Template:The Psychology of Totalitarianism
The Psychology of Totalitarianism
An examination of the book The Psychology of Totalitarianism By Mattias Desmet
Audio podcasts
These audios are a review of an book entitled The Psychology of Totalitarianism.[1]
This review will take the excellent work by Mattias Desmet to a deeper level revealing and clarifying the mechanism of Totalitarianism throughout the ages that degenerates and blinds[2] the masses and destroys liberty.[3]
We address a time tested effective solution that will facilitate an alternative which could revolutionize Jordan Peterson's upcoming Alliance for responsible citizenship for those who have ears to hear.
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Introduction
To Mattias it was clear in 2017 that the world, i.e. the government, the new woke culture, and the ideology of climate change were engaged in the long process moving swiftly toward totalitarianism.
Science was increasingly showing incompetence, sloppy work, and a radical disregard for facts.
The COvid began to take the masses "further" down the road toward that totalitarianism.
Mattias also saw other things changing in the world and not for the better.
He saw a "Radical contempt for facts".
An increase in sloth and avarice and a reduction in liberty.
"I paid off the mortgage on my house." He states.
"First and foremost, I wanted my sovereignty back. I did not want to be indebted to and compliant in a financial system in my view played a part in the social impasse that was about to occur."
He will equate the new medical experts with the pigs of George Orwell's Animal Farm.
The questions we will address in our review of his excellent book include:
- Has "the industrialization, mechanization, and technologization of the world, production capacities, economic power (via a self-centralizing banking system), and psychological power (via mass media)..." caused this loss of liberty?
- Is there a deeper more fundamental issue or element if mankind that has been forgotten[4] which would have provided an immunity to the ill effects of this technological wonder we have constructed?[5]
- What is the solution, the way back?
Part 1 science and it's pscological effect.
1 Science and ideology
In Chapter 1 Mattias discusses how "Science tipped from open-mindedness to dogma and blind conviction."[6]
At the beginning of the most recent "age of enlightenment" men like Galileo, Newton, and others began "to dare to think", investigate and study anything and everything that might reveal the truth.
✓Science is the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation, experimentation, and the testing of theories against the evidence obtained.
To those who embrace the lie and love the darkness the truth and the light become the enemy.
Observation altered the behavior of particles and the spirit of the individual alters the observer.
- “Due to the industrialization, mechanization, and technologization of the world, production capacities, economic power (via a self-centralizing banking system), and psychological power (via mass media) fell into the hands of an ever-decreasing number of people. The Enlightenment tradition had promised people autonomy and freedom, but, in a way, it brought people greater (feelings of) dependence and powerlessness than ever before. This powerlessness caused people to increasingly mistrust those in power. Throughout the nineteenth century, fewer and fewer people felt that political leaders really represented their voice in public space or defended their interests. As a result, man also became disassociated from the social classes that were represented”
― Mattias Desmet, The Psychology of Totalitarianism
2 Science and practical applications
In Chapter 2 Mattias discusses how science through "its practical application isolates people from one another and from nature ."[6]
Mattias is correct that Industrialization, Mechanization, and technocracy gained power and influence over the soul of man who has steadily been weaned from the need for the milk of human kindness and severed many of the natural social bonds.
From the ticking of the pendulum coming from the authority of the clock to manipulations of the mass media[7] seems to have isolated and defeated the individual and "conquered the living room" according to Mattias.
While the new scheduling of our life by a mechanical determination, like the clock, removes the individual from a more natural or even spiritual guidance to that of the demands of external dictation.
This distancing of individuals by modern technology and temporary gratification provided through a mechanical media does not nurture any natural social bonds which can only be generated between interaction of varying and vastly complex combinations of individuals in communities.
The nurturing of natural social bonds of society requires the regular practices of sacrifice and forgiveness within the environment of free speech and a social conversation under the perfect law of liberty.
From the clock and the ticking of its pendulum to the masses media[7] has swept the mind of men in a deluge of fear, covetous practices, and lies.
Labor became less meaningful because the beneficiary of your labor has become isolated or even unknown.
Mattias talks about "Bullshit jobs" and the "Proliferation of meaningless work" which reduced the emotional feedback is less rewarding. Meaningful work such as rancher and farmers are less financially rewarding vs administrators who are often overpaid be design.
Mattias talks about the amoral delay of stopping the prescription of poisons like Thylidimyde from 1958 (1961)and 1969. And DES which continued to be used after series side effects.
This isolations of the individual caused the making of "The Adomized subject" of Hannah Arendt.
3 artificial society
Chapter 3 discusses how "How it's utopian pursuit of an artificial and rationally controllable universe equates to the destruction of the essence of life."[6]
In a natural society for thousands of years the nature of man as he was created has required the expenditure of one life for the benefit of the life of another, the other members of the society, or the next generation.
This element of man has not only past down from generation to generation but is the glue that binds a free society.
In a moral society this choice to sacrifice is accomplished by both an individual and voluntary choice.
Without this daily voluntary choice of sacrifice and the exercise of this choice the utility of love decreases and man degenerates.
Christian Huygens' Pendulum synchronization is the example of social synchronizing that must take place in a free society.
A man is composed of billion of cellular and biological clocks. Often our Online interaction often disrupt the mechanism of mutual interaction of life. The resonance of natural living entity needs to be guided by all the elements of the Kingdom of God which is the righteousness of God.
Mattias sees our daily digital conversation is "Constantly being in the presence of the other person's absence." This is an electronic imposed Capgras. But if we were practicing Pure Religion we would overcome the isolation of "industrialization, mechanization, and technologization".
In our attempt of removing discomfort without self examination ended the declaration of the ancient to "Know thyself" which includes "Know thy location in the universe". In society... On the wall of clocks and we become "The Adomized subject" of Hannah Arendt
4 The (im)measurable Universe
Chapter 4 Mattias days he was attempting to demonstrate how "it's belief in objectivity and measurability of the world leads to absurd arbitrariness and subjectivity."[6]
The tyranny of numbers and the arbitrary interpretation of data is revealed by numerous examples and observations. All data is a mere reflection of a portion of reality and the soul who observed it.
