MARILYN vos SAVANT
In her May 29th column in Parade she almost answered a question from a Mensa member intrigued by discussion with fellow members about "What is the reason we are here?"
She left the reader with two alternatives depending on whether or not they believe in a Supreme Being. But she did not capitalize her three word term for the answer for those with a religion. Her response for others was "You must settle for assuming we got here through some natural process, and that's that."
I have been using this blog to help people accept a third alternative which is actually a combination of her two alternatives, including an addition to her second alternative which did not really answer the question about the reason we are here.
The last two paragraphs of my post on June 8, 2013 gives a clue to God's possible purpose in making us through the process of evolution. There is not anything that surprises God. But as we can enjoy our child's enthusiasm and excitement with simple repetition of an entertaining interaction, so might God appreciate the awe we express to ourselves or others about his Creation and peoples.
The post of May 17, 2014 may be of some help for those wanting to find God. My musings about staring at the wallpaper may help you see how to dispose your mind to finding God. Your probably not going to find God without at least trying.
My fifth post was posted June 21, 2013 and gives some features of the world that have helped inspire some of the awe I have for the Infinite God that created us via evolution.
Those in Mensa reading this may find something to think about in the post on Creativity, Bee Language and Dyslexia from February 8, 2015. It is listed last on a list of "creativity" posts posted 5/24/2015. That list has been visited more than four times the number of times the list of "God" posts posted on 5/23/2015 has been visited.
In case you read this Marilyn, I still enjoy and look forward to your column in Parade. I am glad your column has survived the downsizing that has eliminated so many features in so many publications.
Joseph G. Engemann Kalamazoo, Michigan June 2, 2016.
Thursday, June 2, 2016
Monday, May 16, 2016
THE TREE OF LIFE
REVISED TREE OF LIFE
The revised tree of life described in the previous post lacked any illustration to aide understanding. The transfer of files to a new computer, operating system and associated software (Windows Vista to Windows 10) has delayed production of something suitable. I was eventually able to find Paint embedded in 10. But my attempt to modify the diagram below with color to clarify the protostome and deuterostome groupings left an illustration dangling somewhere in a jpg file that I have not been able to migrate to this blog.
The protostomes began with platyhelminthes, the flatworms ancestral to other protostomes, and eventually deuterostomes via annelids. The anthropocentric view showing primates upper right as the ultimate chordates is only for illustration of our lineage. Every living group could have an illustration showing their group at the peak. Some hint of this is shown with wasps and flies being groups of insects at the upper left. And at the far left the cephalopods are perhaps the ultimate mollusks.
The boldface names in the above diagram represent groups in the direct ancestral line to primates. All animals with a eucoelomate body cavity are included in the annelids and those above them in he diagram. Phylum names are in all capital letters. Polychaetes are probably the ancestral annelids for other annelids (oligochaetes and their descendants the leeches), mollusks, and arthropods, as well as the pogonophorans. Echinoderms and lophophorates were probably each derived from ancestors intermediate between polychaetes and hemichordates; echinoderms perhaps being farther along the line to chordates in their origin.
The various other groups are not all fairly treated in showing how advanced they are in an evolutionary sense. Their position is generally more an estimate of the antiquity of their origin.
OLDER VERSIONS OF THE TREE OF LIFE
A. Prior to the erroneous Lophotrochozoa and Ecdysozoa proposals the "Tree of Life" would have looked much like the version presented above with the following evident.
1. a separate origin of the deutrostomes from much earlier connecting the Hemichordates via unknown intermediates to the platyhelminthes.
2. a consequence is the assumption of a separate origin of coelom and blood vascular system of deuterostomes and advanced protostomes.
3. inexplicable cellular, histological, and moleular similarities in advanced protostomes and deuterostomes.
B. The Lophotrochoza error may some value as an assessment of lophophorate invertebrates but is not much use as showing relationships to vertebrates and some other phyla.
C. The Ecdysozoa error is made worthless by trying to make nematodes an important part of the evolutionary history of other some other phyla. Nematodes, as partially indicated in the diagram above, are probably part of an aschelminth group derived from turbellarian flatworms miniaturized by selection for adaptation for life in the interstices of marine, then freshwater and terrestrial sediments. The extreme specialization of nematodes did not provide a good base for selection of new groups. The superficial resemblance of their outer covering with the exoskeleton of arthropods is misleading. Surprisingly or fortunately, they did not make reptiles part of the group for shedding their skin. The post of May 31, 2013 should make it evident why the molecular data they used as a basis for Ecdysozoa is worthless.
