RELIGION

ABC Wednesday & more prompts below
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GURU TONY

I cannot believe in a God-form so what can I reason? Much conflict
has been placed at the door of religion. I don’t accept this. Conflict is
caused by politics, whether in a religious or secular culture. I am not
religious, but I am spiritual. To me, the former is a social interaction of
shared belief. The latter is an inner feeling – a bonding to fellow man,
environment & universe.

The two can work together
but are different.

If you strip culture from any religion you usually find the same things –
belief in higher intelligence, a way to commune with it, memory of a
previous perfect state, an understanding of our imperfection and a
moral code. Similarly, almost all major religious icons share a life
pattern. Frustrated in youth, they question. This leads to a spiritual
crisis within which they overcome adversity. This turns them into a
charismatic on a single-minded path to change things. We can argue
that below all religious expression there exists an ‘under religion’
shared by all, suggesting that all religion begins in a ‘universal
psychology’. Upon this a specific cultural story is built. This is
powerful and gives people meaning and direction. When the stage is
reached where a whole society believes, doing real physical things in
society, then the God-form takes on an element of reality, for if it is
‘truth’ or not, the outcome would be the same. A cultural force
becomes existent above the individual, and takes on an intelligence all
its own. This element is what I call OverMind. Thus, religion can be
seen to have a universal oneness in ‘under religion’, which is all
inclusive; and specific elements of OverMind based on culture or
environment, which fragments mankind. Could an understanding of the
former lead to a new tolerance in the latter? This said, I am
convinced that a real form of universal intelligence could exist. For
analysis of this, you need to read THE UNEXPLAINED page accessed
from top of this site, which delves into the possibility in the last two
parts. But as a taster, science tells us that evolution destroys the
idea of intelligence. Yet computer programs now exist that are
evolutionary in nature, evolving new programs of their own. Yet
before this can occur, a form of subtle direction must be placed in
the form of a ‘basic design function’. Is this so with the universe?

Eye On the World
Essays on everything from science
to religion, politics to crime

GREEN NEWS: The International
Energy Agency claims we are running
out of oil faster than thought. A clear sign
for Big Biz to go Green? Don’t you believe it. Green
tech can be done by smaller companies. Big Biz will go Green
when they’ve found a replacement that guarantees the big systems
they need to survive. Until then, the planet can go boil.

BRIT NEWS: The Tories will shrink the State, says would-be PM, David
Cameron. Social issues are best handled by private/volunteer
organisations working at the local level. Couldn’t agree
more. Big Govt places directives from the centre
based on ideology rather than need. The
only problem is, can we trust the
Tories to get it right?

READ WITH MUMMY

The Magazine Post with a gentle hint of horror

One Single Impression
ReadWritePoem – 3 Word Thursday
Friday Flash 55 – 3 Word Wednesday

THE MONSTER

Searching for monster, it’s here somewhere,
Turn my back I can feel its stare,
Its ravaging this land, getting its way,
Then its gone, as if a fey;
Things went wrong so it had to exist,
Solutions, hunters, got to enlist,
But the monster wasn’t there before the excuse,
Our inner terror can have devilish use

THE SOUL

Fiction: So often I feel disconnected. Go through life, traveling, trying
to find a place where my soul can be as one with I, but always I fail,
with just brief moments of calibration. Messages fill the ether now, all
we are is accessed through the keyboard, leaving man soulless, kexy,
aretaloger. And I feel it in every fibre of my being – this pointlessness.
But I caught my soul as this life tried to destroy it. I snatched it, filled
my gardeviance with it, so occasionally I can feel fulfilled, have
meaning, have dreams. And in those beautiful moments I sit, open
the trunk, take out my books and read.

aretaloger – endangered
kexy – more hollow
gardeviance – trunk

MONSTER WORDS

Procrastinate, prevaricate, a plethora of prose,
Monster words that don’t allow you to doze,
But how on earth did we end up with pea?
With its pernicious prickle of platitudinous glee!
No polyglot’s language can allow this to survive,
Pea must be plastered, processionally proscribed,
Choked in a parallelogram ’til porous, can’t flee!
We’re saved, at last! It’s a posthumous pea

FLASH 55 – HITCHHIKING

Fiction: He was hitchhiking. It had been so long since he started, he
hardly knew where he was going. The land just seemed to pass by,
ethereally. Of course, he knew he was hitchhiking to nowhere. He
used to hitchhike to somewhere – before he was killed. The car stops.
‘Hey, thanks for the lift,’ he says.

