Jesus the Jew vs Christianity

INTRODUCTION:  Hi Everybody. This is Leo Volont.   This Text is a 11 Part Series attacking Christianity, but not from the Atheist perspective. I refer to scriptural content and to Doctrines which the Christians themselves should be familiar with but which the Atheists would never take the time to learn by emersion.  Yes, the Atheists might also object that I often break away from the Purist Logic to resort to the most shameful forms of quasi-logic and even make  appeals to sentiment and the emotions.  Well, there again, the Atheists should appreciate that I am trying to get into those Christian Heads by thinking the way they think, and doing the way they do, and that some soapy  clean clinically perfect Logic would only make their eyes glaze over.  Of course I also bring in History and many personal observations.  I speak a great deal of Jews and Judaism, but don’t suspect this Series will get a lot of Jewish attention, but if any Jews DO watch or read, then I sincerely apologize from the start for whatever it is I was not accurate about, but hope you keep in mind that Ancient Proverbial Truth that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”.  Anyway, I divided this Paper up into Sections mostly to put it all into ‘bite size’ chunks, which would make it far more convenient for the Internet Viewer than if it were one huge clip.  The Sections will not be of uniform length, for while I did try to edit down the larger sections, I resisted adding trivial filler to the smaller ones.  But, yes, over the entire Series much is said and many subjects are covered.  I hope you will all enjoy it.   

Part One: Jesus the Jew vs Christianity [framing the Argument – Jesus is Unapologetically Moral, Righteous and Jewish.  Christianity is Greek and Exploits Free Sin]

The other day I was thinking that perhaps I wasn’t doing enough to reach out to the wider Spiritual Community, and so I did a search for ‘Spiritual Dreams’ and I’d jump into some open discussion.  I was thinking that a lot of New Age Pages would pop up, but I was surprised to find that it was entirely Christian Stuff.  “Christians” I thought, “What do ‘Christians’ know about Spiritual Dreams?”   And, yes, I glanced over some of it, and it was mostly dusty old scriptural references to biblical dreams (you know, Joseph’s skinny cows in Egypt), but much of it was to warn people that even their own most sacred dreams were Satanic and that their only recourse should be to commit their souls to Jesus Christ and never dream again.  Well I had a WTF moment there to be sure.   

Anyway, I couldn’t help but resent this unprovoked Christian assault on my own Spiritual Life, and so I decided to show them that maybe Satan wasn’t their only problem.  So here is my counterattack.  

Firstly, we can hit on something that is right there on the surface, that Christianity, as a set of doctrines that govern people’s moral, religious and spiritual behaviors, has very little to do with Jesus of Nazareth.  God, who probably does his best to preserve us from deception, has given us a major hint here.  “Christianity” is derived from the Greek word “Christos” which means “anointed” which implies Oil.   Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew, not a Greek, and he was from a Jewish Religious Sect that saw oil as problematically slimy, stinky, and hard to wash off, but viewed Water as being pure and sacramental, you know, Baptism and all that.   So, what is the word “Christos” even talking about here?  It points to a big disconnect.  We should expect that the name for the Religious Beliefs, Doctrines and Traditions that involve Jesus of Nazareth should be derived from the Name Jesus, right?  And we would expect the parent language for this Organizational Name to be in the Language of the Jews, right?  Remember, Jesus was a Jew, and in the course of his lifetime ministry he had never addressed a Gentile Audience or sent any delegation to address a Gentile Audience. Yes, Jesus was clearly endeavoring to reform Judaism, but such reform had been going on with each Prophet since the Babylonian Captivity and Jesus was only pressing forward with a Movement that already existed.  Jesus was not for any NEW Religion.  He stood by Judaism.  His Mission had been to become the Jewish Messiah.  He was not striving to overthrow the Temple but to be embraced by it.  So how does all of THAT end up in some Oily Greek Word?    Well, I can suppose that God had deliberately decided to protect the good name of Jesus from any linguistic connection to “Christianity”?   You know, for something this important at the Teleological Level, there can be no accidents – God does not mince His words.   So, it would be evident to a child who has learned his first letters that “Jesus” has nothing to do with “Christianity”.

Now, let’s look at Doctrine.  In the New Testament, from what we know from source research and scriptural exegesis, we can only be sure of One Sermon having been actually delivered by Jesus of Nazareth (The long version is the Sermon on the Mount, Mathew chapters 5 thru 7, and the short version is the Sermon on the Plain, Luke Chapter 6 verses 17 thru 49).  This sermon propounds a doctrine of Righteousness and Social Morality.  And that same Scriptural Scholarship that tells us what Jesus DID say, also tells us what Jesus NEVER said.  Well, Jesus NEVER offered to make himself a Human Sacrifice so that Humanity could enjoy Free Sin.  This should be obvious.  First, we need to remember that Jesus was endeavoring to be Messiah which required that he be alive and not dead.  And then Jesus of Nazareth would have been aghast at the idea that anybody should use his Name in order to promote Free Sin. 

Yes, I know, that Christians don’t call it “Free Sin” and they find the term insulting.  Well, forgive me for being indelicate in the way I describe their Doctrine, but they can’t say it’s not true.  We know for a fact that the Christians DO use the words “Salvation by Faith” and “Forgiveness of Sins”, right?   Well, any Means into Heaven that bypasses the Social Moral Criteria of Righteousness, is just some form of Free Sin, right?  Words have Meaning, and we must be allowed to understand them for what they are telling us.   Christian Salvation by Faith is a License to Free Sin. It couldn’t be clearer. What else could account for the fact that so many Republicans are Christian?

Part Two: Jesus the Jew vs Christianity [Permissive Doctrines from Paul are Lowest Common Denominator in Christianity.  Water Can’t Rise Over the Lowest Hole In The Bucket.  (for more attack against Paul, refer to Scott Nelson’s webpage Jesus and Judaism vs Paul and Christianity.  I was going to write a book but after finding Nelson’s Page, I felt the work had already been done.)]

Well, of course, many ordinary every day Working Class Protestants tell me that their understanding of Salvation is not that of Free Sin.  They tell me that they agonize over sin and really do try to eliminate it from their lives.  And, of course, God Bless them for it.  But, honestly, they would be a better fit as Religious Order Catholics.   You see, Protestantism is delineated around the Doctrines presented by Paul, and this is primarily because Paul’s Doctrines are the Most Permissive.  A Religion is only as strong as its Weakest Link and the Weakest Link in Christianity is Paul.  Water can’t rise higher than the lowest hole in the bucket and Paul was perhaps one of the Lowest Holes that ever lived.   Christianity can hold no compelling force against Sin as long as it contains not one but several doctrinal excuses that not only Justify Evil but even encourage it as a kind of Proof of Salvation.  We’ll discuss this more in depth later.  

Now, yes, the Good Christians actually do have some significant Scriptural Support for their point of view.  In addition to the Sermon On the Mount that Jesus gave, as well as his Moral Example, we have the Letters of several of the Real Apostles of Jesus who had been with Jesus from the beginning.   There is John who has a few Letters in the New Testament, who states that “Works are Proof of Salvation”, which is to say that one’s Salvation is not Absolute but in proportion to one’s demonstrated Righteousness.  Any High Civilization could have that sentiment up on a sign atop every City Gate.   Then we have James, Cousin of Jesus. You know, while it seems the general understanding that Peter was the Leader of the Early Jesus Community, we see that by the time the Book of Acts gets to Chapter 15, about midway through,  both Peter and Paul are down on the Council Room Floor and James is sitting high up on the Bench hearing them plead their arguments while he is the one, gavel in hand, making all of the big decisions.  So, James was clearly Leader and Chief Apostle.  So it should be especially relevant when James stares right into Paul’s face and writes in his Letter “Faith without Works is useless”. There can be no Salvation without ostensible Righteousness.    

In the face of all this True Apostolic opposition to his “Faith Alone” Doctrine, Paul would only concede that it is possible that a man could become Righteous, but only by the Grace of God, and that Righteousness should never be cultivated by any positive personal effort.  For Paul Righteousness was not either necessary or even to be desired.  I believe that Paul’s priority was to make Sinners feel welcome, in the sense that a Rich Sinner throws more money into the plate than a Poor Saint.  So, in his Letters Paul castigates those who strive for Righteousness as being Proud, trying to ‘earn’ their Salvation, and compares their Good Works to ‘dirty rags’.  Those who are Naturally Good are encouraged to such humility as to suppose they should be ashamed of their Virtues.  The Christian view is that Righteousness should come unbidden like Lightening out of a clear Blue Sky or not at all.  Unless God forces it upon us by an insistent Grace, Righteousness would not be worth having, but would probably only make us Proud.  I guess it is only a Modern Notion that Pride in one’s Competence and Character is to be seen as Self Respect, which is now considered a good thing.  Or maybe that is only in the Liberal Community.

You know, One would think that the Christian Church would have formulated their Doctrine around The Sermon of Jesus and the viewpoint of  James, who obviously outranked both Peter and Paul, but in order to have done so, all of the works of Paul would have had to have been struck from Canonized Scripture, and Paul anathematized and any scriptural references regarding him would have had to have been in the negative – “Paul the Pretender”, “Paul that Dickhead” and such.  But as I said above, a Religion is valuated at its most permissive level.  So apparently the Doctrines of Paul were retained not because of Religious, Moral or Spiritual Reasons, but only because Paul’s Doctrines had more Commercial Appeal or Political Sponsorship.  Paul Won in the Marketplace of Ideas by appealing to the Lowest Most Common Elements.  The Best of Something will always be a smaller proportion than the Ordinary. High Standards were a Filter they did not want to apply because they wished to capture Quantity and not Quality.  If we ‘market’ a Religion in this way we arrive at the paradox of “You can have it all – You can both Sin AND be Saved”.  This is what Paul proposed and what Christianity accepted, but the internal Contradiction killed it as a Civilized Religion.  Take for instance the Good Christian who is challenged by temperamental weaknesses and extraordinary temptations.  He or she may have to struggle arduously against immoral or amoral character defects for a considerable time and need all the encouragement they can get.  But what about when he or she hears or reads their own Doctrine telling them that Sin is the accepted Status Quo.  How can this be encouraging? And what if they actually do the work required and become Righteous, well, then they are accused of Pride, of Insulting the Holy Spirit by trying to Earn their own Salvation … of trying to be better than everybody else.  They’re suspected of being Liberal.   They are told that THEY’RE ALREADY SAVED and so ‘stop rocking the boat’.   Protestants define themselves as “Confessed Sinners” and therefore that is all that they really expect from themselves.  So, yes, really, when we speak of a Christian Nation, we can almost expect it to be Morally Apathetic, not despite Christianity but because of Christianity.

Part Three:  Jesus the Jew vs Christianity [Paul Suspected of Being Fake or Worse, so Protected by “Every Word” Doctrine]

Here would be a good place to make an observation regarding Paul.  As far as I can remember, I have never heard in discussion that  Paul ever once in his letters or known Table Talk ever quoted Jesus of Nazareth (You know, it seems exactly like he accepted a Challenge from the Devil, where he was permitted to Steal the Church and the Good Name of Jesus but only on the condition that he never be allowed to use a single Sacred Phrase from out of the mouth of Jesus, or his tongue would burst into flames or something…. So, don’t you think it amazing that Protestants who claim to read their Bible every day have never picked up on this?  Well, some certainly must have.  Heck, I spotted it myself, didn’t I?!   Really, from Little Sunday School Kids who would want to do a Report on “Paul’s Favorite Jesus Sayings”, to Post Grad Seminary Scholars wishing to do about the same thing at their level, this Fact of a strict exclusion of any Word of Jesus from all of Paul’s writings and known discourses, which must have been discovered over and over again thousands of times, should honestly have sent up a Field of Red Flags.  Really, this ‘Jesus-Avoidance’ by Paul, who claims Apostle Status, should have triggered an instant referral to that Scriptural Warning in the Gospels where Jesus insists that there will be False Apostles, and that his Followers should be on a continuous lookout for them, right?  But when was the last time we heard any Christion say “Hey, this don’t look right.  If Paul ain’t a False Apostle than who the heck is?”  

