VARIOUS VIEWS ON GOD, TIME, THE UNIVERSE, THE BIG BANG & THE UPS & DOWNS OF NOTHINGNESS

[Advisory: This page contains partisan political & anti-religious content.]

INTRODUCTION

OVERVIEW

In this series we are linking to sites & people offering various views of The Big Questions of Life. For example, theologians have found the massive black hole in the astro-physicists armor: although their (the astro-physicists) paradigms may be elegant, none of them address what, if anything, happened before The Big Bang. Not only this, but hardly any of the mainstream “non-believer” scientists can explain what the hell they’re talking about to us non-Mensa types; and if that isn’t confusing enough, hardly any of the scientists agree with one another—and it took 100+ years to verify that Einstein’s theorem E=MC₂was, in fact, correct.

Marxism and its philosophy of Historical Materialism can be included in the atheist/agnostic scientific outlook. The only real difference (in theory) is that Marxism insists that science be subordinated to the Social Revolution, and a-political science (in theory) is interested in knowledge-for-the-sake-of-knowledge—and (supposedly) for the social good.

Our “believer” scientist friends fare a little better, at least superficially. In style they are more accessible, certainly less arrogant. At least they admit that they can’t supply all the answers. Their last defense is to fall back on “faith.” Fortunately, they are too smart to rely on “spectral evidence.” They just “feel” that God exists.

We have scientists of all persuasions to thank for the threat of nuclear war—and a devil’s entire list of technological horrors that have absolutely no connection with the social good. Scientists who work for the State & the Military go with the funding flow. They don’t care if their marvelous little inventions indiscriminately harm or kill men, women & children. They say they are “a-political.” Even worse, they claim to be “patriotic.” This illusion may assuage their conscience, but does not divert from the fact that they gladly take their pay from the “Master’s of War.”

When all’s been said & done, no branch of science can explain how “something” came out of “nothing.”

Then there are our personal favorites, the Mormon-Zionist-Islamic-Christian Fundamentalists—otherwise known as the Religious Mafia. These lovelies blast any theory that extends a biological timeline beyond 4,000 Before Common Era. The more intelligent types will make a few dialectical concessions for the sake of credulity. They ALL rely on spectral evidence, a catch-all device they call “Spirit.” Spirit says such & such & so & so—so whatever comes out of their mouths or written in their books is to be taken as being Divinely Inspired—doggedly insipid is closer to the mark. The hallmark of the Religious Mafia is a political agenda based on armed force and conformity. They want temporal power & control based on prediction & prophecy.

The Cult of Moroni (Mormonism) is founded on the most whacked out theology imaginable. It’s no surprise whatsoever that it was involved in the scandal of the so-called “Salamander Letters.”

Does Spirituality Really Exist?

It’s interesting that New Age “Thought” dovetails quite neatly with the Religious Mafia obscurantism. New Age adherents may be even more anti-science than Fundamentalists & other Right-wing religious groups. Actually they are just picking up where Fundamentalism left off. You see, the Lie of Science is such an ingrained dogma of Fundamentalism, that its followers no longer even bother to publicly attack it anymore. New Age believers on the other hand are a relatively new breed of quasi-Fundamentalists & they are not quite as secure in their eclectic philosophy. Their mantra seems to be: the scientific establishment is evil & ignorant & part of a mass conspiracy to deliberately hide the Plastic, Phantastic Wonders of the New Age. What started out as a left-leaning, counter-cultural movement has coalesced into an intolerant, neo-conservative social view.

An irritating feature of New Age writers is that in their pseudo-scientific efforts they simply cite each other as de facto “experts” and “authorities” on whatever crack pot theory tickles their fancy.

Their views will also be linked to in this section.

See also,

Review: The Neanderthal Legacy

From New Age to New Gnosis

Review: Fantastic Reality

Just to wind up this little overview, here’s a few thoughts concerning Hinduism & Buddhism.

There is nothing like witnessing the unseemly spectacle of priests & monks fighting over territory. When aligned to State politics, even the seemingly passive Eastern religions are just as intolerant & conformist as the Religious Mafia of the West.

The Dalai Lama is no more “holy” than anybody else. As a matter of fact, he’s been very cranky lately, even threatening violence aimed at China. He supported all the physical aggression focused on destroying the Olympics in Beijing. You can say he was right in so doing, but he can hardly be called a “man of peace.” The spiritual organization in Tibet has been leeching off the people for centuries, keeping them in ignorance & poverty. I would challenge the monks to return all the treasures they took with them when they fled Tibet, but it probably has all been converted into cash for personal use long ago. All those riches & gold belonged to the people. Incidentally, it doesn’t belong to China either.

The picture of the Dalai Lama schmoozing with the War Criminal (picture above) is typical of the complicity Organized Religion has played in allegiance with the State in enslaving & massacring the Human Race. One is reminded of the images of priests & ministers in Nazi Germany saluting the swastika. Where has been the moral outrage of the major religions condemning the illegal invasion of Iraq? Not a whisper, not a hint of criticism. Religion is more than just the opiate of the masses: It is the Judas Goat leading them from war to war, from atrocity to atrocity.

Organized religions (including Scientology) are business schemes & should be taxed accordingly.

THE GNOSTIC PAGAN PERSPECTIVE

PARALLAL PERSPECTIVES is based on the ideas of The Gnostic Pagan Tradition, a 1960’s counter-culture collective that advocated revolutionary socialism to end the Vietnam War. The group also practiced shamanism & earth-based ritual. The original group has discontinued a public presence, but the original members were instrumental in supporting the creation of this site, now solely maintained by Jeff Farrow & Suzanne Radford. We continue to promote many of the key ideas of the founding collective—including those presented in this article.

