RELATING TO THE DIVINE AND PEACEMAKING

by Charles Notess
Last Updated 4-17-08

INTRODUCTION

The following web posting supplements the text that I have published in my two books described below. Unfortunately, one has to stop adding to the published text and therefore, my latest insights and readings are included in the following and in my posted Bibliography. I have added the word PEACEMAKING to the first title of this posting. In my book Countering Polarization I mention the older shorter title - Relating to the Divine.

My goal in this essay is to explore trends in Biblical interpretation as described by Bishop John Spong and Karen Armstrong and link spirituality to Peacemaking. I build upon some ideas I have had about broadening perspectives and consciousness as a way to reduce polarization in our world and contribute to peacemaking. Spong described the stages of development of a people or society that are implicit in the Biblical epics, starting with the Jewish epics and continuing through the Christian epics. In chapters 29-32 of The Sins of Scripture he defined epics as providing historical stories that tell a people "who they were, what their life was all about, why they held the values they did, and how their human fears and anxieties could be managed and conquered."(p. 247) Epics enable "a people to relive vicariously the exploits of their ancestors." These stories serve to stretch the human consciousness, perspectives, and worldviews.

Epics, starting with the Greek Iliad and Odyssey, depended upon language and writing to describe the past of a people and provide a basis for exploring their future. Each epic story takes place in a specific context, and the context expands as the experiences and history of a people expands over time. As the context changes, new epics are needed to help the people expand their consciousness. The epics described how the Jewish people were pressured by the prophets to expand their consciousness as the Jewish nation went through historical stages of conquering and being conquered. The Jewish epic was revised several times. On page 270, Spong wrote: Hosea "made love the central meaning of God", Amos emphasized justice, and Micah 6:8 incorporated justice, kindness, and mercy in the value system. Spong wrote, on page 272 in The Sins of Scripture that the Jewish community was "to see the world from a universal perspective, to escape their tribal limits, to entertain global understandings". Eventually, in the New Testament, the universal aspect was given more emphasis. The story of The Good Samaritan is perhaps a clearer presentation of the universal perspective applied to caring for others beyond one's own tribe. In a world that is shrinking, in terms of travel time and information flow, it becomes increasingly necessary to broaden perspectives, and appreciate the perspectives of other people. On page 279, Spong wrote: "the addition of the Jesus story to the epic of the Jews transformed the Jewish story into the human story, with the potential that is still present to make that story the universal, worldwide human story. (See also page 295 in Spong.)

OUTLINE OF THIS ESSAY

I start this essay with a response to the question: "Is God Real?" Then I discuss the variety of images that people use to describe their God. In James Fowler's book Faithful Change he quotes William James in his classic book, The Varieties of Religious Experience. James wrote: "That which produces effects within another reality must be termed a reality itself, so I feel as if we had no philosophic excuse for calling the unseen or mystical world unreal." For example, we consider that wind and a hurricane are real because we can see and feel their effects. In my view, if a belief leads a community of people to real action with consequences, then we can talk about that belief as being real, even though a different community might hold a different belief. Social scientists have said that if a community holds a belief that leads to real consequences, then that belief is real. For example, if a story about an American bomb destroying the house of an innocent family whether true or not, can lead to consequences. For example, consider a suicide bomber driving into the American Embassy for revenge. The story, as it was imprinted in the mind of the suicide bomber, was real for him. This line of reasoning leads me to the statement: "God is real."

Neale Donald Walsch in his book The New Revelations - A Conversation With God (2002) used the format of a conversation with God that describes a new reality - a new belief system, based upon interpretations of sacred writings in the Bible and Qur'an that frees believers from the old interpretations of religious beliefs. Walsch points out clearly how narrow perspectives of religious leaders imposed limits upon and distorted the systems of beliefs that served as the bases for the Abrahamic faiths. His book aims to broaden perspectives so that individuals and communities can relate better to the one God. This is essential to establish a lasting peace.

Marcus Borg, in his latest book, The Heart of Christianity (2003) provides a clear discussion of terms such as truth, real, and worldview on pages 61-62. The story of the blind men and the elephant illustrates the importance of having a broad perspective. Each person who says that they believe in God probably has a different image of God in their mind.

Recently, cognitive scientists provided evidence that I translate into "hardwiring" in the human brain (in the unconscious and conscious memories) of a desire and need for a relationship with a caring other. As the individual matures this need may lead, in the minds of some people, to a relationship with the ultimate caregiver, which some call - God. A psychologist might view this as a relationship to an internalized image of this caregiver. (The American Heritage College Dictionary defines internalize as: "To make internal, personal, or subjective, esp. to make an integral part of one's attitudes or beliefs".) Very young children internalize an image of their mother, that reminds them of guiding statements that she has made in the past. Some mature Christians internalize an image of Jesus. I discuss hardwiring in more detail in the third section herein.

I believe that social scientists, cognitive scientists, and human scientists in related fields will overcome the separation between religious faith and science and by so doing will provide a basis to help expand common beliefs in all religious faiths. (I define religious faith as trusting in the idea that God is present and active in and through the behavior of loving and caring humans.) As will be seen later, a desire to relate to the Ultimate and Transcendent Caring Other - God or the Divine, is hardwired within those who bonded with their loving and caring Mother.

I have a section on the brain, consciousness, self, and spirituality. Then, I discuss problems that arise when people with strong commitments to tribal communities encounter people and corporations with globalizing perspectives. Many with small perspectives become saturated when they are confronted by actions of complex institutions based upon broader perspectives.

Bishop John Shelby Spong was able to look backward in time through the Bible stories from the much broader perspective of our postmodern era. He could see the sins that are described in Bible stories and epics about the actions of the Hebrew and later the Christian people. At the time, people with tribal loyalties and justice systems did not view some of their actions as sinful, but the later prophets did view the sinful acts and tried to point out their sinfulness, as Nathan did with King David. By looking back in time we can get a basis for a glimpse of the future. This is what we have to do to see how a world with increasingly broad perspectives can be guided to overcome the sins of narrow perspectives.

Near the end of this essay I discuss Karen Armstrong's The Spiral Staircase and Spiral Dynamics by Don Edward Beck and Christopher Cowan. The staircase represents our climb toward ever-broader perspectives and perceptions of the caring other and development of spirituality. It is not only perceptions, but relationships with the ultimate caring other that contribute toward peacemaking. I end this essay with a discussion about peacemaking.

For related discussions of consciousness and spirituality, see my subsequent sections on "The Brain, Consciousness, Self and Spirituality" and "The Spiral Staircase".

It is these ideas that led me to the title of my 39-page E-book: Reality and Faith. The following pages are a condensed and substantially updated version of that E-book.

Recent reading about Jalalu'ddin Rumi, the thirteenth century Sufi poet, have led me to a deeper understanding about relating to the divine.

