

As Written By: Richard T. Adams II

Dedicated to my beloved mother, Elizabeth Adams, who tragically passed from this Earth as I finished writing much of the contents of this work. Her assistance, although sadly cut short as it was, proved invaluable – truly an incredible treasure, just as she herself was throughout her life.

I love you, Mom, always and forever.

TekARK Book Three: Our Existential Purpose, by Richard T. Adams II.

Published by TekARK Press: 2240 Beacon Lane, Falls Church, VA 22043

Smashwords Edition, Published April 2017

www.tekark.org Richard.Adams@Gmail.com

© 2017 Richard Adams II. All Rights Reserved.

  * 19: The Reason Why God Would Create Our World (In A Simulated Existence)

  * 20: The Inherent Value of Individuality

  * 21: The Uniqueness of Our Uniqueness

  * 22: Natural Equality of Consciousness

  * 23: Importance of the Individual: Free Thought and Expression

  * 24: The Value of Cooperative Togetherness

  * 25: Of Fate and Destinies: The Individual as Part of a Larger "Puzzle"

  * 26: The Afterlife: As From A Simulated Perspective

  * 27: Modern Day Miracles: The Many Blessings of Technology

  * 28:Why Bad Things Happen: Polarity, Acting On Highs and Lows

  * 29: The Immense Rewards as Comes Out of 'Divine Lessons and Teachings'

  * Epilogue: On Cults and Exploiters of Faith

# Chapter 19:

# The Reason Why God Would Create Our World (In A Simulated Existence)

Why create such a world to begin with, whether or not ours is something of a technologically simulated existence?

This is a question that has stymied us, for pretty much as long as there's been an us who might ask: "Why?"! Indeed, it almost goes without " _question_ " here to say that **it** is a question for the ages, themselves!

For starters, why – _exactly_ – would God even create us, to begin with? What reason is there for making our world, universe and reality – something separate, distinct and brand new from whatever that Maker already knew for itself? Why is it that we're here... at all?! And just what is our purpose as such, in simply being a part of this crazy little thing otherwise known as life?

These represent the weightiest of matters, without a doubt! They appear to be quite complex questions, ones that assuredly must require answers equally as convoluted – if indeed there are even any answers to be found there... at all! And yet, it is my firm belief here that the answer to them all is one and the same; no less, it's also something that's almost deceptively simple!

No matter what your own personal idea is about the form or basis of divinity, even so we should all be able to agree on some basic facts surrounding things thereabouts: That God is an advanced and nearly incomprehensible being, absolutely! But also, the fact that He is a conscious entity – something that is intelligent, sentient and self-aware. Those particular traits...? They'd undoubtedly be necessary to "decide" on Creating thusly, let alone for being able to wield whatever tools are needed in order to Create us and our world.

It's precisely there, with that divinity's own consciousness and sentience, that we may find the basis for our own purpose. Because, coincidentally enough, those same things are also something we ourselves possess!

We can make no mistake about it: This quality of self aware intelligence is the rarest of the rare, sitting at the very apex of all things both known and unknown. Can some sentient thing have more advanced or superior qualities to it in comparison with other sentience? Absolutely!

However, there is simply nowhere else to go beyond the point of being able to look out and ask oneself, "Why?" Interestingly, the grand culmination of this trait is also the one thing capable of transcending tangible, physical form – able to be moved across realities, existing in a realm of pure thought and consciousness: Something utterly nothing else can so claim. Anything (and everything) else is singularly tied to its own matter and material nature, while the priceless rarity of conscious intelligence is able to exist outside of all such things!

With this universe and reality of ours, we have come as the ultimate result – conscious, sentient beings able to ask those very questions of ourselves. Just as much as this form of being stands at something of an existential apex above anything else, it is to other sentient and self-aware entities where these qualities would be even more priceless still!

All the more, the fact we were created by that form of being is most telling: While the decidedly literal concept of loneliness and isolation should be well beyond such a divine entity, we can indeed envision something related to those very ideas as forming part of the reason for our Creation: Making brand new, entirely distinct sentient consciousness... ultimately joining with that divine Creator upon the completion of our development and transcendence to its plane of existence with our death in this mortal plane of ours – albeit as far inferior individuals or unequal beings when held in comparison to its own impossibly advanced state of majestic perfection.

Sure, one might easily question why there'd be a need for such an intricate and elaborate affair, creating a whole reality -our entire universe- simply to produce other, new sentient consciousness; why not just go directly to the desired outcome, deliberately creating other intelligent entities?

I'll be raising this later on, but we can also find clues to this aspect littered across our own existence: The grand differentiation of our beings, each one of us utterly unique as individuals. Furthermore, that uniqueness presently numbers in the several billion... and still counting! Just try to imagine it by stepping back for a moment: Something as complex as a self aware intelligence, yet coming in billions and billions of different "flavors" – not a single, solitary one of which is even remotely similar to another!

With our entire existence being what it is has given rise to the most perfected of ways to create new, distinct conscious beings; just the same, through the process that divine Maker developed, it also led matters to being almost entirely effortless on its part... "sitting back and watching those individual entities unfolding all but organically, on their very own" in other words.

A more specifically involved and intentional creation of consciousness? It'd all but mean some cookie cutter affair wherein true distinctions from one another would be far more difficult and time consuming to produce, if it were even at all possible to reach anything approaching the inconceivable magnitude yielded by our own process for differentiation: Those several billions worth! Instead, through this organic way that has led to/continues leading to our existence, we find a natural proclivity towards uniqueness and differences in individual sentient beings – truly, as wondrous and impossible of an affair as could ever be imagined!

This particular simulated perspective of ours also presents us with many unique attributes, exploiting various properties involved with that consciousness being developed: Namely, allowing a realistic means by which that mind -our identities and person- can be preserved upon death, along with "moving it" (transcending) from our own reality -in this mortal realm- when we should inevitably meet our demise. The reason for that demise, in and of itself? Envision our death on this plane as signaling that specific consciousness as being "done" or "finished" with its initial stage of development.

Later on I'll be exploring this idea in considerably more detail, but by viewing matters much the same as computer files (think of that as though "consciousness containers") moving across different machines (meaning other realities; specifically, joining our divine Maker wherever it is that It might be found), we can find particular insight into the nature of our own metaphysical existence and the so-called afterlife awaiting each one of us.

In addition to allowing such consciousness to develop on its own and essentially having it be cultivated when completed (to be joined on that Maker's plane of existence, through the transference of our consciousness; all of which shall be explored further in other pieces to this work), we also find something of an added bonus to that divine Creator for Creating all things (although, quite unlike with our consciousness, involving things existing primarily here on our world): The ongoing works and arts as developed by human civilization itself.

Think about it for a brief moment: In addition to producing and filling existence with ever more sentient beings – each distinct from one another, despite our just now approaching the tens of billions – that divine being also gets to benefit from and enjoy all the majestic efforts as has collectively been made by mankind... sort of like proverbial icing on an already abundantly rich existential cake.

Without a doubt, first and foremost amongst them? This surely includes those innumerable artistic treasures of ours: The endless trove of music, paintings, stories, photography, films and so very much more. So too, all of our ongoing developmental progress: Creating inventions and innovation by the barrel full! Assuming there are basic similarities in the nature of our two realities (based on the "made in Its image" aspect), it would appear entirely plausible that any markedly different developmental/technological progress trees could be exploited by that divinity, as well.

Although surely such an advanced and perfect being as our Maker might ultimately have little use for the majority of such human discoveries and related innovative matters, at the very absolute least here, our many arts would retain an irrefutable priceless quality to them -almost certainly being entirely new and fundamentally unique, for any plane of existence. Only but imagine the works of Shakespeare, songs aplenty... anything and everything in such artistic fields! Their inherent value should remain, even for that divine being.

The final aspect I'd raise today regarding our existential purpose? This desire for creating and developing brand new unique sentience explains the extraordinary criticality of our inviolable free will. To do anything other than that – interfering or interceding directly and blatantly- would also serve to hamper and detrimentally impact the outcome of developing such independent individuals.

Indeed, it is only by ensuring we have the complete freedom to do as we might that such a thing as a consciously self-aware being can truly come to fruition; anything less, and we'd instead find ourselves mere puppets on strings... to say nothing of negatively affecting the dynamics and variety found in the end result (as far as each individual consciousness goes).

So in speculating on some grand purpose, we can be reassured that our existence is specifically the reason for all of known Creation. What's more, it isn't just having life form as a result, nor even intelligent such life, but rather with as large of a number of widely differing and unique intelligent consciousness as is conceivable; each and every single last one of our lives -on purely a personal level- serves as the purpose such divinity had in mind when Creating our universe. To that largely inconceivable entity, we are all equal in being the proverbial apple to its (incomprehensible) mind. Let us make no mistake about it then: Our every last life has identical worth in the larger scheme of things hereabouts, and thusly are we each the most cherished and prized of treasures to that divinity.

In closing: It isn't the grand sum of humanity, as either a species or a civilization -nor Earth, along with the rest of Creation- that's singularly important to divinity. Instead, it's our personal and individual existence -in this life, but especially in the so-called afterlife that's yet awaiting each & every last one of us- and our being just as uniquely _ourselves_ as we possibly might, that's what strikes to the very heart of everything. In this sense, one might even go so far as saying that the more we proudly and boldly embrace who we are for _what_ we are as unique individuals each, then the more of a "success story" we can each hope to be (existentially speaking, but of course) in the resplendent eyes of our one true Maker.

# Chapter 20:

# The Inherent Value of Individuality

Here, the idea I feel needs to be pushed over all others: Encouraging uniqueness and individuality as means of differentiating; to make that much bigger of a ripple in the teeming seas of humanity and human civilization itself; wherein commonality means losing oneself in the crowd ala our "making a bigger impact, leaving a bigger trail".

As I've already explored, to my mind it's clear that this is quite specifically the divine purpose with which we were created for – but, at least for today's discussion, let's examine matters as they relate more to our reality, strictly dealing within the confines of that mortal realm of ours.

Summarized most aptly? Everyone can be the same, but only you can be you.

The very greatest of gifts we have ever been given? Our free will.

Do note, however, that none of this is to say we should all go out tomorrow and (magically) find a way to dye our hair in various ultraviolet colors, just so it's something else that we alone might possess for pleasing or earning God's favor.

But...! Being who we are both fully and openly, by proudly embracing every strange quirk or oddity that makes us exactly who we are? Neither meekly turning away from or refuting any of these quirks we've developed in becoming who we are as mature human beings, simply because it appears easier just to try and "fit in"...? It isn't only healthy doing so, an open embrace of the unique distinctions in us all should be seen as an outright requirement if one seeks to find contentment -and even, in many ways, true meaning- in both this world and "the next". That, instead of being forced into conformity and following along with the masses in opposition to following their own personal truths, we should all be encouraged onward to make our (almost quite literal) "ripples" in such an environment as large as they might possibly hope to be.

Indeed, tragically it is this very quality of conformity that a handful of other so-called cultures or faiths employ and exploit so very well to keep their numbers sustained and loyalty enduring despite a person's own uniquely personal nature – how many Scientologists or Amish outright require every single member to cut off __**all** __ contact with __**any** __ who 'dare' to show true distinction in any number of different ways; where even parents and children are forced to face an absolute schism should one of them be 'crazed' enough as evolving during maturation in such a way as to change their own personal beliefs.

We must always, and I mean __ always, take such abuses for the gravest of affronts they represent: None can ever be forced to either be or believe something they simply don't – precisely the same way that not a one of us can change who we are -in any way, shape or form- besides being precisely who and what we __ really __ are at heart.

Anyone who would resort to such practices of severing all relational contacts or imposing uniformity despite ones own natural, God given characteristics of individuality? It is perhaps they who should instead be those isolated and 'cast out' – not only from some mere family or small community, but from any who would claim decency and humanity! A guiding principle of most all religious faiths is the sanctity of free will – the incomprehensible gift from our Maker such freedoms surely represent; therefore, let any and all be forsaken who would dare to deny someone their absolute free will, to instead force them into chains of bondage by utilizing conditional love or societal blackmail in order to enforce their way as __**the** __ way.

As human beings, we must one and all hold the freedoms of thought, beliefs, self-expression and every other such circumstance where no party is directly being harmed as a result, to be the very absolute highest, most inalienable traits of all. No one human being may __ ever __ force their way on another, for any reasons whatsoever, even if they think it's "for their own good" and that they are in actuality sparing that person from far worse consequences. If the shoe were on the other foot and that person were the one being denied the right to be themselves, they would surely beg to differ – and so we see how the entirety collapses in on itself by refusing our right to be ourselves, as we devolve into endless conflict demanding that one is the 'right way' over all others.

Indeed, short only of the unimpeachable rule that our actions or deeds must never directly harm another in *any* way, it is this precept that should be universally held as the most important of all: Respecting others by allowing them to be who they truly are, just the same as we proudly assert ourselves for who __**we** __ are – to herald our uniqueness and individuality, just as we celebrate others for who and what they are.

Try to imagine it like so: The same exact way as that "larger ripple" might get bestowed by whatever notions of personal uniqueness/individuality we possess (serving to separate us from all others around us), swimming against __ any water's current requires *far* more energy than simply being carried along by/with the tide.

I'll return to this thought in just a moment, but however crudely or poorly conveyed as this analogy might first come off to you (and even, undoubtedly, being downright unpleasant/intensely humbling; told to envision ourselves much the same as mere digital files run on some kind of all but inconceivable absurdist computer-like machine)? None of that alters much of anything here, not really or truly. The way that I myself see it, the more 'unique' we are in various different ways, the larger our own personal 'file size' -our ripple- is relative to others inside of this reality (as well as __ outside __ of it).

Now to be sure, there are a great many who would likely discount such perspectives as nothing save for ever more 'nonsensical feel-good hippy-dippy claptrap' much like those oft ridiculed "Participation Trophies!!! Yay for being you (even having lost today)!" Regardless of it all, I personally feel absolute certainty that this is __**precisely** __ the case we now find for ourselves. Every last detail of every last viewpoint, idea, perspective or otherwise presented herein is __ exactly __ what I unapologetically believe in – all the way down to my very deepest core.

Why, you might well be asking with some trepidation, can I possibly have arrived at such an outlandish view as to treasure any quirky qualities yielding personal uniqueness far more than all the many countless widely shared commonalities? Well clearly, no matter what, life is something of an aberration in this universe of ours. In spite of all that, intelligent life is something far rarer still – being almost as rare, if not even more so, amongst all other life, as life itself is across the entire breadth of vacant space in our relatively empty vacuum of a universe.

