Hi Yoshi, I’m a recent subscriber and benefiting from your perspective on life and the state of the world. I’m obviously too late for this Q & A, but I’d appreciate it if you would consider doing another one. I have some questions. All the best.
thanks so much for your writing. I'll jump right in.
I've felt anger and resentment throughout my career. Bad bosses, low wages, toxic workplace cultures, etc. I'm happily employed now and it feels incredible. That said, I still deal with negative memories about how things used to be. I would love to move on and forgive those who I felt wronged me in the past. What is your take on this? Have you dealt with something similar? Would love to hear your thoughts on this.
Very much so. I worked a job for a while (a long while) that was what many people might consider emotionally abusive. Unfortunately this is more common than most would like to think. The individuals who owned/managed the company were deeply fearful people themselves and that filtered down to those beneath them. "Trickle Down" theory doesn't always work in the economic sense, but it's fairly iron clad in the emotional and energetic sense. If the CEO of a company is a bad person, the company will have a bad culture. There is no getting around this. It's an iron rule. If the manager of a division is a bad person, that division will similarly be torture to work for. No getting out of it. That's just the sad reality.
Regarding your feelings, I felt similar. I dealt with anger and resentment about the way I was treated at work for a long time. I got through it by a two-fold realization which I will share with you, but which I understand if you reject. Parts of my realization may sound a bit callous, but understand that I was being callous towards myself. If what I say doesn't help you, throw it away. Pick it up again if you are ever ready for it, which you may never be. That's okay. What helps one person through their anger may not be suited for another.
1) Hurt people hurt people. Trite but true. In my case my bosses were a collection of extremely damaged and broken people, all of them running from something. Raises were not given because some of them had grown up in poverty and were *desperate* for every dollar they could hang on to for fear of becoming poor again. Some would engage in emotional manipulation because that's what they learned from their parents. One told me awful stories about his mother. How she would always threaten suicide to him as a little boy if he didn't do this or that. Another manager was in a bad marriage, and pushed everyone to the breaking point because he was hoping to rise up the ranks and "prove his worth" to his wife.
They were hurt people. They weren't having any fun.
Resentment is born from a sense of injustice. The feeling that those who wronged us profited off our misfortune. On the surface level, the level of dollars and cents, this might be true. On a deeper level it never is. Hell, after all, is an inverted pyramid. In abusive cultures those who rule almost always suffer the most. My boss, for example, was one of the most miserable men I've ever known and I was miserable because I had to work with him. But I could go home at the end of the day. He was with himself all the time. He wasn't "getting away" with anything. He wasn't acquiring happiness by messing me up. Time has passed now, and last I checked he was indeed still alone. No friends. No family. Just an empty house with a pile of gold that he sits on, like a dragon.
Shall I be resentful of ***that***?
I can almost guarantee your abusers are similarly not having a good time. They are probably racked with guilt or anxiety or fear. Such people always are. You can let go of resentment because there's been no injustice. They are certainly getting all they deserve.
2) It was your choice. As I told you, this may seem overly callous. I'm sorry for that. I'm not being mean or anything. This is a bitter pill to swallow but bitter pills oft make good medicine. If you swallow it it will absolutely allow you to move on.
See, you could have walked away at any time. As I could've also. Nobody forced you to be there. There was no gun to your head. You stayed and allowed yourself to be abused for the same reasons I did. Fear. A comfort in the familiar, even if said familiar was toxic. A lack of faith that God would provide.
Ultimately you were abused by choice and that my friend is what causes the anger to continue. Because you are angry at yourself for being weak. For not speaking up when you should've. For not saying "No." You allowed yourself to be walked over and that broke off a piece of you and you'd like that piece back. The hard truth is that you were a willing participant in a dysfunctional relationship. So then, if you are truly honest with yourself, how much of the blame for that relationship lies with you?
Can you forgive yourself? You can. So forgive them too. You've grown beyond them now and they have no more power to hurt you anymore. You're bigger than you used to be. They are still as small as ever. At some point perhaps you may even come to pity them. They're still in that old life, probably abusing new employees and themselves being abused by those above them. You got out because you realized you were too good for that but they never had such a realization and maybe never will. So you should forgive them and move on because you can now. They can't. They're stuck with themselves.
