During my unplugged week I read Moby Dick by Herman Melville. It was a fascination – like experiencing a bizarre traveling circus that only appears after midnight.
The whole book filled me with sadness. I’m reading it with 170 additional years of history and knowledge and I think; the suffering we inflicted on entire species of whales in the name of profit and indulgence. And then I think, in what ways are we doing the same thing now in 2021? How about plastics and oil for starters…
I never formally studied this book so I have no preconceived scholarly analysis. The endless exposition that was a mix of fact and speculation was just boring. I have to attribute my attitude to that 170 year chasm. I wouldn’t have been any wiser at the time.
I’m too sensitive when it comes to animals to ever be able to admire Moby Dick and appreciate the story. All I could think about was how wrong humankind was about the nature of whales and God…how wrong we still are in some cases.
A Leviathan?
Leviathan was not a whale. The peaceful, curious nature of whales was all I could think about when reading how Melville described the beast Captain Ahab hunted – and I couldn’t separate the author from the ruthless nature of the Captain.
Below is the Sperm whale (wholly misnamed out of ignorance); and the demon, the monster, the man-killing beast from hell, the Leviathan that Melville described…and this was all I could think about while reading Moby Dick:
The Light Bulb – the Bright Idea seekers
The whale population was being decimated. In 1835 the first constant electric light was demonstrated. It took 44 more years of scientists tinkering with the bulb device before a usable one was created in 1879. Thank God someone was striving for a better way. Reminds me of electric cars and Elon Musk. Reminds me of anyone launching out against the flow in pursuit of a better world.
But humankind continued hunting whales for profit, some countries even now continue. (Sometime in the year 2100, But humankind continued using gasoline and oil for cars….)
I really can’t enjoy this book. I know it was about revenge; I know it was about deeper symbolic references of man and their madness to dominate. It didn’t move me. Maybe it wasn’t supposed to. Maybe Herman just wanted to incite me, end of story.
Some Decent Prose When Not Choked by the Exposition
There were only one or two portions that gripped me and really pulled me onto the deck of the ship, in all her fiery madness. Here is one of them:
“…darkness was licked up by the fierce flames, which at
intervals forked forth from the sooty flues, and illuminated
every lofty rope in the rigging, as with the famed Greek fire.
The burning ship drove on, as if remorselessly commissioned
to some vengeful deed. So the pitch and sulphur-freighted brigs
of the bold Hydriote, Canaris, issuing from their midnight harbors,
with broad sheets of flame for sails, bore down upon
the Turkish frigates, and folded them in conflagrations.
“…as their uncivilized laughter
forked upwards out of them, like the flames from the furnace;
as to and fro, in their front, the harpooneers wildly gesticulated
with their huge pronged forks and dippers; as the wind howled on,
and the sea leaped, and the ship groaned and dived, and yet steadfastly
shot her red hell further and further into the blackness of the sea
and the night, and scornfully champed the white bone in her mouth,
and viciously spat round her on all sides; then the rushing Pequod,
freighted with savages, and laden with fire, and burning a corpse,
and plunging into that blackness of darkness, seemed the material
counterpart of her monomaniac commander’s soul. So seemed it to me, as I stood at her helm, and for long
hours silently guided the way of this fire-ship on the sea.”
-Excerpt, pg 398 Moby Dick
In Conclusion
This book could be 200 pages; better yet, a short story. The overindulgent exposition and the fact that it was a true horror story of the slaughter of such a beautiful, peaceful animal, killed my soul and any hint of enjoyment for me.
One more extraordinary clip of the beautiful cachalot, it’s accurate name…enjoy
Stay safe beautiful people, stay extraordinary – even if the world would rather you not be~
This is a challenging post to write because in my mind it’s arranged in varying compartments, seemingly unrelated, but which are intricately intertwined (I believe). It’s practical issues interlaced with spiritual influences and current events.
It may even be part prophesy. It’s easy for me to draw the bigger picture in my mind. Not so easy to clarify it enough to relay that information to others.
But I’m going to try, or at least start to write these things out. Maybe in writing I can hone in on the clarity of the thing.
Writing posts can take anywhere from 15 minutes to hours – just one post. This is why I don’t post everyday 🙂 So here we go, let’s get into this.
