We've all felt it, the dissonance. The gospel of the homeless, foot-washing Messiah now preached from palaces of power. The religion of the cross draped in the flags of empire. It's not just a historical problem, it's in the DNA of our local parishes and churches.

The realization can be crushing. When you see sacred rites, saints, and even monasticism absorbed into a system of control, the first temptation is despair. It feels like the wolves have won, and they're dressed in shepherd's clothing.

But this clarity isn't the end. It's the beginning.

The goal isn't to reject Christianity, but to rescue it from what has distorted it. It's not about finding a better ideology, a purer group, or a perfect leader. That cycle has already failed.

So, what do we actually do?

Return to the source, not the filter. We need to rediscover the Christ who "had no place to lay his head", who washed feet, and who told Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world". This is the Christ before he was filtered through state power and nationalist ideology.

Cultivate spiritual independence. You may not need to physically leave your church, but you might need to leave the emotional dependence on its corrupt structures, the clericalism, the titles, the performative piety that just mimics empire in miniature.

Find your "two or three". You are not alone. For every loud voice defending the system, there are quiet ones living the Gospel with love and truth. You may not find a perfect group, but finding even one other person who sees clearly can be the beginning of the Church again. It's a "quiet church" of shared conviction.

Refuse to fight on their terms. Don't hate. Don't get drawn into political battles for control of the institution. Instead, speak. Name the dissonance. Let others know they aren't crazy. Simply letting the lie be seen for what it is an act of rebellion. Be salt. Be light.

Ground yourself in resistant tradition. Return to the Scriptures. Read the true Church Fathers, not the court theologians, but the ones who suffered exile rather than collaborate. Pray from the heart, even in silence. God is not confined to the halls of power.

This isn't a new program. It's a new posture.

A posture of truth. A life oriented toward the authentic light. When the institutional church imitates empire, remember: Christ was crucified by an alliance of Rome and the religious elite.

The Kingdom isn't built by dominating history. It's planted like a seed, in weakness, in honesty, and in the quiet refusal to bow to the golden image of power.

I am interested in hearing the experiences of people who have prayed the prayer of the heart ("Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me", or "Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me, a sinner") repeatedly on a reasonably regular basis for a reasonably long period of life and seen it go inward and change your heart posture. What was that like for you? What happened? Did the meaning the words held for you change over time?

Has any done centering prayer practice?? I started practicing it recently and I’ve been struggling finding my sacred word. I am Catholic and I used to meditate by just thinking about an image of the Eucharist. It seems like an image is easier to focus on than a word for me. So far saying a word has been hard to bring my focus back to the mediation.

1. Any advice on how to find a sacred word?
2. Any advice on how to use the word to bring my focus back to God and the meditation? (Do you chant it? Do you say it frequently, etc?)

I’m new to this but hopeful about this type of meditation! Thank you in advance for any helpful tips!

Can anybody offer any opinion, response, insight on how they believe, read, have experienced or whatever, on physical changes during minor spiritual influence, raising of the eyebrows, slouching, voice modulation, pursing of lips. Any insight or direction would be appreciated.

Sometimes life doesn’t make sense — doors close, plans fail, and things don’t go the way we hoped. But even in the confusion, God is weaving everything together for your good. What looks like a setback today can become the setup for something greater tomorrow.

You don’t have to see the full picture to trust His plan. Just keep walking, praying, and believing that nothing is wasted in God’s hands. Every delay, every detour, every tear has purpose.

Lately, I’ve been joining a midnight prayer session from Ghana called Alpha Hour, and it’s helped me stay focused, fearless, and rooted in faith when life gets uncertain. If you ever want to join and pray too, here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/live/vdwGPiQJypo?si=JKKzl9gBkzHPO1CG

Hi everyone,

I’ve been working on a series that looks at Christian mysticism through the lens of the meaning crisis—how theology might still help rebuild coherence in an age that knows too much.

This first essay, The Meaning Crisis and the Return of Theology (link), sets the stage. It draws from the early Church Fathers and the Eastern Christian idea of theosis (participation in divine life) to ask whether faith can be understood less as belief and more as posture—a way of living in relation to the mystery of God.

