God's Guaranty

   Among all of our God given rights; the one which stands out most clearly to me is, "The Right to Have Peers and Companions." Most of us would like to believe that we should also have the right to choose between individuals, and exercise discrimination. But the evidence suggests that God does not guaranty such a right to anyone.

Now I am a firm believer in Eternity and the Durability of the Human Spirit; time is the one thing that we all have in unlimited abundance. Over the course of a mortal life-time there seems to be countless opportunity costs in the way we spend our time. If we truly believe that we have a place in forever, can we believe also in lost opportunities? Clearly we have not all enjoyed equal opportunities in life, but in due course of time perhaps we will still benefit from the fulfillment of all opportunities. It seems possible that some people are better loved, but perhaps we all take turns at being most loved. No matter how many, or the quality of our achievements in life, there will always be something left for us to accomplish. It's one thing to set goals for ourselves, and something else to set a schedule for accomplishing those goals. We could survive in greater happiness with fewer deadlines I think. But of course we are greatly inter-dependent, and our mortal survival depends on a great deal of work. Some jobs depend on other jobs being completed first, there's an order of progress. By living and working in the Universe, we create a higher degree of order within the Universe  We organize our world in the best way to maximize Human Comfort, although we are most interested in our own comfort. And we have succeeded at improving upon perfection, life is better for people in general today than it was thousands of years in the past. It's amazing how much our world has changed in just the past 300 or so years, and that's not a very long time in the life of our species to date.

A Letter To My Son

Dear Colin,

At the time that your mother and I were breaking up, I was having a lot more problems with my medical condition than I do today. After your mother took you to your uncle's house to live, things got a whole lot worse for me for a while. If you think that you have suffered because you didn't have a dad growing up, you were not suffering alone all that time. It might not make you feel any better about yourself; If I say that some people have had much harder lives, but I can promise you that you are loved and that should make a difference. Some of us never had the opportunity to know one or both of their parents for one reason or another, but it shouldn't prevent them from finding their own happiness and success. If you understood how much God loves us, I know that it would make all the difference in the world, knowing this has made a difference for me. We may not get to live here on Planet Earth forever, but I believe in the durability of the human spirit. I believe that it's God's will for us, simply to make us survive and endure forever; but of course he never has guaranteed that all of our experiences in life would be pleasant. If modern science has taught us one thing of value about the Universe that we live in, it would be that there is a whole lot more to manifestation than we can perceive. The mysterious hidden stuff of creation is as much a part of us as this flesh and bone of which we are so familiar, it's a proven fact. I think that we will both survive long enough to spend countless more hours together in conversation and in work and in leisure. Sometimes we have to wait for our happiness, often it seems to depend on what other people do or think of us, but mostly it depends on our own opinions. Knowing that we are and have been loved, and that our time is unlimited can make us very stoic. It's a solid foundation for us to stand on and face whatever we need to face, and to defy other people's opinions. In the long run, the truth is whatever it is despite how we believe it to be. Reality can not be bent out of shape just to better suit our desires. And we are a part of that reality forever and ever, we have a place here and now and this Universe has a way of remembering itself, of course that includes a memory of all of us. I hope that we can continue to learn and grow together, if God guarantees us nothing else, he guarantees that we will always have peers and companions no matter where we go. We are never truly alone, the vast distances that separate the stars from one-another is meaningless because Unity is fundamental to everything. There has been 14 billion or so human beings that have ever lived here in the World, and we will be able to find a few good friends among them. Each of us is a citizen in God's Kingdom today, no person place or thing exists in separation and In the Great Game of Life, everyone who plays is a winner, including you!

Let Peace Be Established!

Clearly we can be unequal in many different ways; but our rank in the Great Game of Life matters less than the fact that we we're players. Try stroking your Ego with that bit of wisdom; it's a way-point on the path to becoming a peer. No one can say that I didn't have a life, and the people who try to say such things will never offend me. No matter what or how many accomplishments we have in life, none of that can make one of us more important. It's an error of judgement to disparage those less skilled or less knowledgeable than ourselves. Due to the limitations of our biological condition, we all lack some knowledge, and no one can claim differently with any authority.

Is there one person in the whole Universe that can grant us all the knowledge that we lack? Perhaps we all are destined to obtain such things beyond our mortal ends. Having all the experiences of every life lived, we must be forced to change, becoming something other than we are today. To embody the personality and character of an Ancient of Days, but to remain uniquely individual, separate, and self-willed. We we're all born with the gift of judgement and some applied that gift well. Some of us made a career out of it and managed to earn a living; but we don't need to be professionals to apply the gift. And we don't need a great following of supporters to agree with our opinions, in order to form an opinion. So many of the people that we meet in life are ready to tell us what we should believe in, and what we should disbelieve. We don't need to create ideas on our own, many ideas will be offered to us. How much trust and faith should we place into the fundamental beliefs which tell us that we are unequal? Our rights can neither be superior nor inferior to the rights of another single individual. Individual rights can not be diminished by the rights of a group of individuals. Our true rights, whatever they may be, can never be suspended and are not well defined by any constitutional document. We can however be deprived of life and our place in the World. Our freedom of travel is constrained by natural boundaries and can be further limited by artificial boundaries; many of us have been incarcerated within small spaces. Although some of our fellow human beings have presumed to have the  authority to impose limits upon us, none has ever had the authority to isolate one of us from the Universe as a whole. When one of us has been put to death for any reason, they have not been punished by passing away from the World. The Human will to do violence may serve as motivation for the living, but it has no power over the dead. I do not believe that there is a God who will judge and punish one of us for any reason. To best of my understanding, God's will for us is to grant the strength to endure all things, even though we may not endure in life. We may very well have a definite beginning; but the future stretches out endlessly, now that we have become part of it we can never cease to be a part of it. There is the whole of history, and there is our story. We belong to it, and it belongs to us. I trust in something greater than myself and greater than humanity. I see a Unity that defies our ability to divide and classify the world around us, and a Unity for which great distances pose no obstacle. I see that the children of humanity share many common beginnings, our Universe has realized the potential to become many different things from a single common origin. We guide the Universe to the best of our ability, and there are persons of greater or lesser ability who also guide. We can very easily make the observation that there is more than one of us, and more than one living thing. We are not alone, there is a great multitude of persons with us, and it is good. All the processes of work are ongoing, and we don't have to do all the work that gets done, neither do we get to make every decision. We may choose some things, but not everything can be made subject to our choice.

