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Foucault pendulum
| | Of Gods and Men
by: Wm. H. Reagan:
The gods of humanity appear to
come in various sizes.
They even change size over
time, usually becoming smaller as their followers become fewer.
For the most part, they
eventually perish and are forgotten, leaving only their names as evidence of
having ever existed.
Occasionally, there is
found the shattered statuary to hint at the past glory that once was theirs!
Today’s religions
often reflect the biases of their past origins.
The Muslims still find it
necessary to kill those who are considered infidels (unbelievers) and will do
so, provided they are not subject to punishment by others.
We view them in much the
same way as the Romans did the “Idioti”.
While this term means
“uneducated” in Latin, we have come to use it as a description for a
deranged mind!
It defines the realm of
thought, but conduct is restricted to the ethical behavior resulting from the
thinking process, and this tends to reach deep within the teachings of religion.
When emphasis is placed upon
what people do, the “Idioti” remain to argue senselessly about why we do
these things!
In these debates, tempers boil
and insults become the weapons to attack the philosophy of others!
Questions are never settled
because opinions have remained fixed while rage feeds itself on discord.
Each participant assumes that
their personal god has been insulted and that they must defend and avenge the
disgrace!
No one seems to recognize that
their particular deity did not participate in the debate, and did not seem to
take offense at the supposed insult!
In these quarrels, no one
noticed that their particular god did not influence the discussion.
Most certainly, if he required
any defense he could have handled the matter himself, unless he was temporarily
overcome by immoderate laughter.
This might lead the members of
any such discussion to believe that the god was either weak or possibly didn’t
care what these followers of his were debating.
God’s seem to lean toward
this trait!
The gods of many
religions appear to shrivel and weaken because of the excesses of their
followers.
But I do not believe that this
is so!
Superior personages do not take
offense at the speech or conduct of those they do not respect!
They don’t dissolve into a
foaming at the mouth rage over a spiteful remark nor even if blows are leveled
at theme
Surely a deity can do no less.
Thermistocles, after delivering
an opinion to some listeners, had one of them to raised his fist in anger at his
remark
He told this person, “Strike if you must, but
listen to what I am saying!”
This is the manner of one who
is wise and who conducts himself according to the philosophy he practices!
The one who resorts to violence
because another disagree with him is simply admitting that he has nothing to
defend his opinion with, other than “force”.
That individual has nothing to contribute to a
discussion.
If my religious philosophy
requires physical force to sustain it, it is a false doctrine and requires a
complete revision!
Any such appeal to force is an admission of a
bogus belief! It proclaims that one has nothing useful to say.
Any defense of a
religion that relies on violence cannot be a true representation of that belief.
-pause-
The followers of deities insist that their god
exists.
Since there is no means of
determining this assertion to be true, there surely cannot he any means to
refute it!
We can’t nullify what we cannot demonstrate to
exist!
Some believers have assured me
that the ancient writings associated with their religion are enough proof of its
truthfulness for them.
I do not agree with this!
And I disagree with what they accept as
“proof.”
Because something is old, this
does not establish that it is true!
We, as a race, believe many
things, some of which are true along with others, which are not.
The Australian Aborigine has a
belief that if the tribal Shaman points a bone at a tribal member, that person
will die!
There are many cases reported
which verify the death as factual.
The general opinion is
that this is a self-fulfilling prophecy based on the tribal belief that the
event will happen.
It seems that the belief
of the member who is condemned is what gives the custom its force!
Therefore it is belief
that gives the Shaman his power.
And, belief alone is
what has made this system functional!
But there is still no
proof that can establish this explanation as a true one!
So, I may assume there
is a great Creator who cannot be proven to exist.
My assumption does not
prove his existence nor does it serve as a denial of such an entity.
If I strive to practice good
ethics and morals, this is what makes me a good person rather than my worshiping
what I can neither see nor understand!
The world, in which 1 live,
seems to be a kind of classroom where I am being instructed in what I should
become as a person.
And like any school, I
will get out of it pretty much what I put into it.
It is the lesson that is
important, no matter who or what the teacher of that lesson is!
And I must be reconciled to
that teacher, because it will reveal to me how well I am doing.
Nature itself seems to
be designed to accomplish this!
And we, as its
creatures, must learn the value of possessions as opposed to the value of
ethics.
In both cases, it is
what a person does, not what they say, that shows everyone what they are!
A man once told another,
“What you are
speaks so
loudly, I cannot hear what you say!”
I have never heard the
question of, “What kind of a person do you think I am?” answered more
incisively.
And trying to prove the
existence of a deity seems pretty silly, when one considers that anyone’s
actions are living proof of what their deity really is to them!
We are what we do!
It is this condition
that shows whatever reverence we have for all things.
If anyone reveres
property above everything else, it will be shown by the way they treat it.
But in the case of such
property, death will rob us of it all!
And in a solely
intellectual world, property will be useless.
In our present world,
both property and ethics have their purpose, but in an intellectual world,
property has no meaning.
And in the world of the
mind, wisdom is superior to everything!
-pause-
However, in the world of the
material, the phrase “Bigger is Better” is used as a promoter of
“things”.
