When allocating things to the digital, when allocating things anywhere really, don’t forget the analog, don’t forget the skill you’re allocating (or at the very least recognize that once allocated, if not practiced, that skill will be lost).

An example: When using your Apple Watch or your Oura Ring to track everything make sure you don’t forget how to listen to your body. Your body knows when it needs a rest day and it will tell you. And if you’re not accustomed to listening to your body, possibly start cultivating that before jumping into digitally tracking everything.

Another example: If I decide to allocate all of the graphic design work that I used to do to an assistant, my graphic design skills will eventually rust and/or possibly disappear. I have to decide if this is a skill that I want to keep up, which means I will have to practice it even though I’ve allocated my graphic design work, or if I’m willing to lose it. Either way there’s a choice to be made.

There’s really no exception to this. We are finite creatures with limited bandwidth.

Losing graphic design skills might not hurt you too bad, not knowing how to listen to your body will.

^{*I’m really not sure I want to post this (right now or at all) but it keeps popping up in my head so I’m going to go ahead and do it.}

The physical/natural is a reminder and manifestation of the spiritual. An example: sex is not just about procreation, nor is it about pleasure. Sex is the physical manifestation of the spiritual oneness of you and the person that is for you.

In the beginning man and woman were one. Woman came out of man. When woman was created and physically separated out from man to be his help and his companion, they were put back together in oneness (to their original form, to the spiritual reality), “Hence a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, so that they become one flesh.”

Sex is the physical manifestation of this spiritual truth. It’s the reason that sex is one of the first things to go in unhappy marriages or rough patches in marriages. It’s also the reason that a lack of sex can ruin a marriage. If that physical manifestation is not there, which at it’s most important level is the physical manifestation and a reminder to you of the spiritual truth of your oneness with your husband/wife, things get off course and off track. It is not on earth as it is in heaven.

This was just one example but all things follow this order.

Another: the spiritual reality is that you came into this world loving the Father, obedient to the Father, of the Father. The spiritual reality is that you love the Father and are obedient to the Father. But without the physical manifestation of this love you get farther and farther away from this spiritual truth. You are farther and farther away from the original form (dust & the breath of the Father). Once again it is not on earth as it is in heaven.

What is the physical manifestation of your love for the Father? Obedience, following the Father’s commandments (all of them) and walking in The Way of the Lord. Again, Obedience. There is no other physical manifestation of your love for the Father. You cannot praise or worship your way out of obedience, but if you are obedient and you follow his commandments you will naturally praise and worship the Lord.

Without obedience, without following His commandments, without physical manifestation, you are lost.

This is how we have pastors teaching doctrine so far from the Biblical truth, dead churches, low church attendance, corruption etc. The leaders of the church are teaching lies because they live one. They live divorced from the spiritual reality and the reason they live divorced from the spiritual reality/the spiritual truth is because there is no physical manifestation, or there is part physical manifestation-which is lukewarm. (Part physical manifestation is still divorced from the spiritual truth, there’s either the truth or it’s a lie, there is no in between.)

Yahushua was the perfect example of this and THE example for us. Not only as lovers of the Father but also as sons and daughters of the Most High (We are also sons and daughters of God). He is the physical manifestation of this spiritual truth.

He followed ALL of God’s commandments. He was obedient. I didn’t say he followed the doctrines or traditions of the time, rabbinic or otherwise, this is not the same thing as following all of God’s commandments. He shows us what love of the Father looks like. He WALKED in spiritual truth, which is THE truth (not a “doormat”, not “fire & brimstone”, but TRUTH pleasant and unpleasant).

You cannot separate the physical manifestation from the spiritual truth/the spiritual reality. They are the same. If there is no physical manifestation, if you are not following His commandments, you are living divorced from reality, you are living a lie, which is why you can be led astray. Once again it is not on earth as it is in heaven.

It is so against the will of God to make a hero out of everything you’re not and a villain out of everything you are.