No one, by making choices, has ever been able to overcome their own mortality to the best of my knowledge. Even Christ suffered a mortal end, and if he had the power to avoid it, he chose not to use that power. In fact it looks as if he walked right into the situation with a full understanding of what the consequences would be; and evidently, he didn't manage to do this without some feelings of anxiety. Many of us have chosen death in the belief that it served some noble cause, or in the belief that we would be rewarded for making the sacrifice. Some of us chose to risk our own lives, in the hope of saving one life. Of course many of us have also chosen to kill in the defense of our own lives, or the lives of others, or for some noble cause. If we had the ability to choose everlasting life in the belief that it served a noble cause; how many would make that choice knowing that they would be rewarded with a life of torment? Our friend John, the popular prophet, in his vision of Revelations describes such a reward for one of us. The person who would be so rewarded is made out to be a great villain and deceiver, far from being a herald of our salvation, this person is considered to be the anti-thesis of everything that Christ stood for. But if God really does have a plan for humanity, to bring about a general resurrection, should we consider this individual to be a necessary condition? If we believe in a divine origin for this prophecy, then we must consider it a true prediction of future events, although it's not very clear what these events amount to exactly. One prediction stands out for me with crystal clarity, and that is the Millenium of Peace on Planet Earth. From my own point of view this can only mean a world free of armed conflict; and that's a very hard thing to hope for considering the status-quo. It's hard to imagine any series of events that would cause the nations of the world to disarm themselves; I think that there would have to be a very persuasive argument for doing it. For the citizens of these United States, who exert a great deal of influence over the rest of the world, disarmament would represent an immense sacrifice of power and the loss of some very expensive assets. I can not see the American people choosing to do it, unless they're forced into it by some means. Is it possible that the issue can be forced by a single individual? If we can imagine an individual with the power to summon up the clear and present danger of overwhelming force, that's just about the only thing that several nations of the world would respect. And what manner of technological innovation would make it possible, what can one man do to render all our technology of arms and warfare obsolete? Evidently, and according to the words of Christ, the technology of faith can empower a man to move literal mountains. Perhaps it is even something that one of us can achieve independently through a personal effort, although its hard to imagine what qualities a person would need to achieve it, it's never been achieved before. Although it's believed that Jesus himself had this kind of power, he chose not to apply it in an effort to govern the world. One person must obtain the same power and apply it, whatever the personal consequences may be for that individual, in order to fulfill the prophecy.

Therefor I have predicted that our world will be governed by a King one day, and perhaps a great Tyrant, the world is not undeserving of a tyrant IMHO. All the nations of the Earth will be united and governed by a single individual. As the proponents of democracy that we are in America, we don't believe in the divine right of King's to govern us, we would never willingly pay homage to a King. If one person can bring overwhelming force to bare against the entire world, we must consider that strength as righteousness, and equal to divine right. In order to make a choice, one must have options to choose from. A great world leader would have the ability to limit those options, until only one choice remains. The Survival of our Species versus Extinction; if there we're clearly one and only one path to survival then I believe that the people would choose that path willingly. And what could one man gain, if by winning the world, he lost his soul in the process? Evidently a great deal of material wealth, the true King would be our Landlord and exercise all rights to real-estate and the world's natural resources. For a career I suspect that the King Job pays very well, and it is a job that's waiting for someone to fill the position. I guess that I could admit that I've applied myself for the position, and I'm waiting to see if my bid will be accepted. If I fail to get the job, I would probably be better off as just another child of humanity anyways. But I still believe that there will be someone with the right qualifications, and I'd be happy to see someone else do the job so long as it gets done. Perhaps that individual is already alive in the world today; much like everyone else, I don't like waiting for something good to happen. And I pray to the God of my beliefs, "Let peace be established!"

Of course many Christian thinkers believe that a resurrected Jesus will return to the Earth and be "The King of  Peace." But I don't believe that Jesus is the right man to do all the hard work. He may have been a King in his day, but he is one King among many and there is yet a King of all Kings above him I believe. The worldly estate of our Savior was never very large, and he labored to guarantee the immortality of the human spirit, so that we all may survive our mortal ends. If you want to have a physical body and more life on planet Earth, I believe it would require a different savior and another plan of salvation.