IMAGES OF THE DIVINE

Many Christians and Muslims believe in a superhuman, all-powerful God the Creator. Yet humans are relational creatures and they have worked hard to find a way to relate to this all-powerful God. Thus they anthropomorphize God by imagining Him in human form. Some imagine God as a strict judge, an all-powerful policeman, a powerful caring ruler, and/or many other images. Many Christians have made it easier to relate to the ultimate transcendent other by viewing Jesus as the son of God and relating to an internalized image of Jesus. Such relationships are a major part of spirituality. I define spiritual as the quality of a personality that develops as a person relates to caring others and becomes aware of the other's feelings, plans, imaginings, values, and intentions, but also becomes aware that these others are also aware of his or her own unique traits of personality. Adults expand the spiritual side of their lives by blocking out the concerns of their egos with help from meditation, special practices, and rituals. People learn how to delve into their unconscious and relate to increasingly transcendent caring others.

Some Christians go one step farther and realize that some of God's work, here on earth, is done by humans. Those who believe that they are obligated "to partner with God" and, do some of His work here on earth, seem to be filled with the spirit of an internalized compassionate image of Jesus.

How have the prophets and leaders of old tried to lead their followers to be kind and caring to others, instead of fighting over belongings, orchards, goats, sheep, and land? The following quotations from the Bible provide examples of how statements in the sacred book led followers to be kind and caring. Many Christians believe that the words, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but by me.", verse 14:6 from the Book of John in the bible, are the words of Jesus. But, Jesus scholars at the Westar Institute, after much study and analysis, voted and concluded that those were not the words of Jesus. Thus, I believe it is likely that the writer of the Book of John put these words into the mouth of Jesus, possibly to help people relate to God through a relationship with His son and in this way be more kind and caring. Another verse relates to the idea of salvation. It comes from the book of Acts, verse 4:12. Peter said: "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." These verses are foundational to how many orthodox Christians relate to their image of God and to how they believe they will be saved from going to hell after their life on earth is finished.

An important belief among many Christians is related to the need for salvation. It comes from the Bible and is based upon the doctrine that humans are born naturally sinful, selfish, and ego-striving. Ego dominated thinking is a carry-over from pre-human times, and interferes with development of spirituality - wherein humans relate to forces that transcend the selfish focus and emphasize caring and loving behavior toward all others. The oft-called maternal instinct also exists in animals and perhaps is more evident in animals because humans become involved in more complex relationships. That instinct is a result of evolution that some say has become hardwired in the animal brain through evolution.

When human parents over-emphasize sinfulness it can lead their children to be tortured by feelings of guilt and shame. In extreme cases their lives can become a living hell. Was the idea of hell developed to make people be good and kind to others? How might the idea of Hell have come upon the scene? In Jesus' time the valley of Hinnon's son, South of Jerusalem was a garbage dump where fires burned to consume the refuse and the smells. The bodies of criminals were dumped there. A photo of the valley is accessible at: [http://www.answers.com/topic/jpf-hinnom-valley-jpg]. I believe that this valley could well have contributed to the idea of Hell?

In the early church, the foregoing doctrines were taught by orthodox parents, teachers, and pastors. Some still teach and preach that today. Such teaching can generate strong emotions of guilt, shame, and fear to guide children along what they believe is "the one and only true path to heaven". The emphasis on salvation seems like an easy way to have children grow up to become caring and compassionate adults. However, Marlene Winell, in her book Leaving the Fold, discussed in detail how such exclusivist perspectives and related doctrines restrict children and adults from the learning and experiences needed to broaden perspectives and to live peaceably in a culturally diverse, globalizing, and pluralist world. This approach sets the over-protected child up for culture shock when the child leaves home for college or a job and encounters Christians and others who do not hold this interpretation.

There are other Christians who do not believe in the Biblical heaven above and hell beneath, yet they still belong to a community of faith that guides them to a relationship with an internalized image of Jesus and they tend to apply the universal values His life exemplified. They believe that leading a good, caring and compassionate life here on earth leads to a joy-filled good life. On the other hand, failure to follow the universal values that Jesus life story presented, can lead one to a separation from God - a life of hell here on earth.

HARDWIRING IN OUR BRAINS

A new idea that I believe is the foundation of spirituality and a belief in God is the idea of programming or hardwiring in our brains of a need for good relationships with a caring other. NOTE: This does not mean that God is hardwired in our brains. It means that the desire for relationships with caring others is effectively hardwired in our brains. To understand this idea it is helpful to keep in mind that human beings are relational creatures and even while in the womb, they start a relationship with their mother, from hearing sounds from her voice, and sensing her emotions. In the following paragraphs, I discuss the idea of how a person's need for an ongoing relationship with a caring other, becomes "programmed" into the baby's brain soon after birth. The term "hardwired" has recently become popular with scientists familiar with computers and electronics. It came from the wiring of a permanent connection in some electronic analog computer programs that I used, in the late 1950's, to simulate the flight of airplanes in the pre-digital age.

As I see it, hardwiring creates a desire or predisposition to seek and hold on to trustworthy relationships with caring others for the rest of our lives. Many persons feel that they are not whole if this desire for a relationship with a caring other is not satisfied. (For those unfortunate children who lack a caring other, an alternative is to find support and protection in a gang - a small community that cares for those who pass tests to prove that they can be trusted to conform to the laws of the gang.)

As a person passes through the stages of faith development, their mother as a caring other, is replaced or becomes supplemented, by a favorite teacher, a mentor, a friend, or a supervisor at work. We expand our perspectives by interacting with and relating to these caring others and to people from different occupational and ethnic backgrounds.

The basic principle involved when expanding levels of perspective-taking is that a person at higher levels has mapped the terrain and therefore can guide people at lower levels to find their way and broaden their own perspectives. This is what especially underlies the careers of teacher, social worker, lawyer, pastor or minister, travel agents, and the like. These are the helping professions. One of the main rewards of these professions is the joy of sharing discoveries with the person they are helping. This joy becomes the cement of "authentic communities" as Scott Peck has defined them in The Different Drum.

For those few persons who achieve a partial glimpse of an ultimate perspective, their caring relationship have evolved towards internalized images of a transcendent, immanent, and loving divinity of some kind. How this divinity is imagined, affects personality styles and perspectives that influence responses to change and uncertainty.

At the end of these sections on Images of the Divine, Hardwiring, and expanding levels of perspective taking, I believe that it is useful to recall the eight levels of perspective taking (from Section P in Chapter 1 in my book Countering Polarization) and the idea of a spiral staircase of increasingly broad perspectives reaching toward a transcendent perspective of the ultimate force in the universe, that we call God (mentioned in Section E of Chapter 1 and in Chapter 5 in my aforementioned book).

