John the Wild
John the Wild Man
John has nothing to lose and is not afraid of offending anyone or for being canceled. He speaks with raw precision, and frightening accuracy, stinging every camp with power or position, with arrows of fundamental facts which everyone knows and sees. No one is that dumb.
He is like the long hair hippie guy from Woodstock, or yoga instructor, not like the Instagram evangelist. The odd outcast. On a diet of selected grilled locust and organic honey, protein for muscles and carbs for the brain. Off the grid mysterious hero who came out of hiding. We kind of knew her was out there, doing his thing but he was. forgotten, not relevant… but suddenly, puff! In the midst of the biggest controversies of the day. And he is hot-selling healing of conscience which some misunderstand for consciousness. And drawing crowds, without subscriptions, conferences, and product launches. Not even worship or healing meetings. Aspiring for persona non grata in a speedy way for sure.
All are coming to him. The politically engaged and highly positioned believers who support ideology over faith, expecting the benefits of both, but versed better in a combo which preferred ideology.
And the strong spiritual leaders, deep believers and seekers of truth, followers of the rubrics are showing up also They think he is closer to them. But they care for the purity of their rites to the extent of serving the letter and not the spirit anymore. And he is way beyond that.
What can these religious, politically religious, spiritual, charismatic, evangelical, traditional rivers do to him who isn’t linked to any system? He’s not codependent as us. What can we do to him who is not networking with any of our streams? What can they or we do to him who is as offensive as red hot wild fires in Southern California destroying houses of the rich and poor, conflicting hearts and minds, pouring cold water on the influencers, hated and loved.
Why are people going to him, after work? Skipping gym, concerts, and precious pedicure sessions. Prepaid sessions.
Why do they willingly want to hear about how greatly they sin, how mortified their God is because if it? I mean, it’s not a gentle Oprah show, neither long podcasters session. It’s the newest version of embodied dunking in the water. Face forward.
He is outside of their camps. And of ours. I see that some of us trying to own him. But he is not an entertainer of human curiosity. He is outside of everyone’s camp. Not moved by influencers, speakers, latest news, feedback, or ads. Not manipulated by the gov. Threat to the established society which on the verge of collapse. Darknet can’t figure him out. Twitter dudes with or without badges don’t comment beyond what brings them more viewers. That’s how it goes.
He is from among us but not raised by any of us. That’s a clue. His ways are weird, beyond those of ecology priests, keto guru YouTubers, New Age consciousness manipulators, beyond dogma preachers.
He speaks Old Verses. He breathes Ruah on those who want to be freed from guilt and start again. But not in a way that the city dwellers teach. He tells them to actually do it the hard way.
He proclaims inward cleansing with mercy for tomorrow’s new beginnings. But with a predisposition to return, repair, and revisit. He is not buying letting go and moving on. That’s for softies. He says you have to prepare the way. And then means digging deep and moving boulders.
His voice is not an echo.
He is rather a scary preacher but somehow he doesn’t sound as the revivalists or healers.
Some call him a prophet but who really knows who those are anymore. We have not had one for some time. Really. We can just read about them. I take that back: we have many calling themselves prophets but few are as extremely accurate as the Voice of Thunder. Most of them just want to be in. John is definitely out. Most of them are trying to impress with the gift, not with life. John just stands there looking like a beggar who just came out of rehab or homeless shelter.
He hears the rusty sands moved by lizards running through the stones sticking out in the vast wilderness.
He hears the rumblings of far-away thunders.
He hears the silent nights under cushiony canopies ornamented with blinking stars.
I bet he hears our thoughts and those terrify him and he has to restrain himself not to say more and stronger than The Voice within. That’s probably why it took so long for him to get ready. He had to prepare his choleric ambitious heart to be restrained to the point of submission. He is allowed to use the temper of his voice now in a way he chooses. He is trusted now, after years of yelling at stones and dusty horizons.
Spotify preachers want his strategy but he has none. Except daily docility. Roar out of a heart which knows dark despair and spontaneous love.
But it’s not only his radical otherness and this timeless alertness that we are somehow paying attention to. We are actually terrified that he might be the only one daring to say and daring to live the way that we should all follow. Because, at the end, we have the same God. He reminds us about our dreams put away for an easier life. He reminds us about our plans left for better pay. He reminds us about our selves abandoned for the promise of best selves. He reminds us about what we thought were just immature desires, impossible and ridiculous to follow, but he made it and we got trapped in clean houses and garages filled with non-essentials stored in 58 boxes.
And he scares us because we see that his edginess is not about what we call radical pursuit. His radicalness tests our illusions and we find ourselves imprisoned in ideas of a fulfilled life and comfortable retirements and happy endings and public approval and spiritual visions and reaching to the peer warmers. We call that blessing.
We bent ourselves to believe that this is Christendom. We are all copycats who never grow out of the black hole of success.
Meanwhile, Beatitudes we explained as idealism. He walks by and makes a way for the Kingdom. How do we reconcile that?
He lives outside of those parameters and we hate, hate, hate that feeling of being judged without hearing of acceptance first. Because we can’t hear the still small voice anymore, we hear only loudspeakers of shame and comparison. Our successful highways don’t have access to everyday new songs of birds living in the heartland of our existence. We feel we have to capture everything to be proud of our songs.
His carelessness angers our efforts to serve humanity. His single-mindedness we explain as an intensity of personality that probably went through early years of wounds and neglect. We have explanations for every single thing we dislike in his tone, moves, approach. Someone already wrote on Substack that his lack of healthy attachment and long periods of solitude translates to angry anxiety and stubborn avoidance. Jordan Peterson wanted to invite him, not to temper his attitude but to ask about his confrontational nature and to give him a platform to explain his points of view. Kanye wanted to send him some merch, custom-made. A very Big and Very Known revival organization wanted him for a conference, USCCB wanted him for the New Evangelization committee and even Rogan wanted to get the first word out. Shapiro wanted to hear his stand on public issues but no one could get hold of the guy. No website, no social media, no manager, no phone.
His post post-modern attitude is annoying. He dares to stay an enigma and goes analog only. Requires only in-person encounters and doesn’t follow any modern setup. Meta verse can only dream. Big no-no. No sound system, no exposure, only eye contact and only a few dozens around really know what’s going on. Can’t stream live either bc there is no internets there, out in the ‘nowhere’.
We’ve seen drag queens and corp CEOs, immigrants and small business owners, even The Voice judges and people brought from hospices on stretchers. Also, some Muslims and Buddhists show up to see the ruckus he is making. Netflix sent their producers to make documentary or smith like that. They want to commercialize him ASAP.
We can’t explain how his brutal expositions, in that smelly outfit and in strange hours of the day are attracting people. We just guess that we missed the momentum about which he doesn’t care.
He just came out of his zone to say a few things and it seems that his magnetic draw is not in his rhetoric, not in his storytelling, not in his personal appeal but only in his fiery eyes. There is something in them that can not lie. He has seen the blue skies and the hot sand for too long to not carry the essence of the wilderness in him. The secret lies within. The solitude that draws the best kinds of silence is in his rough hands and soft heart. He says he made the way and we can do the same. He says he knows how. Are we gonna try? Weekend in the desert? I got the best organic sunscreen! Only 29.99!