O.k. So, there are lots of threads about religion and others about whether or not science and religion can coexist, and a while back I posted a (very) long post about my take on "the End of Days", religion, science, and reality in general. I hesitated to post a blog here, because quite frankly, I don't think anyone really cares what I think. But, if for no other reason than to have an easy link to my views when I'm having discussions on religious threads, here it is (my family and friends who read this are going to think I'm even more crazy than they already do...).
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The first thing I want to address is the concept of the end of days (since that's what originally got me to thinking about this blog). I personally have a belief that a big change is indeed at hand. However, I have a different take on just how it will all go down. I don't believe that there will be a time in which the antichrist will rule the world. I believe the "end of days" is rather the beginning of a new time in our history. I think of it as sort of a group awakening, and I think it is indeed close at hand.
People point to all the bad things about our society and natural disasters as proof that the end is near. However, I would maintain that society as a whole has actually become more morally grounded and better in general. For all the Columbines and Virginia Tech disasters, there are a thousand (a hundred thousand? a million?) examples of good. 50 years ago, a husband was allowed to beat his wife if he saw fit. Black folks and those who supported them were lynched for challenging white supremacy. Women were not allowed to enter the workplace, at least not for professional jobs. All the bad things still existed but we didn't hear about them because there was no internet and there weren't 20 competing national news sources looking for a juicy story. Similarly, natural disasters have always existed, but we just didn't always know about them or they didn't have as big of an impact because there weren't as many people.
So, while many want to point to the bad things in our society as proof we are losing our moral direction, I would counter that I see examples of goodness every day that make me realize that things are getting BETTER not WORSE. In fact, perhaps the overload of information and exposure of bad is just a way of making us see that there is much work to be done and perhaps the work will be expedited as we all choose to be a little better than we might have otherwise been.
So, what is this "awakening" I talk about? I think that the end times refers more to the point where we achieve some critical mass in postive thinking and enter a new age of heaven on earth. It's something akin to Nirvana or Heaven, and it will happen right here and all around us.
One thing I would say about people who believe in the Rapture, in the event I'm wrong and they are right, many of them will be disappointed. Somehow, I don't believe a bumper sticker that reads "in case of Rapture, this car will be empty" extols the wishes of God. It seems a little presumptuous, and perhaps EGO has run rampant. Does that mean people who have those bumper stickers are bad? No, but I don't think that someone who has truly found God needs to show it with a bumper sticker. I think that there are plenty of people who are good down to their core who happen not to believe in "Rapture", and God would choose to bring them home over some of the so-called true believers. I hope I don't offend anyone by saying this.
Now, I'd like to attempt to explain my position about God. It's something I'm still working out myself, so pardon me if there are inconsistencies or I'm not particularly clear. I'm sure the majority of you can relate to following the path to God and how hard it can be to explain. Fact is, I think that the path to God is as individual as the person walking it. For some, the path to God is found through Hinduism, Buhdism, or Islam. For others, the path is found through Christianity. But in the end, I believe that anyone who is true to their individual path will find God. The trick is actually recognizing and following that path. Man, that can be a real bugger.
An example I would give is my grandmother. She was a devout Catholic who went to church every day, volunteered to keep the place in order, and generally lived a Christian lifestyle. However, she NEVER forced her ways on her children or grandchildren (at least, not by the time I was alive...and that's not to say she didn't gently suggest we join her for mass). She was kind to everyone and she clearly had found her own path to God. I am very much the person I am today because of the example she set. So, clearly, I believe that one of the paths to God is through Christianity because I have personally witnessed an example first hand.
So, who or what is God? I personally don't believe God to be some old dude sittin' on a throne passing judgment (and I'm pretty sure many of you don't either...so don't take this statement to mean that). Rather, I think of God as more of a general concept that encompasses all. I also believe that each of us is in some sense God and that we all create our own reality. I believe we all have a "higher self", which is just another way of saying there's a part of us that is God...although tapping into that part of ourselves is the grand challenge of being human.
It might sound like a paradox that I believe that God is everything, but that we are also God. I don't see it that way. The concept of God is much too large to be encompassed by a single definition. A duality of something as large as God is something that the human mind might not grasp, but that doesn't make it not so. Also, don't take my feeling that we are all God to mean that I think that I'm somehow considering myself to be Godlike. I don't worship myself, and I don't ask to be worshipped. To expect people to place you somehow above them is a decidedly un-Godly act. In order to follow the individual path, it's necessary to find humility and realize that we are all truly equal...even the bad ones (I've done enough bad things that I realize I have no right casting stones).
