Why is there no real dialogue about abortion?

   When I read over a comment thread for a polarizing issue, I notice very little discussion. What dialogue I do hear is one sided, everyone stays on their side and shouts across the room . This has been going on since the first village council of our ancestors, I'm sure. But it needn't always be so!

   The most polarized issue before me is abortion. No one ever switched sides on this issue except when personal experience forces them to see things how they really are. Even then people usually jump to the other side rather than walk into the middle.

   But what topic is the issue really framed by? It's certainly not science, economics, or sociology, though people use these in their arguments. It is very simply about ethics, or more specifically: human rights.

   Human rights are always what the argument boils down to, woman v.s baby. The polarity come from each side defending the rights of one with no compromise. Abortion is either a right or a homicide.

   Some pro-choicers I have talked with will acknowledge that babies are people, but they make excuses to make their human rights contingent on the will of the mother.

   Some pro-lifers will admit that women who have abortions are not monsters, and may have valid reasons for making their choice.

   The middle ground is to say that women have full rights to their bodies and so do unborn babies. When there is a conflict of interest, abortion means someone will die. There may be situations where that is allowable. When would it be ok for a woman to end that life? The conversation must shift to specific circumstances where we can weigh the factors for and against.

   I think we could have a dialogue on this basis, what do you think?

Kiss of the Ghost

The ghost is taking form, beginning to see clearly

I think that she's aware of my presence beside her

I know she's waiting for someone, I want to be that person

she cannot see me now but there is time enough

I will wait by the river

gathering up the sunlight

watching snow-melt waters flow

waiting to see a reflection

well, I tried to kiss her, but my lips brushed only air

she felt a cold shiver, so much heat I cannot transfer

I passed through a window, but I cannot follow farther

she's going home now,  but she'll be here tomorrow

the Eidolon has come alive

we begin to spin and rise

perichoresis ties

abiding our lover's eyes 

Risk - Benefit

"And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more." - Luke 12:47,48

   The above passage is Jesus speaking to his disciples, telling them to be prepared for his coming. The context a few verses back could be referring to Pentecost, but here is certainly referring to the day of judgement. In these verses he is saying that the one who sinned in this life, knowing full well what God expected, will be punished severely. The one who sinned in ignorance will get off lightly. How many of us have wrestled with the thought that God's mercy was insufficient to forgive the sins of the nations who never heard of Him? Or that it was God's cruel justice to slaughter countless people. But it is Love and mercy he wishes to give us if only we would receive it. The Lord forgave the people who crucified him, saying "forgive them they don't know what they're doing"
   If this is true, then why should anyone run the risk of God's displeasure by knowing his will? Wouldn't we be better off sinning in ignorance? Is there any benefit of knowing God's will, then? The Lord says of the one who is faithful, wise, and cares for others:

"Well done, my good servant!' his master replied. 'Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities." - Luke 19:17

   Now, running a city doesn't sound like fun to most of us, and I don't think he meant that literally, but parabolically. The cities represent heavenly states of love and wisdom, that for eternity will be ours to enjoy. So the benefit of doing God's will in even very small things is exponentially great! It is our poor imaginations that cannot conceive of the butterfly effect; giving a child a cup of water to drink, rippling out in the spiritual world into mighty showers of reward and honor!
   On a deeper level, the reward of doing his will is to be with the Lord. The very source of Divine Love and Divine Wisdom. The one who knows us more intimately than any other, who wants to live with and within us; the beautiful bride embraced by our rejoicing bridegroom!
   The benefit exponentially outweighs the risk.

This is my commentary

 on the sermon by Jonathan Bayley

which can be viewed here

Relating some ideas

"Nature is to be regarded as a system of stages, one proceeding necessarily from the other and being the resulting truth of the stage from which it results; but not so that one naturally generates the other but that it is generated in the inner Idea constituting the ground of nature,"   - Hegel

Hegel's notion of the "Idea" is curious. He treats of the absolute Idea as a union of the subjective and objective element of a thing. The stages he describes are the union of opposites, their union generates a new stage. Hegel's Idea has many contentious interpretations, but it reminds me of Swedenborg's description of such a union.

