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A Sad Ending to the Workshop Swallows Mini-Saga

7/31/2024

As I feared, the last swallow youngster did not survive the night. All three swallow chicks died within two days of each other. I assume the two that made it through their respective plummets from the nest succumbed to internal injuries of some kind a short while later.

The success rate for nesting barn swallows is between 70–90%. My workshop swallows are clearly in the 10–30% failure margin. The adults hung around the workshop for a few hours before vanishing into the blue sky from which they had come. I plan to remove the nest tomorrow.

Sad. I was looking forward to watching at least one fledgling leave the nest, ready to take on the world.

Anyway, we’ll now return to our regularly scheduled blog.

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The Workshop Swallows Take a Tragic Turn

7/30/2024

8 Comments

The swallow nest in my workshop originally contained four eggs, and I assumed they all hatched; however, the other day, I noticed the nest housed only three chicks. Things appeared to be going well for the little bird family all week, but yesterday, I walked into the workshop and noticed one of the chicks on the floor. It was still alive, so I picked it up and gingerly placed it back in the nest.

In the morning, I found the same chick on the floor again—dead this time. It looked the same as the day before—no sign of further development— which informed me that the chick had likely died soon after I had placed it back in the nest. A few hours later, I found another chick on the workshop floor. This one was more developed than the first but lifeless.

The nest went from three chicks to just one in less than a day. I made sure to check the workshop floor every hour after I found the second dead chick. The sole survivor appeared oblivious to the fate of its siblings and leaned precariously over the edge of the nest throughout the day.

Around six o’clock, I noticed it had also fallen to the floor (an approximately two-meter drop). Like the first swallow chick, it had survived the fall. I returned it to the nest and took a moment to study the structure the swallows had built. Though an impressive feat of engineering, the nest lacks the depth needed to keep the chicks safe. I observed a similar nest issue with a pair of black redstarts in the same building a few years ago.

Although adult swallows continued to feed the youngster after I had returned it to the nest, my optimism concerning the swallows has all but evaporated. I have a feeling that more misfortune will greet me in the morning.

On a more positive note, the four young storks are all practicing their flying. I see them circling in the sky with their parents throughout the day.

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What if the Olympics Opening Ceremony Had Been Reverent and Pro-Christian? What then?

7/28/2024

11 Comments

I ask all Christians who were so shocked by the blasphemous spectacle of the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics that they immediately took their blogs to write scathing posts lambasting the Establishment and its demonic System to pause and consider the following points:

What else did you expect the Olympics Opening Ceremony to be?
Does it matter how, why, or to what degree demons and the demonically affiliated desecrate Christian art, themes, and symbols via the mass media?
Isn’t this getting a bit stale at this point? I mean, how can you honestly be shocked by anything the demons and demonically-affiliated do to Christian art, symbols, etc?
Have you ever paused to consider that your vehement, outraged reactions might be what the demons and the demonically affiliated are aiming for?
How would you have reacted if the Opening Ceremony had been uber-religious, reverent, and packed with pro-Christian themes, symbols, language, imagery, slogans, and messages?

Concerning the last question, I offer the following speculation. Here’s what you would have done.

You would have taken to your blogs and written posts eulogizing the organizers for their piety, reverence, and devotion.

You would have written post after post praising all the symbols and language (and drone crosses) the organizers broadcast.

You would have inferred that the reverent Christian symbols and language signaled the beginning of a great and long-overdue mass awakening.

You would have been brimming with optimism, overflowing with joy, and bubbling with expectation.

Perhaps you would have gone as far as to discern the hand of God at work within the operation.

And you would have done all that because you remain stuck in symbol and secondary thinking.

The criticism of the sacrilegious display and the hypothetical lauding of the fantasy Christian-themed opening both miss the mark because they are locked in the realm of secondary thinking— the unreal level of the symbol.

Christians have two options here.

They can continue operating exclusively at the level of the symbol and secondary thinking and be little more than the perpetual playthings of demons and the demonically affiliated, i.e., reactive, manipulable, distractable pushbutton automatons.

Or they can begin dedicating themselves to the level of primary thinking and direct knowing where they can start working creatively with God, beyond the reach of all demons and the demonically affiliated.

Note added: I didn't watch the opening ceremonies. Why would I?

