The human mind is a mysterious organ. It serves its physical host in a myriad of ways. It can enhance healing of various parts of the body; it regulates physical complexities such as body temperature, blood flow, tissue growth, hearing, facilitate sight as well as many other basic functions. During sleep when most of the body is at rest, the mind continues to function by regulating breathing, heart rate, and it produces mental images we commonly call dreams. We don’t actually see anything, but our minds envision places, people, stories, situations, past experiences, dialogues, problem solving, etc., that we have never consciously experienced before. There is much yet to learn about the human brain including the possible mental connection between all forms of flora and fauna, as we continue to discover.
Hypnosis is a mysterious power over the mind and is not just
a parlor game. It is a noninvasive method of overriding the conscious mind and
tapping into the subconscious. Hypnosis is commonly used for a number of
medical purposes, assisting law enforcement, addictive cessation, pain reduction,
behavior modification, etc. The subconscious parts of the mind are like hidden
files on a computer. The subconscious contains information that we didn’t know
we had retained and through the use of hypnosis can be accessed and recalled. Although
hypnosis is usually administered by a qualified person, it can also be self
induced with training.
Through hypnosis, a post-hypnotic instruction can be given
so that the person so treated will perform an action without his/her awareness
at sometime in the future, whenever a specific trigger circumstance occurs. Hypnosis
can condition the mind to accept what is not real. It can cause a person to
believe they are an animal and act accordingly; it can cause a person to not
recognize family or friends; it can cause a person to see or imagine something
that is not there. The power to override the mind’s normal behavior and
instructions is not completely understood, but has been well documented.
Other external conditions that can influence perceptions of
the mind are: the Stockholm Syndrome, Brain Washing, Mob Hysteria, Extreme
Fervor, etc.
Belief is a multifaceted concept
which does not necessarily require a basis in fact or truth.
During the most recent hundred years, man has been able to
increase his knowledge exponentially in the fields of human behavior, science,
and the universe. We have expanded the knowledge base of our world more in the
last 50 years than during the previous 200,000 years. Today we can read farther
into the past and future than we have ever been able to do. These wide screen
visions have enabled us to answer more questions than our ancestors could even
dream of asking. We know many things about our neighborhood in the universe. We
know what our genomes are made of and where the material came from. We know
much about the stages of development and growth of biology on this planet. We
have excavated in every part of the globe to find out what our ancestors did,
and why and when they did it. We don’t pretend to have all of the answers, but
we have more answers and knowledge than any of our ancestors could even
imagine.
Belief is the psychological state in which an individual
holds a proposition or premise to be true.
Many animals have sufficient intelligence to be trained in a
relative short period of time to perform domestic service or for entertainment
purposes. If at the end of their training and usefulness there is a period of noncontact
with their trainer or their useful environment, most animals will retain some
measure of their training. When, after a long period, they are reunited with
their trainer or environment of their prior use, they will still be able to
perform a measure of their purpose for being trained. Although this is the
result of only a single generation of training, it is held in some point of
memory until the animal dies.
For 200,000 years superstitious, yet intelligent humans have
been conditioned and trained on a daily basis to believe the only answer to
unknown phenomenon or occurrences, whether good or bad, is the result of an
invisible power who manipulates the universe as well as our lives. Laws and
rules have been presented by witchdoctors, shaman, chiefs, prophets, priests,
preachers, etc. in stories and myths to appease these unknown powers and avoid
future calamities. This training has not been instilled in only one generation,
as in the case of the trained animal, but engrained over thousands of years of
generations to the point that no one dares to question the existence or
influence of any deities.
Every culture that has ever existed has met the same
unknowns in the same superstitious manner. Stories were generated to answer the
question of creation; rules of behavior were established to minimize the risk
of angering the invisible powers who can do good or bad things to us. If you
are not obedient to these rules and laws, you risk being thrown out of the
herd. The human drive for survival has produced a fantasy life after death to accommodate
a desire for immortality. No matter where you live on the globe or how
primitive or sophisticated the culture may be, all have produced answers they
can understand to the unknown conditions of superstitions. Many Gods, many
traditions, and many rules have been the results of our encounters with events
that we do not understand and have no answers for.
One big gap in our recent wealth of knowledge is, we don’t
yet know what, where, or who God is. We think God is the creator of all that
is. So on this subject; we don’t have enough information to disprove God’s existence.
On the other hand, we do have enough verifiable information about our past to
know that the ancient texts we have traditionally relied on for information about
God are not reliable. Most of the authors are unknown; many recorded events which
did not happen; insufficiently verifiable or corroborating archeological
evidence; conflicting accounts and details, etc.
Not a single person, present or past, has ever been able to
prove or disprove the existence of a God, neither Atheist, Jew, Christian,
Muslim, etc. There is simply no human test for the God theory. Although there
are many who would disagree with this statement, no one has been able to
produce any substantive proof. There are many who claim to “feel” God’s
presence as a real experience. However strong a person chooses to believe in God,
it still remains a condition of choice and not proof. Many religions teach an
attitude of, “Just believe and have faith” and it will become real. Their proof
is concealed in the premise that all one must do is believe and it will
be so.
So, for now, we stand in the middle. We know too little
about God to say that God does or does not exist; and we know too much about
our past and future to continue to allow ancient superstitions to limit or
control our pursuit of knowledge and truth. None of the ancient texts and
stories remotely depicts or describes a God who created everything that has
evolved over the past 13.7 billion years.
Does God communicate only with the “good,” “righteous,” or
“religious” of only one tribe or denomination on earth?”
Does asking questions and considering the current wealth of accumulated
knowledge make anyone an Atheist, Agnostic, Deist . . . . . . or just an
Aboriginal Seeker on the 3rd planet from a sun, in only one solar
system of the billions of galaxies throughout the universe?
