Is A God Pulling The Strings Of Coincidence?

There are numerous opinions as to what coincidence or synchronicity really is. Today we look at the religious stance as to why they come about. The following is by Robert Schuller.

I met my travel agent and made plans for a world tour. At the same time another minister 2,000 miles away from my home made plans to take the same trip.

Neither of us knew at the time we would be travelling together. And by pure "coincidence" we were joined in a journey around the world.

We lived together, day after day and week after week. We rode camels together, croseed deserts together, grew weary and half-ill in Africa together,

Little did I know at that time that this man would later be a minister of evangelism in my church. Coincidence? No God's guidance!

Sometimes God guides us through a sudden impulse or intuition by coincidence - which is to say, by no human intervention something happened to determined a destiny. Paths crossed. Strangers met for the first time. An encounter took place which was destined to change the entire course of a life, or a family or a nation, or a world.

Some people call it coincidence. I call it Divine Providence.

So is there a God pulling the strings of coincidence ...

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Is God Undefinable?

Xenophanes of Colophon

On a previous post I asked Where is God? Here's a response.

Where is God?

God is everywhere. God is in heaven and God is on earth. God is in every place where there is joy. God is in every place where there is beauty. God is in every place where there is love?

Can we see God?

No, not yet. God is so different from us that we can't see Him with our eyes. Some day, in heaven, we will see him face to face. When we look at our father and our mother who love one another and their children, we see something of the way God loves and takes care of his children.

With respect to the writer that doesn't answer the question for me. If anything it raises even more questions.

In the 6th century BC Xenophanes wrote:

"The Ethiopians say that their gods are snubnosed and blackskinned and the Thracians that theirs are blye-eyed and red-haired.

If only oxen and horses had hands and wanted to draw with their hands or to make the works of art that men make, then horses would draw the figures of their gods like horses, and oxen like oxen, and would make their bodies on the model of their own."

Therefore, even 2600 years ago, it was realised that man makes God in his own image. So how can we ever describe God?  God must surely be more than we can possibly imagine and is therefore undefinable. Or perhaps you disagree.

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Where Is God?

I was talking to a couple of Jehovah Witnesses and I asked them where God was. The older of the couple looked upwards and made a gesture with his hands, again upwards. He did this without thinking, and then tried to give me another answer.

Wondering where God is, first puzzled me when in my teens. At the time I thought I had the answer and wrote a poem about it - a poor poem I might add, but despite my embarrassment here it is.

The Search

I've looked everywhere to see your face,
To feel the glow of your grace.
I've searched all the countries far and wide,
Delved everywhere looking from each side.
I've mingled with the Church congregation
Of this and every other nation.

But still my soul it felt alone,
Until I found by chance your home.
I looked within and there I saw
The open entrance to your door.

For I am you and your are me.
Not only the blind cannot see.

Okay, I said it wasn't very good! But I think, by chance, I had hit the right note, even if a bit out of tune. What made me think about all of this was because of the Jehovah Witnesses reaction to my question, and also because shortly after the visit I opened a book by chance - as I often do - and came across the following,

"... the brain can only answer barren words, whereas the spirit answers with ravishing experience of internal illumination ... mystical concentration will receive increasing confirmation of the truth of man's divinity by his own experience. Books and Bibles will begin to lose their authority as he begins to find his own.

God is His own best interpreter. Find the god in your own heart and you will understand by direct intuition what all the great teachers, real mystics, true philosophers and inspired men have been trying to tell you by the tortuous method using words.

There is ... one way to discover who we really are. That way is to pass from the outer to the inner, from being busy with a multitude of external activities to being busy with a single internal activity of the mind.

St.Augustine soliloquises thus: 'I, Lord, went wandering like a strayed sheep, seeking Thee with anxious reasoning without, whilst thou wast within me ... I went round the streets and squares of the city of this world seeking thee; and I found thee not, because in vain I sought without for him, who was within my self.'"

~ The Secret Path by Dr Paul Brunton

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Coincidence And Synchronicity: Are They The Hand Of God?

Coincidence isn't chance or good fortune, say Pastors Mark & Sandy Tibey, such happenings, they claim, are the hand of God. Here's their story.

"Just this last week my wife and I were driving back from spending a few days in Bar Harbor. As we were passing a woman who was driving on the shoulder of the highway we both noticed that flames were shooting out the left rear of her car, and that within seconds the car could explode.

