INTRODUCTION
This Is The
SYMBOL OF UNITY
It represents what is common to the five major faiths:
Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism.
Its purpose is to serve world understanding, peace, and unity,
by helping people to focus on what they have in common, rather than
what makes them different.
MEANING OF LIFE MEANS WHAT
The most common things the faiths share are in the moral law. The all forbid murder and thievery. The all teach
chasitity before marriage and fidelity after and liars are despised. They share a lot of dietary and
sanitation laws. These laws vary from culture to culture, even within the faiths, but they are basically
the same in all cases. Even in primitive cultures this is true.
But the most important of these things the faiths have in common
is the "Golden Nugget" that
is at the core of each. It is the path to spirituality through
communion with the Greater Life creating us from within, because this Life is
the Life of the Creator, and It is also manifesting what we perceive to be the
external world. When one loves the Creator within, It responds with love in the
apparent external world and we enter a world of light, where the world materializes
around us, rather than evolving slowly, like rock breaking down into sand.
It also grants us an understanding of how we all possess Eternal Life.
No matter how "religious" a person is in following health laws, including the "moral
laws", they are not "spiritual"
unless they commune with, and learn to love their Greater Selves; the Creator
creating all.
This Site Reconciles The Major Faiths And Modern Science,
simplifying them to their essence,
and the "Symbol of Unity" represents this reconciliation.
The Symbol Contains:
MEANING OF LIFE MEANS WHAT AND
The Buddhist Wheel
The Christian Cross
The Hindu OM
The Jewish Star of David
and the
The Muslim Crescent Moon and Star
It is not deliberately meant to be exclusive of other faiths,
but represents what is common to ALL legitimate faiths.
The Symbol of Unity is thus a new Peace Symbol for the 21st Century:
A symbol of religious, scientific, and cultural reconciliation and accommodation in an
increasingly smaller world.
This site contains the simple truth, told plainly. Give it an hour, and it can change
your world from one of rock and ashes to one of light and eternal life.
Even the small child should understand what is said here.
But first, who am I and how do I know what I going to share with you?
I am Captain Joseph H. Forrington. I am a Cum Laude graduate of The United
States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York, Class of 1972.
Robert Kennedy nominated me for appointment when he was Senator from New York,
shortly before he was assassinated.
I have visited over 50 countries (maybe yours) on every coast of every continent (except
Antarctica), in 27 years at sea, the last 14 as Captain.
I have studied all the major faiths, the
arcane, occult, and psychic, and followed closely the developments of science in fields
like Cosmology and Quantum Physics, which attempt to explain where the universe
came from.
I've read well over a thousand books in my years at sea,
sometimes one a day.
AND THE MEANING OF LIFE IS WHAT MEANS
Friends and family call me "Cass", a birthname that was kept as a nickname when I
was adopted at the age of 6 months.
The SS Green Valley was my last command.
She was 900 feet long and 100 feet wide and was scrapped 18 months after I retired:
I have been blessed to be able to travel the world as I searched for the meaning
of life, which I share below. If you think a man like me might gain
some wisdom in such a search, please read on. What I have to say will challenge your
beliefs, whether you consider yourself religious or not.
Even though I was educated in Catholicism, Episcopaleanism, and Lutheranism by the time
I was 13, I had to re-discover the simple truths at the core of each faith, the
"Golden Nugget" their founders knew, for myself. This is because the faiths have
become so clouded over time that I learned nothing of true "spirituality" in all that
"religious" education.
I studied, and practiced, much to learn what is simply stated here.
I urge you take advantage of what I have learned, because you do
not need the extensive book knowledge
I have to live in the "World of Light" I
inhabit. Neither do you have to travel anywhere to find it. It already surrounds
you, you just can not "see" it yet.
I will tell you HOW to "see" it so you can live in it, too.
In this age of scientific specialization, most leading scientists do not know of
or understand the significance of discoveries in other fields that do not
influence theirs directly. (But let me urge everyone to rent and watch the
movie
"What The Bleep We Know", as it is our Quantum Physicists explaining how
the world works in a most entertaining way. If you do not get it the first time,
watch it again. The movie will explain to you, through our highest science, how
Jesus, and you, could walk on water. ALL of the great Mystics would have loved
this film.)
I, on the other hand, have had a life that has allowed me the time to study a broad
range of scientific and spiritual lines of inquiry and, hence, I have been able to tie
many different things together, and make many connections even the most talented
scientist or spiritual leader is ignorant of.
When his disciples asked Jesus why he did not teach everyone what he was teaching them,
he replied that they would not understand. I tell you now that our highest science
can now explain to you simply what Jesus knew and taught his disciples. Indeed, it
is going to become common knowledge to everyone born from now on, simply because it
is now commonly accepted science that will be taught in all our schools and universities
worldwide.
There are no leaps of faith here, though the power of
faith is discussed here. The logic behind the power of faith can be found in the section
where
I describe washing my hands in acid.
What is said here is not meant to replace the legitimate faiths with a "new
faith". But what we will now be teaching our children about the scientific basis of
spirituality will require all the faiths to make adaptations and adjustments.
It IS
meant to clarify certain things, which have been clouded with time,
differently within each faith, and to make
clear the scientific reasons behind other things, which before now were unknown
and "simply" considered matters of "faith" and "religion", based upon our faith in
our ancestors' desire for us to prosper and live well.
I want to state briefly here that I do not "see" the world as most people "see" it.
I love science and follow new developments closely, but I do not live in a
physical world. What I see is the world of light that materializes itself around
us as we live in it, as explained by Quantum Mechanics, our most modern science.
Even our very bodies materialize around "us", our "spiritual essence", or
"Life Force", as we live "in" them. This is one of the reasons miraculous healings
and stigmata occur, and why many dis-eases are purely psychosomatic.
Modern science tells me this perception is correct, that this is actually the way the
World works.
I see this because I learned to petition the Creator as a matter of course, and
hence began to "see" the responses, which are often truely awesome,
in the "external", "physical", world. This makes the external world appear "fluid"
to me and this is the "spiritual" world I now "see"
and live in, and our most advanced science is not in conflict with it at all. I talk
about this more fully in the sections that deal with faith and power and the
origins of the Universe, but wanted
to make this clear in the beginning.
Mine is a world of miracles, large and small, a "fluid" world of light.
Whether you have a faith or not; whether you believe in a
"Higher Power" or not; what is written here concerns you
because the conflict between Islam and the West is not about oil,
it's about health.
The members of Al Qaeda are trying to destroy the West to protect
the health of their families and communities.
What fundamentalist Muslims (and conservatives of any faith) do not want,
that Western societies are ridden with, are:
1) Full blown epidemics of every known sexually transmitted disease.
(In the United States, 1 in 3 adults has a Non-Curable STD
and, Worldwide, 1 in 100 people are dying from AIDS alone.)
2) 50% to 70% divorce rates with the poverty and financial ruin divorce brings
to everyone involved, especially the children.
3) Emotionally and mentally dysfunctional children from broken homes.
4) The rampant obsession with sex, general promiscuity and lack of
personal responsibility that cause the above ills, and is perpetuated and
spread through the uncaring and greedy in the entertainment industries, who are
willing to wear the AIDS ribbon, but not willing to live or espouse and promote
the lifestyle that would eliminate AIDS naturally.
If all of humanity simply practiced the chastity and fidelity espoused by all the major
faiths for JUST ONE human lifespan, ALL Sexually Transmitted Diseases would
be eliminated, losing their means of transmission and survival.
This is really the only rational path to wellness, but profit and greed keep the
entertainment industry from espousing it: that and false, self-serving, vanity.
Al Qaeda would never have attacked the West if it were still exporting
"Leave It To Beaver" instead of "Queer Eye For The Straight Guy".
This is not to justify the acts of Al Qaeda and other such groups.
These are desperate acts of violent, impatient people who would be far
more effective spending their money on advertising campaigns to fight
for clean, healthy living. History proves this through the story of
Bar Abbas and Jesus, as discussed below.
The terrorists think they are spiritual people, but they are rather like the mad
shepherd who slays the lamb that strays. Anyone who knows any western scripture
knows this is madness. The good shepherd rescues the lamb and worries over its
loss. He certainly doesn't hunt it down to kill it.
In this age of instant and mass communications, it is inexcusable for
people to use bombs and bullets when they could be spending their lives
and money on educating the lost and saving lives instead of ending them.
Even the secular governments spend large amounts of money on health advertisements
that relate directly to the moral issues the conservatives are concerned about. For
instance, I pay less than US$9.00 per month to keep my whole domain up, of which
this is just one page. And just how cheap are advertisements on TV at 2 AM, when
the lost and lonely are watching?
Science, Religion and the Origin of the Universe
There are different ways of looking at the world that join together for me. I absolutely
know my spritual beliefs are correct because I simply live in that world. I can
have no doubts about it, because it is actually where I live. I "see" it as my reality.
This is not the same, however, as explaining it all in scientific terms. I am trying to only
post on this site what I KNOW I know, but I believe we will finally tie science and Creator
together.
THAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE MEANS WHAT
So for a strictly scientific view of my current
Cosmological Theories please click on one of these
Origin of the Universe
links. I must stress, however, that these are just theories on my part, which is why
they are not posted on this site, which states only that which I know is absolutely true.
Spiritual reality over-rides scientific reality, but the two do live in perfect harmony.
Our job is to figure out how. My Cosmological Theories are my attempt to resolve the two on
the basis of what I know.
Astronomers look out into the cosmos at larger and larger structures and Physicists,
especially Quantum Physicists, look within at smaller and smaller structures in
the pursuit of scientific knowledge. Astronomy and Quantum Physics meet in Cosmology,
which tries to explain the origin of the universe.
Quantum Physicists believe the universe is an
on-going creation that actually materializes around us as we live in, and interact
with, it. They say our own sub-atomic parts actually "pop" into and out of existence
all the time. In other words, there are parts of us that don't exist at any given moment.
This is the world I "see".
The physical world indicates that this popping into existence in this universe began
about 13.7 billion years ago, but it could be an eternal phenomenon.
Not all scientists agree with this, but most scientists agree that the universe
"began" at some point in time about 13.7 billion
years ago in what they call the "Big Bang". The problem has been with what existed
before the Big Bang.
The latest "expanding universe" Big Bang theory is called the Inflationary Theory
and it tries to deal with what caused the Big Bang, and what happened in the first
tiny fragment of a second after the Big Bang.
It is also widely accepted that the Universe is expanding, and at an increasing rate,
due to a mysterious "dark energy" they think has to exist to cause the expansion they
believe they see.
My problem with an "expanding" universe, is that there is no place for it to expand into.
The universe can not have a boundry, because all that exists is it. If there was space past
it to expand into, then that space would also be part of the universe. Time would also
exist there, because time and space are really one thing, Time/Space. This is why the
universe folds back upon itself and why any observer, anywhere, is at the center of the
universe. We actually have our own universes we live in, but they overlap so we can
interact. Each of us is literally the center of the universe, and would be so, no matter
where we are in it.
The Big Bang also says all the matter in the universe came from an "infinite singularity"
that existed before it exploded into the universe. This singularity had infinite mass
but no size. I just can't believe that.
Therefore I do not believe in a universe that is expanding "into" another place. New
space might be being created within the universe, increasing its apparent size,
but it can not be expanding into a place or space that does not exist, and I believe
it must fold back upon itself, regardless of whether it is growing or not.
I have cosmological theories of my own, that I believe might solve the scientific
questions. They are posted in another section. Basically I believe the universe will
be shown to be eternal in nature, but not
necessarily in fact, and non-expanding. This is because science explains the illusionary
world, while spirituality explains how it actually works, which is that it actually
materializes around us as we live in it, as according to quantum physics, even though
it appears to have stability over time. For more on this, please read my section on
my
Theories Concerning the Size, Age, and Origins of the Universe.
It is already commonly accepted that all matter is made of light "packets" called
"quanta", which is where the term "quantum" physics comes from.
The question really is, where does the light come from?
Our highest science is telling us that the light comes from "nowhere" out
of "nothing", just because quantum physics says it is a mathematical possibility.
In other words, out of nothing and nowhere, the universe just sprang into existence
because it was a mathematical possibility before the universe, in which such a possibility
could exist, existed. This is not the same as saying the universe sprang forth out
of a vacuum, because a vacuum is a thing and implies a space. "Nothing" is literally
"No Thing". Absolutely nothing.
I find it fascinating that our modern science knows that the world is made of light,
which is what Moses, who was a mystic who's faith worked many miracles, indicated
in the book of Genesis.
The scientists can not say that the Creator creates the light, and Is what exists
before the light, because they believe they can not empirically prove the existence
of the Creator, though most of them are people of faith, who believe they are just
figuring out how the Creator does it (manifests and orders His creation).
I believe the proof of the
existence of the Creator is so obvious, that we tend to overlook it: I did.
Even though we can not
measure the life in a living thing, we know it is there animating the dirt that
makes up the living thing. We all also know deep inside that the life within anything
is special and to be respected. Even pagans feel this way. If life is animating the
soil that makes us, the most complicated of things, certainly it can be seen that it
also manifests the inanimate world the living beings occupy.
There is a lot of contention today between creationists and evolutionists about when
the universe was actually created. All scientific evidence points to about 13.7 billion
years ago, but Judeo/Christo/Islamic scripture (The Old Testament)
indicates about 6,000 years. Hindus and Buddhists account for a slightly longer
time.
I would remind the evolutionists and scientists that the universe, if it is
made by a Creator, can be made to appear to be any age and to have gone through any
stage to get to us. In other words, because it appears to be so, doesn't make it so.
One of the very real possibilities scientists are evaluating is that the Universe
is actually eternal and would appear to be 13.7 billion years old to any observer, in
any time, from any place.
It is also fascinating that the Universe can have no edge or border because there is
nothing to border on, even a vacuum. Therefore, all observers always appear to
be at the center of the Universe, no matter where they are, and all travelers will
eventually return to the point they left from.
The creationists are obviously wrong about 6,000 years as we know our species, in
its current stage of development, existed way before that.
We can trace ourselves
back at least 110,000 years to Africa and a common ancestor.
MEANING MEANS LIFE MEANING THAT
The other races and ethnic subgroups only began to evolve 60,000 years ago when some
of our ancestors left Africa. At that point, only about 60,000 of us were left
(about the same as the orangutang population today).
Thus we have been developing into "separate" races for
only 800, 75-year life spans, or 3,000, 20-year generations. These are very small numbers
and shows how fast evolution occurs according to where we live and what challenges
our enviornment presents.
What I see is that the universe wasn't "created" and left to run on its own. It was
created and it is now an ongoing creation. As we
live and act, and react, in the world, the world manifests itself around us in the
next instant. Each of us participates in the actual creation through our actions,
prayers, dreams, and expectations, and fears, which is why faith can work
miracles, and the absolution, or relieving, of guilt is so important to good health,
as Moses, Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, and Krishna all taught either directly or indirectly.
It is this "coalescing" of the light that I see when I see a miracle happen.
The observer affects the observed. This was first demonstrated when a sub-atomic
particle called a "quark" was discovered. Quarks were discovered nearly simultaneously
by researchers in several different parts of the world. What was amazing was that
each of them observed something different: the observer affected how a quark
behaved, what it appeared to be, according to their own expectations.
Picture an expedition going single file through a deep forest. They are approaching
a tree that no man has ever seen before. Before the first man sees the tree,
it exists as a seed, a seedling, a young sprout, a mature tree, an old tree, and a dead
tree lying on the forest floor and all the possibilities in between. When the first
person sees the tree, all those realities collapse into a single reality and every
person afterward will perceive the tree as though it had aged from that date. In other
words, a person who comes along 20 years later will perceive a tree that is 20 years
older than the tree the first person perceived.
Because of this, I do not believe we can ever determine when this universe actually
began, or when people appeared in it. Genesis only makes sense if it is taken as
the origin of one people, the Jews, as traced back to the earliest fabled ancestors
by Moses. Otherwise Cain would have no people to fear or live with after he killed
Abel.
In conclusion, science agrees with religion in that the world is made of light. Science
says the light comes from nowhere out of nothing, religion says Life creates the light.
I know the Life creates the light because I see it every time I see a miracle.
The only true reality is an Eternal Be-ing aware of Its-self in an eternal instant. That eternal
loneliness and boredom is the primary reason there is a Universe: Divine Discontent.
THE MEANING OF LIFE
As I am a spiritual, mystical man, I must ask you to bear with me if you are an
atheist as I explain what I have found to be the meaning of life. Most of what I
say and believe is affected by this belief and it is necessary you read it so you
understand the basis of what I say.
The Primary Question is:
"Does Life spring forth from the world,
or does the world spring forth from Life?".
Every living thing I see is dirt animated by life.
I do not see dirt animating anything.
I also see the world materializing around me as I live in it.
The World Springs Forth From LIFE.
Again, I STRONGLY recommend EVERYONE OF EVERY AGE watch the movie
"What The Bleep We Know".
it explains what modern science knows about the very nature
of our beings, and how the world manifests itself around us as we live in it, in a
very entertaining, easy to understand way, animation and all.
This is the kind of thing I am talking about here, but from a personal perspective:
a world of light, instead of a world of rock and dirt.
My children introduced me to the movie, and I was so grateful because they no longer
thought I was the only one who understood, and sees, what I do. It has opened
the spiritual world for them in a very nice way.
Everyone I have talked to who has seen the movie has loved it.
I guess I'm a movie critic now.
In any event, our most advanced science confirms what I am about to tell you,
and watching this movie is an easy way to understand how.
There is a Be-ing which exists and which has always existed. It was never born nor
created. It will never die nor cease to be. It is the ONLY REAL Thing that exists.
It is made of nothing. It is made of NO THING. The only reason It exists is that
It is aware of Its-self. It is the "I AM THAT I AM." It is a BE-ing.
There is no reason for Its
existence other than the fact It exists. It always was and always will be. It is
eternal. It is Life Itself. It is eternal Life Itself. It is One. There are no
others. It is not made of parts. It is indivisible. It is eternally alone. It
lives nowhere because there is nothing real but Itself. This is the Creator: the
Supreme Be-ing: God.
The major religions all say we are created in the image, or likeness, of this
Supreme Being. Most people interpret that to mean we look like God and God looks
like us. But God has no toes, no fingers, and no nose. God is made of nothing but Life
Itself: Its Own Self-awareness.
I am a Human Being (You-man Be-ing), but It is the Supreme Be-ing.
The Supreme Being has no sex.
The Supreme Being is referred to as "He" because that is the proper impersonal
pronoun in the English language. It does not confer sex or physical being.
God has no body. God is everywhere because He creates everywhere there is. God is
nowhere because everywhere He creates is just an illusion. It is His dream; His
creation. Without Him there would be no creation and nowhere would exist. If you
could close your eyes, plug up your ears, taste nothing, smell nothing and feel
nothing with your sense of touch, and just be aware of yourself existing,
with no words or dialog in your mind, that is
similar to what it is like being the Creator:
a state of just be-ing.
He exists, in an absolute void, only
because He is aware of His own consciousness. He only exists because He is aware of
Himself. If there were no such Being, there would be absolutely nothing. There would
be no existence at all.
And when you focus your attention within, shutting off your senses, you are
communing with, and becoming one with, the Creator creating you from within and your
world from without. Words can be used to ask questions or ask favors, and they are
answered, with a subtle voice and feelings from within, and physical manifestations
in the world.
When it is said we are created in the image or likeness of God, what is meant is
our spiritual selves are like His.
What we feel, emotionally and spiritually, are
what God feels.
One of the worst feelings we can feel is loneliness. Even in prison, the ultimate
punishment is solitary confinement; being locked up all alone. If a bee is isolated
from other bees, or a termite from other termites, they will die. A dog with a
single master, whose master dies, will often lie on his master's grave and die of
loneliness.
This is the reason there is a world; a creation. God is totally, eternally, alone.
The creation allows Him to escape from His loneliness much as a movie or book allows
us to escape from ours. He creates others so He will not be eternally alone and then
He lives through those others in His creation.
This is His magnificent ability:
out of absolutely nothing, He can dream up this creation.
Then, He can incarnate Himself into His creation, through all the various life-forms
and participate as if lost in the illusion, born as a baby,
while still remaining aloof as His Own Self:
the Harmonizer and Judge, harmonizing the entire Creation so it makes sense to
each of His incarnations apparently living separate lives, in all forms, plant
and animal.
To one who is alone, the most important thing is an "Other". The most important
other is a loving other. Thus He makes us male and female. The male and female, in
loving each other, take part in the process of creation and issue forth other
loving others in the form of children. The Creator rewards those who take part in
this process with intense spiritual and physical pleasure and the love of the
children they propagate.
This is the centerpiece of the Creator's creation:
loving others creating more loving others.
The Creator is passing eternity here, through us, in the most enjoyable world
He can imagine for Himself to be in.
We put danger, adventure, drama,
humor, and intrigue in our books, plays, and movies. As we are created in
the Creator's likeness, we can understand why the world contains all
these elements, too. It makes the world exciting for the Creator
that lives here through us.
It enables the Creator to live the fullest of lives possible.
The creation is the Creator passing eternity in the most enjoyable way It can
imagine. This is the meaning of life.
THIS IS Heaven for the Creator. God is in His Heaven: HERE.
We have a hard time understanding this because we are mortal. Once one understands
the world in terms of the Creator's purpose, though, and realizes that the very life
that animates them is that Creator and therefore eternal, and that nothing
actually ever dies, the world makes more
sense. If the Creator is to be entertained here, and distracted from Its eternal
loneliness, then the world must be as it is.
The Creator enjoys being the Tiger as well as the Lamb. The Creator is NOT
human (you-man). Observe Its creations and you observe Its soul. Use your eyes. Get
down in the grass and spy a bug. Look up to the sky and spy a bird. Consider the
tree.
Thus all life is sacred and the Creator loves the homosexual, cannibalistic murderer
as much as any holy person because It is incarnate (in the flesh) in all.
This does not mean we have to tolerate such a person, just that the Creator
loves that life as much as ours, even though It requires us to end that life in
the course of ours.
We should strive to love our neighbors as ourselves, and our enemies, as well,
because the Creator is incarnate in them, too, and they are, on a deeper level
than our egos, truely OUR selves.
WHAT IS RELIGION AND ARE YOU RELIGIOUS?
First of all, what is religion, and what does it mean to be "religious"?
"Religion" does not equal "Spirituality", nor does it require a
"spiritual" belief of any kind.
Do you brush your teeth regularly? If so, you brush them "religiously", and
therefore have religion. Are you a vegetarian? If so, you "religiously"
avoid meat, and therefore have religion. You don't have to
believe in a Creator to have religion.
If you take the Creator out of the major faiths, what is left are the collective
health laws of our ancestors. If you take out all the ceremonies, all the saints, all
the holy men, and the concept of the Creator itself, you are left with the collective
wisdom for healthy, happy, living accumulated by your ancestors. As people everywhere
have come to a knowledge of the existence of the Creator, they have naturally included
Him in their daily lives and recipe for happiness. But with or without Him, the
health laws of our ancestors remain valid. These, including those of "modern" science,
are the basis of our "modern" health laws and this brings us to the Law.
The word "man" will now be used. This should not be interpreted as
inferring sexuality. "Man" is the proper impersonal pronoun in English for all of
mankind, regardless of sex.
The law is made to serve man, not man the law.
This is the primary test of any law.
One of the reasons there are five major faiths in the world is the early
geographical separation of the different peoples. People have all developed
the ability to perceive the presence of the Creator. Indeed, our
connection to the spiritual is actually built into our physical selves,
and can be measured
and observed chemically and electrically in the brain, as discussed below.
So the core spiritual beliefs of the major faiths
are very similar, their monotheistic belief in one original Creator, but their
"Religions", or "Faiths" about what "to do" and "not
to do", have been influenced by
widely diverging circumstances and environmental factors as they developed.
Please take note, the "Golden Nugget" of truth I found at the core of every way I
studied, was that when we rolled our eyes up in prayer, meditation, or communion,
and simply communicated with the very Life within us, we were in direct communication
with the Creator that was creating us, and the world around us as we live in it,
and that It could be asked questions that would be answered and that It could be
petitioned with love and prayer. I know this is true because I do it and see the
results manifested in my world as I live in it.
All ways developed slowly over time, and all had bright flashes of spiritual
infusion to keep them developing. The three in the Judeo/Christian/Islamic tradition
all appear to have had a short-term infusion of wisdom through the person of Moses,
but his infusion was actually the result of an extremely long tradition of observations
and research meant to keep the pharaohs of Egypt alive as long as possible.
Moses did not receive all of his education through direct inspiration on Mount Sinai,
but through his education as a prince of Egypt who might become Pharaoh.
He was telling the Hebrews not to eat the shellfish in a desert, where they did not
exist, because he had been taught that shellfish were dangerous as a prince of Egypt.
They did not serve shellfish to the Pharonic household. Moses was not just inspired
by the Creator, he was also one of the best educated men in ancient history.
I found it important to view the holy men of the past like any other man. We tend to
wrap them in such reverence that we forget that everyone of them said each of
us could do just like them if we looked at the world a certain way (like them). When
we put them in historical context, as real, ordinary, men, it is far easier to
understand them.
When Moses left Egypt, he led a very large population of slaves numbering about
600,000 who had nearly no individual culture left. He had been raised as a prince
of Egypt and was groomed throughout his life to rule, should circumstances bring
him to the throne.
Though Egypt had a pagan,
polytheistic religion, Moses was already a mystic who knew of, and communed with,
the one true Creator. So he created a priesthood, complete with
ritual and breastplate of pretty stones, tablets and ark, and gave them laws to
live by. In effect, he created a society from scratch.
The health laws he passed on were exceptional because, for 2,000 years before he
was born, there were people whose only purpose in life was to figure out how to
keep the Pharaohs and royal family alive and healthy for as long as possible,
just as they tried (very successfully) to keep them preserved after death.
Because he was also a mystic, he gave them a solid belief
in the Creator through miracle after miracle being wrought through his faith; one of
the things all the great teachers possessed: faith.
The Egyptians didn't know about bacteria, parasites, etc.,
so he had no way of explaining why people should serve their cooked meats on
clean plates, for example, and not the ones the raw meat was prepared on, except that
they could get sick and die and that was just
the way it was. That made it a mysterious or mystical thing and "God's will", so the
laws blended with the spiritual
concepts he gave them.
The most important thing he gave them was the knowledge of the
Creator, however, because our interaction with Him is the most important aspect of
our lives in regards to how we influence the actual creation. More on that later.
