surrounded myself with mortals,” he said. “Mycroft, it’s not as though I spend my evenings in the sitting room. I do happen to have a bedroom, which is fitted, if you might recall, with a very good lock. Even you have trouble picking it.”

Mycroft glared slightly. “Still. You have a tendency to be reckless.”

Sherlock shook his head and stood up. “One day, brother dear, you’ll realize I am fully capable of living a life without your constant observation and interference. When that day comes, I’m sure I can have a list handy of other hobbies to catch your interest.” He made his way to the door of Mycroft’s study. “Good night.”

Mycroft said nothing and Sherlock opened the door and let himself out. He glanced at the large clock in the foyer and saw that it was only eleven thirty. So. It was still the old year. At least he didn’t begin the new year listening to his brother berate him for sins of the past and mistakes he’d never be able to fully make up for. That would have been tiresome. Anthea stood by the door with his coat and he took it from her, slipping it on before leaving Mycroft’s fortress and going out into the night.

He was not one for celebrations, not one for good signs and good omens, but the fact that he could start this new year on his own, breathing in the relatively fresh air of the city, taking the essence of London into himself led him to think that, perhaps, 2012 would be better than he had expected. As bad as some of the glimpses of possible futures he’d been given indicated it very well might be, there had been good things as well, images of laughter and love and warmth, and that had given him hope. After all, no one’s future was writ in stone. That was something he had been taught from a very young age, when he first learned about the art of divination. There was always room for interpretation.

And as he had decided at a very young age that no one was going to decide what happened in his life other than himself, he was going to be damn sure that if there were bad things to come, that their impact was far less than the good things.

Mark his words.

#Sherlock #sherlock holmes #mycroft holmes #fanfiction #fanfic #my stuff #Multipart: Never Will I Forget The Deep Shadows Never Will I Waste The Moons Light #wip big bang #sirro134

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jumpsitehq · 6 years

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Top 150+ Cute Love Quotes for Her From The Heart

You realize how beautiful life is only when you fall in love with somebody! All moments of your life with this person seem to be a dream, and everything you do is somehow connected with your feeling and thoughts. So we collected Top 150+ Cute Love Quotes for Her From The Heart to share with your loved one. But being in the relationship with someone can be a little bit difficult. You have to spend all your free time with him or her, devote your attention to this person and constantly bring something new to this relationship. We also have a great collection of Romantic Good Morning Text Messages for Her.

HEART-MELTING LIST OF LOVE QUOTES

1. “Girl, you stole my heart. Let me steal a kiss from you.” 2. “You’re all that is good in my life; the inspiration in everything that I do is you.” 3. “Someone must be watching over me because you’re the most beautiful angel.” 4. “Kiss me, hug me and love me. I will return the favor.” 5. “I can’t thank the heavens more for having met you. You bring so much joy into my life.” 6. “Let’s be sweet together. You melt me like chocolate on a hot day.” 7. “Between us is two hearts tied together by a thread of love that will last the test of time.” 8. “You make me wake up with a smile on my face every day. You are the air I breathe, the ticking in my heart.” 9. “No one dares separate the couple that went to the end of the earth and embraced after looking into each other’s eyes for the first time.” 10. “You know every fiber of my life; all of my deepest secrets. Now, we can blackmail each other.” 11. “There is nothing more valuable than our love.” 12. “I want to feel what it’s like to love like you. Take my hand and bring me to where your heart is.” 13. “My heart whispered “that’s’ the one” when I first saw you.” 14. “The moment I saw you, I knew we would be together forever.” 15. “You will be mine forever and always.” 16. “Knock on the door to your heart, and I will be there.” 17. “You’re like a kitten. You look into my eyes and all I see is you wanting endless love.” 18. “I’m like a child on Christmas when I see you. I never know what the day’s love will hold for us.” 19. “Our love knows no boundaries.” 20. “You are the essence of everything good in my life; love without boundaries.”

I Love You Quotes for Her

21. “I’ve searched through the dictionary time and time again and can’t find enough words to express how much I love you.” 22. “I don’t even remember what it’s like to be alone.” 23. “The days I am with you are the days that are worth living.” 24. “All those little moments with you mean the world to me.” 25. “Every fiber of my being loves you.” 26. “For all the money in the world and all the riches in heaven, I wouldn’t trade our love.” 27. “My love with you will never be the same – it will be complete.” 28. “I am never sad around you. You fill the world with so much joy.” 29. “Even on my happiest days; days where I didn’t think I could be happier; you always make sure I am wrong.” 30. “Your face is like a shining light that brightens up my day.” 31. “In the morning, you’re the first thing I think of. When I fall asleep, you’re the first picture in my dreams.” 32. “You are a constant flame that will always warm my heart.” 33. “You give me joy when I am in times of trial.” 34. “I would be a broken man without you in my life.” 35. “My heart sinks every time I smile at you hoping that you will always smile back.” 36. “Every day that you are by my side is a day worth living.” 37. “You are my constant measure of progress and happiness in a world that is ever changing.” 38. “Our love is so bright that it guides me through the darkest of days.” 39. “My heart follows the rhythm of our love and beats harder every day.” 40. “I’m not a rich man, but I can give you all of the love in the world.”

Romantic Quotes for Her

41. “All of the blood, sweat and tears are worth the sacrifice when you’re in my arms.” 42. “You make me a better man.” 43. “I never thought I would find love until I found you.” 44. “You gave me wings. You make me fly.” 45. “You are the queen of my heart. Your wish is my command and always will be.” 46. “I never thought I would be so lucky to call you mine.” 47. “I never thought forever existed until I met you.” 48. “Forever isn’t long enough to be with you.” 49. “We must honor your presence while heaven mourns your departure.” 50. “How is it that every day I am with you is better than the day before?” 51. “I can’t wait to wake up every morning to find you next to me.” 52. “You bring joy to a once restless heart.” 53. “When I am scared, thinking of you makes me overcome my fear.” 54. “You illuminate the path to heaven.” 55. “A minute with you is more love than I felt in 10 years.” 56. “To know love is to love you.” 57. “I could never imagine that your love would make me so happy.” 58. “Your love is the kind of love that inspires poets to pick up a pen.” 59. “I will count on the love we share together forever and always.” 60. “You’re every dream I’ve ever had.”

Cute Quotes for Her

61. “I love you – the end.” 62. “Having you is what I live for.” 63. “I might not be able to express my love in words because you take my breath away.” 64. “I wish I would have found you sooner. I miss the time we didn’t get to spend together.” 65. “I will love you now, when we’re old, and when we’re long gone.” 66. “I’ve always dreamed of being your lover.” 67. “We were friends, and I loved you. We’re lovers, and I love you more.” 68. “Our love defines who I am as a man.” 69. “I love you because of the man I am when I am with you.” 70. “When I am with you, I lose myself. Without you, I am already lost.” 71. “You are the world to me.” 72. “We’re the epitome of a love story. Our love is boundless and our lives keep getting better.” 73. “Your smile warms my heart even when the world feels like it’s crashing down on me.” 74. “I never want to live without you. If you live to 100, I want to live to 100 minus one second, so we never have to be apart.” 75. “You’re special to every inch of my heart. You love me for me, and I love you for being you.” 76. “No matter where I am in life. No matter what happens to us. I will always think of you as happiness. I would do it all over again and again.” 77. “My last breath would be “I love you.”” 78. “Men search a thousand years to find the love that we share together.” 79. “Your beauty, smile and laugh is what brought us together. Your loving heart is what makes me want to spend my life with you.” 80. “I smiled today for no reason. Then I realized I was thinking of you, and smiled again.”

Love Quotes for Her from the Heart

81. “You are the story behind my emotions.” 82. “Even if I fall in love a thousand times, I will never fall the way I fell for you.” 83. “No matter where you are in the world, I will always love you.” 84. “I have a garden of flowers sprouted by the smile and laughter you’ve given to me.” 85. “You’re not my number one. You’re my only one.” 86. “A beautiful dream comes true every moment I spend with you.” 87. “I don’t want to fall in love with you. I want to stay loving you forever.” 88. “Being in love doesn’t make me happy. Being in love with you is what makes me happy.” 89. “I have fallen in love many times. Each time it is with you.” 90. “Life after life, age after age, I continue to love just you.” 91. “I am reborn when you kiss me. I would die if you left me. The moments I am with you are when I am truly alive.” 92. “The sweetest joy in life is your loving embrace.” 93. “Our love can overcome any obstacle; withstand any storm.” 94. “A single soul is what defines our love.” 95. “You know you’re special when you can make me smile even when I am sad.” 96. “The saying goes “love is for giving.” So, I give my love to you.” 97. “Hearts are for beating, but mine only beats for you.” 98. “Falling in love is about finding the true beauty in a sea of faults.” 99. “I will annoy you. I will say stupid things. I will always love you.” 100. “They say the sweetest place to be is in someone’s thoughts. You never leave mine.”

Sweet Quotes for Her

101. “I want people to say, “Damn, they’re meant forever.”” 102. “I don’t love you because I need you. I need you because I love you.” 103. “I want you forever and always. I want you to forget all the rest.” 104. “True love is only found when I am with you.” 105. “Your love is like a maze. I am trapped in it.” 106. “For every kiss we share, I hope there is a thousand more.” 107. “I will never ration my love for you. I will let it flow like a river.” 108. “I have searched high and low and know that you’re the only one for me.” 109. “There will always be someone prettier or smarter, but real love doesn’t care.” 110. “I always tried to act happy. Now, I have found real happiness with you.” 111. “I will give you all that a girl wants. Love, honesty and happiness.” 112. “Dreams don’t make me as happy as I am with you.” 113. “My heart with always be young because it loves you.” 114. “Love will always be under construction with two hearts growing closer to each other.” 115. “I fall asleep holding you and wake up with you in my dreams.” 116. “Love is the answer to all of life’s troubles.” 117. “It wasn’t love at first sight. I knew the moment my heart skipped a beat you would be mine forever.” 118. “I was afraid to meet you. I always saw you in my dreams.” 119. “Happy endings are a fantasy when true love exists.” 120. “Our children will know that I am married to the only woman I ever truly loved.”

Loving You Quotes for Her

121. “I don’t need the whole world; I just need you.” 122. “There is no place you can touch on the body that makes a person go as crazy as the heart.” 123. “I sin every day I am with you. I want to steal your heart and never give it away.” 124. “Crushes aren’t easy; they’re called crushes for a reason.” 125. “I may forget everything, but I will never forget you.” 126. “Even when I am old and grey, I will be young at heart with you.” 127. “Life is crazy. Nothing is guaranteed. But, I love you in the now.” 128. “Love is a fire that I never want to extinguish.” 129. “Forget the past. I never want to remember a time without you.” 130. “As time goes by and our beauty both fades, I will still look at you as I do today.” 131. “Everyone is going to hurt you, but I think you’re worth the pain.” 132. “Real love is silly – forget passion.” 133. “You are my dream. Can I be yours?” 134. “When I am with you, I lose sight of everything. You are the only thing I can see.” 135. “I love you more than a drowning man loves air.” 136. “Love is what I am when I am with you.” 137. “I will never love you any less or love you any more than I love you this very second.” 138. “Love is like a catastrophe, and I’m the only one with you.” 139. “Possessions can be stolen. Money can be lost. Our love is something no one can take away from us.” 140. “I think everyone should meet you, so they have a chance to look love in the eyes.”

Beautiful Quotes for Her

141. “If love were an ocean, ours would cover the world.” 142. “Time and place do not exist when you’re in my arms.” 143. “Nothing is worse than being apart, and nothing is harder than being together.” 144. “Your love is like a parasite that slipped into my blood and stole my heart.” 145. “Love is all there is – not all we need.” 146. “You’re the little angel that lives in my thoughts.” 147. “Love is kind and sweet, but putting us together makes it perfect.” 148. “All of the treasures in the world couldn’t buy the happiness that we share together.” 149. “From a distance, I love you. When I am close to you, I love you even more. When I am alone at night, I long for you.” 150. “Even now, I still get butterflies in my stomach when I say I love you.” 151. “Your smile is the sunshine that makes flowers blossom.” 152. “We will always meet with a smile that ends in love.” 153. “Everyone we know is jealous of the love we share.” 154. “Who needs coffee to get excited to wake up? I have you.” 155. “Is it normal to completely lose all feelings when we kiss?”

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heartsofstrangers · 7 years

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What has been one of the most challenging things that you have experienced, or are currently experiencing?

“Love is the most challenging experience I’m going through, and the return in my cycle to the feeling of trying to heal myself through healing others. Love being the vehicle through which I travel to try to achieve that. So it’s almost like trying to heal someone else instead of healing myself. And then trying to vicariously be healed as a result of that.

“I think it’s the archetype of the sacrificed healer. In order to be good for the world, you have to sacrifice yourself. I think that paradigm, that mode, is shifting, and we’re realizing now that healing done to thyself and applied from within is the healing of the world. We don’t need another savior. We don’t need another crucifixion. That has served humanity in its term. It’s come full-term. The new healer is not sacrificed on a cross or is not sacrificed at the expense of itself. The sacrifice is in service of the self. That’s the whole higher-minded aspect of it. The acceptance.

“Being in love and accepting in a perfect way, that I’m capable of loving. And that the wisdom is the learning, and the learning doesn’t happen without the imperfection of it all. So I’m trying to come to terms with that. To accept things and let go and surrender in grace to all these wonderful wisdoms that one achieves as a result of their imperfection. The imperfect way is our essence as humans.

“So I’m trying to come to terms with all of that. Especially in relationship to the person I’ve been in love with, I think from time out of mind my whole life. Who has their own journey and their own path. And coming to terms with the fact that I can actually love somebody without being with them. And all of the beautiful, flowery memes about loving something and letting it go. It’ll come back. But love doesn’t necessarily need a physical proximity in order to be real. The love does not diminish with distance. It is constant.

