An Accident of Birth

I was born and raised in a Christian culture. I was indoctrinated in a protestant denomination. The community in which we lived included various representations of the Christian world, Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Lutherans, Catholics, Baptists, etc. My religious education included the “what and why” we believed as we did, as well as a brief summary of how our beliefs differed from the other denominations, and why we felt confident in our interpretation of truth.

My being a “Christian” was not a decision of choice made by me. It was “expected” of me to follow the precepts and rituals in which I was raised. For many years of my early life I never questioned this allegiance. It was, for the most part, comfortably easy to accept. All of my early questions had been met with appropriate answers all neatly tied up in packages that coincided with the theology of “my” denomination.

As I grew older, my interests and quests began to expand beyond my denominational world which fed my curiosity about other cultures and people. My primary sources of research became the scientific disciplines of Archeology, Anthropology, History, Astrophysics, Geophysics, Chemistry, Flora & Fauna research, many allied sciences, and the forever educational, National Geographic. Soon questions began to arise concerning my original cultural instruction and answers.

How can so many denominational branches of the same tree claim to possess an exclusive knowledge of truth? If I had been born into another culture such as, Chinese, Indian, Islam, Mayan, Aztec, Viking, or Cheyenne, I would have more than likely embraced the dominant religion of that particular culture. Each of these cultures, and all others, has their own stories about God, creation, history, and the rituals they practice. So, the truths we claim and live by are nothing more than an accident of birth, not a result of a personal search for truth.

The Bible upon which both Judaism and Christianity base their foundation and religious authority is an enigma of myth, legend, history and suggests its claims of truth are within its own stories. There is no way to verify the source or veracity of these stories because almost all of them existed first in an oral tradition, 50 to 1000 or more years before they were ever written, then rewritten many times over before they became words now found in today’s Bible. In almost all cases, the original stories were not written by first hand witnesses but by later unidentifiable scribes. Stories allegedly written in the “first person” suffer incompatibilities with various aspects of the stories, and stories recorded in the “third or fourth” persons were written as if they were a fly on the wall observing and recording events in real time.

To compound the inaccuracies of transition from years of oral tradition into many written accounts, councils of the many Christian sects were convened by Constantine 1, in the 3^rd Century AD, and were ordered to collect and consider all of the miscellaneous texts being circulated and used by the many disconnected Christian sects scattered throughout the Roman Empire. Their commission by Constantine was not only to make a final selection of texts to comprise a final and canonized authority for all Christendom, but to gather the various churches under one central authoritative body. As in any quasi-political assembly, the 300+ voting Bishops were heavily weighted by delegations favoring the Church of Rome as the seat of authority, instead of Jerusalem, the cradle of the Christian story. These decisions made in Nicea were backed up not only by the authority of the council of participating church leaders, but by edict of the Emperor of the Roman Empire, and everyone attending these councils knew the pressures to consolidate under one flag; either the flag of Rome or the Flag of one religious authority which is answerable to the Emperor.

I believe in the creative and inventive minds of men far more than I believe in the accuracy of stories included in the Bible. The Judeo/Christian Bible is not the only book of its kind. Almost every culture has its own written form of religious history and instruction which uses similar myths and legends to guide its adherent’s understanding of truth in their religion. Each has been enhanced by creative minds through oral traditions before there was any inspiration to set the words in written forms. Many cultures share some of the same recorded events, such as portions of a much earlier Sumerian Epic have been included in both Muslim and Hebrew records.

Almost everyone familiar with these religious books believes them to be interesting and remarkable. They contain all manner of examples of life morals and ethics filled with great stories, parables, myths, legends. They, and many non-religious books, are worthy of consideration when taken in light of Aristotle’s Doctrine of the Mean, “Moderation in all things.” Unfortunately, most religious books provoke dissention, violence and separation between people, denominations, and cultures when used as an authority of absolute truth.

We have discovered more about the nature of creation and the universe in the last 50 years than man could have imagined during the previous 10,000 years. Yet we continue to cling to ancient texts from a very single pin-point in time as our prevailing knowledge of God and creation, ignoring current information gained through scientific discoveries in nature and the universe.