When the "religious" laws of any religion are examined in the light of what "science",
which is the art of observation and experimentation, tells us today, it will be seen
that we now understand the health reasons behind them better than our ancestors did.
For instance we now know that Moses was right all these years about the clean plates
for cooked food. And while the Christians of the Middle Ages were getting sick
and dying from eating off contaminated plates, the Jews who kept to the laws of
Moses, and later the Muslims, avoided those sufferings.
These include the moral laws, which benefit mental, emotional, spiritual, physical
and financial health. The reason our "modern" science can explain these
laws are that they were based upon scientific principle to begin with: the
observations of our ancestors.
What we do "religiously", we do "regularly". The reason we do them is because over the
course of time our ancestors have observed that if we do them, it is good for our health.
These are the "religious" laws that require us to do something, like serving our food
on clean plates so we do not pick up the parasites from the raw food on the plates the
raw food was prepared on.
Other "religious" laws require us to not do something, like eating pork, which we
now know if not cooked well enough can pass along trichinosis to humans. This is
a particularly disgusting parasite which is why pork and related beasts get special
attention, but the ingestion of raw blood and meat of any sort was also prohibited
because of the parasitic health risks there.
We also now know that certain parts of the pork are high in fat, which is to be
avoided, just as Moses taught thousands of years ago, though the fat risks of pork
in particular might not have been known to him. Trichinosis and other parasites
might have been his only concern.
Moses knew most of these things through the long line of wisdom that preceded him.
For thousands of years the Egyptians studied how to keep their Pharaohs alive and
healthy as long as possible. Moses was a prince of Egypt and in line to be Pharaoh,
so he was taught the wisdom of his ancestors.
Others were direct inspiration from within, and others occurred to him over
time. Circumcision to prevent troublesome male penile infections he learned through
the Jews as passed down from Abraham.
The "religious" traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism are the same. They are the
the accumulation of long lines of observation and shared wisdom that benefit the
health of the individual and the culture as a whole.
Before humanity knew about parasites, bacteria and the causes of disease associated
with high fat diets, all they knew was that certain regular, or "religious" practices
could protect them from disease and death. This was the wisdom of their ancestors,
who they loved and trusted. It was also just the way it was: "God's will". It is
simply how the Creator made the world. It is not that God does not want us to eat
pork to test us. It is that our ancestral wisdom told us it was unclean and that is
just the way it is, which makes it "God's will".
Those people who learned to cook pork well, eat it sparingly, and avoid the fatty parts,
have not been struck down by God for "sinning" by eating pork, because they learned
how to eat it safely, something even the pharaohs did not know how to do.
In most cases, in most faiths, "sinning" is the equivalent of doing something
unhealthy.
Buddha taught that all things should be partaken of in moderation. (Nothing is evil
unto itself - it depends on how it is used) I can't understand why he is always
portrayed as fat, when gluttony is so excessive and causes so much ill health,
and he was so wise. He was known to be well fit and athletic his entire life until
intermittent disorders overtook him in later life.
The Old Testament of the Judeo/Christo/Islamic tradition says nothing is evil unto
itself. It depends on how it is used. Again, moderation is espoused and excess
condemned. So, too, in Hinduism.
In any faith, if you are fat, you are a glutton and are sinning and will pay for
your sin. Most people in all faiths take this to mean after death. But if you are
a glutton and get fat, you pay here and now with many kinds of diseases, including
those that are fatal in very unpleasant ways.
Likewise, if you drink too much or are promiscuous, you will get sick and
might die. You are a sinner. You are living an unhealthy life.
In all faiths these laws have been passed along as "God's will". This is because most
people cannot understand what the wise have understood and even the wise did not
know the reasons behind the effects in all cases.
So for one faith to despise those of another who eat pork no longer makes sense,
but the prejudice is maintained because the "law" was put in terms of
"God's will" and "sin" instead of health.
Instead of despising each other for the different ways they have developed, the people
of the different faiths should be looking at each other in the hopes they will learn
something their own ancestors missed. They should also rejoice that the
Creator they love has also been recognized and loved everywhere.
The "laws" the faiths share
far exceed the "laws" that separate them.
Our ancestors found it natural to think of their ways as "God's way", or "God's will",
because it was not just their wisdom regarding diseases from food and cleanliness
that was growing, but also moral wisdom that pertained to sexually transmitted
diseases and what made for happy, well-adjusted individuals and communities based upon
the family.
This is not the same, however, as explaining it all in scientific terms. I am trying to only
post on this site what I KNOW I know, but I believe we will finally tie science and Creator
together.
AND THE MEANING OF LIFE MEANS WHAT
In other words, they realized that their moral behavior could also influence
their health and happiness.
The fact that "immoral" behavior resulted in the spread of disease was noticed,
and all of the faiths have attributed it to God's plan for the creation. The concepts
of love, marriage, and family have evolved along with mankind's consciousness
everywhere. In effect, mankind has been forced into marriage and fidelity by his
knowledge of the diseases inherent in promiscuity. The fact that all peoples have
made this spiritual connection is a
testament to the existence of the Creator and to the fact that He has revealed
Himself and His plan for human cultures built upon the family unit to all.
It is extremely significant that, when mankind thought it had all the deadly
sexually transmitted diseases defeated through antibiotics, AIDS and Hepatitis C
appeared. If a person can't see this, they just don't want to and are in a
state of denial.
This is where all mankind has found its spiritual connection to the Creator. This is
the spiritual hub around which all societies revolve: loving others creating loving
others, and the Creator has maintained deterrents to living otherwise in spite of
modern science.
All the valid laws are based on health,
whether physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, or financial,
and they come from ancestral wisdom.
However, it should be noted that many faiths have "laws" that, while well intended
to please the Creator, do not actually serve man. Instead they place unnatural,
cumbersome burdens on people. Most of these have been generated by well-meaning
people who want to extrapolate on the simple law and find deeper meaning in it.
It is an act of devotion, but one that eventually clouds and obscures the simple
message at the heart of each faith. Such a law is the Jewish admonition against
tying a string on your finger on the Sabbath to remember to do something the next
day because it is work. This has nothing to do with benefiting the person involved,
like the Sabbath itself, but merely puts another reason for senseless guilt on the
individual. Extraneous laws place unnecessary guilt on people and this causes pain, which
pains the Creator who lives here through us.
There can also be a collapse of the law when the messenger is misunderstood.
In Christianity, Paul discarded all the health laws of the Jews, based upon a
misunderstanding of the teachings of Jesus, in order to gain converts who he could not
explain the reason behind the laws to. Instead of telling older males they could
forego a painful adult circumcision, but should begin circumcising the newborn,
he told them they could do away with circumcision completely, for example.
Jesus also did not know or pass on the health reasons behind the sanitary and dietary
laws, or his other disciples would not have given in to Paul's interpretation of Jesus'
message. This is also evident in the gospels when he defends eating without washing
the hands first. Although his point about what comes out of people's mouths is also
true, he was wrong about washing the hands. It is also not clear if he understood
about contagion and the spread of infectious diseases in crowds, as in the Temple,
something Moses apparently had some knowledge of.
Periodically, in all societies, there are convulsions that take place and the law is
temporarily discarded or ignored because people lose their understanding of the
purpose of the law and presume they know better. Likewise, in all faiths, the simple
understanding from the simple truth is finally lost, and the followers base their
belief on faith alone, which leads to suspicion and hatred of others who do not do
exactly as they do. Neither of these are healthy situations. One leads to anarchy,
disease and death. The other leads to oppression, war and death.
Ancestral wisdom is based upon observation and experimentation, which is science.
Our science has evolved, and pork can be safe to eat, but shellfish are still
always dangerous and the moral law has not changed. People thought it had, with
antibiotics and birth control, but with sexually transmitted diseases epidemic, and
as deadly as ever, they now know it has not. Not only has the Creator given people
AIDS to deter promiscuity in the age of antibiotics, we also know that hedonistic
promiscuity leads to broken homes and disturbed children that rapidly grow into
disturbed adults, and societies composed of disturbed individuals rot away.
The purpose here is not, cannot, be to point out the flaws of all the sects of all
the faiths, major and minor. How many sects of how many faiths there are can hardly
be imagined.
The CORE of each sect is true. There is One, and the way to a true understanding of
the world, the only path to true spirituality, is through communing with that One
by rolling up our eyes and focusing within in love and a "holy" spirit.
From there the many have strayed in
many ways, as lesser people tried to interpret ancient wisdom so it suited their
own thoughts, desires, and ability to understand. The message of the great teachers,
Abraham, Moses, Krishna, Buddha, Mohammed, Jesus, etc., was always a simple one.
This is why their message spread so quickly: even the small child could understand.
Basically it is what we all tell our children. "Don't do that, but do this, or you
will get sick or be hurt". When the children mind their parents, they usually fare better in
the world. As long as we trust our parents and ancestors, and listen to the ancestral
wisdom in their admonishments, we fare better. When we think we know better and
go our own way, ignoring their wisdom, we suffer unnecessarily. Why is the world
dangerous in these things, so we need these "laws"? Just because that is the way
the world was made, which makes it "God's plan". God knows why pigs carry
trichinosis and we don't need to know why. We just need to know the danger is
there, and that knowledge is the gift of our ancestors.
So I will try to simply state the law and why it exists for the benefit
of mankind. I will also not deal with dietary law and laws of cleanliness.
Considering modern science, these laws should be self-evident in today's world, and
are easily obtained through governmental sources. If these sources should be
unavailable, the Torah, or Old Testament of Moses contains excellent guidence,
especially when read in modern English, as in the New International Version,
as our modern health laws are mere extensions of his and we now know all the
scientific reasons behind his.
Modern law has enhanced the laws of Moses in that we now know that red meat must be
cooked to 150 degrees F, not just "well", while pork and poultry must be 165 - 175
degrees F, to be safe to eat, for instance, and that pork, if cooked well, is safe,
even if infected with trichinosis. I should note that trichinosis, though eradicated
in the western world, still infects pigs in many areas of the third world. I have
heard an American chef recommend eating pork rare, but will never try it, myself.
It is in the moral law that man meets God's plan. The physical health laws, diet and
cleanliness, bring health for what are now obvious reasons. The reasons behind the
moral laws have become cloudy, and they are the laws that allow for mental,
emotional and spiritual health, as well as physical and financial health,
and peace between neighbors.
Whereas there is an awareness of the physical health dangers in promiscuity, the
mental, emotional, and spiritual detriments are rarely considered. So, too, when we
consider things like revenge and vengeance.
Traditions
Traditions are extremely important to human happiness. Although they often become
convoluted and clouded, they maintain core truths. If everything were to fall apart
tomorrow, it would be the people of tradition with the edge for survival. This is
because tradition, in spite of its weaknesses, contains the health, dietary, and moral
laws that maintain a people in good health. Though I am not an orthodox Jew, I would hate
to see them disappear because within what they do lies the wisdom of our ancestors.
Each of the great faiths has such traditions. Most of them are so similar as to be the same.
Within the traditions women have support as women from other women, and men from men, too,
which relieves a lot of stress.
Christianity is in crisis because the Roman concept of Jesus as a god doesn't sit well
with what we now know. Unfortunately the so-called "enlightened" generation didn't work
within their respective faiths to alter the basic concept of Jesus regarding spirituality,
and instead simply abandoned their churches, along with their traditions. This has led
to a general cultural collapse in the West.
And, yes, Jesus was made a Roman god by Constantine. Great coup for Constantine, terrible
blow to the humble Jesus, who wanted us all to know what he knew. By making Jesus the
one-and-only Roman god, Constantine took that away from everyone. Jesus the god is
Jesus the Roman god. If the Romans tried to put Jesus' image in the Temple, Jesus
would have cast it down.
The cultural collapse in the West is also, primarily, a spiritual collapse. Again, this is
because of the Romanization of Jesus as a god or the only begotten son of god. As an
avatar, in the Hindu or Buddhist tradition, he makes perfect sense. If Christianity hadn't been
Romanized, the faith could have developed as a branch of Judaism, which is what it is, as
is Islam.
If you are a person without tradition, it is difficult. To me the most important tradition
is communal worship. It is around this core activity that compassionate support comes. If
you pray with people anywhere, you will find a lot of support of all kinds there when you need it.
As I don't want to be affiliated with a church, I have not been doing this, but miss it
dearly. I make up for it by increased time communing with my Creator.
If you are without tradition, consider these:
The United States government has the best dietary and health guidelines available. They
actually include the laws of Moses, but not as regards Kosher slaying. If it all falls
apart, get a Bible and follow the laws of Moses. Don't worry about the kinds of birds,
just don't eat carrion eaters and shellfish eaters.
Morally, the Ten Commandments can't be beat. That's why they have been around so long. But
the moral traditions of each great faith are valid.
In the early days of Christianity, the followers would gather together on Sunday, the
first, not seventh (the Sabbath), day of the week to talk about what Jesus had said. This was not
sitting in a church and going through ritual prayer. They didn't "take communion."
Instead they did a "pot luck" and ate and drank together in Jesus' name and celebrated the coming
of the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven where all sins were forgiven. This is
why the letters of Paul have so many admonitions against drunkenness and fornication. Because
a lot of early Christians figured they could do what they wanted and still be forgiven,
they lived a wild communal lifestyle.
In essence, it was Paul who first started undermining the traditions of Judaism.
That, along with the Romanization of Jesus, has led to the nearly complete collapse of
Christianity we see today. When Paul convinced the disciples to do away with circumcision
and the dietary traditions (laws) of the Jews, in order to gain converts, he began the
slide to today, where marriage is no longer a sacred union, but dissolvable on the
slightest whim of either partner.
We are witnessing the dissolution of a partial Judaism.
In Islam, the only major difference I see (other than how people pray and other outward
trappings) is the prohibition imposed by Mohammed on alcohol. This prohibition makes sense
for the people it was given to, the Arabs, as most Arabs have a single functioning liver,
like most Native Americans, and alcohol is poison to them. The Jews, by contrast, have only
.05% single functioning liver rate.
People with a single functioning liver only process the alcohol once in their livers and
that chemical is extremely toxic and devastating. In people with double functioning livers,
the alcohol is processed twice and that chemical gives the normal drinker his pleasant
"high" True alcoholics are those people with single functioning livers. Other over-indulgers
are merely gluttons and "problem drinkers".
In any event, tradition is an important part of any culture. It is its core. In the West,
traditions have been abandoned along with Christianity and, sooner or later, they must be
replaced. In the United States, this is evident in the emergence of what can be called
"Secular Religion", where the government is trying to take control of what should be
religious issues. Thus, to teach "safe sex", clearly a religious issue, but also a health
issue the government thinks it has a duty to teach, they also teach
sexual tolerance, another clearly religious issue. The government is under stronger pressure
to provide charitable relief (welfare) to people because the churches don't. This should
be the provenance of the churches, not the government. But because the churches are
failing, the government is being forced into the religious spheres and we are seeing
the emergence of the "State Church", a super-church that does not even respect, and
abrogates, the sacred marriage vows of the legitimate faiths it rules.
In the United States, the agenda of those people who have lost their traditions and want the
state to teach about those things the faiths used to, and that of those who still hold a
faith are in direct conflict. If not resolved, this will eventually reach a boiling point.
Those without tradition are trying to use the government to establish new traditions. This
makes the government the State Church and that is totally unacceptable as regards the
separation of church and state. It also forces all faiths to follow the dictates of the
government, even if, as in marriage, it violates their beliefs, and that is a totally
unacceptable suppression of freedom of religion.
If you have lost your traditions, I suggest you celebrate any tradition that appeals to you.
The birthday of Jesus is a great one because, even though his name has been soiled, he was
a great man, though humble, who ushered in the whole age of Romanticism. And he was a great
avatar. Like Buddha, Krishna and Moses. Celebrate him! Find what you can to celebrate with your fellow man in
the spiritual sense. Celebrate good men who did the world good.
MARRIAGE
People wear clothes for various reasons, but the primary purpose is modesty.
We cover our sexual organs so we do not arouse those we do not want to arouse and who
do not want to be aroused. We mate in private for the same reason. The denser the
population, and the more we come into contact with strangers, the more important this
becomes. We also normally mate for life everywhere.
The marriage is in the children, not the money.
Once children are conceived and born, the "marriage"
is consummated in flesh, blood and spirit and cannot be undone. Two people
literally become one person in the person of the child. THAT is the
"marriage". The marriage ceremony is only a public expression of that intent so
the others in the community know the union is clean and involves lifelong
commitment. Until children are born, no matter how many years have passed
since the intent was spoken in the marriage ceremony, no marriage has occurred.
The marriage ceremony only establishes a union of honorable, clean, healthy, intent
and, until children are born, can be annulled without shame if no children are
conceived. This is not true if the couple only fornicates and uses birth control.
If there is no intent to create children, there should be no union in ceremony or
legal commitment. The marriage ceremony should only be performed, vows of intent
taken, and contracts entered into, when the couple wants to merge themselves together
in a child. That speaks of
love and is just cause for celebration. All else is just fornication.
In the West, prior to the time of Jesus, a marriage could be terminated by a male just by saying
"I divorce you" three times in public. From the male point of view this made sense back
then when life was hard. Females are difficult to live with. Their monthly cycles and then
menopause put a lot of stress on men who are more stable emotionally. This is especially true
during menopause, when the womb is no longer viable.
All cultures have traditionally been male dominated, which obviously makes it the
"natural" way, and males have tried all kinds of solutions to their female partners'
emotional volatility. All over the world men have isolated women during their periods
in one way or another.
Jesus said these divorces were no longer acceptable and made the husband responsible for the wife
for her entire life. This change ushered in the Age of Romanticism and chivalry
in the West.
The West has now legalized divorce by either party for any reason and found that women
institute divorce 7 out of 10 times, more frequently when they are approaching menopause
and more often than not for frivolous reasons like "He's not growing anymore."
They do this because the courts tell them they have no responsibility and that men are
pigs who deserve it. They then tear the man from his children and home and rape him
financially so the wife can go merrily on her way without having to fulfill her
responsibilities to him
anymore. This is worse than male behavior before the time of Jesus and a terrible
symptom of a society gone totally selfish, where no one has social responsibility and
the children are, literally, damned. A lot of this is due to an LSD induced
megalomania in the society, especially the 60's generation.
Marriage is a difficult state from the point of view of both sexes. That is why
successful marriages require unconditional love and self-sacrifice. This is done for
the sake of the children and society as a whole. Those who deny this obvious truth
tend to be selfish, self-serving individuals who don't want the concept of self-sacrifice in
their lives. Most of these people hide their true intentions behind atheism or a phony
"compassionate liberalism" that allows anyone to behave in any way so they can, too.
Really it is just selfishness.
The different faiths have developed different concepts of the family, but they all
recognize the importance of the family unit. It is central to all societies. Why?
Because that is the natural way for mankind. It is the way the world was made. It
is an integral part of the fabric of creation, so it is the Creator's plan for man.
What culture can remember back to a time when there was no family?
The vows taken in the marriage ceremonies are for life. They are lifelong commitments.
This grew out of the necessities of life in the Creator's creation, where male
must provide for female and children, while female bears and succors. This is the
natural way mankind has developed everywhere. It has not changed, in spite of modern
conceits in some societies.
Every society considers fornication a "sin"; as unhealthy. This is because fornicators
tend to be promiscuous people because they do not respect the special nature of intercourse.
Because they tend to be promiscuous, they also spread disease and are unclean. Sexual
intercourse should be reserved for its purpose, which is reproduction: for "re-creation",
not "recreation". Why? Because
promiscuity spreads disease. That is the way the world is made. That makes it part of
the Creator's plan. Certainly the sexually transmitted diseases deter promiscuity.
That is just the way it is. Although it might be nice to be physically intimate
with everyone we love, it cannot be in an emotionally stable society because that
is not our natural way, or instinct. The young rebel against it in their hearts.
The lifelong commitment required by all societies is not just based on the physical health
of the community. It is also based on the emotional health of the community.
Broken homes lead to poorly nourished, emotionally damaged, mal-adjusted,
children who grow into the same kind of adults, accelerating society's decline.
Divorce is not an un-doing of the marriage if there are children. It is nothing more
than the disassociation of the male and female. It does not lessen each parent's
responsibility to the children and should be avoided at all costs. Divorce should
only be granted when one parent threatens the life or health of the other, or if one
becomes permanently incapacitated through illness or imprisonment. Whenever possible,
each mate has an obligation to care for the other in his or her respective roles throughout
their lives. The male owes the female for issuing him children, and caring for his
and their domestic needs. The female owes the male for providing for her and her
children throughout their lives. The mutual commitments do not stop when the
children are grown, but continue unto death. In this way the male is rewarded for
his lifelong efforts, and the female hers. This also acts as an example to the
children, encouraging them to work through the difficult times in their
relationships, and contributes to the financial and emotional health of the entire
community. Divorce impoverishes households, which undermines the economy, which
undermines the security of the entire community.
Promiscuity threatens the life of not just the spouse, but the
children and should not be tolerated. The person whose immoral behavior brings on
the dissolution of the union should, at a minimum, be rewarded in no way and be
left at a subsistence level so the rest of the family unit do not suffer for that
person's indiscretions. If the promiscuous offender is put to death, as is the law
in many cultures, society must aid the remaining family as needed.
Brutality can not be permitted, but the male is the natural head of the family and
must have reasonable physical disciplinary powers over his children and spouse.
As in all other aspects of society, physical force to maintain order should only
be condoned as a last resort, but not all people can settle their differences
peacefully, or behave rationally at all times, even the most intelligent.
Although we like to think a lot of ourselves as a species, we are still just what
we are, and we have to recognize that. Denial is even more dangerous to the public
welfare, regardless of "intellectual" ideals.
Females are as violent as males and this dominance by the male is the result of
the development of the species, whereas the male is normally the larger and stronger
of the two. Studies have also shown that females who get violent are more violent
than their male counterparts in that they use a weapon much more frequently.
This is often to make up for the difference in size, which makes them afraid to
strike with their bare hands. This fact requires even more latitude for the male on
the part of the law, or the courts become constantly clogged with domestic issues it
has no legitimate business in and only make worse.
There must be a final authority within the household and the male provides the most
stable emotional base. The female has emotional problems monthly until she goes
through menopause, which is a prolonged period of instability lasting years.
The female must have the same disciplinary powers over the children.
Governmental agencies and authorities should only intervene in a family's affairs
as a last resort in extreme situations.
There is no such thing as a "no fault" divorce. Societies that allow this encourage
the disintegration of the family because all marriages go through difficult times:
males are prone to wander at any age and females become emotionally unstable during
menopause. If there is a divorce, society must demand there be a good enough reason
to put the children's health, development and financial security at risk.
Self-sacrifice is an essential element of becoming a parent. This is why marriage is "sacred".
A society that does
not put its children's interests first is a selfish, evil society and crumbles
from within because such children put themselves first, too. Selfishness is a poor
example to set for a parent who expects its children to take care of it in old age.
Successful marriages pass through three stages. The first is the period of romantic
love: the honeymoon. The second is a period of struggle, or conflict, when each
partner tries to make the other "more" perfect: to change them. The third stage is
mutual acceptance: unconditional love. Again, governments that facilitate the
breakup of marriages going through the difficult stages are evil in their
influence. Marriage vows are considered "sacred" because they ARE difficult
to keep. A government that does not enforce the RELIGIOUS
marriage vows of its population is evil in its influence.
Divorce impoverishes all the
parties involved, unless they are wealthy, which most are not, and severely injures and
hampers the children. In the West, the male is despised and is wrenched from his
children, regardless of who files for the divorce or who is failing in their
responsibility. This is the result of many things, as discussed elsewhere, but
is a critical element in radical feminism, which is an anti-male, bigoted movement,
perpetuated by hate and ignorance.
There is no consideration for the male's feelings in the West. He is wrenched from
his home and children and impoverished. The male loves his children as much as the
female, but he is denied their daily presence, forced to live in poverty, providing
an inadequate "second home" when they are allowed to visit.
Likewise, there is no consideration for the children. Children need both a male and
female parent. This is how people learn about each other and how to live with each
other. Both elements are essential for a happy, well-adjusted, childhood and
adulthood. When there are a father and mother, both have more time to nurture the
children and attend to their needs and education. They also eat better, get better
medical care, and prosper better in general when their financial
situation is better. Divorce impoverishes them, too, and THEIR
welfare should come first. They are the very future of humanity!
Again, a government that encourages the dissolution of marriages through financial
gain, as with females in the West, or through ease in general, as in the West and
in Islam for males, is evil in its influence and leads to an unhealthy society
physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and financially.
I said above that women are as violent as men are. Contrary to public opinion and myth,
this is true. Just as many wives abuse their husbands as husbands abuse their wives.
I am speaking here about physical violence, not verbal abuse. As men are less verbal
than women (the average woman speaks 20,000 words a day, the average man speaks only
7,000 words a day), I expect women are guilty of more verbal and emotional abuse. This is
reinforced by the common perspective in all cultures that this is the case.
It is commonly accepted, usually with humor, that a woman can not stand to see a man
resting. We laugh at what hurts and this is a truism, which is one of the reasons
why most men die five years younger than their female counterparts. Stress kills
and causes early aging.
I am emphasizing this because I once had a feminist tell me that the reason women
initiate 7 out of every 10 divorces is because men are abusive. This is a feminist
myth. Even the San Francisco Chronicle, the most liberal paper in what is probably
the most liberal city in the United States, which is one of the most liberal
countries in the world, ran a front page article on the subject in the summer of 2002
or 2003 that said just that (apologetically). (I'm sorry I can't quote you more
references for what I say, but I've read
and studied so much, I could not possibly keep track of them all. All I can say is
that I am very selective about the sources I accept. I'm very well educated, critical
and have a high IQ.)
Men and women are NOT equal. They are the same in many respects, but they
are not "equal". Their life force, or "soul" is the same, but "Man" does
not = "Womb-man". They are not made of equal parts.
One is the result of two XX chromosomes joining, and one is the result of an
XY combination. Simple algebra says "XX = XY" cannot be correct unless "X = Y",
which it does not.
In a female, one of the X chromosomes atrophies, so really a female contains only
one X chromosome (it is a 50/50 chance of being the father's or mother's) and the
connecting genes from the other X chromosome, which provide characteristics of the
other parent.
The male possesses 80 more genes than the female because he
has two active chromosomes, the X and the Y, instead of just one.
A female is an X and a male is an XY. Again, "X" does not = "XY" This
means males are literally "genetically enhanced" females,
giving them inclinations and abilities the female does not possess, primarily
because she does not need them if she has a male counterpart.
