by Paul | Feb 9, 2025
Why does believing in God create comfort in us? One type of potential violation is conflict between a person’s experiences of suffering and a person’s deeply held beliefs about God as loving, powerful, and just.[1] God gives us hope that we will be free from suffering forever, someday. It is reassuring in knowing the love of God takes away all pain. There would not be any reason for people to push past pain without believing in a higher spiritual state of mind. Having a deity or spiritual awareness is worth striving for, which gives us better understanding of ourselves.
The assumption that scientific knowledge would bring an end to religious belief has challenged many scholars, particularly since such a belief persists even among those devoted to scientific activities.[2] Often, we see conflict between science and religion, and as we know in sciences, answers are provided by evidence and experiment for validation. Religious faith is belief in a higher power greater than us, which we cannot perceive with our five senses.
Believing in God is a choice, but there is a Birmingham, Alabama mail columnist named Talha Ghannam who says, ‘Choosing to disbelieve in God is a thoughtless gamble’ and the result that can happen if God does or does not exist.[3] In other words, it is better to believe in God for hope in an eternal bliss instead of not believing in God and a risk for going into eternal damnation. Though, eternal damnation is a fire and brimstone religious, mostly Christian, belief which those of faiths, such as Buddhism, that does not believe in eternal damnation or hell. Of course, a family member has the right in saying a convicted murderer is going to hell for killing one of their family members. It is justice, but we do not know what happens to that convicted murderer after death if sentenced to execution for that crime.
There is also the case of Timothy McVeigh, accused of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, who gave his life to God after sentence but before his execution for the death penalty. Can we honestly say he went to hell or eternal damnation for that crime? No, but the families of the victims have all the rights to believe he did. We say we forgive with words but usually do not forgive in our minds.
I know growing up Catholic, that the only way to absolve sins was going to a priest and confessing through the sacrament of Penance. Protestant religions, on the other hand, believe they can confess privately to God through prayer and absolve themselves of sins. Therefore, I learned over time any form of Christianity is close-minded and limited in beliefs. Though, with my new life experiences, open-mindedness, and gained knowledge and intelligence, I still believe in God and Christ-consciousness inside of each of us that must come through our personality and disposition.
From the newspaper, Daily Telegraph, morning people tend to be more religious and have a greater belief in God than their more nocturnal counterparts, a study has discovered.[4] I know since I have been getting up early, I do often pray or reflect on being thankful for everything in my life. It has often noted that gurus, priests, shamans, etc. are awake between 3:00 am and 4:00 am, which is considered either dawn or the witching hour, depending on what you believe. I did notice when working outside as a security guard in the warmer weather during that hour walking my rounds, the birds were already chirping during that time but not before.
Another thought about God, which may counteract what others believe is that God is in our mind, and not a father figure sitting on a throne ruling over us. Our personality can also be Christlike, sometimes, but remain human when we get back into a hedonistic or worldly thought. I know I fail often in trying to maintain any form of divinity within myself.
[1] Park, Crystal L., et al. “When suffering contradicts belief: measuring theodical struggling.” Current Psychology, vol. 43, no. 6, 2024, pp. 4961-4973. ProQuest; eLibrary, https://explore.proquest.com/elibrary/document/2973341830?accountid=41449, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-04642-w.
[2] Falcao, Eliane B. M. “Religious Beliefs: Their Dynamics in Two Groups of Life Scientists.” International Journal of Science Education, vol. 30, no. 9, 2008, pp. 1249-1264. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/religious-beliefs-their-dynamics-two-groups-life/docview/61989774/se-2.
[3] “You cannot force a belief, God will know.” Birmingham Mail, 24 Mar. 2023, pp. 24. ProQuest; eLibrary, https://explore.proquest.com/elibrary/document/2789893689?accountid=41449.
[4] “Morning people have more of a belief in God.” The Daily Telegraph, 25 May 2023, pp. 2. ProQuest; eLibrary, https://explore.proquest.com/elibrary/document/2818564632?accountid=41449.
by Paul | Feb 9, 2025
How do I know when I am in love with someone? I have been with several women in my life, but I am not sure I have yet felt the love that God wants me to have with a woman. Can it hit me one day if I have been with a woman long enough? Does being in love take time, because I honestly do not know if I have felt that beautiful all around feeling with someone before. We both must feel it within every part of our being, our emotions, our mind, our bodies, and most importantly, our spirits or souls.