The Old Testament was a script to establish a new culture and tribe. It was written to answer all of the normal human questions of the time, about the creation and social relations using heroes and legends to model an allegiance to a tribe and their God of choice.

The New Testament created a new hero, Jesus. Although he was a Jew who honored Jewish laws, practiced Jewish rituals, and honored the Jewish God, for the most part he was bent on confronting hypocrisies of human nature that had corrupted the rulers and leaders of the Jewish tribe. He led a social ministry to denounce corruption and hypocrisies of many Jewish laws and restore the primary edict of, “Treat your neighbor as yourself,” from the book of Leviticus. This was such a bold reminder at a time when the Jewish nation was not only occupied by the Roman Empire, but the Empire had a strangle hold on the Jewish leadership, holding them responsible for infractions of Roman law by members of the Jewish tribe. After Jesus’ execution for inciting insurrection, the seeds of his revolutionary thoughts continued to take root and spread. Again, we are dealing with the human nature of oral traditions long before anything was ever recorded. When the stories of Jesus were finally written, it was after many tellings and retellings and were finally penned by people who had no firsthand knowledge of events.

Many people, both before and after Jesus, have made an equal effort to call immoral ethics and corruption into question. Prophets of the Old Testament, as well as more recent prophets such as, Martin Luther, John Knox, John Calvin, John Wesley, Abraham Lincoln, Dietrich Bonheoffer, Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, etc. Many of their efforts have also taken root in often unintentional new movements by ardent followers.

So, who was Jesus? He was one of those rare individuals who had an eye for injustice and a heart for getting involved. He lived his principles and died modeling them. Jesus was never reported to have baptized anyone, nor did he ever start a Christian church. He spoke as a Jew to Jewish people in synagogues, on the street, in the hills, from a boat, in a language using simple stories and parables his listeners could understand. The friends who followed him were so taken with his wisdom and bold manner that they began a movement which has resulted in what we know today as Christianity. Unfortunately, none of the first hand witnesses of Jesus’ activities ever recorded any of their experiences. Again, these stories were left to the embellishments of human creativity after many years of oral traditions which has a tendency to make anyone larger than life, before someone decided to start writing these stories into words. One of the first to do this was a very literate and a prolific writer, the Missionary minded Paul, but even he had no first hand witness or knowledge of Jesus or his activities. All Paul had to rely on were the oral stories that were circulating about Jesus. Later, written accounts began appearing in the names of people who may have had first had knowledge, but were written by unknown authors who again, heavily relied on stories circulating in an oral tradition.

When the Bishop’s Council of Nicea began collecting written accounts of stories about Jesus, 300 years after his death, they too sought to continue the larger than life legend of Jesus by selecting only those ancient texts which they believed contributed to this purpose. Many texts not included in the final canonized collection were intentionally banned and attempts were made to quickly destroy them in order to discontinue their use as an authority for religious teaching. Another purpose of the Bishop’s Council was to select texts that related to construed and vague predictions recorded in the Old Testament of a future Messiah. Old Testament references to a Messiah were made after King David’s reign, and were hopeful expressions for another King like David who would restore the temple in Jerusalem, end Roman occupation, and restore Israel to its former glory and protection from Israel’s many surrounding enemies.

Was Jesus the super hero depicted in the Bible, or was he another of those once in a great while extraordinary men in history that have made a positive footprint to emulate? This has been an intimidating question for two thousand years.

Is God a reasonable deity?

In the year 1 AD, there was an estimated population of 300 million people living all around the world. Is it reasonable that God would suddenly decided after 200,000 years of man’s existence on this planet, that the people on earth needed a “Get To Heaven Free Card,” and took steps outlined in the Bible to provide a special “Pass Key” to only a small fraction of the world’s population living in Judea? Is it also reasonable to believe that in order to provide this “Invitation to Heaven,” he had a son produced by a Jewish virgin, who would eventually be crucified on a cross as a means to immortality in either a heaven or a hell? In light of the extraordinarily complicated universe he had created earlier, would this even have been a reasonable story about anyone, least of all, a God?

