Why Mythology is Important!

If you desire to put an idea into the ground where it will disappear and never return to bother you, just label it as mythological. To suggest that something is mythological is to suggest that it is fanciful, of no great importance, and cannot be trusted to tell you anything about the truth. Our ancestors had a better idea about mythology; they liked it, trusted it, and placed their most important secrets into that format for safe keeping. In an age where there was no other way to pass on data from one generation to the next, mythology became the method of choice. Why did they find it so important when we find it otherwise? If you think about it, you will soon see that any other method of passing on information was risky and far less efficient. Tell a story that has simple elements and is easily remembered, and that story will last for a very long time. The tales of Aesop are standard fare for our children, just as they were standard fare for us when we were growing up. Each contains a moral. The tales told to my generation, which predated World War II, are the same as are being related to my grandchildren. The morals contained in each tale remain the same, and are just as pertinent today. Our distant ancestors did not know how the world was created or if it was created at all. That didn't stop each group from having a creation story to pass on from one generation to the next. We have no problem labeling all of them as mythological except for, you guessed it, our own mythology. I refer specifically to the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, which I submit is just as mythological as any other such story. However, from a gnostic view point, the story of Adam and Eve is important. Our ancestors didn't just make up that story; it has a germ of truth which the mythology is designed to nurture and pass on to us just as our ancestors intended that it should. The story has its roots in Kurdistan (a section of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and parts of the old Soviet Union). The Kurds have lived in that area for some 10,000 years. Their traditions go back to the time when the Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden story had its beginnings. It is not a coincidence that the birthplace of Abraham, namely the City of Ur, is right there in the middle of that area. The germ of truth is that this is the place where likely human beings transitioned from hunter-gatherers into farmers and city folk as we are now. Again, it is not a coincidence that the underlying problem between Cain and Abel was that one was a farmer and the other a hunter. Wars were fought in the American West between ranchers and homesteaders over the use of the land. It is not a stretch that hunter-gatherers would resent the tilling of the land where they were used to hunting. The ruins of Gobekli Tepe are possibly the location of the Garden of Eden. There was a land known as Eden in the vicinity. I recommend to those who are interested in this history that they buy two books, both by Andrew Collins. One is "From the Ashes of Angels," and the other is the "Gods of Eden." If you prefer to take it as fiction rather than nonfiction, I recommend that you read, "The Genesis Secret," by Tom Knox. If you read any or all of these books, you will never see our mythology in the same way. First, you will know that the Garden of Eden story is mythological, and second, you will know that it carries an important message for our own time. I especially recommend these books to those folks who believe that the earth is only 6,000 years old. Since the events in these books occurred 10,000 years ago, it will serve as a timely wake up call for taking religion literally rather than metaphorically.

The Power of One

I am not a mathematician, however I believe that I have enough understanding of math to be able to talk about the number "one." I believe that a proper understanding of this number is helpful in understanding the nature of all things. The Hebrews from the time of Moses have believed that God is One. If they are right, and I think that they are, then God is indivisible. Going one step further, if God is the source of all things, then one is, as Three Dog Night said in their hit song, "One is the Loneliest Number in the World." In fact, if God is ultimately the source of all things, one is the only number in existence. Every other number is a derivative. How can this be? One can be divided to infinity. If not, then the size of the universe would be very difficult to account for. God the one divides itself to infinity. From this division comes the entire universe, including ourselves. Some say that the entire universe is conscious. If it all a division of the One, that is not difficult to perceive. If God is the ultimate consciousness, then all of its creation is conscious as well. Giordano Bruno, a monk who was burned at the stake in 1600, believed that it was so. Did he die because he told the truth? You do the math.

Self Discovery

The primary purpose of life is like a voyage of discovery. As Columbus set out to find a new route to China, so we are born for the purpose of discovering a new world in ourselves. This is the Gnostic Way. God is one, and everything that comes from God is one as well. Hence, our souls are all one. We may be distinct entities, but the soul that makes up our core existence is one; one with God and one with all life forms. Alone we are vulnerable and unable to help ourselves in the event of some tragedy. Together we are powerful and more than able to compete with the natural world. As we discover ourselves, we also discover our relationship with others. The Gnostic Way is the next great chapter in the history of the human race. Through the Gnostic Way we are challenged to truly understand the world that God has created for us. As we grow, and become more attuned to God's desires for us, we will find the way to put a stop to war, crime, the abuse of nature, and the disconnection between the lower classes and upper classes of society. We will learn to feed not just those with wealth, but all the people of the earth. We will find a way to put our entire world population to productive labor. We will grow in intelligence, patience, and a willingness to live and let live. While it may be beyond us to build a paradise on earth, it is not beyond us to improve the living standards of every human being. In so doing we can allow everyone to live in freedom and prosperity. The Gnostic knows that God loves us equally, and wants us to find that same love for ourselves.

End Times

The end of the earth as we know it is a fascinating subject. So many possibilities exist for this to happen and someone is going to advance each and every one of them. Right now we have two major end of the earth scenarios going; 2012 and the prospective coming of Jesus Christ. I doubt that either one of them is iminent if it happens at all. Only one thing is certain; the earth will die and we will die; everything dies including the universe itself. We have had several extinction events since the earth was formed. The Permian Extinction was the worst of the lot. Allegedly caused by the volcanoes known as the Deccan Traps, fully 95% of all living creatures of the time died. It took millions of years for the earth to restore itself. Most of us are familiar with the KT Extinction that killed the dinosaurs and made it possible for human beings to evolve. This one is thought to be caused by an asteroid that hit the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. Today we seem to be more interested in omens. Nostradamus allegedly foretold 2012 along with the Mayans. The Book of Revelation in the Bible is the place where the Christians who believe in the End Times go for their authority. So far as I know there is no asteroid or volcano currently ready to step up and close the book on our civilization. Some people think that Zacharia Stitchin's planet called Niburu will do the job. If Niburu exists, no scientist I have read seems to have spotted it. It's easy to promote the idea of disaster because there are so many candidates for the job. If we keep yelling that the end is near, sooner or later we are going to be correct. Will Jesus come soon? If he does he will find that the people who are promoting his return are a very different lot than the ones he left behind 2000 years ago. Fundamentalist Christians will have replaced the Jews who followed him around during his time on the earth. To please them, he'll have to get rid of all of the liberals, gun control freaks, ACLU types, and Northern Democrats who are leading the United States down the road to ruin. If he does this, what will he have left behind. Some of his followers will be carrying snakes around to prove that they can't be bit and won't die of the poison because God will protect them. Others will be armed with machine guns, AK 47's, and other weapons to protect Jesus from the liberal, wishy-washy, not born again, soft on the death penalty Northern Clergy, who we all know are headed straight to Hell with the Atheists. A lot of folks will simply be glad that they joined the right church and didn't miss the bus when it came to their corner of the world. I have deliberately stayed away from the flying saucer people who believe that the aliens from outer space are our best hope. I believe that God has provided us with our own end times. It is called "death" and all of us will ultimately experience it no matter what our current age and health might be. What will happen to us when we die? Nobody knows for certain, but I believe that the ultimate fate of each of us is already determined. We are transformed into another dimension and there we go on as before. "AS ABOVE, SO BELOW." This great Hermetic concept is reassuring. Death does not exist. If we called it transformation, we would be much more accurate. Why would God go to the effort of creating a marvelous being such as yourself only to cast you aside because you did not meet some standard that He has allegedly created to judge us by? I just don't think that an omnipotent God would waste your life in that fashion. Book a cruise for the year 2013 and enjoy the remainder of your life. Go to Church, but do so because it helps you become a better and more responsible person. One who is here for the long haul and wants things to go well for the sake of all of us.

The Road to Enlightenment

In my last post I talked about people recognizing that we are all one in the eyes of God. There are three ways in which we can become enlightened and learn to love one another. The three ways are not based on complicated thoughts, but are very complicated to achieve. The three ways are this: (1) as persons we must accept our relationship with God as being real and eternal; (2) as persons we must acknowledge that every single human being shares this relationship with God; and (3) all of us must agree to respect one another and to allow each of us to live in the world in peace. In church we say, "Peace be with you." In life we must say the same thing. None of the above is easily accomplished. How can anyone love someone who has destroyed a fellow human being, particularly a child? I believe that if we can create a world of love and mutual respect that crime and other aberrations of our nature will fall away and die out. Is this pie in the sky thinking? Perhaps, but it is certainly worth our trying to achieve it. Even in failure, we can make this world a much better place to live.

