This essay offers a revolutionary perspective on religion and science. As a child I was a non-dogmatic atheist. I made the bold statement: “I would not object, if God existed.” At secondary school, I learned about the hyperbola function y = 1 / x. 1 divided by x. The value of this function goes to infinity at x → 0 and 0 as x → ∞ (infinity). A hyperbola could degenerate and cross in infinity .Somewhere in the Universe, the lines would intersect. I fantasised, what would happen, if you put knowledge or wisdom on the x-axis and what you thought you knew on the Y-axis. Analogous to Socrates, the wise man or scholar knows that he knows nothing whilst the fool thinks he knows everything. What would happen if the wise would meet the fool? This essay contains degenerate hyperbolae like the atheist and the mystic, the quantum physicist and a Buddhist. Age 15 I was also a Flatlander. I was cynical having no ideals. I reasoned if life would have a meaning, you could fulfil it. Fulfilment would subsequently imply losing its sense. Life in Utopia or in eternity appeared utterly boring. At the defence of my Ph.D. (1989), I had lost part of my cynicism. "Life might be absurd, Don't bother. In 2003 a spiritual transformationI was my end of Flatland. This essay presents my thoughts about religions and salvation from my journey in the hyperspace. Put on your 3+-D glasses and join me on the warp jump into n (16?) dimensional space.
The Concept of Time and the Present, Creation versus or = Evolution
Animals but also human beings live in the Present or Now.
Homo sapiens has invented time to order the sequence of events in the Present. Past and future exist only in our consciousness and cease to exist if we do not think. These concepts are not new, take the philosophers Augustinus and Ken Wilber. However, if one realises that only the Present exists and the Past and the Future exist only sometimes in our consciousness, the contradiction between Creation and the Theory of Evolution disappears. Creation is an ongoing optimisation process in the Present and the evolution theory describes the optimisation from the beginning, the Big Bang to my Present, when I writing this or your Present if you by reading this paragraph create your reading experience and thought process. The imminent End of Times in many religious books is the realisation that time does not exist and that we live in the Present.
Brahma? Allah? God, scientists and mystics
The insights of modern physicists and ancient mystics show striking parallels. Einstein taught us already that time is relative. Quantum physics and string theory teach us that the universe originated from the (almost?) Nothing. Everything turns out to be interconnected on an (empty= nothing) subatomic level as opposed to the atomic model of the Newtonean world. Some atheists just state that what happened "In the Beginning" is unimaginable happened but do not draw the only correct conclusion to use the label of God, Allah, Brahma or the Unitive Consciousness. Mystics come to the same conclusion as the atheists after experiencing God. God is indescribable, unimaginable. They also experience what quantum physicists have learned that everything is connected. One is All. All is One. One is "God" is the universe in all its dimensions. Humans and animals are therefore part of the Universe = God. Buddhists knew and accepted that humans and animals have Buddha-nature (the divine). Zen teacher offer their students riddles (koans) to the path to enlightenment. What is the Buddha-nature of a dog? What is quality? The answer is Love. The binding force of the universe is like Gary Zukav already wrote: Love. Love is care and concern for the Present, connection with your environment.
Unity Consciousness and the Flood
Oliver Sacks in his book Musicophilia proves that inspiration of music is passed through a higher consciousness . Marja de Vries outlines in her book "The entire elephant in the picture" the higher levels of consciousness beyond the usual low β-consciousness of most people. She draws her conclusions after extensive research on nature-based religions and faiths. Religions are very similar on a higher level. Themes such as the Flood, Redemption and Resurrection have originated independently. People were separated in space and time. Were they connected via the Unitive Consciousness?
The Flood, the parable of Noah in the Bible, was apparently derived from the ancient Mesopotamean Gilgamesh epos. One could have suspected that the story of Noah's Ark was a fable. There was physically not enough water on earth to reach the tip of Mount Ararat as the later anchor place of the Ark.. It was also impossible to keep all known species on Earth without air-conditioning, nutrition and skilled workforce alive. Mankind lived scattered around the globe and they were unable to significantly change the earth. Intervention by a higher consciousness is, however, needed in our time when mankind destroys the earth at full speed. The illusions in the Present and short-term gratification pull make it difficult to make the switch to a sustainable society: The Irresponsibility of the "Why bother, after us the deluge" generation. The Unitive Consciousness saw the Flood ( Clobal Heating, overconsumption, etc.) thousands of years ago and planted the seeds for the breakthrough for a unifying religion. These days people are increasingly becoming aware for the need of a different world.
Prophets, Enlightment or Redemption
Creativity in art and science, even the best management decisions are often intuitive, subconscious or higher (Unitive-) Consciousness. Another prove for Unitive Consciousness / God: Muhammed, an illiterate, received the Quran during his meditative trances in a cave in seven years time. Besides beautiful verses, the Quran contains also very practical guidelines, which only much later acquired a scientific basis. In our times Mohammed would have received the Noble Price for his economic insights (no interest and speculation). Muhammed realised that his transcendent experiences (even without an Internet Provider) were not normal. He waited two years before he dared to come out. In our time, he would have been forced to take lithium after receiving the diagnosis manic psychosis. How Abraham (< 1000 years BC) came to the medical intervention circumcision, one can only speculate? Abraham is the forefather of Jews, Christians and Muslims. Maybe it becomes time for a conciliatory family reunion?
Jesus Christ, the Christian prophet, has never physically lived 2000 years ago. First, his date of birth was fixed to 4 BC because king Herod already had died that year. Can you still imagine that a sick old man will care about a firstborn? Paul is the first person, who mentions Jesus Christ and the Salvation. This was 19 years after Jesus' presupposed dead. Paul had no physical source for this information and he had a transcendent experience of Jesus and the promise of salvation. Only 40 years after Jesus' death, four people wrote his life story. Were these synchronous manic psychosis? Jesus did so many incredible miracles in the last three years of his life. It is hard to imagine that these remained completely silent till Paul.
Is not it plausible that the Unitive Consciousness planted the seeds of the character Jesus and promise of salvation only spiritually. That pledge fed the hope for a better world, beyond our horizon (Roosevelt). Jesus Christ will save us from sin and ignorance. Only in our time this promise can be fulfilled. We can only now easily combine all knowledge of the world. We can only now learn and communicate the most devastating sins. E.g. the marketing of the industry to make (and the neglect of parents) our children (the later adults) addicted to cigarettes and alcohol. Judgment Day will be especially aimed at exposing the real sins. The Dutch Celebration of Sinterklaas (related to Christmas) celebration is the spiritual forerunner of Judgment Day. The good children get sweets, the bad ones receive punishment.
Just combining our current knowledge, we can solve almost all issues and change the world into a paradise. And what about the miracles of Jesus Christ? In our time these are also much less miraculous. The miraculous catch of fish (sonar detection of schools), the Immaculate Conception (in vitro fertilization), the wonderful wine and bread multiplication (a good catering or biotechnology), walking on water (ice, James Bond on alligators in Diamonds are Forever), the Holy Spirit (simultaneous translation by professional interpreters at the EU or Google translate), reviving the dead (reanimation, heart defibrillation, surgery). Now 2000 years later there would be no one man show. Everybody can start changing the world by starting themselves (Anne Frank). A Jesus Christ would join forces and facilitate the connection of knowledge to deliver solutions. Another parallel, Jesus was also against speculation. His raid against the violation of the temple by the money sharks is still hot because the corruption has continued full speed even after the financial crisis of 2009. Similarly, he would need to battle the companies making money at the expense of society (destroying the environment, stimulating overconsumption and selling poison).