_{Disclaimer: The following is from a collection of disparate things that have grabbed my attention and are somewhat connected (at least in my mind). These are not fully formed thoughts. But I think interesting and informative if not revealing nonetheless.}

Quote 1

The essence of a fallen world is that the best cannot be attained by free enjoyment or by what is called ‘self realization’; but by denial, by suffering

J.R.R. Tolkien, 1941

My notes on this quote (edited a bit for clarity):

The fallen world is falling, gravity. Free everything and anything goes can only go in the direction of gravity, in the direction that the world is going (it’s falling).

So in order to get the best in this world you need to be moving in opposition, in the other direction of falling (gravity).

Denial moves in the opposite direction of the world. It’s not that you need to specially suffer in this world (ie. the more pain you endure the more “holy,” special you are, or the more you will receive the best) but the very act of moving in opposition, the very act of denial (moving in opposition to gravity/the fallen world) is suffering, leading to the best in a fallen world.

Go higher, go up, go in the opposite direction of a fallen/falling world. Also see: entropy.

Quote 2

The geographic origin of its members soon lost its importance, and the development of the congregation was determined by power struggles between rich individuals or groups with conflicting interests.

Source

What happens when the geographic origin of a community/people doesn’t matter anymore? When did geographic origin matter? Does it still? If it doesn’t how does development of a community/people/nation happen now? Is it better? Also see: entropy. (Also see: the Bible re: nations & possibly related: the folly of empires)

The definition of entropy:

The degradation of the matter and energy in the universe to an ultimate state of inert uniformity.

Entropy is the general trend of the universe toward death and disorder.— James R. Newman

A process of degradation or running down or a trend to disorder.

The deterioration of copy editing and proof-reading, incidentally, is a token of the cultural entropy that has overtaken us in the postwar years.— John Simon

Source

And one more for the road:

It’s very common to see historians implicitly or explicitly assert that knowledge in their field increases over time. For example, in his 1962 masterpiece Medieval Technology and Social Change, Lynn White Jr. assumes greater clarity from archaeological discoveries are yet to come: “Despite prodigious labours by Hungarian archaeologists, the stratification of Avar materials is not yet clear…[Avars] may well have been the first people of Europe to use the stirrup, but the time of its arrival is still uncertain.” Meanwhile, in a more recent article, nonprofit founder Jason Crawford writes, “I note at the outset that this is an old book, published 1925 and revised 1940. Probably a lot has been learned in the last 80 years and the following has already undergone revision, which I’ll uncover when I read more modern sources.”

_{My note: It’s very common for historians, scientists, doctors, pretty much anyone to implicitly or explicitly assert that knowledge in their field has increased and/or is increasing over time, that we know much more now than we did then, we are much more capable than we were then, we are much more “civilized,” much more knowledgable.}

Archaeologists and Historians Can’t Defeat Entropy

How, then, could past events be so hazy today? Shouldn’t centuries of new finds, ongoing analysis, and knowledge of subsequent history mean that scholars of Henry VIII’s reign know what happened during that period far, far better than scholars of more recent events like the 2008 financial crash or the two world wars? Of course, we usually see the opposite.

These optimistic historians are writing epistemic checks that cannot be cashed. 

Source

Things to keep in mind when thinking about the way the world works, the way your country works, the way your government works, the way science works, the way everything on God’s green earth works, the way you work. It is all moving towards death, destruction, decay, and disorder. To move the way of life, construction, strengthening, and order requires work, denial, suffering. It requires moving against gravity, going the opposite direction of a fallen(ing) world.

Be sure to ask yourself which way you’re going. Are you going the way of the world? Or are you going the way of suffering?

Also keep this in mind when people talk about progress, new ways of doing things, “improved” ways of doing things, etc. etc.

Maybe this year’s resolution is to design, build, and implement your dream life to the best of your ability with what you have right now, so that this time next year, all you really need to say to yourself is “I just need and want to do more of the same.” (h/t Cultural Offering)

When designing your life keep in mind six things that are necessary for EVERYONE: Physicality (movement), Fruit & Vegetables, Water, Silence, Relationships, Fresh Air.

Do hard things.

If you can barely walk up a flight of stairs without breathing heavy, sign up for a beginner marathon or walk and commit to training for it and completing it.

Watch the stairs get easier, Watch all activity get easier, Watch problems get easier to deal with.