2012

I'm not going to be one of those folks that are predicting the end of the world in December of 2012. There are enough people doing that already, and they have the subject well covered. I don't agree with them however; 2012 has already happened; the world as we know it ended in August of 1945 when two atomic bombs were dropped in Japan. I was alive and a young father of two children in 1962 when the United States and the Soviet Union were extremely close to war with Hydrogen Bombs. That was a 2012 enough for me in my lifetime. However, the proponents of 2012 are on to something. The world needs changing, and we are the ones who need to do the work. We need to all change the way that we look at the world and each other. I had an epiphany the other day, a small one but one that I think important. I have often wondered how our bodies which are short lived and corruptible can contain the essence of something we call a "soul." It came to me that we don't contain an individual soul, but rather we all share in the single soul that we call God. In short, we are all one no matter what shape, capacity, outlook, and understanding of the world that we have. All living matter. If you kill your neighbor you are killing two people. Yourself and your neighbor. Your neighbor is the exact same person in the presence of God as are you. Currently, we are divided by culture, religion, political affiliation, and history. In the eyes of God these things mean nothing. We can all have these differences without killing each other and attempting to outlaw the other persons ideas. I'm not just talking to the United States in which I live. The entire human race is equally guilty of this separation, and it is killing us all. All we need is just one freak of nature, Hitler comes to mind, who will commence using the nuclear weapons on his neighbor. When that happens we will wish that 2012 had undone us all as predicted. It will be tame by comparison. Gnosticism is taking many forms these days, and Noetic Science is one of them. All of these ideas that stress our commonality and our similarity and our need to be one people constitute the only road that we can follow to what Churchill called the "Broad Sunlit Uplands," where we all want to reside. When you find yourself hating or even disliking your neighbor, and by the word "neighbor" I mean the entire human race, it is time for you to take a deep breath and suck in your stomach, and learn to love one another. This is what Christ preached when he gave us the Golden Rule. He told the man who came to him in the middle of the night that there are only two rules. The first is to acknowledge God as the center of our universe, and the second is to love one another as we love ourselves. Is this a formula to get us out of the 2012's that we face. I think it is, how about you?

Agree to Disagree

The Gnostic looks at agreement as an impossible achievement. At no point in the history of human beings (homo sapiens sapiens), which stretches some 200,000 thousand years, has there ever been total agreement on anything. Indeed, there are many people alive today who think the world is only a few thousand years old; not counting those who believe that the world is flat. The story of the Tower of Babel from the Bible is illustrative. The contention is that God wants us this way for some reason. To the Gnostic there is only one possible solution to this lack of agreement. That solution involves adding tolerance to our laws. This addition occurred when the Golden Rule was propagated by Jesus as one of two laws that we all have to follow. The first law is to accept that God is One and there is no other God. The second law is to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. If this is not tolerance I fail to see what else it might be. In short, we need to stop demonizing each other because we disagree. As stated above, disagreement is the order of things and it is doubtful that full agreement will ever occur, at least during the conceivable future. A good start is to accept that all views, whether religious, political, economic, personal, or patriotic, need to be held in a tolerant manner so that others who disagree with us need not fear being punished for so doing. If we can achieve that perhaps someday we will all acknowledge the same truth. This is the Gnostic Way. When that truth is finally discovered it will go by the name of God.

A Gnostic Looks at Jesus

Prior to the time of Constantine the Gnostic Christian Church lived side by side with the Literal Christian Church. When accused of heresy, the Gnostics responded that they believed in the same Jesus that the Literal Church did. The difference between the Gnostic and the Literal Christian, was in the scope of that belief. The Literal Christian looks to Jesus for salvation. There is no reason to believe that both Jesus (along with the Holy Spirit) means to make good on that belief. In short, it is not wrong to be a Literal Christian. The mistake, from a Gnostic point of view, is that it does not go far enough. The Gnostic believes that God, in the long view, means to save everyone, not just a chosen few. Those who do not believe as the Literal Christians do are not left out; as Jesus said, God has many mansions in His eternal home. The pathway to God includes not only salvation but "gnosis" or knowledge of God within oneself. Had the Gnostics been left alone in the time of Constantine, the Gnostic Church could easily live side by side with all of the Christian Churches which today are diverse, far flung and numerous; there are,among others, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, St. Thomas, Coptic, Ethiopian, Russian Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, and the many Protestant Churches, not forgetting the Mormons and other branches that have arisen from time to time. The Christian Church is a very big tent and today is far more diverse than in the time of Constantine. The one thing that unites all of these numerous off shoots of the Early Church of Jerusalem is a belief in Jesus Christ, although these beliefs vary greatly. Everything goes back to the Pentecost and the foundation of the Church by Paul, Peter and James the Just. The Gnostics were there at that time, and are still around today; many of them living within the framework of the Literal Church. No one has to deny their current beliefs to be a Gnostic. All you have to bring to the Gnostic Way is a desire to find God within yourself. This is the same message that Jesus brought when he said that the Kingdom of God is within us all, although most of us are unaware of this fact. It was Jesus' message then, and it is the Gnostic message today.

Atlantis

What has Atlantis to do with the Gnostic Way? On the surface, nothing, however, the story of Atlantis is a powerful metaphor for the aspirations of human beings; so too are Camelot and the Garden of Eden. It is an open question whether any of these places existed in real time, or if they did, whether they were the places that we think that they were. In our reveries these places were all magical. Great powers or great actions took place here, and the people who inhabited these places were leading charmed lives. You might say that Heaven is also such a place, and in a negative sense, Hell. In comparison, our own lives appear to be drab and common place. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are magical and don't seem to recognize it. Just look at the context of our lives. The universe has been around billions of years. The earth has been around a few billion years as well. Both the universe and the earth are likely to be around some billions of years more. On the earth at this moment, there are many more billions of human beings. This is not counting the countless other forms of life that share the planet with us. Yet here we are, watching television, reading books, sharing our lives with our loved ones, and living in one of the most advanced countries in the world. Simply by existing, you have won a lottery bigger than any that could be produced on earth by men, and against odds too great to calculate. Why is this so? I submit, it is so because the game is rigged. You are here as you are, because your parentage is not confined to your mother and father. Your ultimate parent is God and you are here, privileged as you are, because of that parentage. Just as you carry the DNA of your two parents, so you also carry the DNA of your ultimate parent. To my knowledge, there is no biological form of life that does not have DNA, or some portion of it. And what is DNA? Like the musical score that Beethoven wrote for the Ninth Symphony, DNA is the composers score, only in this case the composer is God; the ultimate composer. It is an open question whether we have a soul. Science has never identified the substance or existence of the soul. For this reason, many of the scientific community hold that the physical brain is all there is or ever will be of us. No evidence exists for the presence of a soul in a human body. There is a reason, I believe that one will never be found. This reason is that God has no substance, hence the soul which reflects God within us, has no substance as well. Both God and the soul are ideas. An idea is powerful in and of itself, but is the framework rather than the reality. It is the combination of an idea coupled with energy that makes up all reality. If you could reduce yourself to the size of a quark, what would you find? You would discover that in the quantum world, energy in the form of atoms is all that exists. In addition, you would also discover that the energy is not without direction. Direction from whom and from where? It is all random and chaotic, or is it under an active control of laws that cannot be broken. If they could be broken and if they were chaotic, would we be here at this precise moment, living our lives? I will let you answer that question for yourselves, but I know that the answer creates itself. The mere fact that we can propose the question is enough to point out the logic behind the answer. Everything including ourselves is encompassed in the idea we call God and everything including ourselves owe our very existence to it. This is why the search for God is so important. It is the search for the heart of our very existence. This is the Gnostic Way.

Three Easy Steps

There are three easy steps to becoming a Gnostic. If you take them in order, and follow them consistently, you will be a Gnostic without breaking a sweat. The steps are as follows:

1. Pay no attention to what the Gnostics were in the time of the Roman Empire. The Gnostic Christian Church had a set of beliefs. These beliefs were finished when the Literal Church took over in the Fourth Century. After that time Gnosticism changed. The Mystics in the Catholic Church, the non-Christian Gnostics, and the many, many searchers that came into being with the Renaissance and have continued writing since have changed the Gnostic Way completely.

2. Keep in mind that all ideas about God and His Kingdom are metaphoric. This means that you are not required to have a fixed set of beliefs to be a Gnostic. The name implies knowledge, but the reality is that you are a searcher for knowledge. Reality is constantly changing. At the beginning of the 19th century many of the ideas that are now current did not exist; evolution, atomic energy, flight, quantum physics, and the Nag Hammadi Gospels were unheard of. Unlike our literalistic brothers and sisters, we believe that much more is yet to be learned. The Bible is a guide, not an encyclopedia. The entire body of knowledge, both east and west, is open to us for our review.

3. Commit yourself to the search. What does this commitment look like? It is the process of watching, learning, and changing. This process has another name. It is called growth. Where will we end up? This is the exciting part. Right now, I am examining the ideas of Emmanuel Swedenborg. I have always thought of him as a quaint and out of date character from the past. Upon a second look, I realize that he was far ahead of his time. The people who are attracted to his ideas are some of the most progressive and intelligent people currently working in the religious field. Their numbers are small, but their characters are large.

If you follow those three steps, you will undertake an adventure that is both wonderful and productive. How to get started? That too is simple. Go to your local library or book store and browse. You will be surprised at what is out there. When you stumble on an interesting subject, google it. Never has the process of learning been easier than it is today. The fundamentalists are plotting a return to the Dark Ages. The best defense against this horrendous event is the acquisition of knowledge. That is the Gnostic Way.

The Book of Enoch

Today, I opened a new blog. It is www.enochthegnostic.blogspot.com. The purpose of this new blog is not to substitute for this one, but to enhance its range. The Book of Enoch is a long one and deserves its own treatment. Therefore, I plan to manage two blogs at the same time. I hope that you will review both blogs on a regular basis. I feel that the Book of Enoch is a very important book that was left out of the canon for some reason. It deserves your time and attention. For those of you who do not know who Enoch is, I suggest that you review Genesis 5:18-24. These verses say: "When Jared had lived one hundred sixty-two years he became the father of Enoch. Jared lived after the birth of Enoch eight hundred years and had other sons and daughters. Thus, all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years; and he died. When Enoch had lived sixty-five years, he became the father of Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after the birth of Methuselah three hundred years and had other sons and daughters. Thus, all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty-five years. Enoch walked with God; then he was no more because God took him." The Book of Enoch fills in the many spaces left by these very limited verses. It tells you much more about his relationship with God and with the Angels of God. I look forward to filling in my own Gnostic view as to this Book and its startling conclusions.

