The Book of the Prophet Enoch Revealed, Part Two

Leaving out the fragments of writings by Noah that found their way into the Book of the Prophet Enoch, the middle sections of the book set the stage for the final two sections. In the fourth section, Enoch describes a sweeping vision of the things to come. This vision covers all of human history as well as what is yet ahead of us. It is surprisingly clear on current conditions of human society and warns of the coming end of human rule over the physical creation. God warns that, if left to ourselves, we will destroy ourselves and all life in the universe. This is, of course, the primary goal of the dead Nephalim.

One interesting note is that Enoch wrote the oldest condemnation of birth control practices, including abortion, in surviving literature. Chapter 98, verse 5, “And barrenness has not been given to the woman, /But on account of the deeds of her own hands she dies without children.” In the days this was written, and for thousands of years thereafter, a woman was an object of shame when she did not bear children. The very idea of a woman being childless by choice must have been scandalous when Enoch wrote this.

The sixth chapter of Enoch is almost word-for-word quoted in the sixth chapter of Genesis. Enoch wrote, “And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born to them comely daughters. And the angels, the children of Heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another, ‘Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children.’” The two books separate in their narratives at this point. Enoch follows the ‘Watchers,’ while Genesis follows the divine point of view. Most reference works mention the genealogy in Gen 5:18-24 as being from the Book of the Prophet Enoch, but it is not a direct quotation.

Many of the prophetic visions in the Old Testament are near parallels to the vision of Enoch in his book. Daniel’s vision in chapter seven is a good example. Daniel’s vision is more specific to the four empires of the ancient world, while Enoch’s vision is more sweeping and covers all of human history from the flood to the judgment. My recommendation is to read the Book of the Prophet Enoch for yourself, and you will see that the mentions of Enoch in the Old and New Testaments are not necessarily quotations from his book. The real quotations are often missed by these books.

The most direct quotation from Enoch is by the Apostle Jude. In the fourteenth verse Jude quotes Enoch 1:9. The full poetic passage is gloriously uplifting for all people of faith. If you are a believer, I highly recommend you read Enoch 1:3-9 for comfort whenever the depredations of the wicked get you down.

The Book of the Prophet Enoch is a valuable book of the Old Testament, with even more references to the person of Jesus Christ than any other Old Testament book. I intend to go through and make a restoration of the work to the traditional wording of the rest of the Bible. When I do so, I shall make it available to all my readers.

The Book of the Prophet Enoch, Revealed

Ol’ Fuzzy is one day late. Please forgive me for getting too busy to do my blogging. Not making excuses, but Ol’ Fuzzy used too much data on his phone and it got too slow to blog. don’t worry, the new data rate kicks in tomorrow. Besides, I can use the WiFi at Frog Quarters today.

Let’s look at what is actually written in the Book of the Prophet Enoch. First let me give some caveats. There are three books that are pushed by scholastic scholars as books of Enoch. If you are a proponent of modern scholasticism you won’t like what I have to say about it. Scholastics have a tendency to reinterpret everything so they can say something about it that is outrageous enough to be shocking to their peers. This gets them cred among the other agnostics and atheists of academia. But it also produces many falsehoods that get passed off as “new and improved truth.”

In the case of the Book of the Prophet Enoch, the only English language translation was produced by a scholastic, and he felt the need to prove his cerebrial superiority by changing the wording of many familiar passages that had been quoted in the other books of the Bible. Any philologist (a lover of words) will see the places where the wording of quotations was changed, and understand the original wording as it should have been rendered into English.

Most Scholastics claim that books of the Bible that identify their author are lying. They believe this proves the superiority of their intelligence over the unwashed masses (that’s us) who think that if it says so and so wrote the book it is true. But the logical contradiction of their claims escapes them. If the book is legitimately Biblical, it must be true. If the book says something patently false, it can’t be true. If the book is not true, it can’t be Biblical. No wonder most Scholastics quit serving God and become egoists.

The Book of the Prophet Enoch is arbitrarily divided into 108 chapters, and further, those chapters are separated into five main sections. The first section covering chapters 1 through 36 covers Enoch’s spiritual journeys as a shamanistic priest of the Most High God. Enoch meets four Archangels who guide and protect him in a tour of the realm of the spirit. He becomes acquainted with the angels who had been tasked by God to oversee human society that turned from God to found their own hybrid human dynasties.

Chapter one opens with Enoch’s prophecy of the coming judgment of all creation. This is the passage quoted by Jesus and so many of the Jewish leaders in the first century AD. Chapters 6 to 11 deal with the “watchers” (Sexton Charles’s word for the angels assigned to oversee humans), and names the leasers of the rebellion against God’s perfect plan for humanity. These watchers not only led some of the women into concubinage, they also taught evil spiritual practices that led humanity to a cycle of self destruction. Chapter twelve begins the strange passage that retells of the watchers’ begging Enoch to intercede for them to God and the answer God gives in the negative. Enoch is quite astute in his observation of their wretched condition after their fall from grace. These beings had been in the glorious presence of God, without the filter of dreams or visions. Their disobedience was an act of rejection of His persons. In chapter fifteen, God told them they have no excuse, that is why there is no forgiveness for them, especially after they acted so destructively toward humanity. He told Enoch to say to them, “You should intercede for men, and not men for you.”

Chapter seventeen begins the journeys Enoch took through the spiritual realm guided by the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and alternately Uriel or Phanuel. He visits the whole of the spiritual realm from “bottom” to “top.” The glorious scene in the throne room of God is identical to the vision Isaiah had in Isaiah chapter six. The journey leads through each layer of the spiritual realm including cardinal points that correspond to the directions on Earth. Read these passages for yourself.

Starting with Chapter thirty-seven, Enoch begins to teach in parabolic form. He waxes poetic in some of these passages, and others are plain prose. Sexton Charles’s translation frustrates me with the way he changed the titles and names of God from the traditional ones we read in the King James Version to show off his intellect. One example that sticks in my craw: The Lord of Hosts is rendered “the Lord of Spirits” in 38:2 and everywhere else it appears. As a clergyman of the Church of England, Charles had to know of the traditional rendering of the title, yet he chose to confuse the issue because he wanted to be smarter than all those who went before. When people become used to a title or name being rendered in a certain way, to render it differently confuses them on the identity of the One being named or whether it is a new title. It would have been much more prudent to use traditional renderings for these titles and names.

In Chapter forty-six, Enoch describes his meeting with Jesus Christ before He was incarnate. These passages about the preincarnate Christ are the reason the Jewish scribes excluded The Book of the Prophet Enoch from the Hebrew scriptures. Reading these passages is like reading one of the Gospels. The title “Son of Man” used by by God referring to Ezekiel and by Jesus Christ for Himself was first revealed in this chapter. One of the most famous quotations from the Book of the Prophet Enoch is 46:1 “And there I saw One who was like the Ancient of Days, and His head was white like wool, and with Him was another person whose face looked like a man, and His face was full of grace, like one of the the holy angels.” When Stephen was stoned, he quoted this passage in front of the Sanhedrin, and that’s why they condemned him to die, attributing to Jesus the Person Who met Enoch in Heaven.

I will go into more quotations from the Book of the Prophet Enoch in tomorrow’s post. I am too wordy already today. So tomorrow is Revealed, Part Two.

The Book of the Prophet Enoch Recovered, an Update

I have updated this post from when I first posted it.  Enjoy.
The Book of the Prophet Enoch is the oldest book in the bible. Unfortunately, most copies of the Bible today leave it out. There is evidence that Enoch was included in the Septuagent translation that was the most common Bible at the time of Christ. But by the time of the Christian counsels that set the cannon of Christian scripture, it was all but lost to the common reader.

