God
Throughout human history there has existed in the majority of people a belief in some power, existence, a logical presence beyond human existence, a God (or gods). During at least the past few thousand years there has appeared in many cultures a belief in a God who is good, a God who wants human beings to do that which is good. Those who have completed their search of their heart, mind, and soul, know and understand love. Those who have completed their search know and understand in their heart, mind, and soul that it is good for people to love each other. Many believe that a God exists who gave us the love that is in our heart, mind, and souls. Many believe that a God exists who wants people to do that which is good, to love each other.
This belief in a God who wants people to love each other has its roots in intuitive feelings of humankind, in messages of prophets, and for those who believe in Jesus, in the word of God. There will always be arguments that the messages are messages made up by the messengers, yet from all that we have discussed, from all that those who have completed their search know and understand about love, it seems that if God does exist the message from him would be for us to love one another, precisely what many tell us it is.
There is, I believe, in most of us a feeling that God does exist. That feeling may be insight, or it may be the result of a collective deep seeded desperation in human beings to be more than doomed animals. We will not know until our death, the definitive answer forever prohibited us by the limits imposed by our being no more than a part of that which we seek to explore. We are left at the point where faith must take over if we are to believe in the existence of God.
Perhaps the "logical" selections that appear to take place in nature cannot be explained by physical processes, but rather represent actions taken by some indescribable presence, God, perhaps not. If our intuitive feelings and the calculations that support them are correct, then the complex low entropy universe in which we live cannot be the result of random chance. If we are honest with ourselves, the only possible answer we can construct from objective observations based on current scientific knowledge as to why the low entropy universe in which we live exists, is that it was designed and created to be as it is. If a Creator does not exist then the logical conclusion is that the low entropy universe in which we live would not exist, and we could not exist.
Some people who believe that God does not exist, believe that human beings can do good even in a universe where there is no God. Is it possible that they are right? If human beings want to do good, can they do good if God does not exist?
We concluded that no scientific theory provides us with a singular physical consciousness which continues to exist after physical death, so that a single physical "me" continues to exist after my death. We said that, even though we cannot prove anything and may in fact be wrong, we believe that if we do not have a singular physical or non-physical consciousness that continues to exist after physical death, then those who believe in nihilism are correct, and some type of "nihilistic" void awaits all of us. It may be a true void, like the void that preceded our birth, or it may be a very strange void where billions of "me" merely co-exist. Whatever physical form it might take, it would seem to be a "meaningless" void.
If physical death does annihilate our physical past, present, and future, then our life has meaning and purpose and value only if after our physical death our consciousness continues to exist in a non-physical life. We cannot prove that we continue, or do not continue, to exist after our physical death. Your physical life may have some existential meaning without a life after death, or there may be no life after death and your life may have no meaning and value. Yet if there is a life after death, then you will continue to experience a non-physical existence after your physical death, and your life does in fact have meaning and value.
If God exists and gives each of us a non-physical life after death, then our life both before and after physical death has meaning and value. We believe that if God, in some manner beyond human comprehension, grants existence to human beings, even after the death of our bodies, then and only then life becomes more than a brief, isolated event. Then, and only then, life and love have meaning and purpose, we can do that which is good, and life is worth living. Without God, the "good" we do would be meaningless.
Is it possible that even if God does not exist, there may be a non-physical “life” after death which gives meaning and value to our life? The intuitive answer seems to be no. I cannot imagine a human spirit that survives death if there is no presence beyond life other than human spirits, if there is no Spirit greater than the human soul. I do not believe that the only non-physical presence in the universe can be the human soul. I intuitively believe that if there is no Spirit greater than the human spirit, then there is no human soul, and we do in fact cease to exist on our death.
If there is no non-physical Spirit greater than the human soul, if there is no God, it makes no sense to conclude that a physical being born into our physical world has at birth, or somehow develops, a non-physical soul. I can see no possible way that a physical human being, who is a tiny part of an unimaginably huge universe, can survive physical death if there is no Spirit, no God, to grant that "physical being", in some manner and fashion beyond our understanding, a non-physical soul and life. It somehow seems intuitively true that without God there would be no reason to believe that we possess a "consciousness" that continues to exist beyond the death of our bodies, no reason to have hope that after our death we may live forever in a non-physical world. Even though it cannot be proven, it seems intuitively clear that if God does not exist then there is no life after death.
