It is particularly fashionable today, as it has been at certain times throughout history, to repudiate belief in God.
“It’s so refreshing, after being told all your life that it is virtuous to be full of faith, spirit and superstition, to read such a resounding trumpet blast for truth instead,” wrote Matt Ridley about the release of Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion.
As someone who rejected the Catholic faith of my youth, I can certainly agree with atheists who put forward the argument that most organized, fundamentalist religion is to blame for most of the conflict and divisiveness on earth.
Nevertheless, more than an argument against fundamentalism, books such as God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens are believed to represent a kind of modern-day metaphysical machismo. Hitchens, Dawkins and other members of the atheist and rationalist movement are seen as the ultimate hard-man realists, the Clint Eastwoods of the spirit, and theirs the braver position than that of the quiche-eaters among us, who pull our punches in the belief that a more complex paradigm, even if we don’t yet fully understand it, may offer a better approach to the defining our universe and ourselves.
The rationalist’s utter reliance on science to define us seems to me a throwback to the time immediately after the Second World War, when, flushed with our success with the atomic bomb, we still believed that modern technology was capable of supplying us with a solution to all of life’s problems. DuPont’s advertising slogan, Better Living through Chemistry, stood as the mantra of the age.
Modern day voodoo
All these years later, I have a problem with science and secularism as God. First of all, from where I sit, current science – particularly scientific medicine - is anything but rational. After 20 years of studying the medical literature I have concluded that modern medicine is not a science.
For all the science-speak in medicine about painstakingly controlled study and meticulous peer review - for all the attempt to cloak medicine in the weighty mantle of science - a good deal of what we regard as standard medical practice today amounts to little more than 21st century voo-doo.
Medicine’s current understanding of the body, which is essentially as a broken piece of machinery to be repaired, never takes into account the body’s extraordinary potential to operate beyond the empirical.
What are we to make of the 8 per cent of breast cancer that just disappears by spontaneous remission? What are we to make of the fact that the placebo effect works more than two-thirds of the time? How does all of this fit into a rational universe?
The problem of the supernatural
In order to determine whether atheists have a point here, I need a better description of what it is we’re arguing over. Richard Dawkins’s picks his basic quarrel with God as a supernatural being.
I have a problem with this word ‘supernatural’. I am immersed in science of one sort or another every day of my life, and I am a daily witness to the miraculous, more that can only be described as supernatural to our present understanding.
I see good scientific evidence that engaging in strange rituals like tapping parts of the body or staring at a moving target while mouthing affirmations can cure physical and psychological illness. I see large numbers of validated case studies of people are completely aware of their surroundings - and from the vantage point of the ceiling – when they are either comatose or clinically dead.
I see evidence of the holy, the miraculous in the fact that an electron can be both a particle or a wave at the same moment and change depending upon who is looking at it.
The death of the spiritual
As novelist Jeanette Winterson wrote last week in her Saturday London Times column, the problem with the polarization today, between the rational and the fundamentalist, is the death of mysticism, of genuine spiritual content in our lives.
‘. . . the kingdom of this world, as the Bible puts it so beautifully, can be balanced only by the kingdom of God,’ she wrote. ‘This is not literal; it is symbolic. It is how the inner life checks the outward show. It is how conscience bridles impulse, it means recognising that there is much more to human life than the worship beneath the twin towers of money and power.
‘The job of religion is to keep this in our sights. I don’t care if it’s all a construct. I don’t need to believe in a sky-god or any god at all in the described sense. The world “mystery” is at the heart of all religions because we cannot be literal-minded about belief.’
What she is saying is that our beliefs – and from their our morality – come from the embrace of the mystery of existence.
Many readers write in to ask if I think that God is The Field. The answer is I do – in the sense that The Field represents the essential unity of all things - the essential nature of which we can only partially grasp.
The problem in not believing in anything beyond the empirical is ourselves. As human beings we will always only have a crude approximation of the mystery of our existence.
