[GJM] Fw: [FixGov] Fw: Fw: Religions Have Caused Millions Of Deaths And Most AreMyths

[mary rose]

Bill and All, this is an error.  Robert Searle did not post the
below message, it was posted by me, mary rose.

Your response Bill is much appreciated.  .

mr


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill Ellis" <tranet at tdstelme.net>
To: <FixGov at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 08, 2008 5:57 AM
Subject: Re: [FixGov] Fw: [GJM] Fw: Religions Have Caused Millions Of Deaths 
And Most AreMyths



"robert searle" <dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>  ...  What I am attempting to bring to this discussion is "a  more
> objective, and scientific comphrension of all things spiritual, and
> philosophic". What you do not seem to realize, perhaps because you
> yourself
> are not there yet, is that THERE ARE increasing numbers of
> internationally-recognized scientists, as well as increasingly
> significant
> numbers of lay people, who comprehend the scientific basis of spiritual
> reality.   ... [snip]

BE:
Thank you Robert Searle for the message above and all of your post.
I've been pushing the same concepts on this and other lists for a long
time.
You say it better.

But for others searching for spirituality and ethics in science below
is my presentation in my book in porgress, " A Gaian Paradigm."

Bill Ellis
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AGaianParadigm/files/


>
> Chapter #05 of "A Gaian Paradigm"
> ...A GAIAN CREED
> To Be or Not To Be:
> Morality, Mortality and Immortality
>
> The Gaian paradigm based on Chaos, Complesity and Gaian theries has
> implications to our belief systems that go beyond a view of the
> physical cosmos.  They include implications to our ideas of morality,
> mortality, immortality, as well as our  system of human values.  Some
> people have taken these implications into the sphere of  religion.
> Some see the formation of a new Gaia religion.  To others, an
> understanding of Gaia supports the values that have governed humanity
> for eons past.  Without taking positions on such speculations we
> should at least open the dialogue on the degree to which these
> scientific notions might influence our pragmatic view of our lives.
>
> For most of the 13.7 billion years that the Cosmos has been in
> existence, there was no one to ponder the question of to be or not to
> be. While quarks evolved into atoms, the atoms, into molecules, and
> the molecules into cells, consciousness of being did not exist. Each
> new step of evolution brought new entities and new properties. Only in
> the evolutionary phase when brain cells had evolved and created the
> human mind did “being” -- the property of thought, memory, and
> consciousness -- emerge. Only in this brief miniscule submoment of
> cosmic evolution has the sense of being existed. Only in this small
> window of time have humans been the source of conscious being and
> recognized, as Descartes put it, "Cogito, ergo sum" (I think therefore
> I am).
>
> It is safe to say, that for most of the past billions of cosmic years,
> I as an individual, did not exist.  It is also reasonable to believe
> that in billions of future cosmic years after my physical death I, as
> an individual, will not exist. Only in a brief, transient flash do
> individual people exist. Certainly, I did not exist before a zygote
> was formed by the union of cells from my two parents. And, certainly,
> the development, by chemical and biological means of an embryo from
> that zygote did not have the property of independent action and
> conscious thought. It is also clear that, when I drew my first breath
> on being born, I was not the evolved being that I was to become. The
> question "to-be or not-to-be?" was not in my mind. My process of
> becoming a human being was still ahead of me.
>
> It is clearly impossible to identify all of the experiences in one's
> life that contributed to one's development into a unique being.
> Everyone is learning every moment from birth to death, from waking to
> sleeping. Each moment is a step in becoming. Our bodies, brains, and
> minds slowly evolve from the nothingness of our pre-births to the to
> the final passage back into dust. If there is no heaven or nirvana
> into which to pass, it is reasonable to think we come to an end.
>
> So far, I have written about only two aspect of being -- the body and
> the mind. There is a third aspect.  It's probably more the essence of
> who we are than the other two. It's more ethereal and more
> everlasting. I'm not sure what I should call it.   But, for lack of a
> better word, I'll call it "soul." By soul, I don't mean anything
> mysterios, mystical, magical, divine, or other worldly. The soul is
> the essence of who we are. It's who we are more than either our minds
> or our bodies.
>
> This soul, the true center of one's being, is not easy to
> circumscribe. It, like the mind and body, evolves. Its evolution is
> over all time. Not that the past will be embodied in one's physical
> and mental being, but from the beginning of time to the end of time
> what we become involves the whole cosmos.  We have a birth date and a
> death date. But who we become is already, in part, predetermine by the
> world around us. The essence of our being -- our soul -- is absorbed
> over time from the preexisting world of ideas and actions,  of nature
> and technologies, of awe and wonder, and of the beauty and mystery
> that exist in, and is, the cosmos. It is the universal cosmic soul. It
> is similar to the “noosphere” of  Pierre Teilard de Chardin, the
> “collective unconscious” of Carl Jung, the “ideosphere” of others. It
> is the totality of the physical, biological, technological, and
> cultural worlds and more. It is the the knowledge, the beliefs, the
> feelings, as well as the written word and the passed on memories of
> everyone who has ever lived. It is inherited from our ancestors and
> from the evolving physical, biological, mental. technological and
> social spheres. It might as well be called the cosmic memory.
>
> This cosmic soul has been evolving since the Big Bang. Each step in
> cosmic evolution has created a new part of the cosmic soul. It
> includes Mount Fuji, the Johnston flood, the ice ages, the Crusades,
