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Chapter Two
LOGICAL FAITH
The purpose of this chapter is to introduce a type of faith a thinking person might have some faith in. Let's begin with an imaginary debate between a theologian and a neologian.
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Neologian.
Does Almighty God exist?
* N.
Did God create the universe?
* N. Please friend describe something of which
you have no idea, and yet it can be created. N. Did God create randomness?
* N. Did God
create logic?
* |
To summarize, the theologian argued (1) an almighty god created the entire universe and absolutely everything in it; (2) that same almighty god causes every event in the universe; and (3) that same almighty god is not only the cause but the reason for absolutely every thing and event. Against the theologian's extreme beliefs the neologian argued (1) it is far more likely that the universe has always existed and therefore was not created; (2) there is very likely randomness in the universe, and therefore many events happen for no reason; and (3) because of (1) and (2), it is extremely improbable that any god could be almighty.
Explosion of Nothing? Let's consider the theologian's belief that the universe was created at a time when nothing else existed but an almighty god. We will not argue with this religious belief, however, but with the scientific version of it, the Big-Bang Theory, which claims the universe began in a great explosion of energy at a time when there was no energy.
To begin with, an explosion of energy when no energy exists, has never once been observed by anyone including the greatest scientists with their finest instruments. Every scientific observation of every cause-effect sequence finds a prior cause-effect sequence. Secondly, an explosion of nothing is a rather absurd idea. A person of logical faith would much prefer to assume that the universe is eternal and therefore could not have had a beginning. This assumption would avoid the extremely illogical and physically impossible aspects of the Big-Bang Theory, and thereby avoid the religious belief that a creator god caused all existence.
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"[This belief] should be preferred to hypotheses which involve conceptions of things and occurrences totally different in their character from any of which we have had any experience, such as the creation of matter."―Charles Sanders Peirce (pronounced "purse") "But so far as time is concerned we see that all [earlier Greek philosophers] with one exception are in agreement in saying that it is uncreated: in fact, it is just this that enables Democritus to show that all things cannot have had a becoming: for time, he says, is uncreated. Plato alone asserts the creation of time, saying that it had a becoming together with the universe, the universe according to him having had a becoming."—Aristotle "Although the Big Bang Theory is widely accepted, it probably will never be proved, consequently leaving a number of tough unanswered questions."―NASA Scientist "If we say that God has always been, why not save a step and conclude that the universe has always been?"—Carl Sagan "Energy is neither created nor destroyed."—First Law of Thermodynamics |
The Problem with Determinism. Common sense alone should make us skeptical of the belief that an almighty god causes every event at every moment of the entire existence of the entire universe. Such a belief requires that every twist of every leaf in the wind be completely caused past and future by "Him." There can be no exceptions. This belief grows ever more improbable the more one realizes that every cell in the leaf takes part in its every slowing and acceleration, its every swirl and twirl. Then there is the elasticity of the liquids in the leaf causing every cell within it to move toward or away from its neighboring cells. The determinist must believe also that every one of these motions is caused by God too. And as if all of the above were not enough, there are all the movements of each of the millions of the cell's molecules during all of the above. Thus belief in determinism requires also that there can be no random events. Not a single one. For if there be any at all, then no god is truly almighty because there would exist one or more events beyond "Him" causing them.
Science has imported determinism from religion, most recently under the name of Chaos Theory which claims that all randomness is really only pseudo-randomness, i.e., it has a hidden order we haven't yet discovered. One scientist goes so far as to say: "Perfect order in the Universe occurred the instance after the Big Bang when energy and matter and all of the forces of the Universe were unified."
—sourceConsider the following thought experiment. Drop this book a few times. Every fall will take a slightly longer or shorter time, and the book will land in a slightly different place every time. Randomness is involved in every moment prior to the drop, during all of its fall, and in every moment of its bouncy landing no matter how much we might try to control the initial conditions. While a mathematical equation will predict rather well the time and place of each of the book's falls, the small differences among the falls are not predictable by any mathematical equation whatsoever.
| "Try to verify any law of nature, and you will find
that the more precise your observations, the more certain they will be to
show irregular departures from the law."—Peirce "As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality."—Attributed to Einstein |
Consider the possibility of newly-weds being killed in an automobile accident on the way to their honeymoon. We would want there to be some reason for such a terrible event. But, sadly, there might be no reason. A small difference in time might have been followed by a full life for the couple. In a logical faith a reason, i.e., a explanation, can be considered to be simply thoughts we have to explain such events and comfort ourselves in the face of a random universe in which all events have causes but not all events have reasons.
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"We have thus to distinguish between the relation of reason and consequence, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the relation of cause and effect."—W. J. Sidis "Reason’s function is to justify what has come to pass."—Boris Sidis |
The above applies also to our minds.
