PREFACE
If you bought a puzzle, opened up the box, and discovered there
was only one piece, the chances are that you would be rather upset. The fact of
the matter is even if the puzzle were a gift to your three-year old child, they
too would be upset. Picture yourself as one piece of a puzzle. Alone, your
potential is limited, if not non-existent.
It is only when people work together as a group in some type of
community that human potential can ever be remotely explored. Our power as
individuals may be worshipped at this place and time in history, but this is
only because the materialism surrounding us has allowed us to insulate
ourselves from our true identity. We are lost and alone as islands in the sea
of Spirituality and emotional growth. It is in relationship we change.
Furthermore, it is in healthy relationships where we change for the better.
This is not an option, it is THE WAY of love and truth.
The following endeavor is a compass of sort to help guide you on
that particular path. Embrace it and move forward!
Stu Strang
June 2012
MEASURE THE LENGTH OF
YOUR LIFE BY LOVE…
NOT YEARS
CHAPTER 1
Not too long ago, a company—which
will remain nameless—had internal problems and, after much deliberation, decided
to hire a community developer to discern the situation and then act
accordingly. Word spread throughout the land; the business doctor was
discovered and brought into the company.
After interviewing all the staff
quite extensively, the problem was exposed. As it turned out, one particular
individual of the female variety maliciously and unrepentantly usurped the
purpose and goals of the company, which will still remain nameless.
A weekend retreat was the
subscription. During the course of this retreat, the situation would be
manipulated in such a manner and the perpetrator of the criminal activity (sort
of) exposed as a fraud and, as a result, everyone besides her could return to
making the world a better place. A smart and cunning move if I say so myself.
And it worked. By the middle of day two, the buttons pushed, the screams,
yelling, and accusations began… and our little criminal was promptly sent home
with nothing but a toaster as a farewell gift.
I don’t know the rest of the story,
but I can tell you how it will inevitably play out. Very simple; sooner or
later, they will hire the same individual again, not literally, but in essence
the same type of person.
The heart of the problem was never
dealt with, only the symptoms. Temporary relief replaced discovery; a bandage
is probably the best way of describing it.
There are various manifestations of
communities: spiritual, social, business, and so on. Each community has a
specific degree of intimacy, transparency, and other such dynamics. Most of
these communities I refer to as non-communities (which we will explore later).
None-the-less, what all communities must have as a common goal is to move past
the superficial level and explore truth, as their very survival depends on it.
CHAPTER 2
There are many reasons why people
choose to deal with life (community) by manipulating the superficial aspects of
its existence. There are perhaps too many to count. We will explore what seems
to be the most important of these.
a)
The Western Mindset
If a cancer cure is ever going to be
discovered, it will not be a North American event. Our way of thinking simply
doesn’t allow for it. We treat our illnesses like we treat everything else; we
deal with the symptoms very well and disregard the root of the problem just as
passionately.
We have too much money. Money breeds
privacy, and once we have our privacy we have the unfortunate luxury of being
able to perpetrate the image of ourselves we want to get across to those around
us. That being, we are wholly individual without wrinkle or blemish. In North
America, we are Gods; and Gods don’t shit, wipe their ass, and certainly don’t
salivate during sex.
Wealth is the greatest enemy to
intimacy. It takes the human being to a place of esteem that he can never
obtain by using his own loving initiative. He must bow down to the God of
superficiality; because to disregard this God would be to put him in a place of
transparency and be discovered for the very thing he wants to hide and lock
away—human.
b)
Pride
I remember the day I walked down a
particular street in my neighborhood and passed by a middle-aged man who
happened to be an esteemed member of my city. I said hello, and for whatever
reason, he sneered back and continued on his journey. What he didn’t know was
how I knew his wife was an alcoholic and, on at least one occasion, attempted
to get him to murder their only son. My suspicion was if I had shared this
information, I probably would have been treated somewhat differently.
Pride is the opposite of love. It
creates the illusion that one is better than another. And from this point, it
allows many varied beliefs and attitudes to spring forth; all of which bring
division.
The opposite of pride is humility.
Roughly translated, humility is the state of seeking the truth concerning ones
self and the environment in which one lives. Humility is the art of casting
away false illusions, regardless of how convenient they may be, so love and
healing can enter the situation, and people are brought together in
understanding and compassion.
There simply isn’t enough humility
in this world. Not only is this seen as a weakness, but it also involves a
truthfulness that, at first glance, seems to put one at a profound disadvantage
in terms of dealing with fellow human beings. It is showing your jugular vein
to the rest of the pack and hoping they will have mercy on you; it is being
naked in a world where, if you are not wearing a $3000 suit, you are seen as
inferior.
It is no great curiosity why pride
is an enemy of building community. The truth is far worse. Virtually every
community I have seen in my lifetime not only gives into this trap, but has
also embraced this as Universal truth. To be precise, possibly the most
destructive force in the Universe is seen as a good, healthy belief.
c)
Power
People have no real power, only the
illusion of power. We are not in control of our lives; we only have the
neurotic belief we are in control of our lives. In essence, we are starving to
obtain something that is simply not obtainable.
The human being is full of overcompensations.
In fact, it is still quite possible to generally outline the psychological
profile of an individual by finding out how he is overcompensating, and then
drawing a straight line back to his true identity. Sexual behavior is one such example. Promiscuous sexual behavior is
always linked to overcompensation for anger, sexual insecurity, or dire
emotional need. Is it not difficult to discern which motivation, usually two or
more, is at work. To be exact, the identity is discovered by looking at the
intensity of the pretence of an individual.
Power takes this dynamic to a whole
new level. Whereas most people feel somewhat perverted sexually, in one-way or
another, all are profoundly lacking control. Hence, it is sought like air to
breathe, yet on an emotional level.
True community embraces the absence
of power. According to nature, the very thing we should be obsessed by, we have
to learn not to pay attention to. True community is open and transparent. Power
is replaced by trust. It is both volatile and beautiful. There is risk involved
as well as the possibility of overwhelming joy.
It is easy to see why people want
power of this level and many other levels. It is an easier way to live your
life. Yet it has no more to do with community than water does with dry air. I
once said to my community, “If you can stand up and say anything about
yourself, and still be loved and accepted, then you are indeed in a true
community.”
d)
Laziness
I met a friend for lunch recently. I
looked at him and said “Nice shirt.”
He replied “Thank you.”
I said “Did a woman buy that for
you.”
He said, “Yes.” Then I said, “Was
she an oriental woman who was extremely nurturing?”
Again he replied, “Yes.”
Finally I asked, “Are you aware that
she held it in her hands and prayed that you two would be united before she
gave it to you?” His answer was an empathetic “Yes.”
Love is a Spiritual force not only
governing the Universe, but when embraced to any extent, love can see into each
and every thing. This has to be so; for love and truth are different
manifestations of the same Spiritual dynamic.
I’ve met very few people in my life
who wanted to completely follow the way of love. To most, love is seen as a
strange emotion allowing one to get intimate feedback—sexual or otherwise—from
another human being. It is about them, and for their benefit, and they retreat
as emotions fade, or inconvenience grows.
Love is a way of life that takes
concerted effort. Love is from a different universe—a Spiritual universe—and in
order to bring it into this one, one must endure suffering. Feeling a certain
emotion and following it blindly is so far away from what love is, it is often
discussed in the context of narcissistic and selfish behavior.
Having said all this, it is easy to
discern why laziness is a great enemy of community. A true community is
painfully aware of its shortcomings, as a true community is constantly learning
what love is and then applying it to the lack of love in their own lives.