Stories such as, man created from dust, woman from the rib of a man, a tempting talking snake, a son of God produced by a Jewish virgin, may have been acceptable answers to questions of ancient superstitions, but they don’t fit in today’s knowledge bank. The current and growing knowledge man has of the past, present, and future of our place in the universe far and exceeds any attempts to describe a God based on primitive 10,000 year old concepts by any religion or accident of birth.

Finally, the question of religious truths is not bound to the accident of our birth. Nor does the location of our birth confer the element of truth in our cultural and religious practices. I, for one, believe truth lives somewhere in our ever expanding knowledge of our planet and universe, and questions are our tools of the search.

o

The Malleable Mind

     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 3^rd planet from a sun, in only one solar system of the billions of galaxies throughout the universe? 

Adventures in Publishing

This writing thing could develop into a compulsion as I now have 2 books that have been published. However, I have entered into a therapeutic mode which is supposed to restrain any and all unbridled impulses to scribble imaginative adventures found only in my mind.

It all began as an almost illegible entry near the bottom of my bucket list, something that had occupied a hidden corner in the recesses of my mind. Once exposed to the light, it became almost uncontrollable and has resulted in not only this Blog space, but has spread into the publishing world without any warning.

The first book I experimented with, published in October, 2012, was to inaugurate my acquaintance with the publishing world with a story that exists somewhere between the lines of Genesis, Chapter 1. aptly named, “The Magic of Creation.”

http://bookstore.xlibris.com/Products/SKU-0123208017/The-Magic-of-Creation.aspx

Synopsis: A story that answers the mysterious conditions before the Big Bang, then continues to explain the “how” everything in the universe was made and has evolved.

My second book, Secrets of the Atom’s Family, published today, is my introduction to the Ebook world. It has (or will be soon) been made available through many ebook sources, i.e. Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Apple, etc. and in many downloadable formats and can be viewed and sampled at the following website:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/272577

Synopsis: Mysterious phenomena continue to occur all around the world which have not, or cannot, be explained. This story is about an unexpected adventure of a modern day prospector who has spent most of his life exploring western mountain ranges in search of his “El Dorado.” Instead, he discovers something he could never have imagined and cannot share with anyone, but you.

I hope you will enjoy and find some educational merit in these therapeutic exercises. When, and if, I again feel the urge to put into words some expressions of vicarious adventure, I will continuously murmur the mantra, “why?” but as one of the descriptions listed in my bio so accurately reveals, I am an unabashed loose canon who not only possess an open mind, but an open mouth from which is frequently extracted a foot.

o

What is Prayer?

     Imagine a time before mankind; a time when there were no top bananas, no egomaniacs, no whiney humanoids; a time when the Creator could enjoy his “garden” planet alone.

     Consider conditions now. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, one Deity or another, is called upon by millions of people all at once making every imaginable request from healing, to wealth.

     Does anyone consider this a reasonable scenario for either a Deity or mankind? Why would anyone create these conditions.

     What is Prayer? Before early man knew a God, did he pray?

     Prayer is generally accepted as the unique method humans use to communicate with Deities. Although this communication is generally a one-way street, there are some who claim to have a 2-way communication with Deities, but their only evidence for this is their word.

     Prayer takes many forms. Some prayers require ritualistic and prescribed positions at specific times of the day, while others take the form of a reverent and private utterance by individuals at any time of the day or night. Still others are very casual, without any formality, and take the form of a conversation with a friend. The various form prayers take is usually influenced by the culture or religion in which it is taught.

     There was no prayer until the fears and superstitions of conscious mankind encountered invisible forces which were causing unexplained and mysterious events affecting their existence. These mysterious and harassing events took many forms such as lightening, erupting volcanoes, earthquakes, floods, fire, unexplained deaths of members of the tribe, etc., were all events early man could not explain or predict and were attributed to the actions of unseen forces. Eventually these unseen forces were identified as Deities and given appropriate names such as, rain God, fire God, underworld God, God of thunder, etc. Attempts were made to communicate with these Gods for mercy, for help, for protection from enemies, etc., and these unique communication supplications eventually became known as prayers.

