More Musings Of A Reluctant Blogger: Psychological Ramifications Of “Blinded Minds”

We tend to assume that because we sincerely believe something, even heartfeltly, that it is, therefore, TRUE. We stake our lives upon it with the sheer force of faith in the gravity of our own subjective truth. This has been a foundation cornerstone to deny any responsibility to believe whatever a person decides he or she wishes not to believe. In America, and elsewhere, the very dignity of being human is inclusive of having the very “right” to so determine such matters for one’s self, without such things as “excessive entanglement” by governmental and pseudo-governmental actions. Thus what we generally hold true even arises from the growing scrap heap that is the body of truths we purportedly hold so sacred in America–the Law itself.

The fallacies of these things, of course, are empirically obvious to virtually anyone without a blinded mind. What was that? Blinded Mind? If you watchvious t the Aberts squirrel at night, it will dart in front of your car, look up and see the light, and the blinding is obvious to see, thereafter. Not just the eyes. The mind itself because the poor creature does the most horrific folly that costs it its life. The driver, assuming he or she is otherwise desirous of not hitting the little creature and destroying it because its small and helpless–like most of us who strive to be worthy of life–the driver calculates that the little creature has it made. Run! The squirrel runs to the other lane, the light remains, and now it is in a panic. It stops, and now that the car has closed within lethal range the poor creature makes the fateful decision–it runs back the qay it came and right underneath the wheels that destroys its life. It is all over it seconds and the driver hurts that it happened but truly is helpless to prevent it in this scenario.

What the creature did with a blinded mind is instructive but foremost of this little creature’s various achievements during its life this one stands plainly for what it ought not to have done and nothing more. The same is true with mankind. Listen carefully.

The fundamental problem with mankind, of course, goes all the way back to Eden–IF and WHEN you truly believe what Jesus Christ meant when he spoke of knowing the truth that sets one free. Adamic–or “original”–sin, of course, led to a change in all mankind and that “change” spread to all men thereafter as a genetic necessity. The end result is mankind dies. The Devil invented a religion in Eden to countermand this reality, declaring to Eve that she would not die and, of course, therefore, calling Jehovah God a liar and instituting rebellion to the rightful sovereignty of God Himself. These things are not “theologically” difficult to understand if one desires to know. This, is so fundamental to the true Christian faith, that its remediation is something I must leave off for now, at this point, for this is not my point. My point rests upon such basic truths, indeed the very cornerstone that is Christ Jesus and the Word, which is the sole and ultimate arbiter of the true Christian Faith. We can discuss with blinded minds another day why these basic truths are clearly true, as Paul wrote by inspiration, saying believing otherwise was inter alia “inexcusable.”

One’s mind can become darkened and in that state one is unable to see that which is the Lamp for walking among the spiritually living, in the land of the living and not the land of the dead. John wrote by inspiration by the holy spirit, declaring: (1 John 2:11)

“. . .But he that hates his brother is in the darkness and is walking in the darkness, and he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”

Paul by inspiration likewise writes: (2 Corinthians 4:1-6)

“. . .That is why, since we have this ministry according to the mercy that was shown us, we do not give up; but we have renounced the underhanded things of which to be ashamed, not walking with cunning, neither adulterating the word of God, but by making the truth manifest recommending ourselves to every human conscience in the sight of God. If, now, the good news we declare is in fact veiled, it is veiled among those who are perishing, among whom the god of this system of things has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, that the illumination of the glorious good news about the Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine through. For we are preaching, not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as YOUR slaves for Jesus’ sake. For God is he who said: “Let the light shine out of darkness,” and he has shone on our hearts to illuminate [them] with the glorious knowledge of God by the face of Christ.”

 What sets apart those whol ultimately step out of the land of the dead and into the land of the living is HEART–they have to want to, they have to want the truth. They have to start with that point of–I flat out do not know anything about how to truly live, my best help is no help at all; everything goes wrong at some point, in some way. I am simply not enough. I can’t do this. I need help. REAL HELP!  Before this point, it’s the arrogance of asoul that is alienated from God, which is where we start out by inheritance, as alluded to above under the preface re Adamic Sin.

