Converging Energy and the Blessings of the Hermit

I’ve been seeing a bunch of posts like this lately:

This is widespread across my YouTube subscriptions, and I’ve talked to a few author friends who feel the same way, either about content or just work in general.

I’m part of this. Prior to getting sick, I purposely took a step back from YouTube to focus on drafting a new book. I figured it was a natural time because it was summer and, more relevant to this post, I just wasn’t feeling enthusiastic about turning on the camera.

That lack of enthusiasm has persisted, and while getting an illness is a valid excuse, it’s one I almost never use to avoid work. I don’t take sick days. Even when I was coughing up all sorts of foul things, I was still dragging myself to my computer to write a few hundred words here and there. Even that enthusiasm has waned lately, though.

I don’t know what it is for Rossman or some of the other YouTubers I follow, but for me, it’s something significant. If you followed what I said a few weeks ago regarding de-platforming and censorship, you know that I do fully expect to get banned from social media eventually. I have a nasty habit of telling the truth and speaking out against earthly authority.

More than that, the noose will get tighter and tighter; only a serious revolution in the arrangement of social media and sales platforms has the potential to loosen it. There are no men pure enough for the standards of the employees of SocNet inc.

So it’s hard for me to get excited to make videos on a platform whose employees will just ban me whenever they notice who I am, severing a major connection I have with thousands of people and undoing years worth of work.

The same carries over into the book realm. Amazon employees have been on a ban spree lately, targeting Japanese light novels of all things, but they have proven in the past that they are willing to unilaterally ban entire companies (such as Silver Empire Publishing, who was able to get back on the platform) on a whim. I will in all likelihood suffer that fate – all it takes is one employee who doesn’t like me.

Then all my books and my reviews, which I use to sell them, will be gone. Now Amazon doesn’t have the power to completely eliminate me – they can’t burn the books they already printed – but they do have the power to cut me off from millions of potential customers that aren’t buying books anywhere else.

For most of the wold, it will be like I never existed. It’s hard to get excited to bust out a thousand words nobody will ever read. It’s hard to be motivated construct a lecture on writing that nobody will ever see.

I’m reminded of Everyman. Nothing that he is told to value in life – riches, good company, etc – can he take with him beyond the barrier of death. Only his good deeds come with him – the riches of the soul.

Seeking the approval of the world is ultimately a chasing after the wind. The world belongs to Satan; losing those things that are his to give is no loss at all. Riches and fame distract us from our heavenly purpose. Losing them is no cause for anger if it makes the path to heaven easier.

Think about how much easier it would be to become the man God wants you to be when there are no earthly rewards to tempt you. Truly, the hermit is blessed.

My wife also said something to me a few days ago – God is going to put you where you need to be ministering.

I may not be able to stay on YouTube, but if that is where I am supposed to be, that is where I will be. If I lose that, then that is how it is supposed to be. It may be in my power to fight it, or not. I may have great success in the world, or I may be utterly unpersoned. It isn’t up to me. Even the people who bow before our earthly rulers will find they cannot escape the judgment of evil, for the devil does not offer forgiveness. So I might as well do what is right and do what is pleasing to God.

Ministering to one man for the salvation of his soul instead of shouting to thousands of deaf ears is no loss.

While it is permitted, you can support me by buying my books: