A letter from my mom/dad

(this is a letter my mom sent to me in response to the letter I sent to her. the former letter can be found on this blog. my wife and I believe this letter not to be written by my mother but her husband who I sometimes call dad. enjoy.)

Josh,

Give my love to Rachael and Lorelei!  Know that we pray for you all daily.  Here is my response to what you shared.

Dear Josh,

I appreciate you sharing your views with me and have read it several times.  Dad and I are pleased that you want to communicate with us and cherish that very much. Before I address specifics, I do want to bring up that part of the difficulty in researching "history" in today's world is that so much of the past has been commented on that many times "opinions" of the past are repeated and repeated on the internet and print media until they start to appear as fact - and people believe them as truth.  We both need to be careful to glean the real truth and that can be difficult in this information age, because as you stated, we are told what others want us to hear and I agree.

After discussing your letter with Dad, here are some thoughts:

First:  Survival of the fittest is merely an adaptation of traits within a species and is observable in nature. But this is not “evolution” which touts the creation of new and different species from entirely different forms of life.  It is not a simple “Man came from Monkeys” argument that we disagree with. It is the “Man came from the goo in the primordial swamp” which is not only objectionable Biblically, but impossible biologically and statistically. However, your point about “adapting to the environment” is understood.  Just don’t confuse it with “evolution”.

In regards to socio-political changes, of course we agree in part.  Human institutions are all corrupt in some degree because they are designed by humans who are innately sinful and prone to error. But don’t brand your Dad and I as conformists or puppets because we don’t propose radical changes just for the sake of change. Even going back to your analogy of adaptation, every generation doesn’t necessarily adapt because it doesn’t need to adapt. Change for the sake of change is illogical and unnecessary.  Change when corrupt practices are in place (e.g. the Reformation) was warranted.  Josh, we love you very much so it is with that information that I hope you accept this comment: although it is an admirable trait to speak up for what you believe and stand against injustice, you have seemed to welcome confrontation and taken the radical viewpoint on whatever issue is out there. If the government says we landed on the moon, you say it was a hoax. If the majority of the medical field says fluoride has beneficial effects, you say it is a conspiracy to control the masses. You have endorsed so many conspiracy “theories” that we just expect that whatever the mainstream says (right or wrong) you are going to oppose it for the sake of being argumentative and confrontational. You have lost all respect for and trust in the “establishment”.  But we still love you!

Now, a crucial point of your letter and the point we will disagree is the canon of the Scripture. You vastly oversimplified a process that was done carefully (and prayerfully) and made it sound like a simple disagreement between people of differing views and in the end, the strong won out. This is a grossly inadequate reconstruction of history.  First, you must draw a distinction between the OT canon and the NT canon because they were two separate and unique processes occurring 400-600 years apart and the “orthodox church” (as you call it) didn’t have anything to do with the first. The NT canon took place between about 140 AD and 397 AD so it wasn’t just one group of “priests” from one camp arguing with another group.

JI Packer had an interesting quote concerning those who say the canon was simply man’s
“collection” of the scriptures they wanted to include as God’s word. “The church no more gave us the New Testament canon than Sir Isaac Newton gave us the force of gravity. God gave us gravity, by his work of creation, and similarly he gave us the New Testament canon, by inspiring the individual books that make it up.”

As to the difference between the “orthodox” and “Gnostics”, I think that is something to leave for another time. Although John wrote 3 epistles to counter the 1^st century Gnostics, they obviously didn’t go away but their writings over the next few centuries were discussed and dismissed by the Early Church Fathers over the next few hundred years.

You ask whether or not worldviews should be defined by “man”. My answer is “NO”. But most are, however (communism, socialism, humanism, scientology and on and on). A Biblical worldview is not defined by man but by God and that is why we camp there. But you say, “The Bible promotes sexism and genocide”. I think that is very shortsighted for several reasons. First, you are defining “sexism” based on a humanistic world view. The Bible teaches man to love his wife as Christ loved the church and be willing to die for her. You call that “sexism”?  Where Christianity has sprouted across different cultures around the earth, women have been freed from oppression, men have been taught to love and respect them, and stability in cultures has ensued.

The last point is your charge against the Bible “promoting” genocide. Let me remind you that God destroyed the entire human race save 8 people early on as a judgment against sin and He will one day judge the entire world and restore it. Call it what you want, but it is obvious that God hates sin and will deal with it in His way and His time. Recall that he even sent unholy kings to conquer His chosen people and enslave them for their violations of the law. Yet He has ultimately set up His son as the greatest sacrifice to make all things right. But saying the Bible promotes genocide because God judged Canaan is far from what the whole counsel of God’s Word commands Christians to do and far from what they do in practice concerning going into all the world with the gospel of peace and loving your neighbors. Christians aren’t perfect, but they aren’t running around wiping out entire ethnic groups. But recall the recent mass murders and examine their worldviews (Mao Tse Tung, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, etc.)