John writes at John 12:39

“. . .The reason why they were not able to believe is that again Isaiah said: “He has blinded their eyes and he has made their hearts hard, that they should not see with their eyes and get the thought with their hearts and turn around and I should heal them.”

Is it so that some people genuinely WANT–desire–in their heart–to believe the lie? The answer, most terribly, is YES. Absolutely. And this is the largest obstacle to the truth and the way and the life and it is to truly have a blinded mind, it is to desire unrighteousness. (2 thessalonians 2:9-12)

“. . .But the lawless one’s presence is according to the operation of Satan with every powerful work and lying signs and portents and with every unrighteous deception for those who are perishing, as a retribution because they did not accept the love of the truth that they might be saved. So that is why God lets an operation of error go to them, that they may get to believing the lie, in order that they all may be judged because they did not believe the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness.” (Emphasis Added)

The fundamental change required is a movement for the human heart, to really “desire” that relationship with Jehovah, as one would desire to have a relationship with one’s Father, for He is that, for all those called to inherit everlasting life, the total and comnplete reversal–at bare minimum–of what Adam and Eve lost in Eden and that which Satan and its legions fight against with all the evil they can find in Tartarus. We are never, ever left without the way back–for a time, for now, for the glimmer we now have anything we can do anything about. Listen to the Holy Father’s Most Tender and Beautiful Voice, through His priest and Prophet Ezekiel: (Ezekiel 29: 13-14) Notice carefully what one starts with, what motivates him or her to find the Majestic One, to enter back into a relationship with Him that has Him where He rightfully belongs in our own awareness–Supreme, the Highest, Everything. He is Everything people. If one could only see it plainly–and, yet one can, with very, very special eyes that are given. I’ll come back to that presently, but here The Voice plainly, this Tender Father of ours waiting so patiently:

“. . .“‘And YOU will actually seek me and find [me], for YOU will search for me with all YOUR heart. And I will let myself be found by YOU,’ is the utterance of Jehovah. ‘And I will gather YOUR body of captives and collect YOU together out of all the nations and out of all the places to which I have dispersed YOU,’ is the utterance of Jehovah. ‘And I will bring YOU back to the place from which I caused YOU to go into exile.’”

…And I will let myself be found by you~! How~? Why? Because we searched for Him how? WITH ALL OUR HEARTS~! A divided heart that still believes that mankind is even remotely able to direct his or her own step is not that point where one can turn with the heart. One still has things like pride and vanity and other darkness operating, and one has various desires and hopes and likes and dislikes and these, in turn, have even become as basic needs that the human believes MUST be met and he or she acts out to meet them. This goes from eating too much at the table, drinking too much at the bar, even being at a bar, perhaps,–and it goes to the point even of the demonic psychopath who murders and hurts and molests children and the like. He subjectively thinks he “needs” it and so he acts, unaware of the actors all around inciting and leading this on. And because the law hates shifting blame to anyone other than what the law deigns to blame, we turn away to the very cure for all such evils. The law–an effort to coerce from without is no better today than it was in the days of Ancient Israel, and at least their law was ordained and glorious. Ours is a scrapheap of selfish corruptions and a very garden of evil and mischief and injustice is destined as its sole and paramount destiny as part of the Great Day of Jehovah, which is now at the Gates of Humanity, on horses mounted, swords drawn, the battle now immminent among and all around us in a total runaway that defies the imagination of the worst nightmare.

Thus does the archtypal King of Israel declare–and I tell you plainly listen to this very inspired voice as one would listen to Christ Himself: (Proverbs 3:5-6)

“. . .Trust in Jehovah with all your heart and do not lean upon your own understanding. In all your ways take notice of him, and he himself will make your paths straight.”

That is so very much different than trusting in one’s own understanding, in one’s own subjective beliefs–based upon that which is other than the Inspired Word, which is Jehovah’s Letter to those who become His Children. Doesn’t any of this make sense to the heart yet when john wrote so plainly about the Word and the Word–by intention and by design–saying: (John 1:9-14)

“. . .The true light that gives light to every sort of man was about to come into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into existence through him, but the world did not know him. He came to his own home, but his own people did not take him in. However, as many as did receive him, to them he gave authority to become God’s children, because they were exercising faith in his name; and they were born, not from blood or from a fleshly will or from man’s will, but from God. So the Word became flesh and resided among us, and we had a view of his glory, a glory such as belongs to an only-begotten son from a father; and he was full of undeserved kindness and truth.”