Similarly, it seems intuitively clear that if God does not exist there is no "heaven" where there is a life after death that is good. It is intuitively impossible for me to imagine the existence of a life after death in a heaven where there is no Spirit greater than the human soul, where God is not present. I cannot imagine a heaven filled with perfect love that is "created" or "sustained" by imperfect human souls, who during their physical lives repeatedly fail to choose love. I cannot imagine a heaven filled with real, true, pure, love without the presence in heaven of One who loves with perfect love, without the presence of One who is good. It would seem that only God, the One who is good, could forgive human sins so that heaven would be filled with love. Without the presence of God who loves with perfect love, I cannot envision a heaven where human beings share real, true, pure, love. I cannot "prove" anything to be true, yet it seems intuitively clear that if God does not exist, there is no heaven.
I simply do not believe that there is a life after death in a heaven filled with love if God, the One who is good, the One who loves with perfect love, does not exist. It seems intuitively true to me that without God each of us ceases to exist on the day of our death, annihilating our past, present, and future. It somehow seems intuitively true that without God, good and love and life are empty ideas that live and die with each human being.
We may "believe" that God exists, yet rather than belief, is the existence of God something we should have "faith in"? As we have said, having faith something is true is far more than believing it is true. We can say that those who have faith accept as true what they choose to believe is true, at least until proven beyond doubt to be untrue. Yet if you realize what it means to say that nothing can be totally proved or disproved, then what you choose to have faith in is in fact what you choose to accept as true for the rest of your life. What you have faith in is not simply what you believe to be true, but rather what you choose to believe is true because in your heart, mind, and soul, you want it to be true. You decide what you will have faith in, what you want to be true if anything at all is true. Having faith that something is true does not make it true, if it is not true, it is not true. Yet if what you have faith in is in fact true, it is true, period.
Why should you have faith God exists? If the message we conveyed to you about God was that he wants wars or sacrifices or other manner of destruction, then there would be little reason to have faith in him. But the message was and is that God who gave us love wants every human being to do that which is good. The message was and is that God wants every human being to love every other human being.
In our heart, mind, and soul we know and understand love. In our heart, mind, and soul we know and understand that it is "good" for each of us to love each other. If you have not completed your search of your heart, mind, and soul, if you do not yet understand that it is good to love each other, if you do not yet understand that we can and should do that which is good, then you will find it very difficult to find a reason to have faith in the existence of God. But if you have searched your heart, mind, soul, your very being, and know and understand love, you should find it worth having faith that a God exists who wants all people to do that which is good, a God who wants all people to love each other. For if God exists he exists, period.
Perhaps God has "revealed" to all or some of us that he exists. Yet even if God has not "revealed" this to you, he has given you the choice to have faith or not to have faith that he exists. Why should you have faith that God exists? Should we have faith that God exists because if God exists, God is good? I believe the answer to that question is that if we want good to exist and have meaning, if we want to do that which is good, we should have faith that the Supreme Being, God, exists.
I believe that if love among people is good and meaningful and has purpose, it is good and meaningful and has purpose only if God exists and only because of God. It should be clear to all who want to do that which is good that they should have faith that God exists, and that they should love God, the One who is good. If God makes it good for us to love each other in this life and in a world after death, and thus makes life worth living, then his existence alone gives us hope. [Our conclusions are strengthened by our belief that if there is no life after death then our physical lives do not have meaning and value - we may be wrong - you may want to reread Chapter 2 - Who Will You Be When You No Longer Are - which discusses the possibility of existential meaning without life after death.]
It is right to have faith in God and to love God, the One who is good. It is right to have faith in God and to love God, for without him love would be no more than one of many emotions that die with those who embrace them. Without God each of us would cease to exist, making all the love we gave and received during our lifetimes empty and totally useless. Without God love would be destroyed by physical death and life would have absolutely no meaning or purpose. Without God there would be no reason for living.
