Riffin' on Grace/Mystery as the Foundation of the Normative-Equilibrium Mind-Body State (Tending the Flame)

“He has saved us and called us to a holy life- not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.” 2 Timothy 1:9

                Salvation is evident. It’s perhaps, albeit culturally stigmatized at this juncture because of an overall lack of dynamic leadership within the church at the onset of the early 21st century, an absolutely appropriate way of framing the innocence of childhood, and it is, naturally, a state the hierarchy of needs in individuals achieves periodically across any given day in adulthood, I really do believe, especially in light of today’s passage, which ultimately construes the very frameworks of the subjective experience as Messianic since “before the beginning of time” because, as Christians believe, of the sacrifice on the Cross, a covenant somehow established in the very creation of life, and that was fulfilled personally in Christ’s life.

                Christ’s life. We often try to downplay the practice of looking at the lives of something as regal as a human being, let alone a life form, in deterministic terms…to view something so meaningful, so wild and full of choices and uninhibited…as anything but free. However, in the life of Christ, and in particular the devotion to His Life, we see one of the wider broadcast examples of an individual surrendering the view (but never really the actuality…) that His life truly entails any choices/true freedoms. Jesus construes his own narrative entirely in terms of a universal process…that process is inherently Messianic…inherently full of personal growth/progression/beauty…and that is a rather human example all humans living a life can relate to in regards to the overall living of their life…and that’s it…the  oneness already evident…the deterministic fetters present “not because of anything we have done” but “because of purpose” and “grace” to be “given us” in the very living of our lives.

                And as such, salvation is already evident. It’s hard to have the eyes to see, but the spontaneous cultural patterns which emerge really do keep us relatively shepherded as a people. We are in the midst of grace, in the midst of an immense blessing playing out as the unfurling of our lives, and the universal stakes eventually transition from survival to post-pleasure; absolute saturation….permasaturation.

                For a classic example, as well as an example of a classic drag, simply look to the reception of rock n roll by Western religious authorities. While the songs thematically dealt with the very myths of scripture, taking people the entire culture over, particularly young people, deeper than ever into the very paradigms the church itself was harping upon in their sermons, it was instead construed as “devil music” meant to lure people into sex cults.

                And all the while, what was on display was the enlightenment, the outright salvation even, of certain artistic collectives. It’s one thing to call a chili dog demonic. It’s another to associate a classic example of a spiritual experience  with a nonexistent sex cult.

        The spontaneous patterns in the culture… are examples of personal excellency…paths of wisdom people took and then effectively encapsulated so as to share with others so as to inspire those people to take up their own paths… how are we anything other than chill/very proud?

                Cynicism is having apple music/spotify and feeling as if humanity is pervasively basic/dumb/boring/utterly doomed. Such is the psychological state/worldview of cultureless swine. As in, culture eradicates suffering and misfortune itself.

                The truth is is that we are super good. We really succeeded in regards to like education and healthcare towards the end of that there 20th century/early 21st century and stuff. And that led to everyone becoming like a pretty lil’ angel. Which is where we are at today.

                Oh and we can reasonably expect that we aren’t going to be utterly wrecked Tower of Babel style because we were called to civilization in the first place…we are called to a holy life…the establishing of entire empires in modern history has been about this pervasive march towards equality on the global stage, through a brotherhood of Man… the entire Bible is about humans being taken out of the wild and into civilization and then civilization being taken from absolutely sucking to being pretty admirable…

                 So yeah you have Jesus to thank for all of that. He’s the reason the playstation 5 exists.

Oh, and if like "salvation" is like a mind-body state associated with "maturity" in secular framings within our culture, and it is, then frameworks of well-being/medicinality naturally inflect towards effective preservation/cultivation of the very stimulus from which our experience of having a life arises from. It's an intuitive take on self-care that listens to body by way of spontaneous method more than it is drawn to ideologues that are difficult to master/execute. It makes it easy to see the correlation between cultural content in ideas and preservation of one's physical state...how meditating on God can lead to an increase in positive health and a longer life... What a recipe...for a longer life and better health...practice spirituality!

It works a little like this...you can only tell either a sad or a happy story...but you can only tell a story towards a singular end. The purpose of a sad story isn't murder...it isn't to devastate so deeply that you derange your audience and cause physical illnesses within them...the purpose of a sad story is the same as a happy one...life is victorious by the very parameters which it allow it to spring forth...all we can testify to is what has been implied in plain sight since the beginning...that life finds a way...life finds a way...