Ah … the Prince our only possible hope, blessed be His own Name along with the Father’s forever. He gave authority to become God’s children …and, in turn, that is so fundamentally linked with the heart.

So the blinded mind is acting to throw one back underneath the wheels of the oncoming freight train, and out these souls run. What is blinding them? Why can’t they see it for what it REALLY IS and not what they have willed it to be or heard it to be from other blinded minds and their insufferable clergy?

 John tells us plainly by inspiration: (1 John 2:15-17)

“. . .Do not be loving either the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him; because everything in the world—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the showy display of one’s means of life—does not originate with the Father, but originates with the world. Furthermore, the world is passing away and so is its desire, but he that does the will of God remains forever.”

Even in trying to “blind” the Glorious Christ, Satan used it, for the Word explains it plainly, saying — (Matthew 4:8-10)

“Again the Devil took him along to an unusually high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and he said to him: “All these things I will give you if you fall down and do an act of worship to me.” . . .”

Jesus inherits all those things ultimately by the very Decree of Jehovah God Almighty, the Sovereign Lord of All. Just not THEN and not THAT WAY, but one can see why the evil one used that tactic. The eyes. Desire of the Eyes. Remember Eve–she “saw” the fruit and decided on her own–believing the lie–that what was enjoined–therefore out of bounds as an issue of obedience and sovereignty–was free for her to revoke and amend unto herself and that her decision as to what is “good” or “evil” was controlling, for she, after all, had deigned to “become like God” Himself. No need for Him, she reasoned in her blackened mind and heart. I am everything! A goddess! (See inter alia Genesis Chapter 3)

Such things do not originate with the Father of the Celestial Lights. His children know this deeply within them and they do not run in front of the oncoming train. Blinded Minds, always in those who do not TRULY believe. Believers listen, which is to say–they obey. And around this there is no short cut. If we truly saw it for all it was we would not want it any other way for so great is our King, so Grand is our Father, the authority to become His child–and I will not extrapolate that any further here or today, for that is in and of itself a most heartening story of Love and Mercy and Tenderness and Power–is everything. It is truly all for all, everything for everything. Jesus Christ gave everything even unto death, holding nothing back from the Majestic Father of all Light and Love, Jehovah. Jehovah, by giving Jesus Christ his very being from Himself–begotten–the only such one ever, Jehovah Himself held nothing back from the Son, that was everything, or anything. It may not be said as artfully as it could be said but this is the meaning I speak of when I am saying–all for all–and thus one inherits, in this dynamic, incorruption from corruption and immortality from mortality. Ah .. it is to partake of the Divine Nature and no man or woman can be heard to say they have ever or would ever “DESERVE” to do this. Sheer gift~! It is implicit in the scripture that teaches us the Joy of the Greatest Gift of all~ given to Christ and, ultimately ~ (John 5:26)

“. . .For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted also to the Son to have life in himself.”

Only some will. (It is what I genuinely believe the creature who became Satan wanted for himself and was denied, leading to the revolt out of resentment, jealousy, pride, etc) They are the small and weak and often the poorest in our midst. Hidden in our midst like rough gems, chosen by God, and called to untold glory.

The earth will soon be rocked. The whole world will have to KNOW it is Jehovah and His Anointed King that is doing it. All WILL KNOW the train is coming. It arrives as a thief and a snare. A freight train. Mankind is the Abert’s Squirrell. Will you run underneath it or will you reach safety? Better search the heart and where you say you’ve got it figured out on your own you better realize that is the turn back underneath the wheels and you are in imminent terror of the crushing. (Daniel 2:44)

Light! The true light is what helps the blinded mind to begin to see plainly and rightly. Remember this carefully. Jesus spoke to the blind man and gave him a command to go and wash his eyes in the Pool of Siloam. Remember? (John 9:6-7)

“. . .After he said these things, he spit on the ground and made a clay with the saliva, and put his clay upon the [man’s] eyes and said to him: “Go wash in the pool of Si·lo´am” (which is translated ‘Sent forth’).