Here are the varying compartments I’m going to try and relate to you and tie them together. I’m mainly focusing on California but attempting to clarify that this will begin affecting all of the Untied States:
-Large companies moving out of California
-Employees of these big tech companies, now working from home, can move and live in any state they wish to live, bringing their California incomes to small town U.S.A. economies.
-Loss of jobs or inability to keep up with higher incomes squeezing the middle class and how this ties in with the introduction of more automated, A.I driven technologies replacing the jobs of many Americans.
-Threat of continued drought, wildfires and earthquakes along the west coast.
-Middle-class being squeezed out of the housing market and pushed into homelessness.
-People leaving San Fransisco and larger cities due to crime, lack of police patrol and decreasing quality of life.
California and her woes
After watching a newscast online about the mass exodus of California, specifically businesses and corpse-porations that are leaving and heading for greener (less financially and legally stringent) pastures, their employees are also moving. Only they no longer have to move with the company – because now, everything is transitioning to online work-from-home locality.
Covid moved this thinking forward in exponential ways – quick insight, exponential is going to be the track of the future for all events.
So the entire world is changing. Now, only states close to the west coast near California are feeling the pain, like Idaho for instance. Sleepy towns that don’t have larger booming economies with sky-high incomes.
Along comes a higher paid, big city worker. S/he makes $500,000 a year which would be the equivalent to a lesser Idaho income in terms of location…..but the Silicon Valley worker no longer lives in CA. They are bringing their $500K income to a small town economy.
How could I possibly compete income-wise with someone who is bringing their big city income to my low cost-of-living state? Income is based on where you live, not necessarily the position you hold.
Do you see where I’m going?
Now, the same size house in Idaho that may go for $400K is being bid up by the big income, big city worker to $700K. Because the same position held by someone in Idaho pays less – it’s location relative. That’s an immediate out-of-price-range checkmate for the resident of Idaho working in the same exact industry.
So then, less inventory, less income, less options….
Homelessness
I advocate for those who are homeless; to assist them in any way we can. They are human beings who have needs and have suffered heartache, loss and many have mental illnesses. When you are desperate, feel abandoned by society and having nothing else to lose, you can do desperate things.
We’re used to attributing certain characteristics with those who are homeless. But no more. Even the middle-class is suffering homelessness in California. It has become a societal (economic?) epidemic. Those who should be living a well-to-do life are struggling, living in their cars and trying to manage their jobs and families.
There are so many issues being ignored by government, communities and people in general. Here’s an excerpt and a clip from the NY Post concerning the issues with ignoring and not dealing with the growing problem of homelessness:
“It’s just a very dangerous time to be a Venice resident right now.” Violent robberies in the neighborhood have jumped by 177 percent and the number of cases of assault with a deadly weapon involving a homeless person have spiked by 162 percent, according to LAPD stats the council shared with Fox News.
The world is being set on fire. And it’s burning in ways we may not be prepared to navigate. People need to raise their eyes from the current petty arguments and understand what’s really beginning to happen out there in the world.
Look what happened with Detroit. Now natural disasters like fire and flood are also working on the state of California along with corpse-porations moving out of state and letting loose the chains on their employees, allowing them to work from anywhere in the U.S.
Do you ever wonder if all the natural, social and political disasters in California are a warning sign? Maybe there’s a reason to consider leaving whereas if everything were good, more people would still be living there? It’s a strange way of thinking, I know, but it seems like a warning signal going off.
I attribute this way of thinking to sensational Hollywood movies as well as legit intuition and news stories.
Remember the people who worked in the Twin Towers that said they went out for a donut or were late to work for the first time ever on 9/11? That’s the foreshadowing I’m picking up on with California.
Earthquakes, fires and drought. Unbelievably high house prices, economic unrest, social and political unrest. It’s never-ending.
Enter, Artificial Intelligence and Friendly Robots
The whole world is going through a shift. And it’s accelerating at a much faster pace in our modern times than it ever did before. These next 10 years the shift will be significant and likely affect every person on earth. It’s one of the many reasons I chose to leave a career in a major industry and work to secure my future against the changing times.
I can only pray it works.
