I asked him, being a retired CIA agent whose path and mine briefly crossed in this lifetime, “If you can’t tell me what you did, could you at least tell me what you learned?” His answer woke me up to what I already knew and I suspect that most humans know in their hearts that they live on this planet, but they don’t want to know. He said, “Oh yeah, surely I can tell you what I learned … Nothing in this world is as they tell you.”
Nothing in this world is what they tell you. That’s one of life’s bottom statements, if there ever was one. NOTHING IN THIS WORLD IS WHAT IT IS TOLD. Let that sink in. If so, and I suspect it is, how can this help us to enter into a personal spirituality that works for us and that does not have to be based on the illusions that others want us to create?
Human beings, by nature, are creatures of opinions and points of view. It is these opinions and points of view that we adopt or reject that form the basis of how and what we think all day. It is the opinions and points of view that divide us into groups, organizations, denominations, factions, parties and religions. Somewhere there is the simple truth of what really happened in the past or is happening in the present, but it becomes an illusion by opinions and points of view or by those who need to use what happened to gain an advantage from somebody. type and turn it into an illusion. what happened in what really did not happen. They need to convert a real reason into a less real and precise one.
In my life, I have come to see that in the world of Christian faith, “Nothing in this world is as they say.” This is true for many themes that we know are the way we personally think they are … or we wouldn’t believe it for sure!
The Bible is not a perfect whole without spot or blemish. It contains many scientific errors, contradictions, myths and absurdities.
The God of the Bible is not that loving or very different from humans who want to rule the planet with an iron fist. The return of Jesus with an “iron rod” does not inspire or make me want this imagined event. We have had enough intimidation, coercion, threats to obey, or else, and beatings administered on the planet to think this is a good thing. How about coming back with a hug?
The books of the New Testament may or may not be written by the people who have told us they wrote them, or for the reasons they have told us they did.
The gospels are not harmonious and the stories of the life of Jesus are not eyewitness accounts.
The narratives of Jesus’ birth are inconsistent and whenever Jesus was born, it was NOT at Christmas!
Very little is known about Jesus outside of these Gospels, as Jesus is not really a true history figure as reported by outside historians of his day. It just seems like they have never heard of it.
The story of the “True Church” is not as true as one might believe or as simple.
The characters of both the Old and New Testaments may not be as real as has been led to believe.
The events described in both the Old and New Testaments may not be as accurate, historical, or real as has been described.
The relationships between the New Testament characters were not as loving, kind, and cooperative as the text would have us believe.
The motives, honesty, and tactics for spreading the “Gospel” of the early church fathers may not be as pure and true as one is led to believe.
The lives of pastors, priests, apostles, popes, true believers, evangelists, and all the various gurus are not what they would have us believe.
And it can go on and on.
In the world of politics, “nothing in the world is as they say”.
I have no idea who actually killed John Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King or Malcolm X, or why, but it is not as simple as they told you and me. One comes to understand over time that whatever the accepted history of any political issue is, it really cannot be so.
I have no idea if Senator Paul Wellstone, John F. Kennedy Jr., Senator Carnahan, or Hale Boggs were killed in accidental plane crashes, but there is plenty of evidence that things are not what they seem. There is plenty of evidence that Waco, flights 007, 800, and the Oklahoma City bombing are not what they seem.
Watergate, Iran-Contra, Vietnam, the Gulf of Tonkin, Pearl Harbor, and unfortunately 911, perhaps, are not at all what have been described nor are their reasons, causes, perpetrators and motives as simple as they have been described. . for us common people.
Why did WTC 7 really collapse, and why did both World Trade Centers actually collapse? I do not know. Why is there no black boxes or video of the plane hitting the Pentagon in a city covered in cameras? I do not know. Why didn’t the best air force in the world respond for hours, let alone minutes, to four obvious trade diversions? I do not know. Why did the president say he saw the foreground hit the tower and think to himself … “that guy sure isn’t a very good pilot”, when there was no video of the first plane hitting the tower? Why does nothing seem to be the way it is? I do not know.