Hope & Welfare

When I was 18 years old, I made my personal commitment to serve the welfare of humanity. I've always had my own ideas about what would serve the greater good. But how can I act beyond the limits of my own personal ability? The commitment I made back then is a good and durable thing; and on the day I made it I was rewarded with a little favor, from a higher power. But after carefully considering the problem for 30 years; I'm still powerless to make a difference, perhaps that's the way it's supposed to be. By making that commitment; I believe I have found my own way into God's heart, simply being willing seems to be enough for God's love. Regardless of what anyone else is able to achieve in life; whether it is more or less than I've been able to do, there is still a personal relationship between us and we are peers for all perpetuity. I have a desire for all those other people; and I deem it to be a good and loving desire, but I can't make it happen independently. In my own estimation it may be possible to accomplish great things; we only need to win one supporter, if it is the right supporter. I can easily imagine a person of superior authority and power, someone as ancient as the Universe itself. Naturally such an individual could be aware of my thoughts and opinions, if I knew they were paying attention, perhaps they could be persuaded. Such a person should easily exercise an independent will and judement, just as we do. But what can we offer in the form of persuasion, to motivate such a person into action in our behalf? What do we as human-beings have to offer, what service might we provide in exchange for a little favor? Perhaps if we had an unlimited life-time to make the effort, there would be something of value even to a supreme being and intelligent designer. But I don't know what that would be beyond offering our good faith in companionship; we can not make an offering of material goods to the author of manifestation. We will not live forever to make good on any offer without some help in the first place.

For my greatest Lord and creator I choose the ancient dragon, who is not a god itself, but dependent upon god for a self-awarness in the same way that we are dependent. I Love the Universe for what it appears to be, a wonderous and strange thing to be a part of. Although I can appreciate that it is not Eternal, as we believe it has a definite beginning, it still appears to be a very durable thing. The most likely scenario for the fate of humanity, if left to pursue the status-quo, is inevitable extinction. I can see it clearly as the natural consequence to pursuing the principle that, "might makes right." Eventually one human-being will be strong enough and able to bring about global genocide for the entire species. Considering our wonderful capacity for reason, the rational to justify such an act is well within our ability to grasp. It's a possibility and it's only becoming more so as time passes and technological advances are made. In my opinion we really do need an interventionist God or Higher-Power to save us. Without some kind of intervention, which to date is well beyond human technology, it's perfectly foreseeable that our World will eventually be rendered uninhabitable and subsequently destroyed by our Sun. We can predict that there will be a definite end to the Earth some day, by natural causes. Of course such natural causes would be very slow to manifest themselves; but the odds say we have far less time available, all things being considered.

In my estimation our one true and most-high God; however else we might describe it, is not particularly pro-life. It has rarely ever been seen to intervene to prevent a murder; within some religious dogma it is shown to encourage the act from certain individuals. If I heard a voice professing to be God, demanding that I take a life, I would just chalk it up to insanity and refuse to act accordingly. But historically many people have vested their faith into such voices. It makes me wonder if professing to be a God is a popular past-time for some higher-powers, who had an interest in directing human history. The experience of a voice can be a very convincing thing; whether or not there is an actual person behind it, apart from our own subconscious minds. In fact the hallucination of voices is a very common thing among my brother and sister bi-polars; but I have been more fortunate in this respect, never having heard a voice. So I have never been given any directions or special insights; I always had to make the best of my own judgement. In life, divine instruction is very hard to come by, although historically several individuals have claimed to be privledged with divine instruction, I think that perhaps they were misstaken or intentionally making false claims. The practice of deception is very much a part of human nature, I don't believe we need to invoke a higher-power to take all the blame there. To the best of my own understanding; the one true and most-high God is the source of all human inspiration, even when the people have had very bad or destructive ideas. Anyone can claim divine insight, and probably be correct in making that assertion. In any event the human personality seems to be mostly governed by our genetic heritage; much of our personality is formed by the time of our birth, at least it seemed that way with my two sons.

It may seem a little bit crazy hoping for impossibilities, but even with all the knowledge we have we can not define every possibility. There are still some aspects of creation that remain a mystery to us, although we are aware of certain remarkable truths. In my own personal experience, I was made aware of the existence of a higher-power. If they live as a part of the bigger picture, and as we do exercies some power over reality, its pretty easy to imagine some pretty wild works as being possible. Such persons may very well be subject to limitations and restrictions of their own, perhaps they are even governed by rules with someone to enforce them. The possibilities may be worthy of consideration but we can't just believe something will happen, it's not true until we see it happen. Most of us have a favorite idea of what the ultimate truth should be like; my own favorite idea is that an underlying unity defys all possibility of separation. I think it's quite common to believe in a justice which demands separation and unequal favor, perhaps even punishment for some. But when i think about the possibility of punishment, I always think about the final arguement of Christ. Who said, more or less, that our condition of ignorance sould serve as our pardon. And afterall how many of us do not suffer the limitation of imperfect knowledge? In my own personal experience, God knows all and reveals nothing to anyone. In terms of factual knowledge, the only way to get it is by direct personal experience, and perhaps a little trust in the testamony of our peers. Which serves as the perfect validation for my own reasoning that the best cure for ignorance is more personal experience, and a life-time unlimited by mortality to pursue that experience. And since its very clear that mortality has already taken it's toll on a poriton of humanity, we need a ressurection to experience more life! And clearly if we are slated to live forever, we would need a habitable Earth to live on forever. Which as I've already pointed out, would require some form of intervention in the way of a technological capacity beyond our ken.

Fundamental Reality

Science has proven beyond the shadow of a doubt, that a large portion of the Universe remains completely invisible to us. And this is not because this invisible stuff is too far away to be seen, this is something that may be intimately a part of us, a part of which we are mostly unaware. Therefore I believe that its well within the realm of possibilities that we continue to enjoy some form of manifestation beyond our mortal ends. To my mind the science of Astronomy has justified a belief in the immortal soul perfectly; and if we believe in our own immortality then we should believe in accountability. Death offers us no respite from the judgement of our peers it seems. Our peers are the ones who most often judge us, and we can be aware of this judgement, unlike the judgement of a God above us. I have said it before in this blog; in my humble opinion consciousness is not the result of life, it is the result of God's presence within the Universe. Perhaps it still depends upon matter and some interaction between matter and God's will, but the physical stuff that we refer to as our personal selves is not all there is of matter! I think its reasonable to assume that consciousness may continue beyond life, even if we choose not to believe in a higher power making things happen. There is most certainly some human testimony of consciousness and memory without detectable brain function; the people who have had such an experience are true believers, and maybe we should choose to trust those individuals.

