Philosophers and Prophets

I used to think of philosophers as all academics, sitting in their ivory towers, pondering the deeper questions of life and doing with their minds what the rest of us simply do not have the wherewithal to do. But I am learning, and have learned, though this may be the perception that society and culture might like to lead us to accept, what convention might dictate is not necessarily the way it is. Of course if one is quite satisfied having your intellect and thoughts determined before you have the opportunity to exercise your own mental acumen, by all means, cease that evil practice and turn your mind over to whoever or whatever it is that has your best interest at heart, and dont think twice that you have surrendered the gift of god, the channel of reason and innate insight into the depths of divinity, all for the security of conformity to ancient metaphor, archaic and antiquated conceptions true and in its way communicative in its contextual past, but now rendered inadequate to speak to the minds of men understanding a larger world a new paradigm from the one once perceived. God, the divine, speaks to us in language and forms according to our times language evolve, expands knowledge increases the understanding of our world is on a whole much greater than that of our ancient ancestors we now travel the heavens we look to exploring our solar system the idea of reaching the stars increasingly grows before us as more than fantasy though much mystery remains, the basic components of our corporate conscious reality are being unraveled insight into mind and matter is exploding and we are bridging the gap between what is the mundane and what is the divine And our language, our metaphors, our religion all-embracing and incorporating all this new truth is in the process of growing and expanding .. and where it need be changing being re-interpreted to accommodate the things of the world that are, but were at one time hidden Things of the world, that are no less the things of God and this God, this divine character speaks to us in a language and form and metaphor we can understand The beauty of the myth is that it can be reinterpreted it can explain the deeper truths that we now face, but are we willing to allow it to? or are we of a mind that denies what God said he would do for us? And be in us? Is Christ limited to the character of Jesus who lived and died and rose again two thousand years ago? Or is he the divine nature I know in me? I have concluded that if indeed I know him in me, I do not need to seek him out there He is as close as my thoughts and whats more I have discovered he sounds just like me And if I listen and I exercise the gift in me he becomes clearer and I dont have to wonder Is it god I am hearing? I know But philosophers are not those that reside in ivory towers, at least not in their truest sense. It is true this may be the cultural perception we are led to understand, but education and an in depth familiarization and even the pondering of the great thinkers of the past does not make a philosopher. I will be the first to concede wrestling with the questions these ancient thinkers explored is undoubtedly a part of the philosophers adventure, but questions of the past are not the philosophers lot. The questions of today, the issues of mans current experience and dilemma, these are the philosophers field of play. All the questions of the past, to one degree or another have been covered, and regurgitated and chewed on time and again. It is upon these, and many times the re-evaluation of these and rethought with the incorporation of new data that the philosopher reconstitutes a new vision, and not even a new vision, but a contemporary perceptive and hopefully more inclusive understanding into the once held truth of the past. Truth evolving as knowledge and understanding has expanded I.E. As the human consciousness

