JR45: Lien or No Lien on Your Soul?

A: Last week, I bought a 2007 Pontiac to replace my 1998 Nissan, which was close to death. The Carproof report found a lien against the Pontiac -- a financing lien held by Chrysler. At first I wasn't worried. I figured the paperwork for the clearance of the lien hadn't yet made it into the computer system at the proper government ministry. But being a thorough person, I decided to phone the ministry yesterday morning to make sure the lien had been cleared. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the lien was still attached to my car! I quickly got the problem straightened out with the dealer I bought the car from. But in the meantime I had a chance to reflect on my feelings about the lien. In Ontario, as in many other jurisdictions, a person who unwittingly buys a car or house that has a lien against it can lose the property they bought. It can be legally seized by the lien holder if the debt hasn't been paid by the original debtor. The car you think you own outright can be towed away in the blink of an eye by the original lender. It's a scary thought. 

“His disciples said to him: When will the resurrection of the dead take place and when will the new world come? He said to them: What you look for has come, but you do not know it” (Gospel of Thomas 51). In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus talks often about “life” and “beginnings,” yet his sayings involving “death” are not what we typically find in eschatological or apocalyptic teachings. Rather, the sayings about “life” and “death” in Thomas seem closely related to parts of the first century CE text known as The Didache, in which “the way of life” and “the way of death” are used as metaphors for how to live a moral life in full relationship with God. In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus spends quite a bit of time and energy trying to persuade the disciples to let go of the eschatological doctrines held by the Pharisees and the Essenes at that time.  Photo of my red car. Photo credit JAT 2015.

Anyway, I was thinking about my feelings around the lien on my car. I was noticing how upset I was at the thought that somebody could -- theoretically -- swoop down on my little Pontiac and take it away with no say on my part. I was thinking how I'd paid for the car in full, how I could lose all the money I'd invested (unless I were inclined to sue, which would cost me even more money). I was thinking how unfair it would be for such a thing to happen. I'd bought the car in good faith. Why should I be punished for somebody else's mistake? Or somebody else's willful fraud?

So I'm standing in the bathroom and I'm drying my hair so I can get ready for work and it suddenly dawns on me that the feelings I'm expressing to myself about the lien on the car are the same feelings I have about orthodox Western Christianity's teachings on the soul. The Church teaches us there's a lien on our souls!

J (grinning): Yes. Not a nice feeling, is it?

A: No! It totally sucks. I never noticed till yesterday how deeply, deeply unfair the church's claims are. I knew their claims about the soul were based on the writings of Paul, Tertullian, Augustine, and so on. I knew their claims were self-serving. I knew their claims were just plain wrong in light of God's loving and forgiving nature. But I never felt the unfairness of it before at such a deep level -- at a gut level, a visceral level. It's just wrong to tell people their soul can be taken away from them by lien-holders. It's so . . . so . . . unfair. And cruel. It's cruel to tell people they have to invest themselves wholly in their faith while at any time the great big tow truck in the sky could show up to haul them or their loved ones away to the fiery pits of hell. Not to pay their own debts, but to pay somebody else's debts! Namely Adam and Eve's debts!

J: Ah, the wages of sin.

A: Very funny. This God-and-Devil-as-lien-holders thing means that devout Christians are always looking over their shoulder, waiting for the cosmic tow truck they can't do anything about. It makes people feel helpless. It makes them feel like slaves-in-waiting. Their soul isn't their own. Their time isn't their own. Their life and their choices and their free will aren't really their own. They're always on tenterhooks because they think they don't fully own their own soul. This is abusive.

J: That's why it works. From the perspective of certain members of the church hierarchy -- stretching all the way back to the time of Paul and his backers -- it's an excellent strategy for gaining control of the populace. People who feel helpless and hopeless tend to cause less trouble. They ask fewer questions. They tend to do what they're told because they're frightened. Frightened people turn to strong leaders -- in this case, church leaders. The Church is using a psychological control strategy that other groups in other cultures have used to similar effect. Paul's teachings have been particularly successful in this regard. 

