Tag: opinion

Raising Competent Kids in an Incompetent World

It’s probably no surprise that the young people of today aren’t particularly independent. Not only does the “education” system take great pains to mold them into a bunch of terrified, follow-the-herd automatons, society, in general, doesn’t force them to do much for themselves either.

By Daisy Luther

It’s probably no surprise that the young people of today aren’t particularly independent.  Not only does the “education” system take great pains to mold them into a bunch of  terrified, follow-the-herd automatons, society, in general, doesn’t force them to do much for themselves either.

I’ll never forget when my oldest daughter came home for summer vacation after her first year of college.  She told me that her younger sister, age 13 at the time, was much more mature and competent than many of the kids in her student apartment building.  “I had to show a bunch of them how to do laundry and they didn’t even know how to make a box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese,” she said.

Apparently they were likewise in awe of her ability to cook actual food that did not originate in a pouch or box, her skills at changing a tire, her knack for making coffee using a French press instead of a coffee maker, and her ease at operating a washing machine and clothes dryer.

One girl, she told me, kept coming to my daughter’s apartment for tea and finally my daughter said, “I can’t afford to keep giving you all my tea. You’re going to have to make your own tea in your apartment. The girls said sadly that she couldn’t because she didn’t have a tea kettle. She was gobsmacked when my daughter explained how to boil water in a regular cooking pot for making tea.

At long last, my daughter admitted that even though she thought I was being mean at the time I began making her do things for herself, she’s now glad that she possesses those skills.  Hers was also the apartment that had everything needed to solve everyday problems: basic tools, first aid supplies, OTC medicine, and home remedies.

This got me thinking about how life will be when disaster eventually strikes.

If the country is populated by a bunch of people who can’t even cook a box of macaroni and cheese when their stoves function at optimum efficiency, and who can’t figure out how to make something as simple as tea in a different cooking vessel, how on earth will they sustain themselves when they have to not only acquire their food, but must use off-grid methods to prepare it? How can someone who requires an instruction manual to operate a digital thermostat hope to keep warm when their home environment it controlled by wood they have collected and fires they have lit with it?

And honestly, we can’t just blame the young people of today. We know that these types of skills aren’t taught in school, so where have their parents been? Why hasn’t this generation been taught to cook, clean, problem-solve, and handle money? People often praise my kids for being competent but the things they do should not be that unusual. If you never give a kid responsibility or show them how to create a workaround, how do you expect them to magically be able to “adult” just because they hit some arbitrary age?

Let’s look at some less dramatic, but more likely, situations. This isn’t even about prepping, per se, but about life skills.

Job Loss

In the current economy, it might not even be as cut and dried as job loss – the new generation may never find work at all.  When you have little-to-no money, cost-cutting efforts in order to get by requires certain skills and adaptations to stay fed and clean.  Your kids need to know how to:

  • Cook inexpensive, nutritious meals from scratch using pantry basics
  • Do laundry by hand and hang it to dry
  • Get from point A to point B using public transit or – gasp – by walking
  • Budget limited money so that the most important things are paid first
  • Mend and repair items instead of replacing them

Power Outage Due to Natural Disaster

We’ve all seen the aftermath of hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, and super storms.  California just lost power for over a week to “prevent” wildfires.

Your kids should be able to:

  • Keep warm, whether that means safely operating an indoor propane heater, using the wood stove/fireplace, or bundling up in a tent and sleeping bags in the living room
  • Keep fed – they should have enough supplies on hand that they can stay fed at home for at least two weeks without leaving the house: cereal, powdered milk, granola bars, canned fruit, etc.
  • Keep safe – they need to understand when it’s dangerous to go out and about and they need to have basic self-defense and weapons-handling skills.
  • As well, they need to understand the dangers of off-grid heating and cooking, such as the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning in un-ventilated rooms, and to know how to lessen these risks.

