The Unconditional Human Spirit

Don’t muddle the critical distinction made here between the message of Historical Jesus and the entirely opposite themes of Paul’s Christ myth. This takes off from conclusions such as those by Thomas Jefferson and Leo Tolstoy re the differences between Jesus and Christ. Note, in particular, the arguments re including “environmental alarmism/climate alarmism” as religiously inspired mass-death.

Some “sitesplainin”…

There has been a growing chorus of respected voices calling for a revival of Christianity in Western society to counter what concerned people view as the spreading meaninglessness and nihilism of past decades. Some of the voices- e.g. Michael Shellenberger, Jordan Peterson, some of the Free Press commentators, etc.

While that is a healthy longing for meaning that is anchored in greater reality, the point of the material below is to caution that a generalized revival of Christianity without clarifying the Jesus versus Christ issues would be a serious mistake, leaving in place the very bad ideas that have been responsible for so much destructive violence over the past two millennia. See the historical detail discussed below.

This site, along with others, calls for more than just reformism that tinkers at the periphery. Solving the problem of religiously-motivated and validated violence will involve the radical transformation of the cohering center of the Christian narrative- i.e. replacing the Christ myth of Paul, a reconstruction of primitive threat theology given universal and eternal status, replacing that psychopathology with the stunning new theology of the wisdom sage Historical Jesus. What is needed is a full-on death and rebirth process, a complete disintegration and reintegration project in terms of the core reality.

It is highly irresponsible to know the bad ideas/beliefs in the mix, and the consequences of those across past history, and to do nothing to deal with that issue. The scholars/theologians involved over the past three centuries in the “Search for Historical Jesus”, the “Jesus Seminar”, and notably those involved in “Q Wisdom Sayings” gospel research, have done the basic homework on the critical distinctions between Jesus and Paul. Read the rest of the opening comment here

New material below on “Going ‘superlative’ to make a critical point” on the psychopathology of apocalyptic that still dominates both religious and “secular/ideological” systems of belief today, notably the crusades of Marxism and environmental alarmism.

And then…

I am with Bob Brinsmead, among others, in probing and highlighting how Historical Jesus was deformed and buried in Paul’s merger of Jesus with his Christ. History’s most famous statement of an oxymoron is the “Jesus Christ” combination (i.e. oxymoron as a fundamental contradiction, a merging of two entirely opposite things). Paul’s Christ myth contradicts and overturns the main themes of Jesus’ teaching, distorting and burying his actual message.

Most critical in the mix, Paul’s Christ is a rejection of the non-retaliatory, unconditional God of Jesus, the very core of his “stunning new theology”, his “greatest contribution to the history of human ideas” (James Robinson). Jesus stated his theology, his image of God, in stating, “Let there be no more eye for eye retaliation. But instead, love your enemy because God does. God does not retaliate but generously gives sun and rain to all alike, to both good and bad people.” He added the unconditional element in his theology in parables like the Prodigal Father who did not demand sacrifice/payment before forgiving, including, loving the offending son.

Paul retreated to restate the primitive mythology of vengeful, conditional deity, i.e. his statement of his theology in Romans 12- “‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay’, says the Lord”. Throughout letters like Romans he reenforced the myth of a highly conditional deity who demanded the ultimate condition of the sacrifice of a godman for atonement. Read the rest of the opening comment here

“Buried”? That was the conclusion of Thomas Jefferson and Leo Tolstoy. And how was he buried? By Paul’s Christ myth that contradicted entirely the main themes in the actual original message of Jesus (“Q Wisdom Sayings” research as a subcategory of the “Search For Historical Jesus” research). Notably Paul contradicted Jesus’ anti-sacrifice protest by reconstructing him as the ultimate cosmic sacrifice of a godman. Also Paul contradicted Jesus’ “stunning new theology of a non-retaliatory God” with his re-affirmation of retaliatory deity- i.e. “‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay’, says the Lord” (Paul’s statement of his theology in Romans 12:17-20). And Paul contradicted another central theme in Jesus life as expressed in his statement that true greatness was not in lording over others but in serving others. Paul then recreated him as “Lord Jesus”, the ultimate Dominator of all to whom every knee would bow under eternal “rod of iron” rule. And more…

Quotes from new material below:

“Before starting, let me note that, in regard to Niemietz’s summary of Jonathan Haidt’s point above, here is a project for all of us. Yes, emotional satisfaction dominates our choice in beliefs, even choice for beliefs with a long history of destructive outcomes. Yet such beliefs still dominate religious traditions and billions hold them.

