©2001 Jon Youngblood
Unity Through Understanding
A Guidebook for the Recently Alive
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©2001 Jon Youngblood Unity Through UnderstandingA Guidebook for the Recently Alive |
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In a word, no.
From a religious perspective I personally felt it need go no farther than the consideration that God created the "fallen" angels. Even with the limited amount of self determination, or free will, the angels were apparently imbued with, the argument, as known to any first year theological or philosophical student, is that because God as defined in some places in the bible can only be construed, and is construed by the majority of Christian faiths, to be that God is the creator, if not upholder, of everything. Not some, not part, but every single atom, every single star. Every angel and every human being.
If God did not create evil, he created the potential for it; for how can anything in God's creation be outside of His Divine Plan and with His full understanding and agreement. Right? This much is child's play.
Now by potential I mean as in electrical potential. Electric current does not decide to flow or not. It does not have self-determination. The potential dictates that when the current is completed, the current will flow. The potential, in this case, is similar to a vacuum introduced into a room full of air. The potential is negative for the vacuum, and the potential for positive is the pressurized air. Put them together and the air will get sucked into the vacuum every time until such a point as an equilibrium is reached - at which point the potential is exhausted.
So it reasonably follows, and here is where the unreasonable will no doubt disagree, that God in his omniscience and omnipotence knew exactly what He was doing by creating, or allowing evil, in the mental/spiritual flavor (most of what we consider "bad" is usually having more to do with our centrist view of ourselves and what is good or bad to the human body) to enter into the equations of existence. And so the life experience was designed by God to have two players in the drama that should interact with each other from a "good" and "evil" position. The good, as we all know, is unrecognizable without the presence of it's opposite. They are like the two sides of the single coin. This is what dualism in theology refers to. The represent two opposing sides of a thing, and are yet of a single thing, in this case the single coin.
If God is to punish only the "evil" and reward only the "good", how is it that he should create the evil players for the sole purpose of frying them for eternity in a lake of fire? I believe that both sides will have played a good game and will all enjoy a shower together in the locker rooms before being presented to His Majesty, our Lord God for supper and story telling.
I see it rather like the popular image of the players on the stage; and this is in fact one of my all time favorite analogies because of it's direct co-relation to what we call the "real" situation. The stage being life or existence, and the actors ourselves, the whole of the human population past, present, and future. We all play the parts of the hero and the villain on the stage, and convince all those who witness our actions that we are extreme antagonists. Absolutely hate each other! But we all know that after the performance, as I believe will be after life, assuming there actually is one, that the actors will all get together as friends behind the curtains and laugh and congratulate each other on their outstanding performances. Should not the souls of both participates in God's little play be likewise regarded equally after the curtain has fallen? Would we really (unless we are still pretending and trying to maintain the illusion of the performance) expect that the villainous actor would be paid less than the hero? That the villain would be treated in personal life as if he were the character he played on the stage? Of course not. And like-wise the notion of a Heaven exclusive to one set of souls playing one part of God's creation, while the same souls who by consent or by design play the villainous parts be condemned to Hell and pain and suffering forever amen? The very notion of Hell is, to the enlightened consciousness an absurdity told to little children to manipulate them towards preferred behavior patterns - and nothing more. History, thanks to several disciplines of scientific endeavor, is showing that Hell was almost an after-thought in the Bible, and a reference to a rather nasty garbage and rubbish dump in early Jerusalem. Hell was nasty to be sure, but if there is survival of a soul within our futures, there will most certainly be one and only one place that we will all go: forward.
Finally, as we will explore in the next few paragraphs, there is no reason, religious or scientific, to beleive that God would so trap mankind as to create evil if there is no free will - which is exactly what I propose. But cheer up! That doesn't mean that you cannot feel as if you had free will, or that because the story is already (litterally) already written, that you cannot enjoy the story as it is read and reveiled. Indeed, it is that and only that, the excitement of the upcoming chapters, that for me, repeat for myself, is the only thing that makes an otherwise senseless and pointless existence worth enduring the hardships. That and that I am blessed with a love that has embraced the greater part of 30 years. And that was luck; plain dumb luck.
