Our 'self' must die for a fulfilling and meaningful existence

In his portrait of Satan, one of Al Pacino’s lines in the movie ‘The Devil’s Advocate’ was:

‘I’m a fan of man, I’m a humanist’

Many people are 'fans of man' and even make some of them their idols. One can have a celebrity as an idol, their spouse or a politician, but I invite you here to reflect on the idolatry of our 'selves'.

From 'self help' books to cries for self-sufficiency, the worship of self is everywhere. Have you ever heard one of these:

• 'Trust yourself'

• 'Follow your heart'

• ‘We are here to be happy!’

• 'If you want something well done, do it yourself'

• 'You are the master of your destiny'

• 'put yourself first’

• 'I am enough'

• 'Love yourself'

• 'Only you can solve your problems'

The list is endless. How did it start? In order to understand the cult of self we need to take a look at humanism.

Definition of Humanism (source: American Humanist Association)

Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism or other supernatural beliefs, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good. – American Humanist Association

Humanism is a democratic and ethical life stance which affirms that human beings have the right and responsibility to give meaning and shape to their own lives. It stands for the building of a more humane society through an ethics based on human and other natural values in a spirit of reason and free inquiry through human capabilities. It is not theistic, and it does not accept supernatural views of reality. – Humanists International

Sounds so nice, right? 'human rights', 'ethics', 'rationality' and 'freedom'. Unfortunately, all genocides in history were justified by pretty words in good speeches and were always for 'the greater good' of mankind. Humanism considers humans (or animals/nature), the center of morals and values and is closely related to 'Relativism' and... (drum roll)... Satanism.

It's very easy to be deceived by humanism, because who is against freedom, or human rights, right? Intertwined with some undeniable concepts, individualism is encouraged, destroying family ties in the long run and influencing people to distance themselves from their Creator. While humanism praise its atheist values, it's safe to compare it with a religion (and a freaky one).

"Humanism is not only the biggest evil in the world, but it is also the most deceptive of all religious philosophies." Homar Dankan

Humanism is the dominating doctrine across the Western civilization and has made its move to influence cultural change since the 18th century, initially in 'intellectual' circles and most strongly in mainstream education and entertainment after the second world war. Cultural change doesn't happen from one day to the other, but it's carefully developed throughout decades, if not centuries. While our generation may find it hard to understand why people would die for their faith or for their countrymen or anything they valued, just look at the expansion of Christianity, sea expeditions and the two world wars, which were done by people willing to die for the next generations. If the people were well informed about what they were doing and if they were serving the right masters is another story, but I digress.

Our history of selfless sacrifice in the name of the next generation is now a long memory, and its death can be traced back to the weakening of the family (normalization of divorce, promiscuity and feminism), the transfer of families from the rural areas (where they could produce their own food) to the dependence of industry jobs, all marinated in nihilism were the ingredients that helped transform our culture into the self-pleasing, self-centered society we see today in the West. No wonder the 'alternative' promoted to the sick society we see today is collectivism.

Collectivism is the doctrine that forces everyone to follow 'what is best for the majority', because 'we all live in society'. How this is decided, who decides what is best for all and how this will be enforced is not really the issue for the collectivist, as long as everyone obeys. While the Bible is not exactly against a collective working together and following the same law, the difference makes all the difference in the world.

As we know, the Israelites were a group of 12 tribes who followed the Torah (the law described in the first five books of the Bible). The difference that we must highlight is that in the Israelite's case, their collective tribe was not led by politicians, rather by patriarchs, who had the well-being of their families in mind and for that reason made decisions that benefited his next generations, not himself. Also if you are a believer, the commandments of the Creator are an order so no reason to question them, but I digress.

In a collectivist society on the other hand, if you have a family and you decide that your children will not be exposed to a specific doctrine or medicine, a collectivist may find it reasonable to outlaw this parent's decision because 'science says it's the right thing to do', or any other invasive decision decided by God knows who and why. A collectivist may approve of unspeakable actions towards 'dissidents' and turn a blind eye to abuse of power in the name of 'the greater good'. Make no mistake, the endgame of the humanist pretty words is the enslavement by collectivism.

