Friday, June 13, 2008

Combining Heavenly Know-How with Down to Earth Be-Who

Picking up where we lifted off yesterday, how does one realize what one knows and integrate what one has experienced of the Divine? As I mentioned in the Coonifesto, it's easy enough to have spiritual experiences (!?), but how do we make them "stick," or transform them from transient states into stable traits, or (¶)?

It's easy. We don't. Nor could we ever do so, any more than we could build a tree or grow a carrot or bake a creative thought from scratch. Philalethes: "The whole process which we employ closely resembles that followed by Nature in the bowels of the earth, except that it is much shorter." Think of a baby that grows up into a normal civilized human being. In so doing, he is compressing 13.7 billion years of cosmic evolution into 20 or 30 years. But why stop at normality? Why not go "all the way?"

Really, all we can do is create the conditions, and then get out of the way of the same energies that turned dirt into Dostoyevsky or mud into Mozart or sh** into Shakespeare -- which is what "right living" is all about. It reminds me of when people "try" to get pregnant. Often it only happens after they've given up. I've even heard it said that it's not uncommon for people to adopt a child, thinking they'll never get pregnant, only to become pregnant once they've given up hope.

I can't tell you how hopeless I am. No (temporal) ambition at all. No hope that things will ever change. No glorious ideas of a better future. Besides, now that everyone is famous, anonymity is the new celebrity. It's enough that I'm famous in the tiny Coonosphere. Anything beyond that would be infamy. "Let not him who desires this knowledge for the purpose of procuring wealth and pleasure think that he will ever attain to it" (The Sophic Hydrolith). I only ask: be it thy will that we be kept still knowing and loving thee, and that we may never fall away from this blest way of life (Hermes).

In my utterly hopeless condition, I try only to burrow more deeply into the present, and again, let the rest take care of the rust. Call it blind I AMbition. Let the dead bury the dead, and let the unborn.... let them do whatever they need to do to become born, but certainly don't abort them or feed them steroids. I don't put them on a timetable. They'll arrive at their own pace, so long as I take care of my deportment, which is to fertilize the present. In fact, Christian hope paradoxically arises specifically from a kind of liberating hopelessness about this world. To place your hope in the world is to misplace it. Thus the intrinsically luciferian nature of the Obama phenomenon (luciferian is not necessarily satanic; it is more the perversion of light, as opposed to its absence).

I live very simply, because a complicated life begins to place barriers between yourself and human reality, or your feet and the ground. At the moment, I'm reviewing the section in The Spiritual Ascent entitled Integration, and it has many helpful pointers along these lines. Again, you will find that the insights are universal and that they apply to all traditions, since each tradition is "composed" of Truth as such. Being that they are Timelessly True, they are as invariant vis-a-vis the human realm as the Platonic truths of mathematics are with regard to the physical plane.

For example, Hujwiri tells us from across the centuries that "the Sufi is he whose thought keeps pace with his foot, i.e., he is entirely present: his soul is where his body is, and his body is where his soul is, and his soul is where his foot is, and his foot is where his soul is. This is the sign of presence without absence."

Like so many passages in this book, this is the whole teaching boiled down to a single phrase. You could identify any number of biblical passages that say the same thing in a slightly different way, and I'm sure Nomo will. But let's stand back and look at the big picture: what is the whole point of Christianity? It is that God took on mankind, that the Ultimate Principle, the Absolute, is present here in the human flesh.

But it's one thing to "know" this, something else entirely to realize it. This is why the saints are so important, for they are the realization, or earthly fulfillment, of the doctrine. In turn, this is why we learn more from them by "watching them tie their boot-laces" than from their words per se; or, bear in mind that their communications will always consist of "words and music," and that one must have an ear attuned to the latter to gain the full benefit from the former. Or, put it this way: the truth can be told in such a way as to become a lie, due to the unworthiness of the container. Again, the dreadful Deepak Chopra comes to mind.

By the way, one reason I was attracted to Sri Aurobindo was that his philosophy is very much this worldly. Enlightenment must not only take place in the body, but it must transform the body, i.e., recalcitrant matter, which is "resistant" to being spiritualized, so to speak. Again, think of how easy it is to have a spiritual experience "above" the body. But when you come back down, you're left with the same unreformed physical being, i.e., certain dense and mindless patterns that seem "opaque" to the light.