Now, from a scientific view there are two arguments for non-self-intervention, or simply being yourself - be it Mother Terrisa or Jeffrey Dahlmer. No matter what you do, it can be said that this is what you were meant, or destined, to do. You can't bite your own teeth or see your own eye. You can't manipulate your future and you can't really do much to manipulate the manipulator either. You can determine to affect changes in your behavior, but without the influence of "other" to engage such changes, I seriously doubt we would affect those changes. Like smoking for example. It is only under the outside threat of sickness that we struggle to change our habits. It is only the threat of loss of a loved spouse that we struggle to cut out drinking or any of a number of "bad" behaviors. Chances are they are only bad because it conflicts with some other human being's, or group of human being's, will. The threat of being incarcerated is meant to provoke changes in "bad" behavior. And so forth.
First of all, Faith seemed to have received some inspired knowledge of a fixed destiny which they encapsulated into the early notions of predestination.
And Secondly we have more recently evolved the idea of time moving forward in a line - a continuum. From these we come to Understand that there is nothing we can do that wasn’t mean to be done (sounds like a Beatles song...) or would not have happened anyway.
We discovered in Part Two that time is nothing but a measure of motion. Marking a position on a line. But the ENTIRE LINE is in existence as a totality no matter where the point happens to be placed at any given moment. It is, so far, impossible for anyone to modify the outcome of anything that has not already happened but will happen when they have reached that particular point on the time line of life where the thing is done. In other words, we cannot change our future any more than the past. What will happen is already happened - we just haven't got there yet.
Space and Time is a continuum. It is not segmented. It all floes together. And you experience it at one place and one time. Just as you can only be in one place at a time, you can only be in one time at a time. You cannot simultaneously be everywhere on earth for example. You only see the room you are in. That does not mean that the rest of the world is not there. It is. Stuff is going on in China, all things happening all around the world. But you just see one room. You can go to those other places and verify that they exist and are really there. But only one place at a time.
Time is the same situation. You can only experience one moment at a time. You have been to other moments that you can say was there. And because you are human and have a mind you can create within it an abstraction of a future where you can imagine moments that will be there. But you cannot be at all of those moments at once. And that doesn’t mean they are not there.
Just as China will always be China whether you are there or not, the future will always be there whether you are there or not. You can’t change China from a distance and you cannot change the future from a distance.
It’s interesting that one popular form of mysticism during the 1800’s was the ‘art’ of palmistry where one was said to be able to measure the days of a persons life by interpreting the lines on the palm of the hand. In a abstract way, this provided us with a parallel of the notion of the time line. The beginning and the end remain constant throughout our lives. It does not change at any time that the palm is read, say every ten years. The outcome each time should be the same because the line is fixed.
Knowing that there is no absolute thing as good or evil, and knowing that it doesn't matter what you do will not instantaneously convert a decent and just man (or woman) into a murderous monster. The Judaic Faiths use the image of an ever seeing eye in the sky to guilt or shame us into socially appropriate behavior. It uses the abstractions of good and evil to mold and shape the way in which we interact with the world around us. But not all religions do this.
If one is inclined towards aggressive and selfish behavior they are going to do it anyway. Likewise a saint will no doubt remain a saint no matter how much taunting he may receive.
If one is pre-disposed towards gentleness and generosity in thought and deed he will be no less inclined to display these traits whether or not the popular culture of the day praises or condemns those traits. Wherever they may come from - the soul, genetics or parental guidance. Recall that Jacob, father of Israel, was by today's standards incestuous, a polygamist, adulterer and probably a child molester (since women were married off way before eighteen years of age back then).
It should seem clear to everyone by now that hateful people are not going to start doing good works, and good people are not going to go running off to the "the dark side" depending on whether there is a paternal grandfatherly figure watching from on high his every move.
Because the egocentric among us are still going to want it NOW, while the selfless will always understand deep down inside that
cooperation with his social environment is always in his own best interest
if he (or she) is seeking a life of happiness. Indeed, many people want nothing to do with happiness and contrive through the fulfillment of immediate selfish impulses to make their lives a living hell. But they will do that regardless of whether it is right or wrong, good or evil, because for whatever reason that is who they are. This is not to suggest that people can't change. If that were true I would not bother writing these words. And, hopefully we all know someone who has come out of the fires and went on to enjoy the long term selfishness of self interest through co-operative interaction.
