In My Humble Opinion

As Human Beings, we share a few common beginnings and a few endings as well, such things bind us together despite ideological or physical differences. As manifest persons within a manifest Universe, we exist in relationship to absolutely everything else. Surly there is a connection between ourselves and every other human being that has ever lived. The relationship is very real and personal, weather or not we choose to acknowledge it or desire. Every single one of us has been given the gift of judgement, in lieu of perfect knowledge. We each exercise some limited power to create the world around us, and to create the world as it lives within our beliefs. We practice judgement upon one another, and within many other facets of our lives where decisions are being made. Countless decisions are being made every day, and for most of these decisions we seem to have little to no influence. I can not make up your mind, I can at best offer up a few arguments, but I have not the authority to demand your attention. Such are our innate limitations, we have not the capacity of perception to be aware of everything that goes on. Even in our immediate environment there is much which passes beneath our notice, but is none-the-less a relevant part of our reality. Life is work 24/7, although much of it is unpaid work. Even while you sit at the PC and read, or play a game, work is being done. If your heart muscle fails to work, you will die my friend, so clearly you are doing some work even if we do it unconsciously. The simple act of putting food into our mouths and chewing is labor intensive, although if we did not make the food ready-to-eat ourselves, much of that work was done by someone else. And even though we believe that most of the people who have worked to make our meals convenient have been rewarded for their effort, we still owe them a bit of gratitude which can not be valued in terms of money. We should at the very least, grant some recognition to all those people who contributed some labor to make our lives more comfortable. Although in practice some people are rewarded too much and others not enough.

As individual persons, I think that we do not have the power to choose to exist in an unconscious state indefinitely. Therefore we do not have the power to choose our own end, nor can we choose an end for someone else. Although surely we will all suffer a mortal end, perhaps there is some truth in believing that another kind of life begins. And there is a measure of manifestation, which remains entirely invisible to us, and for the most part undetectable by even the most sensitive scientific instruments. Perhaps we do continue to manifest within the universe in some way long after our physical remains dissolve into dust. Such beliefs lend themselves well to optimism, I don't think it harms us in any way to believe in our own durability. However it is perfectly clear that the Earth and Sun were not made to last forever, even if we hope for the possibility of a resurrection to everlasting life. Some stars have already passed away, and we depend on that passing, we are formed of the remnants. The solid Earth could not be born without those prior deaths, but the end comes gracefully to the substance of creation which continues to take on new forms. All of that physical stuff that we know as our own flesh and bone, has been here as a part of the Earth since the Earth was formed. As I have said, we share a few beginnings in common, evidently even the Universe itself is a born thing and that is one thing. We are nothing more than potential until the moment that we are realized within creation, but the possibility of us is still something which we consider to be very important. We think our role as observers is the thing which grants purpose to everything else. I don't think its wrong to believe in our own importance, it's even good for us; but as we begin to think of ourselves as more or less important we begin to err. The smallest events are still a significant part of the greater whole, without that small part the whole would be incomplete. As self-aware creatures we often give some consideration to what we or others deserve, although what Humanity deserves altogether could as easily be defined by the least fortunate of us. In some way our fate has been bound together by a common heritage, in a way that defies all possibility of separation.

In mortal life we experience varying degrees of separation, and many perceive that they are separate from God's presence. Often this is because the person thinks of God as a physical person much like one of us, and clearly there is no such person present upon the face of the Earth. I think that there may very well be one great creator and/or physical person who is God-like to us within the Universe. We ourselves are creators in some way, but we do not believe that we are Gods. I think that there can never be more than one, upon which we all depend. Dogs and cats may worship us, but having the prayers of many followers has no power to elevate us to Godhood. For all that we are or can become, we can never become like God, God is unique. Perhaps even the great creator of heaven is an individual person who depends upon God in the same way that we depend upon God. Perhaps we have a multitude of peers and companions within the Universe, of whom we are not aware. Some with more or less power, more or less knowledge, more or less authority, and some very much unlike human beings. But for a few notable exceptions, such persons seem uninterested in conversing with us. To the best of my own knowledge, no such person has ever offered to guide and govern our species, we have been left to govern ourselves.

