Magic Trixter FoX

Magic Trixter FoX

Friday, December 20, 2013

The Magical Calendar

I Offer a Different Way of looking at the Year.

The Year is a Journey around the Sun.
The Sun is the Ultimate Physical Sign of God.
It is the Light-Giver and Life-Giver, and it Reflects Divine Glory as surely as the Moon Reflects the Sun.
Therefore a Year is not a progression of pages on a calendar but a circuit around the Sun, which we adore as though it were the reflection of the Creator's own Face.
The Year is a Ritual.

The Winter Solstice begins our Year.  At Midnight on Winter Solstice we face North and offer Prayers.

Each day that goes by, we turn about one degree, and end up a Year later to be facing North Again.

The main points of the Year are the points of a Compass.  Northeast on February 1st.  East on March 21st.  South East on May 1st.  South on June 21st.  Southwest on August 1st.  West on September 21st.  Northwest on Nov. 1st.  North Again on December 21st.

These are the Eight Sacred Days of old Magic.  They are the Solstices, Equinoxes, and Cross Quarter Days.
They are obvious points in which to divide the Year.  They divide the Year into Eight Half-Seasons.   8 on its side is Infinity.

Feasting begins on Dec. 21st.
Sleeping begins on Feb. 1st.
Waking begins on March 21st.
Sowing begins on May 1st.
Reaping begins on June 21st.
Locusts begins on August 1st.
Harvest begins on Sept. 21st.
Storing begins on November 1st.

This is a good way of thinking of the Year if you are a Gardener, or are in anyway hopeful to attune your rhythms to those of Nature this Year.

Being outdoors often, but especially on these days, is great policy if you wish to start knowing the Planet as a Living Entity instead of just the rock you happen to live on.  Being barefoot and having contact with bare Earth on bare skin is strong Medicine, especially on these days, and in the Early Mornings of New Moons, or in the Midnight of Full Moons.

Just some Practical Advice from someone who has gotten the best out of the past Three Years and hopes to continue the practice.  I invite You to Explore With Me in 2014!
-FoX

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

2014: The Year of Praise

I bless God for December nights.  How fitting (!) that our Years should end with the silence and sentimentality that comes of bidding early farewells to the Sun each day, and with expectations of Holidays spent with Children, with Family & Friends.  It is easy to go to bed early for most folks this time of Year, including those under my care.  Which means that I, the FoX, am given the pensive moments I need to reflect on the past Year and shine forward on the next.

I have been on a journey - as anyone who reads my thoughts knows.  You could say it began in 2010, although you could trace its beginnings back even further.  But by 2011 I thought of myself as radically different than I had before.  I felt like an entirely new being, not Kevin but KiJjiKeTchMe... a FoX in Human Clothing, a messenger between fallen Adamites and unfallen Animals.  Through most of 2010, 2011, and 2012 I was far more at home wandering the Woods or the Meadows, speaking to Nature Spirits, than I was with People at all.  I'm sure it looked like mental illness.  To some it even looked like witchcraft.  But I won't deny that a profound predictive prophetic anointing was guiding me.  I made strong Life Changes.  I went from depression to Overcoming.  I honed my skills of listening to Wind and speaking to Trees and experiencing synchronicity.  I participated in the Shifting of Our Times.  I knew how to direct my Activism at crucial junctures and always be involved with the Right Places at the Right Times.  God became Real: the God of the Book of Genesis, meeting with me in the Cool of Each Day.  The Planet became a Garden.  The Planet became a Sentient Voice, a predictable (but Living!) Machine.  I could plot storms and hurricanes on a calendar months in advance.  I made accurate announcements to my friends of political and weather-related changes they would observe, which I had no other way of knowing about except by being the FoX.  I don't regret the Weirdness of a single day of it.

I have felt these tendencies changing.  In 2013 my connection to mystical voices has waned.  I spend less time in the Woods.  I have deliberately chosen to be more attentive to the affairs of Human Life.  I have tried to be more Organized, more Right-Brained, more Analytical.  I have tried to keep a Schedule, I have tried to keep my nose out of poetry books and either in my work or in Math & Science.  It has been hard for me, but in 2013, the Year of Focus, I adapted a little bit to a less fantastical mode of perception.  I traded it for the responsibilities of marriage, parenthood, a tad bit of church work.  Just a few nights ago I sat in meditation to try and discern the character of the approaching Year, 2014, and noted to myself with concern that I was having real difficulty breaking through to perceptive levels I felt I had attained long before.  Can anyone relate to such concerns?  I wonder.

But in an unexpected moment, the Holy Ghost did tell me what to name this coming Year.  2011 was the Year of Change.  2012 the Year of Salvation.  2013 was the Year of Focus.  2014 will be the Year of Praise.

In March of '14 my Wife will give birth to my firstborn Son, whose Name will be Judah.  The name Judah means 'Praise.'  I frequently think of my Wife as my Goddess, my Eve, a personal incarnation of the Whole of Feminity - a sliver of Eden, a portion of Gaia... HEATHER is my EARTH... and these two words even share Letters.  To me She's an Original, She's the One I Build With.  And when I think of the Pain She experiences undergoing Pregnancy, it reminds me of the Pain of our Planet.  When I think forward to the Coming New Spring when my Child will be Born, and I know His Name will be Praise... I similarly think Forward to the Praise of our Planet.  THE PAIN AND PRAISE OF A PLANET.  Creation is groaning and travailing for something Long Promised.... History creaks and groans and strains forward like a ship pulling hard against its moorings to join the Celestial Flow.... The Earth forgets She is a Rock and remembers She is an Angel, orbiting a Star, in a Dance too Large to Comprehend....  I am speaking of the Millennium, the Kingdom, the New Creation, Paradise, Utopia, or whatever You want to call it.  Its coming!  I do Believe that it Exists!  When they shall Beat their Swords into Plowshares!

Do I believe literally that 2014 is the Year that this Begins?  No, not at all.  Just as Judah my Firstborn will learn to crawl and then walk and then Speak and then Run....  Just as Age will mature Him and make Him a Man with His Own Dreams and Children.... So will the Energy of 2014 Ripen through Ages and be Connected in the End, in noticeable, tangible ways, to a Coming Kingdom.  Like Every New Year, 2014 is a chance to Personally Inaugurate the Reign of the Prince of Peace.

But there will be Signals.  As in Years prior I believe the Discerning Eden-Child must watch the World Events... For W.E. are Waking Energies, Waking Up, becoming Real.  New Diamonds are rising from the ashes of the coal....  New Life will break Forth.  Little signal events and developments in Earth's culture will point the Way to what is coming.

As Iceland and Ecuador and Bhutan this past year proved true what I predicted, that "It will surprise You what the little countries do," I reiterate that prediction for Next Year.  Watch the News that comes from little countries, watch the hope that comes from little groups, watch the hearts that shine in little people.... These things will Upset the World Order, will Upstage the Illuminati....  Only the Foolish may confound those Wise Rich A**holes.

The Name "Judah" is, Biblically, a Tribe of Ancient Israel.  Each Tribe had a Stone that represented it in High Priest's Ephod.  The Ephod was an embroidered linen vestment that held 12 stones.  The one that represented Judah was an Emerald.  And thus, the Color Green is a color of Judah, is a color of Praise.  The reason Trees and Plants have chlorophyll is because Greenness transmits Praise.

Let Your every Endeavor in 2014 be Actions Undertaken As Unto the Lord.... may Gratefulness and Appreciation and Worshipfulness underpin your every motive.  If you do this, Y.O.U. will be in the center of the Mark with what the Spirit is doing This Year.  If you retire your questions and the intellectual debates about God and just Love On Him with me, I do believe a hidden gem (Emerald!) will manifest for You.

We live in such a funny age.  Its mind boggling to watch the parade of religious opinion that goes back and forth between New Atheists and Christian Fundamentalists.  I frequently partake in this debate, always to say something that is not exactly classifiable.  I'm not seeking to convert but only add the extra dimension.  These questions can't be answered with the Head, they can only be Answered with the Heart.

In a Year of Praise Heart Perception will strongly trump Mind Perception.  I would go so far as to say that Your Mind will easily mislead You.  Only the intimations of the Heart will glimmer in the direction of Truth.
Sit still with Your Self.  Write down Your Resolutions.  Become positively charged.  The Inner Guru will appear.

Happy New Years to You!  Here's to New Wanderings in the Woods with my Sons!

