Category Archives: Psychology

Easy Listening, Faith, Freedom, Hope, Liberate your Mind!, Love, Merciful Grace, Optimism, Outstanding Individual Contributions, Psychology, Truth, Uncategorized

New Zealand Tribute to Dr Robert H Schuller. Great Christian Possibility Thinker. 1926-2015.

Saturday 18 April 2015 Tim 3 Comments

“Theistic Faith is Optimistic and springs from a Possiblity Thinker, whereas Atheistic doubt is Pessimistic and springs from an Impossiblity thinker”. Robert Schuller Senior.

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It is with both sadness and pleasant memories, that I and my wife joy say good bye to a wise old Christian, whose ‘Hour of Power’ brought inspiration and faith into our Non-Churchgoing lives.

Dr Robert H Schuller

For years his ‘Hour of Power’ was our TV church.

Now Dr Schuller was not a 1611 King James Guy.
He was not an exponent of Dispensationalism.
He was even lacking in preaching the Gospel of grace… yet still I say he was a Great Christian man, and one of my Spiritual Fathers.
He reminded me very much of my own Grandfather… John Steel Clark… and that is how millions of people around the world saw him, as a Caring and Wise Christian Elder.

God creates Individuals each with specific contributions to make, so that all knowledge, all truth, all the godliness and virtues of Christ do not reside in any one person/ sect.
We are all single members of the Body of Christ.
I Add Dr Shullers personal contributions to Christian Thought as one of the necessary pillars in my Ideological Fortress.
His is an ideology to help us master our Psychology, and steer us towards bold action and positive outlook.

To his credit Dr Schuller was very Libertarian in his Political Ideals and beliefs about Voluntary action in the pursuit of values.

He taught Pragmatism….

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His Ministry brought many Great testimonies of faith from Achievers, and people with amazing stories,
His Sermons were inspirational calls to action… to pursue your God-given visions and dreams.

He wrote about how to rally back from personal loss… ” Tuff times never last, Tuff people do…”
We wrote about the psychology of the ‘Impossibility thinker’… “..trapped in the tiger cage of their own mind.”

Quotes-on-Dreams-by-Dr.-Robert-H.-Schuller

For the Bi-centenary of The Birth of America, Schullers Message ‘I am the American Flag’, was an Epic on Freedom and prosperity… as long as the Morals of the people do not themselves ‘flag’.
Freedom is only fit for a people of strong Personal values and Self governing Self reliant ethics.
Unfortunately Later deliveries of that great speech have been trimmed down to the extent that they do not do justice to the Libertarian theology in the original.

Years Before facebook, … Joy and I would share with our Battling Kin… positive insights we had picked up from watching Hour of power on Sunday morning, or comment on what fantastic musicians, Choirs, etc… we enjoyed very much.

Robert Schuller built his ministry from the ground up into a global audience.
I do not know the details of the eventual collapse of his TV ministry, so I wont make any comment on that.
What I will say is that irrespective of that unfortunate end to his ministry, his character, example, and intellectual contribution to the faith building self reliance , tolerance, Christian thinking of his day is secure.

I believe his greatest legacy will be found in his Children and Grand children.
The Schuller family are and have always been Exemplary.
They were a Pillars of strength in America’s darkest hours after 911, and no doubt we can continue expect great things from them.

Robert A Shculler’s Hour of Power message “God’s truth is Marching on” is an Inspirational call to America to Keep Strong in faith, esp in Religious liberty.

I pray God’s grace and providence remains upon them.

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Dr Scheuller in New Zealand.

A great orator like Dr Schuller must have been used to having a few Zealots in the crowd… and so it would be when he came Down under.

I have my own Robert Schuller story.

🙂

I met Dr Schuller very briefly in about 2002.

Joy and I travelled up to Auckland to see him at a large Central City Church.
Several 1000 people in attendance.
Joy and I are Big fans of the Schuller family, Though we have always thought Dr Schuller needed some ‘encouragement’ regarding The Gospel of Grace, The King James Bible Issue, Dispensationalism, and Libertarianism, and I would not let this opportunity pass….so I had packed a small pile of pamphlets and small ‘tracks’, etc to give to him.
The question remained as to exactly how I was going to achieve ‘the drop’.