We raced to get in front of her and pulled over. Getting out of our car, I ran over to her to get her out of the car immediately. (I was a little concerned that she might have thought I was out to hurt her because she was totally unaware of the fire.)

She got out and I hurriedly put her into our back seat and drove down about another 150 feet, when an off duty Sheriff also pulls over and radios for a fire truck. All this happened within three minutes! By the time the fire truck arrived the car was engulfed in flames and everything appeared to be lost including her purse, pocket book with credit cards and about $500 in cash earnings.

As I am witnessing this I recognize the hand of God. How many times, when you have gotten beyond your control, do two pastors and a sheriff pop out of nowhere to console you? (Most of the time it's a stranger and even though they may not know God, God knows them). If that were not enough the purse was now charred beyond recognition but her pocket book, credit cards and cash were untouched by the flames!

Jesus is indeed risen from the dead and able to help us even when we don't call out for him."

~ Pastors Mark & Sandi Tibey

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Where Do We Go Next To Develop God's Internal Laws?

I found it interesting that the Pope now agrees with science that the universe was born in a cosmic explosion (Big Bang) some 13.7 billion years ago, which has been expanding since that time.

This is, of course, somewhat different to the Bible's words, but the Catholic Church no longer teaches creationism - the belief that God created the world in six days - and says that the account in the book of Genesis is an allegory for the way God created the world.

An allegory, according to the dictionary, is a story, poem, or picture which can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.

The Pope said that the Big Bang ...

"... doesn't contradict the intervention of a divine Creator, but demands it. The beginning of the world was not 'the work of chaos' but part of a divine plan by the Creator.

Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation, because evolution requires the creation of beings that evolve. God should not be regarded as some sort of 'magician', waving a magic wand. When we read about creation in Genesis, we run the risk of imagining God was a magician, with a magic wand able to do everything. But that is not so. He created human beings and let them develop according to the internal laws that He gave to each one so they would reach fulfilment."

I would just question one thing: If man is created so that we can develop according to internal laws, we as individuals can't do this in one life time. We only have to look around us to see this. So, assuming man is immortal, what happens after our present life is over? Do we come back again - reincarnation - or do we learn the next lessons somewhere else?

Just wondering out loud.

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Man: A Completely Different Species From Other Creatures

Adam & Eve Painting by Mabuse

I came across a Gallup Poll which showed that 73% of USA residents believe that God played a part in the creation of man.

People were asked to choose one of three options:

1. Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God guided this process.  31% chose this option
2. Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God had no part in this process. 19% this option
3. God created human beings much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so. 42% this option

I was interested to see that 42% believed that God created man in his present form - and within the last 10,000 years. In a UK poll in 2006 only 22% went for a creationism option.

The poll caught my attention because I had been reading a treatise which offered a differing view more in line with option 1 above.

A Dr. Baker wrote:

"... this does not mean to imply that man descended from animal forms, i.e. from anthropoid apes, as suggested by the Darwinian theory of evolution. According to the theory presented by ancient, authoritative sources, the form that man inhabited was animal-like and 'mindless' until that Fire was applied."

By 'Fire' in the above it was meant that an energy was applied to mankind to advance him along the evolutionary path - but man was always a completely different species.

Once that 'Fire' was applied:

"... man became responsible for his actions; animals are not responsible for their actions; their cruelty, their sexual appetites etc.

This is the symbolic meaning if the biblical story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. By eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge offered to them by the serpent, Adam and Eve became self-conscious and are thus separated from the animals, who do not possess this awareness. Since they are no longer part of a Group Soul, they must pay the price for individualised consciousness; because they are now responsible for their acts, they are exiled from the Garden of Eden."

I've personally believed for quite a long time that we are responsible for our actions and must bare the consequences for how we act. Some would call this karma.

But it's for each of us to decide what beliefs we follow and to respect the beliefs of others. When you look at many religions they are not so far apart as first imagined - it's often just the interpretations that get a little skewed.

But before I close this post there is a thought that the serpent who was responsible for mankind's exile from the Garden of Eden can also lead them back to the Garden. In Hindu Yoga this would be called kundalini where the serpent is resting at the base of the spine - but maybe more on this another time.

P.S. Why do old paintings of Adam & Eve show them with tummy-buttons?

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The Discovery Of The Centre Of The Universe

"Ah, but you are the centre of my universe," she whispered - or maybe it was all in my imagination.