LoVe,
FoX

Thursday, October 17, 2013

The Good News

By one man's Sin, the cursed reign of Death came into the World.
Death reigned from Adam until Moses.
And then Moses, because of the hardness of your Heart, made provision that a man could divorce his Wife.
But from the beginning it was not so.
The Law entered, and the offence abounded.
Israel went whoring after other gods.
At work in our members the Law produced all manner of uncleanness, so that, what I want to do, I don't do,
And what I do, I don't want to do.
And such were some of you.

But God, at sundry times and in diverse manners,
Revealed to us through prophets and sages a way of return.
And in this last era He spared not His own Son.
He took upon Him the form of a servant,
And became obedient unto Death:
(Even the Death of the Cross!)
So that the Law is fulfilled in Him.
By one man's obedience, Grace now reigns through the righteousness of God.
Death, where now is your victory?
Grave, where is your sting?

This is the Light that is gone into the World,
Light from Light,
True God from True God,
Which Lights Every Person.
By Grace we are saved through Faith:
Without Faith it is Impossible to Please Him.

I say to you, Enter in at the straight gate.
Broad is the road that leads to destruction,
Narrow is the Path toward Life,
And few there be that find it.

The past times of our ignorance, God has overlooked.
But now He calls all People everywhere to Repent.

Because our deeds were evil, we have remained in darkness.
Our darkness has not comprehended His Light.
It has not entered into the heart of Man.
Eyes have not seen and ears have not heard what God has prepared for those who will Love Him.
Now He is married to the backslider.
We are espoused to One Husband,
We must remain chaste until the coming of the Lord.
If you Love Him, keep His commandments.
If you Live by the Spirit of Love, walk in the Spirit also.

If the world hated Him,
how much more will it hate you also?
They will deliver you up to counsels.
You must give no thought of what you will say.
The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church,
Of whom the World is not worthy.

He who endures until the end,
The Same will be Saved.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

In the Morning a New Autumn is Born...

Oh Earth-Maker!
Earth-Shaker!
Earth-Molder
& Earth Beholder!
Earth Knower!
& Earth Grower!
Earth Spinner
& Earth Beginner!

In your Secret Shade on this wandering Morning, a FoX or two cries out to You:
For PeAcE, ProsPeriTy, for GuiDANCE through all S.T.O.R.M.s:
May there be a Rest in Syria,
The Way of Peace, for Justice rises not through Conflict.
May the Frugal Earth be our Model, dear Lord,
for all Creations of Wealth and Economy!
Plant my Feet upon Yah Weh,
To Stand, to Understand,
To Humble my Self and Follow all L.A.W.S.
May I Love the Woman You gave Me, gracefully,
Parent the kits You Trusted to Me,
Tend mindfully the Garden you Gifted Me,
May my Mind apprehend to Know You More.

I give Thanks, O Lord, for the Spinning Creatures:
The Spiders who Adorn the Forests in Early Morning with their Necklaces of Dew,
Eight-Dimensional Life-Maps of Obedience to You.
With their many Legs and their many Eyes, their Many Hands and their Many Lives,
They Weave an Embrace which is at once Their Home, their Provision, and their Praise.
I take a Lesson from Sister Spider,
And Brother Tree,
And Mother Earth.
To Rise Up and Call Out to You from the Nature of My Being
And Turn with this Sunrise-Sunset Earth through all Seasons,
depending on Your Every Whim for
new Blessings,
new Rains,
new Sunshine to Bestow,
Through my Smiles and my Words and the Meditations of My Heart....  I wish to Please You!

As I burn Sage and the Smoke Spirals out in Fibonnaci sequence to encompass Mother Planet,
So let my Intentions be Broadcast to the Skies.
Let the Angels Dance on Jacob's Stairs
to the Zenith of Your Sky
As the Four Winds
The Four Sacred Directions
The Four Elements
and the Four Dimensions I can observe
Conspire to Usher
Me Deeper Into
A Natural Embrace
of Serving You.

Happy Equinox to All!
Amen.
LoVe,
KiJjiT

Saturday, August 17, 2013

EnTRANCE

Imagine, if you will, a Door with a Sign hanging over it that reads, "En-trance."
At first your Mind will dismiss the hyphen and think the Sign is nothing Unusual, it merely designates the place to go within the building, a place to transition from Outside to Inside.
But as you walk under, the Word itself weaves a Magic Spell on You, and you find that you have not only entered, you have become En-tranced.  Your perceptions thereafter in the House are of a different order than your perceptions before.  You have fallen under Wonder or Awe.

In our Day, there is much emphasis placed on being accurate, and rational, even scientific, and logical, in our assessment of what is happening around us.  To be clear-eyed and clear-headed is seen as the ultimate virtue.  To be enchanted, encharmed, entranced, to fall under a spell... these are weaknesses.  A superstitious person is seen as silly, immature, perhaps even mentally ill.  And amongst a certain variety of Atheists, all Religious People are seen in this way.

Over such People the Fox wishes to weave a spell...  I wish to ENTRANCE you.  Come inside this Magical Garden I am perceiving.  Suspend disbelief for but a Mo(ve)ment: this in itself is not against your credo.  You  have Permission to Enter, so put aside a priori assumptions for just a moment and experience a new direction of thought.   Consider Awe and Wonder as a mode of experience.....   And speaking of Experience...

The Word "Experience" is related to "Exercise."  I have heard some folks claim that they have never had spiritual experiences.  This is difficult for me to relate to because throughout my Life I have engaged the spiritual side of perception and had many what I would call spiritual Experiences.  However, my counsel to those who have never had spiritual Experiences is not to assume, therefore, that spiritual Experiences do not exist, or can be dismissed:  consider the possibility that Spiritual Experience is linked to Spiritual Exercise.  If one undertakes certain Spiritual Exercises, it is only then that the religious traditions of the World assure them of Spiritual Experience.  Mystics of the past went on long vigils, fasted, spent time alone, forewent certain pleasures, prayed, meditated, did specific breathing or yogic exercises, ingested certain teas or herbs or fungi, performed certain rituals, were initiated by specific groups....   They did not consider their knowledge of the mysteries complete because they read a few library books or did a Google search.  In our Day, we seem to regard the Spiritual Experience as an Endangered Species.... in point of fact it is the Spiritual Exercise and all the inner work on our thoughts, emotions, and will that is actually Endangered.  To truly grab hold of ourselves and do the Inner Work, to learn a Discipline or to undertake a Practice... this is all that is lacking if we wish to see the World Open Up.

I wish upon any Friend of Mine the same Joy in their Perception of the World that I experience in my Perception.  You are invited to try on my lenses, and see the World as I see it, if you like.  Or discover your own way of seeing.  But Yes, Eyes, See!  See beyond the delusion and into the World as It Really Is, as only the Truest version of You can rightfully see it.

If you are seeing the World as a place of Scarcity or Fear you are not seeing it right. (If I may be so bold as to tell you so!) If you are seeing yourself as a victim or circumstances as unchangeable you are not seeing it right.  If you see yourself as more important than others you are not seeing it right.  If you do not see the Potential Paradise you are not in the Garden.

I recently looked up into the Sky at the Star which was its Zenith.  And I perceived that emanating out from this Zenith Star was a Fibonnaci Spiral that encompassed the Dome of the whole Sky....  I understood at once what Jacob's Ladder was...  And I knew that there is a Divine Fingerprint in all Things.  I believe that the Spiral of Life manifests itself in every form of Life, and there is Sacred Geometry in all Things.  If you will notice the Spiral, the Hexagon, the Fruit of Life, the Flower of Life, the Tree of Life, the Seed of Life, the Star of Creation in all the Objects that Cross Your Path you will come closer to Wonder, and to Belief...

As Above, So Below.  When we look at the Stars some of us see only points of Light and know only the astronomy of Satellites and Telescopes.  This astronomy is mighty indeed, but learn the names of these Stars... Study the Mazzaroth and discern the Phases of the Moon.... it starts with paying attention to these subtle things....  Become EnTRANCED by the Planet You Are Inhabiting and the Seat it Affords You in the Cosmos...

When you see a piece of trash lying on the ground, pick it up.  If it can be recycled, recycle it.  This is an excellent spiritual practice which will transform the way you see the World.  Many people think this is a good idea but do not actually do it when it comes down to it.  They are too busy, or there's just too much trash, they are only one person, how can such a small action possibly make a difference.  They forget that we live in a Cosmos that responds to our intention.  Our best and noblest actions are automatically Multiplied by the Great Multiplier of Everything.  A do-nothing, change-nothing mentality is an absurd trick to cheat you out of being a maker of history.

