Is the possibility of progress really a myth. Humankind is now living (trapped) in the basement level of its individual and collective evolutionary growth. It is as though we are trapped in the basement of a seven story building, presuming that is all there to our being-existence, and thus wondering what is the nature, source and meaning of the flickering lights on the other side of the wall.
Please find three paragraphs on the necessity of progress
The collective, and should-be-cooperative, and, altogether right and life-positive exoteric domain of politics, social and economic activity, conventional religions and idealistic culture, and materially oriented science and technology is, all and always, about would be progress, or the potential for always progressive advancement in human survival solutions and living well-being.
The collective, and should be exemplary, and, altogether, illuminating esoteric domain of the totality of the beyond-religion culture of Spirituality, philosophy, and the arts is, all and always, about self transcendence.
These two human collective domains - the exoteric domain of progress and the esoteric domain of self transcendence, are, altogether, the necessary and always mutually inclusive basis for right and true human human (and necessarily, always unified, and, thus, always actively and effectively single) polity, society, culture, and life.
Why should the Presence (or the atmosphere) of God be weighty?
What if as Hildegard of Bingen ecstatically understood that we are "feathers on the breath of god".
Is true intimacy weighty or intrinsically light-hearted and full of joy and laughter.
Any authentic religious and especially Spiritual practice should be about the cultivation of True Intimacy which is intrinsic to the human condition.
Nice to hear from you, especially speaking on this topic.
I'd be curious to know the source of your three paragraphs on the necessity of progress. They seem quite esoteric, something that is always a red-flag for me. Truth carries a clarity to it. Simple enough for a child to understand, weighty enough to change the world.
I do think the idea that society must of necessity be progressing is a myth. While our written history shows some obvious improvements over its course, there are lots of examples of society becoming less or retreating in goodness as well. Of course, it all depends on how you're defining "good" to be able to evaluate if something is "progressing" toward a better state. To say that our society now is markedly better than the generations before us stretches credibility, however.
Re: God's presence: His glory, is described in scripture at times as "weighty," and I have personally experienced this multiple times. This does not mean oppressive, sad or condemning, however, which is how I think you may be hearing it. It means almost like "pregnant with," "thick with," or "heavy with" His awe-inspiring character. The Hebrew word for glory used in scripture, kavod, also means weightiness. A simple article: https://www.biblword.net/biblical-vocabulary-gods-honor-and-glory-part-1/
I would be the first to agree with you that true intimacy with God is also light-hearted and full of joy and laughter. This I have also experienced. I'd have to check the context of your quote there from Hildegaard of Bingen, but if she experienced this lightness, I would not be surprised. So I would say intimacy with God is a varied as intimacy with another human loved one in its expression or feeling. But you learn to recognize the presence of God by His goodness and love.
I just checked the Hildegard of Bingen quote, and the context of it leads me to believe she was expressing something along the lines of "in Him we live, move and have our being," when she said we are like a feather carried along on the breath of God. We are sustained by and encompassed in God's goodness. Here's the quote, following telling a story of a feather being lifted up into the air:
"The feather flew, not because of anything in itself but because the air bore it along. Thus am I 'A feather on the breath of God.'"
Nevertheless, I still agree God is experienced as well in light-heartedness, joy and laughter.
Because of your red flag statement of (seemingly) having anything to do with the intrinsic esoteric dimensions of our existence-being I am reluctant to introduce you to the source of the three paragraphs and my comment(s). I suspect that you would probably have a very negative reaction/response to it.
Why not intrinsically Boundless Light Enough to change the world?
Jesus is reported to have proclaimed that he Is the Light of the World.
It could be said the entire earth world is now groaning under the weight of the current death-saturated paradigm which is the dark out-growth of the Christian West.
Well, I've already had a heads-up as to that source from the Father. Your defense of witches and Satan was another clue. The esoteric bent you take is another.
But I want to say to you, Jonathan, that that is not who you *really* are. The Father of Lights has always seen you, always known you and always loved you. He does not change like shifting shadows. You don't have to live there anymore. Satan likes to masquerade as an angel of light, but the Father of Lights is leading you into the light of His presence. His kindness towards you is endless. He says to you as he does to all,
"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me."
Well done Meg. Someone who claims "Special" insight and knowledge; verbal gobbledygook; and then the follow on comments are beyond flags. Jesus said even children know and get him. That "dark outgrowth" is the embracing of ourselves as God. As more and more worship at the altar of self, the darker it will get....and the book says it does not end well for them. Die to self - embrace the Light. Our only hope.
“As with most things in scripture, what appears to be an either/or proposition is often a both/and reality. There is no growth without this kind of tension. It’s in learning how to live in the tension of the two poles that the Way of God is often found.”
Meg, these last three lines of your essay are profound. I’ll be mulling over them and hopefully memorizing them so they can stay with me as a clear magnifying glass as I’m speaking, looking, and listening for years to come. Thank you for the time and effort you put into this excellent article and for those last three sentences . They have crystallized what The Spirit has been percolating in my heart for several years. I discovered you through Paul Kingsnorth’s recent share of your Substack and, for now at least, I value those three sentences of yours as the best gift the Father has given me through Paul’s hands so far (and I value the gifts given through him pretty highly =).