Numbers may not lie but men do. First, to themselves and then to others until the lie is synchronized in the hearts and minds of the Masses.
"The Adomized subject" is a product of a neglect of the righteousness interaction of giving[8] and forgiving required in a free society which is the purpose of the practice of Pure Religion and the antithesis of the covetous practices of legal charity which is the way of the world today.
5 The desire for a master
In Chapter 5 Mattias discusses "...the fate of another great ambition of science, to liberate man from his anxiety and his moral commandments and prohibitions."[6]
Mattias correctly sees that none of these exploits of man through "the industrialization, mechanization, and technologization of the world, production capacities, economic power (via a self-centralizing banking system), and psychological power (via mass media)..." provided security or relief from anxiety. In fact, anxiety. depression, and discontent or confusion seemed to increase...
He reveals some serious insight when he writes, "Some time in the seventeenth century... The star of the human intellect appeared in the sky" so that "There was no longer any reason to accept the social contract imposed on society by the clergy." [6]
Of course the Church which crowned kings instead of the people perverted the roll of the Church which Christ appointed. The clergy of the apostate Church become the comforter of the people instead of the Holy Spirit and the clergy of the state offering legal charity through the welfare state became the vast bureaucracy of locusts ready to eat out the substance of mankind while the isolated man is left to eat bugs.
"The star of the human intellect" was our own "tree of knowledge". But the "tree of life" has always been the Holy Spirit from which inspiration of the divine creator of life shines. Christ showed the way back to that tree of life and the "Clergy of Christ should be doing the same. They are not like the clergy of Constantine nor the clergy of Caesar who are the blind leading the blind.[9]
"Protection draws to it subjection; subjection protection."[10]
The means and method of that protection synchronizes the soul of man with the gods of that system. If the people choose to covet what is their neighbors[11], to bite one another as a means they will be devoured.[12]
Our individual spirit explores the spirit of those around us. Our mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters and all others around us that also live and interact with us in one conversation or another. The division and isolation within the social structures of society are designed by men to animise[13] a different spirit in man.
To understand the cure we must first identify the disease.
Legal charity is the table that is a snare which makes men merchandise and will curse children with debt. In the beginning Mattias Desmet saw the bondage of debt which takes away the life of the people.
There is a spirit that draws man to make rules and laws where the rule may remain long after it's purpose is forgotten. The law imposed replaces the life that only liberty may bring...
"The making of laws there is no end." But all the rules form a web that robs the individual not only of movement and moments but of choice.
- "Freedom is the Right to Choose, the Right to create for oneself the alternatives of Choice. Without the possibility of Choice, and the exercise of Choice, a man is not a man but a member, an instrument, a thing.” Archibald MacLeish.
We must resist the temptation to exercise authority[14] one over the other because if we choose to take choice from our neighbor we know, or should know, as we judge so shall we be judged.[15]
Without choice and the consequences of choice the individual cannot know thyself nor thy place with others in a free society.
Part II: Mass Formation and Totalitarianism
6. The rise of the Masses
Mattias' words ring of more truth than he may let on. Maybe he is leaving some discovery to the reader. The rise of the Masses is the congealing of the masses into common collective, one purse. The masses are bound together by consentwhich the ancient sages[16] of liberty warned us not to do.
The "industrialization, mechanization, and technologization of the world" is not the cause of the isolation, anxiety, and degeneration of society but they are the vehicle that may take us to Totalitarianism.
Mattias' observations are certainly tracking the problem in these unique institutions of this world. The truth is the problem began because of our prior abandonment of those things which had once been in our culture that had established social bonds of society that are essential for a free nation. Of we had kept the practices of more ancient institutions before confronting the challenge of industrialization we would have been better equipped to deal with and even counter their debilitating influence.
This "Lack of social bonds" is what creates the Loneliness and isolation. The "industrialization, mechanization, and technologization" are like an artificial substitute or even an opiate meant to sedate society so that we do not feel the loss as the blood of society which is steadily drained away.
Nullification
Christ condemned the Pharisees for their failure to attend to the weightier matters[17] and what is called in most texts as Corban.[18] On previous recordings we mentioned the cities of refuge. Our view of the ancient text and modern institutions is clouded in sophistry and the words of false prophets of both false religion and public religion.
The micro mass of a jury is often manipulated into waving its right to attend to the weightier matters. They are "cunningly coersed into waving their rights"[19] to attend to "weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith" because they "lack knowledge"[20] of what is called Jury nullification.
The modern jury is often subject and because he is ignorant, slothful and turned away from The Way of God, the tree of life[20] will often waive their right to decide "fact an law". They have not attended to the weightier matters as Christ and Moses said to do because the turn from the light and embrace the darkness.[21]
They do not know of the role of the Jury at the Common Law nor the dangers of equity becoming the sole administrative law in a legal system.
This is because the people do not know who they should be, nor who they have become because of a hundred years of choosing legal charity over the righteousness of fervent charity which has degenerated the social bonds of a free society.
Until they are willing see this truth they cannot know the truth, they cannot know thyself. If they choose to covetous practices over fervent charity, choose to take away their neighbors' right and liberty to choose their liberty will be taken from them. If they do not love their neighbor, their neighbor's rights, as much as themselves then the reject God and the commandments of God, the Will of God, and Right Reason. Therefore, they cannot "Know thyselves".
The other
Mattias talks about a "Lack of meaning" and the "removal" of the "other".
Who is the primal "other"?
The primary other in the great Domestic relation of Husband and Wife has always been the next generation.
The neighbors' offspring will be the partner to your sons and daughters so they are equally as important.
That concern for Family and the Family of your the neighbor preoccupies the mind with a focus that has no time to grasp nor be grasped by a "Free floating anxiety".
