Beliefs

I don't understand about creation and the beginnings of everything. I have not bothered to study about the big bang and I don't really care. I don't think the existance of the universe neccessitates the existance of a god to explain it. If God is the universe, then lets just say "universe" and avoid the confusion.

Our first responsibility is survival. We are all in this together. No one of us can survive on our own so we might as well adapt to get along together as best we can.

Simple. By definition, there just isn't any. When you die, you leave behind memories, which will soon fade, the results of your good works which may last a little longer, and the contributions you have made to the lives of those still living.

Man has a desire to know why? As a child we learn to worship our elders because they furnish the answers. As we grow older we continue to seek answers and hypothesize an almighty being, a super parent, a person who knows and controls more than we do as mere human individuals.

The mind is that which is aware. It is not a point. It is a property of a collection of communicating processors. Awarenes implies time and memory. To be visible, a mind must act. A mind is a sensing, remembering, acting entity. To be an entity, a mind must have a scope, a range, a domain. Our concept of mind is based on the human mind which is embodied in the human body. We generally think of the mind as residing in the brain but it probably should include the whole body. One could extend our definition of mind to envelope all that we appear to sense immediately and control directly. Pre modern man could not conceive of a knowing mind in any form other than human, he conceived superhuman entities as having human like bodies. Today we are learning to imagine greater minds that can exist elsewhere than in the human brain. We have libraries, universities and computers. We know that these are composed of human limited parts. But we are just beginning to comprehend the concept of a greater mind that integrates the capabilities of the human mind with the information processing capabilities of modern technology. The closest we come to an all knowing entity is the Internet. It is growing, changing and adapting faster than we as human individuals can comprehend.

The universe is continuially being revealed. There will always be more to learn. Our history reflects a continuing effort by humans to understand and record the knowlege and wisdom of our environment. There has been an ongoing search for the right course to take at each moment of our lives. Words have failed us in recording and transmitting this information from generation to generation. Truths are continually being learned anew and we are continually being forced to adapt to new realities.

Praise the beauty of the world we live in. Try to make the good things last. Adapt to the changes as they occur. Appreciate the interdependence of living systems. Be thankful for diversity. Continue to explore the unknown. Nothing lasts forever. Enjoy the present. What is past cannot be changed, but it's all we have to learn from.

Our ability to predict the future with any certainty is very limited. Plan for contingencies.

Wishing, dreaming, hoping. These are things a person can do internally. They have no external effect. They may give you a perspective for evaluating your condition.

I am a biological entity. I was born. I will die. I may (did) have progeny. All my ancestors had progeny. I am also an intellectual entity, a processor of information, a member of society. I am a consumer and a producer of material and information.