White Eagle speaks through my Granddad pt. 8

Posted on by Opher

Well this is the last one. I suppose it was interesting to me because of its personal nature and my memories of my granddad. I last saw him when I was fourteen and I thought he was weird.

I’d sure like to meet up with him now and talk things through. Weird stuff.

The Spirit Returns

You will notice as your material mind broke up and the thought passed to your spirit coloured minds you came back to the mind of a child or baby. As the colour minds of the spirit broke up, you again come to childhood thought and pass through the deep state of sleep, as that of a baby. The colour mind does not break up its light but retains the light bodies to re-build new colour into. Every higher state of thought and knowledge has its own vibration of colour and density, whereas your earthly thought remains always the same in density and colour and enables your earth to remain the same to man’s vibration. In this deep state of sleep you will pass into a celestial house of your new plane and there you will be greeted as a new birth to that plane, an addition to their family and registered to that plane as you are with earth. Elders, scribes, ministering angels give thanks to God for your deliverance and shower their love upon you. A ministering angel known as the comforter will be given charge over you and tend you with loving thought and knowledge. You will be wrapped in light to keep out unwanted vibrations of thought in order that your spirit may build a new colour mind for you, colours that will attune you to the law of this new plane. A seed from your spirit and a seed from the comforter is conceived into every light body you have retained and sets up the creation of the new mind.

Granddad’s teachings – Our Perception – a teaching from White Eagle pt1

Posted on by Opher

I haven’t read these things for many moons. They are certainly not my own views but they are fascinating. They kind of connect me to me Granddad who has been dead for fifty odd years.

This is part 1. There are sixteen pages – this is one and a half. I’ll type up the others as soon as I can.

I’d be interested to hear what you make of it.

Our Perception – a teaching from White Eagle pt. 1

 

You must all have wondered at some time in your earthly dwelling the mystery of life.

Have you not marvelled, as you have seen life all around you, how great God must be? Perhaps you have tried to reason if the Great Spirit is really with you and if those teaching of the Holy Book are really true? Many have tried to build a picture as to what life is really for, and why, if we are children of the Great Spirit, he has isolated himself away as it sometimes appears. Maybe you are one of those who wonder why you were born to the earth, forced as you may think to be persecuted; fighting and struggling for existence does not make sense. We have heard so many times the cry of the earth. What is God doing to allow the murder of little children who have no contribution to sin? The maimed, the crippled, the deaf, dumb, the blind? What is God doing to allow it all? Yes, you have no doubt heard your brothers and sisters using thought like this and perhaps you have tried to defend it all?

Then after you have set a stream of thought flowing within yourself, rousing you greater puzzlement. It is to the many questions and gesticulating and the inability of minds to understand that I “White Eagle” try to make a way for you, remembering that there are many things with me also that are beyond understanding. There are still many laws of truth which have still to awaken in me and so open up vaults of knowledge. Yes, like you, I am a child of the Great Spirit. We are all brothers and sisters of one great family; our colours have no bearing against each other. We were all created by the Great Spirit so do his will to the freedom of our own choice and to perfect from the imperfects to his great love. It has often been expressed the mysteries are too great to understand and that you are not meant to understand them. There are many perceptions of the Great Spirit and it is to these that mysteries seem to surround you, and cause entanglement iof the mind. There is no mystery about the Great Spirit; the life within you and in everything you can vibrate brings to you all the reality, he is life, love, light and charity. Life can only be progressed in stages through the imperfections to which you all must pass.

The Purpose of Life – Religion and Hardwiring.

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I believe that to an extent religion is hardwired into our brains through evolution. We have evolved intelligence. Our success is our ability to see patterns and solve problems. There is a purpose to everything. That works great with hunter gathering. It enables us to work with the patterns of seasons and weather, to see the patterns of behaviour in predators and prey, to find water, to seek out fruits, berries and plants, to make tools, invent things and develop knowledge and technology.

