Give up the game. Know that you are playing and quarreling while war rages around you. Allow yourself to be affected by the presence of spiritual outliers and ask for the desire to be drawn towards the purity and peace God has given them, for these are the weapons you need to truly find freedom.
There have always been outcasts. Those cut away and put out of mind. Those who have sorrowfully resigned themselves to the lie they’ve been fed about their own dignity, which they bury deep inside in the face of scorn and cruel despair. This is not about those on the edge of society as measured materially, culturally, ethically, or sexually, or in fact, any of the myriad ways the mass of secular society has ordained as being qualities worthy of contributing to one’s social identity and political worth. As worthy as they are, we do not discuss those poor souls here, dear reader.
This is not about outcasts, but outliers.
What’s the distinction? One has been severed, the other is yet attached. One is firmly rooted in the metaphysical substrate, the other is adrift. There is a kind of gravitational quality to those who exist on the spiritual margins, in the wilderness between the games of society and the ground of being.
Statistically, outliers affect the mean. They cause the centre of mass to be pulled in their direction. They provide shape and direction to the formless bulk. They exist to draw the heavy mass of society towards purity of spirit.
Prophets have always walked in the wilderness. They are not ‘influencers’ who merely cause society to undulate within the same sphere, throwing money this way and that. Spiritual outliers cause the entire game to freeze, and pay attention.
Distractions consume society. They eat and plunder our souls and yet we are addicted to them doing so. We believe we are in control, yet we are being eaten alive by the social games we have created. We hurt each other because of them and we hurt ourselves, all the while believing we will not become one of the outcasts. We believe we are better than them because we have remained agile. We have so far avoided its poisoned arrows, blind to those around us being targeted and taken out. The spiritual war is real, and it has moved online.
We claim to be free to choose whatever we desire, and to act out these desires with whoever is willing to consent, so long as no one else is harmed. We think nothing of the acid our choices rain down on ourselves. We convince ourselves with the mantra of rights and freedoms, and yet we are spiritually addicted. Satan drinks from our hearts and tears away our very souls.
The spiritual outlier exhibits no metaphysical chaos. They walk humbly in the knowledge that they rely on God for everything they are. They are masters of discipline and lovers of virtue. They exude a grace not their own. They shine a light that either attracts or repulses. They call for the game to stop and for people to desire love to come and be healed. Their focus is on the war, where ours should be. They wish for us to be prepared in love and holiness so that we can take our place in this war, with a company of angels, fighting on the side of God. There is only one solution to the chaos and distraction, spite and pride. That solution is Christ who has assured the victory.
Spiritual outliers are planted by God into the metaphysical substrate so firmly they cannot be moved by the affronting gale. The onslaught of the raging polity is empty, distracted as they are. They are but chaos and rushing air. All the while God is tending to those who have been cast aside. He breathes dignity into them and restores them to life.
Spiritual outliers, by their very existence, cannot be ignored. Distracted as we allow ourselves to be, we are nevertheless drawn ever so slightly in their direction, which is towards God. We are a hulking mass adrift without propulsion; the spiritual outliers God places on the metaphysical edges are our anchors, chief of whom is Christ.
Give up the game. Know that you are playing and quarreling while war rages around you. Allow yourself to be affected by the presence of spiritual outliers and ask for the desire to be drawn towards the purity and peace God has given them, for these are the weapons you need to truly find freedom.
Christ Himself has come into the world to avenge and save the lost. Vengeance belongs to God and yet His mercy endures forever. Give up your distractions, live into your vocation and take up your spiritual arms. By the power and grace of Christ, the true King and Lord, become one of the outliers.
Peace be with you.
