About Me

How do we understand human nature?

I am an ex-science teacher so I believe in using logic, reasoning and truth to understand the physical world. I was once a fully paid up Christian of various shades, but too many difficult questions were swept under the carpet. When I lifted the carpet I realised I needed to do a big re-think,

God is a word for a mystery that no word can properly capture. There is no agreed definition of G-o-d .As Richard Feynman said: "If you think you understand quantum mechanics, you don't understand quantum mechanics." and the same goes for G-o-d. Best not to use any word at all unless you want to tell us EXACTLY who or what G. is. The existence of G-o-d cannot be proved in any logical sense.

Religions are made by humans to try and make sense of the non-physical nature of man. There are many religions and many sub-branches of these religions so clearly no one has the answer. Even if they think they have.

Everyone has two sides to their nature, the selfish and the unselfish. I think of these as the physical and the spiritual. The first is the realm of science and equations, the second is ultimately a mystery but involves our moral being (conscience), our altruism and the feeling we have that part of the jigsaw is missing. I do believe there is reason for me personally to think my spiritual nature survives my physical death. You must decide for yourself.

We do not see things as they are but see things as we are (Talmud)
The final authority for what we belive about anything rests with our own brain, because we choose who or what to believe. Many unfortunately do not believe in the overwhelming evidence for evolution because they consider their holy book forbids it. But they have chosen with their own brain to put the words of that book above science. 

Jesus' teaching is an impossible challenge - but he's right.  

I am intrigued by Jesus and his teaching but hold at arms length the theology surrounding him.  He proclaimed a set of values he called the Kingdom of Heaven that seem to me to be right, though very much at odds with our day-to-day existence and impossible to fully live by. These values are independent of any supernatural belief system. 

Jesus was a Jew but in conflict with the authorities of his day. He had no problem with the G-word, he simply considered God to be his father.