Once you walk through the Door you are no longer Outside, but Inside.  Looking at World Events from the Inside will bring you a lot greater clarity, I believe.  Why do People fear the mystical mindset?  Is it because they are afraid they will be swept into ignorance or cultish thinking?  Will succumb to conspiracy theories and latch on to end-times prophecies?  What being EnTRANCED does, actually, is gives your Mind space to Expand... gives you the ability to Receive Messages...  gives you the chance to engage the World around you with Hope and Prayer rather than just passive Acceptance or Serenity, or worse still, panic and discord.
Higher than Worry is Wonder.  Higher than Wonder is Worship.
Worry looks downward.  Wonder looks out and reaches its hands outward in Awe.  Worship looks Up and Reaches Hands Upward in Love.

Perceive these Differences and try on a New Perspective Now and Again.  Don't make your Mind up so quickly and accept defeated schemas of the World which reduce you to one person among 7 Billion.  You are more than that.  You are a Co-Creator with the Divine.  You are a Channel for Love, which is the Strongest Force in the Universe, and can never be overestimated.

-KiJjiT FoX

Monday, June 24, 2013

The False Teaching of the Christian Right on the Environment

I am so very grateful to have been brought up within a Christian home, and to have been engaged in church throughout my childhood and adolescence.  The Bible promises parents in Proverbs 22:6 that if they will "bring up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it."  In my case, my parents raised me to believe not by laying down dogmas, but by cultivating in me a sense of Wonder.  This was the right approach: as a consequence I have always felt free to question assumptions and think for myself. But I have not made what I feel is the mistaken conclusion that many others of my generation make when they set out to question the orthodoxy handed down from previous generations: I have not ruled out supernatural or magical explanations for things, and I have not seen fit to discard my belief in the God that I learned to love as a child.  I have tested the doctrines of Christianity against the urges and passions of my own heart, and therefore I feel that my faith has far greater depth than it would have if, say, I had been discouraged from forming my own interpretations and opinions in my walk with Christ.

However, I would like to point out that because I was taught to think for myself, there were many, many times throughout my childhood and adolescence in Evangelical churches, that I found myself differing wildly from things my "elders" were teaching.  In particular, I encountered a lot of teaching from Christian leaders that conflated Christian doctrines with conservative politics.  This did not make sense to me then and it does not make sense to me now.   In 2003 and 2004, when my activities in the anti-War movement were called into question by church leaders who said they "feared for my soul," I parted company, with a heavy heart, from the Evangelical wing of Christianity.  I came back to an Evangelical church and tried again in the years 2008-2011, but found that my uniqueness and my occasional voice of dissent was still unwelcome, and liable to make me the target of ridiculous rumors.  I am now happily a part of the American Episcopal Church, which is made up of progressive people who value the same things I value: environmentalism, social justice, and peace.  I feel blessed to have gone on the journey I went on, including the painful moments of rejection and even character assassination in conservative churches, because it made me who I am today.  And I am now someone who has an insider's feel for the false teaching prevalent throughout the Christian right, on such issues as the environment.

For a long time I have been considering making a detailed study of Evangelical attitudes toward environmentalism.  I know from personal experience that there is a strong degree of negativity in Evangelical churches toward environmentalism.  In 2011 when I was preparing to move to San Diego, California and work for my favorite non-profit, Greenpeace, I was told by one church leader that I shouldn't bother, because God was going to destroy the Planet anyway, and the time I was investing trying to save the Planet could be better spent trying to win sinners to Jesus.  I honestly felt disgusted and appalled by such thinking.  I am an environmentalist because I believe that the Earth is God's creation and that humans are God's gardeners, charged with stewardship over every other species.  I am an environmentalist because Nature has long been my sanctuary, my place of prayer, and a place of revelation.  Peruse my writings on this very blog and you will see that my experiences in the Woods and Deserts and Gardens of this World have been the strongest affirmation to my Christianity.  Therefore, I found it ridiculous, and still found it ridiculous, that the faith of Jesus should cause anyone to care less about our forests, our oceans, our climate, and our Arctic.  The law of Christian love should mean that we care more.

Recently I began reading the book A Reenchanted World: The Quest for a New Kinship With Nature by James William Gibson.  The scope of the book is wide, but in the eighth chapter "The Right Wing War on the Land," the author gets into the exact issue that is in the dead center of my own heart: the attitudes of Evangelical Christians toward environmentalism.  So thoroughly did the author treat the subject, that I came away from reading the chapter feeling like I did not need to replicate his research.  I needed only to highlight the relevant passages from this chapter and share it on this blog, and anyone who reads it will be exposed to a thorough and accurate portrayal of how the Evangelical right has SLAUGHTERED the intents of Scripture and produced a twisted theology of exploitation and destruction in place of God's mandate for us to care for the environment.  In the next several paragraphs that follow, you will be reading the words of James William Gibson from A Reenchanted World, chapter 8.  At the end of the long section of quotations, expect further commentary from me, which rebuilds the Christian imperative to care for Creation.

From James William Gibson:
"As the twenty-first century began... the environmental movement came under deliberate, organized attack from the Christian right...

"strikingly, the backlash [against environmentalism] from the business world was dwarfed by the negative reaction from the nation's evangelical and fundamentalist Protestant leadership: figures such as Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Tim LaHaye, and James Dobson.  Along with many other conservative Christian theologians, scholars, and preachers, they saw the enchantment of nature as a dangerous threat both to their faith and to political and economic doctrines they derived from fundamentalist theology...

"Environmentalism, they argue, goes against God's laws of dominion as laid out in the Bible; worshipping nature is idolatry and therefore a form of Satanism.  Moreover, according to some readings of the Book of Revelation, all true Christians, both dead and alive, will physically ascend into heaven during the Rapture; the fallen Christians who are left behind will fight the Antichrist.  Then, after seven years of Tribulations, Christ will battle the Antichrist and eventually defeat him, destroying the planet and creating a new Earth.  Various interpretations of the prophecy differ in their details, but the point is clear: If the Lord is going to destroy the old Earth and replace it with a new one, then there is no need for an environmental movement.  On the contrary, it's a deadly distraction from the urgent need to accept Jesus Christ as one's personal savior and convert to Christianity before the Rapture...

"Evangelical writer Frank Peretti made the bestseller lists with his 1989 novel Piercing the Darkness, in which a host of demons invade a small town to wreak havoc and capture unsuspecting souls.  When not doing the devil's work, the demons relax at the Summit Institute for Humanistic Studies, where they take pleasure in attending seminars such as "Ecology: The Merging of Earth and Spirit."  One of the presenters (modeled on folk singer John Denver) plays a guitar before reading his paper; the celebrity-filled audience sings along.  Peretti describes the scene: 'The demons among them were enjoying it as well.  Such worship and attention as they were now receiving was like getting a good back rub, and they even twitched and squirmed with delight at every bar of the song's carefully shaded double meanings.'
That same year Samantha Smith, another evangelical author, attended a Los Angeles conference on the 'New U.S. Agenda for Environment and Development in the 1990s.'  The conference attendees included John Denver, CNN magnate Ted Turner, former president Jimmy Carter, former astronaut John Glenn, and U.S. senators Al Gore, Tim Wirth, and Mark Hatfield.  To her dismay, a Native American spiritual leader named Little Crow made prayers to Mother Earth, Grandfather Spirit, and the Four Directions, declaring the conference a 'sacred place.'  Smith decried the attendees who 'gave reverence to the demonic spirit called Mother Earth,' and later wrote a book to expose the environmental movement's pagan agenda.  According to Smith, it was God alone who was sacred; and 'like it or not, when the earth has served His purpose, He will destroy it (2 Peter 3:10) and will create a new Heaven and a new earth...

"Pat Robertson, the famous evangelical television talk-show host, wrote three bestselling books in the early 1990s - The New Millenium (1990), The New World Order (1991), and The Secret Kingdom (1992) - which articulated many fundamentalist ideas about the environment.  In the first, he explains that it was President Ronald Reagan's secretary of the interior, Donald Hodel, who first alerted him to the religious dangers of the environmental movement: 'Hodel told me that I would never understand the wilderness movement until I recognized that to these people, these activists, the wilderness is an object of worship.  It is something they worship as an ideal.' In his more compassionate moments, Robertson saw the activists as 'people desperately searching for something to fill the void in their own souls... and they are reaching out to nature as God.' But he made clear that he thought they were wrong. 'What happens in the wilderness may be important to nature and the natural processes of the earth, but it certainly is not holy.'...