The word "good" comes from an old word that used to mean "strong." For much of history, those concepts were synonymous. Jesus's admonition to turn the other cheek, I believe, means that when you are strong enough the slaps no longer even hurt. So let yourself get bigger than your past. You're no longer that weak person who could be abused so easily. Allow yourself to believe and become that.
God bless you my friend and thank you for being here,
I agree entirely, and I appreciate the "callous" claim in #2. I absolutely agree with the notion that a part of the frustration is that I chose to put up with the abuse. Thank you so much for this fresh perspective 🙏
Hello Yoshi, I found your blog shortly after I suffered a loss. The opposite of what I was praying for happened and it left us bereft. Has something similar ever happened to you? How should Christians react when what you pray for doesn't seem to arrive (yet?)
Your blog has been a comfort and enlightening read these past two months, so thank you :)
Yes very much so. I'm sorry for your loss, may God give you peace.
Some years back my wife and I went through a miscarriage. There were some early signs that the pregnancy was not going to plan and I prayed hard and often that all would work out. It didn't. It was a very painful experience, especially for my wife who I'm not sure ever really recovered. I believe it has colored her relationship with God ever since. I don't think she really feels that He can be trusted to bring about the good in our lives. She's adopted a "fool me once" mentality towards him. Can't say that I blame her. Pretty natural reaction.
In like fashion, I grew up with a boy who I'll call Robert for the sake of his anonymity. Nobody called him Robert though. Instead, he had the nickname "Sunshine", because he was a persistently happy and pleasant person to be around. He was one of eight siblings, roughly right in the middle of the pack age wise, and, when we were sixteen, his car flew off the road down into a steep ditch, rolled several times, and killed him. What caused the accident was never determined. Alcohol didn't seem to be involved. It was a rainy night and it's likely that the roads were simply slick and his car didn't get enough traction round the turn. Nobody's fault and nobody to blame. Except for God I guess.
His parents blamed God for sure. They never came to church again. Especially the dad. Sunshine had been the most like his father, and was, in some respects, everybody's favorite, including being the favorite amongst his other siblings. I saw his brothers and sisters a few more times, and the mom once, but the father never again. Again, I can't blame them. Trusting God again after such a loss is all but impossible absent divine grace to do so. I hope we're all given such graces just as much as I hope we never need them.
What to do about it? A few things maybe.
One, trite as it may sound, and I don't mean it to sound so, there is some truth to the idea that only the good die young. Sunshine was perhaps too good for this world and was taken out of it early to prevent him from becoming corrupted by it. I genuinely think this is possible as most of the other people I've known to die young have similarly been minor saints. God, we must assume, takes souls when it is most beneficial for them to leave. Some of us need a longer time on earth to grow, and some of us remain longer than we might otherwise to help others (St. Paul specifically named himself as one such case). But for others perhaps it is in their interest to leave earlier than we'd like. We, being limited creatures, only see the loss, but from a higher perspective perhaps there is no loss. This, I know, is only of limited comfort when you are bereaved, nonetheless there is truth to it, and perhaps it can comfort a little. We must always remember that the dead do not perish. As Christ said of the little girl, "She is not dead, only sleeping." And, when speaking of God's answer to Moses, about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, "He is not the God of the dead, but of the living."
My wife and I have had personal confirmation of this at times. We have an heirloom from her grandmother who passed away while we were dating. I saw her in the hospital during her final hours, which was both sad and fascinating. She was, quite literally, between worlds. Fully conscious, but body failing, she spoke often to relatives long dead, as if they were standing beside her. She looked at me and asked me if I was quote, "Standing in water." She appeared to see visions of bright beings, her face alternating between physical pain and something like awe or amazement. So she passed.
About a decade later we were thinking of getting rid of the heirloom she had given us. It was in bad shape. One of the kids had got hold of it as a baby and thrashed it around and it had fallen off the table a time or two since. In a fit of cleaning one day my wife snatched it up to toss it in the trash. At just that moment, from the attic upstairs, a music box began to play. Her grandmother's music box, another hand-me-down gift.