It's much, much more challenging to just be a regular guy in this world, and to sharpen your realization against the rocks of adversity. This is why I never trust "professional gurus" who not only don't have a real job, but are very likely unemployable due to the extent of their cosmic narcissism. Jesus was a carpenter. He worked with his hands and with natural materials. If you meet the Buddha on the road, first take a look at his hands. If you don't see callouses, or at least some dirt under the fingernails -- worse yet, if you see a manicure -- walk away.

This is why it was so easy for me to see the parallels between Aurobindo and Christianity, because in a way, Aurobindo is Vedanta with a Christian twist, while esoteric Christianity is a sort of "Christian yoga." In both cases, the focus is again on embodiment. The point is not to "escape" this embodiment, but to incarnate fully. Our incarnation is God's.... I don't know what the word would be, but it is analogous to saying that our inspiration is his expiration. God exwholes into us, we inwhole God, and this is how we oxidize the blood that courses through the arteries of the cosmos. Real Men take their realization into marriage, into child rearing, into work, into the constant battle that is this world. The world is a test that never ends. Like Michael Jordan, God puts his shorts on one leg at a time, despite his incredible vertical leap.

Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Here again, there is the upper vertical and the lower vertical, the celestial and the terrestrial, spirit and body, heaven and earth. It's easy enough for God's will to be done "above," where it is done "automatically," so to speak. The trick is how we allow it to be done in the herebelow, for there are many layers of influence between the top and bottom. Again, it's more a matter of getting out of the way, isn't it? Benjamin Whichcote: "Our Conversation is in Heaven, according to the Measure and Degree of our present State and Condition.... When we set ourselves to do the Will of God here, then Heaven is come down into the World..."

We mustn't wait until we are dead. Meister Eckhart: "This may well happen while the soul is in the body. I say more: while yet in the body a soul may reach oblivion of its travail not to remember it again." In other words, there can be a kind of egobliteration and "resurrection" in this life, or at least its "first fruits." For any transcendence is evidence of all transcendence, which is to say transcendence of all -- which is another way of saying resurrection, or at least rebirth.

William Law: "What could man have to do with the perfection of God as the rule of his life, unless the truth and reality of the divine nature was in him?" The Russian Pilgrim: "It is possible for man to get back to that primitive contemplative state in which he issued from the hands of his Creator." Why? Because you weren't issued in the past; rather, you are issued afresh each moment. You know, make your resurrections in advance, and don't forget your peaceport.... De-part and bewholed like in them seers' dialogues of old, then aim your eros for the heart of the world!

Hakuin goes even further -- it's not only senseless to wait until death for the tome of your life, but it is the most culpable negligence. It's a kind of philosophical malpractice. It's worse than a crime, it is a cosmic blunder.

Nope. "He that beholds the sun of righteousness arising upon the horizon of his soul with healing in its wings, and chasing away all that misty darkness" -- such a regular feller cares not "to pry into heaven's secrets, and to search the hidden rolls of eternity, there to see the whole plot of his salvation; for he views it transacted upon the inward stage of his own soul, and reflecting upon himself, he may behold a heaven opened from within, and a throne set up in his soul, and an almighty Saviour sitting upon it, and reigning within him.... It is not an airy speculation of heaven as a thing to come that can satisfy his hungry desires, but the real possession of it even in this life" (John Smith the Platonist).

Amen for a child's job! (And vice versa.)

48 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another outstanding post, O Gagster. As always, I'm impressed by your ability to whip up this brew of insight and humor on a near-daily basis.

Have you ever considered holding a Raccoon Retreat -- a live forum for readers of this blog and your book? Lurker that I am on *One Cosmos*, I'd be very much interested in attending such a gathering.

Van Harvey said...

"It reminds me of when people "try" to get pregnant. Often it only happens after they've given up"

Heh. Been there, done that!

Gagdad Bob said...

aquila--

Hmm, sounds a bit cultish. However, in the unlikely event that I ever receive a heavenly authorization to do that sort of thing, Raccoons will be the first to know!

Anonymous said...

I have been "lurking" here for a while, soaking up the wide-cast rays of insight you bring to your writing, and couldn't help but comment on the following:

"God exwholes into us, we inwhole God, and this is how we oxidize the blood that courses through the arteries of the cosmos. Real Men take their realization into marriage, into child rearing, into work, into the constant battle that is this world."

