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 Contact:  george@deepermind.com  2/13/2023

 Updating Your Beliefs

Introduction

If you upgrade what you believe in you can more fully optimize your life. Thousands of years ago when religions were being formed, the Bible and other religious books were based on what people felt, without the benefits of our current knowledge. Today we understand that we must keep clean because  germ theory.  We know that we must eat nine amino acids.  If we practice meditation and mindfulness we improve a emotional health.

But we also have a heart and this was known since ancient times.  It is the heart that provides deep understanding of our relationship to vast unknown beyond what we could intellectually understand.  The heart and our logic work in different world needs to be balanced with our logic, and our technical side so that they compliment each other.

As you update what you learned as a child you can look forward to a longer and happier lifetime. You will know that words only point to meaning.  For example, if you point to the moon and say "Moon" know that a Spanish speaker will say "Luna." The Moon has lots of different names. The same thing happens to the word "God". In Arabic you would say "Allah" instead of God.

Everyone has their own opinion.  here are thousands of religions and philosophies each claiming to be right. So who is right?

Everyone is under the illusion that whatever they believe in is right. Even those who think believe in nothing, actually have beliefs. If they really believed in nothing then they could not make decisions.

A simple example is a person who believes that they are fat, that only certain foods in small quantities are good to eat. Taken to the extreme, they starve themselves. It is the intention of this writing to understand belief systems, and how to create a good one for ourselves that works.

Culture and Belief

What we believe in seems the only and the best way of looking at things.

There are strong forces that The Internet tends to group people with like beliefs together.  But is also has the opposite effect in that it overwhelms people with information.  For those who are saturated with ideas from all directions tend to reduce their idealism into not carrying and only looking out for themselves and their significant others.

There is a need of a new religion and way of life, that takes the best of all prospectives, in order to find what is best.  What is best is that which helps achieve health, long lasting deep happiness, good purpose, and emotional stability.

So why don't we do this?  It is in our best interests.  The answer is cultural hypnosis.  At times in our lives we allow someone or some group to take over our previous belief system.  Usually it occurs when we are lonely, feeling confused, not loving ourselfdon't belief in ourselves and feel empty.  It is a time when we become reformulated. 

But that seems impossible.  How can a person believe in a particular God and not see any evidence?  How can a person believe in a God that causes suffering?  Perhaps sorting out all the thousands of years of history and its belief system is not necessary.

But I believe there is a way.  But understanding this new way requires we identify some basic building blocks that can be reasonably shown to exist.  Then we can take many conflicting ideas and put them in some new boxes.

Gold in "Them Hills;

If take a few concepts and run with them, many things fall into place.

1. We are conscious and conscious is not part of present state of science. So it is something new to science.

2. Our brain simulates the outer world, and what we experience is a dream and with good enough presentation of the real world.

3. There is a unifying force that wraps around us and keeps from going off the deep end.

These concepts are true. Why?  There is evidence of experience, of screen which allow us to experience and a brain that feeds the screen based on a reality simulaltor

1. Conscious experiences, and without conscious there is no science or philosophy.

2. All our senses pass signals to the brain where things are placed in a prospective we can experience.  Thus light waves are changed into images we can see.

3. The brain is very complex with billions or trillions of parts, and though fMRI we can see it is constanly working.  There is many things going on in our brain we are not aware of.

Putting Things Together

The Block Diagram below shows how these concepts are others fit together. In total there are eight concepts and these concepts will be explained.

1. Experience True Self (Conscious)

If we really think about things, the core idea of who we really are come down to the fact the we are conscious.  We experience life.  We are the experiencer. Computers are not alive, they don't say "Ouch" when interrupt their software, or unplug them.  If the did respond, it would be a trick.  Another computer would be required to simulate a human being.

One might argue that the brain might be wired to simulate many computers, but even if this were true, we feel like we are traveling down life's path, that we feel that we are making decisions.

Making decisions that we are responsible for, means we understand the difference between good and bad.  We know about love, caring. We feel hurt when we fight with our partner and deep joy when we share our intimacy.

So we can define being spiritual, by accepting the fact that we are not just a bunch of complex molecules, made up of atoms and below that atomic particles.  We rejoice knowing that we are special entities, we are alive, knowing that we know, and knowing that we also don't know too.