Illness and Injury

This can happen anywhere at any time.  Keeping a cool head when someone is ill or injured is the absolute most important step towards a good outcome. My kids both took babysitting courses and First Aid courses to further their money-making abilities as young teens, but the skills learned there go much further than bandaging a toddler’s scraped knee.  Kids should:

  • Take a course in First Aid, CPR, and anything else applicable that is offered.  The more you know, the calmer you are able to remain during a crisis.
  • Have a good basic First Aid kit and know how to use everything in it. Yes, that means “wasting” a few supplies by tearing them open and going through the use of them.
  • Know some home remedies for various common illnesses: teas for tummy aches, treatment for flu symptoms, how to soothe skin irritations, and how to care for a fever.
  • Have some basic over the counter medications on hand, like pills for diarrhea, pills for indigestion, and pain relievers.

Automotive Safety

An astonishing number of young adults don’t know how to drive. Fewer people than ever are getting their driver’s licenses.

Back when I was a kid, the most exciting thing in my teenage life was getting behind the wheel of a car, getting a learner’s permit when I was fourteen, and having that permit turn into a real driver’s license on my 16th birthday. This was freedom, baby!

Now, many kids couldn’t care less if they ever learn how to drive.  Instead, they rely on public transit or friends and family members that drive.  It’s one thing if you live in a major metropolitan area, but in places with lower populations, it seems that this is a vital skill.  In order to transport yourself to work and school, or to help out in the event of an emergency, it seems to me that kids should know how to:

  • Drive.  Not only an automatic transmission but also a standard transmission
  • Change a tire.  You don’t want your teenage daughter stranded on the side of the road at the mercy of whoever stops to help. My daughter was not allowed to drive the car until she demonstrated her ability to change the tire with the factory jack.
  • Perform minor maintenance, like checking the oil and fluid levels, filling up the washer fluid, checking tire pressures and topping them up if needed, and changing the windshield wiper blades.  I have a background in the automotive industry, so I also taught my daughter how to change the oil, which is nice to know, but not absolutely necessary.

And finally, what about day-to-day life skills?

I was truly surprised when my daughter told me about the lack of life skills her friends have.  I always thought maybe I was secretly lazy and that was the basis on my insistence that my girls be able to fend for themselves. But it honestly prepared them for life far better than if I was a hands-on mom that did absolutely everything for them. They needed to realize that clothing does not get worn and then neatly reappear on a hanger in the closet, ready to be worn again. They need to understand that meals do not magically appear on the table, created by singing appliances ala Beauty and the Beast.

Here are some of the life skills that kids should have gained before leaving the nest:

  • How to use basic tools for repairs
  • How to cook a healthy meal
  • How to grocery shop within a budget and have healthy food for the week ahead
  • Speaking of that, how to budget in general, so that they don’t have “too much month and not enough money”
  • How to clean
  • How to do laundry, including stain removal
  • How to think for themselves and question authority
  • How to manage their time to get necessary tasks accomplished by the deadlines
  • How to tell the difference between a want and a need
  • How to be frugal with utilities and consumable goods
  • How to pay bills
  • How to stay out of debt (not easy with the college credit card racket that you see on campuses across the country and rampant student loans)

Competent kids turn into competent adults.

The more they practice these things under your watchful eye, the more competent they will be when they set out on their own.  We all want our kids to be successful and independent and this is on us as parents. Don’t allow your kids to become crippled by a world that babies them in the name of convenience.

What are some of the skills you’ve taught your kids to prepare them for the real world? Have you witnessed some young adults who seem to be struggling to handle real life? Let’s talk about it in the comments.

SOURCE:https://www.theorganicprepper.com/raising-competent-kids-in-an-incompetent-world/

Say now Shibboleth

“Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right.”

A Shibboleth is any custom or tradition, usually a choice of phrasing or even a single word, that distinguishes one group of people from another. Shibboleths have been used throughout history in many societies as passwords, simple ways of self-identification, signaling loyalty and affinity, maintaining traditional segregation, or protecting from real or perceived threats.