D. Other versions of the "tree of life" based on symmetry and other features such as segmentation are not in vogue today, although the data used for them may have application in limited portions of "the tree of life". The antiquity of brachiopods and bryozoans as well as considerable differences in the lophophores would seem to argue for separate origins, perhaps from somewhere along the polychaete to pogonophora line.
E. The ancient annelid theory (over 100 years old) can be tweaked by insertion of the pogonophora to explain several things as shown elsewhere in the blog and indicated by the above diagram.
1. How the pogonophora turned an annelid arrangement of systems in to the chordate pattern.
2. How the anterior nervous system could fuse into a brain without an esophagus penetrating it.
3. How the drastic embryological changes of spiral to radial cleavage were simply made.
4. How molecular homologies of chordates and advanced protostomes came about.
Joseph G. Engemann Emeritus Professor of Biological Science, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan May 16, 2016
Disclaimer: All errors, mistakes, and omissions are my own and not the responsibility of Michigan State University, The University of Tasmania, nor Western Michigan University, nor the U. S. Fulbright Agency; although their assistance was valuable enabling me to make them. jge
The revised tree of life described in the previous post lacked any illustration to aide understanding. The transfer of files to a new computer, operating system and associated software (Windows Vista to Windows 10) has delayed production of something suitable. I was eventually able to find Paint embedded in 10. But my attempt to modify the diagram below with color to clarify the protostome and deuterostome groupings left an illustration dangling somewhere in a jpg file that I have not been able to migrate to this blog.
The protostomes began with platyhelminthes, the flatworms ancestral to other protostomes, and eventually deuterostomes via annelids. The anthropocentric view showing primates upper right as the ultimate chordates is only for illustration of our lineage. Every living group could have an illustration showing their group at the peak. Some hint of this is shown with wasps and flies being groups of insects at the upper left. And at the far left the cephalopods are perhaps the ultimate mollusks.
The boldface names in the above diagram represent groups in the direct ancestral line to primates. All animals with a eucoelomate body cavity are included in the annelids and those above them in he diagram. Phylum names are in all capital letters. Polychaetes are probably the ancestral annelids for other annelids (oligochaetes and their descendants the leeches), mollusks, and arthropods, as well as the pogonophorans. Echinoderms and lophophorates were probably each derived from ancestors intermediate between polychaetes and hemichordates; echinoderms perhaps being farther along the line to chordates in their origin.
The various other groups are not all fairly treated in showing how advanced they are in an evolutionary sense. Their position is generally more an estimate of the antiquity of their origin.
OLDER VERSIONS OF THE TREE OF LIFE
A. Prior to the erroneous Lophotrochozoa and Ecdysozoa proposals the "Tree of Life" would have looked much like the version presented above with the following evident.
1. a separate origin of the deutrostomes from much earlier connecting the Hemichordates via unknown intermediates to the platyhelminthes.
2. a consequence is the assumption of a separate origin of coelom and blood vascular system of deuterostomes and advanced protostomes.
3. inexplicable cellular, histological, and moleular similarities in advanced protostomes and deuterostomes.
B. The Lophotrochoza error may some value as an assessment of lophophorate invertebrates but is not much use as showing relationships to vertebrates and some other phyla.
C. The Ecdysozoa error is made worthless by trying to make nematodes an important part of the evolutionary history of other some other phyla. Nematodes, as partially indicated in the diagram above, are probably part of an aschelminth group derived from turbellarian flatworms miniaturized by selection for adaptation for life in the interstices of marine, then freshwater and terrestrial sediments. The extreme specialization of nematodes did not provide a good base for selection of new groups. The superficial resemblance of their outer covering with the exoskeleton of arthropods is misleading. Surprisingly or fortunately, they did not make reptiles part of the group for shedding their skin. The post of May 31, 2013 should make it evident why the molecular data they used as a basis for Ecdysozoa is worthless.
