Straddling Divergent Belief Systems

Dragon Mood? -- intrigued

If you call yourself a Christian, then do you immediately reject the idea of reincarnation? Is it a concept that is so foreign to you as to make it unimaginable? Unbelievable?

This article, written by Robert Lanza, M.D., touches on the tantalizing theories and inevitable tension between quantum physics and our ideas of living and dying. Here's an excerpt:

We think we die and rot into the ground, and thus must squeeze everything in before it's too late. If life -- yours, mine -- is a just a one-time deal, then we're as likely to be screwed as pampered. But experiments suggest this view of the world may be wrong.

The results of quantum physics confirm that observations can't be predicted absolutely. Instead, there's a range of possible observations each with a different probability. One mainstream explanation, the "many-worlds" interpretation, states that there are an infinite number of universes (the "multiverse"). Everything that can possibly happen occurs in some universe. The old mechanical -- "we're just a bunch of atoms" −- view of life loses its grip in these scenarios.

Biocentrism extends this idea, suggesting that life is a flowering and adventure that transcends our ordinary linear way of thinking. Although our individual bodies are destined to self-destruct, the "me'' feeling is just energy operating in the brain. But this energy doesn't go away at death. One of the surest principles of science is that energy never dies; it can neither be created nor destroyed. When we die, we do so not in the random billiard ball matrix but in the inescapable life matrix. Life has a non-linear dimensionality −- it's like a perennial flower that returns to bloom in the multiverse.

A series of landmark experiments show that measurements an observer makes can influence events that have already happened in the past. One experiment (Science 315, 966, 2007) confirmed that flipping a switch could retroactively change a result that had happened before the switch was flipped. Regardless of the choice you, the observer, make, it'll be you who will experience the outcomes −- the universes −- that will result.

I see a chasm between belief systems here, and one that I'm straddling uncomfortably, like a cartoon character with one leg on the dock and the other on a boat pulling away. I believe Jesus will accompany me across the river Jordan to "the other side" while at the same time I believe that my essence, my energy will go on after my death. How can I make sense of it all? Rationalize it and balance it and make some cohesive explanation? Oh dear!

Quote for Friday

Dragon Mood? -- mindfulness along with my mind is absent

Okay ... I'm gonna post just this one more thing ... AND THEN I'm going to bed! Here's a quote I found and liked:

The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

An Auspicious Day

Dragon Mood? -- exhilarated and excited by auspiciousness

TODAY, as a Chinese fortuneteller might say, is an auspicious day. Aside from it being the day after April Fools' Day -- which is auspicious in its own right -- there are four things happening today which merit mention.

The first auspicious event happening today is a full moon. It is the first full moon since the vernal equinox. Whether you know it or not, whether it even registers on your lunar radar or not, the first full moon after the vernal equinox has historically been a significant event, a time for holy days and celebrating. Learn about the ancient Saxons from this site:

Eostre was the Saxon version of the Germanic lunar goddess Ostara. She gave her name to the Christian Easter and to the female hormone estrogen. Her feast day was held on the full moon following the vernal equinox -- almost the identical calculation as for the Christian Easter in the west. One delightful legend associated with Eostre was that she found an injured bird on the ground one winter. To save its life, she transformed it into a hare. But "the transformation was not a complete one. The bird took the appearance of a hare but retained the ability to lay eggs. ..the hare would decorate these eggs and leave them as gifts to Eostre."

Related to the occurrence of the full moon, today is also Pesach, the beginning of the Jewish holiday, Passover. Passover commemorates the exodus of the Israelites from ancient Egypt and the "birth" of the children of Israel as a Jewish nation.

On a more mundane, albeit athletic level -- though some may regard it as the high, holy day of college basketball -- is the National Championship game for the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. The final competitors, the two rivals facing off this evening in Atlanta, Georgia, are the Ohio State University Buckeyes and the University of Florida Gators. In the Final Four round, OSU beat the Georgetown Hoyas and Florida beat UCLA to have a go at one another and a crack at the national title. As a diehard Spartan, and a fellow competitor of the Big Ten, I'll probably root for OSU.

Finally, today was an auspicious day because it was Opening Day for the Detroit Tigers baseball team, who had an incredible season last year and ended up winning the coveted American League Championship for the first time in 23 years or something like that. All the local Motown television stations provided lots and lots of air time to the event, including the local Fox channel, which carried the entire game live. I was a very bad, slacker-like unemployed person and sat and watched most of the game. (In my defense, I did take the dog and myself out for a 30-minute walk during the 6th, 7th and 8th innings. Not a complete slacker.) Sadly, the Tigers lost their opener to the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-3. But it was still a wonderful, exciting event, loaded with all kinds of hopefulness and anticipation.

... and the name Judas invokes what ... ?

Dragon Mood? -- enjoying contradiction

A professor of early Christian history at Princeton University, Elaine Pagels, comments in an article at Salon that the recently unearthed Gospel of Judas "contradicts everything we know about Christianity."

Here's an excerpt of the Q and A with Pagels:

But how do we reconcile this with all the other stories we've ever heard about Judas? He's the symbol of treachery and betrayal.

Well, he has become the symbol of treachery and betrayal. But once you start to look at the gospels one by one, you realize that followers of Jesus were trying to understand what had happened after he was arrested and killed. They knew Judas had handed him over to the people who arrested him. The earliest gospel, Mark, says Judas handed him over, but it doesn't give any motive at all. The people who wrote after Mark -- Matthew's and Luke's gospels -- apparently felt that what was wrong with the Gospel of Mark was that there was no motive. So Matthew adds a motive. Matthew says Judas went to the chief priests who were Jesus' enemies, and said, "What will you give me if I hand him over to you?" And they agree on a certain sum of money. So in Matthew's view, the motive was greed. In Luke's gospel, it's entirely different. It says the power of evil took over Judas. Satan entered into him.

I think Luke is struggling with the question, If Jesus is the son of God, how could he be taken by a mere trick, by a human being? And Luke is trying to show that all evil power was concentrated in Judas. So they are very different stories. However, other gospels, like John's, suggest that Jesus not only anticipated what was going to happen but initiated it. The Gospel of John says that he told Judas to go out and do what he had to do, which Jesus knew was to betray him. So the Gospel of Judas just takes the suggestion one step further. Jesus not only knew what was going to happen but initiated the action.

I'll readily admit my bias, but I found this fascinating reading. I'd encourage you to read the Salon article too.

The Faith Club

What to read a captivating book?

Check out The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew-- Three Women Search for Understanding.

I heard a fascinating interview of these three authors on The Diane Rehm Show on NPR today.

Seldom does a book ask so much of its readers: open your mind, open your heart, examine your prejudices, purge yourself of them, become a better person, and then become an agent of change for good in the world. A modest proposal!

I'm hoping that Santa may bring me a copy for Christmas!