Not one human being can be more or less important than another; despite the way things usually seem to work in our world. Every individual is significant in a way that can not be diminished by popular opinion. Participation in the Great Game of Life is the only winning condition that we need to consider. Our accomplishments in mortal life can never cause us to enjoy superior rights; even though many of us seem to be favored with a better quality of experience and opportunity. In terms of personal power and authority we are mostly equal; certainly there have been differences between individuals but these differences are insignificant next to the fact of manifestation. Simply by living in the world, we exert a power over reality to shape it and change it, even when we are making no effort to do work. We become a part of the historical events of the world and the greater Universe as a whole, that story is more or less absolute and unchangeable. None of us has ever had the authority, individually or collectively to alter one historical fact, although we are able to change our opinions of past events to the extent we are aware of them. We must eventually accept the point of view that we exist in relationship to everything else, especially one-another. Clearly we did not choose all of these personal relationships; often we would prefer a large degree of separation between ourselves and the people we can not abide. But if science has taught us anything fundamental about the nature of reality, it must be the Unity behind all things. Our desire for separation is simply vanity, and the cause can never be served within this realm of creation. No amount of physical distance will ever be enough for us to be completely rid of one-another. We have no special power over reality that we can vote for divisions or to determine where divisions if any should be, although we have undertaken the task to sort reality into a growing number of classifications. No matter that we may belong to a particular cultural group, or believe in a particular doctrine with a group; we can in no way be removed from the greater family of human-beings. Like it or not, once we have become human, we will always and forever more have a share in humanity. We will always and forever more have 14 billion or so peers and companions; 14 billion is my estimate of all those who have ever lived but of course the actual number is still growing. Embracing such truths and taking them to heart is the path to maturity; and the path to being a responsible citizen of the Universe. Clearly there will always be something far greater than ourselves to consider, our true home is far greater than our estate here on planet Earth. We belong to history and all that it contains belongs to us as well.

FAITH Is A Word

FAITH is a word that Jesus may have used, or rather the equivalent Hebrew word in his day. But I think that most of us don't understand FAITH in the way that he meant it. If it is something that blinds us to the truth, and makes us ignore factual evidence, then it disserves God. As God is nothing less than the Eternal Guardian of Truth, the Ultimate Historian. The truth is that we believe certain things whether or not our beliefs are correct, and in some cases it's quite possible for our beliefs to be incorrect.

The evidence suggests that Moses heard the Genesis Story from someone other than God himself. We can definitivly say that the story of Adam and Eve is mythological in nature, it is NOT literal truth. One way that we can know this is by dating the days of Adam, it's possible to determine an approximate date that Adam would have been formed. The Archaeological evidence suggests that Humanity pre-exists this date that Adam was supposedly formed, and subsequently became the father of our species. It's really quite impossible for Adam and Eve to be our original progenitors if they lived at the time that the Genesis Story says that they did. Therefore the Genesis Story must be incorrect; and if it is incorrect then the Eternal Guardian of Truth and our Ultimate Historian can not be the source of the story. Adam would have lived within the range of 6000 years ago, which means that the Great Flood of Noah's time occurred less than 6000 years ago. The Archaeological evidence suggests that the Native American people lived in North America for at least 10,000 years. If Noah's flood had covered the whole world less than 6000 years ago, then the Native American people would have been wiped out, obviously.

It's well within the realm of possibilities that Moses believed he was doing the right thing, he may have believed in his own divine guidance. But I think that most of the things Moses ascribed to God, can be attributed to the character and judgement of Moses. In other words I am saying that Moses is the author of the Ten Commandments, the One-True-And-Most-High-God has no desire to give Humanity a set of Laws. Instead of giving us laws, he gives each of us a degree of personal judgement, which we must apply to our own lives and every situation. For myself it's completely unthinkable that an Angry God could be calmed down by a mere mortal Human Being, but I don't believe there really is an Angry God as Moses described. It seems quite clear that Moses himself was angry, to the extent that he was willing to perpetrate mass murder upon 1000 of his own people. And we must go by the story which Moses himself committed to writing down, Moses should have been fully aware of the commandment against Murder prior to committing it. But for some reason most believers are willing to discount this Murder as something other than Murder. Presumably if a crime has been committed then punishment is deserved, up to and including the forced loss of life, and we should not call this form of capital punishment Murder. In the long run of history up to the present day, the acts of Moses have
done much harm, it has been the cause of much division and conflict.

We must ask ourselves whether or not the author of this blog deserves any respect from us; we can in no way demand respect from others. In all humility we should never exercise our own judgement to the extent that we may view another Human Being as undeserving of dignified treatment. Basic Human Dignity is a concept which we must apply without making any exceptions, regardless of the other person's actions.
We must always view our peers and companions in life as deserving of MORE LIFE, and IMMORTAL LIFE for the purpose of getting more personal experience if for no other reason. Life and Personal Experience is the thing which is most for the good of all people equally. And even if we think that the other person is a criminal plain and clear; we must at least believe that they deserve Everlasting Accountability!
It's quite inescapable, the judgement of our peers will be applied whether or not we think it justified; but at least let us mind the final plea of Christ and let there be a pardon from all punishment. That is the meaning of the Salvation and Forgiveness which the Lord has through his own efforts and personal sacrifice, made available to every Human Being. No matter what a man, woman or child of Man has done, they have a valid excuse, and the excuse may simply be that they felt angry at the time. For most of the Evil deeds of Men, feelings of Anger provide ample justification, we can not account for the way we feel at times. Beyond our own power to control, we sometimes believe incorrectly and thus choose to act in accordance with those beliefs. No-one can truly be blamed for these circumstance, if the content of our education was partially erroneous, we are not at fault for choosing to trust someone other than ourselves.

