We continue from Part II our discussion of the generalizations from the book of Daniel that we most need to remember and apply to our thinking as we operate within the ignorance bubble:

Outcomes quite the contrary, we are told in Chapter 6 from Daniel’s point of view, from the Lord’s point of view are "pushed." Non-situational intelligence pushes outcomes. That’s different. They aren’t nested, they’re pushed. (1) Daniel is going to be spared. That’s not nested in anything in the world. (2) The administrators are going to die. These are predicated outcomes. Daniel couldn’t have predicted in every way how these things were going to turn out. These other guys who were nesting outcomes in the world situations put themselves in a position to make predictions and they said, "If we do this, and that, and this, we’ll get Daniel right where we want him and we’ll eliminate him and we can go back to robbing the till." They were wrong about this. They made predictions. They are nesting the outcomes in their own thought world. This is a calculated error of the first order. Any time we try to nest outcomes in the world situation, we are acting in a situational way. We are going to make predictions. We predict if we take this course of action, we’ll have more money, there’ll be more prosperity, we’ll be better off, we’ll have more discretionary spending, we’ll have greater latitude, greater freedom, or the level of security (personal or otherwise) will increase.

Pushed outcomes can also be extended to pushed ideas. Outcomes and ideas are pushed by the non-situational intelligence. This goes back to the very early elements in our study where we learned that the Lord is bringing in non-situational meaning and non-situational outcomes into the situation. But we have reached a point of difficulty in our thinking in the contemporary world, believing that outcomes should be nested in elements of the world situation. That’s why we’d say, "It only makes sense that we pursue this course. It would be rational to pursue a certain course." We are not interested in being rational by the definition of the world situation. We are not interested in trying to nest outcomes in those elements or nest it in our own thought world. This is always the mistake of the faithless. Going back to Kadesh Barnea. They nested the outcomes that they perceived in their own thought world. This is classic faithlessness. Because of that they were sent back to the desert to die for the forty years that would follow. Why? They failed to understand that outcomes are not in any way nested. They are pushed. That’s why we seek redress from the Lord. That’s why we let him handle vengeance as the book of Romans says. It’s his, it’s not ours. Why?

Because outcomes are pushed. They are not nested. Even in the environment of the local congregation we have a tendency to think that outcomes are nested in the world situation. The scripture violently objects to that appraisal. It is not true. Outcomes are to be pushed in our case. That’s the substance of the covenant that God has always made with his people. If we go back to the precursors of the direct promises that he has made to us as Christian believers. Go back to the book of Deuteronomy. Go back to the book of Leviticus. God tells his people, you obey my propositions and certain outcomes will show up. Your neighbors will be wanting rain. Things will go well with you." Why? Because these outcomes are not nested in our own thought world. They are not nested in the world situation. They are pushed by God into the situation.

This brings into consideration a very great issue. That is the issue of causation. Why do things happen? That’s the subject of the issue of causation. In one instance, we can think that causation is nested in our own unaided human consciousness. Certainly in our consciousness as human beings is a presence in the universe. We think directly and persistently about causation. For instance, if you were to read a book entitled, "Asymmetries of Time" written by Paul Horowitz, MIT Press 1987, looking at pages 144-145, you will find some statements made there about how this writer grapples with the concept of causation. We may not agree with him but he generalizes for us what is generally thought about causation by situational intelligence. Here’s what he says. "Causes typically precede effects. Correlated events are causally connected. Choices are made for the sake of what they might cause. Causes of a present event are knowable but its effects are not." Those statements are calculated to make a general appraisal of causation. He says, in effect, that causation is always future oriented. He will say that causes are ontologically more basic than their effects, which is another way of saying that causes precede effects.

Now he might use and we need to watch this in our own thinking definitions of terms that might be quite irrefutable. No matter. The irrefutable definitions of terms do not make them "true." Irrefutable definitions of words do not make them true. That is an interesting thing about the nature of human thought. On the other hand causation from Daniel 6 seems to be pushed into the world situation by an external presence. It is not oriented toward the future. It is oriented toward the non-situational. That is very different. Let's draw a column and talk about the situational idea of causation on the one hand and the non-situational idea of causation on the other.