That's because, as a yoga practitioner, I have had that experience in actual, physical breathing, but was never able to "embody" it in words.

robinstarfish said...

"I can't tell you how hopeless I am. No (temporal) ambition at all. No hope that things will ever change. No glorious ideas of a better future."

Such bald honesty is both shocking and refreshing. I had to pick my jaw up off the floor...then I kept reading. I'd leave that line off the resume though. ;-)

"In my utterly hopeless condition, I try only to burrow more deeply into the present, and again, let the rest take care of rust."

Pulse rate quickens. Sweat breaks out on the brow. Yikes, Truth is getting radically personal today.

"In fact, Christian hope paradoxically arises specifically from a kind of liberating hopelessness about this world."

Ah. Yes. Yes. Water of life. This is a great post today, Bob. Source stuff. Bottoms up.

Luke 12
consider the birds
no storehouse no barn
sure in the kingdom

Anonymous said...

Just like Bob to pretend he's some kind of big nobody!

Anonymous said...

"I can't tell you how hopeless I am. No (temporal) ambition at all. No hope that things will ever change. No glorious ideas of a better future."

It's amazes me what can happen when I'm able, at times, to let go of the the struggle to conjur up a few glorious ideas and the ambition to put them in motion, then just accept how things are and hold life in my hands right in front of me, how happy, joyous and free I become. A lottery winning hobo, without the cash.

walt said...

Methinks you've been flying high all week, but saved the Big One for Friday. I'll echo Robin: Great post!

If you lined up ten of my bells, you rang nine today -- oh! my eardrums! -- and the tenth simply by implication.

Saying you're "hopeless" is so . . . so spiritually incorrect -- but spot-on! I hope to become entirely disillusioned as well.

"...now that everyone is famous, anonymity is the new celebrity..."
I agree, and understand now why I feel so special!

"...let the rest take care of the rust."
Taoist hermits used to refer to man's ordinary life as "the world of dust."

"...so long as I take care of my deportment, which is to fertilize the present."
Growers everywhere agree!

"...the Sufi is he whose thought keeps pace with his foot, i.e., he is entirely present: his soul is where his body is, and his body is where his soul is, and his soul is where his foot is, and his foot is where his soul is. This is the sign of presence without absence."
Everyone who's run a business can look back and see some point when their business "peaked." One day at ours, my wife and I were in the office, and looked out to see a Tibetan monk in ochre robes walking through our nursery, exactly in the manner described in the quote. She and I just laughed, and she said to me, "Hey: we just "peaked!"

Thanks so much for your efforts this week! And just as an aside, when you do get to work on OCUG2, you could do worse than to use today's post as an outline! Raccoons everywhere will agree!

Ray Ingles said...

Being able to let go and be still is an important, nay, necessary skill. But I still think hope and action are just as important.

Hope without action gets you things like this. And it wasn't hopelessness that led to the kinds of progress (in reduction of hunger and murder) we discussed yesterday.

Anonymous said...

CONGRATULATIONS, MR. INGLES! YOU'VE BROKEN YOUR OWN RECORD FOR MISSING THE POINT!

Anonymous said...

No habla Ingles.

Ray Ingles said...

No need to shout, Cousin. Perhaps I do misinterpret in one direction, but I don't see the controversy in pointing out that it's possible to misinterpret in the other direction as well.

Anonymous said...

Yes, it seems that Bob's posts somehow always manage to miss your point.

mushroom said...

I am again astounded, though no longer surprised, to hear a symphony playing the tune I couldn't quite catch in my head.

Thank you, GB.

Anonymous said...

People always stare at me in confusion when I say, to their question as to "what do you want?"; what do you hope for"?, and my answer is--hopelessness.

Anonymous said...

Why can't Blogger doublespace?

Anonymous said...

To become hopeless and yet act anyway - because within me is some push to move, a welling up of direction.

It is a psychological truism that most people don't change much. The motivation is not there.

Occasionally a drunk will get sober against all the odds, but when he does the most common path is through the "bottom", when all hope is gone and he or she can no longer live with alcohol or without it.

So it is after twenty five years of observation that I can say that REAL change comes from radical hopelessness. Now that place is not easy to reach, not really, precisely because it is very hard to get there without also encountering total terror. To speak of hopelessness in a flip way is to duck the zen master's cane.