This is why males are stronger and more emotionally stable and rational and is
another reason males make the best ministers or priests.
That is a BASIC difference. A government that ignores this difference,
or claims it does not exist, is evil in its influence.
Male and female are equally precious to the Creator, however, and it is the
Creator's life that animates both, and governments
need to keep this in mind in the formulation of laws and granting of liberties.
They also share the same unhealthy inclinations and weakness in the face of
temptation.
Women lie more than men. They learn to do this because they want to maintain the
peace. They also learn to be more deceptive in their appearance than males, who
tend to adorn themselves much less. I believe this difference in level of honesty
and integrity is an important difference the courts must always consider.
The fact that women initiate 70% of divorces speaks directly to this difference.
Women are more emotional and prone to irrational behavior. They go through radical
mood changes with their hormonal fluctuations. But they are just as greedy and bloody
as men; just look at the reign of any queen. When a society tells their women they
can dump their men and keep their children, and still be supported by that man, they
naturally get rid of the man when they go through an unhappy period. People who
think women are morally better then men are ignorant, prejudiced bigots. That
side of us, unfortunately, is basically the same.
Another important difference between men and women, however, is that women have
historically been dependent on men for their survival and the survival of their
children. They have evolved, therefore, into seducers. Where most men are content
with vain expressions limited to hairstyles and dress, women use make-up, padded
underclothes, and other falsehoods to "capture" men. This is lying at a basic
level of being. Women lie about what they actually look like and what is actually
beneath their clothes. They also lie to preserve the peace in a group,
where a man is liable to be more confrontational and straightforward.
The source for this is a book titled "You Just Don't Understand", by Deborah Tannen.
The book was on the New York Times Best
Seller List for a long time and it should be easy to find. It was
written by a female linguist who studied males and females from birth, expecting
to find that differences were the result of culture, rather than inborn, and found
the obverse: our differences are physical, not cultural; evolutionary, not
incultrated. We are created "equal" in the Creator's eyes, but that does not mean
we are the same.
Again, a government that doesn't recognize these differences is evil in its influence.
It is enforcing unnatural laws based on bigotry and myth.
The individual filing for such a divorce is actually at fault for the
pain and hardships they are placing on their spouse, children, and the
community as a whole, which must deal with all the myriad burdens dysfunctional
individuals, coming out of broken homes, place upon it.
Governments that do not treat the marriage vows taken within any of the faiths
that make up its population as legal, binding contracts, are evil in influence
because they encourage the dissolution of families over trivial matters.
Once two people have children, it can not be said, "We have nothing in common
anymore". As long as people have living children, they have the most important
thing in common: the best interests of their children. They also have their home,
finances, future security, and (loving) memories in common. After a bitter
divorce, both parties tend to avoid thinking about their happy moments together,
and this can encompass a long period of life, which is more or less erased. Likewise,
memories and experiences are not shared with the children because they are hurtful
to remember and talk about, and the parents tend to deride each other, rather than
praise each other, to their children.
Another excuse commonly used by women is, "You are not growing anymore". They perceive
things this way because they are constantly undergoing biological and
emotional changes far in excess of what their men are experiencing. For them to
injure their men over this is immoral. For society to condone it is evil. Men and
women change at different paces through life, but both end up more similar than
different in old age. Women become man-like younger than men become woman-like.
Patience is required. This is especially true of men, who must
deal with the monthly fluctuations in their mate's mood and Menopause. Indeed, it
speaks well of men that only 3 out of 10 divorces are initiated by them, especially
considering that males remain hormonally sexually driven to a far older age than
females. Long-term loyalty to the spouse is stronger in males and this is why
marriage laws have held such importance in a predominantly, universally, male
dominated world.
Society needs
to consider this in the formulation of laws about marriage and child custody.
I like the Kenyan divorce model the best. In Kenya, in a divorce the husband keeps
custody of the children. As men must work, this extra burden of raising the
children alone keeps the male more committed to his wife. Since the wife (mother)
doesn't want to lose her children (future support), she is more careful, as well.
Women who have children out of wedlock have failed to secure their children's future,
both financially and in mental health, by failing to secure them a committed father.
A child needs both a male and female parent to develop normally. Children raised
by a single parent often turn out to be a burden to their parent, rather than a
blessing, because they are dysfunctional in adulthood.
It is currently impossible for two people of the same sex to "marry" themselves together.
People "marry" themselves together in children; in flesh, blood, and spirit. To
have a civil or religious ceremony announcing that intent, and the responsibilities that
come with it, is pointless and only
serves to undermine the credibility, in the eyes of the young and other members
of society, of the legitimate ceremonies and contracts between males and females,
who will indeed "marry" themselves together in children, and are therefore
undertaking serious, "sacred", life-long commitments for the benefit of those
children, as well as themselves. There is no real marriage without procreation.
In the very near future, however, it will be possible for two people of the same
sex to merge themselves in the person of a child. At that point, it must be accepted that
these two people are "married" together in flesh, blood, and spirit, and they, too, must
be allowed to be married in cermony.
All of this is meaningless, however, if marriage itself is meaningless. If there is
"no-fault" divorce, instead of divorce only under the most extreme circumstances,
marriage itself becomes moot, and society must accept the fact that it will soon be
peopled by those who have been severely damaged by divorce and are ravaged by the sexually
transmitted disease epidemics found in all promiscuous societies.
Infertile couples who maintain their loving relationship through adoption are to be
commended. This does not apply to homosexual couples (same-sex - see below).
As I mentioned elsewhere, the Creator loves the Jeffry Dahmers as much as the Buddhas' and
Jesus'. There are people who have both male and female sex organs. One in five million
women carry the Y chromosome, technically making them men, but if their womb fully develops,
they can have a virgin birth. Some people have two Y and one X chromosome (only one
chromosome would be dominant, the other two would appear atrophied). Some people have two
X and one Y chromosome. Again, only one would dominate.
Historically speaking, those individuals with other than strictly heterosexual sexual
drives have been scorned, derided and persecuted for their promiscuity and subsequent
health risk to the community. Historically, all promiscuous people have faced the
wrath of their fellow citizens because of the public health risk, homosexuals more than
heterosexuals because of the types of sexual acts they perform. Adulterers, adulteresses,
and male homosexuals are all "put to death" in Biblical cultures.
The point here is that the real enemy of mankind is promiscuity. It doesn't matter what
type of relationship it is. If the homosexual/bi-sexual population can be assimilated
into a non-promiscuous population through enforced monogamous relationships,
then the public health is protected. Because it is not yet possible for two people of the
same sex to procreate together, they should not be allowed to "marry", but should be
allowed "civil unions" that state they are monogamous and committed to each other for life,
and not leading promiscuous lifestyles.
The reason homosexual couples should not be allowed to adopt is not a matter of their
worth as people, or their capability to love, but rather it is a matter of the welfare of
the child. When two homosexuals are capable of merging themselves in a child, which is
just around the corner, that child is theirs and is their genetic material. That child
will be able to understand its parents and its own circumstances better than a child who
is of different genetic material.
Even when homosexual couples can reproduce and "marry", they will be a source of mockery, comedy,
and derision, at least for the foreseeable future. This is an unfair burden to place on
an adopted child when there are heterosexual couples available for adoption. It is sad,
but there is no way around this one fact. "Gay rights" movements and all, even the most
liberal comedian makes fun of the homosexuals. It is not likely this will ever really change,
but might with scientific advancement. In the meantime, it is not just unfair, but criminal
to place a child in a homosexual home where it has no genetic connection. Of course this is
not the case if one of the partners is a genetic parent. In that case, the child belongs with
its parent.
Jesus and Bar Abbas
This is not the same, however, as explaining it all in scientific terms. I am trying to only
post on this site what I KNOW I know, but I believe we will finally tie science and Creator
together.
MEANING OF LIFE
Pilate gave the Jewish population a choice between two lives. It was Passover
and he was going to let a prisoner condemned to death go free. He let them
choose between Jesus Ben Joseph of Nazareth and a man called Bar Abbas.
In the Christian New Testament, Bar Abbas is called a "murderer". In these times
he would be called a "freedom fighter" or "terrorist", depending on your point of
view. The individual he killed was a Roman soldier and he did it to try to help
bring about the end of the Roman occupation of Israel.
In effect, the Jews were deciding on two different courses of action in deciding
which of these two men would live. They could choose between Jesus, a pacifist who
preached embracing the enemy, and Bar Abbas, the warrior who would fight overwhelming
odds. The majority of those present chose Bar Abbas and his way.
The followers of Bar Abbas and his kind finally brought down the wrath of the
greatly superior forces of Rome and the Jews were dispersed throughout the world
for 2,000 years.
The followers of Jesus conquered Rome in 300 years, killing no one, but with many
martyrs.
People are still making the choice between Jesus and Bar Abbas all over the world
today. The outcome will be the same. In the end, the violent will lose and the
peaceful and compassionate will prevail, for that is where man's heart lies,
everywhere I have been in this world.
Osama Bin Laden and his type follow the ways of Bar Abbas and have doomed themselves
to infamy. I said earlier that Al Qaeda was attacking the West to protect the health
of their families. I said this because the most resentment I felt when visiting
Muslim countries was towards Western culture (drugs, sex and rock & roll), not the
West's foreign policy. I therefore believe most of the members of Al Qaeda and other
such groups are motivated primarily by that.
Osama Bin Laden, however, openly admits he is primarily motivated by his hatred of
the Jews and Israel. Hatred of the Jews was forbidden by Mohammed, as was their
slaughter. This would reduce Bin Laden to just fighting for land, outside the
dictates of Islam, IF he was just championing the Palestinian cause.
But his rhetoric is explicit in his hatred of all Jews, and this makes him no more
than a very dangerous bigot, like Hitler and Saddam Hussein. Osama Bin Laden is a
mass murderer, and nothing more. He adds nothing helpful at all to the international
and interfaith dialog. He is the worst expression of the times.
I follow the way of Jesus in that it uses words, understanding, and
compassion instead of weapons. Only these things can bring true peace.
This brings us to the current conflict between the faiths. I hope my Hindu and
Buddhist friends will excuse me if I use the three branches of Judaism in my
examples, as, being so closely tied together, they present the easiest
examples. As I was raised in that tradition, it also makes it easier for me to
find examples.
The conflicts between the faiths branching from Judaism, and spreading
eventually into Hinduism and Buddhism, arise from differences in how people
worship and who they revere and respect the most. They result from focusing
on the details of the dogma, rather than what is being practiced and experienced,
which is holiness in all faiths.
When Societies Clash
The biggest question is, "Who will prevail?" Will the West "win" or will Islamic
fundamentalism "win"?
The answer is that neither prevails. Each will alter the other so two new entities are
evolved.
The next huge spiritual revival will begin in the West. This is because the West is in
the worst shape and needs it the most. Islam is a fine faith. But as with everything, its
radical extremes are not. The extremists cannot stop mankind's technological advancement
and it is that very technological advancement that liberates females from their daily
chores and creates the need to find other constructive things for them to fill that time with.
Females need to be educated and be allowed to show their faces.
But females are the seductive of the sexes and this puts men in a difficult, unfair,
position. This is one of the reasons the Creator has equipped males with superior physical,
emotional and rational attributes.
This requires female modesty in the workplace. Unfortunately, this modesty also requires
an averting of the eyes because female eyes are either challenging or seductive to males.
Since males are usually larger, instincts come into play to dominate the female and this
can get very ugly if she is challenging. If she is seductive, the male is either seduced
or strongly resents the attempt at seduction and despises the woman.
As a male, I can tell you that female "equality" will never exist. Indeed, I can tell
you that simply as a person who has eyes and knows the two are not the same. This is not
to say that some women cannot do what the best of men can do. Some can. But like the
difference in intelligence levels between the races, where anyone in any race can be
more intelligent than anyone else in any other race, but generally there is a distinct
difference between the races in general, so to is it between men and women. (In general
intelligence, IQ, the races rate Asoid, Caucoid, Hispoid and Negroid, with about a 5%
point difference between each. I know in the current atmosphere that this is not
politically correct, but I am not about that. I am about facts.)
So that even though the Black race lists lowest, it still produces geniuses at the highest levels
and no one of any race should feel insecure or inferior based upon their race. Neither
should any person judge another merely upon their race. If one goes back just 15 generations,
about 2,000 years, he will find he has over 30,000 ancestors with, believe me, many
surprises in genetic make-up.
The difference between male and female is much greater, and this puts a lot of stress on
both in a mixed school or work environment. Both males and females suffer in co-ed schools
when they are less attractive. Mixing males and females in schools creates an added
social stress that distracts from the educational process in a large way because human
sexuality and its instincts begins at birth: really, at conception. Nearly every
endeavor in sexually separated education has shown that both males and females do better
in education when separated. This implies that, as a general rule, they will also do
better at work if not distracted by the other sex.
Even Islamic women in the most fundamentalist nations wear makeup behind their veils and
at home for their husbands. This is a woman's way. To be a woman is to want to be seductive.
This creates a lot of difficulties in the mixed workplace. Unfortunately, so does mannish
dress and behavior, which most men find to be inappropriate aggression on the part of the
female. It is a male's instinct to dominate the female. It is also the female's instinct
to submit to the appropriate male.
A spiritual revival in the West, which is as inevitable as the rain, and a technological
liberation in the most conservative Islamic nations (really, worldwide), will result in a blending of the
two, just like the blending in our gene pool. The planet is rapidly becoming one now,
and a true flowering is at hand.
Regarding the conflict between Sunni and Shiite, the Prophet would be very angry that these
two children he has spawned are killing each other. If he had been more specific in
designating a successor these problems wouldn't exist, but it could be they are healthy
for Islam. If a single faith had been established with one person at the head, like
in the Catholic Church, over time it would be inevitable that Islam be corrupted because
a corrupt person would eventually come into power, as happened in Catholicism. The
Sunni/Shiite dialog and the absence of a head cleric helps to keep Islam honest. Sunni and
Shiite need to understand that they must simply agree to disagree about some things
like any sibling would do to keep peace in the family. They need to accept the fact
that the early Caliphs of both sects were flawed men. The proof of this is that the
Caliphate was actually sold at one point.
Regarding the conflict between Muslim and Jew, and Muslim and Christian, the Prophet would
again be appalled. He taught that these three should live in peace as they spring from the
same well. His problem was with Jews who derided Islam. There is very little difference
between Islam and Judaism. The ban on alcohol Mohammed imposed was fitting and proper
for the Arabs, as they have a very high percentage of single functioning livers, like
Native Americans, and alcohol is a poison to them. Other dietary law differences, like
regarding the eating of camel meat, are mostly cultural.
In Christianity, the conflict between Catholic and Protestant would really anger Jesus,
"The Prince of Peace". If they did what Jesus actually taught, and indulged their holy
spirits instead of fighting, the peace promised by Jesus would prevail. The primary
problem in Christianity is the paganism established by Constantine, who made Jesus a
Roman god and crushed all the other myriad sects that were flourishing before then,
like the gnostics, who were maintaining a teaching much closer to what Jesus taught, and
establishing a central church power in Rome in the person of the Pope. Christianity
will continue to decline until the paganism is rejected and Jesus is "un-deified" and
simply recognized as the great teacher and prophet he was. Jesus wanted to be followed,
not worshipped and elevated above all. He was a humble man who washed the feet of his
followers.
The rapid decline into corruption of the Roman church, with all its paganism, caused
this rift to begin with and the fragmentation has continued since because no one has
got a grasp on the true teachings of Jesus. Most of them still accept him as the
"only begotten son of God", which is the pagan, Roman, teaching. For this reason alone,
Christians, like Muslims, have to simply agree to disagree.
The biggest threat to peace today is the conflict between extremists in the
Islamic world and the western (mostly "Christian") democracies. In fact, there is no
peace and war is in progress. This conflict is not about money, but culture.
The Islamic extremists want all women veiled and the Western democracies want to
give all women the vote. The anthropological view is that everyone should just leave
everyone else alone, but this is just not possible anymore. Human technological
advancement has turned a world of nations into a world of suburbs. Even though we
still have some residual war, we are really already one world of different cultures
like a city like New York is a city of different cultures. Peace through law
enforcement is coming. We are becomng one through technology and the tyrants, would-be
tyrants and war-makers will not survive much longer. We, the meek, will simply not allow
it to go on much longer.
I want to dispose of the secular, governmental, issues first to unwrap the deeper
issue.
Arnold J. Toynbee,
probably the world's most renowned historian, noted that every great
society begins as a Republic. Republics degenerate into Democracies.
Democracies degenerate into Dictatorships, Dictatorships degenerate into
Anarchy, and out of the Anarchy a new Republic is born.
Historically speaking, therefore, the western democracies
are in their late stage, being attacked from without and within, and are on the
verge of martial law and dictatorships. In this day of rapid communication, I do not
think many of the dictatorships can last for long, which means anarchy is not far
away.
If the western democracies went through a spiritual revival, and stopped the internal
discontent, this process might be slowed or halted. The Internet might provide this
revival in time, but that is doubtful.
One of my reasons in writing this site is to try to get people in the West to start
talking about what will come after the dictatorship, in the hopes to forestall the
anarchy, out of which no one can predict what will grow. The only society I know of
who postponed the decline into anarchy is Rome. This is because Augustus Caesar
re-established the republic at the end of his rule. Interestingly enough, he also
banned kissing for 11 years because of an epidemic of venereal herpes on peoples lips,
and imposed strict moral laws reminiscent of all the great faiths. He did not live
by them, himself, but he exiled a daughter to a solitary island life when she did
not either. He was very strict about it.
I begin with this because the democracies believe that they are the peak of
civilization and are feeling a commitment to spread their form of government
everywhere, enfranchising all. They are including this as part of their influence
anywhere they are gaining control through justified or unjustified military action,
as well as through normal social and commercial intercourse.
They are wrong in feeling justified in spreading their degenerate form of
government.
It seems to me that the pro-democracy movement is moving at such an accelerated pace
that the whole world will be democratized in a very short period. This is both good and bad.
The good part is that more people will be free to express themselves and, as I have found
most people to be peace-loving, I expect we will finally have a world government and the
long thousand years of peace everyone is expecting.
The bad part is that democracies have traditionally not worked. The politicians become
mere panderers and the population votes itself both the moral and financial treasuries,
eventually destroying the civilization.
It is my hope that as the world's democracies merge into one "country", probably through
the United Nations, that those who frame the new government make it a Republic, so voting
is a priviledge earned through age, education, marital status, financial status and moral
status. For instance, an adulterer should not be allowed to vote.
In this day and age in America, I would expect a voter to be at least university educated,
25 years of age, and married.
I would also expect all combat veterens, people who had been in actual combat,
not military clerks and others in the services who do not experience combat risk,
to be enfranchised, as well as all rabbis, mullahs, priests, ministers, gurus, etc.,
from any legitimate faith.
The education requirement could be lowered in countries where widespread education is
not common, and the voting age lowered in countries where the life-expectancy is lower
and where people marry younger, but the principles should remain the same. Wisdom
comes with age, responsibility for others, and experience. To have a voting age of
21 years when life expectancy is 42, as it was in 1900, or 38, as it was in 1800, makes
good sense. Back then people were married and had families in their teens. And they
died young. Today we marry much later and live to be 78. We should also now
delay the age to vote so people who are wiser, and, yes, age and responsibility do
make us wiser, are controlling the direction of the society. Youth, bless it's heart,
does not know better, even though it may feel better about the world. It takes age to
know the many ways living kills and the true challenges of the world.
The failures of the so-called '60's generation is
proof of this. "Do your own thing" is the basis of the decay in western culture. It
epitomizes the selfishness permeating the West. Put
all of the surviving (yes, many are dead) Woodstock participants back in the same setting
and you will find very few willing to act the way they did the first time around.
Age has made them wiser.
In a true Republic, only certain property owners vote for representatives. This restricts
voting to a certain group of prosperous, and supposedly well-educated, individuals.
These individuals also often possess strong spiritual values in any society.
The United States was founded as a Republic, but has long since been a democracy,
though most of its citizens do not realize there is a difference.
It is hoped that in a Republic, politicians speak their minds and run on honestly
debated issues, rather than pandering to as many special interest groups as they can.
When the general public is enfranchised, people vote so as to ease their lives,
both through public welfare assistance and through the relaxation of the moral laws,
creating a more hedonistic, self-serving society with low moral values.
The current morally degenerate condition of the western democracies demonstrates this.
Their rampant divorce rates, dysfunctional children, high drug use, and epidemic
sexually transmitted disease rate are all direct evidence of this.
This is because in rich societies people tend to be more hedonistic and selfish, putting
their own momentary happiness above even the welfare of their own children. Thus the
lack of concern for the welfare of the children, and the parents' unwillingness to
self-sacrifice for the sake of their children, in the matter of divorce in the western
cultures. Of course much of this can also be accredited to the collapse of Christianity
and the loss of its moral values.
Theocracies also do not work because it is difficult for clergy seeking enlightenment
to understand the majority who do not, and the government becomes too extreme in its
restrictions on living, wanting everyone to be saintly in behavior. None of the
great teachers in history would willingly accept a governmental leadership position.
They were all spiritual men who renounced the material world. Mohammed, who was put
in the position of having to fight in war, but who obviously preferred peace,
possessed the same spirit. One cannot commit to the Creator and the World, too, and
spiritual people who take on governmental positions must make too many compromises
or become too harsh trying to bring everyone with them on the path to enlightenment
through government.
The Taliban, though admirable in intent in their own minds, were brutal, cruel,
and uncompassionate in practice.
Though the conflict seems to be between these two failed governmental systems, the
cause is much more basic. The Islamic societies have a wide range of different moral
values, as practiced, but the core moral values of Islam, like in the Catholic Church,
remain intact and most in the Muslim world try to live by them.
In the western democracies, the predominant Christian faith has broken into over
3,000 sects, some of which ordain practicing sodomites as ministers, including major
sects.
Combined with a democratic government, this has led to a total breakdown of the
enforcement of the moral law in the western democracies. This is reflected in the
obsession with sex in western media.
At prime fault here is the judicial system in the United States, which has misinterpreted
the intentions of the founding fathers of that country regarding the separation of
church and state. They did not intend a Godless state, but a non-sectarian one.
This is not the same, however, as explaining it all in scientific terms. I am trying to only
post on this site what I KNOW I know, but I believe we will finally tie science and Creator
together.
Meaning of life,
They would not have recognized atheism as a religion, though they respected the
right of someone to have no religion and to be an atheist, as long as they obeyed
the moral law, which protected the public health. In their times, it was obvious
that the foundations of society rested on a belief in the Creator, no matter how
expressed. The courts in the West, like Paul of the Christian scriptures, have put
individual liberty above
the public interest, thus denigrating the quality of life of the individuals
who they are trying to give liberty to or save from suffering. This is misplaced,
ignorant, altruism. It is the heart ruling the head.
This is not the same, however, as explaining it all in scientific terms. I am trying to only
post on this site what I KNOW I know, but I believe we will finally tie science and Creator
together.
HOW THE WROLD WORKS, TOO.
I ask those in the west this: If someone walked into your living room and dropped
their pants or lifted their skirts, and performed a sex act in front of you and
your children, what would you do? This is the problem faced by Islamic societies
and is why people will drive airplanes into buildings to protect the moral values
of their children. This is what the Muslim world thinks of western movies, television,
etc. They are being overwhelmed by western culture, which IS diseased, and in
their panic are trying to destroy today's equivalent of Rome at its worst.
The Western world has been trying to use their scientific advances to get around the
moral restrictions placed on them by the Creator through nature, i.e., disease. They
have failed in this but do not want to admit it. But many of them want to believe
science has replaced nature and the Creator, and they want to spread this belief.
In effect, the west wants to replace the Creator with Science in the mosques of Islam.
This is the same as Caesar wanting his image in the Jewish Temple.
In the west, human rights, compassion, and understanding are of huge concern. The
compassion of Jesus has come a long way. The intolerant have much to learn here.
This should include, however, a respect for the Islamic countries, or any culture,
where the western lack of moral values is not respected but feared.
This does not justify the actions of those in Islam, or any faith,
who would terrorize those of another. There is no true conversion through the sword,
only the heart and mind makes for a true conversion. Common sense, not intimidation,
is what always prevails. People follow what they understand and respect.
I remind all again of Jesus and Bar Abbas. Any religion that must rely on the sword
for conversions has reached its peak, lost its momentum, lost the message, and will
be met with adequate resistance at its borders to halt its growth. After that, all faiths
go into decline.
Flowers wilt.
The western world will find no peace until it undergoes a moral revival or finds a
way to isolate unreceptive, healthy (moral), cultures from its unhealthy (immoral)
cultural influence.
Those in Islam who would protect their people through the sword will only create mass
suffering. The only way lies in true conversion, which comes only through dialog. It
would be far more productive to buy advertising promoting moral values, than it is
blowing up buildings. Those who live by the sword, die by the sword.
Within all of this conflict lies another; the Israeli/Palestinian issue.
Abraham would cry over this conflict, as all concerned are his blood.
The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is not an issue of Muslim versus
Jew, it is a conflict over land.
One can go back over time for reasons for revenge and vengeance, with plenty of
good examples to be found on both sides. Until both sides are willing to put these
incidents behind them, and deal with the present only, no solution can be found.
Peace can only come through letting has-beens be has-beens and proceeding from there.
Mohammed taught that the Jews, Christians and Muslims should live in peace as long
as one does not try to force its ways on another. This is because all these faiths
spring from the same wellhead and worship the same Creator. People of all faiths
should respect each other because all are seeking the same truths.
There is no right or wrong in this conflict. Both sides are right, and both are wrong.
In the eyes of the Creator, the righteous thing for the Palestinians to do would have
been to accept the Jews into their homes and country after the holocaust of World War
II. The Jews, on the other hand, keep trying to expand their hold on parcels of land.
The current Israeli policy of closing some settlements to make way for a Palestinian
state is very commendable, especially in the face of continued Palestinian violence.
The Jews now find themselves advocating the way of Jesus while pitted against the
Palestinians, who are following the ways of Bar Abbas. Even more ironically, the
Palestinians have a Prime Minister named "Bar Abbas", who has been an active advocate
for peace with the Israeli's. The Creator does have a sense of humor, just like us.
Jerusalem is a holy city not just to the Jews, but to the Christians, Muslims, and
other spiritual people, as well. As the Jews now control Jerusalem, and Christianity
and Islam are sects of Judaism, all using the Old Testament, I suggest they
make the city an Israeli city as far as territory goes, but that the city be governed
as an Interfaith
Holy City with a Republican government made up of representatives of all faiths.