2. Our Material Brain

Yes, from one point of view, we have computer like programs in our heads, and these programs are vastly more complex than any computer ever built.  If we look at a chandelier we might not see the rainbow-like colors that make it so pretty. Yet if we move our head, we can see the colors.  So as a limited point of view we are made as a huge assembly of computers. 

But at the same time, there is the devine color within us, that allows us to experience life and know what is best and pure.

3. Spiritual Feelings

There are feelings of a spiritual nature, feelings that arise deep within our heart, feelings that inspire our deepest and most treasured assets.  We care about what is better than good. There is a the divine spark.  When we align with deepest, most powerful energies surrounding goodness and purpose, we can rightfully use the word holy.

With all the technology we have today, one could imagine a building a fake person who would mimic a real person.  This fake person could be built to say all the appropriate words, doing all the appropriate, yet when something unusual happened, the fake person would have a wooden response or a response that would not seem just right.

Being Religious, and Ignoring Science

Alas, many who are religious, only see the color, and refuse to acknowledge any scientific facts.  By refusing to appreciate scientific reasoning, and scientific limitations of logic, they naively accept what the clergy wants them to believe.  For most Christians, the Bible is the word of God, we are going to heaven or hell after we die, prayers can heal the sick, and God wants us to be generous towards the church.  If God made the universe, then God would be pleased if we study what He has created.  Therefore doing science is a good way to know God and what a divine scientist and mathematician that He is. 

So instead of getting science out of the Bible, it is far better to read scientific literature with regards to the physical world.  So science should be regarded in the same vain as prayers, sacraments, and should be part of church life.

Science is Not Perfect

It would only be fair that we take some aim at science too. 

Psychology does research through the use of human experiment.  There are many limitations to this work.  You can not repeat the same experiment with the same people, as the people remember the experiment and thus in most cases spoil the experiment.  If you are comparing two groups of people, it is very difficult to have the people match.  Also if you hand a questionnaire out people may not tell the truth, may not complete it if it is too long, or tedious.

Scientists did not believe in rocks falling from the sky until one landed close to a scientist.  Science is a method of investigation, and not collection of proven unchanging scientific facts.  Astronomy is the fastest growing science and new discoveries are made every day.

Scientists tend to be prejudice theories that seem to have religious connections.  For example, psychologists generally do not believe that there are any hierarchies in the brain because it sounds too religious.  Yet, in business, in groups of animals, hierarchies give examples of it is necessary to have planners and workers, CEOs and various levels of management including those who perform to most insignificant, but necessary jobs.

 

Using Schematics to Help Understand How We Work

Since I have a background in electronics and spent most of my life as a technical writer, I appreciate diagrams of how electronic circuits work.  Using what is called a schematic, I can trace electronic signals through all their components. A schematic is akin to a roadmap.

Knowing how to use block diagrams based on schematics, I can figure out how to repair broken electronic items such as washing machines, televisions and computers.  I can also make informed guesses on how something works, even the most complicated.  Here I will use this skill to give a educated guess on how everything works allowing one to sort out religious point of view and the scientific view at the same time and make them work together.

Once we have seen how the spiritual and scientific work together, it is hoped that the religious can believe in science and the scientific can believe in the spiritual.

Redefining the Soul

The word "soul" has been around for a long time.  Here I will limit its meaning here to the essence of experience.  It is the experiencer of life.  It is the mechanism of consciousness.  It is really who we are.  Since it generates consciousness, and is not physical, it is unique.  But it is a requirement to do any science or anything else.  We are here by definition.  It is self-evident.  Nobody knows how it connects to our brain, but since we use it all the time, we just as well acknowledge its existence.

The Reality Simulator

As we are made up by many functions a block diagram can be very useful. of a human being is produced by considering that we are made up of several functions.  These functions are virtual and not necessarily   in different locations.

One key idea is that we have a Reality Simulator in our brain.  What we see, are based on the signals from the optical nerve as it enters the brain.  Within the brain, the optical signals are converted into images.  Some how the images are presented to the little green man (ourselves) that sees the images. 