The term originates from the Hebrew word shibbólet (שִׁבֹּלֶת), which literally means the part of a plant containing grain, such as the head of a stalk of wheat or rye; or less commonly “flood, torrent or ford” (possibly a head of grain by a water ford).

The modern use derives from an account in the Hebrew Bible, in which pronunciation of this word was used to distinguish Ephraimites, whose dialect used a differently sounding first consonant. The difference concerns the Hebrew letter shin, which is now pronounced as “S” (as in shoe).

“Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.” -Judges 12:6 KJV

A “furtive shibboleth” is a type of a shibboleth that identifies individuals as being part of a group, not based on their ability to pronounce one or more words, but on their ability to recognize a seemingly-innocuous phrase as a secret message.

Which brings the question; “Are you a traveling man?”

Mercy and Grace

“For children are innocent and love justice, while most of us are wicked and naturally prefer mercy.” -G.K. Chesterton

Mercy (Middle English, from Anglo-French merci, from Medieval Latin merced-, merces, from Latin, “price paid, wages”, from merc-, merxi “merchandise”) is benevolence, forgiveness, and kindness in a variety of ethical, religious, social, and legal contexts.

The concept of a merciful God appears in various religions, including Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Performing acts of mercy as a component of religious beliefs is also emphasized through actions such as the giving of alms, and care for the sick.

“Mercy” can be defined as “compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender or to one subject to one’s power”; and also “a blessing that is an act of divine favor or compassion.”

Hebrews 4:16 says, “So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.” Grace and mercy are similar in that both are free gifts of God and both are dispensed absent any merit on the part of the recipient. Grace is the favor of God, a divine assistance. Grace is what one receives that they do not deserve while mercy is what one receives when they do not get that which they deserve.

“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light; Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.” – 1Peter 2:9-10

In Islam the title “Most Merciful” (al-Rahman) is one of the names of Allah and Compassionate (al-Rahim), is the most common name occurring in the Quran. Rahman and Rahim both derive from the root Rahmat, which refers to tenderness and benevolence.

The Hebrew word for mercy is Rachamim which is always in plural form so that it literally means “mercies”. “Mercy includes showing kindness to those who don’t deserve it, and forgiving those that deserve punishment.” Mercy is one of the defining characteristics of God. Exodus 34:6 says: “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”

“For children are innocent and love justice, while most of us are wicked and naturally prefer mercy.” ―G.K. Chesterton

Shekhinah

“Whenever ten are gathered for prayer, there the Shekhinah rests.”

tabernacle

The Shekhinah (Biblical Hebrew: שכינה‎ šekīnah; also Romanized Shekina(h), Schechina(h), Shechina(h)) is the English transliteration of a Hebrew word meaning “dwelling” or “settling” and denotes the dwelling or settling of the divine presence of God. This term does not occur in the Bible, and is from rabbinic literature.

In classic Jewish thought, the shekhinah refers to a dwelling or settling in a special sense, a dwelling or settling of divine presence, to the effect that, while in proximity to the shekhinah, the connection to God is more readily perceivable.

The shekhinah represents the feminine attributes of the presence of God,shekhinah being a feminine word in Hebrew, based especially on readings of the Talmud.

The prophets made numerous references to visions of the presence of God, particularly in the context of the Tabernacle or Temple, with figures such as thrones or robes filling the Sanctuary. These visions have traditionally been attributed to the presence of the shekhinah.

The shekhinah is referred to as manifest in the Tabernacle and the Temple in Jerusalem throughout rabbinic literature.

It is also reported as being present in other contexts:

  • While a person (or people) study Torah, the Shekhinah is among them.
  • “Whenever ten are gathered for prayer, there the Shekhinah rests.”
  • “When three sit as judges, the Shekhinah is with them.”
  • Cases of personal need: “The Shekhinah dwells over the headside of the sick man’s bed”, “Wheresoever they were exiled, the Shekhinah went with them.”
  • “A man and woman – if they merit, the Shekhinah is between them. If not, fire consumes them.” According to one interpretation of this source, the Shekhinah is the highest of six types of holy fire. When a married couple is worthy of this manifestation, all other types of fire are consumed by it.