I believe that within the next 10 years we are going to see a substantial loss in the workforce. The positions just won’t be needed. It’s already happening but it will accelerate into the 2030’s. Many jobs will be rendered obsolete. So many customer service oriented jobs will be lost. Only the older generations still look to that one-on-one, in-person transaction.
All the younger generations trust the online network of human(less) e-commerce.
You think robots can’t take over nursing positions in hospitals? Shopping clerks? Bank tellers? How about school cafeteria workers and assistants? These will fall to the ever increasingly sophisticated robotic creations.
Give the big thinkers in technology enough time and money and they will advance A.I. to that point. And so much more. I fear so many people have no clue what’s really happening behind the scenes with these technologies. I’ve listened to fascinating interviews with these brilliant people who themselves will tell you, they are working against the ticking clock of government regulations.
For now the waters seem calm, so furiously they stretch the bounds of morality and perhaps their own conscience in the burning pursuit of making history – these people have soaring egos and not much consideration for life. One American who is working in China with these extreme technologies said on camera, in an interview (I’ll not forget it): “Can robots one day kill all of the human race? Yep! Am I still going to work to advance artificial intelligence? Yep!”
I was furious on the inside. Stubborn, prideful and selfish….Absolutely no regard for other people (oh, I’m sorry, are you thinking ‘Ashley, really, this is so preposterous it’s not worth getting upset about it.’
You, my friend, have no idea…remember the silent rising of nuclear weapons? “I am become death, destroyer of worlds”….
In Pursuit of Glory (lots and lots of money) No Matter the Human Cost
Why are we as humans always in pursuit of those things which can destroy this earth and ultimately ourselves! I can’t deal with some people…those specifically who have the power to make vastly destructive decisions without ANYONE being able to control them or what they want to do.
You think the majority of peoples on this earth would have approved of the atom bomb? These leaders held a private conference, along with the former President Harry Truman before the first bomb was ever detonated and said they thought it was a possibility that the detonation could catch the earth’s atmosphere on fire. The final decision?
Drop the bomb any way.
Listen, God lays the ground rules. Robots will never wipe out the human race because God’s Word reigns above every other word. But humans are trying to make technology that can do just that. And we as people, societies, communities, states, countries, nations, government bodies will have to deal with this.
Pssst, remember, all things on earth are flowing towards the One World Government over all peoples of the earth.
I can’t get into it here, but a one world government will solve so many problems and be so beneficial to all at first – truly – but it is the leader and the system of that government body who will be evil, and this is why no Tower of Babel will ever be erected before God, in place of God and without God.
And let’s not forget that money rules everything in the world system. These hierarchies don’t care about individual people. I mean look at how “Wall Street”, a.k.a corpse-porations, a.k.a., malevolent cowards… are buying up real estate properties out from under Americans. Look at how we ‘rent’ everything instead of buying it once which builds wealth. Microsoft office is paid on an annual basis, that’s one of thousands of examples.
Cars are going the same way. There will be no more purchasing of automobiles. Vehicles will all be electric and autonomous. You will buy a pass, or a card, or a monthly subscription (and if you want only luxury cars to ride in, then you pay the premium monthly cost for it, economy class only $29.99/month) and through your phone, you will summons the vehicle to your location.
That is, if you’ve managed to be one of the few demographics who don’t end up homeless…
I digress…
Corpse-porations and their utter disregard for human beings
Big companies are making the money and will own all the vehicles and all the real estate, and will charge us a fee to utilize their inventory. Cars will likely be illegal to drive on public roads at some point in the future.
If you want to actually drive or race cars or take a joy ride, there will be places setup around the U.S. where you can vacation and do so. Car enthusiasts will throw loads of money toward that.
But then eventually, 2070 or 2100, no one will want to drive anymore. It will be a history that is long forgotten with a generation and possibly referenced in school books where kids will laugh and say, ‘Yeah, my great grandpa used to have one of those things!”
From noon last Wednesday until noon this Wednesday I spent an entire week not utilizing the internet. It was an eye-opening foray into the dark murky waters of-
>Eminent boredom and time stretching into an infinite blackhole<
My trepidation was a bit melodramatic but the anxiety was real.
