SPIRITUALITY: AWARENESS AND UNDERSTANDING OF UNIVERSAL TRUTH

This is my favorite passage in “Atheists Can Get To "Heaven” by W. Michael King.

  

— As derivatives of the universe, you may suspect that sentient consciousness, the self-being (what would otherwise be termed the soul), is in hypothesis a process of natural evolution, a natural extension of the organisms of the biological mind. For example, we know in physics that once an electromagnetic wave launches into space, it continues into infinity - it is forever.

If sentience could be defined as a quantum electro-dynamic, adaptive, and interactive electromagnetic field structure, one could continue into a state of being that was not dependent upon any organic form - once launched beyond the confinement of the body. The concept of sentience, of consciousness, was defined in the early 17th Century by René Descartes as a rationalist premise: "I think, therefore I am."

If that rationalist premise were to be founded on, as arising from, a structure of quantum electro-dynamic interactivity, then it could hypothetically become metaphysical (at a stage of development currently beyond conventional physics) and accordingly, spiritual.

Because we are sentient, conscious beings, our self-intended actualization can direct changes to our minds and our bodies. Those actions effectively cause us to become our own "creators" as we de-fine and "assemble" ourselves.

The health problems I was experiencing in Chapter Eight, The Crater of Self-Deprecation, tend to confirm that observation since my negativity overloaded my body's ability to compensate. Positive connections when willed into self will yield, in contrast, affirming results.

Additionally for emphasis, during my challenge with the cleric, not taking a position about the presence or reality of a deity would have essentially been deceitful, given the understanding that I had attained. Deceit in the face of those to whom one is already wholly known and transparent, is sheer folly. The very same challenge when presented to another who is committed to the concept of a deity could probably have a similar result, though there could be variations that are significant in detail.

For your contemplation, the test challenge statement, "Come with me, I will take you to God" could, for one who monotheistically believes in a deity, have had almost the same outcome as my own - almost. Since I recognized that challenge to be partially a test of my commitment to myself, and partially a test of my self-inspection affirming that I was doing my best, the question would have been a good test even for one who believes in a deity. Such a "believing" person might have thought, "Ask yourself: Why would an all powerful, omnipresent God position a representative to take me to him? As omnipresence, I would already be with God. Why should I submit to being led by one I did not know, on a presumption that could be a delusion, that I might be taken to God?" So a response of equal integrity would have been: "No! God is with me always! You cannot take me to what is already within me! You must be a charlatan!"

With that decision not to be led, it is implied that personal objectivity would be in place so that you would not blindly follow one you did not know, and could find truth for yourself.

To me, there is no question that there is a life force within and among us, developed from within ourselves connecting with, and flowing through, all living things. The derivation of that life force is from processes in the universe that began some billions of years ago. Consequently, I can confidently attest to you that my "god" is the universe itself, the source of all structures and fields of matter, organic and inorganic, all energetic fields of being.

My god is not a monotheistic super-being but rather the process of forces, fields, and energy that encompasses all of nature. Since I am child of the universe, as you are, in popular terms the universe is my parental base: my father. Accordingly, I can emphatically say that my god is omnipresent and within me, and interconnected to all.

I find peace and joy, and a sense of personal freedom, through this knowledge. I am free of guilt and the need to seek salvation at the hands of another. My spirituality is the whole of my awareness and comprehension of universal truth.

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