This was post 911.
GW Bush era.
War pending in Iraq.
The Schullers had been a source of Moral Spiritual support for the American people directly after 911, and in the War years that have followed.

Back then there were Anti-American terrorists and Jihadists, hiding on every grassy knoll.
Postal Anthrax.

The Program we had been given told everyone to remain seated when Dr Schuller exited.
Well…. the moment was fast arising, and Joy ribbed me saying that if I was going to give him the package that I had better do something fast… and Being a subscriber to ‘Possibility thinking’… I decided I would simply break the rule of remaining seated, and walked up out of the Auditorium over to the exit.

There I met him for a few seconds, and gave him my ‘present.’
I called on God to bless him, and America as he was getting into his car.
Mission accomplished!

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Possibility thinking may involve some risk, yet can get spectacular results!
I got to shake Dr Schullers hand.

I Figure he would forgive me for being cheeky enough to ignore the Rules.
I was ‘Optimistic’ and opportunistic.
What he did with my gift, I have no idea.
I had Fulfilled *my Part*… my moral duty to put the goods into his hands.
It was now up to God to inspire him to read it.

Insignificant as this tale is it actually is descriptive of how his teachings have moulded my thinking and motivated me to action and activism.
Dr Schuller is one of my Mentors whom has been helping me get out of my seat for the last 15 years.

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Robert Schuller’s legacy will continue through his Children, and Grandchildren whom in many ways exemplify Enlightened Christian character, and through his fans as they continue to share his Humanity, His wisdom, his Possibility thinking.
He will continue to be a source of my own resolve to always be an optimistic chaser of of big ideas and visions.

His Son Robert Jnr says on Facebook “My Father is now in Heaven with Mum”.

Thank you Robert H Schuller.

Tim Wikiriwhi.
Possibility thinker.
New Zealand.

Update: Schuller’s Funeral …

schuellerfuneral.042015.ms

“This is the day the Lord has made. We will be glad and rejoice in it.”

Bobby Schuller lifted up his chest and enunciated those words in a booming voice – exactly as his illustrious grandfather had done for more than half a century opening the “Hour of Power” program every Sunday, beamed across the globe to millions.

The more than 2,000 attendees at Crystal Cathedral founder Robert H. Schuller’s memorial service Monday morning, who packed the Christ Cathedral plaza in the shadow of the gleaming glass tower and sanctuary, burst into laughter, tears and thunderous applause….

The second greatest man who ever lived

Friday 20 March 2015 Richard 3 Comments

The Superstitions of Materialist Orthodoxy, and their conflict with scientific progress and inquiry . Rupert Sheldrake – The Science Delusion BANNED TED TALK

Sunday 5 October 2014 Tim 1 Comment

heehaw

a more extensive (better) version of Sheldrake’s speech below…

Space Truckin: Dead for 45 minutes.

Sunday 25 May 2014 Tim 10 Comments

reaper

From >>>Here<<< A trucker in Ohio shocked hospital staff after coming back to life nearly an hour after he lost his pulse following a massive heart attack — but it’s what he claims to have seen during those tense moments that has him sure there’s an afterlife. Brian Miller, 41, was opening the lid of a container when he knew something felt wrong — he immediately called 911 and told the operator, “I’m a truck driver and I think I’m having a heart attack.” Sure enough, his main artery was completely blocked — causing what’s known as a “widow-maker” heart attack He was rushed to a local hospital where doctors managed to revive him and clear the blockage, but after regaining consciousness and feeling the pain dissipate, he developed ventricular fibrillation, when the heart starts quivering wildly and is unable to pump blood. “He had no heart rate, he had no blood pressure, he had no pulse,” said ICU nurse Emily Bishop. “I mean think about that.” Doctor’s performed “strong, hard, fast CPR” and shocked Miller four times to try to revive him, but had no luck. trrrkk

It was during that time that Miller said he slipped away into a celestial world, “The only thing I remember I started seeing the light, and started walking toward the light.”

He described walking down a flower-lined path into white light — until he came upon his step mother, who had died recently, “She was the most beautiful thing when I seen her, it was like the first day I met her, (she) looked so happy.”

Miller remembered, “She grabbed ahold of my arm and told me, ‘It’s not your time, you don’t need to be here, we’ve got to take you back you’ve got things to go and do.’”

