Biblical Hierarchy of Values

Posted on February 4, 2012 by ehurst

(WordPress Autosave mucked up and posted a previous flawed version, now all fixed.)
This is what I recommend, in order from highest to lower. This is about Laws and human commitments on this plane, applying to all humans, regardless of spiritual status. It’s oversimplified, of course, but provides a starting place.
1. Mission: As noted in previous posts, this is not the same as your career, job, business, etc. This is a part of what identifies you as a unique human being. It’s your calling from God, the reason why He put you here and allows you to keep on living. It’s what is completed or too horribly compromised when He takes you out of this world. Yes, having a spiritual identity changes it, but not the fact you have one. All living humans have a mission, and it includes those non-tangible values which includes the adherence to justice itself, along with whatever other virtues you care to name.
2. Marriage: If you have it, this one comes next. If not, being in the right position to obtain one counts as the same. The only way it can be absent is if you are utterly certain celibacy is part of your mission, in which case it means abstinence, too.
3. Family: Let there be no mistaking, the spouse takes precedence over the kids. You may negotiate a plan of action which calls for the spouse to sacrifice for the sake of the kids, but that simply points out the necessity of deciding it and planning accordingly. We aren’t talking about your instincts or other considerations; the Bible puts your spouse above your kids. By extension, any other family sharing the same household, to the degree you hold custodial responsibilities (such as an elder in a tribal setting), they come next.
4. Life: Yes, your hide is worth something. You should be willing to sacrifice your life for other people, but not for stuff.
5. Mission Essentials: From whatever resources at hand, those necessary for the mission take priority over other types of resources. This is not limited to tangible “real” objects, but tends to be little else in most lives. This assumes something you are quite sure you can’t replace easily. It’s a fluctuating value category, based on situation and context.
6. Family Essentials: Resources other than people always take a back seat to people. Part of the understanding is God supplies human needs through Creation according to the prosperity, safety and security promised in the Laws. You can lose some here and there, under the understanding this is simply the way it is on this fallen planet. Justice will give you as much as can be had.
7. Other People: It’s a sliding scale, starting with non-household relatives, kin folks, neighbors, fellow tribe members, etc., through various levels of blood and covenant relations. There are times also when non-family can become central to the mission itself, and you’ll probably know that when the time comes. Otherwise, it’s not simply the life and limbs of your family, but even your support resources are more valuable than random human life. Yes, the Laws of God say you can kill robbers and burglars if the Lord allows them to fall into your hands. The moment may provide a reason for mercy, but as a general principle, those who threaten family essentials are toast; they have violated the Laws of God and are not protected.
8. Other Resources: You may place a high subjective value on all sorts of things, but if you can live without it, human life is more important. This is where we take the wealthy to task, because by definition most of what they hold is not necessary for life. That doesn’t mean they can’t use fatal violence to protect whatever they own, but the standards for such enforcement are much higher for non-essential property. For example, they have to put up signs, fences, and all sorts of extra expense.
9. Resources of Others: Their property matters to them, and the mere fact you are in proximity to it places some burden of responsibility on you to help them out. You’ll have to decide in the context how much effort, and at what sacrifice, it requires from you. Still, it matters.
So this business of “trespassers will be shot” is invalid, for the most part. The Bible assumes reasonable access for passage, for example. That’s where socialist European laws are morally correct and American tradition is wrong. Further, the Law of Moses is very specific, that someone walking through a field of ripe grain on the way to somewhere else is permitted to pick as much as they can eat while they are on the move. They can’t eat your animals, because that’s too much to ask. But if they stop by the house and ask for bread and water, you are pretty much required to give it. You can give more, or something equivalent, but that’s sort of the minimum in principle. There are other details, but they do highly encourage interaction, rendering proper honor to the owner, and making a polite request, etc. Yes, there are ways to play games and enforcement can be tough, but the basic assumptions are clear.
Notice that there are different standards based on the role of that person in your life, but even complete strangers have a claim on life support if you are wealthy, so long as they are just passing through. You don’t have to let them in your home, but you do have to offer what you can afford, in clear conscience. The point made elsewhere is the moral fabric knows what should be on your conscience.

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Marriage: Why Bother?

