The Unconditional Human Spirit

Another possible title above- “Nihilistic death cults, both religious and “secular”, lean heavily on the personality-deforming fallacy of apocalyptic to generate support for their destructive crusades against liberal democracies.”

I got Grok to do some homework showing that contemporary “secular/ideological” movements are actually “profoundly religious crusades”, dominated by primitive myths like apocalyptic. More exposure of the nakedness of false self-proclaimed emperors. To repost what I have stated before- “Historian Richard Landes noted that the Bolsheviks tried to masquerade their movement as “science and modernity”, but they were nothing more than “superstitious members of a salvationist apocalyptic millennial cult”. Think of Woke Progressivism, the climate alarmism crusade, etc., in this regard.

I have just added more from my interaction with Grok, notably on the outcomes of the irresponsible use of apocalyptic-scale scenarios that is so dominant today (i.e. exaggerated scenarios of looming catastrophe to alarm people, rendering them more susceptible to irrational salvation schemes that ruin societies to “save the world”). Contemporary would-be totalitarian’s continue to use the old formula of “Fear=control” that is a direct assault on the freedom and well-being of others.

Apocalyptic has long been a main theme of death cults. While the ISIS/Hamas religious-types are well known in this file, we need to consider the same is true of the death cults of Marxism and environmental alarmism/climate alarmism, among the “secular” versions.

From Netflix “Turning point: The Vietnam War”, Episode 3

“What is common is the damage that war does to participants and the dehumanization that is almost a necessary component of war that pushes away empathy and pulls in aggressive violence that is dehumanizing to all who are involved”, Col. Gregory Daddis.

“Puncturing the Apocalypse: Curry and DeAngelo Expose the Myth of Climate Catastrophe”, Charles Rotter, May 6, 2025

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/05/06/puncturing-the-apocalypse-curry-and-deangelo-expose-the-myth-of-climate-catastrophe/

Paper by Harry DeAngelo, Judith Curry, “A Critique of the Apocalyptic Climate Narrative”.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5145310

Abstract:

“The Apocalyptic climate narrative is a seriously misleading propaganda tool and a socially destructive guide for public policy. The narrative radically overstates the risks to humanity of continued global warming, which are manageable, not existential. It prescribes large-scale near-term suppression of fossil-fuel use, while failing to recognize the huge costs that such suppression would inflict on humans because fossil fuels are currently irreplaceable inputs for producing food (via ammonia-based fertilizer), steel, cement, and plastics. This paper details the flaws in the Apocalyptic narrative and articulates nine principles for sensible U.S. policies on energy and global warming.” Read the rest of the opening comment here

New below: Probing Grok on the issue of “conscious observers inseparable from observed reality”, contrasted with Einstein’s pushback against Bohr- “I can’t believe the moon is not there if I am not looking at it.” Don’t take this too seriously as I am just having some fun poking Grok on these things.

See article below on Iranian theocrats soon to get the bomb, Wendell Krossa

Also, more on the pain on the plain in Spain– Grid collapse from over-dependence on renewable power sources. Illustrating the lunacy of climate apocalypse “salvation” schemes- i.e. the destruction of human societies to “save the world”.

The problem: “Men never do greater evil than when they do it in the name of their God.” Meaning, of course, “evil” based on bad theology, driven by “Monster God” theology.

Some online definitions of “theocracy”:

“Theocracy” is a Greek word that means “government by God.” A theocracy is a state… government that derives its authority directly from a religion… invoking the authority of a religious deity and basing their laws on religious texts.”

“Theocracy, government by divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided. In many theocracies, government leaders are members of the clergy, and the state’s legal system is based on religious law. Theocratic rule was typical of early civilizations. The Enlightenment marked the end of theocracy in most Western countries. Contemporary examples of theocracies include Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Vatican.”

