The Alternative to Creation and Evolution

2010-12-05T21:22:00.000-08:00

From a Space News 30 November 2010 blog post by Linda Billings, we read that space scientists are regularly asked about the origins of the Universe:

"Space scientists want to improve and expand their communications with public audiences about the work that they do, conveying its value and excitement. But in order to do so, they need to better understand their various audiences, get over their fear of new media, and dive into the world of Facebook, Twitter and the blogosphere. A partnership between communication experts and space scientists is the logical path toward fulfilling these goals.

"These themes, among others, emerged out of three days of dialogue engendered by the Space Studies Board of the National Research Council on how to improve and expand communications about the U.S. space program (SSB Workshop, “Sharing the Adventure with the Public: The Value and Excitement of ‘Grand Questions’ of Space Science and Exploration,” Nov. 8-10, Irvine, Calif.).

"The aim of the workshop was to explore key questions driving U.S. space research and exploration and identify effective ways for communicating with public audiences about progress toward answering these questions. Participants were a mix of SSB members and other leading space scientists plus professional communicators ranging from journalists to scholars of communication. Discussion revolved around these questions: How did the Universe begin, and how is it evolving? Are we alone? How did our Solar System begin, and how is it evolving...."

*****
Our desire to know our origins is inextricably linked to our future. As our instruments and detection limits improve, we will know more about our past. Even our most advanced technology is a quest for origins, a quest for home.

*****
The latest look at the IOS CM-1:

2010-09-18T16:08:00.000-07:00

From Stephen Hawking: “In The Grand Design we explain why, according to quantum theory, the cosmos does not have just a single existence, or history, but rather that every possible history of the universe exists simultaneously.”

“We question the conventional concept of reality, posing instead a “model-dependent” theory of reality. We discuss how the laws of our particular universe are extraordinarily finely tuned so as to allow for our existence, and show why quantum theory predicts the multiverse–the idea that ours is just one of many universes that appeared spontaneously out of nothing, each with different laws of nature.”

Hawking's "model-dependent" theory of reality and a multiverse in which many universes appear is fascinating. Life as interpretation and point of view is the basis of certain ancient spiritual teachings. Buddhism, Zen, and Hinduism work to get people to see the subjective nature of their sense of reality. Over against personal, subjective reality is the greater Mystery that is to be approached with reverence and a heart open to questioning everything in order to approach Truth.

*****

The Origin of the Universe and the Masonic Pyramid describes the formal model of Disunification. The "Disunification of Infinity" is a model that seeks to explain the appearance of multiverses. The concept of a Multiverse, or of Multiverses, is found in Hinduism and quantum mechanics alike. What is for certain is this: Some event, or series of events, occurred in which our Universe began.

As traditional "SpiritMatter" religions continue to breakdown for various reasons, the field of Cosmology will increasingly become the new game. Consciousness had an origin. Whatever Consciousness is altogether, we as humans are self-aware and are expanding and unfolding far beyond the confines of SpiritMatter Religions. However, Atheism alone will not take us into the future anymore than will Religion. Humans are mythical. Our mythical potency is emerging in new forms. Steven Hawking has articulated a multiverse that allows for all probabilities. Therefore, the existence of Divinities, of Gods, Goddesses, and the entire pantheon must be allowed as a function of Multiverse cosmology. Likewise, Atheism is perfectly valid in Multiverse cosmology.

Disunification Cosmology simply states that Infinity disunified into all forms, processes, and beings. That is what a Multiverse would be after all: A self-unfolding part of Infinity that needs no Creator God.

*****
World Consciousness is shifting away from traditional religious models. The possible futures of Human Consciousness was first tested in science fiction and then in shows such as Star Trek and movies like Star Wars and ET. What emerges as the leitmotif in many of these works is that there is a mysterious dimension to Consciousness that was Gnostic in nature. Star Wars described the "Dark Side" and "The Force" as the manifestations of Good and Evil within a technological World. It is interesting to see Stephen Hawking making an ultimate statement that is evocative of ancient Hindu cosmology. This has been the general trend in popular cosmologies written by physicists since the 1970's.

There is a definite shift in World Consciousness and Energy taking place as the old forms break down. I think that Infinity itself is communicating to us at a new level and will continue to expand its communication. Consciousness is always expanding and unfolding in its evolution. Humanity is on the cusp of a New World. New Realities are needed for the New World.

2010-06-25T19:23:00.000-07:00

The new 2010 Queen of Heaven edition is now available! I recommend purchasing the PDF download to see the full color manuscript and the active links that are unavailable in the B&W paperback. The PDF download is only $24.95. The paperback is $34.95 due to the costs of online printing. Order at: http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-origin-of-the-universe-and-the-masonic-pyramid/11487725

2009-08-10T09:40:00.000-07:00

From Universe Today:

"Want to launch something into space? You can now do just that for only $8,000 USD. The rocket company Interorbital Services (IOS) is offering their "TubeSat Personal Satellite Kit" that can carry 0.75-kg into orbit. The price includes a launch into low Earth orbit on an IOS NEPTUNE 30 launch vehicle to 310 kilometers (192 miles) above the Earth. TubeSats are designed to be orbit-friendly, and not contribute to orbital debris by being in a self-decaying orbit. Launches are expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2010..."