Posted on February 4, 2012 by ehurst

Continuing on the subject of a biblical approach to building a marriage…
Why? What is it about marriage that makes it more desirable than something looser and more fun? That depends on your definition of “fun.”
The Bible assumes, but does not directly address, a lot of things which leave us puzzled in our modern Western society. It’s the primary reason I have a beef with so many churches and almost the whole of organized Western Christianity. It’s not enough to be adept at deductive reasoning, by which we reconstruct something assumed in the world view of Hebrew writers, but we must have some information about the worldview itself.
I’m convinced the Laws of God work for people who have no spiritual awareness, but do seek a moral awareness. I’m convinced the Bible assumes that. I’m convinced mankind is endowed with the gift of wondering about things beyond the mere mechanics, more than the five senses and satisfying physical appetites. We can never exactly understand why one man heeds that call to wonder and dozens do not, but we know even those who don’t can speak of such things with intelligence. It’s something about influences, choices, and a whole raft of other things. Yet I know beyond all doubt men can do what’s right if it matters, because they most certainly can know what’s right on some level.
Further, I am utterly certain God knows what’s in a man’s soul regarding such things. His revelation, both to all mankind in the Book, and in discrete impressions on the hearts of thousands, offers a measure of elasticity in demands which seem tailored to the individual. Thus, Scripture proclaims, in so many words: It’s not out of reach, and it always works. Granted, it would require a bit of study and reflection to realize it’s not always what you might expect, but it works as offered.
I am convinced such offering includes the whole range of things humans need as humans. If you want to rise above this level of existence, that’s the doorway. If all you want is the best this world has to offer, it’s in there. We have plenty of carping about how it seems to squash all the fun out of things, but that’s a mistaken notion about what “fun” should be.
When it comes to human sexual appetites, there is a path to full satisfaction which does no harm. If you evaluate from the level of your desires and your tastes, you may well never notice the harm. The Laws of God presume a different view, on a different level. They assume a moral fabric, so intricately woven into the universe, the Apostle Paul characterized Creation has a living thing wishing for redemption from human sin. It’s a parable, not meant to be taken literally, but such is the nature of revelation. Paul warned in another place human sexual intercourse is the one and only human activity which leaves an indelible mark on your own moral fabric.
In this, Paul verifies there is some biblical support for something which sounds like karma. It’s rather narrowly defined in terms of biblical justice, in terms of God’s Laws. Yes, things can be healed if you poke holes in the moral fabric of the universe as a whole; it’s called “repentance.” The Law Covenants make much of a broad opportunity to recover, if some part of you clings to the intent work out a path to justice. So long as you embrace the basic understanding of things, you can always clean up your mess. However, sex is the one and only thing which can poke holes in your personal moral fabric, and those can’t be so easily healed. In the strongest language, Paul warns every sexual encounter is treated by God as a valid marriage commitment on this plane of existence.
Yes, you can remove the eternal penalties for all sins, if you care, but that’s not the same thing. Paul’s warning applies on this plane of existence. Profligate sex does not of itself send you to eternal damnation, but it will most certainly register in your “karma” for as long as you live on this plane. All Creation will know, and will not forget, whether your hands were clean when you touched that other person. You can be quite just in every other way, but if you mess this up, it’s going to cost you from now until you die.
This understanding manifests in really beautiful marriages. There are some people in this world who manage to open themselves to a certain level of perception about human sexual relations, and they are able to find in someone else a matching perception. They are attuned to this thing and somehow recognize it when they find it. They are thereby far less attuned to what most everyone else seeks when they encounter members of the opposite sex. Sex rank recedes to a rather minor consideration, or perhaps we could say the scale measures something completely different from what’s typical.
I’m one of those people, and nothing in my 30+ years of marriage indicates to me my spouse sees it differently. She entered my perception simply as the unremarkable daughter of a friend. As time and exposure increased my awareness of her, at some point she let me know she was interested. I invited her into my world to show me what she had to offer. In the prime of her sexual marketability at age 18, she would have placed low on most men’s scales. I wasn’t using that scale. I was looking for something else, and I found it. Within some six months we were married.
Yes, there were rough spots, but I can’t recall any time when either of us considered parting ways on any level. Indeed, my military adventures were felt as a grand interruption of our life together. To this day, we have no trouble being in each other’s company 24/7. We are delighted when circumstances permit it. Need I state the obvious, that my sexual appetites are fully filled in her?
No, this did not shut off the hard-wired whining of my hormones for a taste of exotic female flesh. Hormones don’t get a vote; they have another role. My fallen nature is routinely denied on lots of things. Honestly, it’s been relatively easy to behave myself sexually. Not because I’m such a saint, but because Creation itself, of which my flesh is a part, is pleased to support just living. It places justice well within my reach.
The Fall separated us from God. God created us to be in communion with Him, to be utterly broken without it. Yet, even while we remain apart from Him, something inside us cries out for relief from that eternal sense of isolation. The closest we’ll ever come within this realm to breaking that isolation is what’s possible in human sexual intercourse. It’s as much relief as we can possibly get, but if we treat it as mere recreation, it won’t be much relief. Nor will it linger. It’s that sense of permanence which changes everything.
Nothing on this plane of existence can come so close to make life worth living as a good marriage.