Young children in most all cases have an anthropomorphic image of God and many can relate to Him via the hardwired conscious and unconscious memories of their relation with their caring other. As they grow older and broaden their perspectives they relate and internalize also to aspects of organizational perspectives such as their family, their school, their place of work, their state and nation and the world. This ever broader perspective is their spiral path up to the ultimate transcendent perspective we still call God.

Reading Sharon Janis' book Spirituality for Dummies helped me to realize that the terms: perspective, worldview, worldly knowledge, consciousness, and awareness are all closely related in meaning and involve memories stored in our brains. As one expands their perspectives by gaining knowledge, but also by getting to know people from different careers, cultures, and approaches to transcend ideas, they reach higher levels of perspective-taking and consciousness. They can understand the past and see into future possibilities better. They can plan for their future better. They understand better the yearnings and joys of their lives. Everything seems to fit into a larger whole. Their desires are influenced more and more by the broader perspectives and/or higher (or deeper) levels of consciousness. Thus, as they think about their bliss, and work at following their bliss, the components of their bliss change to fit into their broader perspectives and deeper consciousness. Their desires become more attainable since others who achieved their goals provide examples one can follow. They also clarify their goals and by so doing make it more likely that others will select achievable goals. However, it is important to keep in mind that we must be cautious not to believe that if we are relating to a broader perspective and/or a deeper consciousness, we are relating to the ultimate perspective. On page 123, Janis provides a very relevant quote from Albert Einstein: "The significant problems we face can never be solved at the level of thinking that created them." We need to broaden our perspectives and learn from others how to achieve our happiness and joy.

Janis' book has a very good prelude - introduction to broadening worldviews on pages 24-28, and to spirituality on pages that follow. Chapter 5 on programs of practices that strengthen spirituality has a good introduction with examples. I have not seen such good examples presented for the newcomer to spirituality development in other books. Her writing fits well with, and does not conflict with, practices in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and other faiths. In Chapter 14 she discusses the benefits of associating with groups and gurus that expand our perspectives and deepen our consciousness.

A well written book on the brain is The Secret Language of the Mind by David Cohen. I recommend it highly.

For a related discussion on spirituality, see the end paragraphs of my next-to-the-last section herein. It includes a brief summary of ideas from Karen Armstrong's book The Spiral Staircase.

Professor Ervin Staub's book entitled: The Psychology of Good and Evil became available in August 2003. Pages 58 and 61-64 in Chapter 5 of his book discuss basic human needs and, in my view, relates to the idea of hardwiring that I discuss herein. The importance of attachment is discussed in his Chapter 10. I wish that Professor Staub had incorporated in his research some of the ideas related to levels of perspective taking that I got from James Fowler's work, Faithful Change, and describe in my book, Countering Polarization, Chapter 1, Section P. I discuss Fowler's work and what we must do to decrease polarization in legislatures, among the general public, within church congregations, and in the political sphere.

My book is available now from Xlibris' bookstore by clicking on: Countering Polarization, the Colorado State University Bookstore, and the Boulder Book Store. The book is now also available from Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.

There is scientific support for my idea of a hardwired quest, and support is also found in the sacred writings and practices by followers of Christianity and Islam. See: (Luke 17:21, Romans 5:5 ("for God's love has been poured into our hearts..."), and I Cor. 3:16 (" Do you not know ... that God's Spirit dwells in you?"). In Ephesians, 3:16-17 - "... that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith". See also Galatians 2:20 and Romans 8:10.

In Islam, see verse 30:30 in Asad's translation of the Qur'an, entitled: The Message of the Qur'an. Verse 30:30 translates into: "AND SO, set thy face steadfastly towards the (one ever-true) faith, turning away from all that is false, in accordance with the natural disposition which God has instilled into man: ..." See his note #27 referring to that verse, and also his note #139 for verse 7:172. Note #27 includes the famous saying of the Prophet Muhammad: "Every child is born in (with) this natural disposition". Note #139 says: "According to the Qur'an, The ability to perceive the existence of the Supreme Power is inborn in human nature (fitrah) ..."

See also Seyyed Hossein Nasr's reference to this idea in his book entitled: The Heart of Islam on pages 6 and 7 relative to the term "al fitrah". The Muslim word "al fitrah" points to a primordial knowledge deeply imbedded into our being. In my view, that implies that every child soon after birth develops a desire for a relationship with a caring other which, as some individuals grow, can reach a relationship with the ultimate other - God.

I agree with what Erik Erikson wrote on page 118, in the 1958 paperback edition of his book: Young Man Luther that "basic trust" in relating to another was "the first psychosocial trait and the fundament of all others". There is an aspect of mutuality in "basic trust". Without it "children die mentally". "They do not respond or learn". I believe that he was close to the idea of "hardwiring".

Nelson Thayer, a professor of Psychology and religion at the Theological School of Drew University, published Spirituality and Pastoral Care in 1985. It is most unfortunate that we lost this scholar, at age 53 to cancer, in 1990. The first 60 pages in his book discuss the development of thinking about spirituality and spirit, starting from the view of Biblically-based tradition and then following Christian perspectives as they were impacted by science, modernity, and postmodernity. He described the views of Freud, Reinhold Niebuhr, Albert Outler, Eric Erikson, Abraham Maslow, Ludwig Bibswanger, Peter Berger, Robert Bellah, Mircea Eliade, Howard Thurman, and others.

I found statements that in my view allude to the idea of God and man's relation to God. Thayer quotes Howard Thurman on page 30 - " ... the movement of the heart of a man toward God; a movement that in a sense is within God - God in the heart sharing its life with God the Creator of all Life." ..."It is not surprising that in man's spirit should be found the crucial nexus that connects him with the Creator of Life, the Spirit of the Living God. [I inserted bold type in the previous and forthcoming phrases in this section to highlight ideas that are akin to hardwiring.]

On page 34, Thayer wrote: Freud "...understood belief in a personal God to be a projection of a wish for an all-powerful benevolent, protective father." "...characterized by the residue of vicissitudes of the relationship with one's earthly parents." The foregoing two quotes, as I see it lead to the idea of hardwiring. On page 49 Thayer started a seven-page summary of his ideas. On page 50, he wrote that theologians ..."recognize the human yearning for the divine." .."the words of Augustine: "O God, Thou hast made us for thyself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee." On p. 51, "And yet the experience of relationship in some way has always been a part of this dimension [or aspect of the human personality]." (Bracketed term inserted by Notess.) These statements support my idea of a hardwired quest or yearning for relationship with a loving, caring other.

Thayer's writing, starting with the last paragraph on page 59 and continuing to the end of page 60 provides a good summary of how recent work in the area of states of consciousness point to the idea that "reality gives itself to be known through many modalities of lived experience" other than "reason and the five senses".

