Everything, Everywhere, Every time Is An Experiment

 

 

All life everywhere is an experiment.

The Biblical God has always struck me as crushingly bored.  He creates the entire universe, the Earth and everything therein in six days and then on the 7th He rested.  So come Monday morning what does God do then?   And day after that?    And on and on throughout eternity.  BORING!

 

But instead of that myth, what if GDW set off the Big Bang and then watched how all matter formed and then how life started and how it changed over the endless years.  Perhaps GDW pokes at it now and then, but largely lets things evolve.  Now this is a deity I can follow.  Not judgmental and exceedingly patient, a being that is beyond our ability to understand, a compassionate deity that transcends dichotomous thinking.  Beyond gender, colour, status or aspect, beyond our notions of good and evil, GDW allows us free will to decide our course.

 

Does GDW Know Everything?

Yes and no.  Again using the maze analogy again.  GDW is the maze, its paths, height, depth.  As we make our way through the maze GDW knows where each choice will lead, but does not know which we will pick.  Once we make a choice some paths appear while others vanish.  There would not be much use for free will if the Absolute already knew everything we are going to do.  

And The Experiment? 

 'No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not 

the same river and he's not the same man.'   

(Heraclitus, 500 BCE)

This elegantly simple observation from the Greek philosopher Heraclitus sums up the experimental nature of all creation.   While I get out of bed everyday, it is still an experiment.  I have never been this old before.  I have no idea if I am going to stand or fall when my feet hit the floor.  And the same is true for everything atom of the universe.

I relax by watching a lot of Air Disasters on YouTube and after a crash there is a common refrain "but the chances of that happening are astronomical!"  But never zero.   No matter how high the odds, they are never zero.   This applies to all accounts of luck, both good and bad.   I don't know how luck is distributed in the maze.  Perhaps that is a bonus test set by GDW just for you.

The YOLO Problem

 

YOLO vs Reincarnation/Rebirth 

  

The Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) have always had a YOLO (You Only Live Once) problem.  While much of the world believes in some sort of regenerative cycle to our lives here the Abrahamic faiths focus on a single shot to determine if we spend eternity in Heaven or in Hell.  Not really fair, to my mind.  Even as a child I realized that there was no way we all receive the same opportunities.  How can it be fair that Elon Musk and a street beggar in Mumbai are being judged by the same criteria?   

 

The problem for these faiths is that they want to maintain control over their adherents, stressing sin vs salvation.   The belief is if people knew they had unlimited tries to "get it right" they might choose to get it right the next time around.  It is an insurmountable task and I cast it aside decades ago.  While reincarnation and rebirth are technically different, I generally just use the term "reincarnation" to mean any form of regenerative cycle.   

 

And here's where the hedge maze comes in.  It is not possible for any single soul to make it from the farthest edge to the center on a single try.  We are all evolving as we pass through time.  The farthest edges of the maze is from when our ancestors were predatory pack hunters.  Souls are the eternal part of us so it is conceivable that the soul has gone through all the ages that have preceded the here and now.  The soul has been tried and tempered though millennia of lives.  And our souls are being tried and tempered right now.

 

It helps to remember that we do not have souls.  We are souls who have bodies.

 

When the body dies the soul is released.  There is a brief review of how we got to where we did and then when it is time to return to the body the soul returns to the maze in the same place reached the last time.  So there is an incentive to make right choices, but that only applies to those who realize there is a goal that actually can be attained by "mere mortals."

 

Because there is nothing "mere" about us.  We contain within us all the power of GDW (God Dao Whatever).  Even the Bible says so.  "For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."  (Genesis 3:5)  I think this passage may refer to an ancient memory of when our most primitive ancestors discovered empathy. It is that moment when we discovered that there was a difference between good and evil.  It was also the moment when we discovered we had free will and could choose our path instead of being led purely by instinct.

 

 

 

 

 

My Ten Commandments

 

 

My Ten Commandments

 

I have long had issues with this pivotal Abrahamic text, mostly starting with George

Carlin's observation that the first four commandments are to be nice to God and the

remaining six are telling us not to be assholes.   And that's my problem.  The Ten

Commandments are mostly telling us what NOT to do, but not what to do to achieve

our goal at the center of the Maze. 