     The unseen forces, “Deities,” soon became associated with visible and earthly objects. A tree that managed to survive a lightning strike became considered as “sacred.” Animals also became associated with Deities as sacred, i.e., sacred cows, sacred monkeys, sacred eagles, etc. Even some people took on an air of sacredness.  Statues and images of all kinds were created depicting not only some Deities, but most if not all of the sacred objects as well.  Eventually, even the sacred objects were worshiped in the same manner as the Deities. Today, sacred objects are worshiped and prayed to in every culture in the world. Every religious and many secular buildings contain images of sacred objects that are used in worship and prayer.

     It’s impossible to ever know what the percentage of prayers answered in the manner requested by the petitioner, versus the percentage of prayers unanswered since the beginning of mankind. Based on personal experience it would be fairly reasonable to say many more prayers have been unanswered than answered in accordance with the petitioner’s request. I believe this has been the case from the beginning of the first prayers uttered by mankind. Because Deities have not granted the requests of mankind very often, mankind incorporated a very human trait with his prayer to help the Gods listen and make decisions in man’s favor; and that was to sweeten the request with gifts. Gifts began accompanying all prayers to gain favorable results. The types of early gifts would have been the same kind of gifts that might have been exchanged or given to other members of the tribe; a favorite bauble, a prized tool, a pet animal, a collection of feathers, etc.

     As cultures became more sophisticated, highly specialized individuals who were deemed to have a unique relationship with Deities were elevated to the position of religious leader. These medicine men, witchdoctors, shaman, priests, etc. were first recognized as having magical healing powers and were the natural inheritors of the later position of religious leader as well. They were eventually the final authority for setting the rules for all religious practices, including prayers, gifts and/or sacrifices, etc., offered to the Gods. These tribal religious leaders opened up a whole new chapter in attempts to get the attention and favorable responses from their Deities. Gifts and sacrifices became somewhat related to the seriousness of the supplications and requests being made.

     Mankind had always been a hunter and warrior. Killing game for food had taught mankind about early anatomy and the stages of dying of a mortal wound by observation. This same knowledge was applied to deaths of enemies as the results of battle.

     When an animal or human was mortally wounded, its blood was spilled out of the body and the victim became dead. Therefore, the strength and life of the victim was thought to be contained in the blood that was drained from the body. For many cultures it became a practice that the hunter or the victors in battle would be strengthened by consuming the blood of the animal or human that had been dispatched. From these discoveries, gifts and sacrifices to the Gods began to include the blood of animals, human enemies, virgins, babies, etc., anything the tribal religious leader decided was necessary to please their Gods.

     Today, most of the practices of animal or human sacrifice have been discontinued. Now, gifts or sacrifices accompanying prayer requests involve making a deal such as, “if God would grant me this request, I will go to church every Sunday.”, or, “If you crawl on your knees to the top of this sacred pyramid then pray to God, he will hear and grant your request.”, or, “If God would help us win this football game, I will never say a swear word again.”

     Until the Jewish Temple was destroyed in Jerusalem in 70 AD, animal sacrifices were practiced for the atonement of sins and the adoration of God. During Jewish high holy days, the priests who officiated at the alter of animal sacrifices were knee deep in animal blood. The temple in Jerusalem was the only place Jewish sacrifices could be made. When the temple was destroyed, the Jews lost their only official and approved place to make sacrifices. If, and when, the temple is rebuilt, Orthodox Jews will again resume animal sacrifices. Temple furniture, altars and accoutrements have been constructed according to Jewish law and are now awaiting the restoration of their temple.

     In the final analysis, it would appear that prayer in all of its variations of attempts to communicate with a God, has been initiated by the superstitions and ignorance of early mankind. Claims made by human beings of hearing God’s voice or words have wreaked more havoc and dissention among men than any Deity would create. I believe that if the creator of the universe wanted to make his will and wishes known to mankind, he certainly has the ability to do so in a manner that could not, and would not, be misconstrued or mistaken. The fact that there are more than 38,000 Christian denominations, cults, or sects, and easily as many non-Christian cultures in the world today, confirms my suspicions that God did not originate the Holy message that mankind thought he had received.