Oh, but the Protestants who sit on their Beliefs and Doctrines Committees actually must have determined that there WAS a problem regarding the disturbing Satanic bent in Paul, but since they found his Doctrine of Free Sin so convenient for any number of practical reasons, they made the effort to shore up his theological credibility with a simple stop gap solution, that is, a New Doctrine that states that “every word of the Bible is the Word of God”.   And, yes, considering that everybody who’s ever said anything in the Bible is largely ignored, we can conclude that this “Every Word” doctrine was obviously whipped up to bolster up Paul.  For instance, “Every Word” does not apply to James who flatly contradicts Paul.  If you notice, even the Words of Jesus take back seat to Paul’s, since the Sermon’s insistence on Moral Responsibility is completely ignored.  But yes, I concede that “Every Word” is often used opportunistically, for instance, it is used to Divinize any crotchety hateful Prophet from the Pre-Moral Old Testament who has issues with the LGBTQ Community.   

You know, we really need to appreciate how exceptional the “Every Word” Doctrine is.  Every other Religious Scripture in the World goes in with the assumption that the Truth of their Scriptures are supported by their Coherency, Beauty, Poetry and Compelling Intensity.  But this Quality of Spiritual and Religious ‘Self Evidence’ is exactly what was found lacking in Paul.   His Letters were not the Poetry of the Holy Spirit.  These Letters show Intellectual Process in Progress.  He is not Seeing the Divine and revealing a Vision.  He was obviously just scratching his head and making it all up as he went along.  His Doctrines actually change from Letter to Letter.  These Letters were not presenting a Consistent Vision of Holy Truth but come across as opportunistic appeals to the vulnerabilities of the people he was writing to at the time.  Paul probably never suspected that his letters would be collected and compared (and since they have been, why is it that we don’t care about what we found by it?).

So, yes, Protestants under the new “Every Word” Doctrine, are now subject to the Penalty of Committing the Unforgivable Sin, should they believe their own Conscience or Voice of the Holy Spirit when it tells them that Paul was a cheat, a liar and a False Apostle.  Effectively Protestants anointed Paul as a Second and far more important Christ, as, you see, the tacit assumption of Christianity is that people are not so much “Saved” by belief in ‘Christ’ as by the belief in the Validity of Paul’s Promise that they are Saved by belief in Christ.  It’s true: The whole House of Cards of Christian Salvation rests on whether we can trust the word of Paul the Tent Salesman.  Maybe in that moment at the Tent Meeting where we are Born Again and receive our Salvation, we should ask “Hey, Can I get a warranty with that?”.

Part Four: Jesus the Jew vs Christianity [Western Catholic Divergence from Paul in Middle Ages a Good Thing. Marian Catholicism, Monastic Religious Orders and Civilization. Purgatory A Good Thing. Clerical Corruption. Indulgences. Paul’s Doctrine of Amoral Election and Predestination.  Printing Press and Protestantism Resurrects Paul the Vampire]

Oh, by the way, we all need to keep in mind, that this Divinity of Paul is an exclusively Protestant thing.   Western European Catholics since the Dark Ages, who had a Civilization to run, were never under the illusion that Paul was anything but Evil, and that he would be a horrible influence on the People, and so they left Paul ignored and undisturbed in the forgotten back pages of the New Testament. We should remember, that these were the days before the Printing press, and Bibles were not then available for Public Consumption and so a Liturgical Silence in regards to Paul was enough to keep that Vampire effectively nailed up in his Coffin (You know, I looked up various webpages for Lists and Chronicles of Medieval Names from the 11^th to the 13^th Centuries, which is where I stopped looking, and I did not find a single entry for a “Paul” or anything like “Paul”.  So, it seems that the Catholic Church really had erased Paul from the public consciousness.  And, yes, the Catholics redefined “Salvation” to no longer mean Free Sin, by formulating a “Purgatory” to effectively take the place of the old “Hell”, but ‘Purgatory’ was a much more refined, even elegant, concept.  You see, ‘Hell’ was defined as being ‘Eternal Torment’ whereas Purgatory would be for only some limited finite indeterminant amount of time, in the sense of being “as long as it takes”. The Idea there is that Sins could be ‘Burned’ away in Purgatory by the Divine Light shining down through the cracks in the Floor in Heaven, and that when a Soul was finally Clean, Pure, and Worthy of Heaven, He or She would be welcomed into Eternal Bliss and the Heavenly Community of Saints.  The Catholic Heaven would not have all the muddy footprints and that bus station smell of a Protestant Heaven.   

Well, Western Catholicism peaked during the High Middle Ages, in the 11^th and 12 Centuries, at around the time of the 1^st Crusade and Saint Bernard.  More than a 1000 Cathedrals were built across Frankish Western Europe just in the 11^th Century alone, using primarily Community Funds and Labor from both the Rich and the Poor Classes alike.  It seems that Marian Catholicism, with strong Leadership and Examples from the Religious Monastic Societies, had created a largely Unified Society. But then along came the Late Medieval Church which had its Problems.  It seems that so much money was involved in Organizing and Deploying Crusaders to the East, that the Popes became addicted to the money flow, and so eventually they got to appointing only Bishops who would assure them an unobstructed access to graft, skims and kickbacks.  One must remember that the Popes and the Bishops were very familiar with the Doctrines of Paul, and so they had no reason to hesitate regarding the Morality of any of this.  You see, if you are familiar with Paul’s Letters to the Corinthians, which the Bishops were, you would know that the Rich and the Powerful have their own special form of Salvation – ‘Salvation by Election’ or ‘Predestination’.  That means that because God is Omnipotent and Wills all things, that if you are Rich and Powerful, it shows that God has already shown an explicit Preference for you, which, for some reason, is supposed to naturally follow from Earth to Heaven when you die. Yes, Jesus in his Ministry had said that being Rich was more than likely detrimental, but Paul contradicts this and claims just the opposite, which is another reason why Paul had to become Divine through the “Every Word” Doctrine, so he would have the power to countermand Jesus on this very important Right-Wing Talking Point.   

But let’s get back to the Decline of Catholicism in the Late Middle Ages.   It seems that the Popes and the Bishops came up with an ingenious way to exploit Purgatory.   You see, the Pope, using his Traditional Powers as Vicar of Christ on Earth, could write up and distribute “Indulgences” that could exempt Sinners from Purgatory, thus effectively bringing back a kind of Paul’s Free Sin (Muddy Footprints in Heaven again), except it was not “Free” but very expensive and only the Wealthy could afford to pay for these “Indulgences”.   Well, this Corruption provoked the Protestant Rebellion at just the time that the recently developed Printing Presses were churning out Bibles in all of the Vernacular Languages, giving a wide voice to Paul’s Free Sin Doctrines (the name Paul would skyrocket in the Birth Records).  To show that Protestantism had its Heart in the wrong place from the very beginning, we should point out that it was the greatest complaint of that very first Protestant, Martin Luther, that the Church was suppressing Paul’s Free Sin Doctrine and that the Common People had every bit as much right to Free Sin as any Rich Man who could afford to pay for an Indulgence. 

Part Five: Jesus the Jew vs Christianity [Paul’s Bad Character. Peter’s Bad Character. The Bloody Handshake and Paul’s Real Conversion]

We are never told whether Paul ever met Jesus, but if he had, it was as an enemy.  Paul was an admitted and well acknowledged persecutor of the Jesus Community.  Now, Jesus said in his Sermon that “a tree is known for its fruit, and if a man’s heart be good, then that goodness will spring forth abundantly”.   But Paul!... Paul was a ‘Tree’, that from the very beginning, was a murderer of Christians, and so how could we ever expect a Dark Stinking Rotten Heart like that to ever change to Goodness and Light? Really, Paul was a Psychopath, and Psychopaths are what they used to call Demons.  It is clear that Paul’s Arrogance was the same before as after his pretended ‘Conversion Experience’.  The Bible does little to hide Paul’s blatant loud-mouthed nastiness.  For instance, in the Book of Acts, there is described a Story that in a visit to Crete, Paul was confronted by a little old man whom he should have been acknowledging with deferential respect, but, because of some political difference, he got down in his face and hollered so savagely and gestured so wildly, that the poor meek mild little old man took fright and died then and there of a heart attack.  And Paul only scoffed, stepped over the body and said “Who’s Next?”   This is not the portrait of a Saint.

The Book of Acts tells us of a particular mile stone in Paul’s career where he is Chief Thug in the Murder Plot against Stephen who had just been popularly elected by the Jesus Community to replace Peter. What had happened there was that Peter (his name literally means Rock which is a gangster name, right?), well, Peter had just found himself in disgrace because he had murdered this nice married couple, Ananias and Sapphira, whom everybody liked because they were such good people.  He clubbed them to death in his office because they didn’t hand over all their money to his Communal Treasury, which he probably kept in his back pocket.  Ananias and Sapphira had held back some of their life savings for a rainy day and died for it.  Now one can imagine that they weren’t the only ones in the Jesus Community to hold back a little; after all, haven’t we all at one time or another been members of a Religious Cult where we were careful to leave our Bank Passbooks at home under the safe keeping of our mothers?   Besides, why should they have trusted Peter, that Crazy Usurping Self Appointed Wannabee Pope who thought himself worthy to step into the Master’s Shoes (and, yes, we still have to deal with the same thing Today.  Every time some Real Guru dies, whoever it is that was only around to answer the phone, wash the dishes, pay off the whores and take out the trash, comes forward and says he’s the Boss now, and then raises the Dues). So, yes, the whole Community was terrified for their lives and wanted Peter gone, therefore Electing Stephen who ran on the platform of being reliable, sane, good, decent and not a demonic psychopathic killer. 

So, Paul, lurking off to the side, who neurotically hated all the Righteous Followers of Jesus, because they made him feel threatened and insecure somehow, well, he would have been inclined to kill Stephen anyway, but here he saw an opportunity to ingratiate himself with Peter who was obviously Worldly and Corrupt, that is, a man Paul could see eye to eye with.   So Paul murders Stephen.  Oh, wait, or maybe there had already been a deal made between the two, and it wasn’t just Paul murdering Stephen on prospect so he could “get his foot in the door”?   But howsoever it worked, Peter, no longer worried that a change in Regime would have him hanged up by his heals, was so grateful to Paul that they struck up a partnership – Peter would take the Jews, and Paul would take the Greeks.  With a hand shake Paul was magically transformed from theWolf Persecutor of Christians to a Shepherd with His Own Franchise Flock. This was the Real Conversion Experience of Paul.   We can see how their Deal played out.  The Book of Acts tells us that Paul would send Peter a skim off his take from his Mission up North with the Gentiles, obviously the price he paid for his Franchise. 

So, the Book of Acts makes it clear that Peter and Paul were a marriage of self-seeking and Corruption.  One has to wonder whether the Protestants read their New Testaments for Spiritual Edification or for insights into Capitalist Business Management Practices.  

Part Six: Jesus the Jew vs Christianity [The Nature of the Miraculous.  Faith as a Negative – Lack of Faith Explains Religions’ Failure To Do the Impossible. Supernatural Spiritual Beings and Magic.  The Transcendental God of Unity and Oneness is Like No God At All.  Elbert Einstein: Transcendental God even Better Than Atheism. Moral Religion is Dualistic]

But now we should ask ourselves just what was the inherent significance of Jesus of Nazareth?  Well, it’s clear he was a Saint.  Miracles would explain his great popularity.  Of course, if he were a rabble-rousing Revolutionary with a gift for oratory then he would also have been popular, but the Pharisees, and Sadducees would have been afraid for their lives to come around and show him any overt contempt, but this wasn’t the case with Jesus.  Also, Jesus got along well with Tax Collectors, who would have been uncomfortable in the company of a violent Revolutionary.  So, it must have been miracles.    But was Jesus also the Jewish Messiah?  Well, what is the difference between a Saint and a Messiah except for the Intent of his or her Angelic Support?