So we must feel absolutely certain we are the rarest of the rare, the apex of all known things, species, and so forth: Those able to look up and ask of themselves, "Why?"; the same sort who possess consciously intelligent self-awareness – uniquely sharing in this priceless trait with our divine Creator. Therefore, each and every single last human being must be viewed as the very crown jewels of all Creation, whilst further treasured and prized by whatever entity that's solely responsible for our reality and/or existence.

Each individual human mind -that peerless inventiveness and beauty housed inside those many different heads of ours- is undoubtedly something heralded, seeing as how it's of a kind capable of producing such immeasurable art, curiosity, as well as a veritable wealth of other, similarly positive characteristics and qualities. Likewise, for those that are a dime a dozen? Perhaps not __ quite __ so treasured, prized and coveted - seeing as how they are indeed a dime a dozen.

For much as I've already said: Anybody (and everybody) can be similar, but only you can be yourself – truly distinct from any other person, living or dead. The very best way we __ all __ have of 'standing out and apart from the herd' in such ways? By embracing what makes us, well... __**us** __ – ultimately fulfilling who it is that we are as individuals. We should focus our works on leaving as relatively large of a ripple as we might; creating however much of an imprint that, "Hey – we were here!!" as we can possibly hope to do, while also preparing for the life after this. How should this be achieved? By best developing ourselves as individuals, as we also constantly work together and bring positivity into the world around us: Always living and loving, learning and experiencing all that this life has to offer us, in order to be as uniquely oneself as is humanly possible!

Yet it needn't go so far as figuratively standing apart through a process of uniquely creative/inventive stratification; hardly being necessary to produce whatever priceless arts or works I'd earlier mentioned could be seen as a "bonus" to our divine Maker, in getting "noticed" by the almighty 'Power That Be.' It can instead be perceived far more analytically, utilizing familiar concepts governing the physics of our own world to convey the literal power that distinguishing oneself can bestow upon all those who would seek to do so for themselves.

As I just mentioned about swimming in the opposite direction from the current, demanding far more energy having to ultimately be expended by us to do so? Well then, so too our differentiation and uniqueness goes swimming against those purely social/cultural pressures for conformity. Once again, everyone can like or do the same things; but only a single person might be truly unique in any number of different things or various ways.

With our individual intelligence, self awareness and consciousness, our minds present far more distinctions granting us fantastically larger such "ripples" than simple DNA or molecular variants could ever hope to do – yet another unique trait/gift provided to humanity alongside possessing consciousness.

Just so long as it doesn't act to directly negatively impact another living soul, our uniqueness simply _must_ be seen for the cherished quality it surely is, no matter what it may be relating to or on what scope and scale it involves. Indeed, whether or not one accepts such a simulated viewpoint is actually of quite little consequence when it comes to this one area in particular – should anyone believe in any form of a higher power whatsoever, they too ought to deem individuality as being a paramount characteristic. Otherwise, what would even be the point in having teeming populations of humanity at all? If this weren't just so, then you'd most likely have only discovered a single immortal human being 'created' in such a way, with at best a mere handful of identical clones walking about who reproduce by cloning/asexual duplication.

Instead, we find over seven billion of us living (and thriving!) here today... and still counting! Clearly, it should go without question that whomever or whatever one might believe to have made us, that divinity did so in prizing the idea of differentiation to an extreme degree. Why? Because only look around, taking in the entire world and universe all around us! There aren't universally cloned blobs of rock and gas as identical planets, encircling stars that are each mirror images to each other, being one and all the exact same.

Rather, we bear witness to as many different kinds of planets of all shapes, sizes, configurations, ages or types as there are stars in the sky. This, never mind the fact those very same stars are all nearly just as different from each other, as well! Beyond mere sentient consciousness or life, every aspect of our existence is fundamentally about differentiation and uniqueness, with similarities above an atomic or molecular level essentially next to nonexistent!

Just as we've been told that variety is the spice of life, it appears to be of even greater significance and importance to the Maker of that life: God the Almighty. Therefore, we should never accept being told by others that whatever personal quirks or idiosyncrasies we possess are undesirable, something serving only as a target for taunts, condescension or scorn. This uniqueness is our greatest of all attributes, both personally and as a species or lifeform – and let none tell us any differently, if their aim is to force us towards homogeneity.

# Chapter 21:

# The Uniqueness of Our Uniqueness

Where I continually emphasize the extraordinary existential importance of our uniqueness and individuality with regard to the sentient, self-aware consciousness we each and every last one of us are, another reason providing us with further insight as to the 'why?' behind this as the most notable aspect for having such a technologically based simulated existence...? Consider only those technologies we ourselves are already more than familiar with – from there, next ponder the inevitable eventuality of a true artificial intelligence of our own making.

If such a thing proves to be at all possible (meaning some self-aware construct made from and designed using only lines of programming code written by humans, just as it undoubtedly would be) -itself hardly some foregone conclusion just now- then surely the mere idea of any differentiation whatsoever would be a totally alien concept to it/them. That selfsame hypothetical scripted AI? It'd be created from out of scripts of code; existing in a static and unchanged state – as opposed to any familiarity with randomness or dynamism in any such ways; day after day, always running from off of the very same lines of code!

Built around a core architecture program, it might add layers atop still more layers to introduce some degree of ongoing alterations; but the so-called "heart" to its sentient operation set would be in a state of utter and complete permanence.

Because was it not exactly just so...? If, let's say, even so much as a singular "0" bit worth of change gets introduced to its "heart," so offering said AI an opportunity to be "different"? We ourselves already know precisely what would happen there as a result! ' _ERROR. ERROR. CODE 816! BLUE SCREEN OF DEAAAAATTHHHhhhhhhhhh-_ ' and, just like that... buh-bye Mr. AI!

All the more, in conceivably 'reproducing' itself, then the basic underlying nature for such things is only for it to make a carbon copy of itself. In actual nature, however, as is found outside of such digital/binary things, copying anything inevitably means introducing at least some degree of variance or change to it in the process. This can be due to countless reasons: Whether the rather imperfect beings we are, or simply the incredible complexity and incomprehensibly small scales one might be able to winnow down to find flaws in any copies by our own two hands.

In point of fact, genuine identical duplicates -a perfect clone- simply doesn't exist in our universe above a molecular, elemental based level. No two any things are alike, as even a rogue atom of some other element between two otherwise identical objects will mean they are distinguishably different from one another - if only on microscopic scales.

So we actually have the opposite problem here as does any AI: If we wanted absolute perfection to come from any efforts aimed at duplication, no matter how hard we might try...? To make an utterly perfect reproduction of just about anything is beyond our own power, by and large. No matter what, in some way or another that copy shall have some imperfection or alteration found by the time it's all finished.

Ultimately, this denotes an important and irreplaceable quality to our existence: The perfect means of creating differentiation... of all sorts! What's more, when we consider the realities as faced by our own technological constructs, if we might "step outside" life as we know it in this universe, we can perhaps easily see just how exceptional and rare such universal uniqueness truly is. It makes far more sense to instead imagine perfect duplication, much the same as an atom or digital file.

Furthermore, the more complex something is -say, a human being, for example: Both as an intelligent consciousness, and simply as a genetic lifeform- the more impossible it should be to retain fundamental variations while producing anything aside from worthless chaos or "junk." That we might actually all be overwhelmingly unique in a countless many ways, yet remain functionally similar nonetheless...? It displays the fantastic design behind us and our reality – just the same as it must emphasize to us the unmatched value found within any such reality.

On the other hand, in once more considering the realm of our own modern technological wonders, it's indeed something of a different story. " _COPY_ **...?** **Please, do meet** ___PASTE_ **!** " Those binary-based ones and zeroes can easily be reproduced in an exact fashion -and literally *only* in an exact fashion- wherein precision and perfection are the names of the game to be found thereabouts. While this might seem preferable to some at first glance, because of that aforementioned " _ERROR. ERROR... 010110_ " we instead find how there's an inability for such things to know any meaningful (read: natural and organic) kinds of change.

Therein, digital reproduction means a literal " **copy+paste** " affair – yielding never ending carbon copies that, try as one might, would all be built from off of the same exact core infrastructure. Because without that change able to realistically (or successfully) get introduced to anything, there's actually little real opportunity for improvements or betterment... of any kind!

In regards to that aforementioned aspect of " **layers atop yet more layers** " as the sole means of bringing about change to a technologically based entity, let's envision a sci-fi world's android-based robotics: Each and every last robot would be constructed identically as they are all made using precisely the same resources (in identical amounts) in the same exact ways. They would also each have identical lines of code as whatever software might be running and guiding their interactions.

Surely, some cosmetic customization would be desired by users (nobody would want to spend so much money on such a purchase, only to have a perfect replica of what Joe Blow down the block also owns) so you'd inevitably find them coming in ever so slightly different (synthetic, but of course) "hair," "eyes," or "skin" colors; maybe tossing in some added variance in their "facial features," (what we know to be our "bone structure.")

Software-wise, there'd be a few add-on features tossed in for some folks to purchase. Various scripts offering different or improved tasks and functions (One having specific scripts for custodial tasks, while another with applications for cooking and preparing food, and so on) but at the end of the day, their primary... well, their primary everything, would all be fundamentally identical to one another in running from off of precisely the same lines of code.

The primary issue there is simply introducing change to digital creations in any such ways leads to unrecoverable ensuing catastrophe, plain and simple – the very definition itself of corruption as a word. Given this fact, we must only assume that such binary-based things would immediately view any change or aspects of uniqueness as synonymous with death and disaster, to the point of developing an outright obsession with ensuring no such thing might ever befall it... almost worshiping the idea of uniformity and existing in a static state.

This is one of the main reasons why we can be certain that whatever higher power is behind our own existence is not solely a technological intelligence – for if it were actually just so, they wouldn't be able to conceive of the idea of any differentiation whatsoever.

On the same token, however, we can find reason for why precisely such uniqueness would be so greatly treasured: Something all but incapable of being obtained in any other way, save only this very same naturally 'organic' process that brought us into being. It would thusly make merely the slightest bit of variance (especially in conscious intelligence or animated/living creations) quite exceptional – to any being: Most especially anything constantly surrounded by incomprehensibly futuristic artifice and technologies, or whose existence sprung out of/survived in spite of such developmental epochs.

# Chapter 22:

# Natural Equality of Consciousness

The inherent equality of consciousness: There's two sides to a singular coin in our views about, well... our views _in_ relation to one other. A small number of folks outright reject notions of individual equality. In their eyes, some truly are "made" better than others; whereby, but of course, the great Olympian or the Einstein and daVinci were not equal with Ogg, the Ancient Caveman.

To most others, we hold human equality as an irrefutable reality... if only by and large. We are each born mostly equal, we might say, and so it's only what we do and make of ourselves after birth that offers any potential distinction or division (coming in the form of our personal achievements and merit).

But it seems to me both notions are missing the most critical aspect of all to factor in: Our consciousness, that marvelous blessing bestowed upon humanity during our species very first days. Think of how genuinely impossible and exceptional of a thing it well and truly is? To be able to gaze out and simply ask "why?" - loving and learning, hoping or dreaming all the while as we move right along!

It is the rarest of things, and it makes each of us the most superior of things in this plane of existence – one and all, each and every single last one of us! So then, an old adage has had it right all along: We genuinely _are_ equal in the eyes of our Creator. To that divine being, we have all been bestowed with the most splendiferous of gifts conceivable: Intelligent sentience.

We all therefore bring the exact same thing to the table (existentially speaking): Upon our deaths, we offer up our individual selves to our supreme Maker; our lived experiences shaping and molding our singularly unique qualities as intelligent individual consciousness. Every single last one of us is, in such a view, inherently equal: We bring those things that only we might possibly bring; no one else can offer what we ourselves do as an individual, in the same way that we cannot take anyone else's "place" or fill their shoes. Each of us are fundamentally and completely unique – and so we find the means by which every single last one of us is well and truly equal. Not in some mushy "one love" kumbaya respect, but rather every human being is literally equal.

This is because not a one of us are the same -not in any way, shape or form!- so that absolute uniqueness ensures we are utterly equal to one another, with every individual being wholly irreplaceable in the greater scheme of such existentialist things.

But -just perhaps- there is an even more important, far larger point contained herein; coming alongside the 'Do no harm' and other whatnots: Never follow along blindly (with blind being the key word there, in meaning that unabashed anarchy simply for anarchy's sake is a grave danger purely by itself) – not with anything, nor so much as for anyone. __**Always** __ evaluate and reevaluate something for yourself; ascertain whether everything conceivable makes sense __**to** __ you, for you.

To quite simply "do as you are told" – be that following along because "that's how things have always been and, gosh darn it, they just work!" or else being told that things are just *that* way and expected to take such determinations by others at face value.

Mind you, it isn't simply desirable to live according to such notions – but indeed, the road to the very absolute worst of all atrocities ever committed by men were paved in precisely these practices. Perversely, we are told not to "follow blindly like sheep," but those who question too much or divert too dramatically get labelled as societal outcasts or routinely mocked and derided for their uniqueness.

Just the same, ours is the first generation to truly live such personally independent values rooted in equality through and through (by and large, at least). All prior generations of mankind preceding modern times? Each had its own set of blindly followed rules... "Them's just the way things are, bucko! Can't fight City Hall, and all that jazz!"

Yet again, our progress by advancement has genuinely freed us... making ours an unprecedented generation: Humanity at its most significant crossroads of all time, for all time. Between our independent thinking, cultural values instilled by (hopefully) living free in a democracy, vast personal educations, witnessing the most amazing blessings critical thought and the scientific method have rewarded us all with (and the staggering harm unleashed throughout various "Dark Ages" that had as their defining characteristic the opposition of such ideals), and, perhaps most important of all, the Internet.

Why the good ol' Interwebz, you might be asking? Cesspool it often admittedly is, filled with XXX galore, fire breathing trolls and more? Because for those of us who have grown up with it, it has offered one critically important thing to us all: Take nothing at face value. Question everything. The truth... is out there! (Cue the eerie music, maestro!)

Suddenly, we exist in a world where we don't have to merely sit back and accept, "Just trust me on this, I know what I'm talking about!" Oh, no! Rather, we now Google everything! We have a question about anything? Then we seek out the answers for ourselves, acquiring and compiling the facts to arrive at our desired solutions... regardless of what that might mean.