The Talmud states that “the Shekhinah rests on man neither through gloom, nor through sloth, nor through frivolity, nor through levity, nor through talk, nor through idle chatter, but only through a matter of joy in connection with a mitzvah.*

* Hebrew mitzvah, as with English “commandment”, refers to a moral deed performed within a religious duty. As such, the term mitzvah has also come to express an individual act of human kindness in keeping with the law. The expression includes a sense of heartfelt sentiment beyond mere legal duty, as “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). The tertiary meaning of mitzvah also refers to the fulfillment of a mitzvah

A Tale of Two Allies

We’ve “stepped aside” and allowed both sides to resolve the issue. Like every smart parent, remove yourself from the situation but keep an eye on it, ready to step in if things get out of hand.

How about some facts about the Kurds?

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK is a Kurdish far-left militant and political organization based in Turkey and Iraq. Since 1984 the PKK has been involved in an armed conflict with the Turkish state.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by several states and organizations, including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan,and the European Union. From the mid-1990s, the organization began to lose the upper hand in its operations as a consequence of a change of tactics by Turkey and Syria’s steady abandonment of support for the group.

The group also had lost its support from Saddam Hussein. . From 1996 to 1999, the organization began to use suicide bombers, IED and ambush attacks against military and police bases. The role of suicide bombers, especially female ones were encouraged and mythologized by giving them the status of a “goddess of freedom”, and shown as role models for other women after their death.

On 20 March 2016, the PKK announced the establishment of Peoples’ United Revolutionary Movement, a coalition of Maoists, Marxists-Leninists, Apoists, Communists and Hoxhaists which aim to attain “democracy and a free future” for “peoples against Imperialism, Capitalism, Chauvinism, Fascism and Racism”.

I keep going in circles in my head about why in the world Trump would announce U.S. withdrawal in Syria. The man does NOTHING without purpose. Many keep saying it’s terrible and that we are deserting our ally (Kurds) in their hour of need and the Trumpster is losing what few marbles he had. (Mostly from the Never Trump contingent.)

So I’m thinking to myself, why? And why do it a la Obama (announce it to the world and our enemies) when he was so very, very critical of Obama when he did it. On the surface, it just didn’t make sense and seemed out of character for President Trump.

First off, the Kurds are first and foremost Muslim. In their minds, priority number one is to follow the teachings of Mohammad.

Every other treaty or agreement (especially with infidels) is secondary or non-binding. They fought with us as allies because it was in their best interest to do so. Don’t think for one second they wouldn’t throw us under the bus for the glory of Allah, if the opportunity presented itself. Quit thinking with western morals.

In light of this, they are not an ally. You cannot buy friends. We have been on friendly terms because it was mutually advantageous. Also, for better or worse, Turkey is a member of NATO and by agreement, we cannot war, in the traditional sense, with them.

Secondly, Trump promised to get us out of these never ending conflicts. Not one more drop of American blood should be shed unless it’s in defense of this country. I gotta agree with that.

For the life of me, I can’t figure out why the heck we are in this one. This little conflict has been going on for years and is at a stalemate. And by our presence, both sides have made no move towards resolution. It’s like we were enabling this little pissing match. And this is where I really believe Trump is brilliant.

We’ve “stepped aside” and allowed both sides to resolve the issue. Like every smart parent, remove yourself from the situation but keep an eye on it, ready to step in if things get out of hand. The “kids” will never learn how to get along and compromise if mommy or daddy always step in.

Trump is a fixer. He sees a problem and works to fix it. How better to pull Turkey into committing to action than to say that the one protector (and just where the heck is everyone else in NATO? Why are we always expected to go it alone with only “moral” support from our NATO allies?) Once Turkey makes its move, he then has grounds to move against a NATO “ally”. Until that happens, his hands are tied because he’s bound by treaties made by others.

