God how I hate religion! Man is so damn pious and holier than thou with his sacraments and vestments and testaments and regiments…God how I hate religion.
What a small world it would be if all we were living for was to join some church or some synagogue or some temple or some mosque and subject our bodies and minds to the discipline au jour…Lord, Lord, I hardly knew you…
Ha! I tried that one too. I think it was right after about 20 days of Orange sunshine and window pane acid…wasn’t that what we called those little orange pills and that stuff on a blotter that we kept in the freezer? Oh you missed that trip? Good for you…
Yeah hair cuts and right living…less drugs and no drinking…buckle down and read the paper…go to church and do my homework…Dear Lord I was a good boy at 19. I was a good, good boy for a little while. My house was clean and my clothes were washed…and the roaches all went upstairs to my neighbors for food…Yes Lord, life was good. Mmmmm…It was good. And I was good. And everything was good…until the fall.
I was a good Pharisee…I was a righteous man in my own eyes…I was a well painted mausoleum…looking good and being white…washed that is…and I was asking Jesus what should I do to escape the wrath to come…mmmmm…
Then I watched my dumb ass self fall from heaven, at least from the pedestal I had constructed for myself somewhere in the clouds…and I fell back to earth…oh and great was that fall brothers and sisters…Mmmmm…give me a hallelujah…amen.
Thankfully somebody with a little more common sense woke me up and showed me the way more perfectly…and it was a thrilling and humbling experience…
That’s when I became a misfit. Are any of you misfits? Or maybe you’re a Ragamuffin?
@ 2010 Joseph Ricciardi Jr
Showing posts with label Religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Religion. Show all posts
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Monday, July 9, 2007
The Dirty Little Secret
If you haven’t heard about the book/DVD called The Secret that’s been making the rounds for the past year or so, you might now be in the minority. If you live in California, especially Southern California where this type of thing is embraced with messianic fervor, you would be in a very tiny minority.
The Secret, which was # 1 on the New York Times bestseller list for a number of months, has catapulted into our consciousness as a DVD that is a cross between a late night info-mercial and the movie The DaVinci code complete with conspirators and secret societies, who allegedly, kept this knowledge from us for millennia. Of course, now this one lady, who discovered the secret after her father’s death and at a low point in her life, she is the modern day apostle who is changing all that for the first time in history. You can see why people get excited over this kind of thing…it’s like an adventure novel just learning about it.
In the last six months or so, the Secret has been highlighted on Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres, Montel Williams and Larry King; it’s been spoofed and parodied on Saturday Night Live, Boston Legal and The Chaser’s War on Everything; it’s been talked about on Nightline and the Today Show; it’s been written about in Time Magazine, New York Post, Christian Science Monitor and the Ottawa Citizen.
The short synopsis of the book is this: The universe contains certain laws that are metaphysical (beyond just physical laws like gravity, for example). These metaphysical laws “govern” who does well and who does poorly. If you and I can learn these laws and operate them, we can be successful at anything, all the time, everywhere. The greatest law for the author, is one she refers to as “The Law of Attraction”. Understanding this law, the concept that like thoughts attract like thoughts, is her explanation for almost everything that happens to everyone day by day. You can watch the first 20 minutes for free on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b1GKGWJbE8 .
Here is the introduction to the DVD/book from the official Secret website: http://thesecret.tv/home.html .
The Secret is released to the world! This ground-breaking feature length movie presentation reveals The Great Secret of the universe. It has been passed throughout the ages, traveling through centuries... to reach you and humankind. This is The Secret to everything - the secret to unlimited joy, health, money, relationships, love, youth: everything you have ever wanted. In this astonishing program are ALL the resources you will ever need to understand and live The Secret. For the first time in history, the world's leading scientists, authors, and philosophers will reveal The Secret that utterly transformed the lives of every person who ever knew it... Plato, Newton, Carnegie, Beethoven, Shakespeare, Einstein. Now YOU will know The Secret. And it could change your life forever.