First we will deal with the situational idea of causation. Perhaps we can boil it down to this: That observation plus the complex of phenomena (which is the world of things to us) equals the idea of causation. We have to have observation and we have to have something to observe and that would be the complex of phenomena. Another way of saying that is that experience plus the complex of phenomena equals the idea of causation. Or a third way of expressing the same concept is that human consciousness plus the complex of phenomena equals the idea of causation. In these three instances, the complex of phenomena remains the same. It’s stable and we are making an identification between observation and experience in human consciousness. There is a question with which we are presented. The question is what are the precedents for causation? Upon what is causation built. From what is it derived? In this instance, we identify that the two precedents are the complex of phenomena itself—all these things--paired with that human consciousness. These become the two precedents. Once they are in place, the thought is that the idea of causation can be understood.

Now let’s jump to the other side of the page and discuss the non-situational idea of causation. From the book of Daniel 6, here’s what it looks like. You have absolute consciousness, that’s God, plus the complex of phenomena would be the same thing as the idea of causation. Or another way of expressing that is that absolute consciousness plus what we call the ideate is the same as causation. The word ideate has a verb form and a noun form. The verb form means something that is taking shape within the world of ideas. The noun form refers to that which is related or connected to the idea. The absolute consciousness would be the world of the invisible which corresponds to the world of ideas and then the complex of phenomena would correspond to the ideate—that which is connected to the world of ideas. So if we say that absolute consciousness plus the ideate—in other words the complex of phenomena—equals the idea of causation, then we are beginning to understand. Anything that is physical, that is connected to absolute consciousness would be an ideate. The world is an ideate in that sense. This relationship between absolute consciousness and what we have identified now as the ideate is the same relationship that links absolute consciousness to human consciousness. Notice that the relationship between absolute consciousness and human consciousness equals a pushed intelligence. Therefore, the relationship between absolute consciousness, the idea or the complex of phenomena and the idea of causation is exactly the same relationship that moves from absolute consciousness to human consciousness which produces or which equals the pushed intelligence.

If we ask the question, "What are the precedents for causation?" and if we have come to a conclusion from the non-situational side that it’s human consciousness plus the complex of phenomena—those are the precedents. In our understanding of causation, the precedents are absolute consciousness plus the complex of phenomena. These precede our awareness. Or another way of stating that is that revelation and the complex of phenomena equal the precedents. The book of Daniel says nothing at all about statistical laws. Quite the contrary in the following string of verses we are told that the relationship between absolute consciousness and the complex of phenomena is spontaneous.

Verse Daniel 1:9: "Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel..." Verse 1:17: "To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding…" Verse 2:20-23: "Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him…You have given me wisdom and power, you have made known to me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the dream of the king." Verse 3:28: "Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants!" Verse 4:34-37: "…I raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored…His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases…No one can hold back his hand or say to him: ‘What have you done?’…Those who walk in pride he is able to humble." Verse 5:23: This God "holds in his hand your life and all your ways." Verse 6:22: "My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me…"

He only admits to spontaneous relationships. Therefore in the book of Daniel and especially Chapter 6 we come to a recognition that absolute consciousness and causation are identical. Causation is not grounded in law. It is not grounded in anything that allows us to make predictions. When we as human minds, situated minds think of law, we think of the predictability of statistical law. We predict certain outcomes. The causation in the book of Daniel, and all through the bible is not grounded in law. Spontaneity and causation it would seem must be ideated. They must be shaped in our imagination, shaped in our hearts. That’s what Daniel did. He understood that in scripture, absolute consciousness and causation are identical. If we depart or dissent from this position, then we have no choice but to think that statistical regularity and causation are one and the same. In either instance, those two ideas must be ideated or shaped in the mind. That is what Darius and others did. That is what Belshazzar and others did. In situational causation, or situational thinking, statistical regularity and causation are identical. To believe that does not seem to be in sync with the depiction of faith. It would seem that we will have to develop a biblical conception of causation. For if we don’t we will forever be recreating the foolishness of men. We will be forgetting that in the ignorance bubble outcomes are not nested in the world situation, which certainly and definitely involves the concept of causation.