This problem solving ability has enabled us to become masters of science and technology to the point where we are actually not only the predominant species but we are actually changing the whole planet. This is now the Anthropocene. Science and technology, stemming from our intelligence, our ability to see patterns and solve problems, has brought us control over our environment and all creatures. It has brought us agriculture and civilisation and enabled us to prosper in huge numbers – now pushing 8 Billion.

It falls down when confronted with the big questions that there are no answers for. Such as what is this immense universe? Where did it come from? What is life? Where did it come from? Am I immortal?

As I said at the beginning – we are hardwired to provide answers. We do not have answers to these and other such questions. They are too immense for our puny brains. Those brains have evolved to solve more mundane, practical problems. But that does not stop us from searching for answers and providing answers.

Early man was subjected to the vagaries of nature. If they could not find food through hunting or their crops failed because of unseasonal weather they starved.

They worshipped things such as the sun which gave life. They thought they could control it, appease the god they had created and performed rituals to please her. They performed rituals to produce rain, to have a good hunt, to harvest crops, for fertility, health and prosperity. They had holy men who could converse with the gods they had created. They invented explanations for the world, the sequence of life and death, creation myths and morality stories. They created reasons for when things went wrong and how they could put them right. They created fascinating tales of the afterlife to remove fear of death – death that was so prevalent.

They held great ceremonies, pageants and developed elaborate sacrifices and costumes. They built pyramids, temples and powerful spectacle.

The bigger and more lavish the greater the ease in believing in the story.

Through time these religions grew in sophistication and adapted as our knowledge of the universe and life grew. We see this with Christianity. In the beginning Hell was under the ground, Heaven was just above the firmament, the heavens were a dome. The stars chinks in that dome letting through the light of god, the sun rotated around the earth. As our knowledge grew these concepts were changed. We no longer look for hell under the ground or burn people for saying the earth goes round the sun.

We still cling on to the supernatural explanations though. Our minds have evolved to require answers. We still need to believe there is a purpose. Even in the face of no evidence we cling to the supernatural answers we find satisfying. They give us the assurance of order, purpose and answer our questions. They are much more psychologically satisfying than to accept there are no reasons, no order and no purpose. The universe just is. Life is an accident. We have a life and that is it. The only reasons we have are the ones we sort out for ourselves.

But I reckon that it is best to face up to the truth and accept it as it is. I see no evidence of god, an afterlife or a purpose for life.

Best to get on with it and enjoy it while we can. All we have is now. Let’s try to make this wonderful experience as good as we can make it, wring as much love, fun, creativity and pleasure out of it as we can and make the planet as good as we can make it for everybody else and all living things. That’s fulfilment enough for me.

My Best Antitheist Books – Please Take a Look!!

Posted on by Opher

I have written a number of books about religion. I do not think religion has been a positive force in human history. I believe it to be a fiction created by man to try to explain the mystical, spiritual and unknown aspects of the universe, life and death.

They are, in my opinion, mysteries that are not captured by the dogma of any religions. All religions have been used for power, hate and accruing of wealth. They are not among man’s best ideas.

These are my best Antitheist Books:

 

In the UK:

 

The Antitheists Dictionary

 

A humorous set of definitions of religious terms.

https://authorcentral.amazon.com/gp/books/book-detail-page?ie=UTF8&bookASIN=B00MOLZLE8&index=default&pn=irid82031849

 

The Book of Ginny

 

A novel about a religious cult.

 

https://authorcentral.amazon.com/gp/books/book-detail-page?ie=UTF8&bookASIN=B00MW8IHUS&index=default&pn=irid82031849

 

In the USA:

 

The Antitheist’s Dictionary

 

A humorous set of definitions of religious terms

 

https://www.amazon.com/Antitheists-Dictionary-Opher-Goodwin-ebook/dp/B00MOLZLE8/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1531382684&sr=1-1&keywords=Opher+Goodwin

 

The Book of Ginny

 

A novel about a religious cult.

 

The Irony of Hijabs!!

Posted on by Opher

In England we have parents dressing little girls in Hijabs to go to school while in repressive Islamic States women are facing prison to protest being forced to wear them.