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"Chance variations form the matrix out of which the purposive psychic process arises. Not purpose, but chance is at the heart of mental life."—Boris Sidis |
Order Is Randomly Distributed. The reader might rightly object that mathematics and science, let alone common sense, clearly show that there is order in our universe. In response we ask the reader to consider that order can arise even in a completely random universe, and that randomness cannot arise in a completely ordered universe. For example, in a table of random numbers, we might find a repeating pattern, and maybe even a pattern in the repetition; but we will never find an ultimate order in the repetitions because the random-number table is ultimately random. In our universe we find many types of order, but the various types of order are not themselves arranged in any orderly way. America's greatest philosopher described this in stellar fashion.
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"You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star."—Friedrich Nietzsche "When we look up at the heavens at night, we readily perceive that the stars are not simply splashed on to the celestial vault; but there does not seem to be any precise system in their arrangement either. It will be worth our while, then, to inquire into the degree of orderliness in the universe."―Peirce image |
Random and Order in Everyday Life. Belief in the prevailing—though never proven—theory of complete determinism, prevents us from understanding just how we live our lives, namely, we gods are capable of imposing order on the randomness around us. This is a godly power indeed. For example, in the simple case of two dice, we can say with certainty that no number less than two, or any number greater than twelve, will ever come up. This is due to our godly power to design dice so that a boundary of order will surround the randomness of our dice throws. Our power to impose boundaries on the randomness surrounding us—and within us—might have an even deeper outcome: since order can arise by chance out of randomness, we know not what the next throw will be, yet we do know, with near certainty, the characteristics of every large group of throws—the larger the group, the better. In a group of throws, larger than, say, 28, we will find that the group will have a rather predictable bell-curve pattern (two twos, six sixes, etc. See
Wizard of Odds). Still the bell curve is no help at all in predicting any particular throw. Thus with dice, and with the universe, order exists within the bounds of our godly ability to control, within our limits, its randomness.|
"It appears to me that it is not laws which make the dice turn up sixes; for these laws act just the same when other throws come up. The chance lies in the diversity of throws; and this diversity cannot be due to laws."—Peirce |
We conclude this chapter with some further discussion of complete determinism. The following email arrived recently.
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Reference: We Are Gods, on the subject of chance: * * * REPLY. Let's start with the reader's dice example: "If dice are thrown and the number seven, in any combination, show on the upward facing surfaces, it is not chance that this happened. It was caused by the trajectory, rotation, physical characteristics of the dice, etc." Not so. The initial conditions, do not, as the reader believes, cause the dice to face up each time in the particular way they do. This is because the initial conditions themselves vary randomly and not in any lawful way whatever. If the initial conditions occurred according to scientific laws, we would be able to predict every outcome and possibly every event in the universe. The reader does not even mention, let alone offer any refutation of, our arguments in Chapter One regarding the logical near impossibility of complete determinism. An then there is the matter of the laws of nature: "It appears to me that it is not laws which make the dice turn up sixes; for these laws act just the same when other throws come up. The chance lies in the diversity of throws; and this diversity cannot be due to laws." —PeirceThe reader then argues against the existence of randomness by claiming that randomness is the absence of cause-and-effect: "All things that happen are effects with a cause." There are actually two types of randomness. One, logical randomness, is characterized by the absence of a cause-and-effect relationship such as when two independent events occur near each other in time, for example eating in a restaurant and soon after coming down with a cold. There may be a causal relationship, or there may not be. Logical randomness is found in psychology. But the other type of randomness is found in cause-and-effect processes such as throwing dice: the throw is the cause, a particular landing the effect. In the case of causal randomness, we cause the outcomes but do not determine them; and as Peirce clearly showed, neither do the laws of physics. (See Chap. 1.) The emailer has faith in chaos theory too. This is the popular variation of complete determinism which tries to dismiss randomness as an illusion because it always has, supposedly, a hidden order, and is therefore not really randomness: "Chance is a concept used to inadequately explain a cause and effect that are not known." In other words, there really must be a hidden order underneath it all. We just need some more computer power. Most gamblers are fans of this theory too. Most interesting is: ". . . 'acts of God' or 'chance'." What? Acts of God are random (chance) events? Emailer also confuses mind and brain: ". . . for the mind is surely a physical thing, a thing that is altered physically through the act of thought." How many volts are there in a thought? He should read a bit of Descartes. |
Our Discovery of Our Divinity. A logical faith might assume that it is the power of our evolution that has brought us believe we are gods. Our provisional hypothesis (that we are gods, and there is no almighty god) is presented here as a stage theory.
In the first stage, the earliest persons simply tried to protect themselves from the forces of nature, and each other.
