Be not afraid.

Fear is evil.

Faith is GOoD!

So Long, For Now

One of the benefits of being liberated from organized religion is that there is no strict liturgical calendar to observe. I will observe Easter on the same day as western Christians and am looking forward to spending the Holy Week leading up to it with my family in Billings. As far as my Lenten musings, however, today is different in that—after eleven years in downtown Las Vegas—our office is relocating to the east side. That is a closure of sorts, and so I have decided to make this post a journal of my thoughts throughout the process. Whether or not I’ll have the opportunity for lunch hour blogging in our new location remains to be seen.

It’s about time to go to my last lunch at the Strip Sandwich Shop (yes, some of the 9/11 terrorists ate there) for my last crack at the second best chef’s salad in the world (yes, Mary makes the best). I’ve already made my last trip to the Bank of America Starbucks which I will sorely miss (there’s nothing within walking distance of the new location; entrepreneurs, take note). It’s not easy saying goodbye to things that have been such a part of my life for so many years, and I think that fact is germane to the subject of death, as well. That’s part of the unknown that either generates fear or faith.

It’s now an hour-and-a-half from quitting time. My cubicle is packed and ready to be moved. There are seven boxes to be moved to Greystone and two boxes to take home. It has been interesting sorting through eleven years of accumulation, most of which is headed for the shredder. It’s the end of one era and the beginning of another. That seems to be what the conservation of energy is all about.

Living to Die

I am, to the best of my ability, attempting to explain our view of death and how it affects the way we think and behave. To the absolutists (which I consider rare) death is the end, period. I have speculated that such a belief robs life of any meaning other than mere existence. With such an outlook anything goes because you experience life while you have it and before you lose it. Regardless of what many say outwardly, I’m of the opinion that this point of view is widely held and serves to explain both amoral and immoral behavior.

There is, of course, a second version of absolutism which focuses its certainty upon the life to come after death. Empirically speaking, such belief is subjective and extremely vulnerable to fabrication by those who seek power. For how many centuries have Christians been urged to contemplate their reward in heaven or their punishment in hell? Both are fictitious constructs which have no scientific validity which perhaps explains in part the supposed enmity between science and religion.

Then there are those who, like myself, do not know. I do not know what happens when I die. All I know for sure is that I will. Anxiety is the product of fear of the unknown. That’s why absolutism—or fundamentalism—offers such a powerful antidote by providing concrete explanations of what happens when we die. From my study of Scripture, particularly the New Testament, I do not find that Jesus ever explained what happens when we die. I have suggested my own opinion that what Jesus did proclaim was analogous to the law of conversation of energy with an eye to the transformation that occurs when energy changes state.

Jesus never promised that we won’t die. Jesus never promised that good people would go to heaven and bad people would go to hell. What Jesus did promise was that we are going to die, and that death is a new beginning. Paramount to his teachings, however, was that we should not fear death anymore than we fear life. They are both part of the same process. When fear is replaced by faith, death is to be welcomed to the same degree as life. This, for me, is the revelation of the Christ: I am living to die, and the quality of both experiences will be governed either by my fear or my faith.

Come Die with Me

That I’m not able to find the passage I’m looking for in the time permitted should probably be telling me that I’ve already overused my references to the Bible. Therefore, let it suffice to say that I am of the opinion that Jesus was preaching the conservation of energy long before science discovered the law. The Easter story is one of resurrection, not resuscitation. Knowing that death is not the end empowered Jesus to live without fear, an admonition he repeatedly passed on to this followers. We know we’re going to die. We know that’s not the end. That knowledge should profoundly affect the way we use this precious gift called life as we welcome our destiny.

Not the End

As I watched President Obama address the Democrats last Saturday, I was moved to tweet and FB this passage from the Gospel According to Matthew 25:30-40. In that context it was to show agreement with the notion that there are times when what is right and true must be done, regardless the personal cost. In the context of today’s post, the same passage applies to support the argument being developed here this Lent that death is not the end, only the point of transformation. True to Matthean style, whatever it is that follows entails a moral component subject to judgment. “When the Son of Man comes in his glory” is the clue which alerts the reader to an exposition of a belief which is subject to perception and interpretation. What appears to be not as subjective is the conviction that death is not the end. As we draw ever nearer to Easter 2010, it is my prayer that this profound truth may be found worthy of closer examination.

POTATO VALLEY WITH R&K...

...nuff said!

A Pointed Pericope

If I have any gifts, inciting people to respond is definitely not one of them. I suppose yesterday’s exercise in trying to interest people in New Testament texts was a stretch, but not being one to learn from the past I will try it again. Today’s passage is again from The Gospel According to Luke (is anyone seeing a pattern develop?) which infers that something of the human spirit continues on after death. A very legitimate question is whether or not this inference is telling of the authors’ worldviews more than Jesus’, but it is the basic material with which we have to work. You be the judge. Is the tale of The Rich Man and Lazarus intended to bestow upon the reader anything more than the classical Jewish guilt trip?