In Iran women are climbing up on to telecom boxes, taking off their Hijabs, putting them on sticks and waving them in the air. For forty years they have been protesting being forced to wear the restricting garments. They want their freedom and are prepared to face draconian punishments to win it.

In Afghanistan under the Taliban women not fully covered were beaten cruelly with canes. The Hijab is also mandatory in Saudi Arabia and parts of Indonesia.

Yet in Britain Muslims are putting little girls into these restrictive clothes.

When I have travelled around the world in Muslim countries I am always struck by the contrast I see. The heat is sweltering. The men walk around in cool western T-shirts while the women are swaddled in voluminous black robes and facemasks (if they are allowed out at all – in some countries they are invisible).

It smacks of medieval misogyny.

The Niqab, Burqa and Hijab are pre-Islam. There is nothing in the Koran that says women should be forced to wear these medieval costumes. In fact the Koran states that both men and women should dress modestly. The men conveniently ignore that.

It smacks of misogyny to me. Women are second-class citizens.

Perhaps it is time for all Muslim women to show solidarity with their oppressed sisters and overthrow these outdated modes of dress?

The Maldives – A theocracy in action – suppression.

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The Maldives project themselves as an ideal but in reality they are a repressive regime. Every person living there is forced to follow Islam. There is no choice.

Out on the island resorts they project a benign image. They pamper the Western tourists and ply them with alcohol and luxury in their artificial sandy beached, palm-treed paradise. They offer liberal relaxation in sun and sea with scuba diving and sea-sport.. But for the endemic population alcohol is banned and religion is imposed.

I found the hypocrisy disturbing.

Not only do I not like imposition – I don’t like theocracies.

 

Favourite Religious Quoutes gathered by Michael B.

Posted on by Opher

Some of my favorite religion quotes:

“I have no faith in Faith, and don’t believe in Beliefs.”
Neal Peart

“The religious persecution of the ages has been done under what was claimed to be the command of God. I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do to their fellows, because it always coincides with their own desires.”
Susan B. Anthony

“One’s religion is whatever he is most interested in.”
J.M. Barrie

“Religion is the most malevolent of all mind viruses.”
Arthur C. Clarke

“Die Irreligiösen sind religiöser als sie selbst wissen, und die Religiösen sind’s weniger, als sie meinen.”
Translation: “The irreligious are more religious than they themselves know, and the religious are less so than they think.”
Franz Grillparzer

“The cosmos is a gigantic fly-wheel making 10,000 revolutions a minute. Man is a sick fly taking a dizzy ride on it. Religion is the theory that the wheel was designed and set spinning to give him a ride.”
H.L. Mencken

Is there a god?

Posted on by Opher

Is there a god?

Let us follow this back to see the logic of it. I don’t believe in god but let’s make that assumption.

In the beginning was god.

Now we can say there was no beginning and god was always there.

Or we can say that god had a beginning.

If god had a beginning how was he formed and where did he come from?

If god was always there where was he? In the midst of nothing? What as? A discorporate mind?

Now if god was always there living in his kingdom – what kingdom? Where did that come from? Was it created by god? What was there before he created the kingdom? Did it always exist? Who created it?

Then god created the entire universe out of nothing.

Why?

He created the entire universe for the benefit of tiny conscious being that he created on a tiny planet that he placed in an insignificant galaxy. Why?

Now the standard answer is that we cannot understand the unfathomable wonder of god and his plan.

Why go to all the bother?

You see once you start delving and thinking about it none of this is coherent or making any sense.

All we are told is don’t bother your head. It is faith not logic. God knows what he is doing. It’s beyond human comprehension.

 

Science traces the universe back to a singularity from which everything emerged – all energy, matter, time and space. They call it the Big Bang.

It makes little sense in terms of my comprehension. It is awesome. It has no purpose. But then why should it?

At least it does not saddle us with false answers.

I like questions.

I am not so keen on answers but I like thinking.

 

So what is the evidence for god?

Well we have a bunch of medieval texts describing miracles and people who have purportedly talked to god while alone up mountains, in wildernesses or in caves.