When the instituted governments of the people become the "father" of a civil family through legal marriage and the subsequent gifts, gratuities and benefits[3] of the welfare state descend upon the people and something is lost as the social bonds of society are degenerated.
Without the meaningful purpose of "the other", from your neighbor to the next generations, there will not only be Frustration but aggression. With the suffocation and killing of care through the legal charity of the socialist welfare state the people are snared. In the manifestation of this return to bondage they are trapped in drowning desperation and become "perfect savages finding once more a monarch and a king".[22]
The mass formation was not merely a perfect storm but the implementation of the ancient plan of Cain"s city-state, Nimrod's Babylon, Sumer's Turtledove, Pharaoh's Bondage of Egypt, Caesar's Imperial Cult of Rome and of coarse, we should not forget FDR's New Deal and LBJ's The Great Soceity.
When neighbor no longer loves neighbor as themselves the people will apply to benefactors who exercise authority one over the other. They will bedead to the truth. Like the walking dead they will bite their neighbor[12] to satisfy their own appetite for flesh and blood. There will be no "argumentum ad populum" nor "argumentum ab auctoritate".
The only remedy is to repent and learn to love your neighbor as thy self. If you do not know thyself you cannot know nor love your neighbor.
Never join a democracy with zombies.
Beyond the dark
"Is there still a reality beyond the one created by the masses?"
Can there be kindness beyond cruelty?
Can we find virtues beyond vice?
Is there love beyond hate?
Is their light beyond the darkness?[21]
Other characteristics of man as he was created to be have been neglected and forgotten or denied.
There will always be a "radicle intolerance" toward anyone who is not a zombie or who "dares to share" the light of true love.
1. Dissident voice
2. Critical argument
3. Any thing that might break the spell is subversive.
4. Extremely frustrating if it restrains the venting.
Mattias writes of a limit of the rational mind when "reason transcends itself".
Yet, he points out the statement, “Dare to think! Have the courage to use your own reason!’ is therefore the motto of the Enlightenment,” as stated in 1784 by the great German Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant.”[23]
But Kant also clearly stated, "Religion is the recognition of all our duties as divine commands." Immanuel Kant
Mattias goes on to say, “The great minds who followed reason and facts most rigorously came to the conclusion that, ultimately, the essence of things is beyond logic and cannot be grasped.” ― Mattias Desmet, The Psychology of Totalitarianism
They are beyond the logic of man, his own personal tree of knowledge, but they are not beyond Right Reason which can only be accessed by man through what has been called the tree of life.
The truth is a clear vision of reality which cand be identified by the phrase Right Reason. It can only be perceived if we are willing to see the whole truth which includes the truth about ourselves.
Few people are willing to see the whole truth so they will construct imaginary realities that block their vision and cover their inadequacies. Like Adam with his fig leaf hiding from God and fleeing the light we do not want to see which keeps us in the dark of denial. It is pride and vanity that keeps us from true enlightenment. Yes, "Dare to think!" But never imagine you do not need the guidance of a higher source of truth than yourself.
So to see the whole truth we would have to be willing to see the whole truth about our own selves which is not always pretty and some times painful. This is why to "Know thy self" is so primary.
We must be willing to go back to the beginning to find where we went wrong. We must be willing to step away from our own preservation of personal pride and move into the humbling light if we are to eat of the tree of life and receive the "resonance" or revelation of the "Holy Spirit". This is why loving others and the care of others is so important. It is why forgiveness is critical.
The intensive formation of the masses came because we have fled the truth about our own Naked inability to dare to think. This is why we have been lost, even hiding from the spirit of truth, the creator.
7. The leaders of the Masses
Mattias sees that the hypnotizer may also be hypnotized.
He may be lost too or even cast out.
Yes, "Mass formation takes both victims and perpetrator in its grip."
Both the leader and the led are victims because they live in the dark and will "hypnotize each other" to obtain a since of something more than themselves alone. They cannot afford a relationship that is to honest. Boundaries become blurred.
Eventually Mattias sees that "All normal ethical boundary are violated."
And any arguments against that errant logic that is used to excuse that violation is band from the conversation.
...Totalitarianism is a form of government that attempts to assert total control over the lives of its citizens. It can only do that when neighbor is willing to control neighbor.
The vicious circle in which Mass formation and Totalitarianism ...
"Mass formation and Totalitarianism inevetiably destroy themselves by way of logical necessity."
"Mass formation feed on anxiety and aggression." They need new fears, new rituals of death.
Eventually this obsession will lead to purges of one group or another. Isolating group and attacking them. This as already began with intersectionality.
Mattias points out that there were 17 people a year executed under the czars but under communism the numbers progressed from 540 then 12,000 and up to 600,000 per year.
Under czars the plight of the serf enjoyed some protection which vanished quickly under the immorality of socialism and communism.
8. Conspiracy and ideology
Mattias uses the Sierpiński triangle with its three dots and fourth... to show that once a pattern is established it replicates itself. He writes of the "flocks fly together as "a super individual"
He speaks of conspiracy theories and the protocols of Zion as the "mother of all conspiracy theories is"?
The union and discipline of the early Church frightened the emperors of Rome. That union and discipline did not come from an ideology or a personal version of the truth.
- The fifth cause of the growth of Christianity according to Edward Gibbon was, "The union and discipline of the Christian republic, which gradually formed an independent and increasing state in the heart of the Roman empire."[24]
This is also repeated by Historians Will and Ariel Durant who wrote:
- "Among these secondary factors he listed "the pure and austere morals of the Christians" in the first century, but he added, as another cause, “the inflexible (and, if we may use the expression, the intolerant) zeal of the Christians.” And while he praised “the union and discipline of the Christian republic,” he noted that “it gradually formed an independent and increasing state in the heart of the Roman Empire.” In general he reduced the early progress of Christianity from a miracle to a natural process; he removed the phenomenon from theology to history.”"[25]
Mattias is correct that A crowd creates a common resonance of an import of meaning, purpose, and power. The people become the synchronized clocks on the wall. But it was the daily ministration of pure religion that provided the daily bread and welfare through voluntary charity and a network function according to the perfect law of liberty the cemented the strong social bonds of that community of Christ.
