Topics below
“Anarcho-unconditional” or more realistic “min-unconditional” as my takeaway from Javier Milei’s “Anarcho-capitalism” and “min-archism” compromise in Argentina.
Also newly added at the bottom of this opening section:
A little Christmas gift to readers- My paraphrased translation of the core theme of the Historical Jesus message to affirm my “Historical Jesus-mas” alternative to “Christ-mas”. Again, don’t take my waggish impulse too seriously.
And the basic intention of this site to properly solve problems by confronting the “Mother of all oxymoronic combinations” in Paul’s “Jesus Christ” myth. I do this because of the critical issue of the rejection of history’s greatest potential liberation movement, a liberation that was short-circuited and buried by Paul- i.e. the liberation of human minds and spirits from threat theology, at the deepest levels of subconscious archetypes.
And then the G20’s latest program to push the “censorship industrial complex” as preparation for the new totalitarianism.
Sitesplainin excuses: The writing style here is running blog comment, not formal essay in any sense.
More below on probing what is behind public presentations of narratives, ideologies, movements, and related policies, programs, etc. The “evil triad” thing. And yes, further below I’m picking on Paul’s myth again. Its the anti-bullying thing in me, taking on history’s biggest ever threatening bully.
See also below: “Climate scientists officially declare ‘climate emergency’ at an end: Press release by the Climate Intelligence Group (CLINTEL).”
This from a post to our discussion group: Wendell Krossa
Jordan Peterson on Greg Gutfeld… All of you listen to this brilliant summary by Peterson on the adventure of life. He says so much in this few minutes of video… from minute 28 of the video on.
For example, he says that psychology long ago discovered there was no difference from “thinking about yourself and suffering from negative emotions”… “self-consciousness and suffering anxious emotions are the same thing”, and the answer is to not deny all thinking about yourself, as that is hard to do, but to pay attention to the moment as it unfolds, meaning the adventure of your life.
And in other places he has added that freedom from self-absorption is found in focusing on others and helping them with their problems, that is liberating and healing.
This is all good, but at the 28-minute mark Peterson starts on the quest of life for adventure, truth, responsibility… listen to that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVFySQQiyiw
Elsewhere Peterson has noted that this has been the curse of this generation to focus intensely on themselves and how they feel as the dominant concern… This has ruined this younger generation with excessive self-absorption.
As others have advised, we were created to serve, to help others.
The persistence of collectivism, some factors among others, i.e. the deformity of the hero’s quest that frames oneself as a morally superior righteous hero despite evidence of the destructive outcomes of one’s crusade. Kristian Niemietz and Jonathan Haidt’s point that “emotional satisfaction not rational evidence, determines our choice in beliefs”, Wendell Krossa
Why collectivism keeps coming back like an ever-resuscitating monster to ruin societies.
I have stated before the view of the collectivist, as part of the deformed hero’s quest mentality, that sincerely believes that it is fighting for the “greater or common good” that must be defined in terms of collectivism as the good (all things held in common) and is therefore morally superior to individualism and individual property rights that are framed wrongly as about selfishness, greed- I, me, mine.
And with religious supports like Acts chapters 2 and 4, and the condemnation of the individualism of Annanias and Saphira, well, God is presented as obviously pissed at individualism, individual property ownership, and hence must be a collectivist- demanding that all property be held in common, according to Paul’s protégé Luke.
Marx took up the hatred of individual property rights as the number one evil to liberate people from so they could become restored “communalist” humans as imagined in early “noble savage” societies.
Hence, the “what is yours is mine” thinking of collectivists. And if their collectivist approach is morally superior and right, then they must never give up. Those who hold the “truth, right, good” can never be wrong. So keep up the good fight for what collectivists sincerely believe is morally superior and just.
And the inevitable totalitarian outcome is due to the fact that the “enlightened elite” who believe that they alone know what is right and good for all others (Plato’s “enlightened and noble rulers”) must then run the collective “on behalf of the people”. Hence, concentrate power in that elite, centralize power and control in the governing elite of the collective.
As before, one of my responses has been that the individual striving for a better life is the fundamental human expression of love. Improve your life and condition, and the condition of your family. That is the fundamental responsibility of love. Yes, selfishness and greed seep in everywhere but the protection of individual freedoms and rights under Classic Liberalism is the best that we have come up with to protect us from the destructive totalitarianism of elites dominating commoners, as has always been the inevitable outcome in collectivist systems.
Insert: Concern about AI abuse, Wendell Krossa
If you program AI with Classic Liberal ideas, principles, and laws, that should help to prevent bias and consequent censorship because of the Classic Liberal primary emphasis on protecting the freedom and rights of all, equally. Don’t you think?
In the link below Lex Fridman interviews Javier Milei, where Milei outlines his revolution of the Argentine state and economy. He details his vision of “anarcho-capitalism” as the ideal for freedom, and his “minarchist” accommodation that is about the real-life constraints on his higher ideal, the practical reality that can be achieved in the present.
He has already, in a short time, achieved great success in eliminating state regulations, decreasing the Argentine state bureaucracy (structural reform), and thereby bringing down the notorious inflation of Argentina. His reforms aim to make Argentina the freest country in the world.
When he took office, inflation was heading toward 3700% annually, actually accelerated to 7500% annually, and then was at 17,000% annually. 50% of Argentinians were living in poverty.
His first action was to get rid of one half of government ministries and to lay off 50,000 civil employees. His government also got rid of a class of intervening mediators who passed funds from the state to citizens, taking their cut in the process. Removing these grasping mediators ensured more money went directly to the people that the funds were intended to help.
He eliminated the government deficit in his first month. In a huge structural reform adjustment, all the resources that before had funded the state are now back in the hands of the private sector. Inflation declined from 54% to 2%. Inflation that was running at 17,000% annual is now about 28% a year. He says that they are bringing inflation further down to levels of about 2.5% annually. His government also got rid of price controls.
Outcomes? The “test of facts”? The percentage of people in poverty has dropped some 10% over his first year, with increased GDP growth.
He presents a lot of detailed numbers on bloated state bureaucracies and ministries that multiplied endless regulations, bureaucracies that sucked up people’s money via taxes to support the bureaucracies and their programs and staffs, and in doing so took away freedom from citizens and immiserated all, ruining the economy and society overall.
As Milei says, we are restoring freedom to the people. He says his reforms will make Argentina the freest country in the world with huge increases in human wellbeing. He says that no jobs were lost through his reform process. He is enacting deep structural and regulatory reforms.
“Javier Milei: President of Argentina- Freedom, Economics, and Corruption, Lex Fridman Podcast #453”, Nov. 19, 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NLzc9kobDk
Can someone please tell Justin Trudeau, who has increased the federal government by some 30-plus percent over his 9 years of incompetency and mismanagement of Canada, that freedom from big state interference in citizen’s lives is how we transform our societies for the better.
Here is a good clip of Kevin O’Leary speaking to the incompetence, mismanagement, damage, and abuse from Justin Trudeau and his Woke Progressive/socialist policies. Feel the intensity of O’Leary’s repeated “I am pissed”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bQjVrnFOJU
Moving along…
What I am doing below with the unconditional insight of Historical Jesus is similar to what Milei is doing with economics (notably, his references to the Austrian school of economics). He holds forth the highest ideal as “anarcho-capitalism” that produces the most economic freedom and would make Argentina the most free country in the world. The outcomes so far affirm that he is on the right track with his radical forms.