In the second stage, wind, fire, and anything else that appeared to move of its own volition, was believed to be a person-like god. The earliest persons began to plead with the forces of nature not to harm them.
In the third stage, a single person-like god was believed to control all of nature's forces.
There followed, in the fourth stage, a proliferation of political and religious rulers claiming some special connection to the supposed person-like god behind nature. Many rulers, especially in Europe, claimed a "divine right" to control life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
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"From the second dynasty onward, [Pharaoh] derived his power from the sungod Ra who, by then, was the pre-eminent creator god. In this role he had to keep his people safe, ensure the adequate rising of the Nile, care for the continued existence of those in the beyond by bringing them offerings to feed on, i.e. he had to uphold the divine order."—source "So God took the leading men of your tribes, wise and respected men, and appointed them to have authority over you."—Deuteronomy, 1:15 "As there is not a thing so necessary to be known by the people of any land, next the knowledge of their God, as the right knowledge of their allegiance, according to the form of government established among them, especially in a Monarchy (which form of government, as resembling the Divinity, approaches nearest to perfection, as all the learned and wise men from the beginning have agreed upon).”—James I |
We have now in the twenty-first century arrived at a stage in which we have come to the surprising idea that rulers who claimed to be gods were correct! They had only to realize that everyone else was a god too.
The following is another version of our stage theory.
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Stage One—At first we were ruled by our fear of the random forces of nature (cold, lightning, rain, wind, etc.) And, as if that were not enough, we feared the larger animals, and especially other humans. Fear ruled us as if it were a god. Stage Two—As we came to invent tools and discover fire-making, we grew to have less fear of the forces of nature. But still we constantly faced nature's fierce consortium of random forces which seemed to have wills of their own, and so came the idea that nature's forces were themselves person-like gods. Stage Three—So gradually there arose the belief that there was a single, almighty, god governing the forces of nature. Stage Four—Then many of our rulers, (pharaohs, emperors, and kings, e.g.), claimed to have godly powers through heredity from the almighty god behind the forces of nature. And, their offspring were guaranteed the same godly powers. Stage Five—Later, a few ordinary humans, with some power to use the forces of nature, and did so witnessed by others, claimed to be gods through heredity from an almighty god. Jesus, for example, was an ordinary person who claimed to be a son of a god, and therefore a god himself.
This stage was a marked change from the previous stages. They could exercise some control over the powers of nature in front of witnesses. Stage Five—In this latest stage, we have become adults, so to speak, and have begun to abandon the belief that there is a ruling "almighty father" of all us gods. Simultaneous with the rise of government by consent of the governed, there has come the idea that each and every human is a god. And, just a few hundred years ago, there came to western thought another person with some power over the forces of nature. This person was the leader of the world's first democratic federation, and he and his people taught the early settlers of New England the concept of government by consent of the-governed.
Our stages in brief:
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Why Do We Find It So Difficult to Believe We Are Gods? One cause may be that the Self is infinite, and so therefore our highest powers―god―are, at our present degree of evolution, still quite beyond the reach of our everyday consciousness. But still our superconscious powers are our own. And indeed a few persons have been able to reach these highest powers, e.g., Jesus, Allah, Buddha, and Passaconaway. This idea is mostly unknown, but it is not completely new. The following is from the theologian Plotinus (204 - 270 AD).
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"The Soul, in its highest part, remains essentially and eternally a being in the Divine, Intelligible Realm. Yet the lower (or active), governing part of the Soul, while remaining, in its essence, a divine being and identical to the Highest Soul, nevertheless, through its act, falls into forgetfulness of its prior, and comes to attach itself to the phenomena of the realm of change, that is, of Matter. This level at which the Soul becomes fragmented into individual, embodied souls, is Nature (phusis)."—Internet Encylopedia of Philosophy |
A second cause of our difficulty may be that our religious leaders, and our theocratic political leaders, have for millennia fixed our attention on themselves as the highest authorities; and, while they do so, they fix our attention further on objects on the altars surrounding them such as "holy" sculptures of those of us gods who had some power over the forces of nature. And they have further focused our attention on so-called "sacred" books. The result of their unrelenting use of suggestion has been a proliferation of authority-controlled belief systems throughout the world. They have gained control over the very workings of our minds, and so the many religion corporations continue to relentlessly demand that their congregations—consumers—assume obedient postures, and repeatedly utter chants of obedience.
Psychology and Religion. Many psychologists have recast the almighty god of religion as the so-called "Unconscious." Just like an almighty god this entity is supposed to exist in each of us and cause our every thought and action. But this theory begs the question: What causes the Unconscious to do what it does? Does it have its own Unconscious that makes it do what it does? And if so, does that second Unconscious have an Unconscious of its own? And so on, ad infinitum, to some sort of First Cause, an Ultimate Unconscious with almighty power.