If we doubt something we've been told by others, no longer are we without any recourse – given no one else to turn to and have our inquiries properly satisfied. Instead, we Google it and rely on the accumulated knowledge of all of mankind; if some uncertainty or vagueness yet remains, where conflicting answers might exist? We simply go with what makes sense to us, and that which the vast majority can reasonably be said to indicate. Of course an absolute reliance using such means is fraught with its own dangers, so we must always strive to independently evaluate those things we do discover online. By and large, however, the Internet has provided our era with far more blessings than curses.

But far and away the most important aspect of all hereabouts? The overwhelming embracing of the self that our present generation enjoys; of focusing on practices of critical thinking and that very same sort of independent evaluation. There might well yet be some who would decry such principles – that this independence is a recipe for chaotic anarchy and mob rule. Listen not to such harsh words, for theirs is instead the only surefire cocktail for disaster here.

Never – **EVER** – doubt or be told to think that such traits are a net negative or detrimental in any conceivable way... for they are most certainly not! Those who would seek people who possess those sorts of traits or adhere to such notions most likely have their own machinations in mind, and they are ones that only benefit the scheming manipulators and autocratic madmen of this world. Only in a land where the population is forced to bend to the will and orchestration of others could things such as the Holocaust occur. In other words, mercifully such atrocities as the Nazis once brought forth shall never again take place so long as the people of this Earth remain critically independent and free thinking sorts.

Little wonder, then, that the insipid horrors of ISIS just now take place under dark and evil souls who decree theirs is the one true way, and all their fanatical faithful must follow their every last word to the letter!

There's actually an interesting little quirk in the field of political science that speaks to this, something I feel is well worth another (not so brief) aside: The theory of the democratic peace.

Long story short? Save for but a handful of extreme abnormalities (and many of which involve nations that are arguably not even 'true' democracies), no two genuinely democratic peoples have __ ever __ gone directly to war with one another! Despite the exceptional -overwhelming, even- prevalence of democracy this past century? All wars have involved at least one side out of the two that was __**not** __ democratic in their form of governance.

When you stop and think about the sheer fantastical number of nations that have converted to democracy of late, then furthermore the fact we're looking at a good century or so worth of time, this is simply a most astounding reality... that wars just __**don't** __ involve pure democracies – not ever! Or, said differently, that a world filled only with democracies equals a world largely without any warfare whatsoever!

Yet... stop and ruminate for a moment on the troubled spots of this globe, and you might quickly realize the great legitimacy of this idea. Where are the remaining problem areas in our world? Hmm.. Africa? North Korea? The Middle East?! And where does peace largely reign supreme? Europe? The Americas – North and South both?

And what's the additional factor at play here, with those regions? Sure, economic realities are one thing... except! South and Central America aren't exactly all that well to do, except a peace has existed there too in recent decades. But what they do have – and what the worst contemporary nightmarish hotspot that is the Middle East most certainly lacks – is democracy. The singular biggest threat to this world today? ISIL. And what are they, if not the most undemocratic of hell spawns imaginable?

As to the why this democratic peace exists as it does? Two reasons: First, the general public never much likes going to war, seeing as how it is their lives put on the line in combat, their ways of life most disrupted by conflict, and their economies and financial realities that bear the full brunt whilst those elitist decision makers live in the lap of luxury itself.

Secondary to this, however, comes the irrefutable fact that a land filled only with blind followers is also a place capable of irrational/illogical horrors and atrocities; that the core values of independence and free thinking that all truly democratic societies must possess are inherently supportive of the purest of positives: Peace, understanding and compromise.

When we all realize that we are indeed equal as men and women, that also brings with it a unique reality wherein we are far more willing to engage in a game of "give and take" that finds us entering into dialogue, discourse and, ultimately, compromising with those we might be on roads to conflict with. As soon as you comprehend that you as a person haven't any greater right to some various thing than anyone else on this Earth, you're much more able to sacrifice and yield in compromise – realizing that the other party also shares just as much right to the source of your conflict, and that the optimal outcome to your argument entails spreading out the burdens and losses just as much as sharing in the plunder/gains.

All the more, however, living independent and free knowing that every last word spoken by those leaders and "elites" mustn't necessarily always be followed 'til the ends of the Earth? We don't end up blindly following the irrationalities of a handful because, well, "that's just how it is... they simply know better than we mere peasants and hopeless vagrants."

_Heresy_! The life of every single last man or woman on this Earth is worth precisely as much as any other. All our words hold equal value and weight, and so none of us have more of a right to anything than any other person breathing air presently does. It is these same principles that contribute to rationality and peacefulness – and blind sheepishness leading only to the nightmarish world of warfare and endless conflict.

So when someone -anyone- tells you to simply "follow along... because that's just the way things have always gone!" Respond by telling _them_ to look at history – look at the state of the world in those free thinking societies of democracies, and then comparing now to the all of human history. War after war, conflict after never ending conflict! All too often, so-called "civilized" nations were engaged in more than one war at once! So riddled were they with conflict, they couldn't even choose just a single foe or war to be embroiled in at any given moment... oh, no! For why be forced to have to choose between them, when one might instead have endless wars – ones fought on countless fronts, by many different sides!

Maybe two bitter foes would tire after a few decades at bloody war with one another... entering into a period of relative peace – although temporary it most certainly always proved to be. Before long -perhaps a mere handful of years or decades, at the very best- they'd be right back at things all over again... no less, even taking the opportunity to bestow the renewal of their hostilities with a shiny, brand new name – distinguishing it from that "old" war: Although quite ridiculously, in this sense "old" might have only signified a time recent enough to find the smoke from cannon and musket fire yet lingering on their (not so very) "ancient" battlefields!

This was the reality our own various ancestors were faced with, one and all – and most especially those who hailed from Western Europe! The lands of France, England, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, Germany and surrounding territories found perpetual warfare, fighting with one another: Time. After. Time – War. After. War. Seas of crimson blood continually being spilled, all the while those decision making elites who created the conflict invariably sat safely out of harm's way – hopeless cases that they were, aloof and out of touch, just as all such elites who were fed from platinum plated spoons whilst wee toddlers always are.

As empires continually fell back in those days of yore -much like dominos, each dropping one-by-one in some unending chain- still more tin pot dictators in the same exact mold (perversely claiming theirs was the way of true immaculate royalty) rose up from the ashes, much like the mythical Phoenix itself. The string of conflict carried on incessantly and unabated, all the way up to the still recent memory of contemporary times; only ending after many thousands of years -dating back to long before those countries even had any names for themselves, or were merely nations at all!- upon the fall of the Nazi and Axis powers back in the middle part of 1945.

However much many might claim that it was World War 2's horrors, the new realities of the era of nuclear weaponry... even the benefit brought with international diplomacy by an unprecedented uniting of nations -the __ United Nations, that is- the reality is instead that 'they' all said much the same things after the first World War concluded with the Treaty of Versailles in 1918...

"Such horrors found in the trenches that never again shall we descend into any such terrible war! The exponential worsening of military technologies -battles newly fought with chemical and biological weapons, automated machine guns capable of horrifically slaughtering countless hundreds of souls per minute, along with missiles, aircraft fighters, tanks, massive bomb munitions and more... tens of millions of fine young soldiers whose lives were one and all forever lost to our world! Ruins and devastation being all that remains... even for the so-called victors! Always remember, never forget – never, __**ever** __ again!!! Oh, and btw? League of Nations 4 EVAH!!!!"

Yeah, well... things didn't exactly pan out that way now, did they? Because then, suddenly, only a brief short time later, that same horrible war couldn't even be known any longer as __**just** __ ' **THE** __ Great War' – oh, no! But rather, only as the First such World War!

So let us then never kid ourselves here: The relative peace that has descended on this world in recent times owes itself directly to the very nature of democracies fostering humans that are rational and free beings, each of us now logical and critical thinking who live with precepts of equality and independence at their cores. The reasons why peace emerged from out of the ashes of the defeated Axis Powers... in actuality, having exceedingly little to do with our world suddenly possessing ever worse weapons or improved mechanisms for dialogue and mediation – but instead, the fact that democracies mercifully replaced ancient empires.

For, quite unlike what was the case with the aftermath of that first (not-so) Great War, WW2 permanently decimated those many former colonial powers on __**both** __ sides – regimes whose reach was simply no longer what it once was, and who ultimately collapsed as one, even including those who didn't lose in the war itself. Suddenly gone were those various global imperial powers headed by autocratic despots and (arguably) outright lunatics – in their place came the great shining beacon of governance: Democracy for all! And so, subsequently that greatest of democratic peace which this world essentially has known ever since.

Just as with so much else in life, however, and as regrettably is the case we find to be true more times than not, the very best and greatest of dreams can only ever be born from those very worst and most terrible of all waking nightmares – it seemingly requiring a truly horrific cost paid in misery and bloodshed in order to attain the polar opposite: Turning such negativity into incredible positive realities. So too, unfortunately, had to happen here – with World War 2 and the unimaginable, unconscionable evils unleashed during a Holocaust carried out by the absolute closest thing to literal demons our world will (hopefully) ever have to suffer walking amongst us on this Earth.

All the same, we are also now interconnected together quite unlike anything that's ever existed before – linked at the very speed of light itself, no less! – forcing walls raised by national and societal borders to fall, one by one; felled before the greatness of the Internet. That, coming along with all sorts of various other communicative technologies that foster atmospheres of mutual understanding and harmonious global development.

Today, many of those principles that also might be said to come alongside our considerable (and, of late, increasingly widespread) educations all are advancing us ever onward -the assorted tenets of reason, rationality and science; wherein irrefutable and __ tangible __ proof exists in the form of those countless rewards ushered in as technologies, whilst in turn the dangers fraught in olden days equally get exposed ever more, quickly left to fall by the wayside before the sheer might of marvelous modernity; as those few lasting pockets of lingering darkness in this world are rapidly eradicated, all but rendered entirely extinct by the shining beacon that is our great contemporary world.

When all these things are combined together just so, we find that it is our own generation (and, seeing as how all of this is coming for the very first time -ever- it is indeed ours alone! to enjoy and/or claim as such) that's been presented with the most unprecedented of opportunities: To usher in the first genuine era of peace on Earth. Meaning, in other words, an age with peace _for_ this entire Earth. Never again would our children, nor their children after them (or, for that matter, any other man, woman or child) be forced to endure the horrors that man can sometimes be capable of committing; having to witness as the utter irrationality of the few ultimately begets devastation and death for the many, as those most terrible horns of war yet again get blown to make men take up arms \- no less, for reasons they all too often don't even know what for!

Such are the (innumerable) dangers of blindly following others like the merest of simple sheep; of those being told to "shut up and just do as you're told," purely because that's "how things are... precisely as they've always been!" Peace might come only by way of reason, with discourse, parlay and games of give and take, back and forth; solely in a world brought together by a shared understanding of one another and harboring mutual respect for each other – with universal equality and freedom for all - no matter who, where, when or what they might be!

Let us then take absolutely nothing strictly at face value, left to question everything; never kneeling before or made to cower for anyone. Live a life devoted to free thought, equal worth and possessing a quite distinctive flair for independence; living to our very cores with an unflinching individuality and uniqueness, things we also celebrate everyday in everyone around us: Cheering the eccentricities and oft times oddities in us all.

# Chapter 23:

# Importance of the Individual: Free Thought and Expression

So we must then embrace our individuality, knowing that if something is our own personal truth, none might ever tell you that you are blatantly wrong for it. No thing in this world is more powerful than that which we perceive as truth -both as it relates to and for ourselves- and it is exactly this that we must always strive to cherish and celebrate! In essence, giving to the entire world the gift that comes in the form of our very own uniqueness as a human being.

It is indeed a most tricky balancing act to successfully excel at pulling off – to try and manage an unabashed, unapologetic stance celebrating ourselves, both fully and completely, for who we are along with what we stand for, at the same time as we pursue the sorts of humility, charity and selflessness in the understanding that those needs of the many genuinely do outweigh those of only the self. In this, however, the realization also comes that the greatest gift we might offer this world is who we are; offered up as it is unflinchingly and wholeheartedly, all the while often putting others ahead of that very same self.

It can take a whole entire lifetime (if not needing far longer than any of us might ever get here in this world) in coming to do this effortlessly and unthinkingly as little more than second nature to us, as we indeed seem to have a natural instinct of weighting those distinctly personal interests far above and beyond those that instead might benefit only total strangers, no matter how many that tally of unknowns might inevitably include. And yet, we must come to this with an understanding of what our own lives would be like if others did not live in this particular way – if only achieved by living it in some way or another. Stop and envision what life would be like on this Earth if everyone just lived only for themselves, and absolutely no one else; dare to consider what if everyone who's ever had a meaningful contribution, discovery or invention had simply kept it all to themselves out of baser self interests?

Where would we then be as a people right now, if living in just such a world? One where, let's say, the miracle of transistors as a solution in technology over those massive, behemoth vacuum tubes never comes to pass, as it instead gets obsessively kept only for those few who invented it? And then, none of the further improvements by countless others regarding those same transistors happens, meaning the exponential miniaturization of computer processors does not take place over the last half century and change, much as it has.

Not only wouldn't we ultimately be living in this miraculous modern age with all our incredible digital gizmos and doodads, enjoying lifespans continually being expanded ever more with each successive generation, we'd instead all still be living in caves doing battle with sticks and stones over even the smallest of conveniences or more favorable territories.

Throughout my writings, I often reference how we only stand on the shoulders of giants – being as it is the sum total of all human endeavors, ones made over all of human history itself. Well, in the hypothetical world of the selfish egocentric mindset, rather than marveling at the sights atop that most stratospheric of towers by standing on the backs of all those who have come before us, we'd each and every last one of us be firmly entrenched on terra firma standing only on our own two feet – and nothing else – while desperately seeking to knock all others __**off** __ their feet, and constantly attempting to prevent them from doing likewise to ourselves!

I mean, would a single one of us truly want to live in the kind of society which exists in a complete and total "Doomsday Prepper" land – wherein all might look out only for themselves, and furthermore merrily throw all others under the proverbial bus, largely just for giggles? Realizing that it is a constant game of zero-sum conflict (meaning that what harms another benefits you, and so vice versa), so if one isn't presently engaged in hostilities with that person over something, then they probably will be one day... so why not live today __ like it _is_ already __ that day?

Of course none of us would possibly ever prefer living in that kind of world! In this we can also easily come full circle, back around to one of the oldest and most essential ideas to all of human civilization, just the same as it holds true for all of humanity: Do unto others as you'd have done to yourself. If we don't want to live in constant conflicts and struggles -a truly Hellish land of total, absolute selfishness- then we must always put the good of the many above that of only the self.

