Temple of Nature
John L. Waters
May 25, 2006
I live near a state park and when I go over there I feel the healing ambience that has often been associated with the so-called ?Presence of God.? There are tall evergreen trees, immense upward-jutting rock outcrops, thundering ocean waves, and lots of salt in the air. Over there I hear no sounds of barking dogs, screaming kids, blaring radios, honking horns, roaring chainsaws, or gunshots. There are wonderful natural fragrances also, instead of the repelling odors of gasoline fumes, fouled septic systems, smoke from oil burning heaters, strong perfumes and other noxious chemicals. I call this public place a Temple of Nature.
Related to this natural place and the human sensitivity that is required to appreciate it, for several months I've been reviewing the ongoing theist-atheist controversy and I say that humans have this native potential to feel attuned to the universe, but today most elementary schools don't teach children how to feel this way. Instead, most schools teach young persons better how to read, write, talk, and argue. Consequently, what happens over the formative years is that the slickest, sharpest, brightest kids grow up to become sharp lawyers, scientists, or debaters, and they haven't studied and cultivated the unitive sense that enables a person to feel attuned to the universe...and to other persons who are attuned to the universe. All cultures have these sensitive persons but such individuals tend to not be skilled in debate, or in the law profession, or in the sciences.
When one is attuned to nature then all the bibles, Christian, Moslem, Hindu, and so forth join with the books of law, science, math, and so forth. Books are not alive. They just sit there on the shelf. The essence of life is felt by the naturally attuned person and all the bookish arguments and the dogmas fall away. The naturally attuned person listens to the voices of the trees and the voices of the waves and the voices of the myriad other forms of nature, and the all-embracing sense of unity comes.
The relatively insensitive persons, who tend to be logical, legalistic, and bookish, may attack the naturally attuned person as a psychotic and figuratively speaking throw the DSM-IV at them. They want to call the police and have the naturally sensitive attuned person committed. Really this is just one type of functioning human nervous system attacking another type of functioning human nervous system. This weakens the brain in every case.
Let?s enter the Temple of Nature. The temple of nature includes every cell inside each human body and brain. Every cell is like a candle burning on an altar. The flame of these candles is the ATP (Adenosine triphosphate) >----> ADP (Adenosine diphosphate) reaction which powers all human growth, health, and prosperity. The same is true for all plants and animals.
Unfortunately, there is a worsening human problem because there is so much controversy over dogmatic religion and over science as well. For example, consider the growing controversy over Craig Winn's book "Prophet of Doom." The fundamentalist Christians are still crusading against the Moslems, and so forth. Sharp intellectuals feed the flames of this controversy. The sense of unity is not cultivated.
During school daze malaise and boredom many earnest young intellects begin dipping into this bubbling stew and mulling it over in fourth grade or even younger, and many bright young people conclude that spirituality is utter hogwash. Such bright babes may develop a great intellect, but fail to cultivate the sensitivity that many people feel when they are in a strong "spiritual power" spot. It is comparable to the way some people have a special sense of music, and some people have a special sense of color, and some people have a special sense of spirit. A prophet has a strong sense of spirit and the next step, I argue, is intellectually understanding this "spiritual" talent. Certain scientists are already working on this. For instance, read Wired Magazine's article, "This is your Brain on God." At http://atheistempire.com/reference/brain/main.html you can also check out the article entitled, "God and the Brain."
Various spiritual books and teachers predict that God will come again and turn every person on to this alternative reality that God is present in, by, and for everyone. A few strongly self-motivated scientists are working on this project right now. What will turn people on to this new and emerging science is the great benefit of integrating gifted human sensibilities with gifted human intellects?the very strong reptilian and limbic old brains and the very strong neocortical new brains.
When it comes to spirituality, a great many adults want to just continue believing something that they learned decades ago. When the new manifestation of God comes, however, certain new ideas will bring a healing benefit to minds and bodies, because that is what the "spiritual power" does when it is integrated in with ordinary sensibilities and the intellect.
The preceding paragraphs only express my opinion. Testable methods of increasing ones sensitivity and/or stimulating one's brain activity are not just opinions, however. Furthermore, when the spiritual presence is felt with greater vigor, certain other brain functions may also become more vigorous. This is just making the brain so that it can function at a higher level and do more work. Such a brainy person has often been called ?inspired.?
For an example of an inspired brain working very hard, consider the voluminous and sometimes prophetic writings of Baha?u?llah. These writings arose due to the man?s very intense and well-managed brain activity. It is thought-provoking that neither the Christian fundamentalists or the Moslem fundamentalists pay a lot of attention to Baha?u?llah. Other inspired persons are also paid little or no attention by either side of this battle, partly because there are so many other inspired persons and to make a serious study of all these persons is entirely different from locking horns with someone equally fanatical in a valiant attempt to win the argument between the fundamentalist Moslems and the fundamentalist Christians.