And with this move, he has forced once again all the Dems who were against the war and we need to get out to turn into war hawks simply because it was his idea. Maybe that was his plan? He knows the only way to finish the job that Obama started with really no reason and no exit strategy, MAY boil down to not only economic sanctions but with bombs and bullets. One way or another, it will be finished.

Loyalty-Fidelity

“our ancient Brethren worshiped a deity under the name of Fides or Fidelity, which was sometimes represented by two right hands joined, and sometimes by two human figures holding each other by the right hands. “

Loyalty-Fidelity, in general use, is a devotion and faithfulness to a nation, cause, philosophy, country, group, or person. 1375–1425; late Middle English fidelite (< Middle French) < Latin fidēlitās, equivalent to fidēli- (stem of fidēlis loyal, equivalent to fidē(s) faith + -lis adj. suffix) + -tās -ty

Fides (Latin: Fidēs) was the goddess of trust and bona fides (good faith) in Roman paganism. it is said that “our ancient Brethren worshiped a deity under the name of Fides or Fidelity, which was sometimes represented by two right hands joined, and sometimes by two human figures holding each other by the right hands.” Her priests were covered by a white veil as a symbol of purity which should characterize Fidelity. No victims were slain on her altars, and no offerings made to her except flowers, wine, and incense. Her statues were represented clothed in white mantles, with a key in her hand and a dog at her feet. The virtue of Fidelity is, however, frequently symbolized in ancient medals by a heart in an open hand, but more usually by two right hands clasped. She was one of the original virtues to be considered an actual religious divinity. Fides is everything that is required for “honor and credibility, from fidelity in marriage, to contractual arrangements, and the obligation soldiers owed to Rome.”. Fides also means reliability, “reliability between two parties, which is always reciprocal.” and “bedrock of relations between people and their communities”, and then it was turned into to an Roman deity and from which we gain the English word, ‘fidelity.’.

The Roman deity may have example in Regulus “who refuses to save himself at the expense of the Republic. Regulus defied his own best interests for those of his country. In this act alone, he acted with fides.”

She was also worshipped under the name Fides Publica Populi Romani (“Public (or Common) Trust of the Roman People”).

In the Gospel of Matthew 6:24, Jesus states, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon”. This relates to the authority of a master over his servants (as per Ephesians 6:5), who, according to Biblical law, owe undivided loyalty to their master (as per Leviticus 25:44–46). On the other hand, the “Render unto Caesar” of the synoptic gospels acknowledges the possibility of distinct loyalties (secular and religious) without conflict, but if loyalty to man conflicts with loyalty to God, the latter takes precedence.

The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition defines loyalty as “allegiance to the sovereign or established government of one’s country” and also “personal devotion and reverence to the sovereign and royal family”. It traces the word “loyalty” to the 15th century, noting that then it primarily referred to fidelity in service, in love, or to an oath that one has made. The meaning that the Britannica gives as primary, it attributes to a shift during the 16th century, noting that the origin of the word is in the Old French “loialte”, that is in turn rooted in the Latin “lex”, meaning “law”. One who is loyal, in the feudal sense of fealty, is one who is lawful (as opposed to an outlaw), who has full legal rights as a consequence of faithful allegiance to a feudal lord.

Often cited as one of the many virtues of Confucianism, means to do the best you can do for others.

“Loyalty” is the most important and frequently emphasized virtue in Bushido. In combination with six other virtues, which are Righteousness (義 gi?), Courage (勇 yū?), Benevolence, (仁 jin?), Respect (礼 rei?), Sincerity (誠 makoto?), and Honor (名誉 meiyo?), it formed the Bushido code: “It is somehow implanted in their chromosomal makeup to be loyal”.