To be blunt, a lazy person is
incapable of a relationship with a community, as well as a relationship with
themselves. They are asleep. And no one can get to know another human being if
they don’t first want to know themselves.
e)
Fear
During my tenure with traditional
religion and all it involved, I soon learnt that there was no way I could be at
one with such a belief system and still maintain my integrity. Without getting
too specific—at this point anyway—it became very obvious to the authorities, as
well as myself, that our base beliefs had very little (if anything) in common.
The way traditional religion deals
with such situations is to never argue points of doctrine or basic logic. As we
will later discuss in great detail, institutions do not develop true community
and, consequently, to have truth of any kind exposed to the light would be
against their better interest.
It is quite easy to circumvent
truth. Indeed, once you become fearful of another, truth is quickly and
efficaciously thrown to the side. Fear is the opposite of love, and because of
this dynamic it will avoid truth at all costs. One who is afraid he will lose
his mind will attack, not because he is evil, but because he has been drugged
by one of the most poisonous of all drugs.
If you are to embrace what I have
just suggested, it is not difficult to see how fear can and will destroy a
community. And if you are willing to acknowledge that fear is more likely to
control human behavior than love, we can only conclude how fear is usually
found in the fabric of most communities.
The sad and pathetic fact of the
matter is it takes a very mature human being to transcend the fearful feelings
of what we are exposed to on a daily basis. Fear guides us in so many ways. In
the arms of fear, good people do very bad things. A community who is not dealing
successfully with this disease is a community with a cancer growing within its
very fabric.
CHAPTER 3
There is a name for community built
upon such dynamics of human experience—paganism. Specifically, paganism per se
is not concerned with the esthetic practices, as in essence, it a way of
religiously attempting to get what you feel you desire. The rituals involved
are secondary at best.
In Western civilization (I will
explore “The West” as this is where I live) the religion practiced the most is
that of the Christian God. His name is Jesus Christ. He lived about 2000 years
ago and, contrary to what we may or may not have learned in Church, His message
was profoundly simple:
a) Love and forgiveness
b) Feed the poor
c) Submit to God’s will
d) The kingdom of God is within
e) Don’t judge
As far as I can tell, He didn’t have
a lot (if anything) more to say than this. So my question is what happened? How
could something so simple and beautiful, over such a short period of time, lead
to inquisitions, war, racism, televangelists, sexual perversion, abnormal
sexual purity ethics, how to get rich schemes, and so on?
A very appropriate example of this
deterioration is found in the holiday of Easter. Initially meant to be a sacred
time of embracing the death and resurrection of the Christian God, it became a
holiday surrounded with bunnies that lay eggs and the journey to find chocolate
under the couch. All of this is wonderful, but still you can’t help but wonder
how the true message became misplaced.
Easter is derived from the word
Estar, who just happens to be the name of an ancient fertility God who existed
somewhere in the south of Europe. From the beginning, the Christian faith has
adopted aspects of other religions into its bosom, as it did in this particular
situation by encouraging greed and materialism. The way the West practice
Christianity in these modern times has very little to do with what Christianity
is supposed to be in its essence. Just as materialism is a form of paganism, so
has Christianity adopted its ideals to accommodate such practices.
My point here is not to disparage
pagan religion of practice. I’m sure such a practice can help many people
obtain certain things considered by most of humanity to be quite valuable. The
best way to practice paganism is to first become a pagan. Honesty on any level
will help the individual focus upon what he desires, making its conquest
inevitably much easier. The problem with most of the great world religions is
how they have become essentially pagan without admitting this fact. The end
result creates only darkness, despair, and confusion. Community is all about
love, nothing else. If what I am attempting to suggest is true and love has
been diverted in the most profound sense, then we must look closely at how it
has been taken off course before we bring it back into focus.
a)
Deceit
I remember many years ago being the
special guest speaker at a camp of denomination, which will remain a mystery to
the reader. At one particular vespers service, 52 of the 54 youth began to weep
and cry after I finished my speech. It quickly came to the surface (although
the entire event lasted over four hours) that there had been abuse and violence
in the homes of most of the children. In short, I was quickly discredited and
dehumanized as an individual behind the scene. Being a young man, I was
shocked. I expected nothing less at this point in my life.
Where there is control and the other
pagan attributes described in the last chapter, there is (at least on a mass
scale) the absence of love. And where there is the absence of love, other
objects will always take its place. There is no need to even consider what is
going on in any community centered on the idea of self and what the self
desires. No matter where you are to travel, it will always be the same.
At
this point I have to admit I am not a humanist. I do believe the success of any
community is the following of some sort of Divine love that is able to guide
the life of anyone interested. He or she, if Divine, is obviously not insecure
in receiving the correct label. In essence, it is the way of love, call it what
you will.
b)
Pride
In many respects, pride is the exact
opposite of love. Pride demands separation from one another in the purest sense
possible. To be proud is to forsake humility, making up your own definition of
what love is and is not as you go along.
About five years ago, my father
disowned me. He wrote me a vicious, nasty letter concerning my lifestyle, which
I believe had to be addressed. I took it to the art shop to be mounted and
laminated, then I wrote on the back “An apology would be appreciated, love
Stu.” The next correspondence I received was from his lawyer, essentially
writing me out of his will.
The most interesting aspect of this
interaction is how, amongst other things, my father is both a child beater and
alcoholic. I grew up as a severely abused child. Through the Divine gift of
humility, I was able to completely forgive him in every respect possible.
Through the manifestations of a proud heart, he became murderous over the slightest
confrontation done in love. He took my
letter down to the shooting range and used it for target practice.
As humanity, left to it own accord,
makes up its own definition of what love is, the definition changes ever so
slightly as it goes along. Each change becomes more self-seeking. This is the
out working of pride, and as we make these decisions to separate ourselves from
a Spiritual love that heals, we in turn become more and more separated from
each other. Ultimately our own definition of what is right erodes and destroys
our love for each other.
c)
Lust
Contrary to popular belief, lust is
not just a simple aspect of human sexuality; lust is a way of life that
involves taking things sexual or otherwise, which have not been generously and
obviously given to you, as the tide of love ebbs and flows throughout your own
little world and the Universe at large. Lust is an intellectual mindset
intimately entwined with our Spiritual and emotional components.
There is nothing complex about the
human condition. People are very obvious, it only seems the opposite since our
needs and agendas obscure the view. I can draw a map of someone’s sexual habits
and desires after just a very short conversation. For example, the kind of
person who won’t shut up always has a deep-seated neurotic need for approval,
which will inevitably spill out into the sexual area of their life. This has to
be so as people are not a series of distinct components (at least not in the
traditional sense). Instead people are various manifestations of the same
thing. Mentally, Spiritually, sexually, it’s the same person expressing himself
differently (much like solid liquid and gas in regards to water).
It is interesting how people doubt
this dynamic. Most people can even discern an extremely angry man as he walks
down the street kicking household pets and swearing and cussing as he goes. At
least many of them can tell, to one extent or another, he wouldn’t be very good
in bed. I am only taking this observation of behavior a little further, okay maybe
more than a little. For example, I can usually distinguish if someone is
committing adultery by the way they scratch their head. However, it’s the same
principle exactly.
In the ruins of lustful behavior,
there emerges the need for some type of justification, as no one desires to be
seen as lustful. Such justifications then happen in the form of board meetings,
written agendas, elder meetings, and other such hideous things. To be blunt,
when such problems manifest, it is already too late to save your community. End
it. Re-examine yourself and your motives, take some time off, and try again.
Here is a brief outline on the
development of lust, stage to stage:
a) You want something that isn’t yours.
b) There is a cognitive awareness of
this, and it makes you aware of your impurities as a human.
c) “No” says a part of you, “I am good”
and justifications begin to take place.
d) Lies creates darkness, things grow
in the darkness and self righteousness and religion arise to overcompensate.
e) Love is lost and ritual takes it
place.
f) People get really hurt.
g) People are dehumanized in order to
justify what has happened.