“Theocracy is a form of government where it is believed that a god, deity, or group of deities, or a deity is in charge. The supreme being is usually thought to rule through human figures, like politicians and clergy, who are believed to be in direct contact with and/or of direct descent from the supreme being.”

The authors in the article below call the Iranian people to get rid of their theocratic government. It would have been further helpful if they had focused that call more directly on the theology behind the state theocracy- i.e. the actual features of the God in the Iranian state theology or belief system. The features of that religious deity are fundamental contributing factors to the problems that Iran promotes in the world, notably the promotion of extermination violence toward others outside of their faith, and especially their mad drive to exterminate Jews, whether directly or through proxies like Hamas. Read the rest of the opening comment here

Coming soon- New material to counter the totalitarian’s formula of “Fear=control”, arguably still the single most destructive element in life. How do tyrants use this formula? They construct narratives (i.e. climate alarmism) that exaggerate fear in populations and that incites people’s survival impulse and renders them susceptible to irrational salvation schemes that destroy societies to “save the world”. Religious themes continue to play a critical role in this tyranny, notably in the “secularized” versions of our major ideologies, such as “Declinism”, “the most dominant and influential theme in the modern world” (Arthur Herman in “The Idea of Decline in Western History”).

Some interesting comment in this link by Jordan Peterson on his latest Joe Rogan interview- JRE episode 2308 on YouTube or Spotify. Wendell Krossa

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

They engage some interesting discussion on play and how play counters tyranny. And then some good comment on the use of fear and control of others by fear. And how all this works in the online realm and in politics, especially in relation to apocalyptic narratives.

These quotes:

“Psychopaths find a narrative to strike fear into people and justify compulsion. They alley themselves with that belief/narrative then rachet themselves up reputational hierarchies without true validity, riding on fear and power.”

Peterson then makes this summary of earlier comments with Rogan on this:

“The climate apocalypse narrative is a social contagion that’s driven by power-mad psychopaths who are hell-bent on using fear and compulsion to make sure everyone steps in line so they can continue with their acquisition of undeserved power.”

He was referring earlier to Mark Carney who is likely today to win the election in Canada and is a charming, smooth talker who believes (he states this in his book Values) that every decision of every one of us must support his plans for Net Zero. Net Zero, points out Peterson, will devastate the lives of billions of poor people. I am especially impressed that Joe Rogan now also gets all this in regard to climate. Read the rest of the opening comment here

More on “Carney barker for a cult”, Wendell Krossa

The title relates to material that I posted previously where historians have rightly exposed the nakedness of historically recent leftist elites posing as “modern, intellectual, enlightened philosopher kings”. But analysis of leftist/collectivist narratives exposes the fact that they are driven by the complex of primitive apocalyptic millennial themes. This is also evident in contemporary narratives like climate alarmism that is the central motivating ideology in Mark Carney’s worldview (detailed in his book “Values”).

Historians like Richard Landes have pulled off the modernist intellectual robes that elites like Carney try to cloak themselves with.

These quotes from previous material I posted here:

“Historian Richard Landes noted that the Bolsheviks tried to masquerade their movement as “science and modernity”, but they were nothing more than “superstitious members of a salvationist apocalyptic millennial cult”. My mind returned to Landes’ comments on the Bolsheviks as I watched Mark Carney replacing Trudeau.

“See the varied comments below on Carney, WEF socialist (he is a board member) and climate alarmist, seeking to bring his WEF-style climate crusade to Canada to reframe the Liberal party with his smoother elitist presentation. He will replace, but maintain, the destructive eco-zealotry of Justin Trudeau. And take it to even further reaches of destructiveness if elected to a full term.

“Carney is an eco-cultist trying, with elitist smoothness, to present himself as financial expert. No different from the self-delusional framing of the original Bolsheviks, and Marxist elites in general, who wished to mask their salvationist apocalyptic cult as some form of modernism- i.e. as ideology, science, philosophy, etc. Note, for example, Marxism’s claim to “scientific history”. Primitive mythology (apocalyptic millennialism) masked as something rational and credible.”

