Creativity is integral to many aspects of life, from being an effective problem solver to a good artist, but the brain function underlying this important trait is not well understood. A study published in Neuroscience uses EEG (electroencephalogram) technology to explore which brain regions are active during creative thinking.
When Jesus gave us a promised helper, the Spirit of Truth, he made it possible for us to enjoy his presence continuously. This gift, from the Way, the Truth, and the Life is fully capable of leading us; along the Way, into all Truth, so that we may enjoy the most abundant Life possible; just as the Master said. Those who put Jesus on the cross to die thought that his influential presence would somehow be diminished when, in fact, his ministry has been augmented by the spirit complement that indwells and also envelopes us.
There are those who would usurp the authority of the Spirit. They are the great pretenders, that habitually elevate their personal evaluations, to the level of absolutes. They may think they’re justified while attacking the underpinnings of another person’s faith. They might feel as though they are qualified to perform the equivalent of psychological or theological surgery on the souls of others. And they might presume to impose their individually circumscribed and personalized science, philosophy and religion on our brothers and sisters.
Jesus did not call us to remove anything from the hearts and minds of our siblings. He instead demonstrated how we may put ennobling truths into the minds and hearts of humankind. These truths are usually found, in a highly concentrated form, within the parables Jesus shared with his disciples and the Apostles. Today, I offer for your consideration, a contemporary parable that focuses on the quality of such concentration.
If you have ever known someone that suffers from depression, or if you have experienced it personally, you probably know something of what is sometimes called the binocular trick. This analogy is used to describe habit where the individual magnifies or exaggerates problems, while they demagnify, disqualify, or minimize their blessings. Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, perceived blessings and curses may be as well.
A lens is a concentrator. In the case of telescopes it also serves as a light gathering device. The first person to apply for a patent for a telescope was Dutch eyeglass maker Hans Lippershey. In 1608, he laid claim to a device that could magnify objects three times. His telescope had a concave eyepiece aligned with a convex objective lens. One story goes that he got the idea for his design after observing two children in his shop holding up two lenses that made a distant weather vane appear close. Others claimed at the time that he stole the design from another eyeglass maker, Zacharias Jansen.
Jansen and Lippershey lived in the same town and both worked on making optical instruments. Scholars generally argue, however, that there is no real evidence that Lippershey did not develop his telescope independently. Lippershey, therefore, gets the credit for the telescope, because of the patent application, while Jansen is credited with inventing the compound microscope. Both appear to have contributed to the development of both instruments.
Adding to the confusion, yet another Dutchman, Jacob Metius, applied for a patent for a telescope a few weeks after Lippershey. The government of the Netherlands turned down both applications because of the counterclaims. Also, officials said the device was easy to reproduce, making it difficult to patent. In the end, Metius got a small reward, but the government paid Lippershey a handsome fee to make copies of his telescope.
In 1609, Galileo Galilei heard about the “Dutch perspective glasses” and within days had designed a scope of his own — without ever seeing one. He made some improvements — his creation could magnify objects 20 times — and presented his device to the Venetian Senate. The Senate, in turn, set him up for life as a lecturer at the University of Padua and doubled his salary, according to Stillman Drake in his book “Galileo at Work. Legend has it that Galileo was the first to point a telescope skyward. He was able to make out mountains and craters on the moon, as well as a ribbon of diffuse light arching across the sky — the Milky Way. He also discovered the rings of Saturn, sunspots and four of Jupiter’s moons.
A parable is, in essence, the means to convey truth to people with a wide variety of capacities to comprehend. In substance a parable is also known as a parabolic analogy. It is called that because it is analogous to the way a lens, an acoustically tuned amphitheater, or a satellite dish makes use of curvature and forms a directing arc to concentrate the light, the sound, or the radio waves on some target.
There are three kinds of light: physical light, intellectual insight, and spirit luminosity. Jesus, the master story teller, made use of the narrative’s directing arc to focus us on the truth of the matter. When we read these stories we make use of physical light to enhance our intellectual insight. When we are responsive to the Spirit of Truth’s divine leading, our spirit luminosity brings the components of truth: the facts, meanings, and values into precise focus.