And .. the man “obeyed” the Word, and the result?

“. . .And so he went off and washed, and came back seeing.”

Let us, then, attain to the basic truth that those who can see in the darkness that is this world dominated and ruled by Satan are those who obey the Word. it has always been understood by those who believe that only those who ultimately obey the Word–even the Christ–have life, all others? Abert’s in the light. Squish. They believed with all they had that they could do it their way, on their own, with their very best understanding.

A Few Words About Bank Of America, Two-Sawme’s, Earthquakes, & My Old Friend “J”

I felt unusually recollected this morning, the oils flowing and the quill well lubricated. Things are happening out there, sometimes so fast it is nearly impossible to get to it all, as we slog through respective professions and occupations and vocations and the like. In America, you know, a person is equated with what he does–nay, he IS what he does! Thus why so much fanfare of self- promotion and extravagence even at the most shameless self-aggrandizement.

Before I get too far down the road I aim to say a word or two more about Kenneth Lewis and Bank Of America. It is inexcusable that this man will parachute out of Bank America with some $150 Million in gilded edged account books to record all his loot while the United States taxpayers–better explained as “America’s poor,” had to bail out his greedy and exceptionally wicked bank. I’ll never forget as I sat nearly spellbound, as LEHMAN BROTHERS HOLDINGS fought for its survival, and he turned a wickedly blind eye, while he coveted Merrill Lynch. LEHMAN deserved a bailout just as much as AIG or any other irresponsible financial institution, whose march had been quickened with greed and avarice, beginning in the 1990’s. I would have canned him when he walked in with Merrill Lynch and I surely would have canned him when the Old Rotten Bull of Greed ran up some $15 Billion in losses its first Quarter under the BofA Family Banner. I would have docked his pay, too, and taken my chances with a jury of angry taxpayers when he wanted to sue to enforce his self-aggrandizement contracts. No man today is properly, reasonably, or even morally able to declare himself worthy of hundreds of millions of dollars in an industry that is so enfeebled it is unable to stand on its own, without federal taxpayer milk and other financial intermediary babyfood, and could utterly collapse tomorrow! Indeed, …. I am saying outright that it will COLLAPSE. Sooner than we think, too.

I’ve written previously about Bank of America, while it was infused with taxpayer money its branch vice presidents were authorized  and/or encouraged to “churn” for abusive checking account fees. Here’s how it works, among other similar schemes. You have Account A and B, the first Jointly held between parties A & B, the latter solely held by B. B makes a $9.21 error and goes over on four small purchases that are just under $9.21 in the aggregate. Inside of this is a shifting month-end date for accounts and Bank of America’s branches initiated an “early closing” on specified accounts., and those are defined as those ripe for churning, as in our scenario A&B. This puts say a service charge through on the 15th, of the month, say, rather than the 21st, as has been the practice. Now you see it clearly, $32.00 per item, including the service charge imposed early and then greedily and wickedly punished. Account B is NOW upside down by over $150.00 for under $9.00 in error–two rolls of Neccco wafers, a cup of coffee and a small anti-perspirant. If that doesn’t stink something aweful it is difficult to imagine what would.

To resolve it, Bank of America takes all the money to satisfy it from Account A, because its joint in legality, and it doubles its take because it NOW turns Account A upside down by over $200.00, by its own actions, not the account holder’s actiona. Thus the Bank generates nearly $500.00 in fees of punishment, for less than a $9.00 error, while it takes federal bailout money. This is a ravenous and voracious beast and it is precise;ly the beast that Bank of America built. I am going to make a prediction:

Bank of America will be brought to utter financial ruination within 10 years. It is just that it happen and I will rejoice when it does happen for she is being repaid for her wickedness, for her greed. I truly hope it happens sooner rather than later. I really, really do.

