Blog Archives

A Homeric Cyclops

9/24/2025

Lego has been a part of my son's life since he was four or so. He's thirteen now and still builds in his spare time. He began submitting some of his builds to an online Lego-building site and has managed to win a few of the challenges. His latest win was his "Homeric Cyclops" build, which he entered for the "Mythical Creature Build" contest.

I like the knight cowering behind the tree nervously gripping his sword.

Some of his other builds include "The Medieval Blacksmith Shop."

Sisyphus.

And my personal favorite, "The Empire on Vacation."

2 Comments

High Levels of System Participation Preclude Final Participation

9/21/2025

4 Comments

Although I am not very well-versed in Barfield’s ideas concerning participation, I think I have grasped the basic concepts enough to understand that the Final Participation Barfield envisioned is virtually impossible without a high level of detachment from the System.

Barfield advocated for a conscious re-engagement with the world that synthesized analytical and logical thinking (alpha thinking) with our intuitive and imaginative thinking to fully perceive and, more significantly, actively participate in the spiritual that underpins all Creation.

Such active participation raises consciousness to a state of co-creation; that is, the fusing of imagination and reason to not just perceive but assiduously participate in creating deeper and richer interactions with and experiences of reality (Creation). Barfield also suggested that such active (Final) participation would dissolve the demarcation line currently separating the perceiver from the perceived.

Original Participation entailed an absence of systems or extremely rudimentary systems that were spiritually attuned to the aliveness of everything in Creation. The eventual rise of systems dissolved Original Participation and detached consciousness from its immersion in Creation. Consciousness shifted from being spiritually attuned and fully immersed in Creation toward a state of self-awareness and detachment. The separation between the perceiver and the perceived was established and became fully entrenched. Consciousness essentially became alienated from its source.

The rise of self-consciousness allowed analytical, logical, and conceptual thinking to flourish; however, it came at the cost of fortifying the false barrier man had constructed between himself and Creation. Spiritual systems were able to bridge this gap to some degree through symbols and rituals; however, the symbols and rituals lost their power over time, and spiritual systems essentially became “bridges to nowhere.”

Barfield adamantly maintained that a return to Original Participation was neither possible nor desirable, implying that Final Participation should involve the re-imagining and re-creation of the sorts of systems that dissolved Original Participation.

Nevertheless, it is quite clear that Barfield also did not advocate for a return to the same sorts of spiritual systems (churches) that came to dominate consciousness after they had eclipsed Original Participation.

It also seems clear that a divinely-minded consciousness cannot be the “product” of a system. Put another way, systems cannot induce Final Participation. Hence, Final Participation must occur at the personal and individual level first.

Whether that spills over into any sort of system and what kind of system such a system would actually be is secondary. At present, I can only imagine Final Participation at the group level within a family or a small circle of friends, but such a development would seem to require simultaneous experiences of Final Participation within individuals who then recognize such developments in themselves and others.

Returning to the main point expressed in the first paragraph of this post, I am firmly convinced that Final Participation is virtually impossible without a high level of detachment from our current System, primarily because our current System is brazenly anti-God and anti-Creation—and yes, this sadly includes the bulk of what constitutes Christian organizations and institutions.

Our current System is not only anti-God and anti-Creation; it is also opposed to divine-mindedness. Thus, high-level attachment to the System precludes the fostering and nurturing of the divine consciousness Barfield envisioned.

Final Participation involves the generation of co-creation. Spiritual participation in our current System is only likely to induce co-destruction.

Believing that divine consciousness is somehow the “product” of a system and that spiritual systems of the past can nurture and foster divine consciousness are telltale signs of high levels of attachment to the System. Despite beliefs to the contrary, reforming the System will not generate the kind of divine-mindedness Barfield envisioned.

If we are serious about becoming more divinely-minded, then we must forgo a high level of System attachment.

At the present time, this appears to entail adopting an “in it but not of it” spiritual perspective that forgoes temptations to improve, reform, restructure, or rectify the System in favor of actively re-engaging with Creation at a deeper, more unified level.

To sum up, high levels of spiritual “participation” in the System hinder, if not outright prevent, the divinely-minded consciousness required for Final Participation in Creation.

4 Comments

My Take on Life Imitating Art

9/20/2025

2 Comments

Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog (circa 1818) is one of my favorite Caspar David Friedrich paintings. Even those unfamiliar with Friedrich's work have likely encountered the painting somewhere before.

Anyway, I spent the day hiking around the Schneeberg, the easternmost and northernmost mountain of the Alps higher than 2000 meters.

The mountain is visible from my village in northwestern Hungary, and I have been gazing upon it for over a decade with the intention to see it up close and hike it one day.

