Religion

Before Constantine, a little boy in a suit of armor, decided to coopt Christ to justify a war that no one remembers, it was merely a Way or a Path to oneness with Source, much like the Buddhist Eightfold Path.

Problem is, it became a religion, and a religion is essentially a bureaucracy. A bureaucracy begins with a mission but its initial purpose is soon replaced. The prime directive of any bureaucracy is continuity, survival. That will eventually supercede the basic mission.

Thus, the initial mission of achieving that state of oneness with Source, or God as I call it, was rapidly replaced by policy put into place to control, not empower.

I know you know this, but my point is so do I.

As to the Catholic Church, we all know it has much blood on its hands and is coming out of a sad history of pedophilia. I know that too. But this new Pope is a dandy. He has the authority of genuine service to the poor and oppressed and is taking the church in a good direction.

I am seeing Christians everywhere stand up against what it happening. Not everyone is a Deus Vult white nationalist or an Opus Dei fanatic, though the Magats have been infiltrated by both. These are immature souls, literalists, who are so utterly certain their way is the only way that they are quite willing to engage in mass murder, even genocide, to prove they are 'right.' But might does not make right, and in the end they will discover this.

In the meantime, people of all spiritual paths are awakening to the need of our species to live in harmony with the sacred earth, each other, the spirit world and God. Of course, I am a Hermeticist who practices through a Christian lens. One could as easily be pagan, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish or Daoist in this practice because its end objective is to achieve that inner purity through active introspection that allows the body-soul-mind to be filled with divine light.

The other problem with Christianity is the penis. Specifically the problems began with Henry VIII's small member. He was not able to produce much in the way of a male heir, and in typical male fashion blamed his wives. And the Catholic Church, the only game in town at that point, refused to annul his marriages. So he started his own religion. The Church of England. And of course, Martin Luther, who remained a devout Catholic all his life, protested against selling dispensation from sin and a bunch of other stuff the church was doing, and his protest spawned the Protestant reformation.

But enough history. You know all this, I am sure. And most thoughtful Christians do as well. And it is a good thing there are thoughtful Christians, because Hegseth has gone off the deep end with his eschatology, his childish idea that God somehow needs the help of white Christian nationalists to hasten armegeddon...sigh.

The real apocalypse, of course, has nothing to do with some future war. It is individual, when the kingdom (or queendom) grows inside them. The other thing I like about the Catholic and Orthodox churches is their emphasis on Mary, the Mother aspect of the divine. The trinity is incomplete, you see, without the feminine. Ah, but you know this as well.