Despite the complete lack of General Authorities, it's still possible for us to know some true things. But we must always be careful to distinguish between the things we know, and the things that we assume. A really good Fantasy can be a very attractive thing; but we must temper our imagination with the understanding that all the possibilities of Universe or Heaven are not well defined. What the future has in store for us, we can't really say. And to have certain expectations in FAITH may very well find us disappointed in the actual outcome, especially if they are not expectations in LOVE.

Sorta Kinda Wonderful

I know enough about the Universe that we live in to think that it is a strange and wonderful place. I feel quite proud to be an inseparable part of something much larger than myself, even larger than life itself. While the world that we live in may be divided in an ever-growing number of ways; it's still best characterized by a concept of Unity.

While I would like to believe in such things as "divine guidance", wanting is not enough. I feel pretty comfortable with the idea that there is a God and that it is the one source of all inspiration. Whether people are inspired with good or bad ideas, the source of inspiration is the same. And no-one may claim exclusivity to the one source; we have no special power to willfully sever the connection that one of our peers and companions enjoys. Individually or collectively, popular opinion holds no sway over issues of deservedness; we may not vote someone else out of history or the big picture. And there may yet be a vestige of manifestation left unto us beyond our mortal ends; so that even assassination has no power to seperate us from the World. Although evidently the dead have little to no influence over the physical reality that we observe and experience in life. There seems to be no such thing as an absolute end, the story plays on forever and ever, and everything unfolds exactly as it should. There can be no injustice in our perfect world; but evidently we can still make improvements on perfection. We can safely believe in our personal power to make a difference whenever work gets done, and everything about life is labor. If it helps us feel better self-esteem we may believe that our work makes the world a better place. The feeling is good for us, therefor the belief must be good. If we manage to enjoy spending our time in any variety of ways, that is a valid measure of success. When we enjoy some success in life that's a pretty fair validation for our personal beliefs and values. But it doesn't necessarily matter what we believe about the Universe, or how we happen to feel about those beliefs. The Universe is what it is and will be, without respect to our desires. What we believe and feel about ourselves will probably make the biggest difference in our lives, more so than what others think about us. If there is a God that can be the authoritative judge of us, then I suspect that would be the opinion that matters the most. But if there is a higher-power to observe and judge; it may not deliver punishment, because we always had to choose our actions from a condition of incomplete knowledge. And how were we able to make such choices in the first place? From a condition of unconsciousness, no choice can be made, whatever divinity there may be has blessed us with the gift of consciousness and the ability to make judgements. We all get that gift instead of instructions, we are designed to be self-reliant in this respect. No-one may choose opinions for us, although someone is always ready to make suggestions.

Personal Growth, A Process of Change

The world is powerless to harm my prospects, or to turn my past success to failure. My place within God's Eternal Kingdom is secured by love, I trust it completely and I have a good reason to trust it. Unity is the divine principle; separation an impossibility. Eventually we'll all have to own up to our 14 billion or so companions and peers; each with the capacity to exercise an independent judgement, and then try to feel happy. It's a very common idea that there are some wicked people in the world who deserve to be punished, and most of the people who think like this feel they are able to determine where those lines should be drawn. As if we we are all going to vote on the matter, you're free to vote but you're not the enforcer. If all those people who we don't like receive favor instead of punishment, how will we complain? The possibility of forgiveness is only meant to be a pardon from punishment, it can not make us exempt from judgement. We are supposed to learn from our mistakes and achieve personal growth, so that we do not continue to make similar mistakes. Ignorance may serve as our best excuse for just about everything we ever did in life that might have been a crime, but it can not serve as an excuse indefinitely.

I have heard people proclaiming that our world is about to change, something fundamental to our awareness perhaps, i'm not sure what they're expecting. And some people desire to be in a controlling and guiding position, they write books expressing some personal truth. And i'm mostly thinking about Neale Donald Walsh when i say that, since i subscribe to his quotes on facebook, and he's somewhat famous for his 'Conversations with God' books. When we discover something unexpected then personal growth may occur; and if we have some personal experience that contradicts our past beliefs, then we may be changed. Neale seems to feel that the answer lies in overcoming our fears of a mortal end, which is at the root of all our bad feelings. Personally I think that I've already achieved that goal; those who have are supposed to lead those who are yet to overcome. But how did it happen to me? The change was anything but instantaneous, it required years of time and confidence building. But the revelatory experience took place in just a few moments of my early life, and it was something completely unexpected. I can only refer to the event as an intervention by some higher power, evidently something uncommon to all people, but I've heard a few personal stories of such experiences. It was nothing like a conversation as Neale claims to enjoy, and I would subsequently have to doubt any voice proclaiming itself to be God. I never had the problem of hearing voices, that I know some people do experience. Can I know for certain that God favored me with a personal experience of itself, I might assume it was a lesser person than the most high God. But clearly someone greater than a human-being had been paying attention to me and cared enough to make a special effort. That such a person may be able to exist and excerte a little power over our reality was enough of a revelation to justify a growing trust in God I guess.