The teachings of myself and other like-minded spiritual teachers are useless for this kind of psychological strategy. Totally useless. You can't frighten people into submission if you're actually giving them real hope. Real hope doesn't come from words. Real hope comes from actions -- from people's ongoing choices to help their neighbours. Real hope comes from healing and relationship and dignity and change. If the early church had wanted to teach real hope, it wouldn't have chosen the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed and the Chalcedon Creed as its operative statements of faith.

A: Ah. You mean they might have mentioned the themes of divine love, forgiveness, healing, redemption (as opposed to salvation), and egalitarianism?

J: If the bishops in the first few centuries of Christianity had spent one tenth the time on compassion that they spent on their endless arguments over the "substance" of the Trinity, medieval Europe would have been a much nicer place to live in.

JR42: Harold Camping's Failed Apocalyptic Prophecy . . . Like, There's a Surprise

A: Well, it's May 23, and the world didn't end two days ago as prophesied by Harold Camping and his multi-million dollar non-profit apocalyptic Christian media ministry. The 200 million people who were supposed to be taken up into heaven in the Rapture are still here. Slightly impoverished after giving their money to Camping, but still here. All is well with the universe.  

J: People are easily parted from their assets once they've lost their common sense.  

A: I read the Globe and Mail on-line. Usually when I check an article there are a few dozen readers' comments -- 40 or 50 posts at most. Yesterday, by 2:50 p.m., there were 1,052 comments attached to an article by Garance Burke (Associated Press) called "Believers confused as Judgment Day doesn't come." I didn't read the comments. But I thought it was interesting that a failed prophecy from a retired civil engineer in a different country would attract so much attention. 

J: People have very strong opinions about religion and religious leaders. 

A: Can't argue with you there. So let's talk about angels instead -- souls who are not currently incarnated as human beings on Planet Earth. How do you and other angels feel about apocalyptic prophesies? 

J (chuckling): Isn't this a holiday in Canada? Wouldn't you rather be outside barbequing or something?  

A: It started raining again a few minutes ago. There's been a lot of rain and cool weather this spring. All the more reason to sit down and do some typing.  

J: Well, it'll come as no surprise to you that angels are fully aware of the kinds of things that are being said about us by religious leaders in various parts of the world. You could say we have our own clipping service.

Most people have been conditioned to believe that apocalyptic prophecy is a rare and sacred gift granted by God. Few people realize that from the point of view of God's angels, all claims from apocalyptic human prophets look like temples -- temples to the glory of narcissistic humans. Nothing good comes from prophecies about the End Times, and your angels know it. They see the fear, contempt, and justification of hatred that pour into every aspect of your life if you buy into these unloving lies about God. This is one temple where your angels will always let you fall flat on your face. Shown in this photo are remnants of the temple pediment found during excavations of the Roman Baths at Bath, England (because all good Remnants must come to an end). Photo credit JAT 2023.

A: A man like Harold Camping is giving God bad press -- telling people that God is so narcissistic and selfish that "he" enthusiastically plays Russian Roulette with his own children. Do angels care about this bad press? Does God? 

J: Would you be happy if the people who claim to know you went around town saying you're a controlling, manipulative, obsessive compulsive, right wing, politically conservative, Medicare-hating, gun-loving bigot who hates gays, people of colour, and women?  

A: No. I'd know they were lying, and I'd forgive them. But I'd still be hurt.  

J: Same with angels. Every day in every culture these lies about God are being preached. Angels not only feel hurt on behalf of God the Mother and God the Father, but they feel hurt on behalf of the souls who speak these lies while they're struggling with human brain dysfunction. You can be very sure that Harold Camping's own guardian angels are now very relieved to have the whole thing over with and the lie of his prophecy revealed for what it is -- not just among his own followers, but among all those who heard about it on the daily news.

A: Camping's angels aren't upset that he's been embarrassed in front of millions of people?  

