A great deal of misunderstanding comes with the term God. It means many things to many people, but in most cases refers to an external deity responsible for creation. In virtually all religions there is an entity that encourages prayer in a personal and comforting relationship, but in others fear requires homage and sacrifice, reflected in the claim that we are all sinners in the hands of an angry God. The devil is conjured up to take blame for all the bad things people do, as if we were not responsible for our own acts. From cradle to grave, religious beliefs are passed on from generation to generation, from families to communities to states, and nations; it is inevitable that differences occur and conflicts arise. All religions require one very tenuous and vague notion, and that is Faith. Believers do not want to gamble that there might be a place called Hell.
Once scientific investigators began probing natural phenomena a wide gulf opened that has kept religion and science apart ever since. There has been no way to reconcile both in a common understanding of how reality is to be viewed. In some ways science and religion often contradict each other, and that is bothersome to many people. It seems a little odd that scientists observe, study, and experiment with only about 10 percent of the known universe, while the rest remains a mystery. That should be a huge clue that something else is going on. Religions ought to take this as a hint that fertile ground stands ready for the sowing of seeds giving birth to a greater understanding of what life is all about.
Returning to the seed analogy, it might be easier to think of the early universe as a seed. During its first moments the energy of the Big Bang filled the expanding universe with an ethereal substance of an undifferentiated oneness, like the DNA housing the code in a seed, the ovum that was the early universe bore with it the preliminary plans that might be thought of as a living language of rules and axioms defining that strange and ethereal realm. Like a seed the resources for life and growth are limited by a finite amount of energy, but to sustain life and insure growth a great deal more is required. The seed sends out a root in search of future resources; likewise, the early universe begins to transform energy to the building blocks of matter. Soon earth and sun give the young plant all the vitality needed to complete its cycle, just as new substances build stars that provide energy to feed the future growth of the universe. Stars and seeds are alike in that they participate in cycles; the old seed is cast off, and the developing plant produces new seeds. The birth of certain young stars insures that life will carry the code written in the laws, and that large powerful older stars will collapse to giant black holes generating new universes in voids of absolute nothingness.
In the ‘Sentient Universe' treatise the universe is considered a spiritual entity, a cosmic consciousness or universal consciousness that steps down in power to galaxies, stars, planets, and living things, bursting into full reality in the intellect of human beings–in this solar system. And there are a vast number of star systems. The basic concept is astrological, but not with all the heavy baggage associated with that word.
The ideas worked out here do not mesh very well with a personal God that hears prayers and interacts with petitioners. To speak of God as the ultimate creator is considered by many serious thinkers to be nonsensical, as exemplified by the question of who created God. The mythical nature of the Genesis tale seems better suited for children than for adults.
The treatise assumes that within an infinite void multiple universes are perpetually forming and passing away. In their latest theories, some cosmologists are now speaking of the Multi-Verse and their connecting worm holes. It is not easily understood where in the cycle of creation the laws of physics entered the universe formation process, but in a vague sense they may have appeared as an echo from a memory before time, or as structured images reflecting ideals from a past reality preceding a future creation. They can be understood in most of the physical processes involved in universe formation as arithmetical constructs. Mathematical precepts describe the process or the process could not give rise to a series of physical events. The laws exist as mental content giving meaning to everything else.
Cosmic consciousness subsists as a repository of ideas inherited from the source that brought the universe into being, and manifests as a cosmic blueprint outlining the structure of matter in the formation of living things. It only requires certain unique physical parameters within any given system to keep the cycle evolving from a beginning to an end that entails a new beginning. Geometrically, it is represented by a circle, esoterically as a snake swallowing its tail (Uroboros), and symbolically, as infinity. In terms of dynamic force, from our standpoint, it is captured and preserved in motion as the Earth spins, the planets circle the sun, and the sun circles the huge black hole at the center of our galaxy. Of course, the ethereal nature of spirit, mind, and soul is conserved by virtue of its own nature, such as primal flux, quintessence, or aether.
Reality is a paradox. It is logically impossible for reality not to exist, although we as mentally aware beings are part of the system that makes it mathematically logical. In a sense we are the Gods in our own little sphere, and there are many spheres in the universe. Yet, despite the advance of knowledge, people do not know who they are or why, and naturally fear for their existence; hence they find solace in religion. For a soldier, there is a good deal of truth in the old sayings that there are no atheists in foxholes.
