Reconciled in Iraq

By Brian D. Jopp

Reconciled in Iraq details a soldier's journey to truth and resolution while deployed to Mosul during the Iraq war.

It is the middle of the war in the ancient city of Nineveh when Brian Jopp begins to question his whole life, belief systems, God, his government leaders, and even humanity itself. As he tries to maintain sanity in the nucleus of an insane world, he begins to realize the magnitude of his own naivety and gullibility.

Innocent people die without explanation. The face of a child is torn apart by shrapnel. Jopp finds himself staring blankly through human atrocities and experiencing varying emotions, all of which are at odds with reality.

In those darkest of times, Jopp begins to discover and embrace his life purpose: to improve humanity by encouraging all people, regardless of race or religion, to find their own truth. By sharing his insight and understanding of human beings, life, the unknown, fate, destiny, and bliss in this introspective pilgrimage, Jopp stimulates independent thinking and free will.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Dec 3, 2007
• ISBN: 9780595898008

Brian D. Jopp

Brian Jopp is a Sergeant in the United States Army. His career path has taken him from construction work to teaching secondary English to entrepreneurship. Originally from Delano, Minnesota, he is currently stationed in Iraq. His wife and two daughters reside in El Paso, Texas.

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Copyright © 2007 by Brian David Jopp

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ISBN: 978-0-595-45489-1 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-0-595-89800-8 (ebk)

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

Introduction  

PART I

Discovery 

Walking the Plank of Denial 

Searching the Sea of Reality 

Salvation of an Angler 

The Final Incident 

PART II

Perimeters 

Psycho-philosophy 43 

Introduction to Cults and

Conspiracy Theories 

Cults, Conspiracy Theories and A

Genius  

Where Am I Today?  

The Supernatural  

PARANORMAL EVENT AT A TEACHERS MEETING  

PROFESSIONAL CAREER MANAGEMENT AGENCY  

HANNAH’S GRAVE  

THE FARM  

THE HAGS  

THE RED ROOM  

Short List of Experiences At the Edge of Reality  

Quick Word On Conspiracy Theories

Basic Conclusions  

PART III

Free Will and Destiny  

Crossing Paths  

Free Will verses Destiny  

What is Free Will?  

The Only Truth about Free Will  

Where Is the Kingdom of God?  

The Institutionalized Fear Oppressor

Motives and Moments of Truth  

PART IV

Choosing a Better Life 

PART V

Live For Bliss, Live Free 

Comment 

What are some aesthetics built into life? 

A True Story Something-so-Great in Something-so-small 

A Look into the future.… 

Afterword 

Vocabulary Used in Psycho-philosophy 43 and Reconciled In Iraq 

Resources and Recommended

Reading 

Acknowledgments 

Endnotes 

The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

In Part I: Discovery, I use an extended metaphor in the beginning of each chapter. In Part V: Live for Bliss, Live Free, the ending chapter, A Look Into The Future is fiction. Everything else happened as I remember it. The names and places are real. Full names of a few persons and specific places have been purposely left out. There are no hidden messages or implicit statements regarding any person, group, religion, politician, or any other entity within Reconciled In Iraq. Even in areas where I make blanket statements, (for example, Most religions depend upon blind faith for their foundation,) that does not mean blind faith equates to lying. Also, nowhere within this work do I attack any individual. If you find yourself taking a mentally defensive stance against any position posed within Reconciled In Iraq, then perhaps you ought to take a step back and evaluate your perspective.

In Memory of my brother, Kevin

Why am I here?

Introduction  

ººººººººººººººººººººººººººººº

He who learns but does not think, is lost. He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.¹

—Confucius (551BC—479BC), Analects

Reconciled In Iraq, written and published during my deployment to Mosul, throws my whole life onto an end-grain-butcher-block for free thinkers and truth seekers to chop, dissect, examine, chew, taste, touch, and judge for themselves.…

Mosul, the ancient city of Nineveh, holds power. This is the land where Jonah delivered a message from God to the Ninevites. This ancient message of peace saved this civilization from destruction, but this land appears cursed.² Throughout the ages, the Assyrians, Ottomans, Mongolians, Persians, and others raped and pillaged from this Cradle of Civilization.³ Even today, the Tigris River, flowing through the center of the city, churns with blood, bodies, and human waste. With a disgusting lack of respect for life itself, even newborn babies are cast into this vein of death.

As I sat in the very crux of this insane world, our world, I realized my own naivety and gullibility. I saw the dark depths of humanity: Looking at a child whose face is torn apart with shrapnel from a VBIED (Vehicle Born Improvised Explosive Device) strikes deeply into one’s being, forever. Innocent people die without any explanation. What is the value of a human life? After time, I caught myself staring blankly through these human atrocities with varying emotions not consistent with reality.

Beyond unnerved, I separated myself. From a distance, I observed and then asked myself question after question. The questions came. The answers did not. My spirit yelled with a vengeance for me to do something. So, I cast blame, but my condemnation of others did little to rectify my insides, my emotions, my viewpoint within this darkness.

I tried to rationalize these vile acts, but reality haunted me every step of the way.

Reconciled In Iraq reveals my understanding of human beings, life, the unknown, things such as fate, free will, destiny and bliss. Reconciled In Iraq’s purpose is to improve humanity by urging the individual to grasp free will and ride the river of serendipity to find, at least in part, truth.⁴ In addition, Reconciled In Iraq gives credence to a major bifurcation, a transition from knowledge to wisdom, an awakening. My life-long journey to seek truth has been overshadowed by a new drive to live life through the appreciation of aesthetics. In other words, seeking truth is not nearly as important as appreciating it, or better yet, What good is truth, if you are not wise enough to appreciate it?

