As our nation continues to seek for Donald Trump’s true heart and soul,
We find not sacred nuggets of gold, only profane lumps of coal.
My father, Beryl Paullin, might have been proud of me, had he lived long enough to see this post. My father told me after my 1987 baptism, where I might have talked too much:
“You missed your calling, you should have been a minister! “
The Hinson Baptist Church minister was appalled by my “performance”, where an eruption of words occurred after my head was released from the water. He told me that I needed further training on how to be an “acceptable Christian”. I was not looking for his acceptance, and I stopped attending that church within the next week. I really had wearied of some the hate filled rhetoric directed at those suffering from the AIDS virus, as well as the patriarchal tone that dominated many of the sermons.
Dad died in 2017, at 90 years of age, after a prolonged period of deteriorating mental competency. Dad suffered from dementia for the last several years of his life, though he never forgot his family, or his history. At the end, though, because of the damage in the hippocampus of his brain, he became unteachable, as he lost all short term memory. Dad never did have a great capacity for listening for longer than about 30 seconds, as that was the limit to his attention span. Yet, he was always interested in great dialogues, as he loved to explore what the “truth” might be, in any situation. He was often times burdened by his need to be right, or, at the very least, to be the most vocal, so his truth was often overrun by the other’s needs to override or dismiss him, and to continue to affirm their own truth.
My father’s experience is representative of many other citizens within our country, and threatens to become my own reality, as well. My father’s reality was a microcosm for the macrocosm that is now representative of our culture and American society. Collectively, there appears to be forms of spiritual dementia running rampant through our country. And, the ones who appear to need to listen to the truth the most either have very short attention spans, have forgotten what they have learned, or have closed their eyes and ears altogether. The self-righteous, unteachable ones live in the ruts of their misunderstandings, which threatens to create graves for all of us. Our “cultural hippocampus” is failing, and our society is descending into chaos and uncertainty as a result. Those who redefine evil as good, and darkness as light, are refusing to acknowledge a growing dementia that has enveloped much of America.
This blog is concerned with the Truth of Jesus, and the Lies of Donald Trump, and our modern day Christianity. As a disclaimer, I am not affiliated with or I am not now considered a “practicing Christian”. For a period of time in the past, I used to be a fairly sincere practicing Christian, though I am now “recovering” from the spiritual and emotion trauma incurred by that experience. I now have no religion, other than the need to be free from a conditioned past, see the truth, and to express my point of view about the world around me. I sometimes use the language of other religions to help with my stories, or my explanations, and I would hope that any quotes from the Bible, the Koran, the bhagavad gita or prophets like the Buddha, Jesus, or Mohamed will not scare away the reader.
Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.—-Jesus, in Matthew 10:34-36
Our society, including our churches and our political processes, have become dominated by economic ideologies skewed towards capitalism and greed. Corporations and other special interests tend to heartily support the upper middle class and the ultra rich class within the country, which, typically, are of the white race. They determine national, and local, political agendas, and, ultimately, our interpersonal agendas, as well. Mankind has seemingly been reduced to a series of value transactions, and many relationships are eschewed, unless it is seen that the new person has something of value to offer. In other words, unless the new person brings “offerings to the temple”, they will not be let inside, and admitted with love into the heart of the other. As a culture, we now do not automatically or innately give value to each other, and, thus, to ourselves. Unconditional love and mutual acceptance remains unattainable.
Jesus saw the relationship between aspects of Judaism as practiced in his time, and the mentality of his culture, which had monetized human relationships and the connection with the divine. He “overturned the temple money exchange tables” in his attempt to disrupt institutionalized monetization of the divine within each of us. Jesus incited rebellion against his own transactionalist society, a culture where people would not let each other into their own hearts with loving intention, unless some sort of economic, legalistic, dogmatic or other agendas had been followed and fulfilled.
This spiritually disfiguring phenomenon continues to this day. There is a metastatic cancer on the collective soul of America, as represented by Corporate excess and greed, Donald Trump’s presidency, and the continuing support from amoral and unethical tribes of Christian religious ignorance. Some religious people aren’t interested in the truth, with their only need being to subvert their moral and ethical codes to feel like they belong to a tribe, and submit themselves and others to oppression and personal powerlessness. They are so afraid of the implications of their tiny little lives that they attach themselves to the rickety intellectual and spiritual wagons of those who are no more aware or wise than they are, yet promote themselves as if they had some special connection with God, or Truth.
They enshrine the suffering of their prophet Jesus, while continuing to create and support the conditions for more unnecessary suffering of other innocents by their lack of compassion and empathy for those not of their herd, such as members of other races and ethnicities, immigrants, Muslims, gay/transsexual/undecided people, and others not to be supported by the “God of their misunderstanding”.