Loyalty to duty. It is this which the story teaches us, and my readers may be interested to know that the same theme is taught in the Mahabarata, in the legend of the Last Journey of Yudisthira, which relates how he goes on a long journey which ultimately ends at the gates of Heaven. There he is told that he is welcome, but his dog, who has followed him, cannot enter Heaven, for Heaven is not the place for dogs. Whereupon the Indian king replies that the dog has followed him loyally throughout his lone, weary journey, and that to forsake a friend is as vile as to commit a murder. Rather than do such a foul deed he is prepared to give up all hope of Heaven. Immediately on his utterance of these words the dog changes form and stands beside him as Dharma, the god of Duty, and he enters into heaven.

Charity-love (agape)

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

Charity/Love/Agape (Ancient Greek ἀγάπη, agapē) is a Greco-Christian term referring to love, “the highest form of love, charity” and “the love of God for man and of man for God”. The word is not to be confused with philia, brotherly love, or philautia, self-love, as it embraces a universal, unconditional love that transcends and persists regardless of circumstance. It goes beyond just the emotions to the extent of seeking the best for others. The noun form first occurs in the Septuagint, but the verb form goes as far back as Homer, translated literally as affection, as in “greet with affection” and “show affection for the dead”. Other ancient authors have used forms of the word to denote love of a spouse or family, or affection for a particular activity, in contrast to eros (an affection of a sexual nature).

The Greeks had a word, charisma, meaning a gift, and a number of words from the same root, variously suggesting rejoicing, gladness. The Latins had a similar word, carus, and meaning dear, possibly connected with am or, signifying love. From these roots came “grace,” meaning a free, unbought gift, as in the theological phrase, “the grace of God,” and “charity.” Strictly speaking, charity is an act done freely, and spontaneously out of friendship, not as a civic duty and grudgingly, as is sometimes the case in public charity.

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing” (First Corinthians 13:1-2).

The apostle, in comparing it with faith and hope, calls it the greatest of the three. We must not fall into the too common error that charity is only that sentiment of commiseration which leads us to assist the poor with pecuniary donations.

In its application, is more noble and more extensive. The word used by the apostle is, in the original, love, a word denoting that kindly state of mind which renders a person full of good-will and affectionate regard toward others.

Guided by this sentiment, the true ethical man will “suffer long and be kind.”

He will be slow to anger and easy to forgive.

He will stay his falling Brother by gentle admonition, and warn him with kindness of approaching danger, He will not open his ear to the slanderers, and will lose his lips against all reproach.

His faults and his follies will be locked in his breast, and the prayer for mercy will ascend to God for his Brother’s sins.

As ethical men we must practice charity. Not the Charity circumscribed by the narrow limits of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, binding up the wounds of the afflicted, but that broader nobler Charity that regards all men as Brothers.

Hope

In other words, hope was defined as the perceived capability to derive pathways to desired goals and motivate oneself via agency thinking to use those pathways.

Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one’s life or the world at large. As a verb, its definitions include: “expect with confidence” and “to cherish a desire with anticipation.”

From Middle English hope, from Old English hopa (“hope, expectation”), from Proto-Germanic*hupô, *hupǭ, *hupō (“hope”), from Proto-Germanic*hupōną (“to hope”), from Proto-Indo-European*kēwp-, *kwēp- (“to smoke, boil”). Cognate with West Frisian hope (“hope”), Dutch hoop (“hope”), Middle High German hoffe (“hope”). Extra-Germanic cognates include Latin cupio (“I desire, crave”) and possibly Latin vapor (“vapor; smoke”).

hope (countable and uncountable, plural hopes)

  1. (countable or uncountable) The belief or expectation that something wished for can or will happen.

I still have some hope that I can get to work on time.After losing my job, there’s no hope of being able to afford my world cruise.There is still hope that we can find our missing cat. (countable) The actual thing wished for. (countable) A person or thing that is a source of hope. We still have one hope left: my roommate might see the note I left on the table. (Christianity, uncountable) The virtuous desire for future good.

Hope and forgiveness can impact several aspects of life such as health, work, education, and personal meaning. There are three main things that make up hopeful thinking:

  • Goals – Approaching life in a goal-oriented way.
  • Pathways – Finding different ways to achieve your goals.
  • Agency – Believing that you can instigate change and achieve these goals.

