Nature Vs Super-Nature

We only need to answer this one question really, "Can a man be inspired by some Higher-Power?" And then if we are willing to believe that some Higher-Power does exist, such as a Creator, it would only require a small amount of faith to answer that question in the affirmative. Because we can very easily see that as individuals we are very small, seeming insignificant within the whole of the Universe. Still being very small has not prevented us from having faith in ourselves, that we are somehow still significant. Humanity is important for whatever reason, your reason doesn't really matter, the fact that we exist here and now in the present moment does matter. Intelligence and Rationality fails to provide us with a clear path of advance, a path that assures the survival of our species here on Planet Earth. Because we have the power to make the planet unihabitable to human life, and we have the means to rationalize and justify this destruction. It only takes one man or woman to decide that the solution to all our problems is mass genocide, if it can be had at the press of a button. The effort required to destroy a thing has always been far less than the effort required to build, in fact our technology has rendered the effort trivial.

But why does it matter if a man can be inspired? Because we have prophets, and we have this man named John of Patmos, who is the author of a book of Revelations. The last book in our New Testament bibles tells a story of tribulation and hardship but ends with the blessing and promise of our immortality. We may consider this Biblical Prophecy to be mere wishful thinking, derived from an erroneous view of some historic events. I mean afterall if you truly believe that Jesus was rasied from the dead, it stands to reason that other people might be raised as well. And you can follow this reasoning pefectly to conclude that some time in the distant future there might be a general ressurection. With the intervention of some Higher-Power even this reawakening of the long dead becomes a possibility. Restored once again to the flesh, and with a full memory of our lives and past deeds. Once immortal how will we entertain ourselves and pass the time on Planet Earth? Clearly we will pass the time together, there are approximately 14 billion of us, who now live or have ever lived.

We would like to see the wicked men and women punished and deprived of this great blessing because we don't want them for companions. But are we really given to choose and to judge who would be deserving and who should be undeserving? What if it came down to the choice of blessing every human-being or condemning them all together? Either the criminals and sinners must be saved or else the good honorable men and women must be condemned all at once. Jesus and his supporters implied that some selection process may divide the people, and a clear line would be drawn between deserving and undeserving. Some people feel this may depend on a faith in Jesus as our Lord and saviour, and perhaps a babtism. If we were taking a vote on who should be King and guide the species into the future, Jesus would make a very strong candidate if he can be found. But it was not this Lord's purpose in life to judge but to forgive. If we have a need to atone for our past deeds or simple missconceptions, the Lord Jesus proposes to atone in our behalf. Individually we are not strong enough to endure God's plan of salvation, we need help. But among all our rights as gaurenteed by our Creator, is the right to that companionship which we will certainly enjoy. We need never be alone in the Kingdom of Heaven or the greater Kingdom of Eternity. And the Universe is a wonderful glorious kingdom in it's own right, it's a real place where real people can enjoy the experience of LIFE. And the promise of more life is what we all want, its what Humanity needs, whether or not we are deserving.

If our friend John was truly inspired then the promise comes with a certain price, and conditions. While it's not always clear what these conditions amount to, one thing stands out clearly, it is the Millenium of Peace on Earth. It is a Peace which our world does not currently enjoy; and we can hardly imagine how we will get there from where we are now. If we could set all the world's Saints to marching, and all in the same direction, they would have to march towards Peace. Clearly the Peace will never be established without some considerable effort, the people may very well have to fight for it. The behaviour of our more violent compatriots must in some way need be arrested. Generally speaking it would take a pretty convincing argument to see the world leaders give up their authority and start beating swords into plowshares. They don't really care for a ressurection to immortality because this eventuality comes with accountability. So long as we have mortality to comfort us and give us rest, we have a way to escape all possibility of personal consequences. But if we can be made to live forever, but not given a choice to choose for ourselves, to live or not to live with ourselves, it may be a great dissappointment to many. We don't always have options to choose from, you need alternatives to make a decision or else nothing can be decided. To the best of my knowledge there are no other options available to Humankind than more life on Planet Earth.