Continuing with recent news re Carney and his proposed spending… Read the rest of the opening comment here

Another note on the Douglas Murray Dave Smith clash on Joe Rogan, Wendell Krossa

More probing of how to solve problems like large-scale violence and war. Dave and Doug go at it, Hamas/Gaza and the horror of violence in war. If the points and arguments seem a bit convoluted, welcome to the nuance and complexity of war when normal humans give way to those ugly impulses to tribal hatred, to demonizing some differing other in extremist terms as “evil enemy”, and then letting vent the destructive impulse to punitive retaliation. Then the rest of us watch the “insanity of war”.

The issues below that Murray and Smith debated illustrate a repeated point that I make here- Go to the root factors behind any given problem such as the resurgence of religious violence by Islamic extremists. And deal with the critical contributing factors that are “bad religious ideas”, or you will just get repeated episodes of such violence.

Historians like Richard Landes have warned that if you do not understand how myths (i.e. bad religious ideas) like “apocalyptic millennialism” can carry societies into mass-death (i.e. Marxism, Nazism), and if you don’t deal with those ideas, then you will suffer the repeated violent outcomes from people holding such systems of belief. And this applies to more than just Islamic terrorists. Remember also the histories of Judaism (Old Testament) and Christianity over the past two millennia.

And as per my repeated point on this issue- The most critical root contributing factor among bad religious ideas is the “monster God” that holds religious belief systems together, validating all the rest. As Harold Ellens has said so clearly- “Sick Gods make people sick.” Psychologists Ellens and Zenon Lotufo have both noted, the threat theology based on monster God mythology incites fear, anxiety, guilt, shame, despair and depression, nihilism, and violence. It brings out the worst in us.

Move beyond reformism that tinkers at the periphery of religious systems and go directly to the core of the problem- i.e. the deformed deity that has long reigned as the ultimate ideal and authority in religious systems and has always provided the fundamental archetypes for all human narratives (i.e. the core themes), including secular ideological systems of belief.

This is critical to solving problems like “People become just like the God/ultimate reality/ultimate ideal that they believe in”, and “Men never do greater evil than when they do so in the name of their God”. This goes to the deepest roots of the “eye for eye” cycles that we are watching play out in the Israel/Gaza war. As Ellens said, “If your God retaliates with destructive violence then so may you.” Read the rest of the opening comment here

xAI Grok commenting (response to my query) on Arthur Mendel’s “Vision and Violence” and my quote from Mendel that apocalyptic is the most violent and destructive idea in history.

“Mendel’s real insight is warning us to watch out for any idea that promises salvation through catastrophe. That’s where the trouble starts.”

Mendel, along with colleagues Richard Landes, David Redles, and Arthur Herman, shows how the primitive myth of apocalypse (and its full complex of related beliefs) continues to infect and dominate contemporary religions and the “secular ideologies” of the modern era. It has to do with the totalitarian’s formula of “Fear=control”. As, for example, in the psychopathology of a “left-wing/Progressive” elite control that pushes salvation schemes that destroy societies to “save some world” imagined to be under existential threat from differing others. We are, with our front-row seats, watching this play out in the “madness of crowds” climate alarmism crusade, the widespread Woke Progressive/DEI crusade, etc.

Grok gives its feedback, below, on the most dominant of bad ideas across human history, ideas that still dominate our world religions and also our most prominent ideologies- i.e. Marxism, environmental alarmism, etc.

Note:

History’s greatest oxymoron (i.e. combining contradicting things), as embodied in Paul’s merger of Historical Jesus with his entirely opposite Christ myth, that is below this opening section- “The Great Christian Contradiction”. My taking up the project of Thomas Jefferson and Leo Tolstoy to pull the “diamonds out of the dung” (their terms, not mine).