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Game and the Closed Christian Market

Posted on February 3, 2012 by ehurst

Christians true to their faith won’t worry much about relative sex rank.
We learn about the Game Theory of Socio-Sexual Response because it explains reality. It represents human behavioral science at its best, observing real human behavior and building a frame of reference which accounts for it. It really is that way, and people who were total losers are finding relief from their misery and social isolation by using the principles derived from Game.
Your basic assumptions about what matters in life will shape how you use Game. Virtually every theorist will admit to his or her moral biases and we can generally see how their plan of action fits that bias. I’m just one more. My bias is biblical Christianity. It is natural my applications of Game would come out different from that of some much more popular writers. You can even critique my answers, but if you don’t understand where I’m coming from, you’ll miss the point.
I am not ignorant of sex rank. That’s a reference to relative marketability, desirability in the eyes of the average member of the opposite sex. I have described some of the popular grading and ranking schemes. What most other writers don’t grasp is that Christians, by definition, are a closed market. While beset by all the same weaknesses and desires as any other human, part of being a Christian is striving to rise above certain tendencies common to all humanity. We don’t accept what may be the norm for others. It’s not about claiming superiority, but a desire to find something more suitable to our faith than what comes with the human moral autopilot.
It’s not about success but striving, about a desire for what God calls “holy.” Holiness means recognizing the broken tendencies and building a resistance to their power. Thus, a large element in my teaching about human sexuality assumes the ancient prohibitions about doing sex the way everyone else does it. Christians are bound under a moral apprehension that sex is all good and right, but with certain restrictions. We have to get ours the way God intended.
So we don’t participate in the open market, at least not knowingly. We use common reactions to our presentation as a means to communicate with everyone, Christian or not. But we will not take seriously sexual overtures from those not morally and spiritually qualified as fellow believers and followers of Christ. Further, while we accept them from each other, we don’t follow the regular open market rules within our own market. Our rules are different, and sex rank is — in theory at least — not a valid consideration. It is at most icing on the cake, not fundamental.
A major implication of this is my assertion it rests with women to make the first move.
The Christian man is at his most adorable when he is fully engaged in his mission. His Christian sex rank is his commitment to Christ, a sense of calling which shapes his whole focus, the reason and guide for all he does. There are sure to be problems with this, as most Christian women are struggling to shed bad habits, just as the men are. It doesn’t help there is a cultural mythology in Western Christianity which is every bit as stupid as the slightly different version for non-Christians. But we teach Christian women their best hope is learning to value men sexually who may not have a lot of time and energy left to pursue them. We don’t change the fundamental rules, but redefine what’s hot.
Because her divine mission inevitably includes supporting her man, whomever he may be, she enters the market not by enticing the prospects, but first by putting herself where her best prospective mates are already at work. She finds her best market in the types and kinds of activities which reflect her own sense of mission, her talents and interests. That’s not the whole story, of course. It’s where things start. We believe our God will surely fill in the blanks, by moving us together with good prospects in His own timing. Yes, we believe and teach in the miracle of God steering events, though I do not teach there is only one right person for us to marry at any given time. The choice may seem totally and mutually obvious for some folks in some contexts, but this is not a given. God blesses unions which are founded on His revelation. So her efforts to engage the imperatives of that revelation, at whatever level she best understands things at any time, are linked to a promise to make things work out in her best interests.
Nothing here suggests just how a gal should make that first move, or what it means in concrete terms. My assertion assumes she will work that out on her own. If she’s doing the right thing from the best motives, her behavior will draw the attention of good men who would need her. She’s also going to have to trust that same God to help those men want what they also need. But at least conceptually, it’s up to her to find a way to signal her interest. That ranges from something as subtle as simply being there consistently to support him merely as a fellow Christian, up to bluntly stating her desire for courtship. She has to be her best self, whatever that means, and move with the Spirit.
We also teach he is supposed to understand she is not debasing herself, not reducing her value to him, as it would be the case outside the Christian market. He is taught to read this differently than men who operate on secular values, or any other religion. We use the parable of God bringing Eve to Adam; God’s best choice comes to the man.
We make a grave error when we think God is not interested in such things. She also has to have her faith strong in hand if the guy pays no attention, or seems uninterested, or even rebuffs her overture. She has to decide whether it’s just a matter of waiting, of pushing a bit harder to make sure, or looking elsewhere. It can be wrenching and painful, and she will surely seek the advice of wiser Christians. All these things are possible and all consistent with faith itself.
Doing things the way most Game writers suggest, with their reference to sex rank in the secular sense, and the male pursuit model, is wholly inconsistent with that faith.
Addenda: I forgot to mention, the primary reason for doing things backwards is because most Christian fellowships have failed to institute the proper biblical system of arranged marriage, or more accurately, elder-guided match making. Most churches don’t have proper elders, either. In the New Testament, elders were the organizational leaders, versus the spiritual leaders typically called pastors. An elder is the head of household, but a church is about shared spiritual identity, not DNA. Churches are supposed to organize along the lines of extended family households, with elders guiding or advising in decisions such as whom to mate. Remove that, and we are left with girls having to make their own way, as it were.

