Adding reason to faith

If your soul is a part of the Causative Force, then your soul must have some significance to the Causative Force.

If your soul has significance to the Causative Force, then it must impact the Causative Force.

If the soul impacts the Causative Force, then it must impact Her in a manner in which only souls can.

It seems complicated, yet it is simple.

The key is that you are in the Causative Force, you are a part of the Causative Force, so what you do is actually being done by a part of the Causative Force Herself.

We have always sensed our need for the Causative Force.

Yet, we have never considered the other half of the picture; the Causative Force may very well need us.

This dependency upon each other is a form of “symbiosis.”

Each person has significance and, regardless of race, color or creed, is equal to the Causative Force.

Since we may all be a part of the Causative Force, “panentheism,” we have no choice but to acknowledge the significance and equality of each other.

We have no choice but to acknowledge the significance of other life forms and the sacredness of each other’s environment, for that is the very medium through which we journey.

The net result is that not only do we need the Causative Force, but the

Causative Force needs us.

We are in a symbiotic, interdependent relationship with the Causative Force.

Your need of God is only half the picture; the other half is that God needs you.

Thus develops the larger picture, the picture of “symbiotic panentheism.”

Over the last 4,000 years, through 500 year cycles, all three now appear to have emerged in their own right.

So now what?

To be continued: Part III of III: Since we are at the gate of the next 500 year cycle, what...

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Thursday, January 4

Religion - Conclusion: Part I of III

by Daniel J. Shepard on Thu 04 Jan 2007 01:00 AM EST

Religion - Conclusion

Part I of III

Our thoughts turn to an understanding we had not quite grasped before.

If the Causative Force is truly omnipresent, then the Causative Force is located everywhere and we cannot say otherwise.

As such, we must rethink the idea regarding what our significance to the Causative Force may be.

Are we still an unnecessary entity to the Causative Force if we exist within Her?

Are we in an interactive relationship with Her, as appears to be the case with all other entities throughout the universe?

And why the emphasis on the soul, human and otherwise?

Is it because the soul is what has significance?

Is it because it is the soul through which the Causative Force does things it would otherwise be unable to do?

How could the Causative Force be all powerful, all knowledgeable, all present, if there is something She cannot do?

In order to answer these types of questions, we have to begin thinking differently.

We have to look at the big picture.

If you exist in a universe that is inside the Causative Force, then you are a part of that Causative Force.

If your essence is the soul, then your soul is a part of the Causative Force.

To be continued: Part II of III: If your soul is a part of the Causative Force, then ...

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Wednesday, January 3

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

by Daniel J. Shepard on Wed 03 Jan 2007 12:00 AM EST

What does the conceptual framework of humanism and adjustment imply about the universe within which we live?

Part II of II

...We have spilled our blood repeatedly in our refusal to let go of this idea.

Blood has been sacrificed so often and in such great quantities that had the soil and water retained the blood, the surface of our planet would no longer be blue and brown as seen from space.

Instead, the soil would be crimson and the waters would be bright red.

In order to keep the appearance of the planet as it is rather than shades of red, we must remember.

•

We must never forget.

We must never pass off our unselfish sacrificing as an exercise in futility.

We will again have the choice of being dominated or face conflict and violence.

Will we give up what we worked to accomplish, thinking that we are accepting something better?

Will we attempt to hide the ugliness of our past in shame?

We must never forget.

We must never hide from our past.

We must stand up and be proud of what we have overcome.

Our past has made us what we are and it is what we are that we will take with us into the far reaches of the universe.

Our belief in the significance of the individual will be taken into space.

The last step is to solidify this concept by raising the level of the individual to the level of the Causative Force Herself – a level so idealistic and untouchable that no physical or abstract concept we encounter will shake it.

End

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Tuesday, January 2

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

by Daniel J. Shepard on Tue 02 Jan 2007 12:00 AM EST

What does the conceptual framework of humanism and adjustment imply about the universe within which we live?

Part I of II

We have no idea what we will find within the far distant locations of space. But we can be fairly sure that we will not find total compatibility and agreement awaiting us.

•

We have no reason to believe the universe will be awaiting us with open arms, acceptance, and utopian existence.

If nothing else, we should have learned from religion, science, and philosophy that life runs rampant with change.

Life is not an existence of pure pleasure.

Life does not and has never exposed humanity to an existence of pure joy, happiness, and leisure.

We have had to expend sweat, tears, blood, and life itself to get to a time in history where it appears we are solidifying the importance of the individual.

This is not to imply the rights and significance of the individual have been established as an absolute.

It simply appears to be where we are headed.

If this is where we are headed, history shows us we will be challenged over and over again regarding this perception.

To be continued: Part II of II: We have spilled our blood repeatedly in our...

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Monday, January 1

What does Taoism imply about our significance in eternity? Part II of II

by Daniel J. Shepard on Mon 01 Jan 2007 12:00 AM EST

What does Taoism imply about our significance in eternity?

Part II of II

...Freedom from one’s peers releases one from having to be subservient to the whims of others.

One may lead one’s own life. One has the ability and latitude to choose one’s own actions.

Freedom from the Causative Force is nothing other than the existence of free will.

Freedom from having to be subservient to the whims of the Causative Force. One may lead one’s own life.

One has the ability and latitude to choose one’s own actions.

Without both forms of freedom, freedom from members of one’s own species and freedom from what occupies the abstraction of existence without time, one is not free.

Without freedom, attempting to stay in contact with one’s self, one’s sense of purpose, has no meaning.

Determinism totally undermines the concept of Taoism, remaining in contact with one’s self, one’s purpose in order to choose that path.

•

Taoism implies we have a significance to eternity itself; we can impact eternity.

If we could not, then attempting to connect with one’s self, with abstraction, with a sense of purpose, would have no meaning since everything under determinism would already be pre-determined.

If everything were predetermined, then being in contact or not being in contact with a sense of one’s self and one’s purpose would change nothing.

Taoism tenaciously resolves to connect with eternity, the inner self, through nature, exemplifying the concept of our significance to eternity.

End

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