If
some of this information seems obscure to you, don’t panic! Things will become
clearer as we continue.
CHAPTER 4
If you have followed me so far, here
is what you have learned:
a) Community is a good thing, derived
from a good heart, and needed to grow a reasonable whole human being.
b) It hardly ever happens, and the
reason is because man is our greatest enemy.
c) Maybe things could be different if
we could even admit this to ourselves, but we can’t. Hence, we construct an
elaborate, and even brilliant, way of justifying things to ourselves.
It is not our minds we have to worry
about. A stupid person with a loving heart can find peace, love, and
understanding here on Earth with his limited brain capacity, just as easily as
a smart person. Conversely, they can both find hell on Earth, only the
reasoning and justifications will be somewhat different.
If you don’t believe in the power of
the subconscious mind, we may be at a possible crossroads. It does not mean to
say put down the book, as I feel quite sure you will be at least somewhat
entertained. In the subconscious mind is where beauty grows, or to be specific,
where community begins.
Short
Stories
a)
May 1991
About a year and a half into the
formation of our community, a mother of a young man involved wanted to talk to
me concerning her child and a very specific friend he spent time with. As it
happened, it bothered her that the two children (who somehow found each other
despite living miles apart) spent much of their time pretending they were
brothers. At first I didn’t understand her concern, but then she explained that
they were in fact brothers. Because of her age when her eldest was born, she
deemed it appropriate to give him up for adoption.
b)
Karon
I remember one night, back when I
lived in the beautiful continent of Australia, waking up at three or four in
the morning with a horrible feeling about a friend of mine in danger of being
raped. I immediately flew out of bed, put on clothes, and drove to her place of
employment where I found her getting ready to leave for home. I told her why I
was there, and then preceded to drive her safely home. The next day, we
discovered that, not only did a rape occur in that particular neighborhood the
night before, but we also estimated that if Karon had walked home, she would
have been on that specific street at the specific time of the attack.
c)
Mother
Quite a few years ago, my mother
moved to a small town on the south coast of Nova Scotia referred to as
Bridgewater (mainly because that is what it is called). The first time I went
to visit her, I asked her if she had bought the house from an elderly lady.
Then I asked her if the lady was sick with a very painful form of arthritis.
Finally, I asked her if the elderly lady had to sell the house because she had
lost her mind. Of course, the answer was a resounding yes to all three
questions. Just for the hell of it, I asked her one more question, did she want
to know how I knew these things, and she answered no.
Through my understanding, virtually
all community is formed by utilizing the conscious mind to its full capacity
and disregarding the subconscious mind as much as possible. Plans are drawn up,
demographics studied, agendas formed, and the community grows on these terms.
In studying community development many years ago, this is exactly what I
learned, and there are many reasons for this.
1) People quite often don’t believe in
forces they cannot perceive with their eyes. And to let such a force guide the
development of a community would be irresponsible at best.
2) After years of grocery shopping and
other such things, I have spent much of my time holding doors open for my
fellow shoppers. The one thing I have noticed with all the shoppers is their
need to touch the door while I’m holding it. For better or worse, I’ve turned
this into a little game for my amusement. While holding the door completely
open, I keep enough space between where the door is and where the door stops
swinging so that when the person goes to touch the door, I can yank it back
just a little bit more to keep it out of their reach. They reach more, and I
pull more. Sometimes they almost pull their back out reaching for the stupid
thing. The point is, people are control freaks, and to rely on something they
cannot either understand or control is not an easy task.
3) In regards to the subconscious mind,
like attracts like, love attracts love; selfishness attracts selfishness, and
so on. Put two criminals in a room of 500
people, and they will find each other’s company within five minutes. We
will discuss the importance of leadership later, however, at this juncture, if
you are an asshole attempting to form an organic community, you will indeed
find yourself surrounded by other assholes.
CHAPTER 5
It is impossible to discuss the
subconscious mind without bringing God into the picture. According to any
theistic religion I deem valid, people have a relationship with God and He is
more than willing to communicate with them through the subconscious mind,
specifically, His Spirit with our Spirit. If you don’t believe in God, or you
believe it is a type of cosmic energy that ebbs and flows. Fine. This works
too. It doesn’t matter to me what you refer to Him as, what does matter is the
certain dynamics to any manifestation of Spiritual, or cosmic belief in terms
of forming community.
a)
Sex and The Spirit
During the third year of my
ordination with a traditional denomination, which will still remain nameless
throughout the course of this book, I was “privileged” with the experience of
attending their annual conference. It was there I discovered how one minister
lost his status in the denomination for nude sunbathing with a member of his
congregation, and another minister for being gay. A third committed adultery,
but he resigned before they could take away his credentials, so they wanted to
take him to court, wanted the court to reinstate him, just so they could then
have him officially removed. I don’t
think the case ever happened.
My response to this, being a
perpetual skinny dipper, was to plot my escape from these people. It took 14 months, and I wish I knew then
what I know now.
The people I have mentioned will be
scarred for life because of the lack of understanding and tenderness given to
them. And the sexual part of the human is not as central as the Spiritual. If
you cannot love people and nurture this area of their lives, then deal with
areas that are not so central to their identity. If you find this difficult
too, then stay away from them. People are to be cared for and embraced at all
costs.
b)
A Slow Arc To Justice
It is now common knowledge that over
50 percent of prisoners in North America are inflicted with a disease known as
fetal alcohol syndrome. This is an ailment caused by the pregnant mother
drinking unhealthy amounts of alcohol, which results in the child having very
little, or no, ability to understanding the consequences of their actions.
Virtually the rest of the continent is incapable of abstract thought, a condition
with very similar characteristics.
There is indeed a slow arc moving in
the direction of justice. People are so engrossed with immediate stimulation,
it may be difficult to perceive, yet it doesn’t change the fact that this is
life.
If you are into immediate
stimulation, it is very easy to grow a rather large community, for example, 100
to 5000 in a very short period of time. Here’s what to do:
1. Study the demographics of a city.
2. Decide which one you want to appeal
to.
3. Model your platform to suit their needs
and lusts.
4. Communicate to them in a way that
seems challenging, yet promises them that what they want out of life is what is
right for them to have.
5. Create a high-energy atmosphere to
stimulate the certain areas of the brain not often stimulated.
6. Never reveal your true identity, it
will remind them of their weaknesses, and they may leave.
7. Specifically, your emphasis must be
on some manifestation of materialism. It is a materialistic society, but don’t
make anyone feel uncomfortable.
A year or so ago, at the swimming
pool I frequently visit, I found a diamond ring worth hundreds of dollars, if
not more. I returned it. A week or so later, someone stole my two dollar soap
dish. I am sure they are washing themselves and laughing at me, as we speak.
Growing a community by utilizing the above method is like the guy who took my
soap dish. The only different is, he probably won’t choke on a piece of
plastic.
The reason why people feel compelled
to grow a community by appealing to the conscience, instead of the Spiritual
person (besides ignorance) is simply because when you appeal to the Spirit, you
inevitably attract people who are of a kindred Spirit. For most people, this is
a nightmare.
c)
The Appearance of Insanity
When we began our community back in
1990, almost immediately we had thirty or so people. By the end of the first
year, once everyone realized I was serious about the unconditional love message
and how it was to be our one and only objective, we were left with only five
people. That Christmas, I preached a sermon to a room with no people. In fact,
if it hadn’t been for the mouse that ran across the back of the room, I would
have been completely alone.