Prosperity Christianity promotes that wealth and good health are God’s gifts to true believers, all the while promoting the status quo of white privilege with its historical excesses and oppression of others. Joel Osteen, and others, are at the forefront of this spiritual/economic movement which is damned by its own hubris. What is a poor and disadvantaged human being to think, that God does not love them because they are not yet rich? God is held out like a carrot by the prosperous to the others–if you only believe and act like we do, you too can become rich and one of “God’s chosen people”. Never mind that you might have to work three times harder to get one third of the result of the hawkers of this faith. Christianity has become the shill for “The Great Satan”, or America’s corrupted economic and social system.
And, in the strangest twist of patriarchal Ptolemaic irrationality, denying women their right for personal health choices over their own bodies while attempting to “save” unborn human babies has become an obsession, over the saving of thousands of endangered animal species, and the preservation and protection of the health of our overheating planet. Never mind that many also give a “wink and a nod” to Trump’s failing COVID-19 approach that will cost 100’s of thousands of lives, and millions to suffer, before we are through. Don’t the rest of us have a right to life, and good health, too?
It is a real stretch to believe that Christianity being practiced in the present form is even in the same universe as God’s truth. Those who presently practice and believe this way are truly “People Of The Lie”. Never forget that Christianity was modified and adopted as the State Religion by the Romans in the 4th century, in a desperate attempt by Constantine to hold his corrupted, disintegrating civilization together. The very same mechanism is in play today. Christianity is being modified to be married to capitalism, thus supplying further support to maintain our unbalanced economic system, and to the inequities historically present within our society.
In a parallel development, Donald Trump, in his need to “rehabilitate ” his corrupt and deplorable public image, now pretends to be the “Super Christian”, and that he knows “God’s will”.
He states that God will save America, with him at the helm.
Corrupted Christian religious adherents see Trump as carrying some sort of equivalence to their damaged understanding of what a “savior” looks like. It is impossible for any sane, loving human being to accept that the loss of up to 400,000 Americans to the COVID-19 pandemic is acceptable, as long as the economy is preserved and protected. This is not “God’s will”, this is the “mark of the beast”.
My bullshit detector is ringing off of the scale right now.
America’s got talent, and that talent is the greatest con man who ever became President, Donald Trump. And he continues to be supported by another great con, the branches of pseudo-Christianity that promote and support this abomination. “Christianity” is the ignored elevator music playing in the background, while its unconscious and unloving adherents continue in their own tribe’s abhorrent, white supremacist (conscious and unconscious) hate filled ways.
IT IS NO WONDER WHY SCHEMING, POWER HUNGRY POLITICIANS LOVE SEVERAL OF THE IGNORANT TRIBES OF CHRISTIANITY SO MUCH.
Yes, the white evangelicals, some Baptist variations, and so-called “prosperity Christians” certainly qualify. And, Mike Pence leads the charge of all corrupted Christians, of whatever sect they claim to be from. Mike Pence claimed, in the ’80’s and early 90’s, that the AIDS virus was God’s punishment to all who did not uphold God’s laws. One can only speculate what this evil man now postulates about “God’s will” in regards to the COVID-19 pandemic. The president called troops killed in combat “losers” and “suckers”, so it does not take much imagination to envision what this unfeeling, uncaring administration feels about those who have suffered from his faulted response to the pandemic.
Here is the latest, with some more startling, and treasonous, testimonies to the hubris, arrogance, and evil present within this administration. Donald Trump knew the serious dangers of the coronavirus but chose to downplay it as part of a deliberate strategy to deceive the American people:
The results of this deadly decision have been devastating: nearly 200,000 Americans are dead, more than half a million children are sick, tens of millions of Americans are out of work, and 400,000 deaths are projected by the end of the year. Trump’s deliberate decision to withhold critical health information from American families means he owns every single needless American death. It is absolutely sickening how many lives Donald Trump was willing to sacrifice in order to keep his poll numbers high.
The “Super Christian” still is a “Super Liar”. Trump does not care how many people lose their lives, as long as he holds onto his power. And THIS IS NOT SPIRITUAL POWER. The Bible that Trump so haughtily displayed for his Kodak moment during the DC demonstrations has many other things to say about this Lying King, and his supporting cast of the People Of The Lie:
John 8:44: You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
We must confront them and their lies, and speak our truth to their corrupted, selfish, self-serving ways through the courts, through the press, through community discussion, and through the ballot box. We don’t hold our breath waiting for the day when the real Christ consciousness will dawn upon their ignorance. But we will not remain silent, for by remaining quiet we remain part of the cultural conspiracy of silence that supports the continuation of oppression, injustice, and hatred.
