Negotiating with God and Man

Introduction: Negotiating with Reality

Life is a constant negotiation — not only with other people but with reality itself. Every action we take, every belief we adopt, is a form of negotiation with what is real. The outcomes of our lives reflect precisely what we have accepted and rejected in those negotiations. Yet many people remain unaware that they are even engaged in this process.

This is the message of Proverbs 1:10-19, which warns that those who act wickedly believe they are gaining something, yet they are only setting a trap for themselves. They believe they are negotiating with others when, in truth, they are negotiating against reality — and reality is not mocked. Likewise, Jesus described those who cared for him as the poor person as blessed — not because they negotiated for gain, but because they accepted reality as it is, embracing what is true and good.

Negotiating well requires empathy for reality itself — the ability to listen to what reality demands, to ask what it wants, and to choose either to accept those terms or reject them. This thought experiment is designed to help those who have never consciously negotiated with reality to realize that they have been doing so all along — and that their decisions will shape their outcomes.

 Thought Experiment: The Choice Before You

Imagine this: I possess the ideas and ability to restart the world — to build a just, thriving, and purposeful society from the ground up. But I refuse to offer these ideas and services until the world is free from false authority and false value.

False authority is the belief that people can be governed by anything other than reason — that fear, force, or tradition can override an individual’s responsibility to think and choose for themselves.

False value is the belief that value can be separated from reality — that subjective manipulations, such as inflating currency or fabricating artificial wealth, can replace the stable foundation of real worth.

To reject false authority, people must act indifferently to all threats made by man-made governments.

To reject false value, people must act indifferently to all temptations offered by man-made money.

So here is the choice:

Would you rather cling to man-made government and man-made money — even knowing they are built on lies — or reject those falsehoods and receive my ideas and services, which are designed to build something true and lasting?

This isn’t just a hypothetical. Assume that God himself is withholding his greatest blessings from those who refuse to reject imposed authority and imposed value. You can choose to embrace falsehood, but you cannot control the consequences of doing so.

What are you doing — and why?

Meditation: The Power of Choosing

The very act of engaging with this thought experiment reveals something profound: you are choosing. By weighing the options, by considering the implications, you are exercising your own power of judgment — and that alone undermines the foundation of false authority and false value.

False authority depends on your belief that you have no choice — that you must obey. But by simply thinking about this question, you demonstrate that you are not controlled — you are deciding. The moment you recognize this, false authority loses its grip.

False value depends on your belief that you must submit to manipulated standards — that wealth, security, or success can only come through artificial systems. Yet by pausing to reflect on what is true value versus what is false, you assert your power to measure reality for yourself. The illusion shatters the moment you realize that no one can force you to believe a lie unless you first choose to accept it.

So this is the real question:

Do you want to live — to embrace reason, purpose, and self-governance? Or do you want to merely exist — to drift aimlessly, bound by irrationality, doubt, and self-loathing?

The choice is always yours — and that truth is precisely what false systems work so hard to obscure. By engaging with this question at all, you have already begun to reject their deception.

P.S. Clarification on the Nature of the Experiment

Some may be tempted to add their own ideas about what is true and what is false, but that is not exactly what this experiment is asking. The real question is this: What are you willing to submit to — truth or lies? And what are you willing to reject — reality or authority?

If you are willing to submit to truth and reject authority, I will give you my ideas and services.

If you are willing to submit to lies and reject reality, then I will withhold my ideas and services.

Which path are you choosing — and why?

And if you want to work with me, how can you convince me that you are indeed submitting to truth alone and rejecting all authority?

All I am asking for you to consider is that the answers and solutions to your problems may have more to do with your attitude and what you are willing to give you attention and allegiance to and less about your own ability to solve the problems. By placing my own willingness to work with you as a bargaining chip, I am highlighting this unseen presence in your life and asking if you want to have it or not. Yes or no. Simple as that. Since December of 2023, the world has not gotten any of my talents or support because it clings to and is loyal to either false authority or false value. I stand ready to renter public life for anyone who rejects these things but I will not respond to either government coercion or monetary temptation. For over a year the world on the whole has rejected my talents and the talents of those life me. They have suffered the consequences and will continue to until and unless they break free from the old world of idols and lies. 

Don’t tell me how high you want to rise. Tell me how low you are willing to go. 

“No tree, it is said, can grow to heaven unless its roots reach down to hell.” Carl Jung

Don’t tell me of the amount of richest you seek. Tell me of the amount of darkness you are willing to confront. 

 “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek” - Joseph Campbell.

Don’t tell me about what you lack. Tell me about your treasure. 

“Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you.” - Jesus of Nazareth 

P.P.S. The Story of the Bible as a Negotiation

This thought experiment reflects the essential story of the Bible — mankind learning how to negotiate with both God and one another. In this story, humanity must first humble itself before God, recognizing that His reality — His truth — cannot be manipulated or controlled. The foundation of this negotiation is not dominance or deception but empathy and submission to what is true.

Throughout Scripture, the greatest blessings come to those who yield to truth and reject false authority. Abraham’s faith, Moses’ obedience, and Jesus’ submission to the Father are all examples of those who embraced reality as God revealed it. In contrast, those who sought to build their own power — Cain, Pharaoh, or the Pharisees — negotiated poorly, choosing manipulation, pride, and control. Their stories end in destruction, not because God punished them arbitrarily, but because their attempts to reject reality ended in self-destruction.

To negotiate with reality — to embrace truth, humility, and empathy — is to align with the natural order God has established. Those who do so find life, love, and abundance. Those who refuse find only emptiness, isolation, and ruin.

The question before you is the same question humanity has faced since the beginning: Will you submit to truth and reject falsehood, or will you submit to falsehood and reject reality?