“The security of closeness and the security of nearness are not the measure of the love. The need for that is beautiful and human, but it is not what makes the love exist. Letting go of the fear, then my focus shifting back to myself, has been one of the reasons I’ve held on for so long and was so desperate about healing the other, because I knew when that amount of energy and focus I was putting there was, it would turn around onto me. And I do my own healing constantly, but not in the way that this would come back to me. To realize how tumultuous my relationship is with myself on that deep level. And the quickness of myself on the nerve of my being. I have a lot of self-hatred that I don’t really understand. For all my wisdom and projections, speaking and higher consciousness and cosmic identity, there’s a quickness in me that I am still totally unreconciled with. That is my present state of struggle. It’s now coming back to myself and healing in that space. Well, just looking at it and identifying that that work is still in me to be done. And that is my capacity and my ability to project that work outwardly on the real fundamental level of deep healing. I have to do it there, in myself and that is what gives me the power to radiate it, and to create the community and create—and every relationship that I have will reflect that.

“I don’t even know where this is going right now. I haven’t thought, I hadn’t realized that this is really what was going on. That whole thing in my relationship with my lover and the fear of returning to this relationship with myself that needs to be handled and worked with and loved.”

How does it feel to hear yourself acknowledging these feelings?

“It feels really good actually, because I am so convinced of my own wisdom, and it’s true. I’m always hearing myself talk and think and feel, and I think this is why the message I’m getting lately is to be human. The higher-mindedness and the detachment, it’s not out of body. To be human, and to go into my humanity to experience that witnessing and detachment but from within, not as an escape or in objectivity, but as subjectivity of being and feeling within.

“It’s also to hear myself talking and to be documented, to have a witness is an accountability that I am not afraid of. The accountability is something that I seek because it’s easy to feel one way and then feel differently another time, and then come back to it. It’s easy to get lost in the multitude with which I experience and feel. To admit it and articulate it and speak it out loud is a sense of relief. Because I can also tell this is it. This is the issue that I skirt constantly. It’s like the thing in the middle of the room that I walk around. I pretend like it’s not really there.”

Why do you think you do that?

“The thing I keep thinking is I hate myself. And I don’t know what that is. And I don’t really hate myself, but there is something there that is. I don’t know if it’s just an existential crisis of deep thinking and awareness. I have a body and I resent it because it’s limiting. But that’s not true. I don’t know. There’s just an incompleteness that I feel, that I like to avoid. It’s a loneliness. I resent myself in isolation. I resent the kind of absence of something that I feel is essential to me. There’s a missing piece of the puzzle. I’m obsessed with finding that missing piece. Maybe I’m just coming to terms with the fact that it’s in me.

“It’s like I’m hiding from my left hand what it wants in my right hand, and I’m convincing myself that it’s somewhere in the world. It’s right under my nose, but there’s a certain amount of reluctance to admit that. I default to ‘I hate myself.’ But I don’t like living with that as a reflex. Even though I know it’s not true and I don’t really feel that way, it’s still the reflex that I have. I don’t want to deal with that. Who wants to deal with that? But it is my work to deal with. If I can do it, then anyone can. If I’m doing that work, then I’m a facilitator for anybody in the world who is struggling or seeking truth and admittance and vulnerability. It’s so overwhelmingly powerful to do that. And it’s scary. There is just so much power there that it scares the shit out of me.”

Has that reflex to go to that voice, ‘I hate myself,’ been something consistent, going back to your childhood or your teenage years, or is this a new tape that is playing?

“I think honestly it’s part of being born into a society that is still fundamentally affected by a mythology of shame and the body being the originator of sin. I think it’s a really deep, subconscious ancestral thing. It does not belong to Daniel Kaminski. This is not mine. This does not belong to me. This belongs to my fucking great-great-great-great-great-great ancestors. It’s just in my blood.

“We live in a world so deeply affected by a religion that proclaims your physical being, what you’re living in, your vehicle, is a shameful, sinful thing. I’ve never believed that, but I am still deeply affected by it. The ‘I hate myself’ is like a body. It’s this strange symptom of that cataclysm. Psychological. Where it’s like, I hate my body because it’s so sinful and shameful. It’s just so divorced from nature, so divorced from any type of cosmic reality that something so aware of itself would hate what it is. But it’s uniquely human. It’s historical.

“I remember being a child and feeling awkward. So supremely, sensationally awkward. Like wanting-to-disappear awkwardness. And not knowing what to do. I’m 32 now, and I look back at photos of myself and remember myself as a 20-year-old, or a 17-year-old or a 25-year-old and how deeply I was affected by this unconscious thing. Not being able to identify as beautiful. Not being able to identify, just in the mirror, or in my own body healthfully. And just this constant… it was like my body was a problem. My incarnation was a problem. The fact that I’m even here is a problem.

“I’ve done a lot of work to become self-aware, and to be healing and feel the truth of existence which I am participating in and the extension of. And then there’s this Achilles heel kind of thing where I’m 99 percent complete and that one percent is powerful enough to make everything else meaningless. Not make meaningless, but it’s potent enough in that one little piece to override the entire thing. I don’t know. This is a revelation right now for me. It’s a thing that you must know and least admit. So it’s like, what the fuck is up with that?”

You mentioned spending time looking in the mirror and not being comfortable with the reflection of what you saw. Tell me about how that’s impacted you, and how you cope with that.

“It’s a visceral thing. It reveals to me my own schizophrenia in a sense. I love my body. I love what I am. I love Daniel. I love everything that I go through and I do, and then it’s like the mirror cracks. And then it’s like, ugly. You’re not skinny enough. Faggot. Not my voices. My voice is clear and constant. And then there’s just like this chorus of conditioning and aggression and attack. Looking in the mirror is a trial. It’s like I’m on trial. So I try not to look. Or I try to look intentionally and try to put all of that on a leash and walk it.

“Generally, the joys, the sensations of human experience, I don’t know why. I wasn’t born into a religious family. I never have had belief or piety towards the Christian or these western modes of religious thinking. I’ve always had a natural awareness and feeling of something else that is my truth and my faith and the universe.

“But I feel a sense of corruption from those ideas. And never having talked about these ideas as a child or growing up. This is a real atmosphere that you are born into. This is in the air. There have been murder and fear and death and shame and division. But like you’re healing and you’re good and this doesn’t belong to you.

“Growing up, I confused myself with my little child’s voice. It’s still there. You only look like what you look like when you’re looking in the mirror. So it’s confusion to think that what you are is a reflection. So I guess that’s the trigger. It’s like, there’s my body. You see yourself as a reflection. And that’s where I am. I live in that. And needing to heal. The reconciliation that that thing that I live in, even though it’s going to die, is healthy and beautiful and variable. It’s like trying to control it.”

What was childhood like for you with all of this chorus of negative conditioning? Were there peers in school that were part of that chorus? Do you think they played a role in that?

“Yeah. I always felt like I was glowing. Like I had some sort of conspicuous mark that made me easy prey for taunting and all of that. It was never outwardly very terrible. But I had such a remarkable sense of dignity that the volume was just on high. So I was teased, I was taunted. I think I sublimated a lot of it because I knew it was bullshit. I just sort of pushed it down. I got sprayed with a fire extinguisher. It was just such an injustice. I was harassed. I got cornered by two jocks and sprayed with a fire extinguisher. I got suspended. It was like, what the fuck. Because I freaked out.

“My family and my close friends were by far such an essential part of my development, my strength. The love and the relationship and the closeness. I was so blessed to have those kinds of alliances. But it’s strange because even in all of that, there’s something in me that is really far away. It has made me feel very alien. Whatever the mark is. The intensity of the feeling that I have that I’m describing, it doesn’t necessarily… it’s not actually justified by my actual experience in this life. In my life.

“I think it’s cumulative or something. I have a lot of resentment for having grown up without being talked to about reality outside of society. Living, developmentally learning within such a limited framework when I was so outside that from the beginning. Truth and existence were infinitely beyond that lie of social conditioning and needing to function and all the rules of existence being limited to the social, societal sphere. I don’t necessarily blame my parents. I definitely resent having to discover all of that on my own. Having been that way from as early as I can remember.”

It’s interesting to me that as you were completing that sentence, you picked up the keys. I feel like there is some symbolism there that you hold the keys. That’s interesting.

“I know this is my work. Nobody else is to blame. There really is no blame. I talk the talk, but I do, I blame. I blame society. I blame stupid people. I blame superficiality. I blame the billboards, blame the underwear model. And the whole culture has put these things on such a pedestal. That’s okay, I guess. The influence of society on society is a little too godlike. This gross secular world of capitalism and material goods is so strange. And we are in such a sense of recovery. And maybe I identify too much with the world, too. Like I am it. Like it’s all being done to me. But that’s why I’m so concerned with healing, so concerned with revelation, discovery and transcendence. It’s that whole thing, I guess.”

I’m going to backtrack a little bit to the beginning of this interview, when you talked about love being your greatest challenge at the moment. It seemed like a two-fold challenge. I was hearing that one side of the coin was this challenge in loving yourself. And the other was loving someone else, and being able to love yourself at the same time. Tell me a little bit about the context of your past relationship. How did that end? How have you moved through that, and where are you now?

“The person I am in love with is a manifestation of my own… what he was suffering from is what I was suffering from. The existential crisis of being in a body and struggling to love it. It’s strange. Because I did not project this way to him at all. These deep, huge things in me were not a topic of conversation. It wasn’t something I even admitted to myself or was consciously aware of. So the relationship between loving him and wanting to heal him and be loved in the same way by somebody else when I couldn’t even really love myself in that same way. And I wasn’t even aware of that need in myself to be loved, that I’m searching for that same healing.

“It became very apparent to me that you can’t do somebody else’s work for them, in spite of the greatest intentions and most abundant love. It doesn’t happen just because all of the ingredients are in the pot. Certain things aren’t activated yet. Timing is a huge part of it.

“It’s so sad when genuine emotion, love, caring, just don’t work the way that you want them to. They’re not this cure-all. They’re not automatically remedial. I need to come to terms with that. It’s extremely disappointing. But that’s just you wanting things to be a certain way, and things to happen on your timing and not on the timing of the reality of the situation. And it’s me trying to avoid the work I ultimately need to do on myself. And scapegoating a relationship with a lover for the relationship with myself.”

Loving yourself on a fundamental basis: what does that look like for you?

“Nakedness. Nudity. Smiling. Health. Fearlessness. Romance. Swimming. It just looks good. A lot less booze. A lot less cigarettes. Singing. Singing beyond. High notes. Wealth. Contentment. Maybe not even contentment, but grace. And surrender and acceptance and empowerment. A lot of things that I already have, or that I admit to and that I’m working on allowing into my life. But then the little fucking imp. It’s so interesting how powerful that voice is, when it climbs up on your shoulder and you’re like, oh no. You want to flick it away, but it’s also this strange consoling company. I’m trying to figure out where that’s coming from, and what gives it so much strength.

“It’s really everybody’s work, and I’m experiencing it in my own unique way. I don’t know. Is everybody this way? My roommate, my closest friend since I was three years old, I don’t think experiences the same kind of urgency. My sense of responsibility that I am realizing is to the world.

“I feel responsible for the state of affairs. Insofar as my purpose as a life form is to be a part of something healthy and healing and authentic. To put something out into the world that pollinates and to leave a legacy that repeats upon itself this message of authenticity. Which I think is the most important thing. Not even necessarily to be anything except authentic. That is something that I identified and I haven’t really revisited this in a long time. But the desire to be authentic. Is this me? And being able to sift through that and know what I am authentically. That voice, that insecurity, is not me, it does not belong to me, it is not my authenticity. So where is it coming from, and whose is it? Like oh, that was the asshole who slammed you up against a locker and called you a faggot—that’s his insecurity. Not mine.

“Then it just goes deeper, too. Like oh, this is my grandmother’s depression, not mine. I really do believe that my life didn’t begin when I was born. You inherit legacies of thinking and being encoded in your DNA. It’s pre-existent conditioning. That is the shit you live that defines you and you interact with to transform and become and figure out what you really are.”

Speaking of the shit and the manure which you grew in, what were your home and your family life like? You mentioned some of those patterns being passed on to you through DNA. I believe that they are also passed on to us through behavior and through our environment. Our parents, oftentimes, without taking inventory of their upbringing, pass along a lot of the same feelings, shame, guilt behavioral issues, thought processes etc. to us without even knowing it. And then we continue to do the same if we do not take a moment to take inventory and be aware of what we are carrying with us and what we are passing on to others.

“Yeah. It was all pretty good. My parents got divorced before I was really aware of things. It was never an issue. I never had that much emotion. It was normal to have divorced parents. I look at them now and think, how did you ever get married? They are extraordinarily different people. I also think the reason they got married was to have me and my sister. That was a destiny thing. Good for them.

“My mom. Depressed woman. My mom was just depressed, she still is, she’s depressing. I love her more than anything, but she has this resignation to her own depression or this extremely gray, inarticulate experience of living. That’s something I have been deeply affected by and extremely scared of becoming. So I kind of live reacting to that all the time.

“My father is… growing up, you just walk the line. There’s a line and you walk it, and that’s how you get the most out of life. That was deeply influential. The influence of my parents on me created rebellion. I wanted to not be what they were and what they represented. Now that my dad is retired he is a completely different human being. It’s all positive energy. Just do what you got to do to be happy. There’s no formula anymore. I think he realized how he wasted a lot of his life on formula. But that was just his way and his path.

“But the person who raised me and activated my consciousness and my larger sense of awareness was my sister. Through her fieriness and her poetry, and her free spirit, she was just a representation of untethered becoming and casting off the straightjacket. Going off to find your own threads and clothe yourself in your own creation. She was my catalyst for becoming an artist, for questioning reality and normality. Her friends were always like goddess figures to me and extraordinarily wise. I owe it to my sister, and to my parents insofar as much as they gave me my sister. Love for mom and dad abounding. I just don’t believe in limitations, and I don’t believe in being defined by social norms. My relationship to them and their influence was essentially for me to go out and discover that unlimited sense of becoming. Breaking the social identity that I was cast into.”

You mentioned that your mother suffers from depression and that she is still in the throes of it. How does that impact you? You mentioned that you operate in a sense that you don’t want to become like her. But how does that impact you on a deeper level?

“I think what it has taught me, a lot, is that she really has exercised my ability and desire for compassion. To understand and to love anyway and to let that be the guiding, the headlight, in my relationship with her. That is encouraging. But it’s also been really fear-based. I was afraid of being ill and afraid of depression. To the point where maybe I’m depressed, but I don’t acknowledge it. I don’t call it that. I have to dress it up in different words to make it something that I can accept about myself over a period of time in my life.