Interorbital says a TubeSat is designed to function as a basic satellite bus or as a simple stand-alone satellite. Each TubeSat kit includes the satellite’s structural components, safety hardware, solar panels, batteries, power management hardware and software, transceiver, antennas, microcomputer, and the required programming tools. With these components alone, the builder can construct a satellite that puts out enough power to be picked up on the ground by a hand-held HAM radio receiver. Simple applications include broadcasting a repeating message from orbit or programming the satellite to function as a private orbital HAM radio relay station. These are just two examples. The TubeSat also allows the builder to add his or her own experiment or function to the basic TubeSat kit..."

2008-06-08T09:27:00.000-07:00

Space Travel for all Free Peoples

As a writer and symbologist -- and as a person who has worked in high tech for my entire adult life -- one of my primary commitments is to help sponsor and promote the construction and launch of the world's first privately funded space vehicle that is capable of true orbital space flight. Interorbital Systems of Mojave, California is presently finishing construction on the Sea Star TSAAHTO space demonstrator as seen above. (Image used with permission © Interorbital Systems, Inc. 2007)

I became the first official sponsor of Interorbital System's Sea Star because I believe in the mission of the company to open up space travel to the common person. Except for Interorbital's Sea Star, the big governments of the world own the rest of the orbital rocket ships and spacecraft. Of course, there are a few private companies that can get small rockets just to the edge of space in suborbital flights and then glide back down to Earth, perhaps like a shuttlecock. But these glider rides are simply an expensive amusement that promise only a few minutes of weightlessness at best. These up-and-down hops are not true orbital space flights, i.e., capable of going into low Earth orbit, to the Moon, and beyond. Interorbital Systems sees suborbital space flight as a dead end. IOS’ mission is strictly orbital and interplanetary in nature. I find this far more compelling than any glider ride could ever be. I am proud to be able to display TechnoMysticism's majestic signature symbol, the regal Purple King onboard the Sea Star TSAAHTO space demonstrator vehicle:

Rod and Randa Milliron, the owners of Interorbital Systems, are space pioneers who want to make privately-funded space travel a reality for humanity. Rod and Randa are personal friends and I have deep and abiding respect for their work and integrity. I share this respect with so many other people who are committed to the IOS vision in various ways. I am also more than a sponsor, for I am a project volunteer. As a 20+ year technical lighting professional, I am designing the lighting system for the Neptune manned capsule.

At this writing, the German philanthropic group VisionOne is raising funds to help make the Sea Star Microsatellite Launch Program happen. The Sea Star launch is phase one of a Lunar photographic mission. The purpose of the Lunar mission is to investigate anomalies in the NASA Clementine Lunar Mission photographs.

If you would like to purchase advertising on Interorbital's vehicle go here:

http://technomysticism.com/sea_star.htm

In the same way that Interorbital Systems wants to open up space to all people, TechnoMysticism seeks to open up the Higher Evolutionary Realities latent in the human psyche to people. That which is Ultimate can be accessed, it does not not belong to religion any more than space belongs to the governments of the world. IOS is working to make space travel a reality for anyone. I certainly look forward to reaching the Moon in my own lifetime aboard an IOS space vehicle.

______

The IOS rocket ship -- and its larger planned series of manned space vehicles, is a necessary next step the Technological evolution of Humanity. The future space vehicles planned by Interorbital Systems embody massive implications for Human Consciousness in that they will allow private citizens to travel into space. Because space travel is one of the ultimate Mystical Experiences, I consider that the mission of Interorbital Systems is TechnoMystic in nature. On this basis, I am creating a Special Edition of my new book to help fund the work of Interorbital Systems. Here is the front and back cover of the IOS Special Edition. This edition will be available in late 2008:

SEA STAR ROCKET-ADS!

Go all the way with REAL out-of-this-world product placement

SEA STAR ROCKET-ADS Deliver Unique Ad Placement Opportunities for ALL budgets. Own one square-inch, or wrap the whole rocket!

Interorbital Systems’ rocket-based advertising platform, SEA STAR ROCKET-ADS, features images of your product, your company, your family, or YOU on the way to Earth Orbit.

ROCKET-ADS:

¨ Rule the ad-world from the coolest new location for product placement: Riding a Rocket to SPACE!

¨ Go far above and beyond traditional high-end sites for exposure

ROCKET-ADS are the Vegas Strip, the Super Bowl, the New York Times, the Kentucky Derby, and the Indy 500 rolled into one

¨ Provide the ultimate location for product placement

What Does Rocket Advertising Say About the Companies That Use It?