Obviously there are some real holes and gaps in this theory of the Law of Attraction and it hasn’t taken critics of this movement long to identify its real weakness which is the callous worldview that grows from an acceptance of this theory as explanative of things going on in the world generally and our lives personally. In this way it parallels the big social, pseudo-scientific movement of the late 1800’s: social Darwinism. Just like natural selection and survival of the fittest has given us the current species existing on earth, in like manner, that theory argued, those who are wealthy and in power are there because of an inane fitness and rightness to the social universe: nature has just exercised her prerogative to allow the strongest and the best to survive in a social parallel to physical evolution. This theory hit its height with idea of Eugenics which when adopted by the National Socialist Party of Germany in the 1930’s (NAZI party) as an explanation for cultural genocide, i.e. the gas chambers used to exterminate the Jews. Similarly critics have been quick to point out the parallels with the Law of Attraction. If everything is drawn or attracted to us, both positive and negatives, by our thoughts, what we’re dwelling on so to speak then it’s kind of like saying we all get what we deserve. So the murder victim, rape victim, terrorist casualty and cancer patient all deserved what they got? You can see where this leads quite quickly.
Albeit, these obvious criticisms notwithstanding, there are many who have become strong followers of this philosophy of attraction. Mostly, I believe, due to the book and DVD’s emphasis on material prosperity: cars, houses, jobs, etc. On some level all of us are tempted by greed and material abundance. When a book comes along that not only legitimizes greed but says the only reason you’re NOT wealthy is because your thinker is messed up, if your moral and ethical standards don’t throw up a few red flags, what is to stop anyone from just going for it? I mean who wants the opposite: attract poverty? Really.
But I think that the real little dirty secret goes way beyond the milk toast, pop culture concept of the Law of Attraction, to the undercurrent of many spiritualist groups and pseudo-religious groups in our midst, like the Unity Church, for example, for whom the law of attraction goes way beyond getting a parking space at the mall (one of the popular tests for new adherents to The Secret’s philosophy is to try and attract stuff to them in everyday situations, thus you find testimonials like: “wow, I pictured parking in a certain area and when I got there, there was this empty space…now I know it works”).
No longer desiring to be labeled as New Age, these groups preferring to be referred to as part of the New Thought movement, preach a blend of psychology, wealth building, personal wholeness and world peace that includes making contact with angels and spirit guides through opening the mind to the unseen realities. The actress, Della Reese, whose full name is now Della Reese Lett, is one such disciple. Most of us became familiar with Della when she was the star of a TV show entitled: “Touched by an Angel.” Ms. Lett is also the founder and minister of a church in Los Angeles called: “Understanding Principles of Better Living”. Here’s her take on “The Secret”:
"Child, The Secret hasn't been a secret since the times of Moses, if not before.but every generation needs a new way to look at things that have been around a while. I suppose right now The Secret is it."
Another avowed spiritualist who has been preaching this “secret” for years is a woman named Esther Hicks. Wikipedia defines her as follows:
Esther Hicks is an American spirit channeler, motivational speaker, and best-selling author. Esther Hicks identifies herself as the channel for a group of non-physical beings who call themselves "Abraham". Most commonly, this channeled material is referred to under the name Abraham-Hicks.
Her husband, Jerry Hicks is a long time devotee of Napoleon’s Hills classic book on prosperity “Think and Grow Rich.” Then during the mid 1980’s, Jerry became enamored of the spiritualist book by Jane Roberts about the spirit guide named Seth whom she channeled and who led her into writing a series of books by the same name. In bringing all this to his wife’s attention in the mid 1980’s she eventually became a channel for the “Abraham” group of spirit guides. Mrs. Hicks was actually on the original DVD of the Secret but her portion was removed due to contractual issues and disagreements over marketing. You can actually watch Esther’s comments about that on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtE4v3YYJEA . It’s a little weird in that Esther talks about herself as if she’s not there…it’s all in the 3rd person, so if this stuff creeps you out, you might want to avoid it.
