Full-time Computer Ministry

Posted on December 13, 2010 by ehurst

I’ve decided now is the time to dive in all the way. For the past few years I’ve piddled and played at computer servicing as a hobby. The collection of articles I have here on computer topics should indicate how much time I put into it, but always with an eye to serving the (so far) small handful of folks who asked for my help. Now I’m devoting my time to making this more than a hobby.

Most of my effort will be in education and training. That is, while I can do some fixing on both hardware and software, my primary talent is helping other people make peace with their computers. I’ve set up a simple webpage to serve as the gateway for this effort. I posted an ad on Craigslist, and I’m looking into other ways to publicize my service to churches and non-profits in my area. This hinges on the character of my life: learning what I can, then teaching what I know to anyone willing to learn.

I’m not sure how it will affect what I post here, if at all. I suppose I’ll be offering more computer related stuff, but only if I don’t get some other bee in my bonnet. Thanks for taking the time to read this and supporting my effort.

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Brief Migration Guide to Ubuntu (Updated)

Posted on December 13, 2010 by ehurst

As promised, here is a brief sketch of what I recommend to Windows refugees who want to migrate to Linux.

Update: A better version of this guide can be found here.

The following assumes you are fairly competent already with computers, and not afraid to try something new. Your computer now runs Windows, and you want to migrate to Linux. For my clients, the primary reason has always been the high vulnerability of Windows to viruses within the context of how they user their system, along with any others who may share it with them. It’s not as if Linux can’t get viruses, but given the habits of most home users, it simply never does. These instructions also assume you aren’t using a really old system. Slower than 1.5Ghz for the CPU is not enough for the latest Ubuntu. You might consider contacting me about migrating to something a little older, but still supported. It will be more work, but you’ll enjoy it more.

Backup your important files, etc. Copy them to a CD or a memory stick.

Get a copy of Ubuntu Lucid 10.04 (LTS) Linux 32-bit. Go here; make sure you choose the 10.04 release. The following instructions may work for the latest release, but you are on your own. I recommend the LTS because it will be maintained at least until mid-2015. Also, in case you didn’t know it, your consumer-grade 64-bit system actually is run by a processor built on a 32-bit chassis with a few extensions added so it can handle 64-bit calls. If you have more than 3GB RAM, it won’t make any difference; Linux will still be able to use it in 32-bit mode, unlike Windows.

Drop the CD in and run. Test and see if it works with your hardware. Once the desktop appears, take a look at where everything is. Ignore notices about special hardware drivers for now. The menus are in the top bar at the left. Your “systray” items are on the top right. When you open any application or configuration window, it will be listed at the bottom. To the far bottom right you’ll see two squares. For now, you have two desktops. That means you don’t have to crowd all your open windows onto one desktop as with Windows. You have virtual desktops. Click one and then the other. Get used to the idea of them.

If you are satisfied it works okay, click the installation icon on the desktop. At some point it will ask you if you want to keep Windows. If you need to keep Windows, choose the option for shrinking the Windows partition and creating a new Linux partition. Otherwise, use the whole drive for Ubuntu. Answer the other questions.

Come up with a good password. You’ll need to use it a lot when making administrative changes to the system. I typically construct my passwords from favorite songs or sayings, then taking the first letter from each word, including the punctuation. Here’s an example:

Song title: “God is in Control” = Giictrl! or Gi1ctrl' or G1nctrl.

Some letters I’ll swap with numbers or symbols which are similar in some way. You’ll need at least 7 characters, and 9 is better, so if your favorite phrase is short, choose a whole word or abbreviation to add characters. The whole point is to remember it.

At some point you’ll be asked to reboot and remove the CD. Make sure the CD is removed from the tray. Reboot.

Once it reboots and desktop comes up, then add any special drivers (typically for ATI Radeon or nVidia). Make adjustments to the color scheme: System > Preferences > Appearance. Everything should be self-explanatory, except the fonts.

One of the biggest issues continues to be fonts and Linux. It can do much better than Windows on most hardware, including better than ClearType. But it’s not automatic. The fonts normally supplied by default are okay, but they aren’t as good as the ones with Windows, for the most part. You’ll be adding those later, but right now, the issue is getting them to display at their sharpest.

