Whose God?
Year Delivered or Published: 2007
Author: Peter Jackson
Author's Faith: Christianity
Date Submitted to Inspiration and Issues: August 14, 2007
Topic: Spirituality
Whose GOD?
(A joint project of science, reason, and spirituality)
First : A general proposition.
If people were intellectuals like a computer: their God would be science -
i.e. their ideal for the unknown and the known.
But people have a threefold nature with three main drives, abilities or brains i.e. emotion, action and intellect. Thus they need to live, to understand the world, the future, the unknown, and have their life patterned after, a personal threefold ideal or God. So we are not just intellectual beings, but in reality are better described as being experiential people who live greatly by and through having experiences, externally and internally.
Next: Some explanation.
Our three-fold nature consists of our reptilian, behavioral brain, our limbic, mammalian, emotional brain, and our cerebral cortex, an intellectual, factual brain. For centuries people have used the terms HEAD -- mind, intellect, HEART – emotion, love, feelings, BODY – action, behavior, in talking about them self. Each of these brains has memory, can reason by using experience, trial and error, and by imagining, and each brain can communicate with another person.
The three brains are vastly interconnected, regularly working together and are constantly interacting by thoughts and feelings in the mind. William James (1842 - 1910) professor at Harvard called these streams of inner feelings, thoughts, and behavior in the mind, ‘streams of consciousness’.
Your mind is practically never without something to do. There is an almost never-ending stream of feelings, intellect, and behavior almost tumbling over each other. Sometimes the items are related and sometimes not. Often there is no logic, rhyme or reason; the thoughts just keep flitting in and out of consciousness in a continuous stream. For example the thought (intellect) of a certain event (behavior) may cause a feeling of annoyance or even joy, which in turn may lead to action (behavior). Sometimes behavior may lead to a feeling of peace. Or sometimes a behavior or feeling may lead to a set of factual thoughts (intellect). In short each of feelings, intellect, and behavior can affect or lead to, any other one; or follow any other one. Feelings, behaviors, and intellect are all continually interacting.
There is no end of variations in which a person can develop these three drives or brains. Some people emphasize the development of the intellect and its facts and reasoning, other people are very sensitive emotionally and very conscious of feelings and love, while still others are very active physically and socially. Using various degrees of each characteristic there are no end of combinations that are possible. Each of these different natures and combinations would influence the way decisions are made.
With the vast increase in the development of scientific thinking and attitude among the general population in the last century naturally there has also been a vast increase in the development of the intellectual faculty and attitude. This has been a wonderful achievement. Unfortunately it has lead to the severe neglect of the education and development of the emotional and behavioral or relationship faculties of the general population. The effects of this are discussed a few paragraphs later
Our whole life is a series of experiences and of seeing and talking about the experiences of others. Almost all of literature, movies, plays, songs, music, etc. is about people and their inner and outer experiences. We express ourselves in a behavioral way by going to an event such as a parade, a sporting event, a wedding, a graduation ceremony, a church service, and a burial service. Children want to do things for themselves because they want their own experience of the action. If it is possible we prefer to physically go to a sporting event or stage show rather than watch it on the TV because we want the actual experience. We learn better by doing, experiencing something rather than just hearing about it. We do much of our communication by action, behavior, body language, such as a smile, a wave of the hand, a handshake, a look of disgust, and a pat on the back. Living as an example, is a powerful force in teaching values and social behavior. Reviewing experiences by trial and error, and imagining various situations to see which is better, is a form of learning.
What is experience, what is involved? To have an experience means you were there, you had contact, you saw for yourself, you took part, and many such comments. To live is to have experiences, to experience.
We are not very often conscious during the day of breathing the air we need to live. We do it so naturally and without effort, and there is so much of it. So it is with having experiences all day, every day. Even with special events, we think of the event, but not as having an experience.
Likewise we are not conscious of our ‘streams of consciousness’, the fleeting thoughts, feelings, behaviors that occupy our minds most of the day.
To describe the totality of a human being by stating he is an intellectual being is such a narrow statement ignoring vast areas of a person. A more accurate statement is to say he is an intellectual, emotional and behavioral, experiential person. In contrast to our not being very conscious of our experiential nature, we are often conscious of our intellect when we use it because often it requires conscious effort and often difficulty. In addition the vast increase in the use of the intellect by most people has come in fairly recent generations with the great growth of science.
Our generation is very concerned about everyone getting enough education i.e. at least a technical or university degree beyond high school. We are also concerned that we keep in good physical condition. In contrast, we sadly neglect the proper development, education and regular exercise of our emotional and behavioral natures in all their vast diversity. This includes building a balanced, mature person with peace and harmony within the person, with others, and with the universe and eternity. A free, progressive, equal, democratic society requires responsibility, honesty, concern for the good of the whole even in politics, and even a healthy, developed outlook.
This lack of developed and educated feelings, attitudes, ideals, expressive behavior (body language) is a cause of much breakdown today i.e. random violence, excess of drinking and drugs, undisciplined living, divorce, corruption, lack of concern for others, etc. Note that these are problems of the inner person i.e. subjective consciousness that science says are unimportant, a matter of opinion. A continuing break down of society will destroy a culture or civilization even though the progress of science and business reach new heights. In history, sometimes this situation has been corrected and often it has not.
Peter Jackson August 13, 2007
I am a retired Chartered Accountant who has taken quite an interest in consciousness, religion and spirituality.
If you wish to ask questions or discuss this paper please contact me at
<peter@peterj.info>