THE O B SCENE

The out-of-body scene is a spirited affair,
Swapping with another host, the public unaware,
‘He’s not himself,’ you may well say, and how close to the truth,
If only you knew how we could flit you’d certainly say ’strewth!’
Sometimes there’s an accident and we fall into the wrong mind,
Behaviour becomes obscene as you’re disloyal to your kind,
But it gives a whole new meaning to wife swap and other things,
Fancy a vacation from your cell? What benefits it brings,
But animating corpses can bring the greatest fun,
Wandering around spookily ’til the rising of the sun

© Anthony North, November 2009

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

TONY ON DEMOCRATIC GOD

Including Heads or Tails, Manic Monday and Poetry Train.
Have you had a go yet?

PROF ISAAC GALISTEIN

Democratic God

The idea that there is consciousness within the universe will not go
away. One way is to see it is as similar to the internet – something
vast we all have access to. This allows us to see a possible
consciousness as an enabler rather than dictator, with spirituality
being a form of access, the ‘system’ providing evidence of what you
want to believe. How democratic.

My Columnists

EDITORIAL

This post is in two parts – newspaper and
magazine. Read either or both. It is also
a debating platform, so do join in. Don’t
forget to call again.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

The ‘Y’ Files – Choose an Essay
Eye On the World – Choose an Essay

Inde-Politics & Socio-Capitalism

WORLD NEWS: While the world’s eyes
are on North Korea, let’s keep moving focus a
little to China. The key is in their hands, so let’s see
if they deserve global acceptance.

BRIT NEWS: Prince Harry does his first official overseas tour – to
the US. He’s young but I think he’ll make a great ambassador. You
see, he’s real – warts and all.

WORLD NEWS: Bush says he was right to torture suspects.
It saved lives. Yes, maybe, but it degrades the
civilisation the west claims to be. We’re
better than that.

Call back Wed for more NewsFlash

EYE ON THE WORLD

And telling it how it really is!

History of Man

E-MOTION

Blogging, such fun, until it won’t post,
Now calm down; getting angry will cost YOU the most!
And then lovely email – DAMN!! – wrong address,
Easy, easy! Such distress;
And search engines – mass info – turning brain to ice.
$%&*%”^&!! – Oh dear; that’s not very nice …
But finally the friends you’ve met in this sphere;
At last, real e-motion – always sincere

ADD SPICE TO LIFE

Fiction: They were a miserable family before Spicer arrived. Where he
came from, they didn’t know, but he was soon asked to stay. You
see, he was just so much fun and they discovered how to laugh once
more, how to live life to the full. Of course, they were also naïve, as
they found out when he left, taking their savings with him. At first
they were angry with themselves for being so stupid. Then the anger
turned towards Spicer. But as the anger subsided and they could still
smile, they realised they had stolen quite a lot from him, too.

POLITICIAN’S MOTION

The politician sits; it’s all about his motion,
He’s very loud – causing quite a commotion,
Getting it all out, leaving quite a stink,
Constant grunts and groans – hardly time to think,
Then it’s all over – gets away in a rush,
Not forgetting, of course, the toilet flush

© Anthony North, June 2009

SCRIBBLERS’ NEWS

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Naisaiku Challenge
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Simply Snickers
A weekly prompt here
ReadWritePoem
Prompt is: opposites attract
Thursday Thirteen
List 13 things
ABC Wednesday
Next letter is: T

TONY’S MUSE DIARY

You’re boring, I said to Him Outside. Here I am trying to blog proper
about you and you don’t DO anything! He disagreed, of course: did a
bit of cooking, reading, a bit of gardening, listened to some music,
and, of course, his writing and blogging – went to many different
worlds, there. I told him I knew that – I’m his muse, after all – I was
there. But what do I blog about? He said: it’s not my fault I’ve got cfs
and have to take it easy. And anyway, I lived life to the full before I
got it. I know, I said: Ever thought that may be why you’ve got it?

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THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIONISM

Click The ‘Y’ Files for more posts in this series.