In the United States, the central government is housed in an independent district,
Washington, DC, and I suggest the same thing for Jerusalem. I know this gives the
Jews final authority over the security of Jerusalem, but that is the present
geo-political reality and is the shortest route to peace.
On the other hand, it also gives other religions a voice in the governing of the city
and guarantees the safety and sanctity of their holy places and presence
in the city.
When a Palestinian state is established, I would recommend that each nation agree
that the citizens of each can buy real estate in the other. A reasonable limit could
be placed on how much property could be sold interstate per year to avoid abuses.
This would allow the Palestinians who crave their ancestral land a peaceful way
to regain it. It would also allow the Jews to be in areas they would like to be in,
that they do not have current access to.
It would also slowly cause a peaceful integration as neighbor learned about neighbor,
and population densities shifted. When each country reached an agreed upon ratio
of one to the other, the two nations could finally be united. This would warm
Abraham's heart, as he is the father of both nations, and it would make both nations
"great" in the eyes of the world, as promised to Abraham by the Creator.
The Palestinians have suffered gravely in the immigration of the Jews after
World War II. But the Jews came in desperation after mass slaughter and what followed
would not have happened if the Palestinian Muslims had followed the dictates of Islam
and provided comfort for their cousins, as dictated by Mohammed. The Creator cares
not if something is a lot to ask.
Muslims were also an enemy of Nazi Germany and did not suffer the same holocaust
only because their numbers were less in Europe and Nazi influence did not get to
dominate life in the Muslim countries long enough for Nazi hatred to decimate the
Muslim population in occupied countries.
I see again two paths here for the Palestinians. The first is suicide bombings by
people barely out of childhood. This is a disgrace to all mankind. That anyone would
sacrifice their children over land grudges is unthinkable in civilized societies and
the Palestinians are reviled worldwide for this practice. Recourse can only come
through civilized behavior. Teaching your children to blow themselves up for the
sake of cultural and religious myths, like "virgins" in heaven, is barbaric and the
civilized world despises it. It undermines Palestinian credibility. How can one regard
a people as civilized who do this to their children?
The Palestinians have a just cause, as do the Jews, but co-existence has to be the
goal, not annihilation of the other people. This will never happen and is as
unrealistic a fanatical goal as can be imagined. It achieves nothing but notoriety,
and brings on nothing but what will eventually be viewed as senseless slaughter and
suffering.
The Jews and Muslims populate all nations, too. Who can possibly annihilate whom?
About Heaven
As for heaven, all faiths have it wrong. The kingdom of heaven is "at hand", as
Jesus taught. The Christian churches no longer teach this and the original 12
disciples of Jesus did not understand it, expecting the kingdom of heaven to come
within their lifetimes, as promised by Jesus, upon his permanent return, which
never happened. Later on, the church had to make heaven someplace else, because
Jesus never came back. He had to be someplace else, then.
This is not the same, however, as explaining it all in scientific terms. I am trying to only
post on this site what I KNOW I know, but I believe we will finally tie science and Creator
together.
(I finally did that in my paper
General Relativity: Effects in Time as Causation
first published in the Journal of Cosmology in July of 2019 and then made the basis of the new Volume 27 in October of 2019.)
MEANING OF LIFE MEANS THAT
What Jesus meant was that the kingdom was literally "at hand".
That means all you have to do is pick it up because it is here and now.
If you live someplace where the Creator is everywhere, miracles happen all the
time, and life is eternal, where are you? You have eternal life because the life
that animates you is the eternal life of the Creator. That Life will withdraw from your
physical body, but it does not end. This is not to say that your ego will continue
to exist. Your life returns to, becomes one with, the Creator again. But if the
Creator maintained even just ONE EGO PER CREATION, there would have
to be an infinite heaven containing the infinite number of egos created and saved
in an infinite number of creations throughout eternity.
All the great mystical teachers have taught this, not just Jesus. Mohammed did not,
but he was not a mystic and probably did not understand it. He did not, however,
question the power of faith as exhibited by Jesus, who he respected as a prophet.
The Book of Revelations should not be included in the Bible. Might just as well add the
prophesies of Nostradomus. Besides being a bunch of symbolic gibberish, it contains many
contradictions.
Armageddon is a place in the middle east: "Har Mageddon". It is not a battle, it is the place
where a final battle is supposed to occur. If there were a "rapture" as described in
Revelations and all the "good" people were swept up into a heaven in the sky preceding
the return of Jesus, who would be left to fight the anti-Christ with Jesus at Armageddon?
All of this is total nonsense, which is why it does not make sense. It is a corruption
of scripture by the pagan Roman church of Jesus meant to scare people into the church.
To think this is the only
creation of an eternal being, and that He is saving certain souls forever is just
not logical in the least. At best, which would be wonderful, we realize our oneness
with the Creator, though this entails a knowledge and feeling of eternal loneliness.
At worst, our egos simply cease to exist and we are only maintained through the
Creator's memory through eternity.
Even in the Book of Genesis, Adam and Eve are not thrown out of the Garden of Eden for eating of the
Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, they were thrown out unless they also eat
of The Tree of Life and live forever. Just imagine being the Creator
and trying to save for eternity every soul you created that pleased you....
When we see pictures of people praying, we see their eyes raised skyward, as if
looking up to heaven. But when people pray or meditate, they automatically
roll their eyes up and place their attention on their brain. It feels like the
attention is on the location called the "third eye" by the Hindus, the "OM" chakra,
the spot right
in the center of the forehead between the eyes. This is what the spiritual mean by
sayings like the "kingdom of heaven is within you", and "seek the truth within".
Whenever we go to pray or meditate, we automatically, instinctually, roll our
eyes up and focus within.
When we do that, our brain automatically goes through
chemical and electrical changes, the most notable of which I find to be the decline
in blood flow to the upper left (parietal) lobe of the brain. This is the part of the brain that
allows us to discriminate between ourselves and others and the environment itself.
When we pray or meditate, we instinctually put ourselves in a state where we realize
the oneness of everything to a greater extent than in normal waking consciousness.
Our connection to the Creator is built into the physical world, as well as the
spiritual.
Our right temporal lobe of the brain, right behind the temple, especially the
limbic system, is where our spiritual awareness seems to be centered as it relates
to understanding the Creator, the mystical, and how the universe is manifested.
It is what we use to transcend space/time.
When I pray or meditate and touch that life within me, I realize that it is the
greater part of me and that IT is eternal. That is how I perceive eternal
life.
I call this assuming a holy spirit. When we pray, we automatically assume a holy
spirit and this is our direct connection to the Creator within us. It is NOT
a separate being, i.e., The Holy Spirit of Christianity, taking over our
bodies, and certainly not a holy "ghost".
The Christian concept is a good example of a clouded truth. They know there is a holy
spirit, but they make it an individual being instead of a part of our own beings,
like an angry spirit, or a loving spirit.
Because we have direct, intimate contact with the Creator all the time, it is foolish
to pray to a dead person for help or for intercession. If you pray to Jesus, Mary,
Buddha, Mohammed, or any of the saints of any of the faiths, you are misdirecting your
prayers. First of all, the Creator is not in some other place, like an imaginary
"heaven". The Creator is everywhere, including within you; it is your very
life; your eternal soul.
The dead, if they exist in some "heaven", can't be that close.
The Old Testament damns mediums and those who purport to talk to the dead.
Besides, there is no one more
compassionate, understanding, and forgiving, than the One that creates us and dwells
within. The Creator is Who created all those saintly persons, and none could possess
any quality in excess of the Creator. I admonish you to focus your attention in the
correct direction when you pray and give the Creator His due. After all, He is as
close as the life within you.
I believe the Christian Trinity is best explained as the Creator being the Father,
each of us is the son/daughter, and the holy spirit we assume when speaking to the
Creator (Father) within us is the holy spirit. I believe this is what Jesus taught.
Like Jesus, I am a mystic and understand the power of faith. I see and accept
miracles as a matter of course in my life. Because of that, I live in a world where
the Creator is everywhere, miracles happen all the time, and the life within me is
eternal. This, to me, is the Kingdom of Heaven. It is "at hand", here and now,
just as Jesus taught.
I will explain more about the power of faith and the kingdom being here later.
I learned the power of faith through personal experience while I was an atheist
and two years before I realized the presence of the Creator, but that is too long
a story for here. You will like it, though, as it involves washing my
hands in acid. So please stick with me.
When Societies Clash - Summary
The political leaders in the western democracies will lead their people
to death and suffering
trying to please by poll the ignorant, immoral, people who vote for them and give
them power and wealth. Democracies don't work. Republics do work.
The terrorists will lead us to death for unreachable ideals. These are egomaniacal
people trying to force an understanding that cannot happen. If all reached
enlightenment, there would be no creation. The Creator loses Himself here.
Only a few are meant to seek Him, must less find Him. Those that do either are
His shepherds who do not, ever, slay their flock because they know the
Creator is incarnate in them, no matter how lost they are.
Those who use terrorism have no right in forcing their will as they have obviously
not found enlightenment themselves. The enlightened find the Creator in all living
things. Enlightenment never includes murder. It does allow for killing,
but only regretfully, never in joy or celebration, to protect the public health
and to give revenge social dignity.
Terrorists rejoice in their slaughter and that is evil.
The Creator's Curses
It is a popular misconception today among the amoral that the Creator does not curse people.
They want to believe the Creator is "pure love" and that they can do whatever they want
with impunity.
The Creator curses the drunkard with cirrhosis, kidney failure and heart disease.
The Creator curses the glutton with diabetes, heart and kidney failure, and
joint deterioration.
The Creator curses those who abuse smoke substances with lung cancer, emphasema and heart
disease.
The Creator curses drug injectors with Hepatitis and other problems.
The Creator curses pederasts (men who engage in sodomy) with HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C.
The Creator curses lesbians with childlessness.
The Creator curses child molestors with the wrath of their fellow man.
The Creator curses. This is the short list. If you have eyes, see.
Gluttony, Overindulgence and Great Civilizations
The Creation is a process. Created things, when alive, and sometimes when not, go on to
create more. Thus all of us are driven from our beds in the morning with an implaccable
impulse to "do something". We have to "do". If you don't believe this, just sit
down and see how long you can "do nothng". Try not to even think, which is also "doing".
In spiritual societies, like the golden period of Islam, when the arts exploded, people
do constructive, "creative", things instead of self-destructive things. Instead of picking
up the bottle, they pick up the brush: instead of smoking the drug, they craft the chest:
instead of eating the candy, they write the song.
Instead of "destructive" behavior, the engage themselves in "creative" behavior and continue
the creative process beyond themselves. It is this which makes great civilizations. A "great
time" can be had from time-to-time with a little too much of everything, but a constant
feast is not what makes for a great civilization.
Music, Song and Dance
Music, Song and Dance are all art forms. There are those who suppress one or all of them,
like the Taliban. They do this because they want to be "godly" and free of sin.
The first thing they do not see is that this is what the Creator is creating. This
world is what the Creator wants to create, which is why It is creating it. If It wanted
something different, It would create something different. The Creator is enjoying Its creation
through each of us. Though self-denial is necessary in all the things we do, like food and
drink, the thing itself is not necessarily evil, especially if it is a primary part of
our instinctual, God-given, nature. Even birds have a sense of rhythm and dance! And
music calms the savage beast.
What is not in society's best interest is when the song or dance is lacivious in nature.
Lacivious behavior offends those who do not want to be sexually aroused and promotes
lacivious behavior in others. This creates promiscuity, which spreads deadly disease.
Self-denial has to be applied to sex, just like food, water and drink.
The Life creating us, your very life that is animating you and building you every day in
your physical form, is the Creator. YOU are what the Creator is creating. Your
"soul", or eternal part, is That Life. It is that "Spirit" that leaves the dead.
And that Spirit is eternal, and eternally alone. If you have eyes, "see".
When people fast, and practice severe self-denial, they see how the Creator tries to tempt
them back into partaking. We call it "temptation" and usually ascribe it to the "devil",
but it is the Creator trying to entertain Itself. What is the point of creating a world like
this to live in, and then just sit there and not do anything?
What fasters also see is the "fluid" nature of the world, whether they realize it or not,
and that is how to see the world as just the "material"-izing light it is. That is
the "spiritual" world.
Even though severe self-denial can be useful when practiced properly, we are not meant
to do that all the time. It is enough to indulge our "holy" spirit periodically through
the day as we feel love for the Creator during the endeavors It puts before us to do.
Joy is not evil. The Creator loves joy. The Creator has created great, beautiful, joy out
of Its music, song and dance. Just keep it "clean".
I would also remind the Taliban, and those like them, that the "Golden Era" of Islam was
a period of great art work. That art work included music, song and dance. And that art work
came from people who were doing constructive things with their lives, instead of indulging
is self-destructive, amoral, behavior.
Circumcision
The issue of circumcision is short and easy. Male circumcision is done for sanitary
and health reasons and makes a great deal of sense. Circumcised males suffer far
fewer "natural", painful, infections and inflammations than uncircumcised males.
Also, in one study, only 3 of 50,000 males with penile cancer were circumcised.
Female circumcision is only performed to deny the female of her natural sexual
pleasure and is an abomination that is purely mutilation and should be outlawed
everywhere.
Female "Liberation" & the "Sexual Revolution"
Women (womb-men) in the West have experienced a liberation in the last half of the 20th
century. This is not to be confused with the "sexual revolution" which began in
the 1960's, which is a male/female phenomenon. Although feminists often blame
males for oppressing them, it is the demands of life that have historically
determined the role and place of women in society. In the modern West, it is
the males who actually liberated their females by inventing clothes washers and dryers,
and refrigerators, dish washing machines, microwaves, frozen foods, and all the
other appliances that have freed women from the daily chores attended to by women
in the less developed, less wealthy, areas of the world. As so many Western women
now despise men in general, it speaks to me of how ungrateful people can be.
As more conveniences came along, Western women found themselves with more free time
and more boredom. Because of this, they began to resent their males, who, far from
liberated, still had to go to work every day, where many women perceived they were
enjoying themselves, while the women were stuck bored at home. This was fertile ground
for radical feminism, in a time when the male, in particular the white male, was
seen as responsible for all the world's ills; primarily because he had triumphed
over his adversaries through the ages of struggle between peoples of different race,
religion and ethnicity. This struggle, unfortunately, continues today.
This liberation of women from traditional duties coincided with the development of
birth control and antibiotics, and they in turn propelled the sexual revolution,
severely complicating women's liberation issues. The fact of the matter is that we
now know that the sexual revolution was a lie that has saturated Western society
with a plethora of ills; physical, emotional, mental and financial. In short, healthy societies
are based on healthy families, and the sexual liberation of both males and females
is unacceptable in a healthy society.
If civilizations are to continue to develop as they are today in a material sense,
then it can be seen that women must find new roles in society as their time is
liberated in the home. They must still expect to perform all their nurturing duties,
as they are endowed to do by the Creator as "womb-men", and should be full-time mothers when their
children are pre-school, but it must be expected that they be free to move into the
work environment when their children enter school. Unless their spouses work from
home or have a schedule that allows them to be home when the children get out of
school, the mother should also be expected to be there for her children when they
get out of school. Children should not be left unsupervised, especially in urban
environments.
Children should never be placed in childcare as pre-schoolers except as a temporary
relief for the mother when family is not available to spell her. Children whose
mothers put them in pre-school child care full time while they work, develop a lot
more problems than their counterparts who enjoyed the full time bonding with their
mothers when they were pre-school.
To sum up: Western women have been liberated by their males' hard work, labor, and
inventiveness and they should respect their men, instead of demeaning them. This
liberation means society must find other constructive avenues for their women to
travel to fill their free time. Women should expect to continue to fulfill those
chores and duties traditionally theirs and not expect their spouses to do them. It
should not be a matter of swapping societal roles, but adapting new roles for the
women to fulfill that allow them to continue in their primary responsibility to
their children. Divorce after the children are independent is still not acceptable
because most men do not develop the cooking and household skills necessary to take
care of themselves, and it is unreasonable to expect them to do so after having
provided for their wives and children for so long. Divorce is a punishment for
men and women deserted by their spouses because it leads to poverty, loneliness,
and despair. Most men have a difficult enough time providing one decent home on
their wages, much less two, and pension plans are designed for one household, not
two. A society that destroys a man for the sake of a fickle, lazy woman is evil,
as is a society that allows a man to abandon the mother of his children.
The sexual revolution was a lie and remains a lie. The safest path through life
is one of chastity until marriage and fidelity thereafter. Birth control is both
unsafe and unreliable and antibiotics cure only a few sexually transmitted diseases.
Promiscuity kills not just individuals, but families and whole societies. The more
a people follow the moral law espoused by their faith, the less they will be
decimated by AIDS and other deadly diseases like Hepatitis C and Syphilis.
The nations which have suffered the most in the age of AIDS are those without a
serious commitment to the values of chastity until marriage and fidelity afterward
as espoused by all the major faiths.
Cloning, Birth Control & Abortion
My primary belief is that whatever path leads to the least suffering for mankind
in general is the most humane path. I believe this is self-evident. This is not
the same as the path of least resistance and wanton self-indulgence. Marriage, for
instance, requires self-sacrifice, and some suffering, as do other social and
moral responsibilities like charity. Of course the reason society requires those
responsibilities is so individuals, families, and society as a whole will be
better off, healthier and happier over the long term.
Modern science has presented many moral dilemmas to modern man. The Creator has
endowed us with the ability to figure out the most complex details about how we
are made and manifested in what we perceive as the material world.
I have always respected the Catholic Church in Christendom, especially in the person
of the prior Pope, John Paul, because of its defense of traditional morality
and values. There are many things that disturb me deeply about the Catholic Church,
and all the faiths, but this aspect of Catholicism I deeply respect.
Medical science, however, has given us difficult choices to make. We can
now determine if a child will be born handicapped. We can now not only know the sex
of our child before it is born, but can pick the sex. We have a birth control pill
that causes an induced miscarriage when the fetus is only a few cells in size, and
the ability to clone our very selves.
At the same time, we have overcrowding in many parts of the world and we know we are
taxing the resources of our planet as a whole. The planet seems to be maturing and
flowering.
In many places, people still try to have as many children as possible, considering
them all a blessing, and it was this way throughout the world until the mid part of
the 20th century, when it became clear science was extending our lives and survival
rates. In poor parts of the world and in the Western world of 100 years ago, people
had has many children as they could provide for because they expected 4 out of 10 to
die young and hoped one of the other 6 would be able and willing to care for them in
their old age.
In other places, the population has so far outstripped the resources that everyone
is literally starving to death.
Sadly, it is also true that every culture used to practice infant exposure. At
some point, every culture in the world left unwanted new born babies outside to die of
exposure. These were usually females because hungry people don't want more wombs making
even more mouths to feed. This is still done in very poor areas of the world. When I
last visited the Philippines it was still in practice there, except where I visited
the bodies were found floating in Subic Bay, having been drowned, rather then left to die
of exposure.
In parts of China there was a designated area for this very use, and one would hear the
crying and wailing of the infants if one was close enough.
How we use our medical science within the context of our morality is a very complex
problem that each society must decide on within the context of their own needs. I
firmly believe that the law must serve man and be rational and compassionate. I also
believe it is not possible to stop human progress and development and that we must
therefore keep a continuous dialog going to ensure we are as respectful of life as
we can be. The life within any living thing is the life of the Creator. In all our
decisions, we should try to have this common Life suffer the least.
Regarding cloning, it is acceptable to clone a person's organ, like a heart or liver,
but it is immoral to clone a whole person for parts. That new person would suffer too
much and be a victim. Cloning our whole selves for other purposes also seems to have
no moral or practical purpose, especially as we know that each ego is unique not
just according to its cell structure, but its experience.
Birth control is always either not totally reliable, or dangerous to the health. Condoms
leak, the rhythm method is not reliable and other forms endanger the health through
possible side effects or danger through surgery. Surgical methods of sterilization
also deny the individual of the ability to procreate again, should they tragically
lose their children and/or spouse. In this day-and-age of overpopulation and limited
resources, it would be foolish not to "allow" contraception, but I urge everyone to
only have sex within marriage, and then to use the least dangerous methods. If you have
an unexpected pregnancy, abortion should be your last resort and only be used if the
birth of a child will cause you such hardship that you will not be able to care for
the child. This is not because abortion is particularly dangerous, as giving birth is
more so, but an ethical, moral respect for the life that has been created.
Ideally, I believe our birth rate should be determined by our sexual activity and
ability to control it, but this has never really been an issue until recently, as
people in marriage usually tried to have as many children as possible that they could
afford. Therefore I believe it is morally acceptable for a married couple, meaning
a couple with children, to use birth control if their society is overpopulated. Again,
I see no reason in a marriage ceremony if the couple does not want to merge themselves
together in children. All else is fornication. Once they have proved their intentions
to procreate, birth control should be acceptable, though it can lead to a lasciviousness
in the marriage that would otherwise be controlled through fear of an unwanted
pregnancy. However, it should be noted seriously that all forms of
birth control other than condoms and the rhythm method pose health risks to the
person taking the chemicals or undergoing the surgery.
Abortion is an extremely complex problem that drives people to extreme positions. I used to
find abortion as birth control totally unacceptable. A woman's right to choose stops
when she raises her skirts. After that she is inflicting pain and death on a being
which would not exist except for her actions. ALL life "feels" pain when it
is attacked or killed. Even a single cell feels this. For this reason, and because
society should foster a respect for ALL life, abortion should be as restricted
as possible. This does not mean it can not be used as contraception, which I will explain
shortly.
If a child will be born deformed, abortion is acceptable. If the mother's
health is at risk, and the child is not yet viable on its own, abortion should be
permitted. If the child is viable and a choice must be made between the life of
mother or child, the mother should be saved for the sake of her husband and other
children, if she has them. The loss of the "unborn" child is less traumatic and
the Creator cherishes both lives equally. If a woman is raped, an abortion
should be permissible.
Abortion for contraception is despised in all spiritual communities, as it should be.
Ideally, people living within spiritual communities use self-control to control
the number of children they have. But the Commandment is "Be fruitfull and multiply,"
and so we are driven outside those Ideal behaviors. Man and Wombman both have
drives that sometimes creates careless behavior and children that cannot be fed or
cared for.
Also, abortion for contraception is an age-old practice, though usually illegal. This
puts the mother's life at risk, too, and the Creator is animating her, just as it is
the new life within her. If the life within her will be a curse, rather than a blessing,
she should be permitted to safely have an abortion. Though I'm sure the number is inflated
somewhat, my step-father once told me his mother had 86 abortions, all illegal, as she
lived through the Great Depression of the 1930's - 1940's. It was an economic necessity
for her and it should have been legal and safe, no matter how distasteful.
The life within the womb is always a human life,
no matter how developed, and our very humanity demands we respect this, and violate
it only under the most extreme circumstances. But we must also recognise the Creator in
the potential mother. And father.
Feminists also talk about a woman's right to choose while ignoring the spiritual
beliefs of the father. It is the father's child, as much as the mother's, and even
though I personally believe his right to choose stopped when he dropped his pants,
he should have an equal say in the survival of the fetus if the woman is given a
choice. In ancient Judaism, having sex was an acceptable way to get married. If you
did it, you were married. In a spiritual community, people should accept the fact that
they might be married together in a child if they have sex, and that they have the
strongest possible moral and ethical responsibility to see to it that chiild is born
and raised. Once a life is created, it is created, and to be respected as a human life.
The problem in the abortion-heavy societies is not the legality of abortion, but the
casual attitude people have towards sex. This is also why 1 in 3 adults have a non-curable
sexually transmitted disease and full blown epidemics of Hep C and HIV. The problem in
these societies is that people have low self-esteem and do not relate to their Creator,
and how following the natural way of marriage and family It created makes their lives,
and the lives of all society, better. They are only out for themselves, lacking faith in
the world and the One that creates it and them.
In a spiritual society, there would not be the customer base to sustain abortion "clinics".
Abortions would be so rare regular OBGYN's would have to do them.
Pregnant women should also consider that abortions, though commonly performed,
are still life-threatening operations and women die having them. Though the risk is
very low, it does happen.
Stem cell research holds many promises for humanity. Morally aborted or
miscarried fetuses should be available for this research, but the breeding of fetuses
for this purpose is repulsive to most people. This amounts to the intentional
breeding of human life for experimentation purposes that will cause it to suffer,
no matter the stage of its development. No one should be allowed to sell fetuses
or profit from trade in them to avoid abuses in this area. Available stem cell lines
should be shared freely between researchers, instead.
The excess fetus' created in modern fertility procedures will be put to
death anyway. It seems to me that the harvesting of the stem cells from such doomed
fetus' is no more offensive than harvesting the organs from a dead person to
benefit the living. In this way, the fetus' lives are not wasted, either, but are
lived for the benefit of mankind as a whole. In other words, it gives their
extremely short lives purpose and meaning other than being just a by-product of laboratory
mating.
The "Life" within any living thing, however, is much more than the physical,
biological, elements being formed into a "life-form". Thus the "human life-form" is
really no more sacred than any other "life-form". It is the very Life within all
life-forms which is sacred, as that Life is the Creator.
The Creator sacrifices a life-form to maintain a life-form each time something eats.
When the hawk catches the mouse, that is the Creator sacrificing Itself in the
life-form of the mouse, to maintain Itself in the life-form of the hawk.
Each of us sacrifices a life-form to maintain our own life-form each time we eat,
and we breed other life-forms for that very purpose.
But the breeding of human life-forms for any purpose other than normal
procreation is abhorrent to our parental instincts and we must respect that aspect
of ouselves.
As it is not reasonable to expect humanity to turn its back on the abilities the
Creator has created us with, what is important is that we respect the sacredness of
all life and that we minimize suffering, and offending our own instincts, as we
strive to move forward for the good of all.
By the same token, it would be criminal of us to ignore what is offered through stem
cell research. Although the available stem cell lines would grow more slowly by
just relying on miscarried and morally aborted fetuses, who's stem cells would die
anyway, that approach does not offend our instincts like the intentional breeding
of fetuses for experimentation does.
Unfortuantely, much of this is a moot discussion as research is already underway in
many parts of the world where there are no restrictions on the sources of stem cells
and, as research moves so quickly, by the time the moral issues are debated the
research will be well established and producing results.
Miscellaneous
The Creator incarnates Itself into this world through us. In this way It loses
knowledge of Itself and enters the world as a "new" being; a blank slate with
free will. In this way, It is constantly
re-discovering Its creation and all
its possibilities. This way, It is constantly "re-incarnated" as a new being.