evolves so does our ability to perceive depths of the divine that once were veiled, hidden, a mystery. But this truth is seldom found in ivory towers. Apart from the intimate experience of the common man, it is all academic, and academics alone does very few little good, unless it has been tested under the pressures of life and proved through contemporary experience. This means the philosopher; apart from their living the experience of their philosophy are no philosophers, but theorists speculators and spectators in the game of life. But this should not assume that every philosopher will ponder and reach the same conclusions. But each in their own experience unravels a piece of the overall puzzle, and through our reflection on these varied pieces, we who are willing to consider, may find more of the bigger puzzle picture coming together, and experience a life greater than the one we may have previously been confined to. As concerns revealing life life deeper and more fulfilling than archaic rules and codes once held absolute the prophet, in the context of their own social and devout setting, speaks in another language, though often befuddled, due to its imagery and metaphor confused as literal. Yet the prophet can communicate to their audience, often entrenched in a mud pit of religious anachronisms. The prophets dilemma is to help the receptive see through and wash off the mud. Mud being that which blurs the vision, makes one feel dirty, and if not cleaned up, hardens, and becomes like an adobe shell encasing and inhibiting the full experience of the life that may be. Religion takes many forms and the divine and the acknowledgment of god' have nothing to do with it. Although religious forms focused on God' are often the most prevalent and in many respects the most evangelical, secular religion is in every respect as narrow and unyielding in its tenacity to adhere to its own perceived absolute conventions. Science, philosophy, and most other disciplines all have their own established orders of accepted thought, dogma and sacred cows. Cutting against the grain or espousing ideas that threaten these are every bit as subject to persecution as any heresy Orthodox religion might pit itself against. The problem is not a religious one, well ... it is ... but it is not exclusively a problem of the religious community ... It is a human nature problem. Once we become indoctrinated into a way of thinking, and the fundamentals (for the most part) seem to be working for us, we allow ourselves to become entrenched and eventually, and in a relatively short period of time, our psychological feet are encased in hardened cement, and our active intellect and mind ceases, frozen, as it were, in time. And besides not desiring to consider or investigate the possibilities of better more inclusive and expansive thought patterns and models, everything seems to be working just fine, whether it actually is or not. We have become comfortable and find no reason to set out on what is perceived as an unnecessary and potentially hazardous experiment into unproved (at least to our liking) territories. Fear of the unknown, even in the face of a much greater hope for life shuts us down ... completely immobilizing us. Making us discontent in our current situation and yet unable to respond to the sound of the piper... Philosophers and Prophets are not so unalike ... and considering the issues of life that each deal with, albeit in different ways, in different language, in reason and metaphor, in metaphysical images, psychological dimensions, spiritual and religious myth, questions of truth, divine and material ... all relating to the all that is our corporate experience, what is it that the Philosopher and Prophet be one and the same ... moving and communicating into this and that sphere of social and cultural understanding, bridging the gap and proving that the mind and spirit of human kind are in fact one ... one in what the whole human is and these manifested in our physical being ... no separation of body, soul and spirit ... the united, whole human being. Free of the fear of the flesh ... embracing the higher visions of human

dimension transcending the mundane ... The evolved nature of what humanity is, may become, and desires ... as proved in our ever present longing to aspire for what it is that we know ... know deeper than often admitted ... but desire all the same. The history of philosophers and prophets is not all that unalike. Now ... in our contemporary times ... in these times when civilization would seem to have wrestled control of the majority of our reactions to perceived social threats ... the once insecure status of those who would call themselves, our be called, prophets and philosophers is as secure as any who would call themselves physician, lawyer, merchant or tradesman. The times when prophets and philosophers were threats to the community because of the new and foreign ideas they introduced is now a thing of the past. New knowledge and insight is as pass as any new breakfast cereal ... Maybe I'll try it, probably not ... and if I don't what's the difference? Ideas and possibilities for a better life are hawked around every corner and with every click of the remote control. Pop religion and pop psychology, pop justice and pop reality ... all these pervade and invade and to the bliss of many become the surrogate lives of a society conditioned and fixated to the control mechanisms of those who could, would and do manage and manipulate the resources of the world, including humanity, to their own plan and devise. There is no fear of the prophet and the philosopher ... what's one more kook? ... And as long as the minds of humankind are inundated and kept confused with an overabundance of things to think about, there is no fear of the vast majority ever considering such an extreme idea that they can't think for themselves ... It is all too obvious ... thoughts go through the mind ... it must be thinking ... what else would it be? We are a society that has forgotten how to and are kept ignorant of what it is to actually think ... Our minds are cluttered, always active, never without a thought, and we are too occupied and too into ourselves to consider we are but the products of what the man has been making us. But philosophers think, and prophets intuit, and in the exercise of their gifts, the divine speaks ... truth once dangerous ... and few listen ... but to those who can ... and do ... change is entertained ... and some receive and understand ... and as these do ... more are infected, influenced and the process continues ... But the philosopher, the prophet speaks from a platform that is not so unalike to those he would communicate to ... he is one of them ... often one with them ... he is not gilded in an ivory tower, supported and promoted by the manufacturers of mass consciousness ... he intuits his own thought ... and speaks his own mind ... and some follow ... learning to use their own minds ... and this is a very dangerous thing ... I was once called dangerous by an Evangelical minister who ran a Christian coffee house in Baltimore Maryland. I wasn't sure how he meant it at the time but I took it as a compliment. I understand better now, and though this is the thing that has kept me in varying degrees of trouble with my past pastors and church elders ... I think for myself ... independently ... That does not mean uncritically or without discernment ... nor without examination or consideration of endorsed doctrine ... but I think and stand true to my own estimations, perceptions and accountings of what I have examined into. These sometimes and often at odds with the conventional line of thinking ... But I have learned, as I have and am continually coming to know myself ... to my own self be true ... be dangerous...