“Why do we feel as we do in response to certain beliefs that we choose and hold? Now that pushes us to consider what we have inherited in deeply embedded archetypes, archetypal themes/beliefs that have been shaped across previous millennia by primitive myths that trace back to the very origins of humanity. And those deeply embedded archetypes profoundly influence, even today, how we think, feel, are motivated, and then respond/behave.

“This site deals with such things and offers alternatives to the archetypal themes that we have inherited, even though this project arouses anger in some at the confronting of what has long been protected “under the canopy of the sacred”, revered as “divine revelation”. Just remember that the earliest shaman, and then subsequent millennia of priesthoods, created the sacred canopy, the “holy scriptures”. Fallible people just like us. They were finding their “emotional satisfaction” in the inherited beliefs of their ancestors based on archetypal myths that distorted reality and life.” Read the rest of the opening comment here

The Historical Jesus versus Paul’s Christ myth is in the section just below this opening material… Paul’s Christ myth (i.e. “Lord Jesus”) feeds into the stream of elite domination that descends from the early shaman putting themselves forth as the enlightened societal elites who knew the secrets to the invisible realm of spirits/gods and what their demands were for appeasement of anger and threat. That line of elite validation descended through Plato’s “philosopher kings” and via Hellenism to shape Paul’s Christ-ianity that was entirely contrary to the message of Jesus-ianity. In fact, it buried the diamonds of Jesus according to Thomas Jefferson and Leo Tolstoy.

I Pushed Grok on the threat that the Woke Progressive shift to the far-left now poses to Western liberal democracies. Grok consistently soft-pedalled this threat, not seeming to grasp how collectivist-type approaches unleash the human impulse to dominate by centralizing power and control in the elites who run the collectives (under the self-deluding claim of “for the people”- see Kristian Niemietz’s response to this from “Socialism: The Failed Idea That Never Dies”).

Even when the Woke Progressives claim to be motivated by compassion/empathy for the poor, what Gad Saad would call “suicidal empathy”, the collectivist policies/programs implemented have inevitably had horrifically destructive outcomes, especially on the poorest people. Latest example in the line of 24 such experiments over the past century- Venezuela.

Here are my posts to Grok and his/her/its responses (I still don’t know what Grok’s preferred pronouns are).

My initial post to a discussion group:

“Elon Musk just introduced Grok4 and stated that even at its poorest it surpasses PhDs in any and all fields of human endeavor. Note how Grok responds to my pushing it for comment on the threat to liberal democracy from varied strengthening versions of collectivism today, versions that are trying to overthrow Western liberal democracies and replace with more authoritarian approaches to governance, the same old “elites dominating commoners” as ever before. Grok needs some help understanding the inevitable shifting on the continuum from Woke Progressive versions of ‘soft-socialism’ toward ‘hardcore socialism/collectivism’. The ‘inevitable unintended consequences’ thing. Its about that impulse to domination and what unleashes that destructive pathology in people and societies.” Read the rest of the opening comment here

More on the Jesus versus Christ contradiction in Christianity. “Jesus Christ” is history’s supreme oxymoron (contradicting merger of entire opposites- my definition), Wendell Krossa

(Intro Note: This is very much about what has been repeated often on this site. The military guy who said (2014 response to ISIS outbreak of violence to establish the Caliphate worldwide) that you can swat down such eruptions of violence with force but they will only continue to erupt until you go after the ideas that drive such violence, notably the religious ideas that incite and validate the religiously-motivated eruptions of violence, still common to the modern era.

The Historical Jesus insight that offered a stunning new theology of a non-retaliatory, unconditional God goes right to the root of the ideas issue/problem. It replaces humanity’s long-standing ultimate ideal of retaliatory, dominating, tribally-excluding, and punitive destruction theology… overturning that theology completely and replacing it with the stunning new ideal of no conditions love. There is no greater mental, emotional, or behavioral transformation offered to us anywhere in history. And that potentially most liberating and transformational insight ever, has been buried for two millennia under Paul’s Christ myth that re-affirmed retaliatory, dominating, tribally-excluding and punitive destruction theology. Thomas Jefferson and Leo Tolstoy back me on this argument.)