The Nature of Life

The great metaphors of our society are found in the movie theaters. Years ago, a friend of mine called them "Daydreams from Hollywood." Not a bad description. Most movies have an incredible ending that is designed to make things right. When the protagonists in the movie, "Jurassic Park," were surrounded by Velociraptors ready to dine on them, suddenly a T Rex entered the scene and killed all of the raptors. Hollywood does this because they want to sell their product. We all want to believe that the ending is going to come out okay, and when we pay to see the story we want that result. Reality has a way of bringing this sort of thinking to a close; things don't always turn out right. The Great King who built the Taj Mahal was jailed in the last decade of his reign by his own son who wasn't willing to wait to replace him after death. King David of the Bible was challenged by his own son, Absalom, but beat the challenge back; same problem, two different results. There is a happy ending sometimes but not as often as the movies portray; an unhappy ending is more likely. However, in the great theater of life, God promises us a happy ending. If you are willing to allow yourself to grow into the maturity that God plans for you, you will end up in paradise with God. This process is not going to take place in a short period of time or even in one lifetime. Look around you at the state of the world currently, and you can see what a daunting task lies before us. Things may likely get worse before they get better. What can we do about it? There are three rules that God has placed before us and if we follow them, we will ultimately succeed. The first rule is the Golden Rule. To make this rule work we must adopt the second rule which is to love ourselves and our fellow human beings equally. If we don't love ourselves and each other, the Golden Rule will not work. The last rule is that we have to stop preying on each other and taking advantage of each other for our own gain. To abolish selfishness may be the hardest task that we face. If you are optimistic about this one, a short hop on the freeway will teach you the lesson you need to learn; this one will be tough. To recap the three: (1) follow the Golden Rule; (2) Learn to love yourself and your neighbor; and (3) live unselfishly. To do this by yourself means that others will take advantage of you. However, I have good news for you. Most of what we want is like fast food, tasty but non-nutritious. If you learn to live within your means, financially, emotionally, and with due regard for the others in your life, you will be healthier and happier in the long run. I recently saw a biography of Michael J. Fox. His life may not be perfect, few people live perfect lives, but it is full of good examples of how a person can deal with fame, adversity, and the challenges of life. He has a book out, and I would suggest that you read it. Here is a role model that we all could profit from studying.

Remdies for Evil

Can we eliminate evil? No, because there are too many sources for it. However, there are things that we can do about evil. Evil is to some degree subject to interpretation. Before you decide that something is evil, it might help to examine that so-called evil first. Politics is a good example of this. When Abraham Lincoln was elected President, one half of the country used this fact to leave the Union. To the South, Lincoln was a "Black Republican." Today, the South is virtually all Republican. Go figure! When you find the subject of evil being discussed there is a good chance that somebody's death is involved. Around the United States men who favor sex with children are being ousted from neighborhoods due to the large number of children who are kidnapped, raped, and murdered. Not all of them are killers, but enough of them are to make it tough on the remainder. This is not helped by the fact that the killers are people who appear to be ordinary and trustworthy so long as you do not know their sexual proclivities. In short, people who blend into society and seem, on the surface, to be harmless. The problem with choosing a group for exile from society is well known. It is a short step to exile people for religious, political, and societal reasons. The more short steps that we take, the more likely we are to fire up the instruments of death for entire groups. We overlook sometimes that in addition to the Jews, the Nazi's also attempted to eliminate the mentally disabled, the gypsies, and the liberal Christians. While they were doing this, Stalin was wiping out millions of Russians who were of German extraction. Lest we pat ourselves on the back, we were putting thousands of Japanese-Americans into concentration camps at the same time. Does all of this mean that I favor allowing sex offenders to wander around our neighborhoods? Some form of monitoring is called for, but is making them camp out in the woods, as they do in Georgia, an answer? We need to think through what we do and make our actions as reasonable as we can. Evil is a problem to be sure, but it is not the end problem of the world. Nothing does more harm to society than our unwillingness to adopt the Golden Rule in a manner to make it effective. I have written previously about the children who die needlessly because society has not figured out how to take care of them. Many more of our children die this way than are killed by sex offenders. So what should we do about evil? The Gnostic believes that the ultimate end of evil is our union with God. Once we have attained a full partnership with God, we will have a far more mature and well developed response to all of the evils of society, not just some of them. Once we have all attained the ability to truly love God, we will also attain the ability to love one another fully. How much evil will simply dissipate when that day arrives? Let us pray for that day to come, and let us work to achieve it in ourselves. That is the Gnostic Way.

Signposts

When we drive on the freeway or highway, we look for signposts. How far is the next city? When can I expect to see my off ramp? Sometimes our signposts are natural things like mountains, rivers, parks, and the like. It would be nice to have signposts that tell us when we are getting closer to God. Something that says, "God is just around the corner." We go to church hoping that our minister or priest can tell us something useful. We read books like the Bible and religious tracts for the same reason. Many people don't look for signposts because they either don't believe that God is there in the first place, or simply because they think that the task is too difficult. Some of us would rather not look in the first place because we are satisfied that life is okay the way it is. To the Gnostic the signposts are there and are capable of being read and followed. Its just a question of knowing where to look. The life of Saint John of the Cross is a good place to begin your search. He was a Jew who belonged to a family that converted to Christianity. He was ordained as priest in 1567 and planned to join the Carthusian order. Before doing this he traveled to Medina Del Campo where met Saint Teresa de Jesus. Attracted to her work, he stayed to help her until 1577, founding monasteries in the Carmelite order. Some of the Carmelite friars disliked his work and they had him imprisoned in a tiny stifling cell barely large enough for his body. Instead of giving in to despair, he wrote poetry in his captivity, becoming one of the foremost poets in the Spanish language. Ultimately, he was declared to be one of the Doctors of the Catholic Church. Many of his poems were written on the theme of finding a union with God. One of them called the Dark Night of the Soul is especially poinant given his experiences as a prisoner who was roughly treated by his captors. His works have deeply influenced writers such as T.S. Eliot, Edith Stein, and pacifists such as Daniel and Philip Berrigan. Pope John Paul II wrote his theological dissertation on the mystical theology of Saint John of the Cross. If you are interested in searching for God inside yourself, where can you find a better place to start than the poems of Saint John of the Cross? Was he a Gnostic? Of course not, but when we start to search for God, we are all Gnostics. There is no rule that I am aware of that says that you cannot be a Catholic and a Gnostic at the same time. Searching for God is neither a heresy or a sin. It is a way of life and a good one at that.

The Short Life

Martin Luther King called death, "The Great Democracy." Nobody escapes death and even the high born and privileged must ultimately die. However, the discrepancy between the quality and length of lives can be just as great as the discrepancy between wealth and poverty. Today in the LA Times they had an article about two children who lived short and unhappy lives. One was a suicide and the other a victim of a brutal murder. Both children died at an excessively young age; one 14 and the other 12 years of age. The boy, 14, was missing an arm and had no family to speak of; the girl, 12, was too much to handle and was abandoned both by her birth mother and her adopted mother. Both lived on the streets and were unhappy with their lives. Neither got much support from the community. What do these lives mean? To a Gnostic it means that we have only begun our search for the Kingdom of Heaven. This search began before the birth of Jesus, who was its most powerful proponent. During the ensuing 2000 years since the death of Jesus, we have spent most of our time defending our liturgy at the expense of finding our souls. It has always been the liturgy that saved us, we have been told. In truth, it is the perfection of our souls that will save not only ourselves, but these children who have been ignored and left behind. Of only one thing, I am certain. When these two children died, it was Jesus himself who led them into the light. Will Jesus meet you as well? If you're not certain, perhaps its time to look inside yourself and see if the light is shining from your soul. If it is not, the Gnostic Way is there for you to find it.

Reality is an Idea.

When you fall the process can hurt; at best it is embarrassing. If I were to come along at such a time and tell you that reality is not what it seems, you would respond with a word requiring an asterisk. However, reality is not what it seems. I talked recently about the nonexistence of death. On reflection, I realize that this concept is not technically accurate. When we die, an idea dies, and there is no reason to suppose that an idea is incapable of death. What is the idea that suffers such a fate? Upon death, all of the atoms in our body remain. The atoms making up the liver remain as a liver, and so on, as to all the organs of the body; yet, the fundamental organism has changed. The body commences a process of decomposition which carries on until only the skeleton remains. The natural defenses against this process that worked for us during life have now shut down. What has changed to make this possible? It is often called the spark of life, but I think that it is nothing more than an idea. The two cells that combine at conception are both alive. Both are capable of commencing the process of creating a human being and that plan is found in the DNA of the cells. So long as the entity remains alive, the DNA continues its task right up to the time of death. When a vital organ shuts down for any reason, the process I described above takes hold. The same principle applies to the earth, the sun, and to the entire universe. When all of the suns shut down and there are no more being created, with no more heat and light the universe will decompose in some manner and cease to exist. I suspect that the black holes have the task of eliminating the debris. I believe that the entire gamut of life, both animate and inanimate, is based on an idea. When you buy a car at the dealers, you expect that when you put gas in it and start it up, you will be able to drive it home. The same can be said for the body you are given at birth. Someday, both car and human will be no more. If you are the product of an idea, is that idea exclusive or general? In other words, do you go on as before, or are you dependent on something somewhere retaining interest in your survival? The discussion between the Gnostic and the Literalist is based on this distinction. The Gnostic believes that God is the basis of all things. As part of God, we are the outgrowth of his thinking. The Literalist believes that we are a one-time thing. They are joined in this thought by the Atheist, who concludes the same thing but leaves out God. The Gnostic believes that both are wrong. Underlying all things is an idea. We are part of that idea and share in it. If you doubt this, look in the mirror and see your face stare back at you. That face is made up of atoms no different than the atoms that make up the mirror itself. The light that allows you to see yourself can be found throughout the entire universe. You are part of a whole and that whole is eternal. Judgement day is not a special day that comes when you pass over to the other side. Judgement day is every day and every minute of every day. You have a life that God took great care to think up. Enjoy it, use it, and respect it. If you are not succeeding to live up to the high standards set by the universe don't despair. Your job is to grow. That is the Gnostic Way.