Because here's where the potential "incentive" for doing so kicks in: If a world exists where everyone looks out only for themselves, then there is only one person looking out for your own interests: You. __**Maybe** __ extend this to close family and loved ones, but even there, they might always favor numero uno at day's end, when it comes right down to it.

Ahh, but in the world of unwavering selflessness over selfishness? Well, you thusly find yourself working for the interests of the many others in place of only those of the self! Except...! Suddenly, in the eyes of everyone else on this planet, __**you** __ are one of those "others" to them – meaning now, instead of one person putting your interests ahead, you've got seven * _billion_ * who are potentially doing exactly that!

I just mentioned how we'd all be living in caves in the world where everyone kept their own discoveries, inventions, improvements and knowledge strictly to themselves – well unfortunately, while ideally this absolute selflessness might one day occur effortlessly and solely through the basic ideals behind it, today most all such gifts bestowed by the contributions of others come to exist in our world only through a lens of a decidedly personalized focus. It is in fact this notion right here that's precisely why capitalism has proven such an incredible and superior thing over all other similar such forms: It promotes putting the wider interests of the many others above those of only the self, but achieved by embracing -and actually exploiting- the solely egocentric worldview.

With the promise of monetary rewards -currency that trades in the efforts and labors of others, earned as it is by "hawking" those efforts and contributions you yourself have to offer to the wider "pool" of mankind- we find diametrically opposed ideals actually harmoniously coexisting, drawing strength from one another in mutual support for otherwise polar opposites. Capitalism sees the good of the largest number of people in fact getting pursued, but fulfilled by first guaranteeing the more egocentric mindset everything they could ever possibly want in life. It manages to provide for _both_ of those otherwise conflicting concerns, and therefore the good of the greatest many comes out ahead by continually finding the self rewarded in such capitalistic societies.

Likewise, even now we should already aspire to further evolve and ascend past needing such tempting lures to be used as proverbial bait for giving the egocentric all they could ask for. We should commit to such an advancement by realizing just how much we all stand to gain in the process; how very much better our whole entire world would be made in so doing. If further reasoning is required, one can look for confirmation of all this by comparing various historical and more modern "success stories" up against those that faced immense notable failures in these regards, instead.

For example, America has risen to the pinnacle of human civilization this past century, both by being capitalistic and embracing the great big "melting pot" society. Where everyone from the whole world over comes together, providing all that they might offer as their own unique "strengths" to serve the very greatest conceivable good.

Yet it all boils down to simple numbers: The greatest possible good that can come to yourself is in a world where the largest amount of people are looking out for/championing your interests. When you often try to place the interests of others over your own, it leaves you with billions putting _you_ ahead – this, in place of only one person doing so: Yourself.

Even so, we should desire doing so for loftier, much more humble ambitions: Not because it ultimately benefits oneself all the more, but because it's quite simply the "right" thing to do here. Yet this admittedly does not come naturally to us as we have a deeply instinctual urge of egocentricity, mired as it is in notions of survival in a dog eat dog sort of world. It is something we almost have to "train" ourselves to do, all the while done precisely in order to show that we can indeed rise above – nurture besting more primitive nature; man overcoming all struggles in order to become the very best we might ever hope to be: Doing that which is right simply because it's what's right, listening to our "better angels," as it were.

By training ourselves in just such a way, we might further ascend into a more utopian kind of world, transforming us as individuals into far better people – the innate light of the so-called human "spirit" defeating all else standing in its path. Our world today -where we've managed to travel to the very heaven's above themselves, with technology connecting us all and making our lives all the better in the process- stands as proof positive of just all we can achieve when we strive to work together for the common, greater good. It is in precisely this light that we must continually pursue bettering that same world and improving ourselves all the more, both as a society/civilization just as much as individuals.

# Chapter 24:

# The Value of Cooperative Togetherness, Of The Many Different Selves

All the same, always retain the certainty that our shared and mutual interdependence is never diametrically opposed to being personally independent and free thinking beings, seeing as how any networked collaborative effort shall always be vastly superior to something done strictly by oneself, alone in stark isolation: How we all presently stand upon the shoulders of towering giants, being far better together than we could ever so be apart, and all that jazziness.

For while little is weaker than an entire army of thoughtless sheep following in step with some monolithic authority, nothing can overcome an __**array** __ of networked, genuinely independently thinking individuals; those who work to contribute their very greatest of personal strengths to the efforts of the many, whilst equally drawing on the many combined strength of others to fill in their own void of assorted weaknesses.

Only stop to consider how no man or woman can ever realistically hope to perform as some freakish one-person band. We, all of us, put forth our talents at the very same time we likewise tap into the fantastic threads of talents others themselves each possess, carefully interwoven to produce the absolute most beautiful and stunning of tapestries ever imaginable! Just as one soul perhaps plays their bass, yet another pounds away at the drum set, someone else strums on guitar, combined with that singer gifted a positively divine vocal range, while -just maybe- others still might perform on the keyboard, with a dedicated rhythm guitarist, possibly various string and brass instruments, a harmonica... heck, why not even include an accordion so we might have the choice of going all-out Polka style!

Ahh, but as if that alone weren't enough? In the studio, you additionally find the need for having devoted sound engineers, producers or mixers, songwriters, technicians, and such. On the long and winding road during a tour, roadies assemble and deconstruct the stage, tasked with maintaining the musician's hardware, along with those who drive their buses and vans, sell merchandise, security, or interface directly with the various entertainment venue personnel.

Overall, behind the scenes each act also has their much maligned talent agents and yes-men managers, accountant bean counters, and personal assistants. Every last one of them is critical to the entire effort; none of whom might find their work seamlessly removed, certainly not without risking the end result to suffer greatly, solely as a result of their loss.

Mind you, the fact that, in our rock band example just now, not a single one of these fine folks is ever some sheepish unthinking follower – all of them contribute some manner of talent requiring considerable skill, knowledge and educational backgrounds, while not a one of them are some autocratic 'Rocker King/God/Dictator'.

The very best similar such efforts take place strictly as a collaboration between a wide array of extraordinarily talented souls. The Beatles, never having been some singular solo act. Furthermore, when the Beatles were no more and went kaput...? A band that will go down in history right in between Bach and Beethoven, whose every last record (over only an all too brief handful of years) contained literally legendary classics of sheer genius; a musical group that anyone alive today could rattle off an endless parade of song titles the whole entire world now knows by heart! Then... poof! Just like that, after a final performance atop a studio rooftop in London one fateful and dark day, those Beatles were quite simply... no more!

Admittedly, although some further 'hits' surely did come from their assorted independent efforts as solo artists, none of them ever came close to matching anything done by the Beatles themselves. Even then, irrespective of total sales or comparative charting positions, the simple cumulative number of those soloist hit songs vastly pales in comparison to their prior Beatles-related works – even in spite of suddenly having four different acts, at any given moment capable of producing four times the number of releases and amount of musical outputs/endeavors, in the place of where there was once but a single band composed of four men. Furthermore, the fact there's also been nearly some forty years worth of time for those multiple acts as opposed to having barely a quarter of that as The Beatles (at least, that is, for three of those four – save for the incomprehensible loss of John Lennon, of course.)

That being said, were both Ringo and George viewed as the complete equal of John and Paul's twosome? Most certainly not! Indeed, at the time this perceived disparity in stature went so far as routinely finding poor ol' Ringo mocked more often times than not! Oh, the songs that were written of poor Ringo's relative inequity up against either John Lennon or Paul McCartney...

Yet just the same, in some mysterious alternate world to ours...? And with all other things having been equal, totally unchanged and unaltered in any way, shape or form? One that still had the John and Paul duo existing, meaning we only replace George and Ringo... say, perhaps with Sammy Sunn on drums and Dean Fairichild on the bass for the Altereatles... then we also undoubtedly would discover a drastically different, unrecognizable end Beatles product – like one where the Beatles might very well have never been successful at all! Rather, in this bizarre alternate reality, it is the great Monkees that went down as the legendary musical Gods.

Mind you, there isn't even so much as a question this would be the case... it quite simply "is." Sure, perhaps their names weren't on the song credits as cowriters – that's certainly not to say they didn't leave their marks and make irreplaceable contributions to every last song released in the Beatles catalogue. Even if they didn't directly write the song, their unique stamp was all over each one – performing on the records, having their own instrumental "styles" that were written for, along with simply being themselves. This, meaning that every interaction they had with John and Paul changed the all of everything – changing who John and Paul were and became, and the simple day-to-day impact they made just by doing whatever they did on a daily basis.

In all things, each person always has their own particular tasks – in any project – and similar endeavors that are the products of combined efforts will forever and always be something that nothing else in this world can ever possibly match. So might it be said that we truly are better together than we are apart, standing as we do on those aforementioned shoulders of giants... one and all – from those very lowliest of the oft maligned lowsome, all the way up to the most stratospheric of rarefied souls.

Indeed, were we only to pluck some otherwise unknown and utterly forgotten stonemason from some four millennia ago, then it would presently leave this world of ours completely unrecognizable... in but an instant! So would it be a world drastically transformed, nearly as much as if we instead were to remove the most heralded and renowned of historical figures in our poor temporally anomalous stonemason's place.

Let us then make no mistake about it: Each and every soul on this Earth has made their lasting contribution, if only in one way or another, just as we ourselves will ultimately impart to this world. For we, all of us, have our own various parts to play in that grandiose theatrical production entitled ' _Life'_. If only something that's accomplished by transforming successive future generations – where our 'plucked-from-time' folks never have their genes passed on with their own children, subsequently parenting and rearing those children as they ultimately ended up doing – the legendary butterfly effect indeed very much presenting as all too real and true of a thing.

There isn't a single one of us alive or dead who are simple "mistakes" – each and every last one has their part to play, being on this Earth doing what we do for a reason: Quite intentionally. Such is the greater truth revealed from the perspective of simulated notions: To imagine this world is all but the product of some grand computerized design. Then each one of us would have been carefully "selected," as it were, having specific roles and contributions to fulfill. You might not know what that task is, and you could very well never know it – but you do indeed have one, just as everyone else does.

You are indeed here for a reason, and wouldn't be here if there weren't one. Now then, with some incomprehensible seven billion of us living today, is that to say we all have some fantastically epic part in 'Life: The Musical!' Of **course** not! To say anything else would be ridiculous absurdities. Yeah, it'd be great if things could work out that way \- positively gooey feeling and heartwarming for us all. But, yet again, with seven billion souls on this Earth -just this very moment- it's also all but an absolute impossibility. Just as is true for any feature film, only so many names might hope to appear in the opening credits. But wouldn't the film be an utter joke were it an empty set, filled only with a half dozen A-listers and literally no one else? This, to say nothing of all the fine hardworking folks behind the lens – the veritable army of talented professionals who work tirelessly to create quality filmed entertainment products?

So indeed, we might only be fated to play bit parts in the overall game of life itself – but oh, what a game it is! Imagine the epic nature of all of human civilization – try to conceive just how grandiose of an affair it all amounts to; the incomprehensible place we currently find ourselves, how staggering and impossible that any living creatures might develop from simple matter, then managing to attain such gifts and abilities that go along with such fantastic levels of knowledge and understanding. No matter what part we have to play there, regardless of however big or small it may very well be...? The plain and simple fact that we can even claim having *any* part, at least when the production is as... amazingly impossible, fantastically miraculous, marvelously brilliant, beautifully complex, stunningly grand... everythingly anything...! precisely as Life: The Musical assuredly is?

Now *that* is something to be proud of, to know for certain you have a literally irreplaceable, invaluable role producing... well, the all of everything for humankind, itself! To have no doubt whatsoever that yours is a lasting, priceless contribution -no matter what it might entail- and that, as a result, you might rightfully claim proper credit for everything our incredible species does, has done, and will yet do. That's an important point, mind you: Imagining that, whatever the role, the end result would collapse/be nonexistent without that person. Therefore, in a certain sense each person can justifiably claim sole credit for the entire work!

Because, bottom line...? If you didn't have a part to play, assuming you subscribe to such simulated notions, then you quite simply wouldn't be... at all! You literally would not exist! For accepting such admittedly bizarre ideas also means accepting that one has been created and designed by some unknowable simulating entity: Not a single soul exists as mere useless background noise or unnecessary fluff. Each one has purpose and a need for their being here – just the same, we all have an ultimate role to play in filling our very own parts still to come in another place, with the transference of our consciousness upon our mortal death.

It truly is a critical aspect of this whole entire idea: Yes, it is very much bizarre and nutty sounding. But even just entertain the idea: Putting all other notions aside, and simply envision it in the purest and most essential of forms. Every human being exists for a reason, having some goal to achieve in each contributing to the ultimate result of the simulation itself. We each must then have purpose, with nary a single individual being accidental or unintended... not in any way, shape or form!

Now perhaps someone only ever has but a minimal role for themselves: Maybe someone exists only for the impact they will have on another person, this being someone who definitively *will* ascend to making truly great, downright legen... wait for it... dary! achievements. Possibly a person who tragically never finds their significant other, never getting married and distressed by their lonely, isolated life; but who all the same ends up being the reason why a thousand soulmates all meet each other; the sole reason why five *HUNDRED* couples find one another to enjoy long and full lives of endless happiness.

For couple #263, our hypothetical depressed soul got on a full elevator one day while a line yet waited to board the next one available. The person directly behind them...? They must now wait for the next elevator to arrive! Where their fated soulmate also shall end up standing aboard, a person on whom they end up spilling their cup of coffee amidst a crowded frenzy... and the rest, as they say, is history!

For still another, say hypothetical couple #487? Now 85 years young, that person makes an appointment to see their doctor on Thursday at 8:30am. The next person who calls, ½ of #487, suddenly must wait until the following Monday to see the physician. Freed up, they no longer must take a half day off of work on Thursday... and they thusly meet their better half in the process! Couple #487 goes on to have two beautiful kids, no less... all unknowingly because of our forever bachelor. Their daughter? She goes on to perfect nanotechnology capable of halting the biological aging process... creating a world that never shall need to know natural death again, as biological immortality is at long last attained!

The point here? Quite simple: We needn't all be the President or a multi-billionaire just to make a vital contribution and impact on all of humanity. Indeed, it is those most tiny or insignificant of unnoticed roles that often end up playing the very biggest of parts – even though they often go unrecognized by the many, it still doesn't make those various contributions any less irreplaceable in their importance to the grand scheme of things.

