I found myself in a rare zen-like mental state yesterday and decided there were four levels of thinking exhibited by human beings today.

Level 0

Level 0 thinking is NPC thinking. It isn’t thinking at all. The brains of Level 0 thinkers are programmed by whatever media they consume, the greatest trick of which is to convince them they are the *real* critical thinkers. NPCs exist everywhere, and on all sides of the political aisle. The maddening thing about them is they’ll assure you that you are wrong, even if you show them solid, physical, real-world proof that their opinion can’t possibly be correct.

Covid masks and election season has brought out a particularly rich crop of L0s this year.

Level 1

Level 1 thinkers recognize that truth exists, and it is not subjective. They recognize they are surrounded by hordes of NPCs, and they’ve lost friends and relationships rather than surrendering their humanity to the programmers. Level 1 thinkers begin to examine everything in order to find the truth buried in the decaying societal heap our forebears have left us. It is easy to get stuck in level 1 thinking. You’ll see these people arguing with their fellow level 1s, insisting that if truth exists (which they all agree does) then there can be only one objective, truthful conclusion. And since they’ve landed at different places, the other person must be mistaken, has to go back to the start of the L1 maze, and study it again. If they avoid hitting their heads on the ceiling joists this time, they can join their better, properly evolved L1 peers and achieve Level 2.

Which they won’t, because “discovering the one, right, proper and holy truth” isn’t what Level 2 is about.

Level 2

Level 2 thinkers recognize that truth exists, it is not subjective, and it has been mindfully and cleverly hidden from us. For what purpose, they can’t necessarily say. Opinions vary. They recognize that a sequence of truths can lead to different conclusions, and that real truth is often more of a “landing zone” than an “X marks the spot”. They value Level 1 thinkers because they are thinking, even if incorrectly at times. Bad logic and incorrect facts can be addressed once Level 2 has been achieved. Getting to Level 2 thinking is rare: realizing it exists is a reality-changing prospect.

Level 3

Level 3 thinkers recognize that truth exists, it is not subjective, it has been mindfully and cleverly hidden from us, and that the only real truth comes from pursuing Logos. Logos is The Word, in the John 1:1 sense, not the horrible Bible translation sense. Jesus Christ is Logos. Every other religion denies Christ his proper place. They are lies, because they start from lies. Only Christians make it this far, and not very many at that. The new Level 3 thinker is in a dangerous place. “How can we get Level 1 thinkers to move to Level 2? How come so few find Level 3? Why, God, Why?!” The veteran Level 3 thinkers understand that they have no control over this, that God is sovereign, and they focus on pursuing Logos, praying for the wisdom to chime in with an encouraging thought or loving truth. You’ll rarely find Level 3 thinkers arguing with people, but you might find them quietly discussing topics among themselves.

What Say You

What do *you* think? Is there a 4th level I’m not aware of? Did I paraphrase a clever thinker of the past? Or perhaps I need to readjust my nose crayon, shut up, and vote.

–> Quizzer

When The Churchians comic was barely a germ of an idea, I needed to find its name. This was in the summer of 2016, just a few months before The Election that Birthed a New Country: The Disunited States of America. You might remember that.

The word Churchian had been tossed about quite a bit on the internet, and I began to research how it came about. The earliest instances I could find came from 2004-2006. To the best of my knowledge, it was just a garden-variety insult directed at Christians who would formerly be accused of hypocrisy, among other sins. Folks catapulted it at any Christian they didn’t like, merely because they didn’t like them. It still isn’t in common enough usage for Google Analytics to tell us anything interesting. Or maybe I’d have to pay Big G for that information. Which I refuse to do.

It is a waste of a pretty great word. We’ve lost so many great words that I decided to upcycle this one. Continue reading →

…to our regular comics schedule. Starting Friday. Not that we went anywhere.

When we left off three weeks ago, drama had ensued when we somehow ran two comics out of order: Two Signs Fork was supposed to run before Crookthorn Forest. In addition, the signs in Two Signs Fork were pointing in the wrong directions. Of course, our readers noticed immediately.

We set up an investigative committee, checked our logs, examined the scripts, rebooted a couple of cartooning machines, and finally, in the end, determined Covid-19 was at fault. It’s a Covid kind of year.

We got our revenge.

Now, fresh from the break, we’re cartooning like fiends. Codex has entire forests drawn so I can have Rory lost in the dark, creepy woods for another 16 comics if I wanted to. But that would be boring. I hate boring. It’s so dull.

So our regular schedule will resume this Friday with Good and Lost. I’m writing the name down so we make sure to run the right comic. Then I’m off to the mall, and I’m bringing my wheelbarrow with me. If Uncle Soros is leaving piles of free pavers lying about, I’m taking advantage and finishing up a couple yard projects.

–> Codex & Q

We’re taking a break from our main storyline as of today. That doesn’t mean we aren’t producing more comics, though. In fact, consider this a clue…

We’ll get back to Rory and his imminent demise once there’s a vaccine for the madness, the revolution starts, everyone dies, or in two-three weeks. In the meantime: be careful out there.