More on Keeping it Simple

In a previous post, I suggested the aphorism, "Don't make simple things complicated." I want to talk about this idea some more. Theologians write and act as if religion were complicated. What makes it complicated is the fact that so much fairy dust is attached to it. It's not enough to say that Jesus was a great man who took the wisdom of his time, both Jewish and Gentile, and taught us this wisdom in a understandable and effective manner. He used metaphor to establish his point. We call them parables, but by any name they are all metaphoric. The Shepherd who leaves his flock to find the one lost sheep. The prodigal son who is welcomed home by his father. The Samaritan who helps the wounded traveler when the high born Jews pass him by. My favorite is the bridegroom who goes to the slums to find his guests when the high born of the city refuse to attend his wedding; the picture of the prostitutes who enter the celebration first is telling. The subject matter of all of these metaphors was the coming Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus was clear that the Kingdom was at hand. He was also clear that it was for Jews only. Finally, he believed that the Kingdom had already arrived in the hearts and minds of the Jews if they would only acknowledge that fact and repent of their sins. This was the same message brought by John the Baptist. The Apostle Paul was the one who took the message outside Jerusalem to the Gentiles. It was his intent that they become Jews, but without having to be circumcised. It was on this foundation that the Church was formed. By the time of Constantine, around 315 CE, the liturgy of the church had been fully formed and was en grafted in the Nicene Creed. The Jewish nature of the message of Jesus had been removed nearly in its entirety by this time. The Jews, by now in exile from their homeland, remained committed to the old religion as it existed prior to Jesus time. I admit that this history is simplistic, but it is nonetheless true. The original message of Jesus had long since been lost by the time of Constantine. I believe that the time has come to accept Jesus as he originally was. A great man with a great message that should help us all cope with the rigors of being a human being. Because his message was metaphoric it retains its original power. We do not need to deify him to accomplish this. As I have stated before, his deification was done because that was common in the Roman Empire; it happened to the emperors when they died. Had he not been deified, no one would have taken Christianity seriously. In modern times we have progressed past that point. In Paul's metaphor, first we look through the glass darkly, and then clearly after that. It is time to look for Jesus through clear glass. Taken as it originally was, his message is simple but powerful. Taken as the Church makes him, a God rather than a man, his message is lost. The simple truth is that God has given us all that we need to save ourselves. This was the original message of Jesus, and it is still good today.

A Most Complicated Entity

The other day in Chicago a 16 year old honor student was beaten to death in a street fight. The ensuing uproar over his death led to two members of the Obama administration being sent to Chicago to deal with the fall out. The young man's death was one of many that plague the City of Chicago. Children are being killed in record numbers; mostly by other children. I doubt that this plague is confined to the City of Chicago. I know that Los Angeles has a similar problem. Lest we think that the problem is confined to our country, look again. Recently in Rwanda, members of a tribe were murdered in the thousands. This problem is not confined to people of color. In Bosnia there was a similar attempt to wipe out thousands of Bosnians in a civil war. Let's not forget the millions who were killed in World War II simply because of their religion, nationality, or for no other reason than they were in the way of the war machines. Our species has a terrible record in this regard. One of the most important challenges we face as human beings is to simply learn to live with each other in peace. If we spent one half of the money we spend on arms, weapons of war, and methods of killing each other, we could solve most, if not all, of the problems of economic inequality, famine, and disease. In addition to the cost of murder and warfare, we are, as we did in the case of the honor student, killing the best and brightest of our species. How many Shakespeare's and Beethoven's have we murdered? The young man in Chicago who was murdered might have been the one to finally solve the scourge of cancer. We like to think of ourselves as enlightened. In doing so, we shy away from looking at the dark side of our nature. The Gnostic believes that God resides within each of us. When you examine the carnage that follows behind us, it is difficult to believe this to be true. There is a place in the Pacific Ocean where our trash has collected and it is killing the creatures that inhabit the ocean. Our murderous ways are not confined to our own species. The Supreme Court is at this moment wrestling with the question of whether films of people torturing small and helpless animals are entitled to the protection of free speech. Go figure! I stress all of this human garbage in our world for a reason. Nothing that I can cite illustrates the need for us to get past our current political, social, religious, and ethical boundaries more than the above litany. We have a lot of work to do. I submit that going to church for the sole reason of saving yourselves from sin is insufficient to get the job done. We need to make great strides in finding and cultivating our better natures. If we don't, how many more bright young men and women will have to die? How much carnage will occur in the future? It's a nice idea to think that God will send us salvation for nothing but our beliefs. I do not think God is that stupid. There is no free lunch. I believe that God favors our growth. At one time, we lived in caves; today we live in modern homes and apartments. At one time, we thought that disease could be cured by bleeding; today we have antibiotics. We have demonstrated that we are capable of growth. In no area do we resist growth more than in the area of religion. Because the Bible says that God told Joshua to kill every living thing that breathes in a village he conquered, that must be true about God. The Gnostic denies this forcefully. God does not believe in killing human beings for political or economic reasons. We came up with that by ourselves. If its not true about Genghis Khan, it is not true about Joshua. The heart and soul of the Gnostic Way is that the human race is capable of continuous growth. The Gnostic Way stresses metaphor over literalism. The best metaphor for life is to hold a baby in your arms and contemplate that baby's future. What kind of world do we want for our children? Do we want a world where they are beaten to death on their way home from school, or do we want them to grow up and match their full potential? This question should be easy to answer, however, our desires and our deeds have yet to match each other. When I suggest that the search for God within ourselves is important, think on this. Is there anything more important?

Why I chose to be a Gnostic

Imagine a religion that has no God. I understand that the Buddhist Religion is not based on a belief in God. The secular world has Atheism. Richard Dawkins book does an admirable job of outlining why so many scientists and philosophers have chosen to reject the idea of a God. Most religions require that you not only believe in God, but that you must accept their concept of what God is like. I was attracted to the Gnostic Way because the Gnostics do not pretend to know what God is like. God is a mystery beyond our understanding. Perhaps someday we will know God intimately, but that day is still very far away. The Gnostic searches for God inside ourselves. I have pointed out many times the words of Meister Eckhart that to know God we must empty ourselves fully; only then can God enter into us. All anyone can do realistically if asked to prove the existence of God is to shrug one's shoulders and pass on the question; anything else is speculative at best. I prefer to be honest and say that I am searching for God, and since I believe fully in reincarnation, I expect that at some point in the future that search will succeed. If someone chooses to believe that God can be known I have no trouble with that if the knowledge is metaphoric rather than literal. When you tell me that because of writings that occurred back when people believed that the world was flat and that the sun revolved around it rather than the other way around, I cannot go there with you. I am willing to accept anything as metaphor, and the Gnostics were masters at metaphor. In the world of metaphor, we are all brothers and sisters no matter what we believe. As literalists we are divided and shall always remain so. As a Gnostic I can listen to all points of view and need not adopt any single one of them. Hence, the Gnostic Way.

Death versus Life

If I could print just one aphorism and have it prominently displayed around the world it would be this: "Don't make simple things complicated." We all worry about death. Movies are often based on some form of death since it is always an interesting subject. Nothing is quicker in bringing tears to our eyes than the prospect or realization of the death of a loved one. However, I submit that the subject of death is unnecessary. Death does not exist. Nobody looks at the period at the end of a sentence as portentous; another sentence will surely follow. It is merely a marker that says one sentence has been completed and the next one will be a entity unto itself. That's what a book is; a long series of sentences that combined together make up a story. The same thing can be said for us. Like a sentence, our life is just one panel in a large tapestry. For the ultimate meaning, you must be able to see the entire tapestry. One panel like one sentence cannot express the whole. Last night I saw a program that discussed the life and death of the Milky Way Galaxy; our galaxy. It appears that the Andromeda Galaxy and the Milky Way Galaxy are on a collision course. Apparently, our solar system may be cast out of the mix into the outer void. Don't fret, however, we are talking about several billion years from now. Our entire universe will die, I am told. Will other universes take its place? I submit that the answer is yes; everything dies and everything lives. Getting back to the aphorism I proposed. We need to stop looking at death as important. By dying, we simply make certain that life goes on. If you were to live forever in your present form, there are several bad things awaiting you. Sooner or later a super volcano will erupt (perhaps in Yellowstone Park). If not that, an asteroid will strike the earth. If that isn't enough, the sun will ultimately die and turn the earth into a burnt cinder in the process. By dying, we are able to adjust to all of this. We can come back after the dust settles and this or some other earth is now able to accommodate us. It may take a few million years, but I have good news about that as well; like death, time does not exist either. Just as you sleep at night, so you can take a nap while things sort themselves out. Someday, I would like to sit down and ask God why things have to be this way. I suspect that I already know the answer. Which would you rather do? Sit in an eternal chair staring at an eternal scene, or would you rather wake up eternally in a different place each time, leading a different life. Since it is an eternal tapestry sooner or later you will get to be everything from the simplest to the most complex form of life. I call that an adventure worth taking, what do you call it?