Individual egos are not reincarnated or there would be memories
at birth.
Free will creates the possibility that the Creator can become lost in Its
own creation, and so It has devised the world in such a way that each of Its
incarnations is kept living close to the central plan of loving others, despite
the geographical separations between peoples, which is why different faiths have
developed in different areas of the world.
There are no devils. There are no angels.
The most important "other" to One eternally alone is a loving other.
The second most important other is an adversary.
This makes the world exciting and provides a necessary "resistance",
which is essential to the very fabric of the creation.
The Creator creates It's Own adversary, not in flesh, but in spirit. This
prohibits instant gratification, which would nullify the purpose
of the creation. The adversarial aspect is necessary for the existence of the
creation, but it is only the Creator resisting Itself.
This is reflected in the adversarial relationships between individuals,
and states, in the physical world.
This is not a separate being, but the Creator resisting Itself.
Human evil exists because it can when free will exists.
Human good triumphs in the long term over human evil because
the Creator is essentially good and there are many more good influences
participating in the Creation.
The Creator is incarnate in the mass murdering cannibal as well as the saint,
which is why the Creator loves both the same.
Dirty Dogs
Most people do not like people in power. This is because they are usually always under
someone else's power in one way or the other, and they long to be free of that. The
more power a person has, the more people's lives they influence and exert control
on, and are thus more resented and despised.
People like to despise the people in power in nations other than their own more than
their own, because they are more distant and easier to vent frustrations on. Being
foreign, it is easier to imagine bad intentions. After all, they are not just in power,
they are one of "them" who is not "us". "Our" people aren't THAT bad.
During the course of my career, I had to work for many people who I thought were
incompetent, ignorant and insufferable. Luckily I chose a career where, for a short
while, I got to be boss most of the time and it was I who got to be thought of as
incompetent, ignorant and insufferable. I always knew that no matter how I tried,
someone would see me the same way I saw some of my bosses.
My experience is that we all feel this way, no matter who or where, on this planet,
even the "independently" wealthy. In this respect, we all have those we consider to
be "dirty dogs". At work we agree with our friends who the "dirty dog" above us is.
As a people (of any nation) we tend to agree who our "dirty dogs" are: usually
whoever is in power. As just plain people, regardless of what nation we hail from,
we tend to agree on who the "dirty dogs" in the world are: usually those who are
waging war against others or oppressing their own people. I found this to be true
in all the cultures I visited. EVERYWHERE I went, I felt more comfortable
with people who exhibited belief in a faith, no matter what faith it was. Those
people, no matter what faith, what race, what nation, all shared the same moral
code, and worshipped the same Creator (though they usually didn't realize
that).
There is a catastrophic melding happening in the world today, and it could get much
worse, threatening us all, but it might not have to go to the horrible extreme.
People of every nation are worried about "globalization" in one way or the other,
because they believe it will contribute to the demise of their own particular
civilization and subject them to the laws of "others". The process, however, is
inevitable. The planet is flowering and coming to fruition. What can possibly
be the end result but a glorious age for all mankind? Just imagine that ripe
fruit....But at what possible cost?
In actuality, most nations have the same laws and it is just the punishments that
differ. I am talking about criminal law here, not civil law, which still varies
widely worldwide, and is contributing greatly to international stress.
In the West, the democracies have become so concerned with human rights that they
have enfranchised everyone to behave morally as they wish, regardless of public
health issues. These are good intentions gone terribly awry, and in the process
males have come to be despised. The West has become too "motherly", too "caring",
too "forgiving", too "female".
In the most conservative of the Muslim nations, the moral laws, which are the only
health laws that link directly to the Creator's plan for the world, in that they
enforce fidelity on us, have come to be over-emphasized. Because womb-men have to
be seductive to "catch" a mate, they have thus become despised in the conservative
Muslim world, and, to some extent, in all religious communities. Womb-men have come
to be despised. Again, this is good intentions gone horribly awry.
The Civil law reflects these basic differences in cultures and thus causes much
conflict between them. Neither emphasis is right. Male and female are equal in their
moral lives; for better and worse. Some of each sex rise above their primitive
natures and others don't. Some of each have honor, some don't: and the proportions
are the same.
Conflicts like the current one between the West and Islam result in each influencing
each other. Neither is right in this conflict, as I know nearly every citizen of
every country I visited knows. Both sides are wrought with evil. The result will be
a melding of cultures: more conservatism in the West, more liberalization in the
conservative cultures.
In the West, what kind of people sell out their own people's health and wealth
for power, when they know better?
In Islam, what can be said of people who claim "religion", but lack the "spirituality"
to see the very Creator in the eyes of their helpless victims as they saw their
living heads off?
I am calling them all "Dirty Dogs" because all they do is scratch their own fleas:
terrorist or Western politician, same damn dirty dog.
God is damning them all as we watch. By-the-by, I do not use "God Damn", (excuse
me Lord), as a swear phrase. To me, that is using the Creator's name "in vain",
or for nothing. It is calling upon the Creator for nothing. I do say and think
"God Damn" this or that, but I reserve it for
those I mean it for, who deserve it, and I have never been disappointed. To me
it is like "crying wolf". If one cries it out all the time, how is the Creator to
know when you are serious or there is just cause? Wouldn't you turn off that prayer
from that person after a bunch of false calls? Likewise, when only used when it is
really meant, it becomes a prayer the Creator listens to and acts upon, humbling
the wrongdoer.
SO THE MEANING OF LIFE MEANS THAT
The planet is flowering and we, as humanity as a whole, are facing terrible
ecological crises we can not deal with as divided nations. One world government is
inevitable. To form it, we just need to respect each other's laws, "states rights",
and promise not to legislate our own ways on others. This would have to be
irrevocably encoded into the World Constitution, and not left open to
interpretation, as in the United States Constitution, which their courts have
destroyed. The world government
would have to be a Republic, with the most extreme voting eligibility
requirements possible. The world can learn from the mistakes of the Western
democracies, and will, one way or the other....
This can never happen,
however, without the Western nations being willing to control their decadent cultural
effluent. If the conservative nations of the world could continue to isolate
themselves from Western media and entertainment, things would not have come to
where they are now. But with satellite TV being received everywhere, Westerners have
to learn to respect the moral health laws of the rest of the world, or face
increasing resistance from without and within.
It is not a matter of "Well, they don't have to watch it". It is a matter of it is
being projected out there and no one can keep watch on their children all the time.
Western culture threatens public health everywhere and that must change before there
can be world peace.
In Islam, and all the faiths, a jump must be made in these times. The Creator does
not hate a man if he eats pork. But the man might get sick from it if it is not
well-done or fatty. The Creator does not hate a man if he eats beef. But a man
might get sick from it if it is undercooked or has "mad cow" disease.
It is vital that people of all faiths learn to differentiate between "ritual",
"law", and "spirituality".
"Rituals" are all man-made things meant to enhance our feeling of "spirituality".
They have nothing to do with the will of the Creator. They are the attempts of
the "wise" to enhance our religious experience in their particular institution,
usually based on who is important to them in their "spiritual", not "religious",
history, and their interpretation of the nature of the Creator.
Religious "law" is a bit confused in all the faiths, but within each it tends
to follow the Ten Commandments of Moses in the moral sense. In all of the faiths,
men have tried to expand upon the simple and made it too complex by trying to tie
healthiness to "Godliness". This is largely due to ignorance where people knew
you got sick if you did this or that, or didn't do this or that, and did not know
why. Superstition and
ignorance tied the health laws to the Creator's "will". We know better today.
The law is just our ancestor's wisdom being passed along in "God's Will"
terms. We are lucky to know what we know and owe it to our own innate intelligence
and the observations of our ancestors.
"Spirituality" is where holiness enters into it for me. No one gets to a spiritual
state by being just "religious" and living a healthy life. Such people live longer,
healthier, more fulfilled lives, because they are following the health laws of
their ancestors, including the moral laws, but that does not mean they possess
any "spirituality" or understand their Creator at all.
The golden nugget I found at the core of each faith, and I studied them all,
including the occult, is that true "spirituality" comes through meditation and
prayer. Ask something in prayer, and the answer, or miracle, will come.
Meditate on something and the answer will come. It is so simple, most people
won't believe it, even though they profess to follow the faith of
a man who taught just that. Now we know that there is a physical connection
to the spiritual. Our very brain chemistry changes when we meditate or pray,
and those changes indicate our direct connection with the eternal and infinite;
with the Creator, Life, Itself.
Our highest science in Quantum Physics and Cosmology says the entire universe
sprang forth from nothing out of nowhere because it is a mathematical possibility.
It says the current universe might have begun 13.7 Billion years ago, or might just
look that way to any observer in any time at any place in the universe and might be
eternal. But all the scientists agree it is just made of light. This is what all
the faiths say, too, except before the light, they have an Eternal Being that
can, and does, imagine the light into being. If you want to know why, just
pay attention to your own humanity, and how terrible loneliness is.
When one reaches a state of "spirituality", he sees the world materializing out
of the Creator and appreciates the fact that the Creator is incarnate in all
living creatures. Split a rock, and the Creator is there, much less in living
things. Thus a "spiritual" man thanks the Creator for each meal he eats, because
he knows he is consuming the life of the Creator to sustain himself. There is no
eating without killing, whether it be meat or the fetus of a plant. ALL
life is sentient and struggles to survive and suffers upon death. Even an apple
cries in death. A spiritual person realizes this and gives thanks accordingly,
and willingly, of their own accord.
One who reaches a state of spirituality never takes pleasure in punishing another
person. Our intelligence and knowledge require us to act upon them, and we certainly
can not allow murderers or those who spread deadly disease to move freely among us.
But we all share the same inclinations, even the worst, and we are never more than
the "guilty" punishing the "guilty". There should be no joy in this, as the Creator
is incarnate (in-the-flesh) in each of us, and It loves each of It's creations
equally, mass murderer or saint: the Creator is incarnate in all. A "spiritual"
person understands this and tries persuasion and enlightenment before force.
True conversion to a healthy life can only come from within. Mohammed taught
this, as did Jesus.
I have found it to be significant that the Creator seems to produce saints and
mass murderers in about the same proportion. The rest of the mass of humanity,
like most of the mass of the galaxy and universe, are much closer to the center,
primarily through a simple faith in something they don't even hope to understand,
the religion of their ancestors.
The people in the West trying to force their degenerate "democracies" on other nations
are not "spiritual" people. They are self-serving, self-seeking, shallow,
want-to-be hedonists who want to do what they want to do, regardless of the
consequences to
humanity, which they usually deny even exist. They justify their own desires
and indulgences by
letting everyone else indulge in theirs. Most of them, literally, are so fat
and disease-ridden from gluttony that no one else would even want them sexually,
but they want to keep their licentious options open. Therefore, everything is OK.
The people cutting off heads in Iraq are not "spiritual" people. They take joy in
their killing, do it cruelly, and obviously have no knowledge of, or respect for,
the life of the Creator within their hapless victims. These people are murderers.
"Spiritual" people kill as compassionately as they can and only when they
HAVE to.
It is possible to slay a beast without it knowing it is dying. This, it turns out,
is the healthiest meat, because animals in panic produce a lot of different
chemicals that taint the meat for health and flavor. If an animal is slain by
using a razor-sharp instrument to quickly sever the trachea and esophagus, it
dies almost instantaneously (some say within 2 seconds)
without even knowing it was hurt. There is no pain, no suffering, and no
negative chemical production. This is generally considered "Kosher" slaying and
is also part of the prescibed method of slaughter in Islam.
The people doing the beheading in Iraq deny their human victims this basic mercy
they show their food animals, and this shows how lost and far from the Creator
they really are.
How long will we allow ourselves to be the victims of the "Dirty Dogs"? It depends
on you and how you work to change the dialog within your own nation and religion.
I know we will do away with the armies and war. Our ecological crises will force
it, if nothing else. The question is, can we do it sooner, better, and with less
suffering for us all?
This is not my decision, it is yours, no matter what faith or country you live in.
Meaningful change always begins with dialog. Don't be shy. Your children's lives
literally depend on it today; again, no matter what faith or nation. We already
are no longer separate nations, but one world in health and wealth, each depending
on each other for our very survival. Will you help? Or watch your children's' future
wither as you do in old age? I am doing this. If I can care enough to take the
time and effort to do this, can you care enough to help me spread it?
Help spread it worldwide? Can you?
I'm sorry , the question is will you? I know you can, if you are reading
this. By the way, where in this world are you? Isn't the Internet great!?
The West will continue to be attacked and decline until they reform their moral lives
and stop trying to spread their diseases. The conservative Muslim world will continue
to decline as long as their motivation is blind faith, instead of reason, and they
continue to try to slay their enemy, instead of winning him over through reason.
Consider the lesson of Jesus and Bar Abbas as I wrote about above. Consider, too, that
Mohammed also taught this. All the rest of the sound, fury, madness and mayhem
is really pointless. The founders of the great faiths did not blow themselves
up. They worked to teach people how to spread their particular understanding
of things peacefully, with brotherly love, even though they knew it would take a
long time: long past they were dead and gone.
They knew that this is the only way.
Mohammed fought, but he had to, and was righteous in doing
so, because he was under nearly constant attack. But he taught there was no true
conversion through the sword, and preferred peace.
Faith - Washing My Hands In Acid
I need to give you a brief history of my religious education as a child so you know
where I was in my spiritual life when I washed my hands in acid.
I was an adopted child who had been baptized Episcopalian before I was adopted by a
non-practicing Catholic/Lutheran couple. Consequently, I went to a Catholic school
for grades Kindergarten through 5th, during which time I attended Lutheran Sunday
school, and public school from grades 6 through 12th, during which I attended
Episcopalian Sunday school and was "confirmed" in the Episcopal church, which
apparently was part of the adoption agreement.
My parents only went to church for weddings and funerals, and religion was not ever
discussed in our home, so I was pretty much alone in this education and exposure.
I liked the feeling of being in a church and liked the feelings associated with
worship, no matter which sect's church I was in. I was far too young to be what I
would call religious, but I liked the feelings associated with worship.
My father died when I was 16 and I became first agnostic and then, by the time I
was 19, bitterly atheistic. The very word "god" made me angry and I blamed religion
for most of the evils in the world. When I was 15,
however, I began dating my high school sweetheart and first love. We dated on and
off throughout 8 years, mostly on, and I greatly admired the sense of community
I saw in the Jews. It did not stop me from turning atheistic, however, as I saw
hypocrites everywhere and no one ever had more than the same old tired, political,
answers to my questions.
Thinking back now, in all the religious education I had,
only one person told me a simple answer to a question I had. I was in 1st
or 2nd grade and the nuns were walking us over to the church for something and
I asked a nun where God was. She said, "God is everywhere", and I immediately
knew what she meant. Later, when I realized the presence of God, my mind went to
the same place it did that day when she said that. It still does when I think of,
or commune with, God: when I pray.
At 18 I was in college and science seemed to have the answer to everything, so I pursued
science avidly, especially the latest discoveries. At the same time, I began
investigating witchcraft and the occult "sciences"; astrology, numerology, palmistry,
etc., studying them all. In my senior year, I began investigating psychic phenomena
like telepathy, clairvoyance and telekinesis and was working horoscopes.
At the age of 22, in 1972, I graduated the Academy and went to work for a company in
the Far East. I spent 3 months in Singapore and 3 months in Djakarta, Indonesia.
In Djakarta, I was running a crew boat to the offshore oil fields. I spent a day and
night in port and a day and night at sea.
We docked in a marina across the street from the Bamboo restaurant, which was run
by a Dutchman who had married an Indonesian woman and remained when Indonesia got
its independence. Most of the expatriates took most of their meals there when they
were in port and I was having dinner there one evening, talking about psychic phenomena
and a waiter named "Tan" (pronounced "Tahn") overheard me. He told me he had a
friend taking lessons
in such things from a holy man and asked me if I was interested. I said I was, so
he went to his boss, John, and got the rest of the night off.
We then hopped in a cab and rode a long way through Djakarta to a gas station where
his friend was an attendant. He told his friend that I was interested in what he was
learning and his friend left the station and then came back with a bottle of what
I was told was acid. I think it was actually spirits of salts, a very strong base,
but I was told it was acid. He poured the bottle out into an empty 55-gallon drum
top and then reached around on the ground for scraps of metal to throw into it.
The scraps began to foam blackly and dissolve. He then composed himself and put
his hands into the liquid. Removing his hands, he asked if I wanted to learn how to
do that and I said I did.
I want to mention here that I spoke no Indonesian and only Tan spoke English and was
my interpreter during all that follows. Of the people I dealt with, I only ever knew
his name.
Tan's friend then went to his boss and got off work and we three piled into another
cab for another very long ride through Djakarta, finally arriving at our destination
at about midnight. When we got there, the "Haj" was out praying at the bedside of a
sick person, so we had to wait for a short while. I will be calling the holy man
who taught me the "Haj" because that is what Tan and the others called him. Normally
this term refers to the pilgrimage to Mecca Muslims make, but it was also used to
refer to my teacher.
When the Haj returned, it was explained to him that I wanted to learn. He looked at
me deeply and then called over his 7 year-old son and had him extend his arm. Then
he took a large safety pin and straightened it out as best he could. Then he laid
the pin against his son's forearm and gently pushed it through. Once through, he
wiggled it about. His son never flinched and showed no feelings of pain in his eyes.
The Haj then removed the pin, wiped off a drop of blood, pointed at me and said,
"Now you". I had just seen a young child do this, so I believed I could do it. I
stretched out my arm. The Haj sterilized the pin in a flame, laid it against my arm
and gently pushed it through. He wiggled it and looked deeply in my eyes for signs
of pain. When he saw none, he withdrew the pin, wiped off the speck of blood and
said he would teach me.
He then had a ceramic bowel, a spoon, and a bottle of the acid brought to him. He
emptied the bottle into the bowel and dipped the spoon into the liquid. It came
out foaming and dissolving. He composed himself and put his hands in the acid. When
he withdrew them, there was no damage. This is what he was going to teach me to do.
He told me to rise at 4 AM the following Wednesday. I was to fast all day. No water,
no food, no cigarettes (I had about 4), no women. I was to say a prayer I later found
out to be in Arabic 1,000 times (I said it about 800) (that same prayer later saved
my life in Turkey, but that is another story). Then I was to return to his house
at midnight.
It was an extremely long drive through Djakarta that night. Every fountain we
passed had my parched tongue hanging out the window as we drove by. Fasting
certainly makes us appreciate our common gifts.
When we arrived at the Haj's house, we were not alone. All of his other students
were there as well as his teacher, a much older man. I was a big deal because
I was, in their eyes, a heathen. After initial greetings,
the Haj's wife brought out a tray with small cups of several different types of
delicious tea on it, and I was allowed to have one sip of each. Then she brought out
a bowl of white rice and I was allowed one bite of it.
Next came the moment of truth and the ceramic bowel, acid and spoon came out. As during
my previous visit, the Haj poured out the acid, dipped the spoon and washed his hands
in the acid. Then he called over his young son and his son did it. Then he looked at
me and said, "Now you". I had just seen 2 people do this, including a boy of about 7
years. They had me remove my rings and I composed myself and slowly put my hands in
the acid, which felt just like water.
When I removed them, the Haj and his teacher each grabbed a hand, inspecting them
closely for injury, and looked in my eyes for pain. When none was found, everyone
let out their breath in a collective hub-bub of excited chatter.
The room we were in, indeed, the whole little house, was lit with small oil lamps
on the wall. The old man now reached up and brought down one of the glass chimneys.
He wrapped it in a handkerchief and smashed it on the table. When he opened the
handkerchief, he and the Haj each took a piece of glass and chewed it up. Then they
rinsed it out of their mouths with water. The old man then looked at me and said,
yes, "Now you". So I picked up a piece of glass, put it in my mouth, and carefully
chewed it up. They made signs I shouldn't swallow it, and, when I rinsed it out,
gave my mouth a more thorough examination then the last time I visited the dentist.
They found nothing and again everyone got very vociferous.
It was time to leave and, as we were leaving, the Haj told me I must never show what
I could do to the merely curious. He said I could only safely show it to true seekers.
I wish he hadn't said that.
The next day I slept late and finally went to the Bamboo restaurant for a late lunch.
When I got there, I was amazed to find that Tan had about 20 people waiting to see
me wash my hands in the acid. I didn't know what to do. On one hand I had the Haj's
warning in my mind, on the other I had Tan's and my face to consider. I decided,
foolishly, on the last.
Tan sent someone off and he came back with the acid. A ceramic bowel and spoon
were provided and the show was on. I emptied the bottle into the bowel, dipped in
the spoon, pulling it out black with foam. I removed my rings, composed myself as
best I could, and put my hands into liquid fire! The burning was terrible! After a
few seconds I withdrew them, showed them to everyone, and excused myself to wash
them off in a nearby fountain (it was an open-air restaurant). The next morning
my hands were brown and I believe I lost about 4 layers of skin. The burning lasted
all day.
This was my first lesson in faith. The night before, I believed I
could do it because I just saw someone else do it, including a small child. The next
day, I had doubt, not faith, because of the Haj's warning. I didn't believe in God
back then. It would be 2 more years before I came to that realization. So it was not
faith in God that let me do what I did (and do) but faith itself. Faith works, no
matter what it is put in, because we are participants in the creation. I began from
that day forward to try to build that feeling of faith, but it was not until 2 years
later, when I realized the presence of the Creator, that I realized faith in the Creator
could work any miracle. That realization really sent me off on a search to
increase my faith in that respect and I began studying all the great religions, trying
to find what the simple truth was that each of their founders knew.
This brings us to the question of what faith I am. I find major flaws in all the
major faiths, and hence follow none. I also found the same simple truths at the core
of each faith, so I follow them all. I have never met a person who could say he was
a "this" or a "that" without some reservations about certain aspects of the faith they
professed. So I don't think I've ever really met a Buddhist, Christian or Jew. The
words no longer hold meaning for me.
The simple truth I found in all the faiths is that the way to understanding and
wisdom is to focus the attention within in prayer, ask your question, or ask for
your desire, and it will be answered. Expect miracles and remember to say, "I love
you, Creator, thank you", when your prayers are answered. This is how I built my
faith: simply by asking and looking for responses. As I saw more responses, my
inclination to ask and thank grew. So it goes today.
I still enjoy some aspects of palmistry because there are a lot of actual
characteristics displayed in the hand. But prognostication based on the hand has no
value. We make the moment by living in it and all things are subject to change.
I dropped all other occult pursuits when I realized the raw value of faith. If an
astrologer, for instance, tells a person they are going to have a bad day, and they
believe it, have faith in it, they will have a bad day. If they believe, on the
other hand, that anything is possible, then anything is possible.
Occult "science", and many aspects of the major faiths, restrict the power of faith.
With the Creator, anything is possible.
There is another important lesson to be learned in what I did. Before I saw the Haj,
I was hated in the community. All of the expatriates were. We were (supposedly)
Christians in a Muslim country where white men had been brutal in their colonization.
I slept with a knife on either side of my bed and my Port Captain slept with a gun.
When any of us walked down the street, people literally spat and yelled out obscenities
at us.
After I saw the Haj, showed an interest in their way, I was greeted with smiles
on the street and lost most of my trepidation at night. I now felt accepted in a
very warm way. This interest in other people's ways has carried me far in this
world and opened the door for me to share my way with many. Careful sharing is so
much preferable to blind mistrust and hate.
Miracles In My Life
I have miracles in my life nearly every day. I just ask for them. These are some of them.
I came into port in San Francisco between voyages and my wife told me a dear friend, Al,
had lung cancer and was dying. I sent Al a card and told him I believed in all the miracles
wrought through Jesus and that I would be praying for him. I know I was not alone, so cannot
claim this miracle as something I was solely responsible for, because Al, a sea captain like me,
had been active in his church teaching Sunday school since his retirement and had to be
loved by many.
I prayed for Al frequently during my next voyage and when I got back, my wife gave me a
letter he had written me. He told me his doctor had found a tumor in his lung the size of
his fist and that he only had about six months to live. The doctor put him on chemotherapy
to try to slow the progress of the cancer and to give him a little more time. After two
treatments, the doctor said he wanted to take some X-rays to see if the treatment was
helping and found the tumor completely gone. He told Al it had to be a miracle, that the
chemo could not do that. Al lived another ten years.
I had a woman. Kim, I worked for for awhile as a caregiver. When I met her she was dying from several
different problems. She had Hepatitis C and severe intestinal problems that included
diverticulosis, diverticulitis (which she had just recently been hospitalized for), and
other problems. I didn't know about the Hep C at the time and prayed for her intestinal
problems to go away. Six weeks later I drove her to San Francisco for a colonoscopy. All
her intestinal problems were not just gone, but she had no scarring. The doctor told her
that was impossible and that she could never have had the problems the doctors
here had diagnosed, even though they had shown them to her during the colonoscopy she had
while she was hospitalized here.
Unfortunately Kim also had severe mental problems and she ended up killing herself a few
months after she left my town, even though her liver function had returned to normal.
While I was selling my sea glass jewelry down at the beach, I befriended three squirrels.
I named them Girl, Touille and Skinny. Touille I named because he was so ratty looking and the
Disney movie, "Ratatouille", was out. He had nearly no hair on his back and open sores and
a torn ear. Skinny I named because he was also nearly hairless and had a hairless tail,
a skinny tail. Girl was the healthiest of the three, but had hair loss, too. I said a prayer
for Touille and in two weeks he had all his hair back. Then I prayed on the other two and
they, too, got all their hair back. It has been three years now and they are all still
"fully clothed".
I was camping in a campground up in Westport, about 20 miles to the north of where I live now,
and I was driving back on a particularly gloomy day. As I drove along I noticed a small hole
in the clouds (the clouds we get from high fog) and prayed it would open a little so I could
see the sun before it set. As I drove, the hole kept pace with me and continued to widen.
By sunset, the hole was very large and the sun turned all the rest of the clouds into a
most beautiful golden color. It was so beautiful that I watched the sunset with tears
steaming down my face.
I was taking my friend, Kim, from above, to a craft show. Kim had trouble walking due to
obesity and a back injury she had sustained in a car accident so I prayed we could park close.
We found a spot right in front of the gate.
I was playing poker online one evening (yes, I do that, but only the free games), and one
player made very negative, bitter comments about the other players when he lost a hand. I
told him he was bitter just because he didn't understand his world and never indulged his
holy spirit. While I was explaining this, I won every hand and had two pairs of aces within
the five or so minutes I was explaining it.