The “Abraham” voice channeled through Esther take credit for the entire phenomenon called the Secret. The spirits speaking through Esther says that what the author of “The Secret” is doing is “not nice” and is concerned that the DVD/book doesn’t go far enough because it only speaks about the Law of Atraction and doesn’t talk about disembodied spirits and that we are “force energy” in physical bodies. It is both interesting and instructive to note here that according to Wikopedia, the teachings of this “Abraham” spirit working through this poor lady, Esther Hicks (who I’m sure counts herself as blessed…and she is very popular and wealthy) is promoting at least two of the same ideas that the the Bible records that serpent told Adam and Eve in the garden:
Both of these lies, originally voiced by the enemy of the One True God, are two of the foundations of the New Thought movement as espoused by Esther Hicks as well as others. Mrs. Hicks claims publicly that her ministry is the “cause” for the book actually coming out at this time. In other words, her “throwing out” her thoughts and psychic energy into the universe (we used to call it the ether in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s but the universe is much more scientific sounding, don’t you think?) all these years by way of her teachings and publications actually (using the alleged law of attraction) brought this information to the author of The Secret, which Esther says (like Della Reese) is not really a secret at all but just something everyone experiences and knows about (like gravity) and the real secret is what she is promoting but the world isn’t ready for it yet.
Well I for one hope that the world is never ready for the preachings and teachings of New Thought adherents and spiritualists like Della Reese Lett and Esther Hicks. Their secret is a dirty one: “there is no God per se but we are all part of the godhead, an expression of the universe that we are all a part of. You just need to imagine (like John Lennon’s song Imagine) that none of these things are true and you become a “creator” by casting your thoughts into the unknown and then they come back to you” bringing seven other nasty thoughts with them.(if you get the reference). Or their other dirty little secret that “Christ was a man like everyone else and, although possibly a great teacher, certainly not the Son of God who died for your sins, we are all part saviors and sinners – what’s important is not the man Jesus but the Christ spirit that possesses those who seek for it”.
Well if you’ve read this far, you’re obviously a good friend, or highly intelligent, or really interested in this topic, or perhaps all three. But the real point is that no matter how popular an idea is, no matter how many thousands of people believe and espouse it, no matter how alluring or fascinating it may be to consider drawing all power to yourself (kind of like the genie in Aladdin’s lamp), there is a day of reckoning coming for all of us on earth where we will get to stand before the Creator (the real one…not the creator concept) and his judgements will be all that matter. Thank God that we have been enlightened, not by secret knowledge from Babylon and Egypt but by the only writing worthy of our devotion and adherence: the Holy Scriptures that God breathed by way of holy men of God who were moved by the holy spirit. The answers are out there…even on myspace. The antitode is growing within arms length of the poison plant. Remember friends don’t let friends get driven mad by insane philosophies and vain deceits of men, cunningly crafted fables designed to lead us away from the path and into the brambles of arrogance that grow up all around us in every generation.
Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my Path.
@ 2008 Joseph Ricciardi Jr
The Secret, which was # 1 on the New York Times bestseller list for a number of months, has catapulted into our consciousness as a DVD that is a cross between a late night info-mercial and the movie The DaVinci code complete with conspirators and secret societies, who allegedly, kept this knowledge from us for millennia. Of course, now this one lady, who discovered the secret after her father’s death and at a low point in her life, she is the modern day apostle who is changing all that for the first time in history. You can see why people get excited over this kind of thing…it’s like an adventure novel just learning about it.
In the last six months or so, the Secret has been highlighted on Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres, Montel Williams and Larry King; it’s been spoofed and parodied on Saturday Night Live, Boston Legal and The Chaser’s War on Everything; it’s been talked about on Nightline and the Today Show; it’s been written about in Time Magazine, New York Post, Christian Science Monitor and the Ottawa Citizen.
The short synopsis of the book is this: The universe contains certain laws that are metaphysical (beyond just physical laws like gravity, for example). These metaphysical laws “govern” who does well and who does poorly. If you and I can learn these laws and operate them, we can be successful at anything, all the time, everywhere. The greatest law for the author, is one she refers to as “The Law of Attraction”. Understanding this law, the concept that like thoughts attract like thoughts, is her explanation for almost everything that happens to everyone day by day. You can watch the first 20 minutes for free on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b1GKGWJbE8 .
Here is the introduction to the DVD/book from the official Secret website: http://thesecret.tv/home.html .