Frontal Lobotomy

I've never met a person who wants to have a frontal lobotomy. This procedure turns you into a zombie and robs you of the essential elements of being a human being. However, many of us, if not all of us at one time or another, give the procedure to ourselves. We do it with an emotion that we call "anger." Think back to the time that you were really angry. It doesn't matter whether your anger was justified or not. Think about your state of mind while your anger ran through your system. During my years as a criminal defense attorney, I could not help but notice how often my clients charged with murder had a problem with anger. Like a car with no brakes, these folks seemed to be unable to control the extent that anger overcame judgement. In many cases this condition was facilitated by alcohol or drugs, but not in every case; some people had this problem when they were sober. While you were angry did you say something that you later regretted? While you were angry did you do something physical that you later regretted? If honest with ourselves, most of us will answer in the affirmative. Those that answer in the negative should apply to the Pope for sainthood. Can our religious point of view help with anger? Can it allow us to control anger much better than we do at present? The Gnostic answers those questions with a resounding, "Yes." I am not suggesting that anger does not have its place. After a Pearl Harbor or a 9/11, anger is clearly justified. There is an old saying that revenge is best eaten cold. I believe that to be good advice. However justified anger might be, it is best to apply your answer to the provocation after you have had sufficient time to cool down. There are only a few cases where actions need to be taken immediately. Most situations allow for a cool down period. We are foolish if we do not take them. Road rage is a good example of what I am talking about. That fool that cut you off and almost caused an accident needs to be immediately admonished. Not! If that fool did not cause an accident let it go; he or she might very well have an accident in their future by the manner in which they drive, but there is nothing you can do about it except be thankful that you were not a participant in that accident. If you want to help out, pray for the individual; God has far more authority over that person's driving than you do. And if you do give in to your anger, what can you do that does not make the situation worse. If you call out the person to pull over, you are committing a crime. There's a good chance that you will commit another one when the person does not show you the proper respect for your outrage. It may come as a surprise, but the Judge and the Prosecutor will not be sympathetic to your plight. Many otherwise good people have found themselves in prison for just this sort of activity. Many others have found themselves as victims of this crime, some even dead as a result. I use this example but there are many others. I urge all of you to put two words into your vocabulary while you are driving. They are simple and easy to follow if you allow them into your consciousness. "CHILL OUT!" The Gnostic says that they are good advice no matter what you are mad at. It could be your spouse; your child; your boss; the person who cuts into the line; the fool who roots for the wrong team; or any other common complaint. They are all the same. Keep those two words in mind, drunk or sober, and your life will far more fruitful and pleasant.

Primary Connections

The Gnostic does not pretend to know what the nature of reality might be. It is not within the human being's understanding to know the exact nature of reality. By reality, I mean the ultimate truth about the nature of the universe we live in; a reality that includes ourselves as human beings. We can conjecture, and by so doing reach conclusions that must await proof before they become a description of reality. Neither our scientists nor our priests and ministers can tell us how reality is constituted. Everything that we know is limited by what we do not know. The difference between the Gnostic and the rest of the community, both religious and secular, is that the Gnostic utilizes metaphor to reach an understanding of reality; by so doing, he or she does not pretend to espouse the literal truth. The best metaphor that I know to describe reality is the number "one." Three Dog Night had a beautiful number called "One." They claimed that one is the loneliest number in the world. I suggest otherwise. One, in the Gnostic's world encompasses everything. No matter what form of matter you can describe, either plant, animal, or inanimate, it is all composed of atoms. Atoms combining with each other make up all matter, both alive and inanimate. A star and an angle worm, however different they may be, are all composed of atoms. In quantum physics, atoms are able to adjust to one another, and this adjustment can take place between atoms light years apart. If it were not for this adjustment, we as human beings would not exist. Thus, our ultimate component, the atom, is not alone in the universe. We, in turn, being composed of atoms are not alone either. We are all connected. While we live, the atoms in our body are constantly changing. We are not composed of the same atoms that made us up at the time of our birth, or for that matter, the ones that we were composed of during the Clinton administration; yet we are the same persons. What does this all mean metaphorically? Since our atoms are interchangeable with each other, it means that we are all connected in a fundamental way. We are all one, just as our atoms are all one. As a Gnostic it is a short step to say that the One is also the entity that we call God. That said, we are one with God as surely as we are one with each other. The implications are staggering. When you find yourself angry or upset at your neighbor, you are being angry and upset with yourself as well; notwithstanding that you are also being angry and upset with God. We are all one.

Humility

Leo Durocher was famous for his line, "nice guys finish last." Hitler fed on nice people the same way that a lion feeds on a gazelle. When I was young Hollywood made westerns. The usual western involved a hero who set aside his gun to live a nicer life. At the end when the bad guys were winning, he would put his gun back on and shoot his way to a decent conclusion. So goes humility. To be humble is the same thing as advertising that you want to be a victim. However, Jesus said that the meek would inherit the earth. How can this be? The truth is that being humble is not weak, but strong. A good example is the tree that bends in a strong wind; few such trees are uprooted. Meister Eckhart said that in order to find God it was necessary for one to empty himself completely. By this means, God is able to enter in and fill the empty space. The missing element is courage. Courage and humility can and should go hand in hand. It takes courage to let go and allow the still, small voice of God guide you when life is hard and the solutions to your problems appear to be nonexistent. It takes courage to avoid the easy but illicit solutions that tempt you at such times. If you are willing to pursue humility with courage, you will discover a great truth; this combination is powerful. Humility, properly used, allows you to not only let God guide you, but to guide you with courage and perseverance. When you study natural history, you will discover that there were many times when the earth faced extinction events. In one all but 5% of the biota died. Our ancestors survived them all, or we would not be here. Did they survive by being brash and aggressive, or by being humble and taking what God gave them for survival. I am betting that the latter is true.

Just Who is Jesus?

I have often pointed out that all religion has to be viewed as metaphor. The search for God is a search for a mystery fully enclosed by an enigma. To look at any religion as literal is a trap from which escape becomes impossible; literal resists change, but metaphor invites it. In addition, it is not necessary for us to know the exact nature of God. If we acknowledge God, we will have done all that we are capable of doing. The remainder is up to God, Himself. If we can't explain God, how can we ascribe the nature of God to a human being? The people of the time of Jesus had no difficulty doing so. The Pharaoh was a god. The emperor of Rome was a god. Every mountain had a god living on its summit. For them, ascribing Jesus with divinity made sense; indeed failure to do so would have doomed Christianity at its outset. Nobody would have taken Jesus seriously if he did not have an intimate relationship with God. Another reason for ascribing deity to Jesus lay in the doctrine of salvation. The Christian believes that he or she is born in sin. To be saved, it is necessary that Jesus intervene. Jesus had to be more than a priest to do this; he had to be the Son of God. The Gnostic does not view God in the same manner. In the gnostic view, God and His creation are one and the same thing. Science with its study of quantum mechanics is headed in the same direction, even if the scientists do not admit to it. There are many savants today who see God Himself in the quantum field. The ancient seers reached that point years before the birth of Jesus. Since the Gnostic deals in metaphor, he or she does not need to take a stand and say, "this is it." The "it" is a constantly changing concept and we will not reach full understanding until we are in the presence of God. So where does that leave Jesus. There is no better answer to this question than a book written by Deepak Chopra, "The Third Jesus." There is no need to reject the teachings of Jesus. There is much to learn from him, and his theology. No one sets it out better than Deepak Chopra. In answer to the question in the title, read his book. The important point is that you not expect Jesus to drop from the sky and save you from the rigors of being a human being. Jesus in his teachings clearly spelled out a pathway to reaching salvation through your relationship with God. The salvation comes from knowing God and thereby helping to usher in the Kingdom of Heaven. Its the same pathway the Gnostic is traveling, and its a good pathway for all of us to take. The Gnostic says that its time for you to get started.

Yellowstone National Park

What has Yellowstone National Park have to do with the Gnostic Way? On the surface, nothing, but below the surface, everything. While literal Christians are running around declaring that the "End Times" are coming, according to the Book of Revelation, it appears that God has placed a far more potent end times in Yellowstone National Park. The "End Times" predicted by the Book of Revelation and the "End Times" predicted by the Mayan Calender are figments of overactive imaginations. There is no reality underlying either one of them. Both are metaphorical and should be taken as such. Yellowstone Park is another matter. It turns out that Yellowstone is a Super Volcano. In case that term means nothing to you, imagine a volcano going off in the middle of the United States with a force at least 3,000 times Mt. St. Helens or even as much as 10,000 times. That, unfortunately is Yellowstone National Park. The volcano under the park is on a 600,000 year cycle and the 600,000 years are up. Its due to go off at any time. I am not suggesting that it will explode next Tuesday at 10:00am. It may take a few thousand years one way or the other, but it will go off at some point. What can we expect when it does? Rather than answer that question myself, I suggest that you google the Toba Super Volcano that went off about 74,000 years ago. There is much material on the Internet, and it is graphic. Our ancestors survived it, obviously, but not by much it turns out. Our wonderful Earth that we love so much is a dangerous place. We don't need to invent fairy stories to predict the end of the earth as we know it. What does this mean to a Gnostic? The Gnostic believes that we are eternal as is our God. It is not the Earth that holds and shields us, it is God. The search for God is not in the sky. When the Yellowstone Volcano blows, the sky will be full of ash and sulphuric acid. The Gnostic believes that the end for all mankind is not in an Armageddon, but rather in the arms of God. If you doubt this, go pay a visit to Yellowstone Park. I've been there several times and its beautiful; for now.