I reckon it is impossible that that could be a coincidence. The music box has never played by itself other than that time. My wife was home alone with a 3 year old, and the toddler was watching Paw Patrol, nowhere near the attic. So the dead aren't gone. They are truly more with us than we might imagine.
My wife didn't throw away the heirloom, lol. She got right spooked by the music and set it back down where it was.
Two, hard as it is, perhaps the truth of the matter is that, if we did not get what we prayed for it was because what we prayed for was not for the best. Again, I know that's not overly comforting. To be honest, there is not much that can comfort one going through the loss of a loved one but the passage of time. I'm not trying to trivialize your grief. Only, we all must die at some point. Who are we to possibly say when the best time for us to go is? As I said, I can only assume that God does know and works, for our own benefit, to bring us home at that time. It is possible that, if our prayers were granted, it would be the worse for the person we prayed for. Maybe the future would have harmed their soul in some way, corrupted them, made them bitter. Or perhaps by bringing them home now God is sparing them some far worse suffering in the future. We cannot know. But God does love us. Of that we can be sure. It's okay if it doesn't feel like it though. Even Jesus felt abandoned in his darkest hour. You don't have to feel guilty or "bad" for doubting.
Three, feel free to scream at God. Yell at him if you need to. That's okay. People in the Old Testament were good about that. Airing their feelings honestly to the Lord. Modern people feel that such is somehow "impious" or something. But God does not want our false smiles. You can curse at him. Tell him you hate him and so on, if that is how you really feel. He will understand. It's not like millions of people before you haven't done the same to him. He's used to it. In some ways it is his fault after all. He started this whole mess when he created everything, he's sort of on the hook for it. He knows that, which is partly why he allowed himself to be crucified (you know, sort of literally being put on the hook, or on the nail at any rate).
I'm terribly sorry for your loss. If this blog has helped you I am extremely glad. Thank you so much for reading. God bless. Feel free to reach out if you need to talk more.
Thank you Yoshi for your reply, it means a lot to have such a considered response from you. The loss I'm referring to was also a miscarriage. All things considered, we have recovered from it fairly well. I just wished (and still wish) that things were different. I pray that next time the pregnancy will be successful.
To add to what you've suggested, I think praying for wisdom to understand is never a bad idea. 'If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.' (James 1:5).
Hola Hombre- good work across the board. you’ve precipitated some great discussions in my circle of friends as we try to square what we are all seeing. The words are resonating out in the ether (butterfly flapping its wings and all that). now i posit to you a potential of the “as above so below” scale view. what if, in this fallen world, the bad stuff is almost all true and connected by grand design. that only the most diabolical is behind it all because, out of spite, this world must be fully corrupted and Gods children must be turned away from Him. The ultimate stick in any parent’s eye. turned away to the point that they dont even bieleve, not by choice, but written completely out of the script. Not any old ham fisted plan of attack will do to acxomplish this. it has to be subtle, nuances, deceptive on many layers- it has to be perfect to pull it off. this attempt to poison God’s well should be as intricate and perfectly designed and sequenced as creation itself. only then, when they dont even know not to believe such a fantastical idea- while it actually does all fit together so well right on the nose as you say- is this corruption of creation worthy. if evil wants to take on Gods perfect creation then the attack must be perfect. anyhow- you get my point, which is one open ended way to say the dots are real and they might all connect for this one reason. thats my grand unifying theory on conspiracy/ ugliness design in this world. Loosh harvesting being fuel to the corruption engine that runs on fear/doubt/pain/ and human frailty. well the Good News is- we already know how this story ends and its Glorious. Praise be to the Lord!
I think a more simplistic model of corruption may simply be *Inversion*. The more I look at things, the more I believe that all of Evil's workings are simply the turning upside down, the inverting, of what is Good. Satan cannot create anything, for creativity comes from the Divine and the Divine Spark. He can only take what has already been created and flip it over on its head. This is, not necessarily by design so much as by necessity, as subtle attack and perhaps makes Satan appear more clever than he is. All of the structure of creation is still there, so it's not immediately obvious something is wrong. When things begin to break down, it's so subtle we're not quite sure why.
