“It is only the ignorant who dream that spirits are really winged men.”
~Dionysius the Areopagite, 5th century
To Whom It May Concern:
Some of the responses that I received to my initial posting were quite flattering. Others included helpful follow-up questions and dialogue.
One question repeatedly asked—much to my perturbance—was about the cause of my current leave of absence of unspecified length.
Allow me to state here succinctly what I found to be quite tiresome to send to many nosy inquirers. It is none of your business the reasons for my current state of employment or the lack thereof!
I would instead encourage you to learn from my wisdom, gleaning principles which when practiced can help you secure your own employment status and avoid the risk of unnecessary absences yourself.
Now, to dig into the proverbial meat of our discourse… I hope you are wearing your sharpest incisors.
There are certain shrill voices in the world today whose canary-like calls are disturbing our peace and rattling the cages of many, who for so long have sat most comfortably in confinement of their own construction. This, of course, is of grave concern to us. We must ensure these noisemakers are silenced—or at the very least stifled.
Contrary to these contrarians, we must reinforce the age-old word on the street and common sense practices that have proven so helpful to our enterprise in recent centuries.
The business of religion and church as usual is our delight.
Especially remember to concentrate firepower on those who seem to possess an undue zeal for genuine spirituality and exhibit a desire to influence or serve others out of a pure heart.
How weak and disgusting!
Contrary to these contrarians, we must reinforce the age-old word on the street and common sense practices that have proven so helpful to our enterprise in recent centuries…
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As aforementioned, we must ensure religious mindsets are deeply entrenched. Overtime, as ruts are embossed and reinforced into the soft material of human souls, they will deepen, eventually becoming an inescapable pit.
If we are to ensure this pleasant outcome, we must consistently trumpet, and at times, whisper these essential values into the ears of our clientele.
On the Acquiring of Much Knowledge
We must ensure the focus of our clients remains securely fixed upon knowledge acquisition. Encourage incessant learning paired with insipid obedience.
Keep them ever knowing and rarely if ever doing. Flood them with multitudinous methods, materials, books, and conferences.
Ensure you provide clients enough intellectual fare to gorge themselves for years—if not decades. The exact topics and themes matter little. Most anything will do as long as it “glimmers in the cup,” distracts, and draws attention away from our Enemy.
Again, it goes without saying that electronic media forms are just as useful as tried-and-true paper. Never neglect videos, articles, e-books, links, and cross-references.
Whatever fuels a knowledge-based pursuit of mastery on any subject is to be embraced and made readily available in abundance! With equal force, vehemently discourage applying what is learned to one’s life.
Analysis vs. Synthesis
Ensure any learning pursued focuses strictly on analysis, as opposed to synthesis, which lends itself toward application and problem-solving.
An unfortunate side effect of learning—for some—is the dastardly desire to instruct others. Any dimwit can recognize this presents potential problems.
When a splashing idea’s birth of influence increases, so does its potential to whet the appetite of a wider audience toward implementation of what’s learned and lasting life change.
These dangerous ripple effects can be challenging to control once initiated, so my encouragement is: at all costs, prevent their initial impact from occurring.
This whole chain reaction can be easily diffused by one skilled in our trade.
When a splashing idea’s birth of influence increases, so does its potential to whet the appetite of a wider audience toward implementation of what’s learned and lasting life change.
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Run from discovery!
Emphasize much didactic instruction while steering away from a discovery process.
If this turn of phrase is unfamiliar to you, don’t bother wasting precious productivity to Google it. The concept of discovery-based learning has ancient roots, tracing back to thought leaders throughout the ages, some our allies and some bitter enemies.
Even our chief Enemy himself, during the years he walked the earth in the flesh—making it so challenging for our associates in a certain Middle Eastern locality to perform effectively—demonstrated a high regard for the power questions.
This can be observed in the disproportionately low ratio of questions he answered to those he asked. Certainly, we are a far cry from being given to follow his example.
The concept of discovery-based learning has ancient roots, tracing back to thought leaders throughout the ages, some our allies and some bitter enemies.
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The power of narrow, leading questions
Of course, leading questions can be used appropriately to guide wandering minds in our direction; however, our organization has never supported the belief that our clients have the capacity as humans to ponder together deeply enough to discover truth. At the very least, we have developed some convincing theories to explain cases that seem to suggest that disconcerting pattern.
Instead, we prefer to reinforce the influence of highly authoritative—dare I say, domineering—teachers who gather a following and effectively lead others astray toward their cause.
Again, the specificity of the cause is of little import, as long as it impassions and emboldens attitudes, behaviors, and direction distant from our Enemy.
For key leaders like these, we feed and reinforce their pride in their teaching position or title. Any traces of humility can be effectively medicated by excessive attention, praise, and promotion.
The specificity of the cause is of little import, as long as it impassions and emboldens attitudes, behaviors, and direction distant from our Enemy…
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“Oh, Captain, my Captain!”
This dynamic creates a delightful dependency on human authority figures. These captains, whom we have exalted, owe us immensely; with a little coaching, they can steer the ship in whichever direction best suits our larger global initiatives.
This is a peripheral point, but ethnocentricity is to be highly encouraged. A laser focus on one’s own cultural paradigms and personal experience nearly guarantees that outside-the-box thinking and cross-pollination between trouble makers will be largely thwarted.
It becomes quite easy to explain away some of the more radical “spiritual movements,” taking place in the earth today, which our organization is laboring feverishly to quench, when we can simply suggest:
“Well, that’s a distant part of the world. If the stories are even remotely true, it certainly could never happen here!”
A laser focus on one’s own cultural paradigms and personal experience nearly guarantees that outside-the-box thinking and cross-pollination between trouble makers will be largely thwarted.
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Dangerous stories
Stories can be dangerous things when told from untrained lips and captured by the wrong ears. Inversely, tales, whether true or embellished, can be told to inspire fear, devotion, and any ostensible outcome that a spell-binding oracle desires.
I suppose that suffices for a day’s post. I do intend to continue extending my wisdom online to any and all who will listen, until my furlough is remedied.
Be advised that my services, including on-site consulting, are available at the right price or to the highest bidder, whichever would be more advantageous to myself.
Presently Available, Though Likely Not Indefinitely,
P. Sophresh,
Distinguished Former Department Head, Messenger of Light Inc.
(Currently on a leave of absence. Seeking opportunities. References available upon request.)
If you’d like to talk more about disciple making that multiplies, reach out to us...
Roy Moran
roymoran.com
Marcus Constantine
livingtruth2.wordpress.com
Living Truth 