THOREAU AND THE NEED FOR SELF-KNOWLEDGE

Henry David Thoreau celebrated nature. For him, the woods were “temples not made with hands.” How? Because nature was the place of Communion, the place to learn about oneself and to grow!

In contrast, according to Stephen Mitchell, Thoreau believed that:

·       Civilization trains them up to seek power and security through ownership, fostering fake and artificial appetites rather than teaching them to see and accept the riches that nature provides…[quoting Thoreau:] “Society is always diseased and the best is most so. There is no scent in it so wholesome as that of pines, nor any fragrance so penetrating and restorative as the life-everlasting in high pastures.” (Christian Research Journal, Vol.39/Number 05, 37)

What corrective role does nature play? Mitchell writes:

·       Nature, then, offers wisdom as an antidote for civilized foolishness, cleansing humans from society’s moral toxins. “For at the same time that we exclude mankind from gathering berries in our field, we exclude them from gathering health and happiness and inspiration, and a hundred other far finer and nobler fruit.” (37)

How does nature cleanse us “from society’s moral toxins?” It helps us to discover the law of our inner being, “an instinct toward a higher, or as it is named, a spiritual life.” As Mitchell puts it, it is a “life that requires self-discipline rather than social discipline”:

·       For Thoreau, he who does not hear his inner voice cannot know the law of his own being. Consequently, he will be dominated by his society. So dominated, he will make choices that circumscribe his humanity, preventing the full development of his spiritual life. (36)

It is in nature that we come to hear our inner voice, which enables us to gather “berries in our field.”

Certainly, knowing the “inner voice” – having self-knowledge – is critical, and the woods gives us an opportunity for self-reflection. This is important. Whatever we manage well we must first know well. This is true of every aspect of our lives – managing our house, clothing, car, business, relationships, and even our own lives.

However, it doesn’t seem that time for reflection in the woods is enough to produce self- knowledge. Why not? Because we have an aversion to self-knowledge! In fact, we run from it. In other words, we lack self-knowledge because we reject it. We would rather feel good about ourselves than to think correctly about ourselves.

Consequently, we live in darkness. I know that this is hard to believe; so I want to provide some evidences:

1.    We seek a psychotherapist, not to learn about ourselves, but to feel better about ourselves. Therefore, the therapist, wanting to attract customers, does not advertise, “Come to me and learn the truth about yourself.” Instead, she will advertise, “I will reduce your unwanted symptomology.”

2.    Instead, we tend to leave the psychotherapist who confronts us rather than affirms us.

3.    When we get into an altercation, it is always the other guys fault. This is because we cannot tolerate being wrong or at fault.

4.    Instead of seeking wise correction so that we can better ourselves, we flee from it.

5.    We surround ourselves with yes-men and people who compliment us.

6.    We wear a façade and try to impress others. Many will admit that they can no longer discern façade from fact.

7.    We clothe ourselves with symbols of success.

8.    Many psychological surveys affirm that we have inflated opinions of ourselves. In fact, psychologists claim that an inflated self-esteem is so pervasive that it is regarded as “normal,” suggesting that we are unable to tolerate an accurate self-estimation.

I know this very intimately and paid a tremendously high price for my inflated self-estimation, fed by a constant stream of positive affirmations. They became a drug, and I needed a continuous supply to stay afloat. However, when reality clashed with my affirmations, I crashed. This would occur with each failure. I would then run to the psychologist to build me up again on more positive affirmations.

If we are unable to see ourselves, it means our lens is so darkened that we cannot see and understand others. We are out-of-touch. An unwillingness to see and accept myself, with all my warts, made it impossible to connect meaningfully and honestly with others.

I needed more than a few walks in the woods or even a steady diet of trees. I needed the light to shine upon me, the light I had always resisted. Without this light we walk in darkness and trip on every tree-root that crosses our path.

My dilemma was the one painted by Jesus:

·       And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. (John 3:19-20; ESV)

I couldn’t tolerate the exposure of either my deeds or my identity. It was only through the loving reassurances of Jesus’ acceptance of me that I could begin to tolerate the light and accept myself.

I enjoy nature, but I no longer expect more than what it is able to give. It cannot rescue me, but it can point joyously to its Creator.