But real-world concerns in Argentina limit him to “minarchist” positions as more realistic for actual progress in a society where many still oppose his radical reforms.
His goal is full freedom for citizens and that is similar to my position with the ultimate ideal of no conditions love as defining theology- that would make us all the most free people in the history of the world in terms of freedom from the curse of threat theology and the tangled mess of related bad religious ideas that have enslaved human minds for millennia.
My position on the highest ideal of no conditions love points to how we attain the best of being human and thereby free ourselves from the worst in us (i.e. the “evil triad” of inherited animal impulses and validating ideas). The ideal of unconditional leads us to the most freedom- i.e. mental, emotional, psychic freedom, freedom of spirit and life. A sort of anarcho-unconditional.
But yes, real world concerns limit the application of that ultimate ideal (“anarcho-pacifism”?) to “minarchist-type” approaches as more practical, as in the responsibility to hold all responsible for real world natural and social consequences to behavior.
Note on sources to comments below:
To thoroughly understand the modern world and major movements across history, read Arthur Herman (“The Idea of Decline in Western History”, decline as the most dominant and influential idea in the modern world), Richard Landes (“Heaven On Earth: The Varieties of the Millennial Experience”), Arthur Mendel (“Vision and Violence”), David Redles (“Hitler’s Millennial Reich: Apocalyptic Belief and the Search for Salvation”).
They detail the themes that have driven movements like Marxism, Nazism, and now drive environmental alarmism, with detailed historical evidence from the movement leaders themselves.
These books help us get to the root elements behind contemporary problems like the destructive “climate crisis” crusade and its salvation scheme of decarbonization. These researchers help isolate the guiding and validating ideals that have always been vital to the “behavior based on similar belief” relationship that all humans have appealed to for meaning and purpose in life.
And then, on a positive note, don’t forget the single best book ever written on how to get to “the true state of life” on earth- Julian Simon’s “Ultimate Resource”. This product of Simon’s research lifted his “clinical depression” and it never returned.
More celebration of “Historical Jesus-mas”, Wendell Krossa (Yes, I am being waggish with that title)
This site repeatedly points to one of history’s greatest influencers, a “secular” sage whose life and message were deformed entirely by a religious framework that was built around him after his death. That religious framework is known, theologically, as the process of divinizing an ordinary human with Christology. Hence, in Western civilization we got Christ-iantiy instead of Jesus-ianity.
The secular wisdom sage Historical Jesus roamed around Palestine some two millennia ago proclaiming a message of wisdom sayings on how to live a life of no conditions love. His message was unique to his era of apocalyptic hysteria that had been incited by myths of angry gods threatening punishment and destruction and demanding blood sacrifice for atonement. Gods that were tribal chiefs, dominating Alpha deities meting out punitive destruction to enemies.
Add to the social milieu back then, the curse of the dominating human elites (notably Romans) horrifically abusing commoners with punishments like mass crucifixions for protests and rebellions. The ruling elites (Caesars, emperors) were viewed as divine and hence acting in accordance with the theologies that backed them.
Insert: “Secular” sage because nothing in his original message (Q Wisdom Sayings gospel) promoted a religion or religious conditions.
Historical Jesus countered the religious pathology of his day with his message of universal love, universal inclusion as in “sun and rain given without discrimination to both good and bad”. He further illustrated universal love in his own behavior- including the “worst” members of that society at mealtimes, inviting in the despised mafia-types like tax collectors and ladies of ill repute. Meals in his culture were the significant social divider between accepted and not accepted in a society.
He also emphasized universal inclusion in his healing of the family members of the hated dominating elites, the Romans and other royalty (e.g. Luke 7: 1-10, John 4: 43-54). His inclusive behavior further repudiated the tribalism of the day.
Then he went after elite domination by urging people to “not lord over others but to serve”, which directly challenged the elites of his day dominating commoners.
Add that his emphasis on nonretaliatory forgiveness and love of enemies potently countered the punitive, destroying justice of that era where tribes attacked and destroyed differing tribes, and violence dominated in the meting out of justice. Notably, Rome set itself against all others, and within that culture elites severely punished commoners (i.e. the common punishment of crucifixion for dissenters to brutal Roman rule).
Historical Jesus presented a secular message that challenged the dominating religions of his day. He went directly to the very core issue of religious traditions- the theology- rejecting myths of deities as tribal dominating kings who destroyed competing others, Gods as ultimate embodiments of ideals that validated similar behavior among people.
Jesus rejected all that in his wisdom sayings. And then along came Paul who buried the message of Jesus and dragged the early Jesus movement back into the same old mythical pathology of all past history.
History’s singularly iconic anti-sacrifice rebel turned into the ultimate cosmic Sacrifice. Sheesh times infinity, Wendell Krossa
But nothing was more radical in overturning the dominant religious beliefs of Jesus’ day than his repudiation of the sacrifice industry, the atonement industry. And that, more than any other factor, resulted in his early death.
Jesus took up a protest that had begun with the Old Testament prophets- i.e. notably, Hosea, Amos, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. Their protest against sacrifice was then buried by the eventual domination of the priests in early Judaism. Jesus, then centuries later, took up again that anti-sacrifice protest and went even further with the stunning new theology of a God who was non-retaliatory, who did not demand punishment of sin and atonement. A God who stated there must be no more eye for eye retaliation but instead love of enemies, unlimited generosity that gave the good gifts of agrarian life- sun and rain for crops- to both good and bad people alike. There was nothing in the Jesus message about threats of divine retaliation and related demands for blood payment to offset the retaliatory punishment.
Insert: Just as the OT prophet’s protest against sacrifice was buried by the priests, so also after Jesus had protested sacrifice, Paul then buried that protest of Jesus and re-established the priesthood and sacrifice industry. Note how the New Testament book of Hebrews relentlessly establishes Jesus as the new high priest presiding over a new heavenly priesthood and sacrificial system, e.g. 2:17, 4:14, 5:5,10, 6:20, 7:17, 24-28, and on through the rest of the book.
It’s the same pattern in the Old Testament and New Testament- reject the protest against sacrifice and then bury it with the very thing that it protested. Turn anti-sacrifice into pro-sacrifice. Turn anti-atonement into pro-atonement. Turn anti-conditions into pro-conditions. And re-establish the retaliatory God that demands all this at the very center of the narrative.
Bob Brinsmead has done good research on this biblical anti-sacrifice message. Research that notes pre-CE Jews viewed the sacrificial system of priests as heresy to their religion that originally had never adopted that. It was not authentic Judaism.
Another insert: Again, keeping in mind Milei’s points on “anarcho-capitalism” and his practical stance of “minarchist”, the central unconditional point of Jesus is no argument for unconditional pacifism in this life. That does not work in the face of evil. Practical love holds all responsible for behavior and is primarily obligated to protect the innocent from harm. Then unconditional may express itself in restorative justice toward offenders, rehabilitative justice that while it incarcerates those unwilling or unable to control their worst impulses, it then treats them humanely and restoratively.
So as with Milei holding his ultimate ideal of anarcho-capitalism as the best of freedom but then wisely pulling back to his “minarchist” stance as the practical approach to real life in Argentina, so I hold my ultimate ideal of deity as absolutely unconditional (“anarcho-love” toward all) but then I embrace the reality of the constraints of real life in this imperfect world where love is fundamentally obligated to confront and restrain evil (“min-unconditional love”?).
