Norwich Independent Spiritual Congregation

In recent times I have been engaged in a meditation on the Norse concept of “orlog”, as well as a learning of the Bhudist concept of Dharma. Both of these concepts refer at their basis as the law or the way of things. Law as in the law of nature versus rule of law though on closer examination there is little difference.

Modern scientists might refer to the concept of Orlog, or Dharma, as the law of cause and effect, whereas the Wiccan practicioner refers to it as the Threefold Law. Each of these three notions in one way or another describes this thing which I will refer to here as the Way of Things in order to try to remain neutral. But each of the other three concepts examines a different part of the elephant.

I will examine what may be simply a fourth part in this blog.

I often hear people with a Christian ubpringing when accused of a misdeed saying “It’s not my fault”. My budding understanding of the Way of Things says “Yes, you are right, it is not your fault you did this thing or that. You were influenced by the emotional states brought on by your past experiences which were the result of the effect of your earlier actions which were the result of your thoughts which were the results of your previous emitional states and your circumstances at the time…” And so the wheel of Dharma turns, and the Orlog is built up in layer upon layer of cycles through many seasons, generations, incarnations and ages.

In effect this understanding shows me that what we do is “Not our fault” and “Totally our fault at the same time”. This is all predicated of course on the presumption of re-incarnation and an immortal stream of conciousness which makes up both our individuality and our oneness with all things. If there is no re-incarnation, if we simply die and cease to exist at the end of our relatively short time on this earth, then ceartainly, “It’s not my fault” carries more weight.

Nevertheless, something in me tells me that biological death may not be the end of it all. In either case our progression is determined by our ability to remain calm and clear headed and to think before we act. Manifestations of abilities developed demonstrate that dilligence has been applied to this notion of thoughtfulness and concentration at some point or another.

But it is all to easy to become attached to the abilities we have been able to manifest through our past dilligence, and in so doing we become thoughtless in our skill. This can lead to a dissolution of our karmic credit so to speak.

To illustrate my point:

I have been running for about 6 months now and have gone from being able to run only about 3/10 of a mile, to running 4 miles in about 49 minutes. I have become somewhat addicted to running. Initially it took concentration to develop the dilligence to go run 3 times a week, and the pain often reduced that to 2 times a week. I would initially use the elliptical mill as an alternative to running while my calves and knees healed. Now I have learned techniques that enable me to run for quite a distance without injury and running is now pleasurable.

However before when I was breaking things up with different pursuits I began to loose weight and look better. Lately since I have been running for my cardio almost exclusively I have begun to feel a dull pain in my shins and my weight loss has stopped.

It occurs to me that whatever pursuits we engage in for the betterment of ourselves and to develop ourselves as individuals, we need to be careful to not become attached to any one or other of these pursuits, or staleness sets in, and eventually we regress.

This brought me to the realization that pausing for a moment , closing my eyes, and opening my mind and heart to something else in the same way we sometimes close our eyes and take in the breath and smells of the country or a well kept kitchen, this pausing puts me in touch with what I believe to be a higher self. In doing this, I find that thoughtless action becomes thoughtful action and that a beter plan of action with better consequences ensues.

This is a new discovery for me and may seem old hat to others. But I share it none the less in the hope that my perspective will in some way be of benefit to someone else who is close to attaining this understanding. For whatever it is worth.

Does it sometimes make you wonder that for the last 2000 years there have been two unalterable facts in every life that has lived in this Western (now Global) society, have been death and taxes? Our culture is based upon the message of a man known as Jesus Christ. The red white and blue of our United States Flag are the colors of the Christian Church who got them from the colors that were given to Moses when he was instructed by God as to the building of the Tabernacle.

Make no mistake, our country was founded on Christian Beliefs and our laws and mores are steeped in Christian tradition. When the Israelites made their exodus from Egypt, they were alleged to have wandered the wilderness following a convicted murderer and terrorist named Moses, who not only murdered a man and fled to escape justice, but came back to Egypt and proceeded to inflict a set of terrorist attacks against the Egyptians that make the attack on the World Trade Center look like a slap on the back of the hand. When Israel was re-established after the Second World War, millions migrated to it looking for a place of refuge and peace. Yet in less than a century the nation of Israel has become one of the most warlike and bloodthirsty peoples on the planet. Just today there was a report on the BBC in which the Israeli army used a murderous artillery shell to slay a reporter from the BBC while he was driving a car that was clearly marked “Press”. It doesn’t take long to see that the Bible glorifies the bloodthirsty practices of the Israelites which included animal sacrifice, slavery and genocide, as faithfulness to the one true god.

Who was Jesus? Was he the messiah? Or was he a rich kid with a good education who rather than go in to the family business decided to start his own cult instead? Eventually he got a few helpers like Peter who wasn’t having much luck with fishing for fish decided why not fish for men. Yes he told them some parables and did a little faith healing, and even got his disciples to spin up some good yarns about him walking on water and such. But did anything change after he came and went? No, not particularly. Paul managed to take up his story and carve out a nice consulting business for a time until he was eventually put to death. But it wasn’t until Emperor Constantine decided to use the Christian myth to further his political aims in Northern Europe that Christianity really got a foothold.

Yet when he was asked about whether taxation was fair he essentially told his followers that it was OK to pay taxes to both church and state. Let the government control your property, and let the church control your mind. This bargain was struck between government and state, and it made Christianity the perfect tool for the psychological subjugation of a people who up until that time had not only been able to resist Roman conquest, but had in fact turned the tides and even went so far as sacking Rome itself. Clearly Constantine recognized that a different kind of warfare was needed in order to defeat his fierce northern opponents. Christianity was the perfect tool for the job.