Adding reason to faith

They developed the ability to move fast in order to catch the slower moving plant-eating animals.

This process continued up the food chain with niches becoming more specialized.

And then we come to humans. Humanity appears to be the most sophisticated animal on earth.

Humanity is unique for many reasons and its relationship within ecological niches is just one interesting example.

Ecological niches for plants and animals are created by nature, but humanity appears to have created its own niche.

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We may have evolved over a period of millions of years.

The point being addressed here is not evolution of our species, but rather the evolutionary development of our ecological niche.

We may have started by filling an ecological niche, but we now seem to be in a niche of our own making.

We appear to be the only life form in our solar system searching for meaning.

We have developed our societies in such a manner that we are capable of seeking knowledge for knowledge’s sake.

Or is there another reason?

We may not appear to be filling an ecological niche within this physical universe but perhaps we are filling a niche created by the very existence of the universe itself.

End

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Friday, September 29

What does the conceptual framework of ecological niche have to offer us? Part I of II

by Daniel J. Shepard on Fri 29 Sep 2006 12:00 AM EDT

What does the conceptual framework of ecological niche have to offer us?

Part I of II

Ecological niche:

The status or role of an organism in its environment.

An organism’s niche is defined by the types of food it consumes, its predators, temperature, tolerances, etc.

Two species cannot coexist stably if they occupy identical niches.

Oxford Concise Science Dictionary, p. 234

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The status or role an organism plays in its environment is usually set first and then the organism develops to fill the niche – not the other way around.

Plants use sunlight to convert the sun’s energy into stored food to be used later when the sun is not shining.

Plants do not have to move about; they are able to store the excess energy in a form that allows them to survive periods when the sun is hidden by clouds during the day and darkness at night.

Plant-eating animals developed to use the excess food the plants produced.

They learned to move about in order to go from one plant location to another.

To be continued: Part II of II: Animal-eating animals...

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Thursday, September 28

What does the conceptual framework of Islam imply about the universe within which we live? Part II of II

by Daniel J. Shepard on Thu 28 Sep 2006 12:00 AM EDT

What does the conceptual framework of Islam imply about the universe within which we live?

Part II of II

...In other words, they are universal ideas which we are to take with us as we travel throughout the universe.

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Under Islamic perceptions, in eternity, justice will prevail.

You will face justice in regards to how well you met your responsibilities in your journey through life.

But justice implies judgment and who would be willing to judge knowing they would have to face the results of “bad” judgment calls as well as the “good” ones in the hereafter?

Who will do the judging if it may imperil them in terms of their personal eternal state of being?

Perhaps we should stop putting our fellow souls in jeopardy by calling upon them to judge.

Perhaps it is time to eliminate, in our present life forms, the concept of judging.

How do we do this and still protect journeys for which we all have a responsibility?

We could do so by accepting the Islamic concept that justice will prevail.

We could start leaving justice to eternity.

Now individual actions will not be examined in order to bring justice but rather to right wrongs, in order to prevent harm from being inflicted upon other journeys.

Accepting the Islamic belief that justice will prevail implies we would move from judging journeys to protecting journeys.

We would move from being judgmental to rectifying wrongs imposed upon journeys, to protecting others from having their personal journeys infringed upon.

The universe would now experience a nonjudgmental traveler, humanity.

End

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Wednesday, September 27

What does the conceptual framework of Islam imply about the universe within which we live? Part I of II

by Daniel J. Shepard on Wed 27 Sep 2006 12:11 AM EDT

What does the conceptual framework of Islam imply about the universe within which we live?

Part I of II

Islam tells us, beware, justice will prevail. It may or may not come in this universe but either way, it will come in the afterlife, in eternity.

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Hinduism brings us the concepts of “a” Causative Force, an eternal soul, and the connection of the two. Judaism spreads the ideas to the West.

Buddhism brings us the idea that suffering must not be tolerated.

Christianity tells us to love one another, which is the first step to eliminating suffering.

Islam tells us to take the concept of eliminating suffering seriously, for although justice may not prevail here on earth, there will be no escaping it in eternity.

Buddhism for enlightenment, Christianity with love, Islam to avoid the repercussions, all point towards the same idea: work to eliminate suffering.

Islam, as well as the rest, does not imply these ideas are earthly ideas.

It implies they are absolutes.

They do not lack qualifiers.

We have no right to say justice should apply in one case, but we will overlook it in another case.

To be continued: Part II of II: In other words...

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Tuesday, September 19

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

by Daniel J. Shepard on Tue 19 Sep 2006 12:00 AM EDT

What does Hinduism have to offer us as individuals?

Part II of II

...Imagine a society where people are no longer looked upon as just people but rather as portions of the Causative Force.

Abuse of any kind would no longer just be irrational, but would be totally unacceptable.

Elimination of abuse and suffering would become a primary objective of people in society.

Welfare running rampant?

No, this does not imply that everything would be given free of charge to the individual, for this only lowers the individual’s value to society to the lowest level possible, the level of worthlessness.

The environment which is a place for people to travel would no longer be a place for people to travel but would now be understood to be a place for the Causative Force to travel, for people would be understood to be nothing other than pieces of the Causative Force.

As such, the environment could no longer logically be abused, polluted, destroyed for in our minds and thoughts, we would see it as belonging not to us but to others as well as to the Causative Force.

This is not implying that a person is the Causative Force.

Saying that a person is the Causative Force would deny the existence of the Causative Force for She would be no greater than you.

To declare yourself to be “the” Causative Force in total, would deny other people the recognition of a soul, a portion of the Causative Force.

To declare yourself to be “the” Causative Force would be to diminish the Causative Force to your level of power, presence, and knowledge.

End

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