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Revelation

Since completing the first version of this site, I have come to understand the purpose that drew me to its creation. The last six months have been spent, among other things, surveying the religions descended from the word of Abraham. This was not motivated by a belief that the message of these traditions was more fundamental or important than the message of other redemptive religions. It was motivated primarily by concern that the redemptive message has been perverted, and coupled to forces that will lead to our destruction.

Of the Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions, none can claim to have sustained completely the transformative spirit of their founders. In fact, I believe that each successor responds in a logical way to the limitations of its predecessors. What I will propose to demonstrate here is that the three traditions trace a progression of civilizing influences.

The Agnostic tradition has argued, and justifiably so, that progress to that end has been uneven. That observation reflects three facts:

  • Any spiritual tradition arises in a specific cultural context, and the teachings of its founders reflect and respond to that context. As history progresses and cultures evolve, later adherents will struggle to disentangle the local from the global, and may be led astray until they adopt the resolve to reinterpret the tradition to reflect local circumstances.
  • Propagating and preserving any cultural tradition requires the construction of institutions that become prey to the influence of masculine personalities whose sole purpose is to organize power for personal gain.
  • The desperate struggle of masculine personalities to avoid absorption into the feminine gestalt has fostered the growth of misogyny in those institutions preserved and advanced through the use of force.

At the opening of the Age of Enlightenment, many argued that elimination of religion was necessary to free man from force. Unfortunately, science and philosophy have themselves become corrupted by the same tendencies. And, as has been hinted at here, there are aspects of reality that are only accessible to us through extra-dimensional relation that may be beyond the means of science to elucidate.

I adopt certain insights from the traditions of Abraham as such revelation. I reinterpret the stories in light of the insights here to construct a rational and logical explanation of the human story. It is a story in which our purpose is far mightier than any of us would ever have reason to expect. It is a story of love and grace that surpasses, if not understanding, certainly explanation.

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Material Copyright © 2005 Brian Balke