Posted on by Abe Austin

Knowledge vs Practice- Knowledge That Changes

The Potential Power of Truth)

In my first post I suggested that most of our spiritual practice grows naturally from first having a seed of spiritual knowledge. On the most basic level, God provides us revelations, and we adjust our behavior in response. What is that, if not receiving knowledge, and then putting it into practice?

Just how deep of a change can be made to human practice by a revelation of knowledge? Is there a limit to the potential power that can be bundled inside of a revealed truth? Let’s consider that question by examining the most impactful revelation that was ever made to man.

Knowledge that Transforms)

When Paul wrote to the Colossians, he spoke of a deep, cosmic mystery that had just been revealed to the world with tremendous effect:

Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.
-Colossians 1:26-27

The great mystery that Paul shares in these verses is that Christ lives within each one of us. This was a radical notion that completely shifted the common perspective of a God that lived external and separate from man. The idea that part of our very soul is shared with our creator’s is very extreme and would be deeply heretical if it wasn’t true!

Paul further explains that it is this revelation that led him and so many other disciples to dedicate their whole lives to spreading the gospel. Paul, of course, had made a complete 180 from his previous life, and now he and many other disciples were solely focused on this work because the truth was still “working in them mightily.”

Any honest historian, even one who is not a follower of Jesus, will attest to the fact that the Christian movement is one of the most important and influential forces in the human story. It is hard to think of anything else that has altered the course of nations, wars, and society like Christianity has. Its power to transform is unmatched, and I agree with Paul that this power of transformation has at its root that one core revelation that God lives within us.

Given this, I cannot put any limit on the potential power of revealed knowledge. Notice that I say potential power, much like how a heavy weight raised to a high height has only potential energy, not kinetic energy. Knowledge has the potential for change, but it still requires a choice to act on it, just as the elevated weight requires an action to push it free. When these things happen, potential becomes realized, and there is no theoretical limit to how great that energy could be!

Posted on by Abe Austin

Knowledge vs Practice- The Theory

I have often heard that spiritual practice is more important than spiritual knowledge. Just knowing that you should do good to your fellow man doesn’t do anything to make the world better, you have to actually live that principle in your daily life.

There is something true in this sentiment, but it isn’t as though these two types of testimony live in isolation from one another. Knowledge of the first order precedes practice, and knowledge of the second order follows practice. I’ll explain that further in the course of this study, but for now my point is simply that there is a cyclical relationship between knowledge and practice, and practice typically only occurs because we first gained some sort of knowledge.

Thus, there actually is no “knowledge vs practice.” While I see some merit in describing practice as better than knowledge, I fear that portraying them in this opposing light may create the illusion that we can have practice without any knowledge and perhaps should aspire to that. I believe it would create a clearer picture in our minds if we were to instead say that “knowledge is incomplete without practice.” This, I feel, communicates that practice is a continuation of what began with knowledge, a further step along the same path.

Now, just like practice cements what was previously only knowledge, examples can cement what was previously only theory. I’ve already given the theory, so now I will grow from it with specific examples in scripture. Hopefully those will make clear anything that is still murky from what we have discussed today.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Ideals Made Alive

Truth, mercy, justice, hope, love, and courage.

These ideals belong to a higher plane of existence: what the spiritual man calls heaven, the philosopher calls metaphysics, and the mathematical man calls abstraction. Though immaterial and conceptual, these concepts are not sealed off from the living world.

When we lend our lives to these ideals, these ideals become alive. We are the vessels to speak truth, show mercy, enact justice, raise hope, share love, and stand in courage. These principles take form through us.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Wresting the Truth

The frustration and suffering in our lives is directly proportional to the lies that we have come to believe. Complicating matters is that the lies are woven into our society before we were even born, becoming so indoctrinated in us that we can’t even see them for what they are half the time.

The word of God is therefore an essential standard. Whenever we read an eternal principle in the scriptures that seems uncomfortable to our modern sensibilities, we have just identified a lie that rests at our foundation. That is the area where our conception of Truth has been twisted, and we will find greater peace only as we correct that perversion.

So, what do you see as “problematic” in the scriptures? That men and women are meant to function in different roles? That divorce should be virtually unheard of? That fornication, homosexuality, and every other sexual deviance is abominable? That we should not provide preferential treatment to one group over another? That sometimes God declares war? That sin makes us deserving of death? That Christ is the only path to salvation? That spiritual freedom is more important than physical liberty? That all of our possessions and life decisions properly belong to the Lord?