All we have, in the end, is our belief, our sense of the divinity of life, while we continue taking baby steps toward an understanding of the miracle we see before us.
There is only one thing for it, no matter who or what your God. As Annie Dillard once wrote, “Pray without ceasing.”
May you have a miraculous holiday and 2009.
Warm wishes,
Lynne McTaggart
Facebook Comments
Wow. Thank you for writing this. It has enriched my day and given me a perspective that I was lacking. I have great respect for you and for your writings, which are all so well done.
Thanks Lynne,
You have said in your own word what I've been telling anyone who would listen for the last fourty years (and that used to be remarkably few).
The promise of tomorrow lies in the mystery of today, there is no going back to the dark ages despite the inverse religious dogma of those high priests of science who remind me of that famous quote from, I believe , Lord Byron, "A cynic is someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing!"
I agree with your article fully. I can not wait to buy your book The Field. I have experienced God's grace in my life. My philosophy is religion is man made. Everyone has a different intepretation. But spirituality is the true realm of God. If everyone where not so concerned about the unobvious and look at the obvious they would soon find their true self.
It is the external world that blocks our view
It is the internal we find our peace
Path to our soul
Heightened Awareness
The sphere of an ethereal daze
It was my spirit that I felt,
As if disconnected from the physical world,
In another realm that no one or sound or object could penetrate;
I was surrounded by an aura encircling me with light,
My awareness was of warmth, peacefulness and absolute love;
I was so enthralled that I did not want to end the elation;
My senses of being so surreal;
Everybody and everything had meaning and a purpose;
I myself had this ardent compassion for life and what it stood for;
I absorbed all around me,
The people, the water, the flowers, the sky,
Every object of animation possibly imaginable;
In a state of heightened awareness,
Happy to be where I was, the present, the now
I hope you have a Very Merry Christmas, safe and Happy Holidays.
Hi Lynne- You have a wonderful way of embracing the Elusive and managing to explain it from the center point.
I am reminded of the passage in Acts 17:28 - "IN Him we live and move and have our being" which I have always thought alluded to The Field ...my understanding is that we are actually within God, each of us a part(icle) of God. Thank you for the insightful article that is so appropriate for this time of year!
Right On!
Read my book "Blackness & the Dreaming Soul"
Shoving Leopard, 2007
Dear Lynn,
I think believing in God is something that is present in every human being from the moment of birth. Maybe what happens with atheists is that they do not know that the concept of God that they have is perhaps different or maybe even more evolved.
Churches have tried to keep people thinking that God is that old man who punishes sinners and gets angry and destroys people. But churches are only groups of power interested in handling the will of people for their own benefit.
Anyway, God can be percieved by each one of us according to our degree of evolution, age, etc.
My own conception of God is based on an intelligent universe, the conviction that love is the most powerful force in the world and that we are all an important part of this universe because without even the tiniest part, a gigsaw puzzle is not complete.
Love,
Concepcion Calderon
Lynn
This was a wonderful article. Not just because it is my belief system but because it provides "hope" for everyone.
Thank you for all of your work. I have enjoyed being associated with your efforts this year.
Mercedes
It is so strange to see people reacting to their believes in a way that :
"if you’re not with me You’re against me".
Is this reaction taking its source in the fear of being alone?
Seeing all this, a question arises: Is there an action that is not a reaction?
Do you understand the question?
Something that is not of a reaction -as every opposite contains it own opposite - no?
A believer is by no means different from a non believer, they both believe is it not?
But being in the state of not knowing, I mean not knowing at all, with the mind not trying to escape that state of unknown in trying to have an answer of some kind.
Is this possible at all?
Jean-Jacques from France
The miracle of being a Divine being is fully activated in us in every breath we enjoy in every heart beat that is a constant reminder that we are living that miracle that we are always connected to that life force we call BEING.
That the miracle before me is me from within.
Have a beautiful and prosperous day always.