It Says:

¨ Your company will go the extra mile for your customers

¨ Your product dominates or will dominate world markets

¨ Your company thinks big and stops at nothing to be Number 1!

¨ You LOVE Rockets and You LOVE Space!

What Kind of Coverage Do SEA STAR ROCKET-ADS Provide?

¨ Global reach through full-spectrum media coverage of launch events

¨ Real-time 24/7 image streaming to the internet of pre-launch activities, launch, and continuous availability of post-launch archive footage---all with sponsors’ logos prominently featured on website, launch equipment, jumpsuits, and of course, the Rocket!

¨ Sponsors’ individual images featured on interactive website at www.visionone.tv and www.interorbital.com: go to your piece of Rocket Real Estate and view the piece of the action that YOU own!

¨ The whole world will be watching!

How IOS Does IT:

¨ Interorbital Systems launches the SEA STAR Microsatellite Launch Vehicle from the Pacific Ocean

¨ The world press covers all launch activities conducted by Interorbital Systems---the new entrant in the world’s commercial spacelaunch industry. SEA STAR was developed totally with private sector funding; it is a purely commercial venture that is competing to be the first of its class to launch a satellite without government funding---and to pass the savings on to its satellite launch customers!

Early sign-up bonuses!

¨ Exclusive advance-purchase rate offers now available

¨ Be the first on the planet to advertise off-world with SEA STAR ROCKET-ADS!

2007-12-10T13:11:00.000-08:00

My latest book is entitled, TechnoMysticism: A New Reality for a New World. You can see the new website at TechnoMysticism.com. TechnoMysticism is the fusion of human technology and mysticism into a powerful new approach to life. TechnoMysticism transcends religion as I discuss in my new book and will begin to discuss in a new blog that will replace this blog.

2007-03-14T21:01:00.000-07:00

Updates:

1. The Origin of the Universe and the Masonic Pyramid has been revised to include fifteen new symbols to expand my symbolic conception of The Disunification of Energy and Awareness (DX). The DX is the cosmological alternative I offer to Biblical Creationism and a materialistic Big Bang. I use words and symbols to describe the event because words alone are not adequate.

An image, a picture, a visual referent can be far more powerful than words because we see before we think. Zen is the art of looking. To look without adding mind is the essence of being in the present moment. A symbol is Zen-like in that it must be viewed and cannot be read. A symbol may communicate its true essence if a viewer looks at it without adding mind. Alternately, the viewer needs a teacher to decipher the symbol. I intuited the true essence of the Masonic Pyramid and have communicated it in The Origin of the Universe and the Masonic Pyramid by the use of symbols and words.

My book is complex. However, it is also rewarding. If you like an intellectual and spiritual challenge, you will like my book.

2. masonicpyramid.com is my latest domain acquisition. It is a mirror of jeffreyaugustine.com

3. My earlier book Pyschic Architecture is being retooled. If you want a copy, I can make it available on lulu.com.

2006-06-06T06:35:00.000-07:00

The debate between Creation and Evolution is like the trench warfare of WWI. Both sides are dug in for the duration, they gain a few feet only to give up their gains, and neither side will ever see any other possibility except that they are right and everyone else is wrong. I created a cartoon for this:

2006-06-05T21:39:00.000-07:00

2006-05-26T12:31:00.000-07:00

The following are the opening paragraphs of The Origin of the Universe and the Masonic Pyramid and are copyrighted 2005 by Jeffrey Augustine.

From it’s beginning, the Universe has been turning simple things into complex things. The human body, for example, is a highly complex structure made largely from water. To water is added carbon, calcium, and small amounts of other trace elements. All of these simple things summate to DNA, that wondrously complex encasement of genetic information. The DNA in a single human cell can be stretched out to a distance of about 6.5 feet. An entire human body contains about fifteen billion miles of DNA in its one hundred trillion cells, making it a data rich platform that has allowed humans to become the dominant species on earth.

Just as the Universe has turned water and trace elements into human beings, human have also changed simple materials into complex structures such as computer chips. Computer chips are made from an extremely pure form of the element silicon. Computer semiconductors begin life as silicon wafers that are grown on "seeds" in clean rooms. Wafers are grown under highly controlled conditions in order to achieve precise crystalline structures and avoid any contaminants. Part of the technique of making wafers into semiconductors requires introducing impurities into the wafers by a process called "doping." Because chips can turn electricity into intelligent sequences of 0’s and l’s, they have made possible the world of digital computing and digital communications.