A key to spirituality is to supplement scientific knowledge with human-to-human relationships that eventually transcend mere human friendships and interactions. Such relationships with transcendent thinkers, whose broad and deep life experiences have been written down in classical and sacred books, strengthen spirituality and support reaching higher stages of consciousness.

There is more on Thayer's writing about Spirituality in the section: "Introduction to Aspects of Spirituality" in my E-book: Reality and Faith.

Elaine Pagels in her 2003 book, Beyond Belief - The Secret Gospel of Thomas discussed the differences in opinion between Saints John and Thomas. On page 46 she wrote: "… everyone … receives an innate capacity to know God." This, in my view, supports the idea of a hardwired quest for a Caring Other.

Recent research by Dr. Kathleen Kovner Kline of the Dartmouth Medical School supports my use of the term "hardwired" in relation to the ever-present quest for a relationship with a transcendent caring other. Kline was the principal investigator of the research. For information on this research, see Hardwired to Connect on the web at: [http://www.americanvalues.org/html/hardwired.html].

Further support comes from the book: The Power of Empathy by Ciaramicoli and Ketcham, wherein Chapter 3, entitled: "Wired for Empathy" describes several inter-creature relationships that show empathy across species. An example is the gorilla that gently picked up a young child who had fallen into her fenced-in area in a zoo. On page 30 they mention how empathy acts in the brain and the role of the amygdala and neocortex which raps over the primitive amygdala.

Other research on the limbic system of the human brain summarized by Daniel Goleman, et al in Chapters 2 & 3 of their 2002 book, Primal Leadership - Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence supports my idea that caring and nurturing mothers play an important role in hardwiring. Mothers might be using "Emotional Intelligence" without knowing it as such.

A recent article on empathy and hardwiring is published with the title: The Neural Substrate of Human Empathy: Effects of Perspective-taking and Cognitive Appraisal in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 2007;19:42-58, by Claus Lamm, C. Daniel Batson, and Jean Decety. The Washington Post summarized their research in May 2007. On October 7, 2007, I posted: EGO VERSUS ALTRUISM. This short posting discusses how responses to fear - an ego-based drive - attracts supporters more quickly than do altruistic responses such as peacemaking. This difference makes it difficult for altruistic responses to counter ego-driven responses.

To understand this hardwired seeking, it helps to remind one how they felt upon meeting a new friend who feels like a soul mate. I believe that such a deep and rapid feeling of relationship as that upon meeting a soul mate occurs partly at the unconscious level. This is the level where ones soul exists. The soul, in my view, is closely related to the early relationship to a caring mother that remains in the unconscious and provides the motivation to climb the "spiral staircase" throughout one's life until one has found the ultimate caring other, the ultimate soul mate. Unfortunately, few reach the top of the staircase and appreciate the Ultimate Godly perspective. They reach a lower level of perspective-taking and relate to a very anthropomorphic image of God.

A person whose thoughts, actions, and responses to others seem to suit you is said to generate good vibes because of how he or she relates to others and to particular situations. Their responses are similar to those you would like to see, or actually do see in yourself. Often your perspectives are similar to theirs. Some soul mates broadcast charisma and symbolize the joy that Christians look for from a good relationship with God.

THE BRAIN, CONSCIOUSNESS, SELF, AND SPIRITUALITY

Gerald M. Edelman, in his book, Wider Than The Sky - The Phenomenal Gift of Consciousness, has presented a readable framework about how the human brain works and has evolved from primary consciousness in animals to enable higher-order consciousness in humans. Primary consciousness, as I see it, is an awareness in animals and in humans that approaching a fire too closely can hurt, or that a large animal threatening one at night in the dark is something to be avoided. Higher order consciousness includes the ability to remember past situations that are complex. From those memories one can project, into the future, outcomes that are based upon extrapolations from past experiences. This enables one to plan for the future. An example is that after getting soaked in a rain, one might plan to bring a raincoat and umbrella in the future.

(I have had experience with feedback control system design, simulation of dynamic systems, and control of aircraft motions in my past careers. With that background, and reading in theology after retirement, I found Edelman's book very instructive, although I had to reread parts of it before I broadened my conceptual framework sufficiently to understand the new terminology and concepts.)
Had I read David Cohen's book: The Secret Language of the Mind before Edelman's, I would have gotten more out of Edelman's book upon first reading.

Edelman described (on page 17) the meaning of terms such as neurons ("the message-carrying cells of the brain"), synapses ("connections between neurons which contain sets of minute vesicles within which are chemicals known as neurotransmitters"), and axons. He wrote on page 29 "Neurons that fire together wire together". This idea, as I see it, is a key building block. A related sentence, on page 22 is: "Increased synaptic strength or efficacy within a pathway leads to a higher likelihood of conduction across that pathway, whereas decreases in synaptic strength diminish that likelihood." These two ideas, lead one to the idea that there develop in our brains alternative neural (feedback) paths by which a signal can travel. In Chapter, 4 he described development of "reentry" and the theory of neural group selection (TNGS). TNGS, as I understand it, enables us to think beyond the feedback control systems that have guided our conceptualization of how computers work. Many of us programmed and/or trained animals and humans by variations of behaviorist and Pavlovian reenforcement. Edelman's replacement of the idea of feedback control loops in computer programs, with the idea of "reentry" implies that the thinking brain selects from a number of neural networks each time a feedback occurs. There is not only one feedback connection, but several alternative reentry connections from which one can be selected as a feedback connection at any particular time. This opens up the possibility that the path selected for feedback in the dynamic brain system can be influenced by changes in perceptions, interpretations, and emotions that are stored in memories of the synapses in the chosen path.

I believe that the foregoing ideas strengthen the constructive and positive thoughts that one thinks about. This idea comes to me from Norman Vincent Peale's: The Power of Positive Thinking. The similarities in this way of thinking explains why some spiritualist writers such as Esther Hicks emphasize the "Law of Attraction", which means that those ideas that are similar and relate to hopeful and happy feelings, come together. They increase the chance for happy experiences. See: Hicks.

Hicks says that if one focuses on fearful or harmful ideas, that focusing will strengthen the chance of unhappy experiences. I believe that this is, in part, the outcome of what Edelman mentioned above: "Neurons that fire together wire together".

The idea of reentry allows us to consider complex actions of human brains that involve the effects of changes in the strength of chemicals, such as dopamine and serotonin. These influence feelings and emotions, and in turn influence hopes and fears. Complex brain activity, including that of the chemical neurotransmitters, affects the basis of what we feel good about and what we dislike. Humans describe these emotions and feelings with language and thus communicate them to other humans in our community. We can imagine past and future situations and thus we humans can become planners of complex systems and processes.

