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Beautiful Tessa. And so true. I would also add that we need to confront the myth that humans have dominion over earth; we need to learn to live as a part of this stunning world, and not as presumed masters.

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Thank you Riff!! And yes, living in harmony with this stunning world is far more pleasant!!

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The free choice we need to make for our world and ourselves is to choose to intently listen to the advice of The Divine, and to follow it.

Until then we are trapped in an ecosystem of life which is regulated by apex-predators killing the other life forms, such as ordinary humans, who don't understand that such a human subspecies exist for this essential task, until they make the task redundant, by following Divine Guidance.

(I do better on some days than on others.)

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True Dominion means a responsibility for - not the right to dominate for our own benefit.

There is obviously a big difference that we have lost touch with.

https://substack.com/profile/100124894-steven-berger/note/c-47147563

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I agree. We humans tend to ruin anything in nature that we touch.

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It all stems from out of touch parenting and education...I'm sure that's what was originally meant by 'The sins of the forefather will be visited upon the children until the...'how many generations? Which I interpret as meaning societies pass on their bad habits and biases to their offspring.

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Yep

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It is the "new normal" fallen evil nature of man that now is passed on from generation to generation. Evil has changed the once good and perfect creation of God and the perfect image of the Creator that was once given to man. Now man is doing evil and thinking evil continuously and we can't seem to help ourselves! We think we can, and we promises we will and we fail time and again to keep those promises. We realize we can't do it on our own. We are slaves to evil. Slaves to sin. Slaves to our own corruption and contemptible nature. Oh sure, sometimes we can seem to be "goody goodies" and even deceive ourselves into thinking we are somehow better than others, but really??

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Yes Rif!! That is a well-stated point. Humans were originally given dominion over the earth before there was evil in it. But after evil entered - or to put it another way - when an evil counter-mind stole mastery of the earth and got humans to presume they were still the masters of the earth - but now they were dominating it by evil ways and practicing hateful evil methods to rule over everyone else and the whole planet began to suffer the effects of that evil. Slowly everything began to die, people, plants, animals began to die. It's been going on for millenia and all life will eventually die out if it ls left to continue unchecked. But the only way to stop it is to get back the Good and Perfect Spirit of Love into the heart of the humans who are remaining who see the spiritual battle going on. Love vs Hate, Good vs Evil, Life vs Death. There are only 2 choices in the end. Which one will win? Which God will rule? Love does not work by Hate. Hate is only defeated by Love. We cannot presume to be masters unless we can master ourselves and submit to the Spirit of Love which only comes from the Creator. There is only One True God

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May 11, 2022Liked by Tessa Lena

This. You have accurately laid out both the problem and the solution — the only solution. Scratch the surface of any historical spiritual tradition, many of the most popular modern meditation teachers, or even hard research such as provided by the HeartMath Institute, and this is what they say.

This is not an abstract solution. It is literal, and it is real: we each must connect with our heart and live from our heart, and in order to do so we must each overcome our own internal battles. But when we do this, we activate a power both within ourselves and outside of ourselves that is much greater than the fear that those who aim to control us depend and thrive on. By doing this, we will win, and the Earth will become a much more beautiful place than any of us can imagine.

This is our responsibility as awake humans on this planet at this time. This is why we are here, and our descendants are depending on us to make good. We have been drafted into an army, in service to our planet and its inhabitants. We do not use weapons, yet we all hold the true power.

It’s time to show up.

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So true, and thank you!

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Wow ❤️

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May 11, 2022Liked by Tessa Lena

Throughout history people have committed rape, murder and pillage on personal levels on up to national levels while wrapping themselves in the cloak of Christianity. The original Jesus did no such things. He was pure love and pure truth. He told people that the reason He came into the world was to tell the truth, and said for us to imitate Him and if we did, people would hate us just as they hated Him before us. Tessa you're a virtuous and courageous seeker and speaker of truth.....and you will eventually find it.