I don't think that there's really anything I can do to enable other people to have a similar experience of their own. It simply doesn't depend on anything that I can do, or some special knowledge that I might be able to impart. And I don't think it will ever be good enough to go around saying to people that the human spirit is a very durable thing, and something that could last forever. By virtue of a form of manifestation which is yet invisible to us, perhaps our consciousness is sustainable. It's always going to be speculation until we experience it, even faith can't make it more real than that. I believe and feel good about the belief, but good feelings are not enough, that I've had to learn. Still my belief is enough to affect some of my choices; I'll wait to see if the judgement was sound, I can be that patient and I can afford to be surprised. Or I can afford to be wrong and unable to feel surprised if my experience becomes an experience of unconsciousness. If we believe that consciousness is a phenomena of life then i suppose that unconsciousness makes sense; but if you think as I do that consciousness is a phenomena of God's presence then it may be preserved.

Making a Difference

If I wanted to change the world in a big way, I probably do not have the time or ability to be successful in my desire. But if i'm happy to change the world in small ways then I have already been successful. And what more should we really hope for than to know we are saved for eternity? Beyond this what expectations should we have? If I believe that God is the great planner that many people think he is, I must humbly admit that I have no special knowledge of that plan. But I know that I can not make such a plan accountable to my own personal desires. If I have many expectations then I'll most likely be following a path of many disappointments. It's very hard for me to trust that anyone else would have superior insight, even though I believe we all share the one source for all inspiration. I trust what I myself have experienced before I would trust another person's account or claims; I prefer my own opinions in case there are any contradictions. But I'm willing to be proven wrong, our knowledge can never be made perfect by our own means. Popularity is no way to gauge righteousness; and I've heard other people argue that its alright for us to judge so long as we are righteous judges. But I really wonder how anyone can be certain of that; and it seems to me that meekness is favored over righteousness if they're not the same thing.

I have my own validation for believing that Jesus was successful in creating salvation, although I still don't understand the how and why of it. And I believe that he did this for everyone, whether or not we believed in it, and whether or not anyone else thinks we are deserving. One man claiming to be inspired with a divine vision suggested that a general resurrection was the ultimate end of prophecy, and i quite like the idea of it. And while that story has become very popular it might still be wrong, merely wishful thinking at best, and not within the realm of possibilities. But while I don't have all the answers myself, I'm generally willing to wait for the right answers. We can never be certain of some things until after it becomes a part of our personal history and experience, we just need to be patient. In the short or long-term there's nothing better than first-hand information. In the long run I don't think it really matters what we merely believe; but what we do and how we treat one-another might make a difference.

Interdependence and Personal Debt

Owing to our great interdependence practicly everyone will be left with a large number of unpaid personal debts at the ends of our motal lifetime. And I think its fair to say that some of our debts can never be satisfied via financial means. Countless numbers of people have made contributions to my own personal welfare with little to no monetary compensation. Some of them can't be rewarded because they're already long dead. Many of the individuals who's life work has benefited myself, may never get more than a pat on the back and "Job well done m8!" from me, but arguably that's good enough for recognition. Most of those people I may never have the opportunity to meet and thank personally, whether or not they were rewarded in life.

For example, everytime you drive a car you accumulate debt with all those people who built the roads and bridges and maintained them. Whether or not you supported all that work by paying taxes, I believe there should be an additional and more personal debt. We probably don't know anything about those people as fellow human beings, what personal accomplishments they cherished or how well they lived. Life should be more personal.

Of course there are a number of individuals who we did pay for services rendered, or were paid by our benefactors. For all those who have been rewarded financially, should we owe them any additional loyalty? I think not, because for all intents and purposes we are equally important. To consider our fellow human-beings as peers is the highest form of compliment that I personally can manage. Most of us are unwilling to go that far without discrimination and judgement, but if we haven't reached the level of maturity to learn it for ouselves, I think we must at least learn to be willing. To be willing is the greatest accomplishment whether or not we possess a level of personal ability to do a job.

Thousands of man-hours have been spent to stock our local grocery stores, a very minimal amount of labor is required by me in order to eat. As a practical consideration I would never be able to accomplish that much work myself, and do it in a timely way. I live in a house which I did not build myself, and I have not dedicated the many hours of my personal time to develope the skill to be able to do all the work. It doesn't really matter that the contractors were paid for the work, there is still a personal debt which goes well beyond that. And in order to make good on all these kinds of debts we really do need unlimited time, and we need some kind of after-life, or restoration to life.

We need enough time and opportunity to meet everyone and entertain a bit of conversation. There are a number of historical persons and personal hero's whom I'd very dearly like to meet and here them tell their own story. And whether or not they're personal hero's, I'm still willing to listen. There is a huge difference between being willing and simply being pre-occupied. We can sometimes excuse ourselves from making the effort because we are too busy, but within God's Eternal Kingdom, no such excuses can be made. And the way I see it, mortal life does take place within God's Eternal Kingdom. No place can exist in a state of seperation from that Kingdom, and the Spirit of God itself is ever-present. God touches all of our lives whether or not we are willing to believe it, without this intimate touch our self-awareness would be impossible. We can not choose to forsake this without forsaking our own continued existence as Individual persons, in this respect we are utterly dependent. We simply have no power or authority to chose seperation, we can not chose to have an end and rest in the peace of unconsciouness. If thats what we end up getting, it can never be due to a personal choice. Free-will has it's limitations when we are counted among a multitude of thinkers, and evidently we will always be counted as part of a greater whole.

