Spiritual Journey Press

P.O. Box 3041, Mercerville, NJ 08619

Welcome to Spiritual Journey Press!  Let's explore our journeys together!  Use the mail order form  to purchase Endless Possibilities and other Spiritual Journey Press products. 

Virtual journeys represent alternative possibilities - ways in which we could have lived out God’s call but did not in the movement of events progressing forward through time. A virtual event is an experience we could have had but did not. These virtual events and journeys exist both within and outside of the wall of the cone. However, it is only the virtual events and journeys that exist within the cone walls that are permissible choices for us - they are potential and accessible. The journeys outside the cone wall are potential (theoretically) by not available as actual choices. Think of it this way: on a chess board, there is a game being played out. I am white, and it is my first move. There is the move I actually make (say, pawn to king four). There are moves I could have legally made but didn’t (like, pawn to queen four). And there are moves I may want to make (especially if I play like Joshua!) but am not allowed to by rules of the game (like king to king four - the king is not allowed to jump over its pawn at king-two or to move so many spaces at one time). And obviously I can’t move the black pieces!

A startling conclusion flowing from the cone analogy is that the virtual possibilities increase as our journeys progress forward in time. Our decisions and actions do not limit the future. This stands in contrast to conventional wisdom, which interprets our experience in an opposite manner - future options are constricted by past and current decisions. In a very real sense, journey theory predicts that the journey possibilities move toward infinity as we embrace journeys faithfully and move forward in time - they really do become endless! Conversely, they become more finite as we move backwards in time!

Imagine if each discrete event and each point along the theme-wave of a journey possesses energy or charge, here defined as the potential to enhance or detract from life (and, of course, not literal energy). When the theme-wave (with a value of +1) moving back in time is fully in phase (or in synch) with the corresponding events (each with a value of +1) moving forward in time, their combined energy is greater than that of just the theme or event (1+1=2). An event in opposition to the theme (a value of -1), negates the theme (+1 + -1 = 0), meaning that the theme is not expressed in time at that point in the journey. In a shadow journey, both the shadow theme and events have negative (-1) energy (representing movement away from God’s will).

What’s the point of assigning energy charges to events and themes? It is a way of symbolizing journey tendencies toward or away from God’s will. A positive event in synch with a journey theme furthers a journey, while a negative event hinders the journey. Similarly, when negative events and a negative theme are in phase, the shadow journey gains momentum. But a positive event (like repentance or the refusal to do something evil) negates the progress of a negative theme. Our decisions determine whether the event has a negative or positive charge, and this is what might be called an event-outcome.

Furthermore, it is conceivable (in fact, essential) that at any given time, there exists (at least theoretically) a number of event-outcomes which have either a positive (+1) or negative (-1) charge in relation to a theme. It does not really matter which event-outcome is chosen out of all the positive possibilities in order to further the journey - any one of them will fulfill God’s will.

This idea has many practical applications to the real world. It explains why journeys can continue to express God’s will in a universe where disobedience and wrong choices are made. It also shows how the future, from an events perspective, can remain open and undetermined even while God has full knowledge of it from a thematic perspective.

It shows that the concept of "God’s perfect will" is not about singular events or choices, but about themes. For example, many struggle with the notion that God has only a single person for whom it is possible for us to be married to, if we are to be in God’s will. This can’t be so, since all it would take is for a couple of people to mistakenly marry the "wrong person" to throw the rest of humanity into a real bind (and in each generation, it would only get worse - the mistake compounds!). Rather, there are potentially quite a few prospective partners any of us could marry whose journey themes (and personalities, etc.) match well with our own. Marrying any of them could express God’s will. It is not the individual that is God’s will, but the thematic fulfillment that represents God’s will. Similarly, our vocational choices can be understood from the same perspective. This gives us a freedom to explore options and take risks, as opposed to constantly doubting our past decisions.

The "cone scenario" employed above is idealized and in one sense completely inadequate, for it does not take into account the truth that our journeys intersect regularly and incessantly with the journeys of other people. When God focuses in on our journeys, he does not see just a single cone in isolation, but that cone in relation to the journey cones of countless others. These cones are not lined up in neat rows (side by side, like spaghetti in a box). Rather, there is a complex and rather wild intersecting of the cones. When our lives are linked together, the cones intersect and occupy the same area.

The power of intersecting journeys can be representing using the energy metaphor above. We know that there is added strength when we link our journeys to others. If an event-theme link in a journey can be represented as positive energy (+2), then the cooperation of two journeys can be represented buy the sum [(+2) + (+2)] or (+4). Cooperation between journey partners propels those journeys more emphatically toward God’s will. The number represents force or momentum of the journey toward the theme goal.

For many years, I’ve used the following diagram to conceptualize the outworking of the salvation theme, as expressed in Scripture:

The chart nicely visualizes the narrowing down of God’s attention in the Old Testament as He prepares the world for Jesus’ journey as Messiah. In Genesis, the salvation theme is concerned with Adam and Eve, who represent all of humanity. But quickly the book narrows God’s focus to the Semitic world (Noah) and then further to Abraham (as father of the Jews). Please note: I am not saying that for thousands of years, God ignored the other peoples of the world, but rather that this is true only for this specific theme. Other themes represent His dealings with other peoples. As the story of the covenant people progresses (or regresses!), the Messianic hope becomes lodged not just in the tribe of Judah, but specifically within the Davidic family. In Jesus, the theme actualizes itself in a single individual. The cone has become very narrow!

But that narrowness represents a pivot point in the outworking of the theme, for the Acts 1:8 progression (Jerusalem/Samaria/uttermost parts of the world) represents the widening of the cone as represented in the right side of the above diagram. The salvation theme moves from the Jews out toward the gentiles, and a new people - the church - comes into being to represent the widening of the kingdom of God. The widening continues until the Great Commission is fulfilled, and then the Second Coming of Christ acts as phase 4 for the evangelical age. The cone has become wide indeed!

So, 2 cones can represent the totality of the salvation theme as it moves through human history. Might it be possible that this picture can represent the full picture of an individual’s recurring (dominant) theme as well? Afterall, in a sense, the salvation theme drawing represents Jesus’ complete journey (as opposed to just his earthly one). If so, the picture looks like this:

We'd love to have your response to this article! 

To share your thoughts, join SJP's ongoing web-based discussion forum - Journey Explorations. 

Or, to provide personal feedback, click here: article feedback

Copyright © 1998-2007 Spiritual Journey Press.  All rights reserved.