Continuing…
Jesus’ life and message was, along with other elements, most prominently a protest against the sacrifice/atonement industry. His public protest in the Temple against the sacrifice industry was the final incitement of the priests to have him killed. As fattened lords benefitting from their control of the sacrifice industry they understood the nature of the threat from the Palestinian wisdom sage.
To then build a sacrifice/atonement religion out of his death- a death that was a protest against sacrifice/atonement- well, that has to be the greatest distortion and fraud in religious history. Try to get some sense of this profound contradiction at the heart of Christianity. My friend Bob Brinsmead has done some great work summarizing the research on this, along with his own insights:
https://bobbrinsmead.com/the-historical-jesus-what-the-scholars-are-saying/
Historical Jesus died protesting blood sacrifice and Paul, ignoring/denying the actual message of the man, turned that death into the ultimate blood sacrifice, a cosmic blood sacrifice of atonement. See Paul’s detail on the divine demand for blood sacrifice in Romans. And his statement that he “preached nothing but Christ and him crucified”, Christ as a blood sacrifice to pay for sin. That is the dominant message of the New Testament, Paul’s book defining his Christ-ianity religion. The denial and burial of Jesus-ianity.
No greater contradiction has ever been conceived and pushed on public consciousness than this complete and utter perversion of the life and message of Historical Jesus by Paul and his Christ myth. If you know of one, then please tell me.
What convinced Paul to do that? It has a lot to do with the Hellenism that dominated the culture of Paul’s time, the dominating religious zeitgeist that Paul imbibed and used to shape his new religion, his Christology. Paul’s new religion was just another rehash of dominant religious themes of that time, notably Greek ones.
As Joseph Campbell concluded from his study of religion across history, people have believed the same primitive myths all across history and across all the cultures of the world. Paul was no different. The Greek myths just continued primitive mythical themes from previous history.
It was historical Jesus, who uniquely in history with his use of the “behavior based on similar belief” relationship, rejected the primitive mythological themes of that time and introduced something stunningly new and revolutionary- the theology of a non-retaliatory, unconditionally loving God. A God who hated sacrifice and expressed the desire, instead, for universal love for all, including enemies, with no demands for sacrifice/payment/punishment.
The subsequent perversion of Jesus by Paul still dominates Christianity today. It is the most profound contradiction and fraud ever committed in human belief systems, religious or secular.
I repeatedly stress my argument that this theme of angry threatening deity, and the demand for payment/punishment via atoning sacrifice, continues to shape contemporary religion and has infected secular versions such as the climate apocalypse crusade. The sacrifice in the climate cult is to give up the good life in modern civilization as payment for the sin of ruining the original paradise world, and then to punish ourselves by suffering a return to primitivism in “de-growth, de-development”, a return to the imagined communalism of simple, pure, and strong humanity in “noble savage” life, connected to the goddess Mother Earth.
A key argument that affirms the anti-sacrifice stance of Jesus, is that there is nothing in his original message- the “Q Wisdom Sayings gospel”, the closest that we get to what he actually taught- there is nothing there about him stating that he came as a sacrifice for sin.
Yet, contradicting his core original message, sacrifice became the very heart of Paul’s Christ-ianity- i.e. that Jesus died to pay for sin.
Add also the denial and burial by Paul of the central theme of Jesus that God was unconditional love. Paul denied that new theology by reframing God as highly conditional, as in demanding the supreme religious condition of a cosmic sacrifice as payment for all sin.
Paul overturned these fundamental elements of the Jesus message entirely, and with dense argumentation from traditional atonement theology, he restored the theology of an angry God demanding blood sacrifice (read his letter to the Romans). Again, there is no greater contradiction in the history of human thought, and the cognitive dissonance from combining Historical Jesus with the Christ myth of Paul in the New Testament is astoundingly illogical, even delusional. Yet it remains the core of Christianity today.
Do you then get something of my complaint that religious reformism that tinkers around the edges of a religion is missing the whole point of true fundamental reform because it ignores the core issue of the God, the Cohering Center of the narrative, that holds a religious system together?
Essential to Jesus’ stunning new theology was his point on God as a non-retaliatory reality, meaning no ultimate retaliation against the failures and offenses of people. No more eye for eye but instead love your enemy because God does not retaliate with eye for eye justice but loves and includes even the bad, the offenders/enemies (“sun and rain for all alike, both good and bad”). Paul then confronts that theology and rejects it, stating his retreat to God as a retaliatory reality, quoting an Old Testament verse- “’Vengeance is mine’, says the Lord. ‘I will repay/retaliate’” Romans 12: 17-20.
(Insert: Again, this is not a denial of the obligation to confront and restrain criminal behavior as in holding all responsible for natural and social consequences to their behavior, including incarceration for those who cannot or will not control their worst impulses to harm others. Understand the difference between “anarcho-unconditional deity” and “minarchist-life in this world”.)
Why bring up these issues with all the potential for offending true believers? Because Paul’s Christ myth has profoundly shaped Western consciousness, and most egregious, it buried the potential greatest liberation movement ever, the liberation of mind, emotions, and motivations at the deepest possible levels of the human psyche, at the level of the archetypes of the subconscious. And the outcomes of such liberation would have been felt in consequent human behavior freed from the impulses to tribalism, domination, and punitive, destroying justice.
Add the element of liberation from the destructive influence of the theology of a retaliatory God who threatens punishment and destruction in apocalypse. That means liberation also from the history of apocalyptic millennial ideas that have repeatedly across history incited harmful apocalyptic millennial movements both religious and secular, notably the destructive salvation schemes of Marxism, Nazism, and climate alarmism, salvationism that demands the purgingof some imagined threat- i.e. capitalism, Jews, CO2.
This site is fascinated with this greatest contradiction in history that short-circuited the greatest potential liberation movement ever, a liberation from threat theology and all its related elements of demanded sacrifice and religious conditions. A liberation movement that would have rejected the ongoing influence of apocalyptic millennialism- the complex of ideals that has been used to validate destructive religious and secular crusades of retributive violence.
Notes on the single most profoundly humane insight in history- the stunning new theology of Historical Jesus that was buried by Paul’s Christ myth, Wendell Krossa
Try to understand the spirit behind the Pauls of the world that fights the stunning new theology of an unconditional God, that rejects love beyond love, no conditions love that is infinitely beyond the best of the best. What is it that resists and fights ultimate liberation from fear, that fights liberation at the deepest depths of human psyche? What is it that refuses liberation from primal fears, death and after-death fears of harm? What it that even hates that love and fights to restore the fear-inciting theologies of past, of retaliatory God? What is that defensiveness of the old pathology that enslaved and tormented humanity across millennia with anxiety, depression, despair, and nihilism?
Try to comprehend the mentality that wishes to hold onto the old enslavement of mind, emotion, and spirit to the old monsters that validated the worst of human impulses to similar tribalism, domination, and punitive destruction of differing others.
Is the fear of ultimate liberation a fear of full personal responsibility, of growing up to become mature and self-determining over your life story? Does it have something to do with elite belief that they alone know what is best for all others and if they lose control then life declines into chaos without their domination and control sustained by threat theology?
More on the ‘behind-the-scenes’ factors, the ‘root contributing factors’
What is most fundamentally behind major public narratives, shaping and driving such public narratives, and related belief systems, movements, institutions, programs, and their outcomes?