Confusingly, I also read that the USA town of Wallace is the centre of the universe:

"On September 25, 2004, Mayor Ron Garitone proclaimed Wallace to be the centre of the Universe. Specifically, a sewer access cover was declared to be the precise location of the center of the Universe. A specially made manhole cover was made to mark the spot. It bears the words "Center of the Universe. Wallace, Idaho." This prompted British comedian and writer Danny Wallace to visit Wallace. He wrote about his visit in the book Danny Wallace and the Centre of the Universe, published in 2006. The event is celebrated on the third Saturday of September." Source: Wikipedia.

But the good news is that in reality we are all the centre of the universe, wherever we happen to live or be visiting. Though, I must admit it makes my head a bit befuddled thinking about it.

The Big Bang that supposedly created our universe - and not to be confused with any other actions of a similar name - didn't start from a single point as we would normally expect. The theory is that it had to happen everywhere at once because, before the Big Bang, space and time did not exist. Therefore there was no single point where it could have started from.

Yes, but how could anything have started from somewhere that didn't exist? And this is where a God usually comes into the equation by many people. But, there again where was God hiding at the time of the Big Bang?

With respect, leaving God to one side, the popular theory about our universe is often likened to an inflating round balloon. As it continuously inflates it creates time and space. This means there is no time and space outside of the universe.

If some spots are drawn on the balloon (let's call them galaxies), and you shrunk yourself down to a minute creature, every way you looked or travelled you would still appear to be at the centre of everything (i.e. the universe).

And weirdly the balloon (universe) continues to expand, creating more time and space, and the point from where it started is everywhere.

Okay, my explanation isn't too special, it's not really my field, so I can understand why lots of people will tell you that: 'In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth'. It's a darn sight easier explanation but, there again ... there are so many questions.

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Spiritually Influenced Awful Jokes

Sometimes we can take ourselves much too seriously. After all, we are simply fleeting glimpses being transported on a rock hurtling very fast through space. Enough said - here's some spiritually influenced humour.

A Buddhist monk leaned over to another monk and quietly asked, "Are you not thinking what I'm not thinking?"

In the beginning there was nothing and God said, "Let there be light," and there was still nothing - but you could see it a bit better.

"I had a dream that I was awake and I woke up to find myself asleep"
~ Stan Laurel
If you want to confuse God ask Him what his earliest memory is.

Whenever you are feeling blue, just remember to start breathing again.

Two friends meet on the street.
"Hello, how are you?"
The other ones replies: "I'm fine, thanks."
"And how's your son? Is he still unemployed?"
"Yes, he is. But he is meditating now."
"Meditating? What's that all about?"
"I'm not too sure, but it's better than sitting around doing nothing."

Yes, life is Sexually Transmitted.

An elderly philosophy professor gave a one question final exam, after a semester dealing with a broad range of topics.

The class was seated and ready to begin when the professor picked up his chair, plopped it on top of his desk and wrote on the board:

"Using everything we have learned this semester, prove that this chair does not exist."

Fingers flew, erasers erased, notebooks were filled in furious fashion. Some students wrote over thirty pages in one hour attempting to refute the existence of the chair.

One member of the class however, was up and finished in less than a minute.

Weeks later when the grades were posted, the rest of the group wondered how he could have got an 'A' when he had barely written anything at all.

His answer consisted of two words:

"What chair?"

Other Humour Posts:
Awful Jokes And Saucy Postcards
Humorous Letters
Funny You Should Ask God About This Problem

How Free Thinking Are We About Religion, God And Lap-Dancers

It seems to be a popular theory that theism and religion can be found in every culture. I'm not sure if this is strictly true as I have read, for example, that the Pirahã people of the Amazon have no concept of a supreme spirit or god. But in saying that, some do wear necklaces which are said to ward off spirits.

The anthropologist Daniel Everett wrote of his visit to the Pirahã, "The Pirahas have shown me that there is dignity and deep satisfaction in facing life and death without the comforts of heaven or the fear of hell, and of sailing towards the great abyss with a smile."

What got me thinking about this were some 'tests' mentioned in Ben Ambridge's book Psy-Q: Test Your Psychological Intelligence. One of his tests was for atheists.

He writes, "Are you an atheist? If so, then presumably you will have no problem reading aloud the following statements:"

'I dare God to paralyse my mother.'
'I dare God to make me die of cancer.'
'I dare God to make me be in a car crash.'

He then asked, "Can you do it? It's pretty uncomfortable isn't it?"