"...Wherever there is reality, there is its manifestation: the one does not occur without the other. In fact, reality exists through its manifestation, and not apart from it...Since each occurs with the other and not apart from it, it follows that they are one entity, but "distinguishably one."... They are distinguishably one like love and wisdom. Further, love is reality and wisdom is its manifestation. Love occurs only in wisdom, and wisdom only from love. So love becomes manifest when it is in wisdom..." - E.S.excerpted from: http://newchristianbiblestudy.org/multi/e_27198_1388/e_11192

   This reminds me of an example of the union of Love and Wisdom in scripture that I discovered.

Genesis 1:26
"Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness."
Genesis 5:3
"Adam ... became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image."

Image: tselem; a picture, or phantom (a form of Love)
Likeness: demuth; a resemblance, or pattern (a form of Wisdom)

  These two descriptors are almost synonyms in English but in Hebrew they are quite distinct. In genesis we have a glimpse of the difference between God's act of creation and humankind's act of procreation. God made us in His Love according to Wisdom. We procreate our children as forms of Wisdom according to Love.

   One way to take this is that God works the substance of Divine Love using the patterns of Divine Wisdom. Humans have children in the likeness of their father and the image of their mother. So one order is spiritual, the other natural.

Ideological Paradoxes

   A friend of mine recently helped me realize how difficult it is to discuss politically polarized issues. We have been given to believe that stances such as pro-life or pro-choice, conservative or liberal, etc. are mutually exclusive and have predetermined views. How can one see an issue for the nuanced real world set of problems and conflicting interests that it really is? We must as individuals and as a society learn to look at issues that have no easy answers.
   I am by definition "pro-life" but I would not agree to the label "anti-abortion" because while I believe unborn babies are people, I do not believe that pregnant women lose their rights to their bodies. What we have is a conflict of interest, where the babies cannot defend themselves, and the mother cannot become independent of the baby before birth without the death of the baby. This is not an easy matter, and while I don't have a clear position on all  of the extraneous circumstances (such as rape/incest/medical danger) I still believe we should treat these issues realistically, as difficult, and may end with a person's death.
   So I'm pro-life because I think any way of preventing the unnecessary and avoidable death of an innocent person is morally obligatory. Yes, that is a qualified statement, and it means that sometimes an abortion is necessary and unavoidable. But shall we not seek primarily to reform society to make abortion always unnecessary?
   Perhaps I should write posts on the paradox of suffering, justice and judgement, and faith versus certainty.
   Til next time, dear reader, Bon Voyage.

Dream Devourer

Our intentions reside upon higher planes
partial dimensions hide our true names
careful attention to our viewing direction
reveals a critical, subtle distinction
the deeper context of the painter's vision
unearthed in truthful illumination

pinwheel

I just realized I can put pictures on my blog. :)

I made this a minute ago.

If I cannot trust experience then what?

   I have had numerous spiritual experiences in my life. All unique, subjective encounters with something. These experiences are thrown into doubt now, what I have learned is that I lack discernment. Discernment is a critical skill for Christians to know truth from falsehood, good from evil, and the Holy Spirit from other spirits.
   Over the last two years or so I have been studying Jungian psychology. It interprets mental experiences such as dreams, visions, and synchronicity as personal events with their own internal logic. I was open to this idea as it gave some sense to the mild psychosis I was recovering from. With further study of dream interpretation, and symbolism, I continued to have mystical experiences from time to time. I was slowly suckered into a dabbling with astrology, which is clearly forbidden in the Bible.
   Recent events have shown me that my judgement has been lacking, and I have not been using discernment in the light of God's Word. The scriptures are very clear about the use of divination as idolatrous, being forbidden and useless. (Isaiah 47:13-14, Zechariah 10:2, Micah 3:5-8)
   Jungian Psychoanalysis teaches us to interpret all dream and symbolic material in reference to ourselves, thus making us blind to outside forces. This is especially significant for one such as myself who has had a psychosis, and have an archetype of the "anima" that has taken on a life of its own.