One of the greatest embarrassments to the faith is the masquerade. Those feigning reverence for all that Jesus taught and exemplified, while harboring attitudes and engaging in behaviors that make a mockery of those same ideals, are doing far more damage than good. This is Lucifer’s legacy. For the self-proclaimed God of Liberty has advanced an unbridled and fraudulent form of liberty that is, first and foremost, characterized by contempt for all things true, beautiful, and good.
The first casualty as a result of the Luciferian sophistries occurred within the minds of those with an exaggerated sense of self-importance. Narcissism is clearly incompatible with Divine Truth. This was brought home in our recent history as Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Propaganda Minister, advanced the deception of his day. He said; “If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it, and you will even come to believe it yourself.”
Once a person is fully vested in the lie, they are not likely to depart from it. And Goebbels addressed this with his description of just how the lie runs deep within the mind of the psychopath. On this he said; “Propaganda works best when those who are being manipulated are confident they are acting on their own free will.”
Goebbelian tactics are focused on the more animalistic among us. The emotionally charged and intellectually stunted are ripe for exploitation. Goebbels put it this way; “There was no point in seeking to convert the intellectuals. For intellectuals would never be converted and would anyway always yield to the stronger, and this will always be “the man in the street.” Arguments must therefore be crude, clear and forcible, and appeal to emotions and instincts, not the intellect. Truth was unimportant and entirely subordinate to tactics and psychology.”
As to the target demographic, likely to embrace his message, Goebbels zeroed in even further saying; “…the rank and file are usually much more primitive than we imagine. Propaganda must therefore always be essentially simple and repetitious.” He elaborated further on the nature of the message with a warning; “The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly – it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over.”
Goebbels revealed much about how the church and the state, together with the religious and political discourse of our time can be turned to resemble the arrogant effrontery displayed by Lucifer in the Court of Heaven. For Goebbels said: “We enter parliament in order to supply ourselves, in the arsenal of democracy, with its own weapons. If democracy is so stupid as to give us free tickets and salaries for this bear’s work, that is its affair. We do not come as friends, nor even as neutrals. We come as enemies. As the wolf bursts into the flock, so we come.”
Today’s insurrectionists are Goebbelian fundamentalists. They turn a deaf ear to the Jesusonian warning that “He who lives by the sword dies by the sword.” Instead they embrace the prescription offered by Goebbels when he said: “The masses need something that will give them a thrill of horror.” He also observed that “propaganda must facilitate the displacement of aggression by specifying the targets for hatred.”
The FIBS tactic of leveraging Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear is a huge part of the Luciferian legacy and nowhere was it better articulated than within the Nazi propaganda machine. Goebbels focused on the street saying “Whoever can conquer the street will one day conquer the state, for every form of power politics and any dictatorship-run state has its roots in the street.”
Consider the politics of today in light of Goebbels proclamation that “We shall reach our goal, when we have the power to laugh as we destroy, as we smash, whatever was sacred to us as tradition, as education, and as human affection.”
Jesus famously said “By their fruits you shall know them.” We know the animalistic hoards that stormed the United States Capitol on January the 6th in 2021 produce the kind of strange fruit that Billie Holliday recorded a song about in 1939. She sang of a “pastoral scene of the gallant South – The bulgin’ eyes and the twisted mouth – Scent of magnolias sweet and fresh – Then the sudden smell of burnin’ flesh.”
John Wycliffe, for his translation of the Bible into Middle English, prefaced his work by writing “The Bible is about government of, by, and for the people.” Since that time counterfeit Christians have paid lip service to this essential biblical principle. They feign an affinity for democracy. And yet, the idea of a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, and multi-racial democracy terrifies them. This is why the first casualty resulting from the Lucifer Rebellion was truth.
Jesus said: “This is my command, that you love one another as I have loved you.” Authentic Christians should take note. When we have such clear instructions from our Mission Commander, we need look no further for a clear and concise Mission Statement.