Oh!  I guess here we need to take some time to discuss the Nature of the Miraculous.   You know, it is a mistake to think that Faith can work Miracles.  “Faith” has always been a construct employed by Spiritualist Con Men.  It’s always used in the negative sense to explain why Miracles DON’T happen.  For instance, say you should pay a thousand dollars to an Indian Guru who whispers into your ear a sacred mantra that he promises will heal the sick, allow you to walk through walls and to levitate.  You go home and try it and your cat still coughs up hair balls, you bump your nose really bad, and no matter how much you do that mantra you still can’t get up off your ass.  So, you go back and ask for your money back, but the Guru tells you that it should have all worked out fine but the problem is YOU DON’T HAVE FAITH.   Oh, so you look around and notice that it’s not working for anybody else either, and you mention it to the Guru.  “Yeah, lack of Faith is a big Spiritual Problem nowadays”, he says.  So you suggest that he heal somebody of something, walk through wall or two and pick his own ass up off the floor.  “Yeah, I would”, he says, “but your negative energy is a real bummer, man, and it’s bringing me down.  Besides, JUST ASKING FOR PROOF DESTROYS FAITH THUS MAKING IT IMPOSSIBLE TO PROVE”.  So, yeah, they got an answer for everything and it always comes back to Faith as the ultimate runaround.  Where ever Money and Spirituality mix, FAITH is always the escape clause.   This Idea of Faith is certainly Paul greatest contribution to Religion and Spirituality, in terms of developing them as lucrative Business Models. The New Age Movement would go out of business without it.  But in Spiritual terms, Faith’s biggest miracle seems to be that after 2000 years of everybody getting ripped off by it, that not more people are complaining.  

So Spiritual People need to stop looking to Faith for Miracles.  So, does that mean there are no Miracles?  Well, there are thousands of Miracles in the Historic Record, which won’t go away unless we start doing some serious Book Burning.  But we know that Miracles were not always explained by Faith.  For instance, the Shamanistic Traditions tell us that miracles are the work of Spiritual Entities, that is, either Earth Spirits or Celestial Spirits, Light or Dark.  Persian Zoroastrianism, which, by the way was the Religion of the Magi which you may be familiar with in terms of the “Three Wise Men” who were Zoroastrian Magi, well, they speak of these Spiritual Entities as Angelic when connected with Light and Goodness, or Demonic when connected to Darkness and Evil.  Of course, we can expect that between the Min Max Poles of the Light Dark Continuum there were a great many Spirits who were not wholly One Thing Or the Other and I expect that these were the Spirits who did most of the heavy lifting in the ‘Magic’ that the Magi and, after the Arab Conquest, the Fakirs and Sufis later  became known for.  

So, if we toss out Faith, then we must suppose that Saintly Miracles can be possible only with the active Support of Angels. Or maybe it is possible that a person, with a great deal of work in his Dreams and Astral Travels, may find a way of developing a kind of Angelic Power within his or her own Self.  The Stories are mixed.  Sometimes we have Saints praying for results, to some Third Party, and then they happen.  We have Shamans who Conjure Up Spirits who then do stuff.  And then we have Those who just seem to do it all on their own.  I wish I knew more about it.

Now, some people might insist that “God” is performing these Miracles.  Well, the “God Works Miracles” Argument falls down in two ways.  First, it is rare to see any BIG Miracle, in the sense that Supernatural Phenomena seem to require the same kinds of Forces, Matter and Energies as Material Phenomena, only of the Spiritual variety, perhaps from another plane or level.  These are Limited Finite Phenomena, even though they are Supernatural.  And if we define God as Infinite, well, that means we are Over-Defining – using way too much gun for the bear we’re shooting. And if God were involved, with Infinite Energy resources, then we’d read of as many BIG Miracles as small, but that’s not the case.  

Secondly, the Enlightened Mystics who have experienced God Consciousness come back to tell us that God is Transcendental and couldn’t care less about Worldly stuff, good or bad.  You know, its exactly the same as how you can’t expect a spaced out junky to be a great Community Activist.  The Transcendental God Of Oneness is the Ultimate Spaced Out Junky.  

Oh, that reminds me of an interesting Story about Albert Einstein.  It seems that European Scientists were fleeing the Nazis and coming to America, but they were shocking all the provincials with their cold blatant Atheism, which was getting lousy Press and threatening their Funding, and so Einstein got them all together and told them to do what he does, that is, to say that they believe in a Transcendental God.  It sounds really good, but that a Transcendental God would actually be so useless as to not really exist at all, right?, and so, Win Win, everybody gets what they want.   Yes, the Man was a Genius, wasn’t he?

Anyway, If we want Goodness, Social Cohesion, and a High Civilization based on Love and Peace, then, Einstein was right about how an Indifferent and Uncaring Transcendental God of Oneness would be useless in getting us there.  We would actually have to go out on the Extreme Light End of Dualism and invoke the Angels.  They don’t have to be White Light Angels, but the Rule is “The Brighter the Better”.

Part Seven: Jesus the Jew vs Christianity [Not the Messiah or did Jesus simply Quit.  If he Quit, why. ]

Anyway, let’s bring this discussion back to Jesus.  Was he the intended Messiah?  Well, in evaluating him we would need to identify whether it seemed like he had the kind of Messianic Angelic Support that would be actively pushing him into a Messianic Mission.  Here the evidence is mixed.  There seems no dispute that there were Ministering Angels committed to protecting Jesus from harm, and the kind of Angels who provided for Healing the Sick, and materializing up Fishes and Loaves, and Wine at Weddings and such.  But we would expect this kind of thing from any first-rate Saint.  But Jesus appears to have thought himself on a Messianic Mission.  But reservations regarding the Messianic Ambitions of Jesus must certainly arise only because his Mission Failed, but even that is confused, because it is not as though Jesus died trying.  He may have died only because he stopped trying.  You see, Jesus flatly quit, as will be covered below, leaving his Angels high and dry, and so it may have been a fact that they were indeed Messianic Angels but that Jesus had been a flawed Messianic Candidate.  Well, then why did they pick him?  Couldn’t they see he was unreliable?  Well, yes, that is an interesting question, and I guess that the answer for it was that the Time for the Messiah had come – the Stars were set in the Sky and a choice had to be made NOW.  Looking down the Angels saw that Mary, Joseph and Jesus were the best stock they could possibly find to work with.  Jesus apparently looked Perfect Enough. Even in Heaven perhaps it is true that ‘the show must go on”. 

We can read in the Gospels that Jesus resigned as Messiah in the Garden of Gethsemane on the eve of his Crucifixion (we have the quote right here :  “Father, take back this cup that thou hast given  me… I Quit”). 

My hunch about all of this is that Jesus had come to Jerusalem thinking that he would not only have overwhelming Public Support for his Campaign to be the Recognized Messiah, but that the Temple Community and the Intelligentsia would also rally to his cause. Apparently, Jesus had every power but that of Prophecy.  Anyway, after his arrival in town, things began going badly for him right from the start, and, really, it was his own fault, or it seemed that way.  His first stop was at the Temple Grounds where he tore up the Temple’s Commercial Courtyard, causing havoc with all the Gift Shop Kiosks and flipping over Money Tables.  Yes, we hear of people having a big problem with mixing Spirituality with Money, myself being one of the foremost, but these Vendors were licensed by the Temple and the License Fees were used to defray Temple Salaries and used for Schools and Clinics and such.  And they were just harmless Gift Shops!  You know, some ‘Temple Memento’ bought to please one’s Aunt back home is not to be classified in the same category as some “New Age Pack of Lies Book” that had been written to the specifications of a Publishing House Consumer Survey to give people exactly what it is they wish were the Truth. I hate spiritual exploitation for money, but a Trinket?  What you see is what you get, and so I’m fine with it.   

But back to this Temple Yard Fiasco.  We are told by his own people that Jesus actually chased the vendors around with a whip.  This frenzied tantrum of an out of control Jesus did not play well with the Public or with that Powers that Be, and Jesus found he had only turned possible friends into implacable foes.

(Hmmmmm, Is anybody else thinking that this isn’t the Jesus we all know and love? It seems that something was uncharacteristically wrong with Jesus at this point.  You see, just before entering Town we have the story of Jesus coming across a fig tree, but figs were out of season, and Jesus got into such a fit of blind rage that he “blasted” the tree – killed it dead.  All the Leaves shriveling to brown in an instant.    He was here demonstrating a mean streak of intense irritability that we had never seen in him before, and he was still under this same dark influence when he reached the Temple and had his angry fit there).

  

Anyway, this Temple Debacle dropped Jesus into a state of confusion and uncertainty.  If he really had been intended to become the Messiah, then Jesus would come to make the decision that would set Civilization back for thousands of years, and we’re still counting.   What could possibly have discouraged him so much that he simply abandoned the Fate of the Jews and even all of Humanity?  Well, let’s look.  Whatever Fever had stricken him on the day he entered Jerusalem, which incidentally must have overwhelmed the Protection of his retinue of Angels, and therefore must have been the projection of a consolidated and determined Dark Side, well this Fever receded, probably leaving a residue of humiliation and shame.  Is it possible that this is the first time in his life that Jesus made a mistake in public that he would have to live down, and he simply had no practice in knowing how something like that works?  Or did he believe he was no longer ‘worthy’ because of one bad day?  Or maybe he had presumed that the Messianic Campaign would all be easy.  Maybe he did realize that his wild psychological swing was the product of a Dark Side Attack and he lost trust in himself and his Angels ability to protect him.  But then there was the Human-Social element: You know, he had been used to the wild acclaim of uneducated and impressionable country bumpkins back in the Hills of Galilee .  The occasional stone-faced Pharisee or Sadducee should have tipped him off that Jerusalem would be a harder ‘room’ to play to.   So his lukewarm to hostile reception must have demoralized him to the bone.   And combined with all those possibilities, well, maybe Jesus didn’t have a “Plan B”, should his “Plan A” fizzle.  

So, yes, Jesus had many reasons for why he may have been so discouraged that he would want to toss in the towel and quit.  But, really, all he would have needed to do is just ‘ride it out’.  He had Angelic Protection and Angelic Access to Supernatural Phenomena, and so what more did he really need?  The Plan would have been able to write itself.   He could have simply but unobtrusively and without a hint of threat declared himself the Messiah, just like any harmless ‘Crackpot’ would have done,  and then rent a small store front office within a city block of the Temple Grounds, and hang out a shingle saying “Messiah: Religious, Spiritual, Personal Advice and light Carpentry”, and settled in for the long haul of building Public Consensus where he could focus simply on making more friends than enemies, and learning from experience how one goes about living down an embarrassing faux pas.  Certainly, given his Good Character and continued Angelic Support, his Stature as Messiah would have steadily grown up into something substantial.  If his Social-Administrative initiatives worked in Judea, then they would have been the Model for other Societies, in much the same way that Persian Zoroastrianism had transformed Post Captivity Judaic Thought, and caused the first stirrings of Moral Thought even amongst the Greeks.  It’s really a shame we never found out how Jesus had planned to translate his Social-Moral Vision into institutionalized administrative policies, and how he would have set up the Bureaucracies and Leadership structures.  After all, even as a Successful Messiah, he would not have lived forever, and any Lasting Legacy for the World could only have been in the Institutions he had established.   

  

Oh, despite the still reverberating tragic consequences of Jesus chucking the Mantel, the “I Quit” episode does in fact give us a better idea that Jesus did in fact have the kind of Angelic Protection that would have been granted a Messiah.  We only need to look at the Before and After pictures.  The very moment he Quit, the Angels abandoned him on the spot.    The Roman Police, within minutes, more than likely tipped off by the Angels themselves (Angels are not the most Sentimental of Creatures), well, yes, the Police found him on the Hill, arrested him and it was none stop beatings, humiliations and tortures for the next 15 hours until he was ‘dead’ on the cross.  This followed a life of 33 years in which the Angels so insulated him from harm that he never once even stubbed a toe. I can imagine Jesus inquiring of one of the Court Clerks in preparation of his Trial, “I have this intensely uncomfortable feeling all over and I have no idea what on Earth it could possibly be?”   “Uh, you mean PAIN”.  

