Albert Bierstadt: Rocky Mountains, "Lander's Peak" (1863)

"God the Father manifests as a terrible sword whenever people get involved."

A gleaming emanates from those who believe themselves on a God-given mission. They are not merely existing or just living, but actively Manifesting. Manifesting what? Their Destinies, of course. They might not hold an explicit vision of their end result. Still, they hold an unshakable conviction that they have been especially chosen to deliver something transforming for themselves and the world. These people are crazy, yet if anybody's likely to accomplish something, it seems most likely to be these driven people. They can be self-sacrificial, unconcerned about their well-being. They can also seem completely self-absorbed, uninterested in anything other than their particular obsession. They often exemplify the sin of self-importance, for even given their sometimes considerable self-sacrifices, they always seem to make whatever they're overcoming about them.

These self-selected envoys from God seem odd. They often flock together as if to seek support from others who are similarly obsessed. They might even qualify as a cult. They usually adopt someone as their earthly godhead, prophet, and decision-maker, for being chosen does not always bestow the judgment necessary to achieve anything. The chosen carry their prejudices and prior convictions into their pilgrimages and might need guidance to resolve the inevitable contradictions any seeker might encounter. A sanctioned interpreter of God's ever-revealing will can help fill the gaps. They help craft a consistent story rather than merely manifesting the products of scores of individually aspiring wills. Followers learn to stop thinking for themselves and follow, developing the habit of believing what they're told. They seem remarkably compliant.

The chosen prophet most certainly knows he's a phony. Nobody makes baloney without learning what it's made of. There never were any fireside chats with any deity. No commandments brought down from a mountaintop hike. No whispers in any sleeping leader's ear. The director dutifully performs his role for his own reasons, which might not have started malign. He represents a material misrepresentation, though, and cannot maintain his position if he's leveling with 'his' people. He views his followers as the children they willingly become. Some will grow disillusioned as the illusions grow less substantial or overly self-sacrificial. It might be that most followers will ultimately wander away. It's rare in human history that the leader ever suffers serious consequences other than the odd premature assassination. Followers tend to interpret their leader's early death as evidence of his divine nature. However secular he might become in life or death, his once-holy countenance will protect him from his followers’ inevitable disappointment in themselves. ManifestingDestinies die hard.

My forebears who crossed the Atlantic to take up living on the North American continent were not mere immigrants. Neither were the many who traveled the Oregon Trail. Those who crossed the Allegheny and Appalachians were no mere explorers or settlers. A similar fuel fired each. They were not simply making history but creating futures. They believed themselves to be the fathers and mothers of something much greater than anything available in their times. They certainly understood that they would not receive the lion's share of any benefits from their efforts. The results inhabited tomorrow's longest shadow cast by a far distant future unimaginable then. They believed God had chosen them and that they were on a divine mission. Those among us now who carry similar convictions seem certifiably crazy, especially to those convinced there is no God and, therefore, no actual destiny. Those who see random interactions producing manifestations believe nothing's predetermined. They receive no marching orders from above.

I suspect that those labeled as faithless exhibit greater faith in practice. What motivated them to produce anything if they were not promised any return for their considerable contributions? If the end result for every individual remains essentially equivalent whatever they might dedicate themselves to create, what besides a different sort of faith keeps their wheels turning? Some of us believe we're changing the world, even when and perhaps especially when we're only influencing our grandchildren. We steward 'as if' without the benefit of divine commitments. We must believe our lives justify themselves if we do not believe in heavenly rewards. Those bastards, though, obsessed with ManifestingDestinies, can be serious competition for resources. They can blithely ignore the cues our world seems to be throwing off, in the apparent belief that someone up there has them covered regardless. Their's seems to be the more cynical perspective, the more irresponsible. History teaches that nobody can do more damage than those convinced they are on a mission commissioned by God. God the Father manifests as a terrible sword whenever people get involved.

©2025 by David A. Schmaltz - all rights reserved

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