BIBLE NON-SENSE

THE BIBLE WAS NOT ALWAYS AS IT IS NOW, SO WHICH VERSION IS THE PERFECT WORD OF GOD? AND IF THE BIBLE WAS PERFECT, WHY DID IT NEED A ‘NEW TESTAMENT/NEW VERSION?’

The Old Testament is a book based on a body of oral and written traditions from many Israelite tribes, collected together about 300 yrs after Yeshua, and even then it didn’t contain the same scriptures it does now. There are over 100 ‘books’ which were used by the early church/synagogue which are not available in the present Holy Bible. The Bible has been re-translated and re-edited by the church several times, and they ‘corrected’ many jots and tittles in it (for instance, removing the name of God). It is worth noting that the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, Muslims, Jews and protestant churches are all using different versions of the Bible, and each group believes theirs is the true Word Of God.

THE DIVINITY OF YESHUA

Originally, Yeshua wasn’t considered Divine, even by the Catholic church. In fact, the church had to argue about it for quite a while before they decided on his status, and a full consensus was never reached. Those who called for Divinity won, so we never hear about the others.


MAN WAS GIVEN THE TASK OF NAMING THE ANIMALS AND CARING FOR THE GARDEN, AND GIVEN DOMINION OVER THE EARTH

Which of us can say we’ve been a good servant in caring for this garden? Why isn’t the church MASSIVELY concerned about this? I've never even heard a sermon on the subject.

THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL

“And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.” (Joshua 10:13) When people didn’t know any better, this passage was merely miraculous. Now it seems merely ridiculous. Did the earth stop turning to provide this ‘extra’ day? If so, everything would have flown off into space, wouldn’t it? Or I guess the sun could have considerably have altered its orbit, probably destroying Mercury and Venus in the process, certainly leaving a trail of destruction...

THE TEN PLAGUES (Ex 5-11)

Archaeologists have been searching the Sinai dessert for centuries and have yet to find any evidence that a rather large group spent 40 years camping there. But I understand the religious want that to be covered under “mysteries.” Yet even evoking ‘mystery,’ the story itself doesn’t hold together anyway…

So God has decided that the Jews should be released from their Egyptian slavers. He picks Moses to carry this message to the pharaoh, and gives him a few magic tricks to back up the request. However, at this point, God decides to “harden Pharaoh’s heart,” so that he will refuse to release the Jews. How about the idea of softening his heart and forgetting about the magic tricks? But no, the story goes on to tell us there are plagues sent to change his mind (still never resorting to unhardening his heart). Among the plagues is the fifth plague, an epidemic among the Egyptian livestock (horses, camels, sheep, etc.). This epidemic doesn’t bother the Israelites’ CATTLE (they were very rich slaves, apparently). And yet after the last plague, as Moses leads his people out of Egypt, Pharaoh pursues him with thousands of chariots. Apparently pulled entirely by dead horses. And when engulfed in the Red Sea, the dead horses apparently die again. I’m not making this stuff up. Read it in Exodus for yourself.

Elijah, who is “righteous,” condemns 42 children to grisly death for making fun of his baldness. Sounds like a right cranky old bastard to me. And in denial, besides.

END TIMES

Every generation since the idea of an apocalypse was first thought of has sincerely believed itself to be the “last generation.” History is replete with examples of people who’ve predicted the end of the world or the arrival of aliens, and these all have one thing in common; uh…nothing happened. Anyone who asks me to sell everything and meet them on any kind of “landing field” is going to face some pretty serious questions. World is ending! Oops, still here. What’s to discuss?

ANGELS

I seem to have gotten a little off-point with these last few posts, so to return to the main subject....

The Seattle Times, June 2008, mentions the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life Survey, which states: 68% (7 out of 10) of Americans believe that Angels are active in the world. So what exactly ARE angels?

ANGELS WERE COMMANDED TO BOW BEFORE MAN

According to folk wisdom and apocrapha, there were two falls from Grace; one due entirely to the fact that some of the angels would not bow to man as they were commanded to do. Bowing offers the neck; in ancient times, this was a symbol of complete power of the bowee over the bower. Even though some of the angels rebelled against this, some didn’t. They should be ours to command. Yet they won’t return my calls.

-When the angels were “cast down from the heavens,” was that “cast down to Earth?” Because they’re often said to “Descend from the Heavens…” Are they still here now? They’re immortal, right?

ANGELS ARE NOT BEINGS OF ‘SPIRIT’

The Mormons view angels as the messengers of God. They believe that angels are former human beings or the spirits of human beings yet to be born. Islam also believes they are messengers of God. They have no free will, and can only do that which God orders them to do. Angels can take on different forms. Prophet Muhammad, the last Prophet of Islam, speaking of the magnitude of Angel Gabriel has said that his wings spanned from the Eastern to the Western horizon. At the same time, it is well known in Islamic tradition that angels used to take on human form.

In Zoroastrianism there are different angel-like figures. For example, each person has a guardian angel. They patronize human beings and other creatures, and also manifest God’s energy. The Amesha Spentas have often been regarded as angels, although they don't convey messages, but are rather emanations of Ahura Mazda (God).

Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, referred to angels as people who through the love of God have consumed all human limitations and have been endowed with spiritual attributes.

`Abdu'l-Bahá defined angels as "those holy souls who have severed attachment to the earthly world, who are free from the fetters of self and passion and who have attached their hearts to the divine realm and the merciful kingdom."

It is asserted by Theosophists that all of the above mentioned beings possess etheric bodies that are composed of etheric matter, a type of matter finer and more pure that is composed of smaller particles than ordinary physical plane matter.

Early Christians took over Jewish ideas of angels, shifting between the angel as a messenger of God and a manifestation of God himself. Later came identification of individual angelic messengers. Then, in the space of little more than two centuries (from the third to the fifth) the image of angels took on definite characteristics both in theology and in art In traditional Christianity angels are regarded as asexual and not belonging to either gender.

The earliest known representation of angels with wings is on what is called the Prince's Sarcophagus, discovered at Sarigüzel, near Istanbul, in the 1930s, and attributed to the time of Theodosius I (379-395 CE). Four- and six-winged angels, often with only their face and wings showing, drawn from the higher grades of angels, especially cherubim and seraphim, are derived from Persian art, not from the Bible.

Angels were able to have sex with mortal women, so they’re not androgynous. They fell in love with the ‘daughters of Man,’ married them, and shared ‘secrets’ with them (makeup and jewelry, healing and metallurgy). This doesn’t indicate that they are non-physical! When invited to eat and drink, they do so. When threatened by a mob, they have no magical means of escape. When appearing to mortals, they usually just walk up like anyone else. When their business is concluded, they walk away; they don’t disappear into a mist or anything. There is no mention of wings, haloes, beautiful music, beautiful smells, or unnatural light in association with angels.

While traveling through the desert, Jacob wrestles an angel all night, apparently thinking he is wrestling a man. That’s a pretty intimate form of contact; had there been anything insubstantial about this angel, surely Jacob would have noticed it.

The Pew Poll didn't specify which kind of angels people believe in, but I have a feeling it's not the physical kind.

AMERICAN DREAMS II

HEALTH CARE REFORM

Before I present statistics and survey results, I want to pause to point out that all polls and surveys are not alike. They’re not taken at the same time, they don’t all ask the same kinds of questions, and they don’t all report their findings in the same format. Still, I think these results bear looking at in light of President O’Bama’s succinct summary of Health Care Reform as “we will help people pay for their insurance.” Unless his help is a 100% subsidy, here are some of those whom it will NOT help:

(There are between 46 million and 86 million uninsured in America, depending on whom you ask.)

The numbers below, my friend, are in MILLIONS
(37,000,000 Live below the poverty line)
12,000,000 Illegal immigrants (or 20,000,000 according to other poles)
7,000,000 Work for minimum wage
15,000,000 Unemployed
9,000,000 In long-term care
31,000,000 Are single parents
34,000,000 Are homeless
----------------
108,000,000 for whom “help” will not be enough

Even if we remove 25% from this (my standard incompetency rate), it leaves almost ONE THIRD of the population who will still be without health care other than emergency services (assuming that those continue). All happening in your town. Work out a way to provide health care to these, or face them across the cantaloupe. Ironically, these are the Americans least likely to vote, revolt, or be published.

But before you say to yourself, “Let them die, then,” remember that the only way polio, smallpox, cholera, and tuberculosis were wiped out in the U.S. was by vaccinating EVERYONE. When vaccines stop, it’s likely these will return with vigor.

Between the 51,000,000 on Medicare or State or Federal Disability and the 2,000,000 in prison, 53,000,000 are already 99% subsidized by the government.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

Before I leave this subject, a note to immigrant-hopefuls; The American Dream is not as easy to get as to just work very hard. Yes, there is plenty of food here, but it is, in most cases, not free. That whole one man/one vote myth has been busted. We don’t have enough jobs for our own selves, and there are beautiful homes here, but almost half of Americans can’t afford a nice home. To get citizenship isn’t easy, especially if you can’t read, speak and write English. You may be resented for your heritage/religion/color/values and ability (or inability) to drive. And once you are here, your family becomes just as vulnerable to our crime, divorce rate, and incidence of run-aways as ours are. The pioneer days are gone; your children will want iPods. And if someone offers you a ‘credit’ deal, where you get something now and pay for it later, you might as well know the deck is stacked such that you can never pay it all back. It IS still possible to start poor and get somewhere, but remember that 5% of the people control 95% of the wealth. The other 95% of us are fighting, killing, dying to get that last 5%. And we’re not as lazy or as stupid as you may have heard. You will have to fight hard to make it here, and at the cost of your cultural heritage. Wouldn’t it be easier to improve things where you already are?