Many years after this event, during
a certain financial crisis, our main contractor decided to stop supporting our
community. Within a few weeks, I felt strangely compelled to very strongly
suggest to another of our main supporters to stop the monetary support. In
other words, we were screwed, or so it seemed! Don’t ask me how it happened,
but after losing 40% of income, we had more money than previously. I’m no
financial expert, but it didn’t make much sense to me.
When real community—organic
community—takes place, it completely transcends the intellectual properties of
the human race. God perpetuates it. And because He knows so much more than us,
because He can see things we cannot, there is created the appearance of
insanity in the formation of the community. Things can look their worst, look
its best, or vice versa.
How
to be insane:
1) Know yourself so intuition can flow
freely.
2) Obey your intuition.
3) Love is the force taking things
where they are supposed to go.
4) Don’t listen to anyone you don’t
really trust (hidden agendas).
5) Be prepared to suffer, you are not
obeying the status quo.
Obviously,
all of these things are explained more thoroughly as we proceed.
CHAPTER 6
It is then within the subconscious
mind where the essential qualities breed to form community. Yet before this is
explored, there are two other “community” type situations we need to look at 1)
the perversion of community, which is religion, and 2) the far less threatening
non-community. We will look at this very quickly, more as a point of reference
than a point of relevance. Through it may seem like community, and through it
may be embraced like community, this has more to do with the fact most people
in our society simply don’t have a point of reference for what true community
is than anything else.
When I was a boy I played on the
Atlantic Canadian tennis circuit. What me and all the other kids had in common
was one thing; tennis. Tennis is a very superficial, cosmetic thing not
requiring you to deal with issues of the heart. This does not mean the very
central issues of life are not exposed while playing on the tennis circuit, as
many a child were caught masturbating in the showers in the church halls where
we stayed, and you can’t really tell them that tennis doesn’t relate to issues
of the heart, yet this is not the primary objective of tennis. It is more a
by-product.
Non-communities, by their very
nature, do not deal with the central part of the human condition—Spirituality.
They are more to do with the outer aspects of our personhood. Now the best and
most appropriate question to ask at this time is “When does a non-community
reach so deep into the human condition that it suddenly becomes a community?”
Good question. (An example is people who get together and talk about their
addictions are getting close to the heart of the matter). I don’t think we have
to answer this question. In fact a blanket statement would be more judgmental
and arrogant than wise. We are attempting to force a framework here, nothing
more.
Characteristics
of Non-Communities:
a) As discussed, by their very nature
they do not deal with the central part of the human condition.
b) There is some type of commitment to
their existence.
c) The commitment may be one of
idolatry or otherwise, and true idol worship is in the perversion of community
(religion) and in its confines, people are expected to make whatever is going
on very central to who they are, judging those who do not have the same
priority.
d) None the les, there is a pull in
this general direction as people are essentially insecure and want to see
themselves better than someone else.
e) Truth of who and what a person is
generally is not seen relevant; non-communities are there to make people
comfortable, with the truth about its people uncomfortable.
f) Like everything else involving
people, it may change without notice, or so it would seem to be the untrained
eye.
g) Not necessarily because of its
design, but because it has people involved, there is always a type of “pecking
order”, which in some ways is a perversion of love, acceptance, and
forgiveness.
CHAPTER 7
I think we can safely conclude that
all truth is derived from the subconscious mind. Our intuition (call it what
you will) gives us direction and, in order to build a healthy community, it
must be listened and responded to. The subconscious mind is in tune with
another universe, Spiritual and eternal in nature. The conscious mind is there
to obey its directions.
The truth of the matter is, however,
this hardly ever happens. Virtually in every circumstance in life, we make the
conscious mind our personal deity. Some people refer to this as growing up;
others refer to it as intellectualism, while others suggest it is a survival
mechanism. I refer to it as the essence of religion.
Religion is separation from true
Spirituality. It is our way of understanding things in a manner always slanted
in the direction of our personal desires and agendas. While Spirituality is
based on following the ebb and flow of Divine love, religion is pure rebellion
from this, and results in an arbitrary set of rules wrapped in a coat of
self-righteousness to disguise itself from its true identity.
Religion is a disease we all contend
with, and it is part of our lower nature. Going to church, or any other type of
ritual, to exercise this lower nature might be taking it to a slightly more
condensed level, yet it is the same thing.
We cannot explore what true
community is until we explore what true community is not. Just like there is no
cure for disease before its diagnosis, Religion will “piggy-back” Spirituality
wherever it goes, gradually sucking the life out of it and replacing its
essence with its own cancerous poison. To think this will not happen is both
arrogant and stupid. Hence, the next third of this book is dedicated to helping
you discern your greatest enemy of your longing for real community, your
justified self.
WHAT IS REAL GROWS OUT OF DIRT…
NOT BOARD MEETINGS
CHAPTER 8
The journey into religion is the
journey away from love. It is also the journey away from humility and
transparency and into the realm of darkness and self-righteousness. For most,
it takes years for this process to unfold. Nonetheless, as a result of this,
the true identity of the individual is completely lost, the Spirit is
destroyed, and morality takes it place. An arbitrary set of rules designed to
mimic love, yet really does no such thing. Instead, it puffs up the ego of its
owner and mails those who are living within the sphere of its existence.
The following is a brief outline of
the various steps of this tragic journey:
a) As a child, most of us are willing
to learn and grow; believing love is truly a better way. Inevitably, humility
is a part of this process.
b) Usually as an adolescent, most human
beings become aware that love has a price attached to it, believe it is a hard
road and is non congruent with power, money, and arbitrary sexual behavior. As
a central profound life defining experience, it is submitted.
c) Without Spiritual love, the self
becomes lost, and intuition and Divine guidance is replaced by impulses,
desires, and intellectual ambition.
d) Laws, rules, and self-righteous
ideas take place of Divine Truth, yet these things are horrible imitations and
achieve a murderous effect upon the self and everyone around.
e) Though all people who have given up
on love are religious within their hearts, many people come together in very
large, or small numbers, to celebrate the ideals that have been formed first
within. This is referred to as the institution of religion.
I
must make clear how the wonderful and beautiful people, as far as I can
discern, never feel the need to start a religion (contrary to popular belief).
Their message was and is simple; love, and with that love, community will
arrive. If you feel I am disparaging Christianity, Islam, or any other
religion, you have completely missed my point. People have smothered and
murdered the essence of the great teachers of Spirituality who have blessed the
world over the centuries. Spirituality and institutions have nothing in common
by their very natures. They are two different universes. In the confines of
institutions, man has taken something very beautiful and bastardized it for his
own benefit.
CHAPTER 9
Religion has no good quality
attached to it. In its place is a plethora of evil qualities clearly disguised
as such. In addition, one particular quality is the ability to deal with
reality.
Many years ago, in a small white
church in the South end of Canada’s twelfth largest city, several teenagers
(one would hope anyway) broke into the building in the middle of the night and
copulated on the middle of the church floor. Being generous in nature, they
decided to leave a present—a used condom. To put it bluntly, the shit hit the
fan the next morning. Screaming accusations and board meetings were to follow.
Throwing it away and continuing life was simply not an option.
I have always said if you can stand
up in any particular church and say anything about yourself and still be
accepted and loved, it is at least on its way to becoming a healthy community
who embraces freedom and encourages you to be who you are, say who you are, and
become all that love desires you to be. The following is a brief outline of how
religion is in direct opposition to this idea.
a)
Self-Righteousness
Without self-righteousness, we can
no more have religion than we can have carrots without dirt. The self-righteous
person appears to be “Godly”, but is as far away from this state as you can
imagine. To know love is to know humility, and to know humility is to know
there is something fundamentally wrong with your personhood. Therefore, you can
no longer be self-righteous with your fellow human beings.