In the late first century AD, the scribes at the Counsel of Joppa, a gathering of the Jewish leadership, were given the task of producing a Bible for use in the synagogues that left out the pesky referrences to that Nazerine trouble maker that just wouldn’t go away. So the Maseretic Text was produced with vowells added and words separated. The only problem they had was that one book had too many referrences to the life and works of Christ to be able to merely make a few changes and include it. So it was removed.

Most Christian communities relied on the local synagogue to set the cannon of Old Testament scripture, and they in turn relied upon the scribes. So this book, older than the book of Job and the most quoted in both the Old and New Testaments, was discarded by most Christian communities. I say most because there were monks in the Syrian desert that kept the full scripture collection that had been handed down from the time of Jesus. When the Iconoclast heresey caused persecution throughout the Eastern Roman Empire, these monks escaped to Ethiopia, where they translated their entire collection of Holy scriptures into the Coptic tongue.

Late in the Nineteenth Century, a Brittish Scholastic scholor named Charles, a Sexton in the Anglican Church, discovered the Ethiopian Coptic Bible, and with it the Book of the Prophet Enoch. He happily translated the book he found into English as a demonstration of his mental prowess. His unfortunate translation is the only one extent in English to this day. But someone versed in the rest of the Bible and the original languages the books were written in can piece together what the book was ment to say.

I said the Book of the Prophet Enoch is the oldest book in the Bible, older than the book of Job. Unless you want to claim the Bible is full of inaccuracies and lies, you must believe what the book says about its authorship. According to the book itself, three quarters of it was written before the flood by Enoch himself, before he was translated by God to live in Heaven. The rest was written by Noah after the rain flooded the land. (Now we know what he did to keep busy between mucking out the stalls and feeding the critters.)

The book contains a series of visions Enoch had as he sat alone with God, as well as a few sermons to his family (Which includes us, since he considered everyone who loved God to be his brothers and sisters.) These parts of the book are separated by insertions of Noah’s thoughts and feelings on the flood and the things that caused it. Tomorrow I will post more of my updates on the Book of Enoch.

Ol’ Fuzzy is not employable and was denied for disability benefits. The only thing I have is the blogs. But I don’t qualify for ads on the blogs until September. If you like the scribbles I post, please help me keep it going. You can leave me a gratuity by dropping a buck or two in Ol' Fuzzy's Tip Jar. This is a PayPal account I opened on Wednesday, April 5, 2017.

The Archangels of the Book of Enoch

One of the photos I posted to my Facebook timeline is a prayer I wrote to invoke the eight archangels revealed by the book of Enoch. I have no doubt of the existence of such beings. The Eastern Orthodox Church lists several choirs of angels including for example seraphim, cherubim, archangels angels, throwns and more. The day to day messengers of Heaven are the angels, beings of pure spirit and the power of God behind them.

On the other side of the coin are fallen angels, who followed the anointed cherub into rebellion against God. There’s also a separate group of angels who had been appointed by God to oversee the nascent human society, but took advantage of the physical bodies given to them by God to have sexual relations with women and beget children who were hybrid aberrations. The “watchers,” as the translator of the book of Enoch renders it, are no longer having any direct effect on humanity, because they are being held incommunicado in a place of imprisonment where God withholds His presence.

But by far the most dangerous enemies of humanity are not these angels, who are beings of pure spirit, but the offspring of the watchers. These beings are not a part of God’s plan of creation. They are not welcome in Heaven. So they are confined to the Earth. The reason for the flood in the Bible, according to Enoch, is the existence of these of these Nephalim who were enslaving, oppressing and killing humans all across the Earth. And now they’re dead, but not gone.

Being half human, these Nephalim have souls just as we do, but with angelic spirits. As I said before, the human soul bridges the realms of matter and spirit. But unlike humans, Nephalim are barred from Heaven because they’re not of God, from God or in the image of God. This brings out huge resentments between these Nephs and humanity. Face it they hate us. They want us dead. They have all the power of a human soul, and four and a half thousand years of practice in using it.

That is why God has given His angels charge over His chosen. They are sent to protect us from the fallen angels, yes. But more important, they help us resist the Nephalim. I have developed the prayer if invocation of the Archangels as an acknowledgment of their assistance, and a plea for their specific aid within their realms of responsibility. Enoch lays out these realms of responsibility and I will try to explain them as I understand it.

Michael, whose name means “Who Is Like God,” is the warrior of the Archangels. Michael is associated with the East. He leads several legions of lessor angels in battle on our behalf. I invoke Michael for protection, especially from spiritual evil. When invoking Michael, I face East and say, “Holy Archangel Michael, protect me from all harm, spiritual, emotional and physical.”

Raphael, whose name means “Healing of God,” is the physician of the Archangels. He is responsible for delivering the healing and wellness God has ordained for us. Raphael is associated with the South. He leads angels who know how to eliminate the spiritual causes of physical and mental illnesses. I invoke Raphael for health and wellness of my spirit, mind and body. When invoking Raphael, I face South and say, “Holy Archangel Raphael, bring God’s healing to my body, soul and spirit.”

Gabriel, whose name means “Man of God,” is the herald of the Archangels. He is responsible for delivering the revelation of God to humanity. Gabriel is associated with the West. When I invoke Gabriel, I face West and say, “Holy Archangel Gabriel, enlighten me with God’s wisdom in my heart.”

Uriel, whose name means “Flame of God,” is the executioner of the Archangels. Often called the Angel of Death, he is responsible for removing the physical life of those whom God has deemed must die. He also aids us in ridding ourselves of those habits of sin of which we wish to be rid. Uriel is associated with the North. When I invoke Uriel, I face North and say, “Holy Archangel Uriel, remove that which is sin from within me.”

Raguel, whose name means “Friend of God,” is the Archangel in charge of the stars and planets. He is associated with the sky. When invoking Raguel, I turn to the East and look up and say, “Holy Archangel Raguel, guard my thoughts from error from above.”

Saraqael, whose name appears only in the book of Enoch and doesn’t appear in my dictionary, is the prison warden of the Archangels. Enoch writes he is in charge of the prison where the watchers are held until the day of judgment. He is associated with the underworld. When invoking Saraqael, I look down and say, “Holy Archangel Saraqael, guard my feelings from temptation from below.”

Phanuel, whose name means “Face of God,” is the Archangel in charge of repentance. He assists us to align our thoughts with the will of God. When I invoke the Archangel Phanuel, I look inward and say, “Holy Archangel Phanuel, assist me to repent and change the way I think.”

Remiel, who is only named in the Book of Enoch and therefore not in my dictionary, is the Archangel in charge of resurrection. When I invoke the Archangel Remiel, I look through to Heaven and say, “Holy Archangel Remiel, raise my soul to the thrown of grace.”

I had posted a photo of this prayer on my timeline on Facebook. But I am reprinting it below for all those who do not follow me on Facebook. I use this as a lead in to my daily prayers, so I can have angelic assistance when I pray.

Holy Archangel Michael, protect me from all harm, physical, mental and spiritual.

Holy Archangel Raphael, bring God’s healing to my body, soul and spirit.

Holy Archangel Gabriel, enlighten me with God’s wisdom in my heart.

Holy Archangel Uriel, remove that which is sin from withing me.

Holy Archangel Raguel, guard my thoughts from error from above.

Holy Archangel Saraqael, guard my feelings from temptation from below.

Holy Archangel Phanuel, assist me to repent and change the way I think

Holy Archangel Remiel, raise my soul to the thrown of grace.

Holy angels of God, surround me.

Holy angels of God, defend me.

Holy angels of God, pray for me to the Lord our God for forgiveness of my sins.

Faith and Works, a Balanced Approach

A lot of Christians seem to think that faith and works are mutually exclusive. They take some passages out of the Bible to justify their position. Some think the Bible tells them they can earn their way to Heaven by doing good. Others think if they repeat some formulaic prayer and give mental ascent to the existence of God they are immune to the need to help others or avoid doing harm. Both of these extremes are contrary to the very passages they quote, taken in the whole context.