For those who can take the knowledge of freedom through the acceptance of predetermination and freedom (at least in our minds) from the shaming and bolstering of ego by abstract notions of good and evil, and run with it, there is a subtle transformation of consciousness that is called samsara, spiritual awakening, enlightenment, cosmic consciousness, etc.
Whether you decide or decide not to decide, the decision has already been made, you just don’t know YET what it will be. This is liberating in the sense that you no longer have to constantly worry about getting it ‘right’ because either you will or you won’t not matter how much you believe that your will power alone will determine the outcome. That is Ego working on you, or so the eastern mystics would advise.
At the same time, and in exactly the same way, that this perception may lead to a freedom from a kind of ‘higher’ responsibility, and allow us to relax a little bit, if you use this freedom to do mean and hateful things that you might not have otherwise done not having that freedom, then you were mean and hateful to begin with and would have found a means to express it anyway and are thus unable to escape your destiny which was set at the moment of your birth - or at the moment of creation itself!
For the gentle sojourner this freedom lays open the mental processes to utilize more of its abilities to simply observe, reflect, and enjoy each moment of a life revealed moment by moment - without worrying about whether such engagements are a waste of precious time. Why is it we only believe life has purpose if we are so busy that we have little time to ‘smell the roses’? It belies, I believe, a kind of hysteria that if we stop moving the Devine Discomfort will capture our attention and we will become afraid. Intimidated by its immensity and our relative insignificance. What gets one to chuckling is that it’s a catch 22. Until you are free to reflect, at the risk of feeling small and spiritually helpless, you will never be able to fully appreciate the beauty and totally non-threatening nature of nature.
Well then, if it doesn’t matter what we do, what is the point of living at all?
I hope that I have repeatedly stressed enough the idea that life only has a "point" in so much as a living creature appeared in existence (man) who's complex neural structure gave rise to an abstract notion of things having a "point". Beyond the Mind, there is no point. Stars have no point. Radiation has no point. Even the arrangement of molecules in that most awesome of structures - DNA- has no point other than what the Mind assigns it.
So, and this is where the student of the philosophical sciences often feels his first pang of Divine Discomfort, if life has no point, why bother doing anything? Why live at all? The resounding answer is: because it's there. Because existence will soon enough grow cold and motionless and lifeless. Nothing will be done in time. But for now, life is in motion. It is doing something including you. The question we should be asking is why is it a bother? Because it requires effort? Because it can hurt and make you tired? OK. Yes, that is a bother at times. But if we feel a part of it and it a part of us, then why not play with it? Is play a bother? You can hurt yourself playing and play can certainly wear you out. But what a joy play can be if performed for no other reason than to delight in the motion of existence while we still can. Because all indications are now that it will no be so forever. (See also Part Two, The Very, Very Large)
[Develop further: Interject Good vs. Evil. Right and Wrong. Beneficial or destructive]
Sidebar on Devotion
I include this here, although it probably should be placed in Part one where it is also discussed in context of Deity and worship, because when we consider or actions in life - or inaction as the case may be - and whether or not anything we do really matters in the Larger Picture, there is a place that many come to where it is NOT important what we do, does not matter what we do, but it does matter to someone or something else. So we find that doing it (whatever action or inaction you are considering) - working, acting, behaving, interacting, making choices, etc.- does not matter for Us but we do it for the sake of Other. This is Devotion.
Devotion
For those who are not afflicted with an overactive Ego - plagued by Greed and intense desire - the world can seem rather empty at times. Samuel Beckett [more info - link] in his abstract plays about end of the world scenarios, portrayed this feeling of "nothing to be done" in a very stark contrast to the everyday world. There is nowhere to go and nothing that must be done. Grim as the images may be of life without desire, we still find that life is clung to just as strongly if only for the experience. The experience itself, therefore, is shown to have its own intrinsic value. Even if, as yet, the measure of that value remains elusive. WHY do we go on living when it would seem that nothing really matters? There is no desire in the heart other than to just sit and watch - a need that seems to be paid much homage to by the entertainment industries such as television and movie production. Here is another important clue as to how important life REALLY is. That we can factor in so much time to just sit and watch. It is only when it is threatened or lost that we suffer over the importance of a life not fully lived somehow. The anti-television contingent I believe understands this but has not been able to verbalize it in such a way as to be a meaningful vessel for carrying a useful message to the addicted viewing public.