I’d like to be clear that I have nothing against immigrants, and in fact respect all races and cultures. And if you get here, we will try to help you. Help just may not be as satisfying as the comfort of your own friends, family, community, culture, language, and home lands.

AMERICAN DREAMS

THE UNITED STATES IS NOT A CHRISTIAN NATION

Being an American, I was brought up to think of the United States as a “Christian” nation. But the country was founded, in fact, by a mixture of people from many countries, some Christian, some agnostic, some atheists, many with very different views and interpretations of the Word Of God (if any). They gathered here, and agreed specifically on one thing only: that the government should emphatically NOT have any say in religious matters, nor should religion have any say in government matters. Yes, an atheist has the right to run for office. And no, one has never needed to be a Christian to be a citizen, or even to be president. Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States and one of its Founding Fathers, said in 1810:

“... [A] short time elapsed after the death of the great reformer of the Jewish religion, before his principles were departed from by those who professed to be his special servants, and perverted into an engine for enslaving mankind, and aggrandising their oppressors in Church and State; that the purest system of morals ever before preached to man, has been adulterated and sophisticated by artificial constructions, into a mere contrivance to filch wealth and power to themselves; that rational men not being able to swallow their impious heresies, in order to force them down their throats, they raise the hue and cry of infidelity, while themselves are the greatest obstacles to the advancement of the real doctrines of Jesus, and do in fact constitute the real Anti-Christ.”

Thomas Paine, another of the Founding Fathers, said, in “The Age of Reason”:

“Christian theory is little else than the idolatry of the ancient Mythologists, accommodated to the purposes of power and revenue; and it yet remains to reason and philosophy to abolish the amphibious fraud.

“Each of those churches show certain books, which they call revelation, or the word of God. The Jews say, that their word of God was given by God to Moses, face to face; the Christians say, that their word of God came by divine inspiration: and the Turks say, that their word of God (the Koran) was brought by an angel from Heaven. Each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and for my own part, I disbelieve them all.

“No one will deny or dispute the power of the Almighty to make such a communication, if he pleases. But admitting, for the sake of a case, that something has been revealed to a certain person, and not revealed to any other person, it is revelation to that person only. When he tells it to a second person, a second to a third, a third to a fourth, and so on, it ceases to be a revelation to all those persons. It is revelation to the first person only, and hearsay to every other, and consequently they are not obliged to believe it.

“It is a contradiction in terms and ideas, to call anything a revelation that comes to us at second-hand, either verbally or in writing. Revelation is necessarily limited to the first communication — after this, it is only an account of something which that person says was a revelation made to him; and though he may find himself obliged to believe it, it cannot be incumbent on me to believe it in the same manner; for it was not a revelation made to me, and I have only his word for it that it was made to him.”

George Washington, first U.S. President, said:

“The blessed Religion revealed in the word of God will remain an eternal and awful monument to prove that the best Institutions may be abused by human depravity; and that they may even, in some instances, be made subservient to the vilest of purposes.”

And for Benjamin Franklin fans:

“Here is my creed. I believe in one God, Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by His providence. That He ought to be worshipped. That the most acceptable service we render Him is doing good to His other children. That the soul of man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this. These I take to be the fundamental principles of all sound religion, and I regard them as you do in whatever sect I meet with them.

“As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the system of Morals and his Religion, as he left them to us, the best the World ever saw or is likely to see; but I apprehend it has received various corrupt changes, and I have, with most of the present Dissenters in England, some doubts as to his divinity…”

AMERICANS TODAY (Population 305 Million) According to Pew Poll :

76% CHRISTIAN
Evalngelical Protestant 26.3%
Mormon 1.7%
Orthodox .6%
Protestant 18.1%
Catholic 23.9%
Jehovah’s Witness .7%
Other .3%
4% NON-CHRISTIAN
Jewish 1.7%
Muslim .6%
Buddhist .7%
Hindu .4%
Other 1.5%
(According to “Covenant of the Goddess,” 1 million Americans are pagan .3%)
15% NO BELIEF

Christians might want to look a little more closely, as not all Christians are alike. Evangelicals top out the scale at only 26.3%.

So I hope that’s cleared it up, then.

THE ETHICS OF OUR TIME VIII

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Right at this moment, there are efforts under way to create computers with Artificial Intelligence; face-recognition, voice-recognition, expressive interfaces. The thing that’s a bit disturbing about this is that we don’t even know what “mind” is, and we’re trying to re-create it. Doesn’t that seem just the tiniest bit unwise? I hear computers learn better when they get some rest every day. Am I the only one who finds that a little scary?

I don’t know much about how computers work, but I do have a good idea how we do. Humans have a strong tendency to anthropomorphize already. Our computers become our treasured friends or malevolent enemies dependent on how well they work (which is usually the operator’s fault anyway). Now what happens if our computers become capable of returning our affections and frustrations? Will they kill themselves if you can’t work them? I mean, I assume they have access to their own hard drives…or whatever drives are in use at the time. Will it, like Data, feel bad if it can’t get “the joke?” Will it be okay to leave them alone for a few days while we go to the beach? How will we feel when we need an upgrade? Like we’re loosing a pet? Shouldn’t we be thinking about what we’re creating?

Our record, even in highly-intelligent humans, isn’t that good; they’re sometimes defective in unforeseeable ways. The genius composer can be a social idiot. Not to mention physicists (just kidding, they generally don’t compose).

Programming will become as complex as DNA. We’ll probably need a whole diagnostic lab just to check code. At what point will it make sense to have computers take over making computers, and how will they evolve after that? Thank goodness for Asimov’s three laws – what were they, again? Interesting times.

But the biggest question is, does experiencing emotions equal life? If something is afraid to die, is it murder to kill it? Vegetarians of conscience, I ask you especially, when will a machine become considered alive?

Most horrifying of all is that “tipping point” often portrayed in science fiction, where people begin to elect to have themselves replaced with electronic simulations, whether physical or virtual. I really hope that’s one we don’t have to worry about for now, but who knows? Again, we need to think about where we’re headed.

THE ETHICS OF OUR TIME VII

STATISTICS, COINCIDENCE, PREDICTIVE MODELLING

Statistics may seem straightforward. It’s just math, right? Well, yes, but…

For example, the number of births today is a statistic. Using this number, planners can take appropriate action in regard to future schooling resources. But statistics can also be deceptive; to say a certain number of people believe in UFOs may be very misleading. First of all, what, exactly, was the question these people answered? “Do you believe there is such a thing as an Unidentified Flying Object?” is quite different from “Do you believe alien spaceships are visiting Earth?” Depending on exactly how the question was phrased, this statistic could lead one to believe that a lot more people believe in aliens visiting our planet than actually do so. When you hear that a certain number of people do something or believe something (a much different case than just counting births), you should lend it no credence until you get to see the survey questions and responses for yourself.

On the other hand, statistics can clarify just how “magical” a coincidence is or is not. The Birthday Paradox (a mathematically-proven principle) states that in any random gathering of just 23 people, there is a fifty-fifty chance that at least two people have the same birthday. So if you’re sitting next to someone and find out you share a birthday, this is not a “magical” coincidence. It’s just an example of probabilities. When you speak to someone at an airport, and it turns out you have an acquaintance in common, this is not as unexpected as one might think. You both live or know people in both the city you’re in and the city where you’re headed. You are of a close enough social match to be speaking to each other. How many acquaintances do you have? How many do they have? It’s not as outlandish as it might first appear that you should have an acquaintance in common. When something seems like an amazing coincidence, it’s usually not as amazing as it might seem.

CONSPIRACY THEORIES

First, please accept the my proposition that all work is only 75% successful. That is, that there’s a 25% incompetence rate. It’s only a theory, and you can modify it upwards or downwards if you wish, but the fact is that incompetency and indifference exist, in every undertaking.

The idea that there is a network of superspies, supercomputers and superhuman agencies directing things is, to say the least, a little paranoid. The Occam’s Razor principle is a good one for this issue: “entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily.” In other words, the simplest explanation is usually the most likely. How likely is it, for example, that a hobo in a tinfoil hat is being tracked and even having his thoughts influenced by the CIA? Just keeping track of him would require:

To cover 21, 8-hour shifts (in one week) would require at least four full-time people (since each will only work 5 shifts per week), plus another person to cover sick-days, personal-leave, and vacation time. If each is paid $35,000 a year, the budget thus far is $175,000 per year. Now add in the cost of health insurance, office space, communications equipment, computers and office machines, and supplies like paperclips and toilet paper, and vans full of spy equipment. Add a manager to be in charge of the people and an administrative assistant to be in charge of everything else. Let’s say the admin person is only paid $30,000, but the manager makes $50,000. In wages alone we’ve already exceeded a quarter of a million dollars per year. Depending on the location of the office and the level of technology involved, the cost to track one hobo would be at least half a million dollars per year, and could be as much as 10 million. What does this hobo know that could possibly be worth this expense? And if you factor in the idea that not everyone does their job well at all times, how much of the time would they really be paying attention, anyway?