We can define that the images is presented on the Reality Simulator Screen. So is everything else.  Our emotions, our thoughts, and what we need to know at the particular moment.

Different people have different realities. Oh, most of us can see enough to navigate through the house and doing ordinary basic things.  But some people have much better realities.  Their reality simulator produces a rush when we are really evolved with something that ordinary world disappears.  These people have and live with higher ideals, values and ethics. They feel love, honesty, and the creative juices.  Their reality simulator is deeper and more powerful.  They have a deeper mind. 

The reality simulator generates higher ideals, values and ethics.  It thrives when we are in the flow, when we are creative and spiritual. 

Achieving Deeper Mind

Consider the fact that we do not know very much.  We know electricity makes things work.  There are electric cars, electric stoves and electric light bulbs. But what is electricity.  We don't know.  We know what electricity can do, but nobody has seen an electron. 

Since everything we know, is produced by our reality simulator, we know only what the simulator does, and know nothing about how the reality simulator allows us to experience life.

If we can adjust our simulator to find life meaningful, delightfully interesting, filled with love, peace and understanding we are in for a much more rewarding and pleasant life than those who could care less about this subject.

The Great Nothing

The absence of light is a color we call black.  This color is produced by the reality simulator.  But in the outside physical world, the absence of light is nothing, no colors or sensation. 

Black is produced by nothing.  When we don't care or engage in life, we are lost in the Great Nothing.  The Great Nothing is actually something in the brain.  When a brain cell is blocked, the brain cell is said to be inhibited.

When we don't care about anything, the Great Nothing has taken power over you. The brain simulator slows down, and we see but we don't care and what we see is has little meaning.

In order to achieve a deeper mind, we have to cancel out the Great Nothing and let our joy and creative power thrive.

Religion and Absolute Thinking

 Religious dogma produces a simple mind.  One is not creative, but hypnotized by well meaning people. Progress is forever frozen in the past.  But religion also produces a childlike state where are humble, and try to be "good".

But religion and being good can cause much suffering.  It can inflate a nation's ego so much they go to war with the "enemy".  It assumes that everyone has original sin, and thus we are innately bad.

The main cause of suffering is caused by the Great Nothing.  It is the turning off of life.  It occurs when we are not mindful, not playing attention, not caring, not understanding what is going on.

Being unattached to something is not part of the Great Nothing, but standing back in wisdom.  When we attached to some little thing, the little thing becomes our big thing.  Buddhism is not a religion, but a way of life.  It teaches non-attachment which allows us to move away from the hurtful and unpleasant things in life which we have no control over.

Finding Our Own Truth

I do not understand that people believe in religious dogma based on how old the teaching is, or if the teaching comes from the Bible or other authoritative book.

Some religious teachings date back to the most primitive of men where there was constant fear. A long time ago people were illiterate. They sang songs to keep their little knowledge alive.  There were aural traditions to memorize.  Nobody did experiments to prove that any of their beliefs were actually true.

All religious books are written by people.  People are often wrong.  Religious books are never updated to any extent, and are frozen in time.

Religious books are not all bad, and do contain stories about such things as love, forgiveness, and faith.

To find our own truth we can do our own simple experiments. If we feel better by taking a shower in the morning, then that is true for us.

 During adolescence is a time where children start to question things. With some guidance, and education one can find out what works best for them, and during their life make it better.

Starting Over and Including the Mind/Brain

What would happen if we scrapped our current religion? By abandoning it one must figure things out for themselves.  In the meanwhile, your belief system is now nothing but a vacuum.  As you study and learn, grow up with life's problems and find real meaning you are starting on the path towards truth, your own personal truth.  The trick is to make sure your truth is real and it works.

Sometimes you can find a book or website containing answers for you to contemplate.

If we can draw a diagram to support what is being said, the ideas can be seen more clearly.  One can get lost in words.

The word "pray" for example is a word.  It might mean asking God for something, like health or money.  But prayer like that does not work.

Millions of people pray for health of queens and kings.  Yet these people are about as healthily as everyone else and live about as long.

So by doing an thought experiment we can arrive to a better truth.

The Ghost in the Machine

The fundamental question is: What are we?  Are we just a ghost in the machine call our body?