But why should it be uncomfortable if you do not believe in a God?

Ambridge then tells of a 'study conducted at the University of Helsinki' which wired participants up to a machine that measures sweat, and discovered that atheists find saying these statements just as stressful as religious people do.

But if atheists were asked to substitute the word 'mother' instead of 'God' into the statements they do not undergo nearly so much stress. Ambridge, therefore asks, perhaps a little tongue in cheek, "Does this mean they are closet believers?"

He goes on to conclude that the likes of Dawkins and co are not fibbing when they say they are atheists, but rather that 21st century rationality cannot in a few decades overcome instincts that have evolved in mankind over many, many thousands of years.

In other words, some 'things' are inbuilt within us.

Okay, in his book Ambridge may sometimes be on shaky ground with his comments. Going off on a complete tangent though here's another example which may illustrate how we aren't that superior to other animals, as we share similar biology or instincts. Take lap dancers, for instance!

A study of lap-dancing clubs in Albuquerque, New Mexico, revealed that lap-dancers earn an average of $335 in tips from male punters in the most fertile phase of their menstrual cycle, compared with just $185 during their menstrual phase. It's that inbuilt instinct again.

Religion and God to lap-dancers is a fair old leap but it makes you wonder how much we are in control of our overall beliefs, thoughts and actions. Atheists, though, would probably argue that they have made some headway towards free thinking ...

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God Doesn't Take Sides

Photo: Mike Perry

It puzzles me at times as to why people pray to their God to help them overcome another person or community. I remember watching soccer players in the World Cup, for example, praying to win a match. And, of course, in any war conflict we tend to pray to win the battle.

Surely though, thinking like this is wrong. Why would any God favour any one person over another or any particular country over another? He wouldn't, No more than that, He couldn't.

I read the following from the Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha. It's part of something called The Rain Cloud.

Upon all I ever look

Everywhere impartially,

Without distinction of persons,

Or mind of love or hate.

I have no predilections

Nor any limitations;

Ever to all beings

I preach the Law equally;

As I preach to one person,

I preach to all.

Ever I proclaim the Law,

Engaged in naught else;

Going, coming, sitting, standing,

Never am I weary of

Pouring it copiously on the world,

Like the all-enriching rain.

On honoured and humble, high and low,

Law-keepers, and law-breakers,

Those of perfect character,

And those of imperfect,

Orthodox and heterodox,

Quick-witted and dull-witted,

Equally I rain the Law-rain

Unwearyingly.

That seems about right: everyone is equal no matter what. God doesn't take sides.

Other Buddha Posts:
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The Mantelpiece Buddha
Top Ten Zen Buddhist Quotes Of Taisen Deshimaru

Travelling Our Individual Evolution Trail

It amuses me when I hear of people praying to a God to help them slay the enemy in any conflict. God wouldn't, no couldn't do this because, if we believe in a God, He is the creator of everyone - and we are therefore part of Him.

It's why sects like the Jehovah Witnesses have got it wrong with their views of Armageddon, God wouldn't/couldn't destroy a large section Himself.

Evolution is a spiritual system whereby we gradually realise that we are part of the whole i.e. God, or whatever term you would prefer to call a supreme power or source of life.

Jesus, was/is known as the Son of God. True, because we are all the 'children' of God following an evolution trail at whatever speed, and in any way we choose.

Thinking along these lines I happened to read the following in The Science Of Mind by Ernest Holmes:

"Evolution is the awakening of the soul to a recognition of its unity with the Whole. Material evolution is an effect, not a cause. This reverses the popular belief, declaring that evolution is the result of intelligence, rather than intelligence being the result of evolution."

Holmes goes on to say:

"The aim of evolution is to produce a man, who at the objective point of his own self-determination, may completely manifest the inner life of the spirit. Even the spirit does not seek to control us, it lets us alone to discover ourselves. The most precious thing a man possesses is his own individuality; indeed, this is the only thing he really has or is."

That about sums it up: we are individualised parts of God, therefore immortal. One day, no doubt, we will realise our possible potential.

Just rambling thoughts. Enjoy the evolution trail, most of us probably still have a very long way to travel!

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The Fatwa, Noah And The Spirituality Of Russell Crowe

Russell Crowe in Noah - as featured in Event magazine

I'm not usually interested in the private thoughts or lives of actors, so called celebrities and so on but something I read about Russell Crowe rang true. He was talking about God and spirituality. This is what he is reported to have said by Event magazine (it comes free with the UK Sunday newspapers).