Of the people bite one another in a system of legal charity dependent upon men who exercise authority to provide free bread for the masses then force and fear will persist. If fear persists the masses will be driven by anxiety then anger will fill their minds and hearts giving an appearance of courage but the outcome of perfect savages. In numbers guilt can be shared and it can even be denied.
The cloak of a shared ideology can give license to evil until good is evil and evil is good.
Evil is the absence good just as darkness is the absence of light. There is no greater meaning, no noble purpose locked in an ideology of selfishness and greed but only denial and darkness.
The lockdowns were a relief for some, a respite from their mundane existence and lonely life that was lacking of true meaning and purpose. Such temporary relief will drive the fear and resentment to a new level of anger and hate.
Conspiracy theories may be true but rushing to them is rushing away from self and away from "knowing thyself".
This was the path Adam took that caused him to flee the light of the tree of life in the center of garden.
Are the people the product of life or are they producers of life?
Are they simply consuming the life of others or are they being fruitful by freely giving life?
To steer or be steered
Who is the leader?
Are we steering or being steered?
Or are the masses and their leaders engaged in a mutual assent?[26]
Like the dots of a Sierpiński triangle the population and repetition of the pattern in the members of society tranforms society.
By only recognizing and connecting limited elements of the personality[27] of mankind we limit the outcome and distort the natural relationship..
By denying an element of mankind as they were meant to be the whole of society and the way it is bound together is altered. Such changes will pre determine the outcome.
As you remake man in an image other than God intended society is transformed.
The ultimate master
Mattias writes, "The ultimate master is the ideology, not the elete."
The ideology is a product of what the individual is willing to see. Like the Sierpiński triangle only the dots scene in the pattern can be connected.
When the people deny or refuse to see an element of themselves as they were original created their view of "truth" will become an ideology devoid of the whole truth.
Their truth will be a lie and the whole truth will become the enemy.
They will recreate the world around them in the image of their ideological lie.
M1:M2
Those who cator to the ideology of the masses will become the master but in truth he is merely a puppet of the Mass Formation of the ideology.
Mattias Desmet also speaks of a second mass that forms with a seemingly different ideology that will come into conflict with other.
Neither are willing to see the whole truth but will defend their respective ideology to their mutual destruction.
Both or all these ideologies are religiously held up by each mass group as "their truth" but if they are unwilling to see the whole truth a day of reckoning will come upon them.
These two or more masses will destroy each other and anyone who reveals, by word or deed, their dilution.
Mattias Desmet also mentions another group that is often tiny that must speak the truth no matter what the cost. But is that enough?
Bearers of the truth will become the enemy.[28] if the are to survive the will need their social bonds to exceed the bonds of the deleted. And the must not challenge their truth on their terms.
Truth conversation
Their speech must be the whole truth but also exemplified in their life's "conversation" with one another and the world.
That is what early Christians were seeking to do but Tacitus, Suetonius, and Plutarch could not see because of their ideology that said that the legal charity through the state was the way to go. They were the intellectual elete who refused to see the whole truth and repent.
Industrialization, Mechanization, and Mediatization lead to a centralization of power allowing for fraud and corruption.
While this process can be observed is there a more subtle deletion or denial or dot of the human character already overlooked in society steering the Industrialization, Mechanization, and Mediatization that leads them into a state of corruption?
Could the plethora of conspiracy theories a distraction from the actual seed of corruption.
The centralization of power in ancient Israel began with the election of the executive office of Saul in 1 Samuel 8. There was already corruption of institution and centralization was imagined to be a solution.
Despite Samuel's facts and warnings the people were already blind.
What they had forgotten is still forgotten today which may be woven in Mattias solution.
• Hypnotized mass 30%
• Not hyptontize but complies or resists 40 to 60%
• Not hyptontize and speaks out 10 to 30%
You do not want to advocate a returning to the old normal.
"In general counter arguments should be formulated in a displined and organized manner in a special created structure and working groups."
"The formation of such groups in itself also provide an antidote to one of the most pernitious effects of Totalitarianism, the destruction of every social bond and structure."
It was the decay of the the "social bond and structure" which began before the old normal was established. In fact it was certain elements of the natural personality of man not adressed nor even see by men.
To know the whole truth we must first know our self. But to "Know thy self" we must seek to know, follow, and see "the whole truth, the way, and the light".
Adam in his vanity tried to know the whole truth, divide good and evil with his own tree of knowledge. He fist his from the knowledge of his nakedneed, then blamed God, finally fleeing the light protecting the tree of life.
In Matthias will speak of the revelation of resonance which is the tree of life rather than our gathered knowledge of a Mechanistic material world.
Before we proceed to Chapter 9. We may ask:
How are the clocks on the wall synchronized?
Does one clock have more influence than the other?
And does that clock gather allies to bring the others into conformity?
And what of the wall which is on another plane of existence.[29]
"everything is connected on the spiritual plane"
Part III Beyond the mechachanist worldview
9. The Dead versus the Living Universes
Mechanistic ideology see the universe as a dead but interactive random material particles.
Yet, there are the Fibonacci sequence and many other patterns repeating in nature.
Even Lorenz waterwheel seemed to be an example of chaotic theory until looking more deeply he produced the The Lorenz attractor as an example of a "strange attractor".
Strange attractors are unique from other phase-space attractors in that one does not know exactly where on the attractor the system will be. Two points on the attractor that are near each other at one time will be arbitrarily far apart at later times.
In quantum physics see the material matter is effected by observation.
Thought or consciousness seems to be more fundamental than matter. This may give more substance to the statement
Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light."
If the shaming has a Pure and loving heart his stories and words may have a good effect. If a doctor is unethical, greedy and selfish his science may do injury.