Building on Edelman's ideas, I believe that being involved in communities and relating to community members provides opportunities for us to expand our knowledge and perspectives. Language plays a key role in this expansion. It also provides us with opinions about how our friends and others view us. This is a form of feedback information that influences our awareness or consciousness of our selves from the perspectives of others. With this information, we work at presenting our selves to others as we would like to be viewed and understood.

Spirit is a product of specific brain chemistry, neurotransmitters that get turned on and mix with transcendent aspects of perspectives, and remembered historical information related to acts of loving care. Spirit is also associated with music, and aesthetics. We humans learn to appreciate musical tunes and harmony, aesthetics in visual symbols, and the like. In the case of harmonies, we enjoy them when music communicates well-orchestrated harmonies that lift our spirits. Some of us interpret the resulting feelings and emotions we encounter as being desirable and lifting our spirits, such as when we hear John Phillip Sousa marches that we experienced in our youth during parades and the like. I found that singing in a chorus that presented Handel's Messiah was a transcending experience. I was part of something much greater than my self, yet I fit in with the whole in a harmonious way. (I discuss relating to transcendent perspectives and images in a later section herein, when I discuss Karen Armstrong's Spiral Staircase.) At this point, all I want to add is that charismatic leaders tend to have the spirit, personality, and holistic view that attracts the attention and trust of many followers. Fethullah M. Gülen also discussed the benefits of harmony as Professor B. Jill Carroll described in her book A Dialogue of Civilizations - Islamic Ideals and Humanistic Discourse. See the end of this Section for more on Gülen.

In the case of feelings, some people try to manipulate their feelings and moods with help from actions that influence the flow of chemicals in the brain. For example, I would get a runner's high after running about ten miles in a half marathon. I felt that all the functions in my body were in synch. Other people become addicted to reliance on the use of foods, drugs, and/or chemicals that make them feel better, feel stronger and modify their feelings to suit the needs of the moment. Addiction to drugs and physical activities can lead to problems later as permanent damage is done to parts of the brain.

The concepts of spirit and spirituality are closely related to how one interacts with and relates to his/her image of the divine and/or the process of cosmic evolution. The relationship starts in childhood, when hearing stories about God and becoming familiar with the emotions that others have when they communicate such stories; emotions such as awe, joy, and respect. Such experiences create meaningful symbols that dwell in our conscious and unconscious memories and trigger particular subjective feelings. Disciplined, yet relaxed focusing on these symbols, together with contemplating about them, helps organize these symbols and experiences toward a coherent holistic image of the process of an evolving cosmos that some persons achieve in the later stages of faith development. Such focusing includes relating to others, centering on the sacred, meditating, prayer, relaxing, yoga, and clearing ones mind of worldly cares and concerns. These and other approaches help one to occasionally reach an alternative state of consciousness, a state wherein one feels in communion or close relationship with the divine and/or the cosmos. The relationships can be with the Christ, with the Holy Spirit, with a remote monarchical God, with an internalized God within each of us, or a combination of the foregoing.

After reading about the life and poems of Jalalu'ddin Rumi, the thirteenth century Muslim Sufi poet, I was led to a deeper understanding about relating to the divine. Relating to the ultimate care giver in the universe requires ever-expanding perspectives or worldviews based upon experiences with, and in, many different situations with people from diverse backgrounds. Relationships with caring others generates emotions of love. This is how we program our feelings, memories, and soul with an ever-expanding vocabulary of caring emotions. Focusing on the more enjoyable experiences and repeating them over and over leads some to idolize such experiences and limit new experiences. If we stop such expansive relationships we end up with narrow perspectives. This restricts our advance toward a relationship with the ultimate care giver - God.

To broaden our perspectives, we have to share experiences and listen to the other as they interpret their experiences and ours. One can not learn about caring unless one empathizes with the gratitude of the one cared for. In this way we learn to distinguish true caring from dominating or imposing our views on the other.

Two souls who are truly relating to each other becoming soulmates. They share joys and sorrows as one. They internalize the spirit of the other. But eventually they both have needs for new encounters to continue broadening perspectives as they strive to relate to the ultimate care giver. By becoming involved and committed to larger communities the soulmates expand their conceptual frameworks and can better handle new ideas.

Where does the global community fit in here? How can we overcome saturation of our conceptual frameworks?

A good life enables one to program his or her feelings, memories, and soul with an ever-expanding vocabulary of caring emotions. One can not learn about caring unless one empathizes with the gratitude of the one cared for. In this way we learn to distinguish true caring from dominating or imposing our views on the other. Early on, one is most dependent upon others and experience with caring is gained from the child's relationship with his or her loving Mother. As the child grows they begin to manage their own identities. They depend upon others to provide feedback about well they are managing their identities. Shared experiences with others helps them broaden their conceptual framework or mental filing system. Those persons who believe that they are self-sufficient lack the feedback to broaden experiences and perspectives and risk domination by their own egos and those others who are also ego-driven. After years of a very close loving relationship, both lovers have a need for new encounters to continue broadening perspectives as they climb to relate to the ultimate spiritual lover. Thus the soulmates need to expand into new communities of commitment and support.

Some further food for thought sparked by reading about Rumi.

Distance and separation from a close friend with whom we share many new experiences, makes the heart grow fonder. Rumi missed being together with his close friend Shams after Shams left. (p. 110 in Leslie Wines "Rumi, a Spiritual Biography". We relish the feedback of loved ones, in part, because they see things differently from the way we first see them. This feedback broadens our perspectives. We internalize them and they internalize us. We crave the support provided by sharing experiences. Four eyes are better than two.

It is possible to have an internalized friend in the form of Jesus or Muhammad, or a Martin Luther King or a Gandhi. They help us relate to the ultimate. Managing one's identity is the biggest battle, especially in a consumerist society like the USA. We (our egos) are taught to always want more: higher status, praise, power, influence, money. That is what leads us away from peace and service to others.

In our global community many become saturated and cannot climb higher up the spiral staircase to relate with an internalized ultimate care giver - God.

Professor B. Jill Carroll, has published a new book A Dialogue of Civilizations that clearly summarizes and compares the writings of Kant, Mill, Plato, Confucius and Sartre, relating them all to the Muslim philosophy ideas of Fethullah M. Gülen, a great Sufi Turkish leader and pioneer of interfaith dialogue. In her book, I find several places that remind me of what I call hardwiring in the human brain. (See her pages 40 and 98.) In addition, her summary of the writing of the philosophers including Gülen points out the value of a broadly based education, especially for societal leaders.