1. In the ignorance bubble, we need to remember to ideate non-situational management of situations. (Daniel 7, 8)

In chapters 7 and 8, Daniel is given visions. These are very perplexing to him. He doesn’t understand all of them. This occurred in Daniel’s imagination. It occurred in his mind. It’s an ideation. However, according to Daniel 7:28, it affected Daniel physically and psychically because in this context it says, "This is the end of the matter. I, Daniel, was deeply troubled by my thoughts, and my face turned pale, but I kept the matter to myself." In Daniel 8:17, he has another great vision. "As he came near the place where I was standing, I was terrified and fell prostrate. ‘Son of man,’ he said to me, ‘understand that the vision concerns the time of the end.’" After this vision is over, in verse 8:27 he says, "I, Daniel, was exhausted and lay ill for several days. Then I got up and went about the king’s business. I was appalled by the vision. It was beyond understanding." It was an ideation but it affected him as a totality.

We learn from these two chapters that all world situations are managed complexes. We say complexes because they are made up of more than one thing. There will be the mention here of different kings and forces and battle. They are made up of complexes. It is a managed complex. However, these two chapters dissent from the acceptance of the idea of situational management in favor of non-situational management of situations. It is God that is managing these events. Same thing that would have or should have occurred to Nebuchadnezzar in Chapter 2 when he was given the vision of a wave of successive kingdoms that would come on and what that meant is that these are subject to non-situational management. There are things that are stated here that have nothing to do with situational management. Doublemindedness that we are told about in James Chapter 1 is an ideation of this kind of thing. It is an ideation of situational management.

It would occur to me that if this is true, then we are going to have to abandon what we call management philosophies. Non-situational management is very different. It’s faith and it’s an ideation of non-situational management. It would force us to let go of management philosophies. We are not interested in management philosophies. We are interested in something else. I believe that the situated mind would say this, "Now wait a minute, Mike. When I’m involved in conducting my business of whatever variety and here’s a man over here that pretends to be or supposedly is a non-situational thinker, he has to get up in the morning and go to work. He has to pay some people. He has to buy some things. He has to do some things." That looks a lot to me like management. To this I would respond by saying, "That’s not what it’s supposed to be." There is no management philosophy in the mind of a guy who understands that he is trying to ideate the non-situational management of situations in his own mind. He is going to manage everything. He is not interested in management philosophy." He’s going to abandon that in favor of analogic relations. While the situational mind might consider what it sees as management philosophy, it is not. It is not management philosophy at all. It is the abandonment of a management philosophy in favor of an analogic relation.

Management philosophies purport that there are answers to situations to be found within the situation. It purports to tell us that problems and the answers to those problems can be found within the business situation or the biological circumstance. We are told that one of the systemic problems that we have in family life in our country is that family problems are thought to be solvable within the family situation. But we say "No that’s not true. We now have to come to a better understanding that family problems are best resolved within the society." So we bring in the therapists and things built on sophisticated management philosophies of situations. They think because they have pulled outside of the family that they are no longer situational. They are just as situational as they were before. We purport by analogic relations to the world of situations that answers are not to be found within the situation. They are not to be found in any essence in world history. But they are found only and uniquely in non-situational intelligence. We abandon one in favor of the other. Management philosophy is not easy to abandon. Because it makes a claim on our intuition. It makes a claim on us in terms of how the flesh (our unaided situational intelligence) wishes to deal with things. We often talk about coping with things, managing things, power management, resource management, this sort of thing.

It is rather radical to believe that we will abandon management philosophies in favor of analogic relations. But I believe there is a strong case for that in the book of Daniel. These instances that are being depicted in Daniel’s mind are being managed not by men although the kings and those of eminence and power who are involved in these circumstances may think they are in command, but they certainly will not be. I cite for example Daniel 8:23 and following verses: "In the latter part of their reign, when rebels have become completely wicked, a stern-faced king, a master of intrigue, will arise. He will become very strong, but not by his own power…When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power." In Daniel Chapter 12, Daniel is overwhelmed by all he has been exposed to and he says in vs. 8, "My lord, what will the outcome of all this be?" He was then told, "Go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end. Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand. From that time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will 1,290 days. Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335." Then we have the final statement in the book, "As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance."