Every peculiar combination of hardware will offer its own challenges. The biggest problem comes from cheap video chipset (such as VIA Unichrome or SiS) and cheap LCDs. It takes up too much space to cover each possibility, but there are some general tricks you can use to make this work.

First, take full advantage of the desktop controls. In your Appearance widget, click the “Fonts” tab. I highly recommend you look at the samples and click the one which suits you best. Don’t feel like you have to take my advice; test them yourself and make changes as often as needed until it’s right for you. With most modern computers and LCDs, the choices are obvious. Go ahead and click that button marked “Details…” Even if you don’t have an LCD, most people prefer the Smoothing set to “Subpixel”, and Hinting at “Full”, and the default “RGB” color setting.

For most things, this will work for you. More advanced configuration requires skills you may not have yet. However, if you are determined to figure it out, see this page. While it covers an older version of Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala), aside from the bug mentioned, it’s all the same instructions for 10.04 (Lucid Lynx).

Now we need to add some essential packages. Go to package management in the menu: System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager. Use the quick search on the term “restricted”. It should offer, among other packages listed, “ubuntu-restricted-extras” — select this one by right-clicking on the tiny square to the left of the name. The context menu will allow you to pick “Mark for installation.” Click the “Apply” button in the top menu bar. Close Synaptic for now.

See this page and follow the instructions for adding Medibuntu to the list of package repositories from which Synaptic can draw. It’s a little complicated, but the hardest part is opening a terminal window, then doing the cut-n-pasted of that long command. Once you’ve done that, close the terminal window and open Synaptic again. Make sure to hit the “Reload” button to ensure it knows about the new package collection.

Now select some new packages using the search bar:

libdvdcss2
w32codecs
mplayer
gnome-mplayer
gecko-mediaplayer
cdda2wav
cdrdao
ttf-mscorefonts-installer

After you have marked them all for installation, hit the “Apply” button. You’ll be shown a list of extra goodies thrown in by default, but it really isn’t necessary to know all the details. Just tell it to proceed.

This will allow you to play most all media formats, particularly using Mplayer. Find it under Applications > Sound and Video > Mplayer. To make sure this becomes your default media player, go to System > Preferences > Preferred Applications. In the Multimedia tab hit the drop down box and choose Gnome-Mplayer. This links into Mplayer with a slightly different interface, but plays the same. This will play DVDs, movies, and music files.

For music CDs, you’ll prefer Rhythmbox to play them. To make copies of any CD, you should select Brasero. If you drop any CD in the tray, after a moment of checking, the system should pop open a window offering Rhythmbox or Brasero by default. Similar results should be for video DVDs with Gnome-Mplayer.

Most of the time, everything else will be pretty obvious. You can add more screensavers and a whole range of other goodies through the Synaptic package manager. It’s probably a good idea to ask someone with more experience what some of those obscure names and scant explanations represent in layman’s terms.

Play around with it and revisit the settings any time you aren’t happy with it. Change the desktop background, the desktop fonts, and get to know the system. If you have a few questions, first try running a web search, or you can ask me. If you have a lot of questions, it might be wise to join the Ubuntu discussion forums and post your questions there. It’s a really busy place, so it may take a day or two for some issues to be addressed. Welcome to Linux.

This will be posted on my permanent website, and is likely to be edited some as I correct minor details, add more ideas, etc.

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Truth, Compassion and Distrust in America

Posted on December 12, 2010 by ehurst

So the three pillars of Christian Mysticism make me a bad American, it appears.

I am committed to Truth, and I recognize no claim upon me by any human agency. This can get long and complicated, but the point is I don’t belong to this plane of existence. Since it does not own me, nothing here can own me. I cooperate as long is it does not conflict with the Truth.

I certainly have compassion for the people in this country. My commitment to them still rests upon my commitment to a higher power. I care enough to warn them they are wrong on most things, and I care enough to sacrifice a great deal on behalf of their welfare, individually and as a whole.

But there is no sane reason to trust my fellow Americans. All it takes is a moment’s consideration of Hollywood, TV, mainstream music, and you’ll understand Americans are deeply morally compromised. They have chosen horrific evil and entertainment over what is good and right, even for this plane of existence. Their judgment is rotten to the core, despite a simulacrum of decency on the outside.