In the interim, it will strive to claw and rip at any blood it can drink and any flesh it can gulp down its monsterous maw, as it fights to maintain its survival. It never, ever saw any relationship between itself and the ancient Tower of Babel, its skyscrapers into the heavens and its desire to make a celebrated name for itself is not something Bank of America officers or directors equated with the worship of something that ought never to be worshipped–MONEY. And along with it –greed and every wicked thing under heaven. Less than 10 years. I pray for it earnestly. People just do not see how this is related to spiritual matters. One day they will–they ALL will. In Ezekiel’s prophecies alone Jehovah makes it clear some 20 times through his priest and prophet that “they shall have to know I am Jehovah.” And … oh my, they WILL come to know, they will surely come to know.

This morning my wife warned me about the Two Sawme’s and while she is so cute for saying it that way she was truly troubled about the enormous loss of life and the extreme hardship now being faced by people in Indonesia near Sumatra. Bloomberg.com is reporting with experts that the Mentawai patch is quite possibly going to light off numerous hard-hitting temblors, even in the immediate future and the Tsunami festival this could bring is horrific. While this is ongoing, typhoons are ravaging the Phillipines, with TS Ondoy (Ketsana) hitting first and a possible super typhoon Peping that may hit as early as this weekend.

What astounds me as natural fires burn and earthquakes hit and typhoons (Hurricanes) get larger and more powerful, as entire financial and economic and even whole political systems sit on the crevice of the abyss, people simply walk around as though this is either meaningless–aside from the individual events of their lives-of buying and selling and of marrying and being given in marriage–(Luke 17:22-30) ) or that it is simply something else for government to manage and for the poor to somehow endure as best they can. Bank of america can lose hundreds of billions and get bailed out but  a disabled person in America could no more get actual relief for student loans he cannot repay, and other equitble considerations that properly portray the American government as the wicked entity it is.

Just the other day I saw the total disintegration of a professional relationship that I thought was important to both people involved, not just one. Boy was I wrong! Greed–and there really isn’t a better word for it than that–the other side consumed all the cream and when it was gone went into a wrath that was truly off-the-charts. My so-called “friend”–”J”–always had this indifference about him that troubled me but I tried to push through, to seek peace and to pursue it. At the outset I had observed a physical therapist I know walk away from him in abject disgust, and I asked about it and wondered about it even then. I saw it come full circle. All it takes is time for any REAL narcissist to finally reveal himself. Narcissists are emotional vampires~!! They actually feed upon the strife they build. They  have to do that, it’s like air they breathe.

I brought this fellow over $77,000.00 hard money into his practice, between October of last year and September of this year. More– worked for him for free, 300 hours. When he ordered the wrong size pylon for a new C-Leg, I was expected to adjust my expectations and let him jury rig it by lengthening the socket post instead. Doing it right would have cost “J” money on his supply budget and his Supply Budget is related to his Bonus incentive program.

I can read a map as to what happened. I can add up the component parts.

J–all on his own, without my understanding or prior consent–ordered and billed insurance for a suction system for an AK socket. It’s never been done before by anyone that I am aware of and I have it on solid authority that current technology is such that it can’t be done for an AK case. He built it too small and his backup plan is to try and cram it all in and make it stick. It didn’t. Now, meanwhile–he got paid for the whole enchilada that did NOT WORK. Several thousand dollars to be exact. Now its time to build a socket that will work. Not much to ask for. It becamse clear that “J” was sorely distracted: He called me in for something that didn’t need to be done because we had an appointment and he hadn’t got to the hard work of the case–fabrication. It’s messy and hard work, plaster, to take a negative model and transform it into a positive model. And then it ccurred to me: “J” skipped casting! When I worked for him he said you never, ever skip casting, and you don’t use fiberglass, you do it the old fashioned way, you use plaster. We should talk to Mike about that. LOL No, fiberglass can’t ever be used. LOL

He went back numerous generations for a model to use in my case and this was his first error of magnitude, including and especially by his own standards. Its easy to lecture them as required for others and quite another to hold yourself to those same standards. That creates liability under products liability for my fall! It is what’s known as a Manufacturing Defect and when a manufacturer fails to follow his own standards and the defect causes precisely the type of injury such standards would protect against, strict liability in tort is properly imposed in a majority of jurisdictions, incluidng the one we live in. I really do want to sue this guy because I think he needs to have himself publicly humiliated. He needs a dose of humility soon. Americans–so proud, so selfish, so self-absorbed, always so very, very AGGRESSIVE for self.