A somewhat obvious example is the Hierarchy of Being. So, traditionally, existence was thought of as a pyramid with God at the top. Something like this:
God
Man Woman
Animals Birds Reptiles
Fish Sea Life Bugs Insects
Plant Life Moss Trees Soil Rocks
Approximately speaking. The environmental movement, again, a thing which, on the surface seems okay, inverts this pyramid. God is irrelevant and Man is at the bottom. "Earth" or "Mother Earth", the thing of rocks and soil and so on, is at the top, and Man must be sacrificed for it. We feel bad eating animals, and even, occasionally, eating plants. But the idea that, in death, we become fertilizer, is seen as virtuous, something to strive for. There are even companies who will bury your body in a sack with a sapling in it, so that you will be the food for the tree instead of the tree being food for you.
There is a wholeness to these ideologies because the pyramid God designed is still present, it is simply turned over. I believe that you see the same pattern throughout all the evils of the world, especially right now. Critical Race Theory, for example, is presented as a call to racial harmony, but is actually the inversion of that, the cause of racial disunity. Gender ideology likewise, instead of promoting man as head of woman, flips the script and says that women are better and more capable than men. Everything God made is still there, which is why the evil feels so pervasive, and complete. However, it is all disorder, merely by virtue of being upside down.
I have at times referred to the world we live in as "The Upside Down" for this reason. I don't think it's a coincidence that this was presented as a real realm of existence in the show "Stranger Things."
Enjoying your posts (as well as MAPS). Just curious, based on some topics you’ve covered if you have run across the podcast called Lord of Spirits…? If not, check it out…I think would really enjoy it! Cheers!
I have listened to Lord of Spirits before, yes. I'm not an always listener but I do check in from time to time. I'm glad you're enjoying the podcast! This coming week's show is on Ethiopian Orthodoxy.
I have no idea where unfolding the stone comes from.I can't think of a question right now.I do better when someone asks the question.I appreciate you and what you do.Many blessings to you.
Hi Yoshi, I’m a recent subscriber and benefiting from your perspective on life and the state of the world. I’m obviously too late for this Q & A, but I’d appreciate it if you would consider doing another one. I have some questions. All the best.
Certainly will, stay tuned. I’ll post one on Friday, God willing.
Yoshi,
thanks so much for your writing. I'll jump right in.
I've felt anger and resentment throughout my career. Bad bosses, low wages, toxic workplace cultures, etc. I'm happily employed now and it feels incredible. That said, I still deal with negative memories about how things used to be. I would love to move on and forgive those who I felt wronged me in the past. What is your take on this? Have you dealt with something similar? Would love to hear your thoughts on this.
Hi Hihww_anon,
Very much so. I worked a job for a while (a long while) that was what many people might consider emotionally abusive. Unfortunately this is more common than most would like to think. The individuals who owned/managed the company were deeply fearful people themselves and that filtered down to those beneath them. "Trickle Down" theory doesn't always work in the economic sense, but it's fairly iron clad in the emotional and energetic sense. If the CEO of a company is a bad person, the company will have a bad culture. There is no getting around this. It's an iron rule. If the manager of a division is a bad person, that division will similarly be torture to work for. No getting out of it. That's just the sad reality.
Regarding your feelings, I felt similar. I dealt with anger and resentment about the way I was treated at work for a long time. I got through it by a two-fold realization which I will share with you, but which I understand if you reject. Parts of my realization may sound a bit callous, but understand that I was being callous towards myself. If what I say doesn't help you, throw it away. Pick it up again if you are ever ready for it, which you may never be. That's okay. What helps one person through their anger may not be suited for another.
1) Hurt people hurt people. Trite but true. In my case my bosses were a collection of extremely damaged and broken people, all of them running from something. Raises were not given because some of them had grown up in poverty and were *desperate* for every dollar they could hang on to for fear of becoming poor again. Some would engage in emotional manipulation because that's what they learned from their parents. One told me awful stories about his mother. How she would always threaten suicide to him as a little boy if he didn't do this or that. Another manager was in a bad marriage, and pushed everyone to the breaking point because he was hoping to rise up the ranks and "prove his worth" to his wife.
They were hurt people. They weren't having any fun.