I DITHER BETWEEN BEING A BELIEVER AND A RAMPANT SKEPTIC. IN AN ATTEMPT TO SEE SOMETHING.......... BEYOND THE 'SCIENTIFIC' PARADIGM, SOMETHING RATHER MORE,............ THAN 'RATIONALISM'(WHICH IS DISTINCTLY IRRATIONAL AND EMOTIVE!) REASONS......
AND AS YOUVE SAID IN YOUR WAY LYNNE,ONE ONLY HAS TO SEE THE BARMY WAY THAT" EVIDIENCE BASED" 'REASONING' IS USED,TO KNOW CONCLUSIVELY ITS REASONS ARE NO REASON,AND CERTAINLY NOT "AT ALL" TRUTH FUL!
AND WHILE IM NOT A CHURCHGOER,SEEMS JOLLY APPARENT TO ME, THE BABEL CONFOUNDING OF TONGUES THERE DEFINTELY IS ,EVEN AMONST THOSE WHO SPEAK THE SAME LANGUAGE.
Hi Lynne- it's a shame that so many educated people, those who could be champions of truth and hope, rebel against religion itself and thus take spirit and God out of life. I too rebelled against the Catholic church, but then science let me down as well! 🙂 So now it's on to spirit, and to funny rituals like tapping on my body! haha
Not only is there a God, but, according to my persistent and consistent experience, we are all pieces/expressions of him-her-it, which means that atheists are expressing God's desire to have that experience. How cool is that?
Having been one myself for many, many years I know that atheism is just one of many paths that all lead back to the complete awareness and love of Home. We need neither justify our knowing nor criticize theirs.
AND how wonderful that the spiritually-minded among us have someone like Lynne to remind us of and validate the spiritual basis of what we're experiencing, which in turn shows the way for those who are ready to take the small leap that changes everything. It's part of how I arrived at the wonderful place in life I find myself in now, and it thrills me to be able to shine a light for other Souls on their journey.
For me, however, the essential point is that evolution happens first in the heart and then in the mind. When the heart is ready the mind follows (even when it seems like the other way around).
Lynne,
What a fine holiday wish and a well written column. I think certainly in America media is in love with Fundamentalism. It may be that they are just a bunch of masochists who love to get spanked. Or it may be that they perceive that these people (and I mean the leaders and public spokesmen) have "power" and need to be worshiped. I can understand the rise of world wide fundamentalism as in all cases a reaction based on fear. In the west it was a kneejerk reaction of the excesses and rapid shift to the left of the 60's and 70's. In the east, it is a reaction to the rapid change in cultures that have remained stagnant since the 1600's. It is the response to a need by the fearful for some sense of firm foundation that they did not find in what are now traditional beliefs, or in science. Now we see the results of it...Wars in the East and Middle East, and here a very hard lesson to the theology of "Greed is good in the eyes of God, who will reward belief in his Fundamentalist (they say true) teachings with great wealth". Now some predict riots here in the US by summer. Thousands of people's lives have been destroyed or badly damaged.
I have found in my newfound Catholic faith the teachings of Thomas Merton, Henri Nouwen and others who talk of spirituality like Zen Masters. I have found the spirituality missing in my woe begotten life in "the world". I have found room there for me to be who I truly am. My occasional flashes of insight are not treated as "messages from the devil" and I am not given pat answers and Bible Quips in answer to questions so deep that a whole college of theologians would have a challenge answering them. Instead I am encouraged to read, study and pray (and not just the Bible).
We may want to remember that religion is only mans attempt to understand the infinite with our finite senses. Some of us have had glimpses at the infinite in its true form. Some will get them and not understand them and some will never get them. Is God The Field? Yes, He is the source of it. Some have called it the Finger of the Holy Spirit. Call it what you will. We are talking about energy and energy beings here. Our conventions do not apply, yet they are all we have.