Think, for example, two biggies of today- Marxist collectivism versus Classic Liberalism.
Key to the differences in these narratives/movements is to understand what promotes our worst impulses and what alternatives promote our better impulses.
This thread of comment below…
To help understand varied prominent issues on the public stage of our societies, keep in mind what has always been in the background from the very earliest emergence of our line of humanity- i.e. fundamental human impulses (the “animal inheritance”), and the deeply embedded archetypes shaped by humans long ago that have functioned as explaining and validating themes, ideas that validate the expression of the impulses.
This is very much about the origin and promotion of “tribalism, domination, and punitive violent destruction”, the evil triad behind so much public destructiveness and misery in human societies across the millennia, Wendell Krossa
Moving along…
Politicians, public media, and others, present us with endless varied news and commentary that relate to their favored crusades/movements. Notable examples over recent decades across Western liberal democracies- i.e. the promotion of Woke Progressivism and climate crisis/decarbonization. These are the latest fronts of a resurging collectivism, endlessly beaten into public consciousness along with myriad related programs and projects to solve what they claim are threatening crises, and supported by policies and laws that intrude more and more into commoner’s lives, policies and programs that involve ever more interfering domination by governing authorities, more control over the lives of average citizens.
This impacts us all as citizens of these countries, things that have to be engaged, evaluated, confronted, debated, and decided upon.
The programs/projects, policies, and regulations/laws are affirmed by narratives that validate them.
As you survey it all, keep in mind how the public movements, programs, policies, and the related narratives all relate to behind-the-scenes elements that validate what we are presented with in the public projects and crusades.
I have posted here repeatedly that we can evaluate the more front or public stuff with Classic Liberal principles, laws, programs, and institutions. Good enough. But what about the more background explaining and validating factors? The deeply embedded validating factors like the “subconscious archetypes”? Where does that stuff come from? What creates and implants that in the first place?
In the more immediate background (i.e. the major narratives and movements of modern history), notably over the last century or two, we see the same old tribal dualism of Marxism rearing its ugly head again- the tribal divide of humanity into the categories of “oppressor/oppressed”, and within that system we see the same old curse of elites using that tribal system to dominate commoners.
Just an aside:
Touching base once again with Kristian Niemietz’s quote of Jonathan Haidt that “emotional satisfaction, not rational evidence, determines our choice in beliefs”, in the Marxism crusade we see elites virtue-signaling that they are taking possession of private property (initially via state regulation and taxation) to redistribute that on behalf of “the people”, i.e. running the collectives “for the people”. Niemietz responded to that self-deluding, virtue-signaling lie, stating…
“Socialism in the sense which self-identified democratic socialists define it… a democratized economic planned collectively by ‘the people’, has never been achieved anywhere and could not be achieved. Economic planning can only ever be done in a technocratic, elitist fashion, and it requires an extreme concentration of power in the hands of the state. It cannot ‘empower’ ordinary workers. It can only ever empower bureaucratic elites.”
Therein is the great self-delusion of narcissists that they are heroically fighting a “righteous” battle “in defense of oppressed people” against evil oppressors (their “social justice” mantra). Their deformation of the hero’s quest suits their apparent psychopathic narcissism. Psychopathic narcissism? How so? Well, look at the inevitable outcomes of Marxist collectivism (i.e. the “test of facts”) as in the 24 Socialist experiments that ruined societies over the past century and immiserated billions of people and continues to ruin countries today in new versions fronted by Woke Progressivism and its ESG, DEI, and “climate crisis” decarbonization projects.
Insert: “Psychopathic”? Too harsh? Then how do you describe minds that repeatedly return to embrace an approach that has ruined billions of lives over the past century, and murdered some 100 million people? “Psychopathic” is mild. Perhaps sadism is more accurate.
On “ruined lives”– Domination and control of people ruins human mental and emotional well-being, aside from the harm done from general economic immiseration. Self-determination is a fundamental element to human well-being. See…
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2020.583181/full
Continuing….
Marxism repeats the tribal dualism of the primitive elite/commoner divide as “enlightened elites” dominate and control the collectives “on behalf of the people”. The inevitable ruin of societies then repeats, hence Western intellectuals also repeatedly distance themselves, from whichever latest socialist failure, with excuses that the latest attempt was “not true socialism”. See these patterns set forth in Niemietz’ book “Socialism: The Failed Idea That Never Dies”. Richard Landes also details the patterns of these apocalyptic millennial movements (“Heaven On Earth”).
The Marxist/collectivist crusades over the last century tie back further to what Richard Landes referred to as the more ancient and persistent “elite/commoner” divide in human societies, the long-term oppressor/oppressed dualism of all past history. That divide has dominated societies from prehistory on down to our present world.
On the multiple-millennia scale (i.e. the past 3 millennia), some historians like Arthur Herman (“The Cave and the Light”) have traced the elite/commoner dualism down from Plato and Aristotle in the great battle between the elite collectivist approach (the enlightened and noble rulers of Plato) versus the individual freedom approach of Aristotle. Herman is focusing on the influence of these two Greeks on Western civilization.
I see also the roles that Jesus and Paul played across this same history as major influencers, perhaps even more influential than the two Greeks. But I also recognize that Paul was very much influenced by Plato (Helmut Koester’s “History, Culture, and Religion of the Hellenistic Age”) hence, that affirms Herman’s points on the overall Greek prominence in shaping Western consciousness and civilization.
Jesus was more the individual self-determination guy with his “no lording over others but instead serve”. While Paul was the collectivist “elite domination” guy with his advice to his followers to submit to governments as representatives of God (Romans 13), for slaves to submit to masters, and women to submit to husbands. He was all about divine domination of humanity as ultimate ideal for domination in human relationships.
And going back further into the big picture background of long-term history, we get to Zoroaster’s myth of cosmic dualism (1500ish BCE) that subsequently explained and validated varied human tribal dualisms.
Contrary to Zoroaster/Zarathustra’s cosmic dualism, the contrarian Jesus advocated the oneness of the human family, with no exclusion of anyone (good and bad included equally). Paul, to the contrary, divided people into two distinctly opposed tribes- true believers versus unbelievers. And never shall the twain meet. Or ultimately mix and merge.
These background factors from our long-term history are often not consciously present to our daily awareness but are buried in subconscious archetypes in the background of human minds. My point: Be aware that in all that you observe in public, in terms of meta-narratives, major movements, crusades, state policies, projects, etc., that all expresses deeply embedded background stuff. And that is where critical transformation must happen- at the level of subconscious archetypes- if we are to fully liberate ourselves from the worst of being human to then tower in stature as maturely human.
My point- Try to decipher from what is presented to us publicly, what does that express in terms of the background factors that influence and drive the public foreground stuff? Be aware of how the background stuff powerfully influences us, and how we can respond better to counter and check those themes in the mix that validate and promote the animal elements in our makeup, and then do better to counter the animal and promote the more human elements that may not be fully and properly expressed in our public narratives.
For example, note the dominance of Woke Progressivism today across North America with its tribal dualism of DEI “victim/victimizer” that categorizes all people as members of either one of the two of the limited categories. One good, one evil. And the identity marker now for your assigned category is your skin color. Hence, we have a revived discrimination in “Woke Racism” (John McWhorter). This DEI thing is just another rehash of the Marxist collective dualism of “oppressed/oppressors”, that formerly assigned people to one of the two tribes according to private property ownership (capitalist owners) or lack thereof.