When I took courses in science, and studied physics and chemistry, there was o mention of ghosts.

Thus out body including our brain has no ghost within it.  It is made of atoms and is a just a very complex, but physical machine.

Yet we have consciousness. We have memories of ourselves.

We are not our bodies.  Our body at one time consisted on one cell at conception and weighed nearly nothing.  Now we weigh as adults over a hundred pounds. Many of our thoughts and beliefs have changed.  There are different people in our life.

Since our body changes a great deal, and the person we are is a constant, we can say we are not our bodies, but live within our bodies.

And it is our Reality Simulator that generates what we experience.  All body sensations go through the Reality Simulator in our brain.  So our experiences are received by something besides the brain.

If we think we are nothing but something the Reality Simulator manufactures, then we have a big problem

This problem is that everything is part of the Great Nothing. The problem would be simply that nothing matters. There is no right or wrong.  Every thought, action and feeling would be meaningless and all things would be at random.

Instead we have meaning, purpose, higher emotions.  There are things we cherish and love.  We can say: I believe in myself. I have faith. I love myself.  I don't know exactly how my being works, but here I am.

Consciousness

The essence of consciousness is largely a mystery.  Yet consciousness is needed for any discovery.  Like light entering a dark hole, information enters consciousness and somehow becomes our experience.

Machines that seem to be alive can seem to be conscious, but in reality they can only mimic real conscious. Some maintain that if you can fool people into thinking anything is alive, then it must be alive.  I think being alive is a special gift and we would not confuse mimicry and the real thing.

Part of the problem is that scientists are reluctant include anything spiritual in their studies and thus for example, treat the human brain as if it was a machine, and conscious as just a side effect.

Consciousness can be considered as a dream, and thus we dream everything. 

Experience is a Dream

Don Ruiz, who wrote about the Four Agreements, explains consciousness as a dream.  The brain generates this reality dream and the dream mimics reality enough to make us think we are seeing the world directly.

But we are not.  The real world is made up of particles, atoms and molecules. There are force fields and waves.  In the real world there is no music, no colors, and no smells. 

So what we experience, is a slice of the world made beautiful.

The ghost is extremely close and part of the brain. This ghost allows us to dream as life flows by. There is no God spot (how would this help?) The brain must be built with hierarchies and the ghost somehow is part of these structures. This ghost probably exists in a currently unknown dimension.

The brain is unbelievably complicated with neuron cells and their helpers numbering as high as a trillion.  connected together so we can think and do about anything we want to. But "we" are not one but many processes and entities. We have a lot of freedom.

But this is a big problem, as some parts of our brain are more primitive than others. We require that little voice of guidance.  Without guidance we will always get into trouble, and our separate selves will always produce conflict and cross purpose.

The solution of this problem lies in the hierarchies within the brain. (brain scientists do not want to sound religious, so they avoid talking about hierarchies).  A the top of all these hierarchies is boss.  At the top of highest hierarchy is the chief executive officer (CEO).

Many of the hierarchies have to do with body regulation of its chemistry. Regulation implies feedback systems.  Our mind uses feedback.  Our mind can also step back and look at a thought to pounder how good it is.

Philosophy and the Body Mind Problem

According to Wikipedia, "the mind/body problem is a philosophical debate concerning the relationship between thought and consciousness in the human mind, and the brain as part of the physical body.  The debate goes beyond addressing the mere question of how mind and body function chemically and physiologically. Interactionism arises when mind and body are considered as distinct, based on the premise that the mind and the body are fundamentally different in nature.

The problem was popularized by Rene Descartes in the 17th century, resulting in Cartesian dualism, and by pre-Aristotelian philosophers, in Avicennian philosophy, and in earlier Asian traditions. A variety of approaches have been proposed. Most are either dualist or monist. Dualism maintains a rigid distinction between the realms of mind and matter. Monism maintains that there is only one unifying reality as in neutral or substance or essence, in terms of which everything can be explained."

As you can see, philosophy often contend that many it is best to give all the opinions, and leave it to the reader to figure out what is best.  Each philosopher tend to use their own words.  Some arguments are actually questions of semantics.  Words often become things in themselves.  There is often great word entanglement.  It is usually easier to follow one person that to see many people giving their opinions at the same time. 

