Intelligence Pandemic

One half of the entire population is below average intelligence. Be patient people. Which side of the line you’re on is likely a mere toe length. These are your people—and you theirs.

“The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence”—Charles Bukowski

You are infected with the specific knowledge you are attracted to based on your surroundings and genetics. This feature of intelligence is improved by criticizing the other side of the line, which line you know not which side of it you’re on.

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https://frankjpeter.com/free-will-part-1/

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Endings That Don’t Mean Anything

After a serious consideration of so many points of view, atheism stands closely to buddhism, hinduism, and the tao, that there are no gods or God as a deity. There simply is—a complex interdependent organism we call universe—that of which, we are all pieces.

There is no god as defined by religions today, for the term god, how used as a deity is silly, really. There is only one thing and it’s an event. A big one—call it whatever you want, but abrahamic religions are at odds with common sense, reason, enlightenment, awakening, etc. And what is and what isn’t. It’s an impossible religion, stripping its members of the tools required for its objectives. Guilt is now institutionalized as a virtue. The hypnotic state is lord and waking up is forbidden. If there is god, there is nothing that is not it.

All I know is there are no things, no people, no objects. A noun is simply a figure of speech. A person is defined much more by what they do than what they are, but in fact its one thing. A thing is a unit of thought expressed in language to describe form. That same form that appears to be so tangible has little or no traditional matter as a concept, but energy. But that too, is one thing.

For purpose of description and understanding we must break the world down into some sort of units, but there is no matter, only shapes. Body and “spirit” are outdated terms. It’s all one thing.

One quite often hears people say “all things consist of matter”, but what is that? They are the specific patterns of manifested energy. Matter as such is an abstraction. Looking for a uniform matter as the principle of everything is like wanting to not eat cherries but fruit in general. But fruit is also an abstraction. Matter cannot be contrasted to separate things as something immutable to something mutable. Matter in general cannot be seen, touched or tasted. It isn’t tiny little granular building blocks of nature. What people see, touch or taste are only certain forms, registered in the neurons by language. Matter is not something that exists side by side with other things, inside them or at their basis. All existing formations are the same matter in its various properties and relations. Matter vs spirit are outdated terms. Its all one event where we calculate regularities and write them into generalities.

These forms of energy that appear so tangible by our senses (made from levels of the same energy) yet things are not what they seem. The christian ego is a fraudulent misrepresentation of reality. You are not a visitor here on probation, but you are here because you are it. You are the big bang still banging, way out on the edge of a continuous happening.

Nothing is in charge. Your freewill is a reaction to stimuli. Your choices are presented to you by dominant personalities that interpret—that the Rorschach Blot of a universe can only be their way.

So, what does it all mean? It doesn’t mean anything at all. But it’s a hell of a vacation from the voids that bookend a function of an interesting process. It’s amazing.

Randomly interesting pantry

Resigning To Faith

“Faith is consent without evidence to that which is opposed by reason“—Jean Meslier

Enduring faith—bridled to a single, vulnerable moment in the past now sustained by layers upon layers of dismissal. Rarely any reasonable explanation will change the miracle (even by the obvious) in the mind of the believer.

A trauma or high point of conviction, an anchoring bias coupled with endless persuasion until it is the only option you know in depth—no other doctrine is welcomed now, for through the automatic rebuttal feature, faith is the closure of a once opened mind. For the child of the earth that could entertain a myriad of possibilities, now has but a few ways in which to conform.

Naturoglyphs in the canyon

Knowledge will not be had by dismissing even one errant point. There is only one, contradictory free, ultimate truth in the universe. Can we follow that path without waving off a bit here and there, but turn only where the evidence leads? It cannot be done post acquiescence to religious faith—and it will take natures children to realize it before the sidetracking of beliefs settle in to the long haul of conformity.

Gaining a Deeper, Mature Faith

About a year ago Loy used the words, “maturing in faith”. Another reassuring catch phrase is, “deeper faith” or “deepening faith”, but what actually is the cognitive process of obtaining a deeper, more mature faith and why is it important to put effort to it? Why deconstruct doubt to reconstruct faith when you know it simply requires additional mental wrangling and dismissal of, or in many cases, spoliation of evidence?

Isn’t maturing in faith actually an increased commitment to self doubt after another exhaustive mental tug-o-war and rewording? Or, is it merely preserving bias longevity by simply ignoring doubt, bypassing evidence to cradle another attempt at belief into a smoother, steadier, methodical release of DHEA or relaxin? Maturing in faith is simply re-accepting your surrender, giving another try at reforming your thoughts—relax, god is testing your ability to lose an argument between your true self and your anchoring bias.

