Dr. Chris White Optimistic About Science Spirituality Crossover |402|

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Dr. Chris White Optimistic About Science Spirituality Crossover
by Alex Tsakiris | Feb 12 | Consciousness Science, Spirituality
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Dr. Christopher White traces multidimensional science concepts through spiritual thinking.
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photo by: Skeptiko
I keep having these vivid dreams like thinking weird things.
What sorts of things?

If you’re watching any popular TV shows or movies about the future of technology, like this clip from Netflix is Black Mirror, you know the future.
Your fate is being dictated. You’re not in control.
And you know it’s not very good.
Today’s guest look past the dystopia and sees something else.
Alex Tsakiris: Where you were going and reaching towards with the shared near-death experience and Raymond Moody and the higher-ordered geometry, is there the possibility to actually imagine a higher-ordered science that already exists and then where does that take us?
Chris White: Well, maybe. Certainly, one thing that you find, when you study the history of science in the last 150 years, is that scientists have been pretty committed to policing the boundaries of their disciplines. One thing that they rule out is any kind of philosophical or even spiritual reflection, right?
You see that, in my first book that I mentioned earlier, it looked pretty closely at the history of social sciences, you know, sociology, psychology, psychiatry, science is a mind and brain. And one thing that the founders of those disciplines really work hard at is squeezing out any mention of any kind of spiritual thing, or any, even philosophical questions.
Maybe you’re right, that in the future, when scientists and social scientists are less allergic to or less afraid of thinking about these other orders of existence or thinking about spirit, maybe that opens up a whole new way of thinking about and doing science.

I really enjoyed having Dr Chris White on Skeptiko today and we talked about other topics like how much of this dark, dark dystopic, apocalyptic science stuff is socially engineered, is designed to make us feel even more isolated, afraid, alone. It certainly keeps us away from any kind of deeper examination of spirituality.
So, it’s a great chat with a very distinguished and deep thinker. Stick around for my interview with Chris White.
Alex Tsakiris: Today we welcome Dr Christopher G White to Skeptiko. He’s here to talk about his new book, Other Worlds: Spirituality and the Search for Invisible Dimensions.
Now, I don’t usually read a lot of book blurbs on this show, but this is a really good one. So, let me read this in, because it will give you an idea of where he’s coming from.
“For a long time people have argued that the rise of science has caused the decline of religion. Other Worlds, this book, presents a different perspective, showing that modern Europeans and Americans often use scientific ideas in imaginative ways to develop new enchanted views of nature. The book examines the history and imaginative power of one scientific idea in particular, an idea that has been crucial to modern physics, as well as modern science fiction, and that is the idea that the universe has a higher invisible dimension.”
Very, very nice. I should also mention, real quickly, that Chris, I’m going to call him Chris here, has a PhD from Harvard and is Professor and Chair of Religion at Vassar, one of the top liberal arts colleges in the United States. So, in other words, he’s a really, really smart guy, but you would have figured that out anyway, as we go along.
It’s great to have you here Chris. Thanks for joining me.
Chris White: Thanks for that introduction Alex. You’re really raising expectations for your listening audience here. So, I don’t know, hopefully I won’t disappoint. We’ll see how it goes.
Alex Tsakiris: Okay, I don’t think you will. You have a terrific book here.
Chris White: Thank you.
Alex Tsakiris: It’s really well-written. You’re covering a topic that a lot of people probably expect to either find very superficial or laden down with a lot of academic stuff, and you don’t fall into either one of those. It’s really light and it carries a lightness about spirituality with it. It’s great.
Chris White: Good, I’m glad you liked it. I definitely worked hard on it. There’s a lot of pieces to putting together a book. You’ve got to get all of the information and do the research and then write it up and try to write it up in an interesting way. And like you say, I tried to make it a book for students and for scholars and for everyone else who wants to read about higher dimensions and how they’re changing, how we think about spirituality. It took a few years to do it, but I had fun with it, for sure.
Alex Tsakiris: I want to let people know that we’re going to talk about the book and I really want people to check out the book. Listeners to this show, I think, will really, really like it, but you’ve also opened yourself up and are willing to have a more free ranging discussion, because that’s really what Skeptiko is about. It’s kind of trying to figure out how, a really smart guy like you, how your work fits into these larger questions of who are we and why are we here, and how it fits into the other topics we’ve explored. So, that’s really terrific that you’re willing to do that.
Chris White: Absolutely, yeah.
 
There is a huge amount of mainstream scientific data that supports spiritual beliefs (9),

(All the controversies in the history of science show that the best explanation of the evidence is an opinion. The mere fact that some scientists may disagree does not prove who is right. In this post (below) I am not trying to prove anything scientifically, I am only trying to show that mainstream science provides solid grounds on which to base spiritual beliefs.)

Many Nobel Prize winning scientists and other great scientists believed that science supports spiritual beliefs(1)

Quantum mechanics provides evidence that consciousness is fundamental, that consciousness produces matter and therefore consciousness cannot be produced by matter. Double slit experiments, quantum entanglement, and the quantum Zeno effect support this interpretation (2).

Evidence from cosmology supports the belief that the universe was designed and created(3) (Multiverse theories don't explain this evidence.(4)).

Mainstream chemistry rules out all natural explanations for the origin of life(5).

Mathematics (information theory) also rules out a natural origin of life(6).

In addition to mainstream materialist science there is also the scientific work of psychical research(7), parapsychology(8) and NDE research(10) which have provided evidence for ESP, non-physical consciousness, and the afterlife.


Notes
1) Many Nobel Prize winning scientists and other great scientists believed that science supports spiritual beliefs.

https://sites.google.com/site/chs4o8pt/eminent_researchers

Nobel Prize winners Max Planck, Erwin Schrödinger, Brian Josephson, Sir John Eccles, Eugene Wigner, George Wald and other great scientists and philosophers such as John von Neumann, Kurt Gödel, Wernher von Braun, Karl Popper, and Carl Jung believed consciousness is non-physical because of the evidence:
http://sites.google.com/site/chs4o8pt/eminent_researchers

Many scientists believed the evidence that the universe was designed. These scientists include Nobel prize winners such as Albert Einstein, Werner Heisenberg, Guglielmo Marconi, Brian Josephson, William Phillips, Richard Smalley, Arno Penzias, Charles Townes, Arthur Compton, Antony Hewish, Christian Anfinsen, Walter Kohn, Arthur Schawlow, and other scientists, Charles Darwin, Sir Fred Hoyle, John von Neumann, Wernher von Braun, and Louis Pasteur.
http://sites.google.com/site/chs4o8pt/eminent_researchers


2) Quantum mechanics provides evidence that consciousness is fundamental, that consciousness produces matter and therefore consciousness cannot be produced by matter.

Max Planck
(Nobel Prize for Physics)
https://sites.google.com/site/chs4o8pt/eminent_researchers#researchers_plank
I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness. As quoted in The Observer (25 January 1931)​
And...
As a man who has devoted his whole life to the most clear headed science, to the study of matter, I can tell you as a result of my research about atoms this much: There is no matter as such. All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter.​
Das Wesen der Materie [The Nature of Matter], speech at Florence, Italy (1944) (from Archiv zur Geschichte der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Abt. Va, Rep. 11 Planck, Nr. 1797)​

Erwin Schrödinger (Nobel Prize for Physics)
"Consciousness cannot be accounted for in physical terms. For consciousness is absolutely fundamental. It cannot be accounted for in terms of anything else."​
The observing mind is not a physical system, it cannot interact with any physical system. And it might be better to reserve the term "subject" for the observing mind. ... For the subject, if anything, is the thing that senses and thinks. Sensations and thoughts do not belong to the "world of energy."​
...​
I am very astonished that the scientific picture of the real world around me is deficient. It gives a lot of factual information, puts all our experience in a magnificently consistent order, but it is ghastly silent about all and sundry that is really near to our heart, that really matters to us. It cannot tell us a word about red and blue, bitter and sweet, physical pain and physical delight; it knows nothing of beautiful and ugly, good or bad, God and eternity. Science sometimes pretends to answer questions in these domains, but the answers are very often so silly that we are not inclined to take them seriously.​
...​
There is obviously only one alternative, namely the unification of minds or consciousnesses. Their multiplicity is only apparent, in truth there is only one mind.​

Werner Heisenberg (Nobel Prize for Physics)
https://sites.google.com/site/chs4o8pt/eminent_researchers#researchers_heisenberg
The first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will turn you into an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting for you.

John von Neumann
https://sites.google.com/site/chs4o8pt/eminent_researchers#researchers_neumann
In his treatise The Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, John von Neumann deeply analyzed the so-called measurement problem. He concluded that the entire physical universe could be made subject to the Schrödinger equation (the universal wave function). Since something "outside the calculation" was needed to collapse the wave function, von Neumann concluded that the collapse was caused by the consciousness of the experimenter. (Wikipedia)

Double slit experiments, quantum entanglement, and the quantum Zeno effect support this interpretation
https://sites.google.com/site/chs4o8pt/summary_of_evidence#summary_evidence_quantum


3) Evidence from cosmology supports the belief that the universe was designed and created.
http://ncu9nc.blogspot.com/p/articl...by-subject.html#articles_by_subject_cosmology

The Cosmological Argument for a Transcendent Designer of the Universe. The discovery that the universe is expanding, the discovery that the universe came from nothing, and the discovery that natural laws are finely tuned to make life possible, all demonstrate that the universe was created and designed by an intelligence outside the universe. The evidence for intelligent design in the origin and evolution of life shows that the designer continued to play a role in the universe long after its creation.
http://ncu9nc.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-cosmological-argument-for.html

4) Multiverse theories don't explain this evidence.

Multiverse Theories Fail to Explain Our Finely Tuned Universe. Intelligent Design is a Better Explanation.
http://ncu9nc.blogspot.com/2014/08/multiverse-theories-fail-to-explain-our.html

Guillermo Gonzalez on the Fine-tuning of the Universe to Support Life
http://ncu9nc.blogspot.com/2015/04/video-guillermo-gonzalez-on-fine-tuning.html

Opposing the multiverse by George Ellis. "Martin Gardner (2003) puts it this way: 'There is not the slightest shred of reliable evidence that there is any universe other than the one we are in. No multiverse theory has so far provided a prediction that can be tested. As far as we can tell, universes are not as plentiful as even two blackberries.'"
http://astrogeo.oxfordjournals.org/content/49/2/2.33.full

The multiverse argument for the existence of paranormal phenomena.Proposing a multiverse does not help the materialist cause, it hurts it. If there are enough universes to explain the existence of our "improbable" universe as the result of chance, then there should be enough universes for one to exist with a God, spirits, Sasquatch, intelligent designer(s), UFOs, alien abductions, psi, etc, etc.
http://ncu9nc.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-multiverse-argument-for-existence.html



5) Mainstream chemistry rules out all natural explanations for the origin of life

Video: The Origin of Life: An Inside Story 2016 Lectures with James Tour.
A chemistry professor explains why everything we know about chemistry shows that life could not have arisen by natural means.

Video: Life could not have formed by natural means. Biomolecules naturally react to form tar.
http://ncu9nc.blogspot.com/2014/09/video-life-could-not-have-formed-by.html


6) Mathematics (information theory) also rules out a natural origin of life
https://uncommondescent.com/evolution/steve-meyer-on-the-information-enigma-in-evolution/

Information Theory: Chance and natural law cannot explain the origin of life.
http://ncu9nc.blogspot.com/2014/09/information-theory-chance-and-natural.html

7) In addition to mainstream materialist science there is also the scientific work of psychical research ,,,

Pierre Curie (Nobel Prize for Physics):
https://sites.google.com/site/chs4o8pt/eminent_researchers#researchers_pierre_curie
We have had a series of séances with Eusapia Palladino at the [Society for Psychical Research] It was very interesting, and really the phenomena that we saw appeared inexplicable as trickery—tables raised from all four legs, movement of objects from a distance, hands that pinch or caress you, luminous apparitions. All in a [setting] prepared by us with a small number of spectators all known to us and without a possible accomplice. The only trick possible is that which could result from an extraordinary facility of the medium as a magician. But how do you explain the phenomena when one is holding her hands and feet and when the light is sufficient so that one can see everything that happens?"

Charles Robert Richet (Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine):
https://sites.google.com/site/chs4o8pt/eminent_researchers#researchers_richet
1. There is in us a faculty of cognition that differs radically from the usual sensorial faculties (Cryptesthesia). 2. There are, even in full light, movements of objects without contact (Telekinesis). 3. Hands, bodies, and objects seem to take shape in their entirety from a cloud and take all the semblance of life (Ectoplasms). 4. There occur premonitions that can be explained neither by chance nor perspicacity, and are sometimes verified in minute detail. Such are my firm and explicit conclusions.

Mrs. Piper: Evidence for Survival After Death:
http://ncu9nc.blogspot.com/2009/05/further-record-of-observations-of.html

8) Parapsychology

Selected Psi Research Publications:
http://www.deanradin.com/evidence/evidence.htm

Proof of ESP: 1871 - 1997. Beating the Odds at Ten Million Billion Billion to One:
http://ncu9nc.blogspot.com/2013/04/proof-of-esp-1889-1997.html


9) There is a huge amount of mainstream scientific data that supports spiritual beliefs.

http://ncu9nc.blogspot.com/p/articl...subject.html#articles_by_subject_id_overviews
Naturalism is an extraordinary claim.
The laws of nature seem to be relatively simple mathematical relationships. How is it that just by chance simple natural laws working alone would include or produce all the factors necessary for life: the 20 or 30 cosmological fine tuning factors, at least 15 factors needed to produce habitable planets, at least 20 chemical factors needed for complex life? How is it possible that simple undesigned natural laws could produce the complex machinery of cells and the information needed for simple life and macroevolution? How could such finely-tuned complexity arise at every scale from the atomic to the cosmic from simple undesigned unguided natural laws? If you wanted to design such a complicated system from simple mathematical relationships, it would require a huge amount of intellectual effort. How could it happen just by chance? (A multiverse, for which there is no evidence, couldn't explain it.)
http://ncu9nc.blogspot.com/2015/04/naturalism-is-extraordinary-claim.html

Most of the data used by proponents of intelligent design comes from mainstream science:
http://ncu9nc.blogspot.com/p/articles-and-links-arranged-by-subject.html#articles_by_subject_id

10 NDE Research

NDE research may not be considered mainstream but the prominent researchers in the field are all medical doctors or scientists who were considered mainstream until they began to study NDE's. Several have said the held conventional materialistic views regarding consciousness until they began to study NDEs.

http://ncu9nc.blogspot.com/p/articles-and-links-arranged-by-subject.html#articles_by_subject_nde
 
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It's kinda funny that it's taken us this long to maybe in a way agree with Albert Einstein when he said, "The Universe is an illusion albeit a persistent one." So now we're coming around to the idea that there is maybe an Author of this illusion we call Creation. Is it such a great leap now to possibly consider that this Intelligent Creator is concerned for the creatures he has placed in it? Is it possible to communicate in some way with this Creator... if during the course of our lives in this illusion we should find ourselves in need in some hopeless way? Dare I now say that prayer works? No I won't. But I will say it's worth a try for anyone without other options.
 
It's kinda funny that it's taken us this long to maybe in a way agree with Albert Einstein when he said, "The Universe is an illusion albeit a persistent one." So now we're coming around to the idea that there is maybe an Author of this illusion we call Creation. Is it such a great leap now to possibly consider that this Intelligent Creator is concerned for the creatures he has placed in it? Is it possible to communicate in some way with this Creator... if during the course of our lives in this illusion we should find ourselves in need in some hopeless way? Dare I now say that prayer works? No I won't. But I will say it's worth a try for anyone without other options.

It is also an error to say Disproved Nihilism ≅ Proved Abrahamism (not that you are insisting on that here garry) :)

We have to remember that Abrahamism is also a discredited religion, bearing an imperious, cruel and consistently misleading model of Intelligence which underpins the Universe. This definition of God has failed over and over again as a reliable faith, much less as a hypothesis. And the people of the Western part of our globe chronically suffer as this horrid model of God is bound up and placed upon their shoulders as a burden. They live quiet terrified lives, squeezed until every last drop of money is extracted from them. All with a false smile of blessed assurance on their theatrical faces.

As bad as Materialistic Nihilism is, Abrahamism is even darker and more sadistic. And given the choice of Atheism or going back into Hellianity, I choose Atheism any day.
 
@Alex Thanks for a great interview! I downloaded the podcast and was surprised to find the name of the file is
skeptiko-402-christ-white.mp3 !

I hope Chris is going to join the discussion.

I'll have more to say after I have thought a little more.

David
 
It is also an error to say Disproved Nihilism ≅ Proved Abrahamism (not that you are insisting on that here garry):)

We have to remember that Abrahamism is also a discredited religion, bearing an imperious, cruel and consistently misleading model of Intelligence which underpins the Universe. This definition of God has failed over and over again as a reliable faith, much less as a hypothesis. And the people of the Western part of our globe chronically suffer as this horrid model of God is bound up and placed upon their shoulders as a burden. They live quiet terrified lives, squeezed until every last drop of money is extracted from them. All with a false smile of blessed assurance on their theatrical faces.

As bad as Materialistic Nihilism is, Abrahamism is even darker and more sadistic. And given the choice of Atheism or going back into Hellianity, I choose Atheism any day.

This you may find a surprise or maybe not, but I agree with you, I too am not an advocate of much of the old testament also because of its consequences. But the acknowledgement of the existence of an aware intelligent Creator does not make me a fan of religion. My beliefs are based on actual personal and sometimes quite miraculous experiences. A benevolent unseen being out there somewhere is aware of me.
 
I should add that winning the favor of the Creator is accomplished by doing right through life. If a yet able bodied retired person spends his summer growing vegetables to mostly give to the less fortunate; or his winters blowing and/or shovelling snow for elderly, less able neighbors without charge; or providing the Creator's birds with a bit of seed during hard cold winter days. The Creator knows of all such actions and such a person becomes due good fortune as opposed to misfortune. Among other things he will remain able bodied for instance.
 
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It is also an error to say Disproved Nihilism ≅ Proved Abrahamism (not that you are insisting on that here garry):)

We have to remember that Abrahamism is also a discredited religion, bearing an imperious, cruel and consistently misleading model of Intelligence which underpins the Universe. This definition of God has failed over and over again as a reliable faith, much less as a hypothesis. And the people of the Western part of our globe chronically suffer as this horrid model of God is bound up and placed upon their shoulders as a burden. They live quiet terrified lives, squeezed until every last drop of money is extracted from them. All with a false smile of blessed assurance on their theatrical faces.

As bad as Materialistic Nihilism is, Abrahamism is even darker and more sadistic. And given the choice of Atheism or going back into Hellianity, I choose Atheism any day.
cool... was just listening to
https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/shattered-reality/laird-scranton-ancient-0mrQLFGu9V7/
The Cosmological Origins of Myth and Symbol: From the Dogon and Ancient Egypt to India, Tibet, and China;
and Laird Scranton was pointing out how the Dogon had a very advanced cosmology... and no [G]od, or even [g]od... still processing :)
 
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@Alex Thanks for a great interview! I downloaded the podcast and was surprised to find the name of the file is
skeptiko-402-christ-white.mp3 !

I hope Chris is going to join the discussion.

I'll have more to say after I have thought a little more.

David
dang thats a typo... or maybe not :)
I have invited
 
I'm wary of anyone casting absolutes about when it comes to Christianity. I think its ignorant at best and arrogant at worst.

You can find examples of behavior in any metaphysical worldview that are unbecoming. This type of typecasting effectively tells us nothing that truly discriminates between them.
 
It is also an error to say Disproved Nihilism ≅ Proved Abrahamism (not that you are insisting on that here garry) :)

We have to remember that Abrahamism is also a discredited religion, bearing an imperious, cruel and consistently misleading model of Intelligence which underpins the Universe. This definition of God has failed over and over again as a reliable faith, much less as a hypothesis. And the people of the Western part of our globe chronically suffer as this horrid model of God is bound up and placed upon their shoulders as a burden. They live quiet terrified lives, squeezed until every last drop of money is extracted from them. All with a false smile of blessed assurance on their theatrical faces.

As bad as Materialistic Nihilism is, Abrahamism is even darker and more sadistic. And given the choice of Atheism or going back into Hellianity, I choose Atheism any day.

I agree with much of what you say. But I’m not so sure that either the Atheistic socieities or that atheistic individuals as a whole or in general (on average) have behaved any better in sum. Christianity has produced a lot of charitable behavior from many a “good Christians” and Christian organizations etc. And I do think that a lot of these charitable actions might be owed to their beleifs. There are lots of Churches who have formed great, caring, compassionate, and socially active congregations. Even though I’m not a Christian anymore, I consider my old church a great group of people. And I do think it’s (st least largely) owed to their beliefs and the community formed around their beliefs.

Not necassarily gonna argue either way. But I don’t think it’s as simple as you just framed it
 
I agree with much of what you say. But I’m not so sure that either the Atheistic socieities or that atheistic individuals as a whole or in general (on average) have behaved any better in sum. Christianity has produced a lot of charitable behavior from many a “good Christians” and Christian organizations etc. And I do think that a lot of these charitable actions might be owed to their beleifs. There are lots of Churches who have formed great, caring, compassionate, and socially active congregations. Even though I’m not a Christian anymore, I consider my old church a great group of people. And I do think it’s (st least largely) owed to their beliefs and the community formed around their beliefs.

Not necassarily gonna argue either way. But I don’t think it’s as simple as you just framed it

Yes, fully recognized and agreed Wormwood. To a degree however it is that simple. Do not confuse good works with spiritual authority - as this is a deception. For me, it is not the symbolic acts men do - but the intent and rationale behind their doing. Mafia members walk the streets handing out cash, they open orphanages, they build buildings. This is not a sign of their spiritual authority. Anyone can inhabit the costume of goodness. Especially evil. Not just anyone can change the nature of their soul.

It is that of which I jokingly accuse my alma mater. Graduates of my alma mater are highly touted in industry as being the best - as acknowledged by their sheepskin. But I object and say that it is the graduates themselves which have produced this mantle, not anything in particular done by the alma mater per se.

There is nothing good about worshiping hell, and placing people under that psychosis. In fact it is rather evil as a practice. It is almost exclusively profit focused.

But there are good people all about. You don't get to derive spiritual credit through just having them in your midst.
 
Do not confuse good works with spiritual authority

.

No of course I never would. But I was speaking more or less directly to the “I’d rather have atheism any day” statement. I guess the answer, or the challenge to that statement really comes down to what you’re looking to get from (or avoid getting) from either philosophy. If you’re speaking in terms of spiritual philosophy, then whichever one suits you best is a very individual thing. I know I’d rather be “spiritually” a Christian than a materialist, but certainly others would feel differently.

However, I was sort of speaking in terms of the society produced by either belief and the actions of people towards others as influenced by their beliefs. In this sense (and maybe this wasn’t even the sense that the original writer of the post was referring to), I was questioning whether or not the atheistic belief is more desirable one than Christianity.
Maybe I’m a little biased at this moment as I am currently reading “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich”, which produced a philosophy of wide scale extermination based upon a philosophy of genetic, materialistic supremacy.

Then we also have the examples of “Christian nations” and leaders and people’s who have also behaved horribly. So it’s a confusing thing to attempt to ponder correctly.

I do consider good works an indicator of spiritual prowess, but not of authority. And, in this sense, I’m convinced that there are plenty of atheists who are more spiritually in tune than many who would call themselves spiritual or religious. Even if they are unaware that their actions hold some higher value, it doesn’t matter if they are treating themselves well, treating others well, and cultivating a peaceful mindset
 
There was an old man who had lived with his wife and grown wealthy over decades of operating his business. His wife had passed on without issue. So in his declining health and loneliness he contracted for two men to move in with him and attend to the affairs of his large estate. The lead of the two men was a health practitioner and addressed the old man's daily aches and chronic illness, bringing him medicine, food and good cheer when the old man was down, and revived him when near death. The second man made the old man's meals and managed the estate's household and finances on his behalf.

As the old man continued to grow more sickly towards death, it happened that the estate bank called in an auditor for tax purposes to audit the man's household in preparation for his passing. Once in the household, the auditor noted that the account balances repeatedly had shown up as slightly short each period. As well, he noted that the supply of rat poison in inventory had dropped slightly each period, despite there being no groundskeeper working for the estate. The auditor had the old man's blood tested, and it showed positive for chronic exposure to prothrombin. So the auditor notified the bank, who had the sheriff come and arrest the two men both.

Upon their arrest, the lead man exclaimed 'T'was him not me! Was I not the one who cheered the old man in his illness? Was it not I who kept him alive? Was it not I who brought him analgesic, food, water and soft words of mercy in his time of strife? The money and the poison were only very slight in their burden (quotidie mortem).' To which the auditor replied, 'You were the worst of the two. For not only did you fool the old man, but you fooled yourself as well - into believing your own milieu of goodness. At least the second man knew he was a thief and a murderer.
 
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The Creator knows what is in our hearts. Our good works are best carried out while the person for whom we are performing them and his or her challenges are before our vision and our consideration. This is commonly called unconditional love. To more fully comprehend this may I suggest the Gospels of Jesus and in particular the parable of the Good Samaritan.
 
The Creator knows what is in our hearts. Our good works are best carried out while the person for whom we are performing them and his or her challenges are before our vision and our consideration. This is commonly called unconditional love. To more fully comprehend this may I suggest the Gospels of Jesus and in particular the parable of the Good Samaritan.

But I suspect that his point was not that the Good Samaritan was a Christian. I heed that parable well, as it refutes what the church actually says.

Here is another parable (I love parables) - pardon my goofy ones... but here goes...

Two men sat in a room with a bowl full of M&M's on the table in front of them. Beside the bowl was a sign which read 'Indisputably delicious'. When the first man read the sign, he picked up a handful of the multi-colored candies and started crunching on them. He was hit with the sudden realization that the enticing M&M candies were, rather than filled with chocolate, filled with excrement. Whereupon, before he could think, he was asked by his counterpart 'Are the M&M's good?' In his embarrassment over having dove into the mass of M&M's with august, the man thought to himself that it must take a bit of getting used to (an acquired taste). So foaming at the mouth with apparent chocolate, he said 'Yes, umm (crunch crunch), very fulfilling, very enlightened, very good!" So the second man proceeded to dive into the cache of M&M's for himself. He paused for a stark moment and then smiled weakly, and gave a gentile thumbs up to the first man. "Mmmm, good, yeah (crunch crunch).'

A third man entered the room and inquired as to what the two gentlemen were eating. He saw the colorful array of candies and suspected that, since the two men appeared to be enjoying the bowl of candies, that they must be extraordinarily good. He grabbed a handful and stuffed them into his mouth and sat down to enjoy. The previous two men looked at him and asked, 'Are they not good, (crunch, crunch) the best you ever had? Is your life not way better now?' The third man looked crosseyed down ward and said in a shaky voice, 'Uhmm, (crunch, crunch) yeah, very awesome!"

Then a fourth man entered the room and was inspired to find so many men eating wonderful candies, and yet a bountiful supply of them still remained. So he sat down, as the other three men watched. He grabbed a handful and began munching. Suddenly he stood up and spat the entire mouthful out. "Those are not candies, that is candy coated shit! My gosh, how can you eat that stuff?' Whereupon he left the room in haste to wash his mouth out in the restroom.

The three men stared at each other, until finally one broke the silence and said 'Well, he never really ate the candy.' And they continued to munch merrily along, examining all the beautiful candy shells colors in their bowl.
 
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