So basicly we are not voting on the matter, popular consent is not an issue. Either we meet the conditions and win the promise for one and all, or else we dissappear from this Universe once and for all. And the Universe may very well go on without us, and serve the good fortune of other living creatures, whether there are beings of intelligence like us or not. If humanity were ever allowed to escape from this one solar system and spread into the greater galaxy, we may be as a plague upon the possibility of other civilizations. We are born native to this Earth, and here is our home forever and ever, we do not really belong elsewhere. So we may consider that our world is facing a crisis, we have a long history of crisis, to date we have overcome all and survived. Now that the world has failed to kill us we have grown stronger. But we can not win our future through strength; only through meekness, when all our strength fails us. Because the Universe seems to be telling us that there is a Beginning and an End to all things, nothing manifest lasts forever here in Reality. Mortality is Natural and Immortality is Super-Natural, even the Immortality of an entire species of life.

But we should hope for our immortality, and we should hope that the Earth and Sun may shine forever. The Universe itself may endure that long, if we are blessed we may always be part of it. Each and every one of us a small creator and author of history, by the very action of LIFE. If we believe that LIFE is good and brings purpose to the Universe, then we should allow the Universe to have a purpose. We are part of the greater whole today, let us be an enduring part.

Vasovagal Episodes

Well it looks like i have this problem http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasovagal_episode we've decided with a little help from a neurologist. I've had these episodes triggered by hard coughing and I'm currently under docs orders not to do any driving. The reason i'm coughing so much is because of a long time smoking habit, now struggling to break that habit. If I can eliminate the coughing as a trigger I think it will be safe for me to continue driving.

I've had a reoccuring problem with these type of fainting spells since my teenage years. And I'm certain that in some cases it has been triggered by severe anxiety, never could donate blood because of the fainting. I've had blood drawn for tests so many times you'd think i would have gotten over the anxiety by now, but needles still trouble me occassionally. I'm currently taking a psychiatric medication called Xanex for anxiety, seems to help. I started taking the Xanex right after i complained to my doctor about the anxiety over this disability case. Now as i've already remarked in my JAN posting, the disability benefits were denied; and this is basicly the third time an SSA judge has denied my case. However my attorney is still willing to pursue the case and has begun the process of appealing.

I'm just keeping this posting very brief, it goes to my personal life and history.

Is Eternal Life A Possibility for Us?

The Later-Day Saints profess a doctrine of eternal life, they believe that we enjoy some pre-existant condition as spirit children of God. As such we choose life on Earth, we may even be given to choose our own parents. To live within this realm of manifestation is an important part of God's plan for our salvation. But no thing that has some definate begining may be considered 'Eternal.' Only God himself is Eternal and we can never become Gods ourself, but we can become Lords and Ladies within the Kingdom of Heaven. This citizenship in Heaven comes with its own responsibilities, and the Church professes that we must become Husbands and Wives and Parents. We must have that marrital relationship or else we can never be whole and complete as seperate indivuduals, we can only enjoy wholeness in relationship to our chosen mate. Some people would say that a personal relationship with God is all that matters, and they profess that the Lord Jesus IS God, and therefore are satisfied to enjoy some relationship with him. But we can not by choosing Jesus deny our realtionship to the multitude of people who do live within the Universe here on Planet Earth. And all of this world and it's people are some small part of the greater whole, the Kingdom of Heaven and then the Eternal Kingdom of God.

According to the doctrines of the LDS Church this Eternal Kingdom is yet to be established, but it can in no way fail to exist or have a begining and still be considered Eternal. So the only thing that can be established about the Eternal Kingdom is that THIS IS IT! If the World is not part of the Eternal Kingdom today, if it has not always been part of that Kingdom, then God's Eternal Kingdom is in some way limited. But the true Kingdom of God knows no borders or divisions, the underlieing unity of all things is the eternal truth.

We may never enjoy Eternal Life, because we know very well what it means to be alive and that depends entirely upon manifestation. If we did enjoy some pre-existance as unmanifest spirits that is NOT LIFE. No sir, life always has a definate begining at the time that we are born or conceived. We do not exist as persons prior to this eventuality, unless we did also enjoy some prior form of manifestation within the Universe. And I consider this to be a possibility because according to the Bible the Stars and Planets of Heaven are the Angels and the Demons who did fall to Earth. If the Angels and Demons have become manifest as men and women because they fell, then it was not a choice. But if we consider the truth of the Reality the Stars and Planets have not fallen from the sky, they still exist in manifestation and are very durable. Even when a star does cease to shine there is often some remnant left over that goes on. Perhaps as men and women who have been Angels and Demons of Heaven we enjoy some kind of dual manifestation. The Celestial body is far more durable than the terrestrial body. But if we do enjoy this life we have as Human Beings and want it to continue on indefinately, then we need this terrestrial body to last.