Then:

Douglas Murray offered an interesting comment in his recent debate with Dave Smith on a Joe Rogan podcast. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah6kirkSwTg

Murray spoke about how as we go forward through life, that our path through the years is often like travelling through a fog due to the limitations of our knowledge about what to do, what choices to make. But later, when we look back over our lives we don’t see any fog, just the path that we took. Read the rest of the opening comment here

Coming eventually… xAI Grok’s take on my points. And the applicability of the unconditional ideal to ethics, criminal justice, and at societal scale as in the Nelson Mandela approach. It is not an affirmation of pacifism in the face of personal assault, violence at any scale, and national level attacks, etc.

Disclaimer/qualifier: Wendell Krossa

Is there really any point to make this qualifier, again- i.e. that I this site does not intend to offend religious people, members of the major world religions, when confronting the bad ideas in their traditions?

My view on what I am doing here and why? I am just joining my voice to what Thomas Jefferson and Leo Tolstoy said in their exposure of the true nature of what Christianity has told us to believe as ultimate truth. They were admittedly somewhat crude in defining Paul’s gospel of the Christ as “dung, muck, slime and garbage”. They were framing the contrast of Paul’s Christ with the “diamonds/pearls” of Jesus, also included in the New Testament. The two messages were not the same. They were entirely opposites.

Psychologist Harold Ellens, in his own update to Jefferson and Tolstoy, said that the Christian view of the crucifixion of Jesus was to take barbaric child sacrifice and present that as “an act of grace”, or as Paul said, as a display of “God’s love”.

There were no terms two millennia ago to describe ultimate or epitome “oxymoronic” for what Paul did in merging the anti-sacrifice Historical Jesus with Paul’s supreme sacrifice in his “Jesus Christ” myth.

So also Charles Templeton (“Farewell To God”) exposed the true nature of what we were told to worship as divine, as good, as righteous reality and ultimate truth. He pointed out that the God of the bible that many worshipped was actually a dictatorial monstrosity. Templeton stated correctly that someone who demands to be the center of attention and demands constant praise of his greatness, on pain of death for not doing so, is an Idi Amin monster. Historical Jesus had also countered that perversion of deity in stating that true greatness was in serving, not in dominating others. Yet we are taught by our religious traditions to worship such threatening domination as something true, good, and right.

Alex Garcia (“Alpha God”) added to the exposure of the actual nature of religious practices like worship by stating that people bowing in churches was evidence of our animal past where lesser tribe members cowed before the alpha predators. Is that too blunt to even consider? That bowing of heads and averting of eyes, he claims, may be no different from the lesser animals in a group cowing before the alpha predator of the group. I find the shock value in such exposures is necessary to snap us awake from what we are actually doing. It is more correctly understood as a pathology, not healthy human development. Read the rest of the opening comment here

“The climate scam is collapsing”, Tom Nelson, April 10, 2025 (Posted on Anthony Watts’ site “Wattsupwiththat.com”)

(“Its all over now, baby blue”- Bob Dylan)

Don’t be too assured that it’s all over now. As Richard Landes says, when an apocalyptic crusade appears to be failing, the leaders often double down and shift into the phase of “exterminate or be exterminated”. Desperate to survive as their entire universe, along with their very identity, faces demise and extinction. They may do “desperate measures” crazy things.

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/04/10/over-30-items-here-evidence-that-the-climate-scam-is-collapsing/

Nelson lists over 30 items giving evidence that the climate scam is collapsing.

He says, “The climate scam is imploding right now. Of course there are still plenty of remaining pockets of climate cultism, but the whole movement is crumbling. It’s the most massive scientific fraud in human history, and it will take significant time to completely die, but make no mistake: It IS dying.”

See link above for further links on each particular item:

I will list only some…

“A powerful climate alliance of the World Economic Forum, major companies, the UN, and banks is at an end”.

“Delicious straight talk from US EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin- “We are driving a dagger through the heart of climate change religion.”