In the wee hours of the first morning I sat down with my coffee on the couch and instead of reaching for my laptop I just sat there staring at the table. I had put my laptop in a drawer out of sight. I opened my notebook/scheduler and my bible and started reading, praying and meditating on a few verses God had impressed on my heart for this year.
I seriously had an anxious outlook on this whole unplugged thing. It’s hard to express it in words – perhaps you should try it yourself to see what I mean – it’s a habit or addiction almost. Something about the internet and the year 2020 has ingrained in us this idea of being cutoff with only social media to keep everyone together. Quarantine and lockdowns exacerbated this feeling.
Whatever it was, I knew I had to break that habit if for no other reason than because it is a false belief.
I went about my day as usual; workout, walking, swimming, cleaning and working: just a normal day. But every time I’d sit down or relax I’d catch myself wanting my laptop. Pretty sure it was the feeling of withdrawal I was experiencing, haha!
So, I got into a huge book. None other than Moby Dick. I mean, seriously. Of all things that could curb my internet withdrawals. But sure enough, it was the perfect book. Off on a great seafaring journey I went. Read the whole thing. (No, no, that’s a lie. I skipped the pretentious, ever-rambling expositions). And I now know more about the insides of a whale and the whaling industry of the 1850’s than I ever wanted to know.
I might write a blog post of what I think about this book in the future.
Anyway, on the third day something interesting started happening. The desire to get on the internet faded into the background and I settled into my immediate surroundings. I started going through some boxes in the closets and realized I had two aquariums purchased back in 2018 that I had yet to setup. A small 5 gallon and a larger 40 gallon.
All the equipment and most of the accessories were there. It was a treat really. Since I’ve been working from home and endeavoring to change my career, I haven’t had the luxury of shopping. I enjoy shopping. But I’m on a mission this year, so thrifty is the name of the game at present. Opening up everything which I had put away almost 3 years ago was fun and therapeutic in a way.
Not to mention I now had another project to add to my unplugged week: what type of aquariums do I want to setup! I love planted aquariums, biotopes, little interesting and extraordinary fishes 🙂 Fish-keeping isn’t guppies and mollies and goldfish. That’s kid’s play. Fish-keeping is dwarf pea puffers and shell dwellers and honey gourami. Fish with personalities and adorable quirks. It’s cichlid tanks, blackwater biotopes and lush jungle tanks.
#GOALS…
So now all things were good! I had projects – I always need projects. Something to think about and challenge myself with. The internet was floating somewhere under the dark waters Captain Ahab was sailing through, keeping company with the Great White Whale lost in the darkness.
I can read and study forever. And the internet is full of any and everything a curious mind could get into. It’s the easy fix. And I’ve found it can be a big distraction from other interesting projects.
Let me not make light of my time in the word of God and the peace I experienced giving Him more of my time, at the very beginning of the day as opposed to just sinking into the billion dots on the screen.
I’ve decided on some rearranging in the house that I’ve been mulling over for months. A little unplugged clarity and I arrived at the solution – where to house the aquariums, what furniture needed to be moved, moved out or donated – and after my week unplugged I feel I’ve been through a cleansing and refreshing. The internet has been an excuse to delay things.
I highly recommend going unplugged for a week. I kept email going of course; I have to work and get back with people. I don’t want to miss opportunities but I think anyone can do without all the social media sites for a week.
I’m thinking of going unplugged for a week every month. Maybe not the entire internet – I will need it for my work. But Twitter, FB, etc can take a backburner far more often. Think about how many times we check our phones….
I have a ton of blog post ideas too – so much to talk about – diets, swimming, health, food….
Several of which will have to be about aquariums 🙂
“No, you may not do evil so that good may come from it.” ~Fulton J Sheen
If a decision you made was good, moral and ethical, then you made the right decision. If anyone ever asks you to do something that is contrary to integrity and uprightness (no matter who they are) and you refuse to back down because you know it would be the wrong thing to do, then at the risk of losing them, you have done the right thing.
People’s expectations are not your responsibility. It’s not your fault you may not ‘live up to’ someone else’s expectations of you. When your life belongs to God, you live it for Him to the best of your ability. Doing the good and just thing is admirable. Seeking fairness and justice are esteemed qualities which balances out those that would seek only to benefit themselves in this world.