The Gnostic and the Church

Should you chose the Gnostic Way do you have to give up on the church? Absolutely not. What you do have to give up is your dogmatic ideas. This means that unless your church has matured past its dogmatic past, you may need to find another one. If not, then it will fall upon you to show your fellow parishioners that there is a better way than denying all of the advances that we have made in science in the last 500 years. When you find your fellow parishioners saying that the Bible is literal and that the earth was formed a few thousand years ago, it is time to find a more progressive environment. I would say the same if you are urged to handle poisonous snakes or babble in so-called foreign tongues. The good news is that there are plenty of progressive Christians and they have churches that will make a fine home for you. If you can stand being called a Cafeteria Catholic or a luke warm protestant, you will be very comfortable in your surroundings. Why? Because God will be there even if your fundamentalist friends do not believe so. The Gnostic Way is not a religion, it is a process. A process which helps you find God within yourself. It can fit anywhere where people have open minds and a willingness to share their faith with others unconditionally.

The Cosmos Connection

I want to preface this posting by stating that I am not a scientist and do not pretend to be one. I have no expertise in the makeup of the universe and no way to acquire such expertise. As a Gnostic I deal strictly in metaphor. My search for God is not dependent on acquiring all the available knowledge in existence, but it is dependent on my attempting to understand what our scientists know. I accept such knowledge as metaphor, because I have no way to verify it myself. I am dependent on the ideas of people who possess greater knowledge than I possess. Having said all of this, I believe that I have in mind some very powerful metaphors. One of these metaphors is that we are all connected. By we, I mean not only ourselves as human beings, but the entire universe. In Laszlo's book, which I cited in a previous posting, he goes into this connection in detail. Apparently, one atom can be affected by what happens to another atom, even if they are light years apart. Laszlo goes on to say that the same rule applies to our biological body, namely, the cells that make us up. This interconnection can be demonstrated by experiment. Do I understand the mechanics of all this? Of course not. However, a metaphor of this connection can be found in the words of Jesus when he says that the Father knows when the sparrow falls to the ground. If you find yourself asking the question "what happens to us when we die?" it might suit your purpose to change the question slightly. Perhaps you should ask, "what does the universe know about me?" If the universe knows you are alive, it will know that you have died. More to the point, if you are that much attached to the universe, it is a short step to the idea that the attachment is permanent and not temporary. If as I pointed out earlier, God is an idea that has no beginning and no ending, the idea that makes you up may well be part of God. I believe that this is so. This is why I have said that the soul is part of God and equally has no beginning and no ending. If Laszlo is right, you can say the same of the universe itself. Do I know all of this? No. Do I believe all of this? Yes. Why do I believe this? If the atoms are connected to one another, why are we, who are made of atoms as well, not equally so?

Learning to Surrender

The idea of surrendering is not popular. We all admire the person who refuses to give up despite the odds against him or her. History is replete with stories of those who stood up to adversity and persevered. For this reason, surrender is not an idea that attracts people. However, there are many reasons why surrender is and will be a good idea. When Germany and Japan surrendered in 1945, not only did they end a bloody war, but they ushered in an era of growth and prosperity. Had Saddam Hussein had the good sense to surrender to the Post 9/11 pressure brought against him, not only would his country have been spared an invasion, but he might very well have enjoyed a comfortable retirement in some friendly Arab country. One of the most important lessons to be learned by human beings is the art of surrendering to reality. If a person refuses to accept reality, the result can often make that person's situation far worse. Today, we see an example of that in the plight of ancient religion running into an unclimbable fence called modern science. The time has come for people of faith to take a second look at their universe. It is far more intricate and difficult to comprehend then the simple stories of the early civilizations of the middle east found in our religious texts. Our belief system requires not a fine tuning, but a deep modernization based not on fables and half-truths, but on an intricate understanding of our world and how it was constructed. The book I recommend to you for this purpose is "Science and the Akashic Field" by Ervin Laszlo. Laszlo is one those who represent the best for our future, a scientist and a philosopher; a good combination I think. Read his book and you will never look at the cosmos the same way again.

The Never Ending Search

Anyone who might be observing the gnostic way for the first time, could easily be tempted to ask the question, "what are you Gnostic's really looking for?" To say that you are searching for God sounds good, but what does it really mean? I think that this is a fair question. Assuming that the gnostic succeeds, just what will he or she really discover? What if God doesn't exist at all? I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the God that most of us think about probably doesn't exist. That God is anthropomorphic. That twenty-five cent word means that we attribute to God the features of our own personality that appeal to us; sort of a Superman without the cape. If you take the time to really look at the universe(s), you will discover that it is much more intricate than anything that we can conjure up in our minds. It is hardly anthropomorphic. That said, what can we expect to find? I'm going to go out on a limb and speculate on what I think we will find. I see four principles that are likely to exist. (1) God is an idea. Plato suggested that an idea had a life of its own. I believe that this is true. You might be saying now, how can an idea exist independently? If you take the time to study quantum physics you will probably discover that the essential building blocks of the universe consist of energy moving in specific manner and little else. This energy has proven capable of providing us with atoms, molecules, elements, and the intricate matter that makes up our world and ourselves. Could there be an idea involved in this process? If so, where and how can we identify this idea, and particularly where and how can we locate its source? I leave it to you to provide the answer to this question. (2) Time does not exist. If you could attain the speed of light, you will discover that you have reached a point where time is no longer applicable. How do I explain this? I can't. Einstein did it better and I refer you to him. (3) The rules are the same no matter where you might find yourself. How do I know this? If the law of gravity were different in some other place, you would not find billions of galaxies floating around in our universe. Each of these galaxies presumably have billions of stars, and many of the stars have planets. If I am wrong so be it, but I don't think that I am, however. (4) Our feeble little brain has allowed us to look into both the larger world and the smaller one. This morning I saw a picture of the swine flu virus in the Los Angeles Times. I know that the picture had to be taken with an electron microscope. I have seen pictures from the Hubble Telescope that have captured galaxies millions of light years distant. We know much more about the universe than did our ancestors. Presumably, as more time goes by we will learn much more. What is the limit here? Nobody knows. These four principles allow me to be optimistic about the search for God. They also force me to be humble about it. It will not happen any time soon. I say this because the more we know the more questions arise. Knowledge is power, but knowledge also confounds power. The atom bomb teaches us this lesson. It is miraculous that we have found a way to harness the power of the atom. It is equally dangerous if we use that power to destroy ourselves. On one side lies enormous benefit. On the other side enormous destruction. The metaphor of the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden applies here. We have eaten the fruit of that tree and we possess great knowledge accordingly. In doing so we have departed from the simple and easily understood world that God provided us in our primitive years, and have embarked on a perilous journey. As a gnostic, I am optimistic. I believe that when the journey is complete, and we are face to face with God, we will discover ourselves in paradise. What price we have to pay to get there is another matter. Pray that it will be a tolerable one.

Eternity

This posting is not about explaining eternity, rather it is about discussing the effect of eternity on our lives. The gnostic believes that our life is eternal. We do not die, we are only transformed. What is the effect of this on our current existence? Simply put, it means that we have always lived, and will always live. I say this in spite of the fact that nothing upon which we depend for life will have eternal life. The earth will die, the sun will die, the Milky Way Galaxy will die, and our universe will die. Life is an idea. Plato understood the power of ideas. Beethoven wrote the Ninth Symphony. He couldn't hear it except in his mind. It was an idea. It becomes real when a conductor leads an orchestra in playing it, using Beethoven's score. Even if the universe were to die, the idea of the universe, and presumably the life within it will go on, if nothing else as an idea. But what is the orchestra that will bring life to the idea? In our case it is a new universe, presumably made by contact with one of the eleven universes that our great minds have mathematically demonstrated to exist. Does this boggle your mind? Surely, but nonetheless here we are, living and breathing on the planet earth. You might say that the orchestra is all of the matter making up our universe. What does this mean to us? Are we a part of this universe, and are we a part of the idea that lays behind it? The gnostic says yes to this question. When Beethoven and his score are no more, will nature conjure up another Beethoven to replace him? Don't bet against it, you might lose the bet and find yourself living an eternal life. That is the gnostic way.

What Does God Expect From Us?

