What We Know Through Science

There are four forces.
Matter is composed of molecules, atoms and sub-atomic particles.
Properties of particles differ qualitatively from those of macroscopic objects.
Time, volume and mass differ with velocity.
Light speed is an upper limit for acceleration of mass.
Simultaneity is relative.
Mass and energy are inter-convertible.
Natural laws and inanimate matter generated life.
Species were differentiated by natural selection.
The Sun is the center of the Solar System.
There are planets beyond Saturn.
The Sun is a star.
Stars generate heavy elements necessary for life, then explode, thus spreading the elements through space where they condense into a second generation of stars and planets.
There are many galaxies.
The universe is expanding.
There are black holes.
There is dark matter and dark energy.

Distaste

After decades of practicing zazen, I experience extreme distaste for many aspects of myself, past, recent and current. However, I feel exactly the same distaste for the behavior of some, though not all, of the people that I have interacted with. Blame is inappropriate. Distaste is not.

In particular, Catholic indoctrination reinforced by physical coercion was simply abominable. At least I learned how not to bring up a child or to educate young people. Many good and intelligent people never see through or break from their early conditioning and pass it on to the next generation. Members of each new generation have to think and inquire for themselves. Anyone could have been taken as a child and indoctrinated as a Muslim instead of as a Catholic or vice versa, yet each thinks that, fortunately for them, they have been brought up in the one religion that happens to be true as against any of the many that are so obviously wrong.

I started to inquire, at first by trying to rationalize received doctrines, but was paying insufficient attention to the bastards around me.

Thou Art THAT

Everything that we perceive is the one reality appearing to itself. Each of us is that reality conscious of itself. Thus, reality is always here and now, not elsewhere. But we need to realize that.

We need to realize a reality that is not remote because it is us, although not only us. We also perceive it by observing to the event horizon of the universe. Reality is within us and everywhere outside us and develops by transcending its earlier levels:

consciousness transcends unconsciousness;
self-consciousness transcends sensation;
development and transcendence continue.

Thus, reality is immanent, omnipresent and transcendent. Epithets applied to the supreme being in theism can instead be applied to being as understood by impersonalists and materialists.

Incarnations Of The One

As someone approaches us from a distance, we might recognize him facially or he might turn out to be wearing a badge that identifies him as a fellow member of a church, party or other organization. Otherwise, although we might exchange greetings as we pass, we will have no reason to stop and speak.

Imagine that there ceases to be a distinction between friends, acquaintances, relatives or fellow members on the one hand and mere passersby on the other. If the many are incarnations of the One, then the appropriate response is to recognize and respect every other person as a fellow member of the universal self.

We really are all in it together despite the fact that current economic and social relationships set us apart. In fact, we already recognize a basic unity underlying social divisions:

theoretically, everyone is equal before the law;
if a Duke and his servant are trapped inside a burning building, then the Fire Brigade's only concern is to rescue two living human beings, not to get the Duke out first;
the Duke should agree that, if a choice had to be made, then a woman and child, even if they are commoners, should be got to safety before he is.

Imagine a civilization based on recognition of unity. For a start, no borders. Olaf Stapledon's Last Men gather and stand silently in public places or outside their dwellings when they make a telepathic linkage that temporarily generates the Racial Mind. This may not be possible, nor is it necessary. If humanity survives, then it will have to value difference without division and unity without uniformity. And everyone will be equally at one with their environment when alone as when in company.

"...Inside You There Is A God"

Originally published on Comics Appreciation,26 July 2014.

Mr Cream tells Michael Moran:

"Mr. Moran...Listen very carefully...You are a fool. You are a weakling and a coward...But inside you there is a GOD. Inside you there is SOMEONE BETTER THAN US... ...And whatever the cost, you must PROTECT him."
-Miracleman No 7 (New York, 2014), p. 16.

Comic book dialogue has its own ways of emphasizing words and phrases.

I quote this dialogue because it is true of Moran while he is not Miracleman but also because it is true of every human being.

The One And The Self

At every moment, we face towards the One or the self.
The One is without, symbolized by the Sun.
The self is within, a mental construct.
But the One is within, an inner oneness.
And the self is without, superficial thoughts and distractions.

Wisdom And Delusion

The Buddha knew that he would die and would not be reborn.

Jesus believed that, after he had vicariously suffered for Israel but while he was still alive, a legion of angels would rescue him from the cross and that God would then reimpose His direct rule over the whole Earth. He died realizing that this approach had failed.

St Paul believed that Jesus had risen, had appeared to him and would return to initiate the kingdom as soon as he, Paul, had completed his mission to the Gentiles.

Maybe all three had some insight but the second and third let their imaginations generate illusions.