# Chapter 25:

# Of Fate & Destinies: The Individual As Part Of A Larger "Puzzle"

One of the most important consequences arising out of these assorted ideas on a decidedly more individual, personal level stems from how we all have a purpose here in this life. Perhaps even something of a preordained destiny, if you would; one that no human being may ever so much as deny to anybody, for any reason, either as it relates to others or even purely for themselves (in the form of, for example, a depressive fueled period of self doubt)- with absolutely none of us being here "by mistake" or accidently, be that regarding those who're suffering from a diminished sense of self-worth or otherwise. For all things there is indeed a reason, and so, as a direct result of this, also a reason for all people.

Only stop to consider for but an instant that utterly unknown forager from some five thousand years ago, a man whose everything is now and forever lost to the tempest of forgotten history – and yet, without that one particular man having been born just as he surely was, living and loving his life to the fullest in precisely the same manner as he did: Similarly, having four children all of whom also did likewise...? Then absolutely none of us would have ever been born... not at all!

While that individual now having come and gone many millennia ago admittedly might not be an actual, literal common ancestor to all of us living today? He certainly would've had more than enough direct descendants over the ages so as to ensure that the actions and interactions they took indeed impacted the all of mankind: Every single last one of all seven billion of us!

It is here that the so-called Butterfly Effect is alive and well as a reality, and those ripples throughout time definitively matter when it comes to *all* of time itself.

On the other hand, I would stress most emphatically that our having something of a predetermined destiny should in no way, shape or form mean we don't also still retain our complete and irrefutable free will – both as singular individuals just as much as collectively, as an entire people. What it does portend for each of us, however, is that ours is always a vital and irreplaceable part (here, envision us as individuals like a single piece to a jigsaw puzzle, one containing some seven billion similar such pieces, put together representing all of contemporary mankind) to that staggeringly complex and towering behemoth otherwise known as human civilization – the reality wherein we're, all of us, standing only atop the shoulders of the mightiest of giants... a giant in whom is the embodiment of those labors, efforts and contributions made by all who came before those of us blessed to live in the here and now.

This is because each and every last one of those hypothetical pieces correlates to ourselves as individuals, and so allowing those to be perceived in an identical fashion to any other jigsaw puzzle that we're already familiar with: Every last one having their own unique shapes, each with distinct colors or imagery; originally cut out and molded so as to be equally essential when it came time to complete the whole endeavor.

You simply can't have a proper puzzle without first possessing every single last piece to it. Ultimately, they only work by fitting together with all the others... and so giving the entirety its true meaning and/or purpose. We could then almost say that each single piece here is nearly as valuable as the combined sum all put together, when the absence of any lone piece renders the entirety to become utterly worthless.

Remove but a single piece from the whole entire affair, in other words, and you're basically left with nothing of any meaning... at all! This, just the same as if you were to be missing two, ten... even a thousand other pieces or more! It is literally _only_ when the jigsaw puzzle is all there and has been solved in full that it thusly makes any sense or takes on any real meaning, only deriving its genuine worth as a collective body of pieces. What's more, with our hypothetical puzzle here...? No two pieces share in having the identical same shape -each and every last one of them being fundamentally unique in some given way or another- despite the current version of that puzzle alone presently containing some seven *billion* pieces in its entirety!

However, in taking our analogy one additional step further, anywhere *on* those individual pieces we also find a tabula rasa (a blank slate) to be staring back at us. They have absolutely nothing whatsoever "printed" on them "beforehand," as it were. This, well... this particular aspect only begins to be filled in as we determine the direction our own lives will take – and so representing our undeniable freedom of choice, free will and otherwise.

Only once the entire affair has all been said and done might we step back to almost magically discover that the placement of those pieces somehow results in a most wonderful, beautiful and perfectly orchestrated image – not the sorts of chaos and anarchy one might likely envision to come from such a mishmash of utter randomness.

By now we're at least perhaps all passingly familiar with the fad of having images that are only a collage made up of many other, much smaller images: All of which are only used to create one larger picture in particular – like, say, by taking a photograph of a dearly departed loved one and then, through modern digital wizardry, drawing from an album of countless many different photos taken throughout their whole life in order to approximately recreate their visage.

Basically, those many composite images have some primary overall color to each one of them if only one were to zoom way, way out and therefore view them as little more than tiny dots – then, when being used for the aforementioned collage, those primary colors serve an identical purpose as any other color pixel would in typical digital images. It's just that, should we so choose to, we can indeed narrow our focuses on the collage picture to find that it also contains further unique pictures, emerging only once our perspective thereabouts starts significantly zooming in on any given part of the composite/collage image!

Well, it's precisely that same principle that's at play in our little game using analogies just now! Except there, however, the key distinction is how literally none of those puzzle pieces (this means, but of course, in the figurative jigsaw that we've taken to calling the all of human civilization) contain colors of any kind – not, that is, until we've begun to chart the course our lives will take as individuals and then truly begun living those lives to the fullest! So the color (or imagery; or, well... anything at all, I rather suppose!) that's visible on those pieces of ours then represents our notions of free will and the countless many wide-open opportunities yet remaining ahead of us in our lives.

As far as their actual "shape" goes (thusly meaning their relationships to those adjoining pieces/the entirety; the essential characteristics and proper placement each one possesses relative to all the many other different pieces), they can perhaps best be said to exist from our very first heartbeat onward – then we alone decide what it is those pieces shall ultimately show at story's end.

Therefore, the almost preordained shape each of our pieces takes is really but a rather simplified representation of our unique and irreplaceable importance here vis-a-vis all the other seven billion of us – coming in the form of our own destinies in this crazy world of ours; our vitality as it relates to (and for) all the many others. When viewed in this light, we are each much the same as any individual cog functioning in some grand automaton, one without which the whole entire machine would come crashing and crumbling down all around us whilst hurtling towards outright oblivion!

# Chapter 26:

# The Afterlife, As From A Simulated Perspective

Here, we work off of the notion that the primary purpose for our existence is largely rooted in our differentiation from one another, for it is this that seems the single most critical and irreplaceable part found in our universe. All the more, if one holds that we were in fact Created by a genuinely divine power, then that nature of our being -our forming such incredible amounts of uniqueness and individuality as intelligent beings- seems to be particularly emphasized as a crucial part of this world of ours (meaning as opposed to homogeneity).

As such, one must now wonder what the ultimate goal is for having all of those fantastically unique consciousness (just as we each ourselves possess) once they've not only come to be Made, but also having come into their own: Differentiating through developing and maturing in this world... only to then inevitably depart __**from** __ it.

Meaning? Just what __ does __ happen to us after we die – the eternal question surrounding a potential life __**after** __ this life is finally all said and done with us – also appears as though it simply must be tied in with the overall purpose of creating any such self-aware sentience to begin with... and most especially for nurturing unique examples of the very same in nearly an infinitude.

We've come to understand in relatively recent times that it is our brains -networks of endless neurons- that holds __**who** __ we are as a self-aware being. All memories and thoughts we might have exist there, and nowhere else. What's more, damage them and __**you** __ get permanently damaged in the process... seemingly forevermore! Before such recent times, however, even these kinds of ideas were impossible to make. They were times wherein, "I think, therefore I am." was the height of advancement in our own cognitive understandings.

How could "you" as a sentient being possibly exist or work in actuality? Those thoughts and memories... what could possibly contain or control them? Well, early ideas centered around having some metaphysical essence, equally as intangible as it was unknowable: The human spirit or soul.

This notion gets extended over time to take on further extraordinary traits, tied as it presently is to the life __**after** __ life. Even though the reality of neurons and brains get discovered long ago and progressively better understood, nothing in such realms of human spirits have changed merely even one iota.

Yet the idea of spirits and souls also needn't necessarily find itself invalidated by what I'd propose hereabouts, but rather just the complete opposite! Now then, this next step regrettably requires something of an imaginative leap into the murky waters of divine incomprehensibility: Try to picture our entire selves (our core identity/intelligence) as something able to be funneled down and represented by only but a singular construct (quite unlike the reality found with bodies made from billions of cells, or minds from unimaginable numbers of neurons connecting together) – I suppose this would be something much like the traditional understanding embodied by the human soul or spirit... in the sense of viewing our consciousness as one undivided entity, never mind being seen as one that also truly transcends this mortal plane.

Let's go back to what we do currently know firsthand for a second, using another handy analogy in order to better convey this idea: Turning to, where else, other than our own computers and digital environments. Now, one of the rare few times where we must fully embrace the simulated nature of our reality for what it is, try and imagine those minds represented as any typical computer file. Meaning? Each and every last one of us would possess our very own individual file making up precisely who we are as a unique, conscious intelligent being.

In this, perhaps it is best to use a simpler analogy: Our own brains. So when I'm saying that we are some absurd "file," it would really be nothing more than the simple representation of our entire brain as it is at any given point. Here, however, it would be represented much like some 'file,' composed of and compatible with whatever lies beyond our universe; capable of existing *outside* our own known time and space. In reality, I suppose the so-called 'file' nature is nothing more than saying it is the transference of our individual identity into a form able to be moved beyond our universe, essentially ascending to join with our literal Maker.

This is an important aspect of the simulated reality: Our own universe... it is solely what it is, possessing distinct limits and borders.

Consider how it is that your files continue to exist on your PC, both before and after they might have been accessed or altered. For example, that homework file of yours from twenty years ago? It's still there, exactly as it was twenty years ago! Despite the fact it's twenty years later, it absolutely remains in the same state it was in at the time.

So try to consider every person who's ever been alive as something quite similar to a computer file in this sense. Even when not being "run", they're still always there, those bits staying etched throughout all of time itself! They can be moved all around, renamed, grouped together in folders... even accessed and run by other applications!

Say the file exits its initial application (our reality/the simulation): Upon our mortal death. Yet they will always remain, safely stored away outside of time and space as it relates to this world we see and know. They can never truly disappear. One might pull that "file" up at any time they so choose to! This means death truly isn't the end for us, as we -our consciousness- is something that can never truly die... being erased into oblivion.

Try looking at it like so: Our universe/simulated reality...? It's an executable application – an "app". That app? We can use it to create and then save all kinds of different files! But if we close that application at any point, those files are neither lost nor are they utterly dependent upon that same software being run. Consciousness are just such files. Meanwhile, everything else inside our universe? All physical things composed of matter or otherwise? They are very much tied to that "software" – "close" it, and they'd be lost for good!

So when I would explain that we -our consciousness- is made to join our divine Maker in a higher plane of existence (upon our death here in this one)? Taking the analogy for absolutely everything it's possibly worth, it's much the same as having this mortal plane as being like our Microsoft Word software. Word, which we use to create an endless number of .doc files – files of text documents, aka human consciousness. Yet due to the intrinsic qualities of such consciousness, it might also be freely moved around... say, just perhaps to that higher plane. This, just as is the case with later using Google Docs (perhaps even on entirely different operating systems!) to open those same exact .doc files that were each instead created by Word to start with.

Now, what if we sought to literally copy ourselves -meaning our consciousness/identity/mind- strictly here on this world, in our own universe/reality? How would we go about doing that, do you suppose? Well, many researchers are now trying to get a grasp on precisely that! But of course, we'd have to map out those brains of ours.

Whether you were to go at it on a larger, more macroscopic scale -examining each brain for what it is, looking at all the neurons and neural pathways, proteins or molecules? Or do you instead take an even more microscopic approach still, looking specifically at an atomic level?

Either way, we would identify and isolate what makes up our brains (and thusly making up us), make a map, and... voila! "It's... alive!" as one might say. The key point to glean here is this: On our own 'plane' of existence, in some bizarre way, it is the sum total of all those many atoms in chains of molecular proteins and whatnot, combined with interacting with the four fundamental forces, that produces human consciousness. But human consciousness, once created as such, is at the same time so much more than those atoms and protein chains – something well and truly transcending those things in every conceivable way.

The next step will begin exploring the idea of moving that consciousness outside of our own reality, itself: The murky waters of the afterlife, upon fulfilling our existential purpose and made to take up "residence" beside our divine Creator in their higher plane, right alongside all the rest of mankind that's lived and died before us on this world of ours... and, so too, anyone who shall ever come to be born on it in as yet future times.

So from this particular perspective of mine: When we inevitably do pass from this life, exactly __ who __ we each are is able to get moved from one reality (our own mortal realm) to another plane of existence altogether (where our divine Creator resides).

The consciousness of a human being can be observed as being much like some computer file, enabling it to be transformed -existing outside of physical form- and subsequently see itself moved across dimensions. This "file" would be something composed from "lines of code" that make every single last one of us precisely who we are as individuals and allows the representation of our numerous personal distinctions and attributes.

What's more, however, those files of ours would also be continually split up further by time itself – such a file constantly being in a state of flux... changing with every single instant as time passes and we grow older.

Think of all those various instants of time as something that's also accessible forevermore, wherein our own "file" is constantly being "saved" exactly as it is and so might be "plucked out" at any given moment in order to yield the state of our mind/consciousness just as it was at the time.

In other words, the realities surrounding who we are is something permanently cherished and preserved by that higher power. We -meaning precisely __ who __ we are- is, in point of fact, an example of something that's literally timeless... a case wherein it exists outside of time itself, consequently existing at __ all __ moments in time at the same exact instant.

Lastly, try to envision if those "saved states" of who we were/are/will be could somehow, in some way, be merged and combined together to yield but a singular consciousness: Each of us, just as we were at our utmost peaks, yet possessing all our memories right up 'til the instant when we die... being all of them at once. Despite existing amongst a multitude, they each still come from the very same person. They could therefore ultimately unite to form a single self-aware, intelligent consciousness – every one of which would be a unique individual, something entirely impossible to construct or manufacture in any conceivable way.

Furthermore, while admittedly the idea of "taking us out of time, only to then be combined" might seem irrational (in addition to rhyming rather nicely), consider how our memories of *everything* fade day to day, minute by minute. Simply by plucking us out of time continually and then ultimately combining all those so-called states together as one, it would offer us the entirety of our lives in a way inconceivable to us in this plane of existence. Every single last memory or event would be as fresh as when it first happened; our minds themselves, not suffering from the ongoing biological consequences of aging, would be in the state they were at our primes; we would still be much who we always have been and/or were, just better... no less, made all the better in every conceivable way.

At the end of it all, the result is only but one such file, essentially compiled together from throughout the entirety of our mortal lives; countless moments in time plucked deliberately in order to culminate in a different (ascended) form of unique individual consciousness representing all that we truly are as a whole person.

