"We didn't love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation.... We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.”." ~ Solzhenitsyn
Excellent essay, Karen. I was at the gym yesterday and saw a very outwardly attractive woman working out. There were mirrors everywhere. She was taking pictures and short videos of herself between workout sets. She did this the entire time she was there. She might have been an "influencer," I don't know. This is just one example though. Everywhere I go, people are glued to their phone. Every day I drive, I see someone on their phone while they're driving. They hold it up to the steering wheel and look up, look down, look up. It's really quite terrifying as they tend to cross the center line quite regularly. They think they have perfected the art of "texting and driving." For many, we are already living in an artificial world. Individually, we can choose not to participate, though the pressure is immense. The longer we participate in the "digital world," the more we lose touch with the "real world" and ultimately ourselves, as you put so beautifully in your essay. These billionaires salivate at this thought. I see a future for Gen Z where they're glued to their VR headsets participating in the Metaverse, while these same billionaires are enjoying their 400-ft yachts, drinking champagne and consuming the finest steaks, all the while laughing how they hoodwinked the populace.
I go hiking and try to stay away from the beaten track as much as possible, but still pass people on occasion and many are on their phones as they hike in beautiful nature or are listening to podcast, pods in their ears, afraid they might miss some important bit of information. It's very sad.
It's obscene to think so many people idolize the very jailors who are imprisoning them, and happily so. The contrast you make between the billionaires enjoying their very real lives while the minions fade away into virtual worlds is perfect.
Idolaters are inexcusable: and those most of all that worship for gods the works of the hands of men. “With whose beauty, if they, being delighted, took them to be gods: let them know how much the Lord of them is more beautiful than they: for the first author of beauty made all those things.” — Wisdom 13:3 (Douay-Rheims Bible)
First want to say I think this piece deserves the highest praise, and am envious of your ability to consistently create such remarkable work. Long ago I studied a little anthropology but not enough to comment on its relative validity. Still, it is uncanny how much today’s insane mutilation and body modification reminds me of scarification practices in tribal cultures and e.g. your example of the awful foot binding in China. The following are just a few things anthropologists suggested with regard to body modification and intentional scarring of the human body: “the body as a surface waiting for the imprinting of culture, a ‘social skin’ … constructed and expressed through individual bodies, the question of boundaries between the individual and society, between societies … tattoos, scars, brands, and piercings, voluntarily acquired, are ways of showing a person's autobiography on the surface of the body to the world … in many tribes, members unwilling to participate in scarification were … often shunned from their society … scarification can transform partial tribe members into ‘normal’ members entirely accepted by the group.” To state the obvious, it looks like our pitiful self-mutilation enthusiasts, who consider themselves the future, are in truth regressing into a dark past.
Thank you. Your observances are spot on. I became fascinated with tattoos and wrote about it in A Tattoo Tale, adding a bit of the history. What we are doing now is certainly nothing new, it's just a progression and scary because of how it is taking us out of reality.
Yeah definitely, African tribes cutting designs into their skin is almost wholesome compared to what the "death care" professionals are doing to the bodies of the mentally ill. While I was looking around, came across a recent article in praise of scarification today, illustration was the full back of an obviously young and healthy woman, completely covered in thick scarring welts in the design of a blossoming tree. Wonderfully executed, disturbing to see. Well then, A Tattoo Tale goes now on my list of your work to catch up on. Can't keep up with you, Ms. Hunt! :) :)
Say tan says: "did God really say DO NOT EAT of this APPLE? He doesn't want you to because He knows you shall be as gods......"
"There IS A WAY THAT SEEMS RIGHT TO A MAN BUT THE END THEREOF IS DEATH
-God
There was a good reason why the making of graven IMAGES was forbidden by God, our Creator and Sustainer, but it just didnt make sense to us at the time......
That's a big topic, for sure--the heart of everything. Only one observation, and not a very important one compared to everything else, it wasn't an apple, just some kind of fruit. But somehow it turned into an apple, which is unfortunate for apples lol.
......Aaand here we are.....a lot of those dots are coming together in a puntillesque way now:
I am starting to think that AI just might be the Antichrist.
"WHO CAN MAKE WAR LIKE THE BEAST?" And the whole world wondered after the Beast......"
Revelation. Read the Bible again. It's all there in the Bible, but hidden in plain sight to the deceived.
For all its worldly power, in the face of God Almighty, it is a paper tiger that will burn up into a cinder and blow away. Everything that is not of God will not stand
It's unclear what point are you are trying to make here. Are you trying to use God's Holy Word to take a swipe at Trump or trying to use Trump to attempt to discredit the Bible? Just asking for some sort of clarification, thanks!