Woke Progressivism is more of the same old tribal dualism of our primitive forebears.
Focusing back again on the deeply rooted evil triad of “tribalism, domination, and punitive destruction” that is still behind so much ongoing harm today.
This inheritance of base animal impulses gave rise to the persistence of tribalism among humans, to the domination of commoners by elites, and to the retributive destruction of differing others. It’s the residual inheritance of impulses in our brains from our animal past.
Classic Liberalism is the best that we have come up with to counter the dehumanizing and society-destroying impulses of the triad of tribalism, domination, and violent destruction of differing others. Classic Liberal principles, ideas, systems of law, and institutions are the best that we have assembled to counter the evil triad and thereby encourage/maintain authentic and mature humanity in liberal democracies. Watch for politicians who get these principles and institutions, like Vivek Ramaswamy, Elon Musk, among others. These are among today’s notable heroes fighting for freedom and liberated humanity in liberal democracy.
My point is to get a good grasp of the basic Classic Liberal principles as the best of criteria for analyzing any ideological positions and policies that are put forth in our societies, and for guidance on what will promote the best outcomes for the most people. Classic Liberal principles help to keep our worst animal impulses in check and thereby help us maintain our own humanity, and to promote our better human impulses. (Note below the reposting of a summary of Classic Liberal principles, systems of law, and institutions.)
Summing up:
What ultimately lies behind the public presentations of human meta-narratives, political ideologies, movements, policies and programs? I would argue that the fundamental culprit creating havoc and ruin in our societies (the deepest of background elements) is the animal inheritance that has long been affirmed by bad theologies like the tribal alpha God who dominates and destroys differing others (e.g. “Alpha God: The Psychology of Religious Violence and Oppression”, Alex Garcia- see the Amazon blurb on this book in the added notes below). And then over more recent history that animal inheritance has again been affirmed by ruinous ideologies like collectivism.
The epitome summation and embodiment of bad theology over the past few millennia, the theology that validates bad human behavior, has been Paul’s Christ as tribal deity (i.e. including true believers, excluding unbelievers), as Lord (lording over all with a totalitarian “rod of iron”, eternally), and deity that threatens violent destruction of unbelievers in apocalypse and hell (punitive, retributive justice). Note Paul’s statements on these features of his Christ in his letters to the Romans, Thessalonians, also John’s Revelation, etc.
The “bad theology” icon that is Paul’s Christ represents deeply embedded archetypes that continue to validate modern versions of the same pathology.
Once it’s understood what is behind many of the public narratives, movements, policies/programs, and related issues of our societies, then we are better enabled to probe what best solves this problem of validating archetypes?
I repeatedly urge visitors to embrace the best of ideological insights (i.e. Classic Liberalism) along with the best of “spiritual” insights (i.e. wisdom sage Historical Jesus) notably the insights of Jesus on love as nontribal (all included- sun and rain for all alike- the oneness of the human family), non-dominating (no lording over others, instead serving), and non-destroying (all forgiven and restored).
Again, this is not advocacy for pacifism but for the responsible love that holds all accountable for behavior and consequences, that protects all under Classic Liberalism principles, systems of law, and representative institutions.
Now…
Solve the larger societal-scale issues/problems by first engaging the inner battle over the evil triad:
Again, the central thing in the background that contributes to so much of what we term “problems in our societies” is the complex of inherited impulses to tribalism, domination, and punitive destruction of differing others. A set of impulses common to every one of us.
This “evil triad” of impulses constitutes what is primarily an inner battle that we all must engage and win. Classic Liberalism gives us the tools/weapons to confront and counter the evil triad, to slay the monster inside each of us. Add also among the weapons to slay the inner enemy, the spiritual insights from wisdom sages like Historical Jesus.
Further, be aware that narratives like Paul’s Christ (not entirely, but main elements in his Christ myth) and the elite domination and collectivist recommendations of Greeks like Plato, have long functioned to re-enforce our worst impulses. They function to incite and validate the evil triad with the divine imprimatur. Do this and you will be like God, or you will live according to the Invisible Ideals/Forms- i.e. as in the “behavior based on similar validating metaphysical belief”.
Be aware of the meta-narrative issues that validate our impulses. Take any insights that you can to counter the harmful impulses, especially use the ideas and principles of Classic Liberalism that include all as equals, promote non-domination through representative “servant” government, that protect all against unjust charges and wrongful imprisonment for dissent, etc.
Classic Liberalism protects us from our own worst impulses to act inhumanely in our treatment of differing others.
Another recommendation:
Fight and win the inner battle, the real battle of life that Solzhenitsyn spoke to, the real battle of good against evil that runs down the center of every human heart. Winning the inner battle helps each of us to understand how to confront and win the bigger public battles in our societies, because we then know from personal experience what is fundamentally wrong and how to make things right as in embracing the ideas and principles of Classic Liberalism.
Fighting the personal inner battle gives personal experience, firsthand felt experience, of what is wrong and how to fix it. There is no better experience to suit us to then go out and engage public battles and understand what is going on, what is wrong, and how to solve things.
Most fundamental to winning battles and solving problems is to grasp the basic ideological insights of Classic Liberalism, along with varied spiritual insights, that help us counter pathologies like tribalism, domination, and punitive destruction of differing others. If we know that these things work on a personal level with ourselves, then we can be assured they will also work at-scale in our larger societies.
Concluding note:
Narratives, movements, projects, policies, laws, can be evaluated by the criteria of Classic Liberal principles, systems of law, and representative institutions, as the best that we have come up with to defeat the evil triad at the root of most of our social problems.
Prelude to below:
Classic Liberal systems of law and institutions are about protecting the rights and freedoms of all individuals, equally- hence, that orientation counters tribalism.
Classic liberal institutions are about “representative” government that should not dominate citizens but should exist to serve their interests and needs, and hence, that servant orientation will counter the domination impulse of bureaucratic elites.
Insert: DOGE co-chief Vivek Ramaswamy speaks to the state responsibility to “serve” that has been perverted by unelected bureaucrats and their endless bureaucratic manufacturing of unconstitutional regulations, stuff they were not elected by the citizenry to do.
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6364828512112
Add that Classic Liberal laws and institutions should (here I wave my wand and do the “Poof” thing) be about restorative not punitive justice and this counters the impulse to punitively destroy differing others.
A reposting of the basic principles of a humane society: Wendell Krossa
What do I mean when I refer to “Classic Liberalism”? And as people talk about creating a “safe AI” why not ensure that safety by programing AI with Classic Liberal principles?
Basic principles, systems, institutions of Classic Liberalism, liberal democracy, or Western liberalism.