After 45 minutes his pulse returned “out of nowhere,” Bishop said. ”His brain had no oxygen for 45 minutes, the fact that he’s up walking, talking, laughing, everything is amazing.”

Glad to be back amongst the living, Miller now says there is one thing he is sure of, “There is an afterlife and people need to believe in it, big time.”

********************

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I read an article recently that suggested that as many as 20 million people had had Near Death Experiences, and that despite Materialist monists fervent denials, there has been accounts which have ‘independent’ corroboration, and also other interesting ‘anomalies’ such as blind people ‘Seeing things’… for which the term ‘Mindsight’ was coined.
These experiences suggest that consciousness, thought, memory, etc carry on after Zero brain activity…. which supports the Dualistic theory of Body and soul… thwarting Monism which insists all our personality and consciousness is generated by the brain.

I find the article is interesting because it articulates my own scepticism about Materialist scepticism for Spiritual realities.

The truckie story above is a classic example of *What really happens at death* … ALOT!…. which Materialists have to reduce down to illusion.

I actually have a Jewish friend who died in a Car crash… was dead for several hours… and revived.
She reported seeing Jesus (which was a surprise… being a Jew), and meeting her Gand Father who said Nanna will be ‘here soon’.
She reported all this to her parents, and within a few weeks… Nanna had passed away.
None of this is explicable via notions of ‘hallucinations of a dying brain… loss of oxygen, etc’… Monitors detect Zero brain activity, and when people temporarily black out from lack of Oxygen they experience confusion and or memory loss, not Lucidity of thought… not vivid memory… and their black outs are not *Life altering*…. *perspective Game changers*…. which is a very common result of Near death experiences.
Objectively speaking, these experiences ought not to be written off as delusion simply because they don’t fit well with the common assumptions of the Material paradigm.
The Free thinker will be open to consider greater possibilities…. even if the evidence demands a person to forsake their cherished assertions.

Tim Wikiriwhi.

The Jaws of Hell. H R Giger

Wednesday 14 May 2014 Tim 23 Comments

H.R.-Giger-Photo-by-Katharina-Vonow

H R Giger has died… Aged 74.
By all accounts Giger was Possessed.
He gloried in Satanism and perversion.
His creations preyed on Humanity like Spiders eating flies.
He turned his God’given talents to Infernal ends.
Though he is Dead, his works will Go on Freaking the S#%t out of Generations to come, and inspiring other Devil worshippers, Nihilists, and Teens.
I dont know if it’s true or not yet I remember hearing a story once, that Giger sent some his works by plane for an exhibition to somewhere, yet they were stopped at the boarder by Customs officers concerned that they were photographs of Hell.

giger3

When I say ‘by all accounts’…. I simply mean that these are the impressions his art has left upon me… yet I cant deny that his works have always fascinated me from the first moment I saw them… I think it was in Playboy.
There is pleasure in sin.
His artwork appeals to all things Ungodly and Carnal which inhabits Human nature.
He capitalised upon our fear of the unknown.
Yet in the Final Judgement will he be Deemed to have been a ‘trend setter’ or the Ultimate follower and slave?

giger_necro041

By this I mean that when I hear some Rap songs, or watch Family guy, or See my fellow Bloggers Death Metal Tube vids…. setting aside their obvious artistic talents… I get the intuitive insight that these artists are a sort of ‘Knee jerk reaction’ to an overbearing ‘Christian society’… and as being an actual selling of ones soul to everything which is Base in Human Nature… ie that far from being Leaders … with the masses following in their wake, these Modern Art forms are the ultimate surrender to the pop Trend existent in Humanity since Adam ate the Forbidden fruit….the desire to escape morality and plunge head long into the abyss.
They are the ultimate conformists.

I think they consistently demonstrate the Ultimate destination for a society in decline…. a society which has Utterly rejected Christian Cosmology… and represents a Climax…. a result far worse than Nihilism (which may be said to be represented by Abstract Impressionism)….
The ultimate end of this Decent is one step further… intentional Hell and depravity.

Pro-actively Malignant Soul rather than a more Neutral Nihilism and disorder are the ultimate embodiments of Atheism… the Ultimate Anti-Christianity.