There are already too many suffering at the hand of greed and selfishness.
If anyone expects you to do something contrary to your convictions and what you know to be right and honorable, then you must hold fast to your conventions. At the end of the day, people must deal with their own losses and ill-intentioned ambitions when they fall through.
The Struggle Between Being Social and an Introvert is Real
One of the aspects of being a creative person that tends to slow me down is social media; specifically pertaining to marketing, social interacting and promotion. I don’t always want to be in the public’s eye and I’m not always feeling social. If fact, I’m much more reserved and introverted than perhaps my posts would reveal. I have a hard time with it. There are times when I just disconnect totally from social media – I find peace and relaxation during these times. They are necessary part of my creative endeavors and staying mentally healthy.
Introverts Have a Love-Hate Relationship with Social Media
I love helping people and offering an encouraging word to keep them inspired. I do enjoy getting good feedback when I show my artwork. There are times though, that I feel I’m only interacting when I have something to show or share and the time in between is just ghosted. I feel bad about that in a way. I also know that I’m not obligated to constantly interact with people on social media.
I’m sure there is a happy medium somewhere but my predominating personality trait is to isolate and create. Then I come outside to see everyone and get my social meter back up. This pattern works for me, but I don’t want to isolate others in the process. That’s how followers are lost – or so I’m told on social media. And I’m not sure how well it works for promotion – people don’t want to be sold on something, they want to get to know the artist. This is hard too. I’m a private person yet having to show my life more publicly due to the nature of my business.
It’s a tightrope walk for me and probably many other creatives as well. We are mainly introverted and atypical socially.
Since the whole 2020 pandemic debacle, I haven’t felt much like painting – or maybe I fell out of the habit. I had a rhythm down which was working. But I’ve made a ton of life changes since this time last year and the pattern fell away. I feel bad about that but the problem with creating is: if you don’t have much inspiration for it, it’s hard to do it.
Consistency vs. Creativity vs. Working
And I’ve moved on to writing for now and focusing on that. I’m not the best at multitasking, and I don’t feel bad about that at all. Want to live a convoluted reality? Go ahead and multitask your life away. How can I ever give my full attention to anything and make progress if I’m constantly distracted by 10 other things? It makes no sense really. Even so, I should make a goal of at least getting back into completing one painting a week. That wasn’t so hard. I think at the time it was a pressure release from work.
Sometimes I think I struggle with consistency, and maybe so. But I also am sensitive to going with the flow – if something is going to work better then I’m not resistant to try it. I think these things can work in tandem, I just need a bit more practice with the balancing.
Creatives can also be a little all-over-the-place 🙂 Hopefully I can branch out again into the painting soon. I do miss it. And I’m still unsure of the direction of this blog. I really am not interested in becoming a professional blogger – too much time and money invested for little results. If people like my work and want to connect, I’m here. That’s about all I can offer right now.
One of the hardest things to overcome when following your dream is the urge to give up. It’s hard to go against the grain and follow your own path – the one that makes sense to you that no one else understands. But everyone who has been successful will say it: they have failed multiple times but the key was to never give up.
One thing I’ve noticed over my lifetime is that sometimes it’s hard for the people who have been a part of your life or previous career to accept that you’re moving on. I understand it because there have been many times I’ve wanted to follow my dream but I’ve not had the opportunity to do so. People move on, things change. And we are creatures of habit – we don’t like change. And unfortunately even resentment can come into play.
There will be those who purposefully disengage because you are no longer a part of their life – it’s hard but you have to realize this and don’t let it stop you or hinder your forward momentum. Perhaps they will come back at some later time. Stick to your path and continue moving forward.
Keep going. Pray for them; but you stay on your ordained path. You can better your life and maybe reach a level where others can learn from you and you can give back in many valuable ways to others who need your knowledge and wisdom to better their own situation.
So just a word of encouragement for you today sweet people:
God’s got you. Keep going, everything will be alright. You’re one step closer to fulfilling your dream~
…“the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.”
Attachment
Let’s face it, if two friends can have their souls knitted together because of how they feel toward one another, how much more are two people romantically involved going to be knit together?