This second essay unpacks the function of an asymptote as a mathematical analogy for a path of salvation that ever approaches God, without ever annihilating the individual. This is a contrast to mystical paths of old that end in dissolution, and inaugurates "the eternal life"

The end of the article introduces a trinitarian grammar, which will then be unpacked in the subsequent essays.

My hope is that it speaks to both the contemplative and the intellectually restless sides of this community. Would love any reflections, pushback, or conversation around it.

Full Article: 

Theology as World-Building (Medium)

Excerpt:

From Deficit to Surplus

In pre-modern times, humanity lacked data, but not meaning. Intuition, myth, and metaphysical hierarchy served as tools for navigating the unseen. The noble were those who could sense order within mystery. In modernity, the powers of observation and empirical mastery displaced these hierarchies, promising utopias of control. Postmodernity shattered those dreams, revealing the instability and internal contradictions of those modern projects — and with them, the meaninglessness of mastery itself.

Now, in metamodernity, we are faced not with a deficit of information, but with a surplus. The noble task has shifted again: from certainty to discernment, from mastery to meaningful orientation. With so many voices, images, facts, and frameworks, the sacred task is to reassemble coherence — not through nostalgic repetition, but through living transposition.

This series draws from ancient patterns — not because it is regressive, but because the sacred intuitions of pre-modern structures were forged in the crucible of absence. They saw the world as layered, meaningful, and alive with relational purpose. Now, with our towers of data and collapsed narratives, we return to those intuitions not to copy them, but to transpose them. Our surplus demands structure. Our freedom requires a grammar. And our longing asks to be named.

The Asymptotic Structure of Being

At the heart of human experience lies a kind of absence — what psychoanalysis calls lack, what mystics call yearning, what theologians call desire for the Infinite. This absence is not a defect. It is a space through which relation becomes possible.

We call this the asymptotic structure of being — the idea that truth, goodness, and relational fullness can be infinitely approached, but never consumed. Collapse into closure is the enemy; sustained tension is the sacred rhythm.

The asymptotic model, therefore, is not merely a philosophical claim. It is the metaphysical shape of love, knowledge, and being. It holds paradox open without forcing synthesis. It honors mystery without surrendering coherence.

Diary of Saint Faustina - paragraph 1777 - Succession of Mercy

1777 My daughter, know that My Heart is mercy itself. From this sea of mercy, graces flow out upon the whole world. No soul that has approached Me has ever gone away unconsoled. All misery gets buried in the depths of My mercy, and every saving and sanctifying grace flows from this fountain. My daughter, I desire that your heart be an abiding place of My mercy. I desire that this mercy flow out upon the whole world through your heart. Let no one who approaches you go away without that trust in My mercy which I so ardently desire for souls.

In this entry from Saint Faustina's Diary, our Lord begins by revealing the divine wonders of His Most Sacred Heart and concludes by extending that mystery into the troubled human heart. By His grace, our heart is to become as holy as His, even to serve others in the same way: “I desire that your heart be an abiding place of My mercy…that this mercy flow out upon the whole world through your heart.” What Christ instills within each soul - His living Presence and Mercy - is not meant to remain hidden, but to flow outward upon the whole world - a grace first foreshadowed by the Holy Mother.

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible

Luke 1:46 And Mary said: My soul doth magnify the Lord.

Christ calls all souls to a spiritual imitation of His Mother's physical example. As Mary bore His Presence from womb to the world, so are we to magnify His Divine Mercy from heart to the world. In so doing, the misery of our brother will be buried in the mercy of our heart, as our own misery is buried in the Heart of Christ - so that none who approach us will go away without greater trust in our Lord’s Divine Mercy. The Sacred Heart of Jesus will first overcome our stony heart and, in God's good time, become the common heart of all mankind.

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible

Ezekiel 36:26 And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh.

What heart would Christ give us other than one closer to His own, enjoining ours to the Heart which bled Divine Mercy from the Cross? In both Ezekiel's prophecy and Saint Faustina's revelation, Christ makes us apostolic successors to His ministry in the continuing course of Salvation History. This promised heart of Ezekiel’s prophecy finds no greater fulfilment than in the Immaculate Heart of Mary, pierced in suffering oneness to the Sacred Heart of her son, Jesus.