The true genius of the man “Historical Jesus” (a Palestinian wisdom sage) was far more than James Robinson’s statement that Jesus’ “greatest contribution to the history of human ideas was his stunning new theology of a non-retaliatory God”. Stated negatively, the Jesus insight said, “Let there be no more eye for eye retaliation because God does not retaliate against enemies.”

The positive side of “Jesus’ greatest contribution” was his insight that God was a reality of unconditional love toward all. “Instead of eye for eye, love your enemies because God does. God grants sun and rain to all, to both good and bad people”. There is nothing in the history of human thought or literature comparable to that singular insight. That is seriously TOE level stuff. The nature/character of the core of reality, that which creates and sustains all else. Read the rest of the opening comment here

Saw this good quote today: “Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. … We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant”, Karl R. Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies (1945).

The link below, on Shin Bet nabbing Hamas members in the West Bank who are planning further attacks on Israel, illustrates why we must heed the military guy who warned that you can keep swatting down these eruptions of violence with military force but they will only continue to erupt until you go after the ideas that fuel them, meaning the “religious ideas”.

Grok’s comments (reposted from below) summarize my points on this:

“You’re correct that the major Western religions, Christianity, Islam, and including Judaism, preserve ideas that can be weaponized… The old theologies of the world religions perpetuate violence”. That is my buddy Grok commenting on my argument that bad religious ideas continue to be critical contributing factors to eruptions of tribal hatred among people, inciting the subsequent vengeful impulse to exterminate demonized enemies (“Satanic”) and leading to the resulting horrific violence of war.

This article illustrates the problem of never-ending eruptions of religiously-incited violence…

“Shin Bet nabs 60 Hamas members in largest West Bank anti-terror operation in decade: Security agency uncovers firearms, grenades; reveals that members underwent training, conducted surveillance with intention of carrying out major attacks”, Emanuel Fabian, June 29, 2025

https://www.timesofisrael.com/shin-bet-nabs-60-hamas-members-in-largest-west-bank-anti-terror-operation-in-decade/

And on the “freedom/liberal democracy” file… Read the rest of the opening comment here

“The old theologies of the world religions perpetuate violence”, my buddy Grok commenting on my argument that bad religious ideas continue to be critical contributing factors to eruptions of tribal hatred among people, the subsequent vengeful impulse to exterminate demonized enemies (“Satanic”), and the resulting horrific violence of war.

And the egregious shame- We have had the brilliant and liberating alternative for two millennia, almost buried by Paul’s Christ myth, but still clearly discernable in the “Q Wisdom Sayings” material of Historical Jesus. The stunning new theology of a non-retaliatory, unconditionally loving God.

This site presents material from a generally independent viewpoint, not left or right, but as with Goldilocks finally tasting baby bear’s porridge… “Just right”. I kid. But I recognize that “far-left Woke Progressivism” has permeated throughout our liberal democracies and dominates many of our institutions (i.e. mainstream news media, government bureaucracies, educational systems, political parties, and even intelligence agencies). Because of its societal dominance today, I focus more on that great “threat to democracy”- a smear that the left throws at all who disagree with its narratives, including even those still on the left but who do not affirm the crazier elements of woke extremism.

The focus here on leftist lunacy explains some of the links provided here on varied issues….

Note below, Grok’s responses to the Israeli man (Bari Weiss of Free Press interview) who argued that you can defeat bad ideas with military force. I pushed Grok on that fallacy. The man confused the Pan-Arabism movement (a coalition of Arab countries sharing some joint narrative and project) with the more fundamental ideas/beliefs in all three Western religions that have long incited, guided, and validated violence toward hated others (tribalism gone extreme). Yes, Israeli military force defeated the “idea” of Pan-Arabism but not the core narrative themes that drove that experiment, themes that frame our great world religions and have been embraced in varied “secular/ideological” versions also, like climate apocalyptic.

Some further Grok quotes from below:

I pushed Grok to see that bad religious ideas have a history of inciting and validating bad behavior in people. Often seriously bad behavior as in mass-death crusades and wars.