PROBLEMS WITH MODERNIZING TRIBAL SOCIETIES

An important aspect of progress in the development of religious faith is how people commit to their supportive communities. How do these communities maintain fairness, honor, and justice? Consider that most tribal cultures emphasize honor and retribution for dishonoring one's family, clan, or tribe. Dishonoring one's family can lead to suicide. For example, in the late 1940's, the wife of a Chinese friend of mine committed suicide in a Michigan University when she did not perform well. Her grades were lower than desired and that dishonored her family. When violence of this type is extended to large nations, whether, Yugoslavia, Sudan, or Iraq, and it is coupled with the need to win in a violent contest, we find that it leads to the use of car bombs and suicide bombers in today's world. With the use of modern technology, thousands are killed.

A key problem we find in today's globalizing world is how can we help people in tribal societies expand perspectives and make commitments to global scale organizations to reduce such violence. Chapters 1 and 2 in a book that I am publishing by November 2007 and entitled Peace Is Possible discusses some approaches that can be helpful.

In Biblical times, as today, women in lives focused around childrearing, learned how to take the different perspectives of several persons (her children and others), manage interactions and conflicts among them, and build consensus. Men, on the other hand, were more competitive, especially in an environment of scarcity, and got involved with power and influence-seeking which can become addictive. They had less experience with taking the perspective of other adults, unless they had taken the role of teacher, group leader or judge in the tribal community. Men in other clans or tribes were often treated as competitors mainly for land and wealth.

A major difference between tribal based societies and modern ones is that the latter emphasizes competition that reaches up to the global scale. When global corporations get involved in competition, small tribal groups can not compete. I believe that our Western society places too much emphasis on competition: competition in such areas as: little league and professional sports, industry, business, commerce, television, and government. The need to win, coupled with hormonal drives leads many persons to risk their health by seeking the aid of drugs, and to decrease commitments to family and to social communities. Government officials accept corporate monies to get elected and to decide how to vote on some issues. Though the word is not used, this is pure bribery. These types of collusion lead to the election of legislators and presidents who recently have been leading our nation to severely weaken the foundations of our democracy.

I believe that leaders in the less economically developed nations are aware of this problem and that is a major reason why they regress to more fundamentalist and/or orthodox interpretations of their traditions. Leaders in the West seem not to appreciate the importance of this discrepancy.

HUMANS ARE RELATIONAL CREATURES AND MANY FACE SATURATION IN OUR COMPLEX WORLD

Daniel Goleman, in his new book, Social Intelligence - The New Science of Human Relationships outlines in his Prologue how many people seem to tune out interactions with people around them. Do they do this because they have become saturated by too many inputs? Ken Gergen who wrote the book The Saturated Self - Dilemmas of Identity in Contemporary Life, might say that they are saturated by the complexity of life in a pluralistic society.

I believe that the exclusivist approach - "My way is right. Your way is wrong." is one response to the saturation and the complexity of life in modern pluralist societies. Exclusivist responses, when coupled with beliefs in an anthropomorphic image of a caring God, lead some communities to have fatalistic attitudes that influence how they respond to problematic situations. They say "God wills it." - and rely upon God to solve their problems.

This fatalistic approach in turn leads to holding back research and innovation, and has retarded economic and technical development in some Christian and Muslim cultures. Lawrence E. Harrison's book: The Central Liberal Truth: How Politics Can Change a Culture and Save It from Itself builds upon research conducted by the Culture Matters Research Project administered by the Fletcher School at Tufts University. Some 60 professionals from around the world were involved in research and writing about how cultural values, beliefs, and attitudes interact with economic, political, religious, educational, and other institutions to advance and/or retard the evolution of human societies toward a good quality of life for all. I recommend his book highly.

In a foregoing section, I mentioned how empathy can extend across species. Similarly, certain human actions and expressions can communicate across cultures. Goleman provided an example of this on page 3 of . He described how a commanding officer overcame opposition from a group of Iraqis who feared that his soldiers were coming to arrest their cleric or destroy their mosque. Actually they were seeking a meeting with the chief cleric to seek help in distributing relief supplies. Hundreds of people surrounded the soldiers and were threatening them. He ordered his men to kneel on one knee, point their rifles toward the ground, and to smile. "That quick-witted move was the culmination of a dizzying array of split-second calculations" by the commanding officer. The story is a good example of how most people are hardwired to read, cross culturally, facial expressions and other actions to distinguish between threats and caring behavior. That is what Goleman calls "social intelligence".

Goleman reinforces the idea of hardwiring in his latest book. These ideas got me thinking that Christianity and Islam both develop their religious stories, rituals, and practices in ways that bond followers, as though they were "wired to connect" to a supreme caring other. The benefits that Goleman describes accrue to the true believer, whether on the literalist right or an open minded liberal.

KAREN ARMSTRONG'S "SPIRAL STAIRCASE"

The relationship with an ultimate caring other is at the top of what Karen Armstrong calls The Spiral Staircase in her recent book with that title. Climbing the spiral staircase represents progressing to higher stages of faith development as described by James Fowler. I believe that the motivation to climb the staircase is hardwired into our brains as a result of early bonding to our caring Mother. Successive stages include broadening one's perspectives to include relations with people having diverse perspectives, and eventually including perspectives of social groups, organizations and institutions. (I summarize eight levels of perspective taking, in a Section with that name, in my E-book, Reality and Faith.)

At the top of the staircase is a relationship with what John Spong calls "the ultimate consciousness in which our own consciousness participates and is a part." (Page 293 in The Sins of Scripture.)

An important idea is that one should never feel that they have reached the ultimate top of the staircase. This is because one should always relate to others, even those who are at lower levels of the staircase and might still lead lives different from yours and therefore have different perspectives. One must continue to refine their ultimate perspective and continually broaden it to the limit of their ability, although many will reach a point of saturation.

A new concept - Spiral Dynamics - provides a paradigm for how civilizations progress toward peace. After reading Beck and Cowan's book: Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership, and Change, I believe that their ideas point to a new step forward. As I see it, Beck and Cowan described how dynamic social forces move societies up a spiral toward higher levels of perspective taking and faith development. Changes in commitment generate an oscillation between emphasizing primarily a concern for one's own self and one's status, a ME-orientation; and a primary emphasis based upon commitments to relationships with others within a community, a WE orientation. Generally individuals oscillate between the ME and WE orientations on their own, but at certain times a majority of the population in a nation might be caught up in either a ME or WE in synch with most other people in the population.

In other words, people and societies over time seem to oscillate between poles of Self-expression by an internally focused ME, (Survival, Power, Achievement, Flexibility, and Strengthening of Identities) to an opposite pole of Commitment and Self - Sacrifice to an externally focused WE, (Kinship, Supportive, Purposeful, Consensual, Global). In Beck and Cowan's view, this oscillation between ME and WE is not only a cyclical pattern, but progresses toward commitments to ever more transcendent perspectives. This oscillation, in my view, is the basis for their theory of Spiral Dynamics.