CIVILIZATION WEARS A DECEPTIVE SMILE

In The Jew Today, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel described his arrival at Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1944:

·       I remember the midnight arrival at Birkenau. Shouts, Dogs barking. Families, together for the last time, families about to be torn asunder. A young Jewish boy walks at his father’s side in the convoy of men; they walk and they walk and night walks with them toward a place spewing monstrous fames, flames devouring the sky. Suddenly an inmate crosses the ranks and explains to the men what they are seeing, the truth of the night: the future, the absence of future; the key to the secret, the power of evil. As he speaks, the young boy touches his father’s arm as though to reassure him and whispers, “This is impossible, isn’t it? Don’t listen to what he is telling us, he only wants to frighten us. What he says is impossible, unthinkable, it is all part of another age, the Middle Ages, not the twentieth century, not modern history. The world, Father, the civilized world would not allow such things to happen.”

Yet it still does, and its educated elites even abet the darkness of night, hiding the onslaught of evil. Robert Spencer calls it the “Global Outbreak of Mental Illness”:

·       On Tuesday, a Muslim screaming “Allahu akbar” and “Infidel, you must die” stabbed four people, killing one, at a train station near Munich. Nonetheless, Bavarian security officials immediately denied that he “had an Islamic extremist motive.” Then what caused the attack? Bavaria’s state interior minister Joachim Herrmann said that the attacker had “mental disorders.”

·       France: Muslim driver ramming pedestrians while screaming “Allahu akbar” was “absolutely not an act of terrorism”: “‘This is absolutely not an act of terrorism,’ Prosecutor Marie-Christine Tarrare told reporters during a press conference, adding that the man had a ‘long-lasting and severe psychological disorder’ and had been hospitalised over 150 times since 2002.”

·       UK: Imam accused of recruiting for jihad group doesn’t have to wear electronic tag — it breaches his human rights: “A terror suspect last night won a human rights case to have his tag removed – because he thinks MI5 has put a bomb inside it. A judge said the dangerous preacher of hate has mental health problems, and wearing the electronic monitoring device was making him ‘delusional’.”

·       Muslim NYPD cop killer told passers-by to watch: “The gunman who fatally ambushed two New York City police officers in their squad car had a long criminal record, a hatred for police and the government and an apparent history of mental instability that included an attempt to hang himself a year ago, police said Sunday.”

·       France: Muslim who stabbed rabbi gets four years: “Haddouche was deemed unfit to stand trial because of mental issues following a psychiatric evaluation…”

·       Toronto Muslim charged with carrying concealed meat cleaver into Parliament: “RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson told reporters that Ali is known to authorities, but ‘not in the sort of counter-terrorism context.’ In fact, Paulson does not believe that the man’s actions were politically motivated or an act of terror. ‘I understand it is less a concern around so-called national security considerations as it is a mental health issue,’ he said. ‘There is a history of behaviours that are odd.’”

·       Austria: Muslim drives car into crowd, killing 3, then gets out and stabs passersby: “Police are not currently investigating terrorism as a motive and the man is believed to be suffering from mental illness.”

·       Canada: Police shoot Muslim wearing apparent suicide vest and holding triggering device: “In the aftermath of the shooting, police downplayed the incident saying only that the call involved ‘an emotionally disturbed person.’”

·       Muslim bangs on cockpit door, threatens to down plane, “wanted to see Allah”: “After being held back from the cabin door, which could not have been opened anyway, the man, who fellow passengers said appeared to have mental health issues, was then guarded by staff and the sports stars in business class.”

·       Muslima who beheaded toddler recently became religious, started wearing hijab: “One theory is that the woman is mentally ill and that she may have been exploited by a man or men she knew.”

·       Canada: Ottawa shooter’s father waged jihad in Libya in 2011; shooter not a recent convert but a longtime Muslim: “Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, the slain 32-year-old suspected killer of a Canadian Forces soldier near Parliament Hill, was a labourer and small-time criminal – a man who had had a religious awakening and seemed to have become mentally unstable.”

·       Canada: Muslim acting “in the name of Allah” runs down two soldiers, flips car after chase, charges officers with long knife, is shot: “‘We are at the beginning of an investigation. Several hypotheses are being looked at,’ said Sgt. Michel Brunet, adding that investigators would study various angles, including mental illness and terrorism.”Philly cop shooter: “I follow Allah. I pledge my allegiance to the Islamic State. That is why I did what I did.”: “Archer’s mother has indicated that he is mentally ill and Ross said investigators do not know yet if the suspect was indeed radicalized or tied to terrorism.”