Does God expect us to do anything for Him? Christians believe that God wants us to accept a certain canon. If we believe this canon, we will be given eternal life. If we do not believe it, we shall ultimately perish. Nothing could be further from the truth. God does not care what we believe. The atheist will walk through the gates of heaven at the same time and at the same pace as the most believing Christian. God is not about saving your soul. Like God, your soul is immortal. It is part of God, has always been so and always will be so. God does not require that you believe anything. What then does God require? There are three rules. The first rule I have talked about frequently. This is the rule that requires you to love your neighbor with the same intensity that you love yourself. We are all the same, although we have differences. Those differences do not go to the essence of who we are. For this reason, we are forbidden to judge one another. God is our judge. The second rule is one that I have discussed as well. This is commonly called the law of Karma. In reality, it is the brother and sister of the first rule. If we give love to one another, we get love back. If we harm, persecute, murder, or abuse one another, we will equally get the same thing back. God wants us to use the law of Karma to good effect; give love and get love back. In this manner the law of Karma becomes a way to reform our world and make it immeasurably better. The third rule is where the gnostic comes in. In this rule, God wants us to grow and mature. He does not want us to hate knowledge and to disparage those who seek it. Put another way, He does not want us to be satisfied with the status quo. There is much to learn, and we have the capacity to learn it. The Hubble Telescope has expanded our knowledge of the universe. We built it, put it in space, and have maintained it over the years, even improving it as we go along. God favors such activities. The more we learn about the world we live in, the closer we get to the day when we can see God face to face. This means that our faith must be an open one; open to change and open to new revelations of the truth. These three rules present us with a pathway. That pathway is upward and outward, leading us away from ignorance, war, crime, and the abuse of ourselves and the planet we live on. It is a pathway that will ultimately lead us to knowledge of God. If we are willing to walk on that pathway, and are equally willing to do so together, rather than apart from one another, there is no limit to what we will be capable of achieving. If I could will it so, I would have every human being now living form a chain, hand in hand, that circles the globe. Such a chain would signal to ourselves and our God, our willingness to learn and listen to what He has to say. It is not a question of belief. It is a affirmation of understanding of our true selves. It is the gnostic way.

Why Do We Argue With God?

I want to expand on a point I made in the last posting. We human beings live in two worlds. One world is a world of certainty. In this world we know everything that we need to know. The other world is one of uncertainty. We know some but not all of what we need to know in this world. Christians believe that the Bible answers all questions. Without discounting the importance of the Bible, it takes little understanding to realize that it represents a metaphor rather than an explanation of the nature of things. To stretch it into the final authority on life is counter productive to true growth and maturity. In truth, the Bible has to be read in light of our understanding as it presently exists, not the understanding of those, however inspired they might have been, who actually wrote it. They lived in a time when the understanding of the universe was limited and public mores were very different from our own. Those limitations are found constantly in the narrative and can only be overcome by looking for the fundamental truth, not the actual words which can be highly provocative according to modern standards. Most theologians understand and accept this point. Hence, appeals to stone teenagers for disobeying their parents are rightly ignored and would even be unlawful in most jurisdictions. The underlying truth is that teenagers ought to honor their father and mother as a matter of course. The lesson is given but the stoning part is ignored. As we mature and understand more of the world we live in and the universe that contains it, we have an opportunity to grow. Indeed, we have an obligation to grow and mature. We now possess weapons of mass destruction. Image if Genghis Khan, who loved to watch his prisoners die in great numbers, possessed the atom bomb. More to the point, imagine if Adolph Hitler had possessed the atom bomb. The whole rationale behind religion is to make us more mature and sensitive to the needs of our fellow human beings. This is reflected in the golden rule. That rule reflects the positive rather than the negative. Unfortunately, religion tends to favor the negative aspects. Many Christians are now in love with the idea that we are living in the times outlined in the book of Revelations. The truth is that the original author of that Book was talking about Rome, not the United States of America. The horrible events predicted in that Book are metaphoric and will not happen. It is time for the religions of the world to grow up, mature, and move past all of the apocalyptic nonsense that passes for religion these days. Given the awful results of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it is madness to wallow around in such thoughts. In addition, the world is a dangerous enough place to live in as it is. Fifty million people died as a result of World War II. In October of 1962, the world came close to a nuclear war that would have taken far more lives than World War II did. Also, the economy of the world has the ability to take millions of lives all by itself. If we don't solve the disparity of income and hope among all of the nations of the world, we will see mass starvation and all of the attendant ills that would arise from that. It is time for the words of Jesus admonishing us to take care of the poor and suffering among us, to be taken seriously. That is the true goal of religion; not to foresee some pie in the sky answer to all the ills of man, but to use the assets and abilities that God has given us to solve the many problems that we now face. If we try to shoe horn the answers into some pet theory on how things are going in the world, we will worsen our situation and accomplish nothing good from it. The gnostic takes God at His word. He wants us to take charge of the world and make it a better place. He wants us to grow and mature which means nothing more than to learn to love each other and live with each other in peace. He wants us to take care of the biota and make it thrive, not suffer as it currently is doing. Finally, he wants us to become more like Him. Not the God who wants the Israelites to murder everybody in the City they conquer, but the God of Jesus who clothes the birds and adorns the lilies of the field. The God who loves us and gives us the means to love ourselves and others. America is turning into a pig sty because all we do is shout and scream at each other, often because of our religion. God wants us to grow and mature. Lets stop arguing with Him and do it.

Who Has the Final Word?

Years ago, human beings believed that the earth was flat. We now know that the earth is a sphere, not a vegetable patch. The Greeks believed that there were only 4 elements; earth, air, fire and water. We now know that there are many more, and that the first four are not elements themselves; they are made up of elements. It would be nice to have certainty that we know everything that there is to know. Perhaps someday we will have such knowledge. One of the most important aspects of the gnostic way is that it does not pretend to know it all. Unlike so many religions that profess to know it all, the gnostic way is a search, not a conclusion. As our knowledge grows, religion all too often takes the role of naysayer. Galileo was forced to recant that the earth revolved around the sun. Had he not done so he would have been excommunicated from the church and denied his place in paradise. Today, millions of Christians find it necessary to deny evolution because it does not serve their theology. They even go so far as to attempt to prevent it being taught in schools. Perhaps the age of Galileo is not behind us as yet? The search for knowledge goes on without the aid of many religious people. The gnostic suggests that the people who oppose knowledge on religious grounds are the one's that need to change, not those who seek knowledge. In the final analysis, the gnostic understands that the methods used by God to effect His creation are not our responsibility but God's. He did not consult with us when He decided what, when, and how He chose to proceed. When a person tells you that God has made a decision, and that decision just happens to coincide with the theology that person espouses, that is the appropriate time for you to recall Galileo. Who are we to lecture God on how He has established the universe? There is nothing wrong with asking questions. Everything is wrong when we say that we have all the answers. God has the final say, and do not allow anyone to tell you that he or she knows what that answer might be. The gnostic will continue the search for truth, no matter where it might lead. Perhaps this is a good time to join us?

What Does a Thief Steal?

The law of Karma exacts certain retribution for crime. How does it work? Like the law of gravity, you violate it at your own risk. Let us use as an example a thief who steals your most prized possessions. For what is the thief punished? The true crime is not simply stealing the possession itself; more important is the peace of mind that the thief takes with him when he leaves your home, carrying your possessions with him. I submit that this is the crime for which the thief pays the greatest price. Possessions have value, but peace of mind is priceless. It cannot easily be replaced. It is a crime that strikes the victim in his or her most precious state of mind; the ability to live in your home in peace and contentment. Bear in mind that the home is the place where you come to be in perfect safety and comfort. You have paid for that home with your work and thrift. It is protected by law from anyone who you do not desire to enter. The thief enters anyway without permission. It is easy to say that the proper home for the thief is a cell, however, many thieves escape jail or worse, they do time for other crimes instead of yours. Not so with the law of Karma. It is immediate and inexorable. Its only vice is that the victim may not be able to see it at work. This is because, like the law of gravity, it is a law that God put into place to make certain that the residual effects of crimes do not escape His judgement. If you believe in God, then you can believe in God's laws. The law of Karma is one of them and it cannot be violated without an equivalent response. If you are a victim, God is not unaware of your suffering. Your prayers will be answered in His own time and in His own way, but they will be answered. No thief in the night can violate your peace of mind without an equivalent payment. He may think he has gotten away with his violation, but he will discover that he has only sentenced himself in God's court.

Why Must God do All the Work Himself?

Mention the word "evolution" and literal Christians go bonkers. "No Way", they say. "God did it with Intelligent Design." DNA says otherwise. As I previously pointed out, we share our DNA with the Chimpanzee. We and the Chimp have a common ancestor. Evolution makes sense. If there are some billions of inhabitable planets in the universe, they will all have significant differences. Some will be larger than others, and some smaller. Some will be closer to their sun, and others further away. Gravity may be very different. Considering that life is able to exist in both high heat and intense cold, it is likely that the life that evolves in each planet will have significant differences with our planet. Some may be far more primitive, and some may be far more advanced. All of them will be light years away from us. Many have come and gone, and many have yet to come. What is so wrong with evolution? It produced us. We do not look very much like a chimpanzee although we are closely related. We have put a man on the moon. We have solved the human genome. We are soon to be able to make genetic changes in our own DNA. If God chose evolution as His way of introducing sentient beings into the universe, I choose to believe that He did a good job with us by letting Mother Nature pull the big oar. If you desire not to be related to the Chimp, I can understand that. However, neither I nor the preacher who supports your point of view can do anything about it. Its a choice God made many eons ago. Long before the earth was even in existence. The time has come to get over wanting it your own way, and accept that God knows what He is doing. Adam and Eve are metaphors. Its time to learn to live with that one too.