Well, today was that day, and while I was hiking the trails near the summit, I seized the opportunity to do my own take on Freidrich's iconic painting.

I call it Doofus Above the Sun-Drenched Mountains. Enjoy!

2 Comments

Why Is the System So Vital to Christians?

9/18/2025

8 Comments

Many Christians obsess over the system. Their biggest concern is that the current system is not a Christian system, and they pine for a day when the system will be Christian again. If not that, then at least a more Christian-leaning system, or a system that is not openly anti-Christian.

Whichever way they lean, most Christians appear to agree on the fundamental need for a system. System is regarded as a sacred construct that has been inverted. If it is not rescued and reformed, it will continue to decay into utter disorder, which is unthinkable. Thus, the system must be realigned and restored.

I don't think such realignment or restoration would do much for Christianity as a whole.

Far from being sacred, the system -- any human system on earth organizing men into societies -- strikes me as a sort of necessary evil; an inevitable part of mortal life, like suffering, entropy, and death. Sure, the system keeps us alive and offers us all sorts of necessities, comforts, and pleasures, but it also has tendency to conflict with and stultify spirit.

Christians seem to believe that a Christian system will not exhibit such tendencies, that it will instead nurture and protect spirit. I sense that Christian systems may have offered such nurturing and protection in the past, but it was always at the price of freedom, self-discovery, and personal spiritual growth (spirit was subjected to and subdued by the external forces of churches, dogma, doctrine, etc).

I very much doubt any Christian system would nurture or protect anything today. Quite the opposite.

All of that aside, most Christians seem blind to the larger point about the significance and supposed sacredness of "system." It strikes me that Jesus was not keen on the system during his life on earth and was mostly uninterested in the machinations and functionings of any system. His teachings are glaringly un-systematic, as is his offer of everlasting life in Heaven.

Although Christians will argue otherwise and point to the Gospels for "proof," I do not believe Jesus' prime mission was the establishment of a system of salvation, let alone an ideal system for earthly life.

In fact, I do not think these were even a secondary or tertiary aims.

8 Comments

The Chicks Are Growing Up

9/18/2025

1 Comment

Back in July I reported on the hatching of five chicks. They are now just over two months old, and it is now clearly discernible that they comprise three roosters and two hens (the roosters are to the left in the photo).

I am happy about the hens, but I'm not sure what I will do with the roosters. Four male birds in the coop may prove untenable (four includes the dad, Richie Ricardo).

We'll see.

In the meantime, I'm content to just watch them develop.

1 Comment

Spiritual Life Resides in the Personal, Not the Impersonal

9/16/2025

2 Comments

Although I disagree with many of Nikolai Berdyaev’s ideas, I believe his assumptions concerning what constitutes the core of the Christian faith—the very essence of what Christianity is or should be about—hit the mark in most respects.

Chief among these is Berdyaev’s insistence that inner spiritual experience and creativity are more substantial and consequential than supposed external realities.

Berdyaev’s emphasis on the internal over the external stems primarily from his overarching belief in personality as a cardinal value and ultimate reality.

For Berdyaev, personality embodies the unique, unrepeatable, free, spiritual, and divine aspects of a being -- not to be confused with the individual, which Berdyaev regarded as a predominantly natural, material, and social construct.

Berdyaev regards the “external” beyond the realm of personality as secondary to the interior life and the spiritual, subjective world, and often contrasts the external world with the inner freedom and creativity of the spirit.

He believes that the external, in the form of society, culture, ritual, and norms, congeal into what he termed “objectivization,” a deadening, burdensome force that is often at odds with and, ultimately, stifles freedom and creativity. Taken to the extreme, objectivization can potentially lead to dehumanization and despiritualization.

Thus, authentic personality and spirituality are grounded in and stem from the internal, which Berdyaev views as the source of vitality, freedom, meaning, and, ultimately, truth.

Any drastic shifts away from such an internal focus toward a mainly or, in some cases, purely externalized existence lead to an “impersonal” existence that invites spiritual decomposition and decay, which eventually renders human beings spiritually powerless against all external forces, particularly those associated with "objective reality" or societal concepts like “the common good.”

2 Comments

One of the Summer Projects

9/14/2025

3 Comments

I worked on quite a few projects this summer, but most of them involved removing debris and cleaning up. Only one project required building something -- the bicycle/storage shed.

Regular readers may recall my pig barn renovation from last year.

As the photo above shows, the renovation left a big, exposed concrete slab in front of the building. My original intention was to simply build a slanting roof over it to provide a place to park the bicycles and well, who knows what else. However, the more I thought about that idea, the less I liked it.