If you have a hard time telling the truth, commit to always telling the truth no matter how small and if there’s a situation where it would not be wise or you think it would be better not to tell the truth, don’t lie, commit to keeping your mouth closed.

Watch relationships get easier, Watch problems get easier to deal with, Watch dead weight be removed from your life, Watch life get better.

Decide to take up rock climbing, and see how it affects the rest of your life. Decide to truly make an effort with your family, and see the net positive effect it has on your life.

There’s only one caveat: They must be wise things.

Uprooting your life and moving all the way across the country away from all your friends & family may be hard (depending on how you look at it—sometimes no attachment is easier than attachment), but it’s not necessarily wise.

Things that are generally wise: improving physicality/movement (the body is one—physicality not only helps physically, but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually), tackling your bad habits (I don’t mean your diet or biting your nails, though those also could help—I mean the ones you don’t want people to know about: lying, jealousy, need for social approval, etc.), improving important relationships.

That’s the trick: for an easier life, do hard things (but wisely).

There are only 12 hours in a day, not 24.

24 hours encompasses the day and the night cycle. The phrase “24 hours in a day” is at best incorrect and at worst a lie.

From sunrise to sunset is day, 12 hours (approximately). From sunset to sunrise is night, 12 hours (approximately), which equals one 24 hour cycle.

So in reality you do not have 24 hours in a day, nor 24 hours to get things done, you have 12 hours.

How does that change your schedule?
How does that change your priorities?
How does that change what you can realistically get done in one 12 hour day, one week, one year, a lifetime? How does it change it negatively? What about positively?

At first this may seem like bad news, but I promise you it’s absolutely wonderful news.

Hopefully not only does this make your schedule much more focused and you become much more selective with those precious 12 hours of work and those precious 12 hours of rest, of which minimally 8 are for sleeping, but you will also have more time to spend with your family and be refreshed.

So the next time someone says “you have 24 hours in a day,” remember you really don’t. You have 12. You have 12 hours in your day to get done what you need to get done, the rest is for family, hobbies, rest, & sleeping.

Do you know what your baseline is? What your default position/disposition is?

An experiment:

Turn off the television, unnecessary internet (including the news), social media, and music with words for 30 days. Take note of your disposition, energy, state of mind beforehand and after.

You have now gotten closer to your default disposition, you most likely can not only hear yourself, but hear yourself more clearly.

Another variation:

Only listen to positive, uplifting music (no cuss words, uplifting, joyous, no raunch, no violence) and/or music with no words and watch G-rated or PG-rated movies/tv shows for 30 days. (No social media, no unnecessary internet). Take note of your disposition, energy, state of mind beforehand and after.

You now see the effects of media on your mental, emotional, and spiritual health and your disposition.

It is imperative that you take the time to read through the entire Bible as a whole periodically and not just broken up & chosen for you (by someone else) passages.

1. When you read it as a whole, you read everything in context. (As a side effect you start to realize how much the Word is taken out of context).
2. The passages that you read, whether they be in church, synagogue, the Torah readings, devotionals, etc. were all chosen by other people for you. A lot of the time, these people have/had their own agendas and biases. And sometimes they have/had their own reasons for doing what they’re doing/did or saying what they’re saying/said. Reasons other than “this is what the Father told me to do” (which is the only acceptable reason).
3. In doing this, while asking the Father for wisdom & discernment as you read it, you gain a deeper understanding of not only the Father, but Yahushua, their love for you, this world, and your purpose, it’s all there.

Also, Torah means Instruction, not law. These are Instructions for life from the Father to his children. Act accordingly.

No matter what anyone tries to tell you the only things that matter in this world are:

1. What God has given you (your soul which includes your body, mind, emotions, spirit) (this is the Father’s temple, it’s also survival, gives you the ability to maintain life and the next two)
2. The person meant for you (they exist)
3. And the children you create (your seed)

To put this in secular terms, the only things that matter in this world are:

1. Yourself (Your body, mind, emotions, intuition) (this is survival and gives you the ability to maintain life and the next two)
2. The person who fits you completely (they exist)
3. The children you create (procreation, a natural law)

Everything else is smoke and mirrors.