"Indeed, wrote Robertson, in treating parts of the Earth as sacred, environmentalists committed the sin of idolatry, violating several important Biblical injunctions.  In The Secret Kingdom Robertson says that while he was thinking about these very issues, God spoke to him in a conversational voice, telling him to open his Bible: 'Look at Genesis and you will see.'  Robertson reports that his eyes fell upon this passage in Genesis 1:26-27 (his emphasis): 'And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.  So God created man.'  Robertson believes that God had instructed him to stress man's authority over the Earth - 'He wants him to rule the way he was created to rule... God gave man a sweeping and total mandate of dominion over this planet and everything in it.'
"To Robertson and many other evangelical thinkers, the notion that humans are made in God's image means that any doctrine stressing equality and kinship between humans and animals is a sin.  Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is denounced both because it is 'godless' and because it teaches that humans are biologically related to other mammals.  Enchantment's goal of creating and affirming totemic relationships with animals similarly violates evangelicals' strict boundaries.  Robertson argues that such 'naturalistic and animist' tendencies are linked to older pagan worship, and that 'in each of these pagan religions there was always a seed of Satanic root.'
In The New World Order Robertson offered a dramatic response to the ideas of international cooperation for preserving the environment, laying out a scenario in which something similar to Gore's 'global Marshall plan' for the planet came to pass.  There would be an internationally ratified 'Law of the Sea' to regulate maritime commerce, preventing ships from dumping waste into oceans and controlling fishing to stop species depletion; and a 'Law of the Land and Forest' to stop deforestation, especially in the tropics.  A 'Law of the Skies' would control ozone-depleting chemicals and other air pollution: 'No one would be allowed to pollute the air that the people of the world, its plants, and its animal life must breathe.' A 'Law of Energy Conservation,' meanwhile, would regulate automobile fuel mileage, and 'develop electric automobiles, alternate power sources, and safe, cheap nuclear power.'  And a 'Law of Industry and Agriculture' would establish worldwide standards for guaranteed minimum wages, health benefits, and product safety.
"Would this environmental New World Order be a utopia?  In Robertson's view, just the opposite.  To him, the quest to restore ecological balance and sustainable development is merely a ruse, a distraction for the masses, masking a sinister plot.  The creation of world treaties would require a single world currency, administered by a world bank.  A huge bureaucracy would inevitably develop to apply all the new regulations.  The new international government would require a worldwide Internal Revenue Service, along with a United Nations army authorized to shoot American citizens for tax crimes - or for other violations, such as possession of firearms.  (In Robertson's assessment, 'With the government as god, the major crimes in society involve breaking government regulations.')  These nefarious developments are all part of a Satanic plan: 'Satan knows that world government must soon be prepared for the man whom he is preparing to receive his particular empowerment and authority.'  The New World Order, ostensibly focused on saving the Earth, is actually a stage for the coming of the Antichrist.

"Robertson's vivid portrayal of a demonic, omnipotent world government certainly helped influence evangelicals' opinions about environmental treaties.  But it was theologian Tim LaHaye who was responsible for the Christian right's most widely read and influential assault on the culture of enchantment.  LaHaye, who served on Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority board of directors and was quite well known in evangelical circles, promulgated beliefs about the connection between environmentalism and the devil that were even more extreme than those of Pat Robertson.  In one book, LaHaye argues that the entire surface of the planet and its atmosphere is the 'abode of Satan.'  In another, he approvingly quotes a fellow dispensationalist scholar, Joseph Lam, who asserts that 'the Himalayan Mountains of Tibet and Nepal gave Lucifer the high ground he adores (Isaiah 14:13-14).  In a 1999 work called Are We Living in the End Times?, LaHaye and fellow evangelist Jerry Jenkins pointed to dangerous warning signs: 'These days paganism is widespread not only in backward countries but also in America.  Have you noticed the increasing worship of the mother goddess Gaia?...It is quite possible that we are on the verge of seeing a merging of the feminist movement, liberal Christianity (with its penchant for feminizing the scriptures), and mother goddess worship.'  To LaHaye and Jenkins, any movement that saw the Earth as a whole, or particular landscapes, as sacred was guilty of spreading Satan's influence.  As Dr. Henry Morris, a right-wing theologian cited by LaHaye, declared, worship of 'the spirits of trees and other natural objects... is in reality worship of demons.'
"Starting in 1995, LaHaye paired up with Jenkins to produce a twelve-volume series of novels called Left Behind, which used fundamentalist theological ideas to create a terrifying fictional world.  The series is the story of a group of people who find Jesus Christ only after the Rapture has occurred and the Antichrist is rising to take control of a United Nations-dominated new world order.  The heroes form a paramilitary commando group to fight the Antichrist and his many minions, and ultimately to challenge Satan.  The paramilitary novel was already a familiar vehicle for conservative authors; since the late 1960s dozens of such fictional series had featured heroes fighting outside the system to defeat drug dealers, terrorists, and communists.  LaHaye and Jenkins reframed the genre using evangelical doctrines.  Left Behind made its way not only into Christian retail outlets, but also into mainstream bookstores such as Barnes & Noble and even into big-box stores like Wal-Mart and Target.  By 2003, sales of books from the series had exceeded fifty million copies.
"The Left Behind books attack the culture of enchantment on a number of levels.  The Antichrist's official religion, called Great Enigma Mystery Babylon One-World Faith, is a reenchantment-like ecumenical mix.  The head of this church addresses his audience with a benediction: 'I confer upon this gathering the blessing of the universal father and mother and animal deities who lovingly guide us on our path to true spirituality.' The post-Rapture Earth is a hell, a place where 'fallen,' imperfect Christians suffer endless and hideous torments.  Early in the Tribulations, massive earthquakes turn the sky black with volcanic ash, 'burning up a third of all the earth's trees and all its grasses.'  Something like a giant meteorite crashes into the ocean, turning one-third of all ocean life into blood.  Another poisonous meteorite contaminates one-third of the Earth's rivers and springs, making them toxic.  Millions of locustlike creatures strike with venom so strong that people's bodies burn for 'five long months.'  Midway through the Tribulations, half of the world's population has died terrible deaths.
"'And then,' LaHaye and Jenkins write, 'it gets worse.'  During the second half of the Tribulations, God's wrath is 'poured out in full strength.' A plague of 'foul and loathsome' sores torments those who worship the Antichrist.  God kills every animal in the oceans, and 'dead sea creatures rise to the surface, spreading their corruption to the four winds.'  Angry that the Antichrist has killed many of those who converted to Christianity after the Rapture, God turns the world's springs, rivers, and lakes into blood.  Afterward, He increases the sun's power, to bake and torture the survivors.
"The message of the Left Behind series echoes that of Pat Robertson and other evangelicals.  Humans cannot save the Earth - 'Jesus Christ is the only one who has been given authority to bring such a kingdom into being,' writes LaHaye.  The Earth is Satan's home, and all animals and plants are connected to his demons.  It makes sense, then, that true Christians should long for personal salvation and hope to be swept away in the Rapture, lifted to heaven where God resides.  After that, according to LaHaye, God 'will destroy this earth that is so marred and cursed by Satan's evil.  He will include the atmospheric heaven to guarantee that all semblance of evil has been cleared away...

"In turn, many conservative thinkers, even those not known for their religious devotion, began to spout theology to justify unrestrained taking of the Earth's resources.  Conservative pundit Ann Coulter quipped, 'God gave us the earth.  We have dominion over the plants, the animals, the trees.  God said, 'Earth is yours. Take it.  Rape it.  It's yours.'"

COMMENTARY:
In the above passages, it should first be noted that the Christian leaders whose works were quoted - Samantha Smith, Pat Robertson, and Tim LaHaye - are themselves woefully uneducated about the very subject they pretend to be experts on: the Bible!  Take, for example, Samantha Smith's strong objection to a Native American speaking to Mother Earth.  She goes so far as to say that Mother Earth is a 'demonic spirit.'  How would she respond, then, to the following passage from the book of Job?

“But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
    or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;
or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,
    or let the fish in the sea inform you.
Which of all these does not know
    that the hand of the Lord has done this?
10 In his hand is the life of every creature
    and the breath of all mankind.
(Job 12:7-10)

Clearly, "speaking to the earth" is not a sin, but is actually something the Bible encourages us to do!  Romans 8 teaches us that Creation is groaning for its Redemption, and ours.  In my personal, mystical experience I have found this to be true.  Nature is a living, sentient force that adores her Creator and looks forward to an Edenic future just as she looks back to an Edenic past.