It is a love much deeper than what I can read in a novel or watch on the movie screen. There are not any words to describe it, but there seems like there is a reason, I do not know if I have felt that way or not. Having a true soulmate, if that is possible, the kind of love you hear about from different people, who have their own ideas and beliefs about it. It is a heaven connection I believe, and one brought together by God. It is something I also believe cannot happen fast, and that fast part has happened to me too many times.
I want it to be natural and mature for both of us, without any imbalance. It is okay to have minor conflicts once we have been together for a while, but we must be there with each other in both the bad and good times. We must laugh and cry together. We go through thick and thin and accept each other’s unhealthy habits. It occurs at any age, except for the youth, who may not fully understand what this kind of love is.
I have learned to unconditionally love more people, but romantically loving and committing to one woman is something I have not accomplished yet. I do not know if I will or not before I die. Though, I believe both of us will know if this love we have for each other is true.
by Paul | Jan 29, 2025
Walk your own path and take the fall if you must. Life is difficult to navigate, sometimes, with all its twists and turns as well as its difficulties. I am not saying mine has not been easy, but I have made about a dozen hasty decisions, especially on my own later in life. I trusted people I should not have but remained hopeful in being that way to anyone. I can see disaster coming, but I continue to get right in the middle of it, which is usually costly. There are examples written in article from Psychology about seven reasons to follow your own path, and the one I found really a basis for all of them is the freedom to be who you are(Brelnes, 2016).[1]
When walking our own road, there are times when can help other people walk theirs. Here are a couple of examples, and one I have personally done is being a caregiver, helping an elderly person on their path no matter what time they have left. I also found an article on LinkedIn about helping others find their career path. There is a reason, so few people successfully work their way up that coveted prominent level of expertise; they go at it alone(Abnee, 2017).[2] Of course, this points to having a career coach help guide you on the right path to find a career that you love.
We often cross paths with other people, both good and bad. There is also an article from the website Thrive Global in article why we cross paths with others, and in one part of it indicated that we meet other people to either learn or teach(Ray, 2018) [3], and often it is only a give and take meeting or relationship, which sometimes is costly for the giver. I know this first-hand well.
Regarding trial and error with work, I must try things before I know whether it will be worth my effort or not. At this point in my life, I will not do anything uncomfortable regarding my mentality especially, so the possibility of working from home is conceivable or having my own online business.
My immediate need right now is to make enough money to survive or live without going into a hole I have visited about five to ten times before.
[1] Juliana Brelnes, 7 Reasons to Follow Your Own Path (Psychology Today, April 30, 2016) https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-love-and-war/201604/7-reasons-follow-your-own-path
[2] Nina Abnee, Helping Others Find the Path to Doing What They Love (LinkedIn, January 18, 2017) https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/helping-others-find-path-doing-what-love-nina-abnee
[3] Ritu Chawla Ray, Why We Cross Each Other’s Path (Thrive Global, September 7, 2018) https://community.thriveglobal.com/why-we-cross-each-other-s-path/#:~:text=As%20someone%20said%2C%20%E2%80%9CWe%20don,its%20purpose%20to%20be%20there.
by Paul | Jan 29, 2025
Image Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/25946610@N00/938335500
The old veteran sat in his chair,
Thinking of a woman of long ago.
Battle with her, he would not dare,
Scarred from war, he is not her foe.
The moon arching into a full wane,
As the new lunar approaches soon.
The calvary he fought in, not by vain,
Upon waking, came the call of a loon.
Upon the pond beside his cabin a fog,
Rising into the morning stream of light.
His land wakens to the howl of his dog,
Chasing away all the creatures of night.
Hobbling on one leg, grabbing his coat,
Gear in hand, getting in his fishing boat.
by Paul | Jan 26, 2025
Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Relation_between_Bias,_habit_and_convention.png
We all have bias in unusual ways, but the key thing for me is not to publicize those predispositions. We should keep our life private, except with our closest friends and confidants. I have a sense of people before they speak, but it is not judgmental. It is dissimilar to how salespeople read prospective clients or buyers, and through manipulative tactics make sales. Mine is a clear sentience feeling that I have had all my life.