"I don't believe there's a crusty old bloke floating about on a cloud. I divide spirituality from religion. And I think organised religion has got a lot to answer for. How many wars have there been that haven't been based around an essential religious difference?

But I do believe in spirituality. I believe that God lives inside all of us. Life is about kindness and giving - that's the core of things. Gratitude is the most powerful thing you can have in your life. If you are grateful for small things, bigger things come. If you are cynical, the stuff you want to do never works out and your cynicism gets deepened and you get more embittered."

I don't he's too far away from the truth.

Crowe was talking on this subject because he has been working on a new movie, Noah, which is to be released in early April. The movie has already caused some controversy and this in turn illustrates a lot of the problems within organised religions.

Noah has been made the subject of a fatwa by some within Sunni Islam and has been banned by three countries already: Qatar, Bahrain and UAE. Event also claims that the movie is causing controversy "among Christian groups, particularly in the US, who are predicting the film will take liberties with the Book Of Genesis."

There will no doubt always be differing opinions about the Bible and whether it has been altered over the years. Crowe says that the director, Darren Aronofsky, has, "Read the translations of all the Bibles, from the Hebrew through to King James, and he's seen the way the story gets changed and perverted."

I'm far from an expert but I also believe that the Bible has been altered over the years and concur with what is written, for example, on the BBC News site by Roger Bolton. He writes:

"The world's oldest surviving Bible is in bits.

For 1,500 years, the Codex Sinaiticus lay undisturbed in a Sinai monastery, until it was found - or stolen, as the monks say - in 1844 and split between Egypt, Russia, Germany and Britain.

Now these different parts are to be united online and anyone, anywhere in the world with internet access will be able to view the complete text and read a translation.

For those who believe the Bible is the inerrant, unaltered word of God, there will be some very uncomfortable questions to answer. It shows there have been thousands of alterations to today's Bible.

The Codex, probably the oldest Bible we have, also has books which are missing from the Authorised Version that most Christians are familiar with today - and it does not have crucial verses relating to the Resurrection."

Codex Sinaiticus - see here

But it's up to us as individuals as to what we believe and we should also respect what others believe. No matter what, we are all basically the same and if we do believe in a God He surely won't favour some religions or races more than any others. How can He when we are all part of the same God?

Other Religious Posts:
Did The Old Testament Bible Copy From The Epic Of Gilgamesh?
The Creation Of Many Adam And Eves
God Created Earth 6016 Years Ago

Are We Really Nothing At All On A Ride To Nowhere?

Sometimes it's easily to get puffed up with our own self importance. But, who the heck do we think we are?

We are really nothing at all. We have a life span that's not even the blink of an eye, compared with how long everything has been in existence - so we'll soon be forgotten.

And what are we? A minute bit of consciousness zipping along at 67,000 miles an hour, doing a daily twirl while riding on what is essentially a rock. And 'our' rock is only one little rock out of billions all travelling through what we call space.

Not really that impressive are we?

And to think we are the only bits of consciousness anywhere. That can't be right surely, what with all of those stars out there, but that's what the 'experts' would have us believe. There's just us and if we don't get a move on, we'll soon all be gone too.

Someone's got to be having a laugh. But who is that someone chuckling away?

If the atheists are right, there isn't anything out there having a smile at our expense. So, what are we worrying about? We might as well not care a damn, take what we want and have one big knees up while we can.

But despite this many people, for some reason, are caring and kind and will do a neighbour or family member a good turn. Some care so much for their friends, spouses, parents, sons, daughters, grandchildren they would lay down their own lives for them. But why? What's the point?

It may well be that, despite our almost comical situation - travelling on a fast rock and so on, there is something more. We tend to feel this inside, when we bother to look. We are something more than the blink of an eye.

If we enquire within, we might just discover that there's more to us than meets the eye. Finding out what that is, could well be why we are here, right now, at this precise moment.

Enjoy the ride, even when it gets bumpy.

Other Recent Rambles:
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Memories Of The Future

Did The God Of The Old Testament Arrive In A Spaceship?

Mmmm, now I wonder if, in the Old Testament, instead of the word God we should use The Visitors - visitors from another planet that is.

So instead of: 'And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness ...' It would  be 'The Visitors said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness ...'.