There is a feeling among rationalists that the world is slowly going mad. The reason? The continuing growth of fundamentalist beliefs concerning Creationism. But what is at the root of this growing phenomenon?
Well, first of all, science cannot – ever – prove it wrong. They can rant and rave; they can show how science shows it is not the case – but at best, this can only show the working mechanisms of a process, and not the ‘whys’.

Thus, God is immune to the scientific process.

And the sooner science accepts this and stops decrying the Creationist, the sooner there may be the return of a little commonsense in the debate – on both sides.
This is not simply an opinion of mine. I think it can be backed up by sound reasoning. And not reasoning to do with science or Creationism, but the process of the very conflict involved.

I think there is a valid law for such conflicts.

I call it the ‘law of opposite effect’. It can be explained quite simply. The more one stance becomes entrenched, the more the other will dig in its heels.
Thus, the condemnation from either side will guarantee the reasons for condemnation will increase. Hence, the problem isn’t science or Creationism, but the battle between the two.

And it gets worse.

As the conflict continues, and stances become more fundamental, the point comes when both sides become fanatical. When this point arrives, all commonsense disappears.
But more than this, my law has another element: basically, the more fanatical you become, the more you will further the opposite outcome to that intended. Hence, science guarantees Creationism, and vice versa.

And the problem is also of paradigms.

Science is now grounded in a totally material world, with nothing other than what can be observed. Well, one thing can be observed above the material – the innate need in people for something above the material.
I’m talking about a form of spirituality. Now, to me, spirituality is about bonding – of man to man, mankind to nature, and nature to the universe. It is a form of holistic love, I suppose, and I assume scientists DO fall in love, despite their rationality.
Hence, in a world that does not offer intellectual ideals concerning this process, the gap will be filled by systems that do. And the ultimate expression of this is an entire universe created through love by God.
An urge towards spirituality will always exist. Whether this means there is a supernatural or not is beside the point. And as long as science decides there is no such thing, they will continue to fuel movements that say there is. And to be quite honest, in terms of the knowledge we have, they could be just as right as scientists think THEY are.

© Anthony North, March 2009

THE THING ABOUT ADAM’S RIB

Including Totally Optional Prompts and Three Word Wednesday.
Have you had a go yet?

Unlike many rationalists, I do not scoff at the Creation as described in the Bible. I don’t believe that Creation occurred as narrated, but I am convinced there is a lot of reasoned thought within the account.
Most scientists don’t like this idea. Rather, it is rubbish produced by a superstitious culture with no hold upon reality whatsoever. Hence, we have the two polarities of the Evolution/Creation controversy.

I disagree with both stances.

Taking the scientific view, it is blatantly not true that such ancient societies descended into superstition alone. Superstition didn’t build the pyramids, or work out agriculture. Reasoned thought had to be involved.
This said, I am always on the look-out for reasoned thought within the Bible, and I nearly always find it. And as an exercise in just what I mean, there is no better example than the idea that Eve was created from Adam’s rib.

The whole idea seems ridiculous.

But read on. Adam is created first, but he is then made to sleep and God takes one of his ribs with which to make woman. Of course, together they make a potent force, and procreation soon occurs.
This is the first important point – that procreation had not occurred before hand. A further point is that, during the Adam and Eve Narrative, the writer seems to embody the whole process of life in Adam.

We now have what we need to make sense of it all.

Indeed, it can become quite reasonable. And what we must first argue is that, if female was not yet existent, can we call Adam male?
I think not. Indeed, I would argue that we can best understand the account if we class Adam as a hermaphrodite – i.e. sexless. Now, prior to sexual reproduction, evolution relied on asexual reproduction.

How did asexual reproduction occur?

It involves cloning, by taking a cutting from the parent in order to produce an offspring. And with such information we can look at the Adam and Eve Narrative in a totally new light.
To me it becomes a perfect symbolic understanding of the change from asexual to sexual reproduction, with a cutting (rib) taken from a hermaphrodite, leading to male and female, and the obvious sexual reproduction that then followed.
One obvious deduction some could make from this is a process of incest, with Adam being the parent of Eve, but it implies no such thing if looked at it terms of symbolic understanding of evolutionary change.
Indeed, the narrative becomes a marvellous explanatory tale better than any scientist has so far managed to produce. And if correct, it shows that, underlying the general trend of Creation, is a reasoned mind-set at work.
One other point of importance, whilst this essay seems to favour evolution over Creation, as such, it actually does no such thing, for it leaves intact the possibility of a God-force driving the process forward.
Could such reasoning eventually lead to a middle ground between evolutionist and Creationist. Well, yes – though I won’t hold my breath.