 

My first two commandments come from Jesus himself: 

³⁷ Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all 

thy soul, and with all thy mind.    ³⁸ This is the first and great commandment. 

³⁹ And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.   

⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

                                                                                             (Matthew 22:37-40)

 

And the remaining eight commandments are from Buddha:

 

Right View

Right Resolve

Right Speech

Right Conduct or Action

Right Livelihood

Right Effort

Right Mindfulness

Right samadhi (meditation) 

 

(For details see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_Eightfold_Path) 

 

Instead of focusing on a lot of "thou shalt nots" Buddhism focuses on the positive thought

and action leading a seeker to make the right decisions while moving through the maze. 

 

Wicca has only two commandments:

 

(1)   An it harm none, do what thou will

(2)   Everything you do returns threefold 

 

Evilangelicals focus nearly exclusively on sexual issues, including racial mixing, abortion

and contraception, same-sex relationships and gender dysphoria, but other than adultery

nothing sexual made the big Ten -- ok, maybe we can add coveting thy neighbor's ass -- but

apparently the sex stuff just wasn't that important on Mount Sinai.  

 

Jesus also didn't have much to say on who we can exclude and condemn.  “A new command

I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another"  (John 13:34)  

No mention about checking their ID or looking in their pants or following them to the 

toilet.  The problem here is that many people only look at what was said and not at what was 

NOT said.  

 

It should be simple to understand this command, and yet to date we have had nearly 2000 of 

bigotry, hatred and cruelty toward those who do not conform.  We have yet to see an actual Christian society that emulates the spirit and character of Jesus.   What passes for a "true

Christian community" is usually an isolated pocket of believers who may be very Christlike 

within the confines of their domain, but can not abide any contact with those outside their

walls.   In reality, their faith just isn't that strong.  It can not withstand contradictions and

frequently opts for answers that can't be questioned rather than questions that can't be

answered. 

 

Life is for living, not for hiding within the safe confines of one's own beliefs.    Free will 

implies choice and it is meaningless if the righteous outlaw 50% of the options.  You can

not advance to the center of the Maze without facing choices and having the courage to 

make the right ones. 

 

 

 

The Art of Wu Wei or Inspired Spontaneity

 

 The Quiet Art of Wu Wei

Wu Wei is an integral tenet of Daoism.  In The Tao Te Ching it is defined as "actionless action." I think "inspired spontaneity" is a more apt definition.  The best portrayal of Wu Wei can be found in Star Wars.  When Obi-wan tells Luke to "use the Force" in order to make the critical shot to destroy the Death Star, the old man is appealing to Wu Wei which is the Force in Star Wars terminology.  Trusting the Force Luke shuts down the targeting computer and lets the Force direct his actions, thus making the perfect shot. 

 

In Daoism we learn to trust the Dao, the great force underlying all creation.  When we can get ourselves "out of the way" and let Dao work through us positive results are effortless.  Wu Wei requires no thought and no planning.  Somehow things just get down without a great deal of angst.

 

One of my early questions about Wu Wei was how to tell the difference with just plain old procrastination.  The answer is simple.  Procrastination takes effort.  It requires that we make

excuses for why something can not or should not be done now.  We feel badly about the tasks we leave undone and we worry about the consequences.

 

Wu Wei is not meant as a way to avoid doing what needs to be done.  It is a way to get things

done without a great deal of agonizing over the details.   This is very close to the text of  

 

^"But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, 

who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

(Matthew 6:6)  

 

In my case when I meditate I express those private wishes and needs, then let them go.  GDW

(God Dao Whatever) handles the details.  If something I want does not happen, then I accept that it was not meant to be or at least not meant to be yet.

 

Wu Wei requires a lot of trust that the right thing will happen at the right time and for the right reasons.  I have found that whenever I use my will to force a desired outcome it usually backfires horribly.  Lots of unintended and unforeseen consequences.  And we see this in everyday life.  We have an entire cult movement in the US determined to remake our society to suit their ideals.  