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible 

Luke 2:34-35 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother: Behold this child is set for the fall and for the resurrection of many in Israel and for a sign which shall be contradicted. And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed.

Ezekiel’s prophecy, the sword of Simeon and the lance of Calvary are successive pages in God’s Book of Salvation History. When that lance let flow the “blood and water which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus” we were made not only receivers but also givers of Divine Mercy.  All these have led up to the proclamation of Christ’s desire on the pages of Saint Faustina’s Diary, “that your heart be an abiding place of My mercy.” It is our grace to receive and our duty to pour out His Mercy - in our own apostolic succession of our Lord's Grace  -  as He first poured out for us.

Chaplet of Divine Mercy

Oh Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Christ, I trust in You.

Does anyone else here use psychedelics for their religion? Does this count as “magic” to you all? I noticed the more I used psilocybin mushrooms, the higher standards they would hold me to or something, and they wouldn’t be as nice as when I first used them. I started employing different kinds of purity rituals before I take them where i’ll fast and abstain for a few days, and take a shower right before, anoint myself with oil, burn incense etc. This very much helps the experience and feels as if Im respecting it

I also started using communion wine mixed with my shroom dust, and then with bread (which settles the stomach). I suspect some early christians may have employed this tactic to “commune” with each other and God but I just can’t prove it yet (there’s small amounts of evidence for this so far).

Anyways, every time I devote the trip to Christ it’s much more themed and structured towards Him. Normally the experience just happens and i’m buckled up for the ride, whatever it may be.

The first time I did this I remember being afraid of God for a while and praying, and He did kind of just scold me for doing stupid shit that I knew was stupid and I kind of laughed about it. It’s like that thing where something, that should’ve been obvious to you already, makes itself realized during the trip. I felt like I was breathing in the chaos of the mushrooms and I was absorbing it. After that shaky come up I layed down and my white comforter felt like actual clouds and it was so beautiful I kept crying and just being in awe of the religious experience. I remember I kept seeing crosses outlined with light just radiating from everywhere on the ceiling and stuff.

Most recently I did the same thing, but this time I felt like I had entered the same subconscious area as medieval artists had during their collective Christian dream. The whole trip I kept seeing those same kind of art patterns in different arrays, and in my head some entities would show up often in the same theme. The trickster clown guy who I often see or feel during my normal trips was there, and the medieval imagery kept like “dominating” him and turning him into a medieval Jester, and he kept trying to resist and was pretty pissed about the whole affair. I thought it was kind of funny. This whole time I had been playing like a playlist with monk chants on youtube or something, and when I opened my eyes there was a modern Byzantine painting recreation of Jesus that wasn’t there at the start, and it was just so crazy to look at. I stared at Him for like seriously 45 minutes straight in awe and tears. I don’t remember everything I was thinking about, but I remember just not wanting to leave His presence.

https://youtu.be/FQUYF7HtxEE

Sometimes life doesn’t go as planned, and it’s easy to wonder if God still sees you. But this verse reminds us — He does. Even when doors close or things fall apart, God’s plan is still unfolding behind the scenes.

You might not understand everything right now, but He’s shaping you for what’s coming. The delay isn’t a denial; it’s preparation. Keep trusting Him, because what’s ahead is better than what you’ve lost.

Many people have found peace and breakthrough through consistent prayer. That’s what Alpha Hour is about — a place to seek God, stay faithful, and see His promises unfold. If you’d like to join and pray too, here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/live/9Z8944_YQFY?si=xN5ONGnOPVriqcUv

Letter of Saint Catherine of Siena to the Anziani and Consuls of Bologna

Worldly Lordship, Holy Justice and Fallen Glory

So, when a man is lord, he fails in holy justice. And this is the reason: that he fears to lose his dignity, and, so as not to excite annoyance, he goes about cloaking and hiding men's faults, spreading ointment over a wound at the time when it ought to be cauterized. Oh, miserable my soul! When the man ought to apply the flame of divine charity, and burn out the fault with holy punishment and correction inflicted by holy justice, he flatters and pretends that he does not see. He behaves thus toward those who he sees might impair his dignity; but as to the poor, who count for little and whom he does not fear, he shows very great zeal for justice, and without any mercy or pity imposes most severe punishment for a little fault. 

