Monday 11 May 2020

Metanoia or bust

William Wildblood analyzes the nature of evil; and concludes:

Reality is primarily spiritual and the contemporary attack on the soul is every bit as evil as the evil of the Nazis. It is just evil manifesting in a different sphere, spiritual rather than material.

Our refusal to recognise spiritual evil and the hubris that goes along with this is why the Western world is dying. It cannot be saved but that is not important. What is important is individual souls and these can be saved but only if they renounce the world as it is and do what I believe is called in the terminology of mobile phones and other electronic devices, a factory reset in which all or most of the accumulated data is wiped clean and you start afresh.

This is repentance or, to use a word I prefer because it signifies something more comprehensive, metanoia, a total change of mind and heart driven by penitence. 

The need for metanoia means that a vague, generalised, intellectual kind of spirituality is not the answer. There's plenty of that about but it does not reach to the bottom of the soul and can often by engaged in without the renunciation of worldliness. It's a new suit when we need a new mind.

The true religious goal is not to make us happy in this life but to prepare us to enter the next. Too much contemporary spirituality is therapeutic when it should be transformational and this is part of the form evil currently takes in our world.



4 comments:

Epimetheus said...

Hi Dr. Charlton. How does one change core beliefs? I've discovered some nasty ones lately, which have operated in a horrific fashion over my lifetime. The usual advice from self-helpers is to use repeated affirmations, but that seems ineffectual to me - core-beliefs "cancel" out contrary evidence, hence why they're so troublesome in the first place, and mindless repetition of phrases can't fundamentally be any different.

I'm wondering if, instead of telling the deep mind what to think, it's better to simply get it to ask questions. Ie. "Is it possible that..." etc. When persuading other people, it seems to be easier to get them to contemplate new possibilities, than to accept whole new propositions outright.

Are there any other ways? It's such a surreal task.

Also, off-topic: is it the demonic task of bureaucracy to eliminate all possible human participation in life? When the human being has been stripped of all powers to participate in life - especially with their consciousness - there's no further reason to live, is there? Is that what it comes down to?

Matthew T said...

I must say I'm disappointed I didn't realize until now that William has a book (besides the one about his family member that I read) about his spiritual experiences, as well as a long-running blog on the same topic.

Bruce Charlton said...

@Epi - "How does one change core beliefs?" I've written extensively on this over the past few years, mostly the posts come up-on a word search for 'metaphysics'. It is difficult and multi-step - indentifying assumptions, acknowledging them, analysis - then the intuitive process of evaluation and discernment - then the act of faith. Even then, it is difficult actually to live-by one's new and valid assumptions, in face of our earlier habits, and if society contradicts and conflicts-with them.

Jonathan said...

I recommend William Wildblood's book, Meeting the Masters. If anyone who enjoys his blog is wondering whether it's worth paying the extra money to get the book, I would say unequivocally yes (for the Kindle version; the paperback version is overpriced on Amazon USA). Although it's similar in tone to the blog, it's more concentrated, and all the most important points of his worldview (really, the Masters' worldview) are driven home in one document.