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May 11, 2022Liked by Tessa Lena

I hav been listening to John Cash sing about our own personal Jesus-

Someone hear prayer and cares-

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Agnostic most of my life, I came to the Quakers because they seemed to want to get back to original Christianity, to allow Christ to teach them directly.

I don't think Quakers are the correctest, but I have found something that is valuable to me.

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founding

oh good. I was thinking Quakers as I read this, because my mom followed the Quakers and I have had some exposure. now I am trying to think of my favorite Quaker George Fox quote about seeing the light in everybody, but it has been a while and I can't remember!

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Incredible work of art. We must continue to work and get people to break free of the mental chains linking them to the “machine.”

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Thank you Fred!!

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Mental chains - a very apt description.

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For those that raise and tend plants or animals, there is a truth that comes through, whether understood or not. Each life form thrives under its own set of conditions, some combination of soil, sunlight, food, or whatever it might be that matters to that organism. We can alter the conditions, but the needs of the organism remain. We might not often think of it this way, but there is an implication of "purpose", in that living organisms appear as "purpose built" -- they are not made to do just anything anywhere.

We are such organisms, extremely complex ones, and our needs are vast. We are adaptable, but not as extensively as we think we are. As for purpose, we seem to think we can have any that we choose, and some believe they have none. But are we any different from any other form of life in that regard?

Largely absent from present-day discussions about what is happening in the world is the possibility that we might have chosen paths that simply don't work for us. That possibly there might be choices we rejected that we now ought to reconsider, having seen the consequences of the choices we made instead.

It is also possible that there are choices we rightly have rejected for the wrong reasons, where it appeared that one thing was happening when the reality was otherwise. This is a good time in history to reconsider such matters, when the substitution of false reality is an everyday pressure and a heavy drain upon us all, whether we see what is happening or not.

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Beautiful words, and very poignant! Thank you

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May 13, 2022·edited May 13, 2022

That part where you said we thought we chose something when we actually chose something else. We got “out of the way” for a bit to come to the place we are now bringing the “out of the way” knowledge along for the rest of the ride. I think that goes with saying maybe we weren’t out of our way at all. Maybe this right now is part of the way. I think the answer to Tessa’s last question goes along with the narrative because of Free Will some choose not to love.

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I am almost, but not quite, tempted to say "there is no such thing as a bad choice". I do believe that choices that end our ability to choose are not the best candidates for things to try. In my personal journey I have made many poor choices from which I recovered and learned. But then how would we learn to walk without falling down, or to ride a bicycle without falling off?

Life choices, however, often carry greater consequences than ordinary "learning falls". And yet when I look back over mine -- which I seem to spend a lot of time doing of late -- they form patterns that suggest a way ahead, lasting consequences aside. At the same time, I recall other events that were opportunities I took that were not of my making, that shaped my life and made it possible for me to still be here today. They form patterns too.

These patterns lead me to believe that I am not alone and adrift in a random world. This might be a random world -- entropic for sure -- but "random" isn't necessarily what I think it is, and seeing that is central to everything. I phrase this in first person because it is something I had to see for myself. I applied things I learned from others, but it is my conclusion. Likewise, I can't "convince" anyone else of it.

I can, however, test my conclusion, and that has led to many discoveries and to a personal peace in the midst of chaos that is beyond simple explanation. I do look for ways to share what I have found with others individually and personally, when possible, but not on Substack! At least not beyond what I am saying here.

I will take a chance, and provide a little more detail. I think it is topical, given Tessa's post. My discoveries have in a sense led in a circle, back to a re-examination and partial re-acceptance of things I was taught early in life, 60 years ago and more, in what seems to have been a different world.

In my young world there was this thing called "church" and there was this other thing called "God." I didn't really see the distinction, that one was not like the other. All I saw at that time was "church" and all the things surrounding and attached to it. That was the central (but not only) "something" that I thought was one thing when it was very much another. It was a concoction of truth and lies that my young mind didn't know what to do with, and that I was expected to accept.

