A Better Way
A far better way
In my Substack inbox this morning there was a post from Jessica Rose about the second Better Way Conference 2023, at which she was an invited speaker.
It is very encouraging to read about events such as this one. From her post:
…The thing I like most about the World Council for Health (WCH) is that these individuals provide a platform for other individuals to empower themselves - with knowledge and true education. I learned a lot about law and legalese speak in one of panels this weekend, and it has ignited a fire in me to learn how to get over arrest and not under it, in the future…
The bit about over vs. under arrest is certainly an eye catcher (and those are her italics, not mine).
As an “older folk” with a variety of health problems, I no longer travel — let alone attend conferences like these, pointing to a better way/world — but decades ago, and particularly in the 1980s, I did both, and I know oh so well the feeling of “the energy in the room” that can arise during such events. Those memories are part of what keeps me going.
Those memories also form a lesson. First, the speakers at those remembered events did not always represent what they claimed to be, as I have recently come to realize. I am not suggesting that the same forces are at work in this present conference series. Lacking sufficient hindsight, there is no way I know to tell. The outcome of the series will tell.
I regard each speaker as a witness, and I review and consider each of their testimonies to the extent that I am able to dedicate time to doing so. If not from their conference presentations then from I learn about them from other publications that I follow (and I am drowning in incoming information!).1 I have high confidence in Jessica. I think it must be her surfing — a sport that I never quite have understood.
A second lesson from those memories is that the things hoped for by those of us attending those earlier conferences and workshops, or that we were discussing in online forums — yes, we had those even in the early 1980’s, but with no online audio or video at first — those hopes did not come to fruition, although some could have had a delaying effect. There has been no net progress. Instead, the situation we were learning about then steadily devolved into what we have today. There was so much taking place behind the scenes in that era, in government, industry, medicine, and organized crime, about which I never heard a word. We just didn’t know. But we are hearing about those developments now, that took place back then.
So should we have even bothered with our discussing and conferencing? Yes! We certainly should have done what we did, and I have no regrets for having participated in what I did based upon what I knew at the time (what else is there?). It gave me hope, and I learned many valuable lessons. The lessons didn’t always come the way I would expect. There was quite a bit of “been there, done that, got the T-shirt (literally, in some cases), and never again”. In other words, some lessons were learned the hard way, about what does and doesn’t work well. Those can be the most valuable, as long as we survive them.
So what lies ahead? I don’t exactly know, but I have some ideas about it that have so far held true across my seven decades. The words “better way” recall a particular verse in scripture:
I Corinthians 12:31 (NASB): And yet, I am going to show you a far better way.
This verse has undergone many different translations. I chose one containing the words “better way”, for obvious reasons. The lexical form for the Greek word for “far better” that leads to so many different interpretations by translators is ὑπερβολή. Transliterated, that is “hyperbolē”. Do you see the problem? Yes, the English word comes from the Latin, which originates in the Greek.
Follows this introductory verse is chapter 13, commonly known as Paul’s “love chapter”. I won’t quote it here in its entirely, but it reflects more than love alone. The concluding verse is
I Cor. 13:13 (NASB): But now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Even here, “hope” is part of a far better way. Paul does not elaborate upon that, but it is. But what kind of faith, hope, and love represents this better way?
This is difficult to express in a blog post. I long to see it expressed online, but rarely do. The kind of hope I see expressed most often — although not always — is faith in self-reliance, in our own ability to survive these kinds of challenges. There is nothing wrong with that in itself, as long as it is seen as a short-term fix. The trend throughout our history, however, demonstrates that the short-term fixes do not add up to a long-term solution. Something is missing.
Perhaps there is a now belief and hope that technology will make a difference that enables progress with this problem. Well, technology is making a difference, but not that kind! It creates far more problems that it appears to solve, and often its solutions turn out not to be solutions at all when examined critically. Technology has been rather highly effective at making people confused, miserable, and sick.
I will not here venture deeply into the matter of what is missing, but I don’t have to. Understanding will find you if you seek it where and when it can be found. I will say that, for all our our beliefs in and high hopes about ourselves, what we in fact do demonstrates that we are incomplete and unable to add to ourselves what is missing. This only makes sense if you think about it in abstract terms. What do you know of in this universe that can fill in, by its own means, what it lacks?
What I will assert, for you to explore and discover or not, is that we did not and could not possibly have arrived here on this planet — comprised of the extremely advanced technology that we are — by chance. We came from somewhere.
We can choose to pretend otherwise, or that we were left here to our own devices, alone and unable to accomplish what is needed. Or we can look for a better way, one that acknowledges the steady drift away from the understanding of the past and the ancient texts upon which it was based, into a virtual reality created by science and technology that is leading us toward complete self-destruction. Each of us has this choice.
I have offered you here a few links to other things I have written, which you may peruse or not. I would like to be able to say that they were all carefully written and edited for clarity but, while considerable effort goes into each one, all of them most likely fall short of what might be best. I do plan to revise and improve upon them from time to time as I am able, and as I gain experience.
Each essay, however, hosts an open comment section where you can comment, question, ask questions, rant, or ramble, and where I can recommend other places to look. There a few limits to what I will tolerate, and this is not an invitation to test those, but I encourage you to engage rather than just reading or giving up.
[The next installment of my Roman Roads series is a work in progress, currently at first draft stage, with plenty left to do. I have no idea when it will be finished, but hopefully within a week or two.]
I am tentatively planning to go through all of the conference presentations. I watch and listen to such things while cooking and eating breakfast which, because I cook “from scratch”, takes quite a long time each morning, long enough to take in a session.
I do enjoy your style of writing as it seems as if you are just talking to a friend that is also trying to stay grounded in the gospel and stay the course. Thanks for sharing your journey.