“So that is something I’m deeply aware of. It always seems so unnecessary. And I don’t really understand depression as an illness or as a clinical diagnosis. I have to not believe in that; otherwise I will fall into that category. It’s more dynamic. It’s more multidimensional than just, ‘I’m depressed.’ It is always a challenge to transcend. It’s a call to action for me to be more inclusive of other things, to balance out the perspective of myself that is depressed. You focus down to the point of a needle and that is your depression, that is what consumes you and that is what you are. I have that. But then I zoom out and I see myself on a planet revolving around the sun and a cosmos that is infinite and I say, ‘Okay, I’m depressed, but it’s so small. Let’s focus on more.’

“That helps me. It’s not just me deluding myself. My depression is extremely manageable because of that. And there’s enough that is depressing in the world to justify being depressed. We live in a whole world and there’s a lot of healing that is needed to achieve authenticity. It’s not peace. Authenticity of humanity is peaceful. It doesn’t kill itself. It doesn’t attack itself.

“The idea of that representing what authenticity is, is a powerful occurrence that is dominating this interview. Like authenticity representing health. I don’t need to be healthier, I don’t need to be more peaceful. I just need to be like more authentic, and figure out where my authenticity is. And then all the other things align. Chakras are aligned, the body is in flow of self-service. That is authentic.”

And that translates into the world as well. Individuals are able to accept and to operate from authenticity and everything aligns and we can begin where we are as opposed to where we want to be.

“That’s what seems to me. Where is strife? Strife is people acting inauthentic. Self-deceived. Like Donald Trump is not an authentic human being. And what makes him so dangerous is how inauthentic he is. And he has a microphone and everyone is paying so much attention to him. It’s not that he’s a bad guy. He’s just acting fundamentally out of a deep inauthenticity. That spreads disease or it’s contaminating.”

What do you think drives inauthenticity?

“Fear. Confusion. Not admitting to being confused. Being confused but acting confidently. Dismissing your own confusion. It’s like a free radical. It’s dangerous to not be able to admit to being confused. And instead just pioneer ahead as if you’re not confused.

“When things become clear, you have to face them and have something to face. So that is a huge vulnerability and challenge and it is extremely scary. What keeps you from doing that work is fear of doing that work. That systematically has so many derivatives. Unique variables. Unique places where it’s derived from based on individuals and where people are in the world, and in their life.

“Admitting your fears. As long as the wound doesn’t necessarily go away but you dress it and tend to it and you care for it, and it’s a healthy wound. It’s there, but it’s not infected. You are taking care of it. You’re interacting daily with the wound, accepting it and nurturing it. That’s essentially mortality. Like, I’m going to die. I am mortal, I am living. This is my mortal incarnation. Coming to terms with your mortality is accepting the wound and accepting that the wound doesn’t go away. It’s about maintenance and love and care and tenderness and all that.

“So I think fear of accepting that. So much of our philosophical and religious ideology is about perfection. Creating a scenario where the wound doesn’t exist. It’s against nature. It is inaccurate. It is misled in a certain way. Maybe a philosopher or a scientist or some religious leader will find perfection. The perfect prescription. The prescription of perfect. But to me that is utterly delusional, and it causes a lot of murder and death and war to fight for perfection or to believe that perfection is something that anything is capable of that is mortal and alive. Which means transient. Constant. Shifting. Flowing. Unfixed. That to me is what you need to come to terms with. Here today, gone tomorrow. And I accept that. I am okay with that. That’s just what we live in.

“When you have the idea of perfection that drives you to believe that there is just one perfect singularity, you have to eliminate so much to create that space. And you can’t create that space. You can’t exclude and eliminate in order to create something whole. It’s just funny.”

It has to encompass all.

“Yes. It’s an inclusion of everything. And an acceptance, and then grace. All the human things you do at that point to be healthy. It’s not the lion lying down with the lamb. Or the Garden of Eden. That’s where the game ends. If things were perfect, the screen would shut off. It’s over. It’s done. I don’t find that to be very desirable at all. Anything fixed is essentially… that’s what death is. It dies. It’s over. Fixed. Stopped. That’s essentially what perfection is, too. Everything stops. You don’t grow. You don’t learn. You don’t love. It’s just over.”

That doesn’t really reflect life. Life is more of a cycle than a definitive ending or beginning.

“Yeah. Look at the planets. Don’t they tell us much? We are like short-term planets. Then the cosmos, there’s this ancientness to them. What they do, we do. Just on a different level in a different timeframe. The phenomenon of outer space and the mystery of the deeper places, it’s just like so exciting and amazing. It is something to look up at and admire and let feed and fuel your imagination of possibility and potentiality. And it’s a mystery. Life must be given its mystery, because that is what perpetuates it. It’s in constant development. It’s where curiosity is.

“It’s strange historically, this huge need for something empirical to… that need for an answer. I always say don’t answer questions, question questions. Be wary of the answer that doesn’t create a question. I’ve been obsessed with that natural order of continuity. Things going somewhere else. Even when it ends, every ending is a new beginning. Beware the ending that is only an ending, because then it’s over.

“These are philosophical, spiritual, metaphysical, mystical ideas. We live in a society and we live in political systems that do not incorporate that wisdom. The latticework and the structure are linear with right angles. Things need to fit. That wisdom of fluidity is very absent. Barrier, demographics, division. You’re in this category or you’re in that category. That is how society looks at itself, through categories and division. Economics.

“There’s an absence of a certain fundamental wisdom in our political structure and in our government. Once that wisdom is incorporated into the way that society governs itself, The expansion of consciousness, because it will be nurtured, it will be huge. The acceleration into enlightenment will be so triggered. When government isn’t a form of oppression and suppression, that will be really amazing. What it will do for humanity to be more human.”

I want to go back to a couple of points that we passed through. You mentioned that one of the needlepoints for you is depression, and that maybe you use some different adjectives to describe that feeling or that place. You also mentioned drinking, that maybe you drink more than you would like to. Or you smoke more than you want to. What do you think drives you to drink or smoke more than you want to, and what helps you cope with the feelings that are making you feel depressed and like you want to drink and smoke more?

“I think I’ve reached a certain point where I care so much that I utterly rebel against it, and then become careless and irreverent. It’s a little bit polarized. I know that’s why I like to drink, because I like to not care as much. But it’s not a healthy way of dealing with it. Ultimately, it’s not constructive, and there is very little enlightenment in functioning in that way.

“I admit freely that it is definitely a careless, reckless, fuck it, I’m just going to laugh and be irreverent and end up hating myself. It doesn’t disappear. It doesn’t actually function. If anything, sometimes I feel there is a skip in the record. Getting really drunk is like kicking the record machine. And then you’re like, you wake up and you are on a different track. The record is on a whole different song, an entirely different album, actually.

“There is a certain amount of drinking that I could be doing that would be very healthy and constructive and good. But it’s why I drink. If I drink because I am desiring carelessness, that is one kind of drinking. But if I’m drinking to enjoy the experience and be involved in the experience, then I drink a lot less. It’s a constructive space and inspiring. That’s the ideal. I work towards it. I don’t really like getting drunk anymore. It’s very boring and it lacks creativity, but it creates the illusion of entertainment and creativity. That’s my relationship with drinking.

“I also romanticize the fuck out of it, like a potion. It is potion to me. It is craft. It is an amazing chemical process. What it does chemically to the body, it’s alchemy, it’s a little bit of this and a little bit of this and see what happens. But there is definitely a level of abuse that happens in romanticizing something. It’s like, no, this is toxic and if you do enough of it there is poison-ness. So take your potion and cork it.

“I desire to drink as a form of forgetting. It isn’t my authentic space. But it’s something I still do. To wake up hating myself, you did it again, what the fuck is wrong with you? That is insult to injury and it perpetuates the cycle. So to wake up, you did it again, Daniel. But I accept and love myself anyways. That makes it easier to break that cycle. It makes my authenticity more accessible. Trusting that my authenticity is not 20 cocktails and needing to be carried home.

“Cigarettes are an irreverent ‘fuck me.’ I love to smoke. I love the sensation. I love the little death of it. I know that also is not my authenticity. But you are filled with ideas and conditioning. There is something extremely romantic to me about smoking cigarettes. And my mom smokes a pack and a half a day, and she has since I was a child and since she was 20 years old. So I’m sure that has something to do with it, too.

“Ultimately, I do love myself and I have this feeling: I’m an artist and there’s the whole tradition of the artist. All the vices and how romantic the madness and the unhealthy processes through which an artist achieves inspiration. It is so romanticized and misunderstood, but it’s definitely ingrained as almost an archetype. And I definitely feel connected to that, because I can experience and see how the vicissitudes of unhealthy lifestyle choices and practices do end up generating a strong pull toward compensation through creativity. But that’s such an outmoded model. I really believe the artist of the 21st century, a truly contemporary artist, will be functioning from health. And whoa, the amount of amazing potential for creativity when functioning from health and sanity and enlightenment and awareness instead of this visceral struggle and strife. Kind of, I like this, but I’m killing myself in the process.

“We’ve done that. Writers, painters, musicians. Madness as a fuel for inspiration. Or accepting madness as part of the mixture, but not being consumed by it. Allowing it to have its influence, but without its being the driving force. There is something remarkably cathartic about mad thoughts and wonder. I think there is a healthy place for that kind of…and it wouldn’t be madness at that point. It would just be imagination and vision. But how easily imagination and vision can make you feel crazy.

“I think that’s part of the drinking. It’s where I dose myself with madness. But I really do hate it, because it’s hard to take yourself seriously. It makes it more difficult for other people to take you seriously, especially if you are vivid in imagination and visionary. It’s way too easy for people to just dismiss you as drunk again. It really goes against my desire to be taken seriously, to take myself seriously. But then I don’t want to take myself seriously. I take myself too seriously. It goes back and forth.”

How do outlets like writing and art and music help you on your journey to health and healing and self-love? What sort of role do they play in that?

“It’s almost like a macroscopic, psychological reorganization. Especially drawing, because it’s a real out-of-body experience. It is essentially a form of mediation. Art is a meditative process. So if you consider thinking about something as putting pressure on it. To know that it’s there and to know what shape it is. You are forming thoughts and it’s this very, almost tactile process of analysis.

“There is almost an absence of thinking when I draw. Or it’s a different kind of thinking. It’s an integrated thinking. It’s not coming from above the neck. It sinks into a center. I’m thinking and feeling from a central place that creates an image. The image is just being grounded in physical activity. And meanwhile, inside, everything re-shelves and falls into a different place of organization. It kind of slips and slithers and it’s not on purpose. It’s this kind of organic reorganization and re-shelving. Things fall into a new place, and coming out of drawing it’s like, all right, there’s new perspective.

“I really do believe that the drawing itself becomes a catalyst for that kind of experience. When somebody looks at it, they’ll look at a drawing, and that will start happening to them. That kind of integrated, reorganization of feeling and perspective. That’s the goal at least, that the image will be a catharsis for that quality of introspection and becoming. Because that is essentially how it serves me. The writing is a version of that, but it’s using a different language. So instead of using a non-representational image, the writing is more analytical and it’s more defined by language. It also proves my own existence to myself. Whereas a lot of the times I feel extremely remote, as if there is nobody close to me at all. Like I am literally an alien in a human body. Can somebody please touch me so that I know that I’m real?

“The journal is that tap. It’s like, Okay, my experiences are real and there’s information there that maybe isn’t immediately obvious, but that I can come back to at a certain time, and there’s validation and unexpected justification that happen. That can only happen through retrospection and that dimension looking back down the avenue.

“Ultimately, it’s so that it can be something that I can give away. You have multiple incarnations. I’m in every single image and my voice is in every single image. I want to create a human document that makes people feel more comfortable being human. I want to make sacred the inevitability of perfection and learning as a result. I want that to be where the future of humanity idealizes. Crystallizes and idea of what to aspire toward is humanity. Not imperfection. Or something pristine and perfect, white, bleached, but the good earth. Dirt. Decomposition. Cycles. Life and death. Jesus Christ, I’m digressing all over the place.

“So the question of writing and drawing. They are a legacy. I think everybody has something valuable to create through a legacy. Especially when you are striving for authenticity. It becomes the road map for those yet to be. And that is absolutely how personally art has served me especially. Writing a diary or a journal or letters. There is a witnessing that you get to have through what people leave behind. You find those who were really in the throes of finding authenticity. You get to gain a lot of levels very quickly as a result of their work. Processing that work gives you such an advantage to arrive at your own work.

“That’s the tradition of art and writing. It’s sacred, in a sense. The role that it has played for thousands of years, it has been a quickening that you leave behind for others. But I think the struggle for authenticity and to create a paper trail out of that struggle is just invaluable. It’s not exclusive or elitist. It’s something that anybody can do who is concerned with becoming and arriving at their authenticity or cultivating. No matter what marks you leave behind, they will be interesting and they will be a service. They will serve that striving for authenticity in others. They will validate it and they will give courage.

“That is my goal as an artist. It is to create authentically and powerfully. Being able to be a catalyst for others to do the same or to be encouraged to do the same. Or to shock them into that state of awareness in an instant. To be gripped. To fall into a portal and come out the other end like holy shit, what am I doing? I think there is an image that could almost force that kind of quickening. That reflection which strips you of all of your deceit. It reveals you to yourself naked. Life-changing shit. Why not?”

What sort of role does music play in all of that?

“Music plays a huge role as an influence. And in performance. It’s like the live-action test. It’s the live version of a drawing or a piece of writing. You are in the flesh and you are in a moment. It’s temporal and it’s happening to an audience. The challenge to be authentic on stage is extraordinary. And the exercise of that challenge to be authentic is very real to me. The vulnerability of being on stage and choosing to have witnesses is extraordinary. Then to open up your mouth and to sing a song, that is … people see a performer and they idolize. Very few people come to the realization of how vulnerable that sharing is.