Many people assume that the
bigger the church membership, the better the church.
By extrapolation, they presume
further that this also means “the Bigger the god”.
I think that gods come in only
one size.
And because one size
doesn’t fit all, everyone’s god is perceived in parts.
If everyone were to be
asked to describe their deity, there would be as many descriptions as there were
describers!
And putting all of these
descriptions together would produce the same result as a horse put together by a
committee!
One wag said that this
was the way a camel was produced!
I think the true size of
anyone’s god can be found by what that person’s opinion of themselves and
others happens to be.
Our treatment of others
is often modified by what we think of ourselves.
If
we meet what we believe is a better person than we are, we will
either want to do as they do or we will hate them.
And this hatred of others will alter our opinion of what we
believe ourselves to be.
To
copy what they do is to become a better person.
But
if an angry neighbor insults me, I might respond with insults and thereby become
exactly like them!
I
would become exactly like what I profess to despise!
It
is unworthy of a
good person to reduce him or her to the level they are striving to avoid!
And the result is that the god of that person is shown to be
as much of a disgrace as the intellect it appeals to!
Any
deficiencies of the god become those of the believer!
Certainly,
if we appeal to a Supreme Intelligence, that being should be superior to
ourselves.
And
we should try to present ourselves as a faithful representative of what that
deity is.
A
wise and honorable atheist is superior to a believer who is unworthy of the
deity he worships!
The
follower of a god is the earthly representation of that deity!
His
failure to do so honorably reflects the true concept of what he believes his god
to be!
He
is an unworthy representative of what he professes to believe.
But what he does will not degrade the deity, it
only condemns himself!
Now I don’t think mankind was intended to
worship anything.
Surely we are here to learn all we can about who
and what we are.
But worship teaches nothing.
Moreover, it is useless as a ritual or for
instruction.
Worship fails to teach anything except servitude,
which dulls the mind.
The knowledge of truth must be
learned in the classroom of life through our own efforts!
It teaches us to revere
ourselves, which should be a reflection of our treatment of others.
Our conduct will tell us
if we have understood the use of the ethics we claim to practice.
These ethics are riches that
cannot be stolen.
Those who have need of them can
only cast them away!
pause
If our own words fail to
portray what we are trying to become as a person, it is because we do not
fully understand what it is that we want to be.
Our option then is to show others what we are by
what we do! If what we do is kind, it will need no explanation!
And it would be a strange person who would reject
kindness.
However, the ultimate test of
the value of any deity is through what that deity requires from humankind!
The greater its requirement,
the smaller the god!
And the kindness that
you give to yourself can safely be offered to others.
Holy wars are not justified and
mankind doesn’t need them.
Only the gods seem to!
As to “Crusades”, they are
the invention of humankind, not of deities.
I cannot imagine a god needing
our protection!
It is inconceivable that
a deity would need the assistance of its own creation!
Surely this is the reverse of
rational thinking because it defies reason.
If one wished to determine the
power of his god, all he would have to know is how much assistance that deity
required, of his followers in the face of insult!
If it is anything at all, what is being adored is
not a god! No deity should require anything from us.
And if your god isn’t big
enough to take care of himself~ then he isn’t big enough to take care of YOU
either!
It’s time believers learned
the worth of the one in whom they have entrusted themselves.
When this ride that we call
“life” is over, it’s too late to change horses
And at that time, it is not what a man has that’s important to him. It’s what he is!
I cannot believe that a
true deity will hold against his creation anything he has not revealed to it!
An ethical philosophy is
what we are intended to practice.
A bowed head and closed
eyes will not teach us this.
It is open eyes and open minds
that absorb the beauty and the wisdom of our universe.
My mind is the center of my
intelligence and the quality of my living experience depends on what my thinking
process understands.
If we don’t learn as we go,
we condemn ourselves to pass from this earth almost as ignorant as the day we
reached the age for grade school.
This is a form of self-robbery
in a world that is meant to offer us as much knowledge as we are able to accept.
Only a fool would throw such a
gift away!
And when that calamity we call
death comes for us, it need not be feared.
Another ancient Greek put this
event in excellent perspective.
He said, “If I am, death is
not! If death is, then I am not!”
“Why should I fear what
cannot exist while I do!”
The gods I have encountered are
far too much like humans to make much of an impression on me.
The gods I have encountered are far too much like
humans to make much of an impression on me.
I reserve my respect for those
who live their lives in an ethical manner.
When I was a young man, my
mother gave me a poem, which had been read as a part of my father’s funeral
service.
She had written it down at the
service, which took place shortly after my tenth birthday, and had saved it a
dozen years before she handed it to me.
Its title was “My Creed”
and I memorized it all those years ago.
It was written by a woman whose
name I have long since forgotten. It was written in the flowery language Poets
used back then. It read something like this:
I
do not fear to walk the path that those I’ve loved long since have trod.
I
do not fear to pass the gate and stand before a living god.
In
this worlds fight I’ve done my part; if God were God he knows it well.
He
will not turn His back on me and send me down to blackest Hell,
Because
I have not cried aloud and shouted in the market place.
It’s
what men do, not what they say, that makes them worthy of His grace.
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