One Sunday last Fall I was sitting down at the beach selling my Sea Glass Jewelry
and fell into a theological conversation with an American man of Eastern European
decent who had a stereotypical dark and negative personality. Every positive
statement made by me was responded to with a negative, questioning, comment.
I was tiring of the game and about to terminate the conversation when a woman
approached us and asked if we could pick a lock. She had come up from San Francisco
to get something out of a storage facility located just up the street, only to find
the gate padlocked.
I told her I knew how to do it, but could not leave my wares unattended. With the other
man listening I explained the process to her and him, and she asked him to give it a
try. He at first grudgingly agreed to try it, so I got a piece of wire from another
jewelry vendor doing wire wraps nearby so he could try it.
By the time the vendor had cut and straightened a small piece of wire, the man began
to hesitate, offering other solutions, like waiting another day for the facility
to open, something she could not do, having to return to San Francisco for work the
next day.
The woman interrupted him and beseeched him to "just have a little faith" and just
try it, and, when she said that, I jumped in and told the man she was right, that he
should just "have faith" and try it. He reluctantly gave in and followed her down
the street to the storage facility.
Within just a few minutes she returned, with him following. She was literally
bouncing up and down with joy, saying it was a miracle because when he took the lock
in his hand, before he could even try to pick it, the lock fell open. Not only that,
but he was so surprised that he closed the lock again. Frustrated, she pulled on it and
it was locked. He went to try to pick it again and, again, it fell open in his hand.
She hugged me and danced around in joy while he stood by sullenly.
She saw the miracle. She had tried the lock before coming to us and it had been
securely locked. She tried it again after he closed it back up and it was locked
again. He saw nothing.
ABOUT THE MEANING OF LIFE MEANS THAT
The point is that the little bit of faith he had to just walk over there to try to
pick the lock was enough faith to produce a miracle, even for a skeptic like him.
She knew this, but he still didn't see. He walked over to the other vendor and
talked to her while the woman and I celebrated.
When the woman left, he came back to me and began to try to restart our stalled
conversation with talk of devils and demons. Losing patience, I told him there were
no devils or demons, just the one Creator, and dismissed him by returning to a book
I was reading.
The following is an email I sent to my daughter. I wrote
it in response to a Wikipedia site she sent me to on "Posthumans"...the cyborg era where our
very cells are replaced:
"Creepy. They are taking pigs hearts and removing all the living tissue so it is just a
husk, and adding stem cells and then getting it to beat. I didn't know we had a husk.....
If they can keep changing our cells out into what they are talking about, and if a person
can stay alive like that, that means "the" life wanted it to be created for Itself, which
is why we could figure it out. If only so much can be replaced and any more than that has
negative effects and can kill you, then it was not "the" life's intention, just our own
foolishness
The reason we don't live in Eden is that the Creator does not want us to live forever.
"Adam" and "Eve" weren't thrown out for eating the fruit of the tree of good and evil
(the proverbial apple), they were thrown out "lest they also eat of the tree of life
and live forever." Thus the world is designed to slowly wear us down into old age and death. We are
born into an illusion. As we become "dis-illusioned" we also grow old. I have always
believed that it is not so much that we grow old, but that the world grows old to us.
There is also the spiritual path to "dis-illusionment", which is the one I've walked. When
you see it as a constantly flowing illusion of light, see the synchronicities and wonder at
them, you can't possibly ever see it as a "solid" thing again. Knowing that Life is there,
loving you all the time even though it is slowly killing you, greatly eases the knowledge
that we all must die.....for instance:
I have a sea glass business and would ocean kayak in to
my favorite collecting site. I landed at the beach one day and found
two marbles right next to each other right next to my kayak. They were
just plain, colorless, well frosted, marbles but marbles are rarer
than reds (which are 1 in 5,000 pieces) and to find two right next to
each other is remarkable.
So I said, "Lord, (the Creator is neither male nor female, but this is
how I address It) thank you. I sure would like to find a red marble,
though. I've got a blue one, and I thank you, but I sure would like to
find a red one. Please, Lord?"
I put that thought aside and went back picking and after about 2 hours
I was tired and it was time to go tide-wise, but there was just a
little more beach to cover, so I decided to just make a quick pass and
see if I could spot anything big just lying on top. Normally I would
walk very slowly, looking for the gems amongst all the other glass.
Just before I got to the end there was this huge red marble. It's
15/16ths of an inch in diameter. It is a beautiful blood red with a
white swirl that forms a wave.
I rolled my eyes up and went, "Lord!, Oh God! Dear Lord, etc." Then,
when I bent down to pick up the marble, there were also two pieces of
jewelry quality RED glass, one on either side of the marble. I went,
"Oh, Lord! Dear God!, etc.” a bunch more and danced around with tears
in my eyes. This is how the Creator talks to me. The two red pieces,
to me, were the Creator saying the marble was not a coincidence, that
I asked for red and got red. The odds of finding all three together
are just too vast for it to be otherwise.
I would also note that I had only pictured a small, regular sized red
marble when I asked. I find the Creator always gives us a much better
version of what we ask for than what we imagined. I believe this is
because the Creator has a by far greater imagination than we do.
This is how I know the Creator exists. These things happen for me all the time. Of course,
so do bad things because I am also being worn down. Just can't escape that, it seems.
But then I also turn my love to the Creator for mercy and I usually get it.
Really it is all just so beautiful......
I also saw a show on the History channel about how quickly things will rot away if we are
not here to maintain them, like streets, roads, houses, even skyscrapers. Just amazing how
fast everything would just disappear and you'd never know we were here. I'm afraid that
might be happening because we are on the verge of what might be a cyborg eternity.
I do know the world is being intelligently designed for us by the Life that is creating it.
It is really just light materializing for us as we live our lives. It was "not" created.
It is "being created" around us all the time, every instant. It is literally a "world of
light". And What is creating it has a vast sense of adventure. It's been doing this
literally forever in one form or another.
What that means for us I do not know. I also know that those who know how to love their
Creator fare better through hard times. I know it from personal experience.
I wanted to put my marble story up on my website. (It might be there already, but I think
I skipped it.) Now I have it written!
Keep the faith, baby.....
Dad"
These are just examples of the miracles I see, both large and small. I couldn't possibly
list them all as I see them nearly every day, if I just bother to ask.
If you have ears, hear. If you have eyes, see. The Kingdom of Heaven is entered
with faith as small as a grain of mustard seed.
True Power
When they come out with a new medicine, they test it on large numbers of people. Half the
people get the new medicine and the other half get a placebo. A large percentage of
people who take the placebo get well. All of these are "faith healings". If the same
percentage of the people on the real medicine get well, they know the medicine is no
good because that group will have the same percentage of faith healings. If an appreciable
percentage more of the real medicine group gets well, then they know the medicine
does something and has a benefit. The "appreciable" amount of difference can seem to be
quite low, I think in the single digits, but in medicine those small percentages are
appreciable.
Doctors know, faith heals. Doubt doesn't. Neither does "hope". Hope contains doubt and
that blocks the process. I know this because I washed my hands in acid twice: once with
faith, and then once with hope. With hope, I put my hands into liquid fire and very
painfully lost several layers of skin.
Faith is a quiet, calm feeling of certitude. The certitude can not be faked. With all the
distractions of the world, it is a difficult state to remain in. But it is in actual
faith that true power lies. It is not enough to say, "I believe", one must actually
believe. I talk at the very beginning about how to obtain faith, which is simply
indulging one's holy spirit and loving the Creator.
I have studied all kinds of things, including witchcraft. I began my investigations
into witchcraft in my sophomore, or Third Class, year in the Academy. I started
studying it because I wanted more "power" over my life and the world.
Four years later, when I was 23, I tried to use it to "force" things into being in my
world.
In the first instance, I tried to materialize a female companion. What can I say?
I was lonely and desperate and driven by youthfull hormones.
I will not tell you how I tried to do these things, because it is the wrong
way and I do not want people trying what I did like they "just have to" test the paint
under a "Wet Paint" sign to see if the sign is telling the truth.
When I tried to "force" a female materialization, I, of course, failed. After a while
I gave up and decided to go next door to an all night supermarket in the hopes of
meeting someone. On the way there, I was approached by what can only, uncharitably,
be described as a "hag" of a woman. She was obese, dressed in filthy clothes, had
visibly rotting teeth and stank of filth.
She looked at me slyly and told me how she could not wait to get upstairs, to her
apartment, so she could take off her clothes because it was such a hot night. She was how
the Creator responded to my attempt to force my will and materialize a companion.
In the second instance, I was broke and my Unemployment Insurance had run out, so
I tried to force a job out of my Union Hall. I got a job, but it was on a hell ship.
In fact, it was the worst ship I ever sailed on. We carried asphalt in liquid form,
which requires high temperatures, 350 degrees F, so the ship was always unbearably hot.
Asphalt also contains a lot of sulfur, so the ship also stank like the proverbial
hell, as did the whole crew. It literally took me a month or more to get the stench
out of my beard after I left the ship.
On top of that, the Captain was a madman who had lost his mind when he came home
from sea and found his wife had let his homosexual son move into his house with his
lover. He would only speak to a crewmember if he could, literally, scream, and gave
all other orders via notes.
The Chief Officer was a half Cherokee with a single-functioning liver who drank
alcohol anyway. In 3 months I saw the entire crew change one and a half times, which
is unheard of in the industry. It was truly a hell ship.
So I stopped trying to "force" things into being. They were always gross approximations
of what I desired, hellish things, when they materialized.
A year later I had what is commonly called an "epiphany" and had a moment of clarity
when I realized the presence of the Creator. This changed the way I actually "saw"
the world. It changed it from a physical place to a spiritual place. It changed it
from a place I saw as stuck in a time evolution, the course of which was determined
by set, physical, laws, to a place I saw materializing
instantaneously in response to our interactions with it.
Combined with my lessons in faith, this now made anything possible.
I need to talk about the Taoists here. The Taoists don't believe in a Creator. They
do not believe in the power of prayer. They perceive the Creator as a "force" they
call the "Chi", which is to be controlled, not petitioned with prayer.
When a professional athlete steps up to the plate or addresses the ball, they do a
little "dance" and then take a deep sigh and let themselves "go". When they do this,
they are sublimating the ego to the greater Being within and letting It take control
of their bodies as they strike the ball. They are exhibiting faith. In Taoist
terminology, they are letting the "Chi" take over.
When we first learn to drive a car, it is difficult. We have to think about each
hand and foot movement and it is a struggle. After a little practice, though, we
drive automatically. We cover long stretches of road and do not remember driving
any of it. This is because we just "let it happen". We let what the Taoists call
"Chi" take over.
This is a hypnotic, meditative, or prayer state of mind. Driving is hypnotic and
relaxes us. It puts us in contact with our greater selves.
Unlike the Taoists, I believe the Creator is an individual that can be petitioned
with prayer. It does not matter if this is true, or not. What matters is that I
believe, have "faith", that it is true. Because I believe the Creator is a loving
being that has created a world based on love and compassion, something I see
everywhere in the love of children, family and even pets, who love us back, I can
ask anything and expect it, faithfully, to be granted. I do not see the Creator as
a "human" spirit, but much more. Its attributes are evident in every living creature
and the inanimate, too. The very beauty and structure of the creation speaks to me
of what the Creator is. The beauty of the stars, galaxies and entire Universe, are
expressions of what the Creator is because the Creator is manifesting all these things
as we live in, and exerience, them.
But humanity does express higher attributes than the other beings in this particular
creation. Our sense of humor, art, music, drama, tragedy, horror, etc., are all
obviously "higher" attributes not displayed in the other sentient beings on this
planet. Also, although the creation manifests itself around the other beings to
fulfill their needs as regarding food, warmth, water, intimacy and other requirements
relevent to their particular state of being, humans have a greater effect at the
quantum level.
A person might decide that a pet has become tiring and annoying, for instance, and
the pet might die, but a pet can not imagine a person to be the same and get the same
results. Our hopes, dreams and aspirations take precedence in the manifestation of
the creation.
Because these things are self-evident, it makes me more confident regarding our
spiritual similarity with the Creator, and how we are created in Its image or
likeness. These things also helped me build my faith, in that I believe the
Creator pays special attention to mankind, even though we appear to be such a
tiny part of the universe.
And because I believe these things, they manifest themselves in my life and world.
This is "True Power".
If one consults an Astrologer or Medium, and they give the person "bad" news, and
the person believes it, puts their faith in it, it will be so. If one asks the
One who is creating everything as we actually live in it, anything becomes possible
with faith. In other words, if you think you are worthy, (which, believe me, you are)
and believe in a loving Creator, it will be done for you. The less guilt you feel
for whatever you perceive your wrongs to be, the better, because guilt fosters
doubt, and with doubt, there is no faith.
If you feel guilty about something, confess it openly to Yourself within and earnestly
try not to do it again, and leave your guilt behind. The sacrifices instituted by
Moses were intended to do this. They were also intended to discourage people from
violating his laws in the first place, but they also absolved guilt.
Again, this is true power.
I do not pray to Jesus or any other man now dead. But I revere Jesus because he
ushered in the age of Romanticism. When Moses gave the Jews the law, he made laws
that made them sacrifice in order to gain forgiveness. He knew that people could
not relieve themselves of guilt easily and that guilt was debilitating. If they felt
they actually paid for their "sins" they could rid themselves of guilt and move
on.
Jesus managed to move mankind forward by pointing out that repentance alone was
enough for the Creator's forgiveness, and the sacrifice of possessions, in the form
of food stock, was not necessary. On top of this, he gave us an understanding of
the power of faith, itself. In all of his healings, Jesus always remarked that it
was the person's OWN faith that made them or their loved ones well, even if
it was just faith in him.
He also tried to relieve guilt in mankind by pointing out that a lot of the laws
that had evolved were not valid. He knew it was not a sin to tie a string around
your finger on the Sabbath, to remember to do something the next day, for instance.
He carried this too far, however, and was wrong in some matters, like when one of
his disciples failed to wash his hands before eating. A critic commented on this
and Jesus told the man it was not what we put in our mouths that made us "unclean",
but what came out of our mouths. Even though the part about what comes out of our
mouths makes sense and is valid in that different sense, he was wrong about washing
before eating. Dirty hands and food make for illness.
The most remarkable thing Jesus taught, however, was the power of faith. He repeated
again and again that it was the person's faith that healed them or others. Not Jesus,
but their faith.
Once I realized this, I began trying to increase my faith in every way I could.
To summarize, faith works, no matter where it is placed. This is one way we participate
in the actual materialization and manifestation of the creation. If one believes in
a beneficent, loving Creator, anything becomes possible through faith. This
faith can not be used for evil because we all know in our hearts what is right and
wrong, and we simply do not have faith when we ask for something wrong. A loving
Creator does not materialize such things.
I am not an "all-forgiving" man. I despise my enemies and pray for their demise,
even though I know the Creator is incarnate in them, too. I will forgive anything
of anyone who wrongs me and sincerely apologizes, but I ask the Creator to damn
the unrepentant and He does. As long as I know I did nothing to warrant the wrong
done me, I am confident, have faith, the Creator will see justice done. I have never
been disappointed in this and that is why I do not actively seek revenge or vengeance.
I do not have to. I simply ask the Creator, and let it be; have faith; and it is
done. "'Vengence is Mine', sayeth the Lord", and I let it be so and rely on the
Creator for such things whenever possible.
This way, I also know the punishment is always just, because the Creator is just.
This is "True Power".
Closed Churches and Temples
I have been very poor twice in my life. Once was long ago for most, in 1973, when
I went broke in Los Angeles trying to ship out. I lived in a shabby welfare hotel,
with addicts literally lying in the hallway. I lived on cereal, peanut butter and jelly,
and a carrot or tomato with my dinner sandwich.
The second time is now. I'm not as bad off as I was from 2/1/03 to 8/3/03, when I was
homeless and sleeping in a tent in the deep rain forest at night, and living in my
car during the day. I now eat a bowl of (high fiber) cereal with fruit for breakfast,
a piece of fruit for a morning snack, usually a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for
lunch, a piece of fruit or nuts for an afternoon snack, some cheese and crackers
for an evening snack, and a dinner of vegetable, starch, and about 6 oz. of meat or
a small amount of cheese.
My current diet is not dictated by money, though money is tight, but by health. I
think it is funny that it is nearly the same diet I ate when I was even poorer than
I am now.
As I write this, on 12/7/2004, I am living in a 1979, 24 foot, Class C, RV.
Fun, huh? Remember, I graduated a Federal Academy with honors....
What was particularly frustrating to me both times I was so stricken, was the total
inaccessibility of the places called "houses of God".
In 1973, I often left my room to escape the dreariness. As I wandered the streets
between job calls at my union hall, I tried every church door to find a place of
refuge. Every door I tried, every sect, had locked doors unless a service was in
progress. I thought, "Can this be a house of God?"
When I was homeless in 2003, I could not buy a shower. Even campgrounds
with pay showers turn away the homeless. It was impossible to bathe. And all the
churches and temples had their doors locked.
Where I live, all the churches are filled with gray heads. There are no more young
worshipping in congregation. These old folks donate to missions in foreign lands,
but they ignore the troublesome at home. They have forced holiness out of their
supposedly holy places, because they are afraid the poor will steal what is within.
They have replaced spirituality with materialism. They think the adornments in
their "holy" place are more important than refuge in a storm for the drunk,
disabled, and disadvantaged.
Sunny day or stormy day, a house of God should always be open for the refuge
it is supposed to provide to any troubled soul. Otherwise it is not a house
of God. It is not a refuge and holy place, but a place of business. The unruly
can always be removed by the police.
They would rather fund the cost of a missionary abroad, usually subverting
another legitimate faith, than do the actual work and take care of their own
neighborhood. This is so shameful, as what they pay for the mission abroad would
take care of their own at home handily.
If you want wealth displayed in your "house of God", keep someone there to guard it
so the doors can stay open. The Creator does not have hours, and neither should
the holy places established by men, even for drunks, drug addicts and worse.
Every shelter I know of requires the homeless to be sober to stay there. Unfortunately,
those who really need shelter are just such souls that aren't sober.
Requiring a person to be sober to
lay down his head or eat a decent meal, or to require them to listen to sermons or
join programs first, is self-serving, not other-serving. Certainly these things
should be offered, but to require them of those in need is self-serving,
self-righteousness, and has nothing to do with true charity. Such restrictions only
serve to soothe the conscience of the charitable person, while insulating them from
the people who really need their help: the people who are really difficult to deal
with.
I do not understand how any place can call itself a "house of God" if it locks its
doors at any time, or denies entrance to anyone without an airborne communicable
disease. People from all walks of life need such a place at all hours,
sometimes.
The Separation of Church and State
In the Western Democracies, especially the United States of America, there is a lot of talk
about the separation of Church and State. Atheists are using this to try to remove the
concept of God from government, schools and courts. This is rapidly demoralizing the
Western Democracies.
The separtation of church and state is to ensure no one sect or religion dominates another.
It protects freedom of religion. And, although atheism is protected, as is all freedom of
thought, atheism is not so much a religion, but the lack of a belief in a divine Creator.
If an atheist brushes his teeth every day, he brushes them religiously and so has some
religion. What
he lacks is faith in a Being that requires us to live moral, ethical lives. Ultimately,
there is nothing to morally stop an atheist from killing randomly for his own ends, just
his own thoughts on what is right and wrong control him. Fortunately they are still in a minority
in the West, but their influence is being felt in very dramatic, negative, ways, like
the dissolution of families, and the removal of non-denominational prayer from schools.
If they were to prevail, all Western law would ultimately be dismantled because
all Western law is ultimately based on the teachings of Moses. These are the very
same values taught by Buddha, Krishna, Confucious, Jesus and Mohammed. They are the basis
of all civilized, Healthy societies worldwide.
The separation of Church and State is not intended to separate the morality of the Churches
from government. The moral laws of the Churches are the very basis of society and it is
the government's resposibility to see to it that they are reinforced rather than discarded.
The government should be encouraging spiritual behavior in a non-sectarian way because it
leads to a happier, healthier, wealthier, society.
The courts in the West, especially the United States, have made extremely grave errors
concerning this matter. The Faiths protect the public health and welfare in their moral
values, regardless how cloudy the truth is at their centers.
Who Is Teaching You?
Jesus is one of the most controversial figures in history, especially regarding
the virgin birth and resurrection. I do not want to discuss those issues here, though.
Despite differences regarding the birth and resurrection of Jesus, the three faiths
of Judaism; Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; all believe Jesus was a prophet and
generally accept that he had a miraculous healing ministry. They also accept that
he taught his disciples to heal through faith. Many in Hinduism and Buddhism also
believe these things about Jesus, because they have seen the power of faith in their
own worlds, and know what he did is possible.
I ask you, does your spiritual guide do this? If you are a Christian, does your priest
or minister lay on hands and help heal? Or do they tell you that the healing was
only necessary in the "early days" to establish the church, or some other weak
explanation why they can not do what Jesus did? If they know what Jesus taught,
why can they not do what he and his immediate apostles did?
If you are Jewish, Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist, do your teachers do these things? Who,
then, are you following? How can they teach you about the power of faith, if
they do not possess it themselves? How can they instill faith in you, when they can not
instill it in themselves?
How long has this been going on in your faith? Who has taught you to commune
with the Creator as an intimate, rather than distancing the Creator from you through
others?
Christians, when was the last time you heard anything but catch phrases like "We
are saved through the blood of Christ", or "No one comes to God except through Jesus?"
Neither of those phrases is logical. Blood does not save and no one has to go through
anyone to commune with the Creator, Who is everywhere. The fact is, you do not
understand everything Jesus taught, especially regarding the power of faith, so you
rely on catch phrases like this to support what faith you have. Sorry, it's true.
Jesus did not tell those he taught that what he knew was a mystery. He told them
that it was the way it could be, and showed them how. Does your teacher show you
how, or tell you it is a mystery?
Muslims, do you really think the Creator hates you if you touch pork? Do you think
there are 72 virgins awaiting you in heaven? How long will they remain virgins with
your manliness around? What do women get? Scripture says God made both man and
womb-man in His image. Is one damned, and one not? Your Mullahs teach you to pray
by rote, not commune with the Creator, and are filled with their own self-importance.
They teach you hate, while Mohammed taught conversion through understanding.
Buddhists, why do you depict the Buddha as fat, when he taught moderation and
everyone knows being fat brings on all kinds of diseases, including diabetes with
its blindness, amputations and death? Is not "gluttony" a sin in Buddhism? The truth
is that Buddha was a well educated and physically fit member of the warrior aristocracy,
and maintained that athletic state most of his life.
Why do you think "Non-being" is a possibility
when the Eternal can not stop being? Why do you think your puny egos are
reincarnated, when you have no memories of former lives? You have lost the Buddha's
message, too. He just wanted you to be able to touch the Eternal and realize a
non-ego state of awareness and realize what eternal life was.
Hindus, why do you stress the way to enlightenment and still distract so many with
so many interlopers, like the Catholic Church in Christendom? At the core is One,
yet you have diverted the people with so many saints and demi-gods that the people
can not perceive the straight path within. You are an ancient faith, too much
added to.
Jews, why do you insist on taking simple laws from a great man and turning them into
impossible, unreasonable laws that burden men, instead of helping them? You were the
direct recipients of 2,000 years of Egyptian knowledge, meant to extend life and to
make it fuller, through the person of Moses, and turned it into a ridiculous parody
by nit-picking Moses' laws to death. I know you did this out of a love of the Creator,
but it is really quite unnecessary and puts unnecessary guilt on people.
Regarding the Jews, I want to say this: I have heard it said often that the Jews are
a light unto the world. I am not, can not, be Jewish with all the ridiculous laws,
but I do believe the Jews are a light unto the world.
According to Western scripture, the Creator promised Abraham, the first to recognize
the One in the West, that he would be the father of two great nations, through each
of his sons, as long as one of them kept faith with Him. The Romans, Greeks,
Egyptians, Babylonians, are all gone, along with their religions and languages.
The Jews, after being dispersed internationally for 2,000 years, could come back to
their traditional homeland with their religion, language, and culture intact when
everyone who oppressed them is long gone in every way. This lesson in faith,
regardless of how extreme they get in interpreting the law, makes them a light unto
the world.
The fact that the Creator brought Mohammed out of the desert, at the same time the
Catholic Church was deifying Jesus, and made him the founder of a great nation, also
makes Mohammed a light unto the world, in that the Creator's promise to Abraham regarding
both sons being the fathers of great nations was fulfilled.
Let me apologize to my Buddhist and Hindu friends. Although I have read many of your
holy books, I was raised a child of the West and can more readily make examples of
the Western experience. I fully realize the richness of your faiths, and do not
mean to denigrate them or reduce them to inferior status. Likewise with the
Western faiths, however, I see lost priestly bureaucracies trying to teach the
seeking.
So, who is teaching you; teacher or talker; doer or not? Where does your faith lie?
In silly, meaningless phrases spoken by those who do not know, or reason, logic,
and a communing within? "The kingdom of God is within." Sound familiar?
You can achieve this state at any time, with practice, just by rolling your eyes up
in "prayer" and communing with the greater Life within: That which is more than your
ego. This is the life of the mystic and truely spiritual.
When I taught college, I told my seniors before their final exam that if they could not
think of an answer, to let it go and move on and come back to it later.
Then I told them to sit back and relax, and to put their heads back and to focus on
a single screw in the ceiling. I told them that when they relaxed enough and saw
two screws instead of one, were looking "past" the screw, the answer would
come into their heads. It did for those who tried it.
This is a matter of doing. If you would know for sure, just do it.
Me And "The DaVinci Code", 7/23/2005
I make and sell
Beach, or Sea Glass jewelry and often sit down near the beach where
I collect the Sea Glass and sell my jewelry to the tourists.
I was sitting there one day this June (2005), reading "The DaVinci Code" to pass my
time, and a woman came back up off the beach
and asked me if it was usual to find rose-colored glass.
At the moment I was reading about a five-petaled rose in the book, the major symbol
in a book of symbols, because it represents the Holy Grail, which is what the book
is about.
I said, "No, rose is very rare. I don't even have any."
She said, "Well, I found a piece," and put her hand in her pocket. I expected her to pull
out a small pebble. Instead, she handed me one of the most beautiful pieces of beach glass
I have ever seen come off the beach.