Painting on a house near me

Redoubling efforts to challenge doubt conforms one to a far more meaningful faith. One that frees your mind from the burden of original thought, for all religion creates copycats—soldiers of prepackaged t.v. dinner dogma by convincing yourself it’s actually a freewill thought. The choice is yours, but in trying to keep faith most will succeed. The reward is in the backslapping and camaraderie of thinking you get it, when you don’t.

Maturing in the gospel is simply an erroneous effort that lowers expectations of the benefit gained through faith.

Faith vs Ethics

The greatest contribution of atheism is the provision of a firm basis for ethical conduct. Atheism explains that morality is a social obligation but not a passport to heaven and salvation. The theistic belief in divine retribution sidetracked moral behavior. Believers were more prone to please the god of their imagination by prayer and ritual than to conform to rules of moral conduct“—Ramachantra Rao

This is the dividing line between worship and personal responsibility. To please god is obedience to belief, even if it’s socially divisive. One excludes, the other includes. Doesn’t really matter what religion you believe, it is that you believe anything at all.

“We have the impulse to resist evil, but through faith permission is granted to inflict it. We step beyond the believers mindset; not content for their own sake, but like a dangerous meme is spread. Not out of genuine concern, but religious mimicry”.

Philosophizing God

If believing in god is enough to imagine him into existence, then god is equally diminished by the arguments against him. The seesaw effect, back and forth, god, no god, poof, there he is, then gone again. There is no advantage to believing because of a cleverly worded argument that can be dismantled by reason. The real existence of a god would be an irrevocable surety. It is not, therefore he is not.

If god were real, no argument would be needed. Take any of the popular arguments for god and at first glance—quite clever. But, that’s about as far as it goes. A genuine treatise shoehorning the existence of god would in fact, be evident without persuasion, manipulating word games, sermonic hormones, and overcoming doubt, which doubt in itself should be a red-enough flag.

The bottom line is this; Religion has the audacity to think it can outwit nature. Accepting this natural order takes the fear out of life and negates the threats of death with endless suffering posed by religion. It also restores the esteem to man taken by religion. Atrophy and decay is a normal part of this experience and getting that little fact takes the decision to fear from our hands and tosses it out—the decisions surrounding death is made for you. Indigenous types all over the world accepted it as the natural course of things. Even in men’s ignorance or brilliance it mattered not. It just is and is nothing to fear. Understanding that keeps one from getting suckered by religious threat and seekers of power.

Accepting the fact we don’t know what happened before this life or what happens after is truly the only thing that could possibly excite an infinite being like myself, infiltrated with all encompassing consciousness in his natural state.

Things have lived and died long before the Abrahamic visions of the monarchical boss. For millions of years species have came and went long before “the fall”, just as the earliest hominids lived and died out, so will we. So what? Oh those poor souls for all those years before Jesus.

Reasoning With Resonance

Spending a lot of time and years searching for meaning, wondering, worrying, sometimes hoping life lasts and lasts, while other times wishing it was over, takes up a lot of our thought-time here in the earthly—don’t let life pass you by searching for meaning over having experience You won’t find it. You are it.

We certainly can be entertained by the search. The philosophy is quite good to hear and read, but where does it go? What good is knowing your future or understanding past, your hopes shifted here and there by a little dose of some neat words?

Tomorrow is as uncertain as the past (what we can remember of it) and was a state of mind that’s no longer me, but will be accountable for in the Christian hereafter. Maybe I’ll get Alzheimer’s and forget the wrongs I’ve done before I go to die, what then? Is there a dividing line?

We can’t see the supernatural because we are the supernatural. We are a ripple in the extension of galaxies, an antennae, a presence of convergence in the fabric of space and energy. When we meditate and perceive what seems to be another world, are merely glimpses into our past and timeless future. Like a fish seeing the water and being in awe, we too cannot perceive the baseline of our existence which is space (we are made of it) which is life itself.

We. Are. It. We are not I as we typically think of. We cannot find the meaning of our existence because we are the meaning of our existence. Through our lens the universe, us, views itself unknowing the vastness we call space, is we. It is so obvious we cannot imagine life with it or without it.

Abandon the father figure of god that is so ingrained in our western culture, for “god” is merely a co-op, a dispensary of source energy, consciousness, that very concept that eludes us is indeed the mystery. We could not know the darkness without the light, nor peace without the turmoil, heaven without the hell. We exist unable to comprehend our opposite because “I am that I am”.

We cannot imagine what life was like before we were born. Nor can we accept that death is the total end, and at that moment would be as though we never were. To posit an end means we had a beginning. We cannot envision a beginning or an end—we are incapable of it because we always have been.

