Dr. Raymond Moody predicts my new book

Last night I was listening to Coast-to-Coast AM with host George Noory on my radio. I was delighted to hear George interview guests Roy Abraham Varghese and Dr. Raymond Moody.

Roy Varghese has authored several books on the interface with science and religion. This topic is of keen interest to me because I belong to two organizations with that same goal—Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences (CTNS) and the Swedenborg Scientific Association (SSA)—plus I have written my own book on this important topic of growing interest and debate.

Dr. Raymond Moody is known worldwide for his research on near-death experiences. Both guest contributed their views of what lies on the other side.

While Dr. Moody does not know I am launching a new book, Proving God: Swedenborg’s Remarkable Quest For The Quantum Fingerprints Of Love, I have been informed that he does know about Emanuel Swedenborg’s books on the afterlife and what lies in the spiritual world.

Moody predicted on George Noory’s show last night that new rational approaches would emerge over the next few years to show that life beyond the physical body could be proved by human reasoning (as opposed to faith). This is exactly what my new book accomplishes. It discusses the afterlife from a scientifically plausible model.

I was disappointed in last night’s interview that no mention was made of Swedenborg’s accomplishments. He was the greatest pioneer in history for describing afterlife phenomenon, including unique descriptions of the geography, minerals, flora, fauna and human societies that exist in the non-physical realm of the spirit. These observations are valuable to any discussion about the afterlife because Swedenborg was a notable scientist of his era.

Dr. Moody has always been impressed by near-death patients of all faith systems, including atheists, describing similar phenomena—like entering into a tunnel of light—and not being able to put these experiences into words of terrestrial language. The “light” these people experienced was not physical light. Rather, these individuals felt bathed in love and new knowledge! Moody felt that his challenge as a scientific researcher was to find some kind of rational approach to these phenomena—which he sees coming in the near future.

My new book addresses Dr. Moody’s challenge head-on. I explain how causal processes, dynamical magnitudes and even human life can continue in a realm beyond time and space. In fact, the spiritual world is the origin of all natural laws operating in the physical world.

I hope this subject interests you. If it does, please visit http://www.provinggod.com

God is love but is love God?

Traditional Christian theology embraces the concept that God “is love.” However, traditional doctrine holds that the converse is not true, that love is God.

The reason for this is that love is seen as an outcome or predicate of mental thought. So it is assumed that God, as well as finite humans, love objects and people from intellectual discernment.

Scientist/theologian Emanuel Swedenborg made the amazing claim that love was more primary than thought. In fact, all thought was generated first by some appetite, intention, goal or disposition (derivatives of love). Since our thoughts are the first things that we become conscious of, we fail to recognize that what we love or will is sitting in the cockpit of our cognitive function.

Swedenborg points out that if one removed affection from thought, the thought immediately dissipates. This is why when we lose our interest (affection) in a topic we change focus and move our thoughts in another direction.

This means that love is the very life and fabric of a man or a woman (what we love is the very essence of our subjective consciousness and spirit). In other words, life is love. Stated in another way, love is life and the deepest essence of “being.” This has theological implications for God, since humans are an image and likeness of the Creator.

God is Infinite Life. God’s love is that infinite life, essence and substance. God’s wisdom is the form which love takes to define its existence (just as human thoughts are the means by which our intentions start to gain detectable form).

Those of you who have been following my blog posts know that I have written a new book, Proving God. It is the result of my seven-year attempt to unify science and God. If God is love and love is God, then we can begin to understand the nature of God from rational first principles (and not just as a holy mystery).

The challenge then remains to show how love generates the forces and laws of the universe from a scientifically plausible theory. One of the big mysteries in science is nature’s incessant endeavor towards self-organization and complexity that brings about a unified universe.

Clue: the essence of love is to unite.

http://www.provinggod.com

The Infinite Potency Of A Single Seed

Scientists don’t like infinities showing up in their equations. However, the two pillars of modern physics, relativity theory and quantum theory, both plague scientists with the problem of infinity. General relativity describes the singularity of the Big Bang as a dimensionless point of infinite gravity and curvature of space. Quantum physics offers up states of infinite possibilities within a non-temporal and non-local realm.