I’ve read enough blather about what I owe my fellow Americans. I’ve paid, thank you. Parts of my body no longer work properly because of my military service, for one thing, so they got their use of me already. Besides, were it not for the patience and forbearance of God Almighty, not a single good thing in America would be here. Jesus died on the Cross for me, and all of America combined can’t match that. My Savior claims me 100%, and does not share with anyone on this earth.

Meanwhile, this nation is doomed.

If that’s not enough, the government of this nation was usurped long ago. All this nice talk about “of the people, by the people, for the people” was a bright shining lie when it was first spoken. The government of this nation has never been of the people in any significant sense; it has always been an elite group who saw themselves a class apart. You can debate for yourself when that reality took hold, but it was long ago. Our government is not us. So of a surety, I hold zero allegiance to this government, but that goes the same for all governments on this planet. Not a one of them knows nor cares what God requires of governments.

So I’ll play along with whomever claims to be in charge until they conflict with my One Master and Lord. I’m an American because God put me here for His own reasons. Yes, God favors America, just as He does all peoples in all lands, but I know from His Word this land has been particularly vicious in rejecting His favor. Our current national behavior in the rest of the world is all the proof I need for that.

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Intuitive Intelligence

Posted on December 11, 2010 by ehurst

A critical element in mysticism is cultivating intuition. Both are commonly dismissed as a lack of intelligence, but this is manifestly itself a lack of intelligence. There is a wealth of study, even in Western human sciences, showing intuition is a valid process for arriving at decisions and increasing knowledge.

In general, intuition is the habit of absorbing patterns. It does not use linear sensory intelligence to process information, but operates in the subconscious. It is vastly more efficient. Frankly, the greatest warriors and athletes depend on patterned learning to react correctly when conscious thought is too slow.

Nor is it necessary to separate the two. Having them jumbled together in your stream of consciousness need not confuse things. A great many things we learn must be learned intuitively, because that is how children operate. Language and music are most efficiently understood by absorption. Only after a minimal level has been reached this way can skills be added on top.

When it comes to matters which affect our lives but rest entirely in the spiritual sphere, intuition becomes imperative. Mysticism is impossible without it, and thus, hearing from God. You cannot grasp the imperatives of your convictions unless you can process them subconsciously and intuit what best fits them in a given context.

Every human carries some intuitive capacity. However, our Western culture dismisses it as unreliable. This is a primary reason why Western Civilization is doomed, because it is wholly unable to grapple with the fundamental moral nature of the universe.

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Serving Linux to the Refugees

Posted on December 9, 2010 by ehurst

It’s all about freedom. What does it take to improve your service to the Kingdom? What can I do to remove unnecessary limitations?

I am by no means a Linux evangelist. Some people are better off running Windows, and I try to keep my skills current for that. Some people need something else, and I try to explore the alternatives just enough to keep track of what works, what can be made to work, and what is probably not worth the trouble. Still, I only know what I know, and I’m really not interested in just every little project out there. The ones which matter most are the ones which don’t become a distraction by consuming too much time and effort. Folks who need another hobby don’t need my help.

Most of you already know the easiest Linux to use is Ubuntu. There are plenty which are as easy to install, but none so far offer the same long-term support as the LTS releases of Ubuntu, which is part of the definition of “easy” in their minds. Without LTS, it’s just a hobby unless you intend to become a serious technician. I’ve poked around Red Hat 6.0 the last couple of weeks, preparing for the release of CentOS 6, which is derived from it. I found CentOS 5 just manageable enough to write a migration guide for Windows refugees. I’m pretty sure I can’t do that for 6.

The primary issue is the difficult install. Most ordinary home or small office users don’t have time to learn the various incantations to get RHEL/CentOS 6 to boot on some machines. Lots of folks are complaining about it. If it’s that difficult, it’s too difficult. That’s not a slam on the RedHat way of doing things; it didn’t stop me installing it. But that is too much to ask for someone who has no need for my background in Linux and other OSes. Such people happen to be all of my clients, and I’m pretty sure it will be true of all my future clients. Nor do the folks who produce this stuff feel insulted, since Red Hat and CentOS remain committed to the enterprise technicians, not ordinary users.