Many will claim that the words of Saint Paul in Galatians 2:16 exempt them from doing good. But if you look at the verse, it specifically refers to the Law of Moses. What he's saying here is that sacrificing bulls and lambs, tithing to the priests and keeping the feasts of the calendar will not save you. What he is not saying is that these things are to be ignored by everyone. But read the sixth chapter in the same book. Saint Paul says things like “...let every man prove his own work,...” and, “...every man shall bear his own burden….” So while Saint Paul is adamant that we are not saved by works, he is equally adamant that if we are saved we shall work.

Saint James, in his general letter, goes further in this vein, “...be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” In chapter two he is even more specific, “...so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.” In modern words, if you believe, and your faith is alive, you will want to work and do so in the love and obedience of God.

The first work, and the wellspring of all other works, of faith is love. From love flows all the alms and helps and other good deeds our concept of good requires. And the one who loves performs these good works spontaneously, without thought of earning a reward. That is the sign of a real believer, spontaneous acts of love.

Ol’ Fuzzy is not employable and was denied for disability benefits. The only thing I have is the blogs. But I don’t qualify for ads on the blogs until September. If you like the scribbles I post, please help me keep it going. You can leave me a gratuity by dropping a buck or two in Ol' Fuzzy's Tip Jar. This is a PayPal account I opened on Wednesday, April 5, 2017.

A Spiritual Lift in Time of Trouble

I want to talk about maintaining your faith in the face of trouble. Look at Romans, chapter eight verses 31 to 39. I won’t quote the Book, my readers all own Bibles of their own and can read it for themselves. When you face problems in this life, and that is one thing Jesus promised will happen, the temptation to quit serving God will enter your mind. I know that from personal experience as well as from talking to others and reading it in the Bible. When such temptations come along, nothing has ever lifted my spirit and aided my faith more than this passage in Romans.

The spirits that test your faith will bring up you history of sin, trying to convince you that you are not worthy of God’s grace. Duh, that’s the point. If you were worthy, you wouldn’t need grace. The words of Saint Paul were written to reassure Christians facing government persecution in the capital of the empire. Just look at the glorious heights to which the passage rises. How can you be doubtful of your salvation in the face of such glory?

Whenever I am facing such times, this is the passage I turn to so I can stabilize my faith. This week has been rough on Ol’ Fuzzy. I went through the slough of despond Monday night and all day on Tuesday. This passage is what sustained me. By Wednesday morning, I was able to center and my prayers were affirmed in my soul. But in the deepest pit of my despair, this is the rope to which I clung to lead me through. Even when you are not under tribulation, this is the passage to go to for a lift in spirits. I’m sure it will lift yours too.

Spiritual Relativity

On Monday I chatted from beside the Hearth about the physicists’ understanding of the relationships of all things. The famous Italian physicist (whose name I have to look up) was interviewed on NPR Monday morning. He had written a book that is becoming very popular, titled Seven Things About Physics in which he lays out the observation that all things exist only because of their relationships to the other things that exist. I want to explore the spiritual aspects of that science.

A famous American poet once wrote, “No man is an island, cut off from the continent of humanity….” Now physicists agree that everything in the universe is defined not by its intrinsic existence in isolation from all other things, but by its relationships to all other things. We can draw a lesson from this for all human beings. In this universe, relationships are the defining element for everything, including humans. We live in a society, not separate little universes.

Even a religious hermit relates to others, confessing with his or her sterets and meeting for liturgy from time to time. Most hermits replace face to face communication with the outside world with writing about their experiences in the journey to holiness for posterity. Our place in God’s plan is within the body of Christ, a relationship with each and every other cell in the body. Our satisfaction in life derives from our relationships with those around us.

When we see another human being in distress, it is a natural reaction to reach out to that one with the hand of aid. Only deadening of the soul of the observer would make it easy to walk past a person who is obviously in need of our help. You can see it in children who have not had their world shattered by evil adults. I define this tendency with the “L” word, love. The minimum reaction of love is to reach out a helping hand to others in need.

Saint John the Theologian wrote that God is love. Even atheists display the image of God within them when they relate in love to others around them, and they do. Yesterday on NPR a Christian comedian was interviewed in regards to his new television show. He related a story of debating his atheist friends on the existence of God, using ethics as an example. The atheist who answered the point said ethical treatment of others is a matter of respect for the person in question. I note that respect is a component of love.

Each of us is made with the capacity to love, and when we don’t exercise this capacity we become terribly depressed and mentally unhinged. Love is necessary for the spiritual, mental and even physical well being of every human being. We connect to the whole of the universe by our love for the persons near to us. Things that require our care and nurture, such as plants, pets and the environment, are examples of God’s love for His universe exercised through His surrogates, us.

I urge every one of my readers, practice love in your life for your own self improvement and well being.

Topology of the Human Soul and the Struggle for Holiness, Part 3

On Saturday, I laid down the background of the shape of the human soul and its setting in the universe. Yesterday I gave an overview of the various organs of the soul that I know enough about to mention. I don’t pretend to have a full understanding of the soul, and I doubt any living human on Earth can say they do. Today I want to go into more detail of the one organ of the human soul that I know the most about. I will now describe the kardia and its role in contemplation and the struggle for holiness.

The three chambers of the kardia are meant to work in concert, but they are not equal in importance. The most important for the purpose of holiness is the thelema, the seat of volition or will. When the thelema is in charge, the person takes responsibility for his or her own life and actions. All thoughts and feelings must be vetted by the thelema for morality, ethics and relevance. When the thelema is in line with the will of God, these actions become easier to direct. Let’s explore the the relationship of thelema with the other two chambers.

The next chamber in line,although not necessarily in import, is the nous, the seat of reason. People who put the nous in charge of their kardia are easy to spot by the way they rationalize their unethical acts and find other people to blame for their faults. The nous is essential in researching the world around us and the will of God. When the nous is subordinate to the thelema, the person is more reasonable and rational. Wild rationalizations are rejected by thelema before they can get out into the rest of the soul. The often most effective vector by which spirits of darkness test the will of a human is to inject thoughts into the person’s nous to see if the person will accept it as his or her own. This is the primary reason for vetting by the thelema of all thoughts before they get out of the kardia.

The last chamber, though definitely not the least, is the one I call the gous, from the Greek word goao which means to wail, this is the seat of the feelings and affections. When the gous is in charge, the person becomes completely irrational and driven by every wind of chance. The most destructive passions, anger, avarice, envy, jealousy, lust, etc. come out of the gous, and they are often placed there by spirits of darkness. When the thelema is in charge, the destructive passions are controlled. When the gous is in charge the passions run wild.

When a contemplative sits in silence to meditate, it becomes an act of pure thelema to listen to the still small voice of God. The nous and gous are clamoring for attention, but the thelema merely lets it pass without entertaining it in the kardia or passing it into the rest of the soul. This exercise of the thelema gains the contemplative greater control over the whole of the kardia and a more healthy soul.

Another benefit of empowering the thelema over the other two chambers of the kardia is the maturity attained by taking responsibility for ones own soul. People who do not put their thelema in charge of their kardia are among the most destructive members of society. I won’t go into the pathology of social disorders. But let is suffice that the thelema can control it in each individual.

So by putting the thelema in charge of the kardia, and aligning it with the holy will of God, the individual is able to grow into holiness as God has planned for each of us. The struggle comes from within the soul as it resists the correction, and outside forces of spiritual evil are injecting thoughts, feelings and passions into the kardia. Putting the thelema in charge of the kardia makes one a better person, even if he or she does not believe in God. But when the will of God becomes the cannon by which the thelema rules the kardia, the soul is on the road to holiness.