Infinities bring unwanted complexities into scientific models. But indeed, current theories suggest that the whole expanding and evolving universe had its prenatal existence in a realm removed from any involvement with time and space. In other words, fundamental reality is not physical.

The subject of infinity is not just some abstract mathematical concept. Infinity can also be found in the potency of all organic life. For instance, a single seed from an apple tree contains within it a potential orchard of apple trees. In fact, the whole earth could be covered in apple trees from a single seed if it were allowed to. Moreover, everything from insects to humans could multiply and smother the earth if disease, competition, predation or finite resources were removed from the equation.

Life has an infinite potency. This reality is a direct smack in the face of physical science, which likes to keep things tidy through the exploration of finite quantities.

How does infinite life hide in a single tiny seed? It seems that infinite things are not constrained by physical size or measurement (like the singularity of the Big Bang theory).

Scientist/theologian Emanuel Swedenborg claimed that universal nature is a theater that mirrors the Lord God’s infinite heavenly kingdom—which is spiritual and beyond spacetime or physical matter.

Neither traditional religion nor the New Physics offers any rational insight into understanding a dynamical world void of physical limits and taken out of relation to spaces and times. But this will be the future challenge for both religion and science.

To offer clues and point religion and science in the right direction I have written a new book Proving God. I attempt not only to show how complex order and life can operate in a spiritual (non-physical) realm but that the physics ruling the universe on a fundamental level are expressions of spiritual forces and laws operating in pre-space. All finite entities in the universe are recipient forms of God’s infinite influence (influx).

http://www.provinggod.com

A God Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, even before there was any time or any space, there lived someone with Infinite Love and Infinite Wisdom. This wonderful Person was called God.

In spite of all this inexhaustible love and wisdom God was alone.  God’s love and wisdom were like the rays of a sun that had no world or planets to shine on. God then decided to create a physical world—because real love needs something outside of itself, and not itself, to love.

To accomplish this God had to turn infinite qualities into finite things. This first involved a concentrated effort to distinguish different values of Infinite Love into finite forms or parcels, called Truth.

These various forms of love became spiritual substances and constantly changed to reflect all of God’s innumerable thoughts and divine plans. But even this effort did not create time, space or matter. The measurements and durations of these holy actions and forms were not yet physical. They were like ideas that changed into new ideas expressing a standard of measurement (metrics) according to different values.

God began to combine these quantities and qualities (measures) of love into more complex forms according to affinity, then concentrated them into points of pure endeavor. These points or units of effort no longer simply changed from one value or state to another but could change their placement and move out from themselves. Not only could they displace their position, they could do so in a way that turned the values and relationships between God’s love and truth into their proper physical equivalents—that is, to corresponding measurements, proportions and scales within the constraints of spacetime.

These points of pure effort created time, space and fundamental matter by self-organizing themselves and their trajectories into entities that described real centers, peripheries, diameters and poles. The beginning of physical creation was the process by which potentialities and tendencies gained coherence and stability through the subordination and coordination of motion (kinetic energy).

These newly-created physical units and entities continued to reflect and respond to God’s perpetual influence of love and continued to form new relationships, aggregations and complexities. This incessant drive to form new levels of order is a derivative of love, which is a living influence that constantly seeks to unite all diverse things. This is why the universe is unified and its laws are bio-friendly.

This process of self-organization and generation of more complex structure continues with the emergence and evolution of life. Organic life is simply form and structure capable of more perfectly receiving God’s living force. As nature evolves, it strives to become a more perfect mirror image of God. But God’s love is not a one-way street. Real spiritual love is reciprocal. For love to find its fullness in time and space, a special creature must evolve with a brain and mind (subjective experience) that could not only recognize a Divine Being, but could become a creature that would ultimately have the ability to love God in return.

