One of the most intriguing scriptures I've focused on in several years comes out of Revelation 18. While speaking of the judgement of Bablyon, verses 11-13 say the following:

11 And the traders of the earth are weeping and crying over her, because no man has any more desire for their goods, 12 Gold, and silver, and stones of great price, and jewels, and delicate linen, and robes of purple and silk and red; and perfumed wood, and every vessel of ivory, and every vessel made of fair wood, and of brass, and iron, and stone; 13 And sweet-smelling plants, and perfumes, and wine, and oil, and well crushed grain, and cattle and sheep; and horses and carriages and servants; and souls of men.

This last item is what gets my attention: "and souls of men". A nice summarization of this word, psuche, can be found here. Selling one's soul is mentioned elsewhere in the Bible--see the end of Matthew 16. But, the context here is about others (the traders of the earth - v. 11) selling souls. Indeed, the phrase, at least as it is put in the NIV, "merchandise" connects souls with items and goods...things for sale and purchase. Everything in this seems an acceptable item until the last two, servants and souls of men. Even in those days, slavery was an acknowledged practice. However, the sale of souls was not accepted, not even then.

The treatments of souls as objects is a problem prevelant today in our own society, but, the danger alluded to by John, even back then, seems to be overlooked in our world. Schools have become educational institutions whose commodities provide ideas and minds capable of producing them as if they were merely goods like any other object for sale. Look at the top educational facilities in the United States. People hone their skills and shape their lives hoping to get into these schools because of the opportunity it brings. In reality, this perverse dance is a fight to get selected for sale to the highest bidder. The people who graduate from top schools are often the prize or trophy products of these systems. They are highly valuable things corporations fight to capture in order to strengthen their systems and organizations. Nowhere in there is the notion of selling souls overlooked. In fact, it is embedded at the very heart of the model!

I always go with Augustine's model of the soul: mind, will and emotions. In selling our soul we see three components. Now, at times we are all challenged to compromise some part of ourself. What I am pointing out here is blatant, complete focus on using one's soul for non-godly profit. The mind, when committed to the world, is often used as an instrument within the system and framework being discussed here. Ideas are treated as immaterial objects, the product of minds. How the will and emotions react/interact with this systematic objectification are of little concern to this system. Veils such as professionalism and high standards or ethics are used to cloud the matter because the only thing looked at is the output of the soul, the ideas, the research, the materials produced and the power and/or profitability of these things. Little note or care is given to the misery and hubris often found in the lives of the people sacrificing themselves to do this work. Unrecognized or untreated psychological issues, severe personality disorders, depression, grave behavioral disorders, fatal character flaws, simple social unacceptability. Any and sometimes all of these things can be found in the people whose works gains praise after praise, but whose lives are demolished under the weight of this conflict. Now, I won't pretend that everyone is like this. There are many well-adjusted, brilliant people who are simply in a league of their own. But, how many of them are doing Christ's work? How many of them are changing the world for the Kingdom? I see so many of these brilliant stars as simply enjoying the thrill of being the war of the world. They don't truly want to change it. They just want to experience the sense of power that makes the world work.

I can't recall whether it was two or three days ago, but I had a small idea come to mind that seemed to have potentially interesting implications. Lightning is a natural phenomenon intrinsically found to restore balance to the electrostatic environment of a region. In particular, lightning aims to equalize the ionic disproportion between disparate geoatmospheric regions. Parallel to this cycle I saw John Paul Jackson's teachings on justice possessing a supernatural reflection of this event. God seeks to restore justice in much the same way electrical storms create electrical balance in the atmosphere. After doing some research into the natural act of lightning I don't yet see a clear parallel between God in heaven transmitting his power to those who have been treated with injustice. But, I sense there is something there. Perhaps it's the idea, not so much the detailed, scientific explanation that holds the weight here. Nonetheless, I always remember the notion that the power of God often accumulates most on those who have been the most unjustly treated; to me this seems a perfect parallel to the dissipation of negative electrical energy that occurs with lightning strikes.

After further consideration the Apostles and Christ seemed to live in a state of spiritual charge. Storms come and go, so there doesn't seem to be a perfect analogy between the presence of the spirit manifesting God's power and annointing and the phenomenon of lightning. One other mythological element stood out as well. Zeus was said to throw lightning bolts. The idea being the divine sends powerful demonstrations of its majesty. Job said, "Will lightning flash at your command? (38:35) God clearly has control over this phenomenon and I am just trying to see if there is any greater truth that can be illustrated with this natural phenomenon, but the idea that the spiritual imbalance and atmosphere created by injustice can be dispelled and justice restored like the normal electrical chrages of a region.

For a few years now I have had, at the very least, the root idea of writing a book on several words in English which do not carry the weight or shades of meaning they did in Greek or Hebrew. It wasn't until a few weeks ago while researching some terms for work that I found the correct terms to precisely identify this phenomenon. In document indexing, computer scientists have seen a common linguistic phenomena cause problems. That is polysemy. In short, this is where one word can have multiple meanings. In English this works both ways. For instance, C. S. Lewis' legendary work, The Four Loves, delves to the very heart of this matter. He identifies four Greek words for the one English word love. By exploring the differences between the realities refered to by these words he shows that, even though they share a common label--the English word love--Lewis shows that one word does injustice in accurately reflecting or implying what is being symbolized.

Lewis' work is by far the most popular example of the type of work I feel inclined to work towards. My biggest struggle is how to write about these things without making it too heady, academic or dry. To me, these are exciting, powerful revelations. They transform and empower my faith. I guess I just need God to give a little wisdom about how to couch this message in the right language so people see the value without getting turned off by the packaging.

At any rate, some of the words I want to really focus on are truth, power, time and being. These are words right in the heart of the philosophical community, and they have been for a long time. In spite of my hopes to escape the philosophical, talk-based method of reaching out, I find this idea still with me. Usually when something like this doesn't go away I hvae a hard time dismissing it. This one in particular has been around for about 5 or 6 years now. Hopefully the 10 words to change your faith will become a real book one day!