It is the rare psychologist, past or present, who confronted the Unconscious.
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"There is no special controlling agency somewhere in the mind sending out orders, mandates, inhibitions, like a despotically ruling autocrat, like a psycho-analytic censor, or like an omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, invisible deity."—Boris Sidis |
(By the way, Boris Sidis, Ph.D., M.D., paid a heavy price. Though a renowned psychologist during his lifetime, he was later dropped entirely from the academic histories of psychology, and is generally unknown today. Yet his theories and methods are still being used without anyone knowing who first developed them.)
Persons Usually Imagine Gods to Be Persons. Throughout our history and across our cultures we have imagined our gods to be human. One particular website provides more than a hundred examples.
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"God created man in his own image."―Genesis 1:27 "The Trinity is the term employed to signify the central doctrine of the Christian religion―the truth that in the unity of the Godhead there are Three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, these Three Persons being truly distinct one from another."―Catholic Encyclopedia |
A theologian, however, might rightly object: "Perhaps we imagine our gods as persons because we cannot know, or even imagine, a pure spirit." Plotinus, op cit., part of the very birth of Christian philosophy, imagined his almighty god as a totally transcendent "One" containing no division, multiplicity or distinction; beyond all categories of being and non-being. Not long after, Augustine imagined his almighty god in a similar way.
In reply to Plotinus and Augustine, a person of logical-faith might propose: "All gods are real persons with all the abilities and faults therein." We have now arrived at the heart of the matter. No?
Some Gods Are More Advanced. At every point in evolution a few of us will be considerably farther along their path toward perfection than rest of us. It is as if they are at the front of a long caravan.
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"The development of the individual is an abbreviated reproduction of the evolution of the species. The stored-up experiences of the human race are condensed, foreshortened, and recapitulated in the child's life history. This process of 'progressive precocity' has been going on unconsciously in the course of human evolution. We have reached a stage when man can be made conscious of this fundamental process, thus getting control over his own growth and development."—Boris Sidis, Ph.D., M.D. |
There Is Likely An Afterlife. Because energy is neither created nor destroyed, the mental energy of consciousness has some logical probability of continuing to exist after what we call "death." Millions of persons have reported "out-of-body" or "afterlife" experiences in which their consciousness and self-identity continued to exist. The reports have been made by persons of all ages and who are not known to one another. Children's reports suggest additional logical probability because they are naďve in a scientific sense. We will deal with this subject in more detail in the next chapter.
Some persons actually claim to travel regularly between this life and the next. One of them has made this remarkable report.
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Hollow Heavens—"In the belief-system territories of the afterlife we find groups of people who have been brought together by the shared beliefs of their previous physical lives. Here we find the so-called "heavens" of all the major religions. These territories have actually been created by human consciousness through its religious leaders preaching over the centuries about the "heavens" that their devotees will arrive at after death. Many may reside in one of these "heavens" until they start to notice inconsistencies in the particular doctrines that their religion preached. At this point many of them no longer resonate in that particular hollow heaven and move onwards to a fuller state of being."—Robert Monroe |
In Monroe's last sentence we find something very interesting. While many may leave their belief-system territories, many may not. Perhaps many remain because they continue to believe that their particular almighty god is in yet another kind of existence beyond the one they are in, and yet still making everything happen—the same belief they had in this life. So it is very possible that the matters of whether or not we are gods, or whether or not any god can be almighty, will not be resolved simply by death. More evolution may be necessary.
On the other hand, many afterlife reports speak of a great increase in knowledge in the afterlife.
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"I began to feel all knowing . . ."—K. C. R., "What I did have was a very strong knowledge that I understood EVERYTHING in the world. I knew the reason for every mortal thing and felt a deep sense of peace."―Jennifer H. "A feeling of great relief and a knowledge that everything would be alright came to me."―Andy D. "There were no spoken words . . . just an unspoken knowledge of what was occurring."―Lynn R. "I had no knowledge of me (as I know myself to be in my usual waking consciousness), but I had self awareness. I felt as though I was a tiny little 'pinprick' of consciousness."―Patricia D. "I recall sensing that the light was all-knowing . . ."―Marge M. "I was in a world filled of light, peace, love and knowledge."―Rita "It was simply a wonderful feeling of freedom. I could be where I wanted to be and see what I wanted to see. I also knew that I could not affect any physical things. It simply was knowledge."―Andrei |
Is There Really A Hell? Any random selection of afterlife reports will likely find very few speaking of a hellish existence. Overwhelmingly the reports speak of what most anyone would consider a heaven. So is there no Hell at all?
| NO WORSE Despite what is said in chapter and verse Of darkness and doom none ever need fear No god would ever make worse than this life here. All are forgiven,
yes all in disgrace, |
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"Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."—Jesus |