So while RHEL 6.0 is one of the best Linux distros I’ve ever tested, I can’t recommend it to my clients without a lot of training. It’s too easy to get something almost as good with Ubuntu without that training. Sometime in the near future I’ll be writing a migration guide for those clients whom I cannot for some reason do a hands-on installation of Ubuntu.

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Wikileaks and Clarity

Posted on December 9, 2010 by ehurst

As a card-carrying member of the lunatic fringe, I just wanted to gibber a little more about Wikileaks.

Apparently Assange made a deal with Israel to let their government agents censor his document troves before publication. Whether they now keep their bargain and rescue him from this honeytrap business in Sweden remains to be seen, but it could happen without much notice. That is, the alternative press will make note of it, but only if Israel throws him under the bus will it make the mainstream news.

Still, we can see the whole thing remains mostly theatrics. As noted previously, it is painfully obvious Israel was not hurt or embarrassed in the least by this leak of cables. Nor was the US, actually:

US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates admitted in a letter to the US congress that no sensitive intelligence sources or methods had been compromised by the Afghan war logs disclosure. The Pentagon stated there was no evidence the WikiLeaks reports had led to anyone being harmed in Afghanistan. NATO in Kabul told CNN it couldn’t find a single person who needed protecting. The Australian Department of Defence said the same. No Australian troops or sources have been hurt by anything we have published.

So all this bluster about taking down someone who dares to threaten our troops is mindless idiocy, the trademark of the American public. Consider the logic of this noise: If the issue is a threat to our troops, then it’s the Presidents, Congress, Haliburton/KBR, and a the apathy of the US voters which are most at fault for killing our troops in senseless wars for lies. Punish them first, then you’ll have moral standing to go after Assange. Did I mention slaughtering over a million citizens of other countries?

Besides, Assange didn’t even break any of our laws.

But in the United States, generally publishing classified information is not a crime. The sort of information that a news organization can be prosecuted for publishing is limited to: nuclear secrets (Atomic Energy Act), the identities of covert agents (Intelligence Identities Protection Act), and certain forms of communications intelligence (Section 798 of the Espionage Act).

Perhaps lamenting that the U.S. does not have an Official Secrets Act like the United Kingdom, right wing columnists have consistently misinterpreted these Acts, or have cited other provisions of our espionage laws which almost surely do not apply to Wikileaks.

Purely on grounds of Aristotelian logic the US government has no right to even keep secrets:

In the case of a state in which the people are sovereign, (which is to say that the people are the state), the state cannot morally conceal its actions, intentions, and international communications from the people, which is to say itself…. In a state where the people are sovereign, state secrets are maintained for one reason and one reason only: to permit certain elements of the state to operate freely without taking into account the will of the other elements of the state. This is why state secrets are intrinsically authoritarian and invariably lead to the loss of human liberty over time.

Even the attempts by Anonymous and their Payback project is just noise. Blocking access to a few websites, and even some of the Mastercard operations, will not be very persuasive. Keep it up and it only justifies the planned draconian Internet controls. The only effective action, should Anonymous really intend to cost the bad guys money, is to crack the servers themselves, breach the security and take control over the data stored there. The real heavy here is not Mastercard, Visa, PayPal, et al. Evil as they may be, the real heavy is the US government. Tie up the official bureaucratic processes which transact over the Net, then you’ll be doing something which affects the bad guys. And you’ll also have the Internet security officials breathing down your necks, but this petty DDoS attacks on websites means nothing. It’s just more noise playing into the hands of the scripted propaganda.

Meanwhile, most of what you see and hear from conventional sources is propaganda theater. It’s true of everything they say. We have this “global warming” gathering in Mexico while the first taste of a new ice age hits Europe and parts of North America. It’s caused in part by the changes in the Gulf Stream resulting from BP’s oil leak. People in the Gulf of Mexico are sick and dying from unprecedented poisoning of the water by both raw petroleum and dispersants. The US government is helping to cover this up, as it does the banking mortgage frauds. Our manufacturing base continues off-shoring at a blistering pace, even as the government works as hard as possible to cripple the economy further. And the press talks about our “recovery.”

Yes, it is all intentionally, knowingly, attacking you and me and the whole world because it’s profitable for a select few.