“The fact that anybody steps on stage, let alone with 20,000 people in the audience, is an extraordinary achievement, especially when the concern is to share something authentic. Then there’s a more mystical aspect of performance, which is a form of sorcery. It’s enchantment. You get on stage and you have an entire focus inside a space directed at you. People, all the energy in the room is being focused on you. That is extremely powerful magic. You’re holding that energy, and there’s a huge responsibility there to be authentic, because people are automatically enchanted. They are giving you something, and that’s a huge responsibility.

“It is spell-casting when you have a body, or several bodies on stage creating an organized sound through cooperation. And everyone in that room is pulsating to that sound. That is so human and miraculous. It’s a phenomenon. It’s the most human thing with instruments and time and humans working with humans to do something that is one thing. To create one thing out of many things, and then to share it. And all the human bodies are moving. And all the information and revelation that one has when they are dancing or in that enchantment or being in that spell.

“The thoughts that occur to you, all the influence that goes on individually and collectively is such an amazing opportunity to heal. And to share something healing. Especially if you do it intentionally. A lot of times it’s accidental. People are just trying to make good music. Then they share it and all that stuff just happens. But you can put intention behind it and really understand the physics, and the physics of what you are doing. Because it’s vibrations and energy. That to me makes it so much more important and infinitely more interesting than just thinking, oh, I just sing. That kind of understanding it from that angle to me is like this is what I do. I’m intolerable. I ascribe too much importance to everything. But physics is proving all this shit, so I guess it’s what’s happening. It’s like waking up to what’s actually going on. That’s exciting to me. And it makes it more … it keeps me stimulated to think of things as sorcery, enchantment, spell-casting. It’s not just something that happens in fantasy novels. It’s something that we do every time we open our mouth. Somebody is listening to you and you influence them with intention and pitch and tonality and directed rhetoric. I guess that’s music in a nutshell!”

If you could deliver a message to your younger self, knowing what you know now and having the perspective that you’ve gained now, what are some of the important things you would share?

“I would want to say, ‘You’re right. You’re all right.’ Not in the sense that you’re right about everything, but that everything you’re wrong about is right. There’s always more. There’s nothing wrong with you. Even the feelings you have, there’s nothing wrong with you. That’s right, too. That’s part of what it means to be young and growing.

“The world is large beyond your imagination. Any limitation is something of an illusion. You’re cosmic. I would love to have had that kind of trigger early. That validation of feeling so connected and vulnerable. Just to have that validated in some way, and not reduced to some adult affectation. To communicate with a child. You really have to be told you’re in for it. This world is an amazing experience, and it’s cruel and beautiful and you’re going to interact with it, and you have something unique and amazing to contribute to it all. That’s why you’re here. Good luck. I wish you well. You’ve got this.

“My nephew is going to be 10. I’ve never been able to talk to children. I think it’s so disgraceful to speak childishly to a child simply because they’re a child. You want to communicate with them, but not stupidly. So many people sound stupid when they talk to kids. It’s like, why are you doing that to them? I want to be that voice to my younger self that talks to them like a wise being. They already have so much to contribute and offer that they are teaching. As soon as they come out of the womb, they are teaching as much as they are learning. I want us really give kids that credit, my younger self or any young person that credit. They are not just these empty vessels that we fill up with our knowledge. They come with something extremely important to contribute right away.

“It’s so easy to get consumed by the institutions you are thrown into and to think that is the limitation of the world. When I was in high school, junior high, there was no way I could even fathom a world outside of that world. Nothing else existed. And what a shame, that’s so unfortunate to feel that way. Living in such a small world, which is an illusion essentially.”

Is there a favorite quote or some mantra or song lyric that resonates with you that you’d like to share?

“There are so many. I love quotes. They are distillations of wisdom, potencies. The main thing for me is, ‘Don’t bury something unless you want it to grow.’ For me that is extremely important information for discovering authenticity and being vulnerable and courage. Bury things you want to grow; that’s what happens when you bury something. When people bury things they turn into trees, so don’t do that with your demons. It’s a little ominous though.

‘Use your imagination’ is another one.”

What does that mean to you?

“It’s a little bit too easy to see a table as a table or a wall as a wall or a lamp as a lamp or a sidewalk as a sidewalk. Use your imagination. A table is where people break bread. A table is a somewhat sacred place over which words are exchanged and relationships happen and upon which plates are put upon which food is put, with which we perpetuate our life.

“The sidewalk is a place of infinite activity. Unending, transpiring. So much life walks across. It’s an avenue of life and unknowable mystery of human countenance and experience.

“Use your imagination to get out of the 2-D world and witness the multiple dimensions that even the most inane kind of object has—a story which is interesting and nourishes your sense of wonder about the world. So that’s use your imagination. It just seems like good advice.”

How has it felt to talk about these feelings and experiences with me today?

“Oh, man. It’s been amazing. It’s interesting, because if you listen well enough, people teach themselves what they need to know. I’m very grateful, and thank you for the quality of listening. It’s a remarkable gift, and it’s something that I want to get better at, because we think we need to teach and infuse our input, our wisdom, our knowledge, our advice into people, when I think there’s this wonderful, powerful learning and teaching that happen when you just listen and listen well. It’s more of a sorcery of presence that allows things to manifest.

“To be heard is to hear yourself, too, in a way that a lot of people don’t have the opportunity to do. To be heard is to hear yourself. And it’s good. It’s the opportunity to create sacred space in every encounter that you have by listening well and being compassionate and allowing that opportunity for learning, which is in every moment really to manifest and take place because you are listening and paying attention and being authentic. You’re not blowing smoke up other people’s asses. You’re not humoring bullshit. You are being a genuine witness and therefore participating authentically. That’s pretty good. That vulnerability creates an unbelievable amount of strength, the absence of which is like crackers and crumbs. Or with vulnerability and openness, it’s like a meal. Every experience is a hearty meal.

“The pretense and prescription of politeness is a very meager meal and unsatisfying. That kind of superficiality, you can be composed and stoic and present yourself appropriate to any situation without being inauthentic. There is an authentic way to do any of that. Even in passing. A smile and a nod. And to say, ‘How are you? How are you doing today?’ Or even being able to respond to that question without, ‘Oh, I’m fine. I’m great.’ ‘Ughhhhh!’That’s more authentic.

“I see the trap of that pretense and how it becomes people. And then they fall apart slowly, buried underneath all of that. Or it turns into a monster.”

Do you think it’s possible that by sharing your feelings and experiences with me today, having the courage to be vulnerable and authentic, you could be inspiring someone else who can relate to what you are sharing today to continue forward on their own journey?

“I hope so. That’s the greater sense of purpose here. That in sharing, openly, candidly and vulnerably, it would be heard in a way that would inspire much of the same. And heal the sense of division that we too often have in our sense of relationship to others. And with ourselves. To open the windows of the interior and let the fresh air in. Allowing others to witness that, enabling them to do the same thing.

“Authenticity will be what we allow ourselves and allow each other, instead of the roles that we feel so often forced into and that we feel are required of us. That we become so divided and then we confuse ourselves with the role we are playing. That’s a difficult path. You get lost.

“I think there is something important about sharing and doing it as a daily practice. It’s interesting, too, because I’m a pretty candid guy. I function that way for all the reasons that I’ve talked about. I work to be an example of all I hold dear and I idealize, or explore through ideas, and through conversation and art. That is all an exercise that would make me more prepared to do and exemplify.

“Now, sitting down with a real intention with you to share and be vulnerable and peel back the layers, there are more layers than I had realized. I think I am living nakedly and vulnerably. It has just been a revelation to witness more layers come up. There is probably an infinite amount of layers. The work is never done.

“It’s been a real revelation to be heard and to hear myself and see what else is there. It was totally unforeseeable. It’s really amazing.”

#heartsofstrangers #everyhearthasastorytotell #authencity #healing #human #mentalhealth

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johnchiarello · 7 years

Text

Sunday sermon

SUNDAY SERMON [9-24-17- verses from Church Unlimited- Mass- New Christian Harvest]

Isaiah 55:5

Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee.

NOTE- This is from last Sunday- I’m about a week behind on the teachings posts. The news this morning is the tragic shooting on the Vegas strip last night- as of now- 50 dead- about 200 injured- please pray for the families of the victims- thanks.

https://youtu.be/WwK9H9cKnc0 Sunday sermon

http://ccoutreach87.com/9-24-17-sunday-sermon/

https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/9-24-17-sunday-sermon.zip

ON VIDEO-

.My low rider

.The good seed

.Don’t wait for perfect environment- plant now

.Some seeds will fail- that’s part of the process

.Kerygma [Phil. 2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerygma

.Oral tradition in the 1st century

.Martyrdom- the 1st century- and now

.Polycarp http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/martyrs/polycarp.html

.The mind of Christ- lay down your rights

.Guatemalans in North Bergen- they want to work

.Parable of the landowner

.Get to work!

.1st century context of the parables

.Lavish grace

.Genres of scripture [Historical narrative- poetry- prophecy- etc.]

.Cosmological constant

NEW- On these ‘Sunday sermons’ I simply teach on the verses from various Sunday church meetings- for the date that I make the post- I have covered most of the material before- and that’s what you see below [Past Posts section].

I really have no ‘new’ teaching for this post.

But just a reminder- I do try and post a video or 2 every night on my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/john.chiarello.5?ref=bookmarks

- and for those who want to download the teaching videos- you can get them from the zip links I add to each post. Everything is free- feel free to copy as much as you want- download as many teaching zips as you want- that’s what these sites are there for- Thanks

John

PAST POSTS- These are my past teachings that relate in some way to today’s post- I either quoted from a bible book- and then added the links where I taught that whole book- or just pasted text from past teachings on something I taught on today’s video- Sunday Sermon]

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/07/07/acts-16/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/09/26/9-25-17-austin/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhhg5c3D6LY [I mentioned the Guatemalan immigrants in North Bergen- sure enough- I have a video of the brothers!]

https://ccoutreach87.com/1st-2nd-corinthians/

https://ccoutreach87.com/hebrews-updated-2015/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/09/29/9-24-17-sunday-sermon/

https://ccoutreach87.com/romans-updated-2015/

ACTS 16- Paul and Silas hit the road. They are being led by the Spirit and are evangelizing large regions without a lot of money, organization or ‘corporate help’. Now, these things are permitted, but we need to make sure we are seeing this story right! Jesus imbedded a mindset into the Apostles, he told them ‘don’t think you need a lot of extra equipment for this. You are the equipment! No special appeals for funds [ouch!], keep it simple’ [Message bible- Jesus instructions when he sent them out by two’s]. So here we actually see the Apostles living the vision. Paul by the way has a vision! He sees a vision of a man in Macedonia saying ‘come and help us’. Luke writes ‘we took this as a sure sign of God sending us’. Wow, what childlike simplicity. The great theologian Paul, the man who could argue orthodoxy all day [and win]. He has a vision and says ‘we took it as Gods will’. Don’t develop doctrines that cut you off from God’s supernatural guidance. Sure, people have gotten into trouble with visions. Cults have ‘prophets and apostles’. But the church also had these things and it helped on the journey. Now at Philippi they convert a woman down by the river. They cast out a demon from a fortune teller. The ‘masters’ see they lost their ‘money maker’ and stir up trouble in the city. Paul and Silas get thrown in jail. They praise God and sing, an earthquake happens. The doors swing open. The jailer thinks they all escaped and is going to kill himself. Paul and Silas preach the gospel and he asks ‘what must I do to be saved’ they say ‘believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, your family too!’ The whole house gets baptized and the city leaders send word ‘tell them to leave’. Now, Paul is a lot like me. He doesn’t let stuff slide. He says ‘they beat us unlawfully, we are Roman citizens! Now they want us to leave secretly. Let them come and tell us publicly’ the leaders hear they are Romans and are worried. Paul made them squirm! Let’s do a little overview. We are halfway thru the book of Acts and we see the ‘churches’ as these free flowing believers carrying out the gospel. Baptisms and healings and visions. We also see doctrinal growth. We challenge the mindset of many evangelicals, baptismal regeneration is not taught [at least I don’t see it] but baptism in water is the immediate outward identification of the believer. In essence it was the New Testament ‘altar call’. Our Catholic friends will eventually develop an idea of baptism as washing away original sin. But sometimes we miss the other idea of putting off adult baptism because of fear of future sins. Saint Augustine, the emperor Constantine and others delayed their baptism thinking they would use it to ‘clean them up’ after any future faults. The doctrine of baptism in Acts is seen as an immediate rite that does affect the believer [as do all outward acts of obedience! Even the Lords Supper strengthens the faith of the believer]. But justification and believing are prior to baptism. But not two weeks or two years prior! But a few minutes. I also forgot to mention that Paul has Timothy circumcised in this chapter. The great Apostle Paul, who will eventually pen the words ‘circumcision means nothing, but a circumcised heart is what matters’ here he gave in. Paul and Silas are fresh off the recent Jerusalem council. They have been accused of teaching Jews ‘abandon the law and circumcision’. The decree from Jerusalem said the gentiles don’t need to worry about these things. But they were still teaching Jewish converts to maintain Jewish law and custom. Timothy was not circumcised, and everyone knew it! His mother was Jewish but his father was Greek. So Paul realized that the judiazers would eventually say ‘see, Paul is even teaching Jews to break Moses law’ so Paul gives in and compromises here. Do the restrictions at the Jerusalem council still hold sway over Jewish believers today? No. Paul will eventually abandon all Jewish law and custom from his doctrine of justification by faith. But at this stage they are still learning and growing. The mindset of ‘God’ in this book is one of ‘less restrictions’ and more acceptance as time rolls on. We see enough stuff on baptism to not call the churches who emphasize baptism ‘Cambellites/heretics’ [the term Cambellite comes from the founder of the Church of Christ/ Disciples of Christ groups. Their founder was Alexander Campbell. He falls into the restorationist camp. He saw the emphasis on adult baptism in scripture and many of his followers see the act of water baptism as the moment of conversion]. But we also see the basic ‘ingredient’ for acceptance as faith. So God is not excluding those who focus on baptism [Peters initial converts] but showing us greater acceptance among ‘those who believe’ [Acts 10]. This is what I tried to say in our introduction to this study. As we read we shouldn’t be looking for formulas or hard and fast verses to simply justify our churches beliefs against the church down the block. But we need to see the heart and mind of God. We also shouldn’t trace our peculiar belief to this historic church and say ‘see, our group is the most accurate one’. Why? Don’t I believe my idea of simple church is closer to the historic church? Yes. But the ‘church’ will develop in good and bad ways as the centuries roll on. The fact that many Catholics and Orthodox and future Protestants will grow and fight and reform, means the church herself has within her the inherent ability to ‘get back to the Cross’ or the reality of all of these groups believing in Jesus causes there to be a fundamental unity that exists because we all possess Christ’s Spirit. So even though I personally see the organic church in Acts, this doesn’t mean that I see the other expressions of church as totally illegitimate or lost! So let’s end this chapter rejoicing with the jailer who heard the gospel and ‘believed with all his house’.

