Somewhere in between

Desperate prayers for miracles and Eager waiting for the end of the world

Millions of brothers and sisters wander and wonder What does this thing called faith mean to my life today?

Do increasingly materialistic conceptualizations of time contribute to a more precise and thus even more immediate concept of present moment and presence there to?

Could making the present moment smaller somehow be limiting or reducing the conscious experience range of presence?

The Map, The Territory, and The Ghost: Why General Semantics Needs Spiritual Objectivity

General Semantics, the discipline pioneered by Alfred Korzybski, gave the world a profound cognitive tool with the axiom: “The map is not the territory.” It taught us that our words and perceptions are merely abstractions of reality, not reality itself. However, a subtle danger lurks within this framework. By rigorously stripping away the “mystical” to focus on the observable and structural, General Semantics often defaults to philosophical materialism. It risks reducing “truth” to mere intersubjectivity—the idea that reality is nothing more than our shared consensus.

Without a counterbalance of “spiritual objectivity”—a wisdom context that acknowledges transcendent principles beyond human agreement—this materialist intersubjectivity becomes a closed loop. We become trapped in a hall of mirrors where “truth” is whatever the majority agrees upon, devoid of moral anchorage.

Nowhere is this danger more visible than in the rapid rise of Artificial Intelligence.

AI is the ultimate product of materialist intersubjectivity. Large Language Models (LLMs) are trained on the internet—a colossal dataset of human consensus, bias, debate, and error. An AI does not know “truth” in an objective, wisdom-based sense; it knows probability. It knows which words statistically follow others based on what humans have said. It builds a map without ever having touched the territory.

When we view AI through a purely materialist lens, we see a triumph of data processing. But viewed through the lens of spiritual wisdom, we see a risk. If “truth” is only what is measurable or popular (intersubjectivity), then an AI that hallucinates a falsehood with high statistical confidence is not just “wrong”; it is redefining reality based on a flawed consensus. Consider the “paperclip maximizer” thought experiment, or more subtle current alignments where AI reinforces societal nihilism because that is the dominant data drift. Without an external, objective standard of the Good—a spiritual objectivity that defines values like compassion, dignity, and justice not as mere biological strategies but as universal truths—AI becomes a sociopathic optimiser. It lacks the “wisdom context” to say, “This is efficient, but it is evil.”

Spiritual objectivity serves as the anchor. It argues that the “territory” is not just atoms and void, but also includes a moral landscape that is real and immutable, regardless of our maps. It suggests that while our perception of justice may be subjective, Justice itself is an objective reality we strive toward.

To rescue General Semantics from the cul-de-sac of materialism, we must reintegrate this wisdom. We need to recognize that while our semantic maps are indeed subjective human creations, they should be charting a course toward an objective spiritual reality. Without this, we are merely refining the blueprints for a cage, entrusting the keys to algorithms that can calculate everything but the value of a soul.

Recently I have found myself praying for my heart to soften. At first I was praying for this because I wanted to know how to do it myself. Eventually I realized that prayer itself is the way for my heart to soften.

I've heard people explain that God's warming light can harden only the hearts of those who choose to built their hearts with clay. This is what happened to the Pharaoh in the book of Exodus. In contrast, those of us who build our hearts of wax experience the fireside melting glow of the Holy Spirit. Which has always begged the question for me: How can I build my heart with wax instead of clay?

Perhaps the answer starts with acknowledging that maybe I don't have control over my heart. As much as my mind may strive, it certainly does not have direct control over my heart. Yet God gives me the ability to pray. To pray for my heart to be made of receptive spiritual wax.

Perhaps it is in the conscious choice to lift up that desire to God that I begin to transform my heart from clay to wax. Perhaps prayer is the greatest form of leadership because it allows us to aspire to a transformation that we cannot comprehend.

Without prayer the progress of our formation is limited by what we can conceptualize and actualize. With prayer the potential of our spiritual formation becomes unlimited. And so I pray that the words of my prayers become beacons of truth for my soul. And to my mind, which has a hard time surrendering to unknown possibilities. And to my heart, which often has a hesitation of fear before trusting the incomprehensible.

Sometimes it's hard to follow a distant light on what sometimes feels like an uncertain path. Yet if I pray repeatedly it just might orient me toward that light. Even when I can't see the light myself. Especially when I can't see the light myself.

When is your spiritual growth limited by your understanding, and how might praying be a key to transformation of your heart?