Ms. Hunt, you wrote “All of these dazzling new technological feats promise … to solve our problems and turn us into the gods of our own universes. … that you can be the god of your own utopia and all your dreams will come true and you will be happy at last.” This immediately called to mind words all Americans know (or used to know): “… that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It was not until I had grown older and read a lot that the inclusion of “happiness” first struck me as almost comically odd in such a solemn document, intended as the foundation for a new and revolutionary way of life. But that word sure seems to have shaped American culture. Maybe with regard to a certain superficiality I see in American society. A glance at the etymology of “happiness” turned up words including “lucky”, “chance”, “fortune”, “blithe”. Not exactly words that suggest being solidly grounded in reality.
Maybe American is starting to become that island the sailors were seeking and then quickly turned away from. I sure hope not, but I don't think my eyes are deceiving me. States are now trying to pass laws that take kids away from their parents if the parents don't agree to gender surgery. They are trying to do away with adult consent and let kids make these decisions for themselves at very young ages. In Scotland, you can now go to prison for "misgendering" someone under the guise of "hate speech." Evil isn't at the doorstep. It's inside the house. And it's everywhere. We must remain courageous and fearless in speaking the truth even at the threat of great personal cost.
I also think it is long overdue that the western world remembers what it grew out of, and we need to revitalize our society, return to truth, before it is too late. I find myself repeating that the children and young adults ARE the future. We are starting to see backlash to the madness, thank God, so I feel more hopeful recently. But it has taken far too long to wake up to the awful dangers.
That's why I keep saying, tell stories, legends, mysteries, poetry to your children, read to them, but also tell them stories of their parents and grandparents, their histories so they have a foundation. That foundation is being taken away and we have to make sure that doesn't happen.
What's missing is children being brought up in the NURTURE AND ADMONITION OF THE LORD. WITHOUT THAT there IS NO foundation. The problem is that people have been trying like crazy to get along without God their Creator and Sustainer in their lives. HE is our ONLY defense against what's coming to deceive and steal our very souls
Absolutely. Each generation in turn is becoming less aware of their real heritage. Also disturbing is the use of AI to rewrite/revise great literature, even scripture, to bring it in line with wokeism. We sure have our work cut out for us.
Just watched Alien again. Have you been to the HR Giger Museum in Gruyères? https://hrgigermuseum.com/ I visited there a few years ago. So weird to walk into that world, out of a quaint Swiss village. I've thought about including something about it in an essay. Actually, I wasn't even aware it was a museum when I went inside. It is a cafe, really surreal.
I will check it out! I loved that series- it set the bar for me for good sci fi. Read it way back then re-read it recently - still loved it, maybe even more!
It takes a dedicated reader to read Otherland, it's huge! It really swept me away and greatly really affected me when I read it years ago. I've also recently started reading it again.
Bernard Arnault, chairman of LVMH, is the richest person in the world with a net worth of $231 billion. Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk vie for second place with $200 billion, their competition played out in the media with great gusto.
How would any one person ever spend 231 billion? I can't imagine that.
"I would rather spend my life in a real prison and know it and feel it, than live in a fake reality, deluded into thinking I am free but where even my thoughts are no longer my own."
Wonderful essay.
Deeply thought provoking.
Thank you Karen
🙏
Excellent essay, Karen. I was at the gym yesterday and saw a very outwardly attractive woman working out. There were mirrors everywhere. She was taking pictures and short videos of herself between workout sets. She did this the entire time she was there. She might have been an "influencer," I don't know. This is just one example though. Everywhere I go, people are glued to their phone. Every day I drive, I see someone on their phone while they're driving. They hold it up to the steering wheel and look up, look down, look up. It's really quite terrifying as they tend to cross the center line quite regularly. They think they have perfected the art of "texting and driving." For many, we are already living in an artificial world. Individually, we can choose not to participate, though the pressure is immense. The longer we participate in the "digital world," the more we lose touch with the "real world" and ultimately ourselves, as you put so beautifully in your essay. These billionaires salivate at this thought. I see a future for Gen Z where they're glued to their VR headsets participating in the Metaverse, while these same billionaires are enjoying their 400-ft yachts, drinking champagne and consuming the finest steaks, all the while laughing how they hoodwinked the populace.
I go hiking and try to stay away from the beaten track as much as possible, but still pass people on occasion and many are on their phones as they hike in beautiful nature or are listening to podcast, pods in their ears, afraid they might miss some important bit of information. It's very sad.