Where we eventually end up -joined with our divine Creator in its own existence- leaves us permanently outside of the mortal plane of existence we came from. A main consequence of this "transforming transcendental transference" is the sudden inability for any of us to observe or interact with the world we once knew. Between our own transformation of consciousness into something... else, and that untraversable schism as separates the two dimensions, it all makes for absolutely no realistic means of any future contacts to be made with the "old world" - although we'd hardly even have any wants to do so upon joining God in such a genuinely utopian existence, given the fact that any loved ones would be there with us after only a fleeting instant had passed for ourselves.

# Section 2

# Afterlife: "Punishments"

One of the larger disconnects separating TekArk from existing religious beliefs comes in dealing with the age old question of an afterlife. Although a point is continually made here to see existing systems of belief as having largely been handed down from a real, literal higher power, and so not to casually discard their core concepts...? We also accept the analogy of mankind being like any maturing entity, and those religions intended for a civilization yet in their childhood.

Much as is needed by any child to keep them in line, so too do we find the notion of a proverbial boogeyman here... one promising an eternity of torment -such as a Christian Hell lorded over by the Devil. So then, working off of an acceptance that it is our unique, individual consciousness that is the purpose of our being – the one truly special aspect found in this universe that literally cannot be obtained in any other way, and is surely something of an exceptionally treasured prize even __**outside** __ of it: Intelligent, self-aware, creative beings who are each and every last one singularly unique in a multitude of different ways.

Furthermore, that the purpose of death is simply marking that identity reaching its "finishing point" much the same as a loaf of bread rising in the oven? We then find our individual beings "freed" from this form and reality, emerging to be joined in something we very much would find to be an eternal paradise (like the idea of Heaven) alongside all others that have ever drawn breath. While we cannot know such a place while we yet live, let alone describe it, if that promised Utopia of Heaven conceivably exists, what then of Hell? Where do those "bad eggs" go, whose consciousness is surely rotten to its core and would only taint any who might come in contact with them?

Well, as much as we all instinctively flee from pain, suffering or generalized anguish, you know what frightens any rational soul even more than that? Simple nonexistence. The sheer thought of not being... it's almost incomprehensible to us. And it only makes sense, if a higher power seeks to cultivate a host of different individualized intelligent beings, that those wholly bad eggs would be summarily removed from the equation. Here one second, then *poof!* they've gone right into the great metaphysical Recycle Bin.

For consider it thusly: There's, in point of fact, only just __ so __ much suffering a mind can take. At a certain point, it'll simply break one way or the other: It'll either become used to and adjust to the agony, or more likely still, it will snap into a million pieces – losing all sense, reason, and conceivability. While sure, one supposes such a Higher Power could easily forestall or even outright prevent such a thing... what's __**really** __ the point of doing so?

To "punish" them eternally for whatever their transgressions might've been on this mortal coil? Kind of a case of too little, too late, it would rather seem, no...? Far easier and more sensible to declare it what it is: An abject failure. There would be no rehabilitation at this point, so why bother? It would never be allowed to rejoin its brethren humanity (nor should it), not if it truly were the worst of the worst.

So what we instead find are the warnings of eternal damnation thousands of years ago as given to a more childlike humankind. This was done to keep us in line, exactly like the proverbial Boogeyman or coal in one's XMas stocking. It sought to ensure that we had reason to strive for goodness, perhaps more than simple nonexistence possibly could at the time.

Even so, to imagine that one might face total and complete erasure forevermore, compared with an eternity in paradise alongside all others who have lived similarly? One can only think that a good many of us would find that proposition even worse than a forever Hell – where they at least still in some way exist.

# Chapter 27:

# Modern Day Miracles: The Many Blessings Of Technology

A thought dawned upon me around Christmas, when I wrote this, with the many miracles Christ offered His contemporaries, no matter their stations in life.

If you've read much of anything I've shared in these pages already, one might readily come to see how I hold such technological wonders as are found in this modern age in something of an unusually high regard.

I suppose this is a rather spot on observation to make about my personal views on that matter, too – I absolutely do see the many blessings brought with various technologies as an incredible (and all but singularly positive) thing. All the same, however, comes the fact that a great deal many (regrettably & tragically) have come to view such areas as being decidedly negative – like, say, whenever any radically new & different invention might arrive onto the scene, certain eyes see it as somehow, apparently, serving to place and celebrate human efforts *over* more Godly ones; or else working in some way to further drive wedges deep which act to separate man from nature, our intrinsic faith, or otherwise.

Look to the assorted limitations and inhibitions countless belief systems (the Amish obviously being the most dramatic contemporary example) have variously sought to be placed upon such revolutionary advancements, and we can also easily observe something of an inherent distrust/dislike for technologies in general - coming, at least, from the perspectives of __**certain** __ selective religious thought.

So I'd therefore like to address the both of those two distinct ideas: Why I do, in point of fact, view most all technological advancements as exceedingly positively as I most certainly do; along with how embracing what they might very well offer to us doesn't mean, from a religious or theological standpoint, accepting to remove oneself that much further away from God, but to instead recognize His gifts and embrace Him all the more!

While I've already gone on significantly about one aspect to this: That God truly **is** science, seeing as how all we know and ourselves each are is only a result born of the very Creation which He surely made; never mind how technological inventions stand to genuinely reflect the One who made us, coming by way of mankind utilizing or exploiting the natural universe He designed & provided for us all – such that no part of our ongoing, modern progress is anything that God Himself did not specifically intend for us to ultimately possess, if only eventually, with having certain parts of His Creation made to result in whatever it may be.

But perhaps the altogether most important of reasons -one having gone all but unmentioned by me, in any of my writings thus far- to my own personal conclusions where I view such technological things so highly and being entirely of God...? In other words, just why it is I believe technology and ongoing advancement ought best be seen as the very greatest of Godly blessings and the apex of exceptional miracles?

Consider it like so: If one is a Christian in particular, (save for the redemption of all mankind), then what are the most impossible miracles that Jesus Christ showed this world and is best associated with in the average mind?

Now, Christ's ministry on Earth involved a great number of all but inconceivable miracles, to be sure! Of only just a tiny fraction of those, however, among the very most notable? The blind regaining their sight, the deaf soul made to hear, those long since stricken lame able to once again run effortlessly... and even His turning simple water into abundant wine!

Although all of these performed by Christ most certainly involved solely the omnipotence of God the Almighty in being realized as they were (rather than being achieved thanks to any form of absurd "advanced technologies used by Christ, back in ancient times here on Earth")...?

Today, there exists an equally undeniable reality for us to behold: Those same miracles I just mentioned are things that absolutely can be accomplished through the blessings of many imminently forthcoming technologies – ones that we know for sure, without question, not only are they possible in such ways, but even being so very, very close indeed to realization just now as to arrive at some point during nearly all of our own lifetimes!

Blind persons returned their sight through ocular technological implants, as with deaf individuals and auditory ones. An amputee provided with artificial "robotic" limbs, able to walk for the first time in a whole entire lifetime! Even that truly amazing transmutation into wine? Envision a Star Trek "molecular replicator" or molecular/organic 3D printer, taking water and trace elements in the air to produce literal wine – directly into a nice little plastic cup, that's also crafted from out of thin (albeit elementally enriched) air, alone!

The simple fact that near future technologies shall enable the same _exact_ miracles that Christ performed, only through different means and/or ways ...? I believe it provides incontrovertible proof positive regarding the relationship which exists between such fantastical advancements and God Himself – that these modern day miracles are indeed gifts from God; how pursuing those ends and hastening their arrival is exceptionally important at this moment in time.

Bottom line? Today we stand on the precipice of an inconceivable new world, one that shall see even the most fantastically impossible of tasks transformed into mundane commonalities. All who draw breath come that joyous day will know a time when human suffering or misery become all but eradicated, rendered extinct thanks to the gifts God provided for us to discover, achieve, and inevitably put to good+proper use.

It is thusly my own personal belief that God seeded the possibility for such miracles to in fact become achievable by mankind just so, if only we managed to reach such a point that we earned them for ourselves by proving responsible enough to properly handle such weighty, albeit potentially abusable or dangerous, sorts of matters.

This is not to say it was anything done to deprive all of humanity "unfortunate" enough to live in times before their development, however. No, rather, simply but envision a Roman Empire Earth gifted today's exceptional technologies such as nuclear weaponry; or the time of the Crusades, having such easily abusable destructive might at the disposal of those despotic rulers of the day. Such strength and power outright requires wisdom and maturity to be wielded positively, something that almost certainly would've been lacking in millennia of yore – ultimately leading to only more detriment than benefit, when all was said and done.

But now, having arrived where we are here today...? Well then, in much the same way as a person's individual belief might be blessed with proving able to move the largest of mountains by the power of that faith alone, so too might humanity have shown itself committed and responsible enough (after many millennia worth of maturing – advancing and surviving as we now do only through embracing His collective, universal teachings of peace, love, equality and collaboration) for us to be rewarded with the entirely real means of doing literally miraculous works on this world, here in modern & contemporary times.

There truly seems little question nor uncertainty there: Blind men made to see again, while a deaf woman can suddenly hear her own baby's laughter for the first time... ever! Hunger, being eliminated by ensuring proper food and nutrition is available to all, no matter how many billions of us there are or how overpopulated our world might yet become, through producing better, healthier and more plentiful varieties of crops – allowing rice or grain to grow in parched desert climes or frigid arctic ones, just as well as it would on the most perfect of farmlands.

That same overpopulation and lack of livable land resources? He even provided us an entire universe filled with worlds we might dwell upon, although all of which undoubtedly require great struggle and incomprehensible difficulty for us to reach them and then survive on their surfaces – none nearby having even the simplest of survivable atmospheres or other basic conditions (temperature, pressure, etc.) accommodating to life... and yet we can __ indeed reach & exist upon the surface (or in orbit) of most all of them, if only we ever truly decide we wish to do so and might be up to handling the exceptional challenge.

So when some might decry a desire of theirs centered around nostalgia or reminiscing about those "good old days" – wishing that humanity one day might again return to its simpler roots, thereby returning anew to God and/or nature in some unmentioned way...? Like somehow, in some way or another, similar such technologies are either singularly detrimental/bad, or in any way something that is *not* of divinity?

An important point thereby gets completely missed: Those same pined for roots of theirs -meaning God Himself- are anywhere... and everywhere! Everything in existence is of God; but, and far more importantly still, being based as they all are off of what God has provided for mankind, an open embrace of beneficial technologies handled with wisdom and responsibility? Few things appear more Godly than precisely that right there – where else might actual (meaning very real and all too literal) miracles so irrefutably be seen to exist in the here and now?

In the end, I suppose it boils down to this question... being looked at in this particular way: What do we presently know of that reflects God and His many miracles more than sight returned to the blind man, hearing to the deaf one, mobility to those crippled or lame, along with sufficient enough food to feed the starving, water into wine, and so very, __**very** __ much else?

This is why I myself have drawn such deep, fundamental links between God and faith alongside the wonders of technologies and modernity. I feel in the absolute that, being citizens of the world here in this day and age -and doubly so for those presently possessing devout faith- we should take to committing ourselves anew to further advancing the development of such miraculous technologies, allowing ever more (quite literal) blessings bestowed to us by God (and, so, yet more of God's majestic divinity) to shine His light as a beacon all across our world.

This, in order to provide still more incontrovertible proof that through God (and only through Him), all things might be accomplished & easily realized; how this entire Creation of His included the most impossible of capabilities for those who work hard enough towards it, earning their gifts through countless millennia of painful sacrifice and proving excessively responsible as a civilization to handle them wisely or with properly benevolent intent.

Moving forward into the tomorrow, the path toward piety and Godliness is one positively littered with these same kinds of beneficial technologies – continuing to improve, expand, and invent to show the splendor of God, the impossibility of His Creation, His incredible blessings to humanity and, ultimately, to continue reducing human suffering, despair or any potential threat of dangers... until even the basic idea of such negative words has become extinct, replaced by a utopian future that God designed and intended for us (meaning *all* of mankind) so very long ago.

Technology and similar such advancements are undeniably not anything remotely Godless in nature, nor are they inherently evil or blasphemous. Instead, their many rewards are some of God's greatest gifts and blessings to His children, here and now in modern mankind; something that draws and leads us ever closer to Him in today's world -technologies going hand-in-hand with God as we keep moving into the unknown, but always amazing, future awaiting us just now- rather than anything separating us or serving to place humanity or human works over God... not in any conceivable way whatsoever!

Thusly, to close this chapter out by slightly rephrasing a notion I've mentioned in multiple prior writings: It is those with the deepest wellsprings of faith that should also be of the sort that most doggedly champions and advances the pursuit & exploitation of all such technological matters, futuristic efforts or otherwise – far, far more, even, than those who might not be quite as personally religious in nature, themselves.

Just as God's love on this Earth is endless in its abundance, so too shall His many gifts to mankind continue stretching out and being received far into the amazingly awesome future which beckons us ever onward.

# Chapter 28

# Why Bad Things Happen: Polarity, Acting On Highs and Lows

My mom just died a week ago today; her funeral was only hours prior to my writing this piece. This piece is dedicated solely to her, as will anything I ever write or do from this point forward. I love you, Mom.

When someone close to a person passes away, you'll quite often hear assorted fond remembrances or overwhelmingly powerful statements said in mourning – yet things which might not necessarily be a perfect reflection of the reality. Things like: "They were the best," or "We were the closest in the whole wide world."

But here's the thing with my mom: She __ was __ the greatest mother in the world. And we __ were __ the closest such pair that you'll ever encounter. __**Ever!**

I can say this myself with nary even a moments pause nor uncertainty. Outside of her, I haven't exactly had a stellar life so far. I've long since come, not only to accept that fact on a personal level, but even to somewhat understand the why such negatives universally must come into our lives.

First and foremost amongst them...? Something I've considered a good deal, even having already written about (although not having posted any of these pieces, as of yet), is what I've taken to considering as matters of "polarity". That polarity, it isn't just a constant in this universe, it's utterly essential to it.

Nothing of anything we know or understand might exist as a singularity, all to itself; in order to derive meaning or simply to... "be", absolutely anything at all, it also necessitates an ability for that something to be properly defined. To be defined on any such fundamental level, it outright requires falling within some broad range of extremes; that it may take on meaning through a comparison with or being placed beside something similar, but distinctly different in any number of ways.

We aren't talking about something like defining a word, mind you – by referencing "fundamental", I mean like with the most primary and basic of building blocks. Nearly all of our universe's fundamental aspects fall within binary extremes: Hot/cold, positive/negative (charges), matter and antimatter, high/low, up and down, left or right, dark and light, on or off... well, suffice it to say that this is clearly a most critical concept to our existence. Furthermore, we have a word for everything that falls __ between __ such polar extremes: When something exists as a part of some spectrum (such as the spectrum of visible light, for one particular example.)