J: Far from it. They know he's hurt a lot of people with his narcissistic predictions. At the same time, they know that his harmful choices emerged from his dysfunctional human brain -- not from his true self, not from his soul. They forgive him, but they also have to do the right thing by him and by others. They have to allow people to see the consequences of these kinds of abusive choices. If they protect Camping from the consequences of his own choices, and if they protect his followers from their own arrogance and stupidity, how will it be possible for human beings to learn not to make these kinds of choices? Tough Love is an angel's expression of courage, trust, and faith in the ability of human beings to live their human lives in loving ways. Divine ways. Ways that don't prey on other people's vulnerabilities. 

A: Ooooooohhh. I can just hear the response from readers. What you're saying about Tough Love sounds perilously close to the idea of divine punishment -- an idea that many liberal and progressive Christians reject as incompatible with the idea of a loving and forgiving God. 

J: I can't help it if some individuals want to reject the possibility of Tough Love from God and God's angels. Usually the people who are most keen to reject this belief are the ones who are most interested in NOT having to learn from their own mistakes. 

 A: The narcissists. 

J: Religious narcissists -- and there are plenty of those -- employ a number of psychological defences to try to shift responsibility for their own mistakes onto other people or onto other time frames. Religious doctrines such as Original Sin, Satan, Judgment Day, and the Rapture make it possible for the narcissists to stop blaming themselves for their own choices. They can shift the blame onto "conditions" that are outside their control. "Conditions" that make it easy for them to shrug their shoulders and say -- with Godfather-like equanimity -- "Hey, we can't help being who we are. One day God will make us answer for our crimes, but not today. Today we have a 'Get Out of Jail Free' card and we plan to use it. Because we can. So screw you."  

Really, I mean, come on. Do people think God can't hear that? Of course God can hear that. God forgives them when they say it, which is exactly what you'd expect from a loving and forgiving God. But forgiving somebody means you have faith in their true potential, their truest and most loving nature. Forgiving somebody means you don't walk away from them when they're in distress. Forgiving somebody means you do your best to help them better understand the choices they're making. This usually means you have to let them experience consequences for their choices. That's how they begin to recognize the harm caused by their abusive choices. Every loving parent knows this. 

A: Loving parents also know you have to "choose your battles." You can't harangue your child about every little mistake, or he stops listening. You have to save your authoritative tone for the times when it really matters. 

J: Guardian angels are no different. Their job is to help guide their human "foster children," if you will, in the direction of greater compassion, greater balance, greater common sense. They have complete discretion and free will in carrying out this task. Sometimes they decide to help soften the consequences of a really poor human choice. Sometimes they decide to let the consequences build into one mega-consequence that hurts like hell. This is the reality. God has free will and angels have free will. Therefore, God and God's angels are free to create consequences or not as they see fit. They aren't bound by religious contract laws. Neither are they bound by laws of cause and effect. God is a heck of a lot smarter than the Law of Cause and Effect would suggest.  

“His disciples questioned him: Should we fast? In what way should we pray? Should we give to charity? From which foods should we abstain? Jesus responded: Do not lie. If there is something that you hate, do not do it, for everything is revealed beneath heaven. Nothing hidden will fail to be displayed. Nothing covered will remain undisclosed (Gospel of Thomas 6).” This life-size Roman bronze hand is covered in sacred symbols — well, sacred to occult believers, anyway. It dates from 200-400 CE and was found at Caglia, Umbria, in Central Italy. It’s on display at the Royal Ontario Museum. Photo credit JAT 2017.

A: I don't think religious narcissists actually want God to be smarter. 

J: True. Then again, that's what narcissism is all about. It's about human beings whose brains are so dysfunctional -- whether from head injury, toxic substances, stress hormones, malnutrition, sleep deprivation, lack of social and emotional supports, abusive upbringing, or lack of education -- that they start trying to cope by inventing inner myths about their own wonderfulness and superiority and breathtaking talent. There's no room within the myth for somebody else who's smarter or faster or stronger. Even if that somebody else is God.  