D. Other versions of the "tree of life" based on symmetry and other features such as segmentation are not in vogue today, although the data used for them may have application in limited portions of "the tree of life". The antiquity of brachiopods and bryozoans as well as considerable differences in the lophophores would seem to argue for separate origins, perhaps from somewhere along the polychaete to pogonophora line.
E. The ancient annelid theory (over 100 years old) can be tweaked by insertion of the pogonophora to explain several things as shown elsewhere in the blog and indicated by the above diagram.
1. How the pogonophora turned an annelid arrangement of systems in to the chordate pattern.
2. How the anterior nervous system could fuse into a brain without an esophagus penetrating it.
3. How the drastic embryological changes of spiral to radial cleavage were simply made.
4. How molecular homologies of chordates and advanced protostomes came about.
Joseph G. Engemann Emeritus Professor of Biological Science, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan May 16, 2016
Disclaimer: All errors, mistakes, and omissions are my own and not the responsibility of Michigan State University, The University of Tasmania, nor Western Michigan University, nor the U. S. Fulbright Agency; although their assistance was valuable enabling me to make them. jge
Sunday, May 1, 2016
REORGANIZING THE TREE OF LIFE
THE MAJOR STEP NEEDED
Third, factors responsible for the slow rate have accumulated but have not been linked with the remarkable longevity I have shown must exist, beginning with the evidence the pogonophorans present (Posted on October 24, 2015) discussed in the post of Jun 9, 2014 and illustrated in the post of June 13, 2014.
The tree of life, revised
The major line of animal evolution, known as deuterostomes and including chordates, hemichordates, and echinoderms, needs to be recognized as having its origin in the early annelid worms via a group of polychaetes now called pogonophorans. This recognizes the longer evolutionary history of protostomes. It also sets aside changes made by the proposals of Lophotrochozoa and Ecdysozoa as significant groups of animals; the post of May 31, 2013 explains why they should be dismissed.
[Engemann's] Modification of the
Annelid Theory of Chordate Origin
If
you have read the recent posts of this blog, starting with SCIENCE PREJUDICE on
March 17, 2016, you will understand why I didn’t say “The Creator’s Use of
Annelids to Make Humans”. My data driven
conclusions leading to understanding of the evolutionary sequence of events involved
do not discredit God by presenting it as a scientifically credible theory. That is especially true because the multiple
lines of evidence were unlikely to have been discovered by my
feeble efforts. I say the same thing
about Darwin’s work on developing the Theory of Natural Selection underpinning
our understanding of evolution. I hope I
will not withdraw recognition of the Creator’s role as Darwin may have done. Maybe I should just say “Modified Annelid
Theory of Chordate Origin”.
The lines of evidence
First, the observation of inverted systems, noted
for annelids as compared to chordates, was responsible
for the original proposal of annelid origin over a century ago.
Second, observations that evolution can occur
in developmental stages independent of adult features. This has been known for a long
time without perception of its significance.
Third, evolutionary rates at the abyssal depths
of the ocean can be so slow it makes molecular clocks
for determining evolutionary rates in different branches of the tree of life almost meaningless.
Some evidence of it being known in 1915 exists*,
but who would realize the importance of nothing happening?
Fourth, conditions in the abyssal depths
were the driving force for natural selection to bring about the deuterostome embryological
features from the original protostome annelid embryological features.
Fifth, the Pogonophora, unknown at the time of
the original annelid theory, embed the major evidence of intermediate linking features.
Where
is the evidence?
First,
the inversion is illustrated in the post of March 2, 2015. The concept was discussed in the June 28,
2013 post.
Second,
this fact of some independent evolution of embryonic features is generally accepted since the “Biogenetic Law” was
discredited. I was impressed by the
existence of an egg appendage (post of June 5, 2014) not found on more
primitive isopods (post of June 6, 2014) illustrating the concept.
Third, factors responsible for the slow rate have accumulated but have not been linked with the remarkable longevity I have shown must exist, beginning with the evidence the pogonophorans present (Posted on October 24, 2015) discussed in the post of Jun 9, 2014 and illustrated in the post of June 13, 2014.
