Oahspe Study and Faithism
FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY
Freedom is the basis of the resurrections, says God, according to Oahspe. And now in this seventh era, man is given complete freedom to choose his life.
Oahspe, Book of Knowledge; 37/3.17.
God said: Before man was mature, he was commanded thus and so, but now, O man, you are cast upon your own judgment. I shall no longer restrain you from your freedom.
Note that this is God who is speaking, not Jehovih! This implies that Jehovih is not bound to forego restraining man from his freedom. But in respect to both God and Jehovih, neither is to blame if man brings darkness and misery upon himself and others by abusing his own freedom.
The following citation is God's admonition to man regarding his Freedom, for with it comes Accountability:
Oahspe, Book of Judgment; 32/21.1-38.
God said: Hear the words of your God, O man. In the ancient times, I came as a father to a child, dictating to man. Now that you have attained to comprehensive judgment, Jehovih has inspired you to liberty, and to think for yourself, and to consider what is best for you.
And your God does not come now as a dictator, but as your elder brother, with ample experience. And I say to you, like your professors in the college to their graduated classes: Behold, you are free; go your way, and no longer hope to hold your God accountable for your behavior. For with your freedom, you also attain to responsibility.
Do not think that because I emancipate you from the God, Lords and Saviors of the ancients; And from the bibles and sacred books of the ancients; and from the ancient commandments and injunctions, that, as a consequence, you are not bound in fidelity to your Creator. You are bound more now than before; for you shall not, from this time forward, throw the responsibility of your conduct onto this man or that man, or onto any God, Lord, Savior, holy book, bible, priest or church decree. So that your fidelity to your Creator and to your fellow-man, in righteousness, love and good works, shall be the most sacred study of your life.
And your example from day to day shall be a perpetual register of your accountability; truly you shall be a living sermon before men and before Jehovih. And where your behavior detracts from the grades of your fellow-men, you shall be bound in the behavior of those who copy after you; and for the shortness you bring them into, you shall suffer for them in time to come.
Beware, O man, for this rule applies to all the generations of men: that, by sudden emancipation from an old condition, man runs into another extreme, from which spring libertinism and licentiousness. For which reason, you shall proclaim before the multitude the responsibilities of the new condition, rather than try to win their applause by proclaiming their emancipation from the old.
Because I have opened the heavens, the spirits of the dead return to you, and commune in your household; do not flatter yourself that the whole of the Father's kingdoms are revealed to you, and that the angels who converse with you, can make plain the dominions of the higher heavens.
Many of these shall return to you, saying: There is no hell, no satan, no God, no Lord, or anything in this world to make you afraid. For, in truth, the hell they looked for, they did not find; nor did they find a God, Lord, or Savior, such as they had hoped or expected to find. And for this reason, such angels are jubilant for the time being. Nevertheless, a time will come to them also, when they shall tire of dwelling on the earth, in the places of their mortal kin; and they shall seek resurrection into more exalted places, where wisdom and purity dwell. Then, indeed, they shall begin to comprehend the ways of the kingdoms of the Almighty. And they will cry out in pain; pleading for pity, compassion and help. And after that, when they come to you, they will also proclaim, even as your God now does, that the commandments must be fulfilled:
● To love the Creator above all else;
● Return good for evil;
● Do good to others, with all your wisdom and strength;
● Abnegate self in all respects; Making yourself a servant to your Creator;
● Owning or possessing nothing under the sun;
● And look into your soul, to judge yourself constantly, to discover where and how you shall do the most good;
● Complaining not against Jehovih for anything that happens;
● Making your neighbor rejoice in you;
● Making yourself affiliative;
● Without self-righteousness above anyone;
● Being a producer of something good;
● And learn to rejoice in your own life, with singing, dancing, and a jovial heart, paying due respect to rites and ceremonies, so that all things may be orderly before Jehovih. ||
Remember the words of your God, O man, when angels or men advise you against these commandments, they have little to offer you that will promote the harmony of the state.
Consider, therefore, that whatever promotes the greatest harmony and wisdom within the state, has also been discovered and is in practice in the higher heavens. And given the case proven to you, that a state divided against itself cannot stand, even so are the heavens above not divided, but as a unit.
Judge, then, O man, when one spirit comes to you preaching one thing, and another spirit comes to you preaching another thing, their contradicting words are proof that they have not yet entered the harmonious heavens of your God. And it is because of the disharmony of your own soul, that you are open to these conflicting messengers. This is infidelity against the All Person, Jehovih. And such conflicting spirits deny the Person and the Unity of the Almighty.
Do not let your emancipation from the bondage of the doctrines of the ancients lead you into infidelity against Jehovih.
In this study we examine the idea of responsibility and freedom, beyond what is discussed in the above chapter which describes freedom and responsibility very well.
The Beast Man vs the Es Man
The animal man, that is, the beast in man, urges man's spirit to choose freedom; whereas the Faithist, that is, the Es in man, urges man's spirit to choose responsibility. We can see the former, for example, in situations where a beast of the field or forest is restricted and it seeks to escape to its freedom, and failing that, pines inconsolably for its lost freedom.