Part Eight: Jesus the Jew vs Christianity [The impact of the Failed Messianic Mission on the Mediterranean World. The Destruction of Jerusalem. The Great Jewish Rampage search “Kitos War” and the “Bar Kokhba Revolt”. The Jewish Diaspora. Christian Exploitation of the Jewish Catastrophe]

Now, about the consequences concerning his own Legacy on the one hand and the Rise of Christianity on the other.  Again, Jesus was no Prophet, or I can hardly imagine what he might have seen in that Alternate Future where he didn’t quit but continued on doing whatever he did as Messiah.  How could it possibly have been any worse than what did happen?  If you are not familiar with the History, then allow me to go over it in brief.   His generation would not pass before Jerusalem was sacked and the Temple burnt to the ground. Judea was ravaged, sending Jews fleeing all across the Mediterranean World.  These traumatized Refugees, probably many of them already Zealots, became radicalized in their hate for both Rome who had conquered and despoiled them then, and hate for the Greeks who had conquered and despoiled them under Alexander the Great centuries before.  Perhaps they even resented the Greeks for their Christianity that made a hostile caricature of both their Religion and of Jesus of Nazareth.  Well, not that Jesus had a huge following in Jerusalem or amongst the Jews across the Mediterranean World, but I suspect that they would have resented the misrepresentation of any Jew by the Greek Community.   

These Radicalized Jews would rise up across the width and breadth of the Mediterranean World and slaughter up to a MILLION Greeks and Romans (search “Kitos War” and the “Bar Kokhba Revolt”).  Some small nations were entirely depopulated after this Jewish Rampage.  This would lead to a second and even more punitive Attack on Jerusalem as well as campaigns to exterminate Jews all throughout the Roman Empire.  And it wasn’t just the Roman Army that went after the Jews with a vengeance.  There was scarcely a Soul in the Roman Empire who did not have some friend or relative who had been raped, slaughtered and mutilated by this Jewish Rampage.  The Memory and the Bitterness Against the Jews who had perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity, would last Centuries, or maybe we could even say that this Trauma became, in a sense, “baked” into the European Psyche, where in a European Person’s Nightmares he or she still sees Jews with knives and clubs.  It is not the way I would wish Collective Consciousness to work.   But in any event, what Jews who did survive, and no, they weren’t all radicalized murderers, terrorists, Zealots and Allied Jewish Appeal Telemarketers, but they were still all well advised to abandon the Mediterranean World.  It was the beginning of the Great Jewish Diaspora.  Jews would have to find new homes among peoples who would eventually hear of what had happened in the Roman Empire.    This made it impossible for the Jews to just start over somewhere with a clean slate, and people the World over became wary of the Jews.    

But overall, it was a time in the Mediterranean World where nobody, neither Jew nor Gentile, were happy and where everybody had suffered and received some permanent psychological scars from the widespread trauma.  Now, considering all of that, given Horror Stories and Tragedies by the Millions, now let’s imagine that Jesus could see into the Future and knowingly and deliberately choose ALL OF THAT by saying the words that he certainty did say: “Father, take back this cup that thou hast given me… I Quit”.   If Jesus had been Prophetic and knew what was to happen, then we could put that message in a bottle and label it “Think about this ye who would be King”.  But if Jesus had not been Prophetic and hesitated out of an abundance of caution, well, there’s a lesson in that too. “Bring on Change!  Up the Revolution!  It can’t possibly turn out worse than the Doom we’re already facing.”.

Now let’s think about all of that but in relationship to the sinister rise of Christianity. Remember that the first sacking of Jerusalem was in 70 A.D. which was just a bit more than 3 decades after the Crucifixion.  The Jesus Community was growing and thriving and the memories of Jesus were still vivid but mostly still oral. Why write down what everybody knows, right?  But then comes the Sacking of Jerusalem and the ravaging of Judea and all at once every member of the Jesus Community is slaughtered in the massacre (you know of course that this was the Fulfillment of the Prophecy in the Book of Revelations – the Final Battle, the End of the World, the Day of Judgment, and the Followers of Jesus being taken up into Heaven… and so that is what it must have seemed like to the Community of Jesus in Judea, where it actually was their Final Battle, the End of their World, their Day of Judgment, and, yes, where they were taken up into Heaven).  With the Destruction of Jerusalem and the razing of Judea, All the True Knowledge of Jesus, except for the Sermon and a few fragments from notebooks, were destroyed as utterly as the Temple Walls themselves.  After that the Greeks were free to make up anything they liked and so they did.  The Greeks made Jesus the Poster Boy for Free Sin.

Part Nine: Jesus the Jew vs Christianity [The Flip Side of Free Sin:  Original Sin and People as Inherently Evil.  Are we Judged on our History or Final Character?] 

Oh, Remember how all of this got started, with the Online Christians telling us that Satan infiltrates our very own Dreams and that our only chance for avoiding Damnation is through the Blood of Christ.   Well, we did not discuss that Doctrine, did we?  But it is sort of the Other Side of the Coin to the Free Sin Doctrine.  One is either Saved or Not. Christian Doctrine is both Carrot and Whip.  So, yes, we need to talk about the even Darker Side of Christianity.  It is not as though one has the option to say “No thank you.  Murdering Jesus is too high a price to pay for some easy and convenient Salvation.  I prefer to be as Good and Just as I can and trust in the Wisdom and Mercy of the Angel of Judgment.  I am sure I will be disposed of fairly”.  Christian Doctrine thought of that and blocked it off with the Doctrine of Original Sin.  Well, this is what that Doctrine entails:  It seems that, yes, that while Sin can be Forgiven, Sin is also inevitable, intrinsic to Human Nature, inescapable, and that our lives and characters are hopelessly polluted.  So Christianity offers no Righteousness Option.  Satan is the King of this World, and if Christians hadn’t Murdered Jesus with their own Hands, to trade His Blood for their Sin, then they would all certainly burn in hell.

But shouldn’t Christians feel guilty about that?  I find it incomprehensible that Christians Celebrate Easter, the Anniversary of their Crime literally against God, or they believe Jesus to be God.  The Christians certainly can’t dodge the guilt of Murdering Jesus, since they are so forward in claiming all the benefits that accrue from it.  We know it was the Romans who drove in the spikes, and like themselves they were Gentiles, and for all the talk of Sacrifice, it was not the Jews that killed their own Messiah, but they themselves the Gentiles.   Couldn’t they find one of their own to butcher.  The Greeks have 20 Gods on Top of Mount Olympus and none of them would do?  Was the Meat of Hercules too tough for the Altar Plate? Or was Hercules too strong for them to subdue and they went in search for a meeker milder murder Victim.

I wonder How is it that Christians hear of the Legends of Vampires who drink Human Blood for Immortality and don’t see it as an Allegory for Themselves?   It’s ironic that they Murdered Jesus so they WOULDN’T burn in Hell.  What will they say to the Angel of Judgment who on the Last Day asks them “Given the choice of living Righteously, or murdering a man you thought to be as pure as God, so you could trade his blood for every kind of sin and abomination, well, how did you choose?”    And, again I can remind you all.  ‘The Angels aren’t very sentimental.’

Now, yes, let’s continue…  can we reasonably move beyond this Doctrine of Original Sin?  Many Christians, knowing only what they’ve been told, will demand of me how God is supposed to treat Sinners, for “all Men have Sinned”?  If Heaven could be earned only by Souls that have Never Sinned and that it is a reasonable given that everyone must have sinned at one time or another, then any Perfect Righteousness would be impossible, and so wouldn’t a Perfect Heaven be Perfectly Empty?   Well, aren’t the Christians misstating the Situation?  What does the complete moral history of our Lives matter if on our Last Day we are Righteous in Character?  We do not throw out our cloths at the end of each day because they have lost their laundered freshness, because it’s easy enough just to wash them.  Paul’s Doctrine presupposes that Sin leaves permanent stains.  Huh!?  Well, of course not!  Why do we allow Paul to hypnotize us with such nonsense?  People make stupid mistakes all the time, but the rest of their Lives and their Innate Character are not indelibly stained by it (unless they posted it on Facebook).   To show you how Sin in the Real-World works, well, take the instance of almost every young man who will get too drunk at one time or another and say “I’ll never do that again”, and he won’t …  well, not until he forgets, but every succeeding time it becomes easier to remember.  People of Good Character only get better with Age.   So my point is that People live and learn.  If people are told that Social-Moral Goodness is possible and preferable and then rewarded for it, then they will learn Righteousness through trying to live Righteously.  And If they fall in the mud, they only have to take a bath.  There should never be any need for murdering Jewish Messiahs for their Blood.  

Part Ten: Jesus the Jew vs Christianity [“Jesus Lived in India: His Unknown Life Before and After the Crucifixion” by Holger Kersten. Semitic “Jewish” People in the Kashmir.  Jesus influences Buddhist Doctrine. A Possible future Jewish Messiah]  

Oh, but there is another issue that we can talk about.  You know, it is likely that neither did Jesus Die, that is, when they say he did, nor was he Resurrected.   You see, I had read a book once which greatly impressed me, and it’s still in print:  it reads like a carefully researched doctoral thesis… the book is entitled “Jesus Lived in India: His Unknown Life Before and After the Crucifixion” by Holger Kersten.  The book makes the point that NOBODY dies from a few hours of being Crucified and that it is largely a death by exposure to the elements and thirst – making a person suffer a long agonizing Death in public view is sort of the point.  Remember that Jesus had a few rich friends, one of whom being Joseph of Arimathea, who bribed Pilot to have Jesus taken down almost immediately after he had been put up. They had to use that Story about Jesus being stabbed with a spear to convince anybody that Jesus could possibly have died after so brief an ordeal.  But, yes, Jesus was taken down, treated for his wounds and as soon as he could walk was told to get out of Town and go to Damascus which was outside Roman Jurisdiction so that Pilot could finally “wash his hands” of the whole affair.  Jesus went on to become a kind of a spiritual super star in the Far East and was said to have been the Key Note Speaker at the Third World Buddhist Conference (you see, the Buddhists were caught up in so many Doctrinal Quarrels among themselves that they reached out to Jesus as a Neutral Speaker, so they would know what it sounded like for everybody to clap together.  From that we get the famous Buddhist Zen Koan “What is the sound of two hands clapping?”  It would be an insult to say the Koan is actually “What is the sound of one hand clapping?”.  It would be a slap in the face).   Anyway, it is said that Jesus died in India at close to 100 years old and his tomb is in the Kashmir and any cab driver can take you to see it.

Well, all of that sounds lovely until we add it all up.  Jesus quits his Messianic Mission and has one really bad day, and then has to do a little bit of physical therapy, but then goes on to live another 60 years like a Rock and Roll Star.  Jesus would be 70 when he would hear of the Sacking of Jerusalem, the Destruction of the Temple and the devastations done to Judea, but wouldn’t that have just verified his Prophetic Vision of it all?  So, did Jesus make a Calculation?  What if he could have made the World’s situation better by being Messiah, but somehow not quite have had the same Beautiful Rock Star Life that he ended up with? 

Well, the author of that book, Holger Kersten, does point out details that could make us think the situation more complex.  It seems that the Kashmir, then as now, is populated by Semites (he even uses pictures of people’s noses!)  Kersten reviewed Census Material going back to these ancient times and found that during that time one out of every four boys was named “Moses”.  He found place names that match place names from the Old Testament.  He provides evidence that the Holy Land Jews did not become acquainted with their Books of Moses until the time of their Babylonian Captivity.  Well, Babylon was a cosmopolitan city in a cosmopolitan World.  The growing Persian Empire had secured a wide scale Peace and so trade routes stretched into the Far East through India.  The Jews in Babylon during their Captivity may have found the Story of their Semitic Cousins from the Kashmir – “the Land of Milk and Honey”.  Kersten wondered how anybody could call the scrub brush of the Holy Land “the Land of Milk and Honey”, but the Kashmir is a land of lakes and fertile valleys at an altitude above sea level high enough to break the Heat of India.  There is probably no more beautiful country in the World than the Kashmir.  And, to Jesus, wasn’t it also Jewish?  Every 4^th boy was a “Moses”!  The People of the Kashmir certainly didn’t give him a hard time.  Maybe Jesus just picked the better Jews! But, still, no Empire of Righteousness spread throughout the World with its epicenter in the Kashmir.  But, well, Kersten does wonder whether Jesus may have influenced Buddhist Doctrine.  You see, original Buddhist Doctrine was entirely nihilistic, as pessimistic as any kind of spiteful French Existentialism.  Original Buddhism tells us that the ‘source of all suffering is desire’. Effectively Buddha was telling people to give up caring about anything.  But Jesus fell in with the Mahayana Movement which pushed the Bodhisattva Ideal of Saints educating Humanity.  Jesus gave meaning to Buddhism.  He imbued it with a sense of Social Morality.  So, yes, perhaps Jesus did make a Calculation and determine the Path that truly did maximize his Utility to the World.