Topology of the Human Soul and the Struggle for Holiness, Part 2

Yesterday I wrote about the background of the topology of the human soul. It is necessary to understand the shape of the created universe in order to understand the relationship the of the human soul with the rest of the universe. Today I will begin to outline some of the “shape” of the human soul, although the idea of something that is ephemeral having a shape is rather paradoxical.

As I stated yesterday, humans are created with three facets in reflection of the Trinity of the Godhead. I will use transliterated Greek terms for the “organs” of the soul to avoid confusion with the somatic organs of the body. I will borrow the term “psychoid” from Rev. Morton T. Kelsey’s book The Other Side of Silence, for referring to the aspects of the soul, and only use the English word “psychic” in the common usage.

In common existance, there is no direct connection between the realms of Heaven, spirit and matter. The only link other than God Himself is the soul of the human creature. The human soul is the only thing in all creation that is both spiritual and physical at the same time. Researchers have measured the mass of the souls of dying people as the soul leaves. While the mass is small, the fact that something with mass beyond the last breath exits the body at death proves the physical existance of the soul. Mystics, shamen and parapsychologists have experienced the spiritual aspects of the soul in their explorations. The soul is a bridge. With Jesus christ sitting at the right hand of the Father in Heaven and at the same time inhabiting the souls of His followers, the souls of believers are also a bridge between the lower created realms and Heaven. This condition of linkage is the reason that fallen angels and spirits of darkness want to inhabit human souls. The power over the physical realm that they can exert through controling such a link is enormous.

The soul of a human is organized, much the way the body has organs. The soul has an opton, an organ by which a hjuman can see what is taking place around him/her in the spiritual realm, and some can even see what is happening in the physical realm, and at some distance. The soul has an organ of sensation much like the skin of the body and nerve endings within the organs of the body. This organ allows the human to feel what is happening to his/her spirit and soul directly, similar to the way we can detect heat, cold, pressure and pain in the body. The soul has filters to weed out alien influences like the kidneys in the body. But the most importaint organ of the soul to the spiritual athlete is the part of the soul the Christian monks and mystics call the kardia, corresponding to the heart in the body.

The kardia has chambers like the somatic blood pump. Where the heart has four chambers, two each of atria and ventria, the kardia has three (there’s that number again!). Much like the somatic blood pump drives the blood through the body delivering life to each of the cells, the kardia drives the psychoid fluid of life throughout the soul. This psychoid fluid is made up of (suprise) three parts: feelings, reason, and will; one from each chamber. Just as blood sustains the life of the body, the feelings, reason and will sustain the life of the soul.

Tomorrow I will explain the importance of the kardia for contemplation and the struggle for holiness.

Topology of the Human Soul and the Struggle for Holiness, Combined

I have decided to combine the parts of my article on the human soul into one piece and repost it here. This is copyright material, intellectual property of the author subject to the copyright laws of the United States of America and international copyright treaties. Permission is hereby granted for the reproduction and redistribution of any or all of this work, with out requirement for remuneration, so long as the author is properly attributed and the portions reproduced are properly labeled. Any attempt to misrepresent the author’s words or intent will be in violation of all copyright laws, and subject to the penalties under law.

Disclaimer: Much of the content of this article is in the realm of speculative synthesis. The only parts that can be considered valid Christian doctrine necessary for salvation are the doctrines of the Trinity, creation of humanity in the image and likeness of God, and the three realms of the universe. The rest is collected and combined from various sources including monastic mystics and parapsychologists, among others. I am presenting a synthesis of human experience exploring the various realms of creation. The use of the masculine pronoun in reference to God is merely traditional. In no way should this be construed by the reader that this writer believes that God is entirely male or that God was male before the conception of Jesus Christ.

First we need to set the background of the setting of the human soul. God is a single entity, revealed to us in three persons. His revelation to us declares that He has made us in His image. The fact that God was not a physical being until the incarnation of Christ makes it difficult to form an image of God in human terms. So what is the image of God in humanity? That can be seen in the convergence of the number three in all of creation.

There are three realms of creation. Heaven, the realm of God’s throne; the spiritual realm, where all the creatures of spirit, without bodies, live; and matter, the physical realm where planets, stars and animals, including humanity, live. The tri-circle diagram is a good illustration of this idea. (See the diagram I posted on my Facebook timeline.) These three realms are not separate, they overlap in an exciting way. The souls of humans bridge the three realms and hold them together.

In the article tomorrow I will outline how that is. But today, I want to finish the background.

The realm of matter is the universe we see when we look around us, the Earth, stars, planets and galaxies we measure and plot. Science has mapped this realm for centuries. Although we are not finished measuring, mapping and cataloging this realm, we have gathered an enormous body of information about this realm. Therefore, it is not of significant interest to us in this exploration. It’s something already known. We’re interested in exploring uncharted territory.

To that end let us take a glimpse into the realm of spirit. In the spiritual realm, time is not linear, all time is now; space is merely suggestive, not concrete, therefore, distance between two points in the spiritual realm is a matter of the relationship between them, not displacement. This is the true definition of eternity, the realm of the spirit is eternal. Unfortunately for us, our instruments of measurement cannot function in eternity. There is no way we can accurately map and measure the realm of spirit.

The realm of Heaven is an even greater question mark to us. Until the ascension of Jesus Christ, there was no way to enter the Heavenly realm without direct divine intervention. This realm has been glimpsed by mystics and prophets throughout the ages. But now that we have Jesus Christ seated on His throne at the right hand of the Father, we are able to enter Heaven whenever we pray. Seldom do we make enough effort of soul to enter into Heaven in more than just a minor way. The description of Heaven in the sixth chapter of Isaiah’s prophetic book is probably the best in all literature.

The three realms of creation, like the three Persons of the Trinity and the three facets of humanity, is an echo of the nature of God.

Humans are created with three facets in reflection of the Trinity of the Godhead. I will use transliterated Greek terms for the “organs” of the soul to avoid confusion with the somatic organs of the body. I will borrow the term “psychoid” from Rev. Morton T. Kelsey’s book The Other Side of Silence, for referring to the aspects of the soul, and only use the English word “psychic” in the common usage.

In common existence, there is no direct connection between the realms of Heaven, spirit and matter. The only link other than God Himself is the soul of the human creature. The human soul is the only thing in all creation that is both spiritual and physical at the same time. Researchers have measured the mass of the souls of dying people as the soul leaves. While the mass is small, the fact that something with mass beyond the last breath exits the body at death proves the physical existence of the soul. Mystics, shaman and parapsychologists have experienced the spiritual aspects of the soul in their explorations. The soul is a bridge. With Jesus Christ sitting at the right hand of the Father in Heaven and at the same time inhabiting the souls of His followers, the souls of believers are also a bridge between the lower created realms and Heaven. This condition of linkage is the reason that fallen angels and spirits of darkness want to inhabit human souls. The power over the physical realm that they can exert through controlling such a link is enormous.

The soul of a human is organized, much the way the body has organs. The soul has an opton, an organ by which a human can see what is taking place around him/her in the spiritual realm, and some can even see what is happening in the physical realm, and at some distance. The soul has an organ of sensation much like the skin of the body and nerve endings within the organs of the body. This organ allows the human to feel what is happening to his/her spirit and soul directly, similar to the way we can detect heat, cold, pressure and pain in the body. The soul has filters to weed out alien influences like the kidneys in the body. But the most important organ of the soul to the spiritual athlete is the part of the soul the Christian monks and mystics call the kardia, corresponding to the heart in the body.

The kardia has chambers like the somatic blood pump. Where the heart has four chambers, two each of atria and ventria, the kardia has three (there’s that number again!). Much like the somatic blood pump drives the blood through the body delivering life to each of the cells, the kardia drives the psychoid fluid of life throughout the soul. This psychoid fluid is made up of (surprise) three parts: feelings, reason, and will; one from each chamber. Just as blood sustains the life of the body, the feelings, reason and will sustain the life of the soul.