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Settling in the Land Without Words

Posted on December 8, 2010 by ehurst

I am now a settled citizen of the Land Without Words, the higher plane of life and sanity. If you followed me here, and kept track of my explorations, you are now on your own. There’s not much more I can tell you or show you about the place. Either you belong or you don’t.

That’s not to say sanity won’t find a thousand events in this world to address. Unfortunately, for my regular readers it will begin to sound all too familiar. I’ll do my best to keep it fresh, but it won’t be new.

No doubt I’ll find more stories needing to be told, but only the most subtle stuff will be a surprise. Parables can only carry so much before they come apart. It’s time to put it to work, and make your own stories.

Thanks for struggling alongside me, keeping me company. Now let’s build together, and make ourselves at home.

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Making the Prison Tolerable

Posted on December 7, 2010 by ehurst

Yesterday I wrote you cannot package salvation. That’s not to say there is no useful guide to action in helping people get a hint of sanity. There most certainly is a defined course of action on this plane of existence which adequately demonstrates what sanity looks like. It’s called the Laws of God. The problem is, you have to understand them in their own mystical context, or you’ll end up using Laws to attack sanity, as happened with Jesus. His national government had completely lost all contact with their own mystical intellectual culture, and were utterly clueless about the Law of Moses.

We have no standing to enforce anything. This is not about activism to demand worldly governments follow the Covenant of Noah or Moses. It would sure make the world a better place if we could, but that’s been tried and failed repeatedly. Without that strong mystical route to understanding Law Covenants, enforcement becomes just another excuse for injustice. It’s impossible to legislate mysticism as a condition for holding office. It’s not impossible to teach it, nor impossible to make it the common approach across an entire national culture, but impossible in the sense no human gets to choose a mystical birth of the spirit. Only God can do that.

From where we stand now, the very first step is shredding Western Civilization completely. That’s a pretty tall order, and not something which any person or group can plan, much less execute. So far as we can know now, it’s not in the cards; God seems to have other plans. Our part in this is not to question the executive decisions, but to implement them. If we are going to make any headway at all, it requires a number of us simply living our own lives under God’s definition of justice.

God says sanity is justice. Exhibiting justice is exhibiting sanity. People will sense your sanity by your justice as defined by God’s Laws. Not in the letter of the Laws, because that’s just an example of justice. It’s in the justice which arises from a mystical approach to everything we do. You abstract the Laws as best you know and apply them in your personal context. It becomes the default of operations. At the same time, you remain open to some command coming down the pipe from your spirit which could countermand your current best understanding. That’s in part because you understand the definition of justice includes mercy. You willingly forgo enforcement of strict justice in the intellectual sense when mercy is a better expression of eternal justice in the mystical sense. You do the sane thing because justice makes no sense otherwise.

You don’t think in terms of rights, which is not a biblical concept, but in terms of opportunity.

At this point, we have placed ourselves so very far outside the mainstream, we would be labeled “freaks.” Once folks notice our unusual approach, we are in a good position to talk about it. That is, insofar as we can talk about it at all, since mystical truth defies words. We have to address it in parabolic terms. Sure, we can explain how what we do is our best understanding of God’s Laws, and even discuss those Laws. But the ultimate motivation is not in the Laws themselves, but in the other-worldly pull on us. Indeed, living justly is itself a parable of truth. You’ll have to work out your own approach, because it’s more an art form than a skill. It has to arise from your own character.

Perhaps at this point you are reminded we don’t sell mysticism. We want them to have it, but we can’t possibly deliver it to them. We can provoke it if they have a spiritual awareness, but you can’t poke what isn’t there. So if we say something incomprehensible to them, at least the obvious lesson of conduct is not lost. Frankly, our whole game plan, as it were, is packaging Laws as the symbol of sanity.

We can’t get people out of prison; it’s above our calling, above our pay grade. We can surely make prison saner, more tolerable and just. Even if we bumble and stumble, folks will know it didn’t come from the system which runs the prison. But then again, they may not understand they are in a prison. What they will understand is justice, if they understand anything at all. Not much we can do about their understanding. Even with an authoritative position over them, such as being their parent, for example, we cannot do more than shape the process of interaction from our end. There is a certain amount of the process forever beyond our reach, even on this plane of existence. By the same token, nothing any evil man can do will create a permanent disability against sanity, though it does raise barriers. The same power to get us free can touch anyone, but will not touch everyone, and disabilities arising from evil conditioning is not a deciding factor.