This mutual love and special conjunction (called God’s covenant) allows an Infinite God to flow into and “eternalize” the finite human acts of sincere love—so that a heaven could be created from the human race. God’s great wish for creation is that we can all live happily ever after.

http://www.staircasepress.com

Was Napoleon an advanced theologian?

It is well known that Napoleon Bonaparte was a military genius. But the other day I came across a quote attributed to Napoleon, which reads, “The Bible is no mere book, but a living Creature…”

Wow! This statement is worthy of deep contemplation because it must ultimately span both the mysteries of faith and science! So let’s take a quick shot at it.

The Holy Word refers to itself as God’s living truth and that our Lord Jesus Christ came into the world as the Word and made it flesh. By calling the Bible a “living Creature” the famous French ruler may have hit on an idea that few theologians have articulated on.

A “Creature” is a living organism. How is a book full of inspired writings equally as organic as Jesus? One simple explanation that might be offered by today’s theologians is that the Lord made the Bible stories “flesh” simply by fulfilling the prophecies of Scripture.  Others might say that the Bible offers inspirational words to live by. However, terms like “Creature” or “living truth” suggests true bio-complexity. Could the famous stories of the Bible represent God’s clever portrayal of Infinite Wisdom and Life?

Something even more mind-boggling needs to be addressed as well. This subject also deals with the laws of the universe and creation.

Both God and the Holy Word existed before the creation of time, space and the physical universe. Furthermore, God and the Holy Word are ONE (John 1:1-3) and were fully formed in heaven from eternity. This means that the narratives of Scripture have their origins in an Infinite Living Form existing in a non-physical (spiritual) realm! Since all things in the created universe were “created from the Word,” this living document must also contain the top-down patterning principles for all causal processes in the universe (which display an incessant compulsion for self-organization and bio-complexity).

I do not know what Napoleon Bonaparte had in mind when he stated that the Bible was a living Creature. But scientist/theologian Emanuel Swedenborg claimed that Scripture and all its stories portrayed a perfect analog of the human anatomy and its myriad processes. The Lord Jesus Christ enacted every little detail of this process when He was in the world. Or, should I say, the Holy Word consists of nothing other than what represents Divine Life.

I know this information seems incomprehensible, especially within the limited space of a short post. That is why I tackle this important topic in my upcoming book Proving God. If this topic is important to you please feel free to snoop around my website: http://www.provinggod.com

A new kind of solar energy

Solar energy is often touted as a wonderful source of sustainable energy. In our current energy crisis, which is caused by our dependency on finite fossil fuels, sustainability of energy to keep the wheels of our economy running and preserve our quality of life is a high priority.

But true sustainability and quality of life must extend to the world beyond this one. If humans do not enjoy eternal life and blessedness then sustainability is meaningless.

There is another kind of alternative and sustainable energy source that can keep the wheels of economy running and improving the quality of our lives for an eternity. To tap into this infinite source of energy requires a new type of solar panel. This new solar panel represents a new array within the human mind.

What is unknown to most theologians (not to mention scientists) is that God’s heaven has its own source of light and heat. It is called the Spiritual Sun. Rather than giving off physical light and heat, it emanates God’s Love and Wisdom. The human spirit is sustained by this energy source in the same way that one’s physical body is sustained and maintained by the astronomical sun’s thermodynamic processes.

We sense the ontological reality of this Spiritual Sun when some passion or love generates inner “warmth” in our hearts, and when we “see” mental concepts from a rational source of light that affects the mind’s eye. Human intelligence (and interiority) is different from that of other animals because our minds are constructed to be more sensitive to the influence of the Spiritual Sun. Without such a metaphysical source of heat and light we would not be able to think or feel in a human way.

But growing up in the physical world only prepares our mind to act as a “low-tech” solar panel when it comes to tapping into the inexhaustible energy of the Spiritual Sun. There are special instructions available for those who wish to upgrade the efficiency of this spiritual technology. It amounts to an upgrade in the values we choose to guide our hearts and minds.