Science needs "to map out the structure of the psychologic experience... Until reason transcends itself."
Before we go to Chapter 10 I listened to podcast 382. With Oliver Anthony (Christopher Anthony Lunsford) and Jordan Peterson interview
... Christopher Anthony Lunsford wants his music to be restoring something America seems to be lost.[30]
Step back to the two commandments
Alliance for responsible citizenship.
Wants a vision for the future you need a clearer vision of the past.
What makes a good leader, "If people are using power, force, and fear." Jordan Peterson
Mattias insist on the importance of speaking out which includes our actions.
Music is away to speak the truth on a level or plain that is often seemingly exempt from some of the hostility that is bound to come.
Poetry offers a similar opportunity. This is in part the purpose of parables. To some degree this true in the movie media productions.
10. Matter Spirit
Mechanistic view remains the primary view in the common view yet more and more the observation of man and his conscious thought seem to have a greater influence in quantum mechanics than imagined by mechanistic materialism.
Power of suggestion hypnosis and the placebo effect.
The belief of the crowd has a more powerful influence than hypnosis.
Mattias tells of example where what we hear, see, or think often has more powerfull influence over the mechanistic materialism.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn tells of the prisoner in the Gulag named Gregori who over came the physical difficulties and hardship of mechanistic materialism presented in the Gulag by his ethical mental state.
11. Science and Truth
Mattias gives a long list of top scientist who not only admit that there must be godlike mind that brings the material world out of chaos.
It is the "human mind" that seems to hold the key to dominion over the material world. But is it in the mind or in the soul itself? And why is it so dark in there? Why is it not readily visible?
Is it behind the fig leaf?
“Man is reduced to a biological organism. Any treatment of any epidemic based on this view of humanity will only make the problem worse eventually.” Mattias Desmet
The real revolution must be to "Shake off rehtoric and resolutely turn to truth as a guiding principle."
"Prophesy is the ability to sense the story that grips reality."
"Wisdom is the ability to keep silent and let the other hear their own words."
"Techni is the ability to speak technically correctly to produce a logical discourse..."
Peregia the courage to publicly express words that brake through the the filacious discourse of our society.
"Isn't it dangerous to give up rationality as an ideal?"
"No one panics for a child dying on the other side of the world. This is the inconvenient truth. The rationality and humanism of the enlightenment are in many ways a masquerade and a fig leaf. Strip man of his masquerade and you look into the eyes of irrationality. Look behind the fig leaf of rationality and you will find the ancient human vices. "
"One who knows the limits of his intellect usually becomes less arrogant and more humane. "
"No logic is absolute is the prerequisite to mental freedom."
The Psychology of Totalitarianism quotes
“People perturbed by loneliness, lack of meaning, and indefinable anxiety and unease generally feel increasingly irritable, frustrated, and/or aggressive and look for objects to take these feelings out on. The sharp increase of racist and threatening language on social media during the last decade (tripling between 2015 and 2020, see chapter 5) is a striking example. What accelerates mass formation is not so much the frustration and aggression that are effectively vented, but the potential of unvented aggression present in the population—aggression that is still looking for an object.” ― Mattias Desmet, The Psychology of Totalitarianism
“As Hannah Arendt states, totalitarianism is ultimately the logical extension of a generalized obsession with science, the belief in an artificially created paradise: 'Science [has become] an idol that will magically cure the evils of existence and transform the nature of man.'” ― Mattias Desmet, The Psychology of Totalitarianism
“I refer to Arendt who argued that this first condition is the most important: “The chief characteristic of the mass man is not brutality and backwardness, but his isolation and lack of normal social relationships.”
"This deterioration of social connectedness leads to the second condition: lack of meaning in life. This second condition follows mainly from the first. Man, as a social being par excellence, lives for the Other. Remove the bond with the Other and he will experience his life as meaningless (whether he sees the connection with his loneliness or not).” ― Mattias Desmet, The Psychology of Totalitarianism
“We can honor the right to freedom of expression and the right to self-determination without feeling threatened by each other,” Desmet writes. “But there is a point where we must stop losing ourselves in the crowd to experience meaning and connection. That is the point where the winter of totalitarianism gives way to a spring of life.”
“For example, the aristocracy under Stalinism, the Jews under Nazism, the virus, and, later, the anti-vaxxers during the coronavirus crisis—and at the same time offers a strategy to deal with that object of anxiety, there is a real chance that all the free-flowing anxiety will attach itself to that object and there will be broad social support for the implementation of the strategy to control that object of anxiety.” ― Mattias Desmet, The Psychology of Totalitarianism
“This process yields a psychological gain. Firstly, the anxiety that previously roamed through society as a tenebrous fog is now linked to a specific cause and can be mentally controlled via the strategy put forward in the story. Secondly, through a common struggle with “the enemy,” the disintegrating society regains its coherence, energy, and rudimentary meaning. For this reason, the fight against the object of anxiety then becomes a mission, laden with pathos and group heroism (for example, the Belgian government’s “team of 11 million” going to war against the coronavirus). Thirdly, in this fight all latent brewing frustration and aggression is taken out, especially on the group that refuses to go along with the story and the mass formation. This brings an enormous release and satisfaction to the masses, which they will not let go of easily. Through this process,” ― Mattias Desmet, The Psychology of Totalitarianism
“The great minds who followed reason and facts most rigorously came to the conclusion that, ultimately, the essence of things is beyond logic and cannot be grasped.” ― Mattias Desmet, The Psychology of Totalitarianism
“Although the Enlightenment tradition arose from man’s optimistic and energetic aspiration to understand and control the world, it has led to the opposite in several respects: namely, the experience of loss of control. Humans have found themselves in a state of solitude, cut off from nature, and existing apart from social structures and connections, feeling powerless due to a deep sense of meaninglessness, living under clouds that are pregnant with an inconceivable, destructive potential, all while psychologically and materially depending on the happy few, whom he does not trust and with whom he cannot identify.” ― Mattias Desmet, The Psychology of Totalitarianism