Of course, this is why religious narcissists rely so heavily on the theme of humility. A person of humility -- as opposed to a person of humbleness -- can see in a logical and practical way that it isn't very smart to go around proclaiming to be as smart as God, if not smarter. That's no way to recruit followers who'll willingly give you money and tell you how wonderful you are. So you don the sackcloth of humility, and you tell everyone who'll listen that you're just an empty vessel waiting to be filled by Spirit, by God's inspired Word. That's how the world acquires its apocalyptic prophets.  

A: So it's layers upon layers. A myth of personal superiority that has to be cloaked in another myth -- the myth of humility. Then, when this isn't enough to get you the reverence you crave, you add other layers, other myths, each more convoluted than the last to explain why you deserve to be treated as "special."  

J: This is what happens when people aren't honest with themselves about their own abilities, their own intentions, and their own unhealed anger. The lies build and build on top of each other. After a while the lies can take on an entire imaginary life of their own. Such is the case with orthodox Western Christianity. Its official doctrines are largely a body of lies. Only when individual Christians choose to help their neighbours in love rather than piety do they walk the path of genuine spirituality and faith. These are the times when their guardian angels smile.

JR13: Jesus Speaking on Prayer

A: This morning I was tidying up some papers and I came across an insert from the worship bulletin of a small local church. This particular church is a "one of a kind" group that's blending ideas from Unitarianism, the United Church of Canada, Gnosticism, and maybe some Eastern ideas filtered through a New Age lens. I notice that I circled the group prayer and wrote in the margin, "How Not to Pray." I wondered if you could go through the prayer with me and explain -- from your angelic perspective -- why this kind of prayer isn't helpful. 

J: Sure. Can you type the prayer here for reference? 

A: Typing fingers coming right up. Okay. It says on this insert that the prayer is called the "Prayer of Transfiguration," adapted from the Prayer of Abandonment by Charles de Foucauld. Here's the text: I abandon myself to the Light; Let it transform my life. Whatever it does, I am open; I am present to all, I accept all. Let the Divine will be done in me. And in all creation -- I wish no more than this. Into the hands of Life I commend my spirit; I offer it with all the love of my heart. For I am Light, And so need to give my self, To surrender my self into Life's hands without reserve, And with boundless confidence and gratitude, For we are all called -- to Live in the Light!  

A: I think a lot of people would find this prayer quite lovely, quite meaningful. However, I happen to know from personal experience that you don't encourage people to pray this kind of prayer. Can you explain your thoughts, your reasoning?  

J: Prayer is a messy topic. People of faith have a tendency to claim that all prayer is good, all prayer is helpful. But it's not. From the point of view of angels -- the angels who are tasked with looking after the human beings who live on Planet Earth -- all prayer is not created equal. There are what I might call genuine prayers -- the ones spoken with the soul's own loving intent. There are also pseudo-prayers -- words strung together with unkind intent and directed at God. Pseudo-prayers predominate, unfortunately.  

A: Let's talk more about the pseudo-prayers. Can you be more specific about the "unkind intent" you're referring to? 

J: When people try to speak with God, communicate with God through prayer, the words they speak are of little interest to God or to God's angels. There are meaningful prayers that consist of only one word or one sound. The actual words are not that important.  

A: Mantras. When you speak of prayers that contain only one sound, you're talking about mantras.  

J: Mantras work for some people. Not for everyone. But for some people. Mantras should not be recommended for everyone on a spiritual path. 

A: Why not?  

J: Because everyone's soul is different. Therefore everyone's learning style is different. And everyone's communication style is different. There is no single form of communication with God that can recommended for all people. Each person has to find his or her own best path.  

A: I'm not a mantra person. I'm definitely a word person. I have to talk with God in words.  

A utility shed made into a charming gift that lifts the soul and brings a smile to your day. A great way to pray is to simply say, "Thank you for lifting me up in this moment. I really needed that. Thank you for guiding me to this!" New Brunswick Botanical Gardens. Photo credit JAT 2022.