While most things known to us can be defined __**by** __ something else...? At the very lowest, most basic of levels, instead? Well, there's simply nothing that can possibly be used such as to define it! Therefore, that thing must somehow be defined __ strictly __ through itself, in its entirety.

Or, put slightly differently, consider those words I mentioned. Words, defined through letters. Words and letters, defined as sounds. Sounds, as variations in tones... and tones, as a spectrum of different frequencies.

So from this understanding, that one thing nearly everyone at some point wonders or asks, "How can/why does God allow bad things to happen in this world?" Just like anything else, so too is bad required for the good as a part of this notion of polarity. Without such negativity, then there are only those "positives." If there are no negatives, positivity has utterly zero meaning; devoid any frame of reference whatsoever. Suddenly, everything just "is" – there literally can be no good if you don't also have the bad in order to define what good is, providing a frame of reference for us to conceive, recognize and experience whatever we consider to be "good" in any way. Good thereby becomes "it... is," if we have not a broad spectrum to compare and put up against all our experiences in this life.

Thusly, by our saying that all good things as are found in life would have no meaning without the various bad ones? It makes for the furthest thing from some nonsensical rhetoric or philosophical claptrap. Instead, it is an absolute and incontestable statement of the very reality/existence we find ourselves a part of just now. It isn't only an accurate notion, but also 100% a truth.

Well then, the greatest of lows also means the greatest of highs is only that much higher, if only relatively speaking. Therefore, this extraordinary degree of difficulty I've experienced personally, in my own life (health) so far...? It meant I might also be able to receive and feel otherwise extraordinary positives!

So such negativity, it is hardly some curse or reason to feel life is "unfair" or something... no. Instead, it is the greatest of gifts and blessings. Why is that? Because it means, one way or another, whatever positives one will invariably be provided with or find during their life are all that much better. Terrible might be the lows, for sure – but those highs in whomever person's life will be literally stratospheric, just the very same.

Well, for me? My health... the endless pain and continual, ongoing new symptoms/issues... they have been nearly unbearable – my own rock-bottom "negative."

But I know -for certain, beyond any shadow of doubt- what my positive was, in return: My mom. Mind you, I'm hardly saying those "negatives" meant I simply treasured an "average" mom that much more greatly... oh no! I instead mean that they ensured the mom I did "get" & have -alongside our exceptional relationship- was that much more of an incredible soul, a woman and mother far beyond the comprehension of most.

Furthermore, something else that those horrific health issues enabled: My opening comment about our being the very closest of mother-son pairs? You see, when I was only ten years old, our public school system said they could no longer accommodate my illness. They stated I would have to be schooled at home, the tutors for which they'd happily provide moving forward... and so they were.

You can scarcely imagine just how upset it all made me at that time, knowing I'd thusly miss out on the entirety of adolescence and youth; deprived of experiences, memories and friends I'd never have or get to make, while losing those many social acquaintances I already had (from a good 'ol fashioned case of "out of sight, out of mind"). Ah, but then...! I got to spend, not just the time we all get with a parent normally, but I __ also __ got just about every waking instant of my entire life directly with my mom! That incredible, exceptional and extraordinary loving mother I was blessed with.

Now, here today, I'll forever have twice the number of memories and experiences everyone else shares with their mom. Yet again, serving as still more tangible proof of how my unthinkably severe health brought about genuine blessings both solely and directly as a result. It isn't just some new age saying or mantra here: The bad __**absolutely** __ brings the good; the worse the former is, then all the better the latter will be!

Therefore, I wouldn't alter or change the slightest little thing about that poor health of mine. All the more, on a more macroscopic level, whatever challenges we face doubtlessly also happen for a plenty good reason; working to allow for or nudge us toward something else we are meant for. As one particular example: Short of those numerous health problems, not a lick of the ideas found on this site would've ever existed. Now... whether that's a good thing -that they do in fact exist today- or not...? I rather suppose that's all up to you, and not me!

But I know I'd have never worked towards writing all these ideas and beliefs of mine down, and I'm also fairly certain that I'd never have had/arrived at any of them -not at all- in the first place, either. Between not having had the time; never having read and discovered the many different things which informed them, ultimately leading me to the proverbial "door step"; or what all have you.

I also mention all of this for another reason, as well. My mom was my "reward" or counterpoint to the many trials and tribulations I've faced in a still quite short life, except...! Now she __**has** __ indeed passed tragically from this life, moving onward to whatever adventures and amazement that surely awaits us all in the next one. I shall join her one day, myself, as will everyone else – if only in some form or another. But what, then, for now?

As incomprehensible of a gift as she herself always was, it makes her loss even greater of a blow than "just" losing one's mother. On top of that, her death was also such that it hit me far harder and deeper than I could have ever envisioned – what with her dying as she did: Totally sudden, not a second's prior notice or warning; less than two days prior to my 32nd birthday, and scarcely three days before her own favorite holiday: Christmas.

I therefore believe wholeheartedly (and, at this point, I simply __**have** __ to) that it means something just as exceptionally positive must be coming down the road to offset such a truly devastating blow; meeting or having thrust into my life someone that will be just as much of an unusual treasure as my mom was to me these past 32 years.

Mind you, not to "replace" my mom – nor anything of the sort! But instead, just as my mom and our relationship was the "counterpoint" to my many health problems and physical suffering, so too will there be another similar such "counterpoint" to the unthinkable negative that her loss and my grief over losing her presently is.

If one believes in some form (any form) of divinity, there just isn't any alternative. In a world where we do have real faith in a greater plan, one put in place by a truly higher power, it's the only conceivable possibility. It isn't even merely some "possibility" or belief one might have, perhaps desperate to cling to solace or seek comfort in such ways.

Rather, it is borne out and proven constantly; time and time again. Had I faced such exceptional medical issues without something as blatantly and prevalently exceptional in my life as my mom was...? Then these ideas would simply be beliefs, and little more. But that's not the case: There was indeed blatant and incontrovertible proof of __ precisely __ all of this with every memory and second I have of our life together.

In which case, given exactly such tangible proof, it makes for hardly some sort of "feel good", warm and fuzzy belief... and, instead, something of an absolute fact of life.

So no matter how low the valleys may be in our lives, know for absolute certain that the most towering of mountainous peaks await us on the other end of the spectrum. It might sound absurd (and perhaps it is), but the worse someone's life may seem to be at any given point, it only means that something great of equal magnitude yet awaits them – in some form or another; whether it should be seen or unseen, perceived by us as such, or not...? If we only prove patient enough while retaining our faith in a higher power, it will always, __ always __ come to us -eventually- as things "reverse polarity" and turn themselves around.

As dark as this past week has been for me personally, I know that whatever leads me to emerge from it will be even __**more** __ blindingly bright. And I also know that this is not the end with my mom, only a brief and temporary pause until I one day rejoin her anew.

# Chapter 29

# The Immense Rewards As Comes Out of 'Divine Lessons/Teachings'

It's a bit fascinating when one stops to consider just how universally hailed and praised ancient religious texts are by their respective believers – how, through those works and teachings direct from divinity, simply reading and knowing their messages somehow instills such fervent and absolute belief in the Creator responsible for providing them. It is these very texts that are the most important factor in bringing or converting so many folks to following that belief system.

What's more, however, comes with the nearly incomprehensible amounts of dedication and effort poured into understanding them by so many different folks across the blowing sands of time immemorial... something true even -especially!- right in the here and now.

People genuinely do spend their lives studying words and lessons in such sacred texts. All the more, the number of individuals that dedicate their entire lives into better interpreting those passages, and then teaching or sharing -reflecting and ruminating upon- that knowledge to others, in order that their flock might glimmer meaning and understanding, through assorted religious services.

Each week vast numbers across the globe spend countless hours reading and rereading, while also attending group events to reflect on the words and ideas found inside (such so-called Bible Studies, or what all have you) with other folks of similar mindsets. Then, at least once a week, nearly every religious belief system will present services that, while also including "entertainment" with song or serving as socializing events, have at their absolute heart a focus on a particular teaching, parable or passage (out of thousands and thousands).

And yet... why is that? Why do we do so? How exactly is it that they play such an integral role in leading someone to devote themselves wholly to whatever that belief system is?

Do those sacred and holiest of texts only support preexisting thoughts on account of that individual; aligning perfectly with everything they already thought or believed of life?

Or is it instead more a case of their presenting such an overwhelmingly compelling and incontrovertible case for the higher power at hand as to leave no room whatsoever, not even for the slightest of doubts... and so ultimately making for an open and shut case, as it were?

It is, in reality, neither of those – at least not so much as being the result of very real, all too ever present rewards which come from following such instructions and teachings to the letter.

The reason for any of this is rather deceptively simple; being something most folks in possession of such faith would readily provide as an answer to that big 'ol "why?" hereabouts. No less, it is also what leads so many to devote themselves to sharing that faith of theirs with others around them – hoping to bring that person down a similar path, in order to offer them with the very same sorts of "rewards" which they already enjoy in their own lives.

Even so, it seems decidedly important to point out that reasoning plain and clear, in order to gain a deeper understanding as to just what's at play & behind this all. Now then, there'd also be many that cite concerns on the "next life" or the fates of our immortal souls as the most critical factor in grasping such insight for themselves. This is indeed important, to be sure, but it also seems to me that it can't properly explain the phenomenon behind this in full.

Moreover, gaining an expansive mastery of understanding of whatever lessons from God...? It really doesn't lead one to a "higher position" come the traditional understanding of the afterlife – or, at the very least, not presenting to someone a "better seat at the (heavenly) table" upon their mortal death as compared to someone else who, while a believer as well, did not themselves become quite so deeply familiar with or steeped in that particular religious text of theirs.

At least in Christianity, the understanding is that the acceptance of and faith in Jesus Christ offers one all the necessary redemption and salvation as proves necessary to enter into heaven... even in spite of whatever sins they might've perpetrated during the course of their life. This makes gleaning that wisdom as much as proves conceivable something of an unnecessary endeavor if their sole concern there happens to be the ultimate outcome of their own personal afterlife.

Simply put, being either a "bigger" or "better" believer in some way or another...? It's just not needed in such a way, nor does it present anyone with any advantages or superiority over a fellow believer who, it could easily be said, is not exactly themselves on equal ground when it comes to their "mastery" of those divine lessons from God. In the eyes of our Creator, all men and women are inherently equal – no particular soul ever attains more of God's favor by doing this or that differently, just so long as they lead a good, positive and moral life while also harboring faith in divinity.

Let's say, for example, a person memorizing and knowing firsthand every single last word, teaching and idea from any one belief system never presents someone with any actual bonuses nor rewards -never earning still more of God's favor- during the eternity we've been told will come to us after our mortal demise. His desire there appears clear that, at least when it comes to the matter of our assorted fates beyond this here mortal realm: Possessing simple belief and living with an absolute repudiation of sinfulness, evil and wickedness are what matters.

This should all start to seem rather obvious when we examine the actual contents of those sacred works. They deal, not so much on preparing for or improving our station in such an afterlife, but largely only dealing with our lives right _here_ in this mortal realm.

Ultimately, the most common thread tugged on when explaining the intrinsic value of gaining real faith and belief to those who might not presently possess it at the moment...? It'll most often center around how vastly improved one's life becomes upon accepting whatever particular belief system is at hand – and subsequently learning & following that religion's assorted teachings.

This "improvement"...? It's not even so much because someone feels any cumbersome burden as having been lifted from off of their backs, someone already knowing full well and good that they each have an eternity of blissful utopia awaiting them (a reunion with all of their dearly loved ones and finding themselves existing alongside of divinity, for starters) but because of just how dramatically it improves their lives on Earth right there and then... almost immediately!

What's instead responsible for this comes down to how following those divine teachings work to provide us with all the tools necessary to lead truly exceptional and joyous lives *while* we're yet on this Earth. It's both why believers feel their faith is such a treasured prize, as well as why they so often desire to share it with anyone... and everyone!

So the greatest real world priceless aspect derived here is thusly the benefits ascribing to such influence and shepherding brings to our mortal lives. What's more, those very same personal teachings are things that are often _not_ ones which otherwise come naturally and effortlessly to us; things our ancient cultures & societies wouldn't have integrated or carried out. We have our better angels whispering delicately in our ears (to be sure!), yet all the same our far lesser demons urge us to succumb to baser instincts and pettiness.

Love and compassion towards family and friends might come naturally... but to show kindness, forgiveness and mercy to one who has somehow significantly harmed or wronged us on a deeply personal level? To generously give the shirts off our very backs to a stranger in need? Giving clemency and aid to our greatest "enemies"?

These simply are not things that come easily, on sheer instinct alone. They require nothing less than the most exceptional and disciplined of souls, having rigorously devoted themselves to learning and realizing various religious teachings that demand a genuinely trained and studious sort of mindset. Even something as simple as monogamous marriage could've just as easily never have been in favor of nomadic lifestyles of hunting, gathering, and philandering – with those couplings being of considerable importance in both having and raising children.

So the reality is that, were we all seven billion of us somehow able (almost miraculously) to embrace every last positive parable and teaching our Creator provided us with so long ago? This world would be one utterly transformed, being made into a far better -nearly unrecognizably so!- place where we each looked out for and took care of one another while eradicating war, conflict, interpersonal bickering, malice and other such undesirable bits of pure negativity.

As for a specific example of this notion (and from a slightly different perspective than most of us might be most familiar with, regarding Judaism in place of Christianity)...? So then, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar is Yom Kippur, which translates to the "Day of Atonement."

Now sure, there's the usual bit of fasting and hours spent deep in prayer that take place with Yom Kippur. But of the most critical aspects on a purely human level, is something that comes with the direct asking of forgiveness from our fellow man – those who we perceive that we were responsible for having somehow wronged that party during the course of the year/our lives.

Therefore, right alongside the "normal" religious or divine aspects to such holy days, we also find the sort of mindset that can only improve our immediate and present-day lives/surroundings. It makes those observers of Yom Kippur reflect deeply on their own sins and mistakes, seeking to find and uncover times when they erred and went astray from the so-called path of "righteousness."

All the more, as a part of asking for that forgiveness, it demands nothing less than the wrong doing party temporarily stepping outside of their own perspective, in order to reflect and gain insight from the vantage point of "the other side" – being the person who they themselves personally wronged. Once that understanding has been gleaned, they are to then plead for forgiveness from the "victimized" party – someone who is also expected to follow their own better angels and resolutely forgive the perpetrator... at least, that is, offering up their forgiveness just so long as the person's plea for it is believed to be entirely sincere in nature.