I looked at it and was totally put in a state of awe when I saw it had a perfect
five-petaled rose on it, complete with three sets of leaves: the very same rose
I was reading about in the book when she walked up! (Picture below)
When I showed her what I reading in the book, she gave me the piece of sea glass,
the most beautiful piece of beach glass I have seen.
God forgive me, I think her name is Celia.
The finishing touch was that she was from "Santa Rosa",
or "Saint Rose", California.
MEANING OF LIFE
A friend from New Brunswick, Canada, Rachel, who found a similar piece of sea glass
with the same pattern, traced the glass and found out it was made by Jennifer Glass
between 1932 and 1934 and the pattern name is "Adam", meaning "man".
This is the world of magic and light I live in.
Beautiful, often not-so-sublime, synchronicities everyhwere.
Please read this site for how to live in a world like this, too.
The Great Teachers, One By One
Some people who live by blind faith alone will take umbrage here and will be offended.
I apologize for that here, in the beginning. It is not my intention to insult or offend
anyone. I never found blind faith satisfying
and wanted to know what the great teachers knew, not what their modern followers
did not know, and accepted on "blind faith".
As I studied the words of the great teachers, I came to realize that they all perceived
the same thing, but, being different individuals living under different circumstances,
they came to slightly different conclusions about what it meant an individual should do
with one's life. Ultimately, it doesn't make any difference. We are but specks of dust
in a dust storm. But on a practical level it does matter and so they each came up with
similar moral codes of behavior based upon the "One-ness" they all perceived. They
saw the same thing, but drew slightly different conclusions.
I love all the great teachers who founded the great faiths. But I do not deify them.
Each of them said we could do what they did, and all were humble men. A lot of
their followers, like the Roman and Orthodox Christian churches try to explain
this humility in a myraid of ways because they made Jesus God and why, after all, would
God be humble?
The simple fact of the matter is that Jesus, and all the great teachers,
knew he was of God, and from
God, and that the Creator was his very life, but that he was just one man in the
whole of Creation, and this made him humble. He acted humble, because he
was humble before his Creator. He knew he was NOT the Creator, but
the created.
One of the greatest shames is that men like Jesus, humble men, became deified,
the last thing they would have wanted, being humble men, simply because
they understood the Creator and how the world works, and tried to share that
knowledge. This is because lesser men who followed tried to use the great, humble, man's
reputaion for their own worldy benefit.
By making the humble man greater, they make themselves greater, because they are
speaking for the now great, not humble, man, who is now also the same as God: indeed,
IS God.
I have spent my entire adult life figuring out what these holy, humble men knew,
not what their puffed-up followers do not know, and it has humbled me, too. As Jesus
said, they stand at the trough and do not drink, and block others from taking a drink.
It was important for me to look at these holy religious figures as "regular" men
because they all said they were regular men and that we could all do what they did,
and could "see" the world the way they did, if we just tried. I have learned this
is true.
It is also important to understand them as extremely unusual men in different times.
This means that to themselves, and others, they were different from others. They were
different in that they saw the world differently than others and had the compassion for
their fellow man to try to pass that vision on.
Because they all saw the world differently than their peers, they all also lived
mostly solitary, contemplative lives. All the great teachers stood apart because
they communed with their Creator within more than others did. Because most others
living under the laws of mortality rather have sensual, earthly pleasure, they
isolate the truely spiritual and "holy".
I believe this is as it should be as the Creator escapes through Its creation and
all men are not meant to be spiritual. The world is as the Creator means it to be.
Also, because most of these people knew they were inspired from within, they also
often spoke as if they were speaking for the Creator. Realizing their oneness
with the Creator, they also often felt they were speaking as
the Creator. This is a form of megalomania nearly inherent in feeling one with
the Creator because when one feels at one with the Creator, one feels as though he is
at the center of the universe and the world is being created just for him. (Which, in a
way, it is since we are all one.) That realization also caused the enlightened ones to
come to different conclusions about what we should do with, and how we should live,
our lives. All of them make sense, in their own way.
AND THE MEANING OF LIFE IS WHAT
For instance, when Jesus told his disciples to eat and drink in remembrance of him,
he was telling
them that his life, my life, your life, is the same life we take each time we eat.
When I eat, I kill you and eat you. When you eat, you kill me and eat me. This is
because the Life within us all is the same life. It is the same life in
ALL LIVING THINGS. It is the Hindu snake devouring Itself to survive.
The great teachers also knew that because life is consciousness, and that our
own lives are the eternal life of the Creator, that our consciousness is also
eternal.
It is also important to realize that Krishna and Buddha did not have exposure to
the Judeo/Christian traditions, though Buddha probably knew about Krishna.
What follows is my assessment of each of the great teachers as "regular" men.
ABRAHAM
I love Abraham because he was not hampered by any "religious" law
and still was loved by the Creator. He truly understood the nature of his Greater
Self, and I can find no flaw with him as related by history, though I'm sure he had
them (we ALL do).
He is a light unto the world in that he shows that love of the Creator is sufficient.
He knew nothing of pork and which plates to cook and serve on, and was loved and blessed
by his Creator none-the-less.
I also thank him for male circumcision, which I consider a blessing, probably saving me
from several painful male infections I never got.
He is the first recorded person in the West to perceive the presence of the one
Creator, probably around 2,000 to 1500 BCE.
I wish we knew more about him.
MOSES
I love Moses because he passed on so much of the physical health laws
of the ancient Egyptians to the Jews and was a mystic in the way of Jesus, as well.
He truly saw the world as light, as I do.
Even though Moses is reported to have said he could not enter the Promised Land due
to his own arrogance, I really think he was just old and weary and the conquest of the
"Promised Land" was just too much of a prospect for him. I find no fault with Moses,
either, and see no way here to add to what I have said earlier about him.
Of course, I no longer see need for the sacrifices he imposed on people to relieve their
guilt.
Moses is dated about 1,400 BCE.
JESUS
Jesus is great because he lived in the world of light and faith and managed to pass
that spirituality on to many others.
He also managed to do away with the sacrifices imposed by Moses, and stress the
importance of a male's responsibility to his wives, condemning easy divorce. In the
West they have done away with this requirement of his to remain faithful in marriage,
for both men and women, and this has led to social disaster.
Both Moses and Jesus understood that guilt was a powerful poison to people. Unfortunately,
people have brains that require them to make laws. When they break one of these laws,
they feel guilt, and that weakens their immune systems, and whole being, and
they can become gravely ill, and even die.
As one of my Bosun's once told me, "Guilt, he is a heavy man to carry."
This is actually good, because it shows how sensitive a creature we are.
MEANING OF LIFE
Both Moses and Jesus understood we had laws we had to live by, just because some of
us had become aware of their benefits to humanity. They also realized they had to
provide a way to relieve guilt, because all people were bound to fall, or just plain
forget, sometimes.
Moses imposed what he needed at the time, and Jesus relieved some of those impositions,
trying to explain that repentence (true repentence) was enough and that sacrifice
was no longer necessary. In point of fact, most of what we suffer from physically
we bring on ourselves through excessive living, and if we just stop doing whatever
it is we are doing, we get healthy again. It does no good to keep stuffing ourselves
while saying we are sorry.
Jesus also knew that guilt, itself, could cause illness, and many of his healings were
due to his simple relieving of guilt in people. He also knew people could not have
faith in the presence of guilt, as did Moses. Imposing laws on people requires a
method to relieve guilt, as well.
Other healings were due to his installation of "faith" in people.
The most important sayings of Jesus are that the "Kingdom of Heaven lies within you,"
and second, but no less important, the "Kingdom of Heaven is spread out over the Earth in
front of you." (Mis-quotes deliberate)
If you understand these two sayings, you will understand the Kingdom of Heaven and
how you have eternal life. Mohammed said his only miracle was the Quran. I tell you
that all the words of all the prophets can be summed up in these two phrases from Jesus,
and that is a miracle, too.
Commune with your Life within, and you will see the results actually materialize in
your "physical" world. "The proof of the pudding is in the eating." Do it and enter
a world of light, or continue to never assume a "holy spirit", never commune with
your Creator, and continue to live in a world of rock and ashes.
This is the message of all the great teachers.
Because of his compassion, understanding, emphasis on forgiveness and change of view
regarding male commitment in marriage, he also ushered in the "Age of Romanticism" in
the West.
Unfortunately, his followers then proceeded to lead the West into the "Dark Ages",
based on misunderstandings of what he taught and who he was, especially Saul, called
"Paul", who never knew him.
I believe, however, that he also fell victim to the
megalomania that often accompanies an awareness of "one-ness" that comes through close
communion with the Creator. Though this added to his faith, it diminished his ministry in
the long run because his followers ended up deifying him, making what he did impossible
for the common man to do.
This is the primary reason Christianity is failing today. When Constantine made Jesus
a Roman god, instead of himself like the other caesars did, he took the message of Jesus
from the common man. He took the ability for the common man to do what Jesus did
because he made Jesus special. Jesus, on the other hand, would have us all see what
he saw, and be able to do what he did. He gave his life for that.
A virgin birth, which, though physically possible in the rare
woman who carries both the X and Y chromosome and has a fully developed womb,
I also find unlikely. If the mothers of Jesus and John the Baptist were visited
by angels before the birth of their children, why weren't Jesus and John raised in
a closer relationship? Also, angels do not exist, so any story
that contains angels is suspect. Sometimes people act in such a way as to be
"angels", but they are people, not spirit beings with wings.
Mary was pregnant when she became engaged to Joseph. In those days, a man and
woman could become married just by having sexual relations, though even then the
marriage ceremony was often delayed for up to a year so the husband could properly
prepare his home for his new family. During this period they could engage in sexual
relations.
The question is, who was Jesus' real biological father? It was probably a male relative
she was forbidden to marry. Perhaps she was molested by an uncle, one of her father's
brothers, which would have been a forbidden union which would have made Jesus a bastard
and would have caused him to be banned from the synagogue and the normal religious life
of the community.
I believe Jesus was conceived illegitimately, in the normal fashion, and that the
"Virgin Birth" was the "big lie" the early founders told to cover this up as the
faith began to grow and stories started coming out of his home town of Nazareth
about his questionable conception.
Thus the reliance on the stories of angels and visitations, totally unearthly
things. The "Big Lie."
Nazareth was a small town of only 120 to 150 people
in that time and most of them were of the same clan, the house of David,
and related in some way. Everyone knew everyone else's business. There were only 15 to 20
inter-related families.
I believe she probably confided in the carpenter Joseph, who had shown a sweet
spot for her, and he took pity on her and married her to save her reputation.
This is why Joseph and Mary left town when Jesus was "prematurely" due. If the census
was the only reason for the journey, they would have left earlier, before Mary
was so close to giving birth, or later, after the birth. It is extremely doubtful
they would have travelled when she was due to give birth, putting her and her
baby at risk. Even short journeys were difficult and dangerous in those days, much
less for a woman nearly full term.
We now also know that there was no Roman census at that time and that the Romans would
not have required Joseph to travel to his place of birth for the census. The Romans
wanted to know who was currently living where for the purposes of
taxation. They didn't care a whit where people originally came from.
So joseph and Mary just needed to get out of town so the people who knew them, their own
townspeople, most of whom were related in some way,
would not add up the days and put two and two together about the early birth of a
healthy, apparently full-term, baby.
It used to be common practice for unwed mothers
in the United States to disappear out of town for a while, when it was rightfully
shameful to be having sex outside of marriage and abortions were illegal. This is
the same kind of situation. They did not want the people who knew them to know the date
of birth and just two weeks to a month out of town would accomplish this.
No one in Nazareth
would have bought the "Immaculate Conception". They were all too familiar with the
whole family. Later, Jesus was an ineffective prophet
there and said "A man can not be a prophet in his own town." Indeed, the people
literally threw him out of town, throwing him down a ravine, and it is fortunate
they did not kill him then. (A man can not be a prophet in his own town
because familiarity breeds contempt. Those we live with know us too well to put "faith"
in us. They know our faults and weaknesses.
Doctors do not treat their own families because the family members are more
likely to put more "faith" in an outsider, and it is the faith that heals.)
If the people of Nazareth had known about "Immaculate Conceptions" and the visitations
of angels to Mary and her cousin, I'm sure he would have been accepted as a prophet, even
in Nazareth.
I believe Jesus was made an "informal" outcast anyway, just because the people of Nazareth
were suspicious about his birth. He might also have not resembled Joseph enough
for rumors to begin or might have strongly resembled the true father.
This "informal" ostracism is probably why Joseph did not (could not) arrange a
marriage for him when he came of age, long before his ministry.
If Jesus was born too soon after the engagement, it would have been noticed
unless they left town for a while, which they did, going to Bethlehem for the birth.
This way the folks at home wouldn't know exactly when he was born and people would
assume the pregnancy occured after the notice of engagement and that the child was
Joseph's. This would preserve Mary's reputation and Jesus' future in the religious
life of the community.
As the children of single mothers were not considered bastards unless the physical union
of the mother and father were forbidden by scripture, there is reason to believe Jesus'
true father was probably forbidden to marry Mary by the law and was somehow related to
her. This could also expain Jesus' unusual intelligence as inbreeding produces both
idiots and geniuses.
Gossip is as eternal as the Creator is, though, so some rumors about his birth must have
persisted. This would explain why he was unmarried and unbetrothed at the age of 30.
He might also have been forbidden full participation in the synagogue, as bastard sons
were cut off from the spiritual life of the community, which would explain his
unorthodox views and why he was not listened to in his own hometown. That is always
difficult enough, but is much harder if you are not fully accepted to begin with.
Thus as the sect began to spread, but questions about the paternity of Jesus began
to arise, it became necessary to deal with the problem. Mary's early pregnancy
must have been fairly well known for the issue to require more than a mere denial,
and so the "virgin birth" came into being, "angels" and all.
Mohammed did not believe in the resurrection. Although I believe the resurrection is
possible, because I believe the Creator can manifest anything, since It is manifesting
the entire Universe, I also tend to disbelieve it as portrayed in the New
Testament for several reasons.
I have problems trusting the accuracy of the Gospels of the New Testament
because of the length
of time that passed before they were written, as stories become distorted when
spread as word-of-mouth, and because of their supposed sources. It is doubtful
John is who he says he is, just by what is said, and the other three were too
strongly influenced by Paul, if we can believe who they say they are.
First, Jesus was not just crucified, he was also scourged and crowned with thorns.
When he supposedly appeared to the disciples and Thomas doubted it was he, Jesus
supposedly invited him to stick his fingers in his wounds. This would mean his
wounds had not been healed in the resurrection and he was standing there with
whip marks all over his body, thorn holes in his head and a spear wound in his side.
How then could Thomas
not recognize him? Indeed, if he had a beating heart, as in a true
resurrection, he would have been spurting blood.
The same holds true when Jesus supposedly walked with two of
the disciples a short way, they not knowing it was him. What about the wounds and
what is the point of them not knowing him? Paul claims 500 saw him at once, but
there is only his word, with no other supporting accounts.
If Jesus had come back, I believe there would have
been no doubt about it, even if he intended to disappear to "heaven" again. It
would most certainly have made secular history, too.
He would have appeared to the population in general, proving himself to everyone,
and giving his disciples the incontrovertible proof they needed to move forward
without persecution.
There are also other problems in the Gospel accounts, like the moving of the stone
from in front of Jesus' tomb. If Jesus went through a transmogrification and could
just "pop" into and out of being behind locked doors, then there was no reason for
the rock to have been rolled away by "angels" (the story just became totally unreal
for me, there are no angels) so he could exit the tomb.
Because of the Shroud of Turin and the Sudarium of Oviedo, and because the body of
Jesus was missing from the tomb, I do believe Jesus might have gone
through a transmogrification, where his body was turned to light and simply
re-absorbed by the Creator instead of being allowed to rot in the normal fashion.
Other bodies do not decompose at all, and his transmogrification is just another
manifestation of holiness. In one instance the body does not rot, just remains as is,
in the other, the body is re-absorbed by the Creator as pure light, again, not
letting it rot and feed "others".
This is not the same as the resurrection as portrayed in the New Testament. The original
disciples mis-understood Jesus when he explained eternal life to them. They expected
Jesus to return and remain here, ushering in a Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. But Jesus
told them he would always be with them because we are all one in the Creator. Jesus
used the term "Father" when speaking of the Creator, but it is one and the same thing.
Thus Jesus told his disciples that "I am in the Father (Creator), and the Father (Creator)
is in me. You are in the Father (Creator), and the Father (Creator) is in you. I am
in you and you are in me." In other words, it is the same Life within us all and we
are all therefore one, and one with the Creator. Thus, even though we leave our
individual bodies, our Life goes on in the eternal Creator and we never really die
or leave each other. Thus he could say, "I am always with you."
A believable, and plausible, explanation of the instance when Jesus was walking with
the two without them knowing who he was, is simply that they met, and walked with a
stranger for awhile and, quite naturally, talked while they walked. After they had
parted, the two remarked on how much they liked the stranger and what he had to say,
probably because he agreed with them about Jesus.
The stranger might have reminded them of Jesus
in other ways, as well. He might have resembled Jesus physically and,
if he was a particularly compassionate man who gave them a lot of
eye contact, for instance, they could reach that same level of one-ness Jesus shared
with people. Thus they thought it might have been Jesus talking to
them through the stranger. After a few tellings, it becomes the "resurrected" Jesus
who had walked with them.
In a sense this is correct because we are all one in the Creator, and that one-ness
is not very far beneath the surface. So if a person speaks of Jesus, they "resurrect"
his "spirit" and help keep his "spirit" alive, even though that "spirit" is not
being manifested in the flesh. Jesus' ego is no longer there, but the Life that
created and animated him is, and his "spirit" is kept alive by our memories. But that
is not the same as the resurrection portrayed in the Gospels, which has Jesus'
ego living on in some other place called heaven.
The scenario where Jesus appears to his disciples behind locked doors is easily
explained through mass psychology, including Thomas being doubtful. But this does
not exclude the possibility that Jesus was remanifested for short periods to a chosen
few he had taught more intimitely. His point was, after all, that the world is an
internal manifestation of light and all things are possible for the Creator.
They were terrified, hiding behind locked doors days after the crucifixion. They
were leaderless and longed for the presence of Jesus. I do not believe the disciples
stole the body to set up the resurrection story, and I believe that, as the story
says, the body had disappeared from the tomb by then, so they were certainly confused,
as well. The reason I do not believe they stole the body, and that they believed in
the resurrection, is that they all, save John, died martyrs' deaths.
Jesus also implanted strong subliminal (hypnotic) suggestions about his resurrection
in the minds of all his disciples. These are prime conditions for a mass hallucination.
Under these circumstances, a simple suggestion by one person can cause everyone to
go into a mass hallucination, commonly shared by all. Thomas, not seeing it at first,
succumbs because of his faith in the others, and thus becomes the one who doubted.
Because I know we are all just made of "light", because Jesus was a mystic who
knew this, because of the Shroud of Turin and the Sudarium of Oviedo, I tend to
believe in the transmogrification of his body in the tomb. This does not mean I
believe Jesus performed the transmogrification or that he continued to exist in
such a way after death that he could re-materialize himself in any form on Earth.
Jesus did not create himself. The Creator created him. The Creator could have
manifested Jesus to his disciples in the locked room, just as the Creator could
have performed the transmogrification, but why would It do so, just to them, if It
wanted the world to believe?
I might be wrong about the transmogrification. There is a possibility in my mind
that the Romans might have spirited off the body of Jesus just to sow discord
amongst the Jews, keeping them divided. This is the only physical reason I
can come up with that would make any sense at the time.
There is also a possibility that Jesus did not die on the cross. Some forensic
scientists who have studied the shroud believe the man was still alive when he was
wrapped in the shroud. They also believe the shroud was placed around the body in the
tomb, and not when he was removed from the cross, or the blood would be very smeared.
Forensic scientists differ on the conclusions drawn from the evidence
on whether he was still alive when he was wrapped in the shroud in the tomb, but whether that means he
survived is another matter. He might have died in the tomb. I leave it to the skeptical
reader to do his own research on the forensic studies, of which there are many.
I suspect Jesus' unmarriagable state also caused him to leave Nazareth and spend some
time living with the Essenes in Qumran, as his teachings reflect much of what they taught
and believed, as revealed by the
Dead Sea Scrolls and other archeological evidence.
I think it probable he left the Essenic community and went to fast in the desert,
and then directly on to his ministry. The Biblical accounts of his period of fasting
are probably as he related them.
Fasting is similar to trying to give something up, like smoking. When we do this, we find the thing
we want to give up is thrust in front of us. This is not because "the devil" is
tempting us, it is because the Creator is always trying to please us, even when
"it is not good for us."
When we fast, and give up everything, the Creator tries harder to please us and draw
us back into the world. This, like asking for favors, also makes the world appear
to be a fluid place of light; and it also makes it appear as if we are the only one
the Creator is trying to please: like we are the "only begotten son".
The very fact that Jesus embarked on a ministry is direct evidence that he did not
believe this to be true. If your megalomania goes so far that you think there is
just the Creator and your own ego, there is no reason to try to teach "others",
as they become mere illusions.
Jesus, and all the great teachers, was humble because he knew how insignificant he
was in relation to the Creator. If he was ostracized in the religious community of
Nazareth, this would have added to his natural humility. It would have also increased
his feelings of hostility towards members of the community he perceived to be
hypocrits, which would explain how much he condemned hypocrits throughout his
ministry. No one sees hypocrits more clearly than one ostracized by them.
All he wanted to share was his knowledge of the wonderful Creator he found within
himself.
Regarding the book "The DaVinci Code", I do not believe Jesus and Mary the Magdalene
were "married" in a formal sense or
that they engaged in "free love." Knowing that Jesus knew that his death was
impending, however, it would have been perfectly human for him to have had a night
of intimacy with Mary the Magdalene before carrying out his suicidal plan. She was
obviously very important to him.
This is pure conjecture, however, and there is no current evidence of any kind to suggest
this ever occured. It should be pointed out, however, that in those days, simply having
sex was the equivilent of becoming married, even if the ceremony was held long after.
Eastern Christian Chruch traditions have Mary, the Magdalene, and Mary, the mother of
Jesus, going to Ephesus (modern Izmir) with John after the crucifixion and staying there until
death. This seems the most likely as Jesus made John responsible for his mother Mary
on the cross.
The Roman church has the Magdalene in Rome dining with Tiberius Ceasar, and this is extremely
unlikely at this early stage in Christianity. Even they, however, have her ending up
in Ephesus with John for the last years of her life, so the debate is just over
when she went there. I generally prefer Eastern traditions about the early disciples
over Roman traditions because the Eastern churches were more directly influenced
by the original disciples, and these are the oldest branches of Christianity.
It is possible Joseph was dead by the time of the crucifixion, which is why he is
never mentioned after the supposed details of Jesus' birth. Or he might have also just
turned his back on Jesus when he was
thrown out of Nazareth as a blasphemer. This last is highly probable in any case.
This might have caused a rift between Joseph and Mary, if Mary stayed loyal to Jesus.
Jesus said he would divide families, perhaps because he had already created a rift
in his own. Women were not involved in religious decisions and Joseph, being male,
would have been obliged to take the stand of the men in the synagogue. A mother
would think otherwise, especially if she thought her son was right. Joseph knew
Jesus was not his own blood, also, which would have further aggravated the
situation.
MEANING OF LIFE AND THAT MEANING OF LIFE
If the Magdalene was pregnant from a last minute sexual encounter with Jesus
(something very humanly possible considering Jesus knew he was going to his death,
especially if he was still a virgin,
but for which there is no current evidence of any sort.),
it would make sense she would go to Ephesus with the estranged Mary and John.
Why would Mary have left Joseph to go with John if Mary and Joseph were not
estranged, or Joseph not dead? Indeed, if the Magdalene discovered her pregnancy
after the crucifixion, the most likely scenario if a pregnancy occured, and mother
Mary decided to stand by her, it would have exascerbated any rift already existing
between Mary and Joseph over Jesus.
It would also make sense to get the pregnant Magdalene out of Palestine, lest she
be set upon for carrying Jesus' child, and who better to care for her than Jesus'
mother and her provider, John.
If such a pregnancy did occur, it is guaranteed that the early church fathers would
have wanted to keep it a secret, both to protect the child and mother, and to prevent
what might have been a scandalous end to all Jesus had given his life for.
Over time, if no "Jesus-like" offspring were forthcoming from the line, it would have
been in the churches' interests to bury the secret completely.
I am not trying to say Jesus had a child with Mary the Magdalene. I am just speculating
on "what if" from a human point of view. If he did impregnate her, and if Mary, his
mother, was estranged from Joseph, then it would make sense that she went to Ephesus
with mother Mary and John.
If one looks at the end of Jesus' life differently, it could be that he planned his
arrest, knowing he would be handed over to the Romans and killed. At the Last Supper,
for instance, how could Judas be sitting close enough to Jesus to receive a hand-fed
morsel, and not hear Jesus say the one he was going to feed would betray him? Was he
not handpicking who would betray him, who would turn him in? He even calls Judas his
"beloved"
disciple. My reading of the story is that all the others refused to turn Jesus in and
that Jesus picked his "most beloved disciple" to do the job.
Judas did not believe Jesus would be killed, because the Jewish authorities had no
power to kill. Only the Romans did. The 30 pieces of silver paid to
Judas was a mandatory fee that had to be paid by law to anyone surrendering
someone who was wanted.
When Judas heard that Jesus had been turned over to the Romans, and knew he would
be killed, he went back to the Pharisees and threw the money back at them because they
were now the ones the law required the bounty to be paid to. Then he hung himself. I
think Jesus left him hanging, no pun intended. He even says, "There goes a man who
will wish he had never been born," when Judas leaves the room.
Because of
the Shroud of Turin and
the Sudarium of Oviedo,
I believe Jesus probably
went through a "transmogrification" after death, as anything is possible with the
Creator in a world of light. To me there is little difference between a
transmogrification like that of Jesus, and
the preservation
of the uncorruptables, who never decompose or rot away. Click on one of these
links for
photographs of
these holy relics, including
Bernadette of Lourdes, who non-the-less died of bone cancer.
But I do not believe this is what Jesus expected. I
do believe the transmogrification was a gift to Jesus from the Creator, in that
his flesh was not allowed to rot, and was also meant
to be a sign to the rest of us that Jesus spoke the truth.
I believe Jesus expected to be remanifested in this world in the flesh, and that he
would stay here. I do not
believe this happened for reasons discussed above in other places, though I
know his "spirit" lives on, because The Life that animates us all is eternal
and we also all keep him alive in our memories: hence his "spirit" goes on.