Thank you for these kind words, Jodi. Honestly, it's these kinds of comments that make what as I do as a writer fulfilling. My hope is for my words to serve my audience well and bring Him joy. And to be compared to Paul's writing is high praise indeed! Thanks for making the journey over from the Abbey. I hope you'll decide to pull up a chair, continue the conversation and stay a while!
Believing in extra biblical prophesy is the problem. Not asking AI to produce some for you. I have no interest in AI whatsoever and I am the same these days about extra biblical prophesy.
If you're a church-goer/believer you are already captured/caught. Tech in ones' hand then makes no difference one way or the other-- ones' mind is imprisoned.
Belief in/worship of the sun-- is this necessary to be warmed by it? Or is it just up there forever doing its' thing?
I am astounded at how willingly Christian’s invite technology into sacred places (their homes, churches, bedrooms and hearts). But I feel like I’m alone on this one, (with the exception of some substackers). I go to church and everyone stares at the screen the whole time. I’m totally put off but nobody else is.
At one church they had this costly high end screen and the visiting preacher mentioned how envious he was of it because at his startup church they can’t afford that. Do we worship screens or God? I was disturbed by his comment. And disturbed that the screen was elevated above the cross in the sanctuary. But nobody else was even slightly bothered by any of that.
A Christian friend posted on IG about how she’s using chatgpt to plan her Camino de Santiago pilgrimage and said something like “the era of the modern pilgrim.” I was agog at this way of thinking. She wasn’t making a joke either. It’s just how she thinks.
I feel rather alone having an aversion to screen based church and AI-planned pilgrimages.
Nice to know that I’m not alone but it’s another thing to find such people in my daily life.
It is astounding, and I want to retain that sense of being averse to it; not to normalize it. I asked my son to put his phone away during services and he did. Then at some point later, the pastor started saying "turn in your Bible—or on your app—to such-and-such a passage." That normalized phones in services. I don't know if church leadership had a conversation about this, but I wish they'd thought it through more thoroughly.
We had a no-phone-at-the-table rule, which we've managed to keep, with the exception of looking up a needed piece of info in a conversation. But even the ability to speculate about something without knowing the "answer" is an important skill and part of learning conversation.
The more we speak about the topic, the more I suspect we'll find that there are many more people averse to—or just sick and tired of—"tech everywhere."
Is the possibility of progress really a myth. Humankind is now living (trapped) in the basement level of its individual and collective evolutionary growth. It is as though we are trapped in the basement of a seven story building, presuming that is all there to our being-existence, and thus wondering what is the nature, source and meaning of the flickering lights on the other side of the wall.
Please find three paragraphs on the necessity of progress
The collective, and should-be-cooperative, and, altogether right and life-positive exoteric domain of politics, social and economic activity, conventional religions and idealistic culture, and materially oriented science and technology is, all and always, about would be progress, or the potential for always progressive advancement in human survival solutions and living well-being.
The collective, and should be exemplary, and, altogether, illuminating esoteric domain of the totality of the beyond-religion culture of Spirituality, philosophy, and the arts is, all and always, about self transcendence.
These two human collective domains - the exoteric domain of progress and the esoteric domain of self transcendence, are, altogether, the necessary and always mutually inclusive basis for right and true human human (and necessarily, always unified, and, thus, always actively and effectively single) polity, society, culture, and life.
Why should the Presence (or the atmosphere) of God be weighty?
What if as Hildegard of Bingen ecstatically understood that we are "feathers on the breath of god".
Is true intimacy weighty or intrinsically light-hearted and full of joy and laughter.
Any authentic religious and especially Spiritual practice should be about the cultivation of True Intimacy which is intrinsic to the human condition.
Hi Jonathan,
Nice to hear from you, especially speaking on this topic.
I'd be curious to know the source of your three paragraphs on the necessity of progress. They seem quite esoteric, something that is always a red-flag for me. Truth carries a clarity to it. Simple enough for a child to understand, weighty enough to change the world.
I do think the idea that society must of necessity be progressing is a myth. While our written history shows some obvious improvements over its course, there are lots of examples of society becoming less or retreating in goodness as well. Of course, it all depends on how you're defining "good" to be able to evaluate if something is "progressing" toward a better state. To say that our society now is markedly better than the generations before us stretches credibility, however.
Re: God's presence: His glory, is described in scripture at times as "weighty," and I have personally experienced this multiple times. This does not mean oppressive, sad or condemning, however, which is how I think you may be hearing it. It means almost like "pregnant with," "thick with," or "heavy with" His awe-inspiring character. The Hebrew word for glory used in scripture, kavod, also means weightiness. A simple article: https://www.biblword.net/biblical-vocabulary-gods-honor-and-glory-part-1/
I would be the first to agree with you that true intimacy with God is also light-hearted and full of joy and laughter. This I have also experienced. I'd have to check the context of your quote there from Hildegaard of Bingen, but if she experienced this lightness, I would not be surprised. So I would say intimacy with God is a varied as intimacy with another human loved one in its expression or feeling. But you learn to recognize the presence of God by His goodness and love.