Sunday Best

“the records show ordinary people being naively quite atheistic in their “interviews” with the Inquisitors of the Holy Office of the Inquisition. Apparently they had been counseled by their lying eyes…

Steve Ruis has some excellent insight today on reason and religion. If you don’t already read Steve, see his fantastic analysis on acceptable forms of reasoning HERE.

Baby Turkeys hiding poorly yesterday.

Irritating for Jesus

Being persecuted for your beliefs doesn’t make you a martyr, nor does it prove you right. It does, however, prove you irritating.

Dying for religion doesn’t make it true. It only proves is your fanaticism was stronger than your love of life.

They tell us that the truth of religion is beyond worldly reason. Do you not admit then, that these truths are not made for reasonable beings? To pretend that reason can deceive us, is to say the truth can be false, that usefulness can be injurious. Is reason anything else but the knowledge of the useful and the true?

Besides, as we have but reason and our senses (such as they are) to lead us in this life, to claim that reason is an unsafe guide and that our senses are deceivers, is to tell us that our errors are necessary, that our ignorance is invincible, and without extreme injustice, God cannot punish us for having followed the only guides which he desired to give us—Jean Messlier, Testament

Then go on to pretend intelligence is a gift from god. The same god that is immaterial but created material. The same god that is immutable and alone, where his laws do not apply because he is apart of any society. The same god that lets his most irritating effective servants die without lifting a single finger to come to their aid.

“And that’s why it was such a brilliant idea from prophet Mohammad (and from the Bible) to explicitly describe the religion as the absolute last word from God that would never get any future amendments of any kind. It was the first to say it was the last, and and it worked pretty well by taking their immunity against listening to others and learning form them to a whole new level” Haritha

By abandoning your reason and senses, you can believe anything. Depending on where you were born, of course.

My road less traveled.

Perceptions In Reality—A Walk on the Beach

Competition amongst the gods we imagine leaves an ominous gap in interpretation of existence, nature, and purpose.

Join me along the pier for a quiet mid-week stroll. See the snow-capped mountains in the distance while the gentle waves lap against the pilings. Feel the warmth of the sun washing ashore in a whispering, summery breeze, watching an orca, otter, and bottle-nose dolphin frolicking around a piece of large, weathered driftwood. One might call this a spiritual experience. I may say—god is magnificent; or, the creator certainly knew what he was doing, perhaps, pleased with his creation. We could all agree that together, we saw all those things and experienced them in an emotional, or inspirational way. Beauty is a stimulant that we all appreciate. It stimulates our senses (and hormones) while rendering thoughts of contentment. One thing we would all concede in our discussion is we saw a whale, a dolphin, an otter, and breathtaking scenery.

A discussion might follow; god is great, the master creator, followed by nature is amazing—obviously the god of love made this for us—while the scientist mind may imagine eons of selfish genes, double helixes, cataclysms, and the intricacies of diverse life that evolved from the primordial ooze over millions of centuries in different ecosystems and evolutions.

One of these ideas can be proven.

At once, without warning, the whale thrashes the otter into pieces, shaking it violently, tossing it high above the surf, then swallows it nearly whole.

The excitement stimulates the immediate ecology, and a passing salmon is chomped and swallowed without chewing by the dolphin. Reason would immediately favor the scientist. The religious could then pull-start their apologetic motors whirling about higher purposes, the ways of god are mysterious, or god knows best.

The facts suggest that differing neurologies and experiences create vastly different interpretations and perceptions of everything we view. All of us are different, and that is obvious we create our own belief. Some desire a creator (or succumb to the idea) from their training and influence, then manufacture an ideal that suits their purpose, adding personal touches to make sense of the senseless.

Each congregation has as many beliefs as there are people. Take away the churches, and the same would be true. It is you—not god that has generates purpose. I create my own—the believer inherits purpose through conformity and lives a life of pseudo-reality—by choice. And the evidence that shows how hard it is to escape your past indoctrinations.

Which Religion is The True Religion

Guessing which religion is true depends mostly on where you were born, or the one that caught you vulnerable during a crisis. If you were born to a specific faith, that is most likely the One True Church™️—makes perfect sense. With all the options available that certainly makes it a bit easier.

The three lines below represent three major world religions. The religion that represents the line in the center is yours, which initially appears conveniently as the obvious, longest center line in the group.