Daniel Hannan in his Introduction to “Inventing Freedom” provides the following lists and descriptions of the basic features of a truly liberal society or civilization:
“A belief in property rights, personal liberty, and representative government…
“Three irreducible elements. First, the rule of law…Those rules exist on a higher plane and are interpreted by independent magistrates…
“Second, personal liberty: freedom to say what you like, to assemble in any configuration you choose with your fellow citizens, to buy and sell without hindrance, to dispose as you wish with your assets, to work for whom you please, and conversely, to hire and fire as you will…
“Third, representative government. Laws should not be passed, nor taxes levied, except by elected legislators who are answerable to the rest of us… the rule of law, democratic government, and individual liberty…
“The idea that the individual should be as free as possible from state coercion… elevate the individual over the state…
“Elected parliaments, habeas corpus (see below), free contract, equality before the law, open markets, an unrestricted press, the right to proselytize for any religion, jury trials…
“The idea that the government ought to be subject to the law, not the other way around. The rule of law created security of property and contract…
“Individualism, the rule of law, honoring contracts and covenants, and the elevation of freedom to the first rank of political and cultural values…
And this full summary:
“Lawmakers should be directly accountable through the ballot box; the executive should be controlled by the legislature; taxes should not be levied nor laws passed without popular consent; the individual should be free from arbitrary punishment or confiscation; decisions should be taken as closely as possible to the people they affected; power should be dispersed; no one, not even the head of state, should be above the law; property rights should be secure; disputes should be arbitrated by independent magistrates; freedom of speech, religion, and assembly should be guaranteed”.
Hannan’s book is invaluable for tracing the historical emergence and development of Western freedom down through the English tradition, from pre-Magna Carta to the present.
Definition of habeas corpus (varied online definitions):
“A habeas corpus application is used by persons who feel they are being wrongfully detained. Upon application, the individual is brought before a judge who will determine whether the detainment is lawful.”
“A writ requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or into court, especially to secure the person’s release unless lawful grounds are shown for their detention.”
“The literal meaning of habeas corpus is “you should have the body”—that is, the judge or court should (and must) have any person who is being detained brought forward so that the legality of that person’s detention can be assessed. In United States law, ‘habeas corpus ad subjiciendum’ (the full name of what habeas corpus typically refers to) is also called “the Great Writ,” and it is not about a person’s guilt or innocence, but about whether custody of that person is lawful under the U.S. Constitution. Common grounds for relief under habeas corpus— “relief” in this case being a release from custody—include a conviction based on illegally obtained evidence; a denial of effective assistance of counsel; or a conviction by a jury that was improperly selected and impaneled.” (Miriam Webster)
One of the best at defining and articulating Classic Liberal ideals and principles, notably in the US version. See a full interview of Vivek Ramaswamy on the Lex Fridman podcast. Vivek for president. Note how Vivek frankly acknowledges and responds to deformities of Classic Liberalism on the right side of US society.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8Qk_3a3lUw
Amazon blurb on the Garcia book “Alpha God”:
“This book uses evolutionary psychology as a lens to explain religious violence and oppression. The author, a clinical psychologist, examines religious scriptures, rituals, and canon law, highlighting the many ways in which our evolutionary legacy has shaped the development of religion and continues to profoundly influence its expression. The book focuses on the image of God as the dominant male in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This traditional God concept is seen as a reflection of the “dominant ape” paradigm so evident in the hierarchical social structures of primates, with whom we have a strong genetic connection.
“The author describes the main features of male-dominated primate social hierarchies- specifically, the role of the alpha male as the protector of the group; his sexual dominance and use of violence and oppression to attain food, females, and territory; in-group altruism vs. out-group hostility (us vs. them); and displays of dominance and submission to establish roles within the social hierarchy. The parallels between these features of primate society and human religious rituals and concepts make it clear that religion, especially its oppressive and violent tendencies, is rooted in the deep evolutionary past. This incisive analysis goes a long way toward explaining the historic and ongoing violence committed in the name of religion.”
Another: On the “climate crisis” that never was except in the fevered imaginations of hysterical devotees to the cult of apocalyptic mythology, Wendell Krossa
“Climate scientists officially declare ‘climate emergency’ at an end: Press release by the Climate Intelligence Group (CLINTEL)”, Nov.20, 2024
Climate scientists with the Climate Intelligence Group (Clintel), in the Czech Republic, have just declared that “the imagined and imaginary ‘climate emergency’ is at an end”.
They stated that “for several decades climate scientists have systematically exaggerated the influence of CO2 on global temperature.”
They urged the scientific community to stop persecuting dissenters to the climate crisis narrative and return to the honored tradition of “free, open and uncensored scientific research, investigation, publication and discussion”.
Here are some of the main points of the declaration:
They state that the small increase in atmospheric CO2 since the end of the Little Ice Age has been net-beneficial to humanity, especially in adding some 15% more green vegetation to the Earth since 1980. Further increase in CO2 levels will continue to be net beneficial.
They add that the sun, and not greenhouse gases, has been and will continue to be the main influence on global temperature.
Further, the mild global warming during our industrial era has not been unprecedented or unusual. And global warming will continue to be slow, small, harmless, and net beneficial.
Add the broad agreement in the scientific community “that extreme weather events have not increased in frequency, intensity or duration and are in future unlikely to do so.” And the deaths from climate-related or weather-related events have declined by 99% over the past century.
Continuing to add renewables capacity will not affect climate change but will “greatly increase the cost of electricity” and so governments should stop prioritizing and subsidizing renewables and instead expand fossil fuels along with nuclear generation.
Finally, dismantle the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
“Therefore, this conference hereby declares and affirms that the imagined and imaginary “climate emergency” is at an end.”
Christmas ‘Message in a minute’ based on the insights of Historical Jesus (Hey, I’m just translating here)- Wendell Krossa
Go out into life and live the adventure of love to the best of your ability. Love is why you were created, why you came here for a life experience. Learning to love is your main purpose, expressed through whatever you do to make your unique contribution to life.
Most especially, learn to “love your enemies” as the highest reach of love. The element of universal, unconditional love takes you to heroic heights in your story. And it is how you conquer your real enemy- i.e. the “evil triad” monster inside you that is the inherited animal drives to tribalism, domination, and punitive destruction of differing others. Unconditional love is the weapon to slay that monster inside all of us.
Unconditional love enables you to “tower in stature as maturely human” (Joseph Campbell) and thereby to be just like God.
And whatever your failures to love here, know that you are safe in the Ultimate Love that is beyond imagination as a transcendent unconditional reality. That was the central point made by the mind/emotion healer- Jesus (his “psychosomatic” point that healed pathologies like “demon possession” which anthropology rightly explains as a mental-emotional issue).
Read the NDE accounts that have made the main discovery that God is inexpressible unconditional Love, to get some sense of the scandalous wonder of that love that is behind all reality (scandalous to the common sense of retributive justice), permeating all through life, closer than your own atoms and breath, incarnated in all of us as the human spirit.
And that love is also the essence of your true self. You are not the fallen, corrupt, evil being of religious mythology (i.e. we are not our inherited animal brains).
That love is also our ultimate home, to which we return safely after the transition through death. That takes some of the sting out of death.
Paul’s Christ myth does not communicate this unconditional love of God. To the contrary, it buries the unconditional element that is central to understanding deity. Try to separate out the core themes in Jesus’ original message from the surrounding context that focuses on the Christ and you will begin to see the central unconditional theme of Historical Jesus more clearly.
There, my message in a minute is up.
Here is the Jesus statement of his core theme:
“Don’t respond to your offenders with ‘eye for eye’ retaliation but instead love your enemies because God does. How so? God generously gives the good gifts of agrarian life to everyone, to both good and bad people. So be just like God. Love others with unconditional mercy and you will be just like God who loves all with unconditional mercy.”
Note: The NDE accounts of God as “stunningly inexpressible no conditions love” may help some to break through the confusing fog around the “Jesus Christ” oxymoron of Paul that mixes and merges contradicting themes from two entirely opposite gospels, a mixture that weakens and buries the profoundly humane features in the Jesus message.