I don’t pretend to have a full understanding of the soul, and I doubt any living human on Earth can say they do. I want to go into more detail of the one organ of the human soul that I know the most about. I will now describe the kardia and its role in contemplation and the struggle for holiness.

The three chambers of the kardia are meant to work in concert, but they are not equal in importance. The most important for the purpose of holiness is the thelema, the seat of volition or will. When the thelema is in charge, the person takes responsibility for his or her own life and actions. All thoughts and feelings must be vetted by the thelema for morality, ethics and relevance. When the thelema is in line with the will of God, these actions become easier to direct. Let’s explore the the relationship of thelema with the other two chambers.

The next chamber in line, although not necessarily in import, is the nous, the seat of reason. People who put the nous in charge of their kardia are easy to spot by the way they rationalize their unethical acts and find other people to blame for their faults. The nous is essential in researching the world around us and the will of God. When the nous is subordinate to the thelema, the person is more reasonable and rational. Wild rationalizations are rejected by thelema before they can get out into the rest of the soul. The often most effective vector by which spirits of darkness test the will of a human is to inject thoughts into the person’s nous to see if the person will accept it as his or her own. This is the primary reason for vetting by the thelema of all thoughts before they get out of the kardia.

The last chamber, though definitely not the least, is the one I call the gous, from the Greek word goao which means to wail, this is the seat of the feelings and affections. When the gous is in charge, the person becomes completely irrational and driven by every wind of chance. The most destructive passions, anger, avarice, envy, jealousy, lust, etc. come out of the gous, and they are often placed there by spirits of darkness. When the thelema is in charge, the destructive passions are controlled. When the gous is in charge the passions run wild.

When a contemplative sits in silence to meditate, it becomes an act of pure thelema to listen to the still small voice of God. The nous and gous are clamoring for attention, but the thelema merely lets it pass without entertaining it in the kardia or passing it into the rest of the soul. This exercise of the thelema gains the contemplative greater control over the whole of the kardia and a more healthy soul.

Another benefit of empowering the thelema over the other two chambers of the kardia is the maturity attained by taking responsibility for ones own soul. People who do not put their thelema in charge of their kardia are among the most destructive members of society. I won’t go into the pathology of social disorders. But let is suffice that the thelema can control it in each individual.

So by putting the thelema in charge of the kardia, and aligning it with the holy will of God, the individual is able to grow into holiness as God has planned for each of us. The struggle comes from within the soul as it resists the correction, and outside forces of spiritual evil are injecting thoughts, feelings and passions into the kardia. Putting the thelema in charge of the kardia makes one a better person, even if he or she does not believe in God. But when the will of God becomes the cannon by which the thelema rules the kardia, the soul is on the road to holiness.

More About Love

Look at the thirteenth chapter of the first letter of Saint Paul to the Church at Corinth. In this passage Saint Paul laid out his “more excellent way” for Christians to live their faith. The description he makes of love in this passage expands the definition far beyond the simple linguistic definitions of agape, eros and phileos, the three Greek words rendered love in our Bibles.

He tells us we are to love in the extreme way he lays out, not merely living up to the simple definitions. Patience, kindness, acceptance, tolerance, politeness, even temper, refusal to take offense and refusal to blame the other are all components of this love. This is not something humans do easily. We are quickly frustrated. We are arbitrarily unkind to those we consider to be unimportant. We reject those who can do nothing to further our comfort. We quickly take offense, even where none is offered. We gloat at the downfall of others and make fun of them. We envy those who have more than we do. In general, we are not predisposed to love.

This is not our natural state in the plan of God. He made us to love like Him. It is only the vestige of sin and fear of death that lead us to do the unloving acts that seem to be human nature. Human nature is under assault and captivity by the spirits of darkness who want to undo the work of God in the universe. We can easily defeat these spirits by submitting to the will of God to love as He loves. Put them out of your heart and live the way God created you to live, live a life of love.

What Is Faith?

I am taking this almost entirely from Hebrews, Chapter 11.  I won't quote the whole passage because my readers can see it in their own Bibles as we go along.  But I will comment on specific words and phrases from the text.
First a little linguistic background:  The word pistis in Greek is the one translated as faith in our Bibles.  In Koine, the Greek of the New Testament, the word has a much greater area of meaning than our English word faith.  In Greek, as in the Hebrew word rendered pistis in the Septuagent, the word includes an element of obedience and action, not mere mental ascent. Therefore, when we see the word rendered faith in the Bible we must bear in mind the expectation of the writer that it includes the meanings from the original tongues.
The very first verse in Hebrews 11 expands the meaning of faith beyond the Greek or Hebrew concepts in common usage of the day.  According to the writer of Hebrews, faith takes on a concrete aspect in proof of the abstract.  This is important because we overcome doubts produced by circumstances through our firm adherence to that which we believe.  I'm not advocating blind faith in the divinity of, say, a Frisbie or a coffee cup.  Faith must be firmly grounded in the revelation of God in His Son Jesus Christ, and handed down to us in the writings of His followers.
Faith is the weapon by which the spirits of darkness are defeated in our spiritual warfare.  Faith is the tool of the believer to maintain psychological equilibrium in stressful situations.  Faith is the shield by which the attacks of these spirits of darkness are deflected or quenched.  Faith is powerful, but only so because the object of that faith is powerful.
Holding to faith can and will enable the spiritual warrior to obtain victory in the battle over the mind and in the daily struggle of life.  While the preachers of Prosperity go too far into heresy in their abuse of faith, their original premise is correct in that our need and some of our wants are being met by God so long as we allow Him to work through our faith. 
Abraham believed God, and in spite of his many recorded shortcomings, that faith was accounted to him a righteousness.  Enoch walked with God, an application of faith, and then no one could find him because God translated him.  Noah took God at his word and, in a world that had never known rain, built an ark, a huge boat as large as an aircraft carrier, miles away from any water, that God used to save his family and the animals.
So faith is more than something you have in your mind.  Faith is what you do.  I urge my readers to research faith more on their own, then go out and do it.

Early Christian Mysticism

In the early Christian Church, contemplation and mysticism was nearly universal. For evidence I offer the prayer of Saint Paul for the Church at Ephesus. There are actually two prayers Saint Paul writes in Ephesians, one in the first chapter (verses 17 through 23), and the other in chapter three (verses 14 through 21).

In chapter 1 verses 17 and 18, Saint Paul opens his prayer with an intercession for enlightenment of the Christians in Ephesus. The language he uses is explicitly mystical. Read it for yourself and you’ll see my meaning. The Greek words he uses are ones that crop up in mystical writings all the way down to this day. To the modern mystic, there is no doubt Saint Paul is asking God to reward the Ephesians’ attempts at mystic contemplation.

Note: Saint Paul never exhorts in his letters for Christians to contemplate or meditate. This seems to be assumed by all the Apostles, that Christians will contemplate. Mysticism was the norm, not something only practiced by monastic hermits. This was lost in the Fourth Century when the pagans entered the Church for political favor. The practice of contemplation became passe to these people who didn’t have any “skin in the game.” It became so bad that Anthony of Alexandria sold out his inheritance, provided for his sister, gave the balance to the poor, and hid himself in the desert so he could contemplate like an early Christian. Since this kind of prayer experience was the norm for three hundred years, it ought to be normal today as well. Unfortunately today’s Church sees contemplative prayer as the exclusive provenance of monks and nuns who have devoted their lives to it.

In verse 19, Saint Paul gets into the technical aspects of mystical experience, knowledge of the power of God toward believers. He goes on to define the power as that which God worked in the resurrection of Christ and His elevation to the right hand of God in Heaven. The final two verses of the first chapter make up a sort of doxology, telling of the glory of Christ’s spiritual position. The whole prayer in chapter one is a single, convoluted sentence in Greek. It was written as a single thought, and breaking it into verses that are quoted in isolation from the whole loses much of the meaning of the prayer.