I believe that the oscillations in emphasis from Me to We provide the motivational energy that helps us progress up the spiral toward broader and more tolerant perspectives and a good relationship with one's transcendent, yet internalized, image of God. Relevant here is a quote from Albert Einstein that I mentioned in an earlier Section herein. "The significant problems we face can never be solved at the level of thinking that created them."

Beck & Cowan wrote that life conditions might awaken memes that emerge, surge, regress, or fade in response to dynamic interactions between our internal states and external worlds (p. 52 in Beck and Cowan). During the Presidential election campaigns of 2004, memes such as "pro-life", "freedom", and "democracy", were often used to corral and manipulate the thinking of voters. Memes are symbols that some people call "red flags" and others describe as like a catchy tune used by advertisers, a tune that sticks in your head.

Memes were described by Richard Dawkins, in his book, The Selfish Gene first published in 1976. I present from his Chapter 11, a descriptive paragraph below.

"Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ..." "Just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body via sperms or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation. If a scientist hears, or reads about, a good idea, he passed it on to his colleagues and students. He mentions it in his articles and his lectures. If the idea catches on, it can be said to propagate itself, spreading from brain to brain."

I recommend Dawkins' book.

Memes are used especially by talk radio hosts and in 15-second sound bytes. George Lakoff described how this is done. Lakoff, Moral Politics, a linguist has analyzed how people react to certain key words and symbols that arouse emotions rooted in their unconscious. These reactions cause some people to close their minds and they become unable to listen and think critically. Often, they do this subconsciously, without realizing how they are being manipulated. Such words and phrases such as: salvation, substitutionary atonement, Son of God, heaven, and hell are memes.

Susan Blackmore's presents a good understanding of memes in her book, The Meme Machine.

Memes zig-zag between Express-self and Sacrifice-self themes (p. 56 in Beck and Cowan). As I see it, Zig-zag is merely another term for oscillation.

The concept of how memes combine together in our brains to influence the dynamic spiral will spread quickly via the Internet and improve ways of thinking about interpersonal relationships, ideologies, religious faiths and more. Some societal and corporate leaders will use these ideas to corral our perspectives for their own advantage. Only a broad-based education system and a democratic system of justice and governance will save us from such leaders.

The ideas inherent in Spiral Dynamics can provide tribal societies, in today's world, with the memes that will enable them to progress up the spiral to more progressive levels without getting trapped by self-oriented and/or paranoid power seekers. To corral the macho-male leaders will be a formidable task. It might be up to the United Nations.

Is there a better metaphor than Me vs. We, one that calls a reader's attention to the foregoing? We need to consider improved metaphors for personal perspective and faith development on the one hand, and the family, community, national, and global scales on the other hand.

To spread peace, we must all work together to have people focus on being compassionate. We can do this if we expand our own worldviews or perspectives to include wider knowledge of diverse others. Only then can one be compassionate to the others in their own context. Relationships with such others are essential to broaden one's own perspectives. Thus, I believe that relationships with people at higher levels of perspective-taking precedes broadening one's perspectives. In other words, we climb the spiral staircase of commitment toward improved relationships with other people who have broader perspectives than we have.

There is a web posting by beliefnet wherein the Dalai Lama speaks about compassion, broadening perspectives and other key points related to the impact of relating to a caring other. His ideas fit in well with those I have included herein. It is accessible at:
Dalai Lama. It is reprinted by permission of Pocket Books, from How To Practice by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. It was translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph.D. copyright 2001. I recommend it highly.

To achieve this perspective we must first become committed to a relationship with the spirit of God that is associated with the Ultimate Perspective. In other words, I believe that humans can only broaden their perspective to the highest (ultimate) level by including as much of the Godly perspective in their own, even if this means anthropomorphizing the spirit of God in some way. We must internalize as much of the Godly Spirit as we can.

CAN THE COMING TOGETHER OF RELIGIONS CONTRIBUTE TO PEACEMAKING?

The foregoing ideas give me hope that Islam and Christianity will eventually come together. This can be achieved if religious leaders from these two Abrahamic faiths reinterpret the intent of the writing in their sacred books to clarify how the spirit of the One God works in all humans who early on received tender loving care from their mother and other care givers. People can be motivated to climb the spiral staircase and broaden their perspectives to some kind of saturation point, if they learn to understand better that the hardwired quest is present in most people. Related changes in interpreting, sacred stories require publics skilled in critical thinking. These stories can be brought down to simpler levels for those who are saturated with the complexity of complex systems of ideas and beliefs. People need access to guidance in consciousness-building practices that help them strive to climb higher up the ladder as they expand perspectives.

Profesor Willaim M. Timpson, in his book: Teaching and Learning Peace in Chapter 2, "Understanding Creativity and Conceptual Thinking" Provides some excellent examples of creative thinking.

An interesting description on the expansion of perspectives and consciousness is presented in Sections 7 and 8 of John Shelby Spong's book The Sins of Scripture. Spong discussed the historical development of epic stories in the Bible and detailed how the prophets played a role in this expansion of consciousness. We need to continue such expansions. Neale Donald Walsch in his book The New Revelations - A Conversation With God, and Hugh Sanborn, Editor of a book entitled, The Prophetic Call - Celebrating Community, Earth, Justice, and Peace each call for individuals and leaders of religious organizations to get involved in prophesy that updates interpretations of verses in the holy books. Chapters 2, 4, 9, 10, and 13 in Sanborn's book are relevant to peacemaking.

The last chapter in Charles Kimball's book When Religion Becomes Evil (2002) is optimistic about what must be done to achieve peace. His ideas are similar to mine though he focuses more on what religious leaders must do and my approach emphasizes a sociological perspective. He does not directly use the term broadening perspectives and ideas of spiral dynamics, but our paths crisscross each other. I used his book as the basis in courses at two senior citizen centers in 2003 - 04. I recommend it highly.

There is hope of overcoming the limitations of saturation which limits the scope of perspectives for many adults. That hope comes from Swarm Theory, an article in the National Geographic magazine for July 2007. The article, by Peter Miller, is also available on the web at:

[http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0707/feature5/index.html].

If we can use Swarm Theory to simulate the motions of schools of fish, ants, and bees, we can apply the idea to voters facing complex issues. Deborah Gordon, is quoted in the article as saying: "Ants aren't smart, Ant colonies are." Another sentence in the article follows. "The collective abilities of such animals—none of which grasps the big picture, but each of which contributes to the group's success—seem miraculous even to the biologists who know them best."

From the point of view of political parties and advertisers, Swarm Theories will be used by them to corral voters like ants. The hope for a peaceful world lies in using Swarm Theories to overcome the limits of saturation so that the quality of life for all people in societies will benefit, before corporations use Swarm Theories to corral purchasers of their products and lobbyists.