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The Gift of Aplomb

Posted on February 2, 2012 by ehurst

Sometimes the best reaction is none at all.
There’s a fancy word we stole from the French — aplomb. It comes from their word for lead, that base metal which weighs a lot for its size, and is pretty soft, typically used in bullets and surveyors’ equipment. To be a plomb in French is to be standing upright, by extension meaning undisturbed.
Just think what it means when you throw away the Victorian cultural mythology and simply don’t bother to splash a visual value judgment on things you encounter. You absorb the insane without reacting. You can probably figure out your own reasons for it, but as someone who has worked in counseling for most of my adult life, it’s the only way to get people to talk. If I start grimacing at things they say, they’ll stop saying them, or start saying things not true just to get a reaction.
It’s not the same has having no values. Yes, there is sin in this world, and I tend to write quite a bit seeking to define the idea and what deserves that label. But I need not throw a fit just because someone wants me to know they were involved in it. That dude in the mirror ain’t no saint, so it’s hard to stomp on someone else’s turf without hypocrisy. I can point to the sins of others because I can confess my own sins.
The only way you’re ever going to learn things is to observe, and that means trying to keep as much of yourself out of the observation process as possible. It’s not possible to be remote and aloof completely, but it is possible to reduce the barriers between yourself and other people by giving them a reason to think they can trust you with the truth as they best know it. Sure, mugging and clowning have their place, and you can usually tell when it’s effective for the context, or you should stop using it for awhile until you can learn better. But most of the time, just pay attention and see what comes next.
Yeah, I admit it helps a lot that I’ve already seen lots of things that make most people vomit. But I’m not hardened; I still get tears in my eyes when I see people suffering. It’s just that there is a time and place, and the context is not all that hard to discern much of the time. Most people who have needed some advice were often completely mistaken about what mattered, and my aplomb often gave them time to explore the thing. You’d be amazed how many people figure things out for themselves when they realize someone else wants to hear about it.
It’s a precious gift we give to the world when we offer aplomb.