You should love God with the greatest love you can give. You should love God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, all your strength, for God alone makes it meaningful and right and good for us to love him and to love each other. You should love God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, all your strength, for God alone gives us hope that if we love him and love each other we will live forever in a joyous communion of love. If you love God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, all your strength, you have chosen to do that which you can do, you can do no more, you should do no less. If you love God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, all your strength, you will do what God wants you to do, you will love your neighbor as yourself.
Some two thousand years before the writing of these notes, a man named Jesus said to all who would listen that God gave these commandments to all people, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." "You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these."
When asked who is my "neighbor", Jesus replied, "A man was on his way from Jerusalem down to Jericho when he fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. It so happened that a priest was going down by the same road; but when he saw him, he went past on the other side. So too a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him he went past on the other side. But a Samaritan who was making the journey came upon him, and when he saw him he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, bathing them with oil and wine. Then he lifted him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him there. The next day he took out two silver pieces and gave them to the innkeeper, and said, take care of him; and if you spend any more, I will repay you on my way back. Which of these three do you think was neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" The questioner answered, "the one who showed him kindness." Jesus said, "go and do likewise."
Who is your neighbor? With the possible exception of those who have totally rejected God (discussed in Appendix C to the complete version of LifeNotes), every person who loves you, every person who hates you, every enemy, every stranger, people of every continent, people of every race, every single human being in the entire world, everyone, is your neighbor. Jesus said that all who "keep the commandments" will live forever, continuing to exist after physical death in a state of never-ending joy.
Who was, and/or is, Jesus? Many people differ in who they believe Jesus to be. Many believe Jesus is the Son of God. There are many, many different beliefs as to what it means to say Jesus is God's son. Some believe Jesus was God incarnate. Other people believe Jesus was a prophet, given knowledge by God of the nature and meaning of life. Still others believe Jesus was a wise man with great insight into human existence.
Many people believe that Jesus and God are One, and that you must accept Jesus as God before you can know God and love God. In the Christian Bible in the Gospel of John we are told that Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. .."; Luke says that Jesus said "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters."; Matthew tells us that Jesus said "Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven."; and John tells us Jesus said; "The Father and I are One.".
I believe that even if you have not decided who you believe Jesus is, you can and should love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself, and that out of that love you will choose to believe, and have faith in, what your heart, mind, and soul leads you to believe or have faith about Jesus. You must answer for yourself the question of who Jesus was, and is. You may choose to believe, and have faith in, what your heart, mind, and soul leads you to believe about Jesus.
Whoever you have faith or believe Jesus to have been, and to be, his message about life remains the same: "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets", "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.", "You shall love your neighbor as yourself.", "There is no other commandment greater than these.", "... do this, and you will live." There is nothing else that we can and should do. It is your choice to love as God would have you love, or not, period.
When you complete your search it will be clear to you what God means when he tells you that you can and should love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. When you complete your search it will also be clear to you what God means when he tells you that you can and should love your neighbor "as yourself". To say that you can and should love your neighbor "as yourself" is not the same as saying that you can and should love your neighbor "as you love yourself". To say that you should love your neighbor "as yourself" does not mean that you should "love yourself". If you love your neighbor "as yourself", and both you and your neighbor are thirsty, you will not drink the only cup of water that you have because you "love yourself". Rather, you will give the cup of water to your neighbor because you love your neighbor "as yourself".
When you complete your search and know and understand the love that God has given you, you will know and understand that you can and should love your neighbor "as yourself", as if he or she was in your place, as if he or she was "you". You will know and understand that you should give your neighbor the food that you would give yourself, the water that you would drink, the shelter that you would provide for yourself, the clothing that you would wear, etc. You should care for your neighbor when they are sick as you would care for yourself.
You should do to your neighbor what you would have them do to you. You should give your neighbor the food, water, shelter, and clothing that you would have them give to you. You should care for them when they are sick as you would have them care for you if you were sick. You should visit them when they are in prison as you would have them visit you if you were in prison. You should give your neighbor real, true, pure, love. You should give your neighbor the love that God has given us. You should love your neighbor "as yourself".
What about traditional religious beliefs, Christian theology and doctrine, baptism, sainthood, communion, all the beliefs and observances generations have cherished. What role do they play in our discussion of love? If you understand love, the answer is clear that if you love God and your neighbor you will in every instance do the best you can to do what is right. That is all you can do.
