From outside the box

Interesting column in the ER today by Reverend Greg Cootsona under the "religion" section. In his column the reverend is taking on the age old debate between Christians and atheists. The column itself is not really that interesting. What is interesting to me is the fact that both points of view on this age old perennial argument are missing and have always missed the point. They are both asking the wrong questions and therefore both giving the wrong answers. And yet, I believe both sides are right in the basic tenets of their argument. Atheists believe there is not "a" God, a supreme being, a singular personalized intelligence that rules over the universe. I think they are right about that. Christians believe there is intelligence and design underlying the creation of the universe. I think they are right too.

Like I said, neither side is asking the right questions. Asking impractical and ineffective questions leads to impractical and ineffective answers. I think we should begin by asking who we are. The most basic primal answer to that question is that we are consciousness. Next question....What is consciousness? I believe that this is where we start to understand our relationship to the rest of existence. As I have stated in a couple of earlier blogs about quantum physics, by delving into the world of quantum particles, the basic energies that make up all of creation, science is discovering a universal intelligence that seems to permeate everything everywhere. Now science is beginning to explore the next logical question....what is our relationship to that quantum fabric, how is our consciousness connected to universal intelligence, and how do we affect each other as well as the world around us?

This is an area that atheists and western religions have one thing in common....they both say....huh? However, this may also be the area that will eventually bring the two sides together. If science can prove the existence of universal intelligence, that may lead to the proof of the continuity of life. Maybe nothing dies, it just changes form. Maybe western religion is right in stating that there is intelligence and creative design behind the universe and that after the body dies, consciousness will survive. Maybe atheists are right in denouncing the idea of a supreme being that is separate from us, somewhere up in the sky, watching, judging, demanding worship, and dishing out punishment. Maybe science will be the unifier that will one day bring all sides together in a greater understanding of who we are and what God might really be.

It's too bad that western religion is not behind this exploration of consciousness. There are eastern philosophy's that have known for thousands of years what science is just now beginning to discover....that all things are connected and that consciousness is the common thread that connects all things. Religion and politics have always seen themselves as leaders, however, they are leaders only in power and control, not in paving the road to knowledge and higher awareness. In western culture, science and the arts have long been the leaders in opening up and expanding our understanding of....well, everything. Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Picasso, Shakespeare, Edison, Benjamin Franklin, Beethoven, Samuel Clemens, George Lucas, and the Beatles have done more towards the raising of mans consciousness than Richard Nixon, George Bush, Jimmy Swaggert, or any other politician or religious leader I can think of has done.

If we go on listening to false prophets and lost souls like the preachers, politicians, and atheists who pretend to have answers and are not yet evolved to the level of even asking the right questions, we are going to keep on this circle of ignorance, always spinning around the truth. We are on the verge of a great awakening. We are discovering that not only are we are not alone in the universe, we are indeed part of the creative force that molds the universe. We can finally begin to understand who we really are, maybe even our true purpose for being here. Maybe we are about to find that at the seat of our consciousness lies the answer to the mystery of God and creation. Maybe we will find that the God we have placed above and separate from ourselves, is closer than we thought.