Within the Genesis Story we are told of the Tree of Life, and eating it's fruits are the key to everlasting life. No such tree may be found here on Planet Earth in modern times, if it did ever exist here it's long gone. Will this mystical tree ever be restored to the World or must we depend upon the good works of medical science to solve the problem of mortality? I myself do not know the answer to this question, but I do believe we should make every effort just in case. Wether we gain this tree of life or medical science solves the problem of mortality once and for all, we have no explaination how the dead may be restored to life. Somehow this remarkable eventuallity is supposed to be a part of our story here. We don't know when or how it will happen, but if we trust the prophets then we have faith in it.

Perfection and Eternity

Within the Spirit of God lies the ideal of perfection. As individuals we may strive to embody that ideal, to become the perfect examples of an eternal principle. And when we are successful and have all the agencies of Heaven at our beck and call we may become like Gods ourselves. But this exaulted position still comes with certain limitations, so long as it resides within the realm of manifestation. The Individuality of persons must be preserved, and our freedom to make our own choices must be preserved. Therfore we may choose a master to follow or else we may choose self-mastery. If we choose a Lord or choose to become Lords ourselves, the Most-High-God may yet be glorified by our accomplishments. Within the principles of Buddism it is not what some Higher-Power can do for us that matters, but what we can accomplish for ourselves. And the supreme goal of life it to be freed from all suffering; from the Buddist perspective we suffer because of our attachment to manifestation. But its still within the realm of possibilities for us to choose to be part of the physical Universe and choose to be happy at the same time.

If our own limitations do not make us unhappy, then we need not struggle against them. And by not struggling we may enjoy peace and happiness, we all need to rest from our battles some of the time. But we may rejoin the battle at any time, so long as it remains unwon. So long as we do not impose upon ourselves schedules and deadlines for our accomplishments we can enjoy life within the Eternal Kingdom. But within the realm of all possible work there exists dependencies, sometimes we can accomplish nothing at all while we wait for someone else to make a decision. And LIFE IS WORK, to survive is a struggle in itself, but it need not be an overwhelming burden it could be easy. And if we can become Lords and Ladies of Heaven you might think that God himself should make certain that we never have to go hungry. Within the realm of manifestation there is no lack of material goodness, all our cravings may be fulfilled if we have all the agencies of Heaven at our beck and call. And we win the agencies of Heaven through faith alone, so how must we vest our faith?

Does it matter if we believe in the Most-High-God, and that we love him? Does it matter if we trust that God has a plan for us? We may not know what that plan is but if we think that we do know its possible that we are misstaken about all the details. If we think that we do know what God's character is like, its possible that we are misstaking some Lord or Lady for the Most-High. If our beliefs are in error does it harm the health of our faith? Because faith is like a living thing, we need to tend to it and help it grow; it benefits from our watchful eye, a little watering and fertilizing. But faith is more than just mere belief, and more than just passionate belief; because we ourselves have no special power over the fabric of reality to shape it and control it. It depends upon a belief in something larger than ourselves, and what we think of that something matters. If we do love ourselves and love Heaven, then we can believe in our own importance without thinking ourselves more important. If we may count ourselves among God's children without thinking that God's children are ranked in any way, then we are indeed blessed. If we see ourselves within the light of truth we are not only blessed with God's love; but we are blessed with a great multitude of companions and peers. We do not need to choose God, we do not need to follow him, He will be our constant companion wherever we may travel. But we do need to choose one another, and choose fellowship, and we may choose fellowship with the agencies of Heaven. Even all of the angels and demons are children of God and our peers, and the Mind of our Creator is no less the peer.