Certainly loving God means you will help your neighbors when they are in need of help. Perhaps you will decide loving God requires you to make many changes in your religious beliefs, perhaps not. When you choose to love God and your neighbor, every choice you make will be made out of love. It is the choice to love God as he would have you love him, and out of that love to love people as he would have you love them, that is the one important choice, all other choices will be governed by that one profound decision. To love God and our neighbor as God would have us love is the complete answer to all our questions.
Even though many believe that God has already spoken to us, and that we have not listened, why does God not speak directly to each and every one of us and tell us that he exists? Perhaps God has not revealed to us that he exists in a manner that no one could question, and has instead caused the observable physical universe to appear to follow deterministic laws, because he does not want us to know with absolute certainty that he does exist. Perhaps if we knew for an absolute fact that God exists, we would not choose to do God's will because we choose to love God and our neighbors, rather we would choose to do God's will to avoid loveless punishment. Perhaps God has not revealed to us that he exists so that we may have the free will choice to have faith that God exists, and the free will choice to love God and our neighbors, or not.
Why does God give us a choice to love or not to love? Why would God not create all of us in such a way that we must love as God would have us love? Perhaps the answer is that if evil did not exist, then not only would human beings not have a choice to do that which is bad, they would not have a choice to do that which is good. Perhaps if during our life on earth we did not have the free will choice to do that which is good or not, then we simply could not choose to love. Perhaps to do good during our physical lives we must have the choice, because it is our choice to do that which is good or do that which is evil that determines whether we love or do not love.
We have completed a full circle back to the question, what is the meaning and purpose of life, yet it has become the question, should we believe God exists and have faith in him and love him? We have suggested that the reason we should have faith in and love God is because if God exists, God is good, he gives meaning and purpose to life and love, and he wants us to love him and to love each other. A "why not" argument can be made that if God does not exist nihilists are probably right and death is the end, but since God might exist we should do what he would want us to do or we might end up tortured in some form of eternal loveless punishment. That play it safe logic sounds good in theory, yet it leaves us with a feeling that those who love to avoid punishment don't really love at all. If we are to have faith in God, and love as he would have us love, we must choose to love him because we want to love as he would have us love, not because we want to avoid the consequences of not loving.
After you have searched your heart, mind, and soul and know and understand love, you must choose whether or not to believe that there is nothing in the world better than people loving other people. If you agree love is worth living for, and if love has meaning only if God exists, then you must choose whether or not to live for the one hope for human beings, that God exists. You should not have faith in God because you want to avoid a loveless, eternal punishment. You should have faith in God and love God, because God is good. You should have faith in God and love God because you want to do that which is good, you want to love God and your neighbor.
If we love as God would have us love, what will happen to us after our physical death? Think about the real, true, pure, love you found when you searched your heart, mind, and soul, and you will know and understand what love in heaven would be like. I have absolute faith that if God exists, and if there is a heaven, then if we choose to do God's will, we will live forever in heaven in the presence of God, the One alone who is good. After one moment in heaven, we will know that every single moment of our existence, our entire being, will be filled with real, true, pure love, forever. All the illness, pain, and sorrow we experienced during our life on earth will vanish completely. In an instant, memories of even the worst that happened to us before our death will be overwhelmed by the love that surrounds us, and will "disappear" forever. We will exist in the presence of real, true, pure, perfect love, forever. We will exist in the presence of God.
After many, many years of thought and discussion, I believe that there are many difficult questions which have answers that are unclear, uncertain, or unknown; that there are many thoughts and ideas that language cannot adequately express; that there is knowledge beyond human ability to know; that we cannot "prove" anything unless truth is revealed to us; etc. After completing my search of my heart, my mind, and my soul, I believe that we do not need to answer all the difficult questions, express in words all that we intuitively feel, know what we cannot know, "prove" what is beyond human ability to prove, etc.
I have faith that I can and should "love the Lord my God with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind, with all my strength" and "love my neighbor as myself". I have faith that if I choose to love as God would have me love, I will make the best choices I am capable of making. I have faith that if each moment of each day I love as God would have me love, when I die I will have done all I could do, all I should do, and I will live forever in a heaven filled with joyful love.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. Love your neighbor as yourself.
You will make your choice.