Think Again!

Chapter 5: Pillaging Schemes #7-12 • 57

Feels Trapped by Limits Preservation defines life in terms of limitations: the heavens are closed, and the sky is like an inverted bowl trapping us in. People feel cooped up, living and dying in an existence where only the visible is real. Feeling enslaved, they believe they can never be free. Aldous Huxley observed, “Most men and women lead lives at the worst so painful, at the best so monotonous, poor and limited that the urge to escape, the longing to transcend themselves if only for a few moments, is and has always been one of the principal appetites of the soul.” 26 And Thoreau lamented, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” 27 Despises Mystery Preservation demands clear solutions and despises mysteries. It doesn’t believe in spiritual battles, in problems having a cosmic origin. Therefore, preservation has a great mind, but has no soul. It is absent bold leadership, heroic battles, or risky initiatives. In financial terms, preservation prefers safe accounting methods and balanced ledgers rather than bold, aggressive venture capital initiatives. Instead of investing in a risky return on investment, preservation takes what is given and hides it in the ground for safekeeping. Protects Status Quo Preservation desires to give the impression that the empire they control is universally accepted, everything is fine, the situation is hunky-dory, and they should retain their reign of power forever. But the people of God consistently push back against this kind of status quo because we live in a fallen world that needs to be set right. Life in this world is not as it should be – not even close. Change, and big change, needs to come. The status quo must be challenged and the empire exposed.