Finally, about your claim that men just made this all up: If that were the case, why wouldn’t they selectively have left out things like the conquering of Canaan and the promise that those that follow Christ will undergo persecution and death? Why would they have said you must become a slave? These aren’t very good “recruiting” slogans for sure. To me, it only further underscores the truthfulness of what we have in our possession called the Holy Bible.

Thank you for reading this response – it was written with love and much prayer for you all.

Mom

Ethical Concerns

It is becoming increasingly hard to talk about me and my friends (in writing or in speech) without having to obscure a great bit of detail. Most of what we do is considered illegal and wrong by the present power structure. The truth is so much more enlightening. The truth, though, could get a lot of people in serious trouble.

Information should be free. Evolution should be encouraged. But for silly reasons I cannot be completely open about my experiences.

Criss-Crossing Paths

The building my mom lives in is a strange one. Similar to the Winchester House in the sense of senselessness. There are doors that lead to nothing, secret rooms with windows that can be seen from outside of the apartment, but are only accessible by the revealing of a moveable wall. I've noticed the strange architecture, but my focus points are the basement of the entire building and the kitchen in our apartment. At first it was nothing, just a drawer face that wouldnt stay nailed to the rest of the drawer, despite the obvious attempts of 15 nails trying to keep it on. It would pop itself off regardless. Alright, faulty drawer. We stopped putting it back on. Problem fixed, right?
Then the shadows. I'd been seeing the shadows...flitting across my peripheral vision. First I saw them in Fresno in the apartment I was staying then I saw them here in the kitchen. I put them down to figments of my imagination along with the comely amount of LSD and mushrooms I've been taking recently. But I had indeed seen them, there was no denying it. And I wasnt impressed with the feeling they left lingering or with the idea that I might be being followed.
Now to the basement...well, basements are what they be, creepy as shit.  Upon arriving here the first time, my mom warned me about the basement, said she had been down there one night doing her laundry when she heard some voices.  I took note, but my mom has heard voices before and I figured 'whateva'.  But there was no ignoring it as I felt my own mind begin to slip from my grasps, not towards insanity but released from the contains of what they call "sanity".  This indoctrination we've been taught to not question our reality, that there is only one and it is by their standards.  Back to the basement...So here I am now doing my laundry and I admit I was getting the heebie-jeebies but thought my mind was just playing tricks on me when once again two shadows flicked across my vision...once bouncing off a broken mirror leaving my eyes focused on painted writing on the doorjam "You're a NUT."  At this I knew my mind was not fucking with me and I bolted up the stairs, but I felt something trailing after me on the back of my calves, the same way it had felt once in the kitchen.  I yelled "STOP!" and went back to the apartment and did not go back to the basement til the next morning. The writings were and are still there.
There have been more disturbances in the kitchen. Grocery bags that were safely tucked between the wall and fridge come flying out into the middle of the floor and noises...basically just things moving.  I was beginning to become annoyed.

I have become very attuned to my psychic ability and wish to hone my skills. I ponder the possibilities of time, space, quantum physics, and how I can personally manipulate them to allow telecommunication, telekinesis, even interdimensional/time travel, activating the 8th thru 12th chakras our our light body.  My mind is powerful, but how do I access that power within this physical realm? By remembering. All the answers our within ourselves...or are we indeed the answers to the riddles we are faced with?  We will allow the possibility that we can travel through time or at least our future selves have figured it out. We go back in time and change things, hoping we will make it right this time around. That first plane of existence did not cease to exist at this point and through the changes made we have created a second layer of existence stacked on top of that one.  But things are still not right...we messed shit up again or the correcting of the orginal mistake changed history and caused something else to happen that we wish to correct. And so it goes on...and we have created many layers, many parallel universes stacked on top of each other.  And it becomes crowded...the space between the layers have become thin.  Interdimensional travel between these planes is easier, well maybe perhaps just noisier.  We hear a rustling in the room, but we are alone in that room..perhaps we are crossing paths with our future interdimensionally-traveling self.  It could be happening in the other planes as well. The thought came to me, what if this is what is happening. As I allow myself to leave this reality and go down the rabbit hole, I wonder if my mind is playing tricks on me (you're a NUT), but what if I am playing tricks on myself!  I am saying "HEY! Pay attention! WE figured it out, You are on the right path, in the right thinking." to myself. This is a possibility...but just that.
Yesterday, there were more disturbances. More writings on the wall in the basment and an-almost act of violence in the kitchen (which by the way is the old part of the apartment, the rest was built on later).  More shadows  flitting across my vision lead me to more writing on the wall in the basement across from the other "you're a NUT", which reads "Yes. YOU!"
WTF! right? Last night as me and my mom sat watching TV in the living room, a tray with a small pie my mom had left me went flying off its stable position on top of the stove, spreading pie juices all over the floor. Now that was just rude, but you've got my fucking attention, asshole.