[parts]

(1148) THE TOWER OF BABEL- Today I finish the Genesis study that I started a few years ago. Sort of a milestone if you will. In chapter 11 we see the famous story of the Tower of Babel. Man united his efforts, learned how to build things contrary to God's initiative [brick and mortar versus stone] and gave his time and efforts willingly in order to make a name for himself [image building]. Over the years I have observed the church of God go thru various seasons, sometimes I cross paths with good men who are at different levels of the journey [like myself]. One of ‘the levels’ is the realization that ministers/pastors have often unconsciously built towers of Babel when they meant to build Gods church. Babel was an affront to what God wanted. Babel was an edifice that drew your attention to man and his ability to get things done, it shouted ‘look how much I have been able to accomplish, cant you see what I’ve done’! Contrary to mans building plan, God used stones that were honed and fashioned at the quarry before they were brought to the temple site. This represented the reality that though man is used in Gods building program, yet he is simply a stone carrier/placer. He doesn’t actually produce the building materials [brick and mortar]. The Lord stopped the tower of Babel by confusing the languages of men and scattering them throughout the land. The contrast to this chapter is Acts 2, where the Lord supernaturally allowed men of many different languages to once again come together and understand each other. Sort of like Gods divine imprimatur on the new building/tower that he was going to build [the church]. He would allow men once again to take part in this unified effort to build something. But it would be like the prophet said ‘not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord’ [stones versus brick]. On the journey most leaders will eventually see the common mistake that many Protestants have made in allowing the things we have built to bring honor and attention to who we are, what we have been able to do. This mindset of building is exactly what God rebuked at Babel, he did not want man to ‘build a tower unto heaven’ and believe in his own intellect and abilities. Jesus often challenged the mindset of the disciples on the nature of leadership, he built into them a new way of seeing leadership, it would not be a means to become the greatest, the most well known one among the group. It is common today for the leader/pastor of a congregation to unconsciously become the center of attention; this is a mistake that Christians have made by not seriously following the commands of Jesus about leadership in his kingdom. Most leaders will face a time where they will have to die to this addiction that is common among good men, men who mean well. When confronted with this challenge it is a conscious choice that leaders will make that is not easy, it truly will be a Cross to bear. But it’s better than God having to come down and personally stop the building program!

(1147) Lets do a brief overview. Those of you reading these last 10 or so entries from the Genesis Study will see that I taught the chapters 12-50 a few years ago. I had no real reason to have left out the first 11 chapters; it just worked out that way. It gave me some time to look at both sides of the creation debate [young versus old earth]. First, I want to say that I still lean towards old earth myself, but do not consider myself a Progressive Creationist. These brothers view the creation days as long ages, the problem I have with that view is it has God intervening directly and creating life at many different intervals over millions of years. I don’t hold to that. But I do believe it’s possible to have an old earth and a literal reading of the days [I already explained it in these last few posts]. Most of all I want to stress that the bible is not clear when it comes to the age of the earth. The young earth brothers have made a very noble effort from verses that connect the beginning of creation with man [Mark 10:6] or other verses speaking about things from the start [Mark 13:19-20, Luke 11: 50-51]. Too much to do now, but it is a long argument for a young earth. The other word that comes up often is Phenomenological, this word is used to explain the language of scripture that is used when speaking to the common man. Like when the bible speaks of the Sun set and Sun rise, most of us realize that the Sun is not the object that is moving! So to technically argue something that we know is ‘not true’ would be silly. Mark Noll wrote about stuff like this in the popular book ‘Scandal of the Evangelical mind’. So, how much science do we accept? Do we use these arguments to open the door to Evolution and everything else that comes down the pike? Of course not! But we try and stay open to science while at the same time staying true to Gods word. For many years science and philosophy believed in an eternal earth and universe. It wasn’t until the tremendous breakthroughs of the 20th century that the Big bang Theory became accepted science. If you listened to Einstein’s theories at the beginning, they seemed utterly ludicrous! His ideas about time not being fixed, and the relationship between time and space were way out there. Many Christians did not accept his ideas. But there were many atheistic scientists who were more troubled, if Hubble and Einstein were right [they were] that would mean the universe had a starting point [the so called point of singularity] the atheists knew that this would sound the death bell for their belief in atheism. If there was a starting point to time and matter, then there was no way to get around it, you would need an initial starter [Aristotle and Aquinas would be right- prime mover, though they both believed in an eternal universe]. So today the majority view of cosmology is the Big Bang theory, some scientists still argue for the eternal universe, but most believe in the Big Bang. In essence this is an example where science has handed to the theologian one of the greatest weapons to argue for the existence of God. But just like the age of the earth debate, you have believers who challenge Big Bang cosmology. Some are smart and have good reasons to challenge it. When I say I believe in the Big Bang, I am not saying I hold to the various views of evolutionary processes that come along with the theory; things like the stars producing the matter that swirled out over millions/billions of years and formed planets. There are obviously parts of the Big bang theory that are questionable. So scientists try and come up with ideas to make the questions go away. A major problem to the Big bang theory is how can the universe have such a stable balance of temperature all over the place. If everything expanded [that’s really a better word to explain it than explosion] at such a rapid rate, you would not have the stable atmosphere that science shows us. So a professor at M.I.T., Alan Guth, came up with an idea called ‘inflation’ he guessed that at the initial point of singularity, everything first expanded to the size of a basketball and all the matter of the universe was stabilized at this point. Then the massive expansion took place and that’s why you have a steady balance when there shouldn’t be one. To say the least these ideas are very questionable, that’s why some scientists don’t accept the whole theory. But for the most part the accepted truth that all matter did have a beginning point is one of the strongest apologetic arguments that science could have ever given to the church. The point being we as believers need to look at both sides of these issues, the debate between young and old earth creationism has at times lost the Christian mandate to deal charitably with each other. I realize the views held are sincere, and many believe the integrity of Gods word is at stake. But we need to present our views and let the chips fall where they may. I will probably finish this short excursion into Genesis tomorrow, but those of you reading these entries from other parts of the blog besides the ‘Evolution/Cosmology’ section, I would suggest reading the stuff I have written in that section along with these last 10 posts. It will help give you a better idea of where I am coming from.

(1146) SONS AFTER THE FLOOD- In Genesis 9 we read the account of Noah and his sons repopulating the planet. God promises Noah that he will never destroy the earth again [by way of water- what about fire? We’ll get to that in a minute] and we see the beginning of man eating animals for the first time, the institution of the death penalty and civil justice [Romans 13] and the famous promise of the rainbow ‘when ever it rains again you will see my bow in the clouds and know I will not flood the earth again’. Are there natural explanations to things that the bible ascribes to God? Yes. Does that mean the bible is a book of myths and fables that were fake and only meant to give us moral lessons? No [contrary to liberal theology]. The fact that we know every time there is a rainbow in the sky, that there is a natural explanation to it, this does not mean this story is fake. God obviously created a repeatable situation that never occurred before, and he told man it was for a sign. Just because science can ascribe a naturalistic explanation to a thing, this does not mean the thing has no supernatural elements to it. This is also where the theistic evolutionists/progressive creationists make parts of their case. Does the fact that God created something mean that there are no possible natural means for him to work by? They will show you that when David said God formed him in his mothers womb, that obviously ‘God formed’ David in a different way than Adam! When you look at ‘a test tube baby’ do you not see a creation of God? Yes, even though there are obvious natural explanations to the conception and birth [like the rainbow being explained by nature] yet the actual life itself is still a mystery that can only be attributed to God. Also God reassures man not to worry about a total future destruction of the planet, in the last verse of chapter 8 he says as long as the earth remains there will never be another worldwide ceasing of the created order [seedtime and harvest]. How do we square this with the Christian doctrine of ‘the end of the world’? Now, this can get complicated and take more time than I have right now, but lets try and take a quick ride. The famous New Testament verse on the future ‘destruction’ of the planet is found in 2nd Peter 3 [the same chapter that deals with the flood] Peter says the elements will melt with a fervent heat and we await a new heaven and earth. In the gospels Jesus also speaks about ‘the end of the world’ the word for world does not mean the planet, but the age. Just like when the bible says ‘satan is the god of this world’ it speaks of age, not earth. So a careful reading of the ‘end of the world’ verses show us that there will be a future time of cleansing ‘by fire’ that will usher in a new age/order. Preterists [those who believe the future judgment scenarios were speaking of a.d. 70 and the end of the old order of the law] take these verses to mean that God was ending ‘the old order/age of law and bringing in a new age of grace’ I see partial truth to this, but don’t fully accept that there is no future aspect to it. The futurists [dispensationalists] see a destruction of the world and sometimes allow this view to effect their responsibility to the planet and society at large ‘heck, why worry about the environment and future stuff, it’s all coming to an end soon’ type mentality. Some, not all, have this mindset. The Preterists think the Futurists have made a fatal mistake in misreading the verses that should say ‘age’ instead of ‘world’. There are very good points that the Preterists make, though I don’t fully embrace everything they have to say. Overall we see that God wanted to reassure man that he was not going to totally wipe the earth out again like he did in the past. Whether you see the future fire burning up the elements as some sort of nuclear thing [I don’t] or a reference to the glory of Jesus burning up the chaff at his return, the important thing to remember is God wanted man to know that the natural order of day and night would go on, and a new heaven and earth would continue to exist for all eternity. The mindset of ‘don’t give up on the mandate to have dominion and care for the planet’ was being instilled in Noah and his sons. I think it would do the evangelical church some good if we looked more seriously at some of these issues.

(1145) THE FLOOD- Okay, this is a hot topic. First, the flood really happened! Some old earth creationists insist on a local version of it, others say it was worldwide [I’m in the world wide camp]. God tells Noah to embark on a very long building program. He certainly looks like a nut to those around him. Eventually the Ark is finished and Noah and his family get in, they bring 7 of every clean animal and 2 of every ‘unclean’ type. It rains [some say 40 days and nights, others think it rained longer] and the ‘fountains of the deep are opened up’ obviously a reference to some type of Tectonic action. After everything dies, the Ark rests and Noah and his family repopulate the planet. The young earth creationists have good arguments from this story [real event!] some of the old earth brothers tend to trivialize it. Ever since the science of geology gained ground [19th-20th centuries] many have argued for a very old earth based on the geologic table. They look at the different strata of the earth [levels] and say ‘see, these levels took millions of years to develop, you have dinosaurs buried in the lower levels, then other types of animals, birds and then man is rarely found fossilized’ these brothers see a sort of scientific record that backs up the progressive creation view. They say the creation days are ages, and the science shows us deep time. Are there any other explanations for the various fossil levels? Yes. The young earth brothers will make a very good argument that the cataclysmic effect of the flood caused the levels. They say the reason you find dinosaurs and other land animals at lower levels is a result of natural panic and survival during the flood. The slower, heavier animals would die first and get buried first. The birds lasted longer of course; they kept flying to high land until they too died off. Man was the smartest of the bunch, he managed to survive longest, and that’s why you don’t find as many fossils of man as you do other creatures [those who die late would not get covered in sediment and would simply rot!] This argument isn’t that bad, to be honest. There are of course many other things besides this, the point I want to make is if you rule out the biblical record of a world wide flood, then you are leaving out other interpretations of the data. Most young and old earth brothers agree on the actual record [i.e.; we do see things buried at different levels] they simply disagree on the interpretation of the data. Lets do a few practical things here, God had Noah prepare things ahead of time. He also spent some down time in a huge boat with a ‘lot of dung’ [ouch!] Often times on the journey we hit spots that don’t look [or smell] that great. People might even mock us ‘look at that idiot Noah, he’s even got his family believing in this stuff!’ but when it was all said and done he was vindicated. Those who tend to spiritualize the stories of Genesis usually see the first 11 chapters as a mix of symbol and history. The genealogies of chapters 4, 5 and 11 are sometimes seen as not exact [by the way, in the last entry I used Enoch as an example of the ascension, the Enoch who was taken up was the Enoch of chapter 5]. The reasons are various [like the other ancient near east genealogies used 10 generation lists, both chapter 5 and 11 are 10 generation lists]. Some do this in order to fit more time into the biblical record. Jesus, Peter and the writer of Hebrews all speak of Noah and his flood as a real historic event! There should be no reason for believers to doubt or spiritualize these stories away. But we also want to be open to the reality that other cultures had their own tellings of these stories, and that the recording of genealogies does not mean there is no room for an older earth [the genealogies are accurate, but they don’t start right at the beginning of time!]. And let’s finish in a practical way, are you going thru a season of feeling stuck in a big box with a lot of dung? Sometimes the word of the Lord to us is ‘just survive at this time, when the storms over things will look better again’. The Lord used Noah to have an influence on the entire civilization that would re-populate the planet! God will increase your influence if you simply find a way to survive the flood.