Fourth, a number of research
reports have demonstrated the slowing of metabolic rates with depth in the
ocean. Some references are given in the
post of June 22, 2013. When data is
limited some have assumed the ages of organisms fell at the lower end of the
predicted range of error. Isopod egg features noted in other posts apply to understanding the cleavage change (protostome to deuterostome type via pogonophorans) due to reduced egg membrane constriction as a possible selective force.
Fifth, the pogonophorans show a
number of features intermediate between annelids and chordates noted in some of
the posts referenced above and in the post of October 24, 2015. Their importance is made clearer by their
critical role in life surviving extinction events as discussed in my post on
May 11, 2013.
The tree of life, revised
A simple correction for the tree of life is to leave the entire
protostome line intact (from the version before the Lophotrochozoa/Ecdysozoa
errors) and graft the deuterostome (or chordate) line on to the
Pogonophora/Polychaeta basal group of the Annelida. Echinoderms and
perhaps some lophophorates may have ancestry among other pogonophorans than
those leading to the chordate line.
*Brooks, William Keith. 1915. The Foundations of Biology. Columbia Univ. Press, New York. 339 pp.
He comments on - the unchanging nature of Lingula (page 219), and p. 217
“the diversity of the Lower Cambrian fauna and of its intimate relation to the
fauna on the bottom of the modern ocean”.
Joseph G. Engemann Kalamazoo, Michigan May 1, 2016
Monday, April 25, 2016
DARWIN'S GIFT TO SCIENCE AND RELIGION
THE BOOK BY FRANCISCO J. AYALA
DARWIN'S GIFT to Science and Religion was published in 2007 by John Henry Press in Washington, D.C. The 237 pages are easy reading. The shock to me was its content did a remarkable job of covering some of the main points I made in my unpublished Evolution Insights a few years later.The Scientific Method
I particularly liked his comment on page 186 about the scientific method, saying."The most interesting and fruitful scientific hypotheses are not simple generalizations. Instead scientific hypotheses are creations of the mind, imaginative suggestions as to what might be true."
His accompanying discussion is well worth reading if you want to be a scientist.
The Molecular Clock
He does a good job of discussing the conventional view without indicating his expertise and publications which place him among the national leaders. On page 135 at the end of the four pages on the topic, he says.
"As the length of time increases, periods of rapid and slow evolution in any lineage are likely to cancel one another out."
The faulty opinion of canceling out was included over half a century ago in the first major publication of the science of molecular clocks by Zuckerkandl and Pauling (1965). The opinion has plagued attempts to use molecular clocks in determining the higher level evolutionary relationships of organisms ever since. My post on May 31, 2013 was part of my attempt to alert professional biologists to the problem. Other posts on the deep sea and pogonophorans are important aides to understanding a solution to the problem.
About Ayala
His experience in biology and early exposure to more philosophical subjects make him well suited to write the book he did. His youthful picture on the dust-jacket of his book must have been taken in mid-life between his birth in 1934 and his book's 2007 publication. He is a credit to both science and religion. I am about six years older than he is and have far less to show for it professionally.
On page 3 in his introduction he says-
"Evolution, I learned in my theology classes, had provided theologians with the "missing link" in the explanation of evil in the world . . . . .". Maybe you will find his explanation more intelligible on the topic than my post of March 22, 2016.
I was unaware of his book before today (April 25, 2016) but the above was the outcome from a two-hour visit to the library, with perhaps less than an hour spent on the book. His book is of special interest if you are interested in the unnecessary conflict between science and religion.
Joseph G. Engemann Kalamazoo, Michigan April 25, 2016
Saturday, April 9, 2016
HISTORY REPEATING
DEJA VU
If you have a short attention span skip to the third paragraph for an essay demonstrating the maxim that "those who ignore history are bound to repeat it."
2/16/2009
With some helpful editing by Nancy I wrote the
following.
I KNOW NOTHING
Not
knowing all the answers tends to free one from some of the errors that creep
into the thinking of those in charge.
The animal behaviorist, Tinbergen, noted the ability of those new to a
field to find solutions to problems the well-versed do not find. Those well-trained are often stuck in a rut
of thinking that only leads to the things already discovered. The teacher is often exposed to new ideas by
students unencumbered by past thinking.
Listening to new ideas carefully will give the experienced a chance to
either help the novice grow and avoid an error, or, enable both to grow along
with the subject under discussion.
