Setting the Record Straight
In any type of spiritual work you run into critics. This is a case where a reader seemed to have a chip on his shoulder. Instead of giving an accurate criticism he seemed to project illusionary attitudes and beliefs I do not have and criticize them. Hopefully my answers help readers receive a clear idea of my thinking.
After reading my mission story a reader says this: I enjoyed being the senior companion and delighted in taking responsibility, but unlike what JJ seemed to communicate, I did not take glory in “being in charge of the work”. The one in change of the work was always the Lord, and we merely sought direction at his hand.
JJ: I hope no one else got this extremely distorted idea of how I think. If I projected the idea that I was taking “glory” in being in charge I would like to hear feedback on this.
I wanted to be in charge because I saw how to get the job done that wasn’t being done. I never seek to be in charge just to be in charge or for the sake of my own glory. If someone else can do a job well then I am happy to let them go and do not seek to replace them. The only areas where I seek to be in charge are those where I believe the job is not being adequately served in the present or if no one is doing useful work in an area of my interest.
By your reasoning here Jesus was seeking glory to himself because he sought to lead the apostles because no one else was qualified or available.
Would you think a Spanish teacher is seeking glory because he seeks to be in charge of his own class because he can speak and teach Spanish better than the students?
Personal glory has absolutely nothing to do with someone will a skill seeking to use it if the ego is placed aside.
Then he quotes me as saying this: “For instance, I am writing this account from memory as I did not keep a journal.”
Reader: That is pretty amazing, but I do get the impression that part of these stories, while interesting, is fictional.
JJ: The whole story is true and no part of it is made up. Some of the dialog may not be exact but it all accurately represents what happened. If I present any fiction, I will state it as such if it is not obvious.
Reader: I am with you to this point, but I am sensing the impression from this and your other writings that you believe are the only person who has ever thought about intelligence, and the only one capable of writing a book about it.
JJ: Wow, what have you been smoking today? I know a lot of people have written and thought about intelligence and never claimed a corner on the market. I do think I could present a unique perspective, but so do thousands of other people who write books on various subjects. That is why they write books. No one wants to clone material from others when they write.
Reader: There is a hell of a lot of stuff in this life that we are supposed to learn and discover. Wouldn’t it be a lot more fun if we were all free to learn and explore and experiment, and then share this information with each other without some thinking that they are entitled to do all the learning and experimenting, and others thinking that the best they have to hope for is experiencing life second-hand?
JJ: So you think that others here are not “free to learn and explore and experiment, and then share…”
You seem to be pretty free to do this just as you are now doing. Where do you get such an idea???
Then you think some (namely me) are entitled to do all the learning, experimenting and sharing.
I think you need to examine your belief system to see why you would come up with such an accusation. There may be an aspect of yourself you are not seeing.
You seem to be trying to say that I should just step aside as a teacher and turn the Keys into a free-for-all forum like most of the other sites.
If I want to learn Spanish, for example, the last thing I want to do is get together with a group that doesn’t know any more than me and learn as a group. I want to get a teacher who really knows the subject and can actually pronounce the words correctly. I can learn much faster from one expert than from a thousand amateurs in an encounter group.
There are certain things I know and I throw them out here and people can accept or reject them. I’m not participating in this group for group therapy.
Now this does not mean that the Spanish teacher cannot learn something from his students, but that is not why he is teaching the class and neither are the students there to teach the teacher. Neither are the wise teachers or the wise students interested in learning Spanish together without a workable agenda.
Then he gives this clipped quote from my mission story: “Now I was in charge …”
Reader: I took this attitude for a couple of weeks with my first junior, but he soon put me in my place. It was after that that I learn how to work cooperatively.
JJ: Quoting me out of context does make it sound like I may have been ego driven. Let us quote me in context then I will comment:
‘Now I was in charge we set out the best way possible to establish a good pool of people to teach.”
The point of the statement is this. Before I was in charge I was led by an Elder who had very little interest in the actual work of prospecting. He wanted to spend all possible time visiting with members and flirting with the girls.
The point I was making was that now that I was in charge we could get back to the nitty gritty work. The statement had nothing to do with the attitude of: “Oh, boy!! Now I am in charge I can boss someone around and do not have to listen to them.”
None of my juniors had to put me in place or felt the need for it and I gave them all the latitude and input possible. I think they all have fond memories of working with me, even my atheist companion.
Reader: Speaking for myself, I don’t have much of a problem for what your mind (not your brain) turns out, but you seem to project the attitude that you are better, more “capable”, more in tune, more intelligent, more perceptive, and have more significant insights and experiences than anybody else around you. You have elected yourself to be their teacher, when they are not necessarily looking for a teacher, but to just be a friend and a co-worker.
JJ: Actually, I did not elect myself as the teacher in this group. Rick Audette started this forum and asked me to come on it and teach. I didn’t really want to at the time but he persisted and I finally acquiesced. At first I thought I would only post now and then but the members wanted everything I could give them and more so I decided to take the job.
This is a class and not designed as a free for all. All are welcome but if any come here wanting a group encounter session then they will just become frustrated as you seem to be.
There are plenty of forums out there where there is no specific teacher that is available for this need.
I make no claims of being more capable or enlighten than anyone else. The only claim I make is that I have teachings available and if they are helpful then participants should stay. If not then maybe some other forum would fill their needs better.
Reader: In your posts about the Book of Revelation, and the Name of Christ, you mentioned the idea of a person standing on the higher ground, and lifting others up to where you are, BUT only when the other person ASKED for help.
I know that “the way” is strait and narrow, but not so narrow that we can only walk down it single file, with you in the lead. How about trying to walk it side by side?
JJ: Because that is not the way it works. The method of the Christ principle works like a great chain. The one person on higher ground pulls others up to where he is.
Let us say we are climbing a mountain together and I am a level higher. What makes more sense? For me to go down to where you are and reclimb together or for me to just reach forth my hand and pull you up?
Reaching down and pulling you up is much more efficient.
Whenever a teacher knows something that the student does not and he shares that knowledge it is like reaching forth his hand and pulling the guy up. Except it isn’t always single file. Sometimes a teacher can pull up hundreds, thousands or more.
This moving forward together and teaching each other sounds good, but when you really want to learn and move ahead with any speed you find someone who knows what he is talking about that is capable of actually seeing and understanding things you do not see and understand.
There are things I see and understand and I am willing to share most of these things and do not desire to relearn them in a group endeavor. Anyone who has pertinent information to share that is on topic is free to share for group benefit.
On the other hand, there are many things I do not know. For these things I seek out an expert who will lift me to higher ground.
In fact, that is what I plan on doing after I finish this post – that is I am taking an online course from an expert and will seek to be taken to higher ground myself. I have no desire to learn this course by sharing with a bunch of beginners that know no more than I do.
To read my “Mission Story” that generated this conversation go to this link:
Anybody can become angry – that is easy; but to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and for the right purpose, and in the right way – that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy. – Aristotle
July 7, 2010
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