But, then, it doesn’t answer for a Jewish Messiah.  I have had dreams in which I’ve encountered a Young King, of light complexion but black hair.  His nose wasn’t small.  He’s been growing up in my dreams.  He started as a Gloriously Noble but Proud Young Fool, to be protected from his own impulses that were Idealistic, Conforming to the Highest Principles, but Impractical to the extreme… but from dream to dream, he grew and became Wiser and better Measured… less of a danger to others and himself.  In the last Dream, I looked at him and realized he no longer needed Baby Sitting.  There was smoke on the Horizon from a Burning Town, and with a grim and steady determination he started marching straight towards it. There would be no evasion or Self Doubt this time.  Maybe he’s the Jewish Messiah.  I think if I saw him in the News I’d know it was him.

Part Eleven: Jesus the Jew vs Christianity [Summation.  Jesus as per Gentiles.  Jesus as per the Jews.  Paul’s Christ as Treacherous Betrayer of God and Heaven.  With no valid Salvation, what lays in store for Christians. ]

In summation, what should we carry away from all of this?    What should our appraisal of Jesus of Nazareth be?  Well, first, every Gentile needs to take a step back.  Is Jesus of Nazareth really any of our business?  Yes, historically and intellectually we may be curious, but we really need to return proprietary rights to Jesus back to the Jews.   Now, I do agree with many to most Modern Jews that the legacy of Jesus of Nazareth should not be overly emphasized.  There is no arguing with the fact that he did not become the Jewish Messiah, and so he was either some self-deluded crackpot, or he in fact willfully tossed aside the Mantel and let himself be killed leaving them vulnerable to genocidal slaughter and thousands of years of existing in Diaspora.  Oh, and these Genocidal Slaughters would happen repeatedly, as we now know.   Christianity, ostensibly under his Name, would become their greatest persecutor.  Even Islam, not especially known for its hospitality to other Religions, would show more hospitality and welcome to the Jews than Christianity, which didn’t change until of course after Zionism launched their Invasion into the Heart of Islam, usurping Palestine, which is only the edge of their envisioned Greater Israel. So, yes, such aggression should make us all wonder where in the Talmud it is written “One good turn deserves a merciless Attack”.  But, yes, back to the affronts of Christianity… this Jesus the “Christ” of Christianity was not the kind of Messiah the Jews had in mind.  In fact, it would be easy to suppose that every Jew would find the Idea of Jesus F. Christ somewhat repugnant.  I honestly don’t know how an Organization like Jews for Jesus can even exist.  It sounds too much to me like “Blacks for the Klan”.  

However, it is widely recognized by the more enlightened elements of the World Jewish Community that Jesus was not all bad.  Most importantly there is the “Sermon of the Mount”.  The Christians don’t want it, they don’t appreciate it, and if Fox News told them all that it was a Speech delivered by a New York Liberal Jew then they would be perfectly willing to hate it.  The Sermon is in fact a representative expression of Judaic Social Morality and the Jews should own it.  Heck, they should sue the Christian World for Exclusive Rights to the Sermon and insist on a Stop Print Injunction against the New Testament because it’s Free Sin Doctrines are a Moral Obscenity and their being connected to the “Old Testament” Jewish Scriptures under the same Cover makes the Christian Bible a Libelous Slander against the Good Character of the Jewish People.  

But perhaps we can stretch the “not all bad” verdict a little further.  If we should look at the Life of Jesus, but within the perspective of his Jewishness, we would see that he had been a Religious Ascetic from a Respectable Sect who accomplished an extensive and ambitious Public Outreach Program presenting a spectrum of Social Moral Ideas that were avant-garde at the time and commendable in any day and age.  Stripped of all the gross sordid Greek impostures, false claims and the disgusting doctrines of free sin, well we would find that Jesus was a veritable Saint, and we all can see that such a Life, such a Man, and such a Jew would not be one whom any Jew should be embarrassed to recognize as a fellow Jew in good standing within their Hallowed Community.

Finally we are left with the fact that Jesus and Christianity became very famous and very influential, and so many of us think that that must mean something, right?  Well, it does, but not in a good way.  You see, it is instructive that Jesus was born under the same Star as Apollonius of Tyana who was also a much-acclaimed Saint but who never achieved a fraction of the Fame that Jesus subsequently acquired.  But Apollonius lived a long life and was never Martyred.  Jesus became famous specifically because his Death could be Exploited – We’ve all heard what the Protestants say, and they even hold up signs at the football games that say: “Jesus died so that we may Sin”. So, yes, the Tragic Death of Jesus has been twisted against him.   But, yes, if their situations had been reversed, with Apollonius being murdered instead of Jesus, well Apollonius would have become the Greek Shill for a Sin Condoning Christ.  Actually, Apollonius might have been a better fit, considering that he was already Greek and didn’t require the transplanting that Jesus did.  But then there was the Destruction of Jerusalem, a Lucky Accident for the Greeks, where all the Living Witnesses to the Real Jesus Story died in one wild terrible swoop, which, as we discussed earlier, defaulted complete Editorial Control of the Life of Jesus, only thinly “based” on a True Story, into the hands of the unscrupulous and rapacious Greek Christians.  So, yes, Christianity was definitely a fluke of History: the cynical exploitation by the worst jaded schemers in the Greek World, of a series of momentous tragedies involving the best of all possible peoples in the Semitic.   You know, it is said of Jesus, that in the early days of his Ministry that he had been tempted by Satan but that he had held strong.  Well, we might think that Jesus must have supposed that he had walked away from that Ordeal holding the better hand.  But History shows us that, unless there is more to be seen, that Satan had the last laugh – if Jesus wouldn’t deal with him, then Satan would find a man who would:  Satan found Paul.

Now, I can’t really call Paul the Anti-Christ because the “Christ” was what Paul created It to be, the Personification of Permissive Evil and the Agent responsible for Surrendering a Perfect Heaven to an Intentionally Planned Pollution by Self Confessed Sinners.  What True God could possibly consort with such Filth in the kind of Heaven envisioned by Paul?  A Heaven with Sin becomes Hell, doesn’t it? But Paul, with Paul’s sensibilities, wouldn’t see the problem, would he?  What murderous psychopath would?   In Paul’s Heaven, would not a Republican carry his Oppressiveness for the Meek and the Poor even up into Heaven?  Would Saintly Latin Female Souls be forced back into their Aprons of Servitude even in Heaven?  Well, Yes, If the same Sins are allowed Above as Below. Wouldn’t Sins forgiven on Earth be Forgiven in Heaven also?  Would not the Golden Fields of Heaven be parceled up into Lots and Sold to the Greatest Sinners, as is done here now down on Earth?

So, yes, perhaps these Denizens of Paul’s Darkened Heaven would not even realize they’re creating a new Hell.  But the Righteous and Pure Souls would know.   God would know.  God would have to become a Refugee in his own Universe!  He would take the Pure and the Righteous Souls with Him.  It would be a Paradise Lost and the start of a Long Wondering until God could find a Place of Purity far enough and high enough away, so it could be secure against the betrayal of his Treacherous Son, the Christ.   

So, no, Paul is not the Anti-Christ, but what we need to realize is that his Christ is Monster.  With a Christ like that, it would be the Anti-Christ we would be cheering for, wouldn’t it?  But in terms of the Judaic View, Paul was clearly the Anti-Messiah, the Anti-Jew, the Anti-Anything that is good, wholesome, upright and decent.  It should come as no surprise to us that all around the World today it is the Christians who are standing in the way of all that is Socially Moral, Just, Right and Fair.  When the Day of Judgment arrives, God’s Job can be an Easy one -- just let all Christians hold up their Free Sin Tickets to Salvation.  These can be their Passports to Hell!

Well, There!  That was my counterattack. That should be enough.  Anybody who reads all of that will be inoculated against these Christians, so they won’t be able to scare us away from our Dreams and Visions.  You know, This was a fairly large project.  I hope it is a while before another Religion pisses me off.  I could use some rest.  As the Poets say… I’m too old for this shit.    

The Necessity For One World Socialist Government

Two factors are propelling the World into catastrophic crisis:  the first is Global Climate Change and the second is the vast Inequality of Wealth, or I should say an extreme Concentration of Wealth into Private Hands, leaving not enough Wealth left over to pay for essential Public Infrastructures required for the maintenance of a Major Global Civilization. Starved of Resources, an Economic and Social Collapse would be inevitable, and Billions would die as the World plunges into a new Dark Ages. Our only Salvation would have to be through fundamental and systematic change.  No single nation, or even limited alliance of Nations could go it alone, as long as any Major Power still has it within its powers to irresponsibly pillage enough Global Resources to topple the rest of the World into a concatenated Collapse. (Global Capitalism, as it is now, consists of billions of intertwined connections and dependencies, where the proverbial chain is only as strong as its weakest link.   Our challenge would be to disentangle that whole mess and restructure the World Economy on a New Foundation, without first Knocking over the Old.  It is not likely we will succeed, but, well, “damned if we do or damned if we don’t”, but we at least need to give it a try).  

The task of Unifying Jurisdictions would be daunting.  Of course the Super Powers would stand in the way.  Look at what they did to Muammar Gaddafi, who was neither a Communist nor an Islamist, but who had put himself at the forefront of a Pan-African Unification Movement.  The combined Western Assault on African Political Self Determinism was as extreme as anything from the 19^th Century – sheer Imperialism backed by Military force.  So the Unifying World States would have to quickly pool military resources, as well as establish their own Banking Resources, establish secure Trade Routes, and lay down plans to assure Food Security  (but maybe they could avoid the worst if only they make a contribution into the Clinton Foundation, which was probably Colonel Gaddafi’s most significant oversight… He did not Pay Off the Wicked Witch of the West).  

Of course, the World States cannot be Democratic, because every Small Country would be assured of NEVER being represented by a Popular Democratic Vote which would hand a Solid Dominance to only the most populated Jurisdictions.   As we now see in Democracies the World over, it is the Ethnic or Religious Majorities that take the Entire Pie.  49% of People, the Losers in Democracy, are effectively disenfranchised.  So, no, Government would have to be by open competitive Civil Service Appointments, and all Economic and Fiscal Policies would have to be governed according to some Constitutional Algorithm which would guarantee each World Citizen a specified Piece of the Pie.  Fortunately, the World now has very affordable Super Computing Information Systems, which advances in Artificial Intelligence will only make better, and so Computerized Economic Planning could encompass the Whole World Jurisdiction with enough fine-grained resolution to specify the resource disposition down to each individual.

Now, if the Smaller Nations are protected from the Democratic Dominance of the Larger Nations, than the Smaller Nations would be less fearful about bringing Larger Nations into the fold.  The viability of the World States would depend upon their attaining a certain critical mass of mineral, food, and manufacturing resources. In the same way as the Advanced Nations now use their effective Monopoly in Capital and Weapons Systems to compel the developing Nations to acquiesce to their Hegemony, well a Unified Front of World States, with enough “Stuff”,  could turn that same dynamic around on a declining Western Europe and Canada (though I suspect the United States, with its Dooms Day Military Megalith, designed on purpose to oppose the Rest of the World, will be the last hold out).  One wonders whether any of the Major World Powers would find it to their advantage to join the World States.  Certainly, any of the Major Powers that now feel politically and militarily isolated, could benefit by not just attaining an incremental increase in their pool of military weaponry, but more importantly by having access to military bases all around the World as well as whatever maritime rights that go along with them. 