Moving to the prayer in chapter three, we see more mystical references applied to the Ephesians. “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith;” is the linchpin of the entire prayer in both chapter one and chapter three. The early Christians were not to look for some divinity outside of themselves for their salvation, but to the Divine Anointed One of God Who sets up housekeeping in the hearts of those who exercise faith in Him. The expectation is that the believers experience this presence, not just give it lip service. To be “in Christ” is to have Christ in you. A profound paradox that makes up the body of the Christian mystical experience. When you sit in contemplation, listening to God, you are not listening to an outside entity, but an inner “still, small voice” that speaks in your heart, from your heart.

Saint Paul goes on in the rest of verse 17 through the end of verse 19 to explain the kind of growth this mystical contemplation encourages. The believer gains profound insight into the very foundation of all creation. This insight begins with love, the essence of the relationship of the Christian to God and fellow believers, and extending to the entire creation. Once love is realized in the heart of the believer, the knowledge of the fullness of God’s work in the universe is open to the contemplative. But the greatest knowledge, the end goal of Saint Paul’s intercession for the Ephesians and for us by extension, is the love of Christ, which he says is incomprehensible, yet still knowable by those who contemplate. This love is the opening for the believer to finally grasp the fullness of God, Who is both outside of, and infusing all of creation at one and the same time.

Saint Paul finishes the prayer in chapter three with the greatest doxology in the New Testament. The closing of this prayer with exalted praise is no accident. These doxologies were common to early prayers in both opening and closing. Today we pray like we shop online, by submitting a shopping list to God and expecting Him to fill our cart with the goods and services we demanded. We need to take time out to tell God what we think of Him, not for His enlightenment, He already knows, but for our own reminder of to Whom it is we speak in prayer.

All things God has us do serves the goal of our own growth into the likeness of Him for which we were created. That is the reason for contemplative prayer, growth in the likeness of God. To ignore this experience is to put off to eternity our progress in God’s own plan for our souls. That is the reason all Christians in the early Church practiced mystic contemplation. That is the reason we should too.

Silence, Solitude and Stillness, part two

I will now try to finish what I started last Wednesday. Please forgive the delay.

In my personal use of the technique of hesychasm, I try to emulate the way the Desert Fathers practiced their contemplation. I say try because I often get sidetracked by daily life. But all day long, whenever it comes to mind, I silently repeat the Jesus prayer in synchrony with my breathing: as I inhale I recite in my mind, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God,…” Then as I exhale, “have mercy on me, the sinner.” Tying it to my breathing helps me to remember to pray, and to expect God to speak to me in the depths of my heart.

This type of prayer is what Saint Paul was talking about when he wrote, “...Pray without ceasing….” It becomes the main form of prayer in my life whenever I am diligent enough to actually practice it. It does not do away with intercession, supplication, praise, or formal group prayer called liturgy. It is in addition to the regular forms of prayer that I have formed into my rule of prayer.

I also use the Jesus Prayer to quiet my mind before I center every day. Centering Prayer is a modern form of contemplation developed by Trappist monks in the middle of the Twentieth Century. In it one tries to listen to God and let Him have His way in one’s heart. On sits quiet and intent on loving God for twenty minutes. Every time the mind wanders from the intent of hearing God one recites a “sacred word” to remember one’s intent. My word is the Name of Jesus. One cannot find a more sacred word in the Christian faith.

So I follow my regular rule of daily and weekly prayer, center twice a day, and use the Jesus prayer throughout the day to keep my mind on the Lord. This may not be for you as it is for me. But I strongly recommend that each person establish his own rule to follow.

Marines Divided

A change of pace and a change of plan today. Ol’ Fuzzy has been hearing a lot about the scandal raised by the men of the Marines United group on Facebook. It reminds me of the scandal in the 1970s when recruiters from various racial hate groups tried to recruit members from Marine Corps bases in California. I was there when they tried to recruit on Camp Pendleton. I am proud to tell you that the men and women I knew in the Corps refused to even talk to those people.

Today the issue is sexism, not racism. And I am sad to say that so many men lined up with the sexist agenda. Our society may have evolved into a bunch of anonymous cowards who flame and deride each other online, hiding behind the shield of anonymity afforded by the nature of the internet. They say things on line that would never cross their mind to say face-to-face. And it’s all negative.

The Marine Corps holds ourselves to a higher standard. These men have not met the standard and thus have given away their right to the title of “United States Marine.” In combat, one must rely on his or her fellows to unhesitatingly react in support of him or her when bullets are flying at them. I have no question, absolutely none, of the loyalty of the women and LGBT members in the Corps. I knew closet gays and women in the Corps, and trusted them then and still trust them now. It was the “strait” men who caused all of my trouble in the Corps.

I never endorsed the attitudes of entitlement and superiority of the other strait men. I am a man, heterosexual in my preference, and I appear to be and pass for white. But when the ignorant and destructive ideas of male supremacy, white supremacy or any other foolish notion of one part of humanity over another, rose up to seek my approval, I always responded with a frigid shoulder. These women meet the standards set by the Marine Corps, and have paid their dues in sweat and grief, to wear the Eagle, Globe and Anchor. They’re just as much Marines as the fools would have been had they held up their end of the standard.

A combat force, especially one as small as the Marine Corps, cannot give room to anything that divides its members. This must stop. That is why Bob Neller has come down so strongly against these comments and ordered the full weight of the Marine Corps and NCIS to come down on it. But punishing the perpetrators won’t make it go away. We have to reach into the hearts of those men who think in such terms, and change their attitudes.

The problem is spiritual in nature, a result of the spiritual war waged in the hearts of all humanity. I urge all of my readers, no matter what your particular form of religion, to participate in the spiritual battle on the side of the Corps and its values. Add them to your prayers, build rituals to stave off the spirits of hate and lust that drive these weak men to act in such a way. America may not need a Marine Corps, as the other services are happy to point out, but the people want a Marine Corps that represents the values and projects the virtues that the nation wishes to show the world. Only strong “supporting fires” from our spiritual friends can give us the ability to hold the line in this battle.

The Marine Corps does not condone these actions. Here’s a clip of Gen. Neller condemning the posts that offended the women under his command: [http://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2017/3/8/14851434/us-marine-corps-statement-naked-photo-facebook link here]. Go to that site and listen to the top Marine. Then roll up your sleeves and pick up the weapons of your spiritual warfare. Thanks.

Ol’ Fuzzy is planning to open two other blogs, one on politics from a neutral point of view, and the other a catch-all for random musings. If you have any suggestions or requests, please leave a comment below so Ol’ Fuzzy knows what’s on your mind. But be patient. Ol’ Fuzzy doesn’t have internet in the cave. I have to rely on free WiFi at internet cafes. If there is a way to get an internet connection installed, let me know. The problem is one of lack of funds.