All of the conflicting views of scientists & faith-based advocates listed in the (very general) Overview above, have one thing in common: they explicitly or tacitly take it for granted that humans are at the center of the Universe, known or unknown. This human ego-centric view is the basis for human arrogance of both the scientific & religious kind. While it’s obvious that humans are slightly more complicated than, say a fruit fly—in the total scheme of things, only humans think that they are somehow more “valid” than a fruit fly.

We identify this ego-centric with the Gnostic doctrine of the Demiurge.

Humans are the most complex members of the animal kingdom & supposedly most intelligent. Well, most curious at any rate. Curiosity created the scientific method over millennia—and eventually extended the human quest for knowledge into esoteric sounding theories probing the depths of outer space. Religion says “No, no, no” and science says “More, more, more!” Most of us are stuck here in between just wishing we could be satisfied with a simple, affirmative “Yes!”

Back to our co-inhabitant, the fruit fly.

While it’s true that the fruit fly cannot weave, spin or write a play, it can do something that’s quite grand—without the aid of any mechanical device, it can FLY. Not only this, but its range of senses & perceptions must be equally remarkable. Try to imagine how it experiences its world. A single garden must be like unto a whole universe for our miniscule friend. True, it cannot weave or write plays, but it intensely LIVES.

The shamans had respect for animals—especially for the ones they ate. They (the shamans) knew that they (the animals) were just as important as humans, even though they might be different, the shamans saw us all as equals. They knew that there was human knowledge—and knowledge only discernable to them (the animals.) So, the shamans learned how to shape-shift, that is, how to blend into their skin. They could do this with mental concentration alone—and they could do it with the use of naturally occurring plants & mind enhancing drugs.

The reality of the fruit fly is instinctual, but does that make it’s reality less valid than ours? Just because its way of experiencing existence is fantastically different from ours, does that mean that it doesn’t exist? Human beings demarcate between what is “real” and what is “false” according to the data received through the human senses. Technology has expanded the data humans transform into science, the arts, etc. Due to technology we are capable of, if not directly experiencing much of what the fly experiences, at least capable of computer imaging (image-magic) its reality.

For the sake of argument, let’s say that other beings as intelligent, even more intelligent, than humans exist in the Universe. Let’s take that idea a little further & also say that in physical form that are totally different from what we call “human.” If these Space Siblings do descend or condescend to our level, it must indicate that they have found a way of multidimensional travel. Is the human race in its present stage of development collectively able to even try to accept the philosophical, scientific & theological ramifications of such an event? What if the Space Brothers are even more aggressive & hell bent on destruction & war as we are? What if, after they conquer us, they show us definitive evidence that God is Evil?

Sure, it’s a rather terrifying speculation—but it’s a valid hypothesis. You could say this Evil God, this Demiurge, created all mundane existence just to torture & degrade its inhabitants—human & not so human. How could we face a life permeated with so much sorrow, pain & cruelty—and absurdity.. The really frightening part is—we see the validity of this position both in our personal

lives & it is definitely played out in the collective world on a daily basis.

Fundamentalists are fond of saying “God doesn’t change. The Bible is the word of God.” This arguments blithely ignores the fact that there are numerous pre-Biblical Testaments that are just as valid as the Bible—and Koran for that matter.

Finally, in our role as citizen scientists, we seek to understand the total realities of the Universe—but is there really only one Universe to explore? Is it possible, as the basic Theory of Parallel Universes suggests, that reality in some way co-exists on other planes beyond our human perception?

The images of Hinduism clearly indicate that our reality is one of many& countless realities. They show that we ourselves contain levels, layers & universes beyond our “normal” consciousness. The Gnostic Pagan Tradition called the perception of these other dimensions Unified Awareness and their existence(s) Daimonic Reality.

Try to imagine reality as a boundless ocean. Not only is the Universe we perceive just a subatomic drop of water in this mega-Universal reality, it is just one of seemingly infinitesimally “valid” perceptions of it. Universe within Universe with infinite perspectives of existence. The Big Bang is still happening on all infinite possibilities. We only see our own limited universe because that’s what we’ve been taught to believe. Existence—Life—can be the only singular possibility. There is no beginning, there is no end.

A modern Gnostic friend wrote:

We have been taught to believe that the only ultimate reality can be the darkness of non-existence when our mini-universe completes itself. In truth the only constant is Light, a Light that is sustained as the backdrop of all the external universes playing themselves out into yet another Big Bang & another Universe & Universes. Darkness is like a shadow giving finite form to infinite Light. The End of All Things is in reality the substantiation of Darkness into the only “real” reality, the Infinite Manifestation of Light.

Light is the Reality, nothingness & non-being the only impossibility.

We hope Readers find the links enjoyable or at least interesting.

Readers are also encouraged to share their personal ideas on these subjects.

A TANTRIC PRIMER/Peter Wilburg

THE BEGINNING OF THE UNIVERSE/UCG

WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE THE BIG BANG?/Bad Astronomy

ATLANTIS: A Time Before Time/Marc Washington

WHAT EXISTED BEFORE THE BIG BANG?/Scienceline

PHYSICISTS CLAIM EVIDENCE OF UNIVERSE BEFORE BIG BANG

ORIGINS OF THE UNIVERSE: Stephen Hawking’s J. Robert Oppenheimer Lecture 2007

AGE OF THE GREAT SPHINX Robert M Shooch

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Updated 12/08