One thing I know to be fundamentally
true, yet I’ve never heard addressed before in my life (present company
excluded), is what is self-righteousness. Everything evil is a specific
perversion of something good, so what beautiful thing gave birth to
self-righteousness.
We are not supposed to judge anyone,
nor are we supposed to condemn them after the fun of judging is gone. However,
the facts before us cannot be denied, people are quite often dangerous. Hence,
we must have strong boundaries in terms of who we let into our lives, and to
what extent.
Many years ago, I preached a series
of “sermons” on boundaries, and I don’t think there was a person in the
community who wasn’t shook by the experience. It bothers me how this topic
seems to be unobserved as one of importance in the world at large. What bothers
me and the only explanation I can think of for this; people are too addicted to
their self-righteousness to even begin to address this subject.
Back to self-righteousness, it is an
evil thing. Like all evil things, it is not real (an illusion of sorts). And in
the face of love, it falls apart, withers, and dies.
b)
Control
Because self-righteousness is not
real, and because people will eventually disclose themselves if they operate in
such a way, there are two additional dynamics put into place to continue on the
path of despair and ruin. The first is what is commonly referred to as control.
Many years ago, several young
friends applied to work at a particular “Christian” camp associated with a
particular “Christian” denomination. The entrance example was rather bizarre,
as they had to state to the hiring committee that they believed sex before
marriage was a sin and they would never do such a thing. In other words, they
had to bullshit to get their desire. Before
you judge them for lying, let me add how these friends, at the time, loved this
place just about as much as they loved their lives.
Traditionally, human sexuality has
been a key area of control for organized religion. It is so central to who we
are, and can lead to the person becoming much easier to control. Once the
all-powerful dynamic of Love has been forsaken, control sweeps in to take its
place.
Their
boss, who was not married at the time, was possibly the most passionate to hear
the kids make their statement. I guess he forget he screwed a girl on the camp
park bench a year earlier. It must have completely slipped his mind.
c)
Bastardization
A problem occurs when the
self-righteous person steps out of love and begins to utilize controlling
techniques as a substitute and discovers that it doesn’t always work. Nor is it
because people grow up and learn a better way of life, as most people realize
sooner or later they are hurting, so they leave and find someone else to
control them instead. They are referred
to as addicts, and we will discuss this later in more detail.
Generally what happens at this point
(and it can manifest in many ways, including politeness) is the individual who
leaves the “community” is bastardized or shunned. This is inevitable, as deep
within, everyone knows the truth and there is no better way to take care of
potential threat than by ruining someone else’s credibility.
CHAPTER 10
After four years of ordained
ministry, I found myself at odds with at least five or six denominations. I
also discovered my financial situation non-existent, or in other words, I was
broke! I remember taking a wonderful young boy out for lunch and spending
approximately 82.35 % of my life savings on him. At the time, we had the largest
youth outreach in the country (approximately 300). They would come to our
services either stoned or drunk, and I remember how I felt when I discovered
the “religious powers that be” were spreading the rumor that I did what I did
to sell the kids drugs. I remember chasing a young boy down a bridge in an
attempt to stop him from jumping—unsuccessfully. I remember the response of the
clergyman (my supervisor) to the situation. He asked me if the kid was “inner
city youth club” age. My point here is simple; without suffering there can be
no community.
There is a doctrine of comfort,
which is a central part of evangelical Christianity these days. God is supposed
to provide everything, from a new car to a perfect psychology without you
having to do a thing besides believe. The fruits of such a belief, whether in
the confines of Christianity or otherwise, are as follows:
a) Fear: This theory doesn’t work, and
people wonder what is wrong with them.
b) Deceit: Lies always compound with
other lies, specifically because one has to perform to maintain the image of
“living in faith.”
c) Lust: not only is this a doctrine of
lust, but sexual immorality always breeds in the darkness of deception.
d) Poor health: Physical and emotional,
repression and denial always leads to general deterioration of the mind and
body.
e) Division: Where there is no truth,
there is no healing and true intimacy.
The
Doctrine of Comfort:
a) We desire.
b) Our desires become more important
than love.
c) It becomes our task in life to
fulfill desires at a greater Spiritual expense.
d) We discard the belief that love will
take us on a road to great fulfillment, but what is most important is what we
lust after at any given second.
e) As we experience hurt, together with
those around us, we learn to justify and deny.
f) As the truth of our actions are
denied and justified, so begins the truth regarding us.
g) In pursuing comfort, we become lost
and unable to find real comfort.
The
Doctrine of Suffering:
a) What is true and beautiful within
us—our Spirit—is from another Universe.
b) To live love, our Spirit must break
through this Universe into the Spiritual Universe—the home of God.
c) This journey goes against our
physical nature and proves difficult.
d) To love is to suffer.
e) To love is to attract the attention
of those who do not love, and many will try to hurt you to compensate for their
lack of living in the Spirit of love.
f) The goal of the journey is always
invisible, just as love is always invisible.
g) Unless deemed otherwise by God, love
will eventually give birth to love, even in this strange land.
CHAPTER 11
At this point, it would probably be
a lot easier for you if I stopped talking abstract for a moment or two and
attempted to state things as clearly as possible. I want to give you a clear
definition of what religion in, and what religion is not.
1) The entire world is one big
religion. They may be referred to by many names, they may appear completely
different on the outside, people may have different sexual ethics but in
essence, they are exactly the same in Spirit.
2) Spirit has the following
characteristics:
a) There is a demand upon people to see
things the same way as the others within its framework (whether the particular
framework is Hindu, skate boarding gangs, sex farms, born-again Christians, or
whatever else).
b) Affection is withdrawn if this does
not take place.
c) There is something in between a dim
violence and an extreme violence with regard to making others see things the
same way.
d) Through there might be an
intellectual brilliance within the confines of a religious value system, there
is always an emotional retardation at work seeking easy answers to very complex
questions. Not too far from where I live
is a born again Christian church, which used to be signed, “Reason is the enemy
of faith.”
e) Rituals replace love. More on rituals later.
3) Love is the opposite of religion. In
love we become slaves to its Spirit, its ideals, and its direction. Love is
humility, compassion, joy, self-sacrifice, and understanding. Love is its own
fulfillment, and love is its own reward. In love there is only truth, not
because it is demanded, but because it just is.
4) Love heals and bares good fruit.
5) Religion does not heal, and it
resents love for doing what it cannot.
6) Religion and love are at war with
each other.
CHAPTER 12
Two years ago, our community had
financial support from the pastor of the local fundamentalist church just down
the road from where I live. This is a
long story and you will not find the details amusing. The support came to a
grinding halt when I refused to go along with his theological view that
homosexuality was a sin. In other words, leading thirty people into a deep
understanding of love and acceptance is not nearly as important as a
theological doctrine that Jesus Himself didn’t even take the time to address.
This brings us to our next point—religion.
By its very nature, religion is littered with arbitrary rules of behavior,
which have nothing to do with loving each other and bringing one another into a
place of mercy, understanding, and healing. Religion is man made and states
people are Divinely Inspired for the specific purpose of fulfilling its agenda.
An example of this is how religions, including Christians, are against the
practice of masturbation. Not only has masturbation been scientifically proven
to be healthy, and possibly an essential part of life at various stages, but
beyond all this, who in the world is hurt through this act of self-love? If sin
is something contrary to loving one another, then what about the other acts
that create separation in relationships. Should they too be deemed sinful?
All of the great teachers throughout
history discussed love as something streaming from within you. Indeed, not only
are arbitrary rules contrary to the nature of love, but all rules are contrary
to allowing someone to travel on their journey back to God, finding out what is
true and real in their own time.