Ongoing data analyzations determine that deep neural networks are sensitive to bias in the data.[1] These neural networks, of course, are most prominent in our brains, conditioned from an early age. This citation is about how we use bias in categorizing anomalies, thus forming our own conspiracies, sometimes, or becoming part of a group that thinks similarly. It is socially of how we fit in or must have people in our lives.
Political bias is damaging because you know we make enemies, which groups of people thrive on, especially if we choose a particular candidate and post that opinionated bias all over the Internet. Sometimes, it becomes less of an intellectual debate but a vile exchange of words. Yes, that is commonly what we consider human, when we fight over our differences.
Even, with the logical and computation methods of machine learning will model political bias in social media involve challenges due to heterogeneity, high-dimensional, multiple modalities, and the scale of the data.[2] Thus through data analysis predictions determine and even seen as biased, even in scholarly writings. Thus, there is bias in the academic world but usually controlled in constructive dispute in the classroom. It can go bad if those teachers or moderators of that debate are also extremely biased.
There are diverse kinds of biases like confirmation bias, where we look for information to support our biases. Attribution bias is our own personal bias compared to the bias of others and how we can fit in socially with people of similar partialities. Conformity or majority bias is when your prejudice conforms to what most people think or feel.
[1] Pastore, Vito P., et al. Looking at Model Debiasing through the Lens of Anomaly Detection. , Ithaca, 2024. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/working-papers/looking-at-model-debiasing-through-lens-anomaly/docview/3084969197/se-2.
[2] hajare, Prasad, et al. A Machine Learning Pipeline to Examine Political Bias with Congressional Speeches. , Ithaca, 2021. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/working-papers/machine-learning-pipeline-examine-political-bias/docview/2574958978/se-2.
by Paul | Jan 21, 2025
Image Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/_synergy_/13497222164
People come and go out of my life, but usually not because of any enmity. I am sure there are dislikable characteristics or attributes about me from a certain few, who have grown to know me over time. I try not to go out of my way to impress anyone unless it is regarding to my overall benefit. I have learned to let go of people more easily and establish boundaries.
I was once too empathetic with everyone, but now that has decreased to people I choose to care about. It does not mean I am unkind to others; it is about prioritizing myself more. We must be better at working on ourselves before trying to help others. Self-improvement does not have to become an obsession, though. Once I learned to find that balance, life became easier.
Fast forward to today, I still dream big and have more opportunities to make them come true. The abilities I have are more than one or two and make me eclectic or a Renaissance person. I do not have the genius of Leonardo Da Vinci, but I am multi-talented in aspects of art and science, too. I prefer to see myself as a balanced brain person, with both logical and creative sides working in unison.
From observation, communicating from the first-person point of view, though not selfish but less lightly than communicating inclusively with you, as the recipient and an important part of that interaction. During a conversation, the more I mention your name, the better you feel about our relationship, whether business or otherwise. Leadership is about inclusiveness and participation first-hand instead of barking out orders. Though, someone may be a great manager but lacks the soft skills of being a boss.
Putting it all together, I am learning not to be too hard on myself and accept being human. I will make mistakes and say things wrongly. Though, I also do not have any regret if I had or have lapses in judgement, at any point past, present, or future. None of these words define me.
by Paul | Jan 20, 2025
Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Metaphysical_Avangardism.jpg
Metaphysical existence is a topic we are just starting to explore. It occurs in other dimensions and worlds. Ghosts, monsters, and aliens are most attributed to the paranormal or anything outside of physical of what we commonly do not perceive. It can be both miraculous and anomalous, depending on how you view it. It seems surreal because it deals with things outside of our world, and for the majority also outside the critically thinking mind.
There are interesting concepts about metaphysical in a ProQuest pointing to an abstract the title, ‘The Contentment Divided: Meditations for Realizing Your True Self’ by Kirkus Reviews. The statement on a quote from Michael Goddart, “Again and again, the author emphasizes the importance of the influence of Saints, adepts, and other exalted beings in the pursuit of wakefulness…and on metaphysical journeys onward to other planes” (Kirkus Reviews, 2024). We seek out those who have experienced such enlightenment before and became experts.