The Secret is released to the world! This ground-breaking feature length movie presentation reveals The Great Secret of the universe. It has been passed throughout the ages, traveling through centuries... to reach you and humankind. This is The Secret to everything - the secret to unlimited joy, health, money, relationships, love, youth: everything you have ever wanted. In this astonishing program are ALL the resources you will ever need to understand and live The Secret. For the first time in history, the world's leading scientists, authors, and philosophers will reveal The Secret that utterly transformed the lives of every person who ever knew it... Plato, Newton, Carnegie, Beethoven, Shakespeare, Einstein. Now YOU will know The Secret. And it could change your life forever.
Obviously there are some real holes and gaps in this theory of the Law of Attraction and it hasn’t taken critics of this movement long to identify its real weakness which is the callous worldview that grows from an acceptance of this theory as explanative of things going on in the world generally and our lives personally. In this way it parallels the big social, pseudo-scientific movement of the late 1800’s: social Darwinism. Just like natural selection and survival of the fittest has given us the current species existing on earth, in like manner, that theory argued, those who are wealthy and in power are there because of an inane fitness and rightness to the social universe: nature has just exercised her prerogative to allow the strongest and the best to survive in a social parallel to physical evolution. This theory hit its height with idea of Eugenics which when adopted by the National Socialist Party of Germany in the 1930’s (NAZI party) as an explanation for cultural genocide, i.e. the gas chambers used to exterminate the Jews. Similarly critics have been quick to point out the parallels with the Law of Attraction. If everything is drawn or attracted to us, both positive and negatives, by our thoughts, what we’re dwelling on so to speak then it’s kind of like saying we all get what we deserve. So the murder victim, rape victim, terrorist casualty and cancer patient all deserved what they got? You can see where this leads quite quickly.
Albeit, these obvious criticisms notwithstanding, there are many who have become strong followers of this philosophy of attraction. Mostly, I believe, due to the book and DVD’s emphasis on material prosperity: cars, houses, jobs, etc. On some level all of us are tempted by greed and material abundance. When a book comes along that not only legitimizes greed but says the only reason you’re NOT wealthy is because your thinker is messed up, if your moral and ethical standards don’t throw up a few red flags, what is to stop anyone from just going for it? I mean who wants the opposite: attract poverty? Really.
But I think that the real little dirty secret goes way beyond the milk toast, pop culture concept of the Law of Attraction, to the undercurrent of many spiritualist groups and pseudo-religious groups in our midst, like the Unity Church, for example, for whom the law of attraction goes way beyond getting a parking space at the mall (one of the popular tests for new adherents to The Secret’s philosophy is to try and attract stuff to them in everyday situations, thus you find testimonials like: “wow, I pictured parking in a certain area and when I got there, there was this empty space…now I know it works”).
No longer desiring to be labeled as New Age, these groups preferring to be referred to as part of the New Thought movement, preach a blend of psychology, wealth building, personal wholeness and world peace that includes making contact with angels and spirit guides through opening the mind to the unseen realities. The actress, Della Reese, whose full name is now Della Reese Lett, is one such disciple. Most of us became familiar with Della when she was the star of a TV show entitled: “Touched by an Angel.” Ms. Lett is also the founder and minister of a church in Los Angeles called: “Understanding Principles of Better Living”. Here’s her take on “The Secret”:
"Child, The Secret hasn't been a secret since the times of Moses, if not before.but every generation needs a new way to look at things that have been around a while. I suppose right now The Secret is it."
Another avowed spiritualist who has been preaching this “secret” for years is a woman named Esther Hicks. Wikipedia defines her as follows:
Esther Hicks is an American spirit channeler, motivational speaker, and best-selling author. Esther Hicks identifies herself as the channel for a group of non-physical beings who call themselves "Abraham". Most commonly, this channeled material is referred to under the name Abraham-Hicks.