I tend to discount conspiracy theories simply because it seems so unlikely that very rich and powerful men are secretly working in concert, never betraying one another, never revealing their secrets to anyone, ever, without any disagreement, toward some vague goal of making themselves even richer and more powerful. Given the general disagreeableness and incompetence of people in general and rich, powerful people in particular, it just seems unlikely. I think it’s more likely your check got lost in the mail than that someone stole it, yet left all your other mail untouched (as though they had x-ray vision). And (with apologies to all hobos everywhere) I don't think the hobo knows anything the rest of us want to know badly enough to spend a dollar on it.

THE ETHICS OF OUR TIME VI

GENETICALLY-MODIFIED CROPS (YOU’RE SOAKING IN THEM NOW)

Man has been successfully breeding crops since before the Middle Ages. Lately we’ve been able to modify them more aggressively, by using a virus to carry altered genetic instructions directly into a plant’s genome. When successful, these new traits breed true, and if they’re particularly successful they may replace naturally-evolved crops. This has been going on since 1980, and GM foods have been in the markets since 1990. In the produce section of the store, fruits and vegetables grown through GM techniques are labeled with a sticker containing a five-digit number beginning with ‘8’. However, no such labeling is required on foods which have GM products included in them. For example, if a package of corn chips have used GM corn, no disclosure is required.

There is a difference between GM crops and Irradiated (or Radiated) foods. Irradiated foods have simply been passed near a source of radiation in order to kill the bacteria which causes it to spoil. No radiation remains in the food. If it did, that would be contamination. Contaminated foods are not knowingly sold.

It would appear that American consumers have been unknowingly eating GM products for the last two decades. The alarming thing about it is that very few studies have been done to determine what effects eating GM foods might have on humans. There is some evidence that the altered genes can make changes in our bodies (picture those genetic modifications continuing after their source is eaten). There’s also been very little investigation into how breeding (for instance,) bug-resistant crops might affect the ecology. Doesn’t it seem like this is something the FDA might have looked into before these foods were placed on our shelves?

It could be that GM crops come with their own failsafe. We don’t want insects in our food, and we don’t want them eating food we could be eating instead. But if we make crops that resist them so well that the insects starve to death (or are killed by eating them), the ecosystem may break down to the point where the crops themselves fail.


GLOBAL WARMING

Are we all finally in agreement that the earth is getting warmer? Now that Santa’s North Pole home is experiencing tides and an infestation of underwater life? The Earth herself is a system that is so complex and co-dependent that no one can make accurate predictions at this time. Still, it’s looking like way past time we deal with this cooperatively. That means Green technologies NOW. It means action from EVERYONE, immediately.

THE ETHICS OF OUR TIME V

GENETICS
CHANGING THE HUMAN GENOME

Is it good or right to tweak the genomes of living things? Actually we’ve been tweaking the genome since the first man chose the prettiest girl with whom to mate. One of the reasons humans have come to dominate the bio-system is because we figured out how to ‘breed’ plants and animals to be more like we want them to be. If it isn’t wrong to put males and females (who may not be interested in each other in that way) together in order to gain descendents that have more meat, are more docile, are more trainable, are better-looking (to us), why is it wrong to do it not in the barnyard but in the lab? And don’t kid yourselves, humans have been bred exactly the same way. By un-natural selection.

Actually, the idea that scientists can change a child’s genome in a predictable way is still pure science fiction. The Genome Project has only just given us our first complete picture of human genetic structure. We don’t know yet (as of the time of this writing, anyway) which genes caused you to have your eye color, type of hair, genetic disease, or a happy disposition. But we’re figuring it out. The controversy on this topic isn’t about what science CAN do, it’s about which science MIGHT be able to do someday. IF we figure out which genes cause inherited diseases, we still may not know what else may be affected if we change them. For instance, maybe science could engineer a perfectly disease-free man by tweaking his genes around – but maybe he wouldn’t be able to reproduce. It’s as if we finally have the alphabet, but haven’t yet written a single word, much less a best-seller. That doesn’t mean these issues aren’t going to come up – they are.

CLONING, STEM CELLS AND ABORTION

Cloning (especially of humans) is touchy subject. Many people don’t seem to understand that if you were to clone a human being, all you would get is the GENE SET OF THE BABY. Exactly what he or she was born with. You could theoretically get a baby Einstein (if his DNA’s available), but his environment and experiences would make him a completely different – new – person. He might look somewhat like the Einstein we knew, but he would have had a completely different life. Perhaps he’d become a rock star obsessed with body-piercings. Or he might not be born at all, because right now cloning has an unacceptable failure rate, not only in the cloning process itself, but in the disabilities it can unintentionally cause. But cloning may get better, as most technologies do, and the issue itself probably won’t go away.

Cloning for the purpose of growing new organs takes us into the area of controversial Stem Cell technology. There are some cells in each of us that are ‘undifferentiated,’ that is, they haven’t made up their minds what to be yet. By removing some of these cells from you, and implanting them in a human egg which has had it’s own DNA removed, and waiting for it to grow (exactly as the first few cells of a new human would grow), it’s theoretically possible that enough cells could be grown to make the organ you are in need of. The organ grown this way wouldn’t be rejected as ‘foreign’ by your body. People needing organ transplants might be able to get them without waiting for someone who is compatible to donate them. The controversy is partly due to the fact that it isn’t even known yet if this can be done successfully, and partly from the fact that once this human "egg" is growing it has the potential to grow into a human being. Perhaps you can see where this is headed. By causing the cells to turn into a heart or a kidney, have we aborted a human life? Of course, it wouldn’t be a ‘natural’ human, having only one set of DNA. It would, in fact, if allowed to develop, be a clone. Again, we’re not there yet, but this issue is another one that won’t go away.

What about the idea of cloning meat? What if we could get all the prime beef we want and no cow had to die? Would this satisfy the vegetarians of conscience? Will we refuse to eat it because it’s ‘unnatural?’ We need to think about where we heading.

I’ve noticed that doctors who perform legal abortions are often attacked, even killed, by religious people but religious people are hardly ever killed by doctors. Abortion is another issue that’s been around at least as long as prostitution, but in our time has become a controversy. Since ancient times, a woman who was raped, too poor to support any more children, was impregnated through prostitution, or was simply unmarried has been not only permitted but helped along to abort the unwanted pregnancy. The methods weren’t always successful (crocodile dung suppositories were popular in Egypt), and often lead to the mother’s death. When medical technology made it possible to abort the unwanted child without harm to the mother, we passed legislation that such an abortion could only be performed if to carry the child to term would endanger the woman’s life. Unfortunately, some have chosen to use it in place of birth control. In some places, legislation allows abortion simply because the mother would be inconvenienced. This is not the fault of the doctors. It’s the fault of the man and woman who conspired in impregnation through negligence, then refused to accept responsibility for it. The powerful urge to mate is part of our human make-up. It’s easier to use birth control than to get people to stop. However, even if we grant that they should have been more careful, now that the deed is done, if she thinks pregnancy is inconvenient, what’s she going to think of 2am feedings, diapers, the cost of schooling, and all the other tasks of parenthood? I wouldn’t want to be that woman’s child. And I’m not willing to take her child into my home to be raised as my own. How can you (and why would you) legislate that a woman must raise a child when she has neither the means nor the desire to do so?

Now that we have a ‘morning after’ pill that can stop a pregnancy if there’s been an ‘accident,’ this becomes simply an issue of education. But interestingly, the Christian church is still offended due to their belief that ‘all life is sacred.’ But if all life is sacred, how can they defend bombing clinics? This idea of ‘sacredness’ doesn’t seem to extend to actual living beings which might be contained in or located near such clinics.

It has been common practice in many cultures in human history to carry a child to term, and if it doesn’t meet the parents’ requirements (for example, if it isn’t perfect, or isn’t a boy), it was simply carried to the nearest wilderness and left to die. Before we had laws about such things, if we knew of someone who wanted a child, and we had an extra, we’d just hand them over.

The reason we originally celebrated a ‘birthday,’ also called a ‘naming-day’ was because children were so likely to die in infancy that we didn’t bother naming them until they’d reached a year or two of age. This idea that a child’s life is sacred (especially unborn children) is new to our species. This is why it’s not covered in our religious ‘codes.’ There’s nothing against abortion in the Bible.

THE ETHICS OF OUR TIME IV

PLEASE DON’T FEED THE.. http://www.woostercollective.com/humansa.jpg

BEING TESTED BEYOND ONE’S ABILITY TO ENDURE

There’s no doubt that some people can endure some amazing things. But ultimately we’re only flesh and blood, and we do break. Not all of us can endure amazing hardships all the time. That’s where Death comes in. But there are some things worse than death.

MENTAL ILLNESS

The adage “You will not be tested beyond your ability to endure” is often quoted by the religious out of context. The passage is: “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)

This passage doesn’t say we won’t be tested beyond our ability to endure, it says we won’t be TEMPTED beyond what we can bear. This life has other tests besides the temptation to break the ten commandments. There are some trials the human mind cannot bear, and it breaks. Mental illness is often caused by cruel trauma or extreme tragedy the mind simply can’t cope with. Perhaps the religious would feel a break with sanity is “a way out,” but to be institutionalized or otherwise imprisoned and/or to be unable to care for one’s own basic needs does not seem a very graceful “way out.”

