The Idols of our True God

A cornerstone must be set in place with vision and effort

An obstacle usually alerts us that we need to do something not to bump into it. Life’s obstacles let us know we are on the wrong path or need to correct our course. But seldom do we realize this; instead, we blame others or circumstances, not assuming responsibility for the steps that took us to that obstacle.

Original photo @mikefoster at pixabay

If you look back with intent, you will find you were either warned or did something that led you to the obstacle that became a problem in your life. It usually takes years, if not forever, for people to realize that their anger, misgivings, and resentment towards their family and the circumstances they lived in life were more the result of their decisions and direction and not what others did or events they suffered.

It has been said that humans are the only animals that stumble on the same rock twice, even a donkey will have the sense to remember and avoid it. And the crucial question must be asked, what is the biggest obstacle we face in modern living? One we keep stumbling on.

One Idol

I believe we are a race meant for greatness and we have been individually and socially tangled into submission by ambition to the wrong end: money and having. When you come out of your house in the morning, you are bombarded with an artillery of suggestions and tempting proposals to catch your attention to buy something, belong to some group, fit in, and so on and so on… it is tiresome. But we buy into it all. On one hand, we are not troubled by it, we have become numb to its overloading presence in our space; on the other hand, we do want to acquire things and have experiences that will make our life feel rich and abundant.

We incorporate some of those suggestions into our life’s travel kit. Who wouldn’t want to feel accepted and abundant? However, there is a price to be paid when you encumber an image of what is important and relevant without considering it or aiming at it. The idol you have erected together with the marketing and social media subworld, keep you perpetually in need and unsatisfied.

What we adore in the idol

My daughter is thirteen years old and for more than a year she has been pleading for an iPhone. She is obsessed with it. This objective of hers is an image that draws her attention and drives her intent and energy to acquire it. The gadget is not the idol, it is the idea or sense that having it, promises her to feel meaningful and accomplished. The iPhone is the image that serves as testimony of our accomplished aiming, then it stands as an idol.

We have embedded in ourselves something that comes from when we came out of the unconscious animal world, innate to our coming to terms with the “I am” realization… nothing suffices, we are perpetually seeking something to fulfill us. The marketing industry plays on this, and launches us from wanting something, working towards it, acquiring it and then for the next vicious cycle.

The cliché of modern living

No matter how much or how often you acquire stuff it doesn’t fill the hole and lack of real value in your life. Of course, we may all rationalize that we do not consider this or that to be so meaningful that it can bring our lives to a sense of completeness. However, if a therapist needs to know where a patient stands psychologically or emotionally, he does not take his or her word for it, the therapist follows the behavior and infers what is evident… and to many, having is the all-significant, something that will give them status, recognition, and a sense of personal achievement: it is the idol to which we sacrifice. By the way, there is nothing wrong with it, you are the master of your own life; the problem is that you are aiming at a moving target that is fleeting and truly devoid of specific weight and significance. What does fill and drive you forward, is the sense that you are accomplishing meaningful milestones in your life… and that is the result of a vision made tangible.

What comes first

I do not want to be a pompous moralist, but the Sermon on the Mountain has a clear exhortation of the order of things:

And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you —you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ (…) your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 
Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Mathew 6: 28-34

The key is “seek first the kingdom and his righteousness”, because if you seek what is truly meaningful, Life will unfold in front of your feet… “and all these things will be given to you as well”. The true order is “seek a meaningful objective” and you will recieve what you need and maybe more as a bounty for your work.

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Vision trespasses the messiness of life

Let us be frank, it is not a law of physics, life is messy and sometimes you work your butt off and you don’t get the results. What I have learned is that cutting corners gets you a fleeting moment of triumph, only to start over from a lower step. It is not that you will not find obstacles, or that there will not be difficulties, we are not a straight arrow and Life is not a simple target. However, if you aim to uncover your path with intent, you will clear the vision for what is relevant and significant in your life; then when you work your way towards it, you will experience meaning and in due time money and having will be a consequence. All other choices may seem expedient, but in reality, are costly and more painful.

Call to action. Feel if it rings true

Stop, sit and be silent in a space you can be intimate and ask yourself: what am I doing to cause trouble in my life?

And then listen. The answer will come.

Ideas can change the world; they can change your life. We have no problem accepting this when hell is created on earth. There is one idea that sent me on a different course, like an asteroid that clashed and made me change my orbit: Jordan Peterson stated in a conference “life is suffering, but you are more than you think” followed by “we can take the whole suffering of life as one category and address it in our lives”. Those two quotes are one amazing integral idea that changed my life, not because now I don’t tremble in the face of adversity, but because I remind myself every morning why I am living on this earth at this specific time in the evolution of mankind. And, when confronted with obstacles I remind myself that those are the basics of life and recognize how this adversity is telling me where I need to correct my course.

We need to build the road towards your home, you do it with your actions and your integrity. It may be painful, it will feel uncomfortable, when you are a mess, it will be painful to realign our path and lay that first stone. Action guided by integrity will set the foundation of your home and they will dissolve any image that stands before you in substitution to what is relevant and meaningful. Be forthright to pay that price, to recognize what divides you, what weakens you, what feels off… and remember, “when in doubt, don’t doubt!”.

Next Wednesday…

You can’t bullshit a bullshitter

Imagine what it would be like if there was no division between past, present, and future. As if it all was really one continuum, one dimension with no divisory lines.