     Prayer is, and has become, an empathetic exercise, and expression of courage and sympathy, for and between, people. Persons in distress are comforted in the knowledge that other persons are praying for them. Personal prayer produces the same results as personal meditation; an attitude of calm and mental objectivity; solutions to problems are mentally explored during an attitude of prayer; acceptance of adverse conditions over which we have no control is softened; visions of well-being are imagined and acted upon, etc. Prayer produces the release of personal control and anxiety over situations we are powerless to change.

     Prayer has become as ingrained in our human character as the ability to verbalize thoughts. It has been our only means of dealing with the unknown and the unknowable. Until such time as we know all there is to know about ourselves and our universe, we shall rely upon conversation with the one who knows all of the answers in the hope that he will take care of us now, and in the future.

o

A Motherless Child

     A mother prepared an area for the baby she was about to deliver. She collected and placed enough food in the area for the baby to live on until she became an adult. After all preparations had been completed, she placed the baby in the midst of all of the food she had collected, then departed, sealing the space to protect the baby. She would never see the baby again. The baby would grow to adulthood in this sealed space before leaving to begin her own life. When she left her protected childhood space, she would possess all of the knowledge and skills her mother had, and would know where to find food, a mate, and how to prepare for her own babies.

     Sounds like science fiction, some futuristic method of child rearing. How could a mother ever consent to this kind of scenario? Well, there are many mothers who follow this same pattern. I’ve had the privilege of observing and witnessing one part of the procreation of a motherless child.

     I was sitting on a ground level pipe rack on a bright, summer day in a petrochemical plant site in Brownsville. My official duty at the time was “fire watch” for a group of maintenance men who were welding and fabricating new pipe in the rack.

     As I was monitoring the work being done, I noticed a black ground wasp, about 2 inches in length, flying in what appeared to be a search pattern very low to the ground, near where I was seated. She finally landed between my feet and began circling in a random pattern as if she was intent on locating something. The texture of the ground was a dirt and caliche mixture. She soon stopped and began digging in a spot that was composed of more dirt than pebbles.

     Her front legs were busily scraping at the ground in front of her, while her back legs were kicking the dirt and dust back and away from the hole she had begun. As the hole became deeper, she would dig a little, then back up kicking the dirt out of the hole and out of the way. Deeper and deeper she continued digging for approximately 20 minutes. During the process of excavation, she would emerge frequently to circle the immediate area of her mining site before continuing with her task.

     After she had apparently prepared the hole to her satisfaction, she again circled around the entrance a few times, then selected a pebble and placed it over the entrance of the hole. She then flew off in the direction of about 10 acres of mesquite brush and tall grass and weeds just outside of the plant site perimeter fence, about 50 yards away.

     She was gone for about 10 minutes before returning with a plump green caterpillar about half her size. She returned to almost the very spot of her excavation. She laid the caterpillar down and began circling the area in search of the hole she had dug. Within seconds, she located the pebble, removed it, then proceeded to carry the caterpillar down into the hole. She almost immediately exited the hole, circled the area for a second, picked up the same pebble and placed it over the hole, then flew off again.

     I didn’t think she had remained inside with the caterpillar long enough to lay an egg, so after she left and while she was gone, I rearranged the appearance of the area around her soon to be nursery. I moved some stones around and scuffed up the area being careful to leave the pebble covering her nursery undisturbed.

     About 15 minutes later she returned with a spider almost as large as she was. She laid it down near my feet and proceeded to survey the area. She made a few rounds of the space between my feet and soon located the pebble covering her den. She picked up the spider and carried it down the hole again, head first. She soon emerged, made a few circles around the entrance, then backed down into the hole. It was then that I realized that she was in the process of laying an egg. She had secured enough food for the baby to reach the pupa stage before emerging on its own as an adult.

     When she emerged and left for the last time, she again placed the pebble over the entrance and began scraping and kicking dust and dirt over the pebble to secure it. She inspected the covered site for one last time, then flew off to repeat the process again for her next baby. She would do this for approximately a dozen babies before her life ended. She would never know any of her babies, nor would the babies ever know their mother. All of her babies would have inherited their mother’s instincts and knowledge of how to live without any instruction from her.

     Many species of insects, birds, and animals have no relation with their prodigy. The young grow up with instincts that have been programmed into their genes without instruction from a parent or other adult.