It is worth noting that the mentally-ill may believe that God speaks to them. It is also worth noting that many of the religious claim that God speaks to them, too.

SUICIDE

It is often said of suicides that they should have had more consideration for their friends and families. But the fact that they committed suicide is a very clear message that they felt their friends and families could not or would not help them. When someone commits suicide because death is a better alternative than living, maybe we should ask ourselves what we did to make them think they couldn’t turn to us for help. How did they come to feel to so desperately alone, so completely without hope of any future happiness? To them, it seemed perfectly justified. This doesn’t happen when people feel loved – whether or not you loved them may be irrelevant to whether or not they felt loved. So “Shower the people you love with love” while ye may.

EUTHANASIA

When someone has died after a long illness, it’s common to hear the phrase, “At least the suffering is over,” and as trite as it may sound, that’s saying a lot! When someone we love is reduced by illness or injury to a state of non-awareness, or to a state of perpetual pain and suffering, how can we justify using extraordinary medical means to keep them alive? What is our justification for prolonging their suffering? If one is unconscious, you may think they experience something like dreaming, and wouldn’t that be nice, but what if it’s a nightmare? How long would you want that to go on? Is our own lack of personal courage worth more than their peace and dignity? Euthanasia is another of those ancient pastimes (like prostitution and abortion) which have always taken place, but are simply not spoken of. If one of my loved ones comes to be in this position, I hope I will have the personal courage to let them go, and vice versa.

WHAT IS SO GREAT ABOUT ENDURING?

We all must end. How much we suffer will not change this outcome. How long we suffer will not change it. How noble we are in the face of it will not it. Nothing we can do will change this outcome. Since there is no clear proof of what happens after death, it would be wrong to justify prolonging life in hope of some future, unknowable, possibly non-existent reward? This person is suffering NOW. In Biblical times it was probably rare for people to linger on in illness for very long (due to secondary infection if nothing else), and this topic simply didn't come up. "Thou Shall Not Kill" has nothing to do with this subject, and was never even dreamt of in Biblical philosophy.

THE ETHICS OF OUR TIME III

EVOLUTION, THEORY OF

This is one of those cases where science has really dropped the ball. To the layman, “Theory” equates directly with “Idea.” So the “Idea of Evolution” doesn’t seem to merit very serious consideration. But actually, it’s not an idea; it’s proven. Do you think that if Darwin had only been publishing an idea, it would have taken the world by storm? Even in his time, there was proof. So science could start by cleaning up its language; a word doesn’t mean what it says in the dictionary, it means what people think it means. If you’re talking to the non-scientist, they’re not generally that interested in your “ideas.”

Another flaw in the science; the parents, grandparents and preachers of every stripe who are arguing against you probably did not learn evolution in school. Any good layman’s book on evolution will get across the idea that it’s almost impossible for humans to grasp the times involved in the process of evolution, or what sort of “random chance” could possibly have resulted in human beings. The flaw is, you need to educate the adults before you’ll be allowed to educate the children.

I recommend that anyone who wasn’t taught evolution in school try to read a book on it – or pressure one of these “science” channels to do a really good expose. Sir Richard Dawkins (though he is openly atheist) has a gift for explaining things of a scientific nature so that anyone can understand them, and his many books do a good job. Before you continue arguing against it, you should find out exactly what evolution is.

THE ETHICS OF OUR TIME II

FAITH HEALING

Let’s put “Faith Healing” into two categories; 1) Those that take place in front of a crowd of strangers, and 2) Those which are private.

1) Those that take place in front of a crowd of strangers. Surely it’s understandable that when a ‘healer’ is holding a big service everyone expects there to be a healing. Surely it’s not too far a stretch for the ‘healer’ to be certain there will be a healing which everyone will see; after all, the revenue to pay for his chosen arena, retinue and lifestyle will be generated in direct proportion to how many successful healings there are seen to be. We shouldn’t be surprised when we find out that at least some of these healings have been faked.

2) Those which are private. Some level of belief, either in one’s doctor, one’s medicine, one’s god, or a certain location can have a profound healing effect. This is the stuff stage healers wish they could get on a regular basis; cancerous tumors disappearing, bodily systems regenerating, diseases disappearing, all kinds of miraculous stuff. But in these cases it isn’t the intervention of a healer that worked, it was, as a famous teacher once said, “Your faith [that] has healed you.” This is commonly called The Placebo Effect by scientists. The fact that the word “placebo” is contained in it is in no way meant to imply that the effect isn’t real. It has generated some bad feelings, possibly because we think we’ve been cheated of real medicine. But as long as it worked, why should it matter? It’s been shown that if people don’t believe in their doctor or other healing agent, even the real medicine can fail to do its intended job.

No rights in videos, no profit being made:





You meet a man who says he always tells the truth. He lies. What is there to discuss? He takes the pittance of the widow and spends it on luxury. Any questions?

THE ETHICS OF OUR TIME

Ethics are the reason behind the law. Ancient laws were made in support of ancient ethics, and we still keep many of them around. But although mankind hasn’t changed in many ways, there have been many, many changes to our world. It used to be taken for granted that one would earn a living as one’s father did. Can you imagine? It was taken for granted that one would marry. It was taken for granted one would marry someone in your shared race, religion and culture. It was taken for granted that you would produce offspring and they would do exactly the same. These things are no longer supportable. In addressing the ethics of our time, we must consult together to determine what is best for us all. And these are issues that WILL be solved, either by reasoning cooperation or by our silence. How will our present sciences and religions help us know what to do? Today, New Age Spiritualism:

NEW AGE SPIRITUALISM

New Age Spiritualism is not really all that new. Since the 1800s, there’s been a new type of paganism, usually based on the oldest type of animism, that is, belief in “pure ethereal spirit…diffused throughout nature…thought to animate all matter.” Helena Petovna Blavatsky, one of the more famous founders of the doctrine of Theosophy (late 1800s CE), held that “All religions are attempts by the “Spiritual Hierarchy” to help humanity in evolving to greater perfection.” Clearly, this has not happened unless perfection can be equated with technology. But this New Age Mysticism may have provided a much-needed relief to those who were no longer comfortable in the bosom of conventional religion. This “new” or substitute religion has a lot more freedom, imagination, and individual input is more respected. That can make it a very pretty trap.

Listen, anyone can take an “inner journey” of the imagination and become queen of the hedgehogs with a crown of diamonds and with the right cues may even be able to find and sustain healing there (sometimes with the right combination of “offerings” and physical, mental or musical routines). But this experience comes strictly from your self and whomever is talking, drumming, etc. NOT from the “spirit realm.” There is no more evidence of a spirit realm than there is of angels. Spiritualist schemes are so vague and have been discredited so often it's amazing that people still buy into them. But maybe it’s the next step after religion, where you at least begin to explore your own mind – there are some amazing things in our minds. Technology now allows us to see almost “into” the mind (without yet having any idea what “mind” is). It show us that whether we see an actual rose or are asked to remember a rose, exactly the same places in the brain light up. So “who” is it that’s deciding one is real and one is remembered? Whoever or whatever it is, it doesn’t seem to be in the brain, but only in the mind.

Lately some spiritualists are preaching about a “Secret” which can make you wealthy beyond your imagination, so long as you can sustain the intention to gain it. But, the only people I see “imagining themselves to wealth” are those who are selling something.* We don’t live in a paradise, and dreaming is not a “super-power.” Here’s how you get wealth:

1) Inherit it
2) Win it
3) Marry it
4) Steal it
5) Work really hard for a really long time
6) Save more, no unnecessary spending – or fun
*7) Find something you can get cheap and sell high

That’s the Secret.

Bottom line; it's okay to put some thought into your day, but your intentions won't change the laws of physics or the balance of the economy.

WHY IS RELIGION BAD? II

THERE IS NO LICENSE, TEST OR TRAINING FOR PARENTHOOD

Bear with me, this isn’t really a change in subject. If you wish to sell paper clips (here in the U.S.), you will probably need a business license. Outsiders (and customers) may perceive that this means you have passed some test or been given special knowledge of business practices, but that’s not the case. You pay your fee, you get your license. This same strategy applies to parenting. Prospective parents are not required to pass any tests or given any special knowledge. They just mate. When a child is produced, several things happen, usually simultaneously.

At a loss for how to proceed, they parrot what their own parents taught them. Unless they are convinced their parents had the whole thing wrong, in which case they parrot the opposite of what they were taught. This is an insidious process of which the new parents are usually unaware. They just try to answer each situation or question as it comes up, with no clear plan on how to proceed, but very definite ideas about what the outcome should be. The child should respect their advice (a good strategy for young children, as it can save their lives) to the extent that they will enthusiastically embrace a career chosen by their parents regardless of their personal preferences. The child should respect their religion, again embracing it enthusiastically, again regardless of their personal preferences or reasoned thinking, because we say so.

At least we have schools to take over some of the burden. What if we had to teach our children math, physics, history, etc. ourselves?

Any parent whose best answer is “because I say so,” is in trouble. It’ll work for a while, but a bright child will begin to resent being left out of the reasoning process. If the lives of the parents aren’t particularly inspiring, “because I say so,” becomes a death-knell; the child makes a note to be nothing like his or her parents. Then you’ve lost the battle. Anything else you say will arrive at their ears filtered through distrust of your judgment and your choices, not to mention distrust of your ability to put forth a reasonable explanation.