(1144) CAIN AND ABEL- After the fall of man, God kicks him out of the garden and he loses intimacy with God. Eventually Eve has kids and Cain kills Abel his brother. In Hebrews 11 and 1st John we read the story. Abel brought an animal offering, Cain brought from the fruit of the ground. Some say this was a comparison between Jesus [typified in Abel's sacrificial animal] and the law [Cain’s work of his hands, the ground]. Maybe so? Hebrews says God accepted Abel’s offering because it was in faith and rejected Cain. Cain got jealous and killed his brother, the first recorded murder in the bible. Cain has a son named Enoch [which means teacher- rabbi] he builds a city and names it after his son [God is building us, the city of God- we are named after his son, the Body of Christ] and Enoch will eventually be caught up bodily into heaven [a type of the ascension]. The skeptics often ask ‘where did Cain get his wife’? The most likely answer would be from his extended family. There was no rule against marrying your kin back then, so this sounds reasonable to me. But wait! The skeptic says because we don’t know for sure where Cain got his wife, therefore atheism is true. They then will tell you where all people really came from. Around 15 billion years ago nothing existed [not even God] and from this point of nothing something exploded into existence [without an exploder!] eventually the earth showed up and it rained on the earth for millions of years. Somehow the rain on the rocks produced this soupy mixture [primordial soup] that all by itself produced the first living cell. After millions of more years man showed up. Yeah brother, that explanation sure puts to shame the Cain and his wife thing! The story of Cain warns us of the danger of jealousy, comparing ourselves with others. Putting pressure on people to make things happen so you look better. I recently read a story about a mega church [not in Corpus] and they went thru a few years of battles. They were building a new expensive building; the pastor put pressure on the people to give. Some of the people felt like they were always being challenged to give more money. Then word got out that the Pastor bought expensive gifts for his friends with church money, 3-4 thousand dollar suits and jewelry. He was flying all over the world at great expense, doing public speaking and stuff. It was a big mess, lawsuits entailed and relationships ruined. From what I read about it in the news paper stories that were on line, it seemed like there were mistakes on both sides, both the church leadership and those who wanted to expose it. The bigger problem is this basic style of church, the high powered world traveling leader, spending lots of money on seemingly okay things. The people being supporters of the gifts and persona of the charismatic personality [whether thru media or personal travel] this whole system is being rightfully challenged at the present time by a new generation of community minded believers who see that this high powered style of an individual leader is not the pattern of church found in the New Testament. Often time’s jealousy can be a factor on both sides of these issues, but we also need to understand that there are legitimate challenges against this whole expression of church. Most of all we want to avoid taking things into our own hands, trying to personally stop what we might perceive as wrong. Cain was jealous; he allowed his rage to lead him to the killing of his own brother. He might have gotten rid of the thing he felt was an obstacle, but he would live with the guilt for the rest of his life.

(1143) THE FALL- God puts man in the garden, he gives him only one restriction ‘don’t eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil’ sure enough, he does! The serpent [satan] tempts Eve in 3 areas, the tree is good for food [lust of the flesh] good to look at [eyes] and can make you wise [pride]. In 1st John 2 we see these three areas mentioned as the common categories of all other temptation. These were the same areas the devil used on Jesus in Matthew 4. The temptation to Eve essentially said ‘look at this God of yours! He wont give you the freedom to do anything you want, he is withholding such a good tree from you’ sounds like the philosopher Freud, he taught that the problem with man was Gods restrictions. That if man would cast off the limits that religion imposed upon them, then all would be well. But what man did not know was that these basic limits were for his own good. When man would choose to walk out from under Gods limits, he would suffer for it. In this chapter [Gen. 3] we also see the great prophecy of the child of the woman eventually crushing the serpents head [called the Protoevangelium- Latin] a prophecy about Christ’s future victory at the Cross. God also covers man with animal’s skins, a type of the future sacrifice of Christ on behalf of man. Man tried to cover up with leaves, God said it wont do, so he sacrificed the life of an animal and used the skins as a covering. The wages of sin is death, the price was paid. In Romans chapter 5 Paul will show us that death and sin passed upon all mankind from Adams sinful act, but thru the obedience of one man [Jesus dying on the Cross] righteousness comes to those who believe. This is the basic Christian doctrine of original sin. Some refer to this as the federal head theory of redemption. I believe it’s vital for Christians to have a grasp of this doctrine. In the 19th/20th centuries you had liberal theologians deny the doctrine of Jesus dying on behalf of man. Along with this they also denied that original sin existed. Most believers realized that this denial was heresy and avoided it, but some are playing with the idea again. The bible clearly teaches the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ on the behalf of man [Isaiah 53] and it is a foundational doctrine for all true believers. To some it seemed unfair to charge God with the doctrine of original sin, and along with it the doctrine of Penal substitution [Christ being punished for us] these are core Christian truths, if people want to deny them, that’s their choice. But to be a Christian in the biblical sense of the word, these truths are necessary, they are part of the foundation of all true Christian churches.

(1142) MAN, GODS UNIQUE CREATION- Okay, we already saw how God made the animals and fish and birds, but when he describes mans creation he shows us that it is unique. Out of all the other created things, man alone is in ‘Gods image’ and bears his likeness. Man is a moral being with a built in conscience, he has the capacity to know God and live with him forever. This is the basis of the Judeao Christian value on human life. Those religions who believe in the Genesis account of creation, see man as having special value. The Darwinian worldview [social Darwinism] sees man as a simple blob of meaningless flesh, no different than the other life forms along the line. I always found the atheists reasoning to be a little illogical; they will argue that they are the real intellectuals, the so called ‘brights’ [a recent term they have come up with to describe their group] they will then explain to you how their view of their mind and brain is purely naturalistic, their brains are simply these jumbled masses of cells that are the result of thousands of years of meaningless process. Their whole being started as an accident, they have no initial purpose or final end. They see themselves, and along with it, all their reasoning and education and knowledge as being the result of years and years of luck and chance, and then they want you to trust in their conclusions! Ah, the utter foolishness of mans wisdom. God formed man from the dust of the earth and breathed into him his own breath and man became a living soul. Though the basic material of man is the same as the other material things God made, yet he only breathed his own image into man. The great 17th century philosopher/mathematician Blaise Pascal was reading the gospel of John one night, he was meditating on John 17 and had an awakening, he began to see that God was ‘the God of Jesus’ not the God of the philosophers. He saw that having a real relationship with God was different than simply knowing the things about him. God built into man the capacity to know him, while all other creatures are valuable and special to him [Jesus said not even a little sparrow dies without God caring about it!] yet man alone has the capacity to know and be in true communion with his creator, man was created in Gods image.

(1141) UNIFORM OR CATASTROPHE ? One of the key verses in the debate between young and old earth creationism is in 2nd Peter chapter 3. Peter says that in the last days scoffers will doubt two specific things; the second coming and the flood of Noah’s day. I find it interesting that some theories on the long age of the earth also incorporate a local flood for Noah’s day. The young earth guys will use the Peter verse to show that if you purposefully rule out a world wide flood from your theory, that you fall into the snare of viewing certain scientific data [geologic table] as being a result of millions/billions of years of gradual uniform time [uniformitarianism] as opposed to being a result of the flood. The young earth brothers point to the fact that much of the fossil evidence and geologic column [like the Grand Canyon] can be a result of the universal flood. These brothers see the catastrophe [catastrophism] of the flood as the cause for these things. Does Peter [or any other bible passage] shed light on this subject? Yes, even though the bible does not speak to us in scientific language, it is reliable on all the things it does speak about; history, events like a flood, the future judgment, the second coming, etc. So it is important to not rule out the effects that a worldwide flood might have had on the data. Do we have any examples of the bible referring to worldwide things, and not really meaning ‘the whole world’? Yes, in Acts 2 the bible says there were people gathered from ‘every nation under heaven’ at the time, but the chapter gives us the nations that were there, there were obviously no people from America! So does ‘every nation’ simply mean every nation from the known world of the time? Yes. So some local flood believers use this type of stuff to defend their view. We do need to be careful when doing theology like this. Does the biblical account give us other clues that the flood was worldwide? Sure, why in the world would God have Noah build a huge ark, gather all these animals, have them in it for a long time while the earth floods. If the flood was regional, just tell the guy to move! The biblical account says the waters covered the highest mountains of the day, this could not happen unless the flood was world wide. So even though the bible does say ‘world wide/all nations’ at times in a non literal way, this does not mean we can change all the events described as world wide into local events. Some who read the first few chapters of Genesis in a poetic language way, also have the problem of deciding when the poetry stops! Is the Genesis 6 account of a flood real? What about the tower of Babel in chapter 11? Once you start going down the road of over spiritualizing the bible, you can run into problems. Overall I believe we need to be open and willing to see both sides of this argument [young and old earth views] there is somewhat of a tendency to view opposing views as real heresy [I sense this mostly from some of the young earth writers]. But there is also a condescending attitude towards young earth believers that at times seems to say ‘how can you be so behind the times in your views’? This debate on the age of the earth and the various progressive stages of evolutionary progress [cosmological evolution- stars producing basic elements over billions of years and these things ‘birthing’ planets and so forth] these theories are in no way definite! There are a lot of things that we simply don’t know for sure. But at the same time there are and have been true scientific breakthroughs that have challenged the mindset of the church and have corrected the church’s view in certain areas. As believers we need to hear both sides, while avoiding the warning of Peter who did say that there would be scoffers who purposefully would overlook the historical event of the flood of Noah’s day, we must let scripture form our views, while at the same time understanding that the bible does not give us a scientific explanation for all things.

(1140) CREATION DAY 7- On the seventh day God rested and enjoyed what he had made. This does not mean he was tired, or that he ceased from activity. But is shows us the process and ways of God. When you read the parables of Jesus he often uses land and seed analogies to explain God’s kingdom ‘the kingdom is like planting a seed’ and stuff like that. God rested because it was his purpose to initiate the first 6 days of creation and for that creation to be self sustaining/propagating [under his sovereignty]. It’s important to see this aspect of creation. In chapter 1 God chose to use the words ‘let the waters bring forth’ and ‘let the ground bring forth’ when speaking of land and sea creatures. Why not simply ‘let there be animals, fish’? It seems as if God himself is leaving some room here for a reading of the text that has more to it than meets the eye. Does this mean the Progressive creationists are right? [or theistic evolutionists] not necessarily, but is shows us that there is some language in the text itself that shows a sort of ‘co-operative effort’ where God caused the initial base elements to ‘bring forth’ life. Some see this as God using simple language to describe deep scientific truths that would be found thru out the ages. Some equate this language with deep time ideas [old earth]. Also in chapter 2 we see the Lord describe the entire creation event as happening in ‘a day’ [singular]. This simply meaning ‘at the time period’ the young earth creationists are correct in pointing out that this does not mean the first 6 [or 7] days were not literal 24 hour periods. Scripture does use the word Day to speak figuratively at times; the ‘day of the Lord’ and stuff like that [meaning both a day and a time period]. But the point can be made that very early on [Gen 2] God chooses to use the word Day in the singular to describe the entire event. Also the writer of Hebrews will ‘spiritualize’ the phrase ‘and God rested on the seventh day’ to describe the age of grace, the new covenant ‘rest of God’ [read my Hebrews commentary, chapter 4- To be honest I don’t remember what I said at the time, but I’m sure I must have explained it!]. Once again, this would not necessarily leave the door open for a symbolic, non literal reading of day 7. But it shows us the various ways other new testament teachers used these scriptures, they were not afraid of applying them in theological ways. Of course we can get into trouble if we carry this too far. In the early days of the church you had the Alexandrian school, a great 3rd century Christian school, that adopted a highly symbolic way of reading scripture. The famous teacher Origen would head up the school at one point. He taught a type of spiritual interpretation of the bible that had 4 meanings to it, it was a little [or way] overboard to be honest about it, but the school was very influential. Eventually saint Augustine would embrace many of these ideas. Augustine was a titan in the early church and has been said to have had more influence in the later centuries of the church than any other teacher next to the apostle Paul! So we have had somewhat of a history at how far we should go when reading these texts. I would simply point out that there is some room here, early on in the bible, to see that even a straight forward reading of the text leaves room for some progressive ideas, some ‘spiritualizing’ of certain aspects, and a certain feel for the text that seems to say ‘there’s more going on here than initially meets the eye’. This does not mean we should abandon a literal view of the days, but shows us that God can use natural, normal days and extend his ideas to us in a manifold way [like Jesus use of the seed in his parables- real seeds, greater meaning]. Also the text shows us that God created the heavens and earth first and used language that said ‘let the waters/ground bring forth’ showing us that all other things were made from the basic stuff of the original heavens and earth. Does natural science go along with this? Yes, science shows us that all the base elements of all things come from the initial base elements that were used in the creation of the material world [The 90 or so elements found in the periodic table- hey, it’s been a long time since high school!] So even science itself would agree with the biblical record! How would the writer of Genesis have known this at such a pre scientific time? These things testify of the Divine nature of scripture itself. So we need not abandon a literal view, but we also see there is room for more than initially meets the eye.

(1139) CREATION DAYS 2-6 There are various views on these days; of course the literal view, each day is a 24 hour day that ends with the description of ‘evening and morning’. The symbolic view would argue that there was no ‘real’ evening and morning until day 4, because on day 4 God made the sun. So an ‘evening and morning’ that would be measured by the earth’s rotation as it relates to the sun [solar day] could not happen in a literal sense. These see certain poetic elements in these verses. A repetition of certain phrases- evening and morning, let there be, God said. These repetitive phrases show a stylized Hebrew narrative. It should be noted that this argument is true, whether you believe in the literal or figurative reading. It is still possible to have this type of stylized element, while at the same time speaking a real historic narrative. Another interesting view is called The Framework Theory. This view has been around since the early 20th century. It’s a topical view of the creation days. It sees the first 3 days and the 2nd set of three days as basically describing the same time frame. Basically this view says that God simply used the ‘framework’ of the 7 day week to give to man a real historic explanation of creation, but God used the framework of the 7 day week in a symbolic way for mans benefit. This view will compare day 1 [the first day of the first 3 day set] with day 4 [the first day of the second 3 day set]. Day one has God creating light, day 4 has the sun and stars. This view says these are 2 descriptions of the same creation act. The light from day one comes from the luminaries in day 4. Day 2 coincides with day 5. Day 2 has the heavens appear when God divides the waters [heaven and sea] day 5 [the second day of the second set] has the things that fill the heavens and seas- birds and sea creatures. Day 3 has land and vegetation, day 6 has land animals and man- things that eat the vegetation and walk the earth. It’s interesting, though not exact. You could see the seas as being part of day 3, and as you read both creation accounts [Genesis 1 and 2] there is a mixture of when things showed up. Are there other explanations for why the account in chapter 2 differs from chapter one? [chapter one has man being made after the animals, chapter 2 shows Adam before the animals, God brings the animals to show Adam, he sees nothing fitting for him and God then makes Eve]. Some see a purposeful inconsistency, put in the text by God himself, to show man that this was not to be taken in a literal, consecutive way. Sort of like the critics of the gospels, they will find various inconsistencies in the gospel narratives, like one gospel having two angels at the tomb, the other showing one. The critics say ‘see, inconsistent’ but the other argument can say if you had exact testimony from various eyewitness accounts in a courtroom, this would not convince the jury that their testimony was true, to the contrary it would indicate that the witnesses were coached. So the various different details might be actual clues to the validity of the gospel writers! So in Genesis, some feel there are purposeful poetic structures and differing accounts for the purpose of telling the reader ‘don’t take this too literal’. I don’t personally hold to this, but do see the point. It should be noted that in Exodus 20 and 31 Moses will speak about the creation days as historical narrative. No matter which view a person takes [literal or symbolic] the fact that creation itself happened by the hand of God is an undeniable fact of history and science. All things could not have come from nothing, there had to be an initial cause some where down the line. This initial cause himself had to have had no beginning [logic and science show this] and it just so happens that these attributes belong to the God of the bible, even before we knew that creation needed an initiator that possessed them!