And, yes, we need to discuss the World Military Organization.  The Military would necessarily have to be a “World” Organization and not just Regiments from the various States, which is how the United Nations presently runs their Collective Security.  There is no cohesiveness in such a mixed force.  So, yes, Somewhere the World States would have to set up a World City, not in the territory of any of the World States, but a separate and independent Nucleus City where both Military and Political Officials and Officers could be schooled from childhood to be so totally indoctrinated in the Ideologies of World Jurisdiction that they would come out fully Identifying themselves as World Citizens, seeing their Home Regions as simply quaint Home Towns, but all their Allegiance would be to the Unified World.  It would probably be good if they never went ‘home’ again, or at least not until they retire to a rocking chair on the porch.

 Would China or Russia put aside their parochial National Prides and agree to the acceptance of a Unified World?  Well, why not?  If China believes in the Strength of its Culture and Civilization, then it could almost bet, that with an impartial Education for all World Citizens in the World Arts, History and Culture, that World Civilization would come along slowly towards leaning their way, and that World Civilization in the centuries to come would take on the color of the Confucian Traditions and Values.  But if they wanted to impose their Language, that should be a deal breaker. A scientifically designed Universal Language could be learned in six months.  But given six months with Mandarin and you will have barely gotten started.     

Russia could also stand to be a winner if more people were exposed to their Passionate Cultural Achievements.  Of course, I worry about both India and Pakistan – two Major World Powers, but because of their enmity and proximity, well, they zero each other out.  They are the Same People, except for an artificial difference in Religions.  Certainly, the Secular Elements in India and Pakistan could create arguably the Center of Gravity for any World Civilization, but before they can do that, they both need to get out of the 14^th Century.  Iran also – the Old Persian Empire, perhaps the most Moral the World has ever known, before or since;  well, they would need to shake off that Arab Conquest they still suffer under, and remember their own Greatness as well as their own Religion.  

Europe has experimented with Broader Jurisdictions lately but is not entirely happy with how it has been going, and the Germans are still behaving like they still believe they are the Master Race.  England’s Brexit Embarrassment shows that they are delusional, supposing their declining little Island is still a Dominant World Power. 

What about Latin America?  Well, they have a strong Left Wing, although a scary and very deadly Right Wing.  We can only pray that Justice will prevail.  If the Universal World Language could be made to project a strong Latin Flavor (and who could object to that?) then I think that Latin America could be a Power Center for the World State as it strives for hopefully a Peaceful World Conquest. 

But, yes, while it may seem hopeless, the Nations of the World really do need to unite into one Unified World Socialist Government.  It should start with a series of Dinner Parties given by the various U.N. Ambassadors.  Nothing serious in the history of the World has ever begun without at first some talking over drinks. 

The Moral Social Impulse

[I did a YouTube Video reading this Blog if anybody wants to watch] 

This morning I was reading On Line News and Opinion when someone mentioned James Q. Wilson, a renowned 20^th Century Moralist.  Well, that was enough to get me going and so let’s all think about this together.

Firstly, Wilson didn’t suppose that people put much thought into Morality.  I gather from what I learned from the Amazon Reviewers of his books that the Morale Impulse stems from 4 capacities that were products of social evolution: sympathy, fairness,  self-control,  and duty.

Okay, now we should ask how Human Evolution developed this Moral Social Impulse?  Well, modern research in Anthropology, Sociology and Psychology point to Human Social Development as not having been formed within the small nuclear family or even extended family units, but in units of between 100 and 150 people.  First, there’s been studies that had people associate names to photos.  People are really good at that, if given time to look, compare and shuffle through and study, but the difficulty factor sky-rockets as the stack of photos exceeds 100 and becomes confused and frustrating past 150.  Also, observational studies of Social Groups points to fragmentation of Groups into Us Vs Them Subgroups when membership much exceeds 100.  Migratory Hunting-Gathering Groups and Nomadic Groups also tend to subdivide at these levels.  Modern Military “Companies” are kept at about 100 where Military cohesion and efficiency hit the high mark of the combat readiness curve.   So we get the idea that Social Impulse Cohesiveness works best for groups of about 100 people.  SO, if we expect there to be Social Cohesion for Societies greater than 100 people, then that would require that people somehow Generalize their Feeling for their Moral Impulses from people they know ‘by name’, to those in the greater society.   

So let’s see how this played out in History.   The very first Civilizations were with the River Valley Settlements.  Archeological evidence suggests that Priesthoods stepped in and provided some structured Generalization, what we would call RELIGION, that could buttress the Social Impulse so that thousands of people could cohere as an integrated social group.  We have Archeological Hints that such Societies were Egalitarian and not Master Slave Societies.  You see, unlike in later “Civilizations” it seems that the Priesthoods were serious City Planners, and there was not much difference between the plans of the Big Houses and the smaller ones. Also, there were puzzling rectangles being built in the Residential Blocks which were finally determined to have been ‘regulation size ball courts’.  That meant that the People were being provided with Leisure Time Recreation.  So It couldn’t have been all bad, huh?

But here comes the counterargument to the one that History always Progresses Forwards.  We had the Rise of Barbarism with its sense of a Two-Tiered Humanity.  Let’s look at that development.   First, we are aware that the River Valley Civilizations were able to secure Surpluses in both Food and Fabrics.  The peoples in the Hills were often exposed to hunger and, except for the itchy and scratchy skins of animals, they were naked.  So, at first in small groups they would conduct bandit raids, and grab what they could, including girls, from the Blissfully Happy Egalitarian Civilizations in the Valleys and then flee back to the Hills.  This forced the Civilizations to create a Militarized Defense.   From that the Hill Peoples were incentivized to form military coalitions, for both offense and defense, and so the fighting intensified.   At a certain point the Militarized Cadres in the Civilizations overthrew the Priesthoods, and then asserted a Privilege over the outraged general population.  Then the Militarists diverted resources to opportunistic Wars which would often enough lead to ruin and thereby impoverish the People.  All of this destroyed the strong sense of Social Cohesion that could only flourish in a perceptibly Egalitarian Society. And, of course, a Military Dictatorship is naturally less Religiously persuasive then an Independent, Educated and Benign Priesthood and so the influence of Socially Harmonious Religion declined with the rise of Militarism.   Thereafter, the Militarized Cadres in these “Civilized” Societies would be beset from both sides: Military Challenges from the Hill Peoples, as well as from dissention from within their own City Walls. Pure Egalitarian Civilizations disappeared and has yet to return. 

The ensuing Pattern for thousands of years would be for the Outer Raw Barbarians to achieve their Conquests and take the place of the Militarized Cadres within the “Civilizations”.  Often the Barbarians would assume the language and manners of the Cities they conquered and most changes would be marginal.  The one continuing Constant in all of this would be the notion that the Militarized Cadre was Divinely Appointed Ruling Class and somehow Intrinsically and Substantially better and more deserving than the Common People.   This is why even today we refer to Barbarians with the euphemism of “Aristocracy”. 

The best example of a Barbarian Conquest would be the Aryan-Brahmin subjugation of the Indus Valley and the implementation of its Caste System.   It’s Philosophical and Religious Justifications were founded in the notions of Karma and Past Life Reincarnation.  The Subjugated Masses, were indoctrinated to believe that they had lived innumerable Past Lives, and in all of those lives they had somehow insulted, disobeyed, offended or failed to thoroughly and completely serve the Brahmin Caste, thus propelling them to their present downtrodden lives which they completely deserve because of their Bad Karma. Even the Higher Castes lived under the Karmic Threat – Step out of Line and be “Caste Down”. 

But Progress in the collapse of the Moral Impulse marched on.  In the 18th Century we had the Age of Enlightenment and the Ascendency of Reason.  Now, Imagine having to justify every moral act by a rational justification.  The more Primitive elements of our Emotional Drives – the Sense for Beauty, Aesthetics and Fine Feelings were far better containers for Sympathy, Fairness, Self-Control and Duty.  Forcing that structure to depend on Solid Logical Points of Proof constricted the Moral Sense:  Sympathy once examined set up boundaries.  Fairness decided that it would be impossible to be fair to everybody. Self Control was attacked on the grounds that it curtailed individual growth and development.   And Duty?   Well, Duty to whom: Self, Family, Society, Nation, World?  Well, Duty to the Self somehow won out.

Thereupon we then had the Rise of Individualism and Predatory Capitalism.  Just think of the Social Milieu of the Age of Reason – People tossed into an Urban Society, “liberated” from Small Town Moral Expectations, and allowed to roam wild in the Anonymity of the City Crowd, where their most predatory instincts would be encouraged by Laws which upheld unrestricted Property Rights.   WELL, given those conditions, Individuals had every “reason” to engage in economic and even military predation.  And over it all hung the abiding aura of Aristocratic Privilege… with the improvement that they only had to become rich to become tyrannical.     

But somehow the quatrain of Sympathy, Self Control, Fairness and Duty hung on.  After all, Civilization would collapse if everybody went on an Individual Rampage against all others, wouldn’t it?

 But then Spirituality stepped in, and, counterintuitively, only made things worse.   Now, in the passionate pursuit of Spiritual Liberation, well, not only is Reason tossed out, but even the Emotional and Aesthetic Impulses are rejected as Samsaric and Illusory. Transcendental Oneness would reject the dichotomy of Good and Evil, so Moral Discrimination would be seen Judgmental, and being Judgmental would only be allowed against those who are the morally judgmental.  Poverty and Prosperity would become the only remaining Dichotomy recognized by New Age Spirituality.  With Goodness intentionally caste aside as a limiting ‘Unenlightened’ concept, Evil would win by the default of a thoughtless animal body selfishness, and again Karma would be used to justify those who pillage with the most enthusiasm and with the least regret.  AUM my ass! 

Dream of Death an Essential Rite of Passage

[I read this for a YouTube Video, if you would rather watch this than read it]

I was going to write a Blog on Dream flying, but then it occurred to me that I would be getting ahead of myself.  Before you can learn to Fly in dreams, you have to no longer be afraid of dying, because basically the best way of learning to fly is to jump off the top of a tall dream building, a bridge or a dream cliff, and then “pull out of the dive” before hitting the ground.  But if you think you are going to get killed, you certainly won’t be jumping off anything much taller than a foot stool.   So, before you can learn how to Dream Fly, you need to get yourself killed, that is, killed in a dream. The trick there  is that you won’t die, or not die for very long, and when you realize that, then it makes you fearless enough to take up flying without any amount of prohibitive anxiety.

Fortunately there is already a kind of an Archetypical Dream Motif which should culminate in your Dream Death and instant Resurrection.  It is the “Running Away from Monsters” Dream.  Most people have had this dream.  It is the Dream in which you are in fear of losing your life and you are running away from SOMETHING Terribly Deadly, but you feel  like your feet are made of lead and the running is tortuously slow.  Well, even that feeling of slowness is deceptive.  It turns out that you are not slow at all, but that your sense of Time has been distorted because, since you are in Survival Panic Mode, your brain is firing at 7 to 12 Perception Bursts for every 1 Burst that it would ordinarily be firing, and so it is like High Speed Photography that only looks like Slow Motion when you run the film – it’s an Inverse Proportion Relationship – the More Perception Ticks there are, the Slower the Time seems.  Martial Artists spend years trying to be able to consciously flip on the switch for this Panic Survival Sensory Mechanism – the ability to fight in Slow Motion would give one so much time to think.  While it would seem to one’s opponent that one is wildly thrashing, one could actually be cutting the buttons off his shirt one by one with a cavalry saber.   But, in these Running From a Monster Dreams, nobody is aware that it is Slow Motion, and the idea that they are only able to move slowly adds to the panic.

Typically one will wake up before the Monster, or whatever it is catches up to you.   To Close Out this Dream Motif you have to Turn and Face the Monster.  Does anybody ever Defeat the Monster?  Well, yes, I suppose so.  But that is not really necessary.  It is sufficient if the Monster just kills you.  But you should go into this dream prepared.  After you get killed you need to stay in the dream for a while longer.   DON’T Wake up just because you have been killed and you think that ends the Dream. No!  If you wake up too soon the Dream is wasted and you will need to do a Do Over.  You see, you might have to lay on the ground dead for about 20 seconds, but soon enough it will occur to you that you are not ‘really’ dead, and you will be able to get up and brush the dust off from what is now a New Fearless, or Fearless Enough, You.