For many of us, who saw firsthand that our parents certainly had no special knowledge or reasoning power, we may reject the entire package provided by our parents. But for all of us, there will come a time when, with hormones (whose influence we don’t understand at the time) raging, we will break away from the parental unit (whatever its form). This is the natural outcome of being an animal on planet Earth. Any mammalian mother nurtures her young in the wild, always at a great personal cost, sometimes to the point of hardship. She teaches them everything she knows, grooms them, protects them. Then one day her hormones and the hormones of her young are no longer in harmony. She drives them from the nest or from her territory. This is a survival necessity for both the mother and her young. The territory which supports her cannot support her plus her young once they are adults and their strain on resources is as great as her own. Mother bears drive their cubs up trees and leave them there, heading to new territory. Mother cats drive their young away, keeping their territory for themselves. In both cases, if the mother and young meet again, it will go very unpleasantly. The only time this behavior is not seen is in herd mammals, yet even they often drive pubescent males from the group.

Humans always seem surprised by the fact that we do the same. It doesn’t matter how good you are to your children, they will, regardless, be driven to either seek their own territory or challenge you for your own. There’s no need for all that screaming! When offspring begin to rebel, they are really only asserting their independence, which parents want them to do, eventually. In theory. But in practice it’s not so pretty. Here’s a being about as large as you are, questioning or spurning your authority. This being was once so helpless you had to teach it how to get food into its mouth, and the experience felt rewarding to you both. Now the same child you turned your life upside down to accommodate is no longer showing worshipful obedience. It can be hard for some parents to accept.

I propose that the need for religion is a leftover effect from the parent/child bonding process, which happens when we’re too young as yet to think in words. Parenting can be rewarding, but being the child is much more so. Consider this; when we are babies, we have parents around us who;

1. Have a comforting presence
2. Make irritants stop or go away
3. Will overlook our mistakes and/or fix them
4. Provide food, shelter, and companionship
5. Protect us from all harm
6. Advise us when we don’t know what to do
7. Can make the seemingly impossible happen (like the appearance of a new bike)
8. Make us feel better when we’re sick
9. Love us even when we’ve been bad
10. Warn us of dangers, sometimes to the extent of placing themselves in danger to save or help us.

In short, in childhood we had the experience of what seemed to be perfect love. Consider the parallels with religion. The ecstatic presence of God could be a return to feelings we felt long before we had speech to explain it. Therefore it rises up, wordless, from the heart, and we feel all these wonderful reward-feelings we felt as babies, and as adults, we wish to return to them. It’s not unlike romantic love in this way; we try to find for ourselves and provide for our mates these comforting conditions. If our parents were abusive, these feelings may be more than a little screwed up; reward may be confused with (or mixed into) punishment in that speechless part of the brain. But the desire to return to the conditions of babyhood, where the loving presence sensed our needs without our even being able to articulate them is powerful stuff. Powerful stuff that our brain remembers but can’t articulate.

It may be useful to mention pets here. In our relationships with our pets, we can get all the parenting-reward feelings without the danger that they’ll suddenly assert themselves as not needing us any more. People who love animals more than people are (perhaps wisely) averting the trauma of having someone for whom one has made sacrifices and whom one taught everything eventually reject us. If this is true, a small animal maybe the perfect gift for "empty-nesters."

There are hundreds of theories out there, and thousands of experts who have studied the fields of religious anthropology and psychology, and can give you their own theories. I urge you to make use of them. Gather some information, then form your own opinions. This has just been a sample from my personal set.

WHY IS RELIGION BAD?

What’s wrong with a little religion, anyway? I’ve put together a list of what I think Is wrong with a little religion (because its influence isn't as little as it might look):

1) War: (not in the distant past – NOW) (not only in distant countries; i.e., war on pro-lifers/homosexuals) War is always wrong. The Holy Crusades of the tenth and twelfth centuries are one famous example, but religious wars are still going on – check the news. Religion also provides Divine justification for the subjugation of other races and even ‘other’ genders. By this I mean that religious belief is responsible for the subjugation of women which is still being practiced all over the world. The fact that we don’t hear about it very often here in America is inexplicable and unfair, but women are still being denied the right to vote and in some places aren’t allowed to leave their homes without the accompaniment of a male.

2) Science stops here; The belief that Man is not meant to know some things (such as, in the past, what was inside the human body) can stalemate science for centuries.
a) Psychic phenomenon can be disproven by scientists, but prayer and miracles, according to the religious, can’t.

b) Medicine as the enemy: in making science/medicine the enemy, the church is allowing (actually encouraging) children to die for want of care. This is a shameful use of power over children, often done under the auspices of "protecting them"! The religious don’t seem to realize how cruel and insane that is!

c) It's impossible to estimate how many times mankind has suffered terrible losses because things were "being left in God's hands." And it seems quite unfair that religion will use science when it suits the purpose.

3) Indoctrination of children: Let’s talk about the emotional, physical, sexual and spiritual abuse (which again, is not new). Let’s talk about teaching our little ones not to question anything the church says, including “Let’s go to war,” “Man is not meant to know some things,” “You don’t need medical care, you need more faith.” Yet the Bible teaches that "Faith is a gift," and we're taught it's not nice to ask for more gifts. What terrible puzzles we give them to unwind! Whether for good or bad, the children of religious parents will carry these experiences well into adulthood, perhaps to the end of their lives, without every thinking them through.

It’s very common among the religious to hear the defense that the teaching, for example, of evolution, shouldn’t be allowed because their children shouldn’t be exposed to such ideas. Perhaps this is because they realize that if given all the options, their children could very well chose to believe in evolution. This pre-emptive strike against the intellect of the child is another shameful misuse of power, and I can’t see any other reason for it than that they’re afraid their own case won’t hold up. If the religious disagree with evolution, why don’t they set out to prove it? Would God not provide them with evidence? And while we're near the subject, prohibiting things you consider offensive is not concern for the welfare or rights of others, it is CENSORSHIP.

And exposure to knowledge that homosexuals exist does not turn children into homosexuals. Science has shown us that there are differences in brain structure, to cite one example, between homosexuals and heterosexuals – that it may be a natural difference, formed before birth. If you won’t believe the science, believe the parents who find that through no fault of their own or the child’s, some children just come into the world differently-sexed. A survey of adult homosexuals reveals that they “have always known” they were different. It would appear that in condemning all homosexuals, we condemn our children to a life of shame and misery before they’re even old enough to have words for it, especially if it’s not something they’d choose to be if they had a choice. You had no control over what you were when you left the womb. Neither do they.

In studies of rats, it’s been shown that overcrowding can lead to increased homosexuality. If this is true, our children may be born homosexual because we live in overcrowded conditions, and the fault lies entirely with the parents, for living that way.

But wait a minute, what’s wrong with homosexuality anyway? It didn’t get a mention among the Biblical commandments. It turns out that the judgment of ‘wrongness’ comes not from God, but from the laws of man. One theory is that in overpopulous cities, especially in ancient times, there were so many homosexuals that the government feared there would be a very small next generation to tax. Homosexuals were executed as an example of what would happen if one didn’t get married and start producing children. It may be that homosexuality is just nature’s pretty handy way to reduce overpopulation when the ecosystem gets unbalanced. If you dislike homosexuals so much, try taking the larger view; at least they won’t reproduce, and maybe they'll raise some of our unwanted children.

4) Indoctrination of Indigenes: (still going on today); the church will teach you English, dress you in American clothes, and grant you both forgiveness for everything you’ve ever done wrong, plus eternal life, if you do – and think – exactly as they say to do. All you have to give up is your language, your culture, your art, your crafts, your heritage. The religious don’t seem to realize how uncharitable - and UNWISE - that is!

These behaviors are selfish and sanctimonious. If missionaries are afraid natives will say something they won’t understand, why don’t they use the peaceful and respectful expedient of learning the language of the natives?

Here is a truth; listen! People of other faiths believe in their gods just as much as you believe in yours. Their gods promise them a paradisial afterlife, protects them, and answers their prayers, just as yours does. The fact that they believe in a god by a different name doesn’t make them evil. Like you, they’re sincere believers just trying to get through this life, trying to make a living, raising their families as best they can. Zealous religious leaders on both sides invoke the ‘evil’ card because it makes them a good living, not to mention winning the adoration of the crowd. That doesn’t make it real, or right. And who says God only appeared to one people in one place, during one period of history, in this vast universe over all of which He rules?

Other religions are not the opposite of yours, they are the same. These ‘others’ believe in a god who is just and merciful, have a moral code based on the same needs, are prayerful and sincere in their devotions. If your god is infinite, can’t you accept that he may be known by different names in different languages/cultures? Why would you resent them for worshiping in their own way? Why is it any of your business how they worship? All religions agree that god is the source of all good things. All their prophets and holy teachers (and/or messiahs) agree that one should be honest, treat one’s fellows well, and be the best human one can be. How can this be reconciled with the idea that we should kill each other? Any religion that has caused war to be made should be ashamed of itself.

5) The church pays no taxes; This is the Mother of All Loopholes, and probably causes the rise of as many “religions” as true belief. And it’s not that the church is poor. Every year American churches rake in an average of 630 billion dollars (and that figure doesn't even include special funds or projects - just the basic tithing).