© Anthony North, January 2009

OPPOSITES

Black and white, up or down,
Hot, cold; smile or frown,
Opposites side by side,
never meet, nor confide;
Left or right, bringing strife,
politics sticking in the knife,
yet male and female equal life,
now and then they meet, are rife;
Maybe we should remember this,
when opposites merge life is bliss

(c) Anthony North, January 2009

INNER THOUGHTS

Are we who we seem to be,
the very person others see,
or do we have an inner being,
closed from view, never seen?
Ruled by thoughts, often jagged,
carrying with them our life’s baggage,
sometimes serene, perfect caress,
full of love and tenderness;
At other harsh, spiteful, vile,
ruthless with a sadistic smile;
This inner life is closed from view,
but guiding us, never true,
a facade being our only task,
the real ‘us’ hidden by our social mask

(c) Anthony North, January 2009

THE PLANET GOD

Have you tried my current affairs? Stay informed.
Also, fiction and poetry.

We are so infatuated by individuality and materialism in the west that we rarely question whether the concept is correct. Yet, alongside this, we retain a popular interest in mysteries and the unexplained. This seems to be a contradiction.
Such mysteries usually find explanation in things beyond the material or individual. Yet, their popularity offers the possibility that there is an intuitive knowing that we are wrong to merely think of the material and individual.

This ‘knowing’ could be important.

It suggests that it would be so easy to expand our horizons if proper ideas were put forward that would give a purpose to such ‘knowing’. After all, without intellectual direction, those things unseen become mere belief or superstition.
In what direction should we look for a deeper understanding of impulses above the material and individual? Well, arguably such an impulse would be ‘higher’ than us. And the obvious place to look is the planet itself. After all, we DO exist within its system.

Some philosophers have thought deeply about this.

Many are aware of Lovelock’s Gaia Hypothesis where the planet seems to coordinate itself through a form of natural balance. But some thinkers previously thought of this as an evolutionary process.
Typical were Bergson and Teilhard de Chardin who devised the ‘elan vital’ and ‘noo-genesis’ respectively. Both these ideas see evolution having a higher principle above man, and spreading out to the planet and universe.

We don’t understand such concepts today.

The upshot of materialism and individuality is that we only accept those things in the world that can be seen or theorized, and have obvious value to us.
The metaphysical – those things that are more difficult to grasp – are ignored. This is due to specialization and reductionism. Yet, there is another way of thinking, in the holistic – an understanding that things can be ‘whole’.

I’ve tried to grasp this concept in recent essays.

And I’ve tried to grasp it in terms of man being just part of a ‘whole’ in planetary terms. Typical is the way electromagnetic impulses are known to affect brain chemistry, to the point of producing hallucinatory phenomena and mystical experiences.
I noted how changes in weather patterns due to global warming involve changes in electromagnetism, thus arguing that the planet could be regulating us in terms of ‘rapture’ – making us more spiritually minded and ecological.
If such concepts could be seen to be rational, then it removes man from the primary role within the planetary environment. Rather, it shows that we can be ‘changed’. And in many ways this makes absolute sense.
Evolution says that we adapt to changes in an environment. Hence, that environment itself becomes primary in what we are, and what we become. And this is a process ABOVE our sense of individuality.
The biggest ‘environment’ we know of is the planet itself. So maybe it is time to realize that impulses DO exist above our individuality, and things not yet grasped by materialism can have existence AND effects.
Perhaps even to the point that the planet is really a god.

© Anthony North, December 2008

IS THE PLANET PLAYING WITH OUR MINDS?

Ever since the goddess was conceived there have been ideas of a living Earth. The goddess herself usually symbolized, in ancient times, the planet and the nature within her. She had a bond that stretched to man, nurturing and punishing as required.
In the Gaia Hypothesis, James Lovelock revitalized the idea in more scientific terms. Since then, we talk of the planet as a coordinated ‘whole’, the system geared and regulated by as yet unknown influences.

It offers a strong message for environmentalism.

It presents us with the possibility that our interactions have consequences beyond merely pollution, etc. It argues that in hurting the planet we are also hurting ourselves, as we and the planet are one.
A similar message was held in animism, the usual model for tribal religion. Here, the physical world and spirit world are in parallel, with everything in nature having a spirit. To thrive in nature, the spirits had to be appeased.