   "It is universally confessed," says Swedenborg, " that the Word is from God, is divinely inspired, and of consequence holy ; but still it has remained a secret to this day in what part of the Word its divinity resides, inasmuch as in the letter it appears like a common writing, composed in a strange style, neither so sublime, nor so elegant, nor so lucid as that which distinguishes the best secular compositions. Hence it is, that whosoever worships nature instead of God, or in preference to God, and in consequence of such worship makes himself and his own proprium [or selfhood] the centre and fountain of his thoughts, instead of deriving them out of heaven from the Lord, may easily fall into error concerning the Word, or into contempt for it, and say within himself, as he reads it, What is the meaning of this passage ? What is the meaning of that ? Is it possible this should be divine ?"
   - Swedenborg, S. S. 1-4 (emphasis added)

   It is clear from scripture that the foundation of all reality is given by the Lord. Therefore

Psalm 139:

" Search me, O God, and know my heart;

Try me and know my anxious thoughts;

And see if there be any hurtful way in me,

And lead me in the everlasting way."

   I have much to learn, but one thing is clear. Though I may doubt my heart, my thoughts, and my experiences; I need never doubt the love of God.

When Haunted I'm Home

 Our hand is held by love without body

 we laugh together with only my voice

this ghost will remain til the end of the age

when haunted I'm home, a hearth cleared of ash

Synchronicity leaves a lasting impression

no other mark makes such a distinction

a plot woven tightly around our perception

this story to turn is truly completion

a fragment

Beautiful clear eyes

azure bands blended with emerald

flecks of gold and storm clouds

perceiving unto the event horizon

wonders and terrors

above and below

as summer begins to fall

I feel the stir of my broken body

drawing the shadow long with running

 I was once pursued by it

now I make chase, going where I'm led

looking back up you smile from the moon

showing a path through the murky moor

The Source Family

   I just viewed a documentary about the Source Family. They were a spiritual commune in the late 60's - 1975. Kids discovering mysticism for the first time, swept up in the spirit of new-age optimism. They were also a cult.
   Jim Baker, their leader, was a charismatic man; cut from the archetypal cloth of all cult leaders. He was like Santa Claus and Donald Sutherland smushed into a white robe. He was the father figure that his "children" wanted, the dad they never had.
   The evolution of their mystic practices were directly tied to Jim Baker's own self-concept. Early on He had a recognition of his own limited understanding. His humility and rigorous self discipline allowed him to lead a growing following in his footsteps. Gradually his ego began to inflate.               Supported by the adoration of his followers and occult influences, He began to refer to himself as God. He then changed his name to 'Yod' and later 'Yahowha'.
   The turning point for the group seems to be when he changed his policy on monogamy, which heretofore had been observed. Much like Mohammad, He instituted polygamy, and became the chief polygamist of the group with 13 wives. This divided the group and many left. Jim Baker continued his pursuit of mystical knowledge and power, their rituals and ceremonies becoming stranger and darker. They began to practice sexual magic, particularly influenced by the Order of the Golden Dawn.
    Eventually they group moved to Hawaii, it was there that Jim's ego deflated rapidly. The morning of his death, he gathered his followers and took a walk. He told them he was not God, he was only a man. Jim took a hang glider out in a high wind with no training, crashed, and died 9 hours later.
   What struck me most profoundly about this story is that one cannot entirely dismiss the group because of the moral failure of its leader. They were trying to fulfill a very real longing for a spiritual father, Jim Baker tried to be that father. He wasn't merely playing God, he was sincerely trying to take on that role, and his failure came from being unable to bear such a burden. We all have a longing for a spiritual father and mother, it outlives our relationship with our natural-born parents.
   The motivation of this mystical group was not an unnatural one, and it hits close to home. The mistake they made was in confusing their heavenly father with an earthly one. The man died, but our heavenly father remains, alive and available.

B.C. - A.D.