We are complicated, complex creations with layers of habits, addictions, quirks and adorable (sometimes annoying?) personality traits. When two people form an attachment, all their layers become one layer, together, intermingled. Soul, spirit (and body in sexual relations). But it’s not so beautifully descriptive if ever the two want to part ways. It’s more like a messy destructive entanglement than a flowing heavenly connectedness.
I think this is why we really weren’t created to be with more than one other person, monogamously. God understood the beauty of becoming one and the devastation it brings when something that is together must now separate, when there is no distinction between the two anymore. I can’t imagine. It hurts bad enough just losing a friend, like David and Jonathan, much less when two people become one bound by sexual relations.
(I know, most people don’t think so much – I get it! I like to think, it’s like a past time activity for me. And writing is how I make sense of things sometimes. In no way am I this methodical in real life.)
Anyway, it becomes more important as a Christian to be mindful of attachment. Let me share these scriptures for reference from 1 Corinthians 6:15-20,
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
And again…
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
1 Corinthians 3.16
So here we have to understand that we are also one with God and that whoever we become one with as a triune being, we then join them with the body of Christ. Now within marriage this is sanctified, true and holy.
Jesus spoke the following,
I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15.5
Because I live, you also will live.On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
John 14.20
In order to write about human beings in this way, I have to almost step out of myself to look objectively at human nature and how we interact with one another. But I love talking about it. People are so skittish about the things of God. Why shouldn’t we be curious about Him? Why shouldn’t we desire to draw near to Him?
God is a mystery. But He let’s us catch up to Him sometimes…
Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.
Jeremiah 33.3
Ah! I love Him, I love seeking Him – such a beautiful Person He is.
The Mystery of God
I love peering into the mysteries of the handiwork of God, creation, science, human nature and everything concerning God’s heart. So much inside Him…
I’m there, you are there, in His heart. A heart so big the universe itself cannot expand fast enough to ever fill it – and still – He knows the exact number of every hair on our heads down here on earth. God – indeed He is lovely~
This triune being He has created far exceeds all of mankind’s thoughts about it – we try to define ourselves and who and what we are and want from life – but we can’t clearly form the words, not without His insight.
One must inquire of the Creator to understand the work.
That’s what I’m doing here really, in these posts – inquiring of God about His work. About me, about those around me. That’s all. Just trying to peer into God’s heart~
Don’t Be Afraid to Inquire of God
I love how Jesus wasn’t afraid to just go there sometimes. He spoke knowing people would end up leaving Him, turning their back on Him and walking away. But He spoke the words anyway and didn’t even bother to explain!
John 6:4-5 “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him.”
vs 66:From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
Communion of course was the reference Jesus was making. We know and understand this because we now see clearly into the mirror of the Cross. But at that time they didn’t and thought He was actually referring to flesh and blood.
All of these sayings, all of these things Jesus is speaking of makes it clear to me we are one with the Lord. And this makes me think before doing something stupid just because my carnal nature (that physical fallen nature of the human being) desires something.
He has fashioned us to also be capable of becoming one if we choose to, monogamously with someone else. This is a beautiful experience because it reflects the oneness God shares with us, His creation.
I might might write more about this in a third post sometime.
Since about 2016, I’ve been thinking about what it would mean for me to share my life with and create a life together with another person. I always said jokingly (but not so much) that I’d meet my forever partner in the nursing home. I have no plans (who does) of needing a nursing home in later life, but the concept that I’d meet this person around 75 years of age was the point.
But perhaps I won’t wait that long. So I have been considering the impact having another person in my life and specifically the impact of becoming one with them would have on my walk with God. My life is so simple – but I’m fiercely complicated in personality.
So, I may decide this is not the right choice for me at all – marriage that is – but there are many ways to go about sharing ones life with another person.
One thing’s for sure, I have done my best to live life for God because after all – no offense married folk – scripture states that the pinnacle of life is remaining single so that we are free to follow God. The pinnacle isn’t marriage. The pinnacle of American society is marriage – though this is also changing rapidly with younger generations who are finding the binding institution of marriage to be stifling and restrictive.
But really, if you want to become one with another human being, there is a price to pay. And there are consequences which are not always pleasant. I think too much, I know. But then again, I make far less mistakes. There are drawbacks to each approach. So far, mine has worked rather well for me. But let’s get into this, shall we?