6) The church wiggles its way around the law: suicide is a crime, euthanasia is a crime, so why isn’t it a crime to handle (allegedly) poisonous snakes and encourage others to do so? Shouldn’t that be illegal, too? And why don’t they ever ‘wrangle’ snakes in the wild? Because they’d actually BE poisonous?

7) The image of the Virgin Mary; last seen on the side of an SUV, rendered in bird poop. Is this guy allowed to wash his car now? Will people bow in prayer when it passes? What ever happened to that Jesus potato chip? Did it rot away? If so, is it still holy? It’s toast or traffic signs or some new crazy thing every week. When the non-religious hallucinate like this, they’re arrested. The religious don’t seem to realize how insane this looks!

8) WE WILL BE SAVED: Perhaps the most destructive belief of all is that God will come to Earth in all His glory and fix everything. He will force peace among nations, and presumably remediate the environmental damage humans have caused. This belief may cause the religious to think it’s not our job (because it’s not possible, or because it’s not our ‘place’) to make peace among nations. And peace is like any other goal; you can’t get there if you don’t try. The same is true for environmental remediation. We may not be able to undo everything we’ve done to our planet, but if we don’t even try, believing some higher power will eventually do it for us, we have failed to fix anything by failing to try. There may be some justice to be found in this attitude after all. If the earth suffers a prolonged warming period and many species die, the harm to the planet itself may be minimal. It’s possible the environment will equalize itself again in a few hundred thousand years or so, but it’s not unlikely that one of the species to be lost will be human. So the problem will be ‘fixed,’ and new species will no doubt evolve to fill our niche. One can only hope they will be wiser than we. Even if humans survive the new conditions we’ve hastened to create, the extreme loss of life, the loss of our civilization and probable loss of our history could make these descendents unrecognizable. Will they still believe in a god? And if so, would we recognize him?

If you believe instead that aliens are coming to help us, the same argument holds true, but with a twist. I would only add that unless extra-terrestrials are a lot more altruistic than we are, they’ll probably wait until we’ve wiped ourselves out before coming to claim this beautiful and unique planet for themselves. Why would they bother to make war on us, further damaging the planet, when with a little patience, it can be theirs with no effort at all?

9)PRAYING FOR PEACE: Certainly it would seem that no harm could come from such a prayer, but that may not be true. Those who are praying for peace are not inspired to go out and make it happen, but are content to leave it in God’s hands. Well, we've been praying for peace for centuries, and it's no closer now than it was then.

If all we really have is each other, think of the time wasted praying for peace, and think of what would have happened if all those hours of praying had been spent DOING.

A FINAL WORD ON RACISM

Scientifically, there is very little to distinguish between races. All humans must eat, drink, need shelter, have the drive to mate, love and pair-bond. We all have skin, hair, eyes, teeth, the same number of limbs. We’re all born helpless, and are helpless against the onslaught of aging. So answer me this; how can one race be in God’s image, and any other race be very far off?

In ancient times it made perfect sense (genetically) to favor, protect, and cooperate only with people who were of our tribe and/or likely to return the favor. When existence is precarious, one wants to protect one’s own genetic line and those closest to it. It’s a brilliant survival strategy. But now that humans have overrun the globe, tribal isolation and pride is no longer required for survival. America was founded on the idea that people should be allowed certain dignities and religious freedoms. In practice it’s taking a lot longer than one would have anticipated, but by the time of this writing I’m honored to say we have a (even if only ¼) black president. I’d like to think this will end some of the unjustified racism this country suffers while preaching equality.

Do you think that God made only ‘your kind,’ and Satan, perhaps, made the rest? By that reasoning, Satan must be much more powerful, as there are always ten times more of ‘them’ than of ‘you.’

Our time is unique in history in that we face a planet-wide crisis. People of all nations need to consult and come to agreements about the remediation of damage before it’s too late for our efforts to have any effect. War is not exactly contributing to the betterment of the planet. It needs to stop. We have a common goal to work toward which transcends race and religion; saving our ecosystem. Intolerance has become the opposite of survival. We have a much better chance of surviving our own hand-made environmental apocalypse if we call on the wisdom and work of every culture and every race to solve our shared problems together. The very differences in viewpoint which cause us to kill each other could be the creative pool from which our solutions come.

In the interest of greater interracial understanding, I'll be happy to provide a link to music of the world to anyone who requests it.

PEOPLE WHO AREN’T WHITE ARE STUPID?

Who came up with this ridiculous assumption????

There is no known correlation between race and IQ. Tests which once seemed to show there to be a correlation were later shown to be prejudicial. In other words, white people made themselves seem smarter by changing the test results.

Perhaps I should begin this by making a point of explaining that without the first human to make a spear, we wouldn’t have cell phones. Each innovation in technology is built on those which came before. The most remarkable technologies/inventions of all are those which were made the longest time ago, when there were fewer technologies to build on. In other words, humans invented the telephone long before they invented Wi-Fi, and the latter comes from building on the former, and both come from flint-knapping. Cave men didn’t – and couldn’t - invent Wi-Fi. So without these inventions and discoveries from other races, white folks might still be living in caves.

These are only a few of these countries’ inventions and discoveries (and it’s not always clear who did something first). Pick one where you’ve been taught stupid people live, and learn.

INDIA: Shipyard/Dock, Dentistry, Bathrooms, Sewer Systems and Plumbing, Kilns and Ovens, Animal-drawn Plow, Astronomy, Geometry, Surgery and Hospitals, Smelting Iron, Buttons, the Decimal System, the Wheel

THE MIDDLE EAST: Agriculture, Alcoholic Beverages, Adobe, the Granary, Metalworking, Animal Husbandry, Paved Streets, Mapmaking, Soap, Algebra, Writing and the Alphabet, Smelting Copper, Glass, Oil Lamps, Astronomy, Sailboats, Accounting, Kiln-fired Brick, the Calendar, Standardized System of Measures, Armies

MESOAMERICA: Rubber, Jerky, Baseball, Chocolate

AFRICA/EGYPT: Struck-stone Tools, Cooking, Fire and Sterilization of Water, Burial, Bone Tools, Atlatl, Baby Sling, Herding, Pottery, Machete, Fishing, the Drum, Shelter, Chess, Irrigation, the Plow, Mining, Universities, Ceramics, the Razor, Spinning Wheel, Domestication of Animals, Bread, Wheel and Axle, Twisted Rope, Paper, Cement, Glass, Electricity, Banking, Pyramids, Weaving, the Bow and Arrow, Cosmetics, Basket-making, Numbers

GREECE: Geometry, Philosophy, Medicine and Democracy, Aqueducts, Fountains, the Shower, the Railway, Truss Roof, Caliper, Crane, Gears, Crossbow, Winch, Central Heating, Odometer, Surveying Tools, Analog Computers, Olympic Games , the Alphabet we still use today

ROME: Architectural Arch, Water Wheel, Hot-water Bath, Glass Blowing, Dams, Bridges, Aqueducts, Amphitheaters, Concrete, Treadwheels, Roads, Books, Hydraulic Mining, Glazed Pottery, False Teeth

CHINA: Silk, Abacus, Clock, Kites, Compass, Porcelain, Gunpowder, Printing, Accupuncture, Herbal Medicine, the Seismograph, Differential Gears, the Hot Air Balloon, Firearms, Matches, Dry Docks, Cast Iron, Bells, Forks, Ice Cream

ISLAM: Chemical Distillation Apparatus and Chemistry, Coffee, Refined Sugar, Restaurants, Stained Glass Windows, Parabolic Mirror, Damascus Steel, Asbestos, Kerosene Lamps, Garbage Collection, Tar Roads, Ventilators, the Windmill, Tooth-bleaching, Hair-remover, Lipstick, Toothpaste, Deodorant, Perfume, Guitar, Lute

ISRAEL: Did I mention Jesus was a Jew? The Jews invented our religion, the Bible, our moral code, and our concept of Law. They practiced intentional breeding, and may have originated it.

Some little-known facts about people of color:

Moses was married to a Cushite (black) woman (Ex 2:21). This means that (in spite of the fact that they weren’t to marry outside their ‘own kind,’ Jews have some Cushite blood.

Nefertiti, believed to be one of the most beautiful women who ever lived, was not exactly white.

Halle Barry, Denzel Washington, Beyonce, Morgan Freeman, Thandie Newton, Vanessa Williams, enough said.

Mankind originated on the continent of Africa. Many people seem to be able to ignore the fact that this means Man was originally black, and if we claim to be human, we are descended from Blacks.

Some people believe that looking at paintings of pharaohs, it seems pretty obvious Egyptians were black. Same with the Olmec. I don’t know. I just know people of any color are smarter than whites act.

NATURAL HUMANS

Darshan Chande has a point (see “Comments”). I briefly defined a bad person as one who succeeds at the cost of good people, but I didn’t define what a good person is. I shall try to do so now.

My friend, if we were all monks, there would be neither good humans nor bad ones, since the word “monk” seems to imply celibacy. You can’t have it both ways; if we act according to Nature, celibacy is quite unnatural. I apologize if you meant some other kind of monk. Regardless; whatever we are to become must begin where we are now. It would be a disaster if the millions of humans in my city suddenly decided to hunt and forage. We are, many of us, not in a position to just live in Nature. We’re not equipped with the skills (for example) to build our own shelters or obtain our own food, nor with the physical fitness needed to do so successfully. I agree with you that a good person should honor Nature, but let’s not be blind to the fact that not all that is natural is good. Sociopaths (bad people) so far as I know, occur naturally. Should they therefore be encouraged to act according to their natures? Ironically, they themselves don’t respect Nature or anything else.