This leads to a puzzling question. What is the nature of thought itself? There is a vast difference between a universal consciousness and a human mind. One thing seems certain; they both require a great deal of energy. Stars should produce enough power to generate and maintain a mental component on a very large scale. Physically a star is simply a burning bag of gas turning hydrogen into helium; we would not expect it to add and subtract, or think on any level, even though it is an ethereal entity bound to the energy in a material base. Ratiocination is a complex mental activity that only human beings are capable of within the realm of life on this world. We ask questions, and seek answers.
It would appear that life is the connecting link between a physical world and universal consciousness. This relationship is dynamic, always moving, coming into being, and passing away. It is an eternal process that begins time at the birth of a new universe. From the ‘Sentient Universe' standpoint spirit and mind are synonymous. Matter is transient, mind is everlasting, but it does bond to the energy inherent in matter creating organic life.
[It is interesting to imagine how much energy is in matter. A dollar bill or teaspoon of water weighs about a gram, and the mass energy of either is equivalent to the explosion of a hydrogen bomb. (E=mc2).]
Think of "mental mass" as proportional to the quintessential energy latent in a planet or star or galaxy or of the universe itself in terms of its physical mass, and then consider the physical energy of a human brain in relationship to the inherent intelligence within it. This is equivalent to the Universe being a very large unarticulated brain in contrast to the wonders of a very small highly organized human brain. The big difference between the two is that the big brain is not conscious of itself; its mental content is in repose, so to speak. It reflects upon itself without any thinking process occurring. The human brain is a complex organism that defines what life is all about, and acts through its temporary abode in the body. The cessation of life separates minds (souls) from their material container in an ongoing cycle. There is an order throughout the universe, and everything is tied and interconnected to everything else.
The Neo Platonic philosopher Plotinus called the ultimate source the One. The nature of the One is unknown; it cannot be described; we can only say what it is not, not what it is. So the One can be the source of thoughts, but in and of itself does not think of things as objects. All thought is summed in a unity; there are no independent ideas. In his system, Plotinus postulates that there are three principles or Hypostases with the One being the ontological first principle. The second hypostasis explains how unity comes to entail multiplicity, and the third how the material world, and life, come to exist in this overlapping Triad.
Okay, so where is this system Plotinus speaks of? Well, the third principle is the material world, the Earth. Life formed from the elements on this planet. The second principle, multiplicity, is represented by the planets. Plotinus' ultimate source, the One, is powered by the sun. There is a force that keeps it all together and working in a mechanical sense, and that is gravity.
[The reader may note that the system of Plotinus as explained here is delimited by the solar system. A similar dialectic exists on the large scale for (1) the universe, (2) the Milky Way galaxy, and (3) the sun, as cited in the ‘Sentient Universe' treatise].
The sun represents the third hypostasis in the larger system, and is the first hypostasis in the smaller system; here is the workshop for creating life.
One of the more important aspects of religion, aside from God, is the notion of heaven. There must be a heaven for there to be an afterlife, and every culture tells of a place where good souls and bad souls go after death. Most religious people believe very firmly about this, but ask them where heaven is, and they will say it is out there–somewhere.
[This brings to mind the little angel playing a harp on a billowy white cloud against a blue sky–this is cute, but not very educational.]
Very simply, a soul on the way to heaven does not have to go very far, because heaven is anchored to the solar system. It is all around us. Think of gravity as a universal ethereal substance given its nature through the vibrational force of each planet as it warps time and space in its motion around its prior–the sun. Esoterically, this place is called the astral planes, and it constitutes many dimensions. Religions speak of two dimensions; they are heaven and hell. The Catholics decided some time back that there should be a temporary third place they call purgatory.
If a good Christian expects to see Jesus seated at the left hand of God when they die, they will. If another good Christian expects to meet St. Peter at the Pearly Gates, they very likely will. If good atheists expect not to see God, they won't. If a newly departed soul refuses to accept their death, they will go on with their affairs as if nothing happened–for a while. Soul as mind is very malleable, and in its ethereal existence can mold its own reality, but is often ignorant of all the possibilities yet to unfold as it transcends to greater stature between its ethereal lives. The good soul's spiritual abode is a place of peace and tranquility, but its physical lives are often of hardship, even terror. Over time difficulties are transcended, and lessons learned; in the end we all aspire to wining our wings and flying high to realms where greater wonders are possible.
Religions cherish their holy books from generation to generation, and nothing changes. This is fine. The history of humanity, for a large part, is an account of all the holy wars fought down through the ages. This is not so good. What does change is the nature of the weapons. When wars were fought face to face, from one battlefield to another, history altered course, but life went on, in one generation that has all changed. Will the next big war, (probably holy), be an end to history in our time? Ultimately, in the vast scheme of things, some systems succeed, others fail, but universal cycles never end.