All Natural

We have discovered many things already in the previous chapters of this book.  We have learned there is no such thing as “other realms of existence,” “other dimensions,” “immortal souls,” the “supernatural,” and other “magical” notions.  The universe is, as they say, “all natural.”  That is to say, everything has a natural explanation behind it, even if we cannot yet explain a given phenomenon through science.  The reason for this is because the universe is One.  The reason the universe is One, and can only be One, is because if there were separate, opposite, and independent “material” and “spiritual” dimensions to the universe as substance dualists claim, than one “dimension” would cancel out the other and there would only be nothingness, which is obviously false. The fact and the truth of oneness is why evolution is true.  Things evolve and change from the same inseparable One, and cannot therefore be the result of a “separate creator” from “creation.” Any notion of “the spiritual” is essentially a notion of “magic,” which by definition is a suspension or negation of known natural law, which is completely imaginary.  And while the mind can conceive of it, this does not make it fact.  The bottom line is – there is no such thing as “magic.” 

Magicians are also known as “illusionists” for a reason, as magic is an illusion.  Magic, like “miracles” are names we give to phenomenon for which we have no known scientific explanation.  Since the universe is One, as we have learned, we can therefore be sure there is a natural explanation behind these illusions, and these “tricks” work to our perception due to a lack of complete information.  Magicians perform their tricks through completely natural means.  Even if a magician appears to levitate, read minds, or saw someone in half, they are not actually doing these things, but using one-hundred percent natural means made imperceptible to the human eye to accomplish the convincing appearance of their illusions.  Motion pictures, movies, are the ultimate illusion nearly everyone has experienced.  There is no such thing as a “motion picture,” since motion pictures consist of a film strip of a series of separate still photographs, which when projected at a high rate of speed, trick our brain, which cannot process the still picture information fast enough to see them for what they are, creating the illusion to us of a “motion picture.”  As we can see from movies, a completely natural process is used to achieve an illusion, as is the case with all illusions. 

In the past, before the scientific age, “miracles” and “magic” were the only way people could explain phenomenon they had no known explanation for.  Science has answered many of these questions of the past, although certainly not all.  Since we still have unanswered questions, as well as the desire to believe in certain things which serve our deepest, most primal ego needs, many of us still believe in “magic” and “miracles.” This is not to say Life is not in a sense, “miraculous.”  Indeed it is.  The fact of our existence is extraordinary and mind-boggling.  Still, it is a completely natural evolutionary process over billions of years which is responsible for our existence as it is today, not a “miraculous” event that defies natural law.  It is a process of trial and error that has ultimately resulted in who and what we are today. It is convenient for those who believe in literal “magic” and “miracles” there is never any evidence to verify these things as fact.  Whenever these so-called “miracles” are subjected to verifiable scientific proof, these things can never be confirmed by multiple sources as you would verify the reality of anything else.  This leads some to believe these “miracles” could be “real” since we cannot disprove them.  While it is a clever scam to use the non-evidence of something to state it is real, this simply does not work.  I can say leprechauns, the tooth fairy, levitation, immaterialization, or any other notion from my imagination exists – all things for which I can provide absolutely no proof whatsoever, but that does not make their existence real.  Again – there is no such thing as magic. 

With this knowledge in the understanding there is no such thing as magic; it is obvious none of the “miracles” as described in the Bible could have ever literally happened.  For them to have happened as literal fact, natural law would have had to have been suspended, which is impossible.  There is no way in which natural law can ever be suspended under any circumstances since The Principles of Oneness behind these natural laws have always been and will forever be, while the manifested “entities” within Oneness and its two principles are temporary and ever-changing.  “Miracles” and “suspension of natural law” were powerful ways of showing the “transcendence” of All – the power of God within Judeo-Christian myths.  Showing this suspension of natural law through mythological stories was a way of expressing the transcendence of God.  God, the Oneness of All, is transcendent since All is not a “thing” and is therefore never a limited part of itself, as Oneness is ALL.  As a metaphor, these miracle stories work quite well if perceived by a mind which can see this. Through the mind of those who cannot see this, hearing these stories result in superstition from belief in the notion that natural laws can actually, literally be suspended by an “all-powerful god.”  Jesus’ miracles transcended natural law to “prove” he was equal to God. As a metaphor, such as “giving sight to the blind,” it is a powerful way of expressing how this man touched the lives of others.  As literal fact, it is impossible, since natural law is never suspended under any circumstances.  To believe natural law can ever be suspended is a delusion. 

The common argument of a believer is often the idea that “God is over all things and is all-powerful, therefore He can suspend natural laws and do whatever He wants.”  This is not true, and stems from an incorrect, egotistical conception of God, the Oneness of All.  “God” if you will, the Oneness of All, is not “all-powerful.”  God is ALL, but not all-powerful.  To be “powerful” is to be an ego. God is not an ego.  Ego, being an illusion, is therefore not the True God. God is Truth, One, All.  Truth is never ego, nor illusion.  God has nothing to do with power, and is not anything of the phenomenal world since God is no thing, phenomena, nor entity.  God is the Oneness of All.  Once we say God is an ego, that God has a “will” with “preferences,” “likes” and “dislikes” as human beings have, then we are forced into an endless series of justifications and rationalizations for why god “does this” or “fails to do that.”  Why the “faithful” suffer terribly while the “ungoldly” enjoy prosperity.  Why natural disasters rip millions of babies from their mothers, etc.  And while such rationalization and justification exercises give apologist authors such as Lee Strobel and Harold Kushner a job, there is never a satisfactory answer for such a dualistic, conflicted conception of “god” which makes any sense, since all egos are self-contradictory and conflicted. Ego is “Satan” if you will, so to make God an ego through our false conceptions of God, we make God “Satan” as it were.  The products of this “Satan” we create, such as the Inquisition, the Crusades, and countless other atrocities bear witness to who this “god” truly is…. and by their fruits we shall know.

The totality of manifested existence is but a dream, as it is in constant flux and change. The entirety of what we can observe of the phenomenal universe is an illusion because there is absolutely nothing permanent within it.  Reality, the unchanging Oneness of All can never be seen with the physical senses because as stated previously, Oneness is no thing.  We can therefore only be aware of Oneness when we are aware of the fact we are merely a part of one whole.  The egotistical, limited, fragmented mind which sees only the part, can therefore not see the Oneness of All, but only the dualistic limits as defined by itself. The meanderings of the ego within the limits of itself are a game and nothing more.  “Real life” as we know it is not Reality.  It is “real,” as a dream is real, but not Reality, not Truth, not the Oneness of All.