(1138) CREATION DAY 1- In Genesis 1:1-5 we have the first recording of Gods creative acts, over the years Christians have struggled with this text. One of the main reasons believers ‘struggle’ with it is because modern scientific understanding [majority view- not all!] indicates that the earth is quite a lot older than 6 thousand years. Some scholars believe that the church has been duped into believing in old earth science and because of there acceptance of science, above Gods word, they have come to compromise Gods word. A simple reading of the first 5 verses of Genesis tell us that ‘in the beginning’ God made the heaven and the earth. At this point, God is not constrained to a time/space continuum of ‘day’ [the Hebrew word Yom]. The day itself will be created in this time period called ‘in the beginning’. God will create light and separate the light from the darkness and call this ‘day’. I see the possibility of there being a very long period of time having passed at this point, at least according to this text [we will look at Exodus 20:11 in a moment]. I do not see a need to create a ‘gap theory’ between verse one and verse two, some theorize that you had an entire pre adamic world, that God judged this world and this is how they explain the long age of the earth. I believe that a simple reading of the first five verses could go like this ‘at the start of all things, God made the heaven and the earth [no day constraint yet] and he also made light and dark [now we are getting into Gods cycle for man] and he saw that all these things were good. He made the day itself at this time, and the day became mans measurement of time’. Now, this is my paraphrase on how this text could be read. I do find it interesting that out of all the scholars I am presently reading on this subject, none of them are making this simple point; that the 24 hour day constraint was itself created ‘in the beginning’. Now, exodus 20:11 does say that God made all things in ‘6 days’, this verse seems to indicate that there was a time constraint to the actual making of the heaven and earth ‘in the beginning’ so to be fair to both sides [young and old earth creationists] I had to throw this in. Jesus also refers to the creation of man as an historical event [as opposed to a theistic evolutionary view] he says ‘in the beginning God made them male and female, and for this cause a man leaves his parents and is joined to his wife’ the young earth brothers will use this to show that Jesus believed that God created man ‘in the beginning’ as opposed to there being billions of years passing before man showed up [which is also a progressive view of creation- a sort of joining together the timeline of long age science with the Genesis account]. The point I would make is if God created time at ‘this point in time’ then the phrase ‘in the beginning’ could refer to thousands, or millions of years all being ‘at the start’ [compared to forever!]. I do not hold to a ‘progressive view’ myself, I simply believe that a plain reading of the first 5 verses of Genesis shows that the time constraint of day [Yom] was itself created at this time. The Exodus verse does seem to say that all the events of Gods creative acts did fit into the time/space of 6 days, but this first Genesis reading seems to leave room for a longer period of ‘one day’ when speaking of the creation of heaven and earth. While the young earth creationists do seem to fault the old earth creationists for trying to make scripture fit into current scientific theories of the earths age, I would like to point out the fact that both sides [young and old earth groups] see the first 3 days as distinct from all the other days that have occurred since that time. All agree that the sun was not the original light source for the first three days [well, some believe God was not giving us an exact consecutive recording of creation. So these see the sun as being the source of light for all the creation days] the charge could be made that even the young earth creationists are admitting that some of the creation days are not ‘days’ in the classical sense of the word. These first days were not solar days! The whole point is we do find some room for the interpretation of the creation days as having some areas that we don’t fully understand, or at least we don’t know all that was going on in a scientific sense [was the light for the first three days God himself? Possible. But then that would leave the door open that God created himself! A much greater theological heresy than the long earth view!]. I also believe that the fact that ‘the day’ itself was said to have been created by God ‘in the beginning’ leaves much room for a longer time period of the earths age. Out of all the other ancient near east [A.N.E] stories of creation, none of them have ‘a god’ who himself transcends time and space and actually created time itself. For thousands of years the common belief was that either matter itself always existed, or that time always existed. So the competing stories of creation found in other cultures have a god that was himself formed from matter, or creation itself was a process of these dependant gods fighting each other. No other view has a god that transcends time and space and actually creates time and space. It wasn’t until the 20th century that science itself proved this to be a fact, Einstein’s theories on time and space gave us proof that all things did have a starting point [big bang cosmology]. So anyway, in the coming weeks I might hit on these things a little more, but for today I wanted to emphasize that a simple, literal reading of Genesis 1:1-5 does show us that God created ‘the day’ [the actual time measurement that man goes by] during his initial act of creation. God himself was not ‘bound’ or constrained to the time/space continuum, he actually made the time/space continuum at ‘the time’.

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GENESIS 37- Chapter 36 has a lot of genealogies, so let’s skip it. In this chapter we see Joseph having the dreams that his brothers and father and mother will bow down to him. He makes the mistake of telling everyone about it! Rueben is already mad about the favoritism shown towards Rachel’s sons as opposed to him being the firstborn. The other brothers clearly see the favoritism too. Jacob made Joseph the coat of many colors. To me this represents the multi ethnic diversity of Christ’s church [body]. Skins represent ‘covering’ or flesh. All the animals sacrificed in the Old Covenant were a type of Christ. The tabernacle represented a living mobile dwelling place of God, the church. They used skins as a covering. So this coat of many colors is like the body of Christ. Joseph typifying Jesus as the favored son who will eventually bring together all tribes and nations into unity as Jesus ‘wears them like a robe’ [truly we are his dwelling place, covering of flesh if you will!] Jacob sends Joseph to ‘see how his brothers are doing and bring back the report’. Just like the parable Jesus gave about the king sending the servant to check up on the vineyard. Eventually the king says ‘I will send my son’. Jesus says they take the son and kill him. Joseph’s brothers see Joseph coming and say ‘here comes Mr. big shot, the dreamer’. Understand Josephs dreams were simply the destiny of God on his life. It is important to differentiate between ‘what I want out of life’ and Gods purpose. Joseph’s dreams did speak of exaltation and fame. But these were things he did not seek! Jesus gives instruction in the New Testament to actively pursue the lowest place. The teachings on taking the seat in the back of the room and not the front. The teaching against gentile ideas [Roman] of authority. So we must not read into Joseph’s story that God wants us to ‘be all we can be. Become great’. Greatness in Gods kingdom is backwards. You seek not to be exalted and exaltation comes! Now the brothers take him and throw him into a pit [grave] ‘without water in it’. A type of death. Water and spirit are interchangeable words. A pit without water is like the grave [body] without the spirit. James says this is what death is, separation of body and spirit. Now something is happening at this point. The brothers are falling into the trap of group think. Just going along with something because others are doing it. Rueben begins seeing this deception. He also despises Joseph, but begins realizing things are getting out of hand. He says ‘lets not kill the boy, just throw him in the pit’. Judah also speaks up on his brother’s behalf. So they take Josephs coat, put blood all over it. They sell Joseph into slavery and they bring the coat to Jacob. ‘Dad, we found Josephs coat with blood on it. I wonder what happened to him?’ Now, how many options do we have? Maybe the boy got into a scrap trying to save some sheep and that’s what happened, or maybe he hurt himself and used the coat as a tourniquet? Yeah, that’s possible! But Jacob is a pessimist ‘surely some wild animals got to him’ bad enough! But wait ‘and they tore him to pieces, devoured him and he’s gone’ Yikes! Then he says ‘I will be depressed about this for the rest of my life and go to the grave never getting over it!’ Boy, who would have thought the guy was gonna take it like this? We once again see the over reaction of Jacob. It’s so easy for leaders with destiny and purpose to think all is lost. Moses and others have thought the same. Elijah was ready for the Lord to take his life because some Jezebel was giving him a hard time! I want to encourage leadership, don’t make rash or major decisions when your emotions are out of whack. We have a tendency to take reproof or correction the wrong way. We want to quit and start all over. Find someone else to ‘take over the church’ so we can get out of dodge. Jacob thought the worst, but what was actually happening was Gods pre ordained plan that would actually be for his salvation down the road. Jesus is still thought to be dead by Jacobs descendants, they only see the ‘pit without water in it’. They don’t realize that Jesus [Joseph] is actually alive and waiting for them to come and bow the knee!

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(1010)CORINTHIANS 15:1-19 Paul will deal with the greatest threat yet to the Corinthian church, their doubt over the physical resurrection of the body. Various ‘Christian’ groups over the years have doubted the physical resurrection. Now, some have done this out of a sincere attempt at trying to defend the faith! [their view of it] In the 1900’s you had one of the most popular theologians by the name of Rudolf Bultman [most of his career was spent at the University of Marburg, Germany. Much of the higher criticism of the day originated from Germany] He wrote a book called ‘Kerygma and Myth’. What he tried to say was that any modern man living in the 20th century, with all the breakthroughs in science and knowledge, could not ‘literally’ believe the miraculous stories in scripture. Or even the way scripture spoke of heaven and hell and used limited terms to describe spiritual truths. He used the bibles terminology on Cosmology as an example. How could man believe in a Cosmos where ‘heaven is up there, with the stars and all’ and he felt that enlightened man needed to ‘re-tool’ the bible and cleanse it from all these mythical images, but yet keep the spiritual aspects of it. The moral teachings of Christ and stuff like that. So you have had sincere men doubt the truth claims of scripture. The problem with this attempt [higher criticism] is it throws out the baby with the bathwater. The resurrection of Jesus is presented by the apostles as a real event. The fact of this resurrection can also be attested to by examining the historical events of the day. Simply put, there is a ton of proof for the real resurrection of Christ. Bultman and others meant well, but some of the ‘facts’ that they were using were later proven to be false. Bultman used a model of cosmology that would later be rejected by science. Yet the testimony from scripture would remain sure. Paul told the Corinthian's that they needed to reject any attempts at spiritualizing the resurrection of Christ. Sometimes believers grasp hold of limited proof’s for certain doctrines. For instance, the New Testament does speak of a spiritual resurrection. In Ephesians Paul says we are presently raised with Christ. In Romans chapter 6 we have all ready been raised with Jesus. This reality does not mean there will be no future resurrection of the saints. In Johns gospel Jesus speaks of the resurrection as being a future real event, as well as a present reality. Those in the graves will hear his voice and be raised from the dead. And those who were presently ‘dead in sins’ would ‘come alive’ [spiritually] when they heard and believed the testimony of Jesus. It is important for the believer to be familiar with the various theories and ideas that theologians and believers have grasped over the years. It is a mistake to simply see all higher learning as ‘liberalism’. There are some very important things that we have learned thru the great intellectuals of the church. But we also need to stick with the ancient traditions as seen in the creeds, as well as the plain testimony of scripture. If Christ ‘be not raised from the dead, then we are of all men most miserable’.

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Now, as we go thru Acts, I want to stay as close as possible to both the doctrine and practices of the early church as seen in scripture. We are not the first [or last!] study that has attempted to do this. That is attempted to ‘get back to the original design’ as much as possible. Historically you have whole categories of believers who fit into this mindset. They are referred to as ‘Restorationist’ as opposed to Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox. The Church of Christ, The Disciples of Christ, the Anabaptists and others fall into this class. I believe you find true believers in all of these groups.

As you read the history of Christianity as told by the other perspectives, you will find it interesting as to the way the institutional church describes these ‘out of church’ groups. Some are called heretics [Waldensians] others are simply seen as fringe groups. The strong institutional church has branded those who would reject her authority as schismatics and heretics on the grounds of their refusal to submit to the hierarchy of the institutional church.

As we go thru Acts, I want us to read carefully and see the story as told by Luke. We will not find ‘another more true group’ in the sense that I want to start some new denomination. I also don’t want to simply find proof texts to justify doctrine. Many well meaning believers can find the verses they like the most and use them to combat the other points of view. We will see verses emphasizing the importance of water baptism, or various truths on the outworkings of the Spirit. We will see prophets functioning and read texts that clearly teach Gods sovereignty [as many as were ordained unto eternal life believed]. Instead of getting lost on these side trails, I want us to read with an open mind and allow our beliefs to be shaped by ‘the story’.

I will spend time defending my own view of Local church. Not because I believe ‘my view’ is the only thing worth arguing about, but because I believe we see the intent of God for his people to be a living community of believers in this book. Right off the bat we will see giving taught in a radical way. The early church at Jerusalem will ‘continue in the Apostles doctrine and breaking of bread and prayers’. They then sell their goods and distribute to all who had need. Where in the world did they get this idea from? The Apostles doctrine obviously taught the plain teachings from Jesus on sharing what you have with others. So instead of seeing an early tithe concept, you see an early ‘give to those in need idea’ straight from the teachings of Jesus. We will see this early Jerusalem group meet daily, as opposed to seeing ‘Sunday worship’ as some sort of New Testament Sabbath. Of course this group will meet at the Temple [actually an out door courtyard called Solomon’s Porch] and from ‘house to house’. But the simple realty of Christ’s Spirit being poured out on them as a community of people will be the basic understanding of what ‘church’ is.

You will find citizens of many surrounding areas going back to the their home towns after Pentecost. These believers shared the gospel with those in their regions and this is how the early church would spread. Some commentaries will show you how when Paul will eventually show up in Rome there already was an established church there. They obviously heard the gospel from these early Roman Jews who were at Jerusalem during Pentecost. So we will see ‘church planting’ from the paradigm of simple believers going to areas with the message of Christ. Those who would believe in these locations would be described as ‘the church at Corinth’ or ‘the church at Ephesus’ and so on. So we see ‘local church’ as communities of believers living in different localities.