In sum, I believe that the greatest obstacle that we must learn to overcome is how to overcome the animalistic drives that emanate from our egos and overpower altruistic drives. In a foregoing section, I mentioned my posting: EGO VERSUS ALTRUISM. This short posting discusses how responses to fear - an ego-based drive - attracts supporters more quickly than do altruistic responses such as peacemaking. This difference makes it difficult for altruistic responses to counter ego-driven responses.

Managing one's identity is the biggest battle, especially in a technologically driven competitive consumerist society like the USA. We (our egos) are taught to always want more: higher status, praise, power, influence, money. That is what leads us away from peace and service to others. Pornography, rape, murder, violence, and other immoral acts are boosted by television and the internet. So called freedom of speech and the press has become severely distorted. Where is justice?

Yet, if we are to do God's work in this world, we need the scientific and technical knowledge to help manage Mother Nature and our Natural Environment. We need to balance our population growth rate with the available food and water supply. Overpopulation throughout history has led to fighting over access to land and natural resources.

READINGS ON PEACEMAKING

At this point, I must recommend a book, Teaching and Learning Peace by Professor William M. Timpson. It is a book for school teachers and others who wish to guide their students to face differences and the need for change in ways that do not lead to hatred, conflict, and violence. It helps people work together in peaceful ways to understand and appreciate each others perspectives. Timpson has traveled the world and participated in conferences where differences are overcome in ways that build peaceful habits and do not turn on fearful ego responses. He has led teach-ins, group sessions, and workshops wherein people can bridge differences constructively. I recommend his book most highly. It is most needed by religious and political leaders around the world, school teachers and others who face controversy and raw emotions at meetings and in classrooms.

Timpson, on page 148 mentions: "Lithuanian churches were largely silent as local residents did the bidding of their Nazi overlords and persecuted their Jewish neighbors." He asks: "Just what was taught from the Lithuanian pulpits and during their Sunday school lessons?"

Scott Appleby's book The Ambivalence of the Sacred, in his second chapter goes into depth describing the apparent inaction of "religious actors" in the former Yugoslavia. They did not openly demand that Milosevic stop atrocities by Serbs against Roman Catholic Croatians and Muslim Bosnians. Many people were killed, their homes and crops destroyed, and their churches and mosques destroyed. Clerics decried the atrocities upon their own followers in faith, and sometimes made general statements about violence, but seldom if ever demanded a halt to their own followers committing violence against others in specific instances. Were they afraid they'd be jailed or killed? Did they feel that their own followers, many of whom seldom went to the tradition-bound religious services, would not support them? Or did they just not extend the compassion that is so highly valued by followers of all three faiths? What role did abuse by others centuries ago play in their failure to act with conviction, against violence in particular and in general? Appleby discusses these and related questions.

The foregoing recalls Hugh Sanborn's book, The Prophetic Call which urges religious leaders to speak out.

For a short summary of the main ideas herein, see my posting: A Transition To ONE World Faith. It is under 400 words long.

CONCLUSIONS

I believe that the coming together of the world's major religious faiths, though it involves significant reinterpretations of old sacred books, is feasible with concerted effort. We have learned much in the last few decades about broadening perspectives and organizing experiences wherein small groups can be led to help people think critically and overcome the fear associated with small perspectives and saturation in an increasingly complex global world. Religious organizations can help lead the way to overcoming the demoralization associated with consumerist belief systems, weapon systems that are increasingly deadly, unbalancing Mother Nature, and empire building.

OTHER READING RECOMMENDATIONS

I highly recommend Marlene Winell's book, Leaving The Fold, (especially Chapter 14) as one example of improving skills in critical thinking.

I recommend highly a book entitled Heaven on Earth, The Rise and Fall of Socialism. Joshua Muravchik, the author, has provided a very readable summary of the rise and fall of socialism. He starts with the work of Robert Owen whose settlement - New Harmony, I toured in June 2006. Then he summarizes the important leaders of the socialist and communist movements in very clear descriptions of their lives, their roles in the political parties, and the contexts of their times. His last pages 333-334 are especially good, ending with a discussion of zealotry and coercion among socialists. This book points out the need for spiritual aspects in the building of socially conscious and compassionate societies. Organizations without built in spiritual motivators lead to totalitarian forms.

Another recommendation is Michael Lerner's book The Left Hand of God - Taking Back Our Country From The Religious Right He has done a lot of research on many of the issues that I have written about. He blends together the basis of spirituality - true compassion and community, in contrast to ego-dominated competitive striving to accumulate symbols of status, achievement, material goods, and the like.

A book that is very relevant here is: The Good Society by Robert Bellah, It focuses on defining institutions and the need to change institutions. It includes a good description of applied social science merged with individual and community action, conversation, expanding pluralist perspectives, and the like. Chapter 3, The Political Economy: Market and Work, written over 16 years ago, includes much discussion about the decline of a public economy, indirect consequences of private economic activities, consumption and the like. Chapter 6, The Public Church discusses changes among religious denominations and their role in strengthening communities to help keep America moral in the context of consumerism and ego-striving. It is the practices and norms of religious traditions that should strengthen faith and trust in relationships to different levels of caring and loving others.

The Robert Bellah Reader, published in October 2006, Edited by Robert N. Bellah and Steven M. Tipton includes 28 chapters from Bellah's essays and provided me a clearly written history of the evolution of religion through 5 stages and its relation to politics. I highly recommend this book.


For a detailed discussion of the many considerations that are involved in peacemaking, see my book, Countering Polarization that will be published this Spring of 2008. That book discusses stages of faith and moral development, eight ever broader levels of perspective taking, managing personal identities, and what we must do to decrease polarization in legislatures, among the general public, within church congregations, and in the political sphere. It also presents many examples of peacemaking that have been successful or hold promise of contributing to peace. One of the essential components of peacemaking is broadening perspectives in ways that help governmental and religious leaders change traditions and institutions.

My E-book Reality and Faith provides a more detailed discussion of some of the ideas discussed in this E-book.

My short posting Working Toward Peace by Balancing Commitments to Narrow and Wide Perspectives provides a discussion of how saturated selves in our complex and diverse society create problems with managing our identities and how to help people balance commitments to global-scale communities and causes on the one hand and to parochial communities on the other hand.

I recommend the following two postings. One is an interview with the Dalai Lama and the other excerpts from his writings. The first is accessible at: Interview. It is from Inside Out - Interview by Spalding Gray reprinted from the Fall 1991 issue of Tricycle: The Buddhist Review (premier issue).

The second is accessible at: Dalai Lama. It is reprinted by permission of Pocket Books, from How To Practice by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Translated and Edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph.D. copyright 2001.

My related bibliography that I continue to update is accessible at: Bibliography.

A short biography of Charles Notess is accessible at: Personal Background.

See other postings by Charles Notess at: Postings.

© Copyright: by Charles Notess, 2006-07-08. "Fair use" encouraged.