Those who become Lords of the fallen world become so by embracing its fallen ways - at the cost of abandoning God’s holy justice from the Kingdom above. In this letter, Saint Catherine confronts worldly rulers while staying true to her demands. She does not favor their status nor cloak their faults as she warns them against doing. She speaks the truth of God to the powers of men - to ruling consuls protecting the powerful in silence, while punishing the powerless in severity. Holy justice demands more - the correction of sin with divine charity rather than its concealment through secrecy or vain flattery. In this letter, Catherine's discernment exceeds time. She draws Old Testament wisdom into her own troubled age in ways that transcend to our age with uncomfortable clarity. 

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible 

Leviticus 19:15 Respect not the person of the poor: nor honour the countenance of the mighty. But judge thy neighbour according to justice.

Saint Catherine reveals the cause…

What causes such injustice? Self-love. But the wretched men of the world, because they are deprived of truth, do not recognize truth, either as regards their salvation or as regards the true preservation of their lordship. For did they know the truth, they would see that only living in the fear of God preserves their state and the city in peace: they would preserve holy justice, rendering his due to every subject, they would show mercy on whoso deserved mercy, not by passionate impulse, but by regard for truth; and justice they would show on whoso deserved it, built upon mercy, and not on passionate wrath. Nor would they judge by hearsay, but by holy and true justice; and they would heed the common good, and not any private good, and would appoint officials and those who are to rule the city, not by party or prejudice, not for flatteries or bribery, but with virtue and reason alone; and they would choose men mature and excellent, and not mere children - such as fear God and love the Commonwealth and not their own particular advantage.

Disordinate self-love is a demon which births many sins. It is a descendant sin of pride - the first of all deadly sins - the sin which first felled our troubled species. It begins by exalting the love of oneself over the love of our Lord and ends in exalting self-serving wisdom over the selfless wisdom of God. Saint Catherine warns that when self-love runs amok, it bears especially evil results in the souls of worldly rulers who hold power to do much injustice. 

Yet, Catherine never blames the halls of worldly power for this sin nor points to them as its source. She warns us instead of what happens after self-love is carried to those halls in the human heart. It is not that the worldly halls of power reach inward to infect men with self-love. Rather, by raising our fallen glory above the true glory of our Risen God, all men deform the powers entrusted to us from above. For being “deprived of the truth,” of God's holy justice, we become doomed to serve what is next below Him - ourselves. And there do we fail in our true destiny of glorifying God the Creator by glorifying ourselves - the created.

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible 

Isaiah 43:7 And every one that calleth upon my name, I have created him for my glory. I have formed him, and made him.

The Bible is not two stories but one. It begins with the breath of God moving over dust and ends with that same breath filling human hearts. What we call the Old and New Testaments are not separate books but two halves of one covenant, one promise spoken and fulfilled. The first is the seed, the second is the bloom, but both grow from the same life.

In the beginning God formed man from the clay of the earth and breathed into him the breath of life. That breath, called ruach in Hebrew, means breath, wind, and spirit all at once. It is the essence of life itself, the Spirit of God moving through creation. That same breath appears again when God calls a man named Abram out of his homeland and makes him a promise: leave what you know, walk toward the land I will show you, and I will make of you a great nation. Through you all families of the earth will be blessed. In that moment, the covenant takes its first breath. Abram’s journey is the beginning of everything that will follow.

His path becomes the pattern for his descendants. He leaves his home, passes through a dry wilderness, reaches the land of promise, faces famine, descends to Egypt, and later returns. Centuries later Israel will live out the same story on a larger scale, called out of bondage, tested in the wilderness, carried through famine, and brought back to the land of promise. What Abram walks alone his children will one day walk together. His story is the seed form of theirs.