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Dog Piling on Iran

Posted on February 2, 2012 by ehurst

It won’t matter how they do it, but the real objective with Iran has nothing to do with nuclear weapons, nor even about oil itself — it’s about banking and oil trading independence.
In American colloquial English, a “dog pile” refers to the crush of bodies piled on top of someone during a sporting event. Typically, this would be seen in a football game (American football), where the ball carrier is stopped and the opposing team players pile on top. It helps to confuse and cover activity to break loose the ball, for example. There is also the psychological value of letting this runner know if he tries any more heroics, there is a mass of human flesh that will crush him every time. These days any ball carrier worth having in uniform is not the least bit intimidated, and usually knows to tuck the ball in where it can’t be jostled loose, but they still do it in many games. It’s against the rules in the strictest sense, but it’s tolerated.
Iran is the ball carrier on the opposing team, and the US with all her allies are the dog pile.
If you could, for a moment, think back to 9/11. You may recall Rumsfeld admitted a day or so prior the Department of Defense had lost track of 3 trillion dollars. It was spent and they couldn’t account for it. One of the explosions just happened to destroy the portion of the Pentagon where all the accounting data was stored on computers and such.
But that’s not all. The Twin Towers were loaded with asbestos, and someone had just bought them and taken out double insurance on the buildings just shortly before they were destroyed. And Building 7 was the site for a massive storage of highly valuable materials in a basement vault. The vault was empty when the recovery workers finally dug down to it. And a lot of controversial background financial shenanigans was suddenly buried because vast hordes of accounting data was lost, as they were maintained on servers in those Twin Towers. I’m still waiting to find out the real reason for Flight 93.
In other words, 9/11 was used to cover up a tremendous amount of high crimes in high places. It’s hard to investigate when the evidence is not available. If nothing else, it was a clean up operation for all sorts of big shots. And we can probably throw in testing of some new technologies.
Iran is not just one thing. The business with nukes is just noise. Nobody who knows anything about it believes Iran is building nuclear weapons. Our own best intel, and Israel’s best intel, have already announced definitively it ain’t happening. This is about Iran’s attempts to withdraw from the international banking controls now taking over the world. It’s about Iran’s attempts to withdraw from dollar trading oil. That is, they want to sell oil without having to use dollars. And there are quite a few other background issues where Iran isn’t on board with the rising global government.
That’s why Libya was stomped, and it’s why Syria is being threatened. Real story? Syria’s current instability is because the CIA and Mossad have sent agents in to create the appearance of a revolt. In other words, it’s an invasion. Taking advantage of some genuine unrest, the US and Israel have sent clandestine troops in and turned it into a bloodbath. Our people are committing murder, acts of war, without a declaration of war.
Everything the official sources say about Iran was said about Iraq, almost word for word. The track record for accuracy here is about zero.
I’m not going to claim some brilliant clear vision. I learned from people much smarter than me. When I predicted how the OWS stuff would turn out, it was nothing more than collating information from people who understand these things, but people who get little hearing from the public. And it is all coming out as they predicted, and as I guessed it would. We are seeing Syrian-style violence against the protesters in places like Oakland. But when the US does it, it’s okay, right? My instructors are pretty smart people.
But they would tell you it’s not a matter of who they are, but what they teach. It’s paying attention to people who are actually there on the ground, people who don’t really have a political agenda beyond merely telling the truth. Connect the dots for yourself; they are there, though seldom offered in the MSM, at least not with the proper connections a real journalist would point out for you. And if you want to call it “critical thinking,” that would work, too. Question everything. When someone makes a big announcement, without a doubt it’s sleight of hand. There is no such thing as a real announcement these days, when everything is covered under veils of secrecy. The only reason to make any noise is to draw your attention away from something more embarrassing. Whatever it is they admit to, the real issue is far worse.
We’ll go to war with Iran. The only way to prevent it will be mostly a matter of dollar-based oil sales and banking integration. There are some other issues, but those are the easiest to see. It’s a dog pile.