In the context of the community, of
which I am a part, if someone decided to drink and act like an idiot, the
consequence is not one of Biblical proportions. To be precise, they are not
judged, shunned, or backstabbed. Instead, people form boundaries, ensure the
person is not going to hurt them, and when they request another beer, the
response is “I think you’ve had enough.” The only possible resulting
consequence would be to ask if the person needed help with any area of their
life.
The
Perpetuation of Rules/Laws:
a) God is love, so we are loved for who
we are.
b) It is our fallen nature to feel we
are better than this and rebel against God.
c) Love is lost and its meaning to our
individual lives is also lost.
d) Our hearts become dark and sick, and
we develop a desperate definition of love to replace God.
e) Some of us take this to the point of
forming a religion around these ideas, which then becomes a monument to our
sickness.
f) Religion attempts to make other
people see things the same way to overcompensate.
g) There is no violence in God, but
religion is always violent in nature. We become the exact opposite of what we
are supposed to be; yet most of us are too asleep to see the truth.
The
Perpetuation of Love:
a) We discover there is a God.
b) More to the point, we discover we
are not Him.
c) As this knowledge grows, we become
humbled and aware of our pathetic nature.
d) Paradoxically, this makes us feel
better about ourselves, not worse. I
could write a book on the subject of how everything eternal turns out to be a
paradox in the end.
e) This dynamic brings light around us
all, and we can begin to live love in the perfect knowledge we are not love, it
is given to us as a gift.
f) Self-righteousness disappears, and
the healed individual may appear to look far worse than the religious
individual, as he is honest about his fallen state.
g) A community of love looks strange to
outsiders, as it appears to be profoundly different in nature to all that
surrounds it. God only know what happens
at this point.
CHAPTER 13
The subject of rituals is virtually
the same as what we discussed in the last chapter. Rituals take the place of
God in exactly the same way as legalisms; but it’s a different manifestation of
the same thing. The only real difference is rituals can be a very intimate and
beautiful experience to the individual who loves God. On the other hand,
legalism is always evil. The progression into ritualistic behavior is as
follows:
a) People love God, and his specific
behavior comes forth from that love.
b) As people move farther away from
God, the behavior remains the same.
c) As humility disappears, the behavior
becomes progressively the point of things.
d) The behavior becomes an idol.
e) To question the behavior at this
point may result in the withdrawal of affection, or another consequence.
f) In the same way water is always wet,
rituals too are always accompanied by legalisms.
I
drink orange juice when I preach. I always speculated that if our community
deteriorated into the realm of religion, the person preaching at that time
would not be forced to drink orange juice in the same manner I do. Maybe
someday he will show up with grape juice, and a well meaning, deluded
individual will feel compelled to call a board meeting.
CHAPTER 14
Just as there is Christian Doctrine
of the Trinity, there is an unholy trinity within the confines of religion.
This trinity consists of the following three supernatural beings:
a)
Sex
Contrary to popular belief, sex does
not fall into the context of perversion simply because it happens outside the
boundaries of marriage. Sex becomes perverse when it becomes an end onto
itself. When it is not upon your pathway of love, intimacy, and truth, it
becomes an idol and a very unhealthy way of life.
Religion takes away the love aspect
of sex and replaces it with a set of self-righteous and arbitrary laws. For
example, in organized religion, it is wrong for two people of the same sex to
make love. It is considered perverse, even if they loved one another to the point
of laying down their lives for one another. Conversely, a man can have sex with
his wife as a way of releasing hatred and sadistic emotions, and this is deemed
fine. It is religion who supports this framework. Without the laws, matters of
the heart would have to be covered up by lies and deception, nowhere near the
fortress the perverted soul desires.
I
had a wonderful girlfriend in the mid nineties. After making love, we would lie
together in bed and speculate how our religious leaders would react if they
caught us. It was a great laugh.
The
Religious Mindset on Human Sexuality
a) In religion there is no light it is
a blanket.
b) Because of this dynamic, one’s
sexuality becomes dark and desperate.
c) An over compensation is made in
direct proportion to the darkness, and the darker the religious leaders’
sexuality, the more self-righteous he becomes.
d) These ideas are spread in the form
of doctrine, preaching, and in general agreement.
e) Affection is withdrawn if these
ideas are questioned.
f) Because of the desperation attached
to these ideas, they become more important than love.
g) Because of the neurosis’ attached,
the cycle of sexual perversion is perpetuated.
b)
Power and Money
In case you haven’t realized, my
attempt in writing this book is to condense it. Instead of having 12-pages of
information spread over 250-pages, I am trying to convert 1000 pages into
approximately 100-pages. Life is too short to screw around. Besides, I’m
convinced the people who God has made ready to read this book will have no
problem driving their soul through every word. Having said that, separating
money and power is a waste of time. They go together like water and wet.
Wherever there is a quest for money
and power, there is every other sort of perversion you can possibly imagine.
You don’t have to wait to find out if your friend would have sex with your
wife, just watch how he deals with these two things… then “do the math.” Money
and power are the exact opposite of God, especially if they become the focus
points of someone’s life. The nature of God is to forsake such things, to not
control, and to use wealth as a vehicle to love the world. The heart that is
unable to give these things away can no longer be seen as a river, but as a
swamp. The water becomes poison to all who drink of it.
The movie “The Gods Must Be Crazy”
is possibly the best artistic look at the results of money and power ever
captured. Here we see a very group of people communicating wonderfully until a
coke bottle is dropped from an airplane directly into the midst of their small
village. Suddenly, the community is in deep danger as there is something to
fight over, and it quickly brings division amongst the primitive African tribe.
Love is soon replaced.
In
the community, one of my chief responsibilities is to make sure there are no
“coke bottles” within our midst. In addition, religion manufacturers “coke
bottles” to sustain itself.
From
Love to Power and Money:
a) Love is self-sacrifice, suffering
for a greater beauty.
b) This is in opposition to human
nature.
c) The human soul begins to look for a
replacement.
d) Power, money (and sex) become the
replacement, as they fill the same geographic place within our souls.
e) No one desires to be exposed, as the
one pursuing these ideals in a virtually eternal way, self-righteousness and
religion, are used to cover this truth.
f) The lies eventually put the soul to
sleep, most often forever.
g) As these things are non-eternal,
they do not satisfy and demand a greater extent, helping the perversion grow.
CHAPTER 15
If religion is evil, and the fruit
of religion is sex, money, and power in their perverted states, the obvious
question at this point concerns the individuals who get involved in such an
ideal. Who and what are the hundreds of millions of people who subscribe to the
ideals of organized religion? Furthermore, if you are to take my broader
definition of religion seriously, what about the remaining six billions people
who attempt to tie their lives together with a much more abstract form of
religion?
Excluding darkness of the heart and
soul, there are three reasons why people subscribe to the mechanics of
religion. None of this necessarily suggests the individuals involved are, by
any means, a type of troll from the underworld. Instead, they are weak, need,
and asleep.
We will look at these reasons with
compassion and understanding. The truth is, there are elements of each in the
lives of us all.
Addictions
As a child, I was severely beaten by
my father. The result of this was a subconscious attraction to abusive father
figures. My journey into fundamentalist religion actualized from this
addiction. They met the unnatural need my father created in me many years ago.
That’s my story. I wasn’t allowed to think for myself, so I found someone to
think for me.
The progression of addiction is as
follows:
1) An unnatural need is created within.
2) It is justified by the conscious
mind.
3) Lies and energy are expended to
continue the illusion.
4) An addiction develops to compensate
for the wound deep within the soul.
5) Life is somewhere between lightly
and profoundly altered to accommodate the addiction.