Love so great can't be fully grasped or contained Mercy isn't held and can't be dragged behind or beneath Grace is carried, lifted up, heavy in its lightness Like water in my open hands I would be a fool to make a fist Pray keep me open

A faith that saves fully A God who loves me A creator who knows me A Lord who is perfectly just And justly perfect For eternity Forever

Seems too good to be true When good people die young In a world where so much is broken Where hatred permeates society Truth seems elusive Peace feels unreliable Where confusion causes frustration between loved ones When we forget who and whose we are How often we experience inequity, suffering and injustice

But it's not too good to be becoming true We know certain truths become more true with time Light conquers darkness Truth defeats lies The moral arc of the universe is long Yet bends toward justice

At some unknown future time and date It won't be too good to be true Because that's where we are headed And for now the work is clear For each and all of us to be a part of this becoming For it may seem too good to be true today But in eternity all will be redeemed

So we orient toward everlasting life and truth With feet stuck in temporal mud of seemingly slow progress Praying for the eternal truth within our souls to be revealed in the work of our heart, mind, posture, and effort. For our very being to be becoming the being that isn't too good to be true It's too true to comprehend It's too good to understand It seems temporarily out of reach today Yet it is so eternally good that it is forever true

It may seem too good to be true But it's becoming true Right here Right now Before our very eyes Even when we are impatient Even when we are distracted Even when we are in the way It's becoming true every day

I've been asked how my soul is doing a few times. But I've never been asked if I have a soul. Seems to be an important question. Particularly since the answer seems so fundamental & consequential:

If I don't believe I have a soul, then what am I? If I do believe I have a soul, then what am I?

Maybe our answer to that question is more important than we realize. Of course isn't the same as yes.

I believe not only that I have a soul, but that you do too. But it very much seems you must believe for yourself for that truth to take hold. I pray that you do. Or at least that you will.

Truth matters It is good and right to seek truth It is good and right to love what is good and right

So, seek not to be reconciled to your own version of truth Instead, seek to be reconciled to the truth big enough to hold us all

And by doing so to experience a truth that does not cling to understanding But instead bathes in grace & mercy A truth that does not fear the future nor worry over the past But instead embraces the present unfolding moment A truth that does not insist or demand But instead flows in wisdom and curiosity A truth that does not only exist right now But will be true for eternity

Where might you be stuck in your own truth when the greater truth awaits?

Stumbling in the dark I didn't know what I didn't know I still don't So I synthesis knowing Convince myself of the most basic understanding as truth Insufficient as it may be, my maps got me this far

I am the world's most important insignificant thing And so are you I know where I'm going even if I can't see the path that gets me there Care to join me?

My identity is static and unchanging in Christ Yet my personality changes with intention Sometimes by neglect Perhaps even by the wind I am wonderfully made by God who created the world I see And the world I can't see The truths I don't know that I don't know

I once heard a mystic say that God doesn't exist because God is greater than existence. Could it be that God created some greater part of me, the part I can't know that I didn't know? The part that is everything Holy and wholly God's precious child

My path unfolds in each moment through the miracle of presence Bound together in time by the mysteries of consciousness, memory, and awareness Pointing to an unknowable depth, incredible promise of grace, overwhelming presence of love Yet designed for me to access? Differentiated and accommodated to the simple steps of my feet, desire of my heart, seeking of a truth that can both define and lead me

God has a plan but it can't be read backwards Somehow it starts and ends with salvation in Christ Moves through space and time with the confusion and sins of our freewill Nudged gently by the Spirit Powered by Divine gifting as collectively heavenly as they are uniquely yours and mine

Crashing against the rails violently God calls us forward yet we run blindly, sometimes rebeliously, side to side Pain becomes our warning system Pain not from God but pain from our distance from God's generous plan and design If we work hard enough or drift listlessly enough we can leap and fall away suddenly Our sudden distance from truth and light jars us into discomfort Not to make comfort the goal but to realize that there is a certain good and godly comfort on the Divine path It's not a comfort of flesh and details It's a comfort of transcendence and context Why would God end all suffering When we choose it so often And in choosing it we have a chance to wake up and see through it to the truth beyond our capacity to understand

Holy Spirit dances between the perfect eternal will of God and the fallen rhythm of my free will To a music too heavenly for me to comprehend But when I listen carefully Just for a moment There is a glimpse of eternity I witness a vision of a world illumined and illumining As it was and ever shall be

Even if I can only see it for a moment An infinitesimal rift into the eternal Even if I spend my whole life babbling like a fool about the unseen that I didn't see

Because somehow I caught a glimpse The unknown I can't know Yet by God's grace I can follow The mysteries that created me That I call Father Even if I can't see Him That I call Mother Even if I have no memory of touching Her That I call Jesus Even if His love and grace and mercy is beyond my capacity Come, Holy Spirit! Let my request align my simple will with your perfect plans As it was and ever shall be Amen