It's obscene to think so many people idolize the very jailors who are imprisoning them, and happily so. The contrast you make between the billionaires enjoying their very real lives while the minions fade away into virtual worlds is perfect.
Well said, Karen. You have a beautiful way with words. Thank you for your courage and ability to so succinctly convey the truth.
IMO AI will be the end of civilization. God has given us enough rope, now he will be coming back soon.
Idolaters are inexcusable: and those most of all that worship for gods the works of the hands of men. “With whose beauty, if they, being delighted, took them to be gods: let them know how much the Lord of them is more beautiful than they: for the first author of beauty made all those things.” — Wisdom 13:3 (Douay-Rheims Bible)
The creation in rebellion against the Creator, going all the way back to the Garden of Eden.
Yes! The source of all sin and misery! 🙏
First want to say I think this piece deserves the highest praise, and am envious of your ability to consistently create such remarkable work. Long ago I studied a little anthropology but not enough to comment on its relative validity. Still, it is uncanny how much today’s insane mutilation and body modification reminds me of scarification practices in tribal cultures and e.g. your example of the awful foot binding in China. The following are just a few things anthropologists suggested with regard to body modification and intentional scarring of the human body: “the body as a surface waiting for the imprinting of culture, a ‘social skin’ … constructed and expressed through individual bodies, the question of boundaries between the individual and society, between societies … tattoos, scars, brands, and piercings, voluntarily acquired, are ways of showing a person's autobiography on the surface of the body to the world … in many tribes, members unwilling to participate in scarification were … often shunned from their society … scarification can transform partial tribe members into ‘normal’ members entirely accepted by the group.” To state the obvious, it looks like our pitiful self-mutilation enthusiasts, who consider themselves the future, are in truth regressing into a dark past.
Thank you. Your observances are spot on. I became fascinated with tattoos and wrote about it in A Tattoo Tale, adding a bit of the history. What we are doing now is certainly nothing new, it's just a progression and scary because of how it is taking us out of reality.
Yeah definitely, African tribes cutting designs into their skin is almost wholesome compared to what the "death care" professionals are doing to the bodies of the mentally ill. While I was looking around, came across a recent article in praise of scarification today, illustration was the full back of an obviously young and healthy woman, completely covered in thick scarring welts in the design of a blossoming tree. Wonderfully executed, disturbing to see. Well then, A Tattoo Tale goes now on my list of your work to catch up on. Can't keep up with you, Ms. Hunt! :) :)
Haha, I am going for a long walk today to decompress from this writing. Fortunately, not raining today.
Say tan says: "did God really say DO NOT EAT of this APPLE? He doesn't want you to because He knows you shall be as gods......"
"There IS A WAY THAT SEEMS RIGHT TO A MAN BUT THE END THEREOF IS DEATH
-God
There was a good reason why the making of graven IMAGES was forbidden by God, our Creator and Sustainer, but it just didnt make sense to us at the time......
That's a big topic, for sure--the heart of everything. Only one observation, and not a very important one compared to everything else, it wasn't an apple, just some kind of fruit. But somehow it turned into an apple, which is unfortunate for apples lol.
I knew that.
Our modern Fruit as purveyor of the illusion we are currently biting into and swallowing whole is called 'APPLE,' ironically. Pure coincidence...
....Indeed. The more things (appear to) change, the more they remain the same.
Only by repenting of our foolishness, turning back to God and following Him in Newness of Life will we be freed from our enslavement to delusive Sin
Very true!
.......the APPLE logo also shows that a.big bite has already been taken out of it. Telling...!!
It's obviously inspired by the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, no question.
One of Celia Farber's very recent stacks.......on the use of AI in the military apparently being tested in Israel.
Please read if you haven't already
🎯🔨
......Aaand here we are.....a lot of those dots are coming together in a puntillesque way now:
I am starting to think that AI just might be the Antichrist.
"WHO CAN MAKE WAR LIKE THE BEAST?" And the whole world wondered after the Beast......"
Revelation. Read the Bible again. It's all there in the Bible, but hidden in plain sight to the deceived.
For all its worldly power, in the face of God Almighty, it is a paper tiger that will burn up into a cinder and blow away. Everything that is not of God will not stand
Yep. Build on the rock, not on shifting sand.
Well said, Catherine. I have had similar thoughts myself.
Speaking of reading the Bible again why not read the two versions introduced here:
http://godblesstheusabible.com from Narcissus in chief
http://wethepeoplebiblebible.com from his worse-than-awful son
Why, have you read them?
Or any Bible?