Religions often seem to go in tune with natural occurrences.

If we go to Biblical times there is an argument that the popularity of Monotheism came in line with earthquake activity in the area.
Towards the end of the European Dark Ages there was an outburst of religious fervor which led to Christendom. It is theorized that this went in line with a prolonged meteor shower. Could the two be related?

There are always religious gurus around.

But could it be that, for a guru to be particularly successful, he needs a helping hand from planet Earth? It seems a ridiculous notion – at first. Religions have answers within human societies.
They provide cultures, and these have an effect upon us. Also, there are times when a culture seems redundant, and there is a need for change. Now, those changes are political. In the past, politics worked through other means – namely religion.

The Book of Revelation, however, offers a different idea.

It speaks of the Rapture, when people will be taken up en masse to the Kingdom of Heaven. As to what actually happens, it is vague. Yet, in many ways it suggests individuals en masse having a mystical experience similar to enlightenment or nirvana.
Culture can seem to do this. In modern culture we have the rise of the New Age, or people abducted by aliens by the million. The ‘grey’ – the usual alien culprit – offers an experience that is similar to ancient fairies or elementals, taken to a magic place – a cavern or, today, a spaceship.
Whilst frightening, there is evidence that in the long run, such abductees end up more eco-friendly. This is similar to the eco-friendliness suggested by New Age. Many of us, today, ARE becoming more spiritually and ecologically aware.
And it is coming at a time when many people believe that severe weather patterns are due to man-made global warming. Is this another incident of processes in the natural world having an effect on us?
It is now known that electromagnetic bombardment of the brain can cause spiritual experiences. Believed to cause chemical changes in the brain, it can produce visions that are profound.
It is also known that electromagnetic disturbances occur in the atmosphere due to earthquake, meteor storm or severe weather patterns. Hence, whilst culture will definitely play a part in spiritual changes, it is highly likely that planet Earth could be currently ‘regulating’ our minds through electromagnetic bombardment, changing us from eco-vandals to saviours.
If so, let the ‘rapture’ go on.

© Anthony North, October 2008

TONY ON HALLOWEEN, TT #28 & MORE

Including Thursday Thirteen, Totally Optional Prompts and Heads or Tails.
Have you had a go yet?

Halloween is nearly upon us. A religious festival for the ‘heathen’, Christianity has its own ‘cleansing’ ritual the following day. Religion is important to me – not that I’m a religionist, but I do class myself as spiritual.

This difference isn’t always appreciated.

To me, spirituality is an inner bonding with fellow man, nature and the universe. Religion is a social codification. The two can work together, but they are different. One is ‘within’; the other a communal expression.
I think there is still room for religion. It anchors the human to a code. Through this code we understand meaning, direction, belonging. Today we live in a world of increasing ‘sameness’, which allows only meaning in consumerism. Without the ‘differentness’ religion creates, the human condition is lame.

When people rant against religion, what is happening?

They are really ranting against two separate issues. The first is politics disguised as religion. The second is the religious moral code, which can often appear to be bigoted.
This isn’t actually the case. Scripture is written for the people of the time. The fundamentalist – who usually causes the trouble – fails to appreciate that times change, and God, or gods, change with it. As for bigotry, all Scripture tells us to love our neighbour. This cancels out bigotry, so the person who uses religion to follow a bigoted path goes against the religion he holds dear.
When I look at the world, and the trouble we lay at the door of religion, I realize that 95% of the world’s population is pretty much the same, simply wanting to get on with life. It is the other 5% that causes the trouble.
Whilst that 5% should still be vocal, causing debate so we can understand the issues, I think it’s time for the other 95% to tell them to moderate their behaviour. This is so because we need religion, but not the hassle the minority create by mis-using it.
Interestingly, if we strip away the culture of any religion, we usually end up with the same fundamental aspects. This tells us that religion can be unifying as well as offering specific meaning to a particular people. This is perhaps the most important message we should pass on.
It is unifying as well as allowing diversity to thrive. This Halloween, we should maybe remember this. Religion can offer both meaning AND Oneness. So dance around your pumpkins one and all – and let the Christian hug the Witch.
Next post, Thursday. See you then.