And that's just to get started because as the gagster says here, right living is essential even here if one wishes to stabilize the change going forward.

The change I write of here is basically like being a drunk getting sober, or being dark getting light. These would be life changing conversions, alchemies of the spirit.

I can't do it. No human power can. But we can capitalize on the gift, oh yes.

Hiyo Bodhisattva!

Gagdad Bob said...

Seems to be a matter of karma yoga, of doing what must be done, without obsessing over the fruits.

Anonymous said...

"It is that God took on mankind, that the Ultimate Principle, the Absolute, is present here in the human flesh."

In the Qoran, the angels fell due to the fact that they were asked to bow before man. I've heard it said that the reason for this, and something that Muslims probably don't think even realize, is that Jesus' incarnation heightened the state of humanity.

Also, you reminded me of Leonard Cohen today when he said,

“The secret of my triumph is that I expect nothing, expect nothing to change, expect to leave nothing behind.”

–Leonard Cohen

mushroom said...

"what do you want?" Joseph, that reminds me of the frequent exchange in the movie "Harvey".

Someone says to Elwood P. Dowd, "What can I do for you?".

Elwood's standard reply is, "What did you have in mind?"

Ray, you can put all the graffiti you want here.

Rick said...

Walt,
5 out of 5 coons agree, I’m certain. Doesn’t get any better than this.

But as if this wonder-full post were not jam-packed enough, Bob, I can see you were helping me unpack mine as well this morning. Or was it the other way around? Who unknows where One will unfind the timeless? Only that we were drifting on the same refreshing current. It’s clear to us anyway, anyway it shows up. Just need to get otta the way.

Hey, Bob! I’m over here floating in my inner-tube! Here comes another one…WhaaaaWhoooo! Hey, that does tickle!

Or as Robin sings; much water tapped from the same source. Familiar water. Springs everywhere you look. If you look.

Those familiar with the story will see parallels:
Indian Summer

julie said...

The Dude abides.

julie said...

And since it's Friday (which means derailment is bound to happen sooner or later), here's something for you guitar-o-philes to marvel over. It almost makes me want to learn how to play...

Anonymous said...

Flooding in Des Moines today at the confluence of the Des Moines and RACOON Rivers;
YOU GUYS CUT THAT OUT

Anonymous said...

Radical hopelessness leads me to think of the Tibetan Book of the Dead and the guardians at the threshold. To avoid the tempest of rebirth or descent into Hell it is necessary to look past the Demons who guard the gate and walk through "radical hopelessness and terror". Frank Herbert took this idea and made it the defining moment of a human being (Paul Atreides) in the Gom Jabbar of the Bene Gesserit. There it was overwhelming pain and the vision of your own body sloughing away.

NoMo said...

Another beauty today, Bob!

Echoing the theme - it is the Spirit that bears His fruit through those who live, walk, and are led by Him - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control - in effect creating around us a bit of heaven on earth. (Galatians 5)

In my case, a very small bit - but they say every little bit counts.

Anonymous said...

>>Real Men take their realization into marriage, into child rearing, into work, into the constant battle that is this world<<

St Francis and his crew used to take his act into villages and towns where he'd wow the folks to the extent that they'd want to leave their homes en masse to follow Francis (human consciousness being relatively unmediated and pure in those days) . . . But Francis would tell them, hey, but you got God's work to do right where you are and with what you do in your daily lives. And they did indeed.

However, I do think there are those called, and for all intents and purposes, forcibly conscripted into the thin ranks of the cloistered. If they are serious in their spiritual intent, they find out soon enough that such a calling does not mean lazing about and floating in a bubble of bliss. I think that in some ways, these sojourners meet the hard world even more so than your spiritually oriented "average guy" with family, mortgage, and PTA obligations. As St John of the Cross outlined, these guys are quickly disabused of any notion that they will bathe in transcendent experiences 24/7 - in fact, they are introduced to years of "spiritual aridity" in which the Light is absolutely squelched. If beforehand they thought they knew what living in darkness was all about, they really meet the real deal head on. The troopers among them keep going, maintaining hope under a siege of hopelessness that few of us, outside of purgatory, can comprehend. Now that's a nit-gritty dealing with the material world. In fact, I think you could term it an extended encounter with the naked essence of Lightless materiality, certainly not for the faint of heart.