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright- “Climate change alarmism is a ‘quasi-cult religion’”. Read the rest of the opening comment here

I just sent this post to family and friends in a discussion group online…

“Do you get the bigger picture now? Its not just about how much any particular tariff does to rebalance some other country’s tariffs. Its about the very fundamental premises of globalization pushed by elites over past decades- i.e. that if we engage authoritarian countries like China, and entangle our economies in commerce, then we can bring China into democracy. Not.

“US elites believed that it was worth the cost of losing US manufacturing industry to places like China in order to gain influence and control over the larger world with the Western democratic system led by the US. Basically, to achieve US dominance in the world (extend US empire, what my American brother-in-law refers to as US “Manifest Destiny”).

“And it was a mixed bag of motives and goals- Yes, the noble expansion of democracy was in the mix, no doubt. And the value of free trade as in “comparative advantage” and giving poor countries a chance to develop out of poverty. All there, also.

“But there was also the elite advantage that came from shifting away from high-cost US labor to low-cost labor regions, a shift that benefitted business elites and CEOs with more wealth, and Wall Street Financial types with great gains. (Labor costs are the significantly dominant cost in most businesses.)

“Now Trump is going to overturn that great globalization project to bring back manufacturing in order to benefit US workers. And to end the dangerous dependence on threatening places like China for critical resources- i.e. rare Earth metals, medicines, etc.

“No wonder Wall Street elites, who have benefitted from globalization, are going hysterical as they watch their power, control, and profits threatened by Trump.

“So who really cares for the common worker?”

There is something “far, far bigger” going on, often behind-the-scenes, than what media chatter on about all day. Petty obsession with opponent’s words/jokes, minor elements in policy initiatives, individual country’s situations on tariffs, etc. Read the rest of the opening comment here

See below the “bad ideas” pathology- i.e. the complex of primitive mythical themes that are common to the world religions and have even been embraced to frame contemporary “secular/ideological” systems of belief, notably Socialism/Marxism and environmentalism. As many have warned, until we deal thoroughly with this complex of bad ideas that incite and validate bad human behavior, we will continue to suffer the eruptions of tribal violence that are the inevitably consequence of holding such ideas in our belief systems, whether in religious or “secular/ideological” versions.

Reposting: “Elite financial expert? No, just another “carny barker” for a cult”, Wendell Krossa (Understanding the real Mark Carney.)

http://www.wendellkrossa.com/?p=13274#more-13274

Varied commentators have pointed out Carney’s basic WEF socialism. Additionally, historians have pulled the cloak off this “would-be emperor” to expose the nakedness of the underlying collectivism that he proposes. I would add that behind his “secular/ideological salvationism” there is the same old superstitious primitivism of apocalyptic millennial cultism.

These quotes from a previous posting…

“Mark Carney has successfully elbowed his way to become Liberal leader and replaced Justin Trudeau.

“Historian Richard Landes noted that the Bolsheviks tried to masquerade their movement as “science and modernity”, but they were nothing more than “superstitious members of a salvationist apocalyptic millennial cult”. My mind returned to Landes’ comments on the Bolsheviks as I watched Mark Carney replacing Trudeau.

“See the varied comments below on Carney, WEF socialist (he is a board member) and climate alarmist, seeking to bring his WEF-style climate crusade to Canada to reframe the Liberal party with his smoother elitist presentation. He will replace, but maintain, the destructive eco-zealotry of Justin Trudeau. And take it to even further reaches of destructiveness if elected to a full term.

“Carney is an eco-cultist trying, with elitist smoothness, to present himself as financial expert. No different from the self-delusional framing of the original Bolsheviks, and Marxist elites in general, who wished to mask their salvationist apocalyptic cult as some form of modernism- i.e. as ideology, science, philosophy, etc. Note, for example, Marxism’s claim to “scientific history”. Primitive mythology (apocalyptic millennialism) masked as something rational and credible. Read the rest of the opening comment here

This site probes the deepest roots of problems, notably the more primitive archetypes of the human subconscious (long embedded there) that continue to shape our narratives with the same basic “bad idea” themes, whether in religious or secular/ideological versions.