Just how Unholy and Low can Humanity stoop?

hr_giger_022

So to my way of thinking these Artists represent a Free fall… not an Heroic assent.
Satanism is Trendy Cool these days.

I don’t expect my comments will be very popular with Giger’s Fans… the legions whom enjoy his depravity.
It feels kinda weird to be writing such a moralizing criticism, considering I enjoy his Art myself.
I am doing my best to try and understand how he fits into the grand scheme of things, and why his Bizarre Subject Matter has such appeal to Carnal souls.

Herbert-family-guy-characters-19379157-650-520

Gigers Art… Like Seth MacFarlane’s Cartoons, Feed upon every vile lust and Mockery of Holiness, which dwell within us.
Their popularity is a testament to the extent of our social moral decay.
It bothers me that I enjoy them… It evidences my own spiritual condition.
I dont accept the excuses that entertaining ‘Art’, Acting, or Humour makes the Perverse and depraved acceptable.

Why do human beings find Circus Gladiators, or Feeding Christians to the Lions, Or Gore Movies ‘entertaining’???
Surely this Psyche is a testament to the truth of the Bible which say Humanity is a Fallen race of beings.

The biggest shock that guys like Giger, and Maynard James Keenan will get when they stand before God is how deceived they were about every thing they did.
They thought they were the embodiment of Freedom and innovation, when ultimately their works are a testament to their absolute slavery to sin.

May God have mercy upon his Soul… and mine.
Tim Wikiriwhi

Legalised Force attracts Thugs and Bullies like flies to…

Friday 28 March 2014 Tim 8 Comments

Cop Commits Blatant Perjury

Did This Cop Lie? You Tell Me!

Posted by Dave Champion's Liberty on Friday, February 5, 2016

^^^^Watch this appalling video about Police brutality.
It inspired this post. (note: The original video posted here was deleted from the net, so I have inserted this one from Dave Champion’s Liberty Facebook page.
Dave is an inspiration!)

ok that one has gone now…. look at this one….

Ok that one has gone now too… so here we see You Tubes ongoing trend of censorship of materials that expose Government corruption.

Please carry on reading my blogpost as it easily stands on it’s own merits.

polize

We live in a PC Wowzers world in which Socialists Mess with our society under the most ridiculous and naive Agendas.
A hot topic for the Meddlers at present is the Feminists are trying to more closely ‘equalise’ the numbers of woman in such occupations as Business executives, and even Engineering… and typical to the Socialist mind… they are prepared to use Legal coercion to attain their Desideratum rather than respecting Freedom and utilising persuasion.

I don’t dispute that Silly cultural norms and prejudices tend to generate statistical disparities in who does what for a living, yet it is foolish to think that disparities are evidence of wicked Employer mindsets…or that even having identified the prevalence of certain bigoted mentalities that heavy handed dictates are a justifiable solution….

It appears that Socialism itself is a Political Ideology which attracts more than their fair share of busy bodies who have no compunction against using force to impose *Their personal prejudices!

Oblivious to the above irony Social engineers fail to appreciate the simple reality that left to follow their own yearnings… Different personality types…. different sexes, etc gravitate and accumulate in various occupations of their own accord.
And to the degree that this happens without Political coercion…. this tends to the greatest happiness of everyone as individuals make their own choices and trade offs to achieve the most favourable outcomes… in their own minds.

Money/ remuneration is not everything…to some it is and they will be prepared to sacrifice many other things to that end…. yet Wealth attainment is not the most important thing to many people.
Some people have Humanitarian vocations or have a passion for something …and rank ‘being at the coal face’… where the action is… is a far more valuable achievement that mere Financial reward.
The socialist notion of ‘Parity of pay’ does great harm by ‘poisoning the well’…. fermenting discord… sewing the idea that vocational workers like ‘nurses’, ‘Teachers’, counsellors, etc should be putting their own Financial reward ahead of these other values… and in so doing these services begin to fill up with People who dont really give a damn about the people they are supposed to care for.
The lie is proven that Socialism is not at all about human compassion and higher values … but all about financial Greed.