Science is yet another finite attempt to understand the infinite. It is not the final answer either. Science and religion go hand in hand here: Science tells us how, religion tells us who. Science in itself should not be a religion but only inform religion. Did man evolve from monkeys? I don't think so. Was the world created in 6 days 6,000 years ago? I really doubt that. Did God create man? Sure. Energy medicine can explain that. So can Oriental wisdom, like the Ki Society Aikido Schools which teach that life is a gift from the universe and that it is caused when particles of Ki condense in a fertilized egg. Kirlian photography shows that a developing fetus has the energy outline of a fully formed person. Is this the soul? I don't know. As an energy form I wonder if the soul has a physical appearance except as a very bright light. Either way we should protect all life. Genesis teaches that we are stewards of the world, not destroyers.
Jesus taught of peace, he would kill no one, no matter what the reason. He forgave all sins, even those of gluttony and greed. He reanimated the dead and healed the sick with what can only be described as "energy medicine". Fundamentalists have turned faith in him into yet another reason to hate and kill. We need to correct this with our lives. Those of us here, whether we believe in Him or His message or not, when we work for peace are continuing his mission and living his teachings. But in the world, there is much confusion as to which "religions" accurately reflect his teachings. Are the fundamentalists right? They talk of fear and death and those are hot topics for media. We are just there...In the background somewhere.
Thanks to people like Lynn here and some others we are getting more exposure. Their writings have helped balance things out.
So, as we go to celebrate our respective holidays I wish you all the best. Remember we are co-creators of our reality so I will leave you with the immortal words of Emerson, Lake and Palmer from their song "I believed in Father Christmas":
"I wish you a hopeful Christmas,
I wish you a Brave New Year...
All anguish, pain and sadness leave your heart and may your road be clear...
Hallelujah, Noel,
Be it heaven or hell,
The Christmas we get we deserve."
Dear Lynn,
Thank you for such a divine Christmas card!
Your writing in this post is just super-keen and clear....an beautiful!
I wish you and yours and all your projects enormous joy and success in the New Year!
In Truth, Simplicity and Love
Dearest Lynne, Your article and the comments of your readers made for excellent inspirational reading this morning. That these dialogues are finally happening, even going mainstream, enheartens me to no end.
Here's to everyone recognizing that we're always swimming in a river of blessings,
Honors the Gentle Breath of Spirit
Several of the "fundamentalist atheists" seem to suffer from an inability to distinguish between culture and religion, or between religion and spirituality. Richard Dawkins's recent stridency also seems to reflect an emotional response to traumatic events in his childhood that he associates with organized religion, as well as the impending collapse of his narrow neo-darwinist orthodoxy in the face of recent scientific research on quantum biology and evolution (see for example the fascinating book Quantum Evolution by Johnjoe McFadden). How rational is that?
Thank you for sharing Lynne. I love the way you write and express yourself.
I am all in favour of religion/God, what I'm not in favour of is the misuse/misunderstandings of religion/God. They all ultimately go to one point, that of love. Love for all. People like Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, etc showed in the being, if the writings are correct as One LOVE. For the mathematicians that's a Zero. No matter what you do by multiplying, subtracting, etc, it will always be a Zero.
Wishing you, Bryan and your team a warm, joyous and eventful festive season.
With love and Qi
Magnus A. L. Mulliner
Freedom of speech, like any other good things, comes with its shortcomings as well...
That's all these authors are. It's like they write about themselves not existing...
Thank you for your beautiful holiday column. I have one small correction: it was not Annie Dillard who wrote, "pray without ceasing". She was quoting the bible, 1 Timothy 5:17 (NKJV). A little later in this same letter, probably written by Paul written to Timothy at Ephesus, he also advises:"Test all things; hold fast what is good" (1Th 5:12) and "Do not quench the Spirit" (1Th 5:19) Not such bad guidelines, even for us modern seekers.
Best wishes,
Miriam Jacobs
Lynne,
You are correct in my opinion. The only thing I would like to add is that we can do something very practical about this apparent split.
We are the one's who must work to heal this division in ourselves. As long as we see Chris and Richard as not part of our own collective mind, we will continue as a group to project our shadow on to them and see them as part of the problem.
This grounds the separation.
