Logic Puzzles: Extremists, Goals, and Positive Change

Many are confronted with the idea of extremism when they watch the news, or get updated on current events through some means. Extremism, especially of the religious kind, gets a spotlight, certainly when these issues occur on the other side of the globe. Few understand that these extremists are a minority, no matter what manner of faith they claim to hold onto. Even if you group up all such people of all religions, they do not represent the evil in the world, nor a majority.

Extremism is not limited to religion. It exists in religion, politics, business, war, and far more. It is about pursuing a cause so far as to make the end justify the means. It is about changing or ignoring your morals (or the higher morals of others) in order to get what you want. The reckless pursuit of goals is what this is all about, and it is a trait so broad that it goes beyond harming other people. To be labeled an extremist, one usually requires long-term dedication toward a particular goal, or uses means that are a cause for concern. There are both long-term and short-term extremists.

A long-term extremist is usually labeled as such when an unnecessary amount of time has been spent in the pursuit of their goal. It is considered unnecessary when the approach is short-sighted or has lost its effectiveness. Another example would be doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result. A short-term extremist can be labeled as such when their support for a cause is quickly problematic, though their approach may not change for a long period as well. Short-term extremists can become long-term extremists, though it is not always the case that long-term extremists cause problems in the short-run.

Extremism is a trait often practiced when people believe they are more important than others. It can exist when one's goals appear greater than another person's. Extremism can exist when one goal outshines all others. It can be when all other goals cease to exist. Taking things to the extreme means one fails to account for the relativity of the goal or cause. It is the failure to account for exceptions to one's own perspective. This lack in judgement can exist for a few seconds, or it can last for years, but no matter the duration, it is something that is actually quite common in society. Whether you are cheating on a math test, shoving people in a crowded store on Black Friday, or mugging others in order to pay a hospital bill, you are practicing a form of extremism.

So how does one reduce extremism in society? Focusing on removing examples of it is not a long-term solution. What counteracts extremism in the long-run is a lasting antithesis. In other words, it is a lasting example of the same goal being achieved through better means, or it is proof that a goal cannot be met, especially with the means taken by the extremist in question.

Reducing the capability for extremism to appear is one thing, spending all of one's resources on hunting down extremism is another. The latter is in itself is a form of extremism. This means that only focusing on the evil in the world in order to remove said evil does not rid the world of evil. In order to not become what you stand against, there must be an even greater amount of effort put towards creating good.

If a single cause is being pursued via different means (both positive and negative), then one should focus more on boosting the positive than fighting the negative. Fixating oneself on tempered positive change is a way of resisting the extreme, the negative and the barbaric. One must remember that resources are always limited, and if so much is wasted on combating evil or error, than not enough can be spent on positive means toward positive causes. You cannot tip the scale in your favor if all you ever do is remove the other person's weights. Your cause soon becomes balance, but that balance is a representation of the status quo in the real world, and problems do not not normally solve themselves.

Analysis of the Self: The Logic of Reasoning, the Experience of Stimuli

Seeing is believing. Well, not necessarily. Believing is a thing of personal choice, and the eye can be deceptive. The body's senses can be broken down into bits of information, and it is up to the individual to understand the context of that information. If the context is misunderstood, an incorrect inference will likely form. This post is not just about the philosophical ideas of what reality is all about, but the necessity of understanding the information the brain receives.

In order to fully understand a picture, you must know who took it, how it was taken, why it was taken, what is being shown, and what possible conclusions can be made from what has been seen. Without the first and second bit of information, you do not understand the picture's origin. Without the third, you do not understand the picture's reason for existence. Without the fourth, you do not understand what you are seeing. Without the fifth, you cannot gain as much knowledge from the experience or know how your knowledge would compare to another's. All of these bits of information are necessary for drawing an accurate conclusion, one which verifies the right ideas gained from the experience. This new piece of information that is created by the individual can now be used to construct the premises needed to reach related conclusions or form relating ideas.

This interpretation of information is the first step of the cycle that is human experience. The next is goal formation, which creates determiners of choice using past stimuli received and interpreted. Future goals then influence what stimuli is created in the final step of goal progression (or human interaction), as well as how future stimuli is perceived during the first phase. This is the basic structure of the Unified Theory of Human Experience.

It is important to remember that things are not always true when they appear logical, and things are not always untrue when they appear illogical. These laws exist because we do not possess perfect information. Logic helps us reach reasonable conclusions, but it does not always help us know if either the conclusion or premises are true. We must not only use our knowledge, but our experience, to form our opinions about various topics. In other words, wisdom and insight are needed to compensate for human imperfection.