An open space with a roof over it makes everything under the roof visible. Neatly parked bicycles under the roof would not be too unbecoming, but knowing myself, those bicycles would soon be joined all sorts of other bric-a-brac and become a mess.

Also, a roof spanning the length of the concrete would also shade the building's only window and the glass on the door, thereby darkening the interior considerably.

In light of these considerations, I opted for something else. A roughly 3 x 3 meter wooden shed with slats that breaks the openess of the concrete space and leaves the window and door exposed. The slats at the front and side also conceal the shed contents somewhat.

The shed entrance is at the back, intentionally large and open to allow for easy bike parking and retrieval.

Next year is all about final minor renovations, paving stones, and landscaping. After that, I can say I'm done and will focus on nothing more than maintenance.

3 Comments

My Favorite Wasp Is a Solitary Worker, Like Me

9/14/2025

5 Comments

Hungary is home to all sorts of hornets and wasps, and I inevitably suffer the joys of their stings at least a half-dozen times throughout the summer while I am outside working on the house.

However, over the years, I have noticed one particular species that exhibits no aggression toward me, even when I unintentionally disturb them or their nests.

That species is known as Sceliphron caementarium—more commonly known as the yellow-legged mud dauber wasp.

By Hectonichus - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14701483

Unlike the vast majority of its wasp cousins, the mud dauber lives a solitary life and spends most of its time flying back and forth from its nest, which it crafts from mud and situates under the eaves of buildings and other shaded, sheltered, and semi-sheltered spaces.

I first became aware of the mud dauber while I was laying bricks for one of my projects. There was a nest on the eave of the building I was working on, and the slender-bodied wasp came and went throughout the day, paying little attention to me as I built my own wall. If I happened to be too close to its nest on one of the dauber’s return flights, it simply turned around, flew off, and returned later when I was farther away from the nest.

So preoccupied was the wasp with its own nest building that it showed no interest at all in my own construction efforts. After a while, I began to feel an affinity for the yellow-legged insect. We were both solitary types, working away at our given projects, content to leave the other in peace.

I later learned that mud daubers can sting people but only tend to do so in life-and-death situations. Unlike other wasps, it will generally not attack you if you knock its nest down.

Speaking of nests, I also discovered that mud daubers hunt spiders, paralyze them with venom, and then place the paralyzed and preserved but still alive arachnids into the nest, where they eventually serve as a food source for mud dauber larvae after they hatch in their own separate chamber.

During a recent renovation project, I had no choice but to knock down a dauber nest and was startled to find six paralyzed spiders alongside the developing larvae.

I must admit that I find all of that a bit "creepy" (pun intended). Nevertheless, the yellow-legged mud dauber remains my favorite wasp for two simple reasons -- it works alone and does not bother me while I am working alone.

5 Comments

Spirit Requires Distance from the System

9/13/2025

2 Comments

A big part of system distancing entails building resistance to the System's endless mass communications: marketing, advertising, persuasion, storytelling, and propaganda.

The fact that the System's mass communications and mass media are virtually hardwired into modern people's consciousnesses doesn't make matters easy.

This is particularly relevant within the development of human consciousness, which is meant to follow a spiritual trajectory, one that should—after a long period of alienation from the spiritual—draw us back toward God and Creation.

What strikes me about the System's mass communications and media in general is how savvy we moderns proclaim ourselves to be concerning these things.

Nearly everyone that I know seems to understand the tactics and ploys the System uses in its communications. People everywhere appear to be aware of communication tricks, persuasion techniques, and media manipulation.

Yet when it comes to resisting the media tricks, techniques, and manipulation, the very same knowledgeable and aware people are rendered completely powerless and largely behave like conditioned, salivating Pavlovian dogs.

I think the explanation for this sort of conditioning lies in people's fear and rejection of freedom, but it also lies in optimism and hope that the System can be utilized for some kind of societal and social reform.

However, any attempt to utilize any part of the System to reform, rejuvenate, or re-align the System as a whole is not only futile but counterproductive.

Rather than bring reform and rejuvenation, attempts to use the System for good are quickly absorbed, inverted, and used for evil by the System itself.

Thus, System distancing involves the understanding that any faith or belief in the System as a principal force for good is not only false, but enslaving.

2 Comments

If The Leftist Narrative Were Indeed Collapsing

9/13/2025

2 Comments

. . . you would not see the sort of reactive rightist (re: less leftist but still leftist) nonsense the media, of all things, has triggered these past few days because all of that is what inherently and inevitably provides the fuel the leftist narrative craves.

2 Comments

<<Previous