Tag: The Nine Laws

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The Nine Laws: Part Nine

In this (very lengthy) discussion of Ivan Throne’s The Nine Laws, we’ve covered a lot of ground. You can read my review of the book here, and the rest of the parts are here:

Today we’re going to discuss the Ninth Law: No Laws.

I already know what you’re thinking. “What the heck! No Laws? What kind of trick is this?”

No tricks. “There are no laws” refers to the fact that the Dark World doesn’t care what the laws are. It just does what it does. Man-made laws mean nothing to the Dark World, or those who live by it. Man’s Law is a simple mental construct, with nothing of binding value unless you can back it up with force. The law itself is simply an idea, a concept, a deterrent, and has no power in and of itself, unless someone acts on it.

  • Narcissism: Infinite prerogative of power.
  • Machiavellianism: Infinite freedom of posture.
  • Psychopathy: The Mind and Eyes of God.

We chose our paths, we decide to pursue something, and we pay for it, one way or the other. Sometimes God intervenes, and we just don’t recognize it. If we don’t recognize it, it’s not that God wasn’t there… we just weren’t paying attention.

When we finally put ego to death and can exercise the Dark Triad in its fullness, then we achieve the fullness of who God made us to be. Not ignoring God’s laws- but only listening to God’s laws. In reality, when we follow God’s purpose 100%, we will come in direct conflict with the Dark World’s laws. The Dark World, by nature, is opposed to things of God. Continue reading “The Nine Laws: Part Nine”

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The Nine Laws: Part Eight

In this (very lengthy) discussion of Ivan Throne’s The Nine Laws, we’ve covered a lot of ground. You can read my review of the book here, and the rest of the parts are here:

Today we’re going to cover the Eighth law: Preposterousness. We’re going to examine the following applications from a context of Biblical Christianity:

Narcissism: You are the center of your universe.
Machiavellianism: There is no true reality.
Psychopathy: Absence of ego in absurdity.

Ivan’s comments are in bold italics. I respond to each one below.

Firstly, let’s define some things. “Does the world revolve around me?”

When you hear “You’re the center of your own universe!” it’s generally intended as an insult, or as an observation of someone’s self-centeredness. This is the classic definition of Narcissism: everything is about you.

But if I may, let me redirect your understanding of this, as a possible alternative.

What if when I say “I am the center of my universe,” I mean “I am the central gathering point for information that shapes my reality”?

Let me explain. If we believe (wrongly) that we’re in control of everything, then saying we’re the center of our universe means our actions shape our reality.

But if you understand that our reality is shaped by God for us to conditionally experience (and may not match what other people experience) then you realize that, yes, God has shaped and revealed our reality specifically for each of us. We cannot rely on other people’s interpretations of what we’ve experienced to explain what God’s intentions are. God does not reveal our reality to someone else for them to explain to us. That’s not how God works; that’s how cults are formed.

More aptly put: we are not the center of the universe, we are at the center of our experiences in the reality that God is revealing to us. We are responsible for our reaction to it. We are not the cause of it.

Everything is Ridiculous. Continue reading “The Nine Laws: Part Eight”

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The Nine Laws: Part Seven

If you haven’t read my previous installments on The Nine Laws, you can start here. In essence, I’ve read through The Nine Laws by Ivan Throne, and I decided that the book was interesting and impacting enough that I should go into a detailed breakdown of each law, and expound my opinion on how it relates to Christianity.

Today we’re going to examine the Seventh Law: Power.

If you haven’t read The Nine Laws (and I’d recommend you do), Mr. Throne explains the division and unity of Thought, Word, and Deed. He explains how ultimate purpose can be achieved when all three of these are in harmony.

On a more traditional philosophical level, these roughly correlate to Spirit, Mind, and Body. And as created beings, we are uniquely spiritual, in the sense that animals do not have Divine Purpose; they simply follow programming. Humans alone posses the faculties to connect with the Divine.

Since the Seventh Law is Power, we’ll address power in each of these three areas, as they are separate yet related. In our Dark Triad traits, Power manifests itself as:

Narcissism: Prerogative arises from possession.​
Machiavellianism: Subtle tendrition arises from the core.​
Psychopathy: Absence of ego in the cutting through.​

Note: When Mr. Throne speaks of the Dark Triad, he’s referring to them in the purest sense. We often see them used for selfish reasons, which is caused when one or more of the traits are abused or allowed to interact without restraint. However, most of the greatest men in history displayed all three of these traits prominently. It stands to reason that when used in the right proportions, for the right purpose, they are a maelstrom of natural force to be reckoned with. This is the goal Mr. Throne encourages us to attain: achieving our purpose using the Dark World’s own laws against itself. And the only way to do that is by understanding how the laws work.

