Adding reason to faith

Significance, hope, now seems to lose all of its meaning under atheism.

•

But atheism has its function.

The starting point atheism generates in terms of the size of a Causative Force is crucial.

Every perception has to have a starting point.

The starting point provides a frame of reference for debate.

A starting point provides a point of reference for a journey outward from the initial idea.

Our behavior towards each other appears to be directly related to the concept we hold regarding our significance.

This appears to be directly related to the concept we hold regarding our relationship to the Causative Force.

And this appears to be directly related to the concept we hold regarding the size of the Causative Force.

All of this has to have an origination point and it is the atheist that maintains this point of origin.

We must begin to acknowledge the significant role the atheist performs for the rest of us.

End

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Friday, December 22

How does atheism help us understand what life is? Part I of II

by Daniel J. Shepard on Fri 22 Dec 2006 12:41 AM EST

How does atheism help us understand what life is?

Part I of II

Life is real. Life is something that begins and ends.

•

Life being real is not an insignificant idea.

It has marvelous implications.

However, by itself it has major limitations.

Life existing for a few days or one hundred years is insignificant in terms of the time span we believe the universe has existed.

In terms of the total picture of what has happened throughout time, an atheistic approach provides hope, but it also generates much despair and pessimism.

Under atheism, our significance appears to have little worth compared to the immensity of the universe.

Science continually expands our understanding of the amount of time needed to develop the universe.

Under atheism, as our understanding of the amount of time needed to develop the universe increases, our sense of significance decreases.

One hundred years, compared with seven days, is a long time.

One hundred years, compared with fifteen billion, is a very short time and has little meaning by comparison.

To be continued: Part II of II: Now science is considering...

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Wednesday, December 20

What does space have to offer us as individuals? Part II of II

by Daniel J. Shepard on Wed 20 Dec 2006 12:00 AM EST

What does space have to offer us as individuals?

Part II of II

...If we accept ourselves as being a piece of the Causative Force, we would have little choice but to acknowledge the environment as being the place through which the Causative Force travels.

The result of such a perception would require that we, as individuals, accept the environment as belonging to all others as well as ourselves.

The environment would be viewed as a sacred place having a specific function to the Causative Force and would need to be treated as such.

Accepting ourselves as a piece of the Causative Force would require that we, as individuals, no longer abuse, subjugate, dominate, take actions which produces personal gain at the expense of others, force ourselves and our ideas upon others or intimidate others.

These actions could no longer be tolerated.

We would now have some understanding of the reason why this was not acceptable behavior, because it was not being done to ‘someone’ but rather to ‘something,’ and that thing would be none other than the Causative Force Herself.

•

Elevating our status to the level of becoming a part of the Causative Force is not ‘sugar and spice and everything nice.’

Being given the status of the Causative Force is an awesome responsibility.

It requires us, as individuals, to set goals we know we cannot attain, spend our lives attempting to attain them, and then to find peace within ourselves knowing we did our best, even though we may not attain what we set out to do.

End

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Tuesday, December 19

What does space have to offer us as individuals? Part I of II

by Daniel J. Shepard on Tue 19 Dec 2006 01:22 AM EST

What does space have to offer us as individuals?

Part I of II

Space offers us not only the recognition of being a part of the Causative Force, but the awesome responsibility that goes along with such a position.

•

Accepting ourselves as existing within a universe which is located within space which is located within the Causative Force, forces us to reevaluate ourselves and what we are.

No longer can we look at ourselves as superior to others, for how could one piece of the Causative Force be worth more than another?

Man, woman, black, yellow, physically handicapped, world Olympian, mentally retarded, intellectual, schizophrenic, mentally stable, mentally unstable, bashful, outgoing, short, tall, handsome, homely, rich, poor… what’s the difference?

A piece of the Causative Force is a piece of the Causative Force.

To be continued: Part II of II: If we accept ourselves as being...

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Monday, December 18

What significance does ontology have to other life forms in the universe? Part II of II

by Daniel J. Shepard on Mon 18 Dec 2006 12:00 AM EST

What significance does ontology have to other life forms in the universe?

Part II of II

...The only way we can reverse the behavior patterns we have taken in the past regarding our abusive actions toward different ideas, races, religions, creeds, etc., is to start looking at the individual in terms of his or her essence or what we define as the soul, what we define as life.

This is crucial not only to us but to all environments and life forms we will encounter in the heavens.

•

If other life forms are out in the heavens and if they are watching or listening to us (our radio and TV waves travel away from the earth), they must be very concerned.

They have much to be concerned about. Our history channels, our news broadcasts are not very encouraging.

We have not yet defined what we are and as such, we tolerate and encourage much abusive behavior toward each other.

If we abuse each other, fellow humans, fellow souls, so easily, so universally, why would we even begin to hesitate abusing other life forms that may exist in the heavens?

They may not appear just a little different, but may appear radically different.

Why would we hesitate taking resources from another life form’s planet if we don’t even hesitate doing it to one of our own, those to whom we can identify physically?

They must be worried indeed.

How would they deal with a new species, with us, when we haven’t even defined what we are or why life is important?

End

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