Thus, we learn to accept: Not only do we not have any way of getting folks to notice the higher plane of existence if it’s not already in them, we can’t even get them to accept the notion of justice on this plane of existence. All we can do is offer what’s in our hands, and that’s our own broken justice.

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Unpackaged Salvation

Posted on December 6, 2010 by ehurst

I’ve met quite a few folks who wanted to save the world. Some of them are family members. They offer beatific visions of Utopia, an answer to all the ills of world — but of course, only those ills they wish to consider. Sometimes it is as simple as marketing this one solution to a particular problem, a superior product or first on the market. It all springs from the same urge to be significant, to accomplish something and point to it as their laurels.

That same fantasy once chained me, as it does so much of the human race. It nearly killed more than once. Not that I feared death, nor do I now, but death on the wrong terms is truly sorrowful. It would have been an utterly pointless death, death under a delusion.

Sanity came when I let it all go.

You can’t package truth. The salvation of humanity is not available on this plane of existence. Sanity is leaving all this behind, in the sense you finally realize to the core of your being this is just a prison, a big lie, not the real deal. Then you spend what time you have left finding small ways to show it. Some of you, dear readers, probably grasp this.

You realize, I’m sure, your answers are not everyone else’s answers. We have no branding, and whatever label we could find has already been co-opted and abused so much, it’s almost meaningless. We are truth in plain brown wrappers. It’s not the contents which matter so much as the utter lack of labeling itself. That’s our emphatic denial there is any answer, any “better deal” to which we can pin our names, hopes and dreams, or anyone else’s.

Salvation is not taught, but caught. It’s not a product, but a process. We demonstrate how it works for us, and know somebody is going to ask. If they don’t ask, that doesn’t mean they won’t get their own sanity, but those we can possibly help in any other way must ask. Unless of course, the convictions within force you to act unilaterally. You’ll know when that moment comes. Or maybe you won’t, but you’ll know later, and sharpen your convictions for the next time. The development process is never done, so long as we breathe this air.

We few know there will always be more, yet never more than a few. Sure, the long view of human history notes it comes and goes in cycles. Numbers or percentages aren’t possible, but there has never been more than a few of us. Even among people whose spirits are awake and alive, it seems most of them never get sane enough to really break free from the prison. They are like the children which never grow up, all unrealized potential. So even when we make some progress, we lose a big chunk in the process.

It’s not futile. At least, it isn’t futile so long as you don’t cripple yourself with expectations. Our very existence on another plane itself is worth it all. Dismissing expectations, that disentangling pillar of Christian Mysticism, is critical to whatever we have which approaches the idea of “success.” When we embrace the fullness of no expectations, we are success personified. We are free to let powers beyond us steer things where they must go, and we grant that same freedom to anyone we encounter. That’s the essence of helping them see this prison and seeing where freedom can be found.

They have to find their own answers, because we don’t offer answers. The best we can offer is shining the light on the path where humanity must go to find all the answers. The path is not in this world, so it can’t be packaged, managed, quantified, explained or sold. If you know this, on whatever level it is humans know such things, you are saved. You are sane. It’s also called love, peace, compassion, grace, and a thousand other things, all words which never quite capture the essence.

You can’t package salvation.

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The State of the Revolution

Posted on December 5, 2010 by ehurst

I am conducting a revolution. I’m not leading one, because I am not aware of anyone following me. I understand I am influencing a handful of folks, but I’m a revolutionary individual, not a revolutionary leader.

That’s because the foundation of this revolution is individuality.

I know all too well the lessons of leadership, and also it’s limitations. The most important things in this life cannot be led. It works okay for things which require more than one person doing the same thing at the same time, but that’s just mundane mechanics of existence on this plane. It’s the other plane which matters. You could share some of my philosophy, my notions and plans, but you have to do it all on your own. Even when you get support or direct help, it’s still on you. Being utterly and wholly independent in your choices is the whole point; that is the revolution itself. The other word I use often is “sanity” — the only way to be sane is to learn just what is and is not your responsibility, and take hold of that.

So tell me: How is your individual revolution going? That’s the state of the revolution for you.