And Socialisms love for Power and coercion has had other dire consequences for the social professions… I want to highlight one in particular… the Police.
Joining the Police ought to be looked upon as a vocation for people who care about justice and want to protect and serve their community, yet Socialist Laws, and the socialist mentality has corrupted this noble profession and turned it into a Hive of Violent thuggery and oppression…. always cloaked under the guise of social concern!

When Western Civilisation to a great extent abandoned such things as Guildism and Feudal laws which trapped surfs to the soil…. and Liberty increased the mobility of people between occupations and trades…. the phenomenon I am describing in respect to the Modern socialist Police force … began to unfold in respect to employment across the board.
Many people left the rural districts and became factory workers etc… seeking their own well being and prosperity, and were also free to pursue their other dreams and values… vocations.

gay hair

And though Socialism has done its best to reverse this liberty via it’s tyrannical Trade regulations, compliances, and Credentialism… yet still to the degree that freedom reigns we see personal choices and ‘cultural norms’ being played out via such things as a statistical prevalence of Woman and Gay men choosing to get involved in hair dressing and fashion.
A far greater number of Men in Engineering. Etc.
These disparities being a result of liberty of action… and because they are to the greatest degree ‘natural’ … they are just.
Greater numbers of ‘Straight men’ simply prefer to be Engineers rather than Hair dressers, and visa versa for woman.
If we altered the prevalent cultural perspectives of our society, no doubt the numbers would change of their own accord.
Coercive Social engineering on the other hand can and does have horrendous consequences for the well being of society … because of the tyrannical ideals which are artificially imposed.

I have said all of the above about the dynamics of Freedom in employment to esp point out the Sad reality that Socialists have a hatred of freedom and love of Political coercion and state power…. and the Power ,force, and violence Socialism accrues in it’s Machine… *of itself* attracts certain mentalities… … traits which were very prevalent during the Nazi Terror, and in other places… and Socialism has cultivated these Dark Natural traits of Humanity to amass themselves in the Police force, prison system, and other ‘social services’ which wield formidable powers of Law and coercion.
The vestiges of ‘vocation’ only remains as platitudes… cloaks of piety disguising Horrendous evils.

hitlers Furies

Just as Hitler’s Concentration camps attracted the most vile Sadists,
The Police forces of western civilisation have become infested with Mindless thugs whom relish violence.
Power Crazy Social Services like CYfS are over run with Feminist men haters and Bullies whom think nothing about Ripping children away from their homes over the most trifling and arbitrary excuses.

Etc.

We are witnessing legalised Crimes and thuggery on a grand scale, and Evil and misery abounds.
our courts and prisons are choked up with many False Crimes and many false criminals.
Many true Criminals Wear official badges… others crowd our Parliament!
The Evil self righteous hypocrites who will Call for Zero Tolerance in regards to such things as smoking Cannabis… destroying thousands of lives and families… yet then going home and kissing their own children and pretending to being Caring and socially conscientious citizens.
These injustices destroy their victims faith in society and generate thousands of *Real* Criminals… because they have been F56ked ova by society they then see no reason not to become a scourge upon a society which has rendered them outcasts…

That is how Evil generates more Evil.

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There is a much better way of doing things people!
The solution to all of this…. The Urgently needed reforms to purge these institutions of the scum within is to systematically Removed the excessive powers and Bad laws which have promoted this Rot.
We must Dethrone the Socialist Maniacs and Restore real Justice and Liberty… and make these professions respectable enough to again attract the virtuous and truly socially concerned amongst us into these field of employment because of their vocational value… people who function on that higher plane far above those whom relish violence …. or believe Political force trumps cultural and personal enlightenment.

Yet today we are a million miles away from where we need to be.
We need a Revolution.
We need an enlightenment.
We need to remove the fog of totalitarianism and regain the clarity of what the true value of Freedom is in respect to Law and order.
These are truths I have learned via first hand experience.
I see Great evils all about me… and the misery and injustice appals me.
I cannot sit idly by and allow this to continue without raising my voice!
How can anyone who knows the truth let their children inherit such wickedness in high places?
Not I.

