This is by no means a cohesive
writing project (i.e., one that was planned to take this form at the
time it was begun). Instead, this work has grown, somewhat like Topsy.
The starting point was my own personal search for Truth, as is true of
so many books that deal with either Philosophy or Religion. As my
search for Truth expanded, the number of "books in process" grew to
two, then three, and then four. Now, I have concluded that all four do
comprise a complete whole, and thus all of them do belong together,
sharing pages as part of a much larger work.
However, the size to which
this writing project has expanded, and the history of how it was
written as a series of separate pieces (essentially, "as the spirit
moved me" to write them down), do leave some obvious inconsistencies in
the end product. Most glaring is in the chapters that I decided, at one
point or another, to share between two of the then separate "books in
progress." I have yet to figure out the proper order to present that
material only once, so they now stand as repeated between each of the
sub-books herein in which they were originally designed to appear. The
first two sections on Spengler are a case in point. They appear at the
beginning of the essay on the existence of God, and again (in a
slightly altered form) at the beginning of the separate book on
Spengler's theories. Logically, they belong in both places, and I need
to either move the essay on the existence of God to after the book on
Spengler, which will destroy some of the value of having that essay
appear before the much more detailed work, or else refer the reader to
the later part on Spengler during the reading of the earlier part on
God. Both of these potential solutions are, to some degree or another,
offensive to my overall purpose, so I seek a different sort of solution.
The present version of this
work is also missing some pieces that I had originally intended to
insert. They are not yet written, and I will write them before I put
this work into anything like a "final" form. However, it is extremely
important to me to get some initial reader feedback before I make any
extensive attempt to put this work to bed, so I am making an initial
release in this somewhat incomplete form. The content of the missing
pieces should be obvious to the intelligent reader, so please do not
feel shortchanged by these clearly indicated omissions.
With all of that said, by way
of excuse, there is still a great deal of excellent material in this
work. It is because I now personally believe that this work says enough
to the intelligent reader to draw that reader to the obvious
conclusion(s) which are of great value to us all that I have now
decided it is time to release a draft for review by this class of
reader. I intend to rely upon the critical comments of these readers to
indicate to me how and when to finish this work off for some form of
eventual publication.
There are clearly some
conclusions which I have reached which surprised even me, as I searched
for some Truth to fulfill my own soul. Among these are:
- A. A conclusion that God exists, if in no other way, then as the source of an anti-entropic force which motivates the universe to create "order out of chaos," with our own existence as a high form of that "order."
- B. A conclusion that many of our perceived social ills derive from our practice (at some insistence of Christianity) of training our children to form same sex friendships and despise the opposite sex, when our social goal of promoting long term marriages would be better fulfilled by practicing the reverse strategy.
- C. A conclusion that another source of social ills is the lack of group (tribal) support for nuclear families, and in light of the above, a lack of support for young "opposite sex" relationships.
- D. A conclusion that there is no hope for reversing the decline of our Western Civilization, but there is hope for the formation of a technology based civilization of the future to replace Western Civilization before it either "dies" or becomes a dictatorship.
- E. A conclusion that this "technology based civilization," referred to above, will be designed to "ride out" the tide of change which is our legacy from the Industrial Revolution, in order to damp out the cycles of Culture and Civilization recorded by Spengler.
- F. A conclusion that the so-called "right wing" Christians are being led by the Anti-Christ because they promote a value system which is exactly opposite to that promoted by Christ.
- G. A conclusion that the so-called "born-again" Christian movement constitutes the fulfillment of Spengler's prediction of a "Second Religiousness" in the mass of humanity.
- H. A conclusion that the so-called "Golden Rule" (i.e., "do as you would be done by"), "love your neighbor as yourself," and the ethical rules of Utility are all just different aspects of the same underlying grand principle of human behavior, which principle is, in turn, simply the negation of the "Law of the Jungle."
- I. A conclusion that the only valid religion is Agnosticism because it is the only religion which is logically compatible with a mature Philosophy.
- J. A conclusion that the only valid mission for mankind as a whole is a three-fold mission to 1) seek knowledge of the Truth; 2) find pleasure for as many as possible; and 3) balance the search for Truth and for pleasure so that neither mission lacks attention.
- K. The catch phrase: "Truth = freedom; mysticism = slavery."
- L. A conclusion that the only primary source of wisdom is our use of scientific method and/or mental reasoning to create a full and complete understanding of "Truth."
- M. A conclusion that mankind must discard any belief which rests solely upon some premise which is required to be taken on faith, plus any other beliefs which require this kind of underlying belief for their support.
- N. A conclusion that there is no reason for mankind to deny itself any pleasure which is taken in moderation,1 so long as the other components of the Mission of Mankind are not neglected.
- O. A conclusion that neither egoism nor altruism can provide the proper foundation for Ethics; instead, some sort of synthesis is required, which synthesis is best expressed by Utility and/or the Golden Rule (and all similar expressions of the same values).
- P. A conclusion that natural disasters occur when mankind fails to "get out of the way" of naturally occurring events and/or to take proper precautions to prevent injury and/or death when such events occur, and that these are not really "acts of God" (i.e., God is indifferent to how mankind is affected by such events).
- Q. A conclusion that if mankind is not "pro-active" about forming a new civilization (based on riding out the wave of technology, as stated above), Christianity may act to prevent us from doing it.
- R. A conclusion that mankind should live harmoniously within our natural environment, although we may wisely use the resources which are available, with our usage prioritized according to whether they are renewable or irreplaceable.
- S. And a conclusion that the sum of all of the above can be used as the basis for deriving a new church, Culture, and Civilization for mankind, the implementation of which should lead all of us towards achievement of some form of Utopia.
The objective of this new
"Bible" for mankind is to motivate, educate, and otherwise promulgate
the wisdom necessary to the achievement of greater wisdom and increased
happiness for all of mankind. Unlike most (if not all) Utopian visions
of the past, the scope of this vision is truly broad enough to
encompass all of the real issues which will confront us, and to provide
a truly realistic blueprint for the actual achievement of something
which we should all agree would be Utopia; not the ultimate in pleasure
for all of humanity, but a realistic, practical, and pragmatic plan to
get as close as possible to that goal, while still achieving some sort
of overall "progress" or "advancement" for human knowledge.
I do not see such a large
objective as being possible with only the input from one person to
bring it to reality. Thus, it is my clear intention to release several
early drafts of this Bible so that others may comment and add to my own
thoughts on the various subjects herein. It is to that end of "peer
review" by other humans that this draft is dedicated. Read it in good
faith, and come back with honest suggestions for real improvements. It
can only benefit our many mutual descendants.
SAUGUS, CALIFORNIA; MAY 1, 1996.
1 This is never to be read as an advocacy for promoting a culture based upon drug abuse! It is impossible to promote "moderate" use of addictive substances, and it is an extremely rare drug user who can fulfill his or her obligations to other members of society while using drugs.
