Culture, the Law, and the concepts of Human Freedom.
By Dale G. Cox
 

What is culture? 

cul-ture (kul'cher) n. 1. The cultivation of the soil; tillage. 2. The breeding of animals or growing of plants, especially to produce improved stock. 3. Biology. a.  The growing of microorganisms in a nutrient medium. b. Such a growth or colony, as of bacteria. 4. Social and intellectual formation. 5. The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought characteristic of a community or population. 6. A style of social and artistic expression peculiar to a society or class. 7. Intellectual and artistic activity. -trv. cultured, -turing, -tures. 1. To cultivate. 2. To develop (microorganisms or tissues, for example) in a culture medium. [Middle English, cultivation, tillage, from Old French, from Latin cultfira, from cultus, cultivation.  See cultivate.]

Our everyday day lives are almost completely submerged in culture. Every aspect of our day to day material lives, is a product or byproduct of culture. The way we dress, the houses we live in, the cars we drive, traffic lights, drinks, food, and literature, literally everything. The only thing that isn't a direct product of culture, is our spirit. Our perspective, emotional limitations and social disposition are products of material culture. But the Human spirit is apart of a greater world invisible to the physical senses of the human body. This sprit can perceive the nature of other forms of spirit separate from its experiences of the physical world. To our spirit, culture is a context for our emotional world. The experiences we receive from our senses have tangible bio-chemical effects on our spirit, and vise verse our spirit has tangible effects on the way our bodies feel. As children, we are raised by our parents to model the forms of a specific cultural expression. In infancy we are primarily focused in the material world. Growing up is a lot of work for the human organism. The growth of our bodies requires the undivided attention of our higher spiritual natures. But as we approach maturity, the spirit that used to be focused on physical growth, can now turns it's attention to the growth of intellect, the expression of being. The ego is realized through the search for self-expression, and through interaction with other humans.  These other humans, like parents, siblings, and friends reinforce our perception of the culture we are submerged in via the reflection of their own experiences. Hearing about other people's experiences helps us realize there are many ways to see a thing. That our specific way of seeing a thing may not be the best way. This hopefully encourages a personal crisis sufficient to cause the personality to release its old form and shift to something new. This shifting of the personality is called change. We evolve through change.

We are black, we are white, we are Asian, Christian, Buddhist, Packer fans, soccer fans, racists, and humanitarians. We become these things because of our direct experience with our immediate culture. We respond to physical stimuli. Thus, any manipulation of our physical environment, is a manipulation of our cultural experience. The manipulation of the cultural experience produces change via emotional conflict for any variety of reasons. Emotional conflict is nothing more than the alteration of previously stable perspectives. The human learns through crisis. You should be on your way to work, but for some reason related with your previous days-emotional experiences and how they effected your dream world, you unexpectedly sleep rather heavy, and miss your alarm. Now you are late. For most people, this becomes a source of varying crisis. You anticipate the reaction of your chosen cultural surroundings. This will cause you to remember other such experiences and the results. The free flowing laws of karma and circumstance influence the unpredictable part of this reality. The predictable part is influenced by culture. External forces can influence this predictable aspect of culture, the same way the inner experience can be influenced by inner spiritual forces. Thus, the interaction called human consciousness. This is the nature of our path towards evolution. The only problem is if the human being doesn't understand this concept, because the nature of the culture he/she has experienced does not allow this knowledge to be taught. But, instead increases the individual's experience of the physical world so as to keep him consistently distracted from the workings of his inner self, his spiritual culture. This is one of the many natures of magic, and its adverse uses, simply changing someone else's perspective. Violence creates the spell of fear, because the cultural paradigm has gone to great trouble to make sure that fear should be associated with violence. Television is a good tool for this. Prior to television, humanity discovered a long time ago that physical violence could have a debilitating effect on those who were forced to watch violence done to their loved ones. The father would be beaten in front of the son, to increase the son's reaction to violence. This was the psychology used to adjust the perspectives of African slaves in a young America. This is also the means whereby oppression is perpetuated in our world today.

What is the Law?

After the great deluge that destroyed the Atlantean civilization, humanity was smashed into small-scattered tribes. In the old Testament we read about the "Law", and how god sent the "Law" down to humanity through Moses, or at least in that particular cultural stream. The law came down to humanity from god through a variety of religions, all the same law, just seen from a different perspective. The law represents the organizational concepts necessary to create culture. Humanity is being guided through every stage of its evolution. The law governs both order and chaos. The law is the Tao. The Law provides the means of taming the human animal. A hand reaching down from the heavens to help humanity rise up out of its animal nature and become human. Having mostly forgotten the social forms of Atlantis, humanity was reduced to a more basic need for the Law. The law set parameters of behavior, ideas for organization, ideas that built upon each other, generation after generation. You could almost think of the Law as social software, injected into the human psyche to guide it along the path to building what we today call civilization. Moses told us that if we did not follow the law god would punish us. Which is absurd. We punish ourselves. But the law did contain within it some very sound principles of conduct and the resulting karma of putting those principles to work. Throughout history, humanity has consistently redefined the law to meet its current conditions at various times. Visible by the rise and fall of major civilizations throughout history. Civilizations came and went, but what remained was a consistent increase in the way humanity organized itself, the Law.

