John Brodix Merryman Jr.
2 min readFeb 4, 2025

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What is going to happen will be a significant schism within Jewish culture, between those sucked into this vortex and those desperately trying to tiptoe around its edges.

The problem goes to the basic concept of monotheism. Quite simply, ideals are not absolutes.

The core codes, creeds, heroes, narratives at the center of every culture are ideals, while the universal is the elemental. So a spiritual absolute would be the essence of sentience, from which life rises, not an ideal of wisdom and judgement, from which it fell. The light shining through the film, than the stories playing out on it.

To the Ancients, gods were metaphors. Democracy and republicanism originated on pantheistic cultures.

Monotheism equated with monoculture. One people, one rule, one god. Ancient Israel was a monarchy. The Big Guy Rules. Like the religion.

Constantine adopted Christianity for the monotheism as the Empire came together, burying the pantheistic aspects in the Trinity.

The Catholic Church served as the eschatological basis for European monarchy. Divine right of kings, as opposed to consent of the governed.

When the West went back to popular forms of government, it required separation of church and state, culture and civics, morality and law.

Meanwhile Judaism has had 20 centuries of way too many shamans and no chieftains, leaving a bit of a diplomacy deficit and too many self referential feedback loops. aka, echo chambers.

Maybe it will be among those many Jews disenchanted by having their culture drug through the mud, basically to keep Bibi Netanyahu out of jail, who will be at the forefront of moving onto a bigger understanding of the world.

For Judaism, it is the team.

For Catholicism, it is the referees.

For Islam, it is the rulebook.

For Protestantism, it is the players.

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John Brodix Merryman Jr.
John Brodix Merryman Jr.

Written by John Brodix Merryman Jr.

Having an affair with life. It's complicated.

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