The Mindless Beast
A reader gives examples of three people who are basically fighting City Hall and think they are fighting the Beast. She basically wants to know if it is sometimes better to just follow the rules and avoid the problems that come through defiance?
First let me say that the many people who go out of their way to defy civil rules, police, local laws, etc., are not fighting the Beast. The Beast is not composed of the rules society passes in an attempt to make life better for the whole. Of course, many such rules may do more harm than good, but it is better to have a society with law and order than anarchy.
If our laws were part of the Beast then the burglar could say he is fighting the Beast by invading your home and defying the law.
My friend Wayne, who is now passed, had this illusionary idea of the Beast and was always getting into trouble by defying his personal Beast. For many years he refused to carry a driver’s license because he was not going to let “them” tell him what to do and besides, no one asked his permission to make such a law. He went to jail over it several times, but still continued to drive without a license.
He didn’t believe that City Hall had authority to force him to get building permits and built illegal structures on his property without them. He accumulated thousands of dollars of fines over this.
He never paid a dime of income tax in his adult life. One time the IRS came to his door and he threatened them and they never came back. I guess they never wanted another Randy Weaver.
When he went to court, he would refuse to stand for the judge and would openly condemn them and speak against whoever was prosecuting him.
He had so many troubles for defying authority that I think all the tension created in his life was one of the reasons for his early death. The sad thing is all the trouble he went through in defying authority never made any difference. City Hall remains as strong as ever.
On many other matters Wayne was extremely intelligent, but he seemed to have a huge blind spot in dealing with civil laws and authorities.
Another thing is that he, and others like him, are not fighting the Beast.
The Beast is composed of outward authorities that take the place of God and thus control your mind with your actions following along.
The civil laws I follow, even the ones I disagree with, do not control my mind. I am not brainwashed into thinking they are infallible or come from a holy or divine source. I use my personal judgement as to how I will handle them. If the speed limit is 30 mph, I may just go crazy and go 35 mph if I feel like it!
I was under control of the Beast when I was active in the LDS church for I saw the prophet as a spokesman for God to the extent that if he gave me an order it would be like God giving me an order. When a Mormon learns to see such an order as coming from a fallible man that he can take or leave, according to his inner guidance, then he has moved away from the Beast.
If you are in a profession, such as climatology and work toward proving the standard global warming theory because otherwise you may lose funding then you are under the power of the Beast.
If you are on the political left or right and follow your leaders without thinking it through then you are under the power of the Beast.
If you mindlessly follow your doctors orders with an important diagnoses without doing a little research on your own, then you are under the power of the Beast.
All of us have unearned and unjust authorities that tempt us to follow like mindless beasts.
A reader quoted me as saying: “In my whole life I do not recall ever calling anyone ‘evil’ or even ‘bad.’“
He then says: “Even Jesus is quoted as — in essence — calling some people evil (or son’s of the Devil, which certainly seems to be the reasonably equivalent to me):
“‘Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.’ John 8:44 (KJV)”
JJ: But he did not call them “evil.” Jesus used the word evil many times, just as I do, but not once did he apply it to any specific person. To call someone a liar when they lie is not a judgement condemning the whole of the person’s character, but a black-and-white fact that condemns a specific part of their character.
He also predicted they would commit murder, which they did do when they crucified him. That was a specific fact.
Even with their faults they had good aspects to their character so Jesus did not pronounce them 100% evil by calling them that. On the cross he said, “they know not what they do.”
I denounce real evil when I see it. To be effective, however, it is much better to point out the error rather than to point blank condemn the whole of the person as evil. Doing this makes the condemner come across like a lunatic to be ignored.
The principle involved here is judgement. It is a negative use of judgment to condemn thousands of points of one’s character under the blanket of evil. It is a positive use to specifically point out the evil and explain the error.
Concerning another subject of discussion, you are not becoming God, you are already one with God. You are a part of the body of the One Great Life. On the other hand, the God you are is becoming what you decide to become because as God you have the power to decide and become what you decide to become.
As you observe the universe from one end to the other you will see that no two things are alike. That is because each part of God has decided to become something a little different, which is unique. You must decide what it is that you want to become. When you are though you will return home. It is not one decision. It will be a combination of many decisions. However, in this one life you will have one overriding decision which will govern all others. Perhaps you have not discovered it yet.
Most people do not truly exercise the power of decision, but are controlled by the reflective decisions of others. Perhaps this first key has been difficult for many because they have been controlled by the decisions of others more than realized. If so, they must take this power to themselves, keeping the principle of harmlessness in mind.
If you feel you are going crazy this is good. It is a sign of growth. Just don’t let it scare you off. Be governed by love, not fear. As you get close to greater knowledge dark forces will attempt to amplify your fears. You must realize this and ignore them.
If, in pursuing these principles, you feel you are at a dead-end, go ahead anyway, guess if you have to and this will open doors.
“I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.” — Agatha Christie (1890 – 1976)
Feb 25, 2009
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