Although he was probably remainifested for a short period for his followers, his
wounds were still open. Therefore he had no heartbeat, or he would have been actively
bleeding. This is not a resurrection where "life goes on", it is a remanifestation.
LEARN THE MEANING OF LIFE MEANS THAT
Sadly, the story of Jesus, and all the great teachers, is that a spiritual man
can not pass that spirituality on
to more than a few people and that the knowledge is lost in a very short period of
time, within 300 years in the case of Christianity, which is only four 75 year
life spans. It was also said that he died so others would not have to.
This promise of an "eternal afterlife", where Jesus died so we do not have to,
is not what Jesus was talking about. He was
talking about the Kingdom being "at hand", right here, right now, no matter what age
you live in, and the knowledge of the Creator's eternal life (which is your life)
that comes with that understanding.
Jesus and all the great teachers tried to show us the eternal life we have in the
Creator, and show us how right here can be the Kingdom of Heaven, but we keep
wanting to think there is another place we go to when we die because we want our
individual egos to go on when the Life of the Creator is withdrawn from supporting
our egos and our bodies "die".
Nearly all the great faiths say their founders "ascended" into heaven, either
accompanied by angels or not. People do not "ascend" anywhere and angels do not
exist. Heaven is definitely not "up", it is "in", as all the great mystics have
taught. If Jesus was re-maninfested for the benefit of his disciples, he literally
materialized and de-materialized on the spot. His final de-materialization, or
"ascension", would be no different than any other. He did not rise up and he will
not come back from "above" on a bed of clouds.
When Jesus was made into a Roman god, a pagan god, his message was essentially lost,
though the truth can still be found in his words in the Gospels. When realization comes,
one can see his other world clearly, but very few understand what his words actually
mean. Thus he said, "Blessed is he who undertands these words."
The only way to come to understand them is through actually indulging one's "holy" spirit
while loving the Creator within.
MOHAMMED
Mohammed was not a mystic in the way of Moses and Jesus and claimed no miracles other than
the Quran. But I know that he communed with our Creator on his long walks in the
desert and periods of solitude in the caves, and he was wise in his adopting the laws of Moses. The Sunni
Muslims rightfully refuse to deify him, or exalt him in any way, and this is
something admirable he, himself, passed on, lest his followers make the same mistakes
as the Christians.
He attriuted the "voices" he heard to the angel Gabriel, but I believe he actually
heard the soft voice of the Creator. I do not believe in angels and believe any story
incorporating them are merely an attempt by the unknowing or deceitful to provide
an answer.
Shortly after Constantine had the Christians deify Jesus, a voice arose in the desert
to condemn the deification and the worship of all false idols. This fulfilled the
promise made by the Creator to Abraham that both his lines would be great nations.
Like Moses, who I know he revered, he tied assuming a holy spirit into daily life
and the law, trying to assure a spiritual life for those who would never see what
he saw. All the great teachers did this.
Mohammed is defintely dated in history, dying in 632 CE.
As in all the faiths, after he passed, lesser men took over and corrupted his gift. Disputes
over who was his rightful heir are the very proof of this and at one point one claimant
sold out his right to another. The Muslims don't see these flaws for the most part, like
the Christians do in their older faith, and their extremists are still trying to
foolishly kill each other and everyone else off. Mohammed would be proud of both lines and
would condemn the killing. He advocated that because Christians, Muslims and Jews all sprang
from the same wellhead, and worshipped the same Creator, that they should tolerate each
other unless one tried to force itself on another. This is what the extremists are doing
today, violating his principles and creating tremendous suffering in the world.
Even though Mohammed didn't recognise the miracles happening around him, they were there,
as proved by his successes. The Creator blessed him and he has brought a third of the
world to a knowledge of the true Creator. He also gave them a healthy, stable way to live
in the laws of Moses. He did not teach that Christians and Jews should be killed, but he
would be very upset about Western culture. I doubt he would be engaging in the techniques
of Al-Qaeda in this day and age, but know he would be very active in some way to stop
the moral decline of the West from overwhelming the moral values of Islam.
Because I do not belief people "ascend", I do not believe Mohammed ascended and believe
his closest followers probably hid the body so it could not be desecrated or venerated.
BUDDHA
I love Buddha because he preached moderation in all things and was also a mystic in
the way of Moses and Jesus. What I can not understand is why he is always portrayed
as fat when being fat is so unhealthy and obviously the result of anything but
moderation. This is a prime example of how things become distorted over time.
In actuality, Buddha was a well educated, aristrocratic, warrior class man who maintained
his athletic prowess and physical fitness his whole life, until old age brought its
disabilities.
Like Jesus, he knew the Creator provided for us, no matter our circumstances, and
he saw no puropse in pursuing wealth, fame and power. He knew that with authority
came responsibility, and he saw no purpose in it, embracing a simple life that
left him a lot of time to commune within.
He made a point of making it clear he was not a god, nor speaking for a god, and
was a very well educated man who could speak to nearly anyone. He travelled widely
teaching his meditation techniques, how he communed within to understand creation
through our own minds, to people of all classes.
If Buddha and others saw themselves being constantly reincarnated,
they were correct in that the One is eternally re-incarnated. But it is not
individuals being reincarnated, just the One individual. Our egos die with us.
Buddha is fairly reliably dated about 623 - 543 BCE.
KRISHNA
Krishna was a common cow-herd who obtained enlightenment. His story has similarities
to that of Jesus, but he precedes Jesus by probably at least 3,000 years.
Like Jesus, he has been deified over the years and this has led to errors in his
teachings. Reading his words, however, instead of the words of those who wordship
him, provides the same message as Jesus and Buddha.
Krishna and the other Hindu avatars basically offer the same wisdom as the others I
have discussed. They taught that the Creator is in His heaven here, and that man
should have faith, knowing he is part of the Creator's plan. The error in both
Hinduism and Buddhism is the belief in the individual
reincarnation of the soul. This is also a version of the megalomania experienced by
Jesus and is based on the false premise that the ego is eternal, whereas it is the
very Life within us which is eternal, manifesting Itself through a never-ending
chain of life forms and egos.
It is my belief that all the great teachers saw what Jesus did, that the
Creator is eternally manifesting Itself here through us. This led them to come to
somewhat different, but basically the same, conclusions about how we should live our
lives the best.
It is very difficult to date Krishna, but he is generally thought to have lived
about 3,000 BCE.
ALL of these men knew that if you rolled your eyes up and communed with, and loved,
the Greater Life within, that you left the world of rock and stone and entered
a world of light and love.
This is what made all of these men great. Their simple, I repeat, SIMPLE
spirituality.
All, I repeat, ALL of their followers have made great errors in keeping alive
their knowledge.
Look at your outspread hand. The fingers grow forth from the palm. The Creator is the
palm, and we are the fingers. The fingers are of the palm, and from
the palm, like we are of the Creator, and from the Creator.
As the fingers seem to be individual in nature, so, too, we seem to be
individual in nature. But as the fingers all spring forth from the palm, and are
extensions of the palm, becoming one in the palm, so, too, do we spring forth from
the Creator, being extensions of the Creator in this creation, and, so, too, do
we become one in the Creator.
Intelligent Design versus Darwin's Theory of Evolution
The discoveries made in the field of Quantum Physics, or Quantum Mechanics, makes the
argument about "Intelligent Design" and Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection moot.
Quantum Mechanics, our highest science, tells us that the universe actually materializes
around us as we live in it, according to our immediate reactions to it and our hopes, prayers,
dreams, and fears. In fact, our own sub-atomic particles actually "pop" into and out of
being all the time so, at any moment, parts of our very selves aren't even here.
They go so far as to say that the universe only exists in the light flashes between
the synapses of our brains. This means the universe has no solid reality, even though
we perceive it as being so, and that the Life that animates us is creating the apparent
"external" world, too, as we live in it.
Because of this, it is a very real scientific possibility that even though the physical
universe appears to be about 13.7 billion years old, it could be eternal and would
appear that way to any observer in any place at any time.
It could also be that this present universe literally "popped" into being at any
time, with all of its apparent history, such as fossils, in place to give the
illusion of greater age.
Unless we think the universe began with our own birth, and revolves solely around us,
and all others older than us are illusions, then we must accept that the history
passed on to us from our ancestors was the best they had in the communal memory,
and that the universe has existed at least as long as human history.
As we know Oriental and Indian histories go back farther than the 6,000 years some
people derive from
the book of Genesis, and since Cain had to worry about "others" after he killed
Abel and was exiled, we must conclude that Genesis is the mythical creation story of
one people, the Jews.
What is remarkable about Genesis, who most attribute to Moses, is that he acknowledges
in it that the creation is made of light, and just "pops" into being at the will of the
Creator; the original Life. I believe Moses included this because he was a mystic
who saw and lived in the world of light explained through Quantum Mechanics. Hence
his miracles. I believe all the great teachers saw this world, as do I. I see it
because I do what they said to do in order to see it. I commune with,
and love very deeply, the Life creating me from within.
Because of how the universe is generated, Darwin's theories are doomed to always
remain just theories because we now know that the universe could have been begun at
any "time" and been made to just appear to have slowly evolved over time, including
the life forms in it.
If evolution occurs, as it certainly appears to, it is not through random mutations as
Darwin speculated. It occurs because the Life within a creature realizes it could be
better adapted to its current enviornment. The Life then makes subtle changes to the
DNA being created for the next generation so the changes take place. Evolution is not
"accidental", it is willed by the Life within. It is, surely, "Intelligent Design".
People assume the Creator is "people-like" because the major faiths all perpetuate
these misconceptions. The Creator is not human. Humans are created in Its "likeness"
in spirit, not flesh. The lion is also created in the Creator's likeness, as is the
lamb. All living things reflect the nature of the Creator. This is why we say the
Creator is "everywhere". It is spirit, not flesh, and very much MORE than that
expressed by the human spirit.
Because of this, and because It is eternal and has all the "time" It can imagine
for Itself, It might well have preferred to slowly evolve the entire universe as
explained by physical science, including the evolution of life on this planet from
one cell into all the varieties extant today, experiencing and savoring Its creation
through all the previous life forms we have evidence of.
I learned to enter the world of light by practicing what the great teachers all said
to do: commune with and love the Life creating me from within. There is no way I know
of to "see" that world and "enter" it unless one does this. I love Quantum Physics,
and all science, really, but I know that "undertanding" what it is saying is not the
same thing as "seeing" and experiencing what it is saying.
I also know that this is what I want my children to "see" and I encourage them all
the time to commune with love within so they can enter here.
Because I live in the world of light that becomes real when one learns to petition
the intelligent Life within, I know there is an "intelligent design" to the creation.
The Life creating me is far more intelligent than I (my ego) am. I can wiggle my finger,
but I can not even tell you how. I simply "wish" it to move, and it does. The Life
creating me from within, however, not only knows "how" to wiggle the finger, it knows
how to make the finger, itself. "I" (my ego) do not.
When I commune with my Greater Self, I am communing with a far greater intelligence
than I. It is THAT Greater Self that desires and causes each new evolution of each
species, if such evolution exists, which it "apparently" does.
If the evolution of life forms on this planet began with just a single cell,
it was intelligently evolved from there by the very life existing "within" that cell.
A creature cannot evolve an eye to see light, no matter how rudimentary, unless it knows
the light is there to "see". It can not know this unless the knowledge comes from within.
Also the knowledge of how to evolve that eye or the ear, nose, tongue, and skin
necessary to experience the other senses.
My personal preference is that the Creator chose to evolve the entire universe slowly
over time, right from the "Big Bang", so-to-speak, when it first created the light the
universe is made of. This fits nicely with my concepts of a unhurried, eternal, Creator
enjoying and savoring imagining Its creation into being. It also lets me wonder at the
dinosaurs and all the other things that have apparently existed on this single planet
as realities.
However, I realize it could all just have "popped" into being, just appearing to be
this old and having gone through so many stages, at "any time", being solely created
for the "human experience". The Creator might not be satisfied at any time expressing
Itself through creatures who know nothing of music, art, drama, humor, etc.
When I say "any time", I mean any time except the time derived
from Genesis. People who have to cling to Genesis as "literate" are ignorant and
insulting to fellow human cultures who have longer, verifiable, histories. They also
are in constant denial as they can never explain who Cain had to fear or who he bred
with and where they came from. The same problem exists if Adam and Eve had other
children.
So, what do we teach our children? We teach them that the universe appears to have
"popped" into existence about 13.7 billion years ago, and that it appears that life
evolved slowly, but that it could have "popped" into being as recently as just prior
to human history and might just be made to appear that old.
In either case, the universe is constantly materializing around us as we live in
it, and is really only occuring in non-spatial space/time. It is only the
"imaginings" of the Life creating and experiencing it, and that Life is our very
life, animating each of us.
And we teach them to commune with that Life within and to love It with all their
hearts, so THAT Life, that Greater Part of themselves,
takes joy in living here through them, and so blesses them in the fulfillment of
their dreams, and aspirations and answers their prayers.
We teach them this because we now KNOW it is true through both science and the spiritual
traditions of all the faiths.
Evolution is not proven fact. Neither are any of the creation myths of any faith.
The creation myths exist solely because no one ever had a knowledge of when the
universe actually began and people needed a beginning to relate to. Any partially
educated individual now knows they contain a lot of pure speculation and are mostly
contrived stories meant to simply satisfy human curiosity. It
is time to re-evaluate the entire debate in view of what we now know through Quantum
Physics.
To simply understand what the Quantum Physicists are telling us,
I STRONGLY recommend EVERYONE OF EVERY AGE watch the movie
"What The Bleep We Know".
It explains what modern science knows about the very nature
of our beings, and how the world manifests itself around us as we live in it, in a
very entertaining, easy to understand way, cartoons and all.
I guarantee the present debate is already moot.
Comments on the Five Faiths
Until now I have not been critical of any faith, I have tried to only say what is right
and hoped each would see the basic flaws in their own faith so they could work to correct
them peacefully from within. But some things need saying and this is where I say them. Each
faith will have its turn in alphabetical order.
Buddhists:
Your major flaw is your belief in the reincarnation of the individual soul. The Life
within us is the Creator and It is constantly reincarnating Itself as new egos to
experience the world anew. Our egos die, but often remain in the collective memory
like Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Moses, Krishna, etc. You are correct that an individual
can understand eternal life and one's own Divine Self by following the way of Buddha,
which is loving and communing with the Creator within.
A second great flaw is the attempt to stop the reincarnations. If the Creator wanted to
stop incarnating Itself (manifesting Itself in flesh), It would. It is that simple.
But this world (and who knows how
many others) is how the Creator passes Its eternal life and to think it can be stopped
is simply ignorant. This is how the Creator distracts Itself from Its eternal loneliness,
at least for now, in this creation.
Christians:
Do you really think no one wrote down the words of the original desciples? Only Paul's
teachings are carried forward in the three Gospels and the fourth, John's, was obviously
not written by John. Paul had major differences with the original desciples who
actually knew Jesus.
The original desciples who knew Jesus believed his message was strictly for the Jews.
Jesus never went to Samaria, and he is saying that even a lowly person like a Samarian
is blessed for such an act of what should be normal humanity.
Paul managed to convince them that it was a universal message, and, sadly, that they should
tell converts they could ignore the Hebrew laws in certain areas if they would just
convert to the "new" church.
Paul saw an opportunity to build a new organization. Paul saw influence, and therefore,
power, and he subverted what Jesus taught to build that organization.
How much of Jesus's story he changed we will never know, because the words of the
original desciples are lost.
I think this was a character flaw in Paul, but I believe he believed in the goodness
of what he was trying to do and other ideas about what Jesus taught were flourishing
everywhere in groups like the gnostics (not today's so-called "gnostics").
Who destroyed all the other, and earlier, writings? The Roman emperor Constantine.
It took years, but when the council was done, all of Christianity was left with just
the four Gospels we have today. All other writings, including the words of the original
desciples, were destroyed and the members of other groups were either silenced or murdered.
This how Constantine "beat" Jesus. He made him a god and used him to control his people.
The reason your churches are crumbling is because they are built on a false premise.
Jesus was not deified and pronounced the "Only Begotten Son Of God" until the Council of
Trieste, 300 years after his death. This was done in Rome under the direction of the
Roman emperor Constantine. Romans made gods out of people. Jews don't. Constantine
pulled a great political coup by making Jesus the new Roman god, instead of himself, as
most ceasars did. This absorbed the new faith into the empire and stopped rebellion.
Since then, the Christian churches have been worshipping this Roman god and his family,
rather then finding the Creator within themselves, as Jesus taught. They have been
struggling to explain why God was humble in the person of Jesus, instead of teaching
that any humble person, like Jesus, could find God and enter the world of light, the
kingdom of God, like Jesus did. Jesus died to show all that the kingdom of God is right
at hand if you just love your Creator, but making Jesus special as regards his god-hood
took this possibility away from people and has them waiting for a heaven after life that
does not exist.
When the political power of Rome failed, it was this Roman Church that survived as the
power structure. Power structures draw power-hungry individuals, just like any large
organization. We now all know of the corruption the Roman Church went through and the
atrocities commited over the centuries in the name of the peaceful Jesus.
And not just the Roman Church, but many of its offspring, which are now so many, that
the original church is just literally shattered into fragments and rapidly losing all
meaning.
Like the Hindus, many Christians pray to saints as intermediaries with God. Again, the
Creator is your very life. Commune with It and love It. You need no intermediaries. When
a prayer to a saint is answered, it is not the saint acting, but your faith. Put that faith
in the Creator, instead. It loves you like no other, and the saints are dead except in
memory.
The Creator did love Jesus, or his memory would not still be with us. Because of this,
you can ask of anything in his name, and the Creator will be pleased. This is true of all
the saints. But do not pray to the saints. They are dead and all the compassion
and love in them is even more so in your Creator, Who dwells within.
Paul misunderstood Jesus, who followed all the Jewish traditions and laws, though he, Jesus,
thought it was all right if you broke some of them now and then, that God was that forgiving.
This caused the Christians to break from the Jewish traditions. We now know the health
reasons behind all of the laws Paul convinced the disciples the new converts could do
without. They were wrong to discard them and in doing so condemned the new converts to
centuries of illnesses they could have avoided had they kept the laws of Moses as Jesus
did.
Most westerners now know through science why the laws of Moses are correct, even though
they do not recognize them as the laws of Moses. But if they read them in the Old Testament
(few people do) they will recognize them as things we know today through our scientific
experience. Very few follow these laws even though they know they are there; witness the
"obesity epidemic" in the West. Even though the term "Gluttony" (a Mosaic sin) isn't used
any more, people are suffering from gluttony and know they should avoid it.
In effect, Christians are actually Jews who were seduced into worshipping a Roman god in
the person of Jesus. Christians are not just a branch of Judaism, Christians are Jews who
don't know it.
HINDU MEANING OF LIFE IS
Hindus:
You have the same problem as the Buddhists regarding individual reincarnation. You also
make gods out of saints even though you know there is but one primary Supreme Being.
Like the Christians, when you pray to any other than the Supreme Being living within
and through you, you misdirect your prayers and respect. The ways of your enlightened are
correct. Commune within with the living God and you understand eternal life and enter the
world of light. Pray to no others. They live only in memory.
The enlightened of the past are not living in your cows. They are nice creatures, and it
is fine if you do not want to eat them, but in all probability the original prohibition
came from a health epidemic that might come from something like "Mad Cow Disease" or the
eating of undercooked beef that led to your prohibitions. Again, it is the eternal
Creator that is reincarnated in each new life, not old egos coming back to do it again
in another form of life. You place the cow's life above your own, and the bug below, but
I am sure the bug is just as happy being a bug as the cow is a cow. Being born a bug is not
a punishment; it is just the Creator experiencing the world as a bug.
Of all your saintly teachers, Krishna is the best, thus the similarity between him and
Jesus.
Jews:
Hated by all, beloved by God. What does one say about the Jews? First, Jesus was right.
Even though it is important for your health and well being to follow the laws of Moses
(excepting sacrifice), they are health laws and do not represent true spirituality.
Repeating prayers by rote, while good to keep tradition alive, and to get the young
accustomed to praying, does not infer spirituality and an entry into the world of light.
Only communing with your Creator within on a personal level does this. Prayer by rote
is not communicating. There is no reception. Talk to your Creator like It is your most
beloved, because, It is.
Condemn not those who break the law. It is a health law and they are condemning themselves.
A drunk gets a hangover. Leave it to God. Take care of yourself first.
Though it is important to the world you keep your traditions, respect Christianity and
especially Islam as your children and nourish them. Respect Buddhism and Hinduism, as
their roots are the same as yours. Within each faith is the path to Godliness and true
spirituality. Each shares the same basic moral and health codes.
All are seeking the good life and the kingdom of God.
By the way, it is safe to eat pork now if it is cooked well and you avoid the fatty parts.
Until we knew that, it wasn't safe to eat, and Moses was right.
Muslims:
Ah, the touchiest people around these days. Of the five great faiths, you are the hardest
to discuss things with. I think this is because your faith is relatively new and you are
in the equivalent of the Christian "Middle Ages", where basic truths are being diluted
and people are struggling to preserve their version of the faith they have received as
children. I think it might also be because the Prophet claimed no miracles other than the
Quaran and did not think himself a mystic. But is not Islam, Itself, a miracle?
But also it is true that you have many false prophets among you in your organization
who prey on people's anger and drive them to violence. These are the power-hungry within
Islam. They are mad shepards who would slay the lamb that strayed, rather than worrying
over its loss and rejoicing over its return to the flock.
Anyone who chants "Death to..." is not a spiritual individual, but an individual full
of hate. This hatred is evil, poisons the soul, and creates great suffering in this
world. I say shun those who would bring such suffering upon humanity. They are not
righteous people, but self-righteous, self-serving, vicious fools. It is really
they who are evil in word and deed.
I remind you of the teachings of the Prophet. He taught that because no one was alive at the
time of the birth of Jesus, that there should be no conflict over whether he was born in a manger
or under a palm. No one knows the truth of it and there is no reason to hate someone for
whichever version he believes. This relates directly to the conflict between Sunni and
Shia. The fact of the matter is that Mohammed left no clear successor. He didn't designate
one. The early claimants to the succession were humans and made serious mistakes. Money
even changed hands between Caliphs. This was not the Prophet's way.
Sunni and Shia are now spread throughout the globe. One can never eliminate the other,
just as Protestant and Catholic can not eliminate each other. Indeed, I guarantee that if
Mohammed had a grave, he would be spinning in it over the Sunni-Shia conflict. Both are
his children, and for one to slay the other is terrible.
I understand the difference in the faiths, and the points of conflict, but it is time to
put the violence behind and let God work His works. But I also must agree with the Sunni
that making images and praying to the dead is not something Mohammed would have wanted.
Revere them, but do not talk, pray to, or place them between you and God.
Further, the Muslims should not despise the Jews and Christians (nor the Buddhists and Hindus)
because, as Mohammed said, they all spring from the same well and worship the same God.
There should only be dispute if one tries to force its faith and ways on the other. What is
important is not how we worship, but whether we worship. It is not how we express the
law, but if we follow it. Do all faiths have marriage? Then respect that marriage. Do
all faiths have prayer? Then respect that prayer and the capability of anyone of any
faith to reach Godliness.
And you, all Muslims, are also Jews. Although the Arabs are not of the same bloodline
as the Jews since Abraham, and Islam has spread far beyond the Arab world, you
practice Judaism as Mohammed understood it. If you follow the laws of Moses, which you
do, you are Judaic. Even though you think the Jews have made mistakes, like I do all the
faiths, you are practicing what you think they used to. This makes you orthodox Jews. The
only thing is you think you are more orthodox than those who profess to be Jews.
The Islamic/Judaic split is no longer racial, though it used to be. Islam has spread too
far beyond the Arab world to make it a blood feud anymore. There are Hebrews, descendents
of Abraham and his wife, Sarah, who do not believe in the Judaic way. They might be atheists.
Likewise, there are descendents of Abraham and Hagar, the servant, who follow the laws of Moses
and are more Judaic than the Hebrews who are atheists.
It is no longer a matter of race, it is a matter of true spirituality. The Jews provided
the way to Mohammed, and all Muslims are therefore Jews, just as Christians are. If they
followed the way of the Prophet, they would live in peace and respect the ways of their
neighbors, as long as their neighbors respected theirs.
As far as the commonly accepted Muslim version of heaven is concerned, there is no heaven
after this life. There are no 72 virgins. The kingdom of heaven is at hand, here, now, if
you know how to grab it. You do it by loving your Creator within, and loving your fellow
man because the same Creator is living here through them. This is the lesson of
the prophet Jesus.
MUSLIM MEANING OF LIFE MEANS THAT
By the way, it is safe to eat pork now if it is cooked well and you avoid the fatty parts.
Until we knew that, it wasn't safe to eat, and Moses was right. God doesn't hate people
because they eat pork. It is just that eating pork can be unhealthy if it is undercooked
and the fat is eaten. Same as the Japanese blowfish thing. To hate someone because they eat pork
is un-Godly. To pity someone who eats pork in an unhealthy way is Godly. But always love
your brother, even though he is making mistakes you would like to correct.
A major difference between Islam and Judaism is the prohibition of alcohol in Islam. The
Prophet was correct in banning this for his people because most Arabs have single functioning
livers, like Native Americans, and alcohol is a poison to them. Whereas only about 1.5 percent
of semitic Jews have the single functioning liver, about 90 percent of Arabs have it.
Therefore semitic Jews can drink alcohol, while Arabs of any faith should not. The single
functioning liver is also very high in the Irish population which is why drunkenness is
often attributed to the Irish. Anyone with a single functioning liver should avoid
alcohol as a poison. (Most people have a liver that processes the alcohol
twice. It goes through one chemical change into a very toxic substance and then immediately
changes again into another chemical that produces the pleasing effects experienced by most.
These people have had alcohol in their cultures for so long that those lines with single
functioning livers have long since died out. Populations that have had alcohol in their
cultures for only a short period, like Arabs, Native Americans and, to some extent, the
Irish, still have large numbers of people with single functioning livers, where the alcohol
is only processed once by the liver, into the first chemical, and it is extremely toxic and
poisonous, wreaking great havoc on them.)
Some extreme Muslims would ban music, singing and dancing. Although I personally despise
laciviousness in song and dance, music is a great gift to mankind. Music even calms
the savage beast and even birds, like people, dance to a catchy beat. Just tapping one's
finger on the table to a rhythm is dancing. Trying to ban all
music, song and dance is an evil suppression of the human spirit.
THAT MEANING OF LIFE .
(More to come)
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