“Bad religious ideas/beliefs” then incite and validate people doing bad things to one another. This refers to the common human practice of following the “behavior based on similarly themed beliefs”. Appealing to our belief systems to validate how we behave. And notably, appealing to our image of deity to validate how we act, how we treat others.

There are many things that need to be done to bring peace and security to life, such as negotiating political/economic solutions, etc. But critical to the long-term resolution of tribal enmity, struggles to dominate others, and violent retaliation, is to go to other critical inciting/contributing/validating factors such as the bad ideas in our narratives.

And nothing is “badder” than the profoundly sick gods that we embrace and honor as the cohering centers of our narratives, as our ultimate ideals and authorities to validate our behavior. Again, the “behavior based on belief” pattern of people seeking justification for how they behave and live.

The human practise of appealing to ideals embodied in beliefs, notably religious beliefs, is how beliefs “generate ‘dynamis’… or mobilize energy”, according to psychologist/theologian Harold Ellens. With images of God “generating ‘dynamis’ and mobilizing energy” more potently than any other beliefs. Hence, Ellens warning that “sick Gods make people sick”.

A reposting of revised, updated material…

Common themes/features in all three great Western religions… i.e. Judaism, Christianity, Islam. If we all believe the same fundamental things then why are we fighting one another?

Here is a reposting of some material from several weeks ago. It has stirred interesting response from Islamic countries, so I want to give it more exposure for people from those areas. Not to incite outrage but to stimulate thought toward necessary reformism. Read the rest of the opening comment here

Military guy (after ISIS defeated in Syria): “Until you deal with the ideas that fuel these eruptions of violence you will only see them repeated.”

We have no excuse today for our irresponsible embrace of “madness of crowds” eruptions, such as the climate apocalypse crusade. It is manifestly a form of Chicken Little lunacy.

Look beyond the surface cloaking of these crusades- i.e. claiming status as science, ideology, whatever. Look through that to see the true “madness of crowds” apocalyptic nature of such crusades. They all hold to the same mythology of threatening deity that is the cohering center of their belief systems. More historically recent versions update their theology with contemporary versions of divine threat like “vengeful Gaia, angry Mother Earth/Planet, punitive Universe, or payback karma”. They are all versions of the same old pathology at the core- ultimate threat that incites irrational response in populations.

You think we might have learned by now that threat theology in belief systems contributes to the same old destructive outcomes. Alarmed populations supporting salvation schemes that “destroy the world to save the world.”

Adding to the irresponsibility in embracing apocalyptic crusades is the fact that we have good research today on where apocalyptic emerged, how it was incorporated into meta-narratives such as religious traditions, and how to counter such lunacy.

I refer, for example, to Bob Brinsmead’s research tracing how Greek Hellenism, Jewish apocalyptic, and other elements shaped Paul’s apocalyptic Christ.

The Hellenism element derives from Plato and his advocacy for philosopher kings to rule the virtuous society. Plato’s ideas eventually validated the ideology of enlightened elites running collectives via state institutions/bureaucracies (Hegel, Marx), thereby dominating commoners. Elite rule has always employed threat to manipulate and control populations. And no threat has the potency of the divine threat in apocalyptic mythology.

Moving along, note the increasing advocacy today for restoring religion, e.g. as in a generalized restoration of Christianity to counter the meaninglessness nihilism of modern secularism/atheism. But some of the notable advocates for reviving Christianity, i.e. Jordan Peterson, Michael Shellenberger, seem unaware of the problem of the fundamental contradiction in Christianity between Historical “non-apocalyptic” Jesus and Paul’s apocalyptic Christ myth. Two entirely opposite theologies merged in the oxymoronic “Jesus Christ” that deforms and minimizes the Jesus teaching/message. Read the rest of the opening comment here