Socialism is a Wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Tim Wikiriwhi.
Christian Libertarian.

serve-and-protect

Important Caveat: I am not saying *All Police* *All CYFS Officers* are evil, but that too many are.
Thankfully there are still some who have entered these professions whom genuinely seek to protect and serve.
These people will be acutely aware of the truth of what i have said above and ought to be desirous to remedy the situation.
Many will have been battling their own consciences having been expected to implement ‘orders’ and laws they know in their hearts are wrong.
Many simply leave.
Yet I would prefer The goodies dont allow themselves to be marginalised but instead determine to work for ‘Cultural change’ within these institutions and to support reforms which curtain evil political powers, and which make the evil Bastards in their midst accountable for their crimes.
Lets reform our legal system starting Right at the Top!
Parliament.
Then Reform the Law codes.
Then kick out all the Thugs in the Police and other departments.
….and once again The Police could be an institution of Respect and Law and order.

morelaws

Eeewww! I’m not reading that book! It’s got Jesus on the cover!

Saturday 8 March 2014 Tim 1 Comment

Pierre+Henry+&+Spooky+Tooth+-+Ceremony+-+LP+RECORD-380943 (1)
This ‘Spooky Tooth’ record cover displays an atheist visualisation of Christ… as Cosmic Buffoon.
With such preconceptions about religion and Christ…why waste any time reading about such drivel?
Why waste any brain power with absurdities?

Richard-Dawkins

Richard Dawkins is a poster child of this type of tunnel vision… all his works reek of his incapacity to be objective on the question of God’s existence and his ignorance of Christianity is a direct consequence of his mental incapacity to take the subject seriously.

I implore any atheist reading this to take the time to watch the Video below.
An intelligent woman explains her journey from incredulity to faith in Christ.
She explains that even Richard Dawkins is not beyond reach if he would only dare to challenge himself.
She gives an awesome testimony from an ‘orthodox’ modern academic perspective explaining why as an atheist she could not bear to honestly investigate the claims of Christianity.
she accurately reflects my personal attitude towards religion before the miracle of my own conversion from militant atheism and so not only do I relate to her experience, I also hope she can help others ‘break free’.
The video does not ‘Attack’ Atheists as ‘stupid’, nor call Atheist to throw their brains away.

I implore you…. My Family and friends to watch it….. It’s not about ‘facts’ and ‘figures’… but about *thinking*.
It’s a lesson in intellectual honesty and objectivity… about free thinking and escaping the Tiger cage of your own preconceptions… removing blinders to see reality.

Sokeat

And Christians…. I implore you to watch it too!
This woman has a degree in apologetics and makes some essential points about how to share our faith and win people to Christ rather than drive them away.
I confess to my own need to improve how I sow the word…. 🙂
Tim Wikiriwhi

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More nous, less nows

Saturday 1 March 2014 Richard Leave a comment

A friend gave me this excellent DEMOTIVATOR® from Despair.com several Christmases ago. And, recently, I finally got a round tuit. I put the damn thing up on the wall of my home office!

The poster represents an ever timely life lesson.

Perhaps life’s greatest lesson is that life itself is a lesson. That was my ex-wife’s sort of New Age spiritual viewpoint, in a nutshell, anyway. She had a firm intuition that we are each thrown into this mortal sphere of existence for a reason or reasons—to learn our spiritual life lesson(s). Of course, being a committed atheist and moral nihilist at the time, I mocked the idea. It’s only now, a repentant worldview and a decade of divorce later, that I’m wondering if she was right, after all. (And kicking myself for not asking the obvious question at the time. If life is a lesson, who sets the curriculum?)

Or, perhaps, life’s a Stanley Milgram experiment.

A test of your Moral character and conviction.
The decisions you make throughout your life are all being observed and recorded.
One day you will be asked to give account.

God as teacher and/or God as experimenter? I don’t think that Tim’s suggesting that life on Earth is, quite literally, an experiment. So I will! (A misbegotten experiment, perhaps? No, I’ll leave it to a detractor to suggest that. Also, I’ll leave it to the apologists for God’s supposed omniscience to explain this.)

How did you do? If life’s a classroom and every day’s a school day, did you study hard? Or did you just fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way? If life’s a Stanley Milgram experiment, did you go with the Word or go with the crowd?

One day you will be asked to give account. If life’s a lab running a Stanley Milgram experiment, you will be judged on how you used your God-given faculty of free will. Did you make the right decisions, and evince moral character and conviction? (The decisions you make throughout your life are all being observed and recorded.) Whereas, if life’s a classroom, you will be judged on how you used your God-given learning ability. Were you a willing, conscientious, hard-working student of life? Did you learn and practise the right things? (Everything you learn and practise goes down on your academic record.)