“Free-floating anxiety can be traced back to the first two conditions. A person who has lost his bond with the Other and does not feel meaning typically experiences an indefinable unease and anxiety. This condition has been strongly present in the first decades of the twenty-first century. For example, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that one in five people worldwide has been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. These numbers are striking, all the more so because they are likely an underestimation. And the incidence of mental suffering in general, including the cases that go undiagnosed, is of course even higher. This can, amongst others, be concluded from the enormous consumption of psychotropic drugs. In a small country like Belgium, with eleven million inhabitants, no fewer than three hundred million (!) doses of antidepressants are taken every year.” ― Mattias Desmet, The Psychology of Totalitarianism
“Anxiety and unease, once tied to the oppression and abuse of the aristocracy and clergy, began to drift ineffably around in the human soul. Frustration and aggression, once held in check by fear of hell and the last judgment, proved increasingly easy to mobilize. The prospect of an afterlife dwindled and was readily replaced by belief in an artificially created, mechanistic-scientific paradise.” ― Mattias Desmet, The Psychology of Totalitarianism
“Totalitarian systems have always been maintained primarily by systematic indoctrination and propaganda, injected into the population on a daily basis via mass media (without mass media, it is not possible to generate such long-lasting mass formation as that which gave rise to Stalinism and Nazism). This way, the population is literally kept on the vibrational frequency of the voice of totalitarian leaders.” ― Mattias Desmet, The Psychology of Totalitarianism
“Religious discourse, with its system of dogmas derived from ancient texts, lost its authority. Instead of something that had to be revealed to man by God, knowledge became something man could come to on his own. All he had to do was observe phenomena with his eyes and think logically.” ― Mattias Desmet, The Psychology of Totalitarianism
“Dare to think! Have the courage to use your own reason!’ is therefore the motto of the Enlightenment,” as stated in 1784 by the great German Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant.1” ― Mattias Desmet, The Psychology of Totalitarianism
“As such, science stumbles upon an unknowable and mysterious essence that escapes logical explanation and which can be described only in the language of poetry and metaphor.” ― Mattias Desmet, The Psychology of Totalitarianism
“prohibitions of the past were declared superfluous, unnecessary to steer society in the right direction. An increasingly loose morality would eventually reconcile man with carnal desires, formerly perceived as threatening. The crippling censorship of anything contrary to the religious discourse disappeared. Freedom of speech became a basic right, education became universally available, legal assistance became a right for all, love was stripped of its duty to marry and have children, sexuality was restored and its coupling with sin and corruption was undone.” ― Mattias Desmet, The Psychology of Totalitarianism
“Social connections were also transformed beyond recognition. The invention of radio and television led to the rise of the mass media and a corresponding decline in direct human interactions with a merely social function. Evening meetings between neighbors, pub gatherings, harvest festivals, rituals, and celebrations—they were progressively replaced by consumption of what the media presented.” ― Mattias Desmet, The Psychology of Totalitarianism
“No risk of arguing; no confrontation with painful jealousy, shame, or embarrassment; no need to dress up or to even leave the house. It also uniformized social exchanges. Public space, including the political sphere, was increasingly dominated by a shrinking number of voices that conquered the living room via the mass media.1 In other words, social relationships lost their diversity and originality.” ― Mattias Desmet, The Psychology of Totalitarianism
“The worker became, as they say, a cog in the industrial machine, lubricated only by the thought of wages due. Labor changed from a cumbersome but inherently meaningful existential task into a disembodied utilitarian necessity.” ― Mattias Desmet, The Psychology of Totalitarianism
“If human relationships are characterized by fundamental distrust, life becomes hopelessly complicated and society spends its energy at creating all kinds of “security mechanisms,” which in fact fuel mistrust even more and are, above all, psychologically exhausting.” ― Mattias Desmet, The Psychology of Totalitarianism
“remarkable that it’s mainly the people who perform work that is directly useful—health care workers, garbage collectors, craftsmen, farmers—who get fired or whose work is so poorly rewarded that they have to almost live on the breadline or survive from subsidies (think of farmers, who produce food, the most necessary material object of all). On the other hand, the most meaningless jobs, such as administrative work, are steadily increasing in number and are, in comparison, rewarded more and more generously.” ― Mattias Desmet, The Psychology of Totalitarianism
“Due to the industrialization, mechanization, and technologization of the world, production capacities, economic power (via a self-centralizing banking system), and psychological power (via mass media) fell into the hands of an ever-decreasing number of people. The Enlightenment tradition had promised people autonomy and freedom, but, in a way, it brought people greater (feelings of) dependence and powerlessness than ever before. This powerlessness caused people to increasingly mistrust those in power. Throughout the nineteenth century, fewer and fewer people felt that political leaders really represented their voice in public space or defended their interests. As a result, man also became disassociated from the social classes that were represented” ― Mattias Desmet, The Psychology of Totalitarianism
To come into harmony with the Law of Nature you must articulate your sincere opinion without fear of conflict or loose your soul. The purpose of being informed about the strong delusion is not for the purpose of judging others but to help guard against harm to yourself or others due to ignorance, and lose your soul.
Without a chaos of conversations in which the conflict of free wills are allowed there can be no harmony occurring within the space and time that our individual lives occupy.
To keep company with those who continue to oppress the freewill of others is to keep company with the adversary, the Satan and demons.
To accept the counsel of oppressors of free opinions without descent is to become a demon opposed to the quest for truth. T
The cities of blood spread a net of malcontent which will give license to sacrifice their neighbor's liberty to obtain the benefit at the expense of others.
- ↑ Available at Keys of the Kingdom with Brother Gregory on most podcast providers.
- ↑ False prophets and Guru theories
- Isaiah 42:16 "And I will bring the blind by a way [that] they knew not; I will lead them in paths [that] they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them. 17 They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye [are] our gods. 18 Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see."