It's unclear what point are you are trying to make here. Are you trying to use God's Holy Word to take a swipe at Trump or trying to use Trump to attempt to discredit the Bible? Just asking for some sort of clarification, thanks!
Ms. Hunt, you wrote “All of these dazzling new technological feats promise … to solve our problems and turn us into the gods of our own universes. … that you can be the god of your own utopia and all your dreams will come true and you will be happy at last.” This immediately called to mind words all Americans know (or used to know): “… that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It was not until I had grown older and read a lot that the inclusion of “happiness” first struck me as almost comically odd in such a solemn document, intended as the foundation for a new and revolutionary way of life. But that word sure seems to have shaped American culture. Maybe with regard to a certain superficiality I see in American society. A glance at the etymology of “happiness” turned up words including “lucky”, “chance”, “fortune”, “blithe”. Not exactly words that suggest being solidly grounded in reality.
A good book to read about that is C. S. Lewis's Surprised by Joy. Sadly, we are not often taught the difference between happiness and joy.
Maybe American is starting to become that island the sailors were seeking and then quickly turned away from. I sure hope not, but I don't think my eyes are deceiving me. States are now trying to pass laws that take kids away from their parents if the parents don't agree to gender surgery. They are trying to do away with adult consent and let kids make these decisions for themselves at very young ages. In Scotland, you can now go to prison for "misgendering" someone under the guise of "hate speech." Evil isn't at the doorstep. It's inside the house. And it's everywhere. We must remain courageous and fearless in speaking the truth even at the threat of great personal cost.
I also think it is long overdue that the western world remembers what it grew out of, and we need to revitalize our society, return to truth, before it is too late. I find myself repeating that the children and young adults ARE the future. We are starting to see backlash to the madness, thank God, so I feel more hopeful recently. But it has taken far too long to wake up to the awful dangers.
That's why I keep saying, tell stories, legends, mysteries, poetry to your children, read to them, but also tell them stories of their parents and grandparents, their histories so they have a foundation. That foundation is being taken away and we have to make sure that doesn't happen.
What's missing is children being brought up in the NURTURE AND ADMONITION OF THE LORD. WITHOUT THAT there IS NO foundation. The problem is that people have been trying like crazy to get along without God their Creator and Sustainer in their lives. HE is our ONLY defense against what's coming to deceive and steal our very souls
The hour is late
Absolutely. Each generation in turn is becoming less aware of their real heritage. Also disturbing is the use of AI to rewrite/revise great literature, even scripture, to bring it in line with wokeism. We sure have our work cut out for us.
Absolutely. Amen.
Thank you for your thoughtful writing.
Thank you for no sensationalism, no fatalism, and for a strong sense of dutiful and realistic optimism.
This isn’t a test anymore. It’s all real.
Thank you 🙏
Watching that video I am reminded of H.R. Giger's surreal, nightmarish dreamscapes.
Just watched Alien again. Have you been to the HR Giger Museum in Gruyères? https://hrgigermuseum.com/ I visited there a few years ago. So weird to walk into that world, out of a quaint Swiss village. I've thought about including something about it in an essay. Actually, I wasn't even aware it was a museum when I went inside. It is a cafe, really surreal.
Beautiful Thankyou 🙏
“Let us put our minds together and see what kind of life we can make for our children.”
——Sitting Bull
“We do not want churches because they will teach us to quarrel about God…..,”
——Chief Joseph
Nez Perce
Great post Karen.a real eye opener and reality check.
Thank Rick. Looking forward to taking with you about it on Tuesday. 🙏
Powerful. Reminds me of when I first read Tad Williams “Otherland”. Same weird yet highly possible “reality”. Glad I read this - really good piece.
Fantastic series. Interestingly, I just talked about Otherland in my essay Unlocking the Black Box https://open.substack.com/pub/khmezek/p/unlocking-the-black-box
I will check it out! I loved that series- it set the bar for me for good sci fi. Read it way back then re-read it recently - still loved it, maybe even more!
It takes a dedicated reader to read Otherland, it's huge! It really swept me away and greatly really affected me when I read it years ago. I've also recently started reading it again.
Bernard Arnault, chairman of LVMH, is the richest person in the world with a net worth of $231 billion. Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk vie for second place with $200 billion, their competition played out in the media with great gusto.
How would any one person ever spend 231 billion? I can't imagine that.
Beautiful essay - thank you much KH. My Soul is not for sale - I will live FREE or die with Honor. GOD's blessings to all - in GOD we Trust ...
"I would rather spend my life in a real prison and know it and feel it, than live in a fake reality, deluded into thinking I am free but where even my thoughts are no longer my own."
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