Silence, Solitude and Stillness, Part 1

I want to revisit the conversation on contemplation. I told you on Sunday that my own method of contemplation is called hesychasm. But what does that mean to a modern practitioner? I consider myself to be somewhat modern, if a bit worse for the wear.
      So let me tell you what it means to me. The word itself come to us from Greek where it is used for the English concepts of silence, solitude and stillness. The usage in monastic practice does not necessarily denote outward silence, solitude or stillness, what the ascetics of the Eastern Church are trying to accomplish is an inward calm in which the ascetic can experience the presence of God within. Much is made of the Light of Tabor, talking about the light which shown out from the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration. It is said that this light is not created, but radiates from God in His nature. Some hesychasts report seeing this uncreated light in their contemplation.
      The mechanism by which these ascetics attain this silence, solitude or stillness in the midst of their daily bustle is to mentally recite the “Jesus Prayer.” This prayer is based on the name of our Lord in whatever language the user speaks in daily life. The name Jesus comes to us from Hebrew through a long string of transliterations that change its shape and makes it sound far different from its original. In Hebrew the words for 'the Lord is my Savior' sound like 'Yah ha Shuah.' This was contracted into the name Joshua, first mentioned in reference to the son of King Saul. In the Aramaic language of the post captivity people of Judah, the name was transliterated into Yeshua, the name Joseph and Mary were instructed to give to our Lord. The Greek language has a difficult time with male names that end in the sound of ‘a.’ They always added an ‘s’ to the end of such names to distinguish them from female names. So in Greek of the New Testament the Name given to our Lord is changed to Iesous, which was as close as they could come to Yeshua without violating their cultural strictures on names. Latin dropped the ‘o’ from the Name, and English changed the ‘I’ to a ‘J.’ That is how we get Jesus from “the Lord is my Savior.”
      The Eastern Church recognizes great power in the Name of our Lord, no matter what form it is in, because it derives from the statement, “the Lord is my Savior.” Also, once it was associated with God the Son, the name took on power from the One to Whom it refers. Thus the Name of Jesus is far more than a mantra chanted to still the mind. It is a reminder of the One Whom we wish to hear, and a talisman of His power in creation.
      The prayer with the Name of Jesus at its heart used by these ascetics takes this form: Oh Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me. It is short, simple, and loaded with meaning. Thus while it is easy to remember and recite, the prayer makes demons tremble and mountains of problems move. It recognizes, first that the Son of God is Lord of all creation. Then comes that all powerful Name, followed with the title of Christ, Anointed One. The next phrase recognizes the position of Jesus in the Godhead. And finally, this is followed by a plea for mercy.
      The prayer can be embellished in many ways. Phrases can be added to emphasize some aspect of Jesus’s relationship to the one praying. But one can never remove the Name. The form I am using to synchronize my breathing with my prayer goes like this: Oh Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, be merciful to me, the sinner. The same basic prayer is there, expanded for symmetry and including an admission of why I require mercy from God. This is not to remind God, He never forgets. This is to remind us of our status as redeemed from sin and death.
      Humans tend toward hubris. God is humble and He wants us to be like Him. So while I may boldly enter into the thrown room where the Thrown of Grace is kept, it isn’t wise to make noise and disrupt the court. Wisdom is to sit quietly at the foot of the thrown and listen to the King. The voice of God may make the heavens and the Earth tremble, but it comes to us inside our souls as a still, small voice. “Be still, and know that I am God.”
      I will continue this tomorrow.

Love, Part Two

      Yesterday I gave a vignette of the philosophical meaning of love. Today I want to continue with the New Testament meaning of the words we translate with the word love.
      There are three words in the Koine Greek of the New Testament often translated with the English word love. These are agape, eros, and phileo. Agape first appeared in the Attic language to describe the government storehouse used to put up surplus grain for future famine. The practice was to periodically throw open the doors to the storehouse so the people could take free grain that had been stored for most of its shelf life, to make room for fresh grain coming in from the farms. The idea was that this was given to the people without charge and was a great boon to the poor.
      In the Koine language, the word took on the denotation of giving of oneself freely, without expectation of return. Agape was used in the early Church to name the meal that took place after the worship celebration that included the Eucharist. In the Bible, the word is used to describe the self-sacrificing love displayed by a willingness to give up even one’s own life for another. Jesus’s famous, and oft misused, quote, “No greater love has any man than this, that he would lay down his life for his friends,” is the best example of the New Testament meaning of agape.
      Eros is not used often in the New Testament. I derives from the name of the name of the Greek god of sexual attraction and the bond between couples. In the New Testament, eros is elevated to a holy level, consecrated in the bond of marriage. Enough said on that one.
      The word phileo is the one most often used in the Bible for love. This word denotes the bond between family members and near friends. Jesus said, “This is my commandment, that you love (phileo) one another, that your joy may be full.” And later, “This is how they will know you are My disciples, by your love (phileo) for one another.”
      Every Christian is to be considered a member of the family of God. We are all His children by adoption. Even those who do not follow Christ are to benefit from Christian love (phileo). Saint John wrote in the third chapter of his first general letter to the Church:
            Beloved, let us love one another. For love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He that does not love, does not know God, for God is love.
      He goes on to argue emotionally for a general attitude of filial care and fondness toward all who are within and without the Church. I suggest to all, read the passage in your favorite version.
      An attitude of love, like daily contemplation, has many spiritual, mental and physical benefits for the person who adopts it. To love another causes us to empathize with the other. We have to give up grudges and hurts to love. This reduces the unnecessary stress related to these feelings. For the health of your soul, your body and your spirit, love one another.

Love, Part One

      Lets take a couple of days to talk about love. That’s one of the most often misused words in the English language. How is the word misused and how should it be used? Let’s get into the answers. Love has been used to describe a fondness for chocolate or peanuts and as a euphemism for sexual intercourse. The feeling of fondness for inanimate things may be strong. It may even rise to the level of addiction. But inanimate objects cannot be loved because they are not sentient, not self-aware, and can’t grow into any other potential. By definition, inanimate is not alive and can’t grow.
      At the other extreme, sex is not love. Sex is a glorious expression of the bond between two people which, in hetero couples leads to the propagation of the species. The chemicals that our bodies produce during sex bond us to our sexual partner on a physical, mental and spiritual level. When sex is abused for recreation these chemical signals get confused and diminished, until it become difficult to form a life-long bond with our partner. Sex without love feels good for the moment, but causes significant damage to the soul and spirit. Therefore, we ought to avoid using sex for recreation. But to confuse sex with love is the primary danger.
      It is also impossible to love a condition or situation for the same reason that one can’t love an inanimate object. Unless the object of our love is self-aware, like a human or an animal, the feeling of fondness is not love, however strong it may be. People and animals can be loved because the bonds we form with other living beings can rise to the level of love by our own conscious choice.
      Another thing one must beware of is the romantic idea of falling in love. While it’s natural and glorious to be physically and socially attracted to another person, love is not a hole one may fall into. We can only enter into love by choice. It is a greater commitment of our soul than can be accomplished without our own active volition. Love is not a trap waiting to ambush the unsuspecting person who happens along. Love is a verb. It is something we do for and with another person. Love is not passive but active. In his book The Road Less Traveled, Dr. M. Scott Peck defined love as creating that environment in which the object of that love may grow to his or her fullest potential.
      Love is something we do with and for each other. Love can, and most often should be expressed without sex. Love lives on many levels.
      Tomorrow I shall explore these levels of love.

Daily Contemplation

      Humanity is unique among all of creation in that we have a capacity for spiritual experience. Humans are created in three facets: the body, the soul, and the spirit. And it is the human soul that bridges the realm of the spirit and the realm of matter. I go into this in greater detail in an essay I’m working on for later publication.
      But for today I want to discuss how this effects our daily life and worship. We can go through the rites of weekly worship, read our sacred books, and recite prayers every day and still lack the connection we crave with our creator. That is because we are not listening to Him. We must go into our souls, quietly, and open the ears of our heart, the part of the soul where the feelings, reason and volition reside, to listen to the voice of God. This is where the practice of contemplation becomes useful. Every spiritual tradition an Earth since the days of Enoch has included some form of meditative or contemplative practice. I follow the practice of hesychasm, an ancient Christian form of contemplation from the Fifth Century. But there are forms available in every spiritual path on Earth. It doesn’t matter if you are (alphabetically) agnostic, atheist, buhddist, Christian, Druid, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, pagan, shaman, or any other spiritual path I may have overlooked. (My appologies if I missed your path.)
      Taking time out to enter your own soul and listen to God will improve your life. The modern practice of Centering Prayer, begun in Trappist monestaries in the United States, is the most open to multy-discipline practitioners. If you do not know any other form of contemplation, look up Centering Prayer in your local area. Groups are literally everywhere. You can get started on your first visit. Other forms include Mindfulness, Yoga, Penticostal Deep Glosilalia, etc.
      I am not talking about simply meditating to enter some form of trance. I’m talking about quieting the mind to hear the still, small voice within that comes from God. Stress, hurt, grief, and all other forms of human distraction are gently eased when we take twenty minutes out of our day to sit quietly with God. I know from experience that even atheists benefit from the experience. Try it for yourself.
      Some suggested reading: The Road Less Travelled, by M. Scott Peck; Further Along the Road Less Travelled, by M. Scott Peck; Experiencing God, by Morton T. Kelsey; The Other Side of Silence, by Morton T. Kelsey; The Seven Story Mountain, by Thomas Keating; The Cloud of Unknowing, by and English Mystic, etc. and any others you can encounter.
      My only warning is to carefully vett your choice of reading because there are spiritual entities out there who would like nothing better than to lead you into your own soul to trap you there and take power over you.