Consider Pat Robertson's treatment of the word "Dominion" in Genesis 1:26-27.  He argues that since God gave man "Dominion" over the Planet, that must mean that God gave man a "sweeping and total mandate" over the Planet and everything in it.  But how is the idea of "dominion" applied elsewhere in Scripture?  When God sets up a king, for example, in the Old Testament, he gives that king "dominion" over a nation.  But does He expect that king to rule unkindly?  Does he expect the king to take unnecessary life?  No.  In fact, God expects the highest level of responsibility and care from those he has placed in authority.  If humans are placed in authority over the Planet, as the Bible does indeed teach that they are, then God will surely expect them to have exercised that authority with Love and restraint!  When King David took the wife of a man whom he had deliberately conspired to have killed in battle, the Lord sent a prophet to reprove him for abusing his power (2 Samuel 12).  David's last words were:
 ‘He who rules over men must be just,
Ruling in the fear of God.
And he shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises,
A morning without clouds,
Like the tender grass springing out of the earth,
By clear shining after rain.’  (2 Samuel 23:3-4)

 Evidently David had learned what God expected of him.  

What about Pat Robertson's assertion that kinship between humans and animals is a sin?  How might Pat Robertson react to the following Biblical passage?  Ecclesiastes 3:18-20:
18 I said in my heart, “Concerning the condition of the sons of men, God tests them, that they may see that they themselves are like animals.” 19 For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity. 20 All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust.

You should know that in the above passage the world translated as "breath" as in "they all have one breath" is the Hebrew word ruach, which can also be translated "soul."  The Bible therefore affirms not only that Animals have souls, but that they have the same soul as humans.  This is a doctrine that is found, for example, in Hinduism, yet here we find it very much at home in the Bible!  Clearly, there is a kinship between humans and animals, one far more profound than mere biological kinship, but a soul-level kinship.  And this makes sense, when you consider the prominent place that Animals have in the Bible.  Ravens fed the prophet Elijah when he lived in the wilderness; talking donkeys revealed God's plan.  To say we are not related to them and do not have a special bond with them is a heretical teaching.  Proverbs 12:10 clearly says that a righteous man "regards the life of his animals."

So this leaves us with only one other major doctrine to challenge from the Christian Right, and it has to do with all that world-ending rubbish.  Is it, in fact, fair to say that since God is going to destroy the old Earth and create a new one that we should not care for the current one?  Well, let's look at the Scriptures.  The favorite one, used by Samantha Smith above, is 2 Peter 3:10 - "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up."    It is true that a straightforward reading of this Scripture leads one to conclude that the Earth will burn.  However, one must always compare Scripture with Scripture when formulating theology - and in my estimation there are far more reasons to believe that the Earth is going to be renewed than to believe it is going to be completely destroyed.  The most complete passage detailing the fate of the Earth is in Romans 8:19-23.  This important passage is almost completely ignored in conservative circles: 

19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

I know that St. Paul's writings can get wordy, but this passage clearly shows that "the creature," which in this case is a generic term meaning all creatures, has an "expectation."  In other words, creatures are capable of wanting, needing, feeling, hoping.  In particular, the creatures are hoping for deliverance from corruption.  This is the same deliverance that we ourselves, as Christians, are looking forward to: our salvation by faith in Christ is the firstfruits of a total redemption, a total renewal, a total return to Edenic conditions.  And will the creature's hopes be realized?  Verse 21 is clear that they will.  "The creature itself also shall be delivered."   When one interprets key Bible passages such as 2 Peter 3:10 in light of this theology, comparing Scripture with Scripture, then we can know for sure what the Bible means by "A New Heavens and a New Earth."  IT means the same thing as when it refers to Christians as "a new creation."  2 Corinthians 5:17 says "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."  Think back on your conversion to Christ, if you are a Christian.  Were you destroyed?  Did you die a physical death before God made you a new creature?  No.  But the things in you which were evil were put to death.  When God delivers the Earth, similarly, He will not physically kill it.  Even the imagery of fire and burning that is used in 2 Peter is signifying renewal: fire has long been a symbol of renewal.  The fire of the Holy Spirit, for example, is precisely the fire that fell upon you when you were saved, and it did not destroy you physically, but renewed you spiritually.  

It may surprise you to learn, if you are of the opinion that God will destroy the Planet, that what He has in fact promised to do is destroy those who are polluting it.  Revelation 11:18 reads as follows, "And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth."  

Now there's a Scripture for the environmental movement!  Maybe the time of destruction that comes before the renewal is a targeted destruction which the parts of His Creation that God labeled "good" in Genesis chapter 1 escape, and which the parts of His Creation that have abused others through a political program of environmental devastation, do not escape!  Why is it that this very obvious interpretation has not occurred to the likes of Samantha Smith, Pat Robertson, and Tim LaHaye?

In a way, of course, it should not even matter what one's schema for the "End Times" is when it comes to how we should treat the Planet.  Christians on both sides of the political aisle would do well to remember that when it comes to the "End Times"... "of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." (Mark 13:32)  And it is the Devil, not Christians, who gets possessed of a mighty sense of urgency at the end "because he knows his time is short." (Revelation 12:12).  So when one hears the bells of alarm sounding from pulpits that the End is Near and all the stops should be pulled out, and we should suddenly not care for the Creation God gave us, suspect the Enemy, not the Holy Spirit, to be behind it.  After all, the first SEVEN things God EVER said to Humans are as follows:

1. Be Fruitful!
2. Multiply!
3. Replenish the Earth!
4. Subdue it!
5. Have Dominion Over (have responsibility for) the Fish of the Sea!
6. Have Dominion Over the Birds of the Air!
7.  Have Dominion Over the Beasts of the Earth!

These come straight from Genesis 1:28, and should be known as the Edenic Mandate.  Taken together, they inspire the Human Race to be productive, useful stewards of the Earth's life and resources, like wise kings and queens, like the Lord and Lady Adam and Eve who were placed in the Garden of Eden "to dress and keep it" (Genesis 2:15).  It does NOT amount to Ann Coulter's summation, "God said, 'Earth is yours. Take it.  Rape it.  It's yours.'"  Ann Coulter, in misquoting God, is a FALSE TEACHER and so are Pat Robertson and Tim LaHaye or anyone who echoes them and inspires others to devalue Earth or to shirk our sacred duty to Replenish the Planet.  

-KiJjiT

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

A conversation about Gratitude

Dear Mother Eden,
        How is it You Replenish the Earth?  Bring back the Land after Fire & pestilence?
        Restore a Rest, after the Emergency?
        How is it that Green Plants always come back, reclaiming?
        How is Heaven Never Lost?
                                 -FoX

Dear Eden-Child,
       I am Replenished, Every Moment, by the Love of Father God.
      He has given the Sun and Rain to Me.  He IS the Sun.  He IS the Rain.
      He Gives Himself.
      I, in Turn, reach back to Him in Praising.
      The LIFE I own is Gratitude.
      By My Gratitude I turn the Sun to Bread and the Rain to Wine.
      I respond in minerals, in chemicals, in invisible scents and vapors.  I am the Stomachs of the Worms who          
      devour every kibble.  By their Usefulness, I employ every piece of what God has given.  I waste nothing,
      for Gratitude does not.  And by not-wastefulness, and gratitude, I have Everything I Need.  No Fires  
      scorch me, no pestilence lasts.  No plague has permission to stay: I have infinite Time Scale.  I am one of
      God's Creatures.  Like all His Creatures, I have Eternal Life.  I shall not die, but Change.  Change &
      Grow.  I am never Lost.  And in all Emergency, know that I am Resting, and Reclaiming

                                                                                       Love,
                                                                                           Mother

Dear Mother,
       Thank You.  By your Answer I can see how I should live my Life.  In Gratitude for every Gift I have received.  What you said about the Sun turning to Bread and the Rain turning to Wine reminded me of how, in my own Body, through my own Soul's ability to focus on Gratitude for the Love of Christ, I can transform Bread to the Body of Christ, and Wine to the Blood of Christ.  The Holy Spirit seems to tell my Heart that this is the True Meaning of the Sacrament.  So Thank You for helping me to see that Perspective.

      You say no fires scorch you, and no pestilence lasts.  And I know that You can survive even as a Planet of Rocks and Ice.  Your sisters and brothers in the Heavens are doing just that.  But I don't Love You cold & stony.  I Love You Green, & Leafy, and this is why I Fight For You.  Dear Mother, aren't you concerned about Monsanto?  How would it be if every seed on Earth was man-created, not God-and-You-created?  I am concerned with these things.

                                                                            LoVe,
                                                                                FoX

Dear Fox-child,
     You are right to be Concerned about these things.  They affect You.

     However, ages pass.

