before the anti-Christ
Fear and reward are one of the most common factors which are at play in making the not so ideal choices in life. These tools have been used by tyrants, dictators, and religious clergy over the time as well. Most importantly personal choices made by people are also influenced by fear and reward.
Choices made as a consequence of fear and rewards are not necessarily wrong choices, but the framework is flawed, inefficient and detrimental over the time to both individuals and nations. Most important social and moral achievements of recent times have been the result of conscientious choices. Most notable examples are of the Martin Luther King fighting for the right of black people, the implementation of Gay marriages, establishment of European Union. All of these modern foundations of our society were unimaginable in the United States of 1950; the gay acts were treated as criminal or psychological problems; the European Union an impossible dream in an apartheid Europe.
But some chose to dream, to understand, to feel and listen.
The ability to recognize one’s own self is wondrous in the sense that it really allows you to understand your temptations and fears. All the temptations become clear choices, each temptation is a separate choice and thus have different meanings to oneself. It also has the same effect on fear, it’s broken down into separate problems with different ways to solve it.
In the face of overwhelming fear and rewards it our ability to make choices in our own true image appears to be the most likely guide we can have for ourselves. Yet I indulge in temptations, swayed by my fears, but gradually I’m learning to see a difference between myself, my choices, and my fears. Standing there in the face of Anti-Christ and all those forces, I’m finally seeing myself telling them to **** off.
Neomodern 