   It is now customary to use the notation B.C.E and C.E. in dating systems to distinguish between  the era before a certain event and the era after it. The term "Before the Common Era" has replaced "Before Christ" and "Common Era" has replaced "Anno Domini" (after Christ).
   This was done in order to pacify those who reject Jesus as Christ, or those who simply would not like His name mentioned. I will not get into a monologue about this, but merely remind the reader that changing the term to common era does not alter the beginning of the calendar.
   This brings me to a completely new thought. The calendar that the western world has used these 2,015 years began when Jesus of Nazareth was BORN. What day do we celebrate that? Christmas. What day do we celebrate the new calendar year? New Years Day. Why?
   Wouldn't it make sense to celebrate the anniversary of the event that prompted the calendar year to begin on the same day that we celebrate the beginning of the calendar year?
   Celebrating Christmas on New Year's Day would be the most logical thing to do.

Form and Substance

   Form and substance are a duality with many names. They may be called truth and good, wisdom and love, or light and heat. I was thinking of how one could describe form and substance.
   There are many easy analogies, one can think of blueprints to a house. the design precedes the building, it outlines and gives form to a use. the blueprints give specific form to a specific concept of shelter. The form may be simplistic like a child's box drawing, or as complex as . A form separate from any substance could only describe geometric shapes, but never make art.
   Substance is like the lumber waiting to be built. it is potential energy, or perhaps like the flame of fire. Substance can be as mild and calm as a breath, a flicker, or as powerful as a volcanic eruption. A substance separate from any form could only describe raw elements like fire/water/air/earth but never give them function.
   Form is never completely isolated from substance anywhere but in the mind. All of physical reality is the final product of the cohabitation of form and substance. Light the principle example of this duality. In science it is called a wave/particle duality. Light illuminates form for the eye to see, and warms substance for the body to live.
   In a spiritual way form and substance may be expressed as wisdom and love. But Mr. Swedenborg expresses the idea better than I do so I'll just quote him here:

DIVINE LOVE AND DIVINE WISDOM ARE SUBSTANCE AND ARE FORM. The idea of men in general about love and about wisdom is that they are like something hovering and floating in thin air or ether or like what exhales from something of this kind. Scarcely any one believes that they are really and actually substance and form. Even those who recognize that they are substance and form still think of the love and the wisdom as outside the subject and as issuing from it. For they call substance and form that which they think of as outside the subject and as issuing from it, even though it be something hovering and floating; not knowing that love and wisdom are the subject itself, and that what is perceived outside of it and as hovering and floating is nothing but an appearance of the state of the subject in itself. There are several reasons why this has not hitherto been seen, one of which is, that appearances are the first things out of which the human mind forms its understanding, and these appearances the mind can shake off only by the exploration of the cause; and if the cause lies deeply hidden, the mind can explore it only by keeping the understanding for a long time in spiritual light; and this it cannot do by reason of the natural light which continually withdraws it. The truth is, however, that love and wisdom are the real and actual substance and form that constitute the subject itself. [DLW 40]

A thought on world-building

   Designing an internally consistent fantasy world is easy if it is a tiny world, and if it follows the same rules of common sense as our regular world. Worlds become more difficult to maintain as they expand and elucidate details. To maintain in this sense is to retain verisimilitude and the sense of immersion.
   There are two general patterns I have observed. First, as the world becomes more fantastic, one must progressively move out of familiarity and thus out of verisimilitude. Second, and in like manner, as the world becomes more complex it becomes more rigid and unable to expand.
   You see evidence of the first in Tolkien's middle earth, where, the most fantastic/grand elements are the most shrouded in mystery. Such as Gandalf, Sauron, and the rings themselves. The most mundane are painstakingly detailed. Such as Hobbits, and the genealogies of characters. He has done this to keep the fantasy world grounded in a familiar setting. The same is true of our world where the same is evident. The psyche and dreams are very mysterious, as are the nature of meaning and being.
   The second is a re-statement of the first observation, really. As elements of a fantasy world are explained and given a definite place, they lose their sense of the fantastic. The more a fantasy world is explained the more mundane it becomes. The extreme case being that everything gets explained and the fantasy becomes completely mundane. This pattern too is present in our world. We see that in a naive person the world is magical and inexplicable, however in a cynical person everything is "nothing but" a cause and effect.
   What the great world-builder must do to satisfy his audience is to maintain a balance of fantasy and familiar. This is the case in the great stories we love, even outside the fantasy genre. The author must always know something we do not, but he gives us some clues to help us try and figure it out.
   The same is true in our world. Our experience of life is grounded in the mundane, yet meaning and motivation are always glimpsed but never grasped. The author of our lives knows something we do not, but gives us clues to help us press onward.

