Individualism and Collectivism:
in its religious and secular form.
by
Dean Gotcher
By merging the two, i.e., doing God's will and man's will at the same time, making man "good," i.e., at-one-with God—as man, doing "good" works for God, becomes "good" (revealing the "good" that is within him)—as is reflected in Gnostic (dialectic) 'reasoning' (which is "the" lie, since there is no good in man, i.e., only God is good)—"That which is Below corresponds to that which is Above, and that which is Above, corresponds to that which is Below, to accomplish the miracles of the One Thing." (The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus, translated by Dennis W. Hauck) "The Hermetic tradition was both moderate and flexible, offering a tolerant philosophical religion, a religion of the (omnipresent) mind, a purified perception of God, the cosmos, and the self [making God in man's image], and much positive encouragement for the spiritual seeker, all of which the student could take anywhere." (Tobias Churton, The Golden Builders: Alchemists, Rosicrucian's, and the First Freemasons.)—man is deceived into believing he is doing God, the Father's will, when he is in fact doing his own will instead, even doing his will (pleasing the flesh) in "the name of the Lord," deceiving all who follow him in his deceitful and wicked ways.
Martin Luther understood the use of Gnostic writings (Aristotelian philosophy; Nicomachean Ethics), i.e., dialectic 'reasoning' (what he called "dialectic fantasy's") in the praxis of corrupting of the Church (making it at-one-with the world). Luther wrote: "Aristotle condemns us. In short, philosophers know nothing about God the creator and man made of a lump of earth. Augustine says that he found all things in the Platonic books except this one thing, that the Word was made flesh. But Hermese Trismegistus composed that book for Plato. That book reached Augustine and he was deceived by its persuasion. [foot note concerning Trismegistus, an Egypto-Hellenic, i.e., Gnostic theologian. (Augustine has an extensive discussion of Trismegistus in the City of God, viii, 22-27)]." (Luther's Works: Vol. 34, Career of the Reformer: IV, p.143) Jesuitism, based upon Hermetic 'reasoning,' i..e, dialectic 'reasoning' brought "self" 'justification,' i.e., man's opinion"—the dialoguing of opinions to a consensus—back into the "church," engendering collectivisms, i.e., "mother church," countering the aim of the Protestant reformationists—to bring the individual back under the authority of God and God's Word above all authority, as reflected in phrases such as "priesthood of all believers," engendering individualism, the result of a father responding to each of his children according to their personal behavior, whether "good," i.e., obeying him, being rewarded or "evil," i.e., disobeying him, being punished, engendering individualism, under the father/Father (God). Marxists understand the same structure of thought, i.e., Catholicism, although "religious," as being the same structure of thought as theirs, secular, needing to bring the individual back into "the fold" for him to be his "self," i.e., in order for him to "know his self" again. As the Marxist, Max Horkheimer, in his book Vernunft and Selbsterhaltung (Reasoning and Self-preservation) explained it: "Protestantism was the strongest force in the extension of cold rational individualism."
Karl Marx put it this way: "It is not individualism [the child being personally held accountable for his actions before his father as a man is personally held accountable for this thoughts and actions before God] that fulfills the individual, on the contrary it destroys him. Society [the child's/man's carnal nature, i.e. "human nature," i.e. man's "self interests" of the 'moment' (that which all men have in common, i.e., can find identity in)] is the necessary framework through which freedom [from the father's/Father's authority] and individuality [to be "of and for self"] are made realities." (Karl Marx in John Lewis, The Life and Teachings of Karl Marx) The "Protestant Church," through the praxis of dialoguing opinions to a consensus (dialectic 'reasoning') has become Catholic again, basing "truth" and the "church" upon "Reasoning," i.e., human 'reasoning,' i.e., dialectic 'reasoning,' i.e., the opinions of men or a man—placing a man between God and man, i.e., between you and the Father. The Lord came that we might have fellowship directly with His Heavenly Father, as well as with Him, with no man in between. "[A]nd truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." 1 John 1:3 "And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven." Matthew 23:9 While we are to come along side one another, encouraging one another in our walk with the Lord, i.e., doing the Father's will, we are not to come between the other person and the Lord, making the Father's will subject to ours—making the other person subject to (dependent upon) us, turning to us, instead of Him for the answers.
As Luther warned: "Miserable Christians, whose words and faith still depend on the interpretations of men and who expect clarification from them! This is frivolous and ungodly. The Scriptures are common to all, and are clear enough in respect to what is necessary for salvation and are also obscure enough for inquiring minds. . . let us reject the word of man." (Luther's Works. V. 32, p. 217)
"So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God." Romans 14:12
© Institution for Authority Research, Dean Gotcher 2017