Meanwhile, engulfing and transcending all the publicity devoted to the dogmatic and secular human controversies, the Temple of Nature is everywhere unified and harmonious at all times.
Copyright 2006 by John L. Waters. All Rights Reserved
LINKS
My website at Humboldt State University
My search for a publisher
My letters of recommendation
Related to this natural place and the human sensitivity that is required to appreciate it, for several months I've been reviewing the ongoing theist-atheist controversy and I say that humans have this native potential to feel attuned to the universe, but today most elementary schools don't teach children how to feel this way. Instead, most schools teach young persons better how to read, write, talk, and argue. Consequently, what happens over the formative years is that the slickest, sharpest, brightest kids grow up to become sharp lawyers, scientists, or debaters, and they haven't studied and cultivated the unitive sense that enables a person to feel attuned to the universe...and to other persons who are attuned to the universe. All cultures have these sensitive persons but such individuals tend to not be skilled in debate, or in the law profession, or in the sciences.
When one is attuned to nature then all the bibles, Christian, Moslem, Hindu, and so forth join with the books of law, science, math, and so forth. Books are not alive. They just sit there on the shelf. The essence of life is felt by the naturally attuned person and all the bookish arguments and the dogmas fall away. The naturally attuned person listens to the voices of the trees and the voices of the waves and the voices of the myriad other forms of nature, and the all-embracing sense of unity comes.
The relatively insensitive persons, who tend to be logical, legalistic, and bookish, may attack the naturally attuned person as a psychotic and figuratively speaking throw the DSM-IV at them. They want to call the police and have the naturally sensitive attuned person committed. Really this is just one type of functioning human nervous system attacking another type of functioning human nervous system. This weakens the brain in every case.
Let?s enter the Temple of Nature. The temple of nature includes every cell inside each human body and brain. Every cell is like a candle burning on an altar. The flame of these candles is the ATP (Adenosine triphosphate) >----> ADP (Adenosine diphosphate) reaction which powers all human growth, health, and prosperity. The same is true for all plants and animals.
Unfortunately, there is a worsening human problem because there is so much controversy over dogmatic religion and over science as well. For example, consider the growing controversy over Craig Winn's book "Prophet of Doom." The fundamentalist Christians are still crusading against the Moslems, and so forth. Sharp intellectuals feed the flames of this controversy. The sense of unity is not cultivated.
During school daze malaise and boredom many earnest young intellects begin dipping into this bubbling stew and mulling it over in fourth grade or even younger, and many bright young people conclude that spirituality is utter hogwash. Such bright babes may develop a great intellect, but fail to cultivate the sensitivity that many people feel when they are in a strong "spiritual power" spot. It is comparable to the way some people have a special sense of music, and some people have a special sense of color, and some people have a special sense of spirit. A prophet has a strong sense of spirit and the next step, I argue, is intellectually understanding this "spiritual" talent. Certain scientists are already working on this. For instance, read Wired Magazine's article, "This is your Brain on God." At http://atheistempire.com/reference/brain/main.html you can also check out the article entitled, "God and the Brain."
Various spiritual books and teachers predict that God will come again and turn every person on to this alternative reality that God is present in, by, and for everyone. A few strongly self-motivated scientists are working on this project right now. What will turn people on to this new and emerging science is the great benefit of integrating gifted human sensibilities with gifted human intellects?the very strong reptilian and limbic old brains and the very strong neocortical new brains.
When it comes to spirituality, a great many adults want to just continue believing something that they learned decades ago. When the new manifestation of God comes, however, certain new ideas will bring a healing benefit to minds and bodies, because that is what the "spiritual power" does when it is integrated in with ordinary sensibilities and the intellect.
The preceding paragraphs only express my opinion. Testable methods of increasing ones sensitivity and/or stimulating one's brain activity are not just opinions, however. Furthermore, when the spiritual presence is felt with greater vigor, certain other brain functions may also become more vigorous. This is just making the brain so that it can function at a higher level and do more work. Such a brainy person has often been called ?inspired.?
For an example of an inspired brain working very hard, consider the voluminous and sometimes prophetic writings of Baha?u?llah. These writings arose due to the man?s very intense and well-managed brain activity. It is thought-provoking that neither the Christian fundamentalists or the Moslem fundamentalists pay a lot of attention to Baha?u?llah. Other inspired persons are also paid little or no attention by either side of this battle, partly because there are so many other inspired persons and to make a serious study of all these persons is entirely different from locking horns with someone equally fanatical in a valiant attempt to win the argument between the fundamentalist Moslems and the fundamentalist Christians.
Meanwhile, engulfing and transcending all the publicity devoted to the dogmatic and secular human controversies, the Temple of Nature is everywhere unified and harmonious at all times.
Copyright 2006 by John L. Waters. All Rights Reserved
LINKS
My website at Humboldt State University
My search for a publisher
My letters of recommendation
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