© Anthony North, October 2008

TT #28 – STRANGE ELECTIONS

Forces dark, malign, satanic,
who shall we vote for? Don’t panic!
It’s all laid out, simply for you;
Your choice? Just two;
but these are chosen just for the people,
a simple decision between good and evil,
‘cos you’ve got to be on one side or the other,
or democracy you will certainly smother;
Yet where in all this did you decide who should stand?
Don’t they look so rich and grand?
Of course they do, ‘cos they are, you see,
picked by Big Biz for you and me,
and they look upon us with contempt and glee

(c) Anthony North, October 2008

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WAXY AND WANE DO SAMHAIN – Horror Fiction

Waxy and Wane, the Sisters of the Moon, were busy preparing for Samhain. They always used this proper term for Halloween – after all, they WERE witches.
It was always a time for both excitement and trepidation for them – excitement because this was the time when the veil between the material and spirit world was at its thinnest, allowing all manner of entities to cross; and trepidation because in recent years a new horror had crept into the veil.
They had prepared all manner of potions and spells to try to keep this horror at bay, but so far they had failed to do so. Indeed, at one point they had toyed with the idea of leaving witchcraft alone and taking up extreme sports instead.
As darkness fell, however, they were prepared, dressed in their finest pointy hats, and wearing make-up to accentuate their warts.
The first spells did their required job, and around them they could feel the darkness increase, deeper than ebony, tangible, as if you could almost feel it. Shadows of a deeper kind began to cling, first, to the walls, and soon, invigorated, they began to swirl around them, brushing up against them, as if beckoning the witches to enter the zone.
Further spells followed, and soon it was as if they were no longer on solid ground, but floating in some ethereal void. The shadows began to change in constitution, taking a form of light to contrast with the darkness, and spirits began to form – swirling spirits of the elements, of the woods, of the souls of all people; and Waxy and Wane felt at one with these spirits – guides who assisted humanity through it spiritual journey.
But the time came. The first sounds of disturbance filtered into the zone, and Waxy and Wane intuited the intrusion, soon to come from goblins and ghouls of a different kind. They imagined them stalking just beyond, hidden in the night, their terrifying faces and antics rising with a malign intent.
The spirits felt it also, and as the knockings increased, they fled back to the safety of the spirit world, leaving Waxy and Wane alone, exposed, terrified. And then came the bang!!!
Waxy found the courage first, with Wane following behind, huddling into her partner’s back. Slowly they advanced, perspiration covering their bodies, a dryness to their throats. Eventually they opened the door and recoiled in absolute horror.
‘Trick or treat?’ said the children.

© Anthony North, October 2008

WHAT IS A PACT WITH THE DEVIL?

We are all aware of the term, ‘pact with the Devil’. It means selling your soul to the Devil for favour, but it always requires something in return, resulting in you being lost to good, and coming under the influence of evil.
During the Witchhunts, witches were thought to have come under the Devil’s influence. This is usually rejected nowadays – the Devil is a product of monotheism, whereas witches come under the pagan – a totally different spiritual system.

Yet philosophically it is not incorrect.

Now, any pagans reading this, please don’t be immediately annoyed. The situation isn’t as bad as I indicate here. We simply have to understand the subtlety of the human mind.
Our story begins with the first known spirituality. This was animism. Stated briefly, a physical world and a spiritual world existed in parallel, with the latter influencing the former, with spirits existing in all things from animals, to rivers, to the weather.

Spirituality was grounded in nature.

Everything that nature was had its spirits, which were seen by man. Today, this is what we would class as the paranormal, and man realized that in order to gain abundance from nature, he had to treat the spirits well.
Holy men, often called shamans, intervened with this spirit world in order to guarantee his tribe didn’t starve. He would make a bargain – or pact – with the spirits, often involving ceremony, and even sacrifice.

This was the first known spiritual pact.

The spirits eventually became known as gods, and were usually represented as animals. However, eventually the ‘chimera’ appeared. This was a spiritual representation, half animal, half man.
This indicates that man’s mentality was changing. For the first time he began to see himself as ‘god-like’. One explanation for this is the rise of ‘ego’, with man seeing himself, for the first time, as an entity separate to nature.

Eventually, the agricultural revolution began.