I haven't read enough of the Bible to be able to claim to understand the Biblical interpretation of why Jesus was here, but my personal feeling is that he wanted to show us we can ALL ascend if we choose to abandon our worldly anchors (i.e., stuff, attachments, etc.). In other words, I think Jesus came to show us "hey look, you can all be just like me if only you make the choice". I believe he was one of many great prophets, including Buddha, Muhhamad, and others. The meaning of their method, IMO, is that if you choose to leave the word behind, you can do so at any time. All it takes is a leap of faith.
One thing that I can't quite grasp is why so many feel the need to say that science and religion are somehow mutually exclusive. Surely, if the evidence shows that we have evolved and that life has been around for millions of years, then that can be part of God's master plan! I have a hard time believing in the strict interpretation of the Bible that the world has only been here for 5000 years (or whatever it is), and I think based on the parts of the thread I browsed, many of you feel the same way.
As a scientist myself, I will echo what others have said. The more you know about science, the more you realize that there simply MUST be more to it than random chance. Never mind the concept of "how did it all start" or "what was there before the universe". I'm talking matter being composed of atoms, which are composed of protons, neutrons and electrons, which are composed of quarks, etc (you want to think about infinity? You don't have to look out towards the Universe, just look down into the atom). Reality is so complex that the more we learn about it, the more we realize we don't know. One answer truly leads to a thousand more questions. That happens to also be why science is so much fun.
Now, like I said about not being an expert in the Bible, I'm also not an expert in string theory, one of the current theories for everything, and one that is understood by only a handful of the worlds top physicists. However, from my understanding, string theory cannot be tested in the physical world (I really might be wrong about this...but I think I'm correct...don't go quoting me on this!). So, there are a handful of people that are probably the smartest on the entire planet, and they are trying to develop a theory that at the moment simply cannot be tested. So, it seems to me that perhaps there is some sort of faith in science, too. Quantum physics is a theory that has been pretty much verified though a multitude of experiments, but yet, the only way to truly understand it is through mathematical equations that don't make any intuitive sense (the cat is alive, not the cat is dead, wait, the cat is BOTH!). Talking to a quantum physicist is much like talking to the converted. Lots of things that don't necessarily make sense on a conscious level, but no lacking in conviction.
So what, then, is the reason for all this stuff? Let me put my spin on "original sin" or whatever you want to call it. I think that the reason we are here is because we chose to create a playground to which we can "fall" and work our way back to God. I don't think it is really a struggle, even though that's what it feels like since we chose the rules of the game. I think we are here to play and enjoy the fact that we are human. Ultimately, we are still part of God and really this is all a sort of daydream in which we can choose to wake up at any time.
And what about hell? Is hell an eternal roasting on a spit with spiders crawling in your eyeballs and Dickie V yelling "you should have repented, baby!"? Or is it the more modern (or maybe it's not modern...I don't know) interpretation in which hell is in fact right here on earth? Well, one thing I would say about good vs. evil is, if it wasn't for evil, how would we recognize good in the first place? If you can't have good without evil, what does that say about the master plan (it says that evil is part of it, I think)? I would say that the existence of good and evil is the very thing that brings us to our playground in the first place.
Before the fall, there only was. We didn't have a "frame of reference", as us science nerds would say. Therefore, you have "original sin", i.e. the point at which we chose to create this wonderful playground we call humanity. That means pure love had to be split into good and evil. Otherwise, we'd be ignorant. And while ignorance is bliss, it's not a very good framework for having fun. So, ultimately, I think what we call "hell" is simply the denial of what we really are, which is more or less the "hell on earth" theory. Really, can there be anyone more miserable than the person who completely denies the root of who they are? Sounds like hell to me.
O.k. I think that much of what I am saying will resonate with some of you and maybe much of it will seem like the lunatic ramblings of a muckey muck (to most of you). Of course, some of you have mentioned being part of the "looney bin", too, so I guess we're all in the same asylum. Mainly, though, I hope I've offended nobody because I think that your views are every bit as valid as mine. I just thought it would be fun to go ahead and put my thoughts into a post.
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