Humans have created complex digital computers and the internet based upon simple silicon and electricity in the same way that the Universe synthesized humans from water, calcium, and other basic elements. Humans are one of the myriads of complex patterns that arise from the Universe. And because we also refine raw materials into complex forms, we ourselves follow the pattern of the Universe. One of humanity’s apparent purposes is to extend and improve the universal pattern of changing simplicity into complexity. Yet how can this be? How can such an extraordinarily complex physical structure as the human body with its magnificent brain be made mostly of simple things such as water, carbon, and calcium? And how can computers be made from silicon, and element that is, for all intents and purposes, is nothing more than sand? How does simplicity synthesize or transform itself into complexity? To ask that question is to ask how our Universe began, and that is the main question of my book.

ref: http://www.jeffreyaugustine.com

2005-09-11T20:00:00.000-07:00

The new book "The Origin of the Universe and the Masonic Pyramid" offers Jeffrey Augustine's cosmological alternative to the models of Creation and the Big Bang. The book can be purchased as a PDF e-book or as a paperback at: http://www.lulu.com/content/161183
Posted by Picasa

2005-08-31T05:55:00.000-07:00

This image I created is called "Bubble Universes" and is meant to convey the sense that bubble universes are finite whereas the Infinity in which they stand is Infinite. Thus, all sub-infinite universes arise from Infinity and collapse back into Infinity. There is a reason why Infinity causes subinfinite universes to arise and I explain that in my book. There are implications to the Unity of Infinity disunifying some part of itself into a subinfinite and elemental quanta of a bubble universe and we are one of those implications.
Posted by Picasa

2005-08-31T05:34:00.000-07:00

Many readers ask me if I have a short description of my cosmology I present in
Psychic Architecture -- ref: http://www.jeffreyaugustine.com

In my experience, the "paradox of cosmologies" is that the bad ones are short and easy to grasp while the goods ones are complex and difficult to understand. Genesis 1:1 is easy to get your mind around whereas the Big Bang with, say, String Theory, is not so easy. Genesis 1:1, or the simple atheistic-Darwinist-survival cosmology, can can and do express themselves as simplistic, and even violent ideological fundamentalisms whereas the more complex and refined cosmologies demand far more enlightened and benevolent human behavior. But they take more work to understand and I have that kind of challenge presenting my work.

Here is one attempt I have made to summarize my cosmology:

Divine Creation or the Big Bang? How about neither? Psychic Architecture proposes a cosmological alternative termed, "The Disunification of Energy and Awareness" or DX. The DX is based on a paradox: If God is Infinite then God is always already all that is. Therefore, creation is not possible within Infinity. In order to create, then, God disunifies some part of Infinity into "sub-Infinite and multi-dimensional bubble universes" that are based on probabilities. In his book, Augustine shows that the DX is expressed in both the Periodic Table of the Elements and also a "Table of Disunified Awareness" which he offers as polytheistic, archetypal equivalent of the Periodic Table. The major implication of the DX is that our Universe is polytheistic in nature and that all religions are possible. Augustine argues that the lifetime of our Universe is called an eternity, which he distinguishes from Infinity. This new book is at the cutting edge of Technomysticism.

This description is found at my webpage at Lulu.com where my book can be purchased as a paperback or a PDF download: http://www.lulu.com/jeffreyaugustine/

In future posts I will expand upon the alternative I call "The Disunification of Energy and Awareness."

2005-08-27T17:51:00.001-07:00

Why the Fight over the Origins of our Universe is so Critical

The Young Earth Creation Club -- http://www.creationists.org/ -- is a Christian group devoted to the proposition that the Genesis account is literally true: God created the Universe in six twenty-four days and rested on the seventh and that the earth is, “only about 6,000 years old.”

This group gives many so-called scientific reasons as well as scriptural reasons on its site for a young earth. For example, its FAQ page states that the earth cannot be billions of old because there is not enough mud on the sea floor based upon what science knows about erosion from the continents. According to this group’s calculations, the present depth of mud on the sea floor could collect in twelve million years or less. Alternately, they state that the preferred creation science interpretation is that most of the mud now deposited the sea floor was placed there only some 5,000 years ago during the Flood.

The Young Earth Creation Club and The Institute for Creation Research, and other groups like them, use pseudoscience to attack evolution. These groups believe that evolution is Satan’s way of deceiving humans into rejecting the truth of the Bible and its revelation to mankind. It never occurs to these religionists the evolution is scientifically and intellectually more reasonable than a six day Creation and a 6,000 year old Earth. Personally, I dislike both points of view and that is why I offer an alternative to both Creation and Evolution in my book, Psychic Architecture -- http://www.jeffreyaugustine.com

The Young Earth Creation Club, The Institute for Creation Research and other groups like them, use pseudscience and IDT to attack evolution as being Satan’s way of deceiving the masses into rejecting the truth of the Bible and its revelation to mankind. Their goal is to establish Christianity as the dominant ideology in American politics, education, and law. For Evangelical Christendom, which sometimes behaves like the Taliban, evolution is merely one front that needs to be destroyed so that Jesus Christ can set upon the throne in a Christian Kingdom called America. Make no mistake about it: The goal of Christians in America is to turn America into a Christian Dictatorship in which there is no justice for non-Christians.

