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Archive for the ‘Renegade Culture’ Category

Just finished a book that I have chewed on for a while.

Mentioned it a couple of weeks ago on my radio talk show (The Renegade Heart on Talkshoe.com [#71786] or hear it along with the notes and links on my health blog).

The book is “The Misunderstood God” by Darin Hufford, subtitled “The lies religion tells about God”.

He takes the Love chapter, I Corinthians 13, and goes through each of the attributes/expressions/attitudes contained in real and true Love.  He points out that there is a huge discrepancy between what we teach about Father God and what most of us actually believe about Father God.

As a poor analogy, it’s like we sing the praises of a particular chair, how good and comfortable and sturdy it is, but never actually go and sit in it.  Message: don’t sit in the chair!

Words don’t match actions, but it is the actions that show what we truly believe.

The best part of the book is the last chapter when Mr. Hufford sums it all up and points out that no amount of teaching, learning, preaching, wishing, dreaming, pulpit-banging or knowledge in any form about Father will show someone who Father is or what Love looks like.

But just BEING Father, just BEING Yeshua to someone who needs Love will transcend words and go to true and real and healing Love.

Read the book, ponder it, chew on it, be hard on yourself and ask the tough question – learning about Father or being Father?

Then come back and tell us what you think, what you have learned, how your life has changed, how you have learned to truly, really, practically, openly, unashamedly Love people.

Blessings,

Dr Jon

It’s been a month since there’s been a posting here. Changed my host and it took a while to get all the files put back in order.  But with some persistence and some learning here we are again, ready to go.

Talking about persistence, my wife and I went to see the film Julie & Julia a couple of nights ago.  I call it a “Personal Development” movie.  Maybe it’s a new genre? but it could have been called “Think and Grow Rich – the Movie.”

Let’s start with Julia.

Wife. Bored. Not sitting around doing nothing, though.  Tried a couple of things but didn’t fit with her inner self. Persistent with trying to find what would fit.

Then her husband asked, “What do you really like doing?”  Desire.  So away she went.  Cooking school, even though she wasn’t welcome, was the misfit among the men and opposed by the administrator.

Goal.  Write a cookbook in a form not yet available.  Rewrite it when it is not accepted.  Keep plugging.

Sexual energy.  The love and encouragement of a spouse who, in spite of his own issues and life questions, helped keep his wife’s attention and focus on her goal.  And in spite of not being able to have children, she used that sexual/mothering instinct and applied it to the completion of her goal.

Mastermind.  Two other ladies who understood the importance of the project and applied their time and talent to help get it done.

Napoleon Hill would have been proud!

Then look at Julie.

Feeling helpless, useless, ineffectual in her job.  But she also discovered a desire.

She set the goal, a deadline, a beacon with which to find some guidance, likely considered unattainable by anyone who might have heard of it.

Persistence, again.  Daily.  Every day.  In spite of long hours and setbacks.

Mastermind, again, though not always so on board with her.  Her husband first encouraged her, then had second thoughts, yet finally came around again.  Eventually, due to the social interaction of the internet, encouragement came from strangers and readers and appreciative recipients of the energy expressed in her successes and failures.

Sexual energy, transmuted into productive action.

As a spellbinding thriller movie or even as a tearjerking heart tugger, this movie  would not qualify.  However, there lies within the story the bigger story of Goals and Persistence and Success, bringing Desire into Reality step by step.

It probably won’t replace Think and Grow Rich as a bestselling classic, but it makes a visual exclamation point to Mr. Hill’s lifetime work.

Blessings,

Dr Jon

A couple of nights ago the family watched “An Officer and a Gentleman,” the 1982 film directed by Taylor Hackford starring Richard Gere (Zack) and Debra Winger (Paula).  My wife and I had seen it years ago but our son had not seen it.

This film would not have been “allowed” in my earlier days because it depicted too much skin, sexual behavior and intent, and had some rough language.

However, it also depicted some themes, issues and behaviors that make it a very worthwhile film to watch and ponder.