We will see the development of leadership along the lines of ‘appoint elders in every city’. Not a top heavy idea of ‘Bishop’ in the later sense of Catholic belief, but a simple ordaining [recognizing!] of those in the various cities who were stable enough in the basic truths of the gospel, that in Paul’s absence these elders were to be trusted as spiritual guides. Now, many of our brothers can trace the historic office of Bishop as a fairly early development in church history. Polycarp and others were considered direct disciples of the Apostles who would be seen as Bishops and even write of the importance of Bishops for the church ‘Where there is no Bishop there is no church’.

This will cause many well meaning believers to eventually become Catholic/Orthodox as they read the church fathers and see the very early development of Catholic Christianity. In many of the church fathers writings you will also see an early belief in the Eucharist as being the actual Body and Blood of Jesus.

To the consternation of many Protestants you even find Luther condemning fellow Protestants for not taking literally the words of Jesus ‘this IS my Body’. Now, I will not defend transubstantiation, but try to follow the trend lines in Acts as to the lack of this doctrine being a part of the early church. We will find Paul’s letter to the Corinthians addressing the Lords Supper, but for the most part we do not see a strong belief in the transmitting of divine grace to the soul thru the eating of Christ’s literal Body and Blood as they ‘broke bread’. We do see the sharing of the common meal and the ‘Eucharist’ as one meal called the ‘love feast’. Only later on in church history is there a division made between the full fellowship meal and the Eucharist.

So to be frank about it, I will challenge both our Catholic and Orthodox brothers on some very fundamental beliefs. Well I hope this brief introduction sets the proper tone for the rest of this study, God bless you guys and I hope you get something out of it. John.

[parts]

JOHN LOCKE-

Locke taught that each man has individual rights- and he empowers government- an elected designated body- to have rule-

Yet- that government exists solely for the benefit of the people- and when/if that government ‘forgets’ this- the people have a right/duty to revolt.

Locke’s ideas were formed at a time when his own government experienced a sort of revolution [1600’s- England].

The people revolted against monarchy- and replaced it with a sort of Democratic Parliament-

Referred to as the bloodless revolution or the glorious revolution.

The king [or today- queen] would still play a role- like a figurehead- but the power was in the people- willingly given over to a Parliament.

The political ideas of Locke influenced our founding fathers- and our Declaration of Independence and Constitution are in parts almost word for word taken from the writings of Locke.

Locke believed in natural law- that morality was indeed a universal reality [some scholars/thinkers will say that Locke does not fully embrace the Christian concept of natural/moral law].

He taught that knowledge comes from man’s experience- the things he interacts with thru the 5 senses.

That man is not born with innate ideas [like the early Greek thinkers said] but his mind is a Tabula Rasa- or blank slate at birth.

This is an Empirical understanding of knowledge.

Locke also believed in the concept of the separation of church and state- this idea was not unique to our founding fathers- no- they got it right out of the writings of Locke [his parents were Puritans- and they obviously influenced their son].

Locke’s political views were-

Individualistic-

Egalitarian-

Contractual [social compact]-

These ideas differed from the early Greek thinkers [especially Aristotle] who held to a naturalistic view- meaning that nature itself ‘intended’ for certain individuals to have rule over others [the smarter should have rule over the ‘less smart’- and of course Aristotle saw himself in the more nobler crowd!]

Locke also believed in religious toleration- a view held by most in the Western world today.

He saw the Right to private property- as a natural right.

He believed that denial of the existence of God would lead to anarchy in the long run.

He believed that the cosmological argument for the existence of God was valid [called teleology].

DIOGENES-

I think I mentioned him on today’s video [I am writing this before I review the video and add the bullet points].

In the study of philosophy- he is not known for deep thought- or new ideas.

He lived in the 5th century B.C. - died in the 4th in the biblical city of Corinth.

Diogenes believed in ‘living with less’- he was known to have slept in a ceramic pot- he lived and ate on the streets- and was basically like many of my homeless friends.

Yet- he felt in doing this he was a sort of ‘prophetic’ sign to the world around him.

He is believed to be the first to refer to himself as a ‘cosmopolitan’- meaning a man of the world- and not identifying with any one city.

He was born at Sinope- [Modern day Turkey] traveled to Athens- the main center of wisdom/philosophy.

Attended the lectures of Plato- and interrupted them

He disputed Plato’s interpretation of his teacher- Socrates.

And had a memorable encounter with Alexander the Great.

The story goes [there are a few versions of it- maybe more along the line of myth] that Alexander wanted to meet with Diogenes- and he heard he was in town [Corinth] so Alexander went to meet him.

Upon arriving at the spot- he greeted Alexander and told him he would fulfill any request that the Cynic asked.

Diogenes replied ‘Move over- you’re standing in my sun light’.

It is said that as Alexander left- and made the statement ‘If I were not Alexander- I would be Diogenes’.

How true- well we will never know for sure.

He did live at a time- and in a place- where the famous philosophers would come from.

He believed rejecting wealth- and the comforts of life- were a statement against the society of his day.

He purposefully challenged the ‘normal’ way of life- by being different- and at times- vulgar.

It is said that he carried a cup- for drinking.

And he saw a young boy one day- drinking from the brook with his hands.

He then threw away the cup- realizing that ‘the god’s’ had given to men the basic things to survive- and he really did not need all the material things of life.

Like I said at the top - he is not known for his great thinking ability- but he was respected by the stoics-

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[parts]

2065

The Iliad and Odyssey [Homer]

I want to cover some of the classics of Western Literature- when I do the philosophy and science stuff- the purpose is to show how God- and ‘religion’ are an inescapable thread that we see all thru out history- and in fact- the rise of what we call ‘intellectualism’ did indeed come from the Judaic/Christian tradition [for instance- the modern day university system did come from the Church].

Ok- lets start with what most believe to be the greatest work from antiquity- outside of the bible.

These are 2 poems by Homer- the Iliad and Odyssey.

These poems were written in the 8th century BCE- and cover the Trojan war- which most believe was a real war- that took place in the 12th-13th century BCE.

In Homers works we read about this epic battle.

The war starts with- once again- a ‘woman’ issue.

Prince Paris of Troy steals Helen of Greece- from her husband King Menelaus [king of Sparta].

The Greeks- led by Achilles- lay siege to Troy.

In Homers telling of the event- the Greeks are actually defending the honor of marriage- and are carrying out a just retribution against an unjust act.

Sort of the same themes we read in scripture- when the sons of Jacob defended the honor of their sister Dinah- when she was treated unjustly by the pagan nation that took her- forcefully- to be the wife of a kings son.

The brothers meted out justice- by tricking these pagans to get circumcised- then- while recovering ‘from surgery’- the sons went in and wiped out the city- to their fathers dismay!

In the story- Achilles is a warrior- who displays extreme violence- and also the human traits of a man who acts out of selfish motives.

At one point in the war- he removes himself from battle- because he feels his honor was betrayed.

The only thing that brings him back is the killing of his close friend Patroclus- by Hector.

Achilles leads the Greeks to victory- and reflects the struggle between living a long life- or dying young- yet dying for a just cause.

One of the more famous quotes form Homer’s Poems- attributed to Achilles- is ‘I carry 2 sorts of destiny to the day of my death. Either, if I stay here and fight beside the city of the Trojans, my return home is gone, but my glory shall be everlasting; but if I return home to the beloved land of my fathers, the excellence of my glory is gone, but there will be a long life- left for me, and my end in death will not come to me quickly.’

There has been some debate over the historicity of the war itself.

Some scholars believe it was Myth [I’ll get to this in a moment].

That is- they believe the war itself was not true- but a sort of Oral Tradition- that encompasses the reality of the human condition- and that Homers Poems are simply mythological ways to reveal the true condition of man.

Yet- much like the debate that took place in the 19th century German universities- over the ‘Myth’ of the bible- later on- the rise of what we now call Archaeology [because of the Industrial revolution- a new field arose- men started digging up the ground- for the primary purpose of extracting materials from the earth- and at this time we also discovered ‘lost worlds’- that is we could actually trace cities and lands that were once deemed fake].

So- as with Homers Troy- and bible lands- these archaeologists did indeed find Cities that matched the stories.

In 1870 the German Archaeologist Schliemann discovered remains that seemed to find the city of Troy- the area is known today as modern day Turkey.

This same thing happened with the bible- we did indeed find historical evidence that seemed to back up the historicity of the stories we find in the bible.

As a matter of fact- a famous doubter of the bible embarked on a search- to prove the bible was ‘myth’ yet- after researching carefully the historical names and places we read about in the book of Acts- he came to believe that the book of Acts- written by both an historian and doctor [Luke] was the most historically accurate writing that came from the first century [Acts has lots of names of political figures- court proceedings- stuff like that- and when doing research like this- it is quite easy to debunk the historical reality of a fake work- but- when these names and places were researched- from actual historical records dating back to the first century- it was amazing how the pieces fit].

The Trojan War is found in many works of Greek literature- and art.

But the most comprehensive account comes from Homer’s 2 poems.

Now- in Homer’s poems there are obvious references to Mythology- Goddesses- Golden apples- the Greek gods intervening in the affairs of men.

So yeah- we see that there are obvious mythological aspects to the work.

Yet- the ancient Geeks did indeed believe the war itself was a real war that took place at around the 12th century BCE.

Some believe that Homer never actually wrote the poems- but that he told the stories- like Oral Tradition- and they were later written down by others.

Sort of like the classic- Paradise Lost- by John Milton. Milton was blind- and told the story to his daughters [oral tradition] and the actual work was penned by those who heard it.

Jesus himself used this method- he never wrote a book- or letter in the New Testament- yet the gospels were compiled by his men after his death.

We read about this when Luke [who I mentioned above] gives the reason for his documenting stuff in the book of Acts [read Acts chapter one].

Luke also wrote his gospel a few years after the death and resurrection of Christ.

So- some believe the same thing happened with Homer- those who heard him tell the story multiple times- simply put it together later on.

Most scholars believe that Homer did indeed write the poems- and that the famous Trojan War was a real historical event.

Last year- when in North Bergen- my atheist friend Daniel said he watched a PBS show- and he said ‘even a priest said the bible was Myth’.

I explained to Daniel that when the more liberal scholars use this term [like in the writings of Bultman] that they do not mean ‘fake’- like Greek Mythology.

But they mean that some of the stories in the gospels might be a compilation of the many Oral teachings of Jesus- and they were put together as one story [some think the Sermon on the Mount was actually multiple teachings Jesus did- and they were compiled into one event].

Now- when I explained this to Daniel- he said ‘see- even you believe it was Myth’.

I told Daniel that no- I do not hold to this theory [not 100%] but that I was simply telling him that even those who use the term Myth- when talking about Theology- they do not mean Myth- as in fake.

So- I find it interesting that both the New testament- and Homers poems- got the same scrutiny.

In these poems we do indeed see the condition of man- which Homer depicts as one of constant war- not peace.

The letter of James in the New Testament says- James 4:1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?

James 4:2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

James 4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

Homers poems are considered by some to be the beginning of the great works of Western literature- of which there are many.

The great writer C.S. Lewis- who rejected Christianity for many years- later became a believer.

He attributed his conversion to the fact that he could not escape the reality of the Church- or Christian themes- found in all the fields of study.

Whether it was the classics- or history- philosophy.

He said every were he read- studied- he could not escape this scarlet thread that ran thru out all the fields of knowledge.

Yeah- in the end- his thirst for knowledge- his intellectual search- led him to the Cross.

Jesus- in a way- was a 1st century Achilles- he battled the forces of darkness- for the honor of a woman- the Bride- the church.

He- Like Achilles- chose a just death- for a just cause.

There’s a prophecy in the Old Testament- it speaks of Christ ‘the zeal of thine house has eaten me up’.

Jesus was a righteous warrior- a prophet, priest and king- and he had a zeal for the church- that far exceeded anything we find in Homers poems.

VERSES- [These are the verses I either taught- or quoted on today’s post- Sunday sermon]

Philipians 2:1 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,

Philipians 2:2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be like minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

Philipians 2:3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

Philipians 2:4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

Philipians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

Philipians 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

Philipians 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

Philipians 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Philipians 2:9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

Philipians 2:10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

Philipians 2:11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Matthew 13

King James Version (KJV)

13 The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side.

2 And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.

3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;

4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:

5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:

6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:

8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.

9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Philippians 1:21

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

Hebrews 11:35

Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

Matthew 22:14

For many are called, but few are chosen.

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

September 24, 2017

« September 23 | September 25 »

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 133

Reading 1

IS 55:6-9

Seek the LORD while he may be found, call him while he is near. Let the scoundrel forsake his way, and the wicked his thoughts; let him turn to the LORD for mercy; to our God, who is generous in forgiving. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.

Responsorial Psalm

PS 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18

R. (18a) The Lord is near to all who call upon him. Every day will I bless you, and I will praise your name forever and ever. Great is the LORD and highly to be praised; his greatness is unsearchable. R. The Lord is near to all who call upon him. The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. The LORD is good to all and compassionate toward all his works. R. The Lord is near to all who call upon him. The LORD is just in all his ways and holy in all his works. The LORD is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth. R. The Lord is near to all who call upon him.

Reading 2

PHIL 1:20C-24, 27A

Brothers and sisters: Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me life is Christ, and death is gain. If I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. And I do not know which I shall choose. I am caught between the two. I long to depart this life and be with Christ, for that is far better. Yet that I remain in the flesh is more necessary for your benefit. Only, conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the gospel of Christ.

Alleluia

CF. ACTS 16:14B

R. Alleluia, alleluia. Open our hearts, O Lord, to listen to the words of your Son. R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

MT 20:1-16A

Jesus told his disciples this parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. Going out about nine o'clock, the landowner saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.' So they went off. And he went out again around noon, and around three o'clock, and did likewise. Going out about five o'clock, the landowner found others standing around, and said to them, 'Why do you stand here idle all day?' They answered, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard.' When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.' When those who had started about five o'clock came, each received the usual daily wage. So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage. And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying, 'These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day's burden and the heat.' He said to one of them in reply, 'My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?' Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last."

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