Dylan Morrison ~ The Prodigal Prophet

Those of us who follow the Nazarene into an experience of the imitative desire flow that emanates from Divine Love, now have the potential to live as mankind was always meant to live. This restored way of life is variously referred to as the Kingdom, or more accurately, the Queendom of God, walking in the Spirit, being in Christ, ‘The Spirit Anointed One’, being born from above etc, etc within the terminology of the Christian holy writings.

Is this new world that Yeshua proclaimed to be at hand and fulfilled by his death and rousing from the grave, just an ethereal concept of no earthly use to anyone or a radical new approach to living free from the wiles of skewed desire and its ever present side-kick, the scapegoat mechanism?

Well, in everyday living we move in and out of both possibilities; namely, culture and Spirit. As we learn to ride the wave of Spirit we will begin to spend more time on the psychic board than off it. If we fall off in a fit of skewed desire, the Divine is always on hand to lift us back up from ego’s dark depths to once more surf the tide of Spirit alignment.

Here are a few thoughts originally shared with me by my now departed, Dutch friend, Roel Kaptein, a pastor and psychologist who was deeply influenced by the radical mimetic theory of French thinker Rene Girard. I’ll add my own particular Irish twist on them by contrasting the two opposing realms.

Culture

Here exists the human skewed desire system with its built in scapegoating safety valves.

Spirit

Here a network of human relationships without rivalry and violence occurs.

Culture

I don’t listen to the other, using conversation to win my point. I rival with my words

Spirit

I listen deeply to the other even when their words hurt. There are elements of truth in all that they say.

Culture

I hunt out guilty parties

Spirit

I focus on my own responsibilities

Culture

I split society into two: the goodies and the baddies

Spirit

I take responsibility for my own actions

Culture

I ask questions to unsettle the other in the hope of defeating them

Spirit

I ask questions explaining why I have asked them in a state of vulnerability

Culture

I assume that I know the motivations of the other

Spirit

I ask when I’m unsure of another’s real meaning without assumptions

Culture

When the other is embarrassed or weakened I take advantage and strike.

Spirit

I respect another’s weakness and vulnerability

Culture

I evade the others eyes or use mine to put pressure on them

Spirit

I look into another’s eyes revealing my own vulnerability the eyes being the window of the psyche/soul

Culture

I have no time for the other; battles to win elsewhere

Spirit

I am open to the other most of my business being relatively unimportant

Culture

I gossip about the other not present or use their story in a power game

Spirit

I don’t do this.

Culture

I deny the feelings and impressions of others. My truth is absolute and judge

Spirit

I genuinely hear the feelings and impressions. They are real for them and an expression of their psyche/soul

Culture

I use divisive, sectarian language making the other insecure

Spirit

I use simple language that unites humanity

Culture

I scapegoat through moralising, bringing God onto my side for greater effect

Spirit

In moralising I am in fact judging a part of my own shadow self. I forgive all aspects of mySelf as the Divine has done.

Culture

I use the Bible and other holy writings to judge others. Text hand grenades in the battle for ‘rightness’.

Spirit

Scriptures are used as a path into freedom from rivalry and into Divine mimesis

Culture

My favourite word is but. It negates all that I have previously conceded to the other in the power game

Spirit

I use the word and to link statements

Culture

I don’t like someone, thus scapegoating them

Spirit

I see fragments of my own wounded psyche in another. I forgive and extend love to myself and subsequently the other

Culture

I use why questions to imprison myself and others in the past

Spirit

I ask where Spirit is leading me now in the Divine flow

Culture

I get really excited about things and try to convert others into my enthusiasm, especially regarding the spiritual path

Spirit

I focus on the still small Voice and attempt to remain free in its paradoxical silence

Culture

I blame the other in relational breakdown

Spirit

I ask Divine Love for its perspective on the relationship

Culture

I block the creativity of others in my power game with them

Spirit

I bless or speak well of the other and their creative gifts, asking what I can learn from them

Culture

I use strong language in my forced attempt to convince the other of the correctness of my position often bringing out the ultimate authority of God to back me up. All swearing is scapegoating.

Spirit

I use simple words and as few as possible in expressing how I feel even in distressing situations.

Culture

I manipulate the other sometimes unknowingly. When my skewed desire goal is blocked I become angry, blaming and scapegoating the other.

Spirit

I speak openly and honestly with the other, happy with their choices when made in freedom, even if I disagree.

Culture

I worry about another, thereby putting myself in a one-up position opposite them

Spirit

I have compassion for the other and carry some of their pain. It reflects my own brokenness. We journey on together into the healing of Divine love

Culture

Others are my flock, I am somehow above them in the hierarchy of life

Spirit

I am part of others all of us awakening to the ultimate reality of our union with DIvine Love
So summarising, Yeshua has brought a new possibility into our lives by the release of Holy Breath, an alternative Way of Being in the desire affairs of man. Now we can move in and out of our new-found freedom, at will.

As the Nazarene himself said ‘Your Will Be Done On Earth As It is In The Heavens’