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Friend or Foe on the Net

Posted on February 1, 2012 by ehurst

When one civilization falls, and another rises to take its place, most people aren’t paying attention.
We could debate the terms and argue the definitions, but I still maintain we can best understand the Internet as the means for a new civilization rising over the current Western Civilization. This became one of my recurrent themes during the past year, and I have tried to warn people to think differently, to see the implications of this new Network Civilization.
One of the most fundamental elements of human existence is interacting with other humans. The presence of a global network changes more things than most people realize. Too many mindlessly absorb the methods without giving a single moment’s thought to major implications, letting things drift aimlessly, which makes it particularly easy for the savvy to control things for their own ends.
The computer geeks were the first to seize upon this, which transformed the world for them. They are now the new priesthood of world religion, though only a few of them are fully aware of the governing forces which control them, in turn. Try to remember religion is merely a word for the cultural construct of how people interact regarding the substance of life itself, not necessarily with any real connection to spiritual things. Regardless of ultimate truth and the moral fabric of the universe, religion as the cultural perception of such things reflects the combined guidance of the priesthood.
But the priesthood of geeks, witting or not, serve another grand force. This force has always been a mixture of multiple threads, a fabric which has a character derived from the fluctuating dominance of this or that thread over time and place. We can discuss the whole thing, or we can focus attention on one thread or another, but it takes a bit of thinking to see how they relate. We can’t afford to be simplistic about this. Thus, I often insist “the Illuminati” is a term which does not refer to some unified grand force, but is just as partisan and riven inside as any other human political organization. We can characterize the effects of their work at any given time, and we can trace out the individual threads of their internal politics (if we can get enough information), but by the time we can organize it for posting here and there, or write a book about it, the information is probably out of date. It takes a good bit of internal intellectual organization within our individual minds to keep track of it just for ourselves. That is, if we care. But that there is a global conspiracy of control is self-evident, and what matters here is they are making good use of the Internet.
I rather like the summary offered by The Daily Bell at Lew Rockwell’s site. The particular subject of the day is Facebook and their IPO plans. The Bell correctly notes this is not some happenstance of entrepreneurial genius. It may have begun as just a hobby that grew in popularity, but for it to ever go above hobby level required some serious money. That kind of money will always have some kind of purpose. A great many “useful idiots” are in the service of this global cabal, and Zuckerberg is just one more. Whether he knows it or not is for him to decide and reveal, but we can deduce quite a bit from watching this thing. That Facebook serves as a data source for government intelligence agencies is not in dispute; the only people denying it are those paid to do so.
This is no different in purpose from the heavy emphasis on getting as many people as possible onto the phone networks with smart phones as their primary means to access the Net. I’m hardly the only person who sees how tablet computers are being integrated into this, because some people just don’t like those tiny screens. Never mind how well they suit our common habits of use; few would want such a device were it not for the services available. Those services are not developed randomly, because the pattern of investment alone shows a conscious purpose. Along with turning the Net into a one-way service for consumption only, there is a powerful effort to get everyone on Facebook, Google, and every other data-mining operation out there.
We might not know just when Microsoft and Gates became complicit with government based spying, but it was surely a part of the lawsuit settlement when MS was charged with violations of monopoly laws. The way in which the business with the NSA Key in Windows 2000 was hushed up was a classical intelligence service squelch. People who know, and could get away with saying it, have long pointed out how Windows, from a commercial standpoint, was merely a mechanism for delivering the user to the advertisers. Would it be any less a delivery mechanism for users to government spying?
It’s much easier to overcome privacy objections without laws, simply by enticing the world to surrender their personal data voluntarily. Every point along the way, the trends of computer software, OSes and the Internet as whole, is best understood from this viewpoint. Not because of how it will all turn out; God alone controls that. Rather, what we can expect from the various providers is more easily predicted when we understand the only reason it hasn’t all been brought down already is because it’s too valuable as an intelligence source. Marketers are permitted to profit only when they play along with it. We should expect the likes of this brouhaha over Carrier IQ to arise again and again, even as the really serious breaches of privacy go unnoticed. What difference does Carrier IQ make when there’s Facebook?
Nor is it so wise to panic about every part of this. My point here is not fear, but awareness. There’s a certain amount of change necessary to move forward and accomplish those things we feel are our reasons for living. We have to keep up with the way civilization as a concept is morphing in itself, along with how it morphs from Western to Global Network. We have to understand the new ways of doing things at a fundamental level. For example, it’s one thing to have friends I’ve met in the flesh, with whom I’ve shared some experiences which serve to enable friendship. It’s another to make friends on the Net whom it is unlikely I’ll ever meet in the flesh. I still have to find a way to make them genuine friends, find a path to building that shared experience without the geographical sharing. What I must do with my remaining years of life requires that added dimension of reaching across the wires and creating that same sort of warmth in other souls. It’s a matter of knowing what it will cost me along the way so I can pay the full price willingly.
This intelligence gathering will happen regardless of the means, the venues where it takes place, etc. Be aware. I don’t participate in Facebook, Twitter, etc. I try to avoid letting Google have too much of my life, by using other services, including search engines (I use Startpage and get the same results without the tracking.) I try to avoid using Windows or Mac, because both of them are open to spying, as is Android. My choices won’t work for you, because they are mine. You need to consider your own life’s purpose and decide what fits.
More important than what you decide is that you decide consciously.

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Light Switch, Epilogue

Posted on January 31, 2012 by ehurst

That winter, several national governments collapsed, or were so changed they were hardly the same government.

Americans were not ready, and things were chaotic. Thomas heard bits and pieces, and realized he could never go back. European governments were generally more stable, at least where there hadn’t been huge immigrant populations from what had been third world countries. Even with generational culture shifts, the Europeans themselves were fairly stable, preferring to keep their lives as orderly as conditions permitted.

Somewhere in southern Finland, the couple living in the cabin on the hill became the center of a resurgent spiritual life in what had become a rather isolated village in a very depressed economy. If anyone remembered how it was back in the spring when the woman first wandered into the village, they pretended they did not. She was a good ten kilos heavier, and didn’t really look the same, anyway. Quite the beauty now, her equally beautiful singing voice filled the chapel during their frequent gatherings, and no one seemed to tire of hearing her.

There were many stateless refugees in those days. She and her husband were simply two more. But because she had a unique talent for translating so many languages, the village drew quite a few families seeking a new life in a quiet rural home. They brought important skills. So the village was a bustling place, with all the rental space taken by permanent residents. More housing was under construction. There were new businesses, a health clinic, a new school, and the village was planning a new chapel, as Thomas was now the de facto pastor. The village had little interest in getting all the right paperwork. Because they paid taxes and tithes, officials far away said little.

It was as if someone in the village had turned on a light, and as the world became a more dark and difficult place, the beacon burned ever brighter.

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The Doctor Sez…

Posted on January 31, 2012 by ehurst

I’m alright.

Last month I received notice it was time for my annual Veteran’s health check. That means heading downtown OKC (the hospital district is just east of downtown) to the VA Hospital. I prayed it would be a warm morning, because I wanted to ride my bike.