He  made it too tight and he made it too long. The first ones looked like a tube. It was truly unnerving, we’re getting nowhere, this guy is usually a very good prosthetist, and he’s just not performing anymore at all. I told him repeatedly–it is too tight. So from positive model to test socket “J” is just NOT paying attention. He wants it to work without his effort. He’s been overpaid and he wants it done so he can have his unjust profit. He wanted me to be able to order it off a shelf, make it easy for “J”, he had totally lost his edge as to making it work well for the patient, fairly or reasonably. This patient is 6′2″ and he’s got less than 4″ left to hold it on with. The Rule is simple–YOU HAVE TO GRAB EVERYTHING~!

He got me barely in this thing. I agreed to try it, but said it was too tight, too small, and was very concerned. He chopped the socket on th emedial side to “force” me into it farther, an odd thing to do if indeed the socket wasn’t too tight to begin with? It was so tight on tendons going in I couldn’t wear the set of “J Jaws” unless he did relieve the medial side. I told him open it up a little, get me deep into it and have pressure high up on the stump, not just on the distal end mostly, and to have me solidly on my ischeal tuberosity and not my remus. Simple Rx for those who know what this is all about. I’ve been fitting these things for nearly 40 years. I’ve learned something along the way too.

So now I fall and nearly fracture my hip at 53, and he knows–he sees it coming–he’s going to have to make a whole new socket, that he built this one wrong–because he was distracted, perhaps he had lost motivation due to issues with upper mananagement, maybe its just that he got paid already and he wanted the job done, I don’t know–and he goes ballistic on the phone!  Nobody knows more than “J”. Not my orthopedic surgeon, not the ER doctor, not my own sympoms–nothing mattered; he had decided the socket he made was all he was going to make for me, that his Supply Budget didn’t allow otherwise, irrespective of what my insurance companies paid into that budget for what I never even got, his errors notwithstanding, and he set about with a hard headed and shameless diatribe about his expertise and the literature and what we didn’t know and the likes, to cover over the real issue–his supply budget is upside down and that’s money out of his Bonus Pocket. he has very big pockets, because what “J” considers he’s worth would stagger your mind–and he’s more likely than not just been told in the most disfavorable terms that his Supplies Budget is South and it is going to cost him this year. The deal is I know his regional manager and talked with him carefully about this and related matters.

It’s simple. He made a socket too small and because for whatever reason –i.e., –he was not paying attention and he wasn’t motivated any longer. I had run over $77,000.00 into his business and from my end that was going to be it for a while, maybe that’s it with the Calculus of J! In any event, now that he had been paid for what I did not get and no one had ever delivered, he wasn’t going to deliver me a quality socket, he was , instead, going to cram his negligence and sloppy work literally up my arse, make it my fault, adding insult to actual injury, saying--”you’ll be wearing pads”! He ever tells me that again and I will sue him and his employer hard and fast just because I can~! In lieu of doing solid work he superimposed his unquestioned superior knowledge instead, all turned outward to abuse and disenfranchise and to prpotect J’s interests–no matter how debased or how unjust they had become! Would you tell a lawyer that after he brought you nearly $80,000.00 and worked for you for free in your shop doing grunt work for 300 hours? Only arrogance produces an ability to do something like this, the worst kind of arrogance, the kind that feels entitled to superiority becuse it has concluded it is superior.

You know what I would have done instead? I would have apologized for messing things up! “You’ve done a lot for me,” I would have told him, and “I’m absolutely going to make this right for you and I’m going to do it as quickly as humanly possible.” I would have cared. And I would have started right, casted him, and I would have built him the best socket of my life, as quickly as I could, making it a very, very high priority. I would have worked weekends for a guy like that! That’s what you do for people who do for you what I did for him and never asked him for anything inside of it. “J” is a huge TAKER. Takes, never gives.

