1. A belief system is to a human as an operating system is to a computer.
It is not very meaningful to ask if Windows OS or a Mac OS, or Linux OS
is "true." It is more meaningful to ask if it is useful to a particular user and / or for a
particular use. Similarly beliefs in Judaism, Buddhism, atheism,
etc. can be judged by their
utility to the user. The question of whether one belief system or another is "true," has little meaning
for day to day operations of the human running that belief system.
The important issue is how well the belief system functions for the believer at a particular time and place in history.
Just as one might choose an operating system, or have it chosen for you, so too with
belief systems. Some people are more comfortable using one operating system over
all others, (often becuse it was the first they've learned) so too with belief
systems. For a discussion of the effect of a belief system on the "next life" of the believer,
see tenet five below.
2. Myth is the software of the neural network.
Logical Pantheism defines the gods in purely mathematical terms: if artificial intelligence (AI)
is analogous to human intelligence, then
the gods are analogous to neural software routines running in the minds of believers.
These are called memes by some philosophers.
Thus all the gods, from Allah to Zeus, are no more "imaginary" than
computer software is imaginary. Further, their existence as
neural-software alone makes them immeasurably powerful and most
certainly to feared: It was a version of the Allah neural-software routine running as
neural-software in the minds of a few dozen believers which struck down the World
Trade Towers.
Scientists may feel their scientific beliefs rise above the level of myth. However, one of the earliest
successful sciences was Ptolemy's astronomy, which was able to predict eclipses of the sun that had previously
terrified people. However Ptolemy's astronomy was based
on a geocentric theory of the solar system. When the heliocentric theory was espoused
by Gallieo, et al., it provided a more accurate
description of planetary motion. Thus the geocentric theory which was the basis of
Ptolemy's perfectly functional astronomical science was shown to be a myth.
Newtonian physics seemed to
represent the truth about orbiting bodies, until Einstein's theory, which was still more accurate,
revealed that Newtonian physics too was just a myth. Eventually
a unified field theory will arise that reduces Einstein's theory
to a myth. Thus it appears that science progresses by developing new myths that allow it to function more accurately,
and myth is the only form of knowledge possible, both in science and metaphysics.
3. Truth maybe absolute, but any observation of truth can only be made
relative to the viewpoint of the observer.
This tenet can be explained by considering a card which appears black on one side and
white on the other. Observer A sees the dark side and concludes the card is black.
Observer B sees the white side and concludes the card is white. Observer C sees both sides,
and concludes the card is both black and white, All observers were correct in their observations,
but "the truth," i.e. the conclusion they come to in response to their observations, is relative to their
viewpoint. If you say observer C observed "the truth," observer D will tell you s/he also observed a
light shining on one side of the card, and thus believes the card is the same on both sides,
but the light makes the lit side appear white, and the shadow side appear dark. If you believe observer D
has seen "the truth," wait to hear from observer E.
Similarly, because we can only view "truth" from the
viewpoint of different cultures, any observation of truth is relative to the culture
we view it from. Thus a god may look black in one culture, white in another,
yet all views may be accurate based on the cultural viewpoints of the observers.
Therefore the idea of myth is more useful than the idea of truth when discussing gods,
because although people can't agree what "the truth" about the gods is,
they can usually agree that many myths are possible. Because science can only advance by means of myths,
this puts metaphysics at no disadvantage.
4. Godhead = the sum of all energy in the universe.
Godhead is a useful concept for Logical Pantheism. Diety may appear as Jehovah, Jesus and the holy ghost in one culture,
and as Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma in another. We can say all are equally valid views of diety, representing
different appearances of the same phenomenon in two different cultures. That common phenomenon can be
described as a godhead with thousands of faces, the appearance of each face determined by the cultural viewpoint of the observer.
This tenet is a description of how the face of the godhead appears from the Logical Pantheist perspective,
and it can be expressed as a mathematical equation:
Traditional pantheism associates God with the forces of Nature. Literally, it sees
God in all things. The traditional Judaic/Christian/Muslim definition of God holds
that God is omnipresent, omnipotent, and
omniscient. By defining the godhead in mathematical/physical terms, Logical Pantheists
feel they have satisfied the pantheist, and the
Judaic/Christian/Muslim definitions, as well as the need of science for a
mathematical formulation of the concept.
Since the godhead is defined as the sum of all
energy in the universe, the godhead is, from this definition, omnipotent. Since energy is
everywhere present in the universe (at least in the form of cosmic background
radiation), it follows that from this
definition, the godhead is omnipresent. Since knowledge exists either in the form of matter
(e.g. books, films, etc.) or energy (e.g. computer memory, human memory, etc.),
and since matter is a form of energy (from E = MC^2),
it follows that the sum of all energy includes all knowledge, and thus from the
Logical Pantheist definition, the godhead is omniscient. Thus Logical Pantheists feel they can represent an omnipresent, omnipotent, and
omniscient godhead by a mathematical equation comprehensible by science.
If someone is struck by lightning, the electrical discharge can be explained as
the result of the sum of the electrical forces in the area. Thus a Logical Pantheist can
maintain with verifiable scientific accuracy (based on the definition of the godhead as the sum of all energy),
that the victim was struck down by the godhead. In the same manner, anything that occurs, occurs as a result of
the sum of all forces in the universe, and can thus be said to be caused by the godhead with scientific accuracy.
5. The resurrection of the dead began in 1985.
It was reported in the NY Science
Times on 4/16/1985, when genetic engineers claimed that they had resurrected the DNA of an ancient
Egyptian mummy.
Although they resurrected the DNA they did not reactivate it, which would raise the
question of whether they had resurrected the mummy itself. Subsequently it has
theoretically become possible to
clone human DNA. Therefore it is also theoretically possible to clone that ancient DNA.
Thus we are now able to apply science to the question of whether it is possible to
raise the dead, and resurrection becomes a verifiable, i.e. scientific question as
well as a metaphysical one. The possibility of genetically engineered resurrection
is the central question of the art book, "Modern Metaphysics."
It is also discussed in the correspondence published on this website, beginning with
a letter to Dr. Chic Schissel.
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