There is my Lord in Heaven, and I myself am a Lord of Heaven under it. We all have some definate begining here, we are not eternal creatures of life, but we subscribe to eternal principles. Held to be true within the spirit of the Most-High-God; reserved there for us to claim, but we are powerless to deny one true thing. We are powerless to change one historical event, but we decide what it means to us. We may choose to be bound by past decisions that have been made by other men, or we can decide for ourselves what is right and what is wrong. I choose to apply my own judgement, I choose my own direction in life and my own path; I choose self-mastery and self-governance. The road may be long and hard, but i vest all my faith into eternity and therfore choose not to be bound by deadlines. I may still however be bound by our interdependencie's while making progress, that progress may have some limitations.

All-in-All i'm unhappy about the circumstances that we find ourselves in so much conflict here on Planet Earth. I'm unhappy with all the divisions in our world. When one group chooses retaliation against another for some perceived immorality, it does harm the common welfare. We do not hold life itself to be sacred, we often ask that a life be sacrificed for the sake of the common good or for our own self-interest. And we say that some sacrifce is required to preserve our freedom and our rights, our very way of life may be at risk if we do not defend it. But such rights as we desire and believe we deserve are not gaurenteed by God, if gaurenteed by God they are in need of no defense. Even our own personal property rights within the world, while considering this flesh and bone as property, are held accountable to the law of mortality. And for all that we may still have some influence with the world long after we are gone, the world may not reward us. We may feel grateful for the contributions that other great men have made, but can these dead men know of our gratitude and admiration for them? If a Human life may be restored to the World, all those great men and women may learn of our love for them. And it is for this restoration to life that I fight, I am dedicated to this battle forever and ever until it can be won.

Who is this Person Called God?

The process of Creation AND Destruction is ongoing within our Universe. Every star is unique and important to this process, but is one human life less important than the life of a star? We could observe that our Sun is more important than Life on Earth because without it Life would not be possible here. The Sun provides some useful and neccessary labor for us, we are completely dependent on that work being done. But we have become an important part of this process of Creation and Destruction in our own right; we are each small Creators. We created languages and written records, and we shaped the substance of the Earth to suit ourselves. Therfore we created Industry, to shape the world around us more efficiently. And now we have created the PC and the Internet, to usher in this Golden Age of Information.

Our communities are globally connected, we carry on relationships that cross international borders. There has never before been an 'Age of Man' like the modern age; where we can travel to any corner of the Earth very swiftly. The agencies of our civilization reach to the furthest corners of the world. And we may see the most distant lands without traveling or leaving the comfort of our own homes. We have virtually traveled to the most distant planets of our solar system.

Some degree of education has become commonplace among the children of the Earth. And to a large extent we have created knowledge to learn about how things work in the world. We have developed our own systems and techniques for accomplishing work. We have observed the world around us and classified and named everything in it. We observe the many stars in Heaven but it is still beyond us to give each a personal name, many are simply designated by a catalog number. We have apprehended all this wealth of the Living Universe, and exploited it's natural resources to some extent. Most of us can enjoy a life of relative comfort and convienience. And we are each free to expend our labour as we see fit, weighing the effort against the advantages.

Still some problems never seem to get solved, they have been with us for all of recorded history. The Earth iself is still Geologically active and this presents some problem for human life and property, but life somewhat depends on those processes as well. Of course we are completely powerless to prevent an Earthquake from happening, or some other kinds of natural disasters. We can only pick up the pieces and carry on with life after the fact, and the species survives while some individuals may perish.

A friend of mine believes in the coming tribulation, he thinks its something unavoidable, God's great plan. He should pray for the rapture to come swiftly and save him from a troubled world, because he follows the example of Christ. But I told him that so long as he lives here on Planet Earth he falls within my domain, the domain of Lord Ken. He may be counted as an equal or a peer or as just another one of my many children. I told him that my faith is not the tiny mustard seed but the sheltering tree. And he asks, "But what or who do you have faith in? Some unknowable God?" I have faith in myself and my abilities, I do exercise some power to change the world so long as I survive here. I believe that my intentions are good; and not just good for myself but good for all people. And I have faith in the Eternal Kingdom of God, as a real place and this Universe a small part of it.