There is a joke.  A scientist walks into the office of a philosopher. He sees that there is no waste paper basket. So the scientist, says he will get one for the philosopher.  The philosopher replies, oh, you don't understand.  I never need one.

Why We Need Faith

Every time we drive, we put our faith in our ability, in others abilities and in the mechanics within all the vehicles.

Our brain is vastly complex with trillions of parts.  Moreover latest research suggests that the cells throughout the body communicate with each other with networks similar to the Internet. 

With this enormous and complex thinking machine, something needs to govern it less it fragments into warring divisions.  Something needs to guide the brain.

Guidance

Any complex machine needs guidance. For example, a horse or automobile has a driver. Automatic speed control in a car has a regulator.  A computer has a user. A motor might have a governor to regulate it speed.

So especially for us humans, we need an overriding guidance.  Without it, the brain would just do random things, and would keep going with things until the brain would explode with too much information and wrong conclusions.

This guidance, I call Source, must be wise, incorruptible, independent, wise, powerful and give noble purpose.

There is less guidance in animals.  A fox is guided by its instincts. A fox should not be in charge of the hen house.

By having faith in Source (God) the brain has clear goals, purpose and direction.  

By letting go, we can turn over things to Source.  During sleep we refresh our brain, and have faith in this process. Through meditation, relaxation, service to others, breathwork we allow Source to work magic.

When our mind, our brain and our body are attune, and we are fully aware, we are practicing mindfulness.    

The Chart

As we hone in on how everything might work, I have supplied a diagram to show the relationship between different entities below:

 

Block Diagram Description

This diagram contains the overall structure of everything at a high level. The eight blocks in the diagram connect together through information transfer.  We will now explore each of these eight entities.

The Experiencer or the True Self

The logical starting point for all our experiences lies in that which actually observes them.  The observer or experiencer is the essence of who we are.  Here signals from the brain come into observer and the observer experiences the information.  The observer is not the thoughts or feelings, but the mechanism which reflects on the experience.

On the left of the block diagram is the Experiencer. Other people use the terms  True Self, the Soul or the "I behind the I".  Since the Experiencer, experiencers life, it must be the center of conscious itself.

The experiencer hears our internal voice produced by the brain, sees the image of the external world, feels the pain or pleasure of the body.  But it is not of any of these things.  It is the real soul, the producer of consciousness itself.

This entity also gives direction to the brain to perform certain tasks.  It monitors the progress of these tasks.  It might ask the brain to think about something, and then it decides if it likes what the brain thinks is a solution.

The experiencer is a dreamer, dreaming the reality dream.  The brain can entertain the experiencer, with the delights of food, sex, music and drama. The experiencer knows what it knows, and believes what it believes.

Since the experiencer is beyond the material world, it may not require a body, and thus life after death is possible.  In the Hindu religion, the experiencer is called "Atman" and in the Hindu belief system, it is the Atman that is reincarnated.

The Reality Screen

What is experienced is presented on the reality screen.  The reality screen is like an elaborate home theater.  Here the sum of what the brain wants to present is displayed.  The inner voice narrates our thoughts.  A wide range of emotions enriches the experiences.

This screen works in both directions.  When our consciousness decides what the body should do, it send commands to the brain.

What this is on one level  is a mechanism which connects the experiencer to the brain.  At a deeper level it goes beyond concepts of nerves, and wires. The experiencer dreams largely based on information produced by the brain.  This information exists on many deep levels. It goes much deeper than  linear logic signals.  Instead it is like the story contained in a book. It probably employs the mathematics of higher dimensions.

Consider the eye looking at itself without a mirror.  It is framed in ethics. Consider why we can be driven to tears when we hear certain music under the right circumstances. music. It is magical, and profound.  Whatever it is, it is just there.

The Reality Simulator

Simulators are used to train people in business.  For example, pilots are trained in aircraft simulators. 

We train ourselves to navigate life using our reality simulator. This simulator produces our reality dream.  From the outer world of waves and force fields it produces color, tastes, and smells. It gives meaning to what is sensed.  It identifies ugly and the beauty and all that lies in between. It signals us emergencies and safety.