If we as a group can own our shadow and forgive this aspect as reflected by Chris and Richard, ( or whoever we determine is divisive,depends on the flavor you prefer) perhaps we can bring all of together to work for the betterment of all.
Let's try to see their expressions as a cry for help and let's send them the help they need to shift beyond reason and to the higher levels of consciousness, as they are not far away.
Reason is a high level of consciousness, but it can be transcended to higher levels as suggested by another Dawkins (in Power vs. Force).
The power of group intention used to heal oursleves will transform the world out there. If we are willing to accept that Richard and Chris are an aspect of oursleves, perhaps playing the role of our shadow, then by sending some light to that shadow we heal it.
Perry
Lynn,
Since you can’t hold your breath till you die (you would only pass out, and if anybody wants to blow their brains out just to prove a point, please be my guest and even then you may find out your disappointment being wrong on the other side.), and since you can’t add a single breath when you do die, you must humbly recognize that there is a power a bit more powerful than yourself, and you may call it whatever you wish or don´t call it at all. We can create our religions or hate them all. It could care less whatever you do or don´t do, but life or existence itself wherever it may occur follows its own rules, not yours.
AVIVAR
WHY DOES " RELIGION " HAVE SUCH A CRUMMY RECORD AND TURN OFF SO MANY ? ---- is that not the question that is posed so often ---- it turns out --- that after years of questioning and searching that the answer lies in the fact that ALL OF THE MAJOR CHRISTIAN DENOMINATIONS teach only PART OF WHAT CHRIST TAUGHT --- they all ignore the tough stuff and / or what cant be easily explained --- for example --- try and find a church that specifically teaches how to find and persue the NARROW PATH that CHRIST spoke of ( and that HE said few would find and follow ) 25 years ago I was given the GRACE and the FAITH to do just that --- and what an astonishing journey of SELF - DISCOVERY and finding friendship with GOD it has been ---- and it is all about a word that most of us dislike --- OBEDIENCE --- great big clue --- IF GOD CHERISHED OBEDIENCE IN HIS BELOVED SON ___ HOW MUCH MORE WILL HE CHERISH IT IN US --- WHOM HE CREATED IN HIS OWN IMAGE ? --- for those of you whom might be interested in the answer to why christianity has failed to live up to its full potential --- you can E - MAIL ME at
kennyk4@verizon.net peace ken
Nicely put! In every beLIEf there is a "lie" and as long as we try to define "God" we miss it but we can approximate as much as possible. God is simply the name we give to the essence of all creation - how can it be denied? And yet it is...!
I often see evidence of good (a lot of it) in people and nature
I often see evidence of evil (a lot more of it) in people and nature
I have never seen evidence of God nor I believe there is any, but I HOPE so.
Someone once said that "A man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument". True. Once a person has communed with nature, and studied the amazing design of any created thing like a sand dollar (I picked up on the beach) the Presence of an Intelligent Designer who creates beauty and love cannot intelligently be denied. The patterns, intricacies, order and awesome beauty of the microcosm or the macrocosm defies "chance" completely. The beauty of nature, the beauty of love, the beauty of the Field all give testimony to a loving Creator whether He/She is viewed as the Field, or "Father Sky" "Mother Earth". Those who have their spirituality in tact with grateful hearts become conduits of love, and this is a power which cannot be overcome. Happy Holidays as you enter into divine love. Teresa
Hello,
I must say that I don't always agree with everything you write, but today I find myself very much in confluence with your ideas.
In fact, I've been wrestling with a couple of articles I'm trying to write about some of the things you mention here, and when I read your email I rather uncharacteristically clicked through to your blog and continued reading.
Contemplating the content was a moment of distinct synchronicity in the realm of ideas for me. I felt compelled to thank you and to offer my respect for the thoughts and feelings you express here.
Best wishes for 2009,
Richard Coldman
the British filmmaker in Poland
Lynne,
Thanks for speaking out against the idea that whatever is not a part of "mainstream" science is "supernatural". If you don't know of it, I recommend "Thank God for Evolution," by Michael Dowd, a book that arrives at a similar position through a different route.
