God And The Four Modalities

Sometimes people think that they are great because they have been in the presence of someone great. I had a girlfriend who had been married to the right-hand man of a swami, and his initiates acted in an arrogant and abusive manner toward her. They made the mistake of thinking that they were great when they only had had the good fortune of knowing someone great.

Sometimes people think that they are great because they have a relationship with God. That is wrong. That is Phariseeism. Jesus correctly militated against such a thing. They followed the Biblical law, but their hearts were not pure. For them it was about social status and feeling that they were better than other people. This is not the attitude that God wants us to have.

Now God most certainly is a loving God. He loves us. However if we prove too hard to love, then He will love someone else. We see this for example with the Jews. God loved the Jews, then many of them decided to act wrongfully, so He started loving other people, such as the Americans. God is not at a shortage of people to love. If He pays attention to us, then that is something to be treasured.

Regarding the Jews, probably the worst relationship that they had was with the Germans. Both populations however share qualities, both good ones and bad ones. On the up side, both are intelligent and hard-working. On the down side, both are arrogant and unfriendly. They have many things in common, both good and bad. Sometimes people dislike others for qualities that they themselves have that they themselves do not like, sometimes people dislike others for qualities that others have that they themselves do not like. Apparently many Germans think that Jews are unethical and unmanly. Do not tell that to Benyamin Netanyahu.

At the time of the Second World War, many Jews were liberal pacifists. This got them accused of being cowards. Then they decided that they were not safe in the world, so they created a super-militaristic state. So now the same people who called them cowards call them brutes. With some people you just can't win.

Who can however win – and who always does win – is God. I started out as a militant atheist, and it took many events with less than a billionth of chance happening to turn me around. I had many reasons to dismiss Christianity. Christ has proven me wrong. A priest once told me that God did not give me a mind so that I can serve Satan but so that I can serve God. He was correct. Some people – and this at one point included me - see Christians as being stupid. However my mind has been working a lot better after I came to Christ and have experienced His instruction and His presence. Whatever your own level of intellect, that of Christ is greater. So then it becomes the job of the intellect to make sense of the teachings of God and communicate this understanding to other people.

There are many people who seek God. Sometimes they find God and sometimes they do not. There are many dangers along the way. For me it has become the matter of distinguishing what comes from whom. Sometimes I get intuitions that are precisely right. Sometimes I get intuitions that are precisely wrong. Obviously we are dealing here with different forces, and some of them are good and some are not. There are many people with knowledge of spiritual forces, and not all of them are using that knowledge for rightful ends. Most things can be used for wrong. Money can be used for wrong. Intelligence can be used for wrong. Spiritual powers can be used for wrong. However Christ does not do things that are wrong, and relying on His wisdom leads you to make better choices without yourself being given tools that you can use to commit wrongdoing.

Now I have written about four modalities of discerning reality: Intellect, common sense, wisdom and faith. Intellect is capable of losing touch with ethics and reality. Common sense can get mean and oppressive. Wisdom can be used for wrong things or become arrogant and self-satisfied. But faith is reliance on wisdom greater than yours and as such can only be used for the ends that the source of the wisdom wants for you.

Can faith go bad? Certainly there are many wrong things that have been done in the name of faith; but in many cases it was a misuse of faith and not faith itself that caused this wrongdoing. Another potential for error is if something that is not good impersonates something that is good. I have heard some Christians say that the angel who gave Mohammad the Quran was not Angel Michael but Angel Lucifer. Whether or not this is the case, we can certainly see people in possession of one or another form of spiritual knowledge using it for wrong and making it look to others as if it is God doing it when it is in fact them. When this happens, intelligence is the correct solution. You use your mind to break the spell and see through the deception. When intelligence goes Trotskyite, it is replaced by common sense. When this becomes mean and oppressive, it is replaced by wisdom. And when people who think themselves wise start acting like Pharisees, faith is re-introduced to remind us of who is the boss and what attitude He wants from us. The four modalities work as a spiral, with the flaws in each creating ground for the next modality.

But with actual faith, you cannot go wrong. If you are really relying on Jesus, then you will have the wisdom that you need to carry out the tasks that are meant for you. You will not however be given tools to do wrong. Intelligence, common sense and wisdom can all be easily used for wrong. However actual faith – reliance on the wisdom of Jesus – cannot be used for wrong. Whatever your intelligence level, faith will guide you rightfully. So we will see many people who do not have high Iqs or bad natural predispositions acting with wisdom and righteousness, and these people will do the work that is intended for them.

So of course we see people thinking that faith is wrong. No, it is not. For me it is not a matter of faith. For me it is a matter of having experienced many miraculous situations even though I militated for a long time against Christianity. We see the same people thinking that Christians are sheep. There are many people who are sheep for different kinds of mentalities. How sheepish were many Communists. How sheepish were many Nazis. How sheepish – and how vicious - are many people in political correctness or personality psychology. We are dealing here with something that appears to be a part of human makeup, and it is in no way limited to Christianity. And I have found again and again that the Christian people are much more tolerant and accepting than followers of any of these beliefs.

I for one am not a sheep at all. I have scrutinized many things and found most of them lacking. But there is absolutely nothing lacking in the wisdom of God. And I say this as someone who likewise have put much effort into attempting to disprove it.

Have there been wrong things done under the claim of God? Yes. But greater wrongs have been committed for other things. Phariseeism and Inquisition are tame compared to Stalin's atrocities. Bad things have been done under the banner of faith, but not according to faith itself. Once again, faith as such is the one of the four modalities – intelligence, common sense, wisdom and faith – that cannot be used for wrong. Which means that encouraging faith averts potential for many errors and instead results in better actions on the part of everyone.

Certainly there is a need for the other three. Much is owed to all four modalities. We need intelligence, common sense and wisdom as well. However, once again, it is faith that is the least capable of being used for wrong. And that makes it the most valuable modality of all.