Classroom or lab? Are we God’s students, or are we his experimental test subjects? I suggest that life’s more lesson than lab, for the simple reason that we do not have a faculty of so-called free will, God-given or otherwise. The concept itself is a nonsense. What we do have is the God-given ability to learn and to change our behaviour. We also have the curriculum and the learning objectives. You’ll find it all in the prescribed text.

(Is Christianity complicated? Please don’t protest that God didn’t make it clear what are the right things to learn and practise. He did. The Bible contains massive redundancy. You know, like how the Ten Commandments are repeated in Deuteronomy, just in case you missed them in Exodus.)

Now, back to the DEMOTIVATOR® at the top.

(Did you see what Despair.com did there with the wee ®? They threatened to send their statist cronies around to your place to sort you out good and hard should you ever decide to go into business selling your own DEMOTIVATOR posters!)

The poster represents an ever timely life lesson. And the life lesson is, learn the power of delaying gratification. Rejoice and be glad!

the children who were best able to delay gratification subsequently did better in school and had fewer behavioral problems than the children who could only resist eating the cookie for a few minutes—and, further, ended up on average with SAT scores that were 210 points higher. As adults, the high-delay children completed college at higher rates than the other children and then went on to earn higher incomes. In contrast, the children who had the most trouble delaying gratification had higher rates of incarceration as adults and were more likely to struggle with drug and alcohol addiction.

How to learn delayed gratification?

Rather than resist the urge to eat the cookie, these children distracted themselves from the urge itself. They played with toys in the room, sang songs to themselves, and looked everywhere but at the cookie. In short, they did everything they could to put the cookie out of their minds.

So, learning to delay gratification is not at all the same thing as learning to resist temptation. The results even suggest that any direct attempt to resist the urge to eat the cookie is worse than futile, it’s counter-productive. And, note, we’re talking about a non-starving child and a cookie. We’re not talking about a methamphetamine addict and a bag of P. And we’re certainly not talking about being offered all that you could ever want in the whole world and having it right now.

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” (NIV)

Nope. Staring down temptation and simply commanding it to go away is way too hardcore for mere images of God! We can but pray, “Lead us not into temptation” in the first place. Give us this day our daily distraction!

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (NIV)

The poster represents an ever timely life lesson. Delay gratification, do some work, and get your shit sorted. (Thanks for the round tuit.)

ALCP, Black Sabbath, Christian Libertarianism, Ecclesiastes, Gay, Jihad on Drugs™, Live Like It's Legal, Prohibition, Psychoactive Substances Act, Psychology

“Cannabis! Cannabis!” says the Blogger. “Utterly cannabis! Everything is cannabis.”

Tuesday 28 January 2014 Richard 5 Comments

Regular readers may have noticed that my posts these days are, as often as not, about cannabis law reform. I certainly have.

Cannabis is insanely high in the “intoxicating mix of Christianity, libertarianism and death metal” mentioned under “Contributors” in the right-hand sidebar. Seems there’s more tokin’ going on than “slaggin’ socialists and headbangin’!”

But there is a very good reason for this blog contributor’s unbalanced content.

The Parliamentary term in New Zealand is three years and this year we’re due for a general election. Likely, it will be in November. I intend to stand again as a list candidate and as an electorate candidate for the party of which I am currently the Acting President, viz., the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party. Until then, dear reader, there will be no respite from my drug-induced ramblings!

2014 is election year! The Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party is aiming high!

Our goal is to crack the 5% theshold and get MPs in Parliament. Failing that, we intend at least to frighten the Labour and Green horses into legalising cannabis in the next Parliamentary term. I hope that there is a Labour-led coalition in government by 2015. (Politicians are like diapers. They need changing often and for the same reason.) And I hope that the next government does our job for us, with or without our Parliamentary help. So that I can get off my hobby horse.

Why am I even in the cannabis law reform movement?

To begin with, I got involved for much the same reasons that most people do and believe most of the things they do and believe—emotional and psychological reasons. I wanted to justify my own behaviour. The process of justifying my own behaviour led me, after a while, to my libertarian political stance. So, all good!