That is why the battle to define the origions of the Universe is so critical. Christians believe that if they can "prove" that their God created the Universe as the Bible says, then they have the absolute right to rule over the Earth, its environment and all who dwell therein. One can see that American Christians have two tasks: 1) To destroy evolution, and 2) To establish the Bible as the absolute truth upon which all human law and reality will be constructed.

In an internet article entitled. “Christian Views of Science and Earth History,” Rich Milne and Ray Bohlin of Probe Ministries -- http://www.probe.org/ -- begin with an innocuous opening and the immediately move like sharks to their real agenda:

“How old is the earth? Did men live with dinosaurs? Are dinosaurs in the Bible? Where do cave men fit in the Bible? Did the flood cover the whole earth? How many animals were on Noah's Ark? What does the word day in Genesis chapter one mean?

“These are all common and difficult questions your children may have asked, or maybe they are questions you have. What may surprise you is that evangelical Christians respond with numerous answers to each question. In reality, answers to the preceding questions largely depend on the answer to the first one. How old is the earth?

“The diversity of opinion regarding this question inevitably leads to controversy, controversy that is often heated and remarkably lacking in grace and understanding. For those Christians who are practicing scientists, there is much at stake. Not only is one's view of Scripture on the firing line, but one's respect and job security in the scientific community is also at risk.

“But we must say up front, that as important as this question is, it is of secondary importance to the quest of defeating Darwinism as currently presented to the culture. Educational leaders and evolutionary scientists are determined to present a fully naturalistic evolution as the only reasonable and scientific theory that can be discussed in the public education system. All Christians, whether old earth or young earth, should find common cause in dethroning philosophical naturalism as the reigning paradigm of education and science. “

Milne and Bohlin’s comments cut to the heart of the matter: Christianity must destroy any view of science that does not place the God of the Bible upon the Throne of the Universe in general and America in particular. Their mission to destroy “philosophical naturalism” is doublespeak for “non-Christian science.” That Milne and Bohlin would place more importance on the triumph of their religion than on science for the sake of science betrays their belief that all ideas contrary to Christianity are of satanic origin. As the Apostle Paul said:

“For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against persons without bodies – the evil rulers of the unseen world, those mighty satanic beings and great evil princes of darkness who rule this world; and against huge numbers of wicked spirits in the spirit world.” (Ephesians 6:12. The Living Bible)

Christianity believes that the theory of evolution is a lie designed by Satan and that they must destroy it and all other non-Christian ideas that do not glorify their God. How do they propose to fight these ideas that come from the unseen world of the Devil?The Apostle Paul said of the Christian’s combat against evil ideas:

“We are human, but we don't wage war with human plans and methods. We use God's mighty weapons, not mere worldly weapons, to knock down the Devil's strongholds. ⁵With these weapons we break down every proud argument that keeps people from knowing God. With these weapons we conquer their rebellious ideas, and we teach them to obey Christ.” (II Corinthians 10:3-5, The New Living Translation)

The idea that God did not create the Universe threatens the very existence of religion. Christians believe they cannot be fully human unless the Bible and Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection for their sins are absolutely true and acknowledged as such by all of humanity. Yet even if Christians fully suppressed evolution, they would still have to destroy Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Scientology, Freemasonry, and every other religion that threatened the triumph of Christianity.

The fight over the origins is so crucial because religion has tied it to morality, political power, and the meaning and definition of human rights. Christians in America think that they will somehow prevail -- if not by logic then by the force of law and arms -- in persuading people that their God creared our Universe and that we all are therefore obligated to obey Christian morality. This is ultimately what the debate between Creation and Evolution is really about.

The debate is not about Truth. It is all rather about American Christians possessing political, religious, economic, and military power right here on Earth. Screw Heaven: American Christians want to control the planet for their own benefit and this has played right into the hands of the GOP as I will explain in my next essay.

2005-08-27T17:51:00.000-07:00

Lightning Eye, Copyright 2005, Jeffrey Augustine
Posted by Picasa

2005-08-27T16:37:00.000-07:00

Why Creation Science transformed itself into Intelligent Design Theory - Part I

Dr. Henry Morris founded the Institute for Creation Research (ICR) in San Diego in 1972. Morris, who earned a Ph.D. in hydraulic engineering, is considered to be the father of Creation Science, having been active in the religious groups devoted to supporting the claims of the Bible scientifically since the 1940’s.

ICR has an active website (http://www.icr.org) wherein it makes the claim that there are today “thousands of scientists” who believe in a literal six day creation. ICR claims that these people are hard at work fighting what they consider to be the "religion" of evolution and defending the "truth" of creation. These purported "thousands of scientists" hold the premise that the study of Divine Creation constitutes an actual science, hence Creation Science.