We see them as the spiritually underdeveloped and disfigured human beings that they are, and have compassion for them. Some of us may even attempt to “forgive them”, all the while realizing that they still carry the venom of the viper, and they may still strike if threatened.
And we fight like hell to keep them out of political office, and minimize their influence over other places where they will have unhealthy influences over our society, like schools and businesses. The people that need to read this post will never do so, and, if they did, they would not recognize themselves due to the hypnotism created through their own disfigured shared belief systems. It is imperative that we find new, creative ways to protect society from this cancer, while promoting healing from within.
There is a cure for this national cancer, but we have to be prepared for a long healing journey, perhaps of several more generations to come..
“Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.” —John Lewis
It is time to bring the spiritual sword against those who use the capitalist system, and its politically motivated religious sycophants, against the will of Universal Brotherhood and Love. It is time to “overturn the tables”, be they in the White House, the marketplace, the church, or in the human mind itself
TREASON: Trump Related Extreme Anxiety Strikes Our Nation.
The Lying Fool
You know who he is, and his family’s corrupted and doomed name
Wealth only makes him appear different from other liars, yet, inside he’s the same
He is always on ego-trip vacations, while playing deadly mind games
He occasionally achieves success, yet. to us, at such a costly price is this fame
Just another graceless soul, trapped in his damaged ego’s morass
He raises a toast to his world, with less than a half empty glass.
While proclaiming his greatness, yet stuck in the same damaged class
As those with delusions of grandeur, but appearances of a jackass.
Spewing loud words of specious reasoning, with a rabid dog’s bark
Striving to prove his good name, yet on life’s script leaving a shit mark,
Believing he’s seen the light, yet why is his life so mired in the dark?
He needs purifying inner flames, while snuffing every divine spark
He thinks that his life has blossomed, while not possessing love’s fragrant flower
He sees himself carried by the rivers of sweet, while making others wade through the sour
Never realizing that, over life, he holds no lasting, healing power,
He does not live in our reality, only in his ivory white supremacist Trump Tower.
He wants all the best for himself, yet he deserves life’s worst,
In Truth’s spirit he is dead last, yet he portrays himself as first
He saw himself as so blessed, yet, with COVID-19 he and his world are incredibly cursed
He is another overblown bubble, waiting for the self-destructive final burst.
We are the saviors, we are the avatars, we are the Christ that we have been looking for. If we can’t embrace that fact, then we can’t embrace the TRUTH of our existence, and then the corrupt, and the evil, will prevail over all of us. We either continue to speak truth to power, encourage others to do the same, and vote for our intentions, or the forces that exist that do not support our greater good will continue to proliferate, and profit from our collective suffering and destruction.
Our collective VOICE is the LOUDEST PRAYER IN OUR HUMAN UNIVERSE.
FALSE PROPHETS, AND CORPORATE PROFITS?
Here is a marriage made in hell. We have other, more Earth, and human, friendly options.
Foolishness, or wisdom?
Our decision determines the future of humanity.
VOTE IN NOVEMBER!
Then,
LOCK HIM UP IN FEBRUARY!
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied:
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
—–Matthew 22:36-40
For those who “don’t quite get it”, in the 1st Commandment the “Lord your God” is the ordering processes and principles within individual consciousness directed by the intention to love our Universe, including our Mother Earth, and to be grateful for the opportunity to serve its highest good. The 2nd Commandment directs us to respect and care for ourselves, for each other, and for all of the life upon our planet.
All of the future hope of mankind depends upon us loving ourselves, loving each other as equals, loving all of the animal and plant species, and loving and caring for our planet. The burning up of California, the melting of the Arctic ice caps, drilling for and burning more oil, more powerful hurricanes on the east or Gulf coast, or the clearing of the Amazonian rain forests, is not part of divine intention for Mother Earth. The support of a Godless, traitorous, treasonous, lying dictator pretending to be the president of the United States is not part of divine intention either, regardless of what the corrupted “prophets of profit”, Franklin Graham or Paula White continue to malevolently promote.
An icon of a local Portland businessman, Tom Peterson, who flourished in the 1960’s and 1970’s, used to advertise on late night television. He would pretend to knock on the inside of our television screens, and he would proclaim
“WAKE UP!, WAKE UP!”
Please, American, WAKE UP, and let us go out, and save ourselves, and our world.
The Awakening Voice (by Bruce Paullin)
Though the slowly shifting desert sands of time,
Keep creating ever taller dunes for America’s lost, thirsty souls to climb.
It is through transcending our hateful world of so little reason and rhyme,
That we will reaffirm the way of Truth, with its quenching waters of the Sublime.