Now none of these actions are things we would ever do normally; something carried out simply in the course of our day-to-day lives. Yet it's something that we indeed *should* be doing... all of us, doing it every single day! Imagine just how greatly indeed it works to serve and promote a truly matured person, one embracing qualities of better understanding, who turns to compassion and love over revenge and hatred, all while enhancing their innate "goodness" in life. Walking a mile in someone else's shoes, whether they belong to a loved one, a stranger, or someone who's rather despised, universally proves to be an experience we can only ever hope to grow from (if only in some way or another.)

On the intensely personal level, those tasks carried out during the course of Yom Kippur can prevent both of the two parties or "sides" from going down an ever-so-slippery slope – squarely towards the waiting maw of a dark abyss that devolves into outright conflict that, if continued unimpeded as such, would only bring both sides considerable detriment moving forward; a battle waged where only losers exist, not victors.

So here, on this Earth, the greatest reward from our religious beliefs comes in improving the quality of our own individual lives. Divinity offers us the necessary steps to present the perfect way of handling things and living our lives as ideally as possible; to do good -doing the *right* thing- as opposed to risking harm by going with whatever we might feel is best if left solely to our own devices, such flawed and imperfect creatures that we are compared to our Creator. These divine teachings are nothing less than "instructions" detailing the path toward the best of conceivable outcomes, the very greatest of all worlds, and the absolute most fantastic of futures.

Thusly, it is this one fact, above all others, that makes applying oneself toward better conceiving of such theological matters something of a quality we should all possess and increasingly pursue over time.

If we, all of us, were to live our lives dedicated to following the very same sorts of guidance/notions from divinity, we'd scarcely even recognize a civilization absent any conflicts and war, devoid of malicious violence, senseless death, destruction or such acts of generalized mayhem – to instead focus on doing all that we can to bring aid, comfort and success for anyone... and everyone... that we possibly could!

Just the same, however, in such a world as that? Rather than solely making us "carry the weight and lift the burden off of others, and only onto ourselves"...? So too would anyone and everyone be doing the same thing – yet instead doing so for us, personally! We'd carry the burdens of everyone around us, as everyone around us lifts our own burdens off our weary backs.

As amazing of a place as our contemporary world is here today, still could it rather easily be so much better indeed. Were we only to rededicate ourselves towards the benefit of the many over our own selves, to the pursuit of knowledge, wisdom and goodness; while continually embracing the sorts of paths that have moved us so positively into this impossibly futuristic world we now so greatly enjoy?

Although this itself might perhaps be too much to realistically hope for during our lives, across all of mankind, we can in fact affect such change by carrying out those efforts personally and "leading by example."

And _this_ , all of it starts with realizing and embracing the very teachings and lessons that got us to where we now are – focused squarely upon the pursuit of selflessness over selfishness, charity over greed, equality over bigotry, love over hate, and with knowledge, understanding, reason and logic being placed above nearly all else.

Yet despite an open embrace of the future, never should we forget where we came from – realizing that lessons and guidance will continually be uncovered through learning of both the mistakes and the wisdom of our forebears collective pasts.

I suppose that, in a certain sense, one could say that those sacred works provide something of a roadmap to a life where following those ways precisely often leads to the most ideal and contented of lives. This, being realized as such believers often become only more resolute in their faith – having already experienced how the process simply "works" and following along, even when doing so goes opposite our initial instincts, is the very best or most perfect of choices we might have at the time.

# Epilogue:

# On Cultists and Exploiters of Faith

While this piece reflects my long-held views to a tee, it's only recently dawned on me -after having created this here work- of a rather pressing need to address the topic of, well... cults and cultists; so-called "new religious movements"; and self declared prophets or other similarly reprehensible sorts who exploit our faith to achieve their own personal and selfish ends.

This issue arose due to one particular site I just so happened to come across late last week, in November 2015, in the midst of matters involving this here work of my own. I won't specify or name it for a variety of reasons, least of all giving it any additional publicity, but suffice it to say...? I was well and good shocked and incredulous that sort of madness would still endure, even -especially- here in our modern times.

The thing of it is such that, being engrossed in our own personal spheres/little worlds, it often becomes much too easy to lose sight that these absurd cults and cultists yet exist into today, even in our much developed societies and cultures. Then, shortly after that rather appalling revelation, it also dawned on me how this little body of work here of my own might actually, rather regrettably, at first glance seem to (incorrectly) fall into categories frighteningly similar to those "other" (and indefensibly bad) sorts engaged in acts of pure, unabashed religious exploitation of those most vulnerable.

That in mind, I felt the need for this given the fact that there's also a mighty good chance a small subset of some who find themselves here, searching for answers in similar such unusual sorts of directions – being those who merely remain at all open to the sorts of radically different, oft-times even utterly bizarre, kinds of ideas I myself would present here – could just as well end up discovering such belief-exploiters. All the same, those wrongs carried out in the perverted name of faith, belief or God ought also ideally be confronted from and/or explored __ by __ more religious/theologically-based perspectives – first and foremost.

So although I might only hope and pray that *all* of what now follows could indeed go without saying as much...? Well even so, given these unfortunate realities being what they are, I felt it best to state my views on the matter explicitly – precisely what they have always been, and will forever be:

To start with, the most critical distinction to be applied hereabouts? There's being "nudged along" in a certain, divinely desired directions and/or using God's provided scriptures to learn and draw wisdom, insight and strength from; then, those who claim God directly (most specifically) has revealed new revelations to only but a single individual -coincidentally enough, always being one and the same as they who announce their having been "chosen" in such ways- all in order that they would then immediately share such "new messages" with the whole entire world.

Now, what makes more sense there? Cases that involve God telling just one single person, such as for them to just turn around and inform billions – whose self-proclaimed "choosing" suddenly also empowers them to continue speaking and acting for God Himself on this Earth? Or a God without any limits whatsoever, who can and will make any wishes known to all the world instantly... just as easily and effortlessly as to one, ten or even a hundred?

A God showing overwhelming favoritism or nepotism to precisely one soul out of billions, or a Creator that unflinchingly loves the lowliest wretch exactly as much as the very greatest of all His many children?

Then again, at its heart? This matter ultimately relates to an utter invalidation of the free will given to us by our Creator at the dawn of man – an issue to keep in mind, as I'll return to address it in-depth somewhat further on.

Yet with that assertion from those modern day, self-proclaimed "prophets" or "messengers"? So too comes their declaration of a belief in a God who is feeble and most limited, not the omnipotent and omnipresent divine Maker of actuality. What they are specifically saying by consequence is that God's now returned to having a direct involvement in human affairs, here on this mortal plane of existence – "God appeared before me, making matters most clearly known to me! With me serving as conduit, He wants you all to know this, and for everyone to do what I'll say He said – you know, to me, in private!- to follow me and my supremely God-like ways!"

The key subject there? Well, it's somehow never *really* God, and instead always the "me, myself and I" act of those so-called prophetic messengers – being an actor who supplants God at the center of whatever "faith" by their very own admission, fraudulently impersonating the Creator of All to ensure their words will hold divine weight in the eyes of those who might follow them in their unabashed act of blasphemy.

I mean really, come on now! Why the heck would you not? Stop and think about just how awesome someone must have to be, that God's favor would select them out of billions and billions of souls? He had to wait many *thousands* of years for such an incredible person to come around, that they could then lead the rest of us "mere mortals" to even greater heights! Really... I mean, just come on!

Although (+once again) the overriding issue there quickly instead becomes the aforementioned negation of our inherent free will – let us go and put that (along with all logic and sanity) off to the wayside so as to temporarily accept a crazed reality wherein God would indeed choose to act directly upon this mortal coil here, in more modern and contemporary times.

The notion of God communing with but a lone individual, in order to create change across the entire world at large? So ridiculous of an assertion is that, at least in today's times, and so incomprehensible in its blatant heresy, that one would surely hope no additional remarking should ever need follow. But indeed, ongoing throughout these most recent generations of mankind there's (quite tragically) been a small subset whose desperation to better know God, having the light of His divine grace shine on their souls all the more intensely, gets unconscionably exploited, perverted by those very vilest of the vile: A woeful lot consisting of lost souls, perhaps better known to us as those assorted cult leaders, self-declared prophets and modern-day messiahs.

Well, let's just go ahead and put all the cards on the table, then – God is first and foremost an all powerful force. He genuinely Created our entire reality from scratch, a fact which, even if He weren't a truly omnipotent being, is something that would surely afford Him absolute dominion over all such Creations of His, if only at the very least! So by subsequently asserting any intentional, directed communication from God to only themselves, simply in order that they would only turn around to serve as God's newest messenger to man? With that simple declaration alone, these same blasphemers would so have us believing that God is ridiculously limited in His powers -a force all but impotent in its reserve- instead of the omnipotent beacon of light that reigns supreme over the world and reality that He cherishes so.

Because if God ever were to truly be committed to a course of action once more seeing any direct divine interferences here on our world -something which every single last "God told me to tell the whole world...!" automatically requires us to accept, simply in order for all of it to be accepted in the first place- then the whole entirety of the world would instantly be made known of whatever those revelations might possibly entail!

God would hardly pick and choose just one soul as His newest divine errand boy; instead, He would appear before the entire world all at once! Surely, whatever message demanding His interference in our modern world would have to be something so extraordinary in its gravity, that nothing less would ever suffice! Undoubtedly, God would not leave anything there to chance – returning to insert Himself into mortal affairs for the first time in countless centuries, it would have to concern something so incomprehensible in scope as to defy all imagining.

God certainly could -and absolutely would- appear before a billion just as easily as we might blink our own eyes. And so these... "folks" would have us believing God chose otherwise, absurdly anointing them as "special" in so doing? Or that God could somehow not even do so, incapable of communicating with every last soul drawing breath, and rather can only be made to appear before His self-declared "special messenger for our modern times"? This is simply the height of lunacy – nothing else!

But furthermore, we must feel safe in the belief that God will not take to doing anything of the sort. This, involving that aforementioned "free will violation" I'd referenced earlier. Our free will, being the very greatest of all gifts that God has ever given to humanity – much the same as it's something that is absolute and without exception. What this means? There's a very good reason for God's supposed disappearance in recent millennia – something ridiculously used by those faithless sorts who assert "God is dead."

For God to newly insert himself into mortal affairs, it would mean the complete and total abolition of any such free will. By the simple act of new, direct interactions or communications from God – in asserting any divine influence at all over this Earthly sphere – comes a permanent end to our mortal free will.

Why? Because all such acts would remove our choices and freedoms in every conceivable way. Suddenly, even the simple question of whether or what one might choose to believe in (religiously speaking) is annihilated. But of course, such beliefs also have an impact on and inform every other aspect of human civilization. By involving Himself directly, so too does humanity again become little more than puppets dancing on strings – so many different freedoms, in so many different ways... all at once, forever lost by being supplanted with an infinitely superior being – an incomprehensible divine force acting over and above the all of mankind.

Given the enormity of that gifted free will – the great benevolence and selflessness required for any being to consider imparting such a thing to their own Creation- anything necessitating its invalidation would have to be unthinkable in its magnitude.

Furthermore, whatever event or issue that would demand this act of modern divine interference? In so doing, it's also stating quite clearly a belief that God is anything but a perfect, flawless and all-knowing Creator. Now then, as far as what I personally believe goes? I feel without question that God is all three of those things, and so very much more!

For example, I am certain that God could "see" ahead to the end of time, itself – and all, at the very instant of our world's Making. The second that God so chose to remove Himself from Earthly affairs, way back when...? He planned for every eventuality, and then enacted matters thusly all in order that He would indeed provide our world with everything it could possibly need from Him!

Anytime that these "new messengers" also transmit their "new messages" as little more than updates and revisions to ancient sacred works? Seemingly offering only scant corrections to those divine teachings, rather than God stepping in to prevent our total destruction... say, at the hands of an all out nuclear Armageddon? They are also then equally saying God can't appear to the whole entire world all at once; rather boldly asserting that God is a flawed and imperfect divinity who proved incapable of planning for the future, so very long ago. In reality, those who would supplant or replace – updating or revising- long existing sacred scriptures and teachings are one and all heretical sorts that exploit our faith and impersonate none other than Almighty God, Himself!

So then, should any radically different or brand new theological ideas somehow speak to you in a certain way? Well now, that's perfectly fine... but of course it is! Only, let them speak to you in a truthful and realistic manner – something that's quite clearly not the case whenever a delusional or exploitative soul seeks to command the authority of our Godly Creator by impersonating and acting as though they're __**literally** __ speaking for God Himself; as self-proclaimed conduits of the divine, speaking for God to His children in His stead.

They would have a Creator that's somehow either unable to be bothered to speak to the rest of humanity directly or else a God who's incapable of doing just so – consequently, ceding His authority to some perverse mortal soul and empowering that same mortal with much all of His own divinity in the eyes of whatever followers such wrongdoers draw in. Finally, we should imagine God to never work in such ways due to the exceedingly likely opportunity for some misinterpretation of the communication or creating abuses of their newly elevated (and, no less, self-appointed) station, given the imperfect beings we humans one and all are – itself something having been witnessed time and time again in the form of those that decree polygamy as the law of the land, done strictly to grant themselves as many spouses as they might possibly hope to have!

In other words, it's my absolute belief that God has neither need nor cause for directly giving to any lone individual whatever new gospels or Books they might tout, nor unveiling to us any new revelations or revisions, only to be added atop our existing sacred texts... certainly not when man was long ago provided with all He desired we should ultimately ever have need of. And yet merely by those " **new movements** " on the fringe declaring and spreading such updated works as coming from God in some absurd "private session" they claim having had with our Creator, those who do so are also saying God either couldn't or wouldn't manage to plan ahead thusly; that, for some reason or another, He didn't instill His ancient scriptures and divine wisdom with everything humanity should ever need from God all at once – despite undeniably possessing more than enough vision, acumen and omniscience for Him to do precisely that!

We should therefore make no mistake about it: Only God may speak God's mind... and, whenever He does indeed choose to do so, all of mankind shall surely know of it at once! Although here in more recent times God can absolutely act through any of us – guiding us along, deliberately but delicately nudging us towards certain divinely desired directions, and conveying His wishes or ongoing knowledge __ indirectly __ by working __**through** __ man. But whenever someone declares that God has newly chosen them (and them, alone) to provide His commandments and speak His very mind, the only direction we ourselves should run towards? 'Tis far, far away from the deceptive and exploitative practices they'd each blasphemously carry out in God's name.