On the other hand, we can see the response of the Faithist or Faithist-oriented person in the case given in Oahspe of the God of heaven and earth who, when the ethereans came to deliver his kingdom, requested to be put to work; that is, he and his hosts were desirous of accepting responsibility. But the delivering God, Ah'shong, understanding the sentiment, responded that Jehovih's retiring God must not be humiliated. (07/3.20-25.) In other words, Ah'shong revealed to the young God of the earth a wiser way of fulfilling his desire to be of responsible service --- and that was a greater responsibility to the weal and resurrection of the whole.
It can also be seen from experience as well as being taught and demonstrated in Oahspe, that seeking to serve Jehovih by fulfilling His commandments will result in more freedom. This holds true today even as it held true throughout history. Thus, for example:
Oahspe, Book of Divinity; 22/2.21.
God said: You who are one with the Divine law, are free from the law; but they who reject me and my kingdom are bound by the law.
Book of Sue; 12/6.15.
Hear the judgment of your Creator, which is that when [you have fulfilled your responsibility], then on that same day you shall be promoted. ONLY THEN CAN YOU HAVE FREEDOM OF SOUL.
Here we see that there are types of freedom. One can have freedom to choose the way of Jehovih or one can choose to go the way of self. If a person chooses Jehovih and serves Him by fulfilling His commandments, we learn from Oahspe, but also from experience, that such a person becomes increasingly free from Jehovih's restrictions. God said: Whoever lives with Jehovih is free from Jehovih. (32/35.1.)
Fulfilling the Commandments brings Freedom of Soul
And so, freedom of soul can only come about through service to Jehovih by fulfilling His commandments and hearkening to His Voice and Everpresence. And that requires accepting responsibility --- that is, freedom of soul comes to an individual (or group) as a result of being responsible for fulfilling Jehovih's commands. And as everyone shall discover sooner or later, the Faithist Discipline is THE pathway to that greater freedom and responsibility. All other paths shall ultimately return to it. As Osire said: It lies in the power of each and every soul to attune himself with the All Person, which is freedom. (18/2.17.) And Oahspe, being the fruit of our elder brothers and sisters of tens of thousands even hundreds of thousands of years experience, indicates that attuning the soul to Jehovih is done through adhering to the Faithist Discipline.
Types of Freedom
The self can also obtain a freedom of sorts by accepting responsibility. For instance, in the uzian system and order, in general the higher up that people are (that is, the more responsibility they accept), the greater the freedom they do experience. Chief Executive Officers of corporations, for example, have many more resources at their command and so, have wider scope of freedom. They also take on, knowingly or not, higher spiritual responsibility that requires reciprocity between the responsibility holder and all who are affected by his dominion, e.g., employees, board of directors, consumers, etc. For instance, those who, without righteous reciprocity, enjoy freedom accrued from other's labor, must fulfill in the bondage of the lower heavens.
There is also a different type of beastly freedom --- that which is allowed the beast by grace, that is, by the allowance (tolerance, leeway, slack, rules, limits, boundaries, etc.) of that government-kingdom-corporation-social order, etc., which oversees the beast (animal man). For instance legal, on-demand abortion may give young men and women freedom to terminate unwanted pregnancies, however, this freedom still carries a great spiritual price. Thus we see that by their authority, controlling institutions grant allowance for man's beast to manifest within the given social order.
Grace Freedom often does not directly lead to Soul Freedom, yet like any other type of freedom it always leads to responsibility. For a person is always bound by his or her decisions --- no exceptions...ever! Thus there is always responsibility --- not forgetting that in His infinite love and wisdom, the Creator provides ways and means for His children to accept and fulfill their responsibilities. Let the Faithists' decisions therefore be of love, wisdom, behaviors that provide for the resurrection of others, and charitable toward the shortcomings of others. This, so that we may thus bind our souls to Jehovih in works as well as in worship, prayer, rites and ceremonies.
A final consideration here touches upon extremes. If a person has too much responsibility heaped upon him or herself, then such a person longs for freedom. Governments of man, for example, have been known to be overturned because they placed too many burdens of responsibility upon its people; and these longed to be free from the overly burdensome nature of its system and order.
On the other hand, too much freedom without responsibility, can impel one to seek out responsibility. Take the example of someone in the uzian system who has unexpectedly lost his job through no fault of his own. Even with ample funds, he or she after a short season seeks to find labor, that is, to be in a position of responsibility. It seems we require it for our spirit to feel worth. Another example is retirees, who rest and recreate for a span, but then desire to put their talents to productive use. That is, they desire to be responsible for accomplishing something. And so we notice a willingness, even eagerness, to accept responsibility among those who have too much freedom.
So in summary, it would seem that man is best suited to a happy and suitable medium between freedom and responsibility. That is to say, so long as a person remains desirous of accepting the responsibility Jehovih gives to him or her, and to the extent that such a person fulfills that, so will he or she receive commensurate freedom of Jehovih's kingdoms and freedom within his own soul. And yet there is a trap in thinking that being such a “moderate” man is the safe road or even the best road. Consider the following scenario:
Oahspe, Book of Knowledge; (37/6.23.