What Becoming One With Another Person Really Encompasses
Let’s talk for a moment about the human creation. We are triune beings comprised of these three parts: soul, spirit and body.
The Soul:
Now the soul – to further break it down – is comprised of the mind, will and emotions. It is where the human condition arises, where the battleground exists when we think of doing evil or doing good. The battle is in the soul; the mind thinking the thought, the emotions influencing that thought and the will taking control and putting that thought into action, making it a reality.
Soul: Mind
So the soul is the fallen aspect of the human which occurred when sin entered the world. This is why ‘the washing of the water of the word of God’ is so important – renewing the mind is a daily necessity. The soul and the spirit are like bone to marrow – so closely linked that only God’s word can precisely cut between them to decipher thought from intention. If you think that’s easy, try focusing on why you have a particular thought and whether or not that thought is of any premeditated intention (because intentions can lie dormant in the primitive brain which remains hidden from us). Too deep a subject to get into right now.
Soul: Emotions
Continuing with the soul: Emotions are what influence our actions everyday and either help us or hurt us depending on how renewed our thought-life is (i.e. how much of God’s word is in us, how much of God’s knowledge and wisdom we know). Emotions, still part of the fallen aspect, can be a serious issue if we are unable to control them and think through what we are feeling in a more logical way. Emotions are what cause us to do the wrong thing because it feels right at the moment.
Soul: Will
The last aspect of soul is the will. The will is the power behind everything we do. We can will ourselves to do almost anything as long as fear is kept in check. The will is also part of that fallen state that must be continually renewed – it’s not a one-time deal (there is only one, one-time deal which we’ll get to in a moment.)
The will is what started the building of the Tower of Babel for instance. God said, ‘when they put their minds together in unity, there is nothing they cannot accomplish’. We are such fragile beings, yet because we are made in the image of God, we are the most powerful creation He has made – albeit, without the Holy Spirit, the angels would be more powerful than humans because we still exist in this natural world (ah! but this is another topic altogether! Maybe I’ll write about it sometime.)
The Spirit:
Now the spirit is the true and everlasting part of our triune being. In billions of people, their spirit lies dormant within them because only God can give life to our spirit. (God breathed the breath of life into Adam.) Spiritual death is both life and death apart from God. This is not where you want to be – Christ is the answer to spiritual death. “I am the way the truth and the life. Apart from me you can do nothing”. Listen to how Jesus talks about the human condition and how he remedies all of it:
John 6:35 (paraphrased): I am the bread of life…The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world and he who eats of this bread s/he shall live forever, s/he shall not die.
John 11:25 I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.
This is profound! It is what many intellectuals and scientists long for, eternal life, immortality. But they reject it as coming from a Superior Being as they would call Him. Eternal life cannot be provided by any other means outside of spiritual salvation. This requires Jesus Christ – and this is the world’s stumbling block.
One-Time Deal
The spirit is not in need of renewal but it does need to be fed, so-to-speak, by the word of God. The word is likened to bread, or sustenance which we must eat in order to live. Without the word of God, the spirit will be too weak to contend with the soul (our fallen nature) and we will sin. Ah, the kerfuffle of the Christian walk, the soul always longing for the desires of this world which wrestles against the nature of God and spirit. Thank God for the blood of His Son that redeemed us in spite of our sin nature.
The spirit is the only part of us that gets a one-time deal on life. Once you received Jesus Christ as your savior, there is nothing else that needs to be done. Christ is the only one-time deal, praise God for Him! To understand more about this, you may read this post The Difference Between Righteousness and Holiness.
Now let’s move on to the third aspect of the human being.
The Body:
The body is our tent. It’s what houses all these complex intricacies of mind, will, emotion and spirit. It gives form to the human species and is also fashioned in the likeness of God. Our body is what makes all that we are in soul and spirit autonomous and able to move freely and have our being on this earth. The body is the physical aspect of who we are and the part of us that is mortal.
