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                         %COLLUSIONS FALSE PROPHETS 851127

     The ability of a novelist,  artist,  or politician to
elicit belief depends more on what people want to  believe
than  on  what  is really possible.   If  people  want  to
believe in impossible dreams and fantasies, then it is not
difficult  to help them achieve that belief---in spite  of
much contrary evidence.  Hope springs foolishly eternal if
enough people encourage each other when prophecy fails and
people  make great sacrifices to maintain their beliefs in
the face of that failure.

     True  prophets tell the story straight and when  true
prophets  fail false prophets rise up and  tell  fantasies
which  are  not  in  keeping  with  the  possibilities  of
finitude---and their prophesies fail and the people perish
for  lack of true prophesy.   False prophets  tell  people
what  they  want to hear.   True prophets tell  people  to
respect  their  finitude and deal with  it  realistically,
something  they do not want to hear.   Beware of  prophets
who tell people what they want to hear!  They probably are
not true prophets.

     True  prophets  bring good news which people  do  not
want  to  hear:    there is  fulfillment  and  meaning  in
honestly  dealing with finitude and imperfection with love
and  justice.   True prophets call for reconciliation  and
integration within the bounds of finitude.  False prophets
call   for  the  transcendence  of  finitude  through  the
knowledge of science,  good and evil.   False prophets say
there  are  no limits to human  possibilities---even  unto
eternal life and omniscience.  They gain respect of people
who  desire  to believe their ostensibly hopeful  message.
They do not have the power to make good on their promises.
They are not omnipotent.   They are not omniscient.   They
are  not  God's messengers.   They are alienated from  the
Ground of being.
                                                                                                                               
                         (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in      
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                    (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)  
                                                                                                                               
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