It was 50°F. I even bought a new set of lights so I could leave early. It was a nice 16 miles going out, and I had no trouble with drivers acting crazy. Of course, along with the lights I wore my biggest, brightest reflective safety vest. And my helmet has a reflective coating, too. I suppose they saw me.

The doctor was envious of me having the chance to ride that far. He looked at my lab work and all the numbers and said I was in better shape than guys much younger. He asked if I was willing to come out and play role model to other veterans. He hates having to push pills on so many because they won’t take care of themselves. He threw my prescription sheet away.

I guess I’m doing okay. This also explains why I didn’t post as early as normal.

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I Would Vote If…

Posted on January 30, 2012 by ehurst

Sure, I’d vote for Ron Paul. I don’t say he’s the greatest, but a whole lot better than the rest. His track record is the whole point. Every other good guy/gal we’ve sent to Washington always broke from their promises to do good stuff. Every one of them.
There aren’t that many Ron Pauls to go around.
So we assume everyone going into office is corrupt. Things would make a lot more sense if we started from that position. Instead of lying to us about what they’re going to do, if we could just come clean, be honest about the corruption, I’d be a lot more likely to play along.
Even the Zionists in our government are dishonest. Their supporters are pretty honest in telling you their agenda — everything for Israel and America be damned. We understand that. But the politicians who carry out this agenda aren’t even honest about that. They always charge a high fee by way of corruption to do it. They aren’t the true believers all of their supporters appear to be.
People get involved in government because they want the extra leverage to enrich themselves. You know it; I know it. They know it and lie about it, and we agree to believe them. What I want is not a stack of Ron Paul types, because I know they will never exist. What I want is a chance to see open dealing, for a politician to tell you where and how they plan to tap that vast stream of revenue. Not the amounts; that’s just a variable about which we’d simply have more lies. Just tell us what your special interests are, whom you favor. Then, carry out your contracts. Just be ethical enough to execute your own corruption honestly.
If just a tiny minority of politicians began doing this, I’d go register to vote. Taking graft is something we should expect, and stop fussing about all that Orwellian talk of “good and honest government.” Good moral people would never allow themselves to be railroaded into government such as we have now. So everyone in government is a crook already, or they wouldn’t be interested. All it would take is just a few being honest about this and I would willingly participate in elections again.
Until then, there really is no point. It’s all fixed at some level, and your vote means less than nothing. You pay extra for the privilege of being raped.