The only kinds of personal rights which can be gaurenteed in life are those rights whigh our God or Creator does gaurentee. Its hard to say exactly what those rights would amount to if we share them equally and all things being considered. Evidently the right to life and happiness is not gaurenteed. While most of us would like to enjoy a guarenteed freedom from molestation, it does not appear that any one of us has ever had that gaurenteed. Any of our civil rights which are gaurenteed by a governing agency of our own, can easily be made subject to suspension, and for most rules we are willing to make exceptions. In order to become the most excellent judges in our own right, we must learn not to make exceptions, and we can never choose to enforce punishment. Violence in all it's various forms is the main part of our human dilema and can never be a part of the solution. When we've dedicated literally millions of man-hours to preperations for war, then war becomes a fair certainty lest all that work goes to waste; it easily becomes the means of choice. But i'm afraid its inevitable that all our current technology of arms will eventually be rendered obsolete, someone will discover a path to superior force.

This wonderful capacity for reason which we believe elevates us from the rest of the animal kingdom has not freed us from this kind of insanity. It appears that we are able to justify practically any deed, even genocide can make sense to one of us. Frequently we are able to justify murder or assasination when the ends seem desireable, and the threat of punishment will not serve as a deterant for many of us. We can not help but feel angry under certain circumstances, and it appears that our feelings will serve as our best excuse if we are ever to be made accountable. It's hard to account for the way we feel about differernt things, although in many cases we have been taught how we should feel. Who can take the blame if they were not favored with a quality education? We don't get to chose the circumstances of our birth but we need to be able to trust someone other than ourselves.

It's my personal belief that all manner of our personal debts can and will be paid in some way eventually. I believe in the durability of the individual human spirit because I trust God completely not to abandon us. At the very least we are gaurenteed to be remembered perfectly, all the events that surrounded us and intimately our personal experience of those events. It must be true because history is indelible, nothing can ever be changed about it. Even if I imagine that God has the power and authority to change some factual event, I can not imagine him using that power in order to show favor to a few and disfavor to others. I think that we will endure whether or not the world ever made sense to us, or whether or not we get any enjoyment out of it. We are ever a part of this great big Universe whether or not we felt that we belonged to it, it belongs to each of us. From our personal involvement and accountability there is no possibility of divorce, we may be pardoned from punishment but we may not be pardoned from existence and judgement. In the long run I believe that happiness is still a possibility for us, we shouldn't be too disappointed as the ultimate truth stands revealed to us; if we find ourselves very surprised the truth must still be better than we can possibly imagine.

Intervention

I believe that the Earth should be preserved indefinitely by some form of intervention; and it doesn't matter to me who intervenes. So long as they are able and willing to do the work I will consider them well motivated and a personal friend.

Clearly life on Planet Earth has a definite beginning, and is preceded by the Universe as a whole. Even the Universe itself has a definite beginning and we should assume is preceded by something else. I call that something else God's Eternal Kingdom, which i consider to be an undivided Kingdom. Our mortal lives take place within the greater Kingdom, and within the presence of God because God is ever-present within the Universe. To the best of my understanding, it is not possible to be separated from God's presence, we depend upon it for our ability to be self-aware. For every kind of historical event there must be at least one observer. From where we stand we can see a great multitude of Individual Person's, each one of them observes the Universe from a unique perspective. We appear to be separated from one another and we do not share a common personal experience. Whatever one of us has experienced in mortal life constitutes a measure of personal wealth, the experience has value. Whether we deem the experience to have been pleasant or unpleasant we might learn something that brings about personal growth. We progress along a path to maturity with no clear obtainable goal, at times we endure, and sometimes it seems we fail to endure. Many of us have struggled at times, we fought the battles that our survival seemed to require. Occasionally one of use chooses not to fight, we submit to the idea that some circumstances are beyond our ability to control. Our struggles may always seem to conclude with unhappiness, and some of us stop believing that we can be happy. Some of us have followed the noble path of personal sacrifice rather than making demands upon the lives of others. If we are unwilling to take a life in order in insure our own survival then we may not be preserved from another person's will to injure us. So a few have suffered injury while believing that the greatest battle had already been won. An uncountable number of human beings have proven that they were willing to die in the service of some noble cause, and in many cases willing to kill. For even one life to be saved may be noble enough reason to risk our own lives, or to demand the sacrifice of someone else's life.

All of the players in the Great Game of Life may be ranked in a variety of ways; but our personal rank matters less than the fact we participated. The human family is one family, and if we choose not to see it this way then we are out of touch with reality. There is a personal relationship between ourselves and every other human being, the matter can not be made subject to personal choice. These relationships bind us together whether or not we like the circumstances. Every single one of us was born here on Planet Earth and we belong to the Earth as much as it belongs to each of us. If we tried to change our world, or chose not to make an effort; if we have believed that we were powerful or powerless, we share a common fate. Our species succeeds or fails all together; as a species we either survive or fail to survive and become extinct. Whether or not the people are able to continue our world may fail us, if we do not destroy ourselves mother nature may still have the final word. In the long run we are unable to preserve the viability of Planet Earth. We can only hope that we are deserving of the intervention of a higher-power and a greater technology than we possess. And its hard to say what would make us more or less deserving. Perhaps we can by surviving perform a service valued by these higher-powers. The motivation doesn't matter to me, so long as the work gets done I will call it good.

Unlimited Responsibility - Pt. 2

While I am a kind of priest, it's not in my job description to take confession or offer absolution. However it is in my job description to take responsibility for your personal welfare; and I have to accomplish that without offering you material support. My personal ability is somewhat limited but my desire is less limited; and sometimes just being willing is more important than being able.