It turns out that when I finally turned around to face my Monster, it was the Guard with the Mirror Sunglasses from the Movie “Cool Hand Luke”… the Guard with that Remington 30 Ought 6 Hunting Rifle.  I turned and saw that he was about to shoot me, and so I said “Whoa!  I don’t want to see this” and so I turned my back to him.  “BLAM!”  The bullet struck me in the back of my head and knocked me forward so that my face hit the dirt.  The Guard walked up and gave me a small kick and mumbled “he’s dead all right”, and then continued on in pursuit of my friends who didn’t think it was a good idea to stop to get shot (but I was tired of the same old dream of running and thought it was time to try something new.  You know, looking back, I don’t know where the courage came from.  I’m proud of myself – I mean that kid l used to be who turned around). Well, like I said, after 20 seconds I got restless and got up, and looked around.  There was a Gas Station nearby and the Men’s Room was open and so I went inside without closing the door and looked in the mirror and opened my mouth wide.  Well, I could see daylight out through the back of my head and I remember saying “yeah, I’m dead alright”, but then the Paradox hit me.  I couldn’t be dead and be walking around and talking about it at the same time, could I?      

Over the next few nights I got killed some more.  The first night I was machine gunned. And the next night I was hit by a train.  Heck, getting stabbed by a pin hurts infinitely worse than being killed in a Dream.  You know, the Dream Self is not really the same as the Waking Self.  The Dream Self KNOWS that it is operating under different rules and knows that it is in fact living in a Dream. Once this Dream Self knows that it can’t be killed, it doesn’t need to be told twice.  The Fearlessness becomes matter of fact. And once there is Fearlessness, there is no longer Fear of Falling, and without Fear of Falling, then Learning to Fly is just a matter of Practice Makes Perfect.   

So I honestly believe this Dream of Death is perhaps one of the most important Rites of Passage that Dreams have to offer.  Yes, perhaps one doesn’t have to die.  All those Legends of Fighting Dragons seem to end in victory over the Dragon, don’t they?   But maybe people just SAY THAT to trick young people into Turning to Fight, so that they will achieve the REAL Goal of getting their asses killed, and then rising up from the Dead.  

Some Pointers About Lucid Dreaming

[This Blog started as an editorial re-write of a previous blog on Lucid Dreaming, but so much changed along the way, that it is really its own piece.  I did a reading of this Blog on YouTube, if you’re interested] 

When you have a Lucid Dream, it feels as though the Dream is as Real as anything you would be doing in “Real” Life, and often times even more vivid and intense.  The colors are somehow deeper and brighter than in Real Life.  Yes, the experiential intensity of a Lucid Dream is often nice for its own sake.  It’s like getting high, right?  But, as we can ask about most Spiritual Things, are Lucid Dreams actually good for anything?  Well, consider that when we are in a Lucid Dream, we are being presented with access to a very deep level in our own Psychology.  So, perhaps the best use for Lucid Dreams is in deliberately making all the best possible Psychological Choices.  In Lucid Dreams we are probably directly structuring what will be our “Subconscious” Impulses for Waking Life.        

When I look over my early personal history of Lucid Dreams what occurs to me is that at the moment of Lucidity, I would make the choice to step out of the ‘plot line’ of the ordinary dreams I had been engaged in, with their cast of ordinary dream characters, to go to some better and more Spiritual Dreams with a more inspiring set of Dream Characters.  At first it was hardly a deliberate conscious decision.  In the beginning, when I noticed Lucidity, I would remember I could Dream Fly (which is very fun) and I would fly away.  Back in these early days, I had not known that Flying always takes you upwards Spiritually.  

Now, if you also Dream Fly for the sheer pleasure of Dream Flying, well, you may find that the energy eventually gives out and you can no longer sustain altitude or a very great forward speed (though you can try ‘supercharging’ your Energy Level by taking short rapid but moderately deep breaths.  You will see it working in that the Visual Intensity and Brightness of the Dream will increase, and, if you are flying, you will be better able to sustain altitude and speed.  The problem with this rapid breathing though, is that, well, if you are interacting with Dream Characters in the Spiritual Realms, well, you don’t want to appear perpetually out of breath, do you?).   But, yes, in these early dreams, because of a perceptible depletion of energy, I would lose altitude and be forced to make a landing.  But then I would find myself in some brighter more Spiritual Realm and the ensuing dream would be obviously more spiritual than the typical dim lower intensity Ordinary Dreams that I had left behind (indeed, you should pay attention to the Brightness Color Scale of your dreams.  A Dream does not have to be Lucid in order to be important, as long as it is Bright with Intense Colors.  Basically speaking, Essentially Spirituality IS Light).  Anyway, as I gained more experience with Lucid Dreaming, I would use Dream Levitation for leaving the Realm of Ordinary Dreaming, and then rise up to whatever peak altitude I could attain and then prepare for a landing, always with the expectancy that I would drop into some kind of a Spiritual Dream.

Now, I suspect the mechanism that provides these Spiritual Dreams works something like this:  that the Higher Dream Mind is very busy just in the labors of ‘Screenwriting, Producing and Directing’ even the nightly Ordinary Dreams, but efforts are also put into the creation of these Important Higher-Level Spiritual Dreams.  Once a ‘Spiritual Dream’ has been thoroughly produced, it is set aside or ‘Saved”, but will be ‘triggered’ if the Dreamer should become Lucid and be able to ‘step up’ to the Higher Light Intensity Level compatible with the ‘saved dream’.  Oh, one needs to think of the complexity involved in creating even an ordinary dream, where the Dream Production has to be able to account for all of the Dreamer’s possible Choices.  Now, if one if very predictable than the Higher Dream Mind’s job is an easy one.  But if one is growing and developing Spiritually then the Higher Dream Mind can only guess what directional decisions the Dreamer will make in a Dream.  I’ve had dreams where the Dream Characters became along the way no longer responsive – it seemed they didn’t know their ‘lines’, and it was like I was talking to ‘props’.  Going over the dream in my mind, I could fairly well guess where I had confounded the expectations of the Higher Dream Mind and ‘zigged’ when I should have ‘zagged’.  But I wouldn’t worry about such Dreams where you seem to have left the Prepared Dream behind.  I would suppose that your Higher Dream Mind will see it as His or Her own problem, in the sense that a perfectly Produced Dream should match up with the Dreamer and not the other way around.  So, one can suppose that with Dreaming, both the Dreamer and the Higher Dream Mind are both learning as the process goes along.       

Okay, these are my views of Lucid Dreaming.  Now, I am aware that people who have learned about Lucid Dreaming from the various New Age Authorities will believe I am not hitting on the most important points at all.   These people will probably suppose that the Most Important Thing about Lucid Dreaming is that they can CONTROL THEIR DREAMS.   Yes, I believe that it is intrinsically important to be able to control one’s own choices in these Dreams, but the ideological belief in the New Age Movement is that one can Control Everything – that one can effectively summon built-to-order dreams at a moment’s notice.  The context of what I heard regarding most of this is that these are usually Sex Dreams.  Oooo Yuk!  One only need imagine what this does to one’s Subconscious Impulses.  The Sexual Impulse is already distracting enough, right? And then by diverting one’s Higher Intensity Dreams to these Purely Animal Impulses, well, how is this not making one into a Pervert by Deliberate Design.  Now, of course, I am no Saint, but I can honestly say that I can interact with people, who present very well physically, with Sex being the last thing on my mind (though I have come to realize that ‘flirting’ is a great way of advancing one’s self socially, but I confine myself to distant, indirect, and  ‘harmless’ Old Man flirting).

Anyway, I can readily suppose that I can so easily keep my mind off Sex, because I have made it a practice to NOT jump on people in my dreams.  One should make it a Rule in one’s Dreams to always Act Like one’s  Best Possible Persona.   Besides, practically speaking, my experience with Sex Dreams, from when I was a young man, was that Sex Dreams only wake one up, and with Lucid Dreams, the worst thing that can happen is to Wake Up.  I’ve always found that a Continuing Lucid Dream is better than Sex.  After all, who can’t have sex anytime one likes.  It’s not like our hands are tied behind our backs, is it?

But, let’s get back to this idea of Total Control.  Well, frankly, its impossible and I don’t believe anybody who claims it.  This idea of Total Control comes from New Age People who read New Age Books written by New Age Liars and then they parrot the lies back to advance their own New Age Credentials – “See, I can pretend to do what all the other New Age Kids are pretending to do, so give me money too”.  Anyway, you just need to think about Total Dream Control and what it would imply:    Dream Content in a Lucid Dream comes across so sharp and well defined, and there must be thousands or even millions of details in each dream scene, so how could the Dreamer even begin to CREATE all of that in the spur of the moment.  Stephen Laberge, a big name in Lucid Dreaming, once wrote that he pressed for Dream Control as the Dream scene before him seemed to hesitate, and his Lucid Dream turned into a two dimensional cartoon drawn in broad strokes.  That is, detail broke down.   His Higher Dream Mind was effectively telling him to go screw himself.   So, yes, you can demand to go so far ‘off script’ that your Higher Dream Mind has nothing set aside to give you.

Well, look at the time.  I better cut this thing short.  If I forgot anything important, well, let me know in your comments.  Thank you everybody. 

The White Light Paramahamsa Swan Dream

[This is an Editorial Re-write of a Blog I had written years ago. Its not so much that I am better writer now, but a better editor… and still its not perfect.  Oh, today I also post a reading of this Blog on YouTube]

This very important of Lucid Dream occurred, surprisingly, while I had been dreaming about being some kind of an Insurgent who had hijacked a bus.  You see, there had just been some kind of a Raid and my part was to lay down covering fire to give the main party time for their extraction.  I only needed to hold the enemy pursuit off for 5 minutes and then I would be free to ‘melt away’ and make it to my own extraction point.  So, I had taken up a position to shield my comrades escape route.   I was armed with what seemed like a vintage long combat rifle, probably an M1 Garand,  and got off only one shot, at 3 soldiers running from cover to cover across my field of fire about 250 meters in front of me, and while no one staggered or fell, well, it must have been a very near miss, and the thing about near misses is that one can HEAR the near miss bullet whiz by, and because these bullets go faster than the speed of sound, you would hear the whistle snap as they pass just before you would hear the shot that fired it.  It’s a very disconcerting experience and they must have all realized how close they came to being killed or gravely wounded.   Well, it wasn’t 5 minutes yet, but I thought to myself that these soldiers would be spending the next 7 minutes praying for their mortal souls.  And then, supposing that I was some kind of fanatic and that I would hold my position and fight to the death, well, they would then take even more time trying to devise a plan for how they could neutralize me without taking on any personal risk to themselves.  Since that would take so long, there would be nothing for me to have to wait around for, so I assumed “Mission Complete” and ‘melted away’.

I made it to a road just as a bus was picking up passengers and came aboard.  I couldn’t conceal that huge long rifle.   I can’t imagine why I had not just discarded the thing, except maybe for the fact that it may have been more valuable to the Cause than myself and that my orders may have been “come back with the Long Rifle or don’t come back at all”.  So once on the bus it was necessary to declare myself a ‘hijacker’ because, as glib as I can be in my dreams, I could think of no other excuse for carrying around a combat rifle that was still smoking from having been fired.  I tried to act very tough and look as though I were now completely in charge, but there was a young woman who began to talk back – “What?  You can’t shoot anybody!  You’re supposed to be fighting for the People and We ARE the People, so who do you think you’re fooling anyway?”.  I thought to myself “Damn! She’s making this difficult”.  My Survival Response should have been to exercise brutal authority towards that Young Woman and that would have kept everybody else in shock and at a safe distance.  But, well, “damn!” she was right about my ‘moral imperative’ and she had said it out loud, and soon it would sink in to everybody on the bus that she WAS RIGHT and that I wouldn’t shoot anybody, and then I’d be at their mercy. But that would take a while.  People were still fear struck and it would take time to think their way out of it.  But I couldn’t have the Girl speed up the process with her correct moral insights and courageous leadership.   So I had to come to terms with her. But its not like we could have a private confab.   So I just looked at her and our eyes locked (apparently she had something to “say” to me too) and without uttering a word  I THOUGHT “What were you thinking? Why did you have to say that?  Couldn’t you just go along with my bluff?  Are you trying to get me or yourself killed?  Now, just behave yourself.  You Win!  I’m outta here, but give me five minutes or five miles! Okay?”   Well, it might be hard to believe, but her Eyes replied “Okay. Deal”.  A few minutes went by and I saw that we were passing an old abandoned railway freight yard and remembered that the tracks would lead towards my own extraction point, and so I went forward, and like an ordinary passenger asked the driver to “please” pull over and let me out.  As I got off the bus I looked back and told the people “Sorry for the inconvenience.  Oh, by the way, it’d be best if you all pretended this never happened because the Authorities will think that at least some of you were complicit and you will ALL be held 72 hours without a phone call for interrogation.  And if they don’t believe you, well, you’ve all heard about water-boarding, right?”.   I looked at the young woman, and, yes, I was sure she suspected I was lying to everybody but I was sure she’d just let it go.  A deal’s a deal, and I would have the time I needed to get away.  Then I looked down and noticed I was not wearing shoes.

