Moxus, related to the question of what can be known, along the lines of Rene DesCartes who said "I think, therefore I am", there comes a question of what entity is most prominent in your life and what is your main focus, motivation and goal. If your self is #1 in your life, then I ask you to further examine yourself and tell me if that is really going to help you. Are you willing to lose your very soul for the mistakes you make throughout your life, for the shortcomings and lack of complete perfection in knowledge, wisdom, truth, justice, and any other area where you find purity of heart, mind, soul and strength -- purity of being? We know everyone fails, but mediocrity is not an excuse. After all, knowledge is not power, but fodder for motivation. Knowledge is not the goal, but the goal is enlightened actions that result from knowledge of the truth. Therefore, it is actions that are the goal, and we know that every human being lacks complete knowledge and therefore complete perfection in their actions
all throughout their life. But as Jesus Christ said, "No servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. It is enough that he is like his master." So the question is, who is the master of your life, and from whom are you learning? Who is feeding your soul if it isn't the one who created it, the only legitimate spiritual teacher?
However, if God is #1 in your life, that means that you are on the right path, and you will gain much understanding throughout your life. You will be blessed, and you will know God is who he says he is. Your life will be built upon all things good and founded in truth. There will be nothing false in you. You will be able to ask God for anything, and you will receive it according to God's will, so that God is glorified through you. You will gain wisdom in trusting in God; you will learn to overcome all forms of evil, including pride and fear. You will say, "The Lord is my Righteousness and my salvation," and the Lord God will be your shield. Nobody will be able to remove you from God's hand, for God is greater than all.
Many people trust in the government. Well, while the government may be called "big brother", God is our "absolute Father." (Think, who has more authority, a brother or a father?) And God does not change. You must therefore know who God is, according to God's Word. And you will really learn very little without studying it and praying -- that is, a communicative intention, whether by word or thought -- with God. 'Nuff said.
What can be said for spiritual leaders like pastors, priests and ministers? Each person's relationship is only between them and God. The focus should be on your relationship with God. People will always make mistakes, so don't focus your trust on any human being: not me, not you, not any leader, not any servant, not any family member, not anyone else. Exemplify love and ideals, but only God is worthy of your utmost confidence. All other things are terminal and therefore too fragile, or evil and therefore wicked. But God is in control, and God alone is good.
Q:
Why am I writing these extended essay responses?
A:
The heart overflows and motivates. The mind translates as the spirit guides both the heart and mind to refine and translate. God's words are spirit and life. This means I'm using what I've learned -- God's words, or spirit -- and my heart motivates me to translate what I've learned into language and phrasing that will benefit those to whom I am speaking. By my experience and spirit, I see case scenarios by what people say, like a psychologist witnessing classifications before them, and I know that I've been through what those people are going through, and I'm using what I've learned to point the way towards understanding. But my words and knowledge are taught by God, so all I'm saying in reality is that I'm pointing you to God so that you can learn from him and so your soul will be at peace, at rest in confidence and knowledge, which will give you further motivation for your confidence. I only point the way because I know that each individual learns differently and has different experiences from which they can gain understanding... different experiences to which they relate, and different thoughts about those experiences. But ultimately, things seem to be bipolar in life. Specifically, they are not; but perhaps ultimately they are?
Witness that God does not control thoughts. Nor does God say to anyone what they want, but he lets each person live and learn (from God) the difference between Good and Evil; and the Lord God is with each person who looks to His Son, Jesus Christ; and the Author of All Life is with that person forever, so they most certainly and without any doubt whatsoever have eternal life in the Only God, the Lord Almighty who is the Beginning and End, and who never changes from perfect mercy.
Albert Einstein said he wanted to know the thoughts of God. I'm telling you to know God. It's basically the same thing, pointing your focus to God.
Oh, and when Rene DesCartes said "I think, therefore I am," he surely meant that "because I think, I know I exist" as inclusive rather than exclusive. That is including certainty of your existence rather than excluding all other facts of life from certainty. It's a statement that begs further investigation and thought, to discover what it means to exist, since "now you know that you actually exist". But by God saying, "I am who I am" reflects intelligence beyond human understanding, and therefore is the ultimate and absolute statement of God's being. And according to Rene DesCartes, that means without a doubt that God exists, because an intelligent being -- that is, one who apparently thinks, and by definition... well, you get the point -- has spoken in reply. You will find, then, that everything exists (by definition, duh) and it then matters
what tools you use to witness their existence, whether the spirit, the mind, the soul, the body, or the strength. Your physical senses are part of the body, in case you didn't understand that last point
Your physical senses bridge your body and mind. But you will only find motivation from things that you focus on, from things that you see. Therefore, no other person can instruct your motivation until you focus upon what they are saying -- if you don't listen, you don't learn. If you don't observe, you don't learn. If you don't think, you don't grow. But the mind and the heart can both think. The heart uses a different part of the brain to think, closer to the subconscious than the mind. That is why your emotions have such motivation in your dreams, rather than your "thoughts" that so frequently use language, like the thoughts that you use to read written words and figure things out with your mind, your cranium.
OK, I have to end this essay at some point, so here
.
Either you are groping for answers, or you are asking God and listening to Jesus.