Recent Ideas: Perfect Judgement, Perfect Mercy

Judgement, or justice, is an obsession of mankind. Yet fair judgement is rare, and perfect judgement impossible. Few consider every aspect needed to be the perfect judge. A frequent saying is as follows: people judge themselves for their intentions, and judge others for their actions. While largely true, this does not hint at perfect justice, because perfect justice requires information that cannot be gathered by human hands. The following is a list of the minimum requirements for perfect judgement:

1. Perfect knowledge of intentions -- knowing what the individual is trying to accomplish and why.
2. Perfect knowledge of actions -- knowing everything the individual did and likely will do.
3. Perfect knowledge of short-term results -- knowing everything which resulted right after a person's actions.
4. Perfect knowledge of long-term results -- knowing everything which resulted long after a person's actions, including the potentials of the future.
5. Perfect alignment with the highest of universe values -- making decisions in accordance with the will of God.

Only God and the Ancients of Days are capable of accessing this kind of data and making the best decision. Humans can attempt to be just, and occasionally they will make the best decision possible, but humans cannot access the vast knowledge required to make the right decision every time.

Speaking of judgement brings me to the topic of mercy, though I believe I have written about this previously. I will define mercy as the following: the reduction in sentence, the removal of a sentence, the stalling of judgement, or the removal of judgement. The requirements for granting perfect mercy has a similar list of minimum attributes:

1. Perfect knowledge of intentions.
2. Perfect knowledge of actions.
3. Perfect knowledge of all potentials being made actuals as a result of the person's decisions.
4. Perfect alignment with the highest values.
5. Perfect knowledge of all potentials being made actuals as a result of mercy.
6. Perfect knowledge of the person's past growth and future potential.

It must be stated though that God cannot always be merciful. Mercy is something that is earned. If mercy was granted to everyone unconditionally, then there could never be justice in the universe. Evil would remain forever. It falls upon God to make the tough decision whether a person (which God instinctively loves) deserves to keep existing or to serve in a particular manner. God must read the soul, and decide what to do in result of an individual's free will decisions. However, there also exists a dual reality where a person is judged by both God and the individual in question, so that the sentence is jointly recognized as fair. The person is granted the ability to see the truth of the matter from which God operates (I believe through the Infinite Spirit). Perhaps mercy is applied in a more automated fashion, the same way actions are known to be right or wrong, or perhaps it is more the role of the Creator Son to provide mercy to the individual while the Ancients of Days recognize how this person would normally be sentenced.

New Ideas: My Father's Temple

I have violence on the brain. I am a young adult, and have had my fill of it throughout life. Violence is simply a part of human culture, even though it's not supposed to be. It is our history and our ongoing present. It is watched on television, heard through music, and enacted digitally through video games. Admittedly, I have enjoyed all of these activities. I have probably been as physically violent as the average person, though far less so as I have aged. I am thoroughly entrenched in a world that cannot seem to escape the grip of violence, whether it is all too real, or simply worshiped through entertainment.

This aspect of society and human nature is not just an old necessity from early history that we have failed to shake off. It is a remnant of the Lucifer Rebellion and its lasting hold on this planet. It is a force that blinds us, granting the temporal illusion of power and strength. Its lingering existence will continue on while man remains ignorant of his relationship with all other humans and with God.

The human body is the Father's temple. It holds a fragment of the Father, and this fragment experiences all that the human personality does. As long as the Adjuster is present, one's body is a holy site which houses the divine. Even those without an Adjuster still hold the God-granted personality, so these bodies may still act as shrines erected by the Father, holding within them the most precious gift we have received. I do not mean that we should idolize the body, but to treat it with the respect it deserves.

I have written about violence a few times before. To me, it is pretty much any threat to any type of survival -- something necessary for properly functioning in this world. In summary, violence is a threat to a being's ability to thrive, and thriving includes quite a number of possibilities. Ultimately, violence on a human level represents man neglecting God's gifts and God's presence. It is an attack on the Father and the human He indwells. It is a rejection of the Father's will, for the Father cannot help an individual grow spiritually if the human's life or means of survival are on the line.

When a person truly understands the significance of these details, it is clear that hurting another is a direct act against God and a clear roadblock to spiritual perfection that must be dealt with over time. Hurting another becomes spiritual baggage that we carry. Receiving mercy does not remove this load, it just makes us strong enough to deal with the weight that we must slowly remove -- replacing misdeeds with good deeds that outweigh the negative mark we leave ourselves with.