     As humans, we have trouble understanding this kind of relationship with offspring – then at times, wish child rearing were more like the wasp or butterfly. The offspring of many species as well as humans require a long period of child rearing to pass on instructions for not only survival, but for achieving some measure of quality of life. In this child rearing we find more delight and pleasure, than pain; more reward and fun, than work.

And these we call, grandchildren.

A Monotheistic Diety

What do we know about the nature of the Judeo/Christian Deity?

Biblically described as: He, Yahweh, loving, jealous, forgiving, patient, omnipotent, eternal, merciful, angry, vengeful, truthful, peaceful, light, mighty, terrible, changeless, wisdom, spirit, all knowing, creator, etc.

Where did this information come from?

From the collection of ancient texts used to compile the Old & New Testament bible by a series of Bishop’s Councils first convened in Nicea in Bithynia (Turkey), by the Roman Emperor Constantine I, approximately 1,686 years ago (325 AD). Many ancient texts were submitted to be considered for inclusion in the final group of texts for biblical authority, but only a few of these texts were selected.

How old are the earliest written texts regarding the existence and character of the Judeo/Christian Deity?

The oldest texts were written approximately 2,400 years ago (600 BCE) when Hebrew elders began writing the first books of the Old Testament while in captivity in Babylon. The stories of Abraham were transitioned from oral to written form approximately 800 years after his death; and approximately 200 years after Moses and the exodus event (authors unknown). The gospels of the New Testament were transitioned from oral to written form approximately 40 to 150 years after the disappearance of Jesus (authors unknown).

How long has Modern Man populated this planet in tribes, clans, villages, or cultures?

Lucy is the common name of AL 288-1, is composed of several hundred pieces of bone representing about 40% of the skeleton of an individual Australopithecus afarensis. The specimen was discovered in 1974 at Hadar in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia's Afar Depression. Although Lucy is estimated to have lived 3.2 million years ago, it is generally accepted that the ancestors of modern humans originated about 200,000 years ago in the Middle Paleolithic period in southern Africa. By 70,000 years ago, humans had migrated out of Africa and began colonizing the entire planet. They spread to Eurasia and Oceania 40,000 years ago, and reached the Americas by 14,500 years ago. During the Abraham event, the world was populated by approximately 25 million people in various stages of cultural development.

How old is the Monotheistic Judeo/Christian Deity?

There is no written record of a Monotheistic Judeo/Christian God existing prior to the Biblical story of Abraham. The Monotheistic Judeo/Christian God has only been in existence for the past 3000 years. God and the Jewish nation came into existence at the same time in the story of Abraham. Christianity came into existence as an offshoot of Judaism and has continued the theology of a Monotheistic Deity which became expanded into a Trinity. The Christian church was born with the compiling and selection of written materials to be included in the New Testament Bible by the many Councils of Bishops who made decisions about how the first Roman churches would be organized and supported by authority. Weekly services for the proletariat became a necessary practice in order to reinforce the new doctrine and theology of “the Church.” This frequently assembled practice has permeated the Christian culture with continued mythological growth.

How does a God Myth continue to grow?

Prior to the existence of a Monotheistic Judeo/Christian God, there existed a wide array of Gods. Gods who would or could meet the particular superstitions of the people. Families often had several Gods in the form of small replicas for each member of the family. Whenever people traveled or moved it was necessary to carry these Gods with them. Choices of Gods were influenced by local cultural practices as well as geographical locations. How effective these Gods were depended upon the belief in what each God could do for you. In about 1000 BCE, the Monotheistic Judeo/Christian God was introduced as the Alpha God who was capable of being or doing everything, and even more, than any of the lesser Gods could be, or do. There was no physical replica of this Alpha God to carry around. The belief that he was everywhere made it all the more convenient to adopt this new God.

