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Friends.
Lately I’ve been wondering what sorts of things we carry with us when we leave one way of life and embrace another.
Do you know what I mean? Like, what sorts of ideas or ways of viewing the world or mindsets or whatever do we bring with us to this new way of life?
Take “evangelicalism”, for instance. Many of us grew up in that world and were raised within that System, which caused us to view the world and approach the world and understand the world in very specific ways.
What kind of ways?
Well.
There are lots of these “ways” that I can think of, but how about this one? - the need for an enemy.
That’s a huge one, right? In the world of Evangelicalism nothing makes much sense if we don’t have an enemy to resist …
The Devil.
Demons.
Liberals.
Democrats.
Astrologers.
Atheists.
LGBTQ people.
Pre-marital sex.
Etc.
The Christian journey only makes sense if we’re trying to make it through this life walking on a very, very narrow road close on the heels of Jesus while the world stands off to the side trying to lure us away with countless temptations and attacks.
And so …
We need to PRAY.
We need to READ OUR BIBLE.
We need to GO TO CHURCH.
We need to TITHE.
We need to LISTEN TO CHRISTIAN MUSIC.
… we need to do these things (and more) so that we can resist the many enemies that are set on dragging us away from God.
But then when we “deconstruct” or begin to “rethink” our faith and how we were raised to think about God, faith, the world, etc. we often begin to realize that there are other ways to view the world.
Like …
Maybe the Devil isn’t a REAL figure who is out to get us.
Maybe demons don’t actually inhabit people.
Maybe liberals have some good points.
Maybe Democrats aren’t as evil as I thought.
Heck, maybe I am a bit more liberal than I thought!
Maybe astrologers aren’t bad people.
Maybe atheists aren’t trying to drag me away from God.
Maybe LGBTQ people aren’t much different than I am.
Maybe we don’t need to police people’s sexual activity.
… right?
As our views about God and faith expand, we begin to realize that some of the things we’ve been taught about our (supposed) enemies aren’t exactly based in reality.
Instead.
These enemies make us feel good about ourselves because it makes us feel like …
We’re on the right path while they’re on the wrong path.
We’re making the world a better place while they’re making it a worse place.
We’re doing good, they’re doing bad.
We’re on God’s side, they’re not.
We’re on God’s GOOD side, they’re on God’s BAD side.
Anyways.
So when we begin to rethink our faith or deconstruct or whatever you want to call, it, we tend to become more inclusive and more open to the people we used to be closed off to.
For me, for instance, these days …
I have friends who are gay.
I have friends who are atheists.
I have friends who are astrologers.
I embrace many liberal ideas.
I have no issues with pre-marital sex.
In other words, the people and things that I once viewed as enemies …. I no longer see them that way.
I’m more open!
I’m more inclusive!
I’m more awakened!
Or.
Am I?
I started wondering about this back in 2024 during the Presidential Election when I found myself in someone’s comment section on Facebook carefully crafting my words into weaopons that would demolish the MAGA people who were ganging up on some more Liberal thinkers.
I was so mad.
“How could THEY think like that?”
I spent an hour crafting my response.
“What is wrong with THOSE PEOPLE?”
I sharpened my words into daggers.
“This will teach them!”
I laced them with heated anger.
“What a bunch of IDIOTS”
BUT.
Just as I was about to hit enter, a still voice spoke from within - “are you sure you want to do that? If you aren’t careful, you’re going to become the very same energy (on the Left) that you wanted to leave behind (on the Right).”
Hm.
And then I got to thinking back on my Evangelical days and how I hated the people on the Left just as much as I was (now) hating the people on the Right.
10 years ago Obama and the Democrats were the problem; now Trump and the Republicans are the problem.
10 years ago Liberal ideas were going to ruin the country; now Conservative ideas are going to ruin the country.
10 years ago the Bible needed to be in schools; now the Bible needed to be out of the schools.
10 years ago there needed to be less separation between church and state; now there needed to be much, much more.
Do you see what I’m saying? As I sat at at my computer in 2024 I realized that I was just as angry as I was 10 years or so earlier - I just had a NEW ENEMY to direct my anger at.
Yes.
I might have left Evangelicalism behind, but I brought my need to have an enemy with me because the world only seemed to make sense when I had an enemy to fight against, a person to obliterate in the comments, a group of people that I could point to and blame for the problems of the world.
“THOSE people.”
“THAT group.”
“THEM!”
“THEY are the problem.”
“THEY are to blame.”
“THEY need to change.”
As I said at the outset - “lately I’ve been wondering what sorts of things we carry with us when we leave one way of life and embrace another.”
And so these days I find myself trying to embrace a better way of viewing the world - a way where I don’t see the world divided between US and THEM, a way where I don’t see everyone who thinks differently than me as an enemy, a way where I don’t feel the need to fight in the comments anymore, a way where I can embrace this sort of approach to life without sacrificing my own values and beliefs and ideals.
Easier said than done, right?
Here’s a clip from a recent convo I had with my friend Liza Rankow where I shared this story of my pounding on the keyboard during the 2024 election and her heartfelt response.
Watch the clip HERE.
Watch the full episode HERE.
Much love.
Glenn || SUPPORT / ART STUDIO
PS - Get Liza’s book, “Soul Medicine For a Fractured World” HERE.