This was the purpose of the law. To become a stairway, to weave within humanity the ability to organize itself, develop the means to recognize itself. Riding upon the pinnacle of human achievement, the higher intellect reached for new knowledge of itself in the phenomena it experienced around it via the physical senses. The knowledge passed down in the higher law was revered and passed on only to those who were worthy of carrying it. Thus the creation of religions, priests, shamans, poets, musicians, and wonderment. Each generation of seekers passed on to the next what it had learned and added to the great knowledge. For 10,000 years humanity has moved through history, constantly evolving, walking the path. Each religion added to the creation of the next religion, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity.  Each a window on how we viewed the world of spirit at a particular point of history. Today we have arrived at the point where we no longer feel we need the world of spirit. We have perfected the law and the law has given us dominion over the earth. But humanity has become imprisoned by its externalization of the Law. We have grown to corrupt the law and make it serve evil intentions. The law was originally designed as a vehicle for the evolution of the human ego. The ego has awakened. Now it must be set free, to come to terms with a higher form of law above cultural law, the law of karma. Humanity must realize that every action in creation yields a reaction from the whole of the universe itself. Cause and effect is the basic concept of karma. The same cause and effect that was taught to us by the cultural law. Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you. Our culture is a product of us. All adversity in life is a product of the struggle with the darker self within humanity. The physical nature versus the spiritual nature. Humanity needed a guide to take it through the struggle with it's darker self. That guide was the law. 

What is Freedom?

But, in Palestine, sometime around 2000 years ago, the death of the Christ entity nullified the old law, and internalized the new law. The sacrifice of the Christ entity was necessary for us to control the ego. Christ entered into and altered our nature to subordinate our will to our heart. The heart became the embodiment of the conscience. The conscience balances our ego. Causing us to have feelings about our actions. Recognizing when we cause others pain. Acquiring the resolve to steer our actions in a direction that returns good karma to us. If you treat others well you will be treated well in return. The concepts of the external Old Testament law, replaced by the essence of the Christ nature within each of us. In a space within where we stand naked before god, we recognize that we are naked to god. We can deceive the material world, the physical senses, being something on the inside that we don't reveal on the outside. But, the intent of our hearts is not invisible to god. God sees every lie we make, as conscience, it stands there with us as we intimately analyze ourselves, testing our reasons, judging ourselves. That’s why no man may judge another, we're already doing a good job of judging ourselves. If you think this creates a sense of lawlessness, with everyone being responsible for their own actions. We already exist in a state of emotional lawlessness governed by the higher law of Karma. Karma is a consistent reality. You are already facing it everyday. If your life sucks recognize it could be because you were an ass in you're past life or in this life, and now you're paying for it. It is difficult to be humble in the face of adversity, but it’s a great exercise in maturity. The choice is yours. This is only one aspect of the gift of the Christ entity. An evil man can be continually vigilant, and still he will not succeed. A moral human walks freely with good intentions when he doesn't have to fear the penalty of his own unjust actions. A moral human has realized there is more strength and courage required to love, than there is to hate.

When we look at the tableau of our culture today, it stands on stage like a flamboyant Shakespearean production; blood and gore splattered everywhere. The psychology of nationalistic propaganda in the environment of illusion is the project of derailing the expression of human endeavor. By corrupting the concepts, culture can be used to corrupt the human soul. In our current time of almost abject materialism, our culture has been pulled away from spiritualism, into the corruption of materialism. Materialism says we are only intelligent animals and we should stick with improving our animal abilities. Our material perspectives about sex, our most sacred communal ritual, have been corrupted to drive us into animality. At least 80% of our culture is focused in a perpetual mating ritual that equates spiritually to a violent ego riot. We frequently abuse the ones we love the most. This causes us great despair over the cruelty in our emotional world. The cause of our addiction to sex is it gives us a moment to be in contact with god within us. Love opens a door within us we want to keep open, a door that connects us to god. When that door is closed, we fear that god does not love us, because we cannot touch it, cannot sense it with our material minds. We have killed because our door was closed. The despair of the human soul is a product of its karma, its choices. An angry human soul is a product of its own violent expression. It knows that violence is born of a lack of love. It knows that god is love. It knows it must come to love to be healed, or its world will only continue to get darker. We know only love and our motivation to be loving can save us from hell. Its no wonder we don't aspire to a greater cultural model than the one we are currently locked in. We are imprisoned in our fear and loneliness. But this cell has no door and no key, it is a cell in our minds, it is culture affecting the way we think and perceive ourselves, the choices we make. We must realize we are all living dancing divine expressions of god. When we are not in conflict we are in dance. We must subdue the lower nature with our hearts. The lower nature is jealous, because of its connection to materialism, it is afraid that god does not love it. We must overcome fear. The body should not be a prison for fear it is supposed to be a vehicle for enjoyment.