We’ll work through the analysis of Power exhibited through Thought, Word, and Deed, because the Spiritual aspect of it, while being the least understood, is the most important. I want to make sure we address it fully.

Jesus touches on this idea (and a few others) in Luke 14: Continue reading “The Nine Laws: Part Seven”

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The Nine Laws: Part Six

If you haven’t read my previous installments and review of Ivan Throne’s The Nine Laws, you can begin by clicking here.

Today, we’re going to discuss a very interesting topic. And it will be long.

The Sixth Law is Freedom.

“Freedom” for the Christian is a juxtaposition. We are indeed free from bondage of sin, free from our old Dark Worldly natures. We are free in ways that most people aren’t. We are free in the eternal sense. In a spiritual sense.

But of course, that comes at the price of our entire lives. When we submit our lives to God, we no longer belong to ourselves.

So what does “freedom” mean to the believer? What did that look like in Jesus’ life?

This is an issue I really struggled with as a new believer. I didn’t really want to give up control of my life. I wanted freedom, but on my own terms! Which as anybody knows, doesn’t normally work out that well. Just saying “I’m free!” doesn’t make it so.

So how do we reconcile this?

Let’s define what we mean by “Freedom” from both a Nine Laws perspective and a Christian perspective. Then we’ll compare them and see if they’re compatible. And if so, we’ll explore how that works. Continue reading “The Nine Laws: Part Six”

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The Nine Laws: Part Five

If you haven’t read my previous installments on reviewing The Nine Laws, you can start here.

I haven’t written on this topic in quite a while. That’s partly because this installment has been one of the more difficult ones to write, as you’ll see.

The Fifth Law is Posture.

What is Posture? Not just your physical stance. It’s not just your political opinion.

Posture is your arrangement in the world.

Posture is the way in which we position ourselves, how we stand, physically and spiritually. When you see someone who always slouches, our human nature is to think of them as weak or lazy, because “strong” people don’t slouch. One of the reasons this works as a social indicator is because the vast majority of people aren’t consciously aware of their posture. The few that are aware tend to stand straighter, which indicates they’re generally more conscious, more aware of themselves and their surroundings.

It would benefit us then to pay attention to our posture, because it directly affects how others perceive us, and to a lesser extent how we perceive ourselves.

What is the flow of my engagement? It should be continuous reflection. No shading, no twisting, no corruption. Purity of purpose and motion. Continue reading “The Nine Laws: Part Five”

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The Nine Laws: Part Four

If you haven’t read them, start with my review of The Nine Laws, and subsequent part One, part Two, and part Three.

The Fourth Law is Endurance.

The word “endure” comes from the Latin root word “indurare” which means “to harden.” To Endure means to go through something “difficult, painful, or hard.” As opposed, of course, to not going through it, i.e. giving up.

Endurance is what separates good athletes (or warriors) from great ones. Most people have the capability to run, or to lift heavy things. But when you can do it repeatedly, or for extended periods of time, then you have endurance.

There are millions of websites that can show you how to develop physical endurance. It’s not that difficult, actually- the human body is phenomenal at adapting to a repeated exercise. If you progressively push yourself longer and longer, your body will gradually learn and adapt.

What there isn’t much information on, sadly, is Mental Endurance. And the most tragic thing about this is that without Mental Endurance, your physical endurance is practically worthless.

The principle of Mental Endurance can be embodied in the trait of Psychopathy: a complete removal from emotions. It is acceptance: not wishing things were different, but accepting them as they are.

Let’s ponder on this for a moment. Continue reading “The Nine Laws: Part Four”

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The Nine Laws: Part Three

If you haven’t read them, start with my review of The Nine Laws, and subsequent part One and part Two.

The Third Law is Purpose.

Without purpose, we are no different than animals: instinctively roaming about, completely at the whim of the Dark World.

Purpose is something we can change. Purpose is something we can decide for ourselves. We are not bound to mere survival, as are the beasts of the Earth. We have possibilities. Without Purpose, there is no point to accomplishing anything.

What is your life’s purpose? Do you even know?

Don’t be surprised if you can’t explicitly answer this. I couldn’t either, for a very long time.

At some point you’re probably going to stop and think, “What am I doing with my life?” which is code for “I don’t know what my life’s purpose is.” And if you’re a Christian, the answer isn’t necessarily simplified. As a young believer in the faith, my thoughts went something like this:

“What is my purpose? To do whatever God wants me to do.” My purpose is to… to what? Provide for my family? Glorify God?