Can I give these any credence? No. They are unvalidated.

 

There is a wondrous universe of unbelievable proportion and complexity that people cite as evidence of god’s work.

Is it evidence? No. It exists and we do not know how but that does not mean that it was created by a supernatural being. It is wondrous but that does not mean it was purposefully created.

 

We have our consciousness. That is indeed incredible but does it mean that we are created in god’s image. No. It means we have an incredible consciousness that we don’t yet understand.

 

Everything has a beginning end and purpose. That means god has a purpose for us. Evidence for god? No. Just a very human way of looking at things. That’s how we see it. Why should everything have a beginning, an end or purpose. It just is.

 

God rescues people in need. Is that evidence? No. Some people get lucky. The gunman who killed twenty six people in the church the other day killed babies. Why didn’t god intervene then? No I’ve have seen no signs of intervention just luck.

 

People have supernatural experiences. Evidence? Not for me. Things happen to people that they can’t explain. There is a lot we can’t explain. Human psychology is complex. Most of our cerebral operations are subliminal. There is much still to be discovered. Just because we can’t explain something doesn’t automatically mean it is supernatural.

 

I see no evidence for god.

 

It seems to me that the concept of god or gods was created to explain the things we don’t understand – the universe, life, consciousness, and death – to give a purpose to life, to comfort us with the prospect of the inevitability of death, to give us a promise of something better sometime in the future where everything will be alright, to give us a promise that the nasty ones will get their comeuppance. It is psychologically satisfying. It is comforting. It explains things. It’s a nice story. But is it true?

 

It does not explain anything for me. I see no evidence. I do not believe that replacing one set of unknowables with a bigger set of unknowables explains anything.

The Antitheist’s Dictionary – The Age of Enlightenment/Age of reason

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Another extract from the Antitheist’s Dictionary:

antitheists-dictionary

Age of Enlightenment/Age of Reason

This is simply the most important thing that has ever happened. It began as a philosophical movement in the mid eighteenth century, gathered pace and has changed the whole cultural landscape of the Western World for the better.

The premise for the Age of Reason/Enlightenment was to challenge ideas based on tradition or religion and move to a system based on reason and scientific method. This inevitably took religion out of controlling people and introduced the present secular states.

As soon as this happened we experienced rapid progress. In contrast those cultures still ruled by religious superstition continued to stagnate.

I do not make the case that everything is hunky-dory. That is far from the case. In many ways the Age of Enlightenment heralded all sorts of moral and social problems that we are still battling to address today. It has unleashed a chaotic state. This needs addressing. Religion gave people structure and purpose even if that was madness and stupidity. Freedom from religion has left many people directionless and aimless with only hedonism to fall back on. I’ve nothing against hedonism but ultimately it is vacuous. What is necessary is for the State to provide purpose and impetus before the fanatics of religion rise up to fill that hole.

Politicians have so far not been particularly inspiring in this direction. They had better get their act together. The alternative could be religious oppression and the thought of that is dire.

However the writers, artists, poets, dancers, musicians and other creative folk have been doing a great job in making life worthwhile and filling the hole religion used to occupy. Long may they do it!

In the UK:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Antitheists-Dictionary-Opher-Goodwin/dp/1500821144/ref=sr_1_52?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1480180015&sr=1-52&keywords=opher

My other books:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Opher-Goodwin/e/B00MSHUX6Y/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1480180130&sr=1-2-ent

In the USA:

https://www.amazon.com/Antitheists-Dictionary-Opher-Goodwin-ebook/dp/B00MOLZLE8/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1480180201&sr=1-5&keywords=opher+goodwin

My other books:

https://www.amazon.com/Opher-Goodwin/e/B00MSHUX6Y/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1480180201&sr=1-2-ent

Pete Smith’s Cartoons of Genius – Religion

Posted on by Opher

P1120118 (2)

The eternal questions are addressed by many religions all claiming to be the only way. Take your pick.

All the doors open on the same thing and the arrow points upwards towards nothing.