J: I'm also a word person. It works for me, but it doesn't work for everyone. Here's one area where people definitely shouldn't try to do what Jesus does. They should try to find their own best form of communication with God. There are many nuanced forms of conversing with your Divine Parents. Some people need to go outside and sit quietly in the sun. Some need to be actively engaged in the outdoor world of nature -- maybe through hiking, camping, sailing, canoeing. Gardening is another big one. Some people can't hear God unless the music is on really, really loud. Some people can't hear God unless the room is very, very quiet. There's no one correct way. They're all equally valid, equally beautiful ways as far as God is concerned. God always meets you where your soul longs to be. So if your soul is the kind of soul that hears God when it's very, very quiet, that's when God will be speaking with you. God respects who you are as a soul. Therefore, God won't try to "force" you to listen at a time that's not good for you. God is nothing if not respectful.  

A: None of the spiritual practices you just mentioned sound like traditional religious prayer. Why not? 

J: As I was mentioning, it's not the words that God listens to. It's the intent. God pays no attention to rote prayer, to be honest. It's just a waste of everybody's time. Rote prayer isn't about communication or relationship. Rote prayer is just a habit -- a habit like making your bed every day or putting the toilet paper roll on the same way every time. It's something you do because it helps you cope with daily stress. Or maybe it's something you do so you won't be punished by an authority figure who expects you to pray. But it's not relationship between you and God. You can't expect to recite the Lord's Prayer every day and have it mean anything or do anything. The Lord's Prayer has no special power in Creation, despite what many orthodox Christians would like to believe. 

A: Define what you mean by "unkind intent." Can you give specific examples of that? 

J: Sure. Prayer directed at getting somebody cursed by God. Prayer directed at getting special favours for yourself at the expense of those around you. Prayer directed at cursing yourself for your own unworthiness before God. Prayer directed at getting healing for somebody else. Prayer directed at getting somebody's soul saved. Prayer directed at getting somebody's loved ones released from purgatory or hell. Prayer directed at being chosen to be among God's elect. Prayer directed to saints. Prayer directed to holy relics. Prayer directed at getting somebody blessed by God.  

A: So . . . pretty much all the most popular orthodox Western Christian prayers. 

J: Yup. God doesn't curse people. God doesn't favour you over your neighbour. God doesn't accept your self-pity, because God knows your true potential. God heals with or without anybody's prayers, but it's up to God to decide the right time and the right place. God hasn't lost any souls, so God doesn't need to save any souls. There is no purgatory and there is no hell, so God doesn't need help freeing anyone. God doesn't have any chosen children and there is no group of elect souls. All souls are created equal, so there is no hierarchy of saints or angels to intervene on anybody's behalf. Praying to holy relics is occult magic, and it hurts your brain, so don't do it. All of God's children are equally blessed.  

A: You don't give an inch to tradition, do you? Not one tiny inch.  

J: No. Martin Luther, John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli, and others didn't go nearly far enough with their "protesting" reformation of Western Christianity. The work of reforming the church to reflect the core values of God the Mother and God the Father still remains to be done. 

 A: A make-work project for the church of the third millennium. Okay. I'd like to return to the original question about the "Prayer of Transfiguration" above. What about this prayer feels "out of synch" to you, if I can use that expression?  

J: It feels out of synch with the values of the soul because of the underlying assumptions implicit in the prayer. To begin with, I take issue with the imagery of "light."  

A: Why? Haven't spiritual seekers long equated good spiritual choices with "light"?  

J: My point exactly. Nobody's questioning the metaphor. People say, "Oh, the light, the light, we're getting closer to the truth! Hurray! We're making progress!" But if people are moving towards the light, what are they moving away from?  

A: The darkness.