The Brain/Mind

The brain is not only something inside our head, it is also the "wetwear" that is inside the brain called the mind.  The mind thinks. 

The brain/mind is our biological computer that interfaces with our experiencer, through the reality simulator.  The mind uses language to abstract and symbolize thoughts and also allow us to talk to others.

Our language is inspired and tempered by what we think. We all have different ways of using language.  Some people have a richer mind and others do not like to think.  Some people allow others to do their thinking. For instance, true believers look up to their leader for truth and correctness.

Our Personal Spiritual Source

Our personal spiritual source or God is like a soothing cover over the brain.  The brain is so complex and has so many departments, left to it own resources can get carried away with itself.  Different parts of the brain may take on conflicting missions, thus creating major conflicts.  Ideas may be taken with too much resolve and strength.

For example, the Triune Brain Model (an older concept) divides the whole brain into three parts which have formed through evolution:

The reptilian complex that contains powerful primitive instincts

The limbic system than produces strong emotions such as love and fear.

The neocortex is the thinking part of the brain and gives us understandings.

The brain can be in disarray as we see in people with mental illness.  Mental illness can be caused by malfunctions in the brain or by lack of spiritual prospective.

The best brains are at peace and are more productive than the average brain.   A harmonizing force is required to achieve this end.  This is why spiritually is  included in this presentation. In contrast, the scientific community does not want to appear to be religious or dogmatic.  Yet in the complex system we call the brain, there has to been some overall control that takes care of the brain.  It is like a gardener who tends to his plants.

The Two Spiritual Sources

The Personal Spiritual Source keeps our brain from going astray. The brain/mind has trillions of cells. Different parts of the brain may go off on their own tangents, and conflicts often occur.  There has to be an overall management of the brain to keep chaos from occurring.

Source (God) has two aspects; our Personal Spiritual Source and the Universal Source.  Our Personal Spiritual Source works with each individual person and may appear in many ways. This Source has thousands of names.  For people who do not believe in God, this Personal Source however weak, is still there and may be just a feeling of love and kindness.

In order for Source to talk with us, Source needs to adjust the level so that we  can understand the guidance. The absolute truth from Source is far too rich for us and we as humans will never know it.

Yet for those who are seekers there is plenty of information and inspiration available.

Some might ask, so can we trust Source? Since source is adjusting its information to us personally, the information is always wise and helpful.  But it is never complete.  If we knew everything by merely asking Source, there would be no more discoveries for us.  But as we grow wiser, and gain knowledge, we can handle more complex answers. 

If a teacher describes the orbit of the Earth as a circle, this is not exactly right, but it is suitable for a small child.  Later the student will learn that the Earth revolves in an elliptical orbit which is better. Still later, the student finds out that the orbit of the Earth is not exactly elliptical, as it perturbed by the other bodies in the solar system. 

Thus our Personal Source man job is to work with us and make us better people. 

The Universal Source

The Universal Source (God) works with the whole universe. We do not directly interface with Universal Source, but live in a universe created by God. By assuming God made the universe, the universe must be part of God as there was nothing else there to make it from.

Further as science is the best tool to study the universe, science is sacred. Science allows us to know God.  For example, God is a the greatest mathematician as the laws of nature are best described by mathematical formula.

Other People

People help the brain stabilize as it provides an independent reference for what is true and on-going in life.  We are dependent on others for almost everything.

All organized religions are made up of people who believe in much the same way.  The religious want to share their message, and employ a subtle form of hypnosis to achieve their goals.  Independent thinking is not a good thing, and conformity is goal.

During the night we slip into our unconscious and during the day we are conscious. Hypnosis is achieved through our unconscious mind.

The churches and other religious institutions use a subtle form of hypnosis. This includes the rhythmic sing-song sound of church music and chant-like rhythmic cadence of the sermons.

Religious indoctrination is most effective on the young.  People who are naive and impressionable are easy targets.

Culture indoctrination through the schools are also effective. Memes allow ideas to pass between people on a subconscious level.  Indulgence in sports, fashion, shopping and traveling can be mind numbing. 