The human body is passing away – even so, the whole world is at this moment already passing away, temporal and not to be invested in. We are sojourners belonging to the eternal kingdom of God but finding ourselves inhabiting a temporal earth; we are everlasting, immortal beings born into the world for only a time and to save as many as we can that His will in heaven might come to pass on earth. Selah~
To be continued in Part 2
Next time, we will talk about how we are one with God as Jesus describes it in the vine and the branches teaching and how this relates to becoming one with another person. We’ll talk about the interesting statement Paul made concerning the human body being ‘the temple of the living God’ – wow! – and how this also relates to becoming one with another person.
For now, I’ll leave you with a most interesting statement Jesus made, which also caused many of his followers to stumble and stop following him. This stuff isn’t for lazy religious Christians. It’s for those who want to truly understand God and know who they were created to be in God.
John 6:4-5 “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him.”
Now hold on, don’t fall away yet. It’s just starting to get interesting…
Over the summer I shared several ways we can move into a satisfying life which brings greater happiness and freedom. (I have so much more to share on this topic.) Sometimes this process can take years, other times only months or even days.
The first time I put these principles of unconventional living into action, it took about four years. But somehow the end result of those four years catapulted me 7000 miles across the Pacific Ocean to an island in the middle of nowhere.
This time however, it took one season and I’m not going 7000 miles away thank goodness! But the idea of breaking free from a nine-to-five job seemed unattainable. Then I started walking and praying in the park…
Those Sunshine Walks changed my life. No joke. After walking and talking with God through the summer months, and really embracing the idea of an unconventional approach to life, I have discovered a few things that have kept me from living a life more true to myself. I’ll share with you what has happened.
I have worked 21 years in the business/corporate world which consumed all of the best hours of my day. Everything I’ve ever been passionate about – writing, art, nonprofit work, reading, volunteering – I relegated to the fringes of my life. All these things would start and stop continually because invariably my 40 hour workload snuffed them out.
It wasn’t too bad when I was younger because I had the energy to halfway punt and fit everything into my schedule. But as I grew older I dropped more of the activities I cherished and reality sank in…
I was shackled to making a living – but not doing much living at all.
It’s impossible to dedicate yourself to something when it remains on the fringes of your life. What’s more, it’s near impossible to be successful at it. I thought to myself, either move it front-and-center if it means that much to you, or leave it as a mere offshoot among all the business of daily chores and career and be unhappy.
Forget that. Sometimes the heart just won’t let you betray yourself any longer.
During the course of the summer, walking gave me precious time to search my heart and I realized after some scary introspection that I had to let everything go. I had to let go of the fear of failure, the fear of others’ disapproval and the fear of going it alone. Men ambitiously forge their own path often; women not so much, though we’re getting better at it.
So I made the decision to do just that. Forge my own way. Of course God will be with me (who needs anything more?) And He’ll connect me with all the right people and opportunities to make this a successful venture.
I’ll be leaving the daily corporate grind to move a writing career front-and-center. I’ve given myself one year to establish a platform and make a living. It’s going to take a lot of hard work, but it’s work I will enjoy! If after a year I am not earning a living, I’ll seek something more in line with my values and interests: nonprofit, publishing/editing, arts, etc.
It’s just time to launch out and do what makes me happy. I believe that if I spend the majority of my day working hard at what I love, I can have more success than merely working for a living.
Finally, balance. We don’t appreciate enough the peace balance brings to our lives.
There’s nothing more damaging to a creative soul than having to work where there is no opportunity to create anything at all. It’s maddening, frustrating and ultimately depressing. It’s who we are, yet we’re given no opportunity to be who we are. It’s a recipe for sadness.
You see, everyone wants you to be what will make them happy, comfortable and less stressed. Then you get the stamp of approval. But you walk away unhappy and empty.
Not anymore.
This summer, God and I decided I’m not living for anyone else. Going to close that chapter right now.
If I think about it, I really was like Enoch, I “walked with God, and then I was not”. Haha. Not a lot of things that I thought I was. God pulled me out of my old unprofitable mindset that was killing me and brought me into His plan for my life. Spending time with God helps us find ourselves and ultimately, happiness.
Prayer is powerful. And God isn’t joking around. It’s taken longer for me but rushing is the worst thing I could’ve done, and I know God’s timing is perfect.
I have a few more months before finishing my current obligations – I wouldn’t feel right otherwise. But I’m super excited about the path ahead!