Anonymous said...

Well said, Will.

Van Harvey said...

Well I got sidetracked today by an email from a friend I once worked with, he included me in an email effusively praising a recent Bill Moyers speech. I agree with precisely one thing in that speech, coming at 38:33 minutes into a 39:56 speech.

"So go tell it on the mountains and the cities. From your websites and laptops, tell it... On campus, at the mall, the synagogue, sanctuary and mosque (no church? hmmm... wonder why that is, a bad word that requires a euphemism?) Tell it. Tell it where you can, when you can, and while you can. Tell America what we need to know, and we may rekindle the Patriot Dream. "

With that, and only that, I agree. The speech is a rant against freedom. Against freedom of the press, and freedom of the people to live their own lives, to seek their own life, liberty and pursuit of Happiness, and of course it clothes itself in leftist support for those very things it attacks.

I've taken it apart in a post on my site, have a look, I've linked to his video as well.

'Coon's don't forget, don't hold your tongues - there are those out there wishing to hold them for you.

Stephen Macdonald said...

RIP Tim Russert.

Last night I saw one of those old-fashioned evenings. "Dad" (a pipefitter) had three Buds (instead of his usual two) after dinner. An old tune came on the TV, and he extended his hand to his wife, who of course demurred at first. Then she rose and fell into rythem with him. Meanwhile the 15 year old daughter was "you guys are SO lame" but if we could freeze-frame her expression, it was one of joy, trust and comfort.

Some days Dad just has to take his old flame in his arms, look into her eyes, and be a bit silly.

Stephen Macdonald said...

"Dad" from the above post fathered three kids. Two are detectives in Toronto (police department), the girl is finishing a business degree at Harvard.

As much as I learn from Bob, I also learn from regular people who have led successful lives.

I have a cousin (evangelical Christian) who daily works with the absolute bottom cases.

'Coons, remind me to fill you in: he walked into Gaza with no bodyguards. They lowered their guns and shared a few tins of fish he brought.

Stephen Macdonald said...

So last week a Canadian was killed while on duty in Afgahnistan.

Shot in the back of the head, wearing his beret, and carrying his weapon.

My mother plays cards on weekends with his mother.

Stephen Macdonald said...

The last time I actuallaly encountered this, was my friend Mike, who was an M1 tank commander at age 23 in the first gulf war.

There were verey few casulaties, but a lucky shot caught his CO as he was adjusting his scope.

Stephen Macdonald said...

The sudden --- instantaneous -- reduction of your freind and fellow soldier into a quivering reflection of what he was seconds ago.

For every man and woman who placs themsleves in harm's way I give thanks.

I pray for your safety, first thing when I wake up in the morning.

Stephen Macdonald said...

As amny 'Coons know, I was (and am now again) involved in counter-terrorism.

Threats have been reduced. And guess who is breathing the greatest sigh of releif?

Muslims.

Stephen Macdonald said...

So I suppoise that most of you know that the descion to bomb Iran is made jointly, among thousands of people.

No single voice makes such a call.

Stephen Macdonald said...

The problem with Iran is that they construct civilian housing on top od thenuckear facilities.

The West can and will drop penetrating munitions which will deliver explosive force at 10 meters (to clear out the steel and concrete) then again at 35 meters (the hardenened outer steel core), and finally a "lights out" blast.

The strange thing is that Europeans, Canadians, Australians -- even Kenyans and Morrocans -- understand the need for this operation.

Stephen Macdonald said...

BTW, Bob you really should at least acknowledge David Warren

Gagdad Bob said...

Don't know him.

Stephen Macdonald said...

Bob,

I did a small favor for you by sharing some Allman Brothers.

Do me the return by reading Warren's Deafening silence

Anonymous said...

"the naked essence of Lightless materiality"

Will, I think that your one of the very few people that (probably) really understands what darkness is. I mean real darkness. You know, the kind where the dream breaks down and dissolves into nothing, and the essence that was hitherto embodied (or semi-embodied) gets sort of trapped in a breathless, waterless, nowhere. I don't think the dead really die, which kind of changes ones outlook on life. There is no "other side."

Only people undergoing a massive recollection project understand that evolution and spiritual practice sometimes is just not fun at all! It sucks. And I hate it.