Meanwhile, I find often in the news tidbits of how this or that person or group is being put through the meat-grinder for this or that political reason. These are folks trying to change the political landscape, inevitably by getting others to go along with their ideas. Power in numbers and all that. And it follows they will always have some grand investment in the trappings of influencing large numbers of people.

Without fail, the ones I read about will have computers, documents, materials for distribution, lists and a significant amount of organization and funding. Such makes them a target for their opponents — burglaries, arrests and confiscation, harassment, confinement, beatings and assassination, etc. Crude, but too often effective. Sometimes it has the opposite effect of making the movement even more viable. Some manage to recover until they succeed.

The death of any revolution is not oppression and repression, but institutionalization. When the revolution becomes mainstream, it is, by definition, no longer a revolution.

Perhaps you know this. If you happen to share something in my revolution, you probably do understand these things. It’s taken for granted. We also know our revolutions — each of us in our own — are not vulnerable to these measures.

I have a couple of computers. The whole point of revolution is not to do what others do, but to experiment and push the envelope. Not for its own sake, but to make sure all options have been tested to see what best meets the needs of the revolution. It’s not a sin to accept some convention, or a lot of conventions; it’s a sin to refuse to examine them. Right now, the needs of my revolution happen to make my computer systems pretty secure from electronic attacks over the Internet wires.

But if someone were to enter my home and put their hands my computers, they could probably get what they wanted from them. What they would get they could easily find online in the first place, except for some boring private stuff. I suppose if you really insisted you had a good reason for prying into my personal rantings in a journal I keep, I would let you read them. It’s not a matter of having things to hide, but they aren’t likely to be of interest to you unless you are wacko and reject my revolution, find it threatening.

So that means maybe some enforcement goons would like to know. That’s fine; all they need do is ask and I’ll send so much of the journal as I have. Even I am not all the interested in what I’ve written, so over the years I’ve lost big chunks of it. Other than those journal entries, all I’ve kept is copies of stuff I published, stuff I found pertinent published by others, and some bits and pieces of entertaining media files freely available to everyone.

Raid my computers? Don’t waste your time. Even if you confiscate all my most important articles, I could probably rewrite them, perhaps even better. I suppose you could slow things down by making me use pencil and paper, since my arthritis makes that challenging after awhile. It might slow down distribution of new ideas and new writings, but it’s too late to remove the stuff already published online. You want a copy of my static website archive? I’ll send you a CD. As long as I’m alive, the revolution continues, and the explanation I have to offer is still in my head.

There’s a strong chance I’ll still face arrest sometime in the future as a direct response to my revolution. I’ve openly counseled resistance, and offered philosophical and theological justification for armed violence by some folks in some cases. Not that I am interested in violence myself, but a central thesis of my teaching is there are two levels of operation, and most of the world is under God’s Laws. Those Laws do encourage well considered bloodshed in certain cases as the best way to prevent even worse bloodshed and injustice. On the spiritual level, we are required to honestly note such things, even as we eschew violence ourselves. It’s not as if there could be no violence justified for me, but it’s highly unlikely. So if they come to arrest me, they aren’t likely to have much trouble, at least not from me.

On the other hand, I openly admit in advance I’m likely to be difficult to find and catch if I suspect it’s coming. That’s the plan, for now, barring a move by the Spirit to choose some other response. He’s in charge of my revolution.

That’s the whole point. He’s in charge, not any of us. We revolutionaries are just the feet and hands on the ground. Insofar as there are any activists, we are it, each of us in our own way. There are no concerted plans, mass movements or rallies. There are no campaigns to influence opinion and politics. There is some effort to endorse change, publicly and even vociferously. But that’s just so folks have no excuse when they face God. It’s more about doing than talking, anyway. So while I offer copies of my version of the message, I discourage folks depending on me for their words. Words aren’t the point. Sanity is the point.

That’s the state of the revolution. It’s your own search for sanity. There aren’t likely that many of us, so we aren’t much of threat in that sense. The likelihood of being specifically targeted is pretty small. More likely we will get in trouble along the way, mistaken by the oppressors as something else entirely. Those who really understand just how much of a threat we constitute are probably too intelligent and important to be in a position to notice us.

Funny, eh?

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