Reality and the Metaphor

I have recently finished "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins. I recommend that everyone who professes to believe in God read this book. I particularly liked the last part when he described the wonder of natural selection. I believe that every minister and priest should not only read this book, but take an important lesson from it. Evolution is not the enemy of the church. Once the believers grasp the concept of how powerful a metaphor can be, the marriage between God and the natural world can be not only resumed, but fortified by taking the fairy dust out of religion, and the lack of poetry and metaphor out of science. Each side has much to teach the other. Neither side has the entire truth. Together, both sides can become powerful in the right way. Science can ennoble religion and religion can ennoble science. The time to start this marriage is now, before science runs amok, and before religion takes us back to the dark ages. I will speak more on this subject in later postings.

Perception

Perception is a term that we use but fail to understand. It has to do more with the relationship of sight and understanding. I can look at something without understanding it. This is important because the gnostic is on a search for understanding. Perception is a tool to advance that search. Take any three people and put them into a room. Each will look at the same things, but each will see it differently. Unanimity of perception is probably impossible to achieve. I am suggesting this because the search for understanding is personal to each one of us. The world is full of discordant voices all speaking with authority, and none of them having the entire truth. All we can do is listen patiently, attempt to understand, and continue to grow. Ultimately, we will all arrive at the same place but that day is very far away at this point in time. Until our perceptions coincide, I believe that tolerance, love, and respect for each other's point of view is the most important attitude that we can possess. We cannot agree, but we can agree to disagree as adults and as tolerant of each other's point of view. If we can learn to do this well, we can advance on the pathway to understanding, and achieve much peace of mind with each other. Isn't that a goal worth pursuing? The world is a difficult place to inhabit as it is. Let us all strive to make it a better place.

Mother Nature

Just who is Mother Nature? When I encounter this term, it is usually somebody talking about the weather. There is more to life than weather. Somewhere out there in space is a giant rock. I've heard that the source of the asteroids is a planet that broke up eons ago when the solar system was being formed. No matter what its source might be, every few million years one of those rocks hits the earth. The last time any rock of a size capable of leaving a mark on the earth was in 1908 in Siberia. It left a forest flattened in much the same way that Mt. St. Helens flattened the forest around it when the volcano blew up. The dinosaurs can tell you that its no fun when a big rock hits us; only those with wings survived. Getting back to that giant rock, it has our name stenciled on it. Someday it will take a trip and land on our planet. When it does there will be no place on earth to hide from its effects. However, there is a bright side. It is called evolution. This is a term that our religious right dislikes. They think that it proves that God does not exist. I suggest that it has nothing to do with the existence of God one way or the other, but it has a lot to do with the survival of life on earth. Why do I say this? It is because the last time a rock of any size hit the earth, that rock killed the dinosaurs but it did not kill our ancestors. They survived and ultimately morphed into the human race. What's so bad about that? To put it bluntly you would not be here to read this if that rock had not done its job. Why do I say this? Imagine running into a T Rex on the way to the grocery store. That's as much as need be said on the subject. The other side of the coin, however, is not so pleasant. What happens to us if the same rock hits the same location? I am not certain, but I anticipate that we will join the dinosaurs in perdition. We are not immune to the same result that they suffered through. This should give us pause. We have a brain, and if we use it we can prepare to save ourselves from this result. Is this an important goal? The dinosaurs would be a good guide in answering this question. They just stood there and took it, and we all know how that turned out. Our ancestors survived because they lived under ground and had a small diet. The point of this posting is not to urge you to prepare for an asteroid. The point is otherwise. I am suggesting that we need to take Mother Nature a good deal more seriously than we do at present. We need to start the process of learning how to live with her. You might think that we are already doing so, and on a superficial level, you would be correct. However, we are not doing enough; not nearly enough. The gnostic searches for God. Perhaps in the search for God, we can include the search for Mother Nature as well. Perhaps in doing so we will be looking in the same places. Perhaps in doing so we will grow up and stop acting like children. If it sounds like I am asking the literalistic religions to grow up, I am.

Is the Universe Capable of Conscious Thought?

What kind of question is this? Stars, planets, galaxies, all capable of conscious thought? I doubt that I'll find many takers for this idea, but that's not all there is to the universe. There is also the quantum universe, so small that only our best instruments are able to look into it. Is there conscious thought there? How about light? The properties of light are not fully known. If you doubt that, look into zero point energy which some scientists say contains light that is not used until it is needed. If it does in fact, provide energy to decaying atoms, how does it know to do so? If we search the universe looking for a conscious entity we call God and don't find Him, think about this; maybe we are looking in the wrong place. As I pointed out in the last posting, we are a collection of cells, but we think. Some of our cells clearly have that capacity. If we can think, is it a stretch to say that the energy in our universe, both large and small is incapable of thought? I'm not smart enough to answer the question, but I think any of us are smart enough to pose it. If some smart people are able to put things together and answer the question, think on this. We know a lot but there is a lot we don't know. If we don't let our literalist religion take us back to the dark ages, and our scientists, along with our poets, break into the clear and reach an understanding of what the universe really is, there may be no limit to how far we can go. We might actually be able to solve some of the terrible things that have made life so difficult for us. Isn't it worth a try?

Who are We?

This should be an easy question to answer. Someone asks who you are and you give them your name and history. That should do it, shouldn't it? Unfortunately, it doesn't do it at all. Let's start with what we once were, an egg and a sperm joining up in our mother's womb. One cell. Out of that one cell came the complex being that we are. However, we are still made up of cells, a lot of them and all of them specialized to make up our constituent parts. When we were moving from a one cell to a multi-celled being, our cellular structure was formed in the womb. Included in all of these structures was our brain; the seat of our consciousness. Without a brain, we cannot think. This marvelous instrument can create airplanes, rocket ships, complex novels, beautiful music, and can look into the far reaches of the universe with our telescopes and other devices. It can also hate homosexuals, take liberties with other peoples lives and properties, make war, and otherwise make life miserable for its fellow citizens. The good and the bad of it are all mixed together. Who did the mixing? There are several answers. Nature heads the list. The so-called theory of evolution is not a theory at all. Its a proven fact. We share the same basic genome as the chimpanzee. We have a common ancestor, and if you don't like that fact, turn in your body. God is also a suspect. The gnostic says that God is unknowable, so that leaves the issue up in the air. There is an indicator. It is called quantum physics. In the quantum universe, many strange things occur. These occurrences do not establish the point, but do give us pause. If the universe is made up solely of energy in the form of strings, who is the composer? We are left with the same set of suspects. Nature again heads the list. God? Who knows, because he is incomprehensible. You pays your money and you takes your choice.

Do We Live in a Moral Universe?

Sooner or later, I had to get around to this one. All religions claim that they have a moral core. The Christians and Jews share the ten commandments. Similar ideas are found in most religions. I like the metaphor that the Egyptians used. The god Ptah measured your heart in a scale at the time of death. It had to weigh more than a feather. I know a few people that would not pass that test. Of course, there is civil law. Kill somebody and you may have to go to jail; it depends on whether you meet certain legal tests or not. An accident and you will probably not go to jail, and a deliberate killing, if they catch you, you surely will unless you are acting in self defense. But what about the so-called sins that we commit here on earth while we are living? The Christians have a place called Hell waiting for you. Be good or you'll go there, they say. The gnostic does not believe that the universe has a problem with morality. The law of Karma was designed to deal with this problem and it does it well without disturbing the hot places in the center of the earth. If you hurt somebody, physically or emotionally, you will get the same thing back. This is a law and not an option. Act at your own risk. Recently, a driver ran over a homeless man in a wheel chair and then drove on without rendering aid. The dog that watched over the homeless man was devastated. Would karma act for the dog? I not only believe that it does, but I personally think that the driver should come back as a dog and go through the same process. Will that happen? I wouldn't want to be in the shoes of that driver and find out. Having all of this in mind, the universe is moral, but not in a religious way. Karma is like a traffic light. You may speed around several drivers who you think are going too slow, but when you get to the red light look in your rear view mirror. They will all come up to the light and join you. All that gas that you used to pass them? You might call it your contribution to karma. Will you always get the red light? Probably not, but don't count on avoiding it forever. It just won't happen. That's the way karma works. Just when you think that you've made it into the clear, you get zapped. Think back on your life, and you will recall moments just like that. How do you get around karma? That's an easy answer. Just live your life by the golden rule. You might even find that you enjoy it more that way.

Salvation by Metaphor

Some people believe that Elvis is still living. Sightings are frequent. Many people believe that they have personally encountered aliens from outer space. Ask if anyone has seen an angel lately, and you will get many responses, most of them quite sincere. Ask a skeptic to debunk these accounts, and he or she will get equally imaginative. Most of us go through life without seeing Elvis, avoiding alien contact, and not, to our knowledge, encountering any angels. I suppose that someday contact will be made with alien beings, its just doesn't appear to have happened just yet. For all we know the world is full of angels. My dog appears to have some angelic qualities. He loves almost everybody he meets. He balks only at large black dogs. He might have had a bad experience in the past with one of them. Notwithstanding all of the above, most of us live very ordinary lives, free of exotic experiences. Should that discourage us. I think not. We can use our minds and find metaphors for just about anything. Some of the creatures that are found in the deep ocean could easily pass for aliens. All of us have met beautiful people who have gone out of their way to help us. A conductor on a train I was riding on solved a seat mixup by placing me next to a beautiful young lady my own age. As for Elvis, we all miss him. Persumably, if there is an hereafter we will get a chance to hear him sing again. Metaphor is not a weak substitute for exciting beliefs. It is probably better than any of them. Happy dreaming. It makes life worthwhile.