These special instructions, mentioned above, are generally made available to us in the form of “religion.” But more specifically, these instructions represent following God’s tenets of sincere spiritual love. (Any doctrine that separates knowledge from love is a false doctrine.) When we adopt God’s tenets of Love into our lives we fine-tune our spiritual solar panels to be more sensitive to the Spiritual Sun and the sustaining influence of the warmth of God’s Love and enlightenment from God’s Truth.

Those who tap into this non-physical sun will have access to an energy source that can sustain a noble quality of life through this world and the next! The angels of heaven are simply humans who have traded their worldly behavior for an upgrade.

Website: http://www.innergardening.net

Is Jesus a physicist?

Last night (Oct. 15) I happened to be listening to the radio program Coast to Coast AM with host George Noory.  One of the guest speakers was Naturopathic physician Dr. Richard Bartlett. Barllett had personally experienced a miraculous healing event in 1997 and was promoting his new book The Physics of Miracles: Tapping into the Field of Consciousness Potential, which was based on his further research.

One of the most interesting claims made by Dr. Bartlett in his interview was that “Jesus was a physicist.”  In other words, miracles are not the suspension of scientific law but the tapping into laws of higher-dimensional physics (something that Jesus would know about). Since I have made a similar claim in my own book Proving God: Swedenborg’s Remarkable Quest For The Quantum Fingerprints Of Love I was delighted to hear his interview. I applaud the boldness of Dr. Bartlett’s theory.

There is a growing movement consisting of theologians, scientists and other academics to unify science and theology. I am a part of this movement and belong to two organizations that have embraced this goal as their corporate purpose (Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences and the Swedenborg Scientific Association).

It is currently believed by many physicists that nature’s laws governing the universe on the fundamental level operate with greater freedom. In other words, on the causal level of first principles, processes operate under less constraint. Some physicists even believe that these higher dimensions are psychical and consist of a universal (morphic) field of consciousness.

My new book takes this idea further. The causal force (first principle) operating and directing this universal field of consciousness is God’s Divine Love. Viewing LOVE as the primal “stuff” of reality and creative force in nature requires abandoning the current materialist philosophy of science that there is nothing beyond the physical nor is anything purposeful.

But such a challenging topic as unifying all knowledge requires serious thinkers to question their current assumptions about both science and theological dogma. Both sides of the argument will have their ox gored!

For instance, not only did Jesus understand and make use of these higher-level laws, they are actually woven into the very fabric and scaffolding of the Bible’s top-down architecture (the Holy Word is a multi-level document containing the secrets to universal order and causal processes). I demonstrate this in my own book.

I will order Bartlett’s book (I hope you do, too). I will be curious to find out what his understanding of higher dimensional physics is, and, if it leads to the non-local and non-temporal kingdom of heaven. Because the greatest miracle of all is not healing the corporeal body of disease, it is obtaining eternal life and happiness.

My book Proving God will be available March 2010. In the meantime, if you want to snoop around, checkout http://provinggod.com

Humans are highly evolved stomachs

If you were to challenge the statement above by insisting that the evolution of the human brain puts men and women (and their unique intelligence) far above the mundane and mindless operation of digestion, I would still insist that you were completely wrong.

Human reasoning is nothing more than highly evolved digestion. Whereas the human stomach digests terrestrial or physical food, the human brain (and its mind) digests information. This is what makes the human species unique over other animals—we can digest and assimilate information in a way that animals cannot. Creative or abstract thought in the human species is nothing more than breaking down image-inputs from the world and reconstituting their deeper essences into new and more dynamic combinations. But whereas terrestrial food contributes to the support, maintenance and growth of the physical body, information serves the nutritional needs of the human spirit.

Let’s explore this analogy some more.

Both the human mind and stomach have appetite. For instance, it is often said that we hunger for knowledge (and thirst for truth). Both types of hunger, physical and mental, represent affinities. We each develop a taste for certain types of food just as we develop a taste for certain types of knowledge. These tastes are derivatives of what we love—our heart’s desires, inclinations and values.