In other words, hope was defined as the perceived capability to derive pathways to desired goals and motivate oneself via agency thinking to use those pathways.

Hope is the second round in the theological and Masonic ladder, and symbolic of a hope in immortality. It is appropriately placed there, for, having attained the first, or faith in God, we are led by a belief in His wisdom and goodness to the hope of immortality. This is but a reasonable expectation; without it, virtue would lose its necessary stimulus and vice its salutary fear; life would be devoid of joy, and the grave but a scene of desolation. The ancients represented Hope by a nymph or maiden holding in her hand a bouquet of opening flowers, indicative of the coming fruit; but in modern and Masonic iconology, the science of Craft illustrations and likenesses, it is represented by a virgin leaning on an anchor, the anchor itself being a symbol of hope .
Mackey’s Encyclopedia of Freemasonry

Faith

Fowler defines faith as an activity of trusting, committing, and relating to the world based on a set of assumptions of how one is related to others and the world.

Faith, derived from Latin fides and Old French feid, is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or concept. In the context of religion, one can define faith as confidence or trust in a particular system of religious belief. Religious people often think of faith as confidence based on a perceived degree of warrant* ( *The theory of justification is a part of epistemology that attempts to understand the justification of propositions and beliefs. Epistemologists are concerned with various epistemic features of belief, which include the ideas of justification, warrant, rationality, and probability. Loosely speaking, justification is the reason that someone (properly) holds a belief.)

James W. Fowler (1940–2015) proposes a series of stages of faith-development (or spiritual development) across the human life-span. His stages relate closely to the work of Piaget, Erikson, and Kohlberg regarding aspects of psychological development in children and adults. Fowler defines faith as an activity of trusting, committing, and relating to the world based on a set of assumptions of how one is related to others and the world.

Stages of faith

  1. Intuitive-Projective: a stage of confusion and of high impressionability through stories and rituals (pre-school period).
  2. Mythic-Literal: a stage where provided information is accepted in order to conform with social norms (school-going period).
  3. Synthetic-Conventional: in this stage the faith acquired is concreted in the belief system with the forgoing of personification and replacement with authority in individuals or groups that represent one’s beliefs (early-late adolescence).
  4. Individuative-Reflective: in this stage the individual critically analyzes adopted and accepted faith with existing systems of faith. Disillusion or strengthening of faith happens in this stage. Based on needs, experiences and paradoxes (early adulthood).
  5. Conjunctive faith: in this stage people realize the limits of logic and, facing the paradoxes or transcendence of life, accept the “mystery of life” and often return to the sacred stories and symbols of the pre-acquired or re-adopted faith system. This stage is called negotiated settling in life (mid-life).
  6. Universalizing faith: this is the “enlightenment” stage where the individual comes out of all the existing systems of faith and lives life with universal principles of compassion and love and in service to others for upliftment, without worries and doubt (middle-late adulthood (45–65 years old and plus).

No hard-and-fast rule requires individuals pursuing faith to go through all six stages. There is a high probability for individuals to be content and fixed in a particular stage for a lifetime; stages from 2-5 are such stages. Stage 6 is the summit of faith development. This state is often considered as “not fully” attainable.

“Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to.”
― Valentine Davies, Miracle on 34th Street

In the theological ladder, the explanation of which forms a part of the instruction of Masonry, faith is said to typify the lowest round. Faith, here, is synonymous with confidence or trust, and hence we find the essential qualification of a candidate is that he should trust in God.

Against all enemies

I, (state name of enlistee), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”

By Lee Cary —— October 2, 2019

America’s domestic enemies are the Democratic Party and its allies

Those who’ve taken the oath remember it as a rite of passage.

Inside a military induction center, in the company of strangers in civilian clothes, with a few military personnel in uniform, a commanding voice orders the civilians to line up single file outside the door, to an empty room, displaying the national flag.