going into the field

Reading: [Heaven and Hell 197]

In the Word, places and times correspond to changes of state.

I'm working alongside a friend on changing our states of mind. More precisely, our perceptions and affects regarding an ideal woman. Our ideals say a great many things about ourselves, and when we investigate and refine these ideals, we learn about ourselves.

A few nights ago I had a dream, in the dream i was given the advice:
      "Marry not the woman she is now, but the woman she is to become."
This gives some important clues.

If you think about the qualities of a person that change, physical features are not what one thinks of. So, in short, don't marry her for her body.
If you are thinking of a future state of being for an ideal woman, one should also disregard whims of the  moment, current preoccupations. She won't fit your present lifestyle.
If you are going to marry the woman, it is for life, so you had better plan ahead. She is to become a wife, perhaps a mother, and you are to become a husband, perhaps a father. Plan accordingly.
If you marry the woman for who she is to become, you had better realize that does not mean who you want her to become. You will be delightfully surprised or very disappointed depending on how a real person matches up with any expectations you may have. This means your ideals must be reasonable, and grounded in character traits that will improve over time.

The reflective restatement of the advice from the dream would be:
   "Marry not as you are now, but as the man you are to become."

The Tree of Life2015

We have shared the soil since we were transplanted

The very third day amid the sudden garden

Standing above the seed of every flowering thing

Withholding our abundance from all save Elohim

Alas, I became known before the time was ripe

dehydration, I withered and was barren

A fallen bough has broken our former symmetry

Desolated I lie below your verdant branches

All I pray for now is that you would graft me on

a branch seeking succor from your living roots

The perennial in focus, lifting arms to heaven

Calling down lightning from the swollen sky

I cannot contend that our forest should be spared

Thickets crackle screaming as they timorously combust

The undergrowth stayed unchecked for many generations

Now bone dry drought parches the compass rivers

I will not pretend that our forest can be spared

For the wind is mighty and the flame all-consuming

All I pray for now is that you would graft me on

a branch seeking sap from your bleeding roots

All I pray for now is that you would graft me on

a branch seeking succor from your living roots

All I pray for now is that you would graft me on

a branch seeking sap from your bleeding roots

Why dream?

It's the secret of our tribe that we don't need to hide since there is no one believing. - Advena

   I was going to write up a post about a dream I had, and my interpretation. But I'm over it. Anyone who wants to learn to interpret their dreams just has to start trying and eventually you will start figuring it out. You don't need someone else to figure it out for you, what you really need is to care enough to remember your dream and give it some thought.
   But why are dreams even worth investigation? Lots of people have nightmares, or "don't dream" at all. They need it more than space cadets like me. Your dreams are where you spend a THIRD of your ENTIRE LIFE! When your body dies, that dream world wakes up and becomes part of your waking reality. Of course that is the general rule, but its very much worth figuring out.
   Did you know that most of us out there are sleepwalkers? We wake up, go to the gym, go to work, and think we have left our sleep far behind. But the veil has never completely lifted, we always have one foot in heaven and the other in hell. partway dipped in the river styx.
   I don't believe this I know it. I don't need to hide from myself or from the Lord. He made me and sustains my life, when I sleep He hovers over me, over the deep. Don't hide from yourself, don't hide from God. Though your dreams may terrify you. And standing in the sun, going towards the light is burning you to ashes. Still He will preserve what is left and cultivate you. After all, ashes make great fertilizer, and what are we but soil?