Good people don’t need commandments to tell them how to behave, but I’ll list my personal 13 commandments here again for instructive purposes. Good people know these (or very similar) things “naturally.”

1. Do no harm. Not even with words. (Raise your voice, your hand, to no one) If you accidentally cause harm, apologize frankly and seek to repair the damage.
2. Support human rights everywhere (for you, too, are human).
3. Help or please someone else for no gain at all every day.
4. Do not betray the trust of another.
5. Pair-bond with sincerity and respect.
6. Don’t take more than you need. Of anything.
7. Celebrate your curiosity and reason; they are the gift of mind; our greatest gift.
8. In your work, be in harmony with your principles.
9. Practice thankfulness, kindness, and joy.
10. Redeem the Earth.
11. Sing, dance, and/or speak in unison with others.
12. Practice mercy.
13. Don’t judge someone without knowing them.

If you live in a home built by experts in construction, and use a computer to communicate, and use gas-fueled vehicles to move about your city, by your own standard you are not a good person; I don’t believe that’s true. The fact that you realize an inherent respect for Nature argues otherwise. Still, I wouldn't suggest that you discard your clothing, fashion yourself a spear, and attack the nearest hot-dog vendor (don't forget we are natural carnivores). If it were that easy, I’d have done it myself long ago.

Just as our pets have been bred into forms that never existed in the wild, so have we. How do you propose we actually become this Natural Human you consider good, given that for us all to become monks would end the race?

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE ANGELS

Why do bad people happen to good people? We all know there are bad people, yet we’re continually surprised when confronted by them (well, I am). If choosing the best-looking people to marry for thousands of generations makes the race better-looking, why doesn’t marrying good people (which surely we all want to do) result in the race becoming more “good” over time?

One reason has already been implied; they fool us into thinking they are kind, caring and responsible. Sometimes for our entire lives, in the same way that homosexuals used to survive by passing for straight.

By some estimates, half the mentally-ill are undiagnosed and 25% of the population are effectively sociopathic. When someone is psychotic, (I’m being very general here), they perceive things that are not there; voices, visions, etc.). When they are sociopathic, it means they do not perceive other people as human beings equally with themselves. It’s believed that this is caused by a lack of “mirror neurons” which would allow them to feel empathy for others. Imagine the implications if 25% of us are like this! Most sociopaths aren’t out to ‘get’ anyone, their behavior is just uniformly cold, callus, calculated. If they befriend us, it’s because we’re perceived to have financial or social value, not because they think we are their equals or fellows, or for loyalty or friendship, or any other good thing.

It’s easy to imagine there have been times in human history when such a person was more likely to survive than a good person. The problem is, it’s not just during bad times. In fact, even in good times, our society seems to favor the un-empathic. The man who feels sympathetic toward the failing business’ owner is less likely to push him until he breaks, while the sociopath has no problem cutting him to the quick. So the sociopath succeeds. Since he succeeds, he attracts mates. To be clear, the sociopath doesn’t choose to feel this way – he or she simply lacks the ability to believe that other people have feelings, or that it matters whether they do or not. We’re speaking here of the sociopathic adept – not all sociopaths succeed in “passing for straight.”

Consider the Ten Commandments; their very basis is as rules against betrayal. Don’t betray god, your parents, your neighbors, etc. So every sin really comes down to betrayal. And the adept sociopath can betray like no one else. What can a good person do about this?

I wish I knew how to tell the good people from the bad, but I haven’t learned the trick of it – I still feel, when betrayed, like I got a fist in the face and a knife in the back.

One out of four people you know are “not okay.” This is a disease that has no known cure, and the bad are out there competing for resources (including competition for mates) and success. Maybe one day science will offer us an answer, but apparently we're not there yet. The only sure protection I know of is to feel nothing for them – but if you’re a good person, you are incapable of doing that.

We spoke earlier about angels having no consciences, and these people are the same. They suffer no guilt, no matter the hurt they cause. Rationally, humanely, there’s nothing I know of that we can do about this. If anyone out there has a test for social response-ability, I’d love to hear it. Or if you have one of those detectors they used on Blade Runner?

At any rate, this is one of the darker, more seductive sides of religion; not whether we ourselves will get to go to heaven (that whole subject being disturbing) but whether or not those who succeed at the cost of good people will burn in hell.

APOLOGIA MAXIMUS MEA

For using these and any other videos to support my arguments, I apologize, as I do not own them. All rights belong to their original possessors. Sometimes they're just so appropriate...

I'M JUST SAYING...

The argument between Science and Religion is a war between two groups with almost exactly the same weapons and strategy.

You have to believe the Word Of God. We know it’s the Word Of God because it says so, right in there. We don’t have to believe what we see if it disagrees with the Word Of God. “But the Bible makes no sense,” you say? It doesn’t have to make sense, you just have to have faith. And if you don’t have faith, you will burn forever in hell. Questions mean your faith is lacking…and yet “Faith is a gift, not of works, lest any man should boast.” If you don't have the gift...what can your questions hurt?

Then there’s science. You have to believe what fancy math tells us, and scientists have to interpret for you. And if they discover something new in the math (or discover a new math), you have to change your belief to their new interpretation. But if you disagree with them, you have to learn their maths and languages and present your case as one of them, even though they make it very difficult to join the club. But if you don’t, or don’t believe them, you are simply and self-evidently stupid.

Both wrong. If you are living as you should, you have no need to follow either one. Church, as George Carlin once said, is a place where we go on Sunday to outdress each other. We give money to the church for its upkeep and for the poor. I’ve been the poor. My church brought over a box of canned goods no one else wanted on Thanksgiving. Apparently the only giving thanks expected was thankfulness that we took away these horrible foods. Yet the Catholic Church is not only a nation, it’s the richest nation on earth. So there must be no more poor, right? And don’t think science doesn’t get your money, too – they’re just a little more underhanded about it.

Science is mainly something that esoteric wizards do on computers, the results of which we have to take on faith, because we can’t possibly understand their reasoning or research. It may lead to better technology, but here’s a secret:

Being human has not changed. Good behavior hasn’t changed, and neither has bad behavior. The need for food, water, shelter, and love haven’t changed. Really, nothing important has changed.

In John 5: Yeshua heals a man who’s been there 38 years but never makes it to the healing water in time. He wasted 38 years waiting for a miracle! Whether or not he got one seems irrelevant, since his life is half gone over it. You may say he got his miracle, but what if he’d been born just 38 years later? No miracle, just torment, presumably life-long.

In medicine, it may take going to 38 doctors before you find one who will do the simplest thing; LISTEN. And it’s up to you to manage to see 38 doctors – they won’t do a thing to help. At last, it may be that if they listen, there is help available. But what if you can’t afford it? (After all, you’re paying bills to 38 doctors at the time!) And you’ve heard that pharmaceutical companies will help those who can’t afford their medicine – and it may even be true. Personally, I ran out of gumption after filling out the 38th form! Even if you navigate this whole system successfully, what they actually offer may be $5.00 off on a bottle of $350.00 medicine. Sorry, just a personal pet peeve.

In science, they tell us the universe is infinite, then turn around and try to figure out what shape it is. If it’s infinite, it can’t have shape, can it?

That 96% of the universe is missing shouldn’t be a great surprise, considering how narrow our perceptions are. Vision, hearing, even touch – we perceive in a very narrow band. The fact that we can mechanically stretch this a bit does not for one moment mean we can now perceive everything. And what is this “dark matter” and “dark energy?” If science doesn’t know, then aren’t we free to believe it’s spiritual effluvia of some kind? This is a hole big enough to drive a planet through. I’m just saying.

ABOUT THOSE ALIENS…

So let’s say you meet an ordinary guy on an ordinary day, and here’s what he says:

1. He’s seen aliens.
2. The aliens have spoken to him privately. (Depending on which of these fellows you meet, he may have received a message for all mankind.)
3. He now has special powers. Which won’t work if there are unbelievers present.
4. He has no physical evidence.
5. The aliens have been watching over us, and will save us.
6. The aliens have great powers and can do ANYTHING, especially read our minds.
7. The aliens are going to reveal themselves at a certain secret date and time.

Now if this guy is correct, your whole world-view would have to be changed. But I’d be the first to ask, “What do they want with all those bovine and primate lips and butt-holes? Is someone making hot dogs?” I'm afraid I'd have a hard time believing in such beings even if I met one.

And yet, as outrageous as these claims sound, just try substituting the word “God” for “Aliens,” and you’ll see that you just met most of the human race. Now try substituting the words “Spirits in the Spirit Realm,” and you have met very nearly the rest of the race.

Doesn’t this sound as though we have an inherent need to believe something exactly like this as simply a cost of being human? Yet we don’t have to. To some it seems unreasonable to give up the comforts church offers such as community, the illusion that we’re helping the poor, speaking and singing in unison, and validation for judging others. But look what else we give up;

1. Armageddon
2. Being judged for every move (even every THOUGHT), when we’re not bad people
3. Eternal torture because we failed to do something exactly right – like not work on Sunday!
4. Guilt for breaking silly laws and shame for being human.

And look what we gain:
1. Help the helpless ourselves, thus getting the full, rich reward of service to others.
2. Stop making one rich corporation richer.
3. Do what's right because we're good people, not because we fear damnation.
4. Help each other knowing we're the only help we've got.