Here's some scripture, I guess, to support my hate:

Luke 14:26
"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.

John 12:25
The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

John 15:19
"If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you." (explains why I get lousy tips for "bad" host service :) (but I think it's because I secretly hate them, and care nothing for the general person. They are just temporary conglomerations of vital and mental movements that know nothing about what where the essence of their being and thought come from. I really don't care, or love people because of their lacking in this area, which is to say that I also hate the parts of me (the ids) that mirror the people that I hate, which is why I'm so sick, I think.)

Van Harvey said...

As has been noted, a top notcher today.

Ray, barns everywhere are thankful when it is you that is aiming.

Van Harvey said...

An interesting process untangling Hope, Desire and Love.

Untangling without damaging, separating them without loosening the knot. Looking into the eyes of your child, and one string suddenly is revealed as the other... what your hopes had been fade... and you become another.

An interesting process.

Van Harvey said...

Smoov, hope your doing ok.

Van Harvey said...

Hope you don't mind indulging me with a little reverent related irreverence:

"I don't need a cloak to become invisible," said Dumbledore gently. "Now, can you think what the Mirror of Erised shows us all?"

Harry shook his head."Let me explain. The happiest man on earth would be able to use the Mirror of Erised like a normal mirror, that is, he would look into it and see himself exactly as he is. Does that help?"

Harry thought. Then he said slowly, "It shows us what we want... whatever we want..."

"Yes and no," said Dumbledore quietly. "It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts. You, who have never known your family, see them standing around you. Ronald Weasley, who has always been overshadowed by his brothers, sees himself standing alone, the best of all of them. However, this mirror will give us neither knowledge or truth. Men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen, or been driven mad, not knowing if what it shows is real or even possible.

"The Mirror will be moved to a new home tomorrow, Harry, and I ask you not to go looking for it again. If you ever do run across it, you will now be prepared. It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that. Now, why don't you put that admirable cloak back on and get off to bed?"

Harry stood up."Sir -- Professor Dumbledore? Can I ask you something?""Obviously, you've just done so," Dumbledore smiled. "You may ask me one more thing, however."

"What do you see when you look in the mirror?""I? I see myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks."Harry stared.

"One can never have enough socks," said Dumbledore. "Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn't get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books."

Van Harvey said...

Smoov, is the the David Warren: Deafening Silence you referred to, or is there a book as well?

Sounds like what Moyer's would like to lead us to.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Smoov-
My condolences. May God bless your friends family and his friends, and provide comfort in their time of immense grief.

Storm-Rider said...

I've never published anything "religious" or "spiritual", but I wrote this down for myself last year, and I hope it will be helpful to someone.

Attributes of the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit:
* Love of God and all People, Faith, Hope, Optimism, Gratitude, Giving Nature, Accepting God’s Discipline, Culture of Life, Hatred of Evil
* Truth and Reason
* Liberty, Freedom and Justice
* Creativity in Work and Play, Self-Confidence Based on the Indwelling of God and in Doing One’s Best, View Self as Sons and Daughters of God: Hybrids of both Animal and Spiritual Natures
* Treat Others with Respect Based on Their Indwelling of God - made in His Image
* Creative and Loving Human Sexuality, View Sexuality as a Form of Love in Addition to its Animal Nature
* Courage and Sacrificial Service
* Wisdom
* Worship of, and Prayer to Almighty God
* Born Again with the Holy Spirit


Attributes of the Atrophy or Death of the Holy Spirit:
* Hatred of God and Good People, Cynicism, Pessimism, Ingratitude, Greed, Rejection of God’s Discipline, Culture of Death
* Lies and Unreasonableness
* Totalitarianism, Repression, Coercion, Slavery and Injustice
* Non-Creative Work, Suppression of Creativity in Others, Self-Confidence Based on Domination of Others and Winning at All Costs, View Self Only in the Animal
Nature
* Treat Others Disrespectfully, View Others Only in Their Animal Nature
* Self-Centered and Degrading Human Sexuality, View of Sexuality Only in it’s Animal Nature
* Cowardice, Self-Service and use of Violence as a Tool
* Foolishness
* Worship of Self and Idolatrous Worship of Material and Power
* Atrophy, and Possible Death of the Holy Spirit

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