I just checked the Hildegard of Bingen quote, and the context of it leads me to believe she was expressing something along the lines of "in Him we live, move and have our being," when she said we are like a feather carried along on the breath of God. We are sustained by and encompassed in God's goodness. Here's the quote, following telling a story of a feather being lifted up into the air:
"The feather flew, not because of anything in itself but because the air bore it along. Thus am I 'A feather on the breath of God.'"
Nevertheless, I still agree God is experienced as well in light-heartedness, joy and laughter.
By the way, here's the reference for "in Him we live, move and have our being:" https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+17%3A22-29&version=NIV
Because of your red flag statement of (seemingly) having anything to do with the intrinsic esoteric dimensions of our existence-being I am reluctant to introduce you to the source of the three paragraphs and my comment(s). I suspect that you would probably have a very negative reaction/response to it.
Why not intrinsically Boundless Light Enough to change the world?
Jesus is reported to have proclaimed that he Is the Light of the World.
It could be said the entire earth world is now groaning under the weight of the current death-saturated paradigm which is the dark out-growth of the Christian West.
Well, I've already had a heads-up as to that source from the Father. Your defense of witches and Satan was another clue. The esoteric bent you take is another.
But I want to say to you, Jonathan, that that is not who you *really* are. The Father of Lights has always seen you, always known you and always loved you. He does not change like shifting shadows. You don't have to live there anymore. Satan likes to masquerade as an angel of light, but the Father of Lights is leading you into the light of His presence. His kindness towards you is endless. He says to you as he does to all,
"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me."
Well done Meg. Someone who claims "Special" insight and knowledge; verbal gobbledygook; and then the follow on comments are beyond flags. Jesus said even children know and get him. That "dark outgrowth" is the embracing of ourselves as God. As more and more worship at the altar of self, the darker it will get....and the book says it does not end well for them. Die to self - embrace the Light. Our only hope.
“As with most things in scripture, what appears to be an either/or proposition is often a both/and reality. There is no growth without this kind of tension. It’s in learning how to live in the tension of the two poles that the Way of God is often found.”
Meg, these last three lines of your essay are profound. I’ll be mulling over them and hopefully memorizing them so they can stay with me as a clear magnifying glass as I’m speaking, looking, and listening for years to come. Thank you for the time and effort you put into this excellent article and for those last three sentences . They have crystallized what The Spirit has been percolating in my heart for several years. I discovered you through Paul Kingsnorth’s recent share of your Substack and, for now at least, I value those three sentences of yours as the best gift the Father has given me through Paul’s hands so far (and I value the gifts given through him pretty highly =).
Thank you for these kind words, Jodi. Honestly, it's these kinds of comments that make what as I do as a writer fulfilling. My hope is for my words to serve my audience well and bring Him joy. And to be compared to Paul's writing is high praise indeed! Thanks for making the journey over from the Abbey. I hope you'll decide to pull up a chair, continue the conversation and stay a while!
Definitely❣️
Believing in extra biblical prophesy is the problem. Not asking AI to produce some for you. I have no interest in AI whatsoever and I am the same these days about extra biblical prophesy.
If you're a church-goer/believer you are already captured/caught. Tech in ones' hand then makes no difference one way or the other-- ones' mind is imprisoned.
Belief in/worship of the sun-- is this necessary to be warmed by it? Or is it just up there forever doing its' thing?
I am astounded at how willingly Christian’s invite technology into sacred places (their homes, churches, bedrooms and hearts). But I feel like I’m alone on this one, (with the exception of some substackers). I go to church and everyone stares at the screen the whole time. I’m totally put off but nobody else is.
At one church they had this costly high end screen and the visiting preacher mentioned how envious he was of it because at his startup church they can’t afford that. Do we worship screens or God? I was disturbed by his comment. And disturbed that the screen was elevated above the cross in the sanctuary. But nobody else was even slightly bothered by any of that.
A Christian friend posted on IG about how she’s using chatgpt to plan her Camino de Santiago pilgrimage and said something like “the era of the modern pilgrim.” I was agog at this way of thinking. She wasn’t making a joke either. It’s just how she thinks.
I feel rather alone having an aversion to screen based church and AI-planned pilgrimages.
Nice to know that I’m not alone but it’s another thing to find such people in my daily life.
It is astounding, and I want to retain that sense of being averse to it; not to normalize it. I asked my son to put his phone away during services and he did. Then at some point later, the pastor started saying "turn in your Bible—or on your app—to such-and-such a passage." That normalized phones in services. I don't know if church leadership had a conversation about this, but I wish they'd thought it through more thoroughly.
We had a no-phone-at-the-table rule, which we've managed to keep, with the exception of looking up a needed piece of info in a conversation. But even the ability to speculate about something without knowing the "answer" is an important skill and part of learning conversation.
The more we speak about the topic, the more I suspect we'll find that there are many more people averse to—or just sick and tired of—"tech everywhere."