These are not things that are subject to situational philosophies of management. The world we live in is a managed complex. But it is not managed by men. The only thing we manage is to get ourselves into trouble and into displeasure and to run counter to the thoughts of God. Then we pay a price. In the ignorance bubble we need to remember to ideate, to develop in our imagination and our understanding the non-situational management of situations. Now the ideation of non-situational management of situations is simply different than making certain biblical assertions. Preachers have always bounced into pulpits and made assertions. But these things have to be ideated in our consciousness. If we don’t do that there is a shortfall and we will always operate on that shortfall which in many cases will look like a dependence upon situational philosophies of management.

2. In the ignorance bubble we need to remember that non-situational factors always predominate. (Daniel 9:4-19)

Let’s draw a large box with one side missing and label that "the world situation." There are a number of non-situational factors about which Daniel writes and prays in this context. This is a lengthy prayer of repentance to the Lord that shows that non-situational factors always predominated and will predominate in the world situation. He is praying about Israel’s discomfiture—being carted off into Babylonian captivity. He knows exactly why this happened. It is because non-situational factors predominated in that circumstance.

One of them is seen in verse 4. Absolute propositions predominate in the world situation. "O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands." Absolute propositions always predominated in Israel’s welfare. Nothing else. Not the power of Babylon, not its ascendancy, not its leadership, not its ferocity as an opponent. Those were not the things that brought them to downfall and to ruin. It was absolute propositions and the violation of those and the failure to remember that non-situational factors always predominate in any and all world situations that brought them to destruction.

In verses 5 and 6, he prays, "…we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and rebelled; we have turned away and from your commands and laws. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land." Obedience is a non-situational factor. It will predominate in any and all world situations.

In verses 7 through 10, he writes of the character of God, which is a clear non-situational factor that always predominates. "Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame--the men of Judah and people of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you. O Lord, we and our kings, our princes, and our fathers are covered with shame because we have sinned against you. The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; we have not obeyed the Lord our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets." There is a constant contrast between the character of the people of Judah and the character of God. The character of God predominates in world situations. That ought to give us a lot of encouragement. No matter what the situational appearances are—those don’t predominate. Our ignorance doesn’t predominate. We need to remember this. There are a lot of things we are not going to know but we never let our ignorance predominate in world situations. Men do that. Sometimes it’s a willing ignorance as in the case of Judah. It was willing in their case because the prophets were sent to them.

The imminence of non-situational factors predominates. We see this in verses 11-14. He says, "All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you." Those are non-situational factors. "Therefore the curses and sworn judgment written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us great disorder. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us…The Lord did not hesitate to bring the disaster upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him." These factors are eminent. They are transcendent. They are true. They came from God. But they act imminently in the world situation. They will have their way and judgment will be brought and blessings will be dispensed depending on the way we relate to these non-situational predominating factors.

We see another predominating non-situational factor in verses 15-19. The responsiveness of God is a predominating non-situational favor. Daniel prays, "Now, O Lord our god, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our fathers have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us." Lots of people have found themselves in sin—overwhelmed, practically, virtually destroyed. They have no hope left, living unto despair, distraught, having given up. No reason for that. Because our world is predominated by non-situational factors, one of which is the responsiveness of God. When we yield to him, he responds even in the gravest circumstances. There is no cause ultimately for hopelessness or for despair. Daniel knew that.

His prayer is not one of hopelessness and despair. It doesn’t end that way. It doesn’t start that way. It begins not with hopelessness and despair. It begins with repentance, sorrow for sin, turning to the Lord. He closes it attributing a great responsiveness of our God. Verse 17: "Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. O Lord listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name." Great truth there. Hopelessness, despair, irrefutable anguish we think are all reversed if in the ignorance bubble we remember that the non-situational factors predominate in world situations.

