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Preface

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We're told that Our Universe began as a microscopic concentration of Infinite & Eternal Energy that can only Compress, Expand and/or Change Form. 

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We’re also told that everything and everyone that ever was, is now and will ever be, came from Energy compressed into a space smaller than an apple, floating in the Limitlessness and Timelessness of Interstellar Space, for an indeterminate amount of time, before it began its likely Infinite and Eternal Expansion. 

 

Supposedly, our source goes all the way back to the ‘so-called’ Big Bang, which I call "A Spectacular Sprouting."  And, after all, an Explosive Bang is a destructive event whereas a Sprouting is, by definition, both expansive and constructive.

 

If you’re convinced that God is the Supreme Source, you will find plenty of facts here to support your belief.  On the other hand, if you’re an Atheist, or an Agnostic, you will Most Certainly Not be Transformed into a ‘True Believer.’

 

My hope is that, at the very least, my Brief Book that follows, will inspire you and others with an expanded sense of the awe and wonder of us, and the beauty of this amazing Planet and Universe, from which everything and everyone has come.

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When Einstein was asked, "Do you believe in Miracles?"  Here’s what he said:

 

“There either are no miracles, or life is a miracle which, after all, is an unexplainable phenomena.”

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1:  Introduction

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The original sub-title for this Brief Book was - ‘Implications from What We Know.’  I later realized that what we know, and think we know, is growing, and so I changed the sub-title to:  ‘Implications from What We Think We Know.’

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2:  My Loss of Trust

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I was raised in a mixed-up, well-meaning, religious family.  My father was raised as a ‘so-called’ orthodox Austrian Jew and my mother was raised as a ‘so-called’ Italian Catholic, and I grew up as a confused Half Jew/Half Catholic. 

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The question I had to deal with, as a young child was, did I want to identify as a Jew, and be one of God’s ‘Special Chosen Few’ that rejected Jesus as the Messiah/Savior or, did I want to identify as a Catholic Christian and be spared from the flames-of-hell as a member of the ‘One True Religion’? 

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I couldn’t decide - Did I wanna be a Jewish Matzo Ball or an Italian Catholic Meat Ball and, instead, I became a withdrawn and angry atheist, thinking my family members were all crazy and, if there was a God, I hated the SOB! for all the horrible things he allows us to do to ourselves, each other and our Home Planet.

 

What follows, are experiences and realizations that have led to my expanded thinking about Good & Evil, Life & God,’ Myself, Family Members, and Friends.

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My path to faith, has been a long and painful journey, with lots of highs and lows before I became convinced of there being an Intelligence In & As the Universe, and likely Multiverses that is both Infinitely Universal & Intimately Personal.

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3:  Two Amazing Dream Experiences & My Belief About God

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In the past, when asked Do you believe in God? my answer was – It depends on what you mean by God?  For me, the question requires much more than a simple yes or no answer. 

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Seeking the answer to that question for myself and others, is one of the main reasons why I’ve written this relatively brief book, which I hope will be helpful to others seeking answers that work for them. 

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Dream #1 – As a half Jew and Catholic-Raised Child, at around thirteen, I had an unexplainable dream and experience.  Several years before the dream, I had been an Altar Boy at my Church, where I served with Father Francis at Sunday Masses. 

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About 10 years after the last time I had been to the church, I was upstairs in my bedroom taking a Sunday nap.  I was dreaming about my time with Father Francis. In the midst of the dream, my mother called out to me. “Richard, you have a visitor, and you’ll never guess who it is."  But I knew. 

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I came down and there he was.   He told me that in the middle of mass that day, he had a strong memory of me and felt called to look me up and pay a visit.  He had never been to my house before.

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Dreams #2 – Around 20 years ago, I was having a series of recurring dreams.  In them, I rescue two furless baby squirrels.  One was a male and the other was a female.  My wife and son were weirded out by my obsession with my telling and retelling of the recurring dream.

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That dream experience is even more amazing than my Priest’s one time surprise visit.  It was the middle of a cold and windy month of March.  I left the house to go pick up my son at the bus stop from School. 

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As I was going to my car, my neighbor, across the street, excitedly called me over.  On the ground was a tiny furless baby squirrel that had fallen from his palm tree in the wind.  I picked it up and realized that is was a female.  I held it in my left hand and, in shock, I drove to get my son.

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When I arrived at the Bus Stop, my son got in the car and noticed the squirrel in my left hand.  Having been bombarded, along with my wife, about my recurring dream, he didn’t know what to say.

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We rode home in an uneasy silence.  When we arrived, the neighbor begged me to come back again.  There was another baby squirrel on the ground that had fallen from the tree and, just like in my dream, the second squirrel was a male.  I took them in the house and immediately called my wife at work. 

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When I told her what had happened, she thought I was joking.  I assured her that I was not, and that one of babies was a boy and the other was a girl, just like in my recurring dreams.

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I begged her to come home right away and help me care for them, which she did, after stopping at a pet store to figure out what the two babies, which we named, Will & Grace, needed to be fed.

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I could write a whole book about the lead up to and what followed from that amazing day when my recurring dream became a reality.  In fact, being that I’m a writer, I have written an outline for a screenplay titled – ‘A Squirrel’s Tale.’  I think this would make a great family friendly inspirational movie.

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We named the Boy Will and the Girl Grace.  Unfortunately, early on, Will Died. However, Gracie lived on with us, inside and outside.  She met an eager male lover  and became a joyful mother of two litters of squirrels that we had the honor to love and enjoy.

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4:  Free Will – It’s Unique Gift, Uses and Abuses

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Like me, many of you may have seen the movie and even read the book for the story of ‘Jonathan Livingston Seagull.’  Jonathan dreams of being a high-flying, speed-diving bird-of-prey like eagles that don’t feed on leftover garbage like Jonathan and the rest of his low-flying garbage eating seagull friends.

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Though I have no way of knowing what a seagull thinks or wants, I am confident that, in reality, a seagull is more than happy to be a seagull with no dreams of being an eagle and/or an astronaut. 

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Unlike all other living creatures on the planet, we humans have the ability and drive to dream big.  We visit the moon, have equipment on Mars and, eventually, we will leave footprints and equipment there. 

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But fantastic exploration isn’t all.  For one thing, consider the Eye in the Sky.  At the same time, Google Girl guides many millions of us from where we are to where we want to go. 

She doesn’t care where we came from, but she knows where we are and, along with untold others, at the same time, she’ll get us to our destination by the shortest and safest route possible.

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The fact is, in the world of today, there is a lot more good news than bad news.  Unfortunately, good news is no news.  If it bleeds it leads.  However, the truth is, there are less killings and hunger in the world today than in the distant past.

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The dark side of the good news is the ever present risk of a global nuclear war.  Should this happen, it would dramatically overshadow any good news, for a very long time, with a whole lot of very bad news.

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Other non-human earth creatures have instincts and wills that operate within the limited framework of their design.  Like us, they want to survive, thrive and reproduce.  It’s apparent that many of them even experience love and affection for us and others and grief from the loss of loved ones.

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Dramatically expanded uses of will is the most significant difference between us and all other earth-bound creatures.  As a result of how we individually and collectively use and/or misuse our wills, we co-create varying degrees of heaven or hell for ourselves and others here on our Mother/Father Ship Earth. 

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5:  Examples of Our Misuse of Free Will in the Names of God or Sex or Race or ??

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I will start close to home with Manifest Destiny, America’s horrific excuse for the displacement and slaughter of Indians and Mexicans who had, for the most part, peacefully inhabited what was America for unknown thousands of years.

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Manifest Destiny stated that it was God’s Will that America should be one country from Sea-to-Shining-Sea.  After all, the thought was, nothing and no-one should be allowed to stand in the way of God’s Will.

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Then, along with that so-called God sponsored atrocity, we bought into the idea that along with native Indian Savages, Africans were also seen as not fully human.

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With these beliefs, we went to Africa and forcefully took their Godless Men (and Women) back here to America, treating them as animals to support our exploitation of the country that God gave us to rule, plunder, rape and enslave. 

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And, more recently, let’s consider the insane dedicated martyrs that selflessly commandeered three airplanes in order to punish us “Godless Americans.”

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These, so-called, God Loving Maniacs killed themselves, the pilots and passengers of the three airplanes, along with thousands of innocent victims in The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. 

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Their Mission was verbally recorded by one of the men shouting - Ala Akbar, Ala Akbar – i.e.  Praise God!  Praise God!  If the promised seventy horny virgins, awaiting them in heaven, is actually happening, God Help those Fools in Hell!

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I dare to share this next example of using the idea of God, giving us humans the right to violate other humans with the risk of alienating myself from the Jewish side of my family. 

 

Many of my Jewish family members support the God Endorsed ‘Right of Return’ for Jews reclaiming Palestine as Israel.

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The bottom line is - Like America, pretty much every country has a history to be ashamed of.  Many cling to the notion that what they have done, and are doing every day, has been and still is inspired and supported by God, who’s on their side.

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Just a few days ago, Israel was attacked by long-angered Palestinians whose people have been displaced by the Jewish effort to reclaim Palestine as their rightfully deserved nation, in the name of God.

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In response for the attack, Israel has geared up and, as of today, October the 9th, 2023, a full scale bloody two-way slaughter between the two people is just beginning.  And, of course, as always, the whole insane action, on both sides, is rooted in the male side of the two-way male/female partnership.

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My final example, for now, is what men have done and are doing to women in the middle east and elsewhere.  We dominate and imprison our female citizens by so-called ‘Male Agents of God’ who call themselves, ‘The Morality Police.’

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6:  Amazing Past & Present Advances by the Right Uses of Our Wills

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I’ve written about the misuses of our Wills but, without question, our Wills have also been and can be a force of great good.  There are people, men and women, on this earth who have virtually reached “sainthood” status.

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Three examples of the Power of the Positive Uses of Will are Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi.  Mother Theresa selflessly rescued suffering souls on the streets of Calcutta. 

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Mandela, who was imprisoned for speaking out against state sponsored racism came out of prison and, instead of being angry and vengeful, he became the President of the Country and worked to unite Black and White South Africans. 

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And then, of course, there was the barely clothed, Mahatma Gandhi.  He was able to liberate India, from British domination, without the use of any violence.   

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Martin Luther King had a few peccadilloes in his closet, but he was also an overwhelming force of good, bringing his dream of racial equality in America closer to fruition, even when many were not ready to listen.  Nevertheless, he persisted and his will to inspire positive change cost the ultimate price and yet, amazingly, his will and vision has lived on beyond his mortal coil.

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Then there are the inventors and scientists who have changed our world.  Einstein, the granddaddy of all scientists, blew our minds and rearranged our way of thinking with E=MC2 which explains the relationship between Energy & Matter.

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Edison ushered in the Industrial Revolution with his inventions.  His will was so strong that it pushed aside a brilliant man like Tesla who was working on similar and competing, inventions.  Edison patented more than 1,000 inventions, more than double that of his closest competitor – George Westinghouse.

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Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were another dueling pair.  At some point, they must have realized that they needed to be counterweights in the computerization of the world.  The Phones in our pockets today have hundreds of times more computing power than the computers used to land men on the Moon, fifty years ago.

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Another controversial inventor of our day is Elon Musk.  Like him or hate him (or somewhere in between), projects that he’s overseen are reducing our carbon footprint and taking us to the stars.

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These modernday mega-stars, and their bloated ego-centric Wills to create and amass great fortunes has led to other problems – such as the slow vice grip squeeze on the middle class.  I guess the jury is still out on if they used their Wills “rightly’ for the Greater Good?  But, let’s face it, Heroes are rarely saints.
 

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END OF FORMATTING

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# 7:  Einstein’s Regret:

At one point in his life, Brother Albert was asked if he had any regrets and he responded, “I regret what was done with the relatively formula that enabled the horrific bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki with atomic bombs. I just happened to be the first to express the relativity formula that other scientists were on the verge of getting credit for ahead of me.

He went on to say that he had one very personal regret.  He said, “If I had my life to live over, I’d of lived it as a mystic.” The surprised writer responded, “You’re the foremost scientist of the age, how could that be?

Einstein said that the relativity formula details the relationship between energy and matter.  It points to a two-legged explanation for what he imagined to be an unknown three or more legged Universal Answer to many unanswered questions.

He realized that energy is the eternal source of all material forms.  This lead him to ask – What then is the source of Energy?

Science is in agreement that energy can neither be created or destroyed.  Were told that it can only Compress, Expand or Change Form.  This suggests that Energy is Eternal and is the basis of all temporary forms, including our planet and bodies.

After spelling out the relativity formula, Einstein was one of the first to seek a ‘Unified Field Theory’ later called ‘A Theory of Everything.’  Late in his life, he conceived the idea that consciousness may be the missing link that precedes energy just as energy is the eternal basis that precedes all temporary forms.

  # 8:  Beyond Relativity – CEEM:

CEEM stands for my Absolutivity Theory which suggests that Consciousness is to Energy as Energy is to Matter.  A broader way of saying this is:  Everything and Everyone Everywhere is Relative to that which is Absolute, and that which is Absolute is Infinite and Eternally Expanding Co-Creative Intelligence.

Through our dual male/female natures, we are the offspring of this, our Mother Ship Earth, spinning on its axis at over 1,000 miles per hour, making one complete revolution in every 24 hours.

In addition, we are traveling around the Sun, our Energy Power Source, at over a thousand miles per hour, with one revolution in every 12 months.

In my opinion, we are most likely not the only sentient life in Our Universe and likely Multiverses.  All the laws and elements that exist here, likely exist elsewhere.  The notion that we are alone is as unlikely as dropping a billion pennies on the ground and having them all come up tails.

Along with brother Albert, I am convinced that the Universe & possible Multiverses have always been and will always be, and that the Expansion of Life is the basis of Everything and Everyone, Everywhere.

After all, what would Universal Intelligence wish to do forever but expand its experiences in an Infinite & Eternal Field with Unlimited Room to Grow?

# 9:  The Big Bang –Which I call ‘A Spectacular Sprouting’:

According to science, a few billion or so years ago, the Energy Basis of Everything and Everyone. in this Universe (One Verse) had been suspended in the Infinity of Interstellar Space for an indeterminate amount of time. 

We are told that everything and everyone, that was to become was compressed Energy into a space smaller than the size of a Big Mack Hamburger.

Then, for reasons for which science has no clue, there was a so-called Big Bang and, over billions of years, everything and everyone everywhere, that ever existed, exists now, or will exist, will have come from and returned to Eternal Energy that can only Compress, Expand or Change Form.

# 10:  Why There Can Be No Beginning & No End, only an Infinity of Beginnings & Endings:

I’m in the process of a challenging conversation with a friend with whom I co-create.  The conversation revolves around Beginnings, Endings and Sources.

Science tell us that Everything and Everyone Everywhere that is now, will forever be Temporary Changing Forms of Energy that always was and will always be.

Science also tells us that the energy that we are, as individuals, at one time, was compressed into an area less than the size of a microbe or atom.   Before our Universe took form, this unimaginable concentration of energy was suspended in Interstellar Space, which has no outer boundary, for an unknown amount of time. 

My discussions with a few Scientists revolved around Two Questions.  The 1st Question was - How long had this extreme concentration of energy, that is the source of everyone and everything remain dormant before it began its Multi-Billion Year Expansion from Infinitely Tiny to all that was, is, and may still come to be?  The answer was…they had no tangible theory. 

Before our Universe ‘Sprouted’ and evolved into us and all the other physical forms, with no outer boundary to Interstellar Space, science recognizes the possibility of there being an infinite number of Universes that have or may Sprout.

Let’s ask, is there no intelligence here?  Is it all just mindless physics at work?

The 2nd Question was – If you can’t get something from nothing, how did the Tiny Concentration of Energy, that became us, and everything, everywhere come to be?  The Question of All Questions then is - What is the Source of Energy which, supposedly, can only Compress, Expand or Change Form?

If Energy has no preceding source, then it’s safe to say that it is Infinite & Eternal with No Beginning and No End, just an Infinite and Eternal Continuum of Beginnings & Endings which come and to go as Everything and Everyone, Everywhere for Time & Eternity.

With our eyes and minds and memories, we recognize our guaranteed bodily mortality and that of all those we love.   From our standpoints, we see Pregnancy and Birth as the beginning of Life and Death as the end.

Science tells us that Energy is the Infinite Universal Source, which can only Compress, Expand or Change Form.  However, Science has no clue of what, if anything, may Precede Energy.

I believe that Energy is preceded by that which, like Energy, has always been, is now, and will always be.  The Source of Life Energy is Eternal Outgoing Male Energy and Eternal Receptive Female Energy. These Two Co-Creative Primary Sources are both Intimately Personal and Infinitely Universal.  

# 11:  No Outer Boundary or Time Limit:

Imagine this unimaginably concentrated form of energy, our source, floating in the Unlimited Eternal Vastness of Interstellar Space.  And, for some reason, for which science has no idea how and why, at some point, billions of years ago, it sprouted.

Over time, it became you and me and everything and everyone everywhere in this one Universe that could well be one of an unlimited number of Universes.

There never was and never will be a Time when the Infinity of Interstellar Space will limit the possibility of new Universes.  To imagine there being no intelligent intentionality behind all these scientifically agreed upon notions boggles my mind.

# 12:  An Intimate & Challenging Conversation with my Mother:

Several decades ago, when I had just begun my thinking about the matter of the existence, or non-existence of God, I had a breakthrough about my personal origin and that of my Mother, Father and Sister, who precedes me by six years.

One day, I came to my mother and told her “Mom, you and dad are not the Source of me and my sister.  You’re Channels through which we came.  You had sex, at least twice, once for each of us and, hopefully, you really enjoyed doing your part.  This got me slapped!

This led to the following conversation and prayer.  “Mom, our Source goes all the way back to all the child bearing couples from the ancient past, all the way back to Adam & Eve or, maybe, two Turned On Monkeys.’ This got me slapped…again. 

For me, this realization confirms that, for better and for worse, we are all related and, from the highest perspective, we are all the related children of life.  This realization gave birth to the following prayer, which I employ for daily guidance.

Father of All Fathers, Mother of all Mothers, Source of my Being and all Creation, Grant me the Knowledge of your Loving Will, for my Will, For Today, and the Power to Live, Love, Give, Forgive and Trust.

# 13:  The Marriages of Yin & Yang:

I believe the Chinese intended to communicate somethings significant with the Yin/Yang symbol.   However, I’m not sure exactly what messages(s) they may have intended. 

However, that being said, I have drawn my own conclusions from the symbol.  In the black portion, there’s a white dot and, in the white portion, there’s a black dot.

In these times of evolving gender definition, we are coming to the conclusion that in every male (Yang) there’s some degree of female (Yin) and, in every female (Yin), there’s some degree of male (Yang).  This may represent the Universal and Eternal relationship between Yin (Female) and Yang (Male).\

When our fellow humans, male and female, exist significantly more on one side of the male/female spectrum than the other, the tendency grows in them wanting to look and function more and more in harmony with their dominant nature.

On an energetic level, Yang (Male) is generally more outgoing and assertive, while Yin (Female) is generally more receptive and yielding.  None of this is to suggest that one way is better than the other. 

Men can be equally receptive and women can be equally assertive.   In fact, balanced individuals and successful couples embody a balance between our outgoing and receptive natures.

We each live on a spectrum between the two genders.  As previously stated, there’s a little Male (Yang) in every Female and a little (Yin) in every male.  A balanced relationship between the two results in The Happy Marriages of Yin & Yang.

# 14:  My Outrageous Theory About One’s & Zeroes:

Taking this to a different, but related basis of Yin & Yang, think of the two elements for recently discovered and applied Digital Communication featuring variations and combinations of One’s & Zero’s.  For example, every shade of every color can be represented by varying combinations of One’s & Zero’s.

It’s interesting to note that the Digit #1 looks like an erect Penis (i.e. A Transmitter) and the symbol for ‘0’ looks like a turned on Vagina (i.e. A Receiver). 

This information about a Universal Transmitter/Receiver relationship could be the basis of Eternal Multiverses having co-creative relationships within Universal Receiver/Transmitter aspects of Life as Yin & Yang, and as Father/Mother/God.

# 15:  Gene Rodenberry’s Warp Speed, Quantum Entanglement & Beyond:

The nearest star to us is the Sun, our life giving power source.  It is approximately one hundred million miles away and, at the speed of light, which is 186,000 miles per second, the light of the Sun reaches us in about 8 minutes.

If the sun were to burn out, like other stars that have and do, our near perfectly warmed and cooled animal and human friendly planet would go dark and cold and, before we knew what had happened, we would all be dead.  The rest of the  Universe (One Verse) and likely Multiverses (Many Verses) would not skip a beat.

I believe there is Intelligent Life on other planets ahead of and behind where we are now.  The fact is, all the laws that pertain to us here, are likely to exist as Infinite and Eternal Laws throughout all that was, is and may ever come to be.

Far beyond our Planet, there are almost certainly other Life Friendly Planets and even Multiverses with intelligent inhabits that have successfully come together and evolved for millions and maybe even billions of years longer than us.  These beings may have evolved, peacefully, beyond our science fiction imaginations.

If, like me, you believe there are Universal Laws that pertain to us here on our home planet and elsewhere, the idea that there is intelligent life ‘Out There’ more and less advanced sentient beings than us, is highly likely.

Einstein’s search for the Truth, beyond Relativity was, to a large degree, rooted in his later Spiritual Belief that the Infinite and Eternal Creation has always been and will always be Universally Entangled as Everything and Everyone, Everywhere for Time & Eternity.

Advanced people, from other galaxies, may have been able to develop the means to travel at (Warp Speed) to any location in the expanding cosmos. 

If we don’t destroy our planet, or ourselves, in time, we may gain the ability to disappear from one place and appear elsewhere.  Beam me up, or Beam me down, Scottie!

# 16:  My Healing and Spiritual Awakening in Venice Beach, California:

Having been raised as a confused and angry Catholic/Jew, I was forced to learn many prayers that, over time, led me to feel like a trained parrot.  After falling apart and away from family and faith in any religion or belief system, I landed angrily homeless and clueless on the Beach in Venice, California. 

Venice is known as ’The Place where the Debris Meets the Sea.’  It was there that I hit a bottom and, my recovery and discovery and trust in a Universal Higher Power began.  It was there that I began to realize that I loved and was lovable, and that I could forgive and be forgiven.

The beach was a great place to be homeless.  Every day, the Hare Krishna’s, or some other benevolent individuals or groups showed up to feed us broken souls.  I was always first in line to stuff my obese body and numb my broken spirit.

I met a nice guy who noticed my ravenous assault on the daily food and my 100 plus pounds of excess bodily baggage.  He asked if I had issues with food and life. 

After putting aside my resentment at his question, I admitted my misery and opened up to him.  He was a really great listener and, he told me about having lost  around 100 pounds with the help of Overeaters Anonymous (OA) and that his life has been dramatically improved.

I told him that I was a survivor of religion and an avid Atheist with no belief in God and, if that’s what it takes to succeed in OA, it’s…No Way for Me!..

He told me that the only requirement for membership is a desire to recover from our addition(s) and unmanageable life.  At that time, I weighed around 300 pounds. The next day, along with my new ‘best friend’, we walked to my 1st OA meeting.

I now weigh around 180 pounds and I’ve come to Trust and Experience an Intelligence that is both Intimately Personal & Infinitely Universal. 

For me, God is Life & Life is God.  As God’s children, we are here to love and help each other, and do our part to love and protect our Dearly Beloved Mother Ship Earth and all the other Living Forms of Life.

# 17:  The Axiom of Change:

Change can be and often is difficult and painful, especially when its being resisted.  From my experience, and the experiences of other twelve-step program friends, we change when the Pain of Change is Exceeded by the Pain of Remaining the Same.

The Axiom of Change is not only a formula for individual change, but also applies to entire civilizations.  The big question then is - How low and for long long do we need to go before we learn how to peacefully live together on this, Our Mother Ship Earth?  Do we need a World War Three, or Four?   

On a daily basis, I am learning the power of humbly embracing and balancing personal power and powerlessness, while realizing that I am not the source, but rather an expression and expansion of it.  This is why I practice my Father, Mother, God Prayer frequently in Section #12 above.

# 18:  With all the horrors done in the name of God, Religion, Race, Hate and Politics, why am I still convinced of there being a Divine & Loving Intelligence as the Source of Everything and Everyone Everywhere?

The answer goes back to Section #4 and the gift and positive and negative impacts resulting from how we individually and collectively use our Free Will and how we individually and collectively become agents of positive change as presented in Section # 17 about The Axiom of Change.

I will not live long enough, in this form, to be have been proven right or wrong but, I believe that in a few hundred or a few thousand years ahead, there will still be humans on this planet and we will no longer be killing each other or harming our Mother Ship Earth and all the Living Life Forms here, 

I am an Optimist who believes Love will prevail and we will collectively be caring for our Families, Friends, Fellow Humans. Animals and Planet.  The Family of ManKind and Faith in the Divine Nature of Life will be the way we live together.

I don’t know how frightfully bad, (i.e. The Axiom of Change #17) it will have to get before we individually and collectively realize that we are all travelers together on this miraculous life friendly Space Ship on which we are dependent, and which is also dependent on us?

A Path to World Peace, Friend Shipping and Prosperity

There are Five Members of the United Nations, listed below.  Each of the five has Veto Power to stop any majority group effort to stop a clear-cut aggressor, which could also be one of the five.

The United States – Russia – China - Great Britain & France

As it is now, even if the majority of Member Countries are against the actions of an aggressor, the Five Members with Veto Power, have the Power to Stop Them.

We need a New Rethought United Nations, with the Power to Stop an Aggressor.  Without this power, there really is no truly ‘United Nations’ and Global Agreement about how we co-exist and co-create Peace on Earth.

# 19:  Nine People & Planet Friendly Ideas:

1dea # 1:  Our core human value would be that no one should have excessive wealth, when others do not have access to their basic human needs which are: Food – Basic Shelter- Education, to whatever level they require, and Healthcare, including Dental and Eye Care.

Idea # 2:  The existing United Nations needs to actually become an Organization that supports human access to basic needs, detailed in #1 above, and become an Alliance of Nations unanimously dedicated to stopping aggressors and supporting global security and well-being for one-and-all.

Idea # 3:  Any nation, whether a member or not of an Expanded United Nations Alliance that acts as an aggressor, such as Russia against the Ukraine, all the other members of the New United Nations would agree to work together to do whatever is necessary to stop the aggressor(s) and aid the country(s) being attacked. 

Idea # 4:  No member of the New United Nations would have Veto Power to stop whatever action a Two-Thirds Voting Majority determines should be undertaken in order to stop an aggressor and/or give well-being aid where needed.

Idea # 5:  All member nations would be required to tithe (??%) of their national income to be used to support the expanding well-being of our fellow humans and home planet and, if necessary, stop an aggressor.

Idea # 6:  Nation members where their overall well-being is below an agreed upon levels, would not be required to contribute to the Alliance of Nations until, with support, their well-being climbs above the agreed upon minimal level of well-being.

Idea # 7:  The Spirit of these changes should be undertaken with a desire to further the peaceful advancement of ourselves, and the health of our dearly beloved Mother/Father Ship Earth, and all the animals that depend on us.

Idea # 8:  I wrote the article below, titled Ending Social Insecurity. The article puts forth a clear explanation of the original intention behind the establishment of the Social Security Program.

Idea #9: The Two Primary Responsibilities of our Government, stated in our  constitution, is to (1) Provide for the National Defense and (2)  The General Welfare. 

The Text below will become a LINK to take the reader to my article – Ending Social Insecurity for Low Income Retired Elders.  I/we need to do an updated study of the numbers included in the current draft.

Ending Social Insecurity for Low Income Retired Elders

by

Richard R. Roller

 

Millions of our senior citizen elders, living on their social security income, are living at or below the poverty level and struggling to make ends meet.

 

When Social Security (SS) was established by Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1935, it was created to ensure financial security for seniors, after a lifetime of working and paying income taxes and contributing into the social security system. 

 

It’s important to note:  The Social Security system was not created as a retirement plan, but rather as a safety net against poverty in our elder years.

 

We are currently required to contribute 6% of our annual income to SS.  As of 2023, this required contribution continues until our annual earnings reach $142,800.   For income, over the top amount each year, we no longer have to contribute, other than 1.5% for Medicare, which has no income limit.

 

After we’ve paid in, for all our working years, at 62, we can begin receiving social security benefits.  And, of course, the longer we wait to start receiving benefits, up until the age of 70, the higher the social security benefit will be, hopefully, with cost-of-living increases for the remainder of our lives. 

 

However, in recent years, as of, 2023, there’s been very little cost-of-living increases.  Cost-of-living increases are based on the average of all the states.  Those in high cost-of-living areas receive the same increase as those in areas in which the cost-of-living is markedly lower.

 

Here’s a way to rethink the system in order to achieve the original intention of ending financial insecurity among our retired seniors and, at the same time, allow most earners, other than the very wealthy, to keep more of their earnings.

 

Take the cap off of income above which we would currently stop paying into Social Security and, at some level of high income, still being earned in retirement years, we would not receive social security payments.

 

Many would proclaim…loudly! ‘I’ve paid into the system, and I should be entitled to receive this extra income!’  However, remember -The system was not established as a retirement investment program, but rather as a safety net insurance against ‘financial insecurity’ in our elder years.

 

If we lowered the 6% SS contribution to 4 or 5%, with no point at which the contributions are not required, other than when retired, not only would low income retired seniors be able to receive more money, all contributors, at every level, would keep more of their earnings and, the continuing contribution by the wealthy would increase the fund and help low income retired seniors.

 

This brings me to my take on the conflicted notion of socialism versus capitalism.  I believe that ‘We the People’ should guarantee each other our ‘basic’ human needs of food, shelter, education and health care, which should also include the best of dental and vision care. 

 

Our constitution, based on government of, by, and for the people, states that the two main jobs of government are to ‘Provide for The National Defense’ and for ‘The General Welfare.’

 

Staunchly socialistic citizens are often anti-capitalistic and, individuals who are staunchly capitalistic are often anti-socialistic.  This is the classic divide-and-conquer model.  Socialism is not, by any means, the same as Communism.  From my perspective, in a holistic sense, Socialism and Capitalism should be seen and function as two essential parts of a perfectly balanced whole. 

 

Capitalism, from an ancient Chinese wisdom perspective is Yang, i.e. male, dad, testosterone and assertive and, Socialism is Yin, i.e. female, mom, estrogen and supportive.  In the white portion of the Yin/Yang symbol, there’s a black dot and, in the black portion there’s a white dot.   The point is, there’s some degree of Yang/maleness in every female and some Yin/femaleness in every male. 

 

Socialism (Yin) is a heartfelt way of guaranteeing our fellow citizens their ‘basic’ life necessities, and Capitalism (Yang) is a way to encourage and reward us for contributing to the ‘greater good’ on behalf of our fellow citizens out of vision and love rather than out of fear.  Sometimes it seems that our greatest fear is not having our fellow citizens being motivated by fear.

 

Ending the argument between Socialism and Capitalism, and realizing the essential need for balance between the two, would lead to greater care and understanding between ‘We the People’ by providing a generous social safety net for our low income retired seniors. 

 

If we had a more generously funded social safety net, for low income retired seniors, and 1 or 2% lower required Social Security payments for everyone, with no cap, this would result in actual ‘trickle-down-economics’ and, you can bet, the money would, most certainly, not end up in Swiss bank accounts, but rather flow back into our economy and help us establish…‘A More Perfect Union.’

 

Together, we can fulfill the vision of Government – Of, By & For…We The People.

 

Richard R. Roller