So arises an internal appreciation for what simply IS. To find joy in the simple act of being here to see it. To witness it. To behold it.
And so without a strong Ego to direct our own desires, it becomes a simple matter to participate in the "surrendering" of ego cherished by many Eastern religions. Having accepted this condition (as with many depressives) or attained it (by many students of the philosophical sciences - or by a life so problematic that the Ego is literally "beaten" into submission), it is often found that living life for Other is often more rewarding than living life for Self. This is where Devotion comes to "deliver" the Mind (or soul) from the paralyzing effects of Ego separation. Like a deer in the headlights, the Mind can become stunned and confused without the constant direction of its little dictator inside the head. Free to go in any direction - without fear of Ego repercussions - it is easy enough to just stand and watch the headlights grow brighter. Fascinating, and so pretty. BANG! We know the end of this story all to well. But with the help of Other (hopefully the guy behind the wheel), we can turn our eyes away from the shear beauty of life's headlights and continue on our journey in the dark forest of existence. It's not all pretty and bright, but the sun will shine again in the morning and all will be well. I've overworked the analogy and I am sure there is another parallel having to do with the bright light of the Near Death Experience, but lets continue our current focus on devotion.
For our European ascendants, devotion unquestionably had it peak during those dark days of the Middle Ages. The majority of our kin suffered in miserable squalor while a tiny handful lived in opulence that even the richest of us today cannot live. And our devotion to God and the Church was all encompassing.
There is a great deal to be gained by comparing the role of religion to that of modern day psychological therapies, but here we find a clear division of interests. What was grasped by the Men of God of their day was the deeper parts of the psyche that Understood the Minds inclinations towards suffrage and misdirection of the Ego’s domineering oppression through devotional service to Other - in their case: God the Father Almighty. Modern therapy is, I believe, so ineffective because it focuses almost exclusively on the enhancement of Ego as a means of establishing a stable and contented Mind because the Ego is better Understood than these deeper and less Understood mental functions and are therefore doomed to do little more than pacify the crying child and not to help towards developing a vastly more complex Mind that is far more than Ego. The Father of modern psychology did well to point out the involvement of Ego in Mind but would be the first to admit the vast inner realms that remain to be discovered by future generations to come. As we saw from Part Two, the understanding of Mind is still in its infancy. We Understand more about the external world than we do of the internal. Perhaps our ancestors may have Understood more of the mind during a time when the internal world was far more rich and colorful than the cold stark reality of the external world of the Dark Ages. My guess is that the internal world of imagination and dreams played a far greater role in the daily lives of these people than did the mundane world around them. It is harder for us - bombarded with sensory input for every waking minute of our lives - today to appreciate, learn from, and modify our therapeutic instruction based on the long hours of daily internal experience that gave our earlier counterparts a greater familiarization, if not Understanding of, the deeper psyche of the Mind. How these early teachers (priests) used that familiarity with Mind remains a mixed bag of dual agenda, but I believe the majority, like today, had good intentions for those under their care.
The religious leaders taught devotion as a means of stabilizing the Minds of people who knew far more difficult times than the worst of imagined circumstances today. You think you got it bad? You feel bad and wonder what life is all about and why bother? Read some history and get over it girl! You got it good no matter what you think. Tell yourself right now if you are even considering that your life is hard, that you are full of shit. You are a spoiled rotten little child. You don’t know what suffering is about! OK, mother. Yes there are children starving in Russia. Enough said.
The priests of old knew that what held the Mind together in the worst of circumstances was the need to find value in the service of Other. The wife needs you. Your children need you. Your God needs you. You get by the adversity because of Other. By devoting your life to them instead of yourself. You can never be able to satisfy Ego. Desire and Greed come from the Ego and it is a bottomless pit that can never be filled. Never be satisfied. Because there is never enough of what the Ego seeks to ever fulfill Mind. So we find not an imprisonment or enslavement through devotion, but a kind of ultimate freedom. Freedom from the animal level of mental function the Sigmund Freud discovered in the Unconscious Ego.
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