Resentment is born from a sense of injustice. The feeling that those who wronged us profited off our misfortune. On the surface level, the level of dollars and cents, this might be true. On a deeper level it never is. Hell, after all, is an inverted pyramid. In abusive cultures those who rule almost always suffer the most. My boss, for example, was one of the most miserable men I've ever known and I was miserable because I had to work with him. But I could go home at the end of the day. He was with himself all the time. He wasn't "getting away" with anything. He wasn't acquiring happiness by messing me up. Time has passed now, and last I checked he was indeed still alone. No friends. No family. Just an empty house with a pile of gold that he sits on, like a dragon.
Shall I be resentful of ***that***?
I can almost guarantee your abusers are similarly not having a good time. They are probably racked with guilt or anxiety or fear. Such people always are. You can let go of resentment because there's been no injustice. They are certainly getting all they deserve.
2) It was your choice. As I told you, this may seem overly callous. I'm sorry for that. I'm not being mean or anything. This is a bitter pill to swallow but bitter pills oft make good medicine. If you swallow it it will absolutely allow you to move on.
See, you could have walked away at any time. As I could've also. Nobody forced you to be there. There was no gun to your head. You stayed and allowed yourself to be abused for the same reasons I did. Fear. A comfort in the familiar, even if said familiar was toxic. A lack of faith that God would provide.
Ultimately you were abused by choice and that my friend is what causes the anger to continue. Because you are angry at yourself for being weak. For not speaking up when you should've. For not saying "No." You allowed yourself to be walked over and that broke off a piece of you and you'd like that piece back. The hard truth is that you were a willing participant in a dysfunctional relationship. So then, if you are truly honest with yourself, how much of the blame for that relationship lies with you?
Can you forgive yourself? You can. So forgive them too. You've grown beyond them now and they have no more power to hurt you anymore. You're bigger than you used to be. They are still as small as ever. At some point perhaps you may even come to pity them. They're still in that old life, probably abusing new employees and themselves being abused by those above them. You got out because you realized you were too good for that but they never had such a realization and maybe never will. So you should forgive them and move on because you can now. They can't. They're stuck with themselves.
The word "good" comes from an old word that used to mean "strong." For much of history, those concepts were synonymous. Jesus's admonition to turn the other cheek, I believe, means that when you are strong enough the slaps no longer even hurt. So let yourself get bigger than your past. You're no longer that weak person who could be abused so easily. Allow yourself to believe and become that.
God bless you my friend and thank you for being here,
Yoshi
I agree entirely, and I appreciate the "callous" claim in #2. I absolutely agree with the notion that a part of the frustration is that I chose to put up with the abuse. Thank you so much for this fresh perspective 🙏
You are welcome. I hope that you feel better and that life goes well.
Hello Yoshi, I found your blog shortly after I suffered a loss. The opposite of what I was praying for happened and it left us bereft. Has something similar ever happened to you? How should Christians react when what you pray for doesn't seem to arrive (yet?)
Your blog has been a comfort and enlightening read these past two months, so thank you :)
Yes very much so. I'm sorry for your loss, may God give you peace.
Some years back my wife and I went through a miscarriage. There were some early signs that the pregnancy was not going to plan and I prayed hard and often that all would work out. It didn't. It was a very painful experience, especially for my wife who I'm not sure ever really recovered. I believe it has colored her relationship with God ever since. I don't think she really feels that He can be trusted to bring about the good in our lives. She's adopted a "fool me once" mentality towards him. Can't say that I blame her. Pretty natural reaction.
In like fashion, I grew up with a boy who I'll call Robert for the sake of his anonymity. Nobody called him Robert though. Instead, he had the nickname "Sunshine", because he was a persistently happy and pleasant person to be around. He was one of eight siblings, roughly right in the middle of the pack age wise, and, when we were sixteen, his car flew off the road down into a steep ditch, rolled several times, and killed him. What caused the accident was never determined. Alcohol didn't seem to be involved. It was a rainy night and it's likely that the roads were simply slick and his car didn't get enough traction round the turn. Nobody's fault and nobody to blame. Except for God I guess.