Well, in Dreams, when one finds oneself not wearing shoes, it is a sign that one is on Sacred Ground.  This somehow made me realize that I was Dreaming, which turned the Dream into a Lucid Dream, and so the intensity of the dream ramped up significantly and that empty Railway Freight Yard became an exquisite place of beauty.  The dust, dirt and puddles sparkled like diamonds, rubies and pearls.   

Well, it was not my first Lucid Dream, and so I knew to set aside the plot of the Ordinary Dream and do what I had planned to do for my ‘next’ Lucid Dream (so, yes, never go to bed without a Lucid Dream Plan).  Hoovering up in levitation, I raised my legs off the ground and folded them up into a lotus position, and then intoned a few Aums and began to meditate on my Kundalini (a Dream Guru had once told me that even a few minutes of Dream Kundalini Meditation is worth thousands of hours of Waking Meditation).  Well, not even a few seconds transpired before the air, or perhaps the ‘space’ itself, began shimmering in waves and ripples and turned a wonderful shade of violet (indicating an upper shift in Frequency for the entire Dream Scene).  I was in a state of curious expectancy about it all when the space just some 10 meters in front of me simply rent open, as though a hole had been ripped into our Material Dimension.  The Opening formed a perfect circle, and out poured the Pure White Light.  It appeared like magnesium burning in front of a chromium mirror.  It all looked very real.  I had had Lucid Dreams before but nothing ever or since as visually intense as this.

The substance of the White Light quickly took up a form – a Paramahamsa Swan… not a living bird but a very ornate statuesque representation of one (like a large Coin).  It was about a meter in diameter.  And it was amazingly beautiful – despite the intensity of the White Light I could still discern the textures of the shapes and the details.  But there was little time for amazement before the Swan shot across the distance and penetrated into my forehead (yes, inexplicably going from being very large to very small).  And then a new Swan formed up out of the light to replace it, and it likewise shot over into my forehead… and again and again and again, each time more quickly, but each time the ornate and elaborate Paramahamsa Swan became simpler, more streamlined and plainer and plainer.  Finally they were coming at a rate of 8 or 10 per second, and the birds were mere ‘Vees’, like as in the way young children draw birds flying in the sky, as two curved lines, joined in the middle and the tips tapering to points at the ends.   And they were all flying into my forehead, creating a pleasant throbbing.  Oh, and they were not coming at me in a straight line from the Light Portal, but in a revolving spiral. It was really Cool!

When I awoke, my Agna Chakra was still pulsating with the feeling of this Spiritual Energy.  It was no longer perceptible as Light but tangible as a pressure sensation.  The sensation had also spread to my Crown Chakra as well as to my throat and heart chakras.

Well, in the Vedantic Tradition the Paramahamsa (Transcendental Swan) is a symbol of Enlightenment.  But I can’t say that I became Enlightened.  But I do KNOW now that there is really such a thing as the White Light and it is not just a lot of New Age BS.  And, yes, I had heard mention of the Paramahamsa Swan before, but I had assigned no particular importance to it.  I had heard the word Paramahamsa in relationship to two people. The first, “Paramahamsa” Ramakrishna (1836 to 1886) whom I always held in high regards, and the second was Yogananda who I suspect bought his Title with the proceeds from that number one best selling book he wrote about other people who actually were saints, “Autobiography of a Yogi”.  He used the book to promote his economic venture “Kriya Yoga”, but only spoke cryptically of it and for any substantial details about it one would have to pay extra.  He became the model for the quintessential New Age Predator. Wow! What a Success Story!  Such an inspiration.  He probably had 3 homes, a yacht and a private jet!  

But, yes, I am still a bit puzzled about why the Symbol of the Paramahamsa was so prominently displayed for me in such direct connection to the White Light.    

The Faculty of True Discernment

[This is an editorial re-write of a Blog entry from about 10 years ago. I'm not really a better writer now, but I'm certainly a better editor.  I also did a YouTube video of reading this Blog entry]

When I first started with Kundalini Yoga, decades ago, my old Guru had told us that the Kundalini, particular at the Ajna Chakra, would make us ‘smarter’.  I often wondered at that promise, since so many of the Initiates that had been with the Swami for years didn’t seem so extremely bright.  I figured at the time that it must all be somehow relative, and that before they started with Kundalini Yoga that they must have been REALLY stupid.  

Well, one would ask whether I eventually became any “smarter”?  Hmmmm.  Well, you know,  I suppose we must wonder what my old Guru could have meant by choosing the word “smart”.   I had always been able to get A’s in school but was never at the very top of my classes, and that never changed.   But what did happen in my case was that I found I could recognize the Truth and have a sense of certainty about It whenever I would hear It or see It.  Maybe I was incrementally better at ‘thinking up’ the truth of things, but being an original or a particularly inspired thinker was only a small part of it.   It was not so much a case of thinking fast or of thinking new but of thinking ‘sure’, of being certain of the Truth of things.

I was lucky to be able to identify a certain point in time , a moment when the transition came about, when that brand of ‘smartness’ kicked in.  This moment had been punctuated by a Dream, the Dream of True Discernment.     

 The Dream Scene was a well sun lit grassy field with large rocks and fallen trees that offered a natural gathering place for hikers and nature lovers to sit down, rest and take in the ambient beauty. Well, in this particular Dream Scene, there was this woman who was playing a guitar and one would have to describe her as being ugly.  But her guitar playing was the most beautiful I had ever heard. Then came along these men, who might have been nice enough taken singly, but together they dropped on the Evolutionary Scale to being Primitive, that is, they acted like a pack of jerks.  As they approached they started in with ridiculing her for her looks… yes, they were speaking among themselves, but they knew she could hear them.  I was concerned that this would annoy her enough so that she would stop playing, and besides, it was difficult to hear her through all their noise, and so I yelled out to them, "Hey, guys! Everything else aside, can't you hear that playing. We are in the presence of some real talent here, right?  So why don’t we all just shut up and listen?" Then the lady, who had seemed oblivious to all of us up to that point, suddenly looked up, and looking me square in the eye said, "The faculty most worthy of cultivation is the faculty of True Discernment".

In an instant I was transported into a second dream in a moon-lit arbor. It was a young growth forest with as many bushes on the forest floor as the trees around them,   The air was cool, and this felt like a nice place to be.  In this dream I was a disembodied presence floating up above the scene by about a dozen feet, simply watching.  What I witnessed down below was a beautiful Greek Goddess… I would guess, Diana, Goddess of the Hunt.  She was clad in a pearl-white translucent toga, made of not much more than a few yards of material, and belted at the waist.  She was barefoot and she also had a bow in her hand and a quiver of arrows slung over her shoulder.  It was breathtaking, and I knew this must have been some kind of special vision.  But the tranquility of it all was shattered when along came this strong virile heroic looking man – too old to be called young, but not old enough to be supposed very wise. He was delighted to happen upon such a pretty young woman and of course wanted to make her acquaintance. He said in a boastful tone which may have had a degree or two of double entendre, "I am on the hunt tonight and I feel sorry for the poor creatures that will happen my way, because I am such a good shot that they won’t stand a CHANCE".

Diana remained silent and seemed in no hurry to reply, but rather pulled a strangely unique arrow from her quiver. She held it out a moment so that the hunter, and maybe even myself, could see that it was probably the most crocked arrow that could still be straight enough to be shot from a bow. She loaded it onto the string and pulled back in preparation of shooting... then turned her head off to the side so it could be seen that she obviously had no intention of aiming, and she released the shot.   SHHHWOOOOPP!  The arrow whistled off and lodged inside a bush   She walked over and took hold of the arrow’s shaft and withdrew it from the shrub, and, amazingly, there impaled on the arrow’s tip was a limp dead game bird. Then she spoke, not to the Hunter, but directly to me, "Chance? Nothing happens by Chance".'  Then I awoke.

Anyway, what do those two juxtaposed dreams mean?  Well, not many dreams come with captions, but these dreams did, and I just had to remember the quotes. But these dreams were arranged in sequence, and so we can infer that the messages are inter-related.   So apparently in order to understand that ‘nothing happens by chance’ one has to have some skills in regards to ‘true discernment’.  And, likewise, in order to attain that mindset where one is ever ready to Discern Truth in what most people would consider random day to day nonsense, well, one would need to understand that Everything must have Meaning.  Our assumption going in must be that if we don’t see Meaning, then we aren’t paying sufficient attention.    Also, the idea of ‘cultivation’ is important.  Even with the Kundalini, apparently there has to be some intent and practice in order to ramp up one’s abilities in regards to True Discernment.  You know, I have found that the best practice is to just talk to people, and not just talk to friends but to everybody: store clerks, cashiers, people in elevators, pedestrians on the street where you’re waiting for the same crossing light.  Just talk and often they will say something that will just LIGHT UP as TRUE.  But you have to listen.  Most people who are ‘in conversations’ are using up their brain power in thinking of what to say next.  Well, don’t think about what to say.  You’ll surely think of something.  Also, if you are fully engaged in listening, then what you will probably think to say when it comes your turn to speak will be related to what the other person was just speaking about, that is, you will be appropriately responsive.  People like that. And so they keep talking, and eventually you get the Truth out of them.  And when you hear it, and Know it, well, it is like finding a Treasure.  “Wow” will become one of your favorite words.      

Oh, I should mention that another dream came along which would affect my view of the World and helped me in my Pathway towards True Discernment.  In this Dream I was walking across a deep chasm on a board that had been laid between the two sides, and suddenly the board was pulled away and I found myself falling, but I only experienced it as a sense of floating weightlessness.  As they say, it’s not the falling that hurts… it’s the hitting the ground that’s the problem”.   Well, before I even came close to hitting the Ground a Dream Guru appeared, pulling me out of the Dream to tell me “Perfection consists in Randominity, so Be Not One Thing, and Be Not the Other”.  So, yeah, apparently one has to be able to see Patterns in the Complexity but at the same time refrain from over-generalizing about them.  Think about it like when you take a Rorschach Test, that you need to just see smears of ink that look like “smears of ink”. Seeing stuff that really isn’t there is sort of the opposite of True Discernment, don’t you think?   So you shouldn’t be predisposed to any particular belief system, which would induce a kind of a Tunnel Vision.  There is the Truth and then there is the Party Line. Now, yes, I have often been a Joiner and have been a part of many groups many times in my Life, but I have been lucky that rarely has any Organization ‘vetted’ me for ‘True Believer’ Status (even Most Cults are laid back and never ask for an explicit pledge but assume that one is an Ass Kisser just like everyone else).  Now, of course, you may ask why I would join anything that I do not 100% believe in.  Well, in Nature, Absolutes do not exist, and you’ll never find 100% of anything.  So, where Clubs, Political Organizations, and even Religions are concerned, how can one ever expect a perfect fit?  So one joins because a Club is More Good than it is Bad.  And then, yes, One should see some Good in Everything, but, then again, if you find nothing to complain about, well, you’re not paying attention, are you?  The Truth is always good to know, but its not always good news.