COGITO, ERGO SUM - I think, therefore I am.

Then I do....... and show you who I really am.

In the vernacular, the point is that Actions speak louder than words or thoughts. When we put our words into actions we either manifest integrity or hypocrisy. Sometimes, some people, cannot tell the difference.

Which takes us into the other human paradox, where two opposing thoughts can be held at the same time. Modern psychology would say and does say, this is an important skill. Perhaps and perhaps not, particularly when the opposing thought or belief runs entirely counter to everything the individual says he or she believes. Paradox writ large - I love my fellow man except you and all your children, who I want killed. Real wrath of God stuff. Or is it man wishing s/he was God and playing that game unconsciously?

Like the genocide inflicted by Israel in Occupied Palestine. I have been astonished and indeed shocked, at the number of Christians, or those claiming to be Christians, who support this evil and even promote it. With one breath they espouse the teachings of Jesus, which are admirable indeed, and in the next breath they are supporting Israel as it commits one of the most bestially savage colonial genocides in history. No atrocity is so great it can raise condemnation from such Christians.

Kill the little children! Sure.

Kill the doctors and journalists. Sure.

Do unto men, women and children in Palestine and the Middle East what I would never want done unto me or those I love, or indeed anyone else. Sure.

Rape, torture, murder, steal, dispossess, subjugate. Sure.

What is going on? Any reading of Jesus, and I follow no religion but have studied many, makes it very clear that if Jesus the Christ, came back at this point he would smack the Israelis and Jews very hard and smack the Christians supporting them, even harder. But, since Jesus is not likely to make an appearance it behoves all those who believe in morality, justice and common human decency, to dig deep into the Christ consciousness which exists in all humans and do the job for the absent Jesus.

And the first step is to try to figure out just what is going on. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, “Cogito, ergo sum, dictum was coined by the French mathematician and philosopher René Descartes in his Discourse on Method (1637) as a first step in demonstrating the attainability of certain knowledge. It is the only statement to survive the test of his methodic doubt. The statement is indubitable, as Descartes argued in the second of his six Meditations on First Philosophy (1641), because even if an all-powerful demon were to try to deceive him into thinking that he exists when he does not, he would have to exist in order for the demon to deceive him. Therefore, whenever he thinks, he exists.”

So, because we can think it means we exist. But the issue here is not about existence, but about what we do while we exist and helping to make the world a better place is where thoughts become actions. To THINK is to begin a process of creation and to DO is to make creation manifest.

So why would someone think one thing and do another? More importantly, why would someone devote their life and beliefs to the teachings of a religious figure, like Jesus, and then betray them, not once, but twice, three times and more, Is it a test?

As Jesus is said to have said to Peter, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.”

Well, by comparison that was mere child’s play when we have people cheering on the murder of children and betraying a thousand times, the teachings they profess to follow. And here is the thing, we know that the Christian Fundo Fanatics see the slaughter in the Middle East as leading the way to Armageddon, when everyone but them will die, including all Jews, and they will do a fairy floss float up to Heaven and eternal glory, resting in the arms of Jesus.

Hang on, having betrayed the teachings of Jesus, how much eternal glory and rest do they think they will get? But they do not think and that is the point. Does that mean they do not exist? To some degree, yes.

To be a fully functioning human being we need to think and we need coherent thoughts to direct our actions. Perhaps the problem is that where people are brainwashed into belief, and that happens in all religions to some people, they lose the capacity to think. Clearly this happens more to some than others because not all Christians support the genocide in Palestine, or indeed any injustice and many fight hard against such wrongs. Indeed, Christians have often led the way and created the path to greater justice in general, working for others, not just Christians.

It would be interesting to find out if Christians who support Israel regardless of the atrocities they commit, have stronger allegiance to the Old Testament and really do believe the Judaic fantasies about ancient Israel and the rights of Jews. But, since such allegiances are as often as not unconscious, the individuals may not even know themselves well enough to be aware of, let alone admit what really motivates their thinking. Or rather, what motivates their belief systems since clearly not much thinking is involved.