(There are other details involving birth defects, iatrogenic injury, and more, that left me fundamentally at odds with "church", but that is all I will say about that. Let's just say that my worldview was unusual.)

To make a long story short, which I surely must do, I rejected "church" when I was 21, and I avoided that kind of church for most of the next 42 years, in two stretches totaling 35 years. God was a mystery to me at 21, one to which I would return to consider more than once, but I proceeded with my ordinary life, making many poor choices, and learning a great deal. I was a deist for most of the time I was away from church. I have been a theist of one flavor or another for the past eight years.

These eight years have been an archaeological dig, finding bits and pieces of my earlier life that fit, and tossing things that don't belong into another pile. I am still digging, and tossing. I have a church, my seventh as an adult. I want to be in such a community, and to contribute to it. I agree with many things that are taught and done, and disagree with some, as is expected and understood. I don't expect perfection from the community, or anything close. I didn't find this place; it was shown to me. And while here, with careful consideration, I will say what I am moved to say to whom I am moved to say it, which is what I have been doing.

It's all part of the journey. Yours is likely different. It's personalized.

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May 14, 2022Liked by Tessa Lena

I appreciate your thoughts and seeing they are not wholly specific I relate very closely to them my idea about church meshed with God for many years as a child as well and I’ve been out of church for some time as late now but I’m no way removed from God. I’ve been riding around in a merry-go-round way with some thoughts and ways as well. I think you do well on substack and I’m grateful for your comment.

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I can echo being in no way removed from God. Churches, however... I won't say much else about them, but the culture is important. It's not the only important thing but, having learned the hard way, I consider a healthy culture in the community as being essential.

My main point is what I have long expressed using the words "things are not what they 'seem'". It's a peculiar way of saying that what appears to us to be is not the same as what is there. They might be closely related, what we see and what is there, but they might also be far apart. Can anyone think of any recent examples?

Many people understand themselves to be living in a world formed by chance, living lives shaped by chance. Some envision using their randomly-formed abilities to lift us from our present state of disorder into a higher state of order. In that view we are effectively alone. If there are other lifeforms, here, or elsewhere, we are all still in the same boat.

I have had many thoughts about this over the years, and I have been all over the place with it. My thinking now is that no, we can't move to a higher order on our own, but rather things will tend to go from order to disorder whether we want them to or not, whether we try to do anything about it or not, absent outside influence on the system. Nothing I have seen recently has caused me to doubt this trend.

On the other hand, "random" is not necessarily random. It may not be what we think it is at all, and that can offer hope. I have approached the problem in two ways: I have asked questions of whatever might be behind randomness, and I consider the writings and traditions that have been preserved down through history, looking for answers there -- "external influence".

I find that when I ask questions this way, direct answers sometimes come. And when I examine the writings and traditions, I find that some are very different from the others. The ones on which I focus are ones that say "don't always try to fix things yourself -- ask for help!"

Take it for what it's worth.

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Those with very deep hurts may not know how to love.

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May 11, 2022Liked by Tessa Lena

This is so beautiful, thank you so much for so eloquently expanding on the thoughts that were already in my mind. Today at work a guy told me that he tries to stay sane in today's world by reminding himself that the types of rulers and injustices that we are faced with are very much the same types of struggles our parents and their parents, and going way back to kings and even further back, that all good people have always had to deal with. It is tragic, but also empowering to confront this realisation.

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Thank you for your kind words!! I had the same realization. I grew up on stories of hardships and war that the generation of my grandparents had to go though, and as a kid, I admired my grandparents' generation and I assumed that I was the "privileged" one, where all those things ended back then, and I am just going to have an easy life (and the television promised that as well).