     The Greed of Humanity alone is what empowers Monsanto.  And the Greed of Humanity can be shut off.
     The switch is in every Human Heart.  Only a fraction need to discover this, and flip the switch.  By your personal transformation, you transform the Universe.
     Take the case of organic gardening.  Essentially, when you garden without the use of pesticides or chemical fertilizers, you are telling God that You are grateful for what he gives you: if He gives you an unexpected pest or some failed crops, you are participating at the same pace as Nature, who must withstand whatever setbacks.  In organic gardening, you are learning to scheme with the Planet, not work against it, not try to subdue it.  You are being grateful for it, and transforming it.  Eden-Child, you do more than just transform Bread to Body and Wine to Blood when you dig through the dirt.  You transform every single thing you can be grateful for, and not waste.  The compost of your soul is a scrap heap anointed by Gratitude.
      It is this alone which Humans must discover in themselves: Full Gratitude, and then the Earth is Changed.

                                                                        -Mama
   


Friday, June 7, 2013

Trees of A'eden

The following is an excerpt from my upcoming poetic novel.  It is a song of the FoX to the Trees.

Happy Trees of A'eden,
Sing Me Now Your Song.
Sing the Tune the Whole World
Loves to Sing Along.
Tell of how Your Maker
Planted You, Here, Strong.
Speak of how Your Garden
Is the Work of God.

Tell Me, Trees of A'eden,
How the Garden fares.
Who let in the Dragon?
Tell Me All Your Cares.
Who has stolen Your Bounty?
Who broke Your One Law?
Tell of Eve and Adam
Who have caused the Fall.

Lonely Trees of A'eden!
Speaking in the Wind.
Speaking yet now Unheard,
Ignored because of Sin.
Weeping Trees of A'eden,
Missing Adam's Touch.
Crying Trees of A'eden
Who Loved Eve So Much.

Angry Trees of A'eden!
Sing Me Now Your Song.
Tell of how the Whole World
Strayed so far, so wrong.
Tell of how Your Children,
Cut & slashed & burned,
Are felled by Adam's Children
Who have never learned.

Saturday, May 18, 2013

More Interesting Problems

For the past couple weeks I have been communing with the book Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings by Rob Brezsny.  You might expect that a book with such an outlandish title would be of interest to the FoX, and indeed, I have found the ideas put forth by Brezsny so compatible with my own that I have had to occasionally put the book down to avoid feeling like I am just living in an echo chamber of ideas.  One of the things which the book recommends is breaking out of your familiar mode and exposing yourself to new and challenging ideas.  The thought Universe of Pronoia, however, is itself not always challenging to me: in fact it has been uncanny how familiar the logic behind Brezsny's work is.  Without ever having read a book by Rob Brezsny before, I have found myself anticipating his statements as I read, saying "Aha!  Yes!  Someone else has learned this too!": all because similar Truths have been whispered to my Soul in direct Spiritual experiences --  by the Trees and by the Streams -- as I have practiced meditation and listening on my own these past few Years.

Nonetheless, there have been a few gems within Brezsny's book that have been new to me.  Chief among them is the assertion that "Acquiring problems is a fundamental human need."  Brezsny argues that one of the chief ends of spiritual growth is finding "Bigger, Better, More Interesting Problems."  When I first read these statements I was a bit taken aback.  When I look at the World, and the myriad Crisis Fronts that present themselves before us in the Movement for a just and sustainable society, I commonly fantasize that the building pitch of involvement and concern coming from the awakening activists and healers among us will eventually sweep the World's slate clean of problems.  I imagine that each soul on the Planet will soon be Free to pursue their own heavenly ambitions, without the tyranny of corrupt governments and corporations everywhere around them.  I do not wish to hear that Bigger Problems are in store for us, beyond these ones: much less am I ready to celebrate that fact!

“Mr. Wonka: "Don’t forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he wanted."
Charlie Bucket: "What happened?"
Mr. Wonka: "He lived happily ever after.” 
― Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Brezsny's statement that "Acquiring problems is a fundamental human need," at first seemed to jar up against that simpler, more comfortable prediction of living happily ever after.  It made me angry.  It seemed to suggest that something inside of us is rather petty and would rather live with stress and contradiction than with a serene and satisfied mind.  I rebelled against this statement for a few days.  I hoped that, at least in my life and in my sphere of influence, I could prove the reverse: that I could struggle valiantly into a Future where the problematic was checked, and balanced, against my hard-won Paradise.  Accepting Brezsny's aphorism about acquiring more problems threatened that picture, and made it seem that the Fight itself was less worth it.  If at the end of this Struggle only one more Struggle awaits, why keep pushing onward at all?

But as I spent part of a Morning sitting near a Stream and watching its tranquil flow lovingly carry an assortment of fallen leaves and Flower petals gently downstream, I found myself reflecting on the fact that Biological Life -- the Natural and Wild Force which inspires every green thing to grow, even in places where its conditions for growth are challenged and interrupted by Man's toxic, chemical, and mechanical inventions -- Biological Life does not stop.  It struggles every day as if it were the first day. If it gets tired, it does not show it: every Spring the threatened species of honeybees and songbirds work just as hard to pass on their genes, muster up more and more gusto to not only succeed, for a season, but usually to do so in a blaze of Beauty and Color.  Life Herself does not need a gleaming Future to arrive so it can stop struggling.  Right Here, Right Now, is a Perfect Moment: She has all She needs.  Things may not be perfect but She can make them seem so: She is infinitely resourceful and can make the Best of any situation.  If the Earth is seeking Rest, if She is "groaning for the Adoption of the Body" (and I do believe that She is), She does not seem to have any preconditions on how long She is willing to wait or how hard She is willing to Struggle.  She carries on, she endures - and all the while She seems to do so joyfully, without making it seem like a Burden at all.

The previous post on this blog contained many statements pertaining to my belief that the Oppressors currently inhabiting our Planet, currently denying God's Creatures their Rest and Solace, will someday be Judged.  I do believe in that Judgement, and I believe that a unique Balance of Judgement and Mercy is to be  found within the character of God, specifically as revealed by Christianity.  I find that Certainty we are given, which says that we eventually Win and the bad buys lose, to be a very beautiful piece of the doctrines of Christ.  Nevertheless when I typed up my oracle against the Global 1% I evidently manifested an energy which alienated, or at least failed to connect to, a very wise Reader of my Blog - a Rainbow Sister whose own words have inspired me countless times.  I am accustomed to my words being ignored or even argued against by folks who I don't consider as having been "awakened" to the same voice of Truth that I have come to love listening to - Gaia's Voice, Mother Eden's Voice: but somehow knowing of this Sister's reaction to my words stung me a little.  I messaged her about it and she was quick to tell me that it was not about me, and that simply this had to do only with a difference in energies that we were both reacting to and working with at the time.  Nevertheless, it nagged in the back of my mind that I could be out of line with any of the Rainbow energy of healing and harmony that I so cherish.  I thought this over many times as I re-read the words I had written against our Planet's Polluters and Abusers.  I also thought about Rob Brezsny saying that we will always acquire new problems.  Without the luxury of being able to point to Judgement, and without the promise of a Paradise At Ease, a Future free of Concern, I was indeed, I admit, dealing with some prospects that I did not wish to entertain.

But then a realization hit me.  It came in the form of a Change to my schedule at work.  I have come to really appreciate the schedule that I have been working for the past couple of months.  And suddenly, from the top down, administration wanted to change it.  They gave me a paper with a couple different options, all of which looked horrible to me, and only a couple short days to say which one I preferred.  My mind went to a place where I began to say, "This is unfair!"  Luckily, my co-worker's thought process was a bit more lucid than my own, and she began to work on an alternative proposal.  Buckminster Fuller's mantra came to my mind, which says, "“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”  She was able to persuade the powers that be at our job to adopt a schedule change which worked for everybody, including me.  And she did not do it by feeling slighted.

Now the fact that we will always acquire new problems is beginning to make more sense to me.  Far from being a reason not to work for change, this Truth seems like even more motivation to Struggle.  For indeed, they can be More Interesting Problems.  Since "Energy flows where attention goes," the fact that we can acquire new problems seems to indicate that we can actually upstage the old, boring problems of gender oppression, environmental devastation, political corruption, and bigotry of all shapes and sizes.  If we as a culture can focus on building the new models that make this existing model obsolete, we can invite a whole host of new problems to replace the boring ones we have now.  This, in fact, is what Brezsny was saying all along.  But it did take my hard head a few days to process it.  