As
one who knows so little about so many things I have found it has the drawback
of finding anyone to take what I have to say seriously. The right answer is often in the middle of a controversy. Both sides have some truth on their
sides. Somewhere between the extreme
views is where the optimal solution is usually found. Solutions to our economic problems have been
victimized by allowing extreme positions to be alleged as proof the other
extreme is right. It happens every day
on talk shows of both sides.
Higher
taxes on the billionaire, made one by defrauding workers of their pensions
funds or stockholders from reasonable dividends, is neither undemocratic, robbing
the rich to pay the poor, socialistic, nor unfair. It is justice for the crook, and fair
repayment to the country which made their success possible, and owed to
surviving families of workers and soldiers who worked and died for their
country.
It is
unlikely that any proposal adopted for reviving the economy will be the best
possible proposal, but it may be the best practical proposal if it is instituted
in time. Tossing out the CEO’s and their
staffs that have been in charge would leave a chaotic void with its own
problems for us. Letting them do their
own thing without enforceable guidelines could mean more self-serving decisions
than proper oversight would allow.
The
current situation is worse than the usual recession and may require more
drastic action than usual for many reasons.
1. Extreme
amounts of capital have apparently been lost in leveraged positions by banks
and investment vehicles on nearly fictitious investments with borrowed money
involving many times the dollar value of the underlying assets. Clearly, oversight and transparency is
needed.
2. Enron’s
energy scam increasing natural gas prices was apparently repeated by part of the
financial community using control of oil futures so great profits could be made
by making oil four times more expensive than otherwise.
3. Jobs
disappear, interest rates drop for investors, interest rates increase for
debtors, and home prices drop along with retirement accounts.
4. It’s an
environment where no one wants to spend money or pay takes, even if one can.
All
told, it will take some fancy dancing on the part of our government to walk the
line between a growing depression and runaway inflation. In such an environment the policies will have
to change drastically then gradually, perhaps back and forth repeatedly in both
directions to dampen the swing to one least damaging to all concerned. Don’t worry if it rocks the boat a little; it
has been rocking for quite a while. If
the analogy holds, let’s pray and hope it can shift the balance before it tips
over from too extreme a position.
A
seven hundred billion dollar bailout amounts to over $2000 for every individual
in this country; or, $10,000,000 for each of the 70.000 wealthiest people in
the country; or, $100,000 each for the 7,000,000 poorest families in our
country. Which group would be most
effective in getting the money back into the economy? Yes, some balance would be better.
The
hated gas tax Ross Perot favored in his run for the presidency a few years ago
could have paid for maintenance of our highway system. It would have kept the automakers feet to the
fire and given us gas efficient cars.
National deficits and decline of our auto industry would have been
lessened. De-regulation of the banking
and investment industries in hindsight was an obviously bad move. Rather than subsidies for domestic
industries, a cautious, wisely constructed, federal system more generous than Medicare for physician reimbursements could benefit employees and make
companies more competitive exporters.
Workers
deserve a portable retirement program funded by employers and themselves on the
model of the TIAA-CREF program available to educators and some other non-profit
employees. It would reduce the incentive
for mergers and spin-offs used to raid pension funds by schemers among the
corporate and financial insiders.
Rather
than limiting profits, wages, and capital gains use sensible tax policy to
remove incentives for blatant rip-offs.
Make companies pay a 10% tax for all total compensation over $300,000
and 50% for all over one million and 90% for all over one billion. Do the same for sale prices of companies and
assets exceeding the rate of inflation: refund half at a rate of five percent
of the tax amount to be released each year stock values and employment do not
decline during the following ten years.
Such
policies would obviously benefit from careful and fair design. Even the extremely wealthy would benefit from
seeing their wealth maintained rather than declining by market disasters and
the inflation that will come to pay for our growing debt. Most multi-billionaires who lose half their
wealth are still multi-billionaires.
Most home owners who lose half their wealth are in bad financial shape,
even if they can keep their homes.
_______
If you skipped the first two paragraphs, read them now. The seven year old journal entry had only one change, a comma was moved to make a sentence make better sense and a typo was corrected. I also [on 10/23/17] substituited "increasing" for "producing" in describing Enron's scam.