Think I must have been reading too much David Icke or something. Or even Uri Geller. Before I went on holiday I read his 1974 bography, with the snappy title of 'Uri'.

It seems that Uri and his side-kick Andrija Puharich often had chats with aliens from - not really sure where they came from, but here's what they told the aforementioned:

Oak of Mamre in Hebron

"We first interfered with the human race twenty thousand years ago. We came on a planned mission from our own solar galaxy, and our first landing place on Earth was at the place you were at in Israel, at the Oak of Mamre in Hebron [Heaven ?] where Abraham met us. That is the origin of the legend of the ladder to the Gods, because they saw us come out of our craft on a ladder device.

However, we found traces of the presence of other visitors from other spaces who had been on Earth millions of years earlier. But we found man in much the same animal condition that you see in him today."

Animal condition - us Earthlings? How dare they ... mind you, if you think about it ...

So did or do those Aliens ever help us? Well it seems they do, but not too frequently.

"We give advice actually about once every six thousand years. The last time that we did this was six thousand years ago to the Egyptians.

Our advice is usually given gently and is not too strong, and we do it more for our own purpose than for man's benefit."

But one bit of good news from them is that we do have souls - did we ever doubt it? And what is the nature of soul?

"It inhabits different worlds at different times in is existence. When the physical body dies, it goes with all of its being to its own world. There it carries on with the next phase of its existence.

It may go on to other spaces, or it may even return to an Earth physical body for another round of experience.

There are higher powers that divide these people (souls), and that decide where they shall go. The purpose of existence is to move towards God. However, no one can know God. We ourselves can only know God by reaching him as an idea - not physically."

But, before you ask, there are other visitors besides the ones Uri communicated with.

"Most of these reports by humans [about UFOs and aliens] are due to hallucinations and aberrations. But some of our units have landed. But most of the reported landings have been other visitors from space - some of whom we do not see, but which you can see. They are of different vibrations, different spaces, different velocities. We are the only ones who are mostly here. Others come and go."

Before we completely write off all of this alien visitors malarky as complete fiction, perhaps there is an element of truth - if we dare think a little, or maybe a lot differently, to the norm.

As for the Bible and UFOs, or Visitors from Space, there's the theory about Ezekiel: The Alien Abduction Of The Bible and much more besides.

Other UFO / Alien Posts:
The UFO Which Brought The Raelian Elohim To Earth
The Reptilians From Venus And Draco Inhabiting Earth
10 UFO And Alien Stories

Temptations Of The Fox And Other Puppet Masters

Last week in the UK media there was a story about a 16 year old schoolgirl Lurelle Bancroft who was turned away from her school prom (something we seem to have imported from the USA).

It seems Lurelle wants to be a model, or something like that, and was a finalist for Miss Teen Great Britain which affected her school attendance record and added to her general bad behaviour.

She was told she wouldn't be able to attend the prom, but turned up anyway and 'by chance' a Manchester picture agency just happened to have a photographer on hand to record the sob story in pictures.

It appears that so many nowadays want to be celebrities, or a 'star' in reality shows and ... I won't say any more on this, but you get the picture. The temptations for easy fame and money are dangled very much like J.Worthington Foulfellow the Fox did with Pinocchio.

The Fox offered the easy way to success and Pinocchio followed. He was even offered 'hot' women (but it could just as easily have been hot men) puppets. And that's how many celebrity seekers end up - as puppets for shady characters like Stromboli.

Pinnocchio ignored his conscience's warnings at great cost - and was unable to return to his creator. Very much like people are persuaded to turn their backs on spirituality and their own creator or God. The money the puppet makes enriches his (or her) handler.

In Pinocchio's story he does gain back his conscience, via Jiminy Cricket, but is once more tempted, this time to Pleasure Island by Foulfellow the Fox. Here there is no school (knowledge) or laws (morals). Children are allowed to eat, drink, smoke, fight and destroy at will, all under the guidance of The Coachman. Instant gratification and satisfaction are offered much like with the celebrity world.

Of course, we have free will, so everyone can return to their Creator but there is often a task or initiation to perform in order to do so. When Pinocchio tries to return to Geppetto he isn't there. It turns out he has been swallowed by a giant whale! Shades of Jonah from the Bible here:

Matthew 12:40. "For as Jonas was there three days and three nights in the whale's belly: so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."