If we see any of these tenets in need of “being fixed,” then we live in a “truth” that is actually a lie. We will forever be frustrated because we are trying to twist the fabric of reality against itself, which is doomed to failure. True reality will not tear. It will snap back and tear us instead. And when that happens it is actually an act of mercy, as each of us needs to be broken before we can rebuild ourselves on the actual Truth.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Choice in the Time of Proving

Our lives are defined by a few pivotal choices, special moments where we are presented with what is easy on one side, and what is right on the other, and then we prove to ourselves and anyone observing whether or not we are a person of principle, someone who will stick to conscience no matter what.

It is important that we don’t see these moments as predetermined by who we already are, though. It is not as if our quality of character is already locked in, and we simply behave according to our predetermined nature. No, these are moments of active free will. Suppose we have a moment where the right thing is to divulge a difficult truth. We can say to ourselves, “I’ve always struggled with honesty, but I wish I were the sort of person who told the truth, no matter what, and here in this moment I can behave as if I were.” Then, we can make the choice to be that person of honesty just in that moment, and that decision transforms us into really being that way.

Do not worry whether you will have the necessary qualities when the time comes, simply resolve to make the choice that is right, whether you think you’re ready for it or not. No matter the hesitation and doubt, you can choose to be the person that you always wanted to be.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Mortal Problems, Divine Solutions

The other day I came across a verse that brought up several thoughts and realizations. It’ll be years before I get to it in my regular verse-by-verse scripture study, so I thought I’d skip ahead and cover it now.

The verse is 1 Corinthians 10:13:

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

I was curious about that phrase “is common to man,” so I pulled out the interlinear bible and found that that phrase is translated from a single Greek word ἀνθρώπινος (anthrōpinos), which means “belonging to human beings (especially as contrasted with God), human (as contrasted with divine).”

Paul is saying that our temptations come from mortality and are of the nature of common humanity. This might have been a particularly meaningful message to the saints of Corinth. Corinth was a city-state of Ancient Greece, meaning it was steeped in the Greek Mythos, which of course had its pantheon of Gods: Zeus, Hades, Apollo, Aphrodite, etc. These gods were fickle and impetuous, at times declaring war on mortal individuals and putting all manner of madness and superhuman control upon them. Thus, the Greek belief system might have one believing that you really could be tempted by some divine power, of such force that you, as a mere mortal, would be helpless to resist it. Paul is denouncing this belief, assuring you that only powers of the earth, not of heaven, ever tempt us to do evil.

Of course, saying that our temptations are of the mortal realm is not to say that they are any joke. Our ability to resist temptation is also only of the mortal realm after all, and many the addict has discovered that their strength of self-resolve can be trumped by the power of their addiction. This is why Step One of the Twelve Steps is to recognize that we, ourselves, are powerless in the face of our addictions. But then, just as Paul taught that the salvation from temptation comes from the divine, Step Three of the program acknowledges that there is also a power greater than ourselves, greater than our mortal temptation, and it can save us if we will allow it. If temptation is of mere humanity and salvation is of mighty God, then clearly salvation will always win that battle!

“With the temptation” there is “also a way to escape.” A mortal temptation, a divine escape, our rescue from the powers of the world!

Posted on by Abe Austin

Conception and Hardening

In times of comfort, we are able to derive ideals based on pure principles, our logic uncompromised by the instincts of self-preservation or self-advantage that might possess us in times of trouble. But it is only in times of suffering that those ideals are actually tested, transformed from theoretical belief to lived reality. Thus, perfect theory becomes raw conviction, all according to the seasons and wisdom of God.

Posted on by Abe Austin

The Subject of Debate

People love to debate theological differences. Members of different Christian denominations argue the fine points of their faith, members of different religions argue about the true nature of God, and members of different belief systems will argue about the nature of reality or whether there even is a God at all.

It’s a bit of an interesting concept, given that all of these are truth claims, and the truth is immutable. It cannot be defined or changed by the debate; it just is what it is. Truth is unassailable. Even if someone wins a debate arguing against the truth, the truth remains the same and the debater still remains wrong.

Thus, debates about the truth are merely an exercise in opinion, with nothing of substance altered by the outcome. So, what truly is being contested in these sorts of debates? What really is at stake? Only the image and ego of its participants.