Joseph G. Engemann Kalamazoo, Michigan April 9, 2016
Monday, March 28, 2016
CreatorGate III: Infinite Love
INFINITE LOVE
Infinite Love is among God's attributes that are beyond the comprehension of those who have not had God made known to them by His Son, Jesus Christ. As such, reference to it would be cause for a CreatorGate reaction in a scientific journal. From a human point of view, Infinite Love is demonstrated by the Crucifixion of Jesus on the cross and his Resurrection three days later, in the process providing expiation for our sins. The events were adequately documented in the Gospels, foretold by Old Testament prophets, and endorsed by numerous miraculous post-Resurrection events.
The amazing thing to me is that, contrary to the popular theological view, God did not require his Son to die as an infinite sacrifice to satisfy the penalty our sins require for offending an infinite God. God could very easily have said you are forgiven and it would be so. But for those unable to think their sins are forgiven without an infinite sacrifice, God the Father required Jesus Christ, be endowed with human form united with His co-divine being, God the Son, and make that sacrifice to ensure doubters could believe that they can attain heavenly rewards.
The mysterious Trinitarian view Christians have of One God having three divine persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, does not preclude the redemptive act of the Son from bringing salvation to those outside the christian persuasion; that seems to be reasonably established by the words and acts of Jesus as recorded in the four Gospels.
FINDING GOD
Finding God is not likely to happen unless you try. That was the, perhaps obscure, suggestion implicit in my post - http://evolutioninsights.blogspot.com/2014/05/finding-god.html - where looking at the wallpaper inspired me to understand how we program our internal search engine to find something. It apparently did not inspire others because only two page views are indicated for the almost two year old post.
The post - http://evolutioninsights.blogspot.com/2015/01/god-and-religious-traditions.html - has a final section about how God may look at us.
I think the post - http://evolutioninsights.blogspot.com/2013/06/god-and-people.html - also has a few views that might help us understand our relationship with God.
If you want to find or contemplate God you can even do it with your eyes closed. But there are many things in the world around us that can help.
1. Travel and experiencing the diversity and similarity of people of all parts of the world.
2. Natural wonders such as - the Grand Canyon, mountain ranges, Niagara Falls, waves lapping the sea-shore, the stars at night, many wonders of the biological world. Many small wonders are rewarding during a walk in the woods, a marsh, a garden, and your back yard.
3. The goodness of people - in dealing with adversity, serving others; infants, children, adults, seniors.
4. The tried and true- scripture reading, see below.
If you have never tried it and you have some quiet time in your day, try reading in the Bible for five minutes a day for a few weeks. Each time, either open the book at random and start reading whatever catches your eye; or pick a topic that is indexed and of interest to you; or flip through pages to find one. If each book has explanatory material at the beginning it is very helpful to read and know the status and nature of the particular book. Emphasize the New Testament in reading selections because the Old Testament has a frame of reference that is quite obscure to most of us in determining what is literal truth, illustrative story, historical account, prophecy, and use of views common to the time. The Old Testament can make one think God is vengeful, whereas the New Testament should help one know God is Love.
Joseph Engemann Kalamazoo, Michigan March 28, 2016
Infinite Love is among God's attributes that are beyond the comprehension of those who have not had God made known to them by His Son, Jesus Christ. As such, reference to it would be cause for a CreatorGate reaction in a scientific journal. From a human point of view, Infinite Love is demonstrated by the Crucifixion of Jesus on the cross and his Resurrection three days later, in the process providing expiation for our sins. The events were adequately documented in the Gospels, foretold by Old Testament prophets, and endorsed by numerous miraculous post-Resurrection events.
The amazing thing to me is that, contrary to the popular theological view, God did not require his Son to die as an infinite sacrifice to satisfy the penalty our sins require for offending an infinite God. God could very easily have said you are forgiven and it would be so. But for those unable to think their sins are forgiven without an infinite sacrifice, God the Father required Jesus Christ, be endowed with human form united with His co-divine being, God the Son, and make that sacrifice to ensure doubters could believe that they can attain heavenly rewards.
The mysterious Trinitarian view Christians have of One God having three divine persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, does not preclude the redemptive act of the Son from bringing salvation to those outside the christian persuasion; that seems to be reasonably established by the words and acts of Jesus as recorded in the four Gospels.