3. In the ignorance bubble we remember that there are two different orders of magnitude in the universe. (Daniel 10, 11 and 12, esp. opening verses of Chapter 12)

"At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever." We are describing orders of magnitude. There is a non-situational order of magnitude in the universe. There is a situational order of magnitude as well. In 10:21, we see that truth is of this non-situational order of magnitude. It is stated in this context, "…but first I will tell you what is written in the Book of Truth." The point of view of the Lord is of the non-situational order of magnitude and it is the same point of view of others who have consented to be affected by the non-situational intelligence.

I would propose that this poses a grand question for us. The principal question is: Of what magnitude shall our temporal lives be? Of what magnitude shall our faith be? Of what magnitude shall our responses be? Shall they be of the magnitude of the non-situational order? Shall our lives and our faith and our responses be nothing more than part of the situational order of magnitude? We have a question for local congregations and the mind—What shall you be? Of what order of magnitude shall you be? Shall you shine like stars? Shall your life and your faith and your responses constantly brighten with every passing moment, with every passing event? In Chapter 10:11 it is said of Daniel, "You are highly esteemed…" This is a man of the non-situational order of magnitude. In 10:12 Daniel is told, "You have set your mind to know these things you have humbled yourself before God." This is a man of the non-situational order of magnitude. In 10:19, he is considered again to be esteemed. He is told "Be strong now; be strong." He is strengthened.

In Chapter 11:30, he will speak of those who in the midst of great fury will not forsake the holy covenant. In 11:32, he will speak of those who firmly resist pressures to give in to the situation. In 11:33, he will speak of those who are wise and who instruct others in this wisdom. In 11:35, he will speak of those who will be refined. Some might fail for a short time but only to be purified. These are people of the non-situational order of magnitude. I find great identity with those who have fallen only to be refined and purified.

In Chapter 12:1, he mentions those whose names are written in the book. In 12:2, he writes of those who will be given everlasting life. In 12:3, he speaks of those who will "shine like the brightness of the heavens…like the stars." In 12:10, they are known as "wise" and "understanding." In 12:13 it says they will arise to receive their allotted inheritance. These are people of the non-situational order of magnitude. This is the faith of the non-situational order of magnitude. These are responses of the non-situational order of magnitude.

The other order of magnitude is very different. In Chapter 11:14, he refers to violent men who will rebel. In 11:28-30 speaks of those who set themselves against the holy covenant. In 11:32, he speaks of those who will overtaken by flattery and will be corrupted. In 11:36, he will speak of the king who will say unheard of things against the God of gods. In Chapter 12:2, they will awaken to shame and everlasting contempt. In 12:10, he calls them wicked.

Conflict within and outside the church is a conflict between these two orders of magnitude. The situational order of magnitude is passing away. They are becoming ever dimmer until they disappear. On the other hand, the non-situational order of magnitude is every life, every personality, and every mind that is growing in this non-situational intelligence. It will never be diminished. Situations do not and cannot hamper or dim this magnitude. That’s why we can’t always recognize it because of the logic of direct application that’s in our minds.

Daniel and Hananiah, Azariah and Mishael are not of the situational order of magnitude. They are possessed by something different, something advanced. In the middle of all world situations, we need to be strengthened from God. We do not need to seek for compensation. The situational order of magnitude will seek for compensation in the middle of great stress. We don’t want compensation that comes just from fellowship one with another. Although fellowship is helpful, we want strengthening from the Lord. That’s what we seek. The non-situational order of magnitude in all of these cases, in all of these situations, always sought to be strengthened from the Lord. They were not interested in compensation. We are not interested in being diverted form the pursuit of this strength that comes from the Lord. These are the people that will shine like bright stars. These are those who will lead many to righteousness and to a new walk.

There are right ways and wrong ways of dealing with all situations. This is stated in Chapter 11:14. There were men of violence who decided to rebel. That’s not the way to deal with it. Compromise is always possible. He spoke of those in 11:28-30. The non-situational is never to be obscured we are told. Finally, security we are told in 12:1-4, rests in our relationship to God. This is why we are pursuing a non-situational order of magnitude. Conflicts within and without in many cases will fall upon those who are partakers of the different orders of magnitude that are open to us in the universe. Of course, what’s open to us of the non-situational order is beyond comparison in terms of what will befall the situational order of magnitude, which is the sinful nature of man.