There came about unfamiliar terms such immanent metaphysical time as written by Jason Morgan about the paranormal or otherworld aspects of strange time-born phenomena happening within that timeline (Morgan, 2023). Time does not have the same value as earth time and seems almost nonexistent relevant to other dimensions. Within the metaphysical world materialistic evolutionary thinking goes out the door. As Carl Sagan said, Darwin proposed the theory of evolution on death and time, alone.
The early founders of early psychology like William James gave practical advice about health is good as the attitude should by a stubborn metaphysical refused to submit to evil (Kleinman, 2024). Our lives move toward goodness in belief and thought instead of getting subjected to some kind of immorality. It is a moral medical philosophy we should have of all life from humans to plants and animals.
Even religion teaches of God as in the metaphysical or in a realm outside of our own. Yet, it is mostly an internal journey for each of us to find the truth of who we are within this supernatural tour of life that we cannot experience on the level of our five senses. It takes intuition to find answers, which come forth symbolically, sometimes, even as experienced as they may be.
The spirit moves us sometimes in relation to the questions we have about infinite life scientifically and eternal life morally. They are one in the same but with different viewpoints. We are a world with too much separation of what we believe compared to what others believe, also.
There is no rationality when in a state of conflict. We learn certain things and stick to our guns about them never to sway from those limited beliefs.
Works Cited
Kleinman, Arthur. “William James: Physician of the Public’s Soul.” The Lancet, vol. 403, no. 10431, 2024, pp. 1014-1015. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/william-james-physician-publics-soul/docview/3039714219/se-2, doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(24)00491-4.
Morgan, Jason M. “The Rise of Immanent Metaphysical Time.” New Oxford Review, vol. 90, no. 8, 10, 2023, pp. 36-40. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/magazines/rise-immanent-metaphysical-time/docview/2878846865/se-2. “The Contentment Divided: Meditations for Realizing Your True Self.” Kirkus Reviews, 2024. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/trade-journals/contentment-divided/docview/3037300175/se-2.
by Paul | Jan 13, 2025
Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alchemy_elements_chart_annotated_metatron.jpg
Alchemy is the root of all existence. We do not often talk about it because it is truth for every belief. All religions are deep rooted in spiritual alchemy, when we create friction individually or in a group with one religious faith. The world today teaches that alchemy is occult, when ignorantly it is not. It is based on the four prime elements of fire, earth, water, and air but combined to form ether, or the ethereal realm. Mathematics, medicine, chemistry, biology are of the other side of alchemy, or that which is science-based.
Psychological alchemy creates the idea that the brain is God, or least His residence, better referred to as consciousness. The author is speaking of alchemy–and specifically, Carl Jung’s psychotherapeutic interpretation of it. In the last major phase of his career, Jung, the father of archetypal psychology, turned to the lost art and arcane texts of alchemy in his research, claiming that alchemical processes subtly embodied and richly symbolized the psycho-spiritual transformations that occur during deep therapy (Mayes, 2003). He was referring to the relationship between teacher and student, not just on a psychological level, but in any teaching of science subjects.
In the ideological alchemy of teaching South African student about apartheid, Christian education had to use fundamental pedagogics or teachings to keep it in balance. Children educational advancement through skill is the main theme. This paper written in the Journal of Curriculum Studies evaluates these claims and concludes that they are untenable considering the history, nature, and purpose of South African fundamental and didactic pedagogical thinking (Yonge, 2008). There is a connecting of educational and fundamental Christian teachings, which must resolve without conflict. Staying with education, metaphorically, “educational alchemy” is the process by which schools convert into more effective learning environments (Mugits, 1997). The term itself can be use in aspects of literature, as a transmutation or transformation, such as Franz Kafka’s book, ‘Metamorphosis,’ which is a common theme of movies of today of regular people turning into superheroes.
Alchemy, on the metallurgical level, is the transmutation of base metals into gold, which is like transmutation of humans into individuals, who are healthy, but with a different alchemical process. The metaphor of alchemy is used since the practice of alchemy entailed amalgamating base metals in the hopes of transmuting them into gold (Gibbons, 2013).
Therefore, if you really want to talk to the modern alchemist, talk to your pharmacist. They are the chemists working in the medical field that have the knowledge of what medicines consist of, and the properties surrounding them and their use.