So now I have reached this moment.  Mischievious spirit/energy, this building built on a sense of crazy, and me...who might be losing it because I am truly on to something big here. A discovery of my psychic capabilities.  Regardless, it is sending me messages I can't ignore. But I wont know, unless I ask whatever it might be. It is the fear of what might happen, of who is in control that holds me back.  I mean, I'm already insane, what else is there to lose? More like what is there to gain.

Manifest ASAP

Ok, so first attempt at starting a train of thought here...Something that's been bugging me, which I feel is significant to this blog's line of significance which is to end greed and violence. both of these come from need, and as any street kid can tell, through manifestation whether one believes it comes from the diving within the mortals you pronounce manifestation to, or through straight divine intervention beyond the observable realm, that one always has what one needs. NOT WANTS, BUT NEEDS. One can have what one wants if a person knows how to ask (via prayer, spells, or simply writing with intention..), but I've discovered recently how important it is to be truly self observant always vigilant with your intentions. Through manifestation, I made a lot of money this season, then took lots of Lucy and one dose of fungus. All these trips were pushing me towards something, but i was looking at myself too hard momentarily, and not everyday when more sober. Through this one manifestation of money I became ensnared in a perpetuating greed! For more, more money, more food, more weed, more improvement...but by trying to improve by the atypical means by trying to aquire employment, "enough" clothes, food, accesories and such consumeristic ways of thinking, I suddenly saw it. The disease of idiocracy eating my freedom away piece by piece. I feel we need to find sustainable farms before our children are lost to this ocean of apathy. I feel we can manifest this sooner than we realize. Greed is so deceptive, I've always thought money was only needed when i reproduced and only for the reason of aquiring land and the starting needs of a sustainable homestead on which to teach them real life needs-how to grow, work not in excess but meaningful work for your meals, how to prepare food of all types, how to survive without commodities so that they can see life isn't about the shiny pretties and convenience!!!! In this environment alone can we, and our future survive the mindnumbing messages bombarding us daily in babylon. Only there could we evolve, without the everyday setback of pretending to run the rat race under watching Eyes. I want it within the next five years, before my eggs are old and whatnot genetically inept... SO my plan-instead of focusing on making money this season-im going to go for no profit-only learning how to grow how to plant how to take care of chickens and cows and goats :) That's what I'm manifesting. Some parenting knowledge, and various other skills should be honed too, such as fuel making for tractors-or horse maintenance-manure making knowledge- bee knowledge!!!!! Bees are a must. Financial and lawful (knwoledge) means to freedom from the government's ability to take land away when said homestead is established would be great too. thoughts?...

A Letter for Your Mom

Dear Mom,

I guess, if I had to start somewhere I would start with evolution. Now, I understand that you do not believe that we came from monkeys and I will admit that there is no proof that we did. There are skeletons that lead us to believe that this is possible, but there is no actual proof. What is evident, however, is that organisms (that is living things that eat, poop, and procreate) will adapt to their environment. Those that adapt will survive to pass on their genes to the next generation. This is called survival of the fittest.

Those organisms survive to pass on genes to other organisms that are forced to adapt and the cycle is continued. For instance, all the skin tones and muscle/bone structures can be accounted for by the different climates and land that we all come from. Understanding this would lead us to believe that it is imperative in our nature to examine our environment (physical, social, spiritual, and political) and attempt to change that flaws we see in it. When Martin Luther and the Reformers saw that there were many problems with the Catholic Church, they attempted to change things and so doing gave birth to the Protestant Church. Many of them were even arrested and tried for heresy.

This cycle of change still exists and it burns within each new generation. We are born into a world that we did not create. We are not responsible for it's mistakes, but are obligated to attempt to change what needs to be changed and not to repeat the mistakes of the past. If we were to merely follow the orders of those who came before us then how would we grow? We would be doomed to make the same mistakes over and over again. The old regime will always oppose the new regime; this is evident very clearly in the social climate right after slavery was abolished in this country. The old blacks opposed the white man and the old whites opposed the black man. Their children didn't understand the prejudice of their elders and rebelled against it.