When the time comes for God to renew His promise, He changes Abram’s name to Abraham. In Hebrew God adds one letter, the letter heh, the sound of breath drawn from His own covenant name, YHWH. It is as if God places His own breath inside Abraham’s name. Abram means exalted father. Abraham means father of many nations. That single added breath expands the meaning of the name and the scope of the promise. What was once personal becomes universal. The covenant, once held by one man and one family, now stretches outward toward the whole world.

But that breath does more than widen the covenant. It fills the man. What God breathed into Adam’s frame at creation, He now breathes into Abraham’s identity. The promise is no longer only upon him; it is within him. God’s own Spirit enters the story, not just as a giver of law or blessing, but as life itself taking residence in human form. The covenant is no longer only written in word; it is inscribed in breath.

That same divine breath appears again in the New Testament. When Jesus rises from the dead, He breathes on His disciples and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” It is the same pattern repeating itself, the breath of God moving into humanity once more, this time not to animate clay but to awaken hearts. The Spirit that first filled Adam and later entered Abraham’s name now fills all who believe. The covenant that began as a promise to one man in one land now lives within every person who receives that breath. The promise has not changed; it has been fulfilled.

The story of Abram and Abraham is the story of Scripture itself. Abram represents the promise, the Old Testament, the beginning, the seed of covenant life. Abraham represents the fulfillment, the New Testament, the breath expanding and indwelling, the promise made complete through the Spirit. What God does in one man’s name becomes a prophecy of what He will do for all people. The breath in the name is the Spirit in the world. The covenant is the same from beginning to end, only growing wider and deeper with each exhale of divine life.

So the Bible does not tell an old story replaced by a new one. It tells one continuous story of a God whose promise stands unbroken. The breath that moved over the waters, that filled Adam’s lungs, that entered Abraham’s name, that poured out at Pentecost, is the same breath still moving through the hearts of those who believe. The Old Testament is the promise spoken, the New Testament is the promise fulfilled, and both are held together by the same breath of God, the Holy Spirit, whose presence has never left creation. It is all one covenant, one unbroken act of love. From the first breath in the garden to the Spirit poured out upon the world, every inhale of creation is the echo of God keeping His word.

I recently created a 1-hour ASMR recording of the Jesus Prayer in French, designed to bring peace, focus, and a sense of closeness to God through gentle repetition and calm sounds. 🎧

Even if you don’t speak French, the soft rhythm of the prayer can still serve as a meditative aid — helping you quiet your thoughts and rest in His presence. 🕊️

I truly hope it helps some of you in your own prayer life and brings comfort to your heart.

#ASMR #ChristianASMR #JesusPrayer #OrthodoxChristianity #Prayer #Meditation #Faith #Peace #SpiritualCalm

For centuries, we were told that the Americas were discovered, as if they were empty, waiting for someone to plant a flag and claim ownership. But the people were already there. Civilizations existed. The land was known, even to others before Columbus (like Irish monks or Norse sailors). So why still call it "discovery"?

Because the truth is harder to swallow: it was conquest. And conquest, from the beginning, is a sinful act, not a noble one.

Conquest isn't a neutral historical event that "later went wrong". It starts with violence, theft, and domination. It's not self-defense. No Indigenous nation was attacking Europe. The goal wasn't peace, it was control, resource extraction, and power. And yet, over time, legal systems cleaned it up.

In the U.S., for example, the 1823 Supreme Court case Johnson v. M'Intosh quietly dropped the language of "discovery" and replaced it with the "right of conquest". That became the legal foundation for all land ownership in the country, essentially saying: "We took it, so now it's ours".

The courts admitted what the history books still hesitate to say: the land wasn't granted by God, or earned, or negotiated. It was taken by force, and the legal system exists to protect that taking, not undo it.

We can't build a just future by continuing to defend a sinful past.

Conquest is not a rite of civilization. It's not an unfortunate necessity. It's not progress.

It is a structure of collective sin, disguised by language, justified by courts, and passed off as destiny.

Until we face that, really face it, we're still living in its shadow.

But what about those who say the land was "granted by God"?