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Light Switch, Part 7

Posted on January 30, 2012 by ehurst

They spent a few moments on the porch exploring the concept of letting her skin tell her she didn’t need the coat.
“When people work outside a lot, their bodies adapt by doing a better job of both warming and cooling as needed. It’s just a bit chilly this morning, but I won’t wear long sleeves because I’ll be warm enough once I start working. You can decide for yourself, but you have to take the time to notice how your body feels. You can learn to anticipate how it will respond to things you’ll do later.”
She left the coat in the cabin as they began climbing the hill into the woods. He began explaining the concept of ego boundaries. Quickly outlining normal human development, he started with infants who have no ego boundaries. “For newborns, when they are hungry, the whole universe is hungry. Parents are just an extension of their desires.” Then he described the normal process of development, the awareness of self, and others as separate. Most people are aware they cannot force others to perform their wishes, because other people have their own will.
Arriving at the last place he worked, he pulled the small tarp open and took out the double-handled saw. The first thing he did was take her to a rather large broken treetop, something that fell in last winters’ heavy winds. He explained how some things required coordination between two people. He showed her the saw could do more work if she was on the other end, pushing while he was pulling, and vice versa. Yet, even he was surprised how much more was accomplished once she got the hang of it.
They worked through the morning, stopping to rest from time to time. An hour short of lunch time she was sweating just a bit, and they had already drained the water jug he had brought. They stopped to rest at the wood pile, which stood at the top of a rise some ways behind the cabin. He heard the sound of an approaching vehicle, not the old man’s tractor. It was an old car pulling a rather large trailer.
He waved at the driver, then commented to Lana, “People can’t see your smile from a distance, so we wave to welcome them into our presence.” She tentatively raised one hand, then dropped it again. She stood silently in place while Thomas went to greet an unusually animated old fellow driving the rig. That is, he was somewhat more subdued than Thomas, and smiled a good bit more than most Finns. He owned one of the cafes in town, and chatted about how slow it was this summer.
Tom helped him load up as much wood as they dared in the trailer. He waved again as the car braked hard to control the descent back down the long gravel drive toward the main road. He found Lana sitting on one of the logs. “Ready for lunch?”
She nodded her head and he reached out his hand to help her up. She paused, looking at it. “It’s both to help you and to touch you as a friend.”
“Friend,” she repeated with just a hint of a smile, and took his hand. She continued holding it for a few meters as they walked.
He sang an old hymn about friendship all the way back down to the cabin. Near the end, she began faintly echoing the chorus with him. After lunch, he realized her help was making the food disappear a little faster. Time to visit the village, but not just for food.
Thomas coudn’t gauge what a slow season would look like, but the village was neither bustling nor sleepy. Most businesses offered multiple services. Even the old Lutheran chapel was actually more of a community center. There was no resident pastor, though at times one would visit there on his vacation and perform a few simple services. During most of the year, a deacon would visit monthly for standard social services. There was only a part time secretary living in what would have been the rectory attached to the chapel.
Sometime in the past, when people cleaned their holiday rental spaces at the end of the season, finding random pieces of clothing and the like, they duly turned them in to the mayor. The stuff collected in a closet of the chapel because there was no other place for a lost and found. Nobody ever came looking for anything. When the current secretary was hired, being a hard core neatnik, she organized the closet, and quickly began using it for charitable purposes. Tom heard about this and was hoping to bolster Lana’s wardrobe beyond a single outfit.
But he was just a bit nervous, wondering if he would encounter any resistance to getting Lana help. If she had worn out her welcome in the village, it might be a little difficult. He was hoping his own good relations would overshadow things. As it was, the secretary either hadn’t encountered Lana, or pretended so, and took her in charge, rifling the closet for usable clothing which might fit her. At least Lana was being more verbal than she might have in the past, so things proceeded in Finnish while he waited. Eventually Lana came out with a couple of bags filled with clothing. On her feet were like-new trainers and frilly socks which matched. He decided to let her carry her clothes for now as he thanked the secretary. At the door, he thought to ask about underwear, and was told the little variety shop had some.
Making sure Lana could tell him what sizes she wore, that was the next stop. He picked up a few other items, as well, including a cheap day pack and some reusable shopping bags. Then they crossed over into the grocery section. By the time they left, his pack was loaded and both of them were carrying the garishly colorful shopping bags. If anyone was uncomfortable with Lana’s presence, he never detected it.
As they lugged this baggage back up the road toward the cabin, Thomas turned and asked, “Do you think you’ll be staying with me a while?”
Apparently she hadn’t thought along these lines at all. Finally, she said, “Don’t send me away.”
He stopped and turned to face her. She halted with him. “In the hospital, you were just an object among many which justified keeping the place open. You weren’t a person. When you left, you didn’t know how to reclaim what the hospital had taken from you. Out here in the world, you have to stop acting like an object. You have to be a person, or you’ll always have trouble and pain. The hardest thing is not living with abuse, as you already know. Once you figure out who you are, the hardest part is dealing with other people who don’t abuse you, but don’t care, either. You have to give them a chance to care, perhaps taking as much as they are willing to offer.”
It was not staring, but she gazed intently at him. He continued, “I’m not your custodian. I’m your friend. I don’t have to take care of you, but I want to. Maybe we can be more than friends someday, but right now that’s a lot for you. As long as you don’t do anything to hurt me, make me feel sad, I want you to be with me. But more than that, I want you to find your self.”
As they resumed walking, he turned his head and added, “I hope you believe I am the one person you can trust right now, because I don’t intend to hurt you, or let anyone else hurt you.”
When they got back to the cabin, he helped her organize her things while pointedly refusing to make too many decisions for her. He took some of the shopping bags for temporary storage of his stuff so she could have her own space on her side of the bed.
Finns were not particularly demonstrative, so he wasn’t sure if it was something she saw, or where it came from. After going down to start dinner preparations, there was a moment she came up beside him. He didn’t look directly at her, and after waiting a bit, she said his name. “Thomas.”
He stopped what he was doing and turned to face her. In his mind, it was a big moment simply that she would call his name to initiate contact on her own. How big the moment, he would not have guessed.
Looking down into her upturned face, he saw clearly the liquid pooling on her lower eyelids. She reached out her hands, not quite touching his shoulders. “Hug me,” she said simply. He complied, taking her in his arms gently, letting her decide how it should happen. It was clumsy, slightly stiff, but it was a start. They held each other for a while. The rest of the evening passed as if in another world.
In the middle of the night, he awoke on his back. Lana lay on her side in relaxed slumber facing him, her arm across his midriff. What woke him was what he felt sure was a familiar, audible voice. It was attached to a vivid memory of his Osage friend, walking away into a glowing cloud, turning just enough to speak a couple of words. “Farewell, Thomas. You are home now!”
After awhile, he faded back off to sleep, never to see that face again in his dreams.

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