The more I experience life, the easier it is to acknowledge that the greatest travesty of, particularly Christian, indoctrination is one specific verse from the Greco-Roman mythos: “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of G-d”. That it is only found in the, very questionable, epistle to Rome, supposedly written by one Paul, himself an agent of the Roman empire is suspicious enough, but considering that it greatly contradicts one of the most important realities contained in the entire Bible, and that nowhere does it define the “word of G-d”, it has become a weapon of mass domestication.
True faith is actually SELF-confidence. It is written, long before, that people perish because of the lack of KNOWLEDGE, not faith. The words knowledge and intimacy are effectually interchangeable. We know by our own experience. We believe according to the reports of others and what they have told us about experiences. The trouble with history (i.e. reports), in a domesticated culture, is that it is hypocritally biased towards the honor of the reporter, and those who share the agenda and the perspective of the reporter (s).
The way to keep a people from realizing their own Divinity is to keep them preoccupied with the reports of others’ Divinity. This is the foundation of idolatry, and in this social media generation, it is at its highest ever. People portray lives on these apps without the backdrop of the story, and often give tidbits of information as motivation for you to live the life of THEIR dreams. Most have become so consumed with the image of life depicted by others that they have forgotten what truly makes them happy.
There is no pursuit of happiness. There is only the pursuit of validation. Happiness is actually the most abundantly available feeling in The Universe. However, once people start believing happiness is in the abundance of possessions that actually keep themselves in a perpetual pursuit of more, and that pursuit is neverending. We were created for a life of perpetual Sabbath, but our consumption with the idea of keeping up with the Joneses is actually what keeps us from our happiness.
We all have experienced happiness before. Even if not for some time, probably in our very early infancy, happiness wasn’t something we had to look for. It wasn’t until we began hearing the tales of other people’s experiences, many of which, especially in the religious aspect (and cultural history is just a form of religion), were told to us as a standard we should seek to meet. We fail to acknowledge that every culture in history, basically, invented folklore to pass down a sense of pride in their culture, typically to the detriment of the personal identity.
What if I told you that the key to infinite abundance is to stop pursuing it? Have you ever heard the adage (actually long predating the Bible), “The Kingdom of God is within you”? What about “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things (the things you worry about obtaining) will be added unto you”? So it stands to reason that your faith should be turned inward, and when you find contentment in the Kingdom (i.e. standard of living; happiness) within you, rather than the Kingdoms of this world (the things others told you that you had to believe in so that you can receive eternal life, and/or abundant life), you actually enter into the Sabbath rest in which everything that is prepared for you flows to you.
Cultural mythos are distractions. They keep you focused on stories about what others supposedly lived and accomplished hundreds, even thousands of years ago. ALL of the religions and history are built on this type of idolatry. Social media influencers, unfortunately, are also distractions. The lives they portray, even though real, on the web keep you dissatisfied with your own life, and you find yourself working hard, whether for yourself or for another, trying to reach a standard that just keeps moving the farther you go.
YOU ARE the Light of the world. Stop being mesmerized by the candle someone else set in the window, and realize that your own candle burns immeasurably bright. Gravitate to those who are reflections of your own glory, instead of those whose glory you think is something to be achieved. You are more than enough, right now, as you are, and all it takes for you to experience happiness is for you to believe in yourself. Not to believe that you can do anything, but the belief that you are everything… And you are!