This bifurcation, shift, awakening or whatever one chooses to call it has been tossed around by philosophers throughout the centuries. Many people have arrived at this conclusion, but they describe the Way to it differently. For example, Søren Kierkegaard writes about this very same subject when dealing with anxiety and the anticipation of faith.⁵ Humans throughout ages, all backgrounds, in different regions/cultures have found the Way. It would be hubristic to think I am different in this respect. However, I do believe Reconciled In Iraq does provides a 21st century twist that does not confine itself to an era. Instead, I offer Psycho-philosophy 43 to counter thousands of years of humankind’s assumptive errors, especially within the fields of religion and government. I humbly wish to point these errors out by using my own life as an example. I am certainly not the first person who believes he/she has found a way to explain, in part, our humanity, but I do think Psycho-philosophy 43 does give some order to the chaos and distractions of our world which have been disrupting and/or controlling the individual since the beginning of civilization. Why? People (Inventors) have created perimeters to control the individual’s thoughts. These perimeters prevent the individual from seeing into the realm of truth/reality/the Abyss. In turn, the individual replaces logic with blind faith. Faith in itself is not entirely bad, but blind faith creates a master/slave relationship where the individual abdicates his/ her free will! In this way, and since I do propose a solution, I see Reconciled In Iraq as different from the others who claim have found the Way. Different because I neither back an inventor nor claim to be one. In no way am I a prophet. Throughout my life, I have intensely studied philosophy, psychology, literature, and history as a professional as well as for my own research. As a secondary English teacher, owner of an advertising agency, and now a sergeant in the United States Army, I have a combined these perspectives to form a unique viewpoint which enabled me to see life from many different perspectives. Also, by interacting with thousands of individuals who come from all walks of life, I was able to accommodate multiple frames of thought.

From observation, logic, and analysis, I realized an individual’s thoughts, my own thoughts included, were not free from distractions. In fact, the inverse was reality.

I believe we need to reclaim our thought waves, our mind set, and our motives. I concluded that there are inventors and inventions which conflict with our free will.

I came to the conclusion that we need to reclaim our true selves, our true purpose, and the aesthetics built within the miracle of life. This needs to be accomplished by each individual. Essentially, the following statements of truth and wisdom apply to the proposed axiom within Reconciled In Iraq: Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and the door shall be opened to you.⁶ Our problems exist because we ask the wrong questions, seek in the wrong places, and knock on the wrong doors.

Some of the material within Reconciled In Iraq needs to be reaffirmed here because I foresee some controversy and a lot of needless argumentative discussion. Let it be perfectly clear, never, do I proclaim hope or faith to be nonexistent or unimportant. However, I do claim hope and faith will rarely work, unless the individual who chooses to use them is educated, works objectively as possible, and makes decisions based upon free will.

An educated individual uses objectivity rather than blind faith, wisdom rather than limited knowledge, free thinking rather than invented thoughts, and he/she bases his/her decisions on appreciation of life rather than false motives and/or empty promises. I wrote Reconciled In Iraq to fight for our humanity against the inventors and their inventions by arming the individual with the most powerful force known to humankind: free will.

Free will is a necessary pre-requisite for things such as faith and hope. I view hope and faith to be lesser forces, and in many cases, unnecessary.

Although Reconciled In Iraq is not a religious book, it neither promotes nor demotes Christianity, I do include many insightful and philosophical teachings as given by Jesus. For example, Jesus said, If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.⁷ I find this quite fascinating because I have yet to see a plant do anything remotely close. What does this say of a person’s faith? More specifically, what does this say about the power of faith? However, this is not blind faith!

Blind faith does not empower the individual. Blind faith drains power from the individual.

Does not the whole New Testament speak about faith? Faith holds much power, but I contend that many people do not really have faith. One of the main themes within the New Testament is the lack of faith. Many of the disciples believed they had it! Other times, the disciples would ask how to obtain faith or gain faith like a commodity. Faith is usually tainted by bias, beliefs, and a limited perspective. I claim that belief is the problem, not faith. Keep this in mind! This belief to have something one does not IS the problem. If you are one of those who claim to have faith, then I ask, How much? I do not mean to be negative or critical; I just mean to prove a point. I do offer consolation based upon other teachings of Jesus. Finally, I venture to say no matter how hard a person closes his eyes and prays for faith, it will not appear before this person, unless this person’s thoughts are free enough to accept it. Once again, from my point of view, free will is a pre-requisite for faith, just as faith is a prerequisite for a miracle. For now, just store your thoughts on this one. More on this subject later.

I offer to communicate with all free thinkers on BrianJopp.com concerning any subject within Reconciled In Iraq. I am simply someone who has researched, studied, and contemplated our humanity for the better part of twenty years, who now wishes to pursue further discussion to stimulate free thinking. Basically, Reconciled In Iraq offers another platform for a free thinker to mark for use on his/ her own journey.

Also, please use BrianJopp.com to clarify my intended meaning, argue logic, or point out mistakes. If something remains unclear after reading the whole manuscript, then let me know so I can provide more details, offer a solution, or state an apology! My intention is to move forward. My purpose is to enable individuals to grasp the essence of free will. There are no other primary reasons for Reconciled In Iraq.

Enjoy, Endeavor, and Accomplish

Image269.JPG

Picture taken by Marnie Jopp

PART I

Discovery