What ICR does not define is the word “scientist.” We do not know if ICR means that these “thousands of scientists” all have earned Ph.D.’s and are working professionally in academia, government laboratories, and the private sector. We are also not told whether or not these thousands of scientists have earned Ph.D.’s in fields that are relevant to attacking the theory of evolution. ICR’s website provides some biographies of people who have earned degrees and professional work experience in relevant scientific fields, but these resumes shown number less than fifty. Statistically speaking, fifty scientists is a far cry from “thousands of scientists.” This vast number of Undocumented Creation Scientists is never explained to us.

In one of his books, Dr. Henry Morris revealed the crucial Christian objection to evolution when he claimed that it was Satan himself who revealed the evolutionary theory to Nimrod at the Tower of Babel. Here we join Dr. Morris as he explains that"

"Its top [the Tower of Babel] was a great temple shrine, emblazoned with zodiacal signs representing the hosts of heaven, Satan and his 'principalities and powers, rulers of the darkness of the world' (Ephesians 6:12). These evil spirits there perhaps met with Nimrod and his priests, to plan their long-range strategy against God and his redemptive purposes for the post-diluvian world. This included especially the development of a non-theistic cosmology, one which could explain the origin and meaning of the universe and man without acknowledging the true God of creation. Denial of God's power and sovereignty in creation is of course foundational in the rejection of His authority in every other sphere. . . . If something like this really happened, early in post-diluvian history, then Satan himself is the originator of the concept of evolution.

"One question remains. Assuming Satan to be the real source of the evolutionary concept, how did it originate in his mind? . . . A possible answer to this mystery could be that Satan, the father of
lies, has not only deceived the whole world and the angelic hosts who followed him--he has even
deceived himself! The only way he could really know about creation (just as the only way we can know about creation) was for God to tell him! . . . . He refused to believe and accept the Word of God concerning his own creation and place in God's economy . . . He therefore deceived himself into supposing that all things, including himself and including God, had been evolved by natural processes out of the primordial stuff of the universe. . . ." (Morris, Troubled Waters of Evolution, 1974, pp 74-75).

This quote represents psuedoscience at its worst, for we know that speculations about what Satan may have "perhaps" done at the Tower of Babel have no place in science whatsoever.

Creation Science has come a long way since Dr. Henry Morris. Essentially, it has recast itself as Intelligent Design Theory (IDT) and has attacked the philosophical foundations of modern science. Christians who knew the scientific method and had been trained in science realized that they needed to distance themselves from the absurdities of Creation Science. We will examine Creation Science and IDT further in Part II.

2005-08-27T16:36:00.000-07:00

2005-08-27T13:31:00.000-07:00

THE SCOPES TRIAL -- Part I

In the early1920’s, Christians in Tennessee were so absolutely convinced of the truth of biblical creation that they fought to outlaw the teaching of the theory of evolution in public schools. These Christians considered evolution to be an outright lie of the Devil.

Led by John Butler, an ardent Baptist and Tennessee legislator, Tennessee's Christians were successful in passing the first law in America that banned teaching evolution in the classroom. The "Butler Law" made the classrooms of Tennessee safe from what William Jennings Bryan had derided as ape-ism. Bryan, who would later defend the Butler law during the Scopes Trial also famously said:

"I am more interested in the Rock of Ages than in the age of rocks."

Most Christians believed then, as they still do now, that evolution is an insulting attack by atheistic science upon God and the Bible. This was why the Baptists in Tennessee had worked so diligently to ensure that the teaching of evolution was outlawed, just as European Catholics had outlawed the ideas of Galileo and Copernicus five hundred years earlier.

The law, which was to provoke a trial that remains famous and controversial to this present day, was simple and straightforward:

PUBLIC ACTS OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE PASSED BY THE

SIXTY - FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1925

CHAPTER NO. 27

House Bill No. 185

(By Mr. Butler)

AN ACT prohibiting the teaching of the Evolution Theory in all the Universities, Normals and all other public schools of Tennessee, which are supported in whole or in part by the public school funds of the State, and to provide penalties for the violations thereof.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, That it shall be unlawful for any teacher in any of the Universities, Normals and all other public schools of the State which are supported in whole or in part by the public school funds of the State, to teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals.

Section 2. Be it further enacted, That any teacher found guilty of the violation of this Act,
Shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction, shall be fined not less than One Hundred $ (100.00) Dollars nor more than Five Hundred ($ 500.00) Dollars for each offense.

Section 3. Be it further enacted, That this Act take effect from and after its passage, the public welfare requiring it.

Passed March 13, 1925

W. F. Barry,

Speaker of the House of Representatives L. D. Hill,

Speaker of the Senate Approved March 21, 1925.

Austin Peay, Governor.

There were many who were convinced that the Butler Law was unjust on many counts. Indeed, the law used tax dollars and the public schools to support the biblical account of creation while explicitly forbidding the teaching of a legitimate, and competing, scientific theory. The stage was set for a showdown in Tennesse.