There are too many problems in this world to count. It is our duty and our right as a generation to try and make things better. It is out right to try new things, to actually see what works and what doesn't. Without this right, our world will never improve no matter what we do.

Now, you and I were lead to believe (by men, not The Bible) that those 66 texts were the only inspired texts and were the Whole Truth: The Word of God. The truth is that a group of priests from from what was known as the Orthodox Church decided what texts to keep and what to be declared as heresy. There were over 100 texts that came out of the Hebrew tradition and relating to Jesus. After Jesus' death, dozens of churches arose with different opinions about what Jesus said (and they had sacred texts to back it up). Most of these sects could be grouped into two categories: Orthodox and Gnostic. The Orthodox believed that Jesus was the Son of the Hebrew God, and the Gnostics believed that he was the Son of the Autogenes, who is at the same time the eternal God and another holy dimension without decay or death. The Gnostics believed that the god of this earth, who the Hebrews called Jehova, was a low god: cruel, jealous, and arrogant; that Jesus was sent to tell us that we could be free of his tiresome games.

Needless to say, there was conflict. It erupted into violence on both sides. The Orthodox burned the Gnostics alive and the Gnostics slit the Orthodoxed throats in the street. All of this over a disagreement about what Jesus said and what he didn't (and what it all meant). In the end, the Orthodox outnumbered the Gnostics and defeated them. They burned all of the Gnostic sacred texts and declared them Heretical for all time and they burned the rest of those Christians who held the Gnostic beliefs. Eventually, a council was called and the Orthodox priests gathered there decided what the Truth was.

Should our world views be defined by what men think? Where has it gotten us? The Bible promotes genocide (for God commands His people to slaughter all the people of Canaan because it is The Promised Land). The Bible promotes patriarchy (a woman is subjugated, below a man). Are these good things? Should we continue these ideas and should we propagate them? Is genocide and sexism okay because God says it is in the Bible?

Your Son

Strip Mall Satori

The first step to enlightenment is getting past the smell. We had formed a cloud of two behind some brambly bushes off of a dinky hiking trail to a city park. Time to seek visions. The recipe is simple chemistry. Water, starting fluid, bottle, shake and drain. I dowsed my rag and began a deep rhythmic breathing. Pictures of Buddhist watercolor flickered behind my eyelids. My head was shaved. Dangling so gently above my smooth head a needle dispensed the finest lavender chalk to track my meditations. Flash to a moment of my master showing me the chalk. It was so soft, scented like spring, delicate and precious. i held the chalk in my hand and clumsily i spilled the chalk on myself. I looked at my hand with the rag in it, repeating softly, "i'm sorry". What are you sorry about? i was back in the bushes with my cloud mate, tears in my eyes. I glanced behind in time to catch the corner of a bright orange Buddhist monk's robe flutter away into the brush.

Jesus the Hacker

It may come as a surprise to some that there are many different accounts and interpretations of Jesus and his message. After his death there were dozens of cults that arose in his name: each with their own holy scriptures to back it up. The largest of these groups called themselves the Orthodox (meaning "right" or "correct") Church and they set out to destroy any other views about Jesus and to kill all those who held these views. Among the sects that they murdered were a lose grouping of cults known as the Gnostics.

The Gnostics believed that Jesus was not the son of the Jewish god (who they called Yaltabaoth which means "the arrogant one," and also Saklas meaning "the fool") but that he was the son of the highest god (who really couldn't be labeled a god on the account of his being huge and indescribable). In there mind, Jesus had come from an eternal dimension (one without decay like our world) know as Barbelo to tell us that we could be free. Not only can we be free, but that in us we posses a piece of Barbelo (which is in itself th highest being the Gnostics called the Autogenes which means "self generated" or at times The Luminous Cloud) inside of us and that eternal part of us is powerful and yearns to be free and infinite again.

If we are, in fact inside of some ultra-complicated computer simulation (which I believe we very well might be), then a more liberal interpretation of the Gnostic belief could lead us to believe that Jesus was not an immortal being at all, but a hacker from outside the computer. Maybe the time period in which he found himself when he entered our simulation made it necessary to dumb down the message - to bring it to a level that the humans of that age could digest. Could his message have really been that we could unplug from the machine and be free in the world beyond?

I will leave you with a quote from Jesus. It can be found in the Coptic Gospel of Thomas.

verse 1:  And He said, "Whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death."