Hi folks.
I love debate and am on a life-long search for spiritual meaning.
Although I was raised by a (mainly) Christian family in a Christian home, I learned early that there were Good people with different beliefs. My family attended a Congregational church. But Grandpa was ethnically Jewish although he had converted to Grandma's religion; she was Baptist. My aunt was Methodist.
When my father committed suicide when I was twelve, I found my faith tested and threw myself into Christianity. My mother remarried, and we acquired a Lutheran for the mix.
During my late teen years, I considered the idea of becoming a minister.
Seemed like an easy job and I can orate with the best of them; sermons my speciality. So it seemed to me to be a good idea to actually read what Christianity was based upon. I read the Bible (KJV) in its entirety. And I discovered that what my minister said the Bible said was not exactly what it said. It became evident to me that although some of what the Bible said was sound moral advice, most of the Bible was just a bunch of mythology and allegory written by late Bronze Age man. I became apostate. Had I been asked, I would have said I was agnostic.
We are apparently a family of freethinkers. My two sisters went in entirely different directions: Roman Catholic and Orthodox Jewish. My daughter is into Native American Wheel of Life theology and spirituality.
I have experienced a personal revelation in which I learned that everyone -- all that was ever conscious -- is granted a joyous afterlife regardless of belief. When I was discussing this with a Congregational Minister recently, he proclaimed that I must be at least Deist. I explained that I disbelieve my own revelation since I could be wrong.
My cosmology/theology of the Beginning is that there was One True Miracle. This True Miracle differs from ordinary miracles in that the One True Miracle has no cause while ordinary miracles are God-caused. The One True Miracle: Reality Exists; there is something rather than nothing.
It could well be that the First was a God who, in turn, created all else. And yet, it could well be that the First was the Universe itself -- complete with Natural Law.
The beginning of my philosophy is embodied in the two-word phrase "I am." After Decartes, it is easy to see that the single truth that is accessible to each and every one of us is "I am." If we stop our philosophy there we have arrived at solipsism. This is the philosophy that "I" am the only "real" ego and all else is framework. This leads to a purely hedonistic actor -- a sociopath. This philosophy, although not articulated very often is practiced my many and is a fertile source of evil.
Mulitpersonality Solipsism is another possibility. It could be that God decided to become multiple personalities and forget the gag. We/He agreed with Himself / among Himselves to distribute the "I AM" among a variety of consciousness.
Another way out of solipsism is to postulate a second axiom: You are. This postulated axiom is consistent with multipersonality solipsim but not pure solipsism. It is consistent with a Universe with a Creator God that did the Creation and embedded all that He willed in Natural Law and let the Universe proceed. It is consistent with the Universe being the One True Miracle.
During my philosophical studies, I found out a consistency of moral precepts across the vast majority of philosophical or religious systems of ethics. Taking these Universal Moral Principles as a goal, I wondered if logic and reason could be applied to morality. The result did not surprise me. One can deduce human moral principles from the idea that "I am, and you are, too."
The idealistic solution is the Golden Rule. Sages throughout history have recognized this as a morality. Buddha and Jesus, among many others, advised adherence to the Golden Rule(s). (The other one is the negative: do not do to others what you don't want done to you.)
The ideal gets in the way of the practical. Evil people exist and must be dealt with. So the following is (hopefully) a set of principles that all ethical/moral people can agree with.
The self-evident rules of Morality:
1. Respect for all life, but especially human life, is moral.
2. Aggressive (not defensive) first use of force is immoral.
3. Taking unearned value --theft -- is immoral.
4. Threat of use of force for gain of unearned value is immoral.
5. Deceit for gain of unearned value is immoral.
Love yourself. If you don't have this love you cannot love others.
Love your family. They are your heritage, part of yourself.
Love those who, through no fault of their own, are in need.
Love truth. Knowledge brings light to the darkness.
Love justice. Otherwise evil will triumph.
Practice Honor. Every effort is to fulfill all promises made: verbal or nonverbal, expressed or implied. When an honorable man is found, deal with them with honor, to mutual benefit. Refuse further dealings with dishonorable men.
Introducing George S
Moderator: Moderators