Today I still believe that there is nothing wrong with drug use provided that it does not interfere with what one is supposed to be doing, viz., leading a good Christian life and, in doing so, leading by example. I won’t be the judge of how much room that leaves for tokin’ up. Not as much as I’d like, probably. 🙁

I read recently that we are fast approaching the day when coming out of the closet as a Bible-believing Christian is harder than coming out as a homosexual. Actually, I think we’re pretty much already there. Coming out of the closet as a cannabis user is also hard. But, these days, even my mum knows I smoke marijuana, and I go to church with her on Sundays. Two out of three ain’t bad. 😉

But coming out of the closet as a cannabis user remains difficult for many. Mainly because of its illegality. For obvious reasons, this is a major problem for the cannabis law reform movement. An untold number of respected members of society are regular cannabis users, but they won’t come out as regular cannabis users and voice their support for cannabis law reform, because they want to stay respected members of society—and they want to keep their careers.

Which brings me to why I’m still in the cannabis law reform movement.

I no longer feel any need to justify my own behaviour. I live like it’s legal. Even if I didn’t smoke cannabis, today I can legally get stoned out of my tiny mind on any one of eleven different synthetic cannabinoids contained in over thirty products given interim product approval by the Ministry of Health.

My involvement in the cannabis law reform movement isn’t now, and never was solely, about justifying my own behaviour. My involvement is about stopping the massive injustice of cannabis prohibition. Arresting people for smoking a God-given herb that makes them happy is criminally insane. I have next-to-no words for people who support laws (such as we have now) that prevent medical cannabis patients from getting the medicine they need. They’re evil beyond the pale.

The Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party is the only political party in New Zealand with a sunset clause in its very name. Once cannabis is legalised, the party will deregister. And I can have my life back. 🙂

NZ First, Pink Floyd, Psychology

The Iron Law of Political Parties

Friday 10 January 2014 Richard 4 Comments

The Iron Law of Institutions states

The people who control institutions care first and foremost about their power within the institution rather than the power of the institution itself. Thus, they would rather the institution “fail” while they remain in power within the institution than for the institution to “succeed” if that requires them to lose power within the institution.

The Iron Law of Institutions is a sad indictment on human nature. So is this.

Membership of many institutions is voluntary. I’m thinking of charitable organisations, political parties and any other organisations whose goals are deemed worthy by their membership, and whose stated values it is that are the reason people became members in the first place.

What is it about so many people that, after having joined, they come to care more about personal aggrandisement than the values of the voluntary organisation they belong to?

Christianity is an antidote of sorts. A good Christian seeks to do God’s will. Nothing he does is for himself. It’s all for the greater glory of God.

The Iron Law of Institutions bites hardest when the members of those institutions are selected on the basis of psychopathy. Of course, not all politicians are psychopaths. But the successful ones usually are.

A successful politician who wasn’t a psychopath was Nandor Tanczos. He famously described Parliament as a “toxic hellhole” and was glad to see the back of the place.

Here’s a remarkably forthright piece from a Facebook friend of mine who’s also an aspiring politician.

A career in Politics basicallly consists of a career in attempting to get other people fired.

If you’re an MP, then you are trying to get other MPs fired. If you are not an MP, but are a candidate, then you are trying to get MPs fired so that you may become one. If you’re in Opposition, you want Ministers fired. If you’re a Nat Minister, then you want your workforce fired. (c.f MFaT restructuring) If you’re in ACT, you want most of the state sector AND your predecessor as Leader fired.

And if you’re in a political party (just about *any* political party), you will be spending considerable and capacious amounts of time attempting to get your own comrades, workmates, underlings and overlings fired.

So, in sum … Parents, if you want your offspring to grow up happy, healthy, of sound mind and secure prospects … don’t let them get into politics.

But if you want them to grow up to be bad wo/men, dangerous men , sad men, paranoid men, and vituperative, vindictive, and vexatious men … men who are, in short, entirely unbothered by playing merry hell with the lives of others for points of personal, political, or principle … then tell them to become Politicians.

And proud.

Is Curwen Ares Rolinson too honest ever to make a career in politics? Am I?! Time will tell.

Eternal Vigilance