His parents blamed God for sure. They never came to church again. Especially the dad. Sunshine had been the most like his father, and was, in some respects, everybody's favorite, including being the favorite amongst his other siblings. I saw his brothers and sisters a few more times, and the mom once, but the father never again. Again, I can't blame them. Trusting God again after such a loss is all but impossible absent divine grace to do so. I hope we're all given such graces just as much as I hope we never need them.
What to do about it? A few things maybe.
One, trite as it may sound, and I don't mean it to sound so, there is some truth to the idea that only the good die young. Sunshine was perhaps too good for this world and was taken out of it early to prevent him from becoming corrupted by it. I genuinely think this is possible as most of the other people I've known to die young have similarly been minor saints. God, we must assume, takes souls when it is most beneficial for them to leave. Some of us need a longer time on earth to grow, and some of us remain longer than we might otherwise to help others (St. Paul specifically named himself as one such case). But for others perhaps it is in their interest to leave earlier than we'd like. We, being limited creatures, only see the loss, but from a higher perspective perhaps there is no loss. This, I know, is only of limited comfort when you are bereaved, nonetheless there is truth to it, and perhaps it can comfort a little. We must always remember that the dead do not perish. As Christ said of the little girl, "She is not dead, only sleeping." And, when speaking of God's answer to Moses, about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, "He is not the God of the dead, but of the living."
My wife and I have had personal confirmation of this at times. We have an heirloom from her grandmother who passed away while we were dating. I saw her in the hospital during her final hours, which was both sad and fascinating. She was, quite literally, between worlds. Fully conscious, but body failing, she spoke often to relatives long dead, as if they were standing beside her. She looked at me and asked me if I was quote, "Standing in water." She appeared to see visions of bright beings, her face alternating between physical pain and something like awe or amazement. So she passed.
About a decade later we were thinking of getting rid of the heirloom she had given us. It was in bad shape. One of the kids had got hold of it as a baby and thrashed it around and it had fallen off the table a time or two since. In a fit of cleaning one day my wife snatched it up to toss it in the trash. At just that moment, from the attic upstairs, a music box began to play. Her grandmother's music box, another hand-me-down gift.
I reckon it is impossible that that could be a coincidence. The music box has never played by itself other than that time. My wife was home alone with a 3 year old, and the toddler was watching Paw Patrol, nowhere near the attic. So the dead aren't gone. They are truly more with us than we might imagine.
My wife didn't throw away the heirloom, lol. She got right spooked by the music and set it back down where it was.
Two, hard as it is, perhaps the truth of the matter is that, if we did not get what we prayed for it was because what we prayed for was not for the best. Again, I know that's not overly comforting. To be honest, there is not much that can comfort one going through the loss of a loved one but the passage of time. I'm not trying to trivialize your grief. Only, we all must die at some point. Who are we to possibly say when the best time for us to go is? As I said, I can only assume that God does know and works, for our own benefit, to bring us home at that time. It is possible that, if our prayers were granted, it would be the worse for the person we prayed for. Maybe the future would have harmed their soul in some way, corrupted them, made them bitter. Or perhaps by bringing them home now God is sparing them some far worse suffering in the future. We cannot know. But God does love us. Of that we can be sure. It's okay if it doesn't feel like it though. Even Jesus felt abandoned in his darkest hour. You don't have to feel guilty or "bad" for doubting.
Three, feel free to scream at God. Yell at him if you need to. That's okay. People in the Old Testament were good about that. Airing their feelings honestly to the Lord. Modern people feel that such is somehow "impious" or something. But God does not want our false smiles. You can curse at him. Tell him you hate him and so on, if that is how you really feel. He will understand. It's not like millions of people before you haven't done the same to him. He's used to it. In some ways it is his fault after all. He started this whole mess when he created everything, he's sort of on the hook for it. He knows that, which is partly why he allowed himself to be crucified (you know, sort of literally being put on the hook, or on the nail at any rate).
I'm terribly sorry for your loss. If this blog has helped you I am extremely glad. Thank you so much for reading. God bless. Feel free to reach out if you need to talk more.
matsumotobooks@gmail.com
Thank you Yoshi for your reply, it means a lot to have such a considered response from you. The loss I'm referring to was also a miscarriage. All things considered, we have recovered from it fairly well. I just wished (and still wish) that things were different. I pray that next time the pregnancy will be successful.