And here newborn in spirit is the moderate man, who, by industry, earned a handsome house and raised up sons and daughters creditable to the state. He is in his home still; heaven is too narrow for him. He says, I would argue with Jehovih that I do not have my due share of heaven! Did I not give alms daily: the poor man a crust, and a poor woman a penny? When did I pass a blind man and not give? But no one answered him. The chord of his voice, being as narrow as his orientation, fell barren as if talking to the wind. Again and again he repeats his complaint; but no one takes him by the hand, and he remains helplessly in his own home, which he asked Jehovih to help him build for his heirs.
So, if the answer to Freedom and Responsibility is not necessarily the moderate approach, then what is wiser and higher? The answer is to serve Jehovih with everything you have. For, the truth of the matter is that the more one chooses responsibility to Jehovih as compared to freedom for self, so comes even greater freedom to such a soul and the person inhabiting it. This builds to such an extent that it can seem to those of lower grade that such people have found a way to extreme freedom, which some might call total freedom. And in fact, they have. Oahspe refers to this condition as emancipation and those of the emancipated grades. They are emancipated because they have accepted responsibility to fulfill Jehovih's commandments (established system and order) as well as His commands (emergent instructions).
As to the alternative to serving Jehovih, which is the accepting of responsibility in service to self, Oahspe provides the following example:
Oahspe, Book of Knowledge; 37/6.20.
A farmer is dead. It was his want to rise early and toil all day; to ponder much on the fruit of his labor and to glory in his freedom. For himself and his family he lived; to himself and his family Jehovih gives him. In his house and his fields his spirit walks about; he knows no heaven or hell. As a weed that is worthless to itself and the world, so is his spirit, and as the weed does not know the field that brought it forth, neither does he know Jehovih's heaven. Nor can he go anywhere except from field to field, and back to his house, day and night. He lives for nothing higher, and Jehovih gave him that which he desired.
So, let us resolve to serve the Creator, to place Him first and foremost in our thoughts. He knows our souls and will provide according to immaculate wisdom. Let us trust in His Love for us, but let us also take up the responsibility to fulfill His commandments for this season of the earth, chief of which are to be herbivorous men and women of peace; to turn from the four heads of the beast; to worship only Jehovih; to separate ourselves from the dominion of the beast; and to do good works.
Freedom and Responsibility According to the Grades of Man
So now let's look at how freedom and responsibility are related to man's grade. Consider the following statement taken from Oahspe: Freedom Stands as the Foundation of the Resurrections.
The animal and self within man desires freedom above all else. Jehovih created him that way so that his desire for freedom would lead him to resurrection. Because man enters the resurrections at grade one, which is on the earth --- the animal grade, his demands for freedom are the greatest at that time. As man progresses in grade he becomes willing to sacrifice some of his freedom for the sake of others, usually his family or friends. Although when in the lowest grades he reluctantly sacrifices, he becomes less reluctant as he rises toward grade 33. But as to responsibility, it often has to be imposed upon him, sometimes by circumstances, sometimes by the social order, sometimes by man's government, and sometimes by his loved ones. He begins to fulfill his responsibilities as he experiences and observes the consequences of his choices; and it is only as he approaches grade 33 that responsibility begins to be sometimes desirable to him/her.
From grade 33 to 66, man has matured from demanding freedom and is changing to a preference for freedom. This he does because he is in association with others, usually loved ones, to whom he will sacrifice his own personal freedom and convenience for their sake and for the sake of the family/fraternity/group. Meanwhile, he begins to willingly accept responsibility without complaint and even seek it out at times, especially as he rises above grade 50 and reaches toward grade 66.
From grade 66 to 99, at the lower range of this span, man has essentially turned from seeking to establish his personal freedom or even family/fraternity freedom, and instead seeks freedom for the greatest number; moreover he increasingly accepts more responsibility as he moves toward grade 99, for his growing love and concern for the greater number inspires him to work in closer union with the All Responsible, Jehovih. Those of these higher grades of 66 to 99 increasingly understand the reality that service to others increases not only their own happiness and freedom, but especially increases that of others in their growth toward Jehovih.
Recall that Freedom was the foundation of the resurrections. Yet we could also say that its antipode is also true. Consider the statement: RESPONSIBILITY STANDS AS THE PINNACLE OF THE RESURRECTIONS. Such a statement may seem to the lower grades to be a foolish statement, yet Jehovih Himself, being the All Highest, is ALL RESPONSIBILITY. For He gave Himself all away for the benefit of His creation, giving them freedom, especially man (mortals and angels). And just as parents delight in the responsibility of rearing their children, so Jehovih-Mi delights in the responsibility of providing for His children's eternal resurrection. Which means that in front of man, stands an infinity of resurrections; their existence, subtlety, glory and comprehensiveness being veiled from us except for the few next steps ahead.
And while Jehovih holds the ultimate responsibility for our eternal resurrection, yet, are we not inspired to emulate Jehovih? Shall we not be like Him and accept full responsibility both for whatsoever we are and for whatsoever our relationship is to Jehovih and His commandments?
All Oahspe references are from the modern language edition: Oahspe Standard Edition 2007
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