For my own gratification, I know that I am loved, in this I believe myself victorious. I think it is enough to know that I have been loved, I do not need to be sure of anything else. In due course of time, perhaps we will gain the capacity and opportunity to learn the fullness of truth. Any decision that I make today, I might make differently in the future from a more knowledgeable perspective. Or we might always be subject to some kind of limitations which prevent us from gaining perfect knowledge, we have to make the best of the personal experience that we have today. If i choose to trust or doubt the authority of another human being today, perhaps I will gain a vantage to view the matter more clearly. I have been taught or learned of many beliefs and quite often these things seem to conflict with one another. Our most noble ideals seem to conflict with actual human behaviour, but perhaps there is some way even ignoble deeds may be justified. I humbly submit that our world is a perfect place just the way that it is, if only we could be aware of every condition we would see it. But who says that it's not possible to improve upon perfection? In a popular song by the Talking Heads, David Byrne sings that, "Heaven is a place where nothing ever happens." I say that we are citizens of the Universe and citizens of Heaven today, and this is not a place where nothing ever happens.
I think that God's Kingdom must be characterized by Unity and Inclusiveness. None that have lived may ever be forsaken by God, God must sustain us because that is God's purpose. It's not God's intent to punish or judge, and no one can ever be removed from God's presence. To the best of my understanding, God is present everywhere within the Universe, and everywhere upon, within and above the Earth. We could not experience the gift of consciousness if it wasn't so, we are entirely dependent and we always will be. I have said that we share a few things in common which bind us together forever and ever, this is what I believe about us and our place within creation. If you are not at peace in the moment, just wait for it, it's on the way.

The Final Argument of Christ

Jesus believed that the cause of all of the bad behavior among the children of humanity could be attributed to a lack of knowledge. The person who acts in unrighteousness simply didn't know better. He used this argument in defense of the people who were having him executed, and by extension it can be applied to everyone else. On the basis of this argument he pleads with God the Father to pardon humanity from punishment, in his success he breaks the chains of death which bind us allowing for the possibility of a resurrection.

I believe that the final argument of our Lord may be incorrect; knowledge is not the main problem but the limitations of our biology play a greater role. In modern times we have found that some individuals may be genetically predisposed to violent acts. Our emotional lives are based largely upon a chemistry which we can not control directly through rational thought. And well educated persons with fairly superior rational minds are perfectly capable of justifying murder under certain conditions. Whether we call that murder, "Capital Punishment," or "The assassination of a political enemy," makes little to no difference. One act of violence can never be reconciled by another act of violence, violence can not be the solution to violence. In some, perhaps extreme cases, the rational mind is able to justify genocide. We may not all agree with the reasoning, but there is still a bit of reasoning involved in much of our bad behavior. Most of us don't believe that murder is justifiable in every case, but if we were able to consider all the contributing conditions perhaps it would be justifiable in every case. We can only hope that this is the nature of the truth, in modern times knowledge is more easily available to all people. We may have heard very good arguments from many of those people who we choose to have for our personal hero's in life. And of course we all believe in some kind of noble cause, which can justify a great deal. Personally I feel that a great deal of human behavior will be justified simply by saying that we felt very angry at the time, for all of the control we have over such feelings while they are in control of us.

If the final argument of Christ turns out to be invalid, I don't believe it will affect our ultimate destiny by much. I never believed in an Angry and Wrathful God; some of the natural events which are very destructive to life and property may very well be necessary for life to exist on a planet of any description. I would never believe in a God that commands one of us to take the life of another either; the person who hears such a voice is suffering from a bit of insanity and that is all. Every child of humanity comes into manifestation to experience life and universe from a unique perspective and set of conditions. Every child of humanity is rewarded in exactly the same way, with a mortal end and whatever comes after. Perhaps God's unconditional love will be enough to eliminate all accountability, wipe out our every grudge, and justify any hardship that we had to suffer. Perhaps there will never be a return to immortal life on Planet Earth for us, perhaps the truth is something completely different. And if it turns out to be something that we never expected, we can only hope that it's still something good for us. I for one choose to trust the God that I believe in, I know that I have been loved, and I think that I will continue to have a place within the durable Universe well beyond my own mortal end.

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.