So here are some ideas, some propositions, on problems we can invite into our Future:
-- How to go farther into Space, how to learn more about distant Planets, how to build more sophisticated instruments, microscopes that see smaller and telescopes that see farther...  Perhaps in the future we will have great debates on which Science project to fund more fully, rather than the debate we currently have on whether to fund these endeavors at all.
--How to raise Children who are fully free to make up their own minds about gender roles and identities.  Perhaps we can have that problem instead of the current one where which state one lives in determines who has the freedom to marry.

--Perhaps in the future people can get all bent out of shape about whether its better to raise Cows or Goats.  Perhaps we will have this problem instead of trying to convince people not to support factory farms by buying meat in grocery stores that was processed in Confined Animal Feeding Operations.
--Perhaps there can be mega debates in the future about whether Wind or Wave Energy is more profitable to pursue as a society.  Perhaps we can invite this problem as an antidote to the tired old reasons now evinced of why we can't divest from fossil fuels.  
--Perhaps in the future, rather than worrying about which country we can invade next, or which will attack us, we can devote a large percentage of our national attention to where the Olympics are going to be held.
--Perhaps instead of fighting over the Education budget in the future, we can all chime in on whether the top notch, outdoor classrooms full of competent teachers and healthy children we have, would be better taught in the mornings or in the afternoons.


Perhaps a new national debate, a new global set of problems, is exactly what we really need, and not an end to the Struggle by any means.

Now, when it comes to my personal Life: these days I do indeed feel that I have leveled up.  For so long I lived as a Single man, and all I wanted was a person to love and start a family with.  I have now found that person and it has been my delight to begin solving new and better problems alongside her.  I no longer have the worries I had as a single man, of who I could spend my evenings with, of what I could do with my loneliness.  But I do have the problems of how to deal with a 3 year old, how to keep a house clean in the midst of diaper changing and toys being strewn about.  These are bigger problems, but they are definitely better.  And I have learned quickly that the amount of angst my problems create is always, no matter the situation, entirely up to me.  If what I seek is a deeper level of satisfaction and contentment, I find that it really depends on no external situation whatsoever how much Peace I can wring out of the moment.  Even if hectic levels of activity or chaos, my gratitude to Be Here Now connects me to my Source and helps me transcend any petty thoughts.  The notion that anything about Life could be unfair is shown to be ridiculous.  A zen-like response to problems is always possible, no matter how big or small.

Perhaps the amount of problems one will face in Life is always constant.  Perhaps the level of difficulty we are supposed to encounter is predetermined, like fate.  Maybe its hardwired into us to always be at odds with Something.  Maybe even after every stunning Victory there will be some new Seven Headed Dragon to pursue.  Maybe its part of our Double Helix DNA structure, or the geometric codes that make up Everything.  But what always lies within our capacities as creative beings on this Planet is to pave a new course, go in a different direction, bravely away from the known and predictable into the unknown and unusual.  

Monday, April 15, 2013

A Sermon

The role of my FoX Blog, so far, has been to share with any Who care to read it a particular focus on Prayer and Optimism for our Planet's Future.  Within the currents of environmentalism, peace activism, New Age mysticism, Christian prophecy, Bible study, Magic, Native American totemism, and poetry that I incorporate into this blog's expression, I am introducing You to a very intimate and personal journey that I have been taking.  I am trying, here, to arouse a Concern and an Intention within You which will correlate to the immense burden that I feel for Planet Earth, as She is currently undergoing what the Bible calls "the Birth Pangs."

I am not (necessarily) an "end-times" kind of fellow.  I stress that no one can possibly predict the Future, or can possibly know that we are nearing any kind of "end-time" event.  I doubt that people can even coherently interpret, honestly, what exactly the Bible actually teaches on this subject.

 However, a drama nevertheless is continually unfolding in my Mind and Spirit as I watch the World Stage.  As I both witness and participate in current events, (as a Christian, as an American, and as a Progressive); as I analyze things I read and watch and hear and allow those things to be met, in me, with the full force of the Values I espouse; as I meditate and intercede according to the traditions of my personal Faith and Practice, I continually feel that we are living in a historic time of Transition.  I know that this Transition involves a confrontation between GOOD and EVIL, and yes, I do believe that the words "GOOD" and "EVIL" have definite meaning, and personality, in our current age.

Consider the drama of our generation for but a moment:  A technological Singularity is approaching which will enable some Humans to become nearly immortal, virtually omnipresent, and approximately omnipotent.  At the same time, an Apocalyptic battle unfolds in America as corporations seize control of our three branches of Government, and as the youth and the underprivileged take to the streets for social and environmental protest.  Also occurring simultaneously with these trends, we are a millimeter away from the "tipping point" that may take us past the point of no return with catastrophic climate change.  There are meteors and cyclones and volcanic eruptions happening with increasing frequency, as if Nature were responding in fury to a culture which devastates Mountains, toxifies Oceans, and spills oil over the sacred Ground almost daily.  The World Drama gets exponentially more intense to take part in if one also casts their glances for but a moment into the International Turmoil that involves the U.S.'s relations with Russia, and China; the proliferation of nuclear weapons in rogue states, including Iran and North Korea; the humanitarian crises in Syria, Palestine, and North Korea; the famine and exploitation of Africa; the unrest and restructuring of Europe. As a person with a degree in History (bestowed upon me summa cum laude), I note with horror that the conditions for a third World War are conclusively present.  I feel that everyday in which some tragedy does not strike me or a loved one down is a day on borrowed time.  Our culture grows ever more violent, from school shootings to marathon bombings.  We truly are in an Age of Global Tribulation and it is the most unlikely blessing that I should be born where I was and when I was, and so far I have avoided poverty, imprisonment, War, torture, persecution, enslavement, homelessness, or unemployment.  Billions of others are not as lucky, and the times are changing so rapidly that I know I may not escape forever.  Will there come a time that the famine hits me?  Will my community one day run out of food?  Will I be drafted to fight in a War?  Will I inherit a future policed by military drones, with government and corporate corruption run amok, with nuclear power facilities spewing forth radioactive waste?  Will even protest and demonstration be outlawed, at last, by the ever more powerful Corporate Elite?  Might my own rights eventually be taken away?

All of this is possible, and I believe its important to acknowledge.  An honest and frank look at what could possibly happen to Us is not fear-mongering, or cynicism. It is a good exercise in Reality, and maybe, if we examine the potentials here for disaster in a truly grown-up and unflinching way, perhaps we will be shocked into the proper level of Urgency that should be ours, now.  If things are bound to get worse (before they get better?), then we should most definitely maximize the Time and Freedom that we have Now.  EVERY ONE OF US should be involved, in Reconciliation, in Peace Advocacy, in Environmental Defense, in the Rescue of Refugees.  Perhaps we can be moved into Preparation for what happens when the World falls apart.  Perhaps we can start building the World now the way that we wanted it all along.  A "Plan B" that we can fall back on when the rubble clears.  A survival network, an underground response to living through a coming Transition Time.

This is the age of blogging, you know, and my blog is both small and strange.  However, I know that I reach some of You, because some of You have told me so.  You are reading right now, and You are Someone, so, Someone is always reading.  I would be remiss if I were able to impress upon my Readers only the idea that things are Changing, and I didn't also arouse within them (You!) a need to Do Something useful about it.  I have been encountering enthusiasm as well as doubt and discouragement as I have talked to fellow Humans about what's happening in the World.  I have observed that some choose blissful Ignorance and devote their attention to entertainment, sports, and television, instead.  I have observed that some folks love to debate the viewpoints, analyze the stories, and share an opinion: but in the end they always throw up their hands, conclude that nothing can be done, and all their politics is just empty talk.  Then there are those who think that change is a great idea, and they wish you well, but they aren't really going to get involved because that's just not their thing.

What is the appropriate response?  Better, what is the appropriate response if we consider ourselves spiritual people?  Or, even if not spiritual people, at least moral people?  Do we really have the option to sit this out?  Do we have the option to look at the odds stacked against us and say, never mind, let it all go to shit?  I would argue that we do not have those options.  And if we look at what the Bible says about it, it says Not to Be Afraid.  It says to Carry On, to Keep Going, to Occupy Until He Comes, to be just as much about Love and Peace in the midst of adversity as you are when times are great, if not even more so. 

Maybe the Bible doesn't mean as much to You as it does to me.  And that is quite all right.  I'm a Christian but I'm not that type of Christian who excludes, judges, or even who tries to proselytize.  I am convinced that even without a background in what the Bible has to say about being involved in the doing of good during times of great trial, You, whoever You are, can still be convinced that we are 1.) responsible for the Times we live in, and 2.) able to make a Change.