Some of those themes included:

Father issues.
Zack’s father was the absolute worst excuse for a father anyone could imagine.  Selfish, self-destructive, philanderer, immoral, totally uncaring about his son, criticizing and minimizing him at every turn.  When Zack pulled himself out of the pit in which he was raised and actually became the officer, his Dad could not pull himself away from himself and his hedonism long enough to show up and appreciate Zack or the moment.

Paula’s real father was an officer candidate who just used the local girls for their own pleasure, then returned to their “real life,” leaving behind broken hearts and broken lives.  She was following in her mother’s footsteps, looking for love in a man’s arms, disconnected from her family and her stepfather.

Zack’s friend, Sid (David Keith) had a father who expected him to be something he wasn’t, to carry on some family tradition of military heroism at all costs.  Just another form of selfishness that looked respectable, but was even harder for the son to overcome than Zack’s obviously wicked role model.

Self awareness/Self worth issues.
Each of the officer candidates had dreams and aspirations.  It took the drill instructor, Foley (Louis Gossett, Jr.) to be the “psychologist” to point out to them their dreams were not based on reality and they were not being with themselves.  The female candidate was lacking love from her father (that issue again) and had to prove to herself and the world that she could compete and perform with the big boys.

Zack finally realized that his bid to become an officer was the only “home” he had, that being a sailor was the only thing that gave him meaning.

Tragically, Sid finally realized that his whole purpose in life was to be his brother and his father’s “wish-fulfiller,” that he had no life of his own.  When he finally decided to do something about it and be himself, he could not deal with the disappointment that he faced when his dreams didn’t work out.

Rescuing the Beauty
Both Paula and Lynette were looking for a way out of a dead-end job and a culture that had trapped their families and communities for years.  The women of the community would give themselves and their bodies to young men coming through the Navy base for 13 weeks in hopes that by trickery or luck they might get a ticket out.

The contrast between the two of them, however, has some interesting insight.  Lynette was the typical local female.  She knew what she wanted and how she wanted it.  She wanted a PILOT, a ticket OUT, not a MAN TO LOVE her.  Paula, on the other hand, was not so engaged in the process of leaving, but was focused on the MAN who paid attention to her, who at first acted like he cared about her.  Though she had to struggle with the idea, she could let go of the ticket and just interact with the man, encouraging him and challenging him to grow and be honest with himself.  Even when he spurned her, she was able to maintain a watchful and hopeful attitude.  She could literally and figuratively get on the back of his motorcycle and let him control things.

The result was just as different.  When both men came to rescue their beauty, the controlling one refused and was still caught up in her dreams and control.  The letting go one got whisked away to a new life and with the man who came to love and care for her.

I can’t help to think “Christians” in the church today relate to Yeshua more like Lynette to Sid than Paula to Zach.  Caught up in the process, looking for a ticket out, the way we want it, instead of letting go and riding on the back of the motorcycle and whatever that brings.

Character issues
Zach was a loner.  Hurt, abandoned by his mother who committed suicide, rejected by his father who taught him how to be immoral but not how to care about anything or anybody.  Now he is in a group of people who need to learn how to live as a team, how to give up their own special needs and help others make it.  From the conniving, self-absorbed overachiever, he learned to be the team player, forgoing the obstacle course record to help the female over the wall.  But it didn’t come easy.  It took being found out for what he really was and losing his friend to break through the shell of aloofness he had built to protect his battered heart.  It also took Foley getting his face and not letting him get by with his crap.

Paula was also instrumental in the transformation, not letting him get by with lying to himself about how much it no longer hurt that he was so abandoned and rejected.

The most profound line in the whole film was when he finally admitted, out loud, “I don’t want you to love me!”

Sexual issues
Men and women alike were looking for love and fulfillment, and were doing so through sexual activity, primarily.  This points out how powerful this drive, this energy is.  I postulate that sexual energy is the Life Force of which the Eastern world speaks when they use the word “Chi” or “Prana.”  This is what God had in mind when he created the planet.  ”It is not good for a man to dwell alone.”  This is why Yeshua came to suffer and die, to restore for himself a Bride and no matter how much the church tries to spiritualize it, pure and simple that is the intimacy depicted in what we call sex.