Whatever or whoever God is- i.e. the Invisible Mystery that creates and sustains all in existence, the Ultimate Reality at the core of all other reality- be certain that God is love more than anything else. And through our effort to learn what love actually is, that is how we get closest to understanding the Creator who manifests that love in and through us. Our imperfect efforts at love manifest that ultimate Love here in life. Others depend on us for such love. So get busy with this great adventure of exploring love. It is the ultimate force that transforms everything for the better.
‘Nother note: Classic Liberal principles, systems of law, and representative institutions that protect the freedoms and rights of all equally, are the principles, laws, and institutions by which we express universal, unconditional love practically today.
New comment- Ah, this impulse to solve problems, properly and thoroughly for the long-term, Wendell Krossa (engaging again the oxymoron of Paul)
So, what does this site, wresting with Paul’s Christ myth, have to do with contemporary life and civilization? It has everything to do with the ideas that drove the real “biggies of bad” over the recent past- i.e. Marxism, Nazism, and now environmental alarmism and its destructive Net Zero decarbonization crusade that is ruining societies like Britain, Germany, California, and Nigeria (see note below).
Honing a bit more– This is about the “apocalyptic millennialism” that drove the above crusades and continues to incite apocalyptic alarmism and related irrational salvation schemes that destroy societies and life to “save the world”. Until you go after the themes driving these endless eruptions of “madness of crowds” (or “Chicken Little” hysteria), you will only experience continued eruptions of such insanity.
Not my insight alone- The military guy wisely noted this after the ISIS eruption in 2014. So also, historian Richard Landes spoke to this, as noted just above in regard to the repeated eruptions of apocalyptic millennial violence in crusades like Marxism, Nazism, and environmental alarmism.
(Insert: Again, “apocalyptic millennialism” constitutes two elements of a larger complex of primitive myths- “Original paradise ruined by corrupt humans, life subsequently declining toward something worse, toward collapse and apocalyptic ending. Deity, angry at humanity for ruining original perfection, demands sacrifice/payment and the purging of evil from life. Deity also demands the engagement of a hero’s quest to conquer evil enemies and thereby ‘save the world’. Once sacrifice and violent purging has been accomplished, then the lost paradise can be restored and a new utopian communalism installed.”)
Continuing…
Historians have done the good research on how Paul influenced Western civilization and the world with his Christ myth, shaping our narratives, ethics, justice systems, and more. History’s greatest “influencer”. The Jesus elements in the mix moderated Paul’s influence, but not entirely.
Once again, note that the apocalyptic millennialism in Paul’s Christ drove Marxism, Nazism, and environmental alarmism. The damage from these “profoundly religious” crusades will continue until we deal with the bad religious ideas behind the madness.
This exposure of the religious ideas behind such crusades is “news” that ought to dominate front pages due to the extensive harm that they have caused, and continue to cause in the climate apocalyptic movement, but nary a whisper in media about this.
Moving onto the main point…
(Another insert: I am not beholden to Historical Jesus as some sole and final authority for the insights that I draw from his teaching and make reference to. If he had not presented the insights, then someone else would eventually have made the same conclusions. We don’t need the imprimatur of Jesus. His presentation of insights on unconditional love are self-validating as good, right, and true. They point to the ultimate nature of authentic love in deity. And therefore, they are “truths” that can be projected onto Ultimate Good, Right, and Truth- i.e. God. The ultimate authentic Love behind all else.)
Continuing with my argument… Mother of all oxymoronic combinations
This site repeatedly posts the greatest contradiction in the history of human thought, narratives, or belief systems. There is nothing out there, across history, that can compare with this- i.e. how the New Testament has tried to mix and merge two entirely opposite, utterly irreconcilable, and completely contradictory realities.
Where, for example, do you find the epitome representative of a tradition, like the wisdom tradition that was exemplified by Historical Jesus, that has then been attacked, belittled, and reviled as was done by Paul in his railing against “the wisdom of this world that is foolishness” (1 Corinthians 1-3).
Paul presents his Christ myth as true wisdom. His Christ-ianity is shaped by Hellenism and argues for the features of Greek mystery religions with secrets that are available only for the specially initiated and enlightened (again, Helmut Koester’s “History, Culture, And Religion of the Hellenistic Age”). Paul’s Christ version of wisdom is contrasted with what he terms the false “worldly wisdom” of the gospels of Q and Thomas that focused on Jesus’ actual message of how to live a life of love, with no speculation about his death as a sacrifice for sin. Paul, in his Corinthians letter, exposes that he has been triggered by someone calling his Christology “foolishness”, hence his convoluted argument defending and embracing that “foolishness” as applied to his Christ myth.
Paul frames his argument against the wisdom of Jesus’ message in terms of his opposition to Apollos who represented the same wisdom tradition as Jesus (see “The Lost Way: How Two Forgotten Gospels Are Rewriting the Story of Christian Origins”, Stephen Patterson, p. 219-244).
And that contrast between differing versions of wisdom is one notable contradiction between Jesus and Paul.
Here again are some of the other main contradictions that highlight the oxymoronically opposite themes in the messages of Historical Jesus and Paul’s Christ mythology. The point I draw from this? The themes of Paul have shaped Western consciousness, narratives, and overall societies for the past two millennia. The Jesus themes have influenced us to a lesser extent, mainly moderating the harsher features of Paul’s message:
(1) Unconditional love (i.e. no sacrifice demanded in Jesus original message- i.e. the “Q Wisdom Sayings” gospel). Versus the highly conditional atonement religion of Paul (i.e. the supreme condition of the sacrifice of a cosmic godman- the Christ).
(2) Nonretaliation in Jesus (no more ‘eye for eye’ justice but ‘love the enemy’ because God does not retaliate but loves and includes enemies- as in sun and rain for all alike). Versus supreme divine retaliation in apocalypse and hell myths. Note Paul’s theology of a supremely retaliatory deity- “’Vengeance is mine, I will repay’, says the Lord” (Romans 12), and his “Lord Jesus returning in fire to destroy all who don’t believe Paul’s Christ myth” (Thessalonians).
(3) Restorative justice (again- no eye for eye) versus punitive, destroying justice.
(4) Nonviolent resolution of problems (again, no retaliation against enemies) versus the violent destruction of apocalypse and hell, and the violent pacification of deity by blood sacrifice for atonement.
(5) Nontribal inclusion of all humanity (“sun and rain given freely to both bad and good people”) versus the highly tribal favoritism toward true believers and the discriminatory exclusion of unbelievers as per Paul’s Christ (Note the ultimate tribal divide illustrated in Revelation as the eternal division of humans- assigned either to heaven or to hell, as per the cosmic dualism of Zoroaster).
(6) Nondomination in relationships (“If you want to be great then serve others”) versus ultimate eternal domination by Lord Christ with his rod of iron totalitarianism (“every knee shall bow… He will rule them with an iron scepter”).
(7) Non-dualism (God as the Oneness of Ultimate Reality that is love) versus eternal dualism (i.e. again, the cosmic dualism of “God and Satan”, “heaven and hell”).
And so on…
You cannot mix and merge such opposites in the one and same person- i.e. “Jesus Christ”- as that supremely oxymoronic combination creates such profound cognitive dissonance that you are left with a mental state akin to insanity or madness. And the egregious thing in the mix is that the good elements (i.e. the Jesus insights) are distorted and buried by the primitive and darkening elements in the Christology of Paul.
