In Contemplation of Pentecost

 

Another Sunday is dawning, the Sunday before Pentecost. Pentecost occurs 49 days after Easter (or is it 50, as the Greek root word expresses?). It commemorates the Holy Spirit descending upon the Apostles and Mary (and I’d say others) who were crowded in that upper room in Jerusalem where this event occurred. This supernatural happening is symbolized by the dove and tongues of fire coming upon the devout in a mighty wind.

Of course that’s next week’s celebration. On this Sunday, one week before, we might contemplate what may have been going on in the minds of those who would gather together in expectation of this mystery.

The Holy Spirit is the third entity of our Trinitarian God. We pray for the grace of the Holy Spirit to come into us—for example to assist us in our speech when we express ourselves, similar to the Apostles who instantly began speaking in tongues on this first occasion.

For a human sinner to “walk in grace,” however, is much more than being delighted when words of wisdom come out of one’s mouth. Of course that is a beautiful thing in and of itself. But I’d venture to say that this is only one benefit that accrues from the nuances of grace coming into and upon you.

The concept of the grace of God conjures up thoughts that are mighty, pure, free from the taint and contamination of contrivance, pretension, and affectation. Grace shines as the power of truth, goodness, beauty! And one who is in the possession of sacred grace walks in holiness and, I suppose, as near to perfection as is possible in this world.

All ye who worship the Good Lord seek to emulate the actions and words of Jesus (Yeshua) the Christ, as He is exemplified in the Gospels. The historical Jesus was and is the idyllic role model for human beings, and asking for the gift of grace via the Holy Spirit is to humbly desire to “walk in his sandals”—to ask for the gift of being supernaturally assisted directly by God in our daily lives; to live lives that are real, lives of deep faith, hope and charity.

Pentecost celebrates the birth of the nascent church, of inspirational leaders who take the Word of God to others through the sacrality of their words and actions as inspired by the grace of the Holy Spirit that lives in them and through them.

We look with pleasure upon this event as the fulfillment of Scripture and the enduring promise of being able still to utilize God’s powerful grace to ennoble our humanity. Yes, the Holy Spirit is like a living consciousness we can tap into if worthy and willing to serve our Creator in a more profound way. By so doing we extend grace to others. Yes, Pentecost epitomizes what it means to be Christ-like, to aspire to a moral life in harmony with Divine Will.

It’s truly…a beautiful thing.

The Meaning of 23 Skiddoo...

There are 23 pairs of chromosomes in a diploid human cell.

The colloquial meaning of to “23 skiddoo” is to 'get out with all due haste.' (For example, consider that sentiment as perhaps harkening back to Pope John XXIII and Vatican II.)

In my first novel, 23 Skiddoo: Way Back Beyond Across the Stars (2016), the meaning is hiding in plain sight. That is, in the end, the monstrous pair of cross-bred ETs does just that: 23 skiddoos away from the planet (in etheric form). And, while not human, i.e., beings with 23 pairs of chromosomes, its readers are human beings. And this dreaded duo had carried with them the biology of those bankers and some meaningful memories of their brief-but-violent Earthly sojourn with the 23 pairs of chromosomes gleaned from the diploid human cells of those bankers they have gobbled up (and once carried inside of them). Some humanoid essence departs off-planet with them, just as some sense of that humanoid essence affects the readers of the novel.

And of course the main character, Nathan Sos, is forever retreating with all due haste throughout the book to his beloved refuge—the beach.

There is much more to be said about those tactical retreats! Yes, this author's whole life has been and continues to be a 23 skiddoo to some place or another. Ah well, 'tis better to move on, than to get bogged down in the limiting tribulations of consensual reality and culture trance, right? It is reminiscent of Aldous Huxley's definition of a "normie":

Normiedom is hard enough on those 23 pairs of chromosomes. So consider being nudged out of that ignorant, mentally impaired condition. Readers may very well discover some inspiring encouragement from reading and reflecting on said novel. Get serious, oh potential readers, about broadening your horizons by searching for truth and wholeness; rise above propaganda and conditioning