Perhaps even more strange is that I know Catholics, sometimes by omission, but also by commission who are on the side of Israel and its colonial genocidal rampage. Really good, decent, intelligent people. Well, most of the time anyway. Just not when it comes to the Palestinians, or for that matter, the Lebanese, Syrians, Iranians or pretty much any Muslims, or Arabs where they take a decidedly Old Testament approach with lots of smiting, destroying, suffering and cruelty.

Is that what it is about? After decades of subtle and not so subtle Zionist-Israeli-Jewish propaganda in the Western world in particular, fomenting Fear, the biggie, and hatred of Muslims, has the rot settled deeply into even the most Christian of hearts? It would seem so. There was great sympathy and compassion for the Ukrainians, at least at the start, before the novelty wore off, in ways that did not happen for the Palestinians. The fact that some Ukrainians are also Muslims did not seem to enter consciousness, but few would be aware of that reality anyway, whether Christian or Atheist. Perhaps those Muslims slipped the consciousness net because they were not Arabs. More like us, Europeans, not looking like OTHERS. Creepy how they can slip through like that!

Pastor Chuck Balwin is a fundamentalist Christian but he does not support the evil that is Israel and he writes about the need for Christian ethics in regard to it, frequently. His latest is titled The Genocide Generation and is worth reading.

He writes: As followers of Christ, we are reminded in 1 Corinthians 12:26, “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it.” The genocide in Gaza is far more than a geopolitical crisis; it is a deeply human tragedy that beckons us, as Christians, to respond with compassion, prayer and unwavering action. Behind every news headline lies a story of heartbreak — a mother’s desperate tears, a father’s unspoken fears, children who long for the simple comfort of a voice on the other end of a call.

So, the backstory for some Christians is the teachings of Jesus, but, presenting position is fear and hatred of Muslims, or at least a selective application of those teachings. And a lot of the more orthodox Christians do have a soft spot for Israel. God knows why. Well, God probably does, but again, this runs counter to Christian teachings which have always required followers to care for everyone, not just Christians. Sure, often hoping to convert, but, not always and not as a requirement. Christianity has long required believers to care for others.

And regardless of whether we are Christians or not, much of the best strictures of Christian teachings underpin our Civil Law systems.

Philippians 2:4

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Ephesians 4:32

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

John 13:34-35

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

1 John 3:17-18

But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

Nowhere does it say, EXCEPT FOR MUSLIMS OR ARABS. Nowhere does it say it is fine to murder children so they do not grow up to be adults resisting your occupation, not even in the fine print, if there was such a thing.

The question then is, have many of us, been unconsciously brainwashed through decades of media and internet propaganda to fear, even a little bit, Muslims, Arabs, Others, and to hate them, even a little bit? We just notice it more in Christians. Perhaps that is the lesson for them and for us.

Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you.

And perhaps even more succinctly addressed by the great psychiatrist, Carl Jung, and I paraphrase:

That which we condemn in others is that which we deny in ourselves.

So, the failings of some Christians, is a light which shines into our own hearts and conscience, reminding us how easy it is to think one thing and do another and to fail whatever principles, religious or human, we espouse. Or it can be.

There is no doubt the world is a better place for everyone when we embrace our shared humanity and defend principles of justice and common human decency. This is why religions arose in the first place, regardless of how corrupted they may have become in certain places and at certain times, they sought to create a better and more ordered world.

All religions have similar teachings, although Christianity is perhaps unique in believing that caring for others means everyone, not just followers of the religion. Caring for everyone creates a connected society and a connected society is a more stable society and a more stable society is a more functional society. In a functional society everyone thrives and experiences a better quality of life, regardless of their challenges. The human mind works best when it has familiarity in its world and for that to happen, we need connections, stability and functional societies.

To deem ourselves as one, particularly if we do so in the name of supremacism, and another as other, is to create disconnection, which creates instability which creates dysfunction.

In a world where, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, was law, there would be no war because there could be no war.