Those are all pat answers. I want to know what my singular, most powerful purpose really is.

But what does that mean, exactly? What does it mean to “fulfill God’s purpose in your life?” Can you give specifics? Can you quantify “Love thy neighbor as yourself?” Do these look the same for every person? Of course they don’t. Over the years, God has given people purpose in many ways, for many different reasons. And He’s even changed people’s purposes over time. So again, what does that mean for you and me? Continue reading “The Nine Laws: Part Three”

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The Nine Laws: Part Two

In my ongoing quest to delve deeper into the methods of The Nine Laws, I’m moving on to the Second Law. (If you haven’t read it yet, check out Part One.)

The Second Law is Concealment.

This immediately throws up red flags. “Concealment? Are you being sneaky? Are you trying to hide something, or be dishonest?”

Let’s try a thought experiment. You go into a job interview, for which you’re barely qualified. You’re riddled with doubt, but you really want this job. Are you going to go into the interview with doubt and fear written all over your face? No, of course not.

You conceal your real feelings. You smile, you act confident, and you do what it takes to accomplish your goal.

The opposite of concealing is revealing. Do you really want to reveal everything about yourself to everyone? No, of course you don’t. The problem is, we do it all the time without even realizing it. And so, the Second Law urges us to pay attention to what we reveal about ourselves- and conceal what is necessary to ensure our survival in the Dark World. This doesn’t necessarily mean deception, lying, or things of that nature. It is a simple evaluation of how we unwittingly make ourselves vulnerable by revealing too much. Continue reading “The Nine Laws: Part Two”

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The Nine Laws: Part One

I recently reviewed Ivan Throne’s The Nine Laws, and while I tried to encompass as much about the book as I could, there’s just no way I could cram everything I wanted to say about it into a single blog post. I promised my devoted readers that I would delve into each of the Nine Laws individually, and so, we’ve come to Week One: The First Law.

The First Law is Survival

Simply put: if you’re dead, you can’t do much of anything. Therefore the First Rule of the Dark World is “you have to survive.”

Is this in opposition to the Christian faith? Hardly. At the very core of Godly beliefs is the sanctity of life. We are created in the image of God, and so our very existence is a proclamation to the veracity and tenaciousness of life as we know it.

“But Sensei,” I can hear you saying, “doesn’t it also say in the Holy Word that those who lose their lives will gain it? And those who are first shall be last? Wasn’t Jesus a pacifist?”

The Scripture says:

“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” – Matthew 16:25 (also in Luke 9:24 and Mark 8:35, emphasis mine)

Jesus very clearly says that anyone giving up their life for His sake will find it. And by “find it” Jesus didn’t mean suddenly not being dead anymore. No, He means giving up your physical life for Jesus’ sake means securing eternal reward. But the inverse isn’t so clear: does Jesus mean if we try to save our own physical lives, we’ll lose our eternal ones? Continue reading “The Nine Laws: Part One”

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Book Review: The Nine Laws

Once in a while, you run across something that’s so magnificently and bluntly honest that you just have to stop and look at it again, as if to say “what?”

Reading Ivan Throne‘s The Nine Laws is like that. It’s not something you can skim in an afternoon while delicately sipping on a latte. It’s both eloquently written, and brutally realistic. But at the core, is it something worth reading, or is it just poetic drivel and fluff?

Each section begins with a story directly from Throne’s life, and embodies some facet of the Nine Laws. They are powerfully moving stories in their own right, but as examples of the way the Dark World works, they’re more than that. The Laws are defined, and then the last section explains each one. The reader is given thought exercises to get them to understand where they are in relation to the Dark World, and then take action based on that realization.

I decided, in light of wanting to be honest, to dig into the philosophy of the book itself and see if it held water when juxtaposed with a Christian’s worldview. I will warn you: this wasn’t easy, or simple. It is a complex philosophy, and even a single misstep could transform the entire thing into a conflagration of failure. If all the Nine Laws rely on each other, and even one of them is false, then the whole tower comes toppling down. I am still working through it, but needless to say, there’s a lot of truth there.

I can’t even begin to delve into the meaning of the whole book in a mere thousand words, so there’s a good possibility this will take more than one post. But I would rather do the book justice than stamp a gold seal on it and lead someone astray. My readers deserve it, and I’m sure Mr. Throne wouldn’t have it any other way.

So, without further ado, here are the Nine Laws: Continue reading “Book Review: The Nine Laws”