Thank you Lynn for your so interesting mail about science and supernatural (like all the others you sent, I really enjoy what you write)
I also send you warm wishes for Christmas and all the best for this new year 2009! (from Belgium)
Françoise
I am a firm believer that there is a GOD, as the Kabbalah says, and it is not the God of religion. I believe God is in everything , that we are all One. I believe the Big Bang was God's instrument in creating all we see. I simply cannot believe that all we see and all we cannot see was simply evolved from nothing. Too many things happen for one to believe there is no God.
A huge joy in living is to accept the realm we were taught did not exist nor was possible. I know there is so much more than structure and I hope to keep open to all possibility, no matter how 'crazy' it may seem. I know the Peace Intention Experiment confirmed by personal knowing that we ARE all connected - Spirit, God, Energy, Universe - whatever name you give it, it IS! Logic can try to explain it away, but there it is... strong, vibrant and loving.
Peace to you and yours... and the world... in 2009 and beyond!
Carol
I enjoyed the explanation for the existence of God but what really grabbed my attention was the reference to EFT and in particular the process of "staring at a moving target while mouthing affirmations" to "cure physical and psychological illness."
What process does the "staring at a moving target..." refer to?
Lynne
I grew up in the thick of god versus science as my father
was an agnostic (with athesitic leanings) and my mother
was a freedom sensitive.
Just one thing I've noticed - ALL the scientists who refute the existence of a god regard God as an entity.
It's almost impossible for a religious person brought up
to worship and obey to see otherwise. Religion is a flawed man-made structure around the mysteries and deep dyed in the approach that God (and smaller gods belonging to another cultures) are entities - even to the
ludicrous aspect of giving a gender and human attributes and characters.
The fact that God is everything makes it hard in our current development to grok that God is also the hurricane, the flower, the universe - the grain of sand
and all energy. When I say hard I refer to the feeling of
impossibility to comprehend, merged with a deep wordless understanding that depends on no religious trappings or arguments. The scientists still have that ravine between the 'impossible' and the 'provable'... except the ones like Bruce Lipton ... I believe the ravine will be bridged as soon the tiny part of our minds that comprehends, expands to include this axiom.
We are a part of God and that God is not a separate entity.... and yet..... 🙂
jackie Mackay
Thank you for your honesty and clarity. Just for the record, "pray without ceasing" comes from the Bible - 1 Thessalonians 5:17, and similarly in Ephesians 6:18.
Well done Lynne, science and medicine in particular needs to gets its head out of the sand. As Thomas Kuhn (The Paradigm Man) once said and I paraphrase, "Scientists are a group of like-minded individuals who have made common basic assumptions."
Like alcoholics though most are in denial and do not want to face the vacuum within, which arises when they challenge their basic beliefs about reality, it is very frightening.
I speak as someone who was trained as an engineer and spent many years in the IT business. In my new book "The Art of Being Human" I have a section on Science, Spirituality and Myth and how they magically coalesce at some point if we open our minds that is.
However for any of us to face our beliefs about reality and let them go, is very difficult, scientists and doctors are no different. Paradigms gradually shift over generations and the new kids on the block seem to have inherited at some level the new way of looking at things. Whilst the dinosaur's (Richard Dawkins, Chris Hitchins) die desperately holding on to their fixed beliefs, their denial of god being the last great rebellion against the authority figures in their lives!
Dear Lynne
My sincere thanks for such a resonant discourse. One of the best descriptions of God I have ever experienced is 'I am that I am' It sounds cryptic but it makes a whole lot of sense when you enter the silence.
Love
Ivan
Thankyou Lynn. I am inspired to buy your book
Thanks Ben for the comment about 'A cynic is someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing', it was a countryman of Byron, Oscar Wilde, who wrote those words, in "The Importance of being Ernest". Both these men were persecuted in their lifetimes for their beliefs and not giving in to the status quo.