·       Oklahoma: School evacuated after “Middle Eastern” woman says she came there to “take the kids to heaven”: “During the news conference, police also said that the woman had been having mental health concerns recently.”

·       Chattanooga jihad murderer viewed Awlaki material online, spoke of Islamic martyrdom as long ago as 2013: “As the F.B.I. sent more investigators into this city Monday to explore dozens of possible leads, a picture took shape of a deeply troubled young man who struggled with mental illness and drug abuse at the same time he found himself alienated from United States policies in the Arab world, according to the authorities, friends and the family representative.”

·       Colorado Muslim stabs cop, drops Qur’an during struggle: “At about 2 p.m. Saturday, the suspect’s family told law enforcement that they were worried because Clark left his residence in Penrose and said he wasn’t going to return. They also said Clark was mentally disturbed, had been working out a great deal during the last two months and recently had broken up with his girlfriend.”

·       NYC police commissioner: Hatchet attack by convert to Islam was terror: “Authorities also are trying to determine if Thompson had any history of mental illness.”

·       UK Muslim who admitted sharing jihad videos rants about “enemy of Islam court”: “Ahmed, who has a history of mental health problems, pleaded guilty to two counts of dissemination of a terrorist publication.”

·       France: Muslim screaming “Allahu akbar” tries to strangle police officer: “Other police officers saw the events on the video surveillance system and rushed to save their colleague, who had been thrown to the ground. His assailant was said to have a history of psychiatric problems.”

·       Spain: Violent Muslim screaming “Allahu Akbar, all you Christians will die!” gets arrested: “Later, he was administered comprehensive tests to ascertain if he was under the influence of drugs or suffered from a mental illness.”

·       UK Muslim gets 20 years for trying to set up jihad training camp in Oregon: “Haroon Aswat, who has been treated for mental illness in the UK, had pleaded guilty to the charges in March after being extradited from Britain to the US last year.”

·       France: Knife-wielding Muslim teen screams “Allahu akbar,” shoots teacher with BB gun: “A psychiatric examination was scheduled for 13 October, with the teenager is likely to be brought before a judge.”

·       Colorado Muslima pleads guilty to conspiring to aid Islamic State: “Moore set sentencing for Jan. 23, saying he wanted time for Conley to undergo more complete psychiatric testing. ‘I desire more information’ on her mental state, he said, asking for both a psychological and personality evaluation.”

Of course, none of this has anything to do with Islam, in the same way that Auschwitz had nothing to do with Nazism. Of course, they were all simply deranged. Evidently, the same mental illness is afflicting Al Qaeda, ISIS, Islamic Jihad, Al Nusra, Boko Haram, and hundreds of other Islamic groups. Besides, the genocide happening in North Africa and the Middle East will have nothing to do with Islamic refugees coming to the West. After all, they are all mentally healthy.

• Even now, children are being led to their death, reassuring their families, “The world, Father, the civilized world would not allow such things to happen.”

Let the World Go to the Dogs as Long as I am Right

The historian Arnold Toynbee declared that great civilizations are destroyed from within. No surprise! We see indications of this all around us. Here is one small indication from the Center for Disease Control:

• There are currently about 110 million people in the U.S. living with a sexually-transmitted disease (STD)… According to the CDC, up to 20 million new STD infections occur every year — these include hepatitis B, HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, HPV, and chlamydia. Half of these new infections are among young people between the ages of 15 and 24. So the prevalence among young people is quite high.  

Some of these diseases will result in irreversible damage and infertility. Clearly, STDs have become epidemic, but where is the outcry? Why isn’t the Western media raising the alarm against these exploding dangers, especially in light of the very evident failures of “safe-sex education” interventions?

We are so concerned about providing our youth with ample food, education and healthcare but remain silent as they destroy themselves sexually. Why? It seems that we are stubbornly committed to sexual freedom, but does sexual freedom equate with sexual satisfaction? Not at all: 

• In the mid 1970’s Redbook Magazine published a ‘Sexual Pleasure Survey’, showing the preferences of 100,000 women. This survey concluded that "sexual satisfaction is related significantly to religious belief." If the media have successfully ‘brain-washed’ you your immediate thought following on from this statement is that religious people must, of course, enjoy sex less than irreligious people; right? Wrong: "With notable consistency, the greater the intensity of a woman’s religious convictions, the likelier she is to be highly satisfied with the sexual pleasure of the marriage. . . Strongly religious women seem to be more responsive [and] more likely than the nonreligious to be orgasmic every time she engages in sex." (Tim & Beverly La Haye - The Act of Marriage, p9.) 