Pinocchio jumps into the water and gets swallowed himself to find his Creator, Geppetto, which he finally does and escapes from the darkness to be reborn. And now we have shades of Freemasonry - but that figures as Carlo Collodi, who wrote Pinocchio, was initiated into Freemasonry.

And a quote from Plotinus (204-270):
"Therefore we must ascend again towards the Good, the desired of every Soul. Anyone that has seen this knows what I intend when I say that it is beautiful. Even the desire of it is to be desired as a Good.

To attain it is for those that will take the upward path, who will set all their forces towards it, who will divest themselves of all that we have put on in our descent:- so, to those that approach the Holy Celebrations of the Mysteries, there are appointed purifications and the laying aside of the garments worn before, and the entry in nakedness - until, passing, on the upward Way, all that is other than God, each in the solitude of himself shall behold that solitary - dwelling Existence, the Apart, the Unmingled, the Pure, That from, Which all things depend, for Which all look and live and act and know, the Source of life and of Being."

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The Universe Is Just Like A Dot On A Balloon

I have rambled on at times about how the universe may have possibly began and have asked many questions. What was there before the Big Bang, for instance?

Today in the Daily Mail, on a letters page, there was an answer to one of my questions: What lies beyond the edge of the universe? The answer was from Michael Tempest. See what you think of his take on this:

"This is a question very similar to 'what happened before the universe was created?' And the answer to both is essentially the same: nothing.

However, saying there is nothing beyond the edge of the universe doesn't mean that space is empty - it means the space doesn't exist.

As the universe expands it creates time and space, and the difficulty we have is that the concepts of time and space on a cosmic scale are alien to our domestic experience and we find it difficult to comprehend them.

We on Earth are, at one and the same same time, both at the centre of, and the extremity of, the universe.

This apparently perverse situation is explained by Stephen Hawking using the analogy of an inflated balloon covered in dots. No dot is in the middle of, nor at the edge of, the surface.

The same applies to the universe but with the an extra dimension added. It is quite conceivable that there are multiple universes, but if so, by definition, we'll never know."

Okay, all well and good, but I still can't get my head properly around the idea that there was nothing prior to the so called Big Bang or that there is nothing at the edge of the universe. How can something come from absolutely nothing? I guess this is why God often comes into the equation ... er, but if there was nothing where was God ... does this mean He is nothing too?

Perplexing questions! But, as Xenophanes, suggested - but in different words - How Can Man Imagine A God Who Is Undefinable? I guess one day we will understand, or is that wishful or even delusional thinking?

Other Rambles:
A How Did It All Begin Ramble
Words Of Immortality And The Big Bang

The Creation Of Many Adam And Eves

Probably, like many readers, I have pondered how man came about. Was it Creationism? Evolution? Or one of the other myriad, often wacky, suggestions?

What puzzles me most is Adam of the Bible. Was he really the first man? And Eve really the first woman? If so, does this mean their children interbred? Incest?

A lot of questions! But then someone told me the meaning of the word adam in Hebrew - the Bible being originally written in Hebrew. I've also Googled this, and it seems pretty much agreed as to what adam means.

I'll take the Wikipedia entry as an example:

"Adam (Hebrew: אָדָם‎, Arabic: آدم‎) in Biblical (as well as modern) Hebrew is sometimes used as the personal name of an individual and at other times in a generic sense meaning mankind"

Other suggestions I read:

"Adam means essentially human being or humanity. Not man"

This makes the likes of Genesis 1:27 more understandable when it says: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of of God created he him; male and female created he them."

If you want to go down the creationism trail surely this says that God created them i.e. humanity. This wasn't a single creation of one man, followed by one woman. So there was no single Adam and Eve, but many.

This also makes sense of Genesis 4:16 where Cain - the son of Adam and Eve - dwelt in the Land of Nod and how in Genesis 4:17 "Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch." Cain could only have done this if more women were available?

In Genesis 5:2 this is confirmed when it states: "Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created."

Perhaps the lesson is that the Bible can be interpreted in various ways. It's intereting that this is accepted, for example, in the Bahá'í faith. `Abdu'l-Bahá writes in 'Some Answered Questions':

"Therefore, this story of Adam and Eve who ate from the tree, and their expulsion from Paradise, must be thought of simply as a symbol. It contains divine mysteries and universal meanings, and it is capable of marvelous explanations. Only those who are initiated into mysteries, and those who are near the Court of the All-Powerful, are aware of these secrets. Hence these verses of the Bible have numerous meanings." Source: Bahá'í Reference Library

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