It is interesting that Wilde lectured on aestheticism and became the object of satire in Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience.
...and now to my reason for posting here!
Each and everyone of us is our own Master and therefore capable of creating our own miracles especially in 2009. I like William Judge's words in this respect:
'The way lies through the heart;
Ask there and wander not;
Knock loud, nor hesitate
Because at first the sounds
Reverberating, seem to mock thee.
Nor, when the door swings wide,
Revealing shadows black as night,
Must thou recoil.
Within, the Master's messengers
Have waited patiently:
That Master is Thyself!'
I have chosen to seek my patient messengers and the journey is both blissful, challenging and evolutionary!
See my blog to "Light up Mugabe in Love"
Namaste,
John from the UK
Greetings Lynne,
A great column, in my opinion.
I agree that the real paradigm is far more complex and subtle than either fundamentalism or extreme rationalism encompasses.
I wonder how well we're equipped, as human beings at this stage of evolution, to fully understand the "nature of life" and our own true place in the continuum.
As Ernest Holmes, 20th century author of "Science of Mind", said, "There is a power in the universe greater than we are - and we can use it." Through our "spiritual" practices (or intentional energy manipulations) we can certainly, at some times in some ways, affect the course of our life events.
I think anyone who makes any absolute pronouncements, fundamentalist or rationalist, betrays an ignorance of the fact that the earth revolves around the sun and not vice versa.
Hapy Holidays and keep your thoughts coming,
Bill Barrows, Vancouver, WA
I have to mention to folks from time to time that ideas and opinions are often connected only by a thread of hope. The opinions of any rational person on any subject outside the set of all rational thinking are as irrational as the set of irrational ideas.
Look at it another way. Science is a field of study based on empirical trial and error. It is not more than that. Scientists are defined by that fact. Any matter of faith can utilize any scientific discovery, but only to describe a faith metaphorically. The trouble begins when a matter of science is used to support a faith.
Best practice living is to simply draw as few conclusions as possible until you are really good at living. Then take a few chances and use your conclusions to define your art.
Carl
I am excited to see so many opinions, of so many informed people talking about the same thing . In my mind what it is you are talking about here is the consciousness revolution.
Having delved into the Bible, Buddhism, Quantum Physics, etc. as well as recent works from authors like Lynne, I have come across one idea which I cannot logically dispute. With the progression of time, and advancements in technology we seem to be pushing the collective consciousness to a breaking point.
This seems to be a necessary event, in order to bring about the paradigm shift that we all desperately want. Surely we should cease are wanting and start embodying a degree of all the ideas here. Like co-creating with the universe, we like minded people should continue to bounce ideas around like you fine people here are doing. 'Forsake not the council of your brethren' as the bible says.
Frequently I am striving to be present , and not think in terms of past or future. However, in regard to the world/ political climate/ collective consciousness, I am of the opinion it is imperative that folks such as ourselves continue to meditate, and communicate these ideas to their grand conclusion .
We are pioneers in the evolution of mankind and the universe. I think Jesus came to break down the conscience barrier, and we should hop on board. Thanks Lynne, and lots of Love to you all. Owlabroad@gmail.com
My friend John is a physicist. He's a good one, a bright one. He never ceases to amaze me with his grasp of the very small, and the very large, of the universe, of chemicals, of tissue and sinew, of energy. He is an unwavering seeker of truth, from wherever it may come. He knows he won't always like it, but he also knows he must remain open.
He confided something to me recently. He told me that among his colleagues, almost none of them pay any attention to the ramblings of what they call 'the atheist fundamentalists.' Why not? I asked. Because, he said, they don't often get to see what we see, to peer into the mysteries that we do. They speak as if they actually know something when, in fact, they know nothing. We as physicists are in a much better position to challenge the religious superstitions of the world than are the pragmatic (so-called) unbelievers. And most of us, he went on, don't buy into the doctrines and dogmas of the organizations. However, almost to a person, even though many of us wouldn't admit it publicly, we know we touch daily a mystery that is even beyond the word itself. We are continually surprised by the little tricks and turns that Nature(?) showers upon us. And most important, we're surprised how willing the universe is to reveal itself to us when we find the right combinations of equations and formulae. It's as if it is saying 'look here.' We look and often find; then we discover it is a beginning, not an ending. On it goes.