Notwithstanding our advanced “intellect,” we humans—regardess of IQs, “education,” or professional accomplishments—remain social animals by nature. In this respect, we are very similar in our core impulses to cows, sheep, lemmings, fish or birds. It is the peer approved validation of our opinions—even more so than the original and deafening blare of the Four Horns of Bullshit which created it —that will not only mentally and emotionally seal the erroneous belief in concrete—but also induce fear and loathing for the “stray” conspiracy theorist who dares to question it. That’s how Bernays’s grand game of mass deception and manufactured consensus works its Black magic on the group mind. Now that you understand the philosophical underpinnings of the surprisingly simple “secret” of Society Shaping, ask yourself this question: “How did I really come to ‘know’ what I think I know?”  

            Mike King, realnewsandhistory.com

Read 23 Skiddoo: Way Back Beyond Across the Stars (2016) and see if you might just figure this whole mess out for yourself. Go to:  https://www.wymanwicket.com/book

To Be or Not To Be a Joiner

An “institutional misfit” is what I am and what I will always be. I have yet to discover any impetus that would drive me to join any man-made group or organization. That is, I cannot give my heart and soul to any institution—even those institutions within which I was born: the Roman Catholic Church, the corporatized county, state and federal governments—or those I freely chose, e.g., the B.A.R., law firms, universities, the U.S. Army and its JAG Corps—even the American state national movement gives me pause—none of these human inventions designed to bring a communal spirit together for a stated, underlying purpose have an overwhelming claim on me. 

What I do recognize belonging to is the family whose DNA I carry, the spirit of the land upon which I grew up, and the planetary sensibility of being a surface entity of Earth. I am devoted to God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, and I identify with God’s moral injunctions, into which I ever-aspire to be subsumed. I follow as my model, my Savior/Redeemer, Jesus (Yeshua) Christ, God-made-flesh, as to His words and actions as they appear in Holy Scripture. Jesus was reared in the Judaic religious tradition and was well-acquainted with Holy Scripture. But He was not a joiner of any man-made institutions, and neither am I. 

This anti-joiner stance does not mean that I am anti-social, that I do not care for the company of others. While I treasure my solitude I am also drawn to be with those I love, those whom I have befriended or with those to whom I feel drawn by natural inclination. I aspire to treat family, friends and strangers just as I wish to be treated. And yet to come together in a formal bond of an institutionally recognized social or fraternal group of any kind holds no interest for me. If this makes me a loner or a maverick or a rugged individualist, so be it; I accept such designations from others without feeling estranged in any way. 

If I choose to abide with a certain group of folks, for example, at some church whose pastor I sense is a noble shepherd, I am honored to be included and to learn from what I am taught there, while offering as much support and sustenance as I can in return while I am there. Yet I do not necessarily wish to be a formal member of any institution. I do subscribe to the sacred truism in Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” This is beautiful and delightful. 

Thus, I posit that as we consider the notion—which church(es) are horribly ruinous here in the world?—one particular institution (e.g., the Roman Catholic Church) need not be singled out for our ire; rather institutionalism as a whole might be the real enemy. 

To determine the degree of institutionalism one might ask to what extent any particular, organized entity borrows for its legitimacy from a System that is already anathema, or adheres to dogmatic and seemingly overly time-worn or incomplete principles. If so, sensing any such defects signals possible endangerment to one’s spiritual well-being and ultimate fulfillment, as I see it. Viewed as such, institutions can be harbingers of being less than God desires of us to be in the sacred design of Creation. One may feel more comfortable in one church more than in another. And yet the true test is how institutionalized that church is, not simply with regard to its inter-relationship with the existing government, but also with its fundaments as exemplified via its unique praxis. 

Choosing to join a church (or any organized group for that matter), boils down to deciding to be a free and independent being who chooses to be or not to be…institutionalized. That choice is a highly personal, singularly unique judgment call that can only be made from a place of long experience, deep mentation, and honest faith in God as God is made manifest to each of us. In this sense one might contemplate on the following Biblical Chapter/verse:    

The Humbled and Exalted Christ

5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.  9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the  earth,  11 and  that  every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

Philippians 2:5-11    NKJV