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<P>(Responding to the item below, the photograph of the Yes, yes. Sombrero
Galaxy. Yeah, I know someone from there, fellow named Pedro. That’s his joking
name—it’s really quite un-pronounceable—but was communicated to me from his
translation-telepathy gizmo. He was here on a visit—you know those flying saucer
sightings?--- and we were chatting about the whole shebang. </P>
<P>It turns out that "Pedro" and his kin have this interesting theology of
sorts: The whole cosmos is still part of a greater cosmos that includes all
psychic stuff, all the dimensions reported on by people in mystical and
psychedelic and shamanistic trances. And all this is part of the still-cloudy
mind of an awakening god-field that, in their belief, is still somewhat
embryonic!</P>
<P>Rather than partaking of our (to him, primitive) tendencies to elevate our
god concept in a patriarchal king-like way, their people (well, they’re not
actually people—it would be hard to describe what they are, something like
resonant energy fields) imagine God to be more in need of nurturance, care,
attention. Rather than obedience, our duty (in their mythology) is to find out
what the embryo or newly-born God needs and to make sure he gets it. Forgive the
gendered pronouns—there’s no gender implied in their language or their
theology.</P>
<P>Not that this God is any less wondrous to them than He is to us! Perhaps
more! (They are advanced enough to be able to manage inter-galactic travel,
after all. And they have a much better sewage system and teamwork to pull off
such collective endeavors.) Even though their development is not as
materially-"carbon" based as ours, it is no less complex, and they project this
understanding of embryology on the heavens. They know it’s a projection, a
provisional model, but they also know that the development of theology goes
along with the development of science, and is necessarily a developing process,
a creative process. There’s no illusion for them that they are anywhere near
getting the actual whole "truth" or picture. They’re happy if they can just
improve their models bit by bit, and occasionally with a paradigm shift here and
there. </P>
<P>Anyway, for Pedro’s people, embryos are marvelous, engaging in a zillion
complex transformations and differentiations that they study, and every time
they discover yet another way God does it, it opens up two other mysteries. So
studying the cosmos is for them a religious activity.</P>
<P>Apparently they never went through a phase that idealized words as if they
were truths, that confused legend with history, or myth from fact. They find
that our planet’s dominant species being in turn dominated by this illusion to
be curious. So religion for them is like science for us, always in a process of
creative re-formation. I told ‘em about Moreno and they said that just maybe
part of their insight might have gotten reincarnated in his mind-body. (They
have an interesting theory of reincarnation that is more like shuffling cards:
Everyone is made of a number—more in the range of 40 - 70—soul fragments that
arise from a similar number of other beings—like the cards are constantly
re-shuffled—and these account for our preferred imagery, talents, weaknesses,
body structure, temperament, and so forth.)</P>
<P>Anyway, back to their embryological theology—which, to say again, is clearly
a provisional model—they are quite aware that the Greater Wholeness of the
Cosmos cannot be known even to their advanced civilization—but they theologize
as a process of theory building because it is just part of the overall creative
process of mind: The embryo in the sense of its many transformations is
near-infinitely intelligent, and yet is only barely conscious, in the sense of
being self-reflective. For this, we are needed—all sentient creatures in the
cosmos. To the extent that we can wake up, become more sentient, we function as
the operational brain cells of God. Let’s say that God needs a google (that’s
ten to the hundredth power) brain cells to not only be energized, but to also be
as inter-connected and coordinated as the puny ten billion brain cells in our
minds are, then the implications of that theology is that we all have to wake up
more and to cooperate more! Stop all this fighting and killing and being mean
and selfish! </P>
<P>Well, this was nice to hear, in some ways—as it supported my general moral
inclinations to be nice; but it approached it from a somewhat shocking angle:
God needed us, but wasn’t this parent-figure who would "save" us—whatever
"saving" entailed—something that seems like it would compensate for our folly.
No, rather than using religion to avoid responsibility, if we believed the way
Pedro’s people did, we would be called to more responsibility. Whew! I told him
I didn’t know if folks I knew down here would buy that. He shrugged. </P>
<P>Well, I thought I’d pass along this story of this encounter. (As John Lennon
sang in "Imagine": "You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.")</P>
<P>Warmly, Adam "Gigglemeister" Blatner here where it’s been cold, but not as
cold as some places... </P></DIV></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> The Creativity of the Godhead</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><IMG src="cid:7600C55172D948CDA0BECB9A52207C91@desktop">
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<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT style="FONT: 24px Times New Roman"
face="Times New Roman" size=6><B>The Sombrero Galaxy - 28 million light years
from Earth - was voted best picture taken by the Hubble telescope.
�</B></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT style="FONT: 24px Times New Roman"
face="Times New Roman" size=6><B>The dimensions of the galaxy, officially called
M104, are as spectacular as its appearance.�</B></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT style="FONT: 24px Times New Roman"
face="Times New Roman" size=6><B>It has 800 billion suns and is 50,000 light
years across.</B></FONT></P></DIV></BODY></HTML>