Human nature consists of free will (love) and the intellect (discernment). Appetite belongs to the human will and its disposition (savoring). This is just half of the process. Analogies between the process of digestion and the mental process of discernment can be made between chewing, ruminating, absorbing, and even eliminating (we cast out information which has no personal value to us). The phrase “biting off more than you can chew” refers to a mental oversight and lack of mental preparation. Too much raw data can lead to mental indigestion.

These metaphors are not simply a product of poetic creativity. Each analogy represents the ontological reality and self-similarity between two distinct levels of living process – the physical and the psychical (spirit). God’s created world not only contains distinct levels but these levels all follow the same rules of causal process. They correspond to each other.

Now let’s move up a notch!

Angels have the same advantage over us humans as we do over animals. Angels possess more highly evolved mental stomachs than terrestrial humans. Why? Because angels can digest information more deeply and completely than we ground-dwellers do. Whereas we can look at the physical world and distill from it novel creative ideas, angels can take every idea of human imagination and distill it further into theological or doctrinal ideas by means of their correspondences.

How humans and angels read God’s Holy Word quite differently provides us with a good example of angelic digestive superiority. Terrestrial or worldly readers of God’s Holy Word view the sacred stories as an historical account of humankind’s relationship with God. The Seven-day Creation story in Genesis is seen by most people as a literal description of how God created the physical universe and brought humans into this world of space and time.

However, angels distill the events described in this story to a higher, spiritual interpretation. Rather than a physical event, angels can spontaneously identify the spiritual analogy contained within the storyline. Angels understand the seven days of creation in Genesis as the lawful steps by which humans are created anew by God (epigenesis).

Spiritual beings understand Sacred Scripture and its narratives as taking place within the arena of the human heart and mind (where it counts). In this way, the stories of the Bible remain relevant to people of all eras. This rarefied understanding of Scripture is sorely needed in today’s post-modern world that embraces science as having the “enlightened” view.

Angels accept the idea of evolution—but not on Darwin’s terms. Evolution is a purposeful and spiritual process. An angelic interpretation of Holy Scripture reveals that human evolution continues through the re-ordering of the human mind (which operates beyond spacetime) to adapt itself to the conditions of God’s heavenly kingdom and mutual love.

Divine Love, which is the very essence of life and universal agent in all causal processes, flows into every created form and disposes everything into God’s order—whether this is a galaxy of stars or the ideas contained within the human heart.

This is a complex topic to explain adequately in a blog post. That is why I have written a new book, titled Proving God, to show how each one of us has the spiritual capacity to live and evolve the digestive powers of angels. Right now!

Website: http://www.provinggod.com

Irreducible chance or irreducible life?

A theoretical quantum physicist sees fundamental reality as consisting of irreducible chance. However, a theologian, believing that an Infinite God is the primal reality and Being, must believe that the universe consists of irreducible life.

Quantum physicists view the fundamental world as possibilities and tendencies to exist. This means that at its origins the universe consists of pure endeavor.

Similarly, a theologian can easily view an infinitely potent and wise God as the source of all those possibilities and dispositions. Both the scientist and the theologian can agree that the laws of the universe are fine-tuned in a way to be profoundly bio-friendly. They even agree that fundamental reality is non-local and non-temporal but use different words to describe this non-physical realm. (This leads us to the awkward question of what kind of “stuff” makes up a possibility or endeavor?)

So the conflict between the two is that the natural sciences suggest that complex structure and organic life is an outcome of pure chance, whereas the theologian believes that life comes from conscious life (God). For the record, there are a few brave pioneering scientists who are looking at the possibility that consciousness is the basis for the physics behind the causal structures and the order of nature. (Consciousness is a living function.)

While quantum physics is purely phenomenological and does not give us a theory of causal principles, or help us grasp where time and space come from, theologians offer no rational insights here either—other than that God did it. So first principles elude the scientists, while theologians possess a first principle that does not lead to a rational or scientifically plausible theory.