My friend does not believe in the literal God, the one of the Books. But he insists that physics itself and quantum physics in particular prove that we as a species have only touched a very small portion of this thing we call truth. And what little evidence we have collected so far only serves to reinforce an underlying Power, a connection of some kind, that keeps it all operating according to Law. Good Law.
So, what are we that we can even think about this mystery? It would appear that we ourselves are the mystery. What fun!
Thanks for your insights, Lynne. Your book was a great read!
Science and religion can work hand in hand as both are from the same source.
Scientist recognise that all things in the universe vibrate at particular frequencies; colours, solids, liquids, thoughts, everything. The Bible describes this as the Word. .."the Word was with God and the Word was God".
In any language a word is a sound, a frequency. What scientist realise is that these frequencies can be manipulated to interact with and have effect on other objects, even by humanity. (Think radio/TV)
What religion tries to show us is that we are a part of this vibration that is God and that our purpose is to develop our spiritual understanding so that we can also interact with and through this gift to the fulfilment of control of our true nature.
There is a spiritual development program called the Tree of life that gives a reader step by step instruction on how to attain this understanding. It takes away much of what we call mystery from the process and enables us to experience, in our everyday life, the growth of our spiritual self.
See if you can get hold of a copy of the Meter Neter.
Peace
Good day Lynn.
An interesting view, though the title makes me wonder a bit. Defending God?
It does not seem that you feel this way which is good yet confuses me all the more in the choice of words. I'd rather say God has no need of defence of any sort.
As it's said God is not mocked. To my mind that means more than one should not mock nor attempt to mock God for any fear of retribution or the like.
Simply that God is not mocked for no matter what power we think we may hold. Being part of God means God cannot be mocked. God is too much a part of each and everyones own life to be truely mocked no matter how hard we try at times to do so.
We may mock ourselves at times. But even then it's only at one small part of our own make up and not something we generally take very serious or we'd not do it.
God being mocked is rather a funny idea to my way of thinking.
And to the folks that think God would truely need to be defended? Well. I don't laugh at the idea. But it surely brings a smile to my face.
May we all together create a joyous new year in each day that comes as we slowly create for ourselves and our fellows a new heaven and earth.
Blessed be.
John.
We are all human beings. Some of us have religious experiences, some of us do not. Many of us believe in God, many of us do not. We are one people, one planet, with many problems to work through. This work is worth doing whether I believe it is sacred or not.
"I see evidence of the holy, the miraculous in the fact that an electron can be both a particle or a wave at the same moment and change depending upon who is looking at it."
Lynne McTaggart
I see evidence of the natural world that science can explain, or will in the future
I agree with your article wholeheartedly. I have one minor quibble about your sentence which is quoted just above. As I understand what I've read about the wave/particle duality, the electron (among other sub-atomic "things"), is ALWAYS both wave and particle. It doesn't "change": it simply appears as wave or particle depending upon the nature of the experiment being used to view it. The underlying reality is always beyond our normal sense of understanding, thus "miraculous."
We know today that all Religion including Christianity is only made manifest through myth, metaphors and allegory. A literal expression of all of this is the Bible.
Most Christian scholars today will show and explain how this "book" is not to be taken in a literal way, but symbollicaly pointing to a real esoteric meaning buried within.
Contemporary theology has put it in a most powerful way, when it speaks in the following context: "The mythos is a fundamental archetype in the human psyche. Many believe it was planted there by the Ground or Mind of the Universe, the mystery, the sacred, yes the divine other that "we" have called "God.'
For me, while not big on doctrine or dogma anymore, i still sense this divine consciousness within.
I believe we are really at that turning point in our expression of the sacred. Regardless of how limited any expression of such can ever be.
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