A Yahuah-fearing believer is selfless in his patriarchal community and focuses on the next generation. His/her family is his/her greatest work and this person can't exist independently from his/her immediate family and the spiritual connection with the Father. Ultimately, the submission to his/her family and community elders represents our submission to our Most High. A Yahuah-fearing believer will never put his/her hope in man-made solutions or 'political heroes', because he/she knows that in reality we can only effectively care about our next of kin and in the end, our trust must always be in Yahuah.

Independence as rebellion and spiritual death

From the celebrated ‘free sex’ culture of the 60’s, which has poisoned marriage and family ambitions in the minds of the younger generations (especially women), to the current days, have we seen happier people? Have we seen less suicide rates or the opposite? How about substance abuse? Not only illegal drugs, but alcohol and anti-depressants. We are a mentally ill and unsatisfied generation.

The so called ‘independence’ was a lifestyle of ‘me first’, even if at the cost of our own children and an acceptable excuse to get rid of any inconvenience. We normalized divorce, abortion and promiscuity and not surprisingly, those who fall for this fallacy are still unhappy.

Yahusha never promised a life without challenges or ‘storm-free’, rather, he promised to give us his peace. His peace doesn’t depend on external factors, for it’s spiritual fulfillment. The spiritually dead can't feel peace and will continue to chase fulfillment in all worldly lusts and while they may find temporary pleasure, the spiritual void will always come back.

Submission as the key for a meaningful existence

We all know what happen to Heylel, or how Satan was named before his fall. He was the most beautiful heavenly angel, of a higher ranking (an equal to Michael) and extremely intelligent. He was the musician of Heaven (ever wondered why demonic music is so catchy?). But none of that was enough, he was proud, he wanted to be more important than the One who created him, he felt so important that he could not stand serving his human brothers.

We must understand that the rebellious impulse in our personality is inspired by our fallen nature. In the spiritual realm, demons whisper and influence our thoughts and actions towards rebellion, ‘independence’ and pride. Pride is detestable to our Father and there is absolutely nothing that we should be proud of, for all we are and have are gifts from the Most High and not due to our own merit. The only thing we can be is grateful.

Ourselves as idols

Pride and self-centrism can be very tricky to spot. Many people become self idolatrous without even realizing. It can be a sense of self importance, lack of confidence disguised as too much assertiveness, shame, shyness, vanity, too much focus on the opinions of others, too much energy on things related to self – to look good, to sound intelligent, to be respected, to be important, to be ‘popular’, etc.

Other things can allure to a self-centrism behavior: Idolatry to one’s own children or anything we build or created. Have a garden that you’re fascinated with? Have a skill that makes you crave for praise? How about a social media addiction?

Btw, social media is not the phenomenon it is by coincidence. It was shaped and designed to hook us in like a drug. It drains our energy in pursuit of ‘likes’, or ‘followers’, drains precious time with mostly useless content, all while collecting data about ourselves.

Who comes first in your life?

If we can’t answer ‘Yahusha/Jesus’ immediately with all our hearts, we are not doing it right. Our life is not about us, all we experience here is for the glory of our Messiah and consequently of our Father. We can choose to ignore the one who gives us our next breath and worry about ourselves instead, but that is like the clay trying to become a vase without the potter.

If you think it’s noble to put your children first, answer this: who gave you your children? Who decides whether they live or die? Who made them the way they are?

Is your job your biggest priority? ‘but my job is to help others’. Well, who gives you physical strength and bodily integrity to help others?

Is your health your biggest priority? While we are called by Paul to take care of our bodies (where the Spirit of Yah dwells), even if you smoke 20 packs of cigarettes a day, you will not be sick if Yahuah does not so allow. When we belong to Yahusha, we are given the authority to cast out the spirit of infirmity in his Name, did you know that?

Focus on our Messiah, put him first and he will take care of the rest! Nothing else matters but him. It’s difficult to change our ‘humanistic’ mindset after decades of brainwash and we need constant reminders, but once we start, this new approach liberates us from the expectations of the world and we will naturally align our attitudes and values to the ones of our Father.

'As Yahusha and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at Adonai’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Adonai, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Messiah answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42)

In this world, are you Martha or Mary?