The Last Systems Thinker
365 Insights: Unveiling the World’s Mechanics through Old and New Testament Analysis
The Science of Discovering the Paradise within us; Arts, Sciences & Traditions for a global Renaissance
By David Eldenstierna
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”
— The Gospel of St John, 1:1-5
Background:
I started writing the Christ book ‘The Last Systems Thinker’ in the summer of 2023, intuitively based on contemplating the psychosocial question: “How should we interact?” —This question pertains to step 3 in my other ’10 Steps’ book and aligns with the third stream of development in the integral psychograph, specifically applied to forming social and societal relationships. I aimed to rebuild an emotionally, intellectually, spiritually and practically grounded basis for all my interactions.
While meditating on this question, the words came to me: “teach one another words of wisdom,” as well as a passage from the holy writ: “where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there among them.” As this resonated with the third mind-principle, I thought, why not incorporate a form of ‘Living Christ-consciousness’ into my relationships?
Earlier that year, I was quite shocked when my good friend Anders fell from a rooftop and passed away in Athens on New Year’s Eve. His early death brought the reality of mortality into deep focus for me. Our newfound friendship, which felt like interacting with ‘another I,’ made me think, “That could have been me, and I’m not ready to die yet.” Consequently, I began to regret not standing up for my faith and showing my true self wholeheartedly when he had inquired about my spiritual path multiple times.
During my heartfelt pondering, the essence of Matthew 10:32 came to me: “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.” This rapidly gave me the impression that one should practice acknowledging and showing one’s connection to one’s higher self (which I equate with The Logos, ‘the hidden harmony of all things,’ as defined by Heraclitus) in order to live the life one was ultimately designed, created for, or intended to live—to follow the blueprint of one’s deepest purpose, so to speak.
All this inspired me to start reading 10 pages of inspired scripture every morning, find a verse that truly spoke to my heart, and send it to a couple of people with whom I felt a spiritual connection or wanted to establish or strengthen one. It started with a few individuals and was well-received, appreciated, and heartfelt, just as the inspiration suggested. Then it grew.
As more people asked me to send them daily scripture verses, I received requests to provide “elaborations”: explanations, analyses, and expansions. This was primarily to help investigators of the Christian faith understand the scriptures from a contemporary and practical perspective since they were not familiar with the ancient and poetic language of the texts.
So, I began writing these analyses and sent them along with the verses, and the responses were very positive. Several said, “David, you need to make this into a book,” or “This is fantastic, very valuable, and worth its weight in gold. Keep sending!” The inspiration became clear: yes, it will be a book—365 scripture analyses of the New and Old Testaments, to be published soon.
But it didn’t stop there. I was also inspired to send these analyses to many ordinary Swedish atheists, people from entirely different philosophies and lifestyles, and others I never thought would appreciate such content. It turns out that several of them have come to believe. One person I hadn’t spoken to in ten years said after just three analyses, “Wow, this is invaluable. Thank you for bringing me to Christ! I will start reading the Bible on my own now. I will start going to church. Thank you for your example!”
Some people also began sending me money unsolicitedly because of this—I’ve so far received somewhat over a thousand SEK in support for the book, which I highly appreciate. New individuals frequently reach out, saying, “Could you send me your morning inspiration, please?” and “I love how you wrote about ‘loving and being loved is the essence of divinity! I totally agree! Thank you for these every day!” Others have said, “Don’t stop, I read everything.”
In summary, I have now analyzed over 280 passages and hope to increase the pace to publish this book soon, as the inspiration from ‘the hidden harmony of all things’ seems to want this book on the market and in people’s hands shortly. It looks like it will land between 700-800 pages.
What I’ve re-learned so far is that Christ’s teachings and words, without exception, aim to shift our “locus of control” from an ‘external locus’ to an ‘inner locus’ —the ‘whispers of our hearts’ that establishes and strengthens our body-mind connection. In other words, we should not be provoked to action by threats, greed, fear of public humiliation, or overwhelming desires. Instead, we should cultivate a sense of goodwill similar to the idea of Kant’s Categorical Imperative: ‘Act as if the maxims of your action were to be elevated through your will to a universal law of nature’; or, simpler: do good for its own sake, without ulterior motives.
This motivation for our actions lead us to interact with other’s, and reality through much fewer preconceived ideas, uncovering more real reference points in the interobjective Its-quadrant—the functional fit. I also see this aligning with Christ’s conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7: “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand,” ‘Sand’ representing relative points of reference like others’ subjective opinions or the world’s ever-changing popular trends. But “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock,” ‘The Rock’ representing reliable and solid reference points ultimately based on ‘the inspiring whispers of our heart,’ our “internal locus of control,” which through action increasingly reveals to us the deeply holistic and functional fit interactions between the microcosm of our body and the macrocosm of nature and the universe.
Concluding, this is a book for everyone who wants to rekindle or develop their faith to the next level, regardless of religious background, and at the same time start establishing objective or interobjective claims for subjective or intersubjective faith-based truths.
You are warmly welcome to support this both heartfelt, and strictly faith-based book project by clicking the link below and crowdfunding me. You will, of course, receive the book as soon as it’s done and, if you like, mail-updates on its progress.
In the spirit of discovery, The Alchemist