“Jesus said to them: If you fast you will bring sin to yourselves, and if you pray you will be condemned, and if you give to charity you will damage your spirits. When you go into a region and walk around in the rural areas, whenever people receive you, eat whatever they provide for you, and heal their sick. For what goes into your mouth will not defile you, but what comes out of your mouth can defile you” (Gospel of Thomas 14 a-c). In other words, if you want to have a strong faith relationship with God, you have to give up the idea that God enjoys displays of power, rote piety, religious ritual, and subjugation of others. Use your skills instead to help others find their own courage, faith, and humbleness. Photo shows a scarab commemorating Kushite victory over inhabitants of the Negev desert, carved from steatite, 25th Dynasty, c. 710 BCE. On display at the Royal Ontario Museum. Photo credit JAT 2017.

J: Exactly. It's an immature, dualistic claim. Good versus evil. Light versus dark. It's so ingrained in people's minds that they don't even question the metaphor any longer. But let me ask you -- what's so bad about the dark? Is the night sky to be feared? Is the darkness of the ocean bottom to be despised? Why is light good and darkness bad? Why does "white" mean pure in Western culture, and "black" mean corrupt or evil? God's Creation isn't about good versus evil and light versus dark. Creation isn't dualistic. So why have people recite a prayer that reinforces sloppy dualistic thinking? The human brain -- the biological 3D brain -- is kind of stupid at times, and it needs good guidance. It needs to be constantly reminded not to fall into overly simplistic thinking, which leads to overly simplistic "solutions." A solid prayer of the genuine kind is a prayer that challenges people to acknowledge and respect the complexity of God's Creation. A solid prayer does not speak of abandonment and surrender without first acknowledging the difficulty of this spiritual task (and spiritual task it is!). A solid prayer reminds people that they have an important role to play in Creation, even if they don't fully understand that role. A solid prayer speaks of balance -- both the difficulty of finding it and the difficulty of maintaining it. A solid prayer never speaks of people as empty vessels to be filled by pure Divine will. To speak of empty vessels negates the integrity of the soul. A solid prayer helps people remain humble yet at the same time courageous. The prayer typed above is a prayer of humility, not a prayer of humbleness. And you know what I think of false humility!  

A: Yessiree. Do I ever! Any final words of advice for readers who want to be able to communicate clearly with God? 

J: Yes. Don't ever put yourself down while you're engaged in prayer. Don't ever say you're unworthy of God's love and forgiveness. Be honest about mistakes you've made, but ask God to help you learn from your mistakes. Be brave. Don't whine. Remember you're a child of God. And I mean that in every possible way. You're a child of God, and nobody can take that away from you. That's a pretty good starting point for finding the courage to make gradual changes in your life.  

A: And yes, folks! You're not listening to anything I haven't had to listen to a thousand times myself. And yes! Angels really do talk this way. (Don't you feel sorry for me?) And yes! Sometimes you just want to scream because your angels are so tough and so determined to help you make positive changes, and they're so annoyingly dedicated to helping you be your best self! And guess what? YOU CAN'T MAKE THEM GO AWAY NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU TRY. They stick to you like Velcro. SO IF YOU CAN'T LICK 'EM, YOU MAY AS WELL JOIN 'EM. That's my humble opinion, anyway.

JR12: A Divine Love Story

A: You know, for the past two weeks I've been doing a lot of research on the Dead Sea Scrolls, and after wading through the English translations [Wise, Abegg, and Cook]* of the Essene's own teachings, I'm sick of them. Just sick of them.

Beauty. Photo credit JAT 2014.

 
J: Sick of the teachings? Or sick of the Essenes?
 
A: I'm sick of the teachings. And I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to go to dinner with anybody who believes in these teachings, either. The writings are so . . . so self-centred and narcissistic. So full of themselves. So full of hot air. They don't say anything moderate or balanced about our relationship with God. They're full of cliches and bluster and prophecy and big long strings of fancy-sounding words. But where is the love? There's no love in them -- no kind, respectful, trusting, compassionate, inclusive love. It's just narcissistic bullshit. Did I say that already? I think I said that already.
 
J: Don't forget paranoid. The teachings are also very paranoid. 
 
A: Yeah. Enough with the evil Belial, for God's sake! Enough with the final battle where the pure and virtuous Essenes will lead the armies of Light to victory! Get a life, people.
 