I like that the film did not hesitate to walk into the sexual issues, though it also pointed out the pitfalls that come when sexuality is handled wrongly and selfishly.

As persons and as a culture we need to grow to the point that we can use the sexual energy within each of us in productive and creative ways and not just in sexually behaving ways that get us into trouble.

One could no doubt go on and pick out even more themes, like how much Foley really cared about the candidates though could not/would not show it, or how fear paralyzes, or how goals and dreams are important.  But I have rambled long enough.  Take an evening off and revisit an older but worthwhile film experience.

Blessings,

Dr Jon

Last evening I had the privilege of attending a lecture/book signing where Deepak Chopra talked about his newest book,

He first asked if anyone in the room had a soul?

When we all replied that we did, he then asked us where it was?

Although this got a laugh from the room, he went on to point out that everything we see as physical – flowers, pictures on the screen, memories, our bodies, everything – is but vibrations of light and exists only in our consciousness, our soul.

The soul is timeless, immortal, infinite, nonlocal, TRANSCENDENT.

Then he asked what was between the “on” part of the vibration, or in the “off” part?

Answering this question led him to 5 breakthroughs each for the body and the soul, which makes up the major content of his book.  He pointed out that it is about choice and about the survival of the wisest.

He was, as always, attentive, insightful, and articulate, mixing modern quantum physics with the wisdom of the ancients.

The signed book will be a great reminder of an evening spent in the presence of a master.

Blessings,

Dr Jon

PS. If you couldn’t be in a similar gathering, be sure to get his newest book!

I’ve not before reviewed a movie on this blog, reserving my comments for good books or just my own thoughts.  However, here is a movie that deserves some comment.

It would fit the category of “Renegade” since it rather comes up from behind and kicks you in the butt.  It is raw, open, real, has too much bad language and sexual related themes for many, maybe most, but it goes straight to some real, common and deep-seated issues.  You have to go past just watching it and think a bit about it as well to begin to get the full impact of the message/s of this film.

Billy Crystal is the main character and because it is he doing the acting, one might expect it to be a comedy.  Indeed, there are some comic moments and this is one reason why it is such a surprising film.  It goes way beyond comedy.

Three men, boys who grew up together as best freinds and who have remained good friends, have discovered that life has been full of failure and disappointment.  One has an overbearing, nearly abusive wife and finds some “life” in adultery.  Another considers himself a real womanizer, but uses talk and acting out behavior as a means of covering up his extremely lacking self-esteem.  Truth be told, he cannot even get his “hot” wife pregnant.  The third has reacted to his disappoinmtment by just checking out, becoming passive, disinterested, feeling useless and less than a man, going through the motions but looking to the outside world like a very successful husband, father and businessman.

Together they decide they need to go a dude ranch for a couple week vacation.  Only the dude ranch has real cows and real needs, real cowboys who are bullies, preying on the weak and the female.  These cows need to be moved to summer pasture and back again.  Along the way these dudes suffer hardship and loss, and are faced with decisions that test their manhood.  Actually, the circumstances first test them in ways that make them decide if there is even any manhood in them at all.

The amazing thing about this story is that it is full of raw emotion and raw life.  Most of the issues these men face relate directly to their sexuality and their response to it, or lack thereof.  It turns out their issues revolve around the huge failure of Fatherhood in their lives which causes them to be lost and to feel worthless, ungrounded, uninitiated.  It becomes their excuse for their emasculation, their failed lives and their pitiful understanding of and attitude toward femininity and their own sexuality.  Mixed into the story is also a Savior figure, repentance, baptism, grace, forgiveness, true femininity and transformation.