Now we are mired in a war, whose motives, benefits, advantages and intentions are not what we have been told. It may not just be that we stop the terrorists before they “come here.” We have been told that the reasons we went to war were to prevent a mad dictator from unleashing weapons of mass destruction on us poor people, and yet, finding none, the reasons for going to this war keep changing and The average person keeps saying “whatever you say George, whatever you say”.
Speaking of which, it seems we also have a president, whose family ties, intentions, background, beliefs, and motives may be far less glorious than poor commoners have led us to believe. We have a president whose own willingness to serve during the dangerous times of his youth is suspicious and tells one story, while the facts seem to tell another. In fact, when we look at the presidency as a whole and the men who fill that place throughout history, “nothing in this world is as they say.” Perhaps the presidents are not ELECTED, but SELECTED after all by the gang. These presidents and politicians are not who they appear to be, doing the work they appear to be doing, for the reasons they appear to be doing it. What can a commoner do? Do those who rise up to rule others simply know that lies work and that the average man is a fool when it comes to being controlled and drawn into beliefs and practices that others consider good for them? It looks like it is. Nothing in this world is what it seems to be.
Gulf War Syndrome, Prescription Drug Safety, Democrats, Republicans, Left, Right, Christian Politicians, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson. Benny Hinn’s and the 700 Club … no one is who they seem to be, and nothing is done for the stated reasons for doing so. Maybe Forrest Gump was right … stupid is so stupid.
And so on … makes a guy want to join On ‘n On Annonymous!
So, since I seriously doubt that you can really know what is happening in this world and yet suspect and investigate well the idea that it is not what one might think and it is certainly not what one is told, what MUST DO a commoner?
1. Be willing to acknowledge that when any part of any topic gives an explanation or reason to answer any problem, question, statement, or practice, it is not telling you the whole story. Basically when their mouths move, keep an open mind.
2. Never stop searching to find the simple truth of any matter. We live in an age where information is readily available on what one might want to search for. Sure, you may come across another idea, point of view, or opinion, but keep looking anyway. It is still a good idea to investigate an issue rather than believe the lie. The perspective and information available to those who want to know more than what has just been told is more available to the common man now than at any other time in history.
Use your internet well. In time I suspect that you will see powers that will very much want to limit your access to that which opens the mind to other possibilities in the world of social, political and religious ideas. As the early corporate church was not very happy when books became available to the commoner and thus unreadable books became a popular form of control, the internet is not the best news for those who lie and they even deceive themselves.
3. Develop a spirituality that does not despair that nothing in this world is as it is told. The birds come home to roost. The truth shows its beautiful face in time. Everything that happens comes … just ask Trent Lott, Newt Gingrich and Tom Delay, or the CEOs who hide their millions and destroy the lives and careers of the commoners who work for them. Read about any Caesar who acted as if he were God. Ask the apostles, evangelists, and popes who live their lives of intrigue, power, and manipulation at everyone’s expense. We are all just people and those who brag and bully to get to the top of whatever mountain they think they have to conquer seem the weakest and most insecure of all. The higher you go, the more of your butt you’ll expose. How have you fallen, oh Lucifer, son of the morning … A tale often told. Every ladder goes up and down. Each prank thrown has a price charged to the shooter and each mountain will shrink over time. They all die and life goes on well, without them or without us.
Men protest too much about the things they really want to do or are actually doing. All the pastors I have regularly heard rant about homosexuality were struggling with it. People pass laws that they would not comply with if they had a need for it not to be a law in their case. Others expect you to believe and do what they themselves do not believe or do. A spirituality that takes these truths into account will keep its own body, mind, and spirit intact. We can address what kind of spirituality we can do at another time. Innuendo. Fundamentalist Christianity is not designed to learn anxiety levels. After all, it demands that you be right on all issues under the sun, or burn in hell. It demands that you know what God is really doing and demands of you, and you better be busy doing it, especially tithing :). It’s not exactly a formula for peace of mind.
So, “since nothing in this world is as they tell you”, let’s grow up and keep looking for the simple truth of all matters so that this is less and less true. I don’t want to live in a world of illusions and lies as scary as it could be.