Applying Christology to Jesus (i.e. the divinizing of a common man over the first few centuries of Christianity) has effectively buried the potency of his liberating insights, notably his stunning new theology of a non-retaliatory, non-apocalyptic God. That truth of in his entirely new view of deity, though still present there in summaries of his statements (see Matthew 5, Luke 6), that “stunning new theology” is no longer clearly visible to most people’s minds because the larger New Testament context emphasizes Paul’s retaliatory, apocalyptic Christ. Paul intent on straightening Jesus out. His “secret wisdom of the Christ” correcting the ignorant/foolish worldly wisdom of Jesus and his followers, like Apollos.
Thomas Jefferson and Leo Tolstoy both nailed the contradiction between Jesus and Paul in the bluntest terms and no one has been as clear and direct since, perhaps because their comments are so offensive to true believer’s sensibilities. Few since have paid attention to their clarifying the stark contrast between Jesus and Paul, preferring instead the religious reformism that tinkers around the edges and gets nothing done, that avoids the central issue of theology- how Paul’s Christology deformed Jesus and his message.
The critical issue- freedom lost….
I keep returning to this Jesus/Paul contradiction because, among other critical issues, it’s about the aborted liberation, the greatest potential liberation ever offered to humanity that was rejected by Paul who then led humanity back into slavery to the worst pathologies of primitive threat theology. Mental, emotional, even subconscious enslavement to the same old archetypes.
Paul, contradicting the insights of Jesus, ruined the potentially greatest liberation ever proposed, the deepest, most profound liberation even at the level of human subconscious, liberation from deeply embedded archetypes shaped over previous millennia by primitive myths that were created to validate our worst impulses- i.e. gods as tribal chiefs, gods as dominating lords/kings, and gods as judges meting out punitive destruction. Ultimate archetypal ideals that then validated (1) similar human impulses to tribalism (true believers opposing and at war with unbelievers), (2) human domination of weaker others (elites dominating commoners), and (3) justice as punitive destruction of differing others.
Again, note how this all played out in religious crusades like Marxism, Nazism, and is now playing out in environmental alarmism. Historians have done the good research on this.
Paul’s “apocalyptic millennial” themes, among other deeply embedded archetypes of human collective subconscious, continues to influence people today to embrace the worst of repeated apocalyptic salvation schemes that ruin life and societies.
We are observing this once again in ongoing madness of climate apocalyptic alarmism, the same old apocalyptic millennialism that has long been re-enforced in Western consciousness and narratives by Paul’s Christ.
This mess needs to be confronted if we are to heed and learn from the military guy who warned that we would just keep experiencing the same old eruptions of violent madness that we saw in ISIS of the 2014 battle to establish the Caliphate, until we deal with the ideas that are driving such movements.
Richard Landes said the same in his book on the basic themes that drove Marxism, Nazism, and environmentalism (Heaven On Earth). Until you understand how apocalyptic millennial ideas can carry societies into mass-death crusades, you have not learned anything and will just keep suffering the same outcomes.
I am not picking on the Christian religion out of some perverse urge to badmouth a religion. I am trying to understand what the man Jesus actually taught, the freedom that he actually promoted with his stunning new theology, how Paul corrupted that wisdom sage and his message, and how Paul then shaped Christ-ianity to become the religious force that profoundly influenced Western consciousness and civilization, and not for the better. The good influence from the Christian tradition arises from the core message of Historical Jesus still available in the New Testament mix. But that element has to be separated out, and made clear in terms of what Jesus originally stated.
So, honor the man Jesus for who he actually was and what he actually taught, or don’t claim to be a “true believer in Jesus” if you are not doing that. Understand the best research on Historical Jesus, the more recent Jesus Seminar research, and especially “Q Wisdom Sayings” material, the wisdom tradition that the wisdom sage Jesus belonged to, the tradition that Paul railed against in 1 Corinthians chapters 1-3.
This Jesus/Christ contradiction still impacts us today as James Tabor, among others, has noted that Paul has influenced us more than anyone else in history – shaping our ethics, our justice systems, our overall societies, etc.
Note: I am not a “believer in Jesus” but I recognize his insight framed in the “behavior based on similar belief” that God was a stunningly inexpressible no conditions love, and that was the ultimate ideal for human life, I recognize that as the most profoundly humane insight ever presented to human consciousness. So, I honor the man for his actual message that took love to its ultimate reach of unconditional in “love your enemies”. Something Nelson Mandela understood and exhibited that inspired us all.
Anyway, moving along now…
More on the battle for freedom in the face of the latest apocalyptic crusade- i.e. climate crisis alarmism. The climate alarmists are pushing for totalitarian censorship of truth-tellers on the climate file. Skeptics to the apocalyptic climate crusade have published good science that exposes the lies of the alarmists on climate, making it more difficult for them to control populations with panic-mongering over hysterically exaggerated apocalyptic scenarios.
This from Anthony Watts excellent climate science site- “Wattsupwiththat.com”
“Censorship: They’re Trying To Silence Us: The G20’s War on Climate Skepticism”, Charles Rotter, Nov. 22, 2024
Rotter opens referencing a report on Brazil leading an international effort to silence climate change skeptics for spreading “disinformation”.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/19/24300541/disinformation-climate-change-g20-summit-united-nations
Rotter says, “this initiative isn’t about “truth” or “science”—it’s about control…
“A blatant attempt to silence anyone questioning the so-called climate crisis narrative. Under the guise of combating “misinformation,” these global bureaucracies aim to crush free thought and erase critical voices from the public square. This isn’t just an attack on skeptics—it’s an assault on open discourse itself.”
He says that the Brazilian effort has “declared disinformation a threat to climate action and even democracy itself. The not-so-subtle subtext? If you dare question their dogma, you’re the problem.”
Rotter notes that back in 2010 Google started manipulating search results to demote skeptical voices because they dominated search results. Google then buried those skeptical results under masses of alarmist propaganda.
He adds what Michael Shellenberger and others have exposed about Big Tech platforms, governments, NGOs, and intelligence agencies colluding in the “censorship industrial complex” to suppress and delegitimize dissenting voices. The “Twitter Files” revealed the extent of censorship by big social media platforms and government.
Why this new international effort to silence skeptics?
“The global elites are terrified of one thing: losing control…. Rather than answer these legitimate questions, the climate establishment resorts to silencing its critics. They know their models are flawed, their data cherry-picked, and their policy prescriptions ruinous. Yet instead of reevaluating their position, they double down on censorship.”
Rotter warns of the cost of silencing dissenters to climate alarmism: Net Zero decarbonization has devastated countries like Britain and Germany, and now Nigeria is being threatened, also states like California. De-industrialization has occurred and energy prices have risen, and this threatens the billions of poor in developing countries.
Rotter concludes that this is a battle for freedom and if dissent is silenced then the totalitarianism will extend further…
“This isn’t just about climate skeptics—it’s about the right to ask questions, to demand evidence, and to hold those in power accountable. If these rights are surrendered, they won’t stop at climate change. The machinery of censorship, once built, will be used to silence dissent in every arena.”
He urges more support for platforms like Wattsupwiththat.com that has long stood for climate realism and free speech and against the misinformation and disinformation of the climate alarmism crusade.
He acknowledges that “Censorship, shadow-banning, and algorithmic manipulation have made it harder than ever to reach those who need to hear the truth.”