Our creators do not gaurentee that life will be easy and free of all hardship; and for the most part humanity Lords over itself. Whatever we may conceive as a higher authority and power, it seems content to let us govern ourselves. But of course none of us creates all conditions, our influence is mostly limited to an ability to make personal decisions. We create most of the world events that we deem to be important as we exercise what power we do have over reality. And we choose what we will or will not believe in, we define our own most fundamental truths in-as-much as we do feel comfortable with our own opinions. If we manage to put food on the table and shelter over our heads with a bed to lie in, that is a measure of success. And while we have enjoyed some successes we take comfort in the idea that our beliefs worked for us, why should we doubt what works? Whatever the nature of reality may turn out to be, we would like for it to make some kind of sense to us. We are all deserving of a Just Universe, but its hard to say exactly why we are deserving. We likely have some very definate ideas about what justice entails, most people agree that punishment should be a part of that equation. Unless the people can be seperated into more or less deserving groups there can be no meaningful justice because clearly we do not all deserve equal favor.

Individually the children of humanity do enjoy more or less favorable positions over the full course of mortal life. If we believe in our own durability and some kind of immortality, why should be believe that our future would be any different? It's good for us to be loved and we should be loved more as we grow and develope into our own personal maturity. IMHO everyone enjoys some capacity to learn from thier own personal experiences; and given unlimited time we are free to progress at a leisurely pace. With imperfect knowledge we must still act in every moment, and whatever we choose to do it's having an effect upon our environments and upon those who share it. I do believe that we would all like to be gaurenteed a personal freedom from molestation, to be isolated from violent deeds that others do. Let no-one impose his or her will upon me, let them not hold me up to their expectations, make no demands upon my time. Ask and then let me decide what to give, let me determine what my personal responsiblity demands of me. No-one else can make up my mind or determine how I should act. No human-being has superior rights, individually or collectively as a group. Still someone will always try to claim superior authority, superior intellect, superior education - people will even go so far as to claim divine insight and direction. The proponents of democracy may believe in some kind of providence, but they will never believe in the divine right of Kings to govern their world.

Who has ever been given instructions? Instead of instructions we get a measure of judgement, that we must exercies and develope to the best of our ability. The people have all been inspired with diverse and sometimes conflicting ideas, but the source of all human inspiration is somthing we share in common, it is a singular source. A few of us have gone so far as to claim that they did have guidance or instructions, but how can we trust the integrity of such claims? Human-beings are quite capable of perpetrating deceptions, even honest men may be self-decieved, our desire can be that strong. A true King is always self-directed and self-employed, he depends only upon a well-developed judgement. As revealed within the tale of Johnathan Livingston Seagull; the pursuit of personal excellence for birds is found within flight, for human-beings it is found within judgement. The most accomplished judge knows that he can not lay claim to superior knowledge for the matter can not be proven. He can only claim to know of events for which he has a direct personal experience. That personal experience would natureally include a great deal of testamony given by our peers. The whole body of testamony must be considered as evidence but often it is only evidence of beliefs being held. When someone says that they have experienced something that testamony must be given more weight. We found these things and we observed these things and we arrived at these conclusions. The physical evidence can never be excluded, it must always be accounted for. The excellent judge must keep asking the question, "What do I know and how do I know it?" He can not decide that an idea is valid based upon it's popularity and he can not make precidents upon decisions that have been made by other men in the past. Whatever has been done or said, cannot be undone. So given the limited power and authority that a single individual may possess, what can be done to change the world and what exactly would make it better for everyone. If we choose to be concerned for the welfare of all people without allowing for exceptions, exactly what outcome would be in everyone's best interests? It must serve the interests of the living and the dead and posterity and as a practical matter it must somehow be achieveable.

I decided a long time ago that the experience of Life on Earth is the very best thing for human-beings to have, and for everyone to enjoy more of that is my definition of the ultimate good. I don't know for certain that such a thing is achieveable but I believe it may fall within a realm of possibilities. It's difficult to rule out the possibility of a general ressurection even though our Universe doesn't seem to allow for any kind of permanence. The state of manifest things is constant change here and it's entirely predictable that our Sun will not last forever. The Earth will not be habitable forever; but in order for the ultimate good to be served as I perceive it, these things must be made to last forever. Clearly there is no Human technology that can moderate the forces which cause the Earth's magnetic field, or renew or Sun's supplies of fuseable Hyrodgen. In order for such things to become possible we have to imagine a superior technology and a superior personality to employ that technology in our behalf. In consideration of my own personal experiences, I'm convinced that such a person and technology do exist within our Universe, able to serve my great cause yet perhaps unwilling. Its hard to imagine how such a person could be convinced to serve a personal plan at the direction of one of us. Perhaps there is some service it requires that only a human-being may provide. Perhaps this is the way our Universe is governed, if we imagine a greater community of intelligent species and for every intelligent species there must always be one great patriarch or matriarch to serve as ambassador. A person who is able to make a durable commitment to be a companion and a peer, co-creator and servant. To do the job, one of us must win this great game of life decisively and overcome mortality in order to live and serve forever, or at least for a very very long time. In order to cover the cost of this great big piece of real-estate and become the Landlord our prospective saviour must be considered creditworthy. While many good people may prefere the salvation that Jesus offered, and prefer him for a King, he shows a preference to those people who should be considered meek. It appears that his version of salvation may be exclusive to true-believers and not all-inclusive. It appears to me that the most fundamental truth of creation that we have uncovered is it's underlying Unity. No amount of distance within the Universe represents meaningful seperation; there is always a relationship between ourselves and absolutely everything else. Now I'm well aware of a few idealistic individuals (and if i don't include myself in that group please forgive me) who believe in something called the Rapture. According to them our wonderful and remarkably strange Universe is meant to be a temporary thing only for the benefit of us human-beings. A true Heaven exists behind the world that we know, and that is the place we are truely meant to live forever, not here on planet Earth. But personally I like the Universe very much, the Earth is still a beautiful world despite human habitation, and perhaps it even has a purpose which does not depend on us. I guess that this is what faith is for.