What Do You Think?

It should really come as no surprise to those familiar with the gospel texts of the New Testament to learn that there was debate within the Judaism of the time about life after death. Some interpreted death to be the end of things while others posited an afterlife of some sort. Naturally, this debate colored the thinking of the early Church which started out as a Jewish sect. Those of us living now ironically may have a more objective view of Scripture than those living at the time it was written. I personally find the gospel texts to be supportive of the position that Jesus leaned in the direction of a life to come following the present. I invite you to read this passage from the Gospel According to Luke 12.13-23 and then cast your “ballot” as to whether you agree or disagree.

A Very Hard Habit to Break

Beheaded Vikings found at Olympic site

By Melissa Gray, CNN

March 12, 2010 1:52 p.m. EST

There May Be A Reason

Being the penultimate unknown justifiably makes death a thing that most people don’t want to talk about. On the other hand, however, it does strike me as somewhat strange that the human mind doesn’t exhibit a greater curiosity with regard to the inescapable destiny of any living thing. Mom gave me Alan Watts’ The Wisdom of Insecurity many years ago, and I have long been impressed by the distinction he makes between “belief” and “faith”. In my own humble words, Watts supposes that beliefs are what we want them to be (e.g. what heaven is going to be like after I die), as opposed to faith which allows us to accept the unknowable, sort of like an antidote for anxiety. I was just thinking yesterday about how far removed I have become from the ministry, and how that distance creates an understandable credibility gap, especially with regard to things religious. But my faith is still, and always has been, deeply rooted in those things I learned and those things I taught myself about the life and teachings of Jesus. I have devoted myself to the quest of trying to understand what about the Nazarene’s life and death so captures the human soul. I cannot deny that the revelations of Moses, Mohammad, Buddha and Vishnu have equally stimulated human consciousness, and the thread that they all have in common—or so it seems to me—is that living should primarily be about dying. We have no guarantee that we will pass this way again (my apology to reincarnationists) and simply to fear the unknown does not justify ignoring it. In the remaining days of Lent I hope to share some of the scriptural passages describing Jesus and his teachings that I believe are intended to instruct us in the art of living to die.

I've been too busy living...

...to write about dying. Perhaps I'll do better tomorrow.

The Proverbial Fork in the Road

This Lenten journey has reached a juncture. If Occam’s razor theory is applied, then the simplest solution is that death is the absolute end of life. With nothing before or after it, life justifiably considers Hedonism’s practicality. The “greed is good” doctrine holds sway because there is no need for penance unless one gets “caught”. Even then, it is well worth the risk because when life ends, it’s all over (Bernie Madoff comes to mind).


The law of conservation of energy, however, complicates the simplest solution. In order to believe that life abruptly and completely ends forever must discount the role of energy in human existence. This I am not inclined to do because the empiricism of science has all but proved that humans emanate energy. The pseudo-schism between religion and science is created in part by the irrefutable conclusions drawn from the scientific process while religion has no such methodology (i.e. theologically prove or disprove that God exists by tests that can be reproduced by others).


So, this may be the parting of the ways between those who consider death to be an absolute finality and those who consider it to be a transformation. The former have no need to read further. The latter might want to decide whether or not they’re up to the increased anxiety.

I Don’t Know

It is perfectly rational for the sentient mind which has recognized and accepted its impending death to wonder what the experience is like. It is perfectly irrational to fabricate some sort of scenario. For centuries Christianity has purported to know the answer, and it is not alone. One of the great creature comforts that religion seems to offer is an explanation of what happens when we die. Reincarnation, escaping the wheel of life, myriads of virgins and streets paved with gold are but a few of the visions put forth by the various religions of the world. And yet, to be empirically honest, no one knows. Let me repeat that: no one knows. I am highly suspicious of anyone who claims otherwise. Even the resurrection of the Christ (which most progressive scholars distinguish from the resuscitation of Jesus) does not provide any details concerning what happens after death. At best, Christianity joins many other faith traditions in asserting that death is not the end and that something—again, nobody knows what—continues on. This is the assertion that finds scientific credence in the law of energy conservation. Science does not speculate on how energy is transformed from one state to another, only that it is, and we mortals would do well to do the same. So, the truth of the matter is that each and every human being is faced with a choice: do I believe that death is the absolute end, or do I believe that death is the beginning of something else? I close today by suggesting that every person on the planet is consciously or unconsciously driven by their answer.