The ACLU of New York set about to challenge the Butler Law. The challenge, which would turn into one of the most famous trials in US history, began when the ACLU persuaded John T. Scopes, a twenty-four year old biology teacher, to break the law by teaching evolution in his humble classroom in Dayton, Tennessee.

Following Scopes’ scandalous deed of teaching evolution in his Tennessee classroom an ACLU surrogate swore out a complaint against Scopes, thus resulting in his arrest and the setting of a court date. The fires of religion and science quickly fanned the trial into a symbolic firestorm in which Science and God were fighting it out in an American courtroom. The media named the legal proceeding The Scopes Monkey Trial to denote the name of the defendant and the subject matter of the litigation. While addressing the legality of the Butler Law, both prosecution and defense were also seeking to try the controversy underlying the law itself: Was man descended from monkeys, really the higher apes, as Charles Darwin had taught, or was man created in God’s image as the Bible taught?

The Scopes Monkey Trial pitted evolutionists, or "Darwinists" so named after Charles Darwin, the "father of evolution," against the "Creationists" who absolutely believed the story of creation as related in the Book of Genesis. Experts from both sides came together to do battle in the courtroom over the question of what teachers would be allowed to teach schoolchildren about how humanity, and by implication the Universe, had begun.

The trial was of such national interest that WGN in Chicago did a live radio broadcast from the courthouse. All of the major newspapers in America had reporters live on the scene to watch the trial by day and then in phone in their stories in the late afternoon so that a waking America could eagerly read the details the following morning as they drank coffee. The famous humorist H.L. Menken, the Mark Twain of his day, also offered his acerbic commentary on the trial through the Baltimore Sun.

Scopes’ ACLU legal team, headed by the brilliant defense attorney Clarence Darrow, waged a pitched intellectual battle against the prosecution and its esteemed leader, William Jennings Bryan. Darrow was considered a legal renegade by many for his having defended murderers, communists, and the worst sort of scum in America. The Scopes trial was the only case Darrow ever worked pro bono. He did so because he said he very much wanted to be a part of this historic and controversial affair.While Darrow’s brilliant endgame in the Scopes Trial was to become legendary, his initial strategy to place scientists and other expert witnesses on the stand to testify that evolution was scientifically valid would crash and burn before a hostile Christian judge.William Jennings Bryan was a remarkable orator who had national name recognition as he had thrice run for the president. While had lost all three times, his stature was nonetheless undiminished in the minds of his supporters, to whom he was known as known as "The Great Commoner. " Following his service as Secretary of State to Woodrow Wilson, Bryan had become a traveling evangelist who held revival meetings in large tents, churches, and auditoriums throughout America.

Bryan’s plan was to challenge Darrow at every step so that the defense could not bring its expert witnesses to the stand. Bryan, a veteran politician, knew the power of controlling the debate and was not about to allow Darrow to use the courtroom as a national forum whereby he could gain immense free publicity for the lies of evolution. The Scopes Trial embodied the anger of every Christian who objected to being told by science that they were descended from brutish, slovenly apes. Unfortunately, the evolutionists of that era were unable to produce televangelists as evidence of their thesis.

The Scopes Trial reflected the anger of every person who did not want religion dictating science curriculum in public schools. Judge John Raulston, who carried his Bible with him into the courtroom and opened every day of the trail with prayer, made it tough for Darrow and the ACLU by accepting Bryan’s objection that Darrow’s "experts" would only be offering only speculation about the past and not fact.

Judge Raulston demanded to hear the Darrow’s experts with the jury absent so that he could rule on whether or not their testimony would be admissible. The prominent zoologist Dr. Maynard Metcalf of Johns Hopkins, took the stand and sketched the theory of evolution. Metcalf cited the discoveries of the anthropologists, geologists, and zoologists as he traced the origins of the human race from primates onward. Darrow and Metcalf, however, might as well as have been arguing before a church, for the courtr was run by a biased judge who deemed Christianity to be valid as legal evidence when in fact religion can only, and ultimately, be founded upon faith.

Attorney General Stewart damned Darrow with faint praise by saying that Darrow, with his great mind, could have done great things in the service of God, but that he had instead, "strayed so far from the natural goal." The "natural goal” was of course to be a Christian. Stewart then castigated Darrow by concluding that Darrow’s legal work on behalf of evolution was tantamount to evil in that Darrow was now defending, "that which strikes its fangs at the very bosom of Christianity.” A chorus of "amens" and raised Bibles in the courtroom followed Stewart’s remarks as if he had been preaching rather than prosecuting.

While preaching of one kind or another is not an uncommon practice in the courtroom, what made the Scopes Trial unusual was that Stewart was preaching Christianity as a fact and evolution as a fallacy while being upheld in his ministrations by a Christian judge. As Christianity was in a very important sense on trial, legal theory would call for Raulston to recuse himself due to his belief in Christianity. But this was Tennessee in 1925 and Raulston did not. The jury still absent, Bryan stood before the court and demanded that the court disallow any "pseudoscientific evidence to be interjected into the trial." Judge Raulston granted the prosecution’s motion, thus preventing Darrow from putting his experts before the jury. Darrow heatedly argued with Judge Raulston over this absurd decision, so much so that Raulston charged him with contempt of court. This only added to Darrow’s misery in the one-hundred-degree weather of a Tennessee summer where the mosquitoes swarmed as thickly as the Bibles outside.