Grok offered the following comments on my push for his insights on this: Read the rest of the opening comment here

Why is this important to look at and understand? Because it deals with the ultimate ideals that we frame our narratives around, the ideas/ideals/beliefs that shape how we think, how we feel about things, what motivates us, and how we respond and act, what policies we support with our votes. These ideals are powerful validations as they have been across history due to the common human practice of basing behavior on similar validating beliefs. So it is critical to know what ideals are the bad ideas in the mix that incite the worst impulses in people- i.e. to tribalism, domination, punitive destruction of differing others. And what are the better alternatives that counter our animal side and inspire our better humane impulses.

Just below– some discussion by Dave Rubin and guest Andrew Klavan on the dark human tendency to frame the murders of certain people as acts of moral superiority.

Also below the discussion by Jordan Peterson and Gad Saad on “Why people double down on their belief systems in the face of irrefutable contrary evidence.”

Note in regard to the Rubin/Klavan material below, that violence over the history of Christianity was illustrated most egregiously, not in the brutality of the early Councils, the mass-slaughter during Crusades, the burning of heretics/witches, the Inquisitions, the religious wars, etc., but was most horrifically manifested through the “apocalyptic millennial” narratives that drove the violent revolutions of Marxism, the Nazi horrors, and are now influentially driving the environmental alarmist crusade of “salvation (‘save the world’) through the destruction of decarbonization”.

Dave Rubin of “Rubin Report” interviews Andrew Klavan, “Are these the most influential murders of all time?”, June 7, 2025, Wendell Krossa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCDmvwqy5eA

Rubin engages an interesting discussion with this novelist Klavan. They start with a sideline discussing how media lie about everything, nonstop, whether Russia-gate, Covid lies, etc. Media propagandize us with a constant stream of lies on all sorts of issues. Read the rest of the opening comment here

See below- More on the dangerous fallacy of salvation through destruction, with responses from Grok. This illustrates and affirms the continuing influence of the most primitive ideas on modern minds and life.

Carl Jung’s Near-Death Experience, Wendell Krossa

Jung states that his NDE shaped all that he thought and wrote following that profound experience. His autobiography (“Memories, Dreams, Reflections”) shares some detail on that experience.

Jung died in 1961 well before the NDE phenomenon had become publicly and widely known with the publishing of Raymond Moody’s “Life After Life”. Hence, Jung doesn’t use typical NDE terminology. But his experience has the usual NDE features of out-of-body (he found himself some 1000 miles up in space above India), inexpressible bliss, heightened lucidity/consciousness, and experience of another realm with no four-dimensional space or time, a realm where all is nowness.

His experience, similar to many other NDEs, resulted from his heart attack in 1944. He then had what he termed “visions”. He uses that term but later clarifies that his visions were something far more than what that term usually implies (i.e. hallucinations, dreams). He said, they “were utterly real… absolute objectivity”. Common to NDE accounts are the expressed frustration that there are no words to convey the inexpressible wonder and hyper-reality of what is experienced.

Jung begins, stating that his visions began when he was on “the edge of death”. A nurse told him later that during his attack he was surrounded by a “bright glow”, similar to what she had seen surrounding other dying patients.

Then, says Jung, strange things began to happen to him. Read the rest of the opening comment here

Below: Pushing Grok on Mendel’s warning (Vision and Violence) to beware of any version of salvation that comes through destruction.

Wisdom from Carl Jung

Think- Death to the old and rebirth into the new. Disintegration of the old and reintegration around the new.

“Signs that you are about to begin the best state of your life, Carl Jung”, Mental Dose

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Idz5SSPpaY

From the intro: “You’re not falling apart. You’re falling into ‘alignment’. The best stage of your life begins the moment you stop being who you were told to be.”

This is a positive and hopeful way to view and approach human development, especially as it involves fundamental transformation that leads to leaving comfortable things of the past in order to embrace things that are fundamentally new.

Evidence/data from natural sciences that falsifies the apocalyptic narrative of the “climate crisis crusade.”