6) Though the addiction may be harmless
at times, it is still the state of unnatural or neurotic behavior, not
resulting in anything good unless met with humility, confession, and the
acceptance of others.
7) The real truth is we are valuable
because we are alive. Ultimately, addictions are an unreal attempt to feel and
receive love.
Ultimately the problem with
addiction is not the addiction itself, as the addict is either denying the
addiction completely, or has no humility to embrace the fact that it is having
a profound impact on major life decisions. For example, when most people leave
a fundamentalist church, they find something equally bad or worse to take its
place. They will not allow the truth to interfere with the need of the
situation.
In the final analysis, we are free
to live love when our needs and addictions are not necessarily gone, but are
driven to the light of truth and forced to deal with its power and humility.
Deceived:
After I had an extremely profound
conversion experience at the age of sixteen, attending church seemed like the
right thing to do. Where better to find God than God’s home. How could I have
known Church is man’s interpretation of God and a mathematically inverted
equation of who He really is?
Hiding:
a) The human heart, left unkempt, is
dark and full of unloving activities.
b) It will then gravitate to
self-righteous activities to compensate for this state.
c) Organized religion is the ultimate
overcompensation for the heart, which is too lazy to pursue love.
d) The religion slowly becomes the
hearts identification in almost every respect.
e) As the heart dies,
self-righteousness grows.
f) As the religious persons love is
only a poor counterfeit, so too are their surrounding relationships.
g) At this point, abuse and
bastardization of people who are not of this mindset takes place, as ones
unreal world must remain unchallenged.
There are many reasons and
motivations why people experience their life as a mess. Here are the main
issues:
1) Laziness.
2) Fear of exposure.
3) The need to conform.
4) Confusion.
5) Neurotic need.
6) Evil at heart.
7) Resentment of past life experiences.
8) Conscious or subconscious dying as a
human.
9) The lust and desire for ideals not
born in love.
YOUR GREATEST NEED
IS TO BE SATISFIED…
THAT AND GOOD COFFEE
CHAPTER 16
Religion is the way of the world and
the enemy of community. To go against it is to go against the very fabric of
society. It is to be like a star in the sky, punching a hole in the darkness
until it bleeds glory out of its essence. There is only one person who can
fight this battle; and he is not black or white, man or woman, straight or gay,
or Christian or Jew. He is commonly referred to as a warrior.
In street terms, the warrior doesn’t
give a shit about anything but pursuing love at all costs. In terms somewhat
more appropriate for our endeavor, the warrior completely embraces the
Spiritual component of the subconscious mind and engages the conscious mind, as
a vehicle to process this information and act upon it in the way it seems most
appropriate.
It was in August 1986 when I
answered “the call” of God to begin the journey of developing a community based
on the ideals of His love being the foundation, as well as everything else.
Within three weeks of this experience, my brother (who had disowned me five
years earlier because of his Spiritual beliefs) drowned in a hunting accident.
From there, I moved to Australia for two years and contracted two potentially
fatal diseases. When I returned to Canada, I spent the next five years of my
life attempting to fit into the confines of organized religion. The end result
was a five-year depression, four years of post-traumatic stress, a complete
nervous breakdown, and a three-day coma. Some say it was attempted suicide; I
say attempted murder. I guess it depends on your ability to use abstract
thought. I’ve been poisoned by Satanists, shot at by idiots, disowned by my
father, emotionally mangled by a mad scientist (who I was engaged to at one
point), had over a dozen rumors spread about me across the province (some I
wish to God had been true, as they sounded fun), I’ve been hungry, lost
relationships I’ve deemed more important than life itself and, besides all of
this, my favorite hockey team, The Boston Bruins, cannot seem to win a friggin
play off round. And as far as I can figure, it’s all because I won’t conform.
People think I’m insane continuing
with this journey. To them I reply, “If you believed God Himself came down from
the sky and told you to do something… would you do it?” They cannot seem to
answer that question in honesty.
The
Way of The Warrior:
a) A warrior sees truth in the midst of
a pack of lies and desires it like the air he breathes.
b) He will pursue this truth with
reckless abandonment, and without paying heed to the obstacles in his way.
c) A warrior sees everything in the
context of love, acceptance, and forgiveness; seeing such things as the only
hope there is.
d) A warrior has learned that there is
no escape from suffering in this life.
e) A warrior lives in integrity, much
like a blanket covers a baby.
f) He is childlike but not childish, as
our childlike ways are lost simply because people are not warriors, and cave in
to become what society demands we become.
g) Finally, a warrior is a “stranger in
the land”, a “boat against the current”, feeling not at home on this planet.
Why? Because this is not his true home.
CHAPTER 17
It is suggested to us by many a
greater writer (at least one), that there are four levels of community:
1) Controlling
2) Polite
3) Void
4) Real community
My problem with this is as follows.
The number one community where leadership essentially controls every other
member is religion, as control is the opposite of love. The number two
community where people attempt politeness and are stoic with one another is,
once again, control. The only difference here, control is self-imposed rather
than leadership imposed. Of course, this too is a form of religion and not a
real community. In the final analysis, there are two types of community to
explore.
The
Void Community:
When I first began our community in
1990, I had no idea what I was doing. When in two years time we had thirty or
so members involved, I still didn’t know what I was doing. Shortly after, when
virtually every youth in central Halifax decided to get involved (about
300-people overall), I really didn’t know what I was doing. Then we were
attacked by the institution of religion and lost our building, our financial
support, our reputation (the best rumor I heard were how I thought I was Jesus
Christ and had a fetish for freezing large rats and storing them in my
freezer), many friendships, and over two hundred people in the space of several
weeks. Not only did I not know what I was doing, but it was all I could do to
get myself out of bed in the morning.
This phase of development is known
as a void phase. The community had not yet crystallized into what it was
supposed to become. Instead, it is travelling in one of three directions and
will eventually become either a “community” of leadership dominance of stoic politeness,
or one of love.
No community begins as a community
of love. It is a journey that takes place over a period of years, even decades.
It is a process of sifting and settling, of learning and letting go. It is a
process of people thinking that they want love and slowly learning that they
only want the idea of love. Love slowly breeds love. At the risk of repeating
myself, whereas a “community” born out of the conscious mind can happen
instantly (you simply appeal to a specific lust and they show up at your door)
appealing to their sense of love and beauty (the subconscious mind) is a life
long endeavor.
Characteristics
of a Void Community:
1) A void community will have
leadership of either:
a) Control
b) Willing to be controlled
c) A warrior
2) Void communities never remain as
such, it is an in between phase.
3) Because there is no obvious
direction at this time, these communities attract various types of people.
4) Unless the leader of a void
community is a warrior, the leader or leadership is unaware that their
community is a void community. In the
case of a warrior, he always has at least an idea of what is happening in terms
of the dynamics of the community, even if his ideas have not yet actualized.
Furthermore, the warrior has a true vision of love, mercy, letting go, and
understanding.
5) Finally, a void community is a seed,
and how it grows is predetermined by the heart, soul, and mind of those who
laid its foundation.
Community
of Love:
A community of love is similar to a
very healthy human body. It is completely aware of its needs, wants, hurts,
sexual aspects, joys, and so on. It is not afraid of itself, only of that which
lives beyond its borders. Even then, it is a healthy fear, not one of paranoia
and crippling fear.
It took us years and much suffering,
but we are now at a place where our needs are met by each other in the most
simple and profound way. For example, over the past couple of years, young
couples have felt the need to reproduce like little bunny rabbits. Just the
process of exchanging baby clothes has saved a few thousand dollars.