My so-called “Friend–’J'”–Spirit of this World, and he doesn’t understand it, his own arrogance blinds him to it in himself, just as mine used to blind me to it in myself. I saw the old me in him, what I used to be. Inside my hurt I got to see how far I had come–where now I was giving in truth and not taking. I got to see what Paul meant when he wrote Ephesians chapter 2 by inspiration:

EPHESIANS 2:1-7

“Furthermore, [it is] YOU [God made alive] though YOU were dead in YOUR trespasses and sins, ² in which YOU at one time walked according to the system of things of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit that now operates in the sons of disobedience. ³ Yes, among them we all at one time conducted ourselves in harmony with the desires of our flesh, doing the things willed by the flesh and the thoughts, and we were naturally children of wrath even as the rest. ⁴ But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, ⁵ made us alive together with the Christ, even when we were dead in trespasses—by undeserved kindness YOU have been saved— ⁶ and he raised us up together and seated us together in the heavenly places in union with Christ Jesus, ⁷ that in the coming systems of things there might be demonstrated the surpassing riches of his undeserved kindness in his graciousness toward us in union with Christ Jesus.”

I understood “J”s wrath on the phone, why he was so ready for war, for battle, come what may, because nobody tells him anything, nobody is permitted that option, to reprove or counsel or disciplne His Majesty “J”. He dictates terms of life for all others. I finally came to understand that this whole thing was more likely than not related to J’s inability to even obey his own superiors in what “J” had concluded was wrongly decided or unjustly enacted. He wanted a bonus and through no fault of mine he got clipped in that somehow, and he set about punishing others for his own misconduct and/or his own actions or mis-actions as a Practice Manager. He should be taking this up with his superiors and not his patients! And the fact remains that he did take it up with his patients, those he hurt–physically and otherwise–to boot.

I learned something precious about the difference of Christ–humility, and his chief adversary–Satan–Arrogance and Pride. I’m hurt. Bad. I’ve really been taken for a ride by someone I genuinely believe is a Malignant Narcissist. I will not ever be back because no matter how well he could serve me in the future I have been spit upon as I served another, unselfishly, with good will and cheer, and while I forgive for that, I won’t position myself in for another round of His majesty’s Royal Abuse! Apologies go many, many miles but arrogance sits roaring the RPM’s, wasting gasoline and getting nobody anywhere! One thing everyone needs to know about the Narcissist–make that TWO THINGS–(1) he never, ever gets better, and (2) He must be avoided at ALL COST. “J” must be avoided at all cost.

He told me to tell people the truth in writing. I did. I could tell it with the factual detail of a federal indictment and sometimes I reason to myself I ought to just do it and make that point. It  might help him regain himself before it’s too late. “J” got me seriously hurt, he was paid well over and above what he actually provided, and he insulted that by layers over the injury he himself caused. He should be held accountable for serious misconduct towards patients as well!

If he worked for me I would terminate his employment in a red hot second. He is clearly unhappy where he is and he ought not to be deprived of finding true happiness elsewhere. I’m taking my cream and good will down the road like I should have done last year. I gave it a chance when I took it back from Phoenix. I did all the giving. That was a very bad lesson to teach a Narcissist and I strongly believe he needs to learn another one ASAP–it’s called HUMILITY. His ego has very, very bad eyesight. Nobody else’s sight is permitted to substitute for his. The only person in the universe that is so totally like that is Satan himself. Like John wrote:

1 John 3:10

“. . .The children of God and the children of the Devil are evident by this fact: Everyone who does not carry on righteousness does not originate with God, neither does he who does not love his brother.”

He would say, well, he’s not my brother. Well … then he better read about mine~!  (Matthew 25:40)

Mary Travers: Peter, Paul & Mary

Robin Williams once accurately quipped that if you remember the 60’s–you weren’t there. Erratic, sultry, heated, even confusing were the times then. It is a theme I have written much on and more seems to flow from my pen as I contemplate the death of Mary Travers this morning. She was a real artist. When I was so impressionable she sang and my heart and soul heard. Even now, as I labor at becoming a legitimate guitar player in my own right, chief among my developing songlist are songs by her, by Peter, Paul, and Mary Travers. I didn’t know her but I identified with her. Greenwich Village, coffeehouses, the folk revival of the 1960’s. I was there. I called Coy Lowe and asked him for cords to songs after visiting the head shops, smelling the incense, and seeing the black light posters and “gear” of the times. I haven’t seen or heard from Coy Lowe in some 35 years or so. I doubt I will ever speak with him again. Maybe …. He was there too.