> the invention of the computer, and all other happenings. Each
> individual at birth is enmeshed in the cosmic soul of the time.
>
> A simple example of this idea of soul is in a flock of birds. The soul
> of the flock evolves as a unit. It includes migration patterns, eating
> resources, nesting places, and other characteristics. The flock
> follows certain patterns for centuries. Individual birds live for but
> a short time. But the memory essence or soul of the flock is passed to
> new birds as they hatch, join the flock , participate, and learn by
> doing. The soul of the flock evolves as it continually finds new
> opportunities and faces new challenges. Each bird gains its individual
> soul and passes its know-how on to other new birds that join. The soul
> of the flock is passed from individual souls to individual souls, as
> it evolves to meet contingencies of the time.
>
> Humans likewise are born into the cosmic soul. They are embedded in
> the essence of all that exists. Who they are to become depends on what
> they absorb into themselves from all that is. Each soul is immortal.
> It is part of the cosmic soul. "Every thing anyone, makes,
> writes,says,or does becomes part of the cosmic soul and is
> everlasting. Shakespeare, Edison, Einstein, Jesus, Marx, Smith and
> others are still with us. So is Joe Blow, Anna Finklestein, and other
> common people. All have left their marks for eternity.
>
> Each act or expressed idea is like dropping a stone in a mill pond.
> The stone may sink to the bottom never to be seen again. But its
> ripples spread out and may join other ripples to produce an
> overwhelming wave of social transformation. The origins of any act of
> social change may be lost in its myriad of its sources. Once we
> recognized that, we are driven to live a positive creative life of
> value-- to be one of the sources of what will become. Whether anyone
> remembers the name of any one of us, everything we've done, said, or
> written is part of the evolving cosmic soul.
>
> Each person's soul is formed by every experience and every thought
> they ever have. It is passed on in the same way. Each "unexpected act
> of kindness or senseless act of beauty" makes a ripple like a grain of
> sand dropped in the cosmic mill pond. Every kind word one utters forms
> a pebble's ripple that will be passed on. More telling in the cosmic
> soul will be some of the memos, papers and posts that are written.
> They are rocks that make a bit bigger splash, or at least have a
> guaranteed longer life. Most important are the interactions with among
> people close one another -- families, friends, and communities. In a
> person's children, friends an colleagues there is a continual riling
> of the waters (particularly of the good stuff). It is passed into the
> cosmic memory/soul in that it remains real in the future and assures
> the immortality of everyone who ever lives.
>
> Recognizing the immortality of our souls suggests a new emphasis on
> morality. Every act thought or word we utter should be in the context
> of its impact on the cosmic memory. They change the cosmic soul as
> they happen and they will be remembered and they will affect cosmic
> evolution for ages into the future. They provides us with reason for
> living. As one colleague stated it, the new moral imperative is: “Make
> all decision based on whatever promotes the health, competence and
> adaptive flexibility of oneself and of all the larger system of which
> one is a part.”
>
> Whether we accept this view of the human or the cosmic soul  the Gaian
> paradigm suggests a view of It does suggest the below value system.
>
>
> GAIAN VALUES
>
> ALL THAT IS -- IS WEBS OF BEING
>
> ALL THAT IS -- IS A WEB OF BEING
>
> We belong to the Webs-of-being - - to the Cosmos - - to Earth - to
> Gaia.
>
> Belonging is the protovalue from which all other values derive.
>
> We belong to the physiophere, to the biosphere, to the ideosphere.
> We belong to Gaia. As the aborigines said it ““we are the ownees of
> the land, not the owners of the land.” As Chief Seattle said it, “
> We can not own the land, we are part of the land.
> ” We belong to and are inseparable from our culture-- from one another
> --from Earth -- from Gaia.
> We are interdependent with all that is.
>
> Belonging is scientific fact; and, belonging is more than scientific
> fact.
>
> Belonging is not merely “being a member of”, but it is being subject
> to- being in partnership with -  - being responsible for.
> We belong to -- are responsible for --- the webs -of-being -- the
> universe -- the Earth -- Gaia.
> Belonging to-Gaia means recognizing that we are enmeshed in the
> webs-of-being and that our well-being is dependent on the well-being
> of Gaia.
> If we destroy Gaia, we destroy ourselves.
>
> Belonging implies “cooperation” -- working with what is ---
> with Gaia -- the webs of being.
> Belonging implies “community.” In our face-to-face relationships with
> people we form community -- we belong to community.
> Belonging implies “responsibility.” We are responsible for Gaia.
> We are responsible for one another.
> Belonging implies “Love.”
> We can not separate love (agape) from the fact that we belong to Gaia.
> We love because we must love to preserve Gaia -- to preserve ourselves
> --
> to preserve the webs-of-being
>
> Cultures built on values other than belonging are doomed to
> self-destruct. A culture built on “domination of the earth, and all
> the animals therein” is doomed to disappear. A culture based on
> “self-interest” is doomed to disintegrate.
> A Culture based on “survival-of-the-fittest” will not survive.
> A culture based on competition will destroy itself.
>
> To be stable and sustainable a culture must be based on cooperation,
> community, responsibility, love, honesty, caregiving, and the other
> values which are implied by and intertwined with one another and with
> belonging.
>
> We can no more separate ourselves from belonging -- from Gaia-- and
> remain a viable culture; than an oxygen atom can separate itself from
> hydrogen atoms and retain the qualities of water.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> \
>
>
> ************** END CHAPTER 5 *************


------------------------------------

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