This is the Müller-Lyer Illusion. If you look closely the center shafts are all the same length, as illustrated below. But appearance is everything in religion. Escaping your pre-conceived (literally in many cases) religion is fighting the odds against honest reason and logic that seems at times an insurmountable challenge against the array of bias research. Heuristics can help with a cognitive hands-on approach. We can train ourselves to be less knee jerk intuitive (belief) and more discerning, or analytical, at the very least, more cautious.

Research shows intuitive people are more likely to believe in god, while reflective, or analytical thinkers are more likely to be atheist. Here is a quick test with answers to see where you fall.

If you got some wrong, no worries. A lifetime of faith can disrupt your natural tendencies (feelings) Many of us spent a lifetime overlooking the obvious acquiescing to faith—and through faith you can know hand-wave the truth of all things.

Monotheistic religions may all appear different, but in reality they all produce the equal ability to embrace contradiction through faith, playing on bias and quirks of herd psychology. It’s so obvious even an atheist can see it. Read More HERE

Polemic Arrival

As a relativity new anti-godder, turning fifty years of faith into something worthwhile has been revelationary. After escaping the indoctrinations of my youth, dismissing the false integrity of faith (the ability to compartmentalize fallacy and contradiction) produced a truth—the key to understanding the mysteries is unbelief. The ultimate of which is the ability to accept a god in yonder heavens sitting on a throne, even in a supervisory role of the universe.

Compromise has become difficult in this arena. The compromise I’m able to make is between ideologies that do not involve belief—in anything. How can one such as me, with zero belief in any form of god, come to agreement on particulars of supernatural belief when all can and has been explained quite nicely by reason, logic, or one of the sciences? I cannot.

I can’t believe in Jesus just a little bit, nor Allah or one of the Hindu gods. This is an all or nothing game where accusations unfold about my anger towards god, or having sin in my life, or I just don’t understand the scripture. I do understand it quite well. Five years ago the apologists would be backslapping with my level of understanding—now, I was never a true Christian.

So now I’m a polemic. I’m not angry at the religious, because I know the trick and the psychological hold belief and faith (which are required before knowledge) but I am keenly aware of the foibles of placing and defending a value on mere belief. Belief is by its very nature supposed to be a transitional state that is supplanted by reality, not an end-game achievement. Guaranteeing the ultimate reward of eternal life by believing has shown people will believe anything attached to a prize after death. The list of incredibly duped cults is proof we are easily fooled. I believe passionately in nothing. Where is the compromise going to take place debating ambidextrous doctrines of imagination?

Photo by Arkenaten 2018

Building Objective Morality

People can be reasoned out of a position they weren’t reasoned in to—Sam Harris

It has been said that those who don’t learn history are doomed to repeat it. Research actually shows that those who do focus on history, are as just likely to repeat it too. Clinging to the past is certainly not helping mold a better future, but only stirs reenactment of an ingrained way of life. Improvement will demand boldness and belief that there is a better way…an easier way. “There’s no easy way out” is the slogan of fools. Occam would surely agree.

What if I told you it was entirely possible to form a universal morality based on reason? One that would trump any religious book or dogma, one that would take into consideration each individuals personal happiness and the right to fulfill the measure of their existence and have their own particular brand of joy? Would it be possible to draft one basic moral guideline that would benefit all life equally, leaving the freedom to act on their own concepts of happiness?

Individual well being of our own design has to be the benchmark of human contentment—Jim

There are hurdles, traditions to overcome—cultural norms. These are deeply ingrained traditions based on the purported “rights” to choose at the expense of another being.

Traditional behaviors are ones of great un-reasons. Religious and cultural traditions both, are behaviors and positions few were reasoned into, therefore can be reasoned out of. Billions born into faith and traditions, not of their choosing, can accept reason as opportunity to just consider there might be a better way.

Medical students are sworn to Primum non nocere, or first, do no harm. How much more encompassing and thorough can we be? The first step to understanding a better way is to realize that old ways can be done away—by reason. We can do better than an evolved, archaic morality based on a violent time. We can live better, more fulfilled, and less contentious if we are kind to all creatures. That is the starting line of reason, not by way of religion or governments, but through science, reason, and tolerance—through us.

No god belief has ever come close to stopping the classes of the world. Continuous epic failures after another, splitting hairs of moral superiority through faith and a scripture riddled with morally divisive contradiction is a conundrum, an excuse to justify cruelty, even to the most helpless of all creatures and exclusion based on individuality. Many talk of ushering in the kingdom of god where the lion will lay with the lamb, then proceed as though it is never going to happen. It can through science, and so can contentment—through truth and simplicity. Do no harm.

“Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” is a charge to Christians to act now, not as some end-game trophy. Start behaving like that matters.

“Those who will not reason, are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves”

–Lord Byron