Moral action is defined in the heart. Moral action is the only path to evolution. You have only two choices, evolve or don't. There is no third option. The universe is in motion, my little amber blades of wheat. Fall and the harvest are coming as sure as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Time is the constant keeping humanity in check, forcing us to keep moving, when our strongest desire is to sit down and stop. From this vantage point, the full scope of human evolution, hasn't even been imagined. Our future is wide open, but only if we evolve. If you don't you will get dragged down into materialism. Imagine the torment you go through now desiring to feel love, in hell even the possibility will no longer exist, imagine how you could feel then, for quite a long time. There is no fire in hell, only darkness and isolation. God is fire. God is light. God is love. Moral action leads us through the initiation of fire, which is pain to the physical. This has to hurt, or we won't appreciate it. The pain guides us to deeper strength within us. Guides us to see the results of actions taken in folly. Actions sown with ill intent yield ill returns. Anger, hate, jealousy, are some of the animal emotions brought on by fear. They arise from a false sense of lack. The soul is made to feel inadequate in some way, thereby corrupting its concept of self. Corrupt the concept of self enough and you can reduce a weak human into an animal, a smart animal, but still an animal. Moral action guides us to become self-aware of the greater goodness that resides within us. Whereas lies only make us doubt our own worthiness, as we judge ourselves in truth. The Holy Spirit stands ready nearby, always watching over us. Standing with us. Despite our karma, we are never given more than we can bear; the process of bearing up under our karma strengthens us more the harder it is. If you can bear up under your karma, learn to treat all people with dignity and respect, no matter what's happening to you. If you can seek a higher expression of love, that rises above ownership and codependency. You will be on the path towards evolution. It will not be an easy path. The further you get the harder the lessons, but the stronger you get. Eventually you learn to accept karma gracefully, then you realize the moral behind the story is worthy of recognition. 

The concept of Freedom comes from the knowledge that we will eventually rise above the animal nature within us. While we exist there we are victim to negative emotions. The first instinct of our animal nature is to flee from emotional pain, to be angry and retributive. The trick to walking through karma is to realize there is wisdom in the pain we endure. If your heart is broken, now you know what it means to break a heart. In our modern materialistic world we live with the notion of breaking or being broken every time we approach a stranger. As a culture, we have not explored any new relationship concepts that would eliminate this source of frustration for us. Instead, from our material perspective, we don't believe anything can change the context. So we seek to change ourselves. This is invalidation. We have imprisoned ourselves in invalidation. We endeavor to "fix" ourselves so that we will possibly attract the one human with whom we will have everything in common, and we will have the perfect relationship. No anger, no emotional hostility, never a cloudy day. This is illusion; this illusion is ripping our culture apart. Fewer and fewer people believe it can ever work, which has led to the increase in manipulative emotional violence. Women perpetually diet, men work out to look fit, we seek wealth and materialism to make us more attractive, we alter our personalities, all the while denying our true selves, creating a schism within our being. We will do almost anything for material love, because we now just want to feel love. 

Being able to rise above the animal will mean the end of nationalism for our culture. Our recognition of race, sex, color, religion, basically all of the social forms we use to divide ourselves in material individualism, must fade away. These are material forms of recognition, and they say absolutely nothing of the soul that resides beneath. White man looks at a black man and feels cultural hate. Even though he's never met the black man and doesn't know what is in the black mans heart. A so-called leader on television says these particular people are the enemy, and we must hate them. We have never met them, how are we to hate them, yet alone all of them. We must realize that left without the perpetuated prejudice of social organizations, most of us prefer to just get along. It is illusion to believe that millions of people should rise up and hate millions of other people they have never met, simply because a few individuals tell us it is our national imperative to stand against this enemy. We must stop following the will of individuals. We must not hate for others. Hate is an individual evil, which should be left to those too immature to rise above it. The perpetuation of violence on this world, is the perpetuation of violent karma. We must realize that without governments and strict forms of social grouping, we would not have widespread social conflict. The history of conflict on our world is a testament to the perpetuation of the animal nature within humanity. It has been guided by men who want to keep humanity imprisoned within its animal nature. This is evil.  Likewise, a man or woman should never submit himself or herself to having someone else tell them when to kill another human being. The person telling reaps worse karma for manipulating someone to kill, but the person doing the killing reaps karma they may not have entered into on their own. This person might have a good heart, but now they have been tricked into walking a path of violent karma. In grade school we managed this concept. Two bullies fighting in the schoolyard did not require the entire school fighting to resolve it their conflict. Only by ending the cycles of violence will we free ourselves from a world of violent karma. Our heart can overcome the animal nature within us. We have the ability; we must now make the choice.

A moral human walking freely with good intentions doesn't have to fear the penalty of his own unjust actions if he doesn't plan to commit any. A moral human walking into the face of adversity prepared to meet conflict with compassion. Understands that the adversity makes him stronger when he seeks the wisdom in understanding the other persons position. The moral human builds, through patience and understanding, the strength to understand his/her own position with compassion. The building of wisdom through this form of correct action builds the confidence that one does not have to be victim to fear. The moral human realizes fear is just a state of mind, not to be confused with common sense. Fear should be experienced when one is walking along the edge of a cliff with a long drop, or when one is about to step out into speeding traffic. Fear should be overcome when it interferes with the communication between two or more human beings. This is the path to Freedom.
 

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