The passion of my life is to unify science and religion. I have just completed a new book, Proving God to share with you the results of my efforts. This blog, which goes under the title of Love is the Ultimate Science, has provided some short articles about my various approaches to this highly challenging (and emotionally-charged) topic.

My challenge throughout the book was to show that love not only powers the causal processes of the universe but that the physics ruling the universe on the fundamental level is based on the dynamics of God’s Infinite Love and divine order. In other words, physical laws come from spiritual laws!

Today, one of the biggest mysteries to theoretical physicists is how the quantum microworld of indeterminacy leads to the deterministic and rationally ordered systems of larger scale structures including the higher-level structures that make up bio-complexity. I provide evidence for why love is the causal nexus between the non-physical or psychical realm of spirit and the deterministic realm of classical physics and biological science.

Love brings people together, countries together and quantum potentials together. It is the universal living agency that unifies all things into common equilibrium and is the secret unifying force behind the mystery of self-gravitating systems (gravitational order).

The book will also provide new insights for resolving the conflict between creationism and evolution and demonstrate how salvation and eternal life in heaven is a lawful extension of evolutionary science. The latter has relevancy for providing important insights towards finding happiness and improving the spiritual quality of our lives.

Interested? Check out http://www.provinggod.com

Sibling rivalry in the womb?

While sibling rivalry is a common thing among children, it seems farfetched that their struggle for primacy would begin early in the womb. This is the scenario we are presented with in Genesis 25:21-23, where Isaac’s wife, Rebekah, conceived two male sons, who struggled while in her womb!

Jehovah even tells Rebekah that her younger son would prevail over the older. Children don’t become competitive in the womb before they become conscious to the outside world and its spoils. And why would God play favorites? So what goes here?

According to scientist/theologian Emanuel Swedenborg, God’s Holy Word was written for both the minds of terrestrial humans and the superior—or spiritual—minds of angels. Whereas humans grasp these biblical stories simply as historical accounts, angels distill higher spiritual meaning from the same words.

Angels interpret the story of the birth of Esau and Jacob and their struggle for primacy as the conflict that takes place in every individual, of every era, who is being reformed and regenerated by God for life in a blessed and eternal kingdom. The two brothers symbolize the birth of a new heart and mind, that is, both love and truth coming into existence within the inner reality and essence of a spiritually evolving individual.

That Jacob is curiously holding onto Esau’s ankle while Esau comes into the world symbolizes that truth (or knowledge) must be attached to goodness for an individual to be spiritually reborn.

While love comes first as to spiritual importance (Esau was born first) it is truth (Jacob) that takes over the process of spiritual development. The struggle between the two brothers represents the struggle people must go through to become conscious of the proper order for spiritual evolution. The human intellect first needs to accumulate knowledge. Next, as the human intellect matures spiritually, it recognizes the importance of love.

Understood literally (materialistically) it seems as though Jacob tricked his older brother into giving up his birthright for some “slop” (pottage) to eat. However, when spiritually understood, this represents that the process of spiritual regeneration requires bringing proper order to the knowledge amassed (slop) in one’s mind. If knowledge isn’t evaluated and prioritized, it cannot be attached to true goodness.

So Esau’s giving up his birthright to his younger brother and feeling he is “going to die” symbolizes that love understands that humans must first learn truth before becoming good. Esau’s premonition of death represents that although love takes a backseat to truth at the beginning, it rises up again from this “death-like” state to gain primary importance.

Even Isaac, their father, also understands Esau’s ultimate importance. This is evidenced by his prophecy that his older son will escape his younger son’s yoke and regain dominion (Genesis, 27:40). I have left out many details of this deeper interpretation of Scripture because it goes well beyond the scope of this short post.

Why am I sharing with you how angels understand Scripture? The answer is that the Lord God wants to share this rarefied knowledge with humans on earth—now! This is how the Lord will make His triumphant return and make all things “anew.” The Second Coming will commence within the hearts and minds of willing individuals.

Visit: http://www.provinggod.com

Or visit: http://www.innergardening.net