Those times were haunting really. Grace Slick speaks about it as chasing ghosts and, of course, this is so insofar as catching any of them is impossible. They are faint images and feelings,a glow or an impulse, and a glimmer–and then its gone in a wisp of time, forever swirling as a memory attached to a feeling. We were wrong then and history has proved it. But what we wanted then was just and true and while not in every instance we desired justice and truth and righteousness. Druggery was clearly not the way to get there for that is a pact with the Devil. Everyone who was “there” has learned that or they’re likely dead by now.

Mary Travers was 72. I wished she could have stayed with us as the Greenwich Villager she was even forever. Psalm 37:29 promises that one day this will come true. In the interim, we die. Folk Music has lost a genuine artist. The music of Mary Travers will take on even an increased urgency with me for the rest of mine.

I pray her family finds comfort in these difficult times.

So long, Mary Travers. And … THANKS~!

A Few Words About WHERE WE NOW ARE~

I have been indisposed, from health care issues to studying new and old  characters and places surrounding colonial Americana–such as John Adams–and I saw that Teddy Kennedy died. I miss most news each day and only glance at it in brief intervals anymore–the propaganda is otherwise too much to stomach, it’s a steady diet of worms for the brain and moths for the heart. I have no illusions that Satan will make his last great stand of rebellion against God and against all that is good by means of his last world power. (I know that remark makes people so very, very mad to hear, primarily because (1) they don’t understand it and (2) they don’t believe it even if they do.) Let me remind my readers of how the Great Lion of Judah put it himself, no need to believe me on anything, in his conversation with that one long ago and recorded aforetime for our instruction today. (Romans 15:4)

(Luke 4:5-8) “So he brought him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the inhabited earth in an instant of time; and the Devil said to him: “I will give you all this authority and the glory of them, because it has been delivered to me, and to whomever I wish I give it. You, therefore, if you do an act of worship before me, it will all be yours.” In reply Jesus said to him: “It is written, ‘It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service.’”

No disputing as to the claim. Indeed, he validated elsewhere, and we who trust and know the scriptures to be what they are, made by God and not man, know who the ruler of this present world is. (John 14:30)

So I do not get into politics anymore. But Edward Kennedy seemed different to me over the years, different primarily because of what it was that seemed to matter to him the most, what he worked hardest to change. I wish his family well in this difficult time, for at long last they no longer heard those last days taunts–”I’m still here”!

We are still here, the rest of us, and where is it that we find ourselves? Near the end~! If we could look ahead and know we would be utterly overrun with anxiety! We would be confounded in our beliefs and we would run here and there in search of either validation or refutation, as if we had any say, as if, truly, in the final analysis, we would truly want any say. Government~! Hah~! Since the very first election in America it has been sinister intrigue and duplicity. (If anything Benjamin Rush mentioned about this has any truth to it anyway.)

I have an affinity to the Edward Kennedy family for reasons I don’t usually mention out loud but many years ago I had my left leg removed for the same reason Edward, Jr. had his right leg removed, and we both wound up in law school. The difference, primarily, was about social status and for those who hear me complaining they miss my point entirely because I am the one that made out better, I think, by not practicing the law with my J.D. and pursuing something and someone infinitely greater and better by far, and I do not mean that as a slight. Edward, Jr. and I also saw doctors at the same speciality group in Los Angeles, at about the same times. I never met him. I always wanted to. I knew of him. He never knew of me. We would have made a great trial team for the disabled in America.

In any event, this morning I guess I wanted to say a bit about the Old Lion of the liberal causes, Edward Kennedy. He cared about much of what was most important, human suffering, and did what he could as best as he knew how to do it. It was stacked at impossibility from the beginning because mankind is truly not meant to direct his own step. Self-government is about the rebellion that began in Eden, its father is nobody to get misty eyed about. The truth will set anyone free if they truly desire it. Most do not. (1 Timothy 6:3-5; Romans 1:28-32; John 8:32)

I hope his family finds much comfort among themselves as they bear up under this truly heavy loss, of one of the last family patriarchs in Americana. So much is coming to an end all around us and it is a hopeful reality because of what is about to be ushered in.

The Kingdom ~

May it come quickly indeed …