Her husband, Jerry Hicks is a long time devotee of Napoleon’s Hills classic book on prosperity “Think and Grow Rich.” Then during the mid 1980’s, Jerry became enamored of the spiritualist book by Jane Roberts about the spirit guide named Seth whom she channeled and who led her into writing a series of books by the same name. In bringing all this to his wife’s attention in the mid 1980’s she eventually became a channel for the “Abraham” group of spirit guides. Mrs. Hicks was actually on the original DVD of the Secret but her portion was removed due to contractual issues and disagreements over marketing. You can actually watch Esther’s comments about that on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtE4v3YYJEA . It’s a little weird in that Esther talks about herself as if she’s not there…it’s all in the 3rd person, so if this stuff creeps you out, you might want to avoid it.
The “Abraham” voice channeled through Esther take credit for the entire phenomenon called the Secret. The spirits speaking through Esther says that what the author of “The Secret” is doing is “not nice” and is concerned that the DVD/book doesn’t go far enough because it only speaks about the Law of Atraction and doesn’t talk about disembodied spirits and that we are “force energy” in physical bodies. It is both interesting and instructive to note here that according to Wikopedia, the teachings of this “Abraham” spirit working through this poor lady, Esther Hicks (who I’m sure counts herself as blessed…and she is very popular and wealthy) is promoting at least two of the same ideas that the the Bible records that serpent told Adam and Eve in the garden:
1) you shall not surely die
2) ye shall be as gods
2) ye shall be as gods
Both of these lies, originally voiced by the enemy of the One True God, are two of the foundations of the New Thought movement as espoused by Esther Hicks as well as others. Mrs. Hicks claims publicly that her ministry is the “cause” for the book actually coming out at this time. In other words, her “throwing out” her thoughts and psychic energy into the universe (we used to call it the ether in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s but the universe is much more scientific sounding, don’t you think?) all these years by way of her teachings and publications actually (using the alleged law of attraction) brought this information to the author of The Secret, which Esther says (like Della Reese) is not really a secret at all but just something everyone experiences and knows about (like gravity) and the real secret is what she is promoting but the world isn’t ready for it yet.
Well I for one hope that the world is never ready for the preachings and teachings of New Thought adherents and spiritualists like Della Reese Lett and Esther Hicks. Their secret is a dirty one: “there is no God per se but we are all part of the godhead, an expression of the universe that we are all a part of. You just need to imagine (like John Lennon’s song Imagine) that none of these things are true and you become a “creator” by casting your thoughts into the unknown and then they come back to you” bringing seven other nasty thoughts with them.(if you get the reference). Or their other dirty little secret that “Christ was a man like everyone else and, although possibly a great teacher, certainly not the Son of God who died for your sins, we are all part saviors and sinners – what’s important is not the man Jesus but the Christ spirit that possesses those who seek for it”.
Well if you’ve read this far, you’re obviously a good friend, or highly intelligent, or really interested in this topic, or perhaps all three. But the real point is that no matter how popular an idea is, no matter how many thousands of people believe and espouse it, no matter how alluring or fascinating it may be to consider drawing all power to yourself (kind of like the genie in Aladdin’s lamp), there is a day of reckoning coming for all of us on earth where we will get to stand before the Creator (the real one…not the creator concept) and his judgements will be all that matter. Thank God that we have been enlightened, not by secret knowledge from Babylon and Egypt but by the only writing worthy of our devotion and adherence: the Holy Scriptures that God breathed by way of holy men of God who were moved by the holy spirit. The answers are out there…even on myspace. The antitode is growing within arms length of the poison plant. Remember friends don’t let friends get driven mad by insane philosophies and vain deceits of men, cunningly crafted fables designed to lead us away from the path and into the brambles of arrogance that grow up all around us in every generation.
Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my Path.
@ 2008 Joseph Ricciardi Jr
Saturday, July 7, 2007
What do you think?
In the early 1900’s, an obscure writer by the name of James Allen wrote a book entitled “As a Man Thinketh” which has sold millions of copies around the world in five languages. Some go as far as to claim that this book helped spawn the self-improvement industry that was such a large part of the 20th century. Mr. Allen got the inspiration as well as the title for the book from Proverbs 23, verse 7: “as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” The essence of the book’s message can be found in chapter one:
A noble and God-like character is not a thing of favor or chance, but is the natural result of continued effort in right thinking, the effect of long-cherished association with God-like thoughts. An ignoble and bestial character, by the same process, is the result of the continued harboring of groveling thoughts.