- Isaiah 30:20 "And [though] the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers: 21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This [is] the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. 22 Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence. 23 Then shall he give the rain of thy seed,..."
- Matthew 13:13 "Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand."
- Matthew 15:14 "Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch."
- Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recoveing of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
- John 9:39 ¶ "And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind."
- Luke 6:39 "And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch? 40 The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master."
- Acts 13:11 "And now, behold, the hand of the Lord [is] upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand."
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Destroyers of liberty
- "That the man who first ruined the Roman people twas he who first gave them treats and gratuities. But this mischief crept secretly and gradually in, and did not openly make it's appearance in Rome for a considerable time." Plutarch's Life of Coriolanus (c. 100 AD.) This would include Julius Caesar and eventually Augustus Caesar which is why Plutarch also reported, “The real destroyers of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations, and benefits.” This was a major theme of the Bible:
- There were tables of welfare which were both snares and a traps as David and Paul stated and Peter warned would make us merchandise and curse children. Proverbs 23 told us not to not eat the "dainties" offered at those tables of Rulers and Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10 we cannot eat of those tables and the table of the Lord. We are not to consent to their covetous systems of One purse or Corban which makes the word of God to none effect.
- We know when the masses become accustomed to those benefits of legal charity which are the rewards of unrighteousness provided by benefactors who exercise authority and the Fathers of the earth through the covetous practices that makes men merchandise and curse children as a surety for debt.
- ↑ "And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost." Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
- ↑ "Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force." Darth
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 The Psychology of Totalitarianism by Mattias Desmet, Chapt. 5.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Media Madness is herding the mind of the masses over a cliff of foolishness toward destruction. Why do people find it difficult to determine the truth? Do the seeds of foolishness cause a mass formation of a strong delusion.
- ↑ God of life and love
- Job 1:21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
- John 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. 13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
- 1 John 3:16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? 18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
- John 6:33-34“33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. 34 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.”
- Mark 10:45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
- John 10:11 "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep... 15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.... 17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again."
- John 13:37-38 “Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. 38 Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice.”
- John 15:13-14 “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.”
- 1 Corinthians 13:13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
- Leviticus 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.
- "Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." Matthew 21:43
- Matthew 19:19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
- Matthew 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
- Galatians 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 15 But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.
- James 2:8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: 9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
- 1 John 3:16-18 “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? 18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.”
- ↑ False prophets and Guru theories
- Isaiah 42:16 "And I will bring the blind by a way [that] they knew not; I will lead them in paths [that] they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them. 17 They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye [are] our gods. 18 Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see."
- Isaiah 30:20 "And [though] the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers: 21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This [is] the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. 22 Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence. 23 Then shall he give the rain of thy seed,..."
- Matthew 13:13 "Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand."
- Matthew 15:14 "Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch."
- Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recoveing of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
- John 9:39 ¶ "And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind."
- Luke 6:39 "And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch? 40 The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master."
- Acts 13:11 "And now, behold, the hand of the Lord [is] upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand."
- ↑ Protectio trahit subjectionem, subjectio protectionem. Coke, Littl. 65."
- ↑ Covet not
- Exodus 20:17 "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that [is] thy neighbour’s."
- Deuteronomy 5:21 "Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour’s wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour’s house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any [thing] that [is] thy neighbour’s."
- Micah 2:2 "And they covet fields, and take [them] by violence; and houses, and take [them] away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage." Property and inheritance tax.
- Habakkuk 2:9 "Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil! 10 Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned against thy soul."
- Mark 7:20 "And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: 23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man."
- Romans 7:7 "What shall we say then? [Is] the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet."
- Romans 13:9 "For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if [there be] any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."
- 1 Corinthians 5:10 "Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. 11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat."
- 1 Corinthians 6:10 "Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." See Not inherit the kingdom
- Ephesians 5:5 "For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." See Not inherit the kingdom
- 2 Timothy 3:2 "For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. 6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, 7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
- 2 Peter 2:3 "And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not."
- 2 Peter 2:14 "Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:"
- Colossians 3:5 "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:"
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Bite not
- Ecclesiastes 4:5 "The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh."
- Proverbs 6:10 "[Yet] a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: 11 So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man."
- Proverbs 20:4 "The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; [therefore] shall he beg in harvest, and [have] nothing."
- Proverbs 24:33 "[Yet] a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: 34 So shall thy poverty come [as] one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man."
- Proverbs 11:17 "The merciful man doeth good to his own soul: but [he that is] cruel troubleth his own flesh."
- Isaiah 9:20 "And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm:"
- Isaiah 9:20 "And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm:"
- Ezekiel 11:3 "Which say, [It is] not near; let us build houses: this [city is] the caldron, and we [be] the flesh... 11 This [city] shall not be your caldron, neither shall ye be the flesh in the midst thereof; [but] I will judge you in the border of Israel:"
- Micah 3:3 "Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them; and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron."
- Galatians 5:14 "For all the law is fulfilled in one word, [even] in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 15 But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another."
- 2 Corinthians 11:20 "For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour [you], if a man take [of you], if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face."
- The ultimate bondage is to hate your neighbor through the error of Balaam because we fail to forgive which is the consuming fire of Exodus 33 and the Raca of Matthew 5 that brings the judgement and wrath of God.
- ↑ Animise 1. a doctrine that the vital principle of organic development is immaterial spirit.
- 2. : attribution of conscious life to nature or natural objects. animist.
- ↑ Not exercise authority
- Matthew 20:25 "But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you:..."
- Mark 10:42 "But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you:..."
- Luke 22:25 "And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye [shall] not [be] so:..."
- ↑ Judge not
- Matthew 7:1 "Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again."
- Luke 6:37 "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: [forgive], and ye shall be forgiven:"
- John 7:24 "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment."
- Isaiah 1:23 "Thy princes [are] rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them." See Pure Religion.
- John 12:47 "And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge(2919) him not: for I came not to judge(2919) the world, but to save the world. 48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day."
- ↑ Consent not
- Exodus 20:3 "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
- Exodus 23:32 "Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods."