Today's Hymn

The Second Sitting For The Last Supper

Another fish head in the dustbin
Another loser in the queue for the soup kitchen
Another reason for a visit
We think you'd better come down
Another nigger on the woodpile
Another honky on the dole
Another trip from off the 15th floor
The greatest story ever told
Was so wrong, so wrong
'Cos you promised milk and honey
With an everlasting life
And we listened with our ears closed
And a blindness in our eyes
But we heard them as they nailed you
And we saw you crucified
The second coming of the Holy Ghost
We need a pocketful of miracles
Two thousand years and he ain't shown yet
We kept his seat warm and the table set
The second sitting for the Last Supper
Another Guru in the money
Another mantra in the mail
An easy way from rags to riches
God's little acre's up for sale
The time is right for ressurection
We think you'd better come down
The church don't ring with hallelujahs
You haven't been for so long
So long, so long
Two thousand years and he ain't shown yet
We kept his seat warm and the table set
The second sitting for the Last Supper

If I Only Knew What I Think I Know

Before one more person is killed, I think that the killer should be required to explain the consequences of her/his action. What gives her or him the right to extinguish a life that cannot be recreated by human hands? I suspect that the common rationale is that killing someone stops them from doing whatever you don’t want them to do. More honestly, there might be an admission that it enables the killer to take something he or she wants away from the killed (spell check just isn’t buying killee). The annals of history—including the Bible—are filled with justifications based on what God wants. We humans kill with abandon, but I would suggest that it is in the context of denial about death. The ethic of mutual reciprocity (the Judeo-Christian Golden Rule) creates a new perspective when applied: let me kill another as I would like to be killed by them. The “final solution” is anything but, and nothing demonstrates that more clearly than the Christian story of passion and crucifixion. Those who crucified Jesus were hoping to shut him up. They hoped to intimidate his followers to the extent that they would shut up. Two-thousand years later we don’t seem to have yet learned the lesson that imposed death is not a solution to anything. This grave error in human judgment is compounded by the unknown variable introduced by the conservation of energy. The life extinguished didn’t just go away, it simply changed state. There may be more than bleeding heart sentimentality behind the commandment, “You shall not murder.”

It Just Won't Go Away

The law of conservation of energy is an empirical law of physics. If one disputes that human beings are forms of energy, then this law has no application to the discussion of life and death. If, however, one accepts that we are fundamentally energy, then it profoundly affects the way we perceive and understand death. Until the emergence of scientific empiricism, most matters were subject to speculation, indoctrination and dogma. Is there a God? Yes, because religion says there is. Can the existence of God be empirically proven? We are left with the highly abstract process of defining God, but as the first cosmonauts pronounced, no old man on a throne is to be found in the firmament. If there is such a thing as immortality for humans, it will be discovered in the context of the conservation of energy. That means the energy we house in the present existed prior to our birth and will continue on after our death. Beyond that, however, little more can be said because energy is not always sentient. Humans are sentient energy, capable of perceiving, interpreting, and forecasting thought in palpable ways, but as we consider the process of living to die it would seem at least prudent to consider the implications. Consider World War II. When all those people died, where did the energy go? Just because we don’t know the answer doesn’t mean that we should not pay attention to the question. The very quality of life that we enjoy or suffer may depend on it.

Today’s Hymn:

At the end of the end
It’s the start of a journey to a much better place
And this wasn’t bad
So a much better place would have to be special
No need to be sad

On the day that I die, I’d like jokes to be told
And stories of old to be rolled out like carpets
That children have played on and laid on
While listening to stories of old

At the end of the end
It’s the start of a journey to a much better place
And a much better place would have to be special
No reason to cry

On the day that I die, I’d like bells to be rung
And songs that were sung to be hung out like blankets
That lovers have played on and laid on
While listening to songs that were sung

At the end of the end
It’s the start of a journey to a much better place
And a much better place would have to be special
No reason to cry, no need to be sad
At the end of the end

Song by: Paul McCartney
From the album: Memory Almost Full
Released: 06/04/07

A Word to Know-It-Alls

As a rule, birth is celebrated and death is mourned. What both have in common is that the perception and interpretation is always by those already living. Science has a way of reducing everything down to the irreducible, but even the biological explanation of the sperm fertilizing the egg does little to answer the question, where did I come from? Likewise, the cessation of vital signs doesn’t even begin to answer the question, where am I going? Science is not designed to deal with such questions. We can artificially inseminate, gestate, and even clone, but we are not one whit closer to explaining where the human “spirit” comes from. And by the same token, we have no “hard” facts—which are the purview of science—to prove or disprove that such a thing even exists. When “what you can see, hear, smell, taste or touch” governs the scope of the exploration, there is no sense in speculating about the unprovable. Hence, it doesn’t matter to science where we came from or where we are going because it cannot be proven (by mortal means). The one “fact” which science has “proven” germane to this discussion, however, is the conservation of energy: it is neither created nor destroyed but only changes state. It is widely accepted that the human body harnesses a degree of energy from the time that it is born to the time it dies. Thus faith and science can be seen to agree upon at least this one thing: birth and death are transformational. We consciously experience what lies between those two points, but that should not fool us into believing that we know what it’s all about.