We can consider people who group think, and believe in the same things as tribes. By thinking independently one can have a better life.  Meditation, mindfulness, discipline and study can be extremely beneficial.

The Universe

The universe was created by the Universal Source and is studied by science.  At one end of science is quantum physics where everything is a matter of probability and at the other end is astronomy which discovers new facts about the universe every day.  The material universe by itself does not distinguish between good and bad, or love and hate.  This is why spirituality is important.

Older Beliefs

Religion are based on the teachings of long ago where there was no science.  The oldest teachings were based on fear, superstition, and political forces.  The old teachings assumed many things that were later proven wrong.  They assumed that the Earth was flat and other ideas that you should never questioned.  The  authority knew everything.  Much suffering resulted.

We are what we are.  We are conscious.  We experience life.

More Information about Regulation

In motor control theory regulators are used to set the speed of a motor.  Also a regulator is used to keep a car using speed control to maintain the same speed.

Without regulation any complex system free to do what ever it wants to do. In that way its purpose is compromised.

Winging Spiritual Beliefs

Winging here means to take a religious word and give it a more clear meaning.

For example, the word "God" in Christianity means one thing.  But here there are two aspects of God, one is our Personal Spiritual Source that we can talk to, and the Universal Source that 

For example the word "God" in Christianity,  This reflects the authority our Personal Spiritual Source.

For example the word "Father" in Christianity, in terms of God the Father can be winged to mean Personal Spiritual Source.  This reflects the authority our Personal Spiritual Source. 

What is an interesting activity is to re-interpret religious writings. In Christianity the word "Father" strongly relates to a reference. The "word of God" contains ideas that support the regulation of one's being. The word "Heaven" is something on high, and the idea that something regulates our brain on a high level has a similar meaning.

Prayer and Miracles

If prayers worked the Kings and Queens would live for hundreds of years, maybe more. Kings and queens have millions of people praying for them, but they get sick, get into trouble and die just like the rest of us.

People who believe in miracles assume that the universe can be changed just for them.  If we did change a physical law, the universe would blow up.  It does not work that way.

Prayers work in that when someone prays for me, I feel loved, cared for and blessed in my own way.  Prayers can change the software within people without blowing up the universe. We can feel better and think more positively.

 

Demand Proof

So much of what we are exposed to have no scientific behind it.  The mass media are in the business of making money.  If they can scare us, we are interested.  If we are interested they can influence us.

A lot of information concerning health food is not supported by evidence.

One exception if the magazine "Nutrition Action" which is based on scientific studies.  This magazine is published by the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

The Meaning of Words is Important

If words are not defined, or there is more of one definition being used at the same time, people do not communicate

Using an analogy here... what we believe in, are recorded in our brain.  What a map maker believes in is recorded on a map.

There is a big difference between a map, and what is on the ground.  Maps can be out of date, have mistakes or made to deceive.

This is a basic teaching of General Semantics.

The Two Ways of Living and Knowing

As a technical person I used to see everyone and myself as material objects experiencing life. We were atoms performing scripts. There were just jobs to do and things to finish. There was great straight in this so called purpose.

As I watch my wife die, I realized I too was going to die. At first this made me very sad, and this went on more many months. Then I watch a Pixel movie called "Soul" produced by Walt Disney studios. Souls are real. Souls are produced by a spark, by the music in our souls. If we have only a certain numbers of days to be alive, they are each precious times not be wasted in nothingness.

If we look deeply at a leaf and see how beautiful it is, it is a joy to experience. Intellectually we can marvel at the process of photosynthesis and speculative that quantum physics may be required and then wonder how the plant knew how to do this. Plants are a requirement for us to live, as we eat them and we eat that which also eats them.

Thus now I am living witnessing things as miracles. Be enhancing this witnessing with the facts revealed by the scientific process, we truly be come deeper souls.

Religion and the Word of God

It seems that most religions believe in the oldest information possible. The Bible cannot be changed as it was the word of God. Now there are different versions of the Bible, but they for the most part are competing translations of the same thing. The Bible has never had a comprehensive updating and revision. For example, the idea that slavery is acceptable appears in old versions of the Bible.

Christianity is Old and Needs to Catch Up

Christianity is based nicely on love and poorly on its unchanging beliefs.  I say poorly because there is no room allowed for any improvement. 