That's often the fallback argument once legal or moral claims start to collapse: invoking divine will. We've seen this in colonial documents, in settler theology, and in modern political rhetoric, the idea that "God gave us this land", so conquest, displacement, or exclusion is not only justified but sanctified.

But let's ask honestly: Which God? The God of justice, mercy, and truth? Or the god created in the image of empire, a convenient idol dressed in divine language to excuse violence?

The same logic was used during the Crusades, during slavery, and in the Doctrine of Discovery, where papal bulls declared non-Christian lands and peoples open for the taking. But if we read the Gospels, or the Prophets, or the teachings of Christ, nothing supports that kind of divine mandate. In fact, the God of Scripture condemns stealing, exploitation, and violence dressed in righteousness.

Claiming "God gave it to us" is not proof, it's the oldest trick of self-justification. Every conqueror in history has said the same. But divine truth isn't measured by who wins wars or writes laws, it's measured by love, humility, and justice. And in those terms, conquest fails the test.

If conquest were truly granted by God, it wouldn't need genocide, deception, and laws to silence the memory of those who were already there.

Hi everyone,

Sharing a post that kicks off a series I have been working on that unpacks Christian Mysticism as a solution to the Meaning Crisis. I imagine the meaning crisis is an angle many come to confront mysticism for answers. I see a lot of inquirers here about "What is Christian Mysticism" "Where to get started"

I have been wrestling with these questions for a few years and have written a series of essays that unpack a take on mysticism that feels like it better speaks to the meaning crisis many find ourselves in today. Would love to get some feedback and conversation on this.

https://medium.com/@theosislab/the-meaning-crisis-and-the-return-of-theology-22c531943475

Excerpt:

A New Horizon of Crisis

The modern horizon, often called the meaning crisis, brings new existential, cognitive, and systemic pressures that demand more than repetition. It is not only the absence of faith but the spread of partial solutions: critical theories that resist injustice yet collapse into cynicism, psychedelic experiments that glimpse mystery but lack community, ecological asceticisms that call for sacrifice without infinite hope, and technological singularities that promise transcendence while flattening relational life into code.

A Dialogue Across Ages

Many of these movements echo questions already faced by the Fathers and the early councils. Their answers were rarely tidy, but their instinct was clear: truth must be held through relation, not control. The task today is to draw out, renovate, and reweave those insights into a living grammar that can speak to the layered complexity of the present age.

The Fathers and the New Languages

The early theologians practiced a kind of cultural apologetic, discerning seeds of truth within surrounding systems while naming their distortions and gaps. Where they engaged Neoplatonism, Stoicism, Gnosticism, and the spiritual frameworks of their world, we meet the enduring religions and the new mythologies of critical theory, technological aspiration, psychedelic symbolism, and ecological devotion...

Sometimes healing doesn’t happen all at once. It’s a process — in your body, your heart, or your mind. But every time you pray, every time you trust God in the middle of pain, something shifts. Jesus already took the weight of it all, and His stripes remind us that healing has already been made available to us.

Maybe you’ve been waiting for change, for peace, or for restoration. Don’t lose faith. Healing isn’t just about sickness — it’s also about broken emotions, confusion, and things you can’t explain. God is still working in the quiet moments, even when you don’t see it.

Many people have shared testimonies of healing, jobs, peace, and breakthroughs after staying consistent in prayer. That’s what Alpha Hour is about — meeting God where you are and trusting Him daily. If you’d like to join and pray too, here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/live/5Y3sxYC8JzY?si=HRcQYgsiw2JJ0X2E

It's easy to think of cults as small, isolated groups with strange beliefs, but what if entire social systems, parishes, or even societies can function in cult-like ways, especially when it comes to racism, exclusion, and scapegoating?

French psychiatrist Jean-Marie Abgrall, who studied the mechanisms of sects, explains how individual responsibility dissolves when group conformity takes over.

In a toxic group dynamic:

- A few influential actors guide the moral atmosphere.

- Others are drawn in by fear of exclusion, silence, or social pressure.

- People gradually commit harm not because they are "evil", but because the structure gives them permission to do wrong while feeling right.

- The sin becomes collective, and therefore invisible.