FINDING GOD
Finding God is not likely to happen unless you try. That was the, perhaps obscure, suggestion implicit in my post - http://evolutioninsights.blogspot.com/2014/05/finding-god.html - where looking at the wallpaper inspired me to understand how we program our internal search engine to find something. It apparently did not inspire others because only two page views are indicated for the almost two year old post.
The post - http://evolutioninsights.blogspot.com/2015/01/god-and-religious-traditions.html - has a final section about how God may look at us.
I think the post - http://evolutioninsights.blogspot.com/2013/06/god-and-people.html - also has a few views that might help us understand our relationship with God.
If you want to find or contemplate God you can even do it with your eyes closed. But there are many things in the world around us that can help.
1. Travel and experiencing the diversity and similarity of people of all parts of the world.
2. Natural wonders such as - the Grand Canyon, mountain ranges, Niagara Falls, waves lapping the sea-shore, the stars at night, many wonders of the biological world. Many small wonders are rewarding during a walk in the woods, a marsh, a garden, and your back yard.
3. The goodness of people - in dealing with adversity, serving others; infants, children, adults, seniors.
4. The tried and true- scripture reading, see below.
If you have never tried it and you have some quiet time in your day, try reading in the Bible for five minutes a day for a few weeks. Each time, either open the book at random and start reading whatever catches your eye; or pick a topic that is indexed and of interest to you; or flip through pages to find one. If each book has explanatory material at the beginning it is very helpful to read and know the status and nature of the particular book. Emphasize the New Testament in reading selections because the Old Testament has a frame of reference that is quite obscure to most of us in determining what is literal truth, illustrative story, historical account, prophecy, and use of views common to the time. The Old Testament can make one think God is vengeful, whereas the New Testament should help one know God is Love.
Joseph Engemann Kalamazoo, Michigan March 28, 2016
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
CreatorGate II: Spiritual Beings
GOD
God is the pre-existing power, the Creator of the material world, pure existence as the "I AM" identity he revealed in the Old Testament, a being of infinite dimensions unconstrained by space or time, the First Cause uncaused, as identified by the Greek philosopher, Aristotle. God is so intimidating to non-believers they are compelled to edit the Creator out of scientific publications. Believers are happy to know God is the ultimate cause for all the good in the world, from the universe to the smallest sub-atomic particle.
Created spiritual beings
Angels and/or other spiritual beings created by God are beyond the reach of science. Scripture identifies several individual angels and ranks of angels with numbers presumably very numerous. To my knowledge, there is no effort or reason to bring them into the scientific literature so they are unlikely to contribute to CreatorGate.
Puzzling thoughts of the material and spiritual world
I have a difficult time understanding the existence of magnetism, gravity, and the forces operating in atoms and on their particles. I concluded gravity might be a result of dark matter particles impinging on atoms. The mass of a planet would intercept many of the particles while those coming from space beyond the atom would push it toward the planet. Alternatively, each particle could have its own angel directing its cosmic dance. I recommend not putting anything from this paragraph into your memory banks.
Joe Engemann Kalamazoo, Michigan March 23, 2016
God is the pre-existing power, the Creator of the material world, pure existence as the "I AM" identity he revealed in the Old Testament, a being of infinite dimensions unconstrained by space or time, the First Cause uncaused, as identified by the Greek philosopher, Aristotle. God is so intimidating to non-believers they are compelled to edit the Creator out of scientific publications. Believers are happy to know God is the ultimate cause for all the good in the world, from the universe to the smallest sub-atomic particle.
Created spiritual beings
Angels and/or other spiritual beings created by God are beyond the reach of science. Scripture identifies several individual angels and ranks of angels with numbers presumably very numerous. To my knowledge, there is no effort or reason to bring them into the scientific literature so they are unlikely to contribute to CreatorGate.
Puzzling thoughts of the material and spiritual world
I have a difficult time understanding the existence of magnetism, gravity, and the forces operating in atoms and on their particles. I concluded gravity might be a result of dark matter particles impinging on atoms. The mass of a planet would intercept many of the particles while those coming from space beyond the atom would push it toward the planet. Alternatively, each particle could have its own angel directing its cosmic dance. I recommend not putting anything from this paragraph into your memory banks.
Joe Engemann Kalamazoo, Michigan March 23, 2016
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