I will be honest.  Although I, the FoX, am the consummate Optimist about the events we are seeing every day on the World Stage, that does not mean for a second that I don't face moments when I question whether what I am doing as an Activist is all just pointless or not.  I recall when I worked for Greenpeace that I had a surprising conversation with a fellow Activist (who shall remain nameless) in which he expressed his belief that it was all over, the World was already too far gone for saving, and that we are bound to lose.  I asked him, "Why then, do you continue to fight?"  He answered simply, "Because it is fun."  I smiled.  I suppose it is indeed, fun, to lock arms with one's friends, to hold intentions with the heroic people who are choosing to fight the forces of Evil at this late hour.  Even if we are doomed to fail, there is still some meaning to be found in our struggle.  And so I am proud to fight alongside even those who seem to have lost Hope.  But in the final analysis, I do not really share his conviction that we are going to lose.  "I am realistic," said Dr. Wayne Dyer.  "I expect miracles."

Let me take a few Moments to transmit this Optimism to You.  It may scare You a little bit to know what my Optimism is founded upon, especially if you are not a Believer of any particular stripe.  Nevertheless, let me try to tell you how it is that I think we are going to win.  Let me rally You past your sense of defeat and back into the Fray with a shout of Victory, even Assurance.

Who are our Enemies?  Who are the Oppressors?  Who are the vampires that manage the banks, own the corporations, buy the candidates, write the laws, start the Wars?  THEY ARE MEN OF FLESH AND BLOOD.  They have names, addresses, bank accounts.  They can be isolated, overtaken, neutralized.  Each one of them are mortal.  Each one is subject to Fate and the Wrath of God and the Wrath of Nature.  What is more, there are not so many of them!  They are less than 1% of us.  There are, specifically, 1,342 of them. Their names are David and Charles Koch, Jim Walton, Christy Walton, Alice Walton, George Soros, Phil Knight, George Kaiser, Rex Tillerson.  Click for a full list here  These men (and a few women) are the Global Elite, and I believe that they can be silenced.

But how?  What is the mechanism for this profound overthrow?  Should we be training for violence?  Should we be talking in code and meeting in secret to discuss our coup against them?  And even if so, how could we ever hope to get past these men's bodyguards and security forces?  How can we reach them in their skyscraper offices or behind their walled cities?  Isn't it obvious that any move against these de facto autocrats would land even the most careful of us in a federal prison (or maybe even murdered in an alley way by unknown agents?)  Really, what chance do we stand?

This is where I remind you yet again of the Promises God has made.  It is a shame, it is a damn crying shame, that so many of You are losing Faith in a God of Justice and a God of Strength and a God of Recompense.  Hell and judgement aren't fashionable subjects.  But I can promise You: although the Vultures of Commerce and Industry, the Princes of Pollution, are unreachable to a Revolutionary like You or I, there is One Who Knows where each man of them sleeps.  There is an Avenger, an Angel of Death, and it is He Who, I promise, will Repay.

Back in 2011 I prayed a frequent prayer, that the dictators of the World would be struck down.  That Year we saw the deaths of Osama bin Laden, Muammar Gadhaffi, and Kim Jong Il.  It is not a sin to seek God for Justice, you know.  And so now I continue to pray against Bashar al-Assad, Kim Jong Un, other heads of state, and even heads of corporations who are more powerful than the heads of State.  "Deliver me, O Lord, from the violent man," is what the Psalmist David used to pray (see Psalm 140), and throughout history the oppressed class has PRAYED for Justice from our Ultimate Savior.  "Judgement Day is a-rolling round," says one Negro spiritual.  "O Lord I would love to go."  You see, it is okay to take comfort in the notion of God's justice.

There is a saying which says, "Where attention goes, Energy flows."  There are also the promises in the Bible which say that what a follower of Christ binds is bound, and what he looses is loosed.  There are Laws that Underpin this Universe known as Sowing & Reaping, Blessing & Cursing.  God already has laid a Curse against those who curse us, His People.  It is found in Genesis 12:3.  And I agree with God's Curse!  If those of us who are moved by the ailments of this World would be so bold as to really pray, passionately, fervently, that the specific evil forces at work on this Planet would be stopped in their tracks, God would indeed be quick to hear us.  “I fear the prayers of John Knox more than all the assembled armies of Europe," said Mary, Queen of Scots.  So look carefully at this Hippie Peace Freak who writes this Blog and calls himself the FoX.  I do indeed pray for Peace, and Love, and Harmony: but I will also seek Justice, the Vengeance of the Creator.  And when I lift my Voice to God for Blood, He IS NOT deaf to my Cry.  Tremble, you mis-rulers of injustice!

Isaiah chapter 14:

The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers.
He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth.
The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing.
Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us.
Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
10 All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?
11 Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

Am I speaking too violently?  Have I gotten way off track?  Should I start to watch what I am saying?  Should I fear being placed on some list when the data is gathered?  I remind you that Prophecy is indeed a gift of the Spirit whom I worship, and the words of His Prophets are often full of judgement to the wicked.  I will not be afraid, but I will speak.  "For know Ye that the LORD has set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call to Him."  (Psalm 4:3)

 From Psalm 10:
17 Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:
18 To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress.

"The needy shall not always be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish forever." - Psalm 9:18

Brothers and sisters, we live in a time when Christians have either distorted God's sense of Justice or shied away from it.  LET ME BE AN EXCEPTION TO THAT RULE.  I have remained astute, I have read the Scriptures for my own self.  My Mind and Heart have not been dulled by sitting too long under false teaching that demonizes "the least of these" for choices regarding whom to love, or how to worship.  I worship a God Who is not petty, Who is full of grace to the humble, but Who resists the proud.  Who says:
1Come now, ye rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you. 2Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. 3Your gold and your silver are rusted; and their rust shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh as fire. Ye have laid up your treasure in the last days. 4Behold, the hire of the laborers who mowed your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth out: and the cries of them that reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. 5Ye have lived delicately on the earth, and taken your pleasure; ye have nourished your hearts in a day of slaughter.6Ye have condemned, ye have killed the righteous one ; he doth not resist you. 
7Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receive the early and latter rain. 8Be ye also patient; establish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

The blood of Abel has been crying out from the days of the very first Injustice and is not Silenced, still.  You may not hear it with your Human Ears but that is because the Sound has always been present since before the day you were born and you are acclimated to it.  God hears the voice of innocent blood, however, anywhere and everywhere that it is spilled.

We have a tragic spectacle unfolding in our Congress, and in our Courts of Law, where People believe that the way in which they govern will not be something they are held accountable for in the Scale of Eternity.  I have news for People who hold that mindset: they will indeed be held accountable.  It is not on the balance sheet for Exxon's financial quarter that they will be held accountable, but in the Eyes of the Lamb Who Was Worthy to Open the Seals of the Book.

REVELATION 18:
And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.
How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
11 And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:
12 The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,
13 And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.
14 And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.
15 The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
16 And saying, Alas, alas that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
18 And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
20 Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.
21 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.
22 And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;
23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.
24 And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.




I know that these verses above are attributed usually to either a historical City or to a future global government, depending on your religious affiliation.  But the Mystery of "Babylon" is that it is a spiritual force which moves in Society.  Babylon's corruption is found in every empire, in every storehouse of ill-gotten wealth, and in EVERY AGE it is an offense to God.

Recall that someone (not Abraham Lincoln, though the quote is usually attributed to him) once said, "God must have loved the common people.  He made so many of them!"  This is true, and I believe that only so much injustice will be tolerated by God before He steps forth and intervenes.  I know, keenly, that no one can with any certainty say WHEN God will intervene.  He said himself, in an above quoted passage, that we should have patience, because He waits for the ripeness of the precious Fruit of the Earth.  He does indeed allow tragedy and mayhem that seems soul-crushing and endless.

But the right response is not to give up.  The right response is not to sit it out.  The right response is not to believe that we are doomed.  The right response is to continue fighting, to believe that He is on the side of the Oppressed, and to be ever watchful for the King of the Morning to appear.  A Day is coming when He will indeed appear.  YOU will see this Moment in Your Lifetime, because if the Truth is told, He checks injustice in every Age that has ever been.  This fact, and only this fact, is why Humanity is not yet completely succumbed to chaos.  We have a Savior with a delicate, yet deadly, Touch.  WHEN we see Him, would it not be best to be found fighting for the Right?  Would it not be best to be found a Faithful Witness?  I believe that the Crucified Christ will scoff bitterly at indifference and at the Victim Mentality.  "You have not yet resisted unto blood," He will say, and He will show off His own pierced Hands and Feet, reminding us that He overcame the World.

"And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.  And I will give him the morning star." - Revelation 2:26-28