When people are sick, others are
there for them. When they fall down, they are picked back up. If they want a
sex change, they are given unconditional love. A community is a body, and just
as there is no soul alive who sits back and allows someone to cut off their
hand without a fight, it should remain the same with each other if the love is
real.
Characteristics
of a Love Community:
1) The moment you care more for
yourself than other people, you are only one step away from selfishness, which
can lead to control and violence. The leader must place the needs of other
people before his own. A leader who is not prepared to die for his community is
a leader who is willing to kill his community. I deceive you not, it is one way
or the other, there is no compromise in love.
2) Generally speaking, there are no
secrets in community. Secrets are secrets for the following reasons.
a) Fear
b) Pride
c) Pact
d) Laziness
e) Pattern
As you can see, not only do some
secrets remain as such for good reason, but also it is quite obvious, as it
takes much time and healing to break down some of the above-mentioned barriers.
Having said that, I keep no secrets from my community.
3) Healing, which is the result of
being loved and not having to hide.
4) Protectiveness. There are at present
thirty people in our community, and to hurt one is to hurt everyone. It is
strange as they are more protective of each other than they are of themselves.
5) Growth. We are made to grow with and
through each other. If you are given:
a) People to love you
b) An environment to nurture you
c) Communication to stimulate and
challenge you
d) Healing to free you
e) The freedom to express the real you
The end result, you
become the person you were meant to become all along.
CHAPTER 18
There is no way to predetermine exactly
how an organic community will grow. However, there are some general dynamics,
which occur without exception. It is only their frequency, order, and to what
extent we will take into question here.
1) There will always be seasons of
growth and death. The moment these seasons are circumvented by strategies to
curb this from happening is the very moment the organic community is replaced
by institutionalized religion.
2) Initially, most types of people are
attracted to the organic community, which is more like a void community.
However, with every passing season of growth, the community becomes increasingly
focused and real. The finale will attract two types of people who are attracted
to the community—true seekers of love and the clinically insane. This should be
obvious, as love in such a self-seeking world takes upon itself all the
appearances of insanity. In essence, you will be judged for disparity.
3) There is no life in any institution,
be it religious or otherwise. They exist for the following reasons:
a) To sustain themselves at all costs
b) To use people to perpetuate this
c) To obtain benefits, financial or
otherwise
d) To deceive people concerning their
greed
e) To control people, as this is the
natural outcome of a life not lived in love
The organic community is alive, and
the following outline is how it responds to the above mentioned:
a) Organic community exists for the
sake of people, it will not sustain itself at all costs, and some day it will
gracefully and peacefully die.
b) People are not used but loved.
Hopefully this will motivate them to contribute. However, it is much easier to
get people to do things for you when you are using them, rather than the simple
act of loving them.
c) To introduce benefits is to
introduce power, which means almost immediately people are attracted for all
the wrong reasons.
d) Since there are no possessions,
reputations, or positions, no deception needs to take place (remember the coke
bottle).
e) If you do not control people but
instead allow them to be themselves, this is exactly what happens. Quite a few
years ago when we were in the void community phase, a young lady threatened to
“throw me in the bedroom and fool around with me” during a New Years Eve party.
This is what occurs in the human soul and it can’t be dealt with until it rises
to the surface. A plant does not control the way it grows, and nor should any
other form of organic life.
4) The organic community grows into
love, wisdom, and beauty until the time it is harvested by God Himself.
5) As growth occurs, as power is
forsaken, as humility and transparency is embraced, miraculous events start to
take place.
CHAPTER 19
In the context of our community, we
have had no problem for two years. But this says nothing about our future and
certainly does not represent our past. Problems with people, under normal
circumstances, fall into very few categories, all of which we will now look at.
a)
Self Destructive Behavior:
The self-destructive individual will
harm those around him at least as much as himself. The irony of his problems is
pride (unless it is simply a chemical imbalance causing the set back) and he
does not see a real pattern in his life.
I remember sitting in the exact
place I sit now intuiting that a friend of mine had attempted suicide. I
visited his apartment and, even before I entered, rang the police and told them
there had been a suicide attempt. As a result of saving his life, he quickly
worked on placing wedges into our friendship simply because his pride would not
allow for the situation to be embraced. Over the years, I’ve saved the lives of
many, and only one individual didn’t resent or judge me to “equal the playing
field,” and the person was virtually retarded.
Here is the situation:
a) Pride enters the heart.
b) The person becomes self-destructive.
c) The behavior spreads to those around
him.
d) All is justified.
e) Anger results, as things are not
going well and the individual is convinced it is not his fault.
b)
Idol Worshippers
It is no coincidence that the podium
is placed above the seats of the congregation in organized religion. It
symbolizes the minister is closer to God, more Holy, and so on. The minster is
supposed to be a servant to the congregation and more aware of his sinfulness
and brokenness.
At our Halloween party recently, I
went as a nude model to hopefully perpetuate the idea we are all the same in
the eyes of God. (It was a good laugh too.)
People do not want to find God
themselves. They want someone else to do it for them. In other words, they are
idol worshippers.
There are several problems with
this:
a) It’s wrong and irresponsible, as who
in their right mind would trust another person with the state of their soul?
b) When you idolize someone, you are
more likely to bastardize them once their imperfections manifest.
c) You cannot learn to love this way;
you will inevitably hurt your community.
c)
Power Seekers/Mean Nasty People:
The biggest troublemaker in the
history of our community was a young lady with three first names, two of them
the same. Her only joy in life was to turn people against one another. The lady
who bitches about the color of the church carpet is a watered down
manifestation of the same object. Community is supposed to be a place of giving
and healing; we think we are loved by allowing this kind of behavior. I don’t
think so!
Community exists for people to
complete their lives in the healthiest way possible. Leadership exists to
direct community in the right direction. If you are to take seriously the
following in whatever problem(s) you encounter, your events will be directed
into a wonderfully healing situations.
Transparency:
The results of a transparent leader
are as follows:
a) Those who want to be real will
become real; those who do not desire love and healing will struggle for a while
then leave if there is no one to hear their complaints.
b) God’s presence. He is in our
weaknesses, not our strengths.
c) Joy. Only in exposing our true
selves will we find real joy.
Trust:
The outworking of trust:
a) It becomes virtually impossible for
someone to cause division if the environment has no fear of someone in
leadership with an ulterior motive and their own agenda.
b) In the realm of trust, everything is
exposed and dealt with accordingly.
c) As much as betrayal causes wounding,
conversely trust will lead to healing.
Powerless:
a) When an individual moves in the
direction of power, it would be disadvantageous to stop them. You cannot have a
tug-of-war unless two people participate. If a community is built on love, and
you allow the power play to unfold itself, the natural result of those involved
will be quickly exposed for who they really are.
b) Having said this, predators exist
and they must be dealt with before someone is severely hurt. Only if a leader
truly exhibits a life of forsaking power for the sake of love will such an
action be completely understood.
c) When we exercise our power and
agenda, God’s is forsaken. To be powerless is to be taken in the very direction
where God desires us to go.
CHAPTER 20
In summary, here is how you build a
community:
1) Ensure you are not trying to build a
community, just love and embrace the returned love.
2) Find someone with the same ideals.
3) Let the love grow until it is too
much for two people and needs expansion.
4) Trust me… others will follow.
5) Your relationship with God is like a
dance. Don’t miss a step. If you do, apologize and start again.
6) Never lie as it attracts the wrong
energy and people.
7) Avoid organized religion. It is a
journey into the exact opposition of where you want to go.
8) Remember, God desires your mercy,
not your righteousness, and righteousness exists only in your delusions.
9) Every formula you have ever learned
is untrue. It is a substitute for learning the art of love, so forget them all…
AND LIVE LOVE.