As seekers for Peace, on Truth’s high mount’ we must continue to climb,
Or we will stumble through the swirling sands of chaotic, corrupted minds.
That tempts and confuses minds with the lies of false rhyme and reason,
Wisdom’s lawyers must object to this deceit, and charge those thoughts with treason!
Are we but marionette’s dancing images trapped upon the ATM screen of a monetized mind?
With Corporate America’s dollar driven beliefs in full control, what freedom can we find?
We must release ourselves from the spiritual imprisonment of these choking, binding strings,
And unleash our hearts’ truest wisdom that liberated Intelligence can then bring.
As shadow boxers of Trumped Up Evil, to what dark ends do we hope to aspire?
Being co-champions with leaders who create nightmares makes situations perpetually dire!
When we stop collectively resuscitating those illusions with our mental pugilist blows,
Our freed hearts can support righteousness and defend against the Dark Ones now on public show.
As a pro-Trump marathoner, only on Life’s treadmills we perpetually will stand,
To follow in a liar’s steps causes failure to all, making us life’s also rans,
Who forever just chase in vain Sanity’s unifying, healing voice.
So step off of his divisive, circular belt, and share first place in the Life all may rejoice!
To finally realize the Truth, is to see ignorance’s agendas are only illusions that limit and bind,
Spun together with the same golden threads of the Emperor’s New Clothes, his evil tailors did wind,
To bind the minds and hearts of all innocents, and all of the vulnerable that they can find.
So we must continue to seek our own truth, and then our struggle becomes Sublime!
The non-illuminated, restless mind is devoid of Love’s rhyme and Truth’s reason,
And only chases after mirages, until it sees the internal corruption that is guilty of treason.
Shame on you, Donald Trump, your minions, and the pseudo-Christians who continue to support you.
Blessings to all of America’s holy warriors, who seek for all that is just, equitable, and true
I AM
I am the brightest of mornings, I am the cloudiest of days,
I am the silent night altar upon which mankind prays and preys.
I am the Olmec and Mayan of times old, recent, and new,
I am all civilization’s ruins, and I am the ever-evolving life that regrew.
I am the bird’s call, I am its flight, and the wind beneath its wings,
I am the music and its spirit that joyously lifts all hearts up to sing.
I am the water, I am the lagoon and the bay,
I am the infinite ocean where my children are birthed, live, love and play.
I am the blue sky, I am the weather changes, and the gathering of clouds,
I am the lightning storms that are now appearing so dangerous and loud.
I am the wind and the sun, I am the warm soothing breeze,
I am even our cold’s most raucous cleansing sneeze.
I am the dolphin and manatee, I am the mangrove lined shores,
I am waves crashing against rocks, that photographers adore.
I am the mind, and I am the end to its lonely thoughts,
I am the heart’s loving web in which we are miraculously caught.
I am the boisterous protests, and I am the crowd made quiet,
I can be even be found witnessing the white supremacists’ riot.
I am the wealthy, and I am the hurt, oppressed and poor,
I am your heritage, history, and future until we all are no more.
I am the Sanders and Pelosis, I am the Putins and Trumps,
I am love’s warriors, and I am also hate’s chumps.
I am the Christian, and the Hindu, I am the Muslim and the Jew
I am the Atheist and Buddhist who you never thought that you knew.
I am the cancer and its treatment, I am the movement towards health,
I am the healing balm that works mysteriously in stealth.
I am the grief, and I am the pain and the sorrow,
I am the deepest well of hope from which we eternally borrow.
I am your lifetime, I am your body and its breath,
I am the blessed last moment before each of our deaths.
I am the death of the false self that leads to the only true heaven,
Our denial of this truth brings the hellish news on channel two at eleven.
I am the sacred, and I am even the profane,
I am the source of all that we treasure, resisting me only adds to life’s pain.
I am not the movement of our thoughts, while we cling to concepts of time,
I am the emergence from all shadows, we all must reach for the sublime
What is my name, and where is my place?
Being ONE is seeing Me on every smiling and suffering sentient beings’ face.
(inspired by our trip to Belize in January, 2019)
Bruce Paullin
In honor of all of the innocent oppressed, bullied, victimized, traumatized, gassed, misogynized, persecuted, marginalized, neglected, abused, murdered, alienated, and institutionalized human beings, and all of the animals that are being driven into extinction, as we are all overrun by the principles of toxic masculinity in it’s almost infinite varieties of forms.. Toxic masculinity, toxic fatherhood, and toxic religion are cultural and historical impediments to achieving and maintaining happiness and good health.
“Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.” – Psalm 46:10
Set out, pilgrim. Set out into the freedom and the wandering. Find your people. God is much bigger, wilder, more generous, and more wonderful than you imagined. – Sarah Bessey
