Karma + GIGO

Each human organism is born with karmic dispositions, characteristic ways of acting.
Then it receives social input, Garbage In, Garbage Out.
Thus, karma + GIGO = a person.
Serene reflection meditation unravels GIGO and addresses karma.

However, organisms die before the issues are resolved.
Organisms were not designed but evolved.
Therefore, no designer is responsible.
I think that karma is genetic, not reborn.

What We Can Say

We cannot meet the Buddha because he died a long time ago.
He was alive and we will be dead.
If he were alive now on another continent or planet, then we probably would not meet him.
However, he and we exist in different regions of space-time.

Therefore, we can say, "The Lord calls," meaning the Buddha.
Also, the One calls.
THAT is always here and now.
But It is not a person.

The One and the Buddha correspond approximately to God the Father and God Incarnate in Christian theology.
But only approximately.
Buddhism sometimes sounds like theism, sometimes not.
In particular, there is no Creator.

The Buddha addresses the cause of suffering but is not the cause.
He treats the wound caused by the poisoned arrow but did not shoot the arrow.
The One, not a person, is not responsible for Its internal processes.
It is our responsibility to respond.

The Duality Of Thought

We manipulate the environment with hands and think about it with brains.
Thought both reflects and distorts reality.
Mythological thought personifies and mystifies aspects of reality.
Ideological thought rationalizes and legitimizes existing social relationships.

However, society changes and ideas change with it.
Scientific thought is tested against empirical reality.
Beliefs and psychologies diverge from reality.
The thought, "Where was God in the Holocaust?," combines belief with reflection.

"Experience of God" must mean "experience of life, theistically interpreted."