I see Theory as a tool. My theories presented in this site are tools for the purpose of making choices in life. *:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Why God?
The following steps lead me to God:
1. The ASPIRATION TO UNITY Theory / Belief
The ASPIRATION TO UNITY Theory / Belief offers the model below, which can serve as a general framework for making choices in life. As such, I believe it is a better way to explain the experience of life in words.
o Our life happens as a meeting of two factors:
§ Our aspiration to an all-inclusive unity (in short: ASPIRATION TO UNITY).
§ INPUT, a term which refers to all other sources to the phenomenon in our life.
If there is any meaning to a real "self", it should be the ASPIRATION TO UNITY.
Anything that can be said about INPUT, represents not pure independent INPUT, but our attempt to cope with it.
"Why am I here?" "What should I do?"
Behind these questions and others, lies the human aspiration to act according to an all-inclusive unity; thereby one's actions become part of one system which includes all input.
>How do we see it in life? (ASPIRATION TO UNITY Psychology)
2. The belief in the beyond
I have realized that I cannot understand all input as one system or entity, which I can become part of by making certain choices. This realization gives one the feeling that "All is Vanity".
If there is no unity behind all input, my actions cannot become part of an all-inclusive unity. In such a situation, I cannot make any choice, for the aspiration to unity is my only guide in making choices, and it cannot be fulfilled.
Since my goal is to fulfill my aspiration to unity, I have to make an assumption opposite to the above:
o There is an all-inclusive unity behind the INPUT which is beyond human understanding.
I can describe this belief using a parable of a dot in a picture.
A human being is like a dot in a picture, which has the ability to decide which light waves it absorbs and which it reflects, thereby changing its color. This dot can see but has only two-dimensional vision.
INPUT, is equivalent to what the dot can see - meaning only the dots adjacent to it.
The dot can never rise to see the whole picture. The whole picture, is like the all-inclusive unity which is beyond human understanding.
3. Seeking alternative guidance
Since I have given up understanding the all-inclusive unity, in order to fulfill my aspiration to unity in making choices, I need another way of deciding what to do:
o I should be seeking something that would guide me how to conduct my actions according to the all-inclusive unity which is beyond human understanding.
I can describe the need for this search by going back to the picture parable:
The aspiration to unity, means that the dot aspires to be part of the whole picture, and to decide how to handle light waves accordingly.
Since the dot can't see the whole picture, it doesn't know what color it is supposed to be. It never knows which light-waves to absorb, which to reflect. It can only pretend to know what the picture is, judging by the dots next to it, and act accordingly. ( But as long as it is honest, it knows that what it sees doesn't even form a picture.) What this dot is seeking is an alternative way to know what color it should be.
4. The Theory / Belief in the Biblical revelation of God
Seeking something that can guide me how to conduct my actions according to the all-inclusive unity, I arrive at the Biblical deion of the revelation of God, based on the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). This account of the revelation of God conveys a model that is in-line with the assumptions above:
o God's revelation that took place in history (and will take place in the future) can guide human beings how to conduct their actions according to an all-inclusive eternal unity, which is beyond human understanding.
What I find in the Hebrew Bible is a deion of our relation to God that fits right in the picture parable:
God's act of creation is equivalent to the painting of the picture.
Human beings are held responsible for their choices of action.
God's revelation, is described as if the painter enters the picture itself, (perhaps appearing to the dots as another dot) and tells a bunch of dots: "thou shall not absorb the high speed light-waves!" (communicating in the language dots understand). The painter can maybe vaguely describe the whole picture to the dots, but they never fully understand it. Instead, the painter gives the dots guidelines (Torah, Commandments) as to which light-waves to absorb, which to reflect.
By doing what the painter says, the dots can become part of the whole picture, even though they don't see the whole picture themselves.
In the picture parable, the all-inclusive unity is the picture; God is the source of it and beyond it, but God also reveals himself inside the picture.
>Other ways that I can think of, to describe the relation between the Biblical God and the all-inclusive unity
>How is that so in the Hebrew Bible?
>Best alternatives to this step
Since the Biblical revelation of God is the only theory I have found that passes the criteria of the ASPIRATION TO UNITY theory, this is what I believe in.
If I find a better way, I will take it. But as long as this is seems the only way, it deserves my complete devotion. I do my best to conduct my actions according to this belief.
This decision to believe in it, is made just like any other choice we make in life, including adopting the belief that the floor will hold us as we walk. There is always a doubt, and we should not deny that. The right thing to do, is to do the best we can - adopt the best belief.
I would describe the situation of our life using the following parable - Imagine that you are on a boat, lost in the middle of the ocean. You want to survive - this is an a-priori assumption in this parable. Any direction you turn your head - reveals only one thing: water and water and water. You have no food. And then, suddenly you think you see at the horizon something that looks different. You can't really see exactly what it is - some object. It could be land, it could be an island it could be a ship. But at that moment, the mission to come closer to this unclear object deserves your total devotion.
Such is what deserves our devotion in real life.
The will to survive in the parable is equivalent to the ASPIRATION TO UNITY in real life. The vague object is the revelation of God.
Life without it is like an ocean of vanities: Any choice of action seems equally meaningless, hopeless.
Last modified *:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />June 11th 2003
R.A.
[email protected]
Why do I publish my theories?
>Why do I publish these theories?
To the best of my understanding of God's plan, based on the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) as an account of God's revelation, the connection to God occurs not only on the personal level but on the global level as well. I think that humanity, with the chosen nation as a focus-group, has to go through a certain psychological process before God will be revealed again, making possible a global unity with God. This psychological process involves realization of the vanity in God-less life, dropping of idol-worshipping, and wholehearted seeking of God.
I think that the psychological process I went through in my personal life is a progression in the above direction. (<The personal story behind my theories>) For this purpose, I invested a lot of time searching for the right words to convey my choice of faith, and published my theories.
R.A. March 28th 2003
My personal life experience served as a crucial factor in forming my theory of the ASPIRATION TO UNITY. The Psychological aspects of this theory have started as an attempt to analyze my personal life, as well as other life-stories of individuals I came in contact with. The Philosophical aspects started as an attempt to explain the reasoning behind my choice of faith; to make it communicable.
This is how I would sketch the developmental process of my faith, chronologically:
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Breaking of illusions of false gods - childhood disappointments from my parents and society. (ages 6-12)
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Realization of the vanity in the society around me and the life it has to offer to the individual - feelings of lack of a satisfactory purpose to life. (ages 9-12)
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Forming faith in God - embracing the story of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) as a path to a satisfactory answer to the meaning of life. (around age 12)
Regarding the chronological development of the ASPIRATION TO UNITY Theory - I have been speaking of the "aspiring self" as the key to life since around age 16, and knew that this "aspiring self" really brought me to God. At age 23 I felt that I reached a verbal breakthrough by defining the self as "The ASPIRATION TO UNITY".
Since then I am still working on this theory and its implications.
R.A. March 28th 2003
[email protected]