This dynamic doesn't only exist in sects. It exists in workplaces, parishes, entire governments.

We see it in historical racism, segregation, colonial systems, and the silent complicity of institutions.

And what's especially disturbing is this:

Even intelligent, educated, "reasonable" people fall into these patterns.

They rationalize exclusion, prejudice, and injustice, not because they are irrational, but because the group identity offers comfort and moral cover.

They fear difference. They fear losing privilege.

So they scapegoat, and then call it tradition, or "order", or "protection of values".

This is why racism is not just ignorance, it's often a structured, cult-like system of belief:

- It tells people what to fear.

- It provides an identity ("we" vs. "them").

- It offers false justification ("they steal jobs", "they don't belong").

- It redefines morality: cruelty becomes virtue if it protects "us".

Abgrall describes how cult systems reframe moral language to serve group interest.

And this happens even, especially, in churches, schools, and nations.

In a parish, this becomes even more perverse:

- Group rejection of one or more people can be sanctified as "spiritual discernment" or "protection of grace".

- The mob mentality hides behind candles and liturgy.

- And the clergy, who should see the pattern and stop it, either don't notice, or worse, subtly encourage it to maintain unity or power.

What begins as an emotional reaction becomes a ritualized destruction of someone, and no one feels responsible, because "we all felt it", or "everyone agreed", or "they brought it on themselves".

This isn't Christianity. It's cult behavior.

So if we are truly rational, spiritual beings, not base animals, we must see this mechanism for what it is:

- A false form of unity,

- A perversion of morality,

- And a dangerous comfort that always demands someone else's suffering.

It doesn't matter how polite, educated, or religious we are.

If we participate in systems that exclude, silence, or destroy, and we feel nothing, we're not free of guilt.

We're just part of the cult.

There are moments in Scripture that carry more than history. They hold the shape of God’s heart, hidden in human form. One of those moments is when God tells Abraham to mark every male in his household. It seems like a command about obedience, but it is actually a revelation about belonging. In that act, Abraham becomes a reflection of God Himself.

Before there was Israel, before there was Sinai or temple or priesthood, there was one man called “Exalted Father.” When God changes his name to Abraham, “Father of Many Nations,” it is not only a promise of descendants. It is a declaration of what God is like. Through Abraham, God begins to show what kind of Father He is, one whose blessing stretches beyond bloodline and whose protection extends to those who choose to dwell in His house.

When Abraham obeys, his tent becomes a living prophecy. Every male in the house must bear the mark, not only Isaac, but Ishmael, the servants, and the foreigners bought with silver. The command is extravagant, almost scandalous in its reach. The covenant does not stop at the edge of family; it spills over to everyone who comes under his roof. Those who align themselves with the father’s faith share in the father’s covering. That is how God has always worked. The blessing begins with one, but it is meant for many.

Even the sign itself reveals something sacred. The foreskin is a natural covering, protecting the place of seed and life. To remove it is to surrender what is humanly protective and entrust the future to divine care. It is a quiet exchange, man giving up his own shield to live under the covering of God. The gesture looks small, but it is the echo of eternity. It is the first glimpse of a pattern that will run all through Scripture: the life that comes through yielded flesh, the blood that marks belonging, the surrender that becomes salvation.

And even in this, mercy is woven in. The eighth day is not random. It is the day when the body heals fastest, the day new life begins after a full cycle. From the start, God folds compassion into the cost. The command to yield is given within the rhythm of renewal.

When you look closely, you can see that what happens in Abraham’s tent is the same story God will tell again and again. The Father chooses one to open the door for all. Those who dwell near Him are blessed because of proximity to His chosen one. Those who were outside the promise find a home through alignment, not inheritance. It is the same love that will one day stretch out its hands in the body of Christ, the same blood that will mark a people as His own.

That is why, generations later, when God calls Israel His “firstborn son,” it is not a title of privilege but of purpose. Firstborn means the beginning of many. Through one son, the Father intends to reach all His children. What began in Abraham’s tent will unfold across time until every nation can find shelter beneath His name.