The door opens, the civilians file in, and, in equal increments, peel off to form a block of rows where they are called to attention for the first of many times to come.

When directed, they raise their right hands and repeat, phrase by phrase, these words:

I, (state name of enlistee), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”

For many of the oath-takers, other important and memorable oaths will be taken in their lives. Like wedding vows, and their oath to “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth” in a court of law. But, for those who take this oath, no other will be more memorable.

The oath originated during the American Revolutionary War. It was altered in 1789. Then, later, it was amended, on 5 May 1960, during the Cold War.

On 5 October 1962, the newest words took effect. The oath-takers pledged to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic”.

The “enemies” are unnamed. For while the oath is fixed in place, the enemies change over time. 

The leading foreign enemies of the 20th Century were clear.  The Empire of Japan. The Third Reich. Then the USSR, the Peoples’ Republic of China and the Korean War. Followed by an episode of the Cold War turned hot in Vietnam.

The domestic enemies—those inside our borders—were Soviet spies, many known to exist but identified only by their code names, particularly in the era of nuclear arms development.  Later came spies from the Peoples’ Republic of China entering America as foreign students in U.S. universities, not just searching for state secrets but for industrial secrets enabling the theft of intellectual property.

Today, the leading domestic enemies of the U.S. Constitution are not dispatched to America from foreign shores. They were born in the USA.  English is their first language.

They include Government Service employees in the U.S. “intelligence community”— a soft moniker for a hard bunch.  Not all of them, of course. But enough to matter.

Some act openly, others are clandestine operators. They designed and staffed the Trump-Russian Hoax operation.  We know the field leaders, many of them, but we can’t yet prove who authorized their mission. And we may never be able to document who gave the “go,” and when. 

The field trade craft doesn’t appear to have relied on the standard pedestrian techniques like dead drops, brush passes, or one-time pads.

They used other espionage tools against the Executive Branch of their own government:  black propaganda, cut-outs, even a swallow—many of the standard tools were used one time or another during the Trump-Russian Hoax by GS-rated personnel and a few agency stringers, operating under the guise of the “intelligence community”. A harmless sounding label conveying the image of block parties, pot-luck suppers and book clubs. A family affair. 

In their efforts to overthrow a President, the “intelligence community” solidly earned the designation of a domestic enemy of the U.S. Constitution.

The role of liberal media newsrooms as domestic enemies is, also, well-established. Akin to the Nazi-controlled newspapers Vőlkischer Beobachter, Der Angriff and Boersen Zeitung, they toe the Democrat Party line under the banners of the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, et al. 

On the internet, they edit POLITICO, Daily Kos and Mother Jones where news means spreading each new narrative defined by the thought leaders of the American Left.  Facts and truth matter not. Today there is no “news”. 

The most modern invention in political propaganda is practiced by the censors, and with the logarithms, of big social media and search engine outlets: e.g., Facebook, Twitter and Google.  Domestics enemies of the U.S. Constitution.

Among their various campaigns are open borders, unhindered access to lethal drugs, unlimited abortions, unenforced laws, unbounded genders. 

Identity politics is a propaganda tool for torquing disorder leading toward the reformation of the old civil order by spreading incivility.

Their agenda, once heralded as fundamental transformation of America by a former U.S. President, is fundamental deformation of American society. Tear down the old to bring on the new.

Their end-game goal is the optimization of federal power – which they will control because they know best—over the citizenry.

Elsewhere in time and place, they’ve used other labels—Communism, Fascism, Socialism – but it always comes down to control over people.  How they live.  Where they work. What they read. What they think. What they own.

The Politburo, the Stasi, the Gestapo, the Communist Party, the Central Planning Committee—same play, different actors.

And now we have the newest rendition of control being directed from the hive of America’s leading domestic enemy—free stuff for everyone funded by confiscating the property of the rich.

Today, the domestic enemies of the U.S. Constitution live in our midst as the Democratic Party and its allies.

They put on a clown show, but we had better take them seriously.  For they are not joking.