This required static living, the beginnings of engineering and crafts, and a social hierarchy. Leading on to the city, for the first time, society became more important than nature.
Spirituality evolved to take this change into account. The chimera disappeared, replaced by man as a god. He was all-powerful. He had to be because a distinct discipline was required in society for this new ‘civilisation’ to survive.
Animism no longer served man in a spiritual sense. No longer could a chaotic shaman affect man’s mentality. And slowly the idea of a ‘pact’ with spirits declined, replaced by a socially organized religious creed.
The ultimate expression of this came with monotheism, crowned with the Crucifixion of Christ. Jesus was, in effect, a closure of the spirit world existing in parallel with the physical. From now on, access to the spirit world could not happen in life.
Only with death could you become one with the spirit world, now redefined as the Afterlife. Rather, you were now locked in the physical world, where you had to do good work in society, and any communion with spirits in life was to be portrayed as evil.
Thus, we can see that the ‘pact with the Devil’ is a reference to early nature-based spirituality, replaced when spirituality had to move from nature, to society. And in a sense, this had to happen.
Whilst animism, and its modern expression in paganism, is not evil, it IS seen as counter to the organization required in orderly society. Yet, on the other hand, for thousands of years now, we have had a spiritual outlook that ignores the importance of nature.
When we think of the environmental damage we are doing to the planet today, I think it is time we realized that both these systems have value. For being grounded totally in a society-based mind-set is now, perhaps, the greatest problem we face.

© Anthony North, October 2008

TONY ON FORBIDDEN, BLAIR & MORE

Including Sunday Scribblings. Have you had a go yet?

Cherie Blair, wife of former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, has apparently compared her husband to Sir Winston Churchill. This had a profound effect on me – I haven’t laughed so much for a long time. Then it suddenly dawned on me that it wasn’t funny at all. Let ME do the comparison.

Winston Churchill was the greatest ever.

He didn’t just save Britain in the dark, early days of World War Two. He saved the world. For if he had not rallied his country to withstand invasion, America would never have got across the Atlantic to set up free bases.
Tony Blair did more than any other leader I can think of to destroy his country. He destroyed traditions, sense of community, our standing in the world, and began a process of globalizing a State. So yes, there is a comparison – he is the total antithesis of Churchill.

The New Religion?

My good friend Twilight recently posed this question as a comment on her blog: if we shed religion, would we invent something else? Well, it immediately reminded me of a little idea I had quite a while back.
What is a religion? (1) It is a social codification of an idea believed as if true. (2) Its institutions are the biggest buildings in town. (3) It offers personal reward for your faith in it. (4) Its central element is ethereal and perhaps does not exist. (5) If absolute belief in it is abused, disaster could be round the corner.
Now, read those five points again, removing ‘What is a religion’ and inserting ‘What is Super-Capitalism’. For (4), think ‘credit’.

NOTE: After returning to daily posting recently, you’ll notice I missed a couple of days this week. It seems I was too confident about my cfs being a little better. Sadly it is not, so I’ll have to take a couple of days off a week from blogging – although I hope to still manage comments.

© Anthony North, October 2008

TAKE IT EASY

Take it easy, you’re doing too much,
you’ve got to do less, as such

Good advice, I know it’s true,
but I love to write for me and you,
stories and poems with endings hidden,
how can they become forbidden?
So a poem, today, will not be done,
even though it would be such fun …

Damn!

(c) Anthony North, October 2008

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THE FORBIDDEN ROOM – Horror Fiction

I walked purposely down the drive. I suppose I must have seemed out of place, dressed in my usual suit, resting a huge sledgehammer on my shoulder. And even more so when you understand I’m a doctor. After all, a sledgehammer wasn’t usually part of the doctor’s equipment. But these were exceptional circumstances.
I could feel the aura of the mansion as soon as it came into view. And what seemed like centuries of disturbing sights and deaths had only added to its mystique.
Of course, when I first arrived at my new practice, I knew nothing of the house. But that changed when its new occupants arrived at my surgery. They’d only been there three months and there was a definite depression about the couple. ‘It’s that place, that horrible place. The disturbances throughout the night, and the saddest thoughts seem to cling to us.’
‘It’s the curse,’ my receptionist said after they’d gone.
I questioned her and discovered that centuries ago something had happened in a room in the mansion – no one seemed to know exactly what – and the door to the room had been bricked up. Forbidden to future occupants, some secret, some malign evil within had affected so many that no one could live there for more than a year. All had reported the strange disturbances, and some had died – which had been put down to the curse. Indeed, some argued for a gruesome discovery of murder in the room, or suicide – a dead child.
The couple came back repeatedly for treatment. I referred them to a psychiatrist. Once, in desperation, I even tried the local vicar regarding exorcism – ‘Too powerful,’ he said. ‘It has been tried before.’
Well, now I had decided to take my own kind of action – fight this madness head on.
‘You can’t do it,’ they said as I entered the house and made my way to that imposing bricked-up door, and as the sledgehammer first made contact I could feel their anxiety as they pleaded for me to stop. But I had to see this through.
Eventually the doorway was clear. Putting down the hammer I noticed my own heart race, and a little of that depression seemed to cling to me, and for that one brief moment, I, too, feared this forbidden room. Taking out my flashlight, I entered.
It was empty.