Plus, the culture of my people is filled with tyrants. So it was easy for me to see how the rulers are being tyrannical now, but it was fascinating to realize that the history hadn't ended the moment I was born. :)

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May 11, 2022Liked by Tessa Lena

Lots of love coming your way. Your words resonate and I am grateful to you for sharing. There is A LOT of healing that needs to occur...if everyone could read this and truly understand it we'd be living in a better world today. Pls don't be scared...please don't stop...this world needs you! *hugs*

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Thank you!!!!! We all need hugs, all the time. :)

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Especially those of us who grew up without hugs. The people I permit to hug me...it’s a very short list.

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Tessa, You are brave. You are following your heart. You are not afraid of your shadows, in fact you turn over rocks to see what crawls out. You self-correct. You try. You send these writings into the void not to fill it, not to hear an echo, but to bridge gaps in all of our understandings and to be real about them. I'm glad you hit send. You spoke to me and I am grateful.

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May 11, 2022Liked by Tessa Lena

:❤️)

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Thank you Marilyn!! Many hugs!!

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May 11, 2022Liked by Tessa Lena

What is happening now is an inevitable consequence of our collective indifference to the crimes our servants have been doing in our names for centuries

Maxim of law. The master is liable for the sins of his servants

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Hi Tessa, your beautiful heart shines through this essay... as challenging as it can sometimes be, may we all hold to the belief that Love Wins. Blessings and happiness.

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Thank you, Chris!! xo

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May 11, 2022Liked by Tessa Lena

oh my goodness, this is wonderful. I was thinking similar (though not as articulate) thoughts this morning and then I find this. we live in scary but also magical times ♥️ keep going. let’s all keep going.

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Tessa, this is beautifully written…and heart-felt. May your words reach the hearts of many who are lost and asleep (as are we all in some fashion!)

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Thank you Winter!!

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And hugs. :)

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May 11, 2022Liked by Tessa Lena

It’s a continuation of the war in heaven before we came to Earth:

Isaiah 14

12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

His plan was to remove our agency and make us all toe the line, as all totalitarians want. In return he wanted God’s throne. Not gonna happen. Evil always wants to take freedom away.

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Yes, power will always feed on freedoms.

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Sadly it appears that evil springs from unmet childhood needs or traumas.

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May 11, 2022Liked by Tessa Lena

I dig this, especially the conclusion where it refocuses on personal responsibility as a way to help reorient ourselves to the world, to each other, and the divine. And to love!

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Thank you Jason!!

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I am a strong believer in personal responsibility. I believe it makes the world a better place for ourselves, and for others.

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May 11, 2022·edited May 11, 2022Liked by Tessa Lena

A good lithmus test of any -ism or creed is if it includes respect for "No thank you, I'm not interested but you are welcome to offer again at a later time" - if it respects people politely declining to join.

Doesn't matter if it is the county mandating taxfunded garbage pick up without an opt-out clause for those wanting to sort their garbage themsleves and drive it to the dump, or a high and mighty rooting tooting faith. If it doesn't allow "No thank you it's not for me" all the tyranny and totalitarianism will follow simply due to that one little thing.

And creature comforts makes us into comfortable creatures. What else could it do?

Edit: that text of yours above is the kind of stuff only a free human, free in mind and body and soul, can create. The locked mind, the greedy venal grubber or the slave to the cause can only ever and always make twisted perverted copies of what the soaring spirit can achieve.

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Thank you Rikard!! And I believe that most of us (with the exception of born predators, who are very few and who serve the function of keeping people awake) ... most of us are born with the full ability to be free. A lot of people are not using that ability due to a combination of trauma, unlove, confusion, and complacency, and probably a number of other things. But I believe that everybody can get free, and perhaps it happens early, or perhaps at the moment of the very last breath, but we are born for joy. I think.

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I love how you describe predators as serving the purpose of keeping us awake. So true. Everyone and everything has a purpose.

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One minor correction (I think). In "There is a popular train of thought that the world is fixed by connecting the linear dots, explaining the plot, and making everyone complain with the “correct point of view."", should the word "complain" be rather "compliant"?

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Oh, thank you! It's "comply." Comply!!! I tried to weed out the typos but evidently...

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I think both words work pretty well! ;)

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Thank you :)

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