This is an older film, one which you will likely have to rent to obtain.  It would be worth purchasing

City Slickers, Collectors Edition

and then watching about once a month.  When you watch it, though, don’t leave your brain or your heart at the door.  Think about it.  Feel it.  Mine it for the riches of the message contained in it.  Let it change you.
Blessings,

Dr Jon

At our home we do a “movie night” monthly. First or second Saturday night, usually, depending on schedules. We learned from John Eldredge that kings of culture receive messages from God; prophets are required to interpret them. The kings of our culture are movie producers and directors. So we watch a movie, then discuss the real message behind it. Not just a film critique, we look at the grand themes like what does it tell us about God, about man, about woman, about an evil antagonist, etc. Very helpful, revealing!

Last Saturday we watched Les Miserables, the most recent version of Victor Hugo’s novel with Liam Neeson playing Jean Valjean. If you have not seen this film, you absolutely MUST! There is SO MUCH in it of the power of Love and Grace, the destruction of unbridled law.

But what struck me occurred at the very beginning. Indeed, it was really on this that resulted in the events of the entire film and story. Valjean came to the Bishop’s house looking for bread and something to steal. But he said:
“Give me a bed for the night and
IN THE MORNING I WILL BE A NEW MAN.”

In the morning he stole the silver thinking that would give him the resources to become a new man. He was wrong. The Bishop, when queried, gave him forgiveness and even more silver, thus saving his life. Actually giving him new life. As a result, Valjean BECAME A NEW MAN!

While it is absolutely an example of a work of grace, our theology stops at that and makes that the theme. But let me take it one step further.

IT IS A WORK OF CHOOSING.

Grace was the means that worked out the transformation. Valjean’s choice within himself, even though he had the completely wrong idea about how to do it and what it would look like, was the KEY that opened the door! How many other beggars had come by that same door asking for bread without expecting or thinking or believing that they could ever become a new man?

So, you see, though this is a fictional story, it makes the point:

It is our choosing that begins the change.

What will you choose to change today?
Your depression?
Your poverty?
Your selfishness?
Your thinking negatively about yourself?
Your …………..

Make the choice to change.

The grace will follow.

Talk to you soon.

Blessings,

Dr Jon

Today ushers in a new year – 2007! Wow! The old adage is true: Time Flies.

We stayed home last night; no late night partying for us. Rather, we finished the trilogy of the Lord of the Rings on DVD. The family is big fans of the work, and message. We had started to do a 12 hour marathon on Friday evening. Got through two of the three movies (eight hours) but my wife and I faded in and out of the second, winding up at nearly 3AM, so decided to complete the set later. Later was last night. Awesome movies, awesome story. See it again for yourself, to be reminded.

Anyway, we didn’t time it this way, but just as the ring got to the mountain and deposited into the fire and melted causing the evil empire to literally implode (towers falling, mountain exploding, fire balls flying everywhere, lava flowing, heroes being snatched from the jaws of death – all great stuff) our clock showed 12 Midnight! New Year. New Beginning. Old Evil, Stuck, Negative, Dark Forces gone. Destroyed.

Symbolic.

Bring on the new!

And a line in the film that fits. Elven lord Elron to the exiled, reticent king yet to be crowned, “Let go of the rage and become what you were born to be.”
Publish
I am going to take that to heart. You can too.

Dr Jon

Been doing lots of reading recently which is all pointing in the same direction:
I/We live in a bubble.
Watched “The Truman Show” this weekend and that made it prety plain. Fascinating movie. If you haven’t seen it or haven’t seen it in a while, it is worth reviewing.

Quantum mechanics tells us that what we call life is really Truman’s bubble. Reality is outside the bubble. We let ourselves be caught in this trap because
—we don’t know there is more “out there”
—we are afraid to go outside our comfortable fantasy
—?????

Here’s another way to look at it all that might interest some of you:

Busting Loose from the Money Game by Robert Schienfeld. Way more about life than about money, though he makes application there as well. Available online at Amazon.com here:
Busting Loose From the Money Game: Mind-Blowing Strategies for Changing the Rules of a Game You Can’t Win

Read the book, watch the movie again; let’s dialogue.

Looking outside the bubble,
Dr Jon