 

And the consequences are just beginning to roll in.  Higher prices will lead to more poverty and hence more crime.  Abortion bans are destroying all levels of women's healthcare, leading to higher rates of maternal-fetal mortality.    Deportations are destroying the farming, service and construction industries with dire outcomes for us all.  And just wait until the anti-vaxxers lead us into yet another lethal pandemic.   I wonder if thoughts and prayers are really going to be the answer.

 

Wu Wei acknowledges the power of the divine to work through us, but only if we get out of the way.  In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus says

 

 "Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: 

nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done."     (Luke 22:42)   

 

Too many devout people are so sure they know the mind of God that they force their will to be done rather than sitting back and letting God guide their decisions.  Too many devout people believe that they must pray constantly.  Yak yak yak.  Surely it must grate on the Almighty's ears.  Oh, there I go anthropomorphizing GDW.  Always a problem.  Meditating quietly allows me time and space to listen for the GDW.  The communication does not come in words, but in flashes of insight.

 

This is the source of all thought and of all creative genius.   Everyone who masters a skill of any sort has only to be open to the flow of Dao.  Those flashes power warriors and athletes, inspire artists and musicians, and turn into words for writers and poets.   The origins of martial arts lie in the monasteries of ancient China where they practiced a blend of spirituality and physical prowess.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Knowledge vs Wisdom

 

Knowledge is verbal and external.  

Wisdom is cerebral and internal.    

Because of the limitations of verbal communication knowledge is always hampered.   No matter how profound, how genius the wisdom, the moment it is put into words it seems to shrink. 

 

Words are imprecise and limited in scope.  A word can not convey the overall sense of an event -- not the smells and feelings, not every visual detail.  And even if we used a grand flurry of flowery linguistics we still can never be sure our audience actually perceives what we are describing.  

 

Wisdom is that "aha" moment when information clicks into place.  It is internal and totally subjective.  The moment we try to describe the wisdom it shrinks into knowledge.

 

All knowledge is human knowledge. 

 

It is true that other species might know things too,  but we don't know that, so until we do what we know is what we know.

 

And one thing we really do not know is what lies outside our reality.  For us everything begins at birth and ends at death.   We have our religions and philosophies, theories and studies.   We have spent much of our history bankrupting countries and slaughtering the  populace over the parameters of the divine.  It is time for humanity to admit what we know and what we don't know.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good vs Bad vs Evil

 

 

While Bad Can Not Be Avoided

Evil Can Be

 

Humankind have slaughtered one another over "good vs evil" for millennia.  Lacking a scientific explanation every negative thing that happened was because someone somewhere somehow had offended a deity or perhaps it was an evil spirit, attracted to the secret sins of the populace.   We now understand that disasters caused by nature may be 'bad' but are not 'evil.'    Rather like God, such a disaster just is.   Bad simply exists.

  

The difference between 'bad' and 'evil' is a matter of motive.  For evil to exist there has to be someone who knows it is wrong and still wants it.   Organized religion is largely concerned with controlling the direction of the faithful overall and therefore tends to enforce arbitrary standards of dress and behavior in order to enforce their will on the populace.  It doesn't help that we still have people enslaved to religious cults preaching the belief that everything bad that happens is because their loving God is punishing someone somewhere. 

 

Rather than focusing on "sin" I choose the Gnostic approach that describes sin as "mistakes born out of ignorance."  We all make mistakes.  The goal is to LEARN from those mistakes and NOT repeat them.  It is for this reason that I do not believe in confession and absolution.  If I do something I know is wrong and I feel badly about it, then I just don't do it again.  If I have every intention of committing that sin again -- and again -- then it is totally hypocritical of me to confess and receive absolution. 

 

All crimes are sins, but not all sins are crimes.  The Law which defines temporal legal standards is the absolute LOWEST standard for human behavior.   The law should be geared toward maintaining an orderly safe society in which all persons are treated equally.   Religion unfortunately intrudes on the law turning many human choices into criminal acts.  Consider laws against per-marital sex and out-of-wedlock births, against  inter-racial and same sex marriage, against contraception and abortion -- for some reason religions are terribly focused on private sexual matters that have no bearing on the legal safety standards. 

 

Perhaps this endless focus on humanity's most powerful urge -- procreation and sexual gratification -- is another fruitless attempt at religious control.  Modern sexual standards stress relationships between consenting adults ONLY.   For those who find such activities "an abomination against God" I appeal to their faith in God.   We were given free will by God in order to make (we hope) the "right choices."   Not much point if the law ends access to 50% of our options. 

