In Thy Light, We Shall See Light
I need my WWJD wristband back
Oxford Languages defines “liberty” as this:
“The state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views.”
“Love conquers all things, so we too shall yield to love.” - Virgil
Trust the process.
“To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child.” - Cicero
History repeats.
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word LIBERTY?
Freedom. My heart, mind, soul and strength.
So powerful is the word that I am disturbed by the amount of control over our lives. Especially in a “free nation.”
I’m a bit of a rebel.
As some of you might know, Substack has a lot of technical problems. Or are they problems? Are the “Artificial Intelligence” (A.I.) robots completely in control and everything is fine? I pulled this piece from Lighthouse in May because I panicked over the control. I felt that my very name was bad for Lighthouse and causing Alexander’s work not to be seen in the feeds.
(So I calmed down and completely rewrote this piece)
I am still pondering what liberty is in the context of everyday life. It’s deeper than the Oxford definition.
Liberty lives inside of us.
And A. I. has been unleashed into every facet of our lives. The absolute worst side of the digital era is upon us. The love of money and power. Hand in hand, it corrupts absolutely.
But every time I follow the money I am drawn back to God, trusting Him a little more, discerning my life a little deeper. Clinging.
There’s no escape hatch to Authentic Land (well… there is. Drop out, keep writing/creating and throw your stuff into a box in the attic. You might be found someday. Do it anyways)
For several months I have been separated from my community of friends on Substack by about 95%. It’s a very strange black hole where I see 5% of my Substack “family” — which I made over the course of the last few years. Not everyone is experiencing this - but many are. Something technical changed and there is no speaking to a repetitive robot about it. We are being spoon fed nothing but the temptation of new subscribes in the app feed — some of us feel our accounts have been flagged — while others are scared to make a visual change on their website for fear content and subscribers will disappear. The stories are growing and they are quite remarkable.
Bots are deep cleaning our digital lives in the name of callous efficiency and bottom lines. For example, a few popular car rental agencies have put A.I. in charge of reservations. Be forewarned when you contently return your rental with a full tank of gas.. Before you drove away in that car, a tiny scratch (or two) no human eye could detect, might end up costing you.
Those in power have been slowly handing our everyday lives over to artificial bots and scams — and it’s no wonder. Humans have a history of giving their liberty away making it easy for power to cash in.
And what about here? with writing? I’m choosing to trust Him for “that one person meant to hear” what I’m saying.
I’m not saying be quiet though. We just don’t have to implode with frustration. We know what we are seeing and feeling is true. Innovative eras come with adjustments and new royalty. Yet, the new Digital Oppression Era (I named it) hiding under the gilded glitz of flashy noise feels particularly evil.
My husband told me a story about a friend’s mom. A grandma, alone, when a call came through from what sounded like her teenage grandson crying, saying he got in a terrible car accident. This threw the entire family upside-down a few weeks ago. My stomach churned at the thought. They realized what was happening — before the blackmail began.
It was Artificial Intelligence imitating the grandson’s voice.
I have obsessed over what is happening here on Substack. Everywhere. I am sensitive and way too technical. I can see through it as if I am inside of this tech highway begging God to make it stop. It’s disturbing and gnaws at your “just fix-it” mind.
People have used the evil side of digital to lure vulnerable children for a long time. It lurks on the lonely elderly often robbing them of their life savings. And now, unrestrained A.I. is thriving on victims of recent fires and flood disasters. Listening to a Texas sheriff explain how bad it is, while trying to mitigate a gut-wrenching catastrophic flood, makes the A.I. bots carelessly fiddling with our Substack accounts look harmless.
“Of all men’s miseries the bitterest is this: to know so much and to have control over nothing” ― Herodotus, The Histories
If it feels like everything is selling out from under you — it is.
— except God and our inherited liberty — the freedom to think.
Recently, I was in proximity of a young elementary aged child, shouting how much he hated America’s president. I imagined the parent bad-mouthing other people too. It left me uncomfortable. Children should never be taught to hate. Period. In my last piece , about the Fourth of July, I highlighted a story from The Free Press and was reminded of this child. Teaching fear and division is not only controlling, it’s life altering. Teach them the Serenity Prayer. Allow them the liberty to question, investigate and think for themselves. I thank God my parents raised me this way — and we our own children.
Even in America — liberty defined comes at a cost. It is our most precious gift from God. We should defend her in the light of truth always.
“Nothing is easier than self-deceit” — as Demosthenes said.
To end…
In 1896, Charles Sheldon’s religious fiction novel, “In His Steps” begs the question (in the full title) What Would Jesus Do? the suggestion of a simple human movement. A challenge to carry with us throughout our lives, which made a comeback in the 1990’s. It still ranks as one of the best selling books of all time, with over 50 million copies sold.
Liberty, to me, is the capacity to see through His eyes.
“In Thy Light, We Shall See Light“ - Psalm 39
Personally, I need my WWJD wristband back.
“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light” - Plato
I’m in awe. I also love the classics and have a million things to discuss! Oh this is a delicious journey.
I also deleted things around that time… and thought the same.
Wow, Deborah. That gives one a lot to chew on. In my day job, I work at pushing back against evil AI, and what do I use? AI that is good, at least for now. It makes you think.