Souces:
Gibbins, Thor. Digital Alchemy: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Investigation of Digital Storytelling for Peace and Justice, 2013. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/digital-alchemy-hermeneutic-phenomenological/docview/1773213330/se-2.
Mayes, Clifford. “Alchemy and the Teacher.” Teacher Education Quarterly, vol. 30, no. 3, 2003, pp. 81-98. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/alchemy-teacher/docview/61847408/se-2.
Mugits, Michael J. “Educational Alchemy: The Transformation of Schools.” ERIC, Resources in Education (RIE), 1997, pp. 1-81. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/educational-alchemy-transformation-schools/docview/62497077/se-2.
Yonge, George D. “Ideological Alchemy: The Transmutation of South African Didactics (and Fundamental Pedagogics) into “Apartheid Education”.” Journal of Curriculum Studies, vol. 40, no. 3, 2008, pp. 409-415. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/ideological-alchemy-transmutation-south-african/docview/61968378/se-2.
by Paul | Dec 17, 2024
We are uniquely different but collectively the same in consciousness. God is the collective awareness of all the universe, which we cannot even begin to understand. Though our world divides in multiple ways regarding religious faith and conviction, and even those that have no faith or consider themselves atheists, who have not achieved that state of knowing who God is, yet. Someday, all of us will get that infused knowledge of everything and every being in the universe, which is a continuing battle between good and evil.
People who specifically choose sides tend to be more hateful toward those that do not think or believe like them. It is normal in such a competitive world, which I never attached myself to in my youth or even today. In elementary school, my klutziness and obesity made me the last pick of all the physical education classes, so I did not appreciate being in anyone’s group. I chose not to have any best friends growing up. Even the boys and men I grew up with had their own best friends, which is something I did not adopt in my life that made me less biased.
God is the same for everyone, and if you are Christian and think believing Jesus is the only way to heaven, you are set in your ways of belief limitations. That is why I choose to be more spiritual than religious because I have experienced both sides of the coin in my life, which makes the world for me a continued purgation. We live in moments of heaven and hell during our lives, which brings fear along with ignorance that makes us choose to be part the majority or status quo.
If you do not get past this, your reality will stay the same until your death unless you get a glimpse of it beforehand, and know that materialism and mortality do not exist beyond our final transformation into pure spirit, which still may take time in a place in between, we call purgation or purgatory or like the phrase you commonly hear or read is, that “you must go through hell to get to heaven.”
by Paul | Dec 11, 2024
Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Raging_river_through…
The canyon wall, as I visualized a great river tormenting and carving out the side of the mountain and magma pulsing hotly, through openings near top of the volcano, from the depths of the mantle below. It took a while for the rock to form and settle, with thousands of layers over millions of years creating hard elements from the original fiery globe. Of course, the four basic elements of air, fire, earth, and water made our world into what it is today.
I walked along the beach, as the crystalline sand glimmered for me during a beautiful yellow, orange, and red glowing sunset with hints of purple caused by red glow and fading blue sky. Hints of green from both the yellow and blue oncoming twilight as well as all the greenery upon the land. There were tidbits of gold, indigo, azure, and other tones dabbled throughout the beautiful scene.
It all started with a thought from which swirls of protons, neutrons, and electrons and a bit of stardust formed life as we know it but even more complex than we can imagine, but even that knowledge is known somewhere. I am even amazed that my thoughts, even though not often correct, do create a sense of understanding thus giving me hope and reason to learn more about everything. There is a story behind all we perceive and even behind what we do not perceive with our five senses, only believed by faith. Faith keeps everything eternal.
Then mathematics is the language of who, what, when, why, and how this creation occurred. We are stuck with infinite patterns, fractals, and appendages of the Mandelbrot set getting smaller down to the sub-atomic level. As it grows larger, the golden ratio or spiral predicts what we see as peculiarities yet exquisite natural beings and formations. The pattern of the sunflower, the conche shell, and the Milky Way are remarkably similar.
Lightning is both like the neural pathways of our brain and the root system of a forest, where even trees and plants have their own communication. Even rocks themselves give out an earth musical tone or energy, which may be more understandable. We must understand that even though we all are different in appearance, we are the same inside. God is the Father, Mother, Child, and the list goes on but not as separate entities, because we are all One.
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