 

Rather than outlawing our moral choices, religion should focus on making sin unnecessary.  People who have enough do not need to steal.   Lowering societal stress could go a long way to ending murder.   Addictions are a societal problem and sadly, will always be with us.  Society needs to learn that you can not regulate something that is already illegal.  Better to legalize it all and regulate it.  We will not end the death toll from street drugs laced with Fentanyl until we can legally sort pure drug from adulterated product.  Non-physical addictions like for gambling and shopping are harder to treat, but people who have enough and are not stressed to survive are less likely to need the little dopamine hits one gets from giving in to one's urges. 

 

Hate abortion?  Jesus would want us to end the need before we end the option.  We need age-appropriate comprehensive sex education starting in Kindergarten.  We need universally available access to contraception, to Plan B and to drug-based abortions in very early pregnancy.  This has been done in the Netherlands to great effect -- low teen pregnancy rates and fewer abortions.  If no one has to abort for social, financial or educational reasons, that will leave only those rare fetal tragedies which will always be bad, but never evil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome To The Hedge Maze START HERE

Welcome to the Hedge Maze 

One of the great problems in communication is that we are largely limited to the use of words which are totally inadequate.   I can ask you to think of a dog, but I can be certain that you will not think of the same dog that I do.  If we can not picture the same dog -- something we have all seen extant in our world -- how do you imagine that any two people can picture the same god? 

 

When you consider the limitations of using words to describe the indescribable you can see that any god that you can describe is not worth worshiping.  We tend to anthropomorphize our deities, often reducing them to being just like humans, only way more powerful.   

 

The dao that can be told is not the eternal Dao

The name that can be named is not the eternal Name.   Lao Tzu 

 

This is the opening passage of the Dao De Jing, the foundational text of Daoism.  Lao Tzo's description of deity is both profound and thought provoking.  When presented with this sentence to complete -- God is ... -- many say "love" or "great," but the correct answer is to add a period at the end and call it a sentence.  God is.  There is simply no descriptor or adjective that is adequate.  

 

I often refer to the supreme being as GDW (God - Dao - Whatever).  Since I have been told that there is only one God, I can't see that it matters much what I call it.  Nor does it matter much to me how many gods you choose to worship.  The very concept of  GDW is so vast it makes perfect sense to me to divide the idea up into smaller components.  I see GDW as a force without attributes, neither good nor evil, without form, gender, race or other  dichotomies.    GDW simply is.

 

So for me there is no Heaven and no Hell awaiting us after death.  I don't know what is there, but then neither does anyone else.   Since we have to use metaphors and analogies to describe any concepts outside our reality, I have chosen the image of a hedge maze.

 

For those who have not had the experience, a hedge maze is a garden feature with tall walls made from pruned bushes.  The goal is to reach the center and there is no straight path to the goal.   Every choice we make within the Maze, whether we go forward, backward or stay put does one of two things:  either it brings us closer to the center or it does not.   

 

The Maze itself is formed from all of reality -- every thought and deed by all of life. Your  progress is not a matter of reward or punishment.  No one makes it from the outer edge to the center during a single lifetime.  We are not born in equal circumstances.  We don't all get the same breaks.  Therefore I believe in reincarnation.  In the hedge maze analogy, you enter the Maze at the same point where you last left, so the progress made in one life is not lost before the next begins.

 

However, the actual opening to enter the center is extremely narrow.  Only souls that are completely unencumbered can pass through.  Both Buddha and Jesus carried the same message:  that you already have everything you need to reach the center.  Jesus said "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you."  (Luke 17 20-21)  Men like Buddha and Jesus -- and yes, they were actually human -- seemed to have been born very near the center.  They and the many others like them have pointed the way for the rest of us.  Sadly those who follow Christ have been trapped in the wrong part of the maze since the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE. 

So that has been my goal, to reach the center of the maze and to do this I have formed my own spiritual philosophy which I call Zen Gnostic, a blending of Daoism, Buddhism and Gnostic 

Christianity.  What follows then is my exploration of this concept.  If it rings true for you let me know.