According to the prophecy of the tribulation all this will pass away, the Universe is temporary and will be destroyed eventually. But I say no, the Universe is built to last forever; and we don't just discard good work when we are done with it. The Realm of Manifestation and Creation is Art and Beauty, its a wonderful thing! He enjoys some personal vision of Heaven at the throne of God; and I say to him, "but this not a vision of life and manifestation." It is not a kingdom of stars and planets, which kingdom he believes will pass away in an instant like a scroll being snapped shut. And all the Angels and Demons of Heaven do battle over wether or not this Universe should be preserved. If we favor the preservation of Universe then we are enemies to God's plan of salvation. He says that Satan is the enemy of God, but I say he is just another Angel, God has no enemies. Satan wants to deceive humanity and see our world destroyed, therefore he has worked to seperate us from our God and from one another. We have become divided in so many different ways. We can't really blame all this deception and division on some divine agency, we are capable of doing this to ourselves without guidance. Satan is not the great evil spirit controlling our world, no such spirit of pure evil intent exists, or for that matter is there a spirit of pure good intent. Every spirit is bound by certain limitations, especially when manifest; and in my own opinion there is no such thing as unmanifest spirit excepting it be the spirit of the Most-High God.

And the spirit of God pervades every corner of Creation, blessing it with consciousness. We can see the evidence of God's spirit at work simply by observing the great multitude of persons. This God is not entirely unknowable because we can know it by what it does for us. It is the source of all inspiration, and the sponsor of insight. It is a God of truth and reveals only truth, it is not a God of deception. It is a witness to events and to our very thoughts and feelings, we enjoy no privacy from this God we have no secrets. If this God loves some of us more than others, it's not clear. If we think of this God as a person, we have to imagine a person who is totally free from all desires. Such a God would not impose governance upon the people, it leaves that for us to do because we have desires. Such a God would never propose 10 commandments for men to live by, it preserves personal choice and personal judgement without limitations.

This is the God of my beliefs, it is not the more personal God as presented within the Bible. If Moses and the people of Israel had dealings with some Higher-Power, and it appears that they did, I do not imagine this person to be the Most-High God. I can not venture to guess why it would pretend to be A God, clearly there may be persons in Heaven who would appear Godlike to us. In authority and power over reality, there are degrees of accomplishment, but these things are accomplished by God's Children and not God itself. Would it be fair to say that the true God is unconcerned about Human affairs, I'm not certain? In my estimation God is glorifed by our accomplishments, when we create or destroy. God is not the story teller, we are the story tellers; God just sorta kicks back and enjoys the story. The One-True-And-Most-High God rarely ever takes part in the story telling, it does not become an actor on our stage. But evidently the God of Moses is a storyteller, much like us.

A Dubious Standard

NOTE This article was a letter to a friend after a telephone conversation.

Your so called standard depends entirely upon direct personal experience or someone else's
testamony of their experience and interpretations.
When you go to the Bible for Validation you are depending on the experience and testamony
of other men. This is not a bad thing really.

But your standard is no better than my standard.

But I'm not concerned about your salvation, I worry more about your immortal life. And we
can not live where God is, we can only live within the Universe. None-the-less we are not
seperated from God's presence. No thing can exist separate from God. No one spirit can be
forced out of God's pressence because that would be death and not seperation to some
cursed realm of existance.

Once a thing has been spoken it becomes objective, if it is written it becomes objective. And
everything that one of us has experienced is genuine objective experience because we have
God and the Creator for a witness, and that's two different persons, three counting ourselves.

There may easily be more than three observers involved with any given event, but there are
always at least two observers present within the Universe. We don't even need to consider
anything that exists outside of this Universe except for God himself.

The LDS Church considers it to be doctrine that there will be a general ressurection at some
time future. Few if any men or women will be denied this ressurection, but according to
church doctrine the people will then be divided into three separate kingdoms for all time.

The three Kingdoms are ranked one above the other, and God the Father is present within
the highest or Eternal Kingdom. According to this doctrine there will never be a possibility to
migrate between these three kingdoms. And the people will be divided according to their
good works in life, or else their faith. But they say that faith without works is nothing at all to
make us deserving.

Therefore according to the Prophet Joseph Smith there will be a Judgement and lasting
penalties or consequences.