11 Comments

Christians Should Not React to the Desecration of Christian Art and Symbols

7/27/2024

6 Comments

I have a deep appreciation for most Christian art and symbolism; however, I do not allow this appreciation to cloud my understanding that all Christian art and symbolism are exteriorized objects— secondary “realities” that may represent, reveal, or reflect primary reality yet are not primary reality in and of themselves.

A significant part of the spiritual morass we find ourselves in stems from confusing secondary representations of reality with primary reality. We are slaves of symbolized reality. We live our lives imprisoned in this secondary unreal reality.

Society itself is a symbol and not a primary reality. The System controls virtually all symbols, and it endeavors to convince us that its symbol society is the primary reality. When the System desecrates Christian art and symbolism via the mass media, it trashes the exteriorized objects of Christianity, nothing more.

The primary reality of Christianity is immune to such degradations. Yet, Christians react to the System’s profane perversions of Christian art and symbols as direct attacks against the primary reality of Christianity.

The System accomplishes two goals here. One, it keeps Christians locked in secondary thinking when they should be striving for primary thinking. Two, it keeps Christians in a reactive state of being when they should aim for a creative state of being.

The individual Christian can do nothing to stop the System’s desecration of Christian art and symbolism; however, he can attain inward freedom and creativity from the System’s sacrilege by recognizing the core spiritual motivations behind the glaring inversion and irreverence.

6 Comments

Too Much Individuality, Not Enough Personality

7/26/2024

4 Comments

One insight from Berdyaev that I have found particularly clarifying when it comes to the problem of what it means to be oneself, to be true to oneself is the distinction between individualism and personality.

To simplify Berdyaev’s often overly complicated and circular line of thinking, I will reduce his definitions of the two to the following:

Individual

A human being possesses both individuality and personality.
Berdyaev defines individuality as the exteriorized, natural, societal aspects of human beings.
Within this conceptualization, nature and society form the whole, and the individual forms the singular part of the whole.
In other words, the individual is a part of nature and society, not vice versa.
In this sense, the individual is largely an external phenomenon determined almost entirely by external forces, the enslaving power of the world.
The individual is not the existential center; it is the perceived base component of an existential center that exists outside the individual, an existential center with which the individual must comply or struggle against.
The individual is an object among objects. The object world determines an individual’s worth by evaluating the individual’s “objectness.”
In this regard, the individual is “impersonal.”

Personality

Berdyaev defines personality as the absolute existential center.
Personality determines itself from within, from the inward scheme of existence, which Berdyaev equates with spirit and freedom.
Unlike the individual, a personality is not a part of the cosmos; the cosmos is a part of personality.
Personality is the quality of the cosmos.
Man is a personality not through nature or society but through spirit and freedom.
Personality is not an object among other objects and not a thing among other things. It is a subject among subjects, and the turning of it into an object or a thing means death.
Personality contains not only a human image but also the image of God.
Personality is not an object but a subject. It relates only to other subjects.
God communicates with personality, not the individual because unlike the individual, personality has the capacity to be truly free and engage in self-existent, original, creative acts.

As a being, man is both an individual and a personality, but through an enslaved form of consciousness, man focuses far too much awareness and energy on the former (at the expense of the latter).

Consciousness determines being, and man is locked in a mode of consciousness that convinces him that his true self exists primarily—or in extreme cases exclusively—only in the individual; that is, at the level of an object among objects.

This mode of consciousness has made man a slave to the world and a slave to himself. The solution to this enslavement involves shifting consciousness from the individual to personality.

Individuals define themselves by their relations with society, nature, and the world. Personality defines itself by its relation to God, from which it draws the strength and unity needed to overcome fear and determination.

4 Comments

The Workshop Swallows Have Hatched

7/25/2024

2 Comments

A brief update on the sneaky pair of swallows that built a nest in my workshop. Four ravenous chicks have emerged from the four eggs in the nest.

The adult pair fly in and out of the workshop the entire day to feed their young. I hear the chicks gently cheeping every time I step into the building to retrieve a tool. I wanted to photograph them today but thought better of it.

Maybe I'll have the chance tomorrow.

2 Comments

Destruction is Easy; Cleaning Up, Not So Much

7/24/2024

6 Comments

The demolition of the old pig barn is in full swing. I wouldn't say destroying parts of the old building was all that easy, but it was -- as Bruce Charlton often notes -- much easier than creating the new building will be.

Cleaning up the destruction is another challenging factor, and that's exactly where I am with this pig barn project.

