Repruse of Middle Ages

 I read a disturbing opinion piece today. The premise basically was that in the middle ages there was a lot of disease caused by filth and poverty, a lot of rats and fleas, a lot of human waste In public places   At the same time there were some great literary geniuses writing, cathedrals rising, and some pretty great thinking in spots.

 Here in the 21st century,   in many cities, great cities, we have the same situation! Seemingly in progressive led cities there are similar conditions that were in the middle ages There are encampments of people living in filth with rats and fleas and disease. At the same time there are great developments in AI, Interstellar travel, magnificent telescopes out in space, medicine, and so much more. 

It seems to me it really is a disgrace that we are creating a situation to allow people to live like that In the streets. There are solutions We need the will to solve this problem! Let's put our great minds together and turn around this Terrible medieval Situation in our very midst. 

Connections

  I've been thinking about how connections to one another  and even to memories, create  community. I have been talking to some who don't have much community , and seem to have problems with depression. Humans are social beings.

For much of human historyOur ancestors lived in groups. They lived in family groups and tribal groups. Eventually they moved to cities and formed small groups within the cities.   

As wonderful as modern technology is, it has a many ways fractured us from one another. I know of a wonderful woman who has now created her life around television, not around actual people. She resents all interruptions from others. I know of young people who would rather play video games, than go outside and play with neighborhood children.       

I have said to some people that this world is like an alien planet compared to the 1940 world I was born into. I think I could extend that to say that, to the vast majority of all humanity that has ever lived on this planet, this current time is an alien planet. 

It occurs to me that a useful question we might ask ourselves is - How do we enjoy and utilize these marvelous technologies, and stay in connection to other actual humans? How do we retain our humanity?

Are You Hypnotized?

 I had a very interesting conversation yesterday with an old friend. She was extremely upset over various news stories leaning in one particular direction.  That is, she didn't consider any other point of view. She would say something about what I believed or did, which was not what I believed or did, and it took me several times of repeating something until her eyes blinked and she looked at me and said "oh."

It flashed in my mind that she was coming from a state of hypnosis, clicking back into the present moment. That made me think about when I studied hypnosis back in the late 70s with a medical doctor that had delivered over 5,000 babies with hypnosis. I took his class at the advice of a mentor who said it would teach me how the mind worked. I certainly learned a great deal!

One thing in particular flashed in my mind in relationship to yesterday. He said the cycles of a television are in sync with the brain cycles, and if you sit and watch television for a few minutes, you go into at least a light state of hypnosis, and for some people a deeper state. What that means is that everything said goes deeply into your subconscious mind. If you only listen to left leaning or right leaning news, that point of view is deeply seared in your subconscious mind. So when you hear anything to the contrary you fight it. You probably don't realize that you've been programmed subconsciously by somebody else's point of view. are angry and upset because you know the truth, or so it seems to you. 

You're highly unlikely to realize that these ideas have bypassed your conscious mind and have been instilled in your subconscious, so they seem like the truth. We owe it to ourselves to awaken.

There have been so many revelations lately about how we've been lied to by leaders and by the press, that to me it makes everything they say somewhat suspect. I think it's important to listen to both sides of whatever issue and to critically weigh through them so that you're sure that what you think you believe is your actual belief not somebody else's.

 At the very least, listen to left and right leaning stations and realize they have opposite interpretations of what just happened or is happening. They are mutually exclusive. They cannot both be true. My general rule of thumb is the truth must lie somewhere in between these two extremes. But if I do not have personal experience and knowledge of whatever the subject is, I can never know for sure. If I look at all sides and think clearly and logically, perhaps I can figure out what's the most likely thing to be true, but even that's not fail safe. 

To be the best person I can be is my ultimate responsibility. That's a big project and something I've been working on for all 86 years, and still in process.

What Do You See?

 The Gospel of Truth also says that what we see in Jesus—or God—depends on what we need to see, and what we are capable of seeing.                      -- Elaine Panels "Beyond Belief"

The more I consider this statement from the Gospel of Truth, the more it intrigues me at so many levels. 

The author  applies it to what we see in Jesus and in God, and I can see that. We have such a divergent Christianity everywhere from the snake handers in Appalachia to the very serious Orthodox, from the Episcopalians to the Baptists, from New Thought to Pentecostals, wide ranges and then to the very extreme evangelical groups. Each subset of Christianity has views they have settled upon as correct. Many of the views contradict other views, and some groups are outright hostile to certain other groups. 