© Anthony North, October 2008

HOLY GRAIL

This is a website as well as a blog. The pages (top) link
to lots of essays in my research archive, written and
re-written over 25 years (many are excerpts from as yet
unpublished books). You’ll find a sample below. Why not
come back when it’s quiet? Or even check out the pages.

There are thousands of religious relics throughout the world, yet the most famous is not even known to exist. This is the Holy Grail, thought to be the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper. The act, using a chalice, is repeated every Sunday in every church in the Eucharist, where the worshipper imbibes the symbolic blood and body of Christ in the bread and wine.
The mythology behind the Grail says that it was brought to England by Joseph of Arimathea. The earliest believed site for it is Glastonbury, confirming the location’s spiritual heart. The word, grail, comes from the French ‘graal’, and as Medieval Christendom got under way, Grail Romances appeared …
… read more …

TT #18 – HOW TO EXPLAIN PRAYER

Featuring Thursday Thirteen. Have you had a go yet?

13. This time I’m writing about prayer – how it could possibly work. Of course, many believe it is all to do with God, but many now argue that God works through natural ‘mechanisms’ which can be reasoned. So there is still a place for God in my ideas.
12. We often pray when we don’t know what to do. This is because it can relate to destiny. And by praying, you can open your mind to new realizations about yourself and the world about you. Hence, prayer can open up a path to the future.

11. People can be optimistic or pessimistic in life.

We also see only what we want to see. Known as selective attention, the optimist sees the best, the pessimist the worst. Hence, your mind-set can be the most important element in your perception.
10. Prayer allows the person to connect with an idea of spirituality. This means you are never really alone – there is something within, assisting you. This improves optimism. Hence, selective attention kicks in to your advantage.

9. The true optimist is often thought of as lucky.

This is so for a reason. Tests have shown that he is better at calculating odds. The result is he can intuit obstacles that can arise, and successfully negotiate around them.
8. Synchronicity can be important here. This is the idea that coincidences can be meaningful. Now coincidences always seem to happen, but they are thought to be produced by chance. But chance offers another possibility.

7. The lucky gambler is said to manipulate chance.

He can be seen as lucky for his ability to calculate odds. Can we see this process – and, by implication, prayer – as a means of optimism being a process of manipulating coincidence to your advantage?
6. If we place all these elements together, we have a strong possibility that prayer can actually affect reality to your advantage. And I think a reason why can be found in a rationalization of faith as a social phenomenon.

5. It’s all about belief in God.

If you believe that God exists, and live your life as if He does, could your actions confirm His existence? By yourself, possibly not. But if you belonged to a society where all believed, then that society would be as if He did exist. A consensual idea has produced an actual reality.
4. In praying, you would tap the entire communal belief that it COULD work, thus amplifying the personal mechanisms highlighted above. Basically, psychology has become sociology, and belief moves closer to a reality.
3. This is hinted at in quantum theory. Due to the math involved, an event in the subatomic world is probabilistic, in that any outcome is equally possible. So how does a definite reality form? In the ‘observer effect’ it is argued that the reality we experience is so because a definite outcome has been observed by a consciousness capable of defining it.
2. Such ideas give a real possibility of prayer working. However, it is very much dependent upon the sociology providing a consensual reality to give it power. Hence, it is also arguable that as belief in God wanes, so does the power of prayer.
1. The ability of prayer to work is, I’m convinced, tied in with the consensual realities we create from our beliefs. So, do YOU believe it is possible?

© Anthony North, August 2008