Roof is down, most of the walls gutted. Nearly ready for the "creation" stage.

All the "stuff" I removed from the building to get it to the nearly ready for creation stage (roof beams, cross beams, planks, concrete, bricks, etc.). It goes without saying that this all has to be cleaned away before construction can commence.

The green container in the background contains the 8 cubic meters of rubble I have hauled out the building thus far (all by hand, over two days, using nothing but two buckets, my hands, a shovel, and a wheelbarrow). I have about another 8 cubic meters left to extract. Other junk includes broken lawn care equipment, bags of polystyrene insulation, old rabbit hutches, and so forth. My construction office is visible on the right (the snazzy red coffee table with the executive chair behind it).

6 Comments

Duckduck AI Frankie

7/22/2024

3 Comments

For reasons I’ll never understand, I have never bookmarked my blog on my computer. When I want to visit my site, I usually connect through a link featured on another Romantic Christian blog or use a search engine.

The other day, I accessed my blog through Duckduckgo, and I saw the following presumably AI-generated mini-descriptions beneath the links. (AI-generated stuff in italics; my comments in roman.)

Francis Berger is a writer and farmer who shares his thoughts on various topics, such as heat waves, solstices, professional development, and war. Read his latest posts and join the discussion on his blog.

Well, I am a writer of sorts—but a farmer? I mean, I do write about my garden occasionally, but I would hardly equate that with farming.

Concerning the eclectic topic selection, I have written about heat waves, solstices, professional development, and war; however, I hope my blog offers readers more than that.

Moreover, I can’t imagine any reader anywhere thinking, “Heatwaves, solstices, professional development, and war? Man, that’s right up my alley. I better get over there and join the discussion tout de suite!"

Read Francis Berger's reflections on joy, power, sacred images, and science in his blog posts from May 2022. He challenges conventional wisdom, exposes deception, and offers spiritual insights from a Christian perspective.

May 2022 appears to have been a good month, and the subject matter is more representative of what I hope I write about the blog most of the time. Yes, I do challenge conventional wisdom, expose deception whenever I can, and offer spiritual insights from a Christian perspective as best as I can. Overall, well done, AI.

Francis Berger explores the challenges and risks of being a Christian in today's world, where no path to salvation is safe or certain. He argues that Christianity is a religion of individual choice and discernment and that the future lies in self-discovered, personal revelations.

I like that one; however, I sense AI perused a single month rather than engage in a comprehensive scan to gather that information.

So, what’s my overall impression of AI based on the above?

My opinion hasn’t changed. AI remains a master plagiarizer, adept fake researcher, and uber-proficient parrot.

3 Comments

Let's All Get Really Optimistic About the System!

7/21/2024

8 Comments

Big news!

Let's all recommit to the demonic system by getting really optimistic about the prospects of it turning around and being good again like it was in the good old days that none of us seem to personally remember.

8 Comments

The Worst Lies Are the Ones We Tell Ourselves

7/21/2024

0 Comments

The Age of Dishonesty.

That’s what I would name our current era if anyone asked me to name it. Dishonesty because the lies that saturate this time and place are as ubiquitous as the air we breathe.

We have reached the point where people will candidly defend lying by calmly outlining why dishonesty is sometimes beneficial and often necessary.

Of course, the same people who justify dishonesty are quick to vehemently pounce on the perceived untruthfulness of others and call them out for their chicanery.

My lies are defensible. Yours? Not so much.

Whatever the case, I have noticed that virtually all deception and duplicity stems from the lies we tell ourselves—those cunning, sly, crafty, tricky little shards of personal subterfuge that most of us conspire to deny altogether.

Although people may lie to others only occasionally, most seem to lie to themselves incessantly, as evidenced by the relentless explanations, rationalizations, justifications, clarifications, and reconciliations on display in every public and—presumably—private discourse.

Although we often criticize and condemn lies told to others, we tend to adopt a far more forgiving attitude concerning the lies we tell ourselves.

We assume that our self-delusions are harmless or muted. We appear to endorse the notion that they are unavoidable. Perhaps there is something to that; however, unavoidable is not synonymous with acceptable, yet we tend to treat it as such.

One thing is certain--the true self rejects all self-dishonesty, particularly unrepented self-dishonesty. It cannot engage in that commerce with the Father of Lies -- but the worst of our unnecessary false selves can and do, quite eagerly and energetically.

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