Understanding the severity of violence requires one to understand the realm of potentials. I have written on potentials and actuals before, and it is a lesson that must be learned in order to understand the importance of God's will, free will and both willful and ignorant selfishness. The immense possibilities of the future are in the direct hands of each person. No environment is a vacuum. Even actions that affect no one else on a physical or mental level may have a spiritual impact down the road. One can slightly impact their environment, creating no observable influence in one lifetime, but can act as a small contributing factor to an event further in the future that is unforeseeable. Both positive and negative actions can create lasting change. This change may not be noticed, but its effects can last forever, soul death being a very serious example.

I wished to write about this topic of violence when I realized that I could care so little about fake violence, brutality and gore, but become incredibly distraught by the real thing. I realize now that there is such enormity to one cruel act because it is a lasting image of ungodliness, of barbarism, that impacts many in time. I realize now that seeing another injured, even from a wound he or she can heal from, is a form of vandalism against one of God's many temples and against one of His children which He cherishes deeply. I realize now that my empathy for other people extends down, not just to their personality, soul or Thought Adjuster, but to their very cells. I realize now that the remaining roots of the Lucifer Rebellion, which shall be uprooted from the earth, have clung onto things I came to enjoy. These things are all examples of my own imperfections (noticing them so late). They are examples of the poorer qualities of my race (many not noticing at all). However, I know that I shall be made anew, and hopefully then, I can put these troubles of temporal struggle behind me.

Analysis of the Self: Reducing Depression

I personally battled through depression while growing up, and I am almost convinced it is one of those things most battle as a teenager, alongside the swings between apathy and emotional outbursts. There are many possible reasons for depression, including a chemical imbalance in the brain that may only be dealt with using a certain medication. I am no psychiatrist, so I do not know what medicine is best under what circumstance, but I have an idea on how to deal with depression when it is based on one's personal experiences. This comes with a three-part solution: improving your thought process, emotional stability and physical health.


Thought Process:

One aspect of depression is the inability to reach goals, or the feeling of it at least (i.e. powerlessness). As the individual receives and perceives stimuli, there is an inner reaction of thought which takes the perception of stimuli and uses it to form goals for the self. When an individual reaches a state of goal formation, action is taken to get closer to reaching that goal. The action then creates new stimuli for the individual to receive and perceive. Stimuli can come from the said  individual directly, from another person or from the environment itself.

Improving the underlying thought process requires one to understand how they perceive stimuli and how this impacts their behavior. After knowing how the behavior is impacted, one can now observe if said behavior actually gets one closer to personal goals, short-term or long-term. One should also analyze the value of the goals, the steps to achieving them and the time needed to perform those steps. Reasons for depression include not having valuable goals and not having a clear method of attaining goals. Changing how one thinks and acts can fix the latter dilemma. The former issue requires one to look at their personal value system and decide what it means to have a satisfactory life. Goals should then be built around that model.

Emotional Stability:

Depression can act as a form of emotional instability, where the feelings of the self can contradict with experiences or the environment. Bipolar disorder (manic depression) may be seen as an intense form of this, but I do not have experience in this area. If one's personal situation or environment is negative, then they can act as the source of the depression, and fixing these issues (if possible) is the best method. If a contradiction is involved, meaning one is depressed when they shouldn’t be, then this is either a physical (chemical/hormonal), mental or spiritual problem. These issues are ailments of the present which are not influenced by present (outward) circumstances, but they may still be circumstantial in that they are impacted by past situations. Physical issues dealing with the brain itself can be improved with physical health, as mentioned in the last section. Mental problems can likely be improved using the advice in the first section. Spiritual problems will be explained next.

One source of depression (which I call a spiritual problem) is a lack of love, whether it is for the self, for others or from others. Loving the self requires self-forgiveness as well as balance. One should not reach for selfishness. Loving others is a form of spiritual connection between people, and is necessary for not only learning selflessness, but the joy of service as well. However, receiving love is needed at first in order to give/show love. Without a beginning source, an individual simply cannot learn how to properly use the heart, and perhaps not even the conscience. Opening yourself up to God's love is a solution, but is difficult for those who did not receive proper love from their parents. Finding a soulmate may help correct this issue, but romance itself is not what is needed. Another spiritual issue is a lack of perceived beauty, whether that beauty involves your inner/outer self, others, or once again, the environment you must function in. The last spiritual issue involves ones comprehension of truth. This is involved with the thought process mentioned above, and is rooted in a person's beliefs, ideals and morals. Depression could be caused by not measuring up to personal standards. It could be from not knowing the way to move forward. It could even be from not knowing what to believe.