You know sometimes I doubt in my heart that I will ever even come close to a noble and God-like character but then other times I feel as if it is the only thing worth striving for. After all God has done for us through the agency of His son, our Lord Jesus Christ, should I do any less?
Well whether I ever attain that for which I seek, I am convinced that the thoughts and ideas that I sow into my heart and life will have a huge effect on the attitudes and behaviors that follow. Due to the weakness of my flesh and the circumstances of life, I am continually being put in situations to make choices to avoid things that are detrimental to my mental health. I'm kind of a like a 'mental health food nut' who doesn't want to poison the ‘body of my mind’ with sugar or coffee or alcohol or fatty foods. Of course, sometimes I slip but for the most part I choose not to indulge myself.
It always seems kind of ironic to me when I encounter people who fully understand the need to take care of their physical body: exercise, massages, healthy diets, etc. but see absolutely no need to care for their soul or mental health through a similar type of regiment. Have you run into this attitude also? People who righteously refuse to drink soda or eat greasy foods but who think nothing about swallowing mega doses of idolatrous philosophy or pornographic songs and images? Ohhhh and it makes me wonder…
Well I've got my own hypocrisy to deal with as well as my own challenges. Sometimes I'm really good at avoiding the bad thoughts, ideas and philosophies but I don't spend a heck of a lot of time sowing good ideas in. I've learned that it takes a proactive stance to be able to truly be "transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Rom 12:2). It doesn't just happen because I keep bad thoughts at bay or don't dabble in porn or listen to hard core sexual music or avoid egregiously ungodly movies, etc. The real treasure lies in being able to control not only of what I don't think about but also what I do think about as well. In other words, to think about what I'm thinking about. I am encouraged by Paul's reflection in Philippians chapter four, verses eight and nine:
8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest , whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. 9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.
Think on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous and worthy of praise. That’s quite a list. Paul sounds a bit like a good moral philosopher doesn’t he? Then he exhorts us to imitate his Christ-like example as well as to do the things which we have been taught in Christ and the God of peace will be with us.
I intuit a major difference between this Biblical exhortation to attain inner peace and some popular Eastern religious ideas that crop up now and again. My experience of the modern Eastern ideas has been that one needs to empty one's mind in order to gain inner peace. In contrast, the Apostle Paul is exhorting us not to empty our minds but rather to purposefully fill them with wholesome thoughts and then to act in a godly way in order to gain inner peace.
Perhaps this is why after a whole generation of Buddhist and Taoist practices and philosophies that have been introduced into our culture and language through pop music, people of influence, metaphysical teachers and new-age disciples we continue to see a rise in the number of FDA approved medicines aimed at reducing stress, acid reflux, heart disease and insomnia. It might be time to try something new and follow a more ancient path to peace. What do you think?
@ 2007 Joseph Ricciardi Jr
A noble and God-like character is not a thing of favor or chance, but is the natural result of continued effort in right thinking, the effect of long-cherished association with God-like thoughts. An ignoble and bestial character, by the same process, is the result of the continued harboring of groveling thoughts.
You know sometimes I doubt in my heart that I will ever even come close to a noble and God-like character but then other times I feel as if it is the only thing worth striving for. After all God has done for us through the agency of His son, our Lord Jesus Christ, should I do any less?
Well whether I ever attain that for which I seek, I am convinced that the thoughts and ideas that I sow into my heart and life will have a huge effect on the attitudes and behaviors that follow. Due to the weakness of my flesh and the circumstances of life, I am continually being put in situations to make choices to avoid things that are detrimental to my mental health. I'm kind of a like a 'mental health food nut' who doesn't want to poison the ‘body of my mind’ with sugar or coffee or alcohol or fatty foods. Of course, sometimes I slip but for the most part I choose not to indulge myself.