Is it any wonder than that these debates so often become emotional and heated? The passion with which many argue suggests that they realize that in reality is their own intelligence and reason that are on the line, that if they cannot prove their point then they have been beaten personally, even if their stance was the correct one.

For this reason, I believe that much of debate is a vain and shallow exercise, one that says much about the participants, and little about the underlying truth.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Ascend, Decline, or Plateau- Conclusion

Improvement and Maintenance)

Throughout this study I have shared different snapshots of my life, showing that I have personally experienced all the stages of moral development. I have been in sharp decline, dramatic rise, extended periods of maintenance, and gradual deterioration. I have explained some patterns I have seen along the way and admitted that there are still things that I am figuring out. Thus, I have only clues and snippets to offer, not the completed solution.

Those realizations, which I have discussed already in this study, can be summarized as follows:

  1. The initial moment of great spiritual improvement comes from a truly redemptive experience, where one is aware of the guilt of their soul, but feels the miracle of God’s forgiveness and is awoken to a new manner of life.
  2. Subsequent surges of spiritual improvement can be experienced by releasing a fundamental spiritual misconception or restoring part of the proper order in one’s core hierarchy.
  3. In between moments of spiritual epiphany and dramatic improvement, we can maintain the progress already made through the use of daily, renewing ritual.

These do not necessarily capture all ways in which one can make dramatic improvements and maintain quality of character, but these are the ones that I have observed so far in my own life.

Deterioration and Decline)

Of course, if these are principles for maintaining and improving one’s moral character, then their inverse shows us how moral deterioration and freefall occurs. We must all be guarded against the sudden loss of our souls, and also of the gradual decline of our character.

In this study I briefly mentioned the inverse of the principles of progression mentioned above as three principles of digression. Note that these transpire in reverse order of the original states of progression.

  1. If we fall into extended periods of complacency, then moral deterioration is inevitable. We may feel a little guilt about the compromises but may also absolve ourselves as having not done anything “too bad.”
  2. Deterioration leads to temptation and delusion, where we do something deeply compromising or accept a lie of the world. These moments malform our core beliefs or cause us to place lower things in our core hierarchy, like pleasure, above higher things, like virtue.
  3. Our orientation towards moral decline is fully set as we now face a truly damning experience. Having once experienced grace and forgiveness, we now feel that we rejected it for sin or for compatibility with the world.

In the end, perhaps there is little that is new here. In essence, we have described the well-known process by which people give in to temptation by degrees. It is perhaps unique that we approached it in reverse by first recognizing patterns for spiritual progression, then inverting it to get the familiar pattern of spiritual decline.

This is not surprising. When we investigate a new thread of theological inquiry it is not uncommon to find that it leads to a new expression of an already-familiar idea. This tendency reinforces the universal truth of these ideas, showing that they permeate through all reality, manifesting themselves in many ways.

I hope that this study has been a helpful examination of the different movements that we make in regard to moral character, and the different events that might catalyze those changes. I can say that it has been useful for me on a personal level to look at the matter more closely.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Ascend, Decline, or Plateau- The Beginning of the Fall

Common, but Deadly)

Yesterday I mentioned how sometimes I experience times of gradual moral deterioration. These are not the deeper descents into evil that I experienced previously, but they are gradual compromises on my quality of character. I acknowledged the fact that such struggles are common, one of the problems that everyone faces who tries to walk a godly path.

So, I don’t mean to over overemphasize these common foibles, but I don’t want to downplay them either. The fact is, that while these times of slow decline may not be gravely compromising on their own, they truly are the beginning of the path to losing one’s soul. Slowly testing one’s boundaries, pushing them further and further, is oriented towards eventually taking a step you never meant to, one that really does rack your conscience with guilt.

Times of slow decline must be recognized for what they are. They are the first teasing tastes of ruin. They are the opening chapter in every great tragedy. Yes, they are common and expected, but it is also essential to arrest before they come to full fruition.

Inverse of Progression)

In my personal experience, the pattern of moral decline often happens in the inverse of moral ascension. From what I have seen, moral ascension tends to begin with a dramatic moment of redemption, with periodic additional surges when correcting core beliefs, and then maintained with ongoing ritual. Moral decline, however, has typically looked more like ongoing periods of deterioration, followed by periodic concessions away from conscience, resulting in a dramatic moment of intense guilt.

Surely there are exceptions to this pattern, but it is the pattern I see most frequently both in myself and others. Having both perspectives is valuable for having a plan to improve, and also a warning system for know how to avoid regression.