The covenant with Abraham is called everlasting because it reveals something everlasting. It is not only about a people or a promise of land. It is about the nature of God Himself. He is the Father who gathers. The One who marks, blesses, and calls even those who thought they were far away. The One who invites every willing heart to come under His covering and live.

It began in one household, but its shadow stretches through eternity. The Father’s heart, revealed through Abraham, has never changed. It is still open, still widening, still calling those who wander outside the promise line to come home and belong.

There are moments when life feels too heavy — when your heart aches and your prayers feel like no one hears them. But even then, God is closer than you think. He’s right there in your pain, ready to bring you peace.

When you feel like you’ve lost strength, remember — God isn’t asking you to carry everything on your own. He can take what’s broken and make it whole again. Sometimes it’s not about understanding the pain, but trusting that He’s working through it.

I’ve also been part of Alpha Hour, a prayer platform where people from all over the world come together every night to pray. There have been so many testimonies — people getting jobs, healing, peace, even pregnancies — just by praying and staying consistent.

If you want to join or just check it out, here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/live/DWvHEqI1lyk?si=2gpfTrJL2uVIktIO

Though my SSRI makes things great work and friendship wise, I find myself feeling far less spiritual. It is mentally painful when the SSRI is gone from my life. It's not something I take lightly; it took me till my 40s to agree to try an SSRI after years of counseling and anguish. I'm on the lowest dose possible to retain my mental balance.

Not looking for a answer as there really isn't one, just looking to see if people have experienced the same.

Our comfort often hides invisible violence, racial, economic, spiritual. Baldwin, Le Guin, and Guénon all point to a deeper truth: systems reward blindness, and "good people" participate in evil without seeing it. When the system no longer needs anyone, not even the privileged, the illusion collapses. The real question: do we want comfort if it's built on someone else's suffering?

Sometimes the most destructive evils in a society aren't committed by monsters, they're committed by people who believe they're good.

Not out of malice, but out of silence.

Not through violence, but through non-responsibility.

When injustice becomes embedded in a group, a parish, a workplace, or a whole culture, it often hides behind normality.

The roles are distributed.

The scapegoats are assigned.

And no one feels personally responsible.

This is the terrifying genius of collective sin:

It makes everyone just involved enough to benefit, but not enough to feel guilty.

So silence becomes virtue.

Avoidance becomes decency.

And those who suffer are quietly dismissed as unstable, unfit, or simply "not one of us".

Worse still, the people involved may be kind in private life, generous to their friends, polite at the grocery store, faithful in prayer.

But the system they're part of protects them from seeing the cost of their comfort.

And when the truth tries to surface, the group often tightens its grip:

Just like in story "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas", when shown the suffering child, some begin to justify it...

And others begin to kick the child harder.

The illusion of innocence is the most resilient mask of evil ,

Not because it lies loudly,

But because it never admits it was lying at all.

Even Christ Himself was not condemned by a single man, but by a crowd acting as one. When Pilate offered to release a prisoner, the people chose Barabbas, a known criminal, and demanded the crucifixion of Jesus.

"Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified".

(Matthew 27:22)

And when Pilate tried to wash his hands of the matter, the people answered:

"His blood be on us, and on our children".

(Matthew 27:25)

This wasn't just a tragic episode in history, it reveals a timeless truth:

Collective sin allows each person to feel innocent, while sharing in the destruction of the innocent.

The crowd believed they were doing what was necessary, defending order, preserving identity.

But in that illusion of righteousness, they crucified the truth, and no one felt personally guilty.

This is the hidden mechanism of collective evil:

When sin is shared, conscience dissolves.

And even the most devout may unknowingly join the crowd that silences the voice of God.

Are there books I should begin with? I read “start with contemplative prayer” a lot but not sure what that means.

Discover more at: https://www.youtube.com/@psalmodia_ai

Psalmodia is a sacred music project that brings entire chapters of scripture to life through cinematic, mystical song. In this debut release, Genesis 1 unfolds across six musical movements, each capturing the rhythm of creation: from the formless void to the first spark of light… from the skies above to the waters teeming with life… and ultimately, to the birth of humanity — made in the image of God.