Morality in Conservation

      Let’s change direction in today’s article. Listening to the BBC World Service on NPR this morning gave me inspiration.
      I hear a lot of “conservationists” advocate totally halting the changes to the planet, or even reversing some of them. The problem that I see in this is the halt of the mechanism of evolution along with it. The assumption these people make is that all changes to the planet are human-caused. This is pure hubris. Earth is dynamic and constantly changing, growing new life and killing off old life. The Earth’s climate has gone through thousands of cycles of change, warming and cooling. All of these changes in the biosphere have been accomplished for billions of years without benefit of human intervention.
      I question the morality of arresting change for the sake of conservation. If evolution is such a precious fact, almost a religious dogma, to these conservationists, why do they want to tinker with Mommy Nature’s mechanism. The moral question has not been discussed in the public forum. The arguments have all been framed only in terms of conservation vs. exploitation.
      Humans have an awesome responsibility to tend the world, to maintain the health and growth of the great diversity of life around us. We have never developed a satisfactory outline for the accomplishment of that mission. I don’t propose to give any answers. I have bearly discovered the questions. I do propose the following studies: 1) Look into how much of the change of climate is actually caused by human activity and how much came from natural mechanisms; 2) Look into the synergy between diseases and the species they prey upon, to discover the mechanism of extinction that diseases are a part of; 3) Look into the possibility of creating habitats for humans and domestic animals in orbit and in deep space; 4) Look into methods of truly terraforming Mars should we conclusively discover there is no life currently on Mars to be affected. (I will discuss ideas for terraforming Mars in a near future blog post.) Once we answer these and the other questions that arise in the course of our studies, we will be better armed to both discuss the moral question and map out a course of action to follow into the future.
      The way we are currently discussing the problems of conservation and climate change are counterproductive and polarizing. We cannot come to a consensus unless we come to a mutual understanding. Those of us who derive our faith from the Patriarch Abraham and his descendants are even more compelled to take care of our planet because of the edict God gave to Adam and all of his descendants, that’s us, to tend the world and care for all life. It becomes imperative, therefore, that we begin to inform ourselves and discuss the morality and feasibility of conservation. Make your own studies and form your own opinion. Then join in the public debate in a more intelligent way.

Commentery on Micah 6

      I want to look at a prophet from the latter days of the old kingdom of Judea.  After the Babylonian captivity.  Setting the stage, the whole kingdom was backsliding from the worship of God.  Idolatry became the norm in the public square. Values eroded, and people did not care for one another.  Unfair business practices became so common Adam Smith would have changed his economic philosophy had he lived through it.  In this environment Micah spoke forth the Word of God.
      I won't quote the whole passage, those of you who want to read this know where to find a Bible.  The rest of my readers will have already quit by now.  Turn to Micah 6:6-8.  Read the passage a couple of times until you think you have a good understanding of what Micah had weighing on his heart.  Go ahead, I'll wait till you're done.
      In the first two verses, Micah expresses a frustration in approaching God.  He gives examples of some of the idol worship as ways that God disapproves.  It seems that all the things that the Judeans were doing in their idol worship were repugnant to God and led them further from Him.  This sounds like the American elite society position today.  They declare themselves the morally superior bunch in our land.  Yet their moral judgment has led them farther from God.  The Proverb says, "There is a way that seems right to man, but the ends of it are the ways of death."
      In verse eight, Micah takes the gloves off and delivers a knockout.  The simplicity of the way of God had been rejected by society.  They wanted their own, more difficult and selfish way to get to God.  But Micah reminds them what it is that God wants us to do.
      "He has shown you, oh man, what is good."  God already told the people of Judea, as He has told us, what He deemed to be virtuous.  He gave us a moral direction to follow, and like the Judeans, we have strayed from it.
      "And what does the Lord require from you, but to deal justly, and to love mercy, and to be ready to walk with your God."  God wants to act with justice in all of our interactions.  Business people should treat their employees with as much deference as they do their customers. And the practices of price gouging and fraud are to be avoided.
      The idea of extreme punishment, interminable incarceration for missteps in society, the death penalty for people who have committed no crime, debtors' prisons, and bars to review of convictions that keep the innocent falsely under the onus of convictions are all symptoms of straying from the path God has set us upon and trying to make our own way to Him.  When mercy is gone from the justice system, you can be sure that God is not invited to the churches in that place.
      "...[B]e ready to walk with your God," is translated in the KJV as, "...walk humbly with thy God."  We have to set aside our own preconceived notions of religion and do as God has ordained.  Daily prayer and contemplation will give us a closer relationship with God.  This will help us to understand God's mind.  All day long, in everything we do we must keep our mind on God, ready to acknowledge His presence and seek His guidance.  With God in our lives, our hearts and our actions, we will treat each other with more equanimity, and our society will not face its own destruction.

God's Name

     I find it quite astounding that the name God gave to Moses in reference to Himself is not only a verb, but the most basic verb in any language: Yahweh translated into English as "He Is."  The most basic of all actions is existence, to be.  God IS.  That is what He does.  That is Who He Is.
     Perhaps the best modern English translation of the Tetragramathon is the word "Existence."  God is not merely the Creator, the Source or Fountainhead of all existence.  God is Existence Himself.  Think it out, not with your reason, but with your soul.  Doesn't that concept feel more comfortable than the idea of some detached and uncaring divinity "out there," outside of, excluded from, all that is.  Our God is all that Is.  But that is not His limit.  For all that is is in Him, but is not the sum of Him.
     Physicists have discovered that consciousness has a direct effect on subatomic particles.  They act in the expected way most often.  But when there is no expectation, they remain undefined.  The Consciousness of God is the proto urge of creation.  God's expectation of matter made it so.
     Humanity, made in the image of God, has consciousness and has an effect on quantum particles.  But God's Consciousness is the cause of all energy and matter.  One could define energy as the Will of God expressed in His creation.  Matter, physicists have discovered, is merely organized energy, according to the theory of relativity.  Therefore, matter is the organized Will of God expressed in His creation.  That's cool.

Welcome to My Cave

My name is Steven Michael Seys. I am a rather hirsute individual, and therefore refer to myself as Ol' Fuzzy. That evokes an image of some furry creature living in the wild. This suits me quite well. As an Eastern Orthodox Christian, I benefit from a long tradition of wilderness-dwelling, bearded and long haired hermits who advanced the spiritual understanding of the Christian faith in the East. Often the hermits would live in a natural shelter, usually a cave.
      So Ol' Fuzzy is a monastic hermit in spirit, speaking from his cave. The idea for this weblog grew out of a series of notebooks I kept over the years, in which I have jotted down random thoughts. The best of these will make up the first and most polished posts. But don't expect to see new posts too often. You see, the cave in which Ol' Fuzzy dwells is not yet wired for internet access. So Ol' Fuzzy has to find free WiFi in order to post his musings. I hope this doesn't inconvenience my readers beyond their tolerance. Welcome to my cave.