But improvements need to be made. The Bible needs updating and editing.  For example, the Bible has a lot of contradictions.  For example, the Old Testament says "an eye for a eye" (Lev 24:19-21), and the New Testament says "turn the other cheek" (Matthew 4:38-40).  What should you do? Allow bullies to beat you up or get even.  Either case is not a good solution.

The Bible says if you beat your slave with a rod, make sure the slave does not die or you will be punished. (Exodus 21:7-20)

If you read "Ken's Guide to the Bible" by Ken Smith or Google "atheists Bible." you can clearly see that the Bible was not always inspired by a holy God.

Pantheism

Pantheism is the doctrine that God is not a personality, but that all laws, forces, manifestations of the universe are God.  It is the belief that God and the universe are one in the same. Another definition is that pantheism is the belief in and worship of all Gods.

Consider that Christianity believes that God made the universe.  So why does it not love science.  Science is the study of God's creation.

Time and Change

Time is measured through counting periodic changes.  The tick of a clock is a change.

How do you know the absolute correct time? The answer is that best clocks keep the best time measured from the deviation in time between clocks.  The best clocks have the smallest deviation and thus have the greatest synchronicity.

A cheap clock will vary in time with another cheap clock within a short period of time.

Why Religious People Have Fixed Beliefs

Religious people who believe together find solace in there shared beliefs. To keep the faith, religions keep the nonsense.  The nonsense is taken on blind faith, that enables people to be gas lighted.  There is only one universe, so why do people disagree so much on how it works?  Religion has taught that you believe just because and you are sinful and wrong if you don't.

 

Simply being alive, means we change.  Some changes are good and some are not, but everything changes, sometimes very slowly and sometimes quickly.  Rocks and glaciers are slow to change, but people and civilization often move quickly.  What has happen during the last, say twenty years, is huge.

 

The Bible

True believers say the Bible was written by God Himself.  So the Bible must be perfect.  Any flaw would be impossible.  Yet the Bible has many flaws, ranging from God being portrayed as unleashed madman killing whole villages, to saying the slavery is normal, that rain falls from great cisterns in the sky, and sentences that carry no meaning are accepted.  The Bible is a book that has never experienced a modern edit.

Many, if not most religious people do not know the history of their beliefs.  What they believe somehow is the word of God, and all discussion stops there. Actually of course, all religion and religious books were written by people and have a history. The Bible is a compilation of many authors and superficial revisions.  Many of the Biblical stories are truly ancient, probably originating at a time before writing was invented.

The first Bible, the Old Latin Vulgate, was written in 393 AD by St. Jerome.  Later versions of the Bible were complied by different councils that collected and approved their writings.  The Council of Hippo produced the first Catholic Bible.

The first part of the Bible begins with passage which contain no science. 

Genesis 1:1 states:

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

Actually, the planets formed a very long time ago in a cloud of gas and dust. The cloud is called a solar nebula. The cloud was spinning. A clump formed in the center where it was very hot. The clump formed the sun, the star at the center of our solar system. It happened 4,600 million years ago. The rest of our solar system formed later, a little less than 4,600 million years ago.

After the sun formed, there was some gas and dust left over. It came together in smaller clumps. The cloud was still spinning, and the clumps of matter crashed into each other. They stuck together. Some of the clumps grew into planets, including Earth. Earth formed about 4,500 million years ago.

So the Bible seems to be missing the point that the light comes from the Sun.  Or is the Bible talking about the creation of consciousness, and the earth is actually the brain.  Not clear.  The light and darkness is due to the earth spinning on it axis, and this happened as the Earth formed.

Bible Makes God Evil

1 Samuel 6:19 states:

But God struck down some of the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy of them to death because they looked into the ark of the Lord. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the Lord had dealt them.

Why would God kill people for looking into the ark of the Lord?

Bible Says You Can Beat Your Salve

Exodus 21:20-21

Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result, but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property.

Feel free to browse around on this website using the Deepermind Table of Contents.  I recommend certain books which support many of my ideas.

Feel free to write me if you have questions or comments.

My email address is:

     george@deepermind.com

 

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February 14, 2023