We stood in the forest, as the rain fell in sheets. Odin grabbed me firmly by the arm. “They still do not live by the basics! Why do you continue to teach further?”

“All-Father, I cannot make the people listen. I can only give them the light to see the way. I am but a torch in the darkness. I cannot be more.”

“You can be more, and you are more! You have sacrificed yourself on Yggdrasil! Pluck an eye, and give it to my Ravens, and we are one. But I understand. There is a reason the people do not listen. You are trying to break at that core. I see. Let us hope you can. Let us hope together that Fenrir does not have to be raised.”

Odin turned and walked away fro me, in the pouring rain.

**

So, today we are going to take ideology a little further. We are going to talk about the nature of ideology itself. You see, much like the shamanic ideas I talked about in the Developmental Theology series, ideology varies from person to person. It is individual. You decide what is real and what is not. You decide what can happen and what cannot. This makes things very interesting.

Having read that, you may wonder why I would even try to teach a class on ideology, if it is something that each person decides on their own. Well, that reason would be to help you fully develop an ideology that is still individual, but is in a healthy agreement with what we need as a functional world. I don’t think there are many people that could look at our world as a whole, and call it functional, or healthy. We have to change things. And we have to do it fast.

How can we change the world? By changing ourselves. If we become more healthy and responsible people, the world gains. So, to do that, we must first try to understand the mind. The hardest thing man has ever faced. And the way we are going to do that is by learning about ideas, and how to develop them into a working ideology.

We’ve talked about examining our thoughts and actions. We’ve seen that even Saint Augustine believed that if rational thought contradicted scripture, it was normal and reasonable. It is important to pay attention to our thoughts and actions and examine the why. It is also important to not be tied down by books or teachings.

Now we have talked about the importance of the individual, even on the global level.

Remember, each man must find his own path.

Jack.
I Listen.

Basic Ideology 101

Battle #3
Odin Appears and Individuality is Examined.

“It not infrequently happens that something about the earth, about the sky, about other elements of this world, about the motion and rotation or even the magnitude and distances of the stars, about definite eclipses of the sun and moon, about the passage of years and seasons, about the nature of animals, of fruits, of stones, and of other such things, may be known with the greatest certainty by reasoning or by experience, even by one who is not a Christian. It is too disgraceful and ruinous, though, and greatly to be avoided, that he [the non-Christian] should hear a Christian speaking so idiotically on these matters, and as if in accord with Christian writings, that he might say that he could scarcely keep from laughing when he saw how totally in error they are. In view of this and in keeping it in mind constantly while dealing with the book of Genesis, I have, insofar as I was able, explained in detail and set forth for consideration the meanings of obscure passages, taking care not to affirm rashly some one meaning to the prejudice of another and perhaps better explanation.”

– Saint Augustine of Hippo: The Literal Interpretation of Genesis 1:19–20, Chapt. 19 [AD 408]

Saint Augustine’s ideas on the nature of truth and science are essential to modern understanding and have influenced many great teachers and philosophers of all ilks.

-Jack
I Listen.
I do that Travel thing sometimes, too.

Basic Ideology 101

Lesson #2
Saint Augustine and the Reconciliation of Science and Scripture