Ultimately, improving emotional stability is about controlling your response to what you experience. There are two sides to this same coin: thought response and emotion response. One must understand what comes first – thought or emotion – and then focus on if the thought or emotion should be adjusted. Improving thoughts involves learning, planning and practice. Improving emotions involves searching for what causes the imbalance and fixing that imbalance. This may involve a lot of trial and error.

Physical Health:

This requires a combination of physical exercise and nutrition. Body mass may play a factor in the depression, but the point of exercise and a good diet is not meant to solely fix this issue. A healthy mind comes with a healthy body, and a healthy body requires a minimum amount of movement and balanced food. However, I am not a nutritionist, nor am I a physical education instructor, so you will have to do a little personal research.

Recent Ideas: The Time Pyramid

Occasionally I try to develop a model of time that can help explain both the human and celestial perspective. It’s a bit difficult for someone stuck in concrete linear time that only has one particular experience of the now moment. ABC-22 has attempted to describe the different layers of time before, as well as how the midwayers utilize the band of time they exist in, and I have attempted to figure it out a bit at a time (pun unintended).

At one point I thought of a possible clock/watch design that could show these different bands of time at once, showing the time of the linear “now” moment, along with the stretch of time the celestials could be inhabiting. In my mind, this was done through the display of various rings or concentric circles (with different colors) and time measurements on the side. I wasn’t sure if I was imagining something from science fiction or a real morontia machine, but either way, it didn’t really solve the issue of understanding time from a higher perspective. The original posts:

"This was a quick dive into my imagination. I was rethinking the circle, which became the front of a cylinder. I began looking at its side and rolling it. How can I change these dimensions? I saw the top, bottom and side at once. The shape was collapsing in on itself. I switched it around and thought of a clock. A shape always expanding, like zooming into fractal geometry. This was a time device. The shape expanded on the front and collapsed in on itself in the back, but it was completely flat. There were no sides. The expanding image showed the current time. Every measurement of time on the face could be maneuvered in. This was a representation of time bands, all aspects of the now constantly in motion, expanding outward. It was like a colored radar, but instead of a single line moving around the screen, circles pulsed out from the center. This was a multidimensional time travel watch."

"It has this dual function where each hour appears as a circle (creating a long "ping") expanding from the center. When the hour (let's say 7:00) reaches the outer edge, it disappears as 8:00 appears in the middle. There would be a horizontal measurement of the minutes. When used from a higher time band, the circle would then represent how much of our time a person could manipulate (go back and forth through). For this form, there would be a fixed circle in the middle used for human time. The individual's time would be represented by another circle. If the second circle gets closer to the middle dot, they are going back in time. If the circle expands closer to the outside, they are moving into the future."

"I had a new idea for the item. What I wanted to do was understand these higher bands of time that the midwayers and angels so easily know and experience. The problem is, the higher band you are on, the more flexible time may be. This probably means that while a secondary midwayer could go one or two hours in the past or future, a primary may go three or four. This is just an example though, and there are most certainly things midwayers cannot change, such as our free will decisions once we make them. Anyway, the face of the clock would get too cluttered with all of this information, so there needs to be a face for each band of time, which will be projected outward as a hologram. If you have seen the (CGI) holograms in Ironman or Pacific Rim, you would have an idea what I was thinking. Each would be a different color, and would create a cylinder in the air (which could be condensed or removed altogether). However, time may actually be better represented if the faces increased in size, creating a cone or funnel shape."

While getting ready for work, I got an idea of a new model of time and how those may experience it. I have no idea if I was the direct source or if it was someone else. The model may not even be right, but I would at least like to describe the idea. It is basically an upside down triangle, cone or pyramid. The bottom point is the now moment that is experienced at our level – the incredibly inflexible present moment. This pyramid has layers, and those finding themselves at a higher layer have a room of freedom that is theoretically measurable on the diagram. Right above our band of time is a layer that is slightly larger, and within it the midwayer in question can inhabit an area of time that we are not a part of in our world (or at least do not consciously experience at that moment). However, the effects of the midwayer’s activities can impact the present moment. A line can still be drawn from their current position to the bottom point of the pyramid. If his or her actions do not impact the physical world, the “line of influence” leaves the pyramid itself, failing to manifest itself in time-space in a way that impacts those experiencing the lower band of time. However, those of a higher band can be impacted, as they can experience or observe everything going on in the band below them. Thus, these lines of influence do not necessarily start at the point of existence that being is operating on.

These plot points can act more like the center of the line. The only question is whether the line of influence is straight no matter which way it is pointing. If it is pointing toward the now we experience, then it can either influences the past or future now which the higher beings can operate on. One more thing to realize is that this pyramid is not real in structure, only in how the bands operate. Basically, the pyramid is moving, and the bands inside the pyramid leave a straight and definite trail that becomes recorded history. The last thing I’ll mention is that the very top band is inhabited by God, and this contains all past, present and future. In reality, if you could may this idea out, it would not look like a triangle, but a very odd shape.