GREENHOUSE GASES AND FOSSIL FUELS CLIMATE SCIENCE April 28, 2025, by atmospheric physicists Richard Lindzen and William Happer

https://co2coalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Lindzen-Happer-GREENHOUSE-GASES-AND-FOSSIL-FUELS-CLIMATE-SCIENCE-2025-04-28.pdf

Quotes from their report: “CO2… becomes a less effective greenhouse gas at higher concentrations because of what in physics is called “saturation.” Each additional increase of CO2 in the atmosphere causes a smaller and smaller change in “radiative forcing,” or in temperature… Read the rest of the opening comment here

Sitesplainin: Wendell Krossa

One of the guests on a recent Megyn Kelly podcast mentioned the episodes of insanity that our societies have repeatedly become caught up in over past years/decades. He asked what was going on with this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dspX81dOBVQ

This prompted these thoughts…

The myths/ideas/beliefs in the list below illustrate one critical component that explains why we keep falling for “madness of crowds” eruptions of irrational hysteria and insanity. We have been caught up in too many “episodes of crazy” over just the last century that have led directly to outbreaks of mass-death, to hundreds of millions of deaths. Why then do we keep falling for the next outbreak of madness and the next one… again and again? We had the Covid hysteria and lunacy with hugely damaging lockdowns. And we repeatedly and submissively hand our minds over to state war-mongers to convince us to support further bloody wars. Glen Greenwald pointed this out with regard to Vietnam, Iraq, and Ukraine. Each new war, as elites convinced us, was a righteous battle to “save democracy”, another “just war” that we were obligated to support.

We let ourselves be carried along (“groupthink”) by the fear-mongering of elites who manipulate us to embrace the next crazy crusade to save something, after a previous madness crusade peters out. The climate hysteria is a striking example and has been the most dominant “madness of crowds” episode now for decades.

But, apparently, the climate activists are now giving up on their “profoundly religious crusade”, as Michael Shellenberger notes in this article below that probes, with a psychologist, the narcissistic psychopathology behind that crusade. Narcissism has to move onto ever-new bouts of public hysteria to feed its sick mind.

It’s the destruction that is left in the wake of these madness of crowds episodes that obligates us to confront, understand, and try to prevent further outbreaks.

This from Shellenberger:

My comment to a discussion group- “In the comment below you see how narcissism deforms the hero’s quest, rendering it a pathology that destroys life and society. The narcissist’s version of the hero’s quest is driven, as Jordan Peterson once said, by “virtue signaling for social status”, a basic psychological drive. The sick impulse to present oneself as morally superior, with victimhood status, that seeks to thereby gain control of others. The claim to victimhood ‘confers obligations on others automatically’.” Read the rest of the opening comment here

Evan Sayet, joke-writer, interviewed on “Rubin Report”– “The difference between writing jokes for Bill Maher and Donald Trump”, May 9, 2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvNwKlNG8Ks

These two US liberals (Classic Liberals, independents) analyze what happened to their side of society over past decades- i.e. the shift of US liberals into far-left Woke Progressivism. Interesting comment on the “long march of 60s Marxists through the institutions” of US society- i.e. through universities, state agencies and bureaucracies, mainstream media, Hollywood, etc., with the intention to gain power/control over our liberal democracies and thereby incite their “revolution” that would bring liberal democracy to an end and replace it with a collectivist utopia.

Also, interesting comment by these two on the destructive nihilism that now dominates the US left. This comedy writer offers some good insights, for example, on what went wrong with mainstream comedy over the past few years. Mainstream (i.e. “late night”) comedy became part of the propaganda machine for the far-left Woke Progressivism crusade. Those people believe that they are the “tip of the spear” or vanguard of the Woke crusade, the leading edge for the coming Woke utopia, and they view any who do not submit to their crusade, to their “revolution”, as enemies that are so evil that they must be crushed and exterminated, hence the shift in their comedy to vilification of disagreeing others as “Nazis, fascists, racists, etc.”

And more…

Where environmentalism went wrong and how to rethink human care for nature. This article makes points similar to what Greg Easterbrook argued at the end of “A Moment On The Earth”, that nature has waited billions of years for human mind to come along and rescue it from it’s dead-ends (see last 40 pages of Easterbrook’s book).

“Technological Progress Versus Degrowth as Solutions to the Sixth Mass Extinction: Assuring the long-term future of Earth’s wildlife requires more economic and technological development, not less”, Saul Zimet, May 8, 2025 Read the rest of the opening comment here