I do not agree with Joseph's point-of-view even though he claims it was divinely inspired. The
Earth is one world not three different worlds; and the Earth is the world of the promised
ressurection. Its the only world under the whole expanse of Heaven where human life is a
possibility. We can not live somewhere else, and we have to live without seperation, all
together.

The criminals and the saints alike will receive the same reward. Immortal Life on Planet
Earth. For this i'm willing to fight and sacrifice because I'm just the kind of soldier who
believes that every last man is worth fighting for. Leave no man behind!

I have said that Jesus is just one Lord among many, and this is true. There have been other
Kings throughout human history, but there is only one Saviour. We are all Sons and
Daughters of the Most-High God, its not particularly clever that Jesus claimed to be the son
of God. But he also claimed to be a Son of Man, and the ideal example of the First Born Son.
According to ancient traditions it was the First Born Son who carries forward the family
tradition and heritage more than anyone else. However its really quite impossible for a male
child to be born unless there is also a biological father. And that would be a distinct and
separate individual and mortal like Jesus himself was. If the story of the Immaculate
conception is true, we may never know who the father was, God intervened in human affairs.
It could be anyone, past or present or yet to come. God is the only one who can act outside
of time because he exists outside of Universe, he can break every rule of cause and effect.
The whole of creation can be reduced to pure information, without substance or mass, within
the mind of God.

You think that Jesus is everything that matters, and Heavenly Father is nothing. The one true
King of all Kings among men, our sire and our judge. His will shall be done unto the world,
and the good work of Jesus saves us from him. Judgement without persecution or
punishment, that the Lord Jesus proposed upon the cross, because while its true that men
are ill-behaved it is only because they lack some knowledge. And none should be held
accountable for their own ignorance he proposed.

Yes you do have some special knowledge because you have met the Lord and spoke with
him. That is your personal experience, you are especially favored and why that happens to be
true its hard to say. You say because you had a teachable heart, you were offered instruction.
I've never met the Lord personally but once he spoke to me and said 7 simple little words. He
said, "Ken, do you really want to suffer?" He called me Ken! Immediately i cried out to him,
"Yes! I really do want to suffer." But several hours later i chose not to suffer. I wanted to put
God to the test you see, would he allow me to die in the desert of thirst and exposure or
would he save my life. Once I did try to take my own life and it was preserved, perhaps God
does still have some use for me in this world or else he should have counted me worthy of
some rest.

In order to take our world today as it now exists, and turn it into the world of a promised
ressurection will take a great deal of reorganization. I dedicated my life to that work from the
age of 19 when i had my personal experience. I never knew exactly what I could do, or what
needed to be done. I said simply to God take my life and prepare me for the work ahead. And
he did take me and temper me in his furnace, I suffered a great deal and did cause the
people around me to suffer as well. But all that horrible experience has paid off with
dividends, I wouldn't go back and change a thing. Not even my bad behaviour, although there
are a few people whom I think i do owe an appology; and a few more whom I think owe me
an appology.

I'm not isolated or seperated from God. I'm not isolated or seperated from my family and
friends. I'm not seperated from Christ, if he wanted to come to me he could have come to
me, I have asked him to come. We have never fallen from God's grace, and if we could ever
have this condition of grace we must have it now. I am at peace with God and I place my full
trust with him, that he will preserve me against all odds and beyond mortal existance. But he
must keep me alive if he expects me to do any useful work and I've promised much labor.
It will take much longer than a mortal lifetime to accomplish everything, but there is a job
available for someone to do. You may think that I'm being very selfish, I serve my own
interests alone, but this is not true. I am my own man, the master of my own fate, I choose
my own path and I choose the long difficult road. But I do not walk alone into the sunset, the
Ancient Dragon will walk beside me. That is the companion I want most, but more are
welcome. The title of Heavenly Father is an eternal career decision really, anyone may chose
that path for themselves, it is difficult but rewarding. Or we can choose the path of the child if
we have not yet come to our own maturity. Citizenship within the Kingdom of Heaven on
Planet Earth comes with some responsibility you see. But you don't really care for the world
as much as I do, I know. You may very well choose to follow the Lord Jesus wherever he is
leading you, if you do it does not concern me.

May God bless and keep you and all those you care about,
Kenneth R Hopper.