There is also one more way of looking at this time concept, and that is a thing of experience. Time, for the most part, may be uniform, but the experience of it doesn’t have to be. If time is simply the measurement of events, then the celestials may simply be capable of performing far more tasks in less time and can also multitask far better than we can. A band of time may really be the ability to manipulate, experience or know multiple events at once, or perhaps this is simply what one can do when inhabiting a higher band than us.

A basic model of this pyramid is provided below (click for full size):

New Ideas: The Journey to Cosmic Citizenship

There are some fundamental truths that all searching for citizenship in the cosmic sense will find out. These are issues that will indeed appear as one grows spiritually and learns to plan for future service in the ascension career. This list comprises of a few things I know of personally, but there are many aspects to this subject not discussed.

1. Every thought, feeling and action is recorded or known, though not everyone access to all information. Realizing that God knows more about you than you do is a simple thing. Comprehending the magnitude of every action contributing to a future spiritual resume, of sorts, is not. There are no secrets.

2. What you do now impacts your future, a future that can extend so far forward that you simply cannot know the full consequences of what you do. These consequences can be both good and bad, so forget the negative spin that word usually holds. All actions have effects, and these effects can snowball so far down the road that you won't know what to expect. Do not get so worked up about it that you can't sleep, but realize that doing good can have a far more beneficial effect on the world, the universe and yourself than what you would expect to occur in the short-run.

3. Planning for the ascension career, or the billions of years it will take to reach Paradise, can start during the evolutionary experience, provided you have the right information. It is not just a thing of figuring out what you want to study, but what you can do in the flesh to make the ascension experience easier or more flexible.

4. Learn to love as many people as you can on this planet, and learn to stop worrying about minor differences. You will be socializing with people from other planets not too long from now.

New Ideas: The Many Facets of the Magisterial Mission

The Magisterial Mission has quite a few branches, all impacting a variety of projects. However, there are two main categories, one dealing with physical sustenance, the other with spiritual sustenance. For now, I will just post a short look at these two general categories.

1. Spiritual Growth:

A category that largely impacts things at the individual level, which begins with the confirmation of God's presence and love. For a Descending Son of God to appear in the flesh means that scripture becomes largely outdated and almost useless. Why rely on a bible or even the Urantia Book when a Paradise Son and his staff is present and can answer questions? Organized religion is bound to change chaotically, some of it disappearing entirely over time. Ultimately, people will be led to develop their personal relationship with the Father, and part of the reason there is to be a Magisterial Mission is to substantially boost such a relationship that fosters soul growth.

2. Societal Growth:

A category that deals with sociological changes and sustainability issues. The next reason for the mission is to improve society as it restructures itself in response to a changing planet. This is a thing of both physical sustenance and cultural longevity and evolution, meaning that societal growth is broken into two more categories of physical sustainability and social sustainability.

Physical sustainability involves reorganizing human groups so as to survive potential calamities, as well as introducing new technology utilizing ultimatons so as to bring basic utilities to all of mankind.

Social sustainability involves reorganizing human groups so that society will come to reflect the three values of: life, equality and growth. The value of life is about the quality of life. Do the right requirements for this quality exist, and if not, why? Is there a lack of resources, or is there some social issue at play? The value of equality is a simple matter, and that is about everyone being capable of growing and thriving, which concerns the other two listed values. The value of growth is about whether an individual has every opportunity to grow in skills, knowledge and responsibility. This growth encompasses the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of life, which help lead to life quality – something that everyone will eventually have access to.

Recent Ideas: Limits of Love

This was a previous concept I put together, but I cannot find my original post about it. I believe it to be an important one, so I might as well recreate it here.

There are two human limits on love, or more specifically, how it is expressed, and that is in giving and receiving.

People naturally have a cap on how much love they can show others. These limits are created by time, circumstance, energy and focus. Time dictates the number of times you can do things through love. Within your life, you must dedicate a certain amount of time to yourself in order to simply survive, but you can still serve others daily. However, this service relies on circumstance. You have to be capable of interacting with people (being in the right place) and also capable of creating a positive effect. Your ability to create a positive effect depends on how much energy you desire to expend, and how much you have in reserve, and this also relates to time. Lastly, there is the focus of the love or service itself. How many people are you helping or showing affection? Is it one person at a time? Is it a group? Will this love be passed on to others or to later generations? There can even be an inward focus, and the person may desire to love