- Deuteronomy 7:2 "And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, [and] utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:"
- Deuteronomy 13:8 "Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him:"
- Deuteronomy 7:16 "And thou shalt consume all the people which the LORD thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shall have no pity upon them: neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that [will be] a snare unto thee."
- Judges 2:2 "And ye shall make no league [covenant] with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this?"
- Proverbs 1:10 "My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not."
- Proverbs 6:2 “Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.”
- Proverbs 13:20 "He that walketh with wise [men] shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed."
- Numbers 30:2 “If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.”
- Ecclesiastes 5:5 "Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay."
- Matthew 5:33-37 “Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.”
- Matthew 15:18 “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.”
- 1 Corinthians 6:12 “All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”
- James 5:12 “But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and [your] nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.”
- ↑ Weightier matters
- "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier [matters] of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone." Matthew 23:23
- "But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone." Luke 11:42
- "For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay [them] on men’s shoulders; but they [themselves] will not move them with one of their fingers." Matthew 23:4
- "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Matthew 22:37-40
- "But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, [It is] Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; [he shall be free]. 12 And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; 13 Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye." Mark 7:11
- "And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." Luke 12:15
- "For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." Hosea 6:6
- He hath shewed thee, O man, what [is] good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" Micah 6:8
- "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." Galatians 5:22
- "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach [them], the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed [the righteousness] of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:19
- ↑ Jesus against covetousness
- Mark 7:9 "And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition." See Corban.
- Mark 7:20 "And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: 23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man."
- Luke 12:15 "And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth."
- Luke 16:14 "And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him. 15 And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God."
- Luke 21:34 "And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and [so] that day come upon you unawares. 35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth."
- Matthew 19:17 "And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? [there is] none good but one, [that is], God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments."
- John 14:15 "If ye love me, keep my commandments."
- John 14:21 "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him."
- John 15:10 "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love."
- ↑ "Because of what appears to be a lawful command on the surface, many Citizens, because of respect for the law, are cunningly coerced into waiving their rights due to ignorance." U.S v.Minker, 350 U.S. 179, 187
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Eyes darkened
- Psalms 69:22 "Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. 23 Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake."
- Psalms 107:10 "Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, [being] bound in affliction and iron;"
- Isaiah 9:2 "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined."
- Isaiah 42:7 "To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, [and] them that sit in darkness out of the prison house."
- Isaiah 42:16 "And I will bring the blind by a way [that] they knew not; I will lead them in paths [that] they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them."
- Isaiah 49:6 "And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth."
- Ecclesiastes 2:14 "The wise man’s eyes [are] in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all."
- Micah 7:8 "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD [shall be] a light unto me."
- Matthew 4:16 “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.”
- Luke 1:79 "To give light to them that sit in darkness and [in] the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."
- John 1:9 [That] was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
- Romans 11:10 "Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway"
- 2 Corinthians 6:14 "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?”
- Job 34:22 "There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves."
- Matthew 6:23 “But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!”
- 1 John 2:10 "He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. 11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes."
- John 3:19 "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." See Born again.
- ↑ "The masses continue with an appetite for benefits and the habit of receiving them by way of a rule of force and violence. The people, having grown accustomed to feed at the expense of others and to depend for their livelihood on the property of others... institute the rule of violence; and now uniting their forces massacre, banish, and plunder, until they degenerate again into perfect savages and find once more a master and monarch." Polybius 150 years before Christ.
- ↑ Mattias Desmet, The Psychology of Totalitarianism.
- ↑ Five causes of the growth of Christianity
- "Our curiosity is naturally prompted to inquire by what means the Christian faith obtained so remarkable a victory over the established religions of the earth. To this inquiry an obvious but unsatisfactory answer may be returned; that it was owing to the convincing evidence of the doctrine itself, and to the ruling providence of its great Author. But as truth and reason seldom find so favourable a reception in the world, and as the wisdom of Providence frequently condescends to use the passions of the human heart, and the general circumstances of mankind, as instruments to execute its purpose, we may still be permitted, though with becoming submission, to ask, not indeed what were the first, but what were the secondary causes of the rapid growth of the Christian church? It will, perhaps, appear that it was most effectually favoured and assisted by the five following causes:
I. The inflexible, and, if we may use the expression, the intolerant zeal of the Christians, derived, it is true, from the Jewish religion, but purified from the narrow and unsocial spirit which, instead of inviting, had deterred the Gentiles from embracing the law of Moses.
II. The doctrine of a future life, improved by every additional circumstance which could give weight and efficacy to that important truth.
III. The miraculous powers ascribed to the primitive church.
IV. The pure and austere morals of the Christians.
V. The union and discipline of the Christian republic, which gradually formed an independent and increasing state in the heart of the Roman empire." Chapter 15. Fall In The West — The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
- "Our curiosity is naturally prompted to inquire by what means the Christian faith obtained so remarkable a victory over the established religions of the earth. To this inquiry an obvious but unsatisfactory answer may be returned; that it was owing to the convincing evidence of the doctrine itself, and to the ruling providence of its great Author. But as truth and reason seldom find so favourable a reception in the world, and as the wisdom of Providence frequently condescends to use the passions of the human heart, and the general circumstances of mankind, as instruments to execute its purpose, we may still be permitted, though with becoming submission, to ask, not indeed what were the first, but what were the secondary causes of the rapid growth of the Christian church? It will, perhaps, appear that it was most effectually favoured and assisted by the five following causes:
- ↑ — Rousseau and Revolution, Will et Ariel Durant p.801. fn 83 Heiseler, 85.
- ↑ Matthew 15:14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
- Luke 6:39 And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch? 40 The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.
- ↑ the combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual's distinctive character.
- ↑ Matthew 7:6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
- ↑ ✓Plane a flat surface on which a straight line joining any two points on it would wholly lie. 2. a level of existence, thought, or development.
- ↑ Proverbs 29:18 "Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he."