It always seems kind of ironic to me when I encounter people who fully understand the need to take care of their physical body: exercise, massages, healthy diets, etc. but see absolutely no need to care for their soul or mental health through a similar type of regiment. Have you run into this attitude also? People who righteously refuse to drink soda or eat greasy foods but who think nothing about swallowing mega doses of idolatrous philosophy or pornographic songs and images? Ohhhh and it makes me wonder…
Well I've got my own hypocrisy to deal with as well as my own challenges. Sometimes I'm really good at avoiding the bad thoughts, ideas and philosophies but I don't spend a heck of a lot of time sowing good ideas in. I've learned that it takes a proactive stance to be able to truly be "transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Rom 12:2). It doesn't just happen because I keep bad thoughts at bay or don't dabble in porn or listen to hard core sexual music or avoid egregiously ungodly movies, etc. The real treasure lies in being able to control not only of what I don't think about but also what I do think about as well. In other words, to think about what I'm thinking about. I am encouraged by Paul's reflection in Philippians chapter four, verses eight and nine:
8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest , whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. 9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.
Think on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous and worthy of praise. That’s quite a list. Paul sounds a bit like a good moral philosopher doesn’t he? Then he exhorts us to imitate his Christ-like example as well as to do the things which we have been taught in Christ and the God of peace will be with us.
I intuit a major difference between this Biblical exhortation to attain inner peace and some popular Eastern religious ideas that crop up now and again. My experience of the modern Eastern ideas has been that one needs to empty one's mind in order to gain inner peace. In contrast, the Apostle Paul is exhorting us not to empty our minds but rather to purposefully fill them with wholesome thoughts and then to act in a godly way in order to gain inner peace.
Perhaps this is why after a whole generation of Buddhist and Taoist practices and philosophies that have been introduced into our culture and language through pop music, people of influence, metaphysical teachers and new-age disciples we continue to see a rise in the number of FDA approved medicines aimed at reducing stress, acid reflux, heart disease and insomnia. It might be time to try something new and follow a more ancient path to peace. What do you think?
@ 2007 Joseph Ricciardi Jr
Friday, July 6, 2007
The Dynamics of Being
How difficult I find it to just “be”: to live in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and not be anxious for something to happen. There seem to be forces pulling constantly on my soul to “do more” or to “be more” or to “have more”. I seem at times to be suspended between the planning and the carrying out of the plan.
And whose plan is it anyway? Yours? Mine? Ours? Voices wielding shards of truth which stab at my heart in an attempt to root out apathy. Kind voices, concerned voices, angry voices, impassioned pleas drip off my soul like water after a shower.
Oh wretched man that I am…who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Those were the words of the Apostle Paul when he exposed to us and the “saints at Rome” the struggle with sin he had within himself.
And whose plan is it anyway? Yours? Mine? Ours? Voices wielding shards of truth which stab at my heart in an attempt to root out apathy. Kind voices, concerned voices, angry voices, impassioned pleas drip off my soul like water after a shower.
Oh wretched man that I am…who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Those were the words of the Apostle Paul when he exposed to us and the “saints at Rome” the struggle with sin he had within himself.
For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Who am I that I shouldn’t find those same struggles within myself? Am I greater than Paul? Have I escaped the realities of existence here in the 21st century by way of knowledge or affluence or technology? “Not I”, said the cow with the curly horns who lowed at the babe on Christmas morn. Not I.
Paul’s response to this self-realization?: I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
For Paul it was a recognition that there was no good thing within him but that this new life, this new way of being: life in Christ, delivered him from the bondage of corruption, i.e. sin and death. I am because he (Christ) is. I have because he did. I will be because he has been and will come again. This is the true dynamics of being for a son of God thru Jesus Christ our Lord.
Rejoice my brothers and sisters. Our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
Paul’s response to this self-realization?: I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
For Paul it was a recognition that there was no good thing within him but that this new life, this new way of being: life in Christ, delivered him from the bondage of corruption, i.e. sin and death. I am because he (Christ) is. I have because he did. I will be because he has been and will come again. This is the true dynamics of being for a son of God thru Jesus Christ our Lord.
Rejoice my brothers and sisters. Our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
@ 2008 Joseph Ricciardi Jr
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