It's what John Lennon meant when he said, "Imagine."

NEXT TIME, ALIENS!

In these times, we no longer pray to make the sun come up, for rain (except facetiously). We pray now for “that” job, “that” boy/girl friend, someone who’s ill, money. The generally-accepted deities are a couple of thousand years old, and they had nothing to say about cell phone etiquette. I don’t think queues had even been invented, much less standing-in-line courtesy. We need someone a little more up-to-date. And we need to decide if it’s okay to pray for a big-screen TV, or if that would be asking too much.

So if we were building a deity today, what would he be like? Would we have to do ritual dances or chants for results? I think we know better than to make “sacrifices” of living beings. With our new commandments and these things clarified, all we need is a ‘messenger.’ Maybe it would be better if he or she were not divine…Traditionally, there’d be a ‘miraculous’ birth story; maybe a baby doctors thought could not be saved, but an angel appeared or something? What do you think?

LUCKY NUMBER 13

If you received an e-mail from me, you may notice I've only listed 12 commandments below. I thought of another one later (you're allowed to do that, too!); prejudice, bigotry, arrogant judgment...how do you put that into a "thou shall not?" I don't know, but if you didn't receive an e-mail from me, the question is, If you had to make 10 commandments for mankind to live by, what would they be? And I hope you'll also vote/comment on what you think of the ones I've come up with. This'll be fun!

PRESENT TIMES

If nothing else, the idea that a great big powerful someone somewhere loves us is very comforting. But at some point in life, every one of us has gone through the stage of realizing we now have to take care of ourselves. Time to grow up. I realize I’ve given a lot of very ancient quotes, so here are some contemporary ones, so that one can’t claim there are no great teachers today…

“Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.”
- John Lennon, singer, song-writer, peace activist, 1940 - 1980 CE (no professed religion)

“War! Huh! Good God ya’ll, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing!”
Edwin Star, singer, song-writer, 1942 – 2003 CE (no professed religion)

“Speak out, you’ve got to speak out against the madness. You’ve got to speak your mind if you dare.”
- Crosby, Stills and Nash, recorded 1969 CE (no professed religion)

“Tell the people everywhere we the people here don’t want war.” “Most of what you read is lies.”
- Bobby Darrin, singer, song-writer 1936 – 1973 CE (religion unknown)

“All you need is love; love is all you need.” – The Beatles recorded 1967

And oh, back in the sixties we made some changes in the world. Most of us now can wear jeans to work (and women can wear pants) because of what was started then. It’s time for a new generation to take up the mantle. The sixties achieved change, but not the change it was hoping for; peace and love.

Behold, my friends, a long line of ancestors stands behind you, stretching back to the beginning of time, sending all their hopes this way. You will birth a new legacy to pass on to your own descendants. Look, they stand before you from this moment to the end of time. Will your legacy be ever-more-fantastic cell-phone technology, or will it be that you Changed The World?

WHAT CAN WE DO? AND HOW? NOW WHAT?

You know what’s right without being told, but sometimes it helps to have a reminder. Here’s what we can do:

We can comfort one another, be kind, help one another, love one another like brothers, all without the threat of a unbalanced deity’s judgment and the possibility of eternal torture. In fact, I will not respect such a deity.

Picture yourself having floated up among the clouds and look down. There it is. The whole planet, ALL DEPENDENT UPON EACH BIT for harmony, for peace, for what we need to live. And there's nothing else. We're all there is; surely we can decide what we do in this little space.

Peace equals prosperity – those who say otherwise are profiteers. War equals destruction and devastation on your brothers and sisters and on your home (Earth). So for maximum success, we must first stop war. And how do you do that? By refusing to fight. If war is coming near you, walk away. Let them have your homeland, but keep yourself. If you come from a long line of soldiers, be the first to hang up the sword; birth a new legacy. It's the courageous thing to do.

Never ask what difference one man can make; the man who faced the tanks in Tiananmen square, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qV-tk8CrqCQ) and Gandhi, who faced down the entire British Empire, both changed the world without raising a hand.

Stop killing each other and taking advantage of everyone and find useful work; like restoring the planet you’ve helped to damage, or helping to stop further damage. Like helping restore the victims of war. Stop making wars and refuse to pay for them. We have a common enemy, and it is ourselves. Collectively redeem earth – if you can’t be raptured (and based on earlier discussion, you probably won't be), be among the meek and inherit the earth!

All the commandments really come down to one thing; betrayal. Don’t betray me, or your neighbor, or your spouse or parents. This is a good sentiment. It’s so easy for us to steal from one another, lie, kill each other; all of these are betrayals of trust.

Here are MY 12 commandments (and I didn’t get them on the mountaintop, in fact I’d appreciate hearing your votes for and against):

1. Do no harm. Not even with words. (Raise your voice, your hand, to no one) If you accidentally cause harm, apologize and seek to repair the damage.

2. Support human rights everywhere (for you, too, are human).

3. Help or please someone else for no gain at all every day.

4. Do not betray the trust of another.

5. Pair-bond with sincerity and respect.

6. Don’t take more than you need. Of anything.

7. Celebrate your curiosity and reason; they are the gift of mind; our greatest gift.

8. In your work, be in harmony with your principles.

9. Practice thankfulness, kindness, and joy.

10. Redeem the Earth.

11. Sing, dance, and/or speak in unison with others.

12. Practice mercy.

These things may be difficult to even imagine at first, but just practice, and you’ll soon discover a whole different person where you used to be; a person you can respect. Worthy things like mercy may at first be difficult, but here’s what to do; When you see someone in trouble (alcoholism, drug addiction, obesity, depression, homelessness, etc.) instead of saying “Ew,” ask yourself how that one must feel and how you can help them, not by force, but by kindness, gentleness, and patience, for their suffering is great. (Don’t tell them “get help,” or "get a job" and walk away, ask what help they need, and go with them to find it).

Stop allowing people to make a good living off your greed. Don’t go to a store until you know you can get the best price there, and don’t forget coupons. Sometimes buying directly from the manufacturer can save you a surprising amount. Human women are inherently sexy and don’t really need high shoes, plaid fingernails or perms to be appealing. Greed requires these things – most potential mates do not. Who ARE you trying to impress? Stop remaking yourself at great expense, and let people judge you by your character, and your smile, not by how much you spend trying to look like what you’re not. Frankly, I'm not a bit impressed; you require too much maintenance.

Your punishment for failing to obey these commandments is the unhappiness and eventual destruction of the whole world. Your reward for obeying is to live without shame or fear, and with full self-respect and bringing respect and joy to others. If you wish to believe in a god, believe in one who is at least as good as the best of us. Let him be a good master to his creatures, a good father to his children. Let him be one you can respect and who will respect you.

It doesn’t really matter if Yeshua is arriving in the clouds, or if fools are having a war near Meggido. It doesn’t really matter because your life itself has become a thing of beauty and a joy forever. It doesn’t matter if there’s a hell, because if you live these commandments you will become pure as snow, as innocent as a lamb. Is that just me?

BUT WHO WILL TEACH US?

If we give up our religious institutions because they are corrupt and their teachings are irrational and illogical (and cruel), what DO we do?

The world has been blessed by many great teachers over the centuries, and as a rule they've all carried the same message. Find and study the philosophies of worthy teachers if you require guidance. Here are a small sample to choose from:

Adhere to one principle — that of Truth, Simplicity, and Love. Live in truth, simplicity, and love and practice selfless service to humanity.
- Haidakhan Babaji, yogi, born twentieth century CE (Hindu)

The main principle of Love is compassion for all living beings. Help ever, hurt never. Love all, serve all.
- Sathya Sai Baba (Sathya Narayana Raju), yogi, teacher, born 1926 CE (Hindu)

He who does not injure people… — such one is dear to Me. Compassion for living beings, the one of Divine nature possesses this quality.
- Krishna, prince, born 3228 BCE (founder of Hinduism)

You are the teacher you have been waiting for. Every being is a jar full of delight.
- Rumi (Mawlānā Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhī aka Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī), poet, mystic, born 1207 CE (Sunni Muslim)

And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
- Jesus of Nazareth (Yeshua), carpenter, reformer, born 7 CE (Jew)(founder of Christianity)

Do not consider any act of kindness insignificant, even meeting your brother with a cheerful face.
- Muhammad ibn ‘Abdullāh, shepherd, reformer, born 570 CE (founder of Islam)

The way of heaven is to help and not harm.
- LAO TSE (Laozi), Keeper of Archives, hermit, born 570 BCE (founder of Taoism)

What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.
- Confucius (Kong Qiu) Philosopher, reformer, born 551 BCE (founder of Confucianism)

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
- Martin Luther King, Jr., minister and reformer, born 1929 CE (Baptist)

Goodwill toward all beings is the true religion! Cherish in your hearts boundless goodwill toward all that lives!
- Buddha (Siddhārtha Gautama), prince, reformer, born 420-563 BCE (founder of Buddhism)

You naturally love those who are dear to you, and you must learn to give that kind of love to the whole world.
- Paramahansa Yogananda, swami, yogi, born 1893 AD (Bengali kshatriya)

This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.
- Dalai Lama (Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso born Lhamo Döndrub), religious leader statesman, born 1935 CE (Tibetan Buddhist)

NEXT TIME: How do we do that?