It was a common belief that this Alpha God created first man from the material of the earth and woman from his rib several million years ago; then approximately 2000 years ago the Alpha God sired a son with a human virgin female. It was also believed that the son of the Alpha God possessed some of the same powers as his father. Since it had been a long held belief that humans possessed a spirit that departed from the body upon death and made its way to an afterlife, it also held that the son of the Alpha God, being born of a human female, also had a spirit. However, the spirit of the son of the Alpha God did not follow the normal protocol of the times. Instead, it was believed that his spirit, also possessing the same powers as the Alpha God, remained and continued to exist among men. Thus was born the unique and Holy Trinity.

Today, the images, replicas, and idols of the many Gods still exist. Even the Alpha God has obtained a foothold in several cultures under many different names. How much power these Gods possess is measured by the devotion of their believers. No proof, facts, or corroborating evidence is required of the Gods existence or power, only a steady diet of myths, legends and traditions are needed to sustain a belief system in the Gods.

Belief is a multifaceted concept which does not necessarily require a basis in fact or truth.

Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true.

o

Honey! You don't Want To Know

A few years ago, during a time when I was being accused of not hearing conversations of family and friends, and when my practiced façade of smiling and nodding occasionally was not convincing anyone that I had been following the conversation, and I had been tragically exposed when asked my opinion of a fish listed on the menu, and I answered that I had never participated on a panty raid in any sorority house, I was pressured into considering augmentation of my natural hearing with devices that conjured up Dumbo size ear attachments or pointy ears resembling Dr. Spock.

After a cursory investigation of devices and prices, I selected a super-duper device that had been advertised on TV, for a trial hearing run. For the investment of $19.99, I received a device that protruded out of the side of my head resembling a fender skirt of my dechromed, 1950, Bellaire Chevrolet, 2-door Hardtop, with dual carbs, dual point plate, split exhaust manifold and 2” lowering blocks in the rear springs. The device had been advertised to enable the wearer to hear conversations of persons as far away as 2 blocks.

The device worked almost as well as it had been advertised, except, when trying to listen to distant conversations, they were almost obliterated by all of the sounds in between.

And this was the beginning of a traumatizing experience from which I will probably never overcome.

While on a test outing to hear as many cryptic conversations as I could find, I decided to go out into the countryside for an experimental hearing test. I thought I might hear sounds of nature that I had been missing over the past few years, and I did. Birds I could not recognize; insects I had not heard before; frogs that echoed with a threatening bass voice; etc.

That’s when I heard a strange sound coming from the direction of several beehives. As I approached the hives with caution, the sound became increasingly definable. It sounded like a city full of people retching their guts out. I had never heard such a sound before, mostly because I had never been this close to a beehive with a super-duper hearing aid.

After I arrived home I began to research the “life of bees.” The part about flying from flower to flower to collect nectar, that everyone knows about did not shed any light on the sounds coming from inside the hive. Finally, I got to the honey part of the bee’s life. It described in vivid detail how the nectar, and some pollen, is ingested by the worker bees of the hive and partially digested. It is then regurgitated and stored into cells of the honeycomb as food for the hive inhabitants, workers, nursery attendants, growing larva, and all. Surpluses are accumulated to last them through the winter months when there are no flowers to harvest.

When I read that honey is nothing but bee puke, I almost did. I liked honey, but I really did not intend to find out how it was produced. I had used honey quite liberally on and in everything requiring a little sweetening. If it had not been for the historical documentation of man’s consuming and use of honey as a natural medicinal poultice, and mummification agent for thousands of years, I would have sworn off of honey for life. I still get a little quizzy when I think of eating honey. I try to use only homogenized honey products instead of the more popular and less expensive raw honey.

It is amazing that honey is the only human food product that does not need refrigeration or preservatives. There are caves in Spain with 8,000 year old cave paintings of people gathering honey. There are birds on at least 2 continents that have developed symbiotic relationships with man and honey badgers. The birds locate bee hives and alert the honey harvesters and badgers with their calls, then lead them to the hive. The birds are not as interested in the honey as they are in the bee larva contained in the nursery combs.

As an amateur naturalist, I still enjoy observing nature in action, foraging, hunting, taking care of the juveniles, etc. I even enjoy bees and the knowledge of their life and products, I just don’t wear my super-duper hearing device near the beehives anymore. I found out more than I wanted to know.

And, now, so have you.

P.S. -- You don't EVEN want to know how eggs are produced!!!!!

o