Interestingly, this divergence started from the very beginning. Before I started studying history, I thought it was a new phenomenon, but right from the get-go there was divergence, hostility, fighting, name calling and more. Early Christianity was wild. 

Then, as I consider this idea more widely, I see it applies to all areas, not just Christianity.  It"depends on what we need to see, and what we are capable of seeing." our biases distort our vision. The things we have decided and do not want to visit again, give us blinders.   

The world was flat in most minds for a long time, and resistance lasted long after it was proved otherwise. Women were not capable of complex thinking was settled "truth"  for centuries. We could list thousands of examples. 

I examine myself. Is there something I need to see as I see it, that is not so or only partially true? Is there something I am incapable of seeing? Yes, Truth will set us free, but are we blocking it somehow?

Thoreau said that an unexamined life was !not worth living. Let us have courage to give ourselves a check up, asking ourselves v the difficult questions. Let us be fearless seekers of Truth. 

What Don:t You Want to Know?

 I was reading a Baldwin quote this morning where he said about racism - You don't know and you don't want to know.

That led me on a mental journey of wondering what else I don't want to know. Perhaps that would be an interesting journey for us to take together.

The 1st thing that came to my mind is any sacred belief that we hold dear and don't want to examine. It could be a political belief, religious belief, belief about a person or a group or most any category. What don't you want to know, what topic is "off limits", what tooic have you decided is completely decided?

The old saying - a closed mind gathers no knowledge - seems to fit here. 

The truth is in whatever field you want to look, new information and new conclusions are constantly happening. It seems to me we need to continually update our information base. It has always been my point of view that God gave me intelligence, and expects me to use it. If I believe a lie, I need to find out and shift to seek truth.  I encourage us not to get comfortable with the old beliefs we have, but rather be willing to take in new information.  Maybe it's time to change our minds.

John vs Thomas

 I am rereading Elaine Pagels' book " Beyond Belief.". This morning I came to the portion where she's sharing some contrasts between the Gospel of John and the Gospel of Thomas.

John portrays Jesus as the only son of God, the only light that leads to God, Whereas Thomas portrays Jesus as embodying the light that leads us to discover God's light  is within us all, because we are all made in the image of God.

Apparently Both gospels were written about the same time, near the end of the 1st century. But John's gospel fit the needs of organizing into what became a church. Thomas's ideas led more to individual spirituality. It is interesting That the powers that emerged in that time , declared Thomas's work heretical. Even though most of John's gospel was very different from Matthew, Mark, and Luke, it was included as an acceptable gospel, although debated for quite a while whether or not it should be included.

I find it very interesting that even though the Gospel of Thomas was banned, labeled heretical, and mostly destroyed, his ideas somehow seeped into the middle ages and the great mystics who were very much in alignment with the message of Thomas. 

And then the twist of fate, in 1945  in Nag Hammmadi there was the Gospel of Thomas, as well as many others thought to be lost.  The gospel of Thomas was, after centuries, available  to read and study and contemplate.

At first,  they were thought tp be Gnostic. However they are now not thought to be Gnostic , as they do not proclaim to have all secret truth .

I encourage you to read at least two of this find - The Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Truth. Enter the diversity of the first century. Imagine all of the points of view that were in abundance until someone, a group of someones, decided what was and what was not acceptable. It was  according to a few men, who were far removed in time from the life of Jesus, that we now have this particular New Testament. interesting.

Our Genesis

If I had a choice between wisdom and immortality, I’d opt for wisdom. Proverbs 3:18 wisely states of Wisdom, “She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; / those who hold her fast are called happy.” ---A,J, Levine,, "Genesis"

  I am enjoying AJ Levine's new book on Genesis. Above is a small quote that I was pondering this morning. 

 So if we had the choice between 2 trees, Wisdom and Immortality, which would you choose? I agree with A.J. that wisdom is essential.

 It saddens me to see so many people today in the throes of extreme emotion, on the far side away from Wisdom. Wisdom quietly observes, and weighs, and considers And then often comes up with something that works for everyone, or maybe everyone except the extreme outliers. 

 Perhaps in our list of goals for our lives, we could place Wisdom at the top, so that it guides all of those other things for which we aim our lives. I find that when I'm still and listen, I get guidance that leads me maybe in a different direction than my ego wanted to go, but ultimately in a much better direction.

 I full-heartedly recommend that we all put Wisdom at the top of our value system, and pay homage to it by listening to it for every decision and action. Take a deep breath. Be still. Listen.