Darrow countered Raulston’s move by adopting a different strategy that attempted to bridge rationality and religion. Dudley Malone, one of Scopes’ attorneys argued that the Bible and evolution were not incompatible: "There are millions of people who believe in evolution and in the story of creation as set forth in the Bible, and they find no conflict between the two.” The defense’s attempt to conflate creation and evolution is a theological reconciliation used by a small minority of Creationists who believe that God used evolution as a mode of creation. For the vast majority of the truly religious, however, there is no middle ground, for they consider creation and evolution to be absolutely irreconcilable.

2005-08-25T21:43:00.000-07:00

I draw highly-detailed abstract pen and ink drawings by hand. This piece is called, "Glorious Eagle." The drawing asks how must evolution have designed the eagle? Consider the neural avionics that would be needed simply for hunting. In this drawing, I imagine a prototype eagle on the workbench of the gods. It is a mechanical rendition is purely for studying the airframe. The more beautiful flesh and blood creature would follow.��The wing to your left was not completed as the artist felt to do so would add far to much weight to the drawing. Inspired by the Venus de Milo, the wing was "broken" to achieve artistic purity. Its grace of line as it trails off into space enhances the aesthetic grace and balance.�
Upon viewing the drawing, an ornithologist commented that the beak should be hooked. I claimed that I had an out inasmuch as this version was a prototype.�The ornithologist would not accept such a lame excuse and argued that I simply did not know my birds. I artist later mailed a note to the ornithologist:�
Memo to the gods: Hook the beak on the production model or the ornithologists will screech! He did not think my note was at all funny. In a larger sense
Posted by Picasa

2005-08-25T20:44:00.001-07:00

The debate between Creation and Evolution is a dead end. The debate is an either-or argument which states that our Universe was either created by God or that it arose from impersonal sources and that there is no God. The debate is Genesis versus Darwin. The debate is Divine Creation versus a godless Big Bang.

It is a useless debate as far as I am concerned.

In my book, which is entitled, Psychic Architecture: The Alternative to Creation and Evolution, I offer an alternative to the intractable and endless debate between Creation and Evolution. My unique cosmology is called, "The Disunification of Energy and Awareness" and is based upon a most extraordinary view of reality.

There is another way to think about how our Universe came into existence. My alternative cosmology offers people enormous intellectual freedom and a vastly expanded view of Consciousness. My book is about a theory of everything, it is the whole she-bang for people with big, powerful minds and imaginations.

My website can be found at http://www.jeffreyaugustine.com
My book is available in paperback or as a PDF download and can be ordered through a secure server that accepts all major credit cards. The first chapter of my book is available as a free preview at my website.

I have a second book as well. Entitled, Psychic Architecture: The Journey, this book presents my distinctive cosmology embodied in the literary form of a journey for readers who prefer a less intellectual approach to my cosmology.

In this blog I will discuss the current debate between Creation and Evolution; the farce that is called Creation Science; the problems of Intelligent Design Theory (IDT); and how I discovered my alternative to Creation and Evolution.

I will articulate the central thesis behind my unique cosmology and explain why my cosmology is so well suited for people in the 21st century, especially for those who are seeking a fusion of physics and those ancient forms of spirituality which described quantum physics so well.

The metawords for my website -- http://www.jeffreyaugustine.com -- will give you an idea of the matters I discuss in the pages of Psychic Architecture:

Augustine, Saint Augustine, Gnosticism, Gnostics, big bang, cosmology, creation, evolution, Darwin, Jesus, Masonry, Freemasonry, angels, universe, love, Christ, holy, DNA, artificial inteligence, daemon, intelligi, Genesis, Bible, synthetic, reality, phenomenology, philosophy, metaphysics, Jeffrey, religious, Judaism, Jehovah, YHWH, New Testament, physics, quantum, teleology, revelation, truth, sex, trans, alternative, solar system, planets, body, bodies, mysticism, mystery, solar, rings, keys, secrets, God, light, lightworkers, revelation, origins, tapestry, boundary, endings, beginnings, fate, destiny, karma, kismet, psychic, psyche, soul, demiurge, gods, lila, photons, electrons, energy, disunification, particles, love, psychic, architecture, psychic architecture, angels, ghosts, demons, Lucifer, Luciferian, Buddha, zen, speed, light, supraluminal, speed of light, C, faster than light, inflation, stars, galaxies, clusters, early universe, universe, theory of everything

2005-08-25T20:44:00.000-07:00

The beautiful Pacheco Pass in California. June, 2005.
Posted by Picasa