To add to what you've suggested, I think praying for wisdom to understand is never a bad idea. 'If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.' (James 1:5).
God bless you too.
Hola Hombre- good work across the board. you’ve precipitated some great discussions in my circle of friends as we try to square what we are all seeing. The words are resonating out in the ether (butterfly flapping its wings and all that). now i posit to you a potential of the “as above so below” scale view. what if, in this fallen world, the bad stuff is almost all true and connected by grand design. that only the most diabolical is behind it all because, out of spite, this world must be fully corrupted and Gods children must be turned away from Him. The ultimate stick in any parent’s eye. turned away to the point that they dont even bieleve, not by choice, but written completely out of the script. Not any old ham fisted plan of attack will do to acxomplish this. it has to be subtle, nuances, deceptive on many layers- it has to be perfect to pull it off. this attempt to poison God’s well should be as intricate and perfectly designed and sequenced as creation itself. only then, when they dont even know not to believe such a fantastical idea- while it actually does all fit together so well right on the nose as you say- is this corruption of creation worthy. if evil wants to take on Gods perfect creation then the attack must be perfect. anyhow- you get my point, which is one open ended way to say the dots are real and they might all connect for this one reason. thats my grand unifying theory on conspiracy/ ugliness design in this world. Loosh harvesting being fuel to the corruption engine that runs on fear/doubt/pain/ and human frailty. well the Good News is- we already know how this story ends and its Glorious. Praise be to the Lord!
Hola Goonrider, thank you for your words.
I think a more simplistic model of corruption may simply be *Inversion*. The more I look at things, the more I believe that all of Evil's workings are simply the turning upside down, the inverting, of what is Good. Satan cannot create anything, for creativity comes from the Divine and the Divine Spark. He can only take what has already been created and flip it over on its head. This is, not necessarily by design so much as by necessity, as subtle attack and perhaps makes Satan appear more clever than he is. All of the structure of creation is still there, so it's not immediately obvious something is wrong. When things begin to break down, it's so subtle we're not quite sure why.
A somewhat obvious example is the Hierarchy of Being. So, traditionally, existence was thought of as a pyramid with God at the top. Something like this:
God
Man Woman
Animals Birds Reptiles
Fish Sea Life Bugs Insects
Plant Life Moss Trees Soil Rocks
Approximately speaking. The environmental movement, again, a thing which, on the surface seems okay, inverts this pyramid. God is irrelevant and Man is at the bottom. "Earth" or "Mother Earth", the thing of rocks and soil and so on, is at the top, and Man must be sacrificed for it. We feel bad eating animals, and even, occasionally, eating plants. But the idea that, in death, we become fertilizer, is seen as virtuous, something to strive for. There are even companies who will bury your body in a sack with a sapling in it, so that you will be the food for the tree instead of the tree being food for you.
There is a wholeness to these ideologies because the pyramid God designed is still present, it is simply turned over. I believe that you see the same pattern throughout all the evils of the world, especially right now. Critical Race Theory, for example, is presented as a call to racial harmony, but is actually the inversion of that, the cause of racial disunity. Gender ideology likewise, instead of promoting man as head of woman, flips the script and says that women are better and more capable than men. Everything God made is still there, which is why the evil feels so pervasive, and complete. However, it is all disorder, merely by virtue of being upside down.
I have at times referred to the world we live in as "The Upside Down" for this reason. I don't think it's a coincidence that this was presented as a real realm of existence in the show "Stranger Things."
Thank you for reading and listening. God bless!
Hello Yoshi,
Enjoying your posts (as well as MAPS). Just curious, based on some topics you’ve covered if you have run across the podcast called Lord of Spirits…? If not, check it out…I think would really enjoy it! Cheers!
I have listened to Lord of Spirits before, yes. I'm not an always listener but I do check in from time to time. I'm glad you're enjoying the podcast! This coming week's show is on Ethiopian Orthodoxy.
Have a great weekend!
I have no idea where unfolding the stone comes from.I can't think of a question right now.I do better when someone asks the question.I appreciate you and what you do.Many blessings to you.
Thank you Mimi. Yea being put on the spot is difficult, blessings to you also and may you have a great day.