• American Christian Councillors Tim and Beverly La Haye undertook a survey of mainly Christian couples (3,377 people - 1,705 women and 1,672 men), which indicated, in line with the Redbook Survey, that "Christians maintain a higher enjoyment level in the intimacy of their love life than the population in general." (P210). The La Hay’s Survey showed that, generally speaking, Christian couples enjoyed sex more than couples with any other religious beliefs: "The women in our survey reported a 10 percent higher degree of sexual enjoyment, greater frequency of lovemaking experiences per month, and a more active part in [sex] than their "strongly religious" counterparts [in the REDBOOK Survey], likewise scoring much higher in these same areas than the average "non-religious" woman in the REDBOOK Survey." (P211). 

Former atheist, Patrick Glynn, adds:

• A 1978 study found that church attendance predicted marital satisfaction better than any other single variable. Couples in long-lasting marriages who were surveyed in another study listed religion as one of the most important “prescriptions” of a happy marriage. (God: The Evidence, 64)

However, it is so hard to admit that we have been wrong and that those we have disdained – our “mortal enemies” - have been right. It is a loss-of-face that few can sustain. Let our families, our children and our civilization rot as long as we are right!

The Rise of Secularism, Permissiveness and the Death of a Great Civilization

What impact has secularism, the permissiveness it has spawned, and the corresponding marginalization of Christianity had on our society? What has happened to the USA since the landmark Supreme Court decisions in 1962 and 1963 to remove prayer from the schools? Theologian Wayne Grudem observes:

• Once that happened, then, by implication, other decisions began to prohibit teachers from expressing belief in God at all or expressing their belief that there were moral standards that came from God and should be followed. Once such changes in the public in the public schools began to take effect, crime and other destructive forces in society began to increase year after year. (Politics According to the Bible, 505).

Grudem cites To Pray or Not to Pray by David Barton:

• Barton documents the dramatic rise in teen pregnancy rates, teen suicides, and drug abuse since prayer was removed from public schools. (506)

These, however, aren’t the only costs associated with the banishment of the Christian faith from the public arena? According to Fox News:

• In mid-January, the Pew Research Center told us 72% of all adults ages 18 and older were married in 1960; but today just 51% are—a record low.

The fallout from this fact is proving catastrophic:

• Then the new book, “Coming Apart: The State of White America 1960-2010,” by Charles Murray, says that a retreat from marriage among the white working class is a key factor in the growing economic divide in America.

• “Coming Apart” cites statistics from a theoretical upper-middle class town, showing 99% of children lived with both biological parents in 1962 and 84% of children did so in 2004

• Admittedly that’s a drop, but nothing compared to the theoretical white working class town where 96% of children lived with both parents in 1962 yet only 37% did so in 2004.

Well, what’s the matter with our creative, fluid, blended families?

• Research is overwhelming on the fact that this disadvantages children on an enormous scale—think increased teen pregnancies, increased prison populations, and children who grow up with no modeling for how to attain healthy marriage in the next generation.

• The Institute for American Values reports that 40 percent of all American babies are born outside of marriage today, and taxpayers spend at least $112 billion a year for divorce and unwed childbearing.

• The National Center on African American Marriages and Parenting reports that 72 percent of all African-American babies are born outside of marriage. The vast majority of men in prison are from fatherless homes. We can’t build prisons fast enough—prison population has jumped from 300,000 to 2.3 million in 3.5 decades.

This looks like the demise of a once great – perhaps the greatest – society. Why aren’t our politicians sounding the alarm? Why aren’t we returning to the principles that have made the West great? And why do we continue to reject these principles with ever-increasing alacrity?

The human race has proved itself stubborn and notoriously blind. God had given Israel everything, but this failed to induce Israel to reciprocate. Instead, they pursued the religions and lifestyles of their neighbors to their detriment. Nevertheless, their God continued to pursue and plead with them:

·        Go [Jeremiah], proclaim this message toward the north: "Return, faithless Israel,” declares the Lord, “I will frown on you no longer, for I am merciful,' declares the Lord, “I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt-- you have rebelled against the Lord your God, you have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed me," declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 3:12-13)

Will we return?

(Take a look at the video of Planned Parenthood's role in the growing decay.)