J: Or Pauline Christianity.
 
A: Say what?
 
J: If they don't want to get a life, they could always get some serious, heavy-duty evangelical Christianity. Evangelical Christianity doesn't say much that the Essenes didn't say within their own brand of Community Rule.
 
A: Yeah, well, I'm not feeling the love from evangelical Christianity, either. Again, lots of narcissism, not so much trust in God. I can't believe what these people are saying about God! 
 
J: Which people? The Essenes or the Pauline Christians?
 
A: Both. I'm not seeing a lot of difference between them, as you've pointed out. This is not what you've taught me about God. I don't see any resemblance at all. I don't see any resemblance between your teachings and Paul's teachings, or your teachings and John's teachings. This is crazy! How did orthodox Christianity get so far from the truth?
 
J: I hate to sound like a broken record, but, again, it's the mental health issue. My teachings have no appeal for narcissists. Or psychopaths.
 
A: Because there's no "fuel" for status addiction. Narcissists and psychopaths suffer big-time from status addiction.
 
J (nodding): And as for people suffering from psychotic illnesses . . . they're not in a position to take full control of their thoughts and feelings. They can't. The illness interferes with their thinking and feeling processes. So they're filled with fear and paranoid thoughts even before you add the religious paranoia. They can also suffer from narcissism on top of those biologically confused thoughts and feelings, as John did. But the main point is they're not mentally or emotionally well, and their writings -- if they write about spiritual or religious topics -- always reflect their inner mental state. The writings of a person suffering from a psychotic illness sound psychotic. You have to step back from their writings and ask yourself . . . would an adult human being with a clean bill of health as far as the DSM-IV is concerned -- and taking into consideration the psychopathy that the DSM-IV writers left out for bizarre reasons -- would a non-paranoid, non-manic, non-depressed, non-psychotic, non-substance-addicted person write this? Is this writing the reflection of a person in a highly stressed mental state? Is this writing the reflection of a person who understands what compassionate love is? Is this writing the reflection of a person who understands what it means to trust in God's goodness? Because let's be honest -- a person who writes all the time about the devil or Belial or whatever you want to call this imaginary evil entity is showing that he or she does not trust in God's goodness. How can anybody say they trust wholly in God, then turn around and say God is too weak to prevent the existence of a devil? You can't have it both ways.
 
A: Orthodox Western Christianity says you can. And another thing --
 
J (starting to chuckle):
 
A: Yes, I'm on a rant this morning. I'm sick of the way these writers -- the Essenes and Paul especially -- talk about women. I'm sick of the way they've just gone ahead and eradicated the Divine Feminine from everything. I'm sick of their pompous warrior-king Messiahs and I'm sick of their divinely appointed male priests and I'm sick of their testerone-soaked jockeying for the best places at the table. Me, me, me. Look at me -- I'm special! That's all these people can talk about. For religious people who claim to be serving God humbly and piously, they sure spend a lot of time bragging about their own status and putting other people down. Have you read what the Essenes say about people with physical infirmities and imperfections [IQSa]? It's just plain cruel!
 
J: The difference between humbleness and humility. You and I have talked about that a lot.
 
A: It wasn't very humble of early teachers such as Second Isaiah or the redactors of Genesis to go ahead and do a hatchet job on God the Mother -- to just slice her out of the story of Creation. Even the Greeks, for all their crazy Homeric myths, had the sense to include strong female archetypes in their pantheon. Anybody with half a heart can see that Creation -- the world of beauty and wonder and mystery all around us -- is a Love Story. It's a testament to the love shared by God the Mother and God the Father for each other, a record of their journey of love, growth, commitment, struggle, and faith. It's a gigantic love story. That's what you've taught me. That's what I feel myself. It's a painful story, but a truthful one. Everything around us talks about the importance of relationship, the importance of balance. How can religious people look at the world and see a Judeo-Christian Covenant? How can they think "it's all about them"?
 
J: Narcissists always think it's all about them. It's how they view the world -- through a very small lens of "I." Me, myself, and I. It doesn't matter whether or not they're religious. The issue isn't one of spirituality or faith or God. It's simply a matter of biological brain health. Sadly -- broken record again -- it's about the human brain and how people use the brain God gives them.
 
A: I notice that God gave women brains, too. You'd think that would count for something in the grand religious scheme of things.
 
J: Not to mention the thorny reality that 75% of the human sex chromosomes are X chromosomes -- female chromosomes, not male. I'm thinkin' that's probably an important "Post-It Note" in the biologist's Book of Creation.
 
A: I'm so glad I was raised in a family where I was taught that men and women are equal in terms of their intellectual gifts and in terms of their right to be treated with dignity, respect, and equality. Thanks, Mom and Dad!
 
J: I'll second that. I wouldn't be able to talk to you this way if your human brain hadn't developed along the lines of dignity, respect, and equality. That's what the relationship between God the Mother and God the Father is all about -- dignity and respect as the basis of their mutual love and trust, despite their respective differences in temperament and talent and size. As above, so below. When human beings live according to the values and principles of their beloved Divine Parents, they can feel the love of God coming into their daily lives. When they reject those values, their biological brains become like big pots of quivering jello -- lots of colour, lots of movement, but not much substance. It's fun to eat, but 15 minutes later, you're hungry again.
 
A: They feel empty inside when they reject the core values of the soul.
 
J: Which is all very confusing when it's their time-honoured religious traditions that insist they reject their soul's own values. They're taught by their religious leaders to reject divine notions of equality amongst all life, to reject balance, to reject symbiotic relationships -- to reject all mutuality. Then they complain because they can't feel God's love. They complain they've been abandoned by God. It's a crock. It's not God who's abandoned them. It's they who have abandoned God. They usually don't realize that this is the cause of their feeling of inner emptiness. They think their religion is helping them fill the void. But unless they have an unusually mature, unusually intuitive religious leader, their church services are just making the inner bowl of jello bigger. There's no substance because there's a lack of will, a lack of courage, to teach the truth about God.
 
A: The truth that God is the God Who Is Two, not the God Who Is One. And not the God Who Is Three, if you're a Trinitarian.
 
J: It's a simple truth, seen everywhere in Creation. There's no relationship when it's only "me, myself, and I." Relationship MUST begin with two. It can involve more than two -- and, in fact, the angelic community of God's children is so large, so much bigger than two, that I can't give you a number that's meaningful to the human brain.
 
A: Bajillions?
 
J (smiling): Yes. bajillions of angels, both male and female. But no matter how many angels exist within God's family, it's still about relationship. It's still about people -- angels -- knowing each other, respecting each other's uniqueness, respecting each other's differences, working together in a symbiotic way to make a "whole" that's much larger than the component "parts." The sense of Oneness that people long for in their relationship with God isn't a sense of losing themselves in the infinite Mind of God. It's the sense of Oneness that comes from combining your strengths with the strengths of your brothers and sisters towards a common goal. It's not Oneness of identity. It's Oneness of Purpose. It's Oneness of Commitment. It's family. It's people with differences coming together to work as a Team to create something much bigger than each could create on his or her own. That's what Divine Love feels like.
 
A: Habitat For Humanity. It feels like the charity called Habitat For Humanity. Where groups of committed people volunteer their time and their skills to help build safe, affordable housing for families.
 
J: Exactly. It feels just like that. Everybody has different talents. Some are good with plumbing. Some are good with woodworking. Some are good with designing. But all the talents are needed, and no one talent is more important than another. Everybody's got a job to do, and everybody's job is important.
 
A: Especially the guy who makes the coffee. Ya gotta have your coffee breaks while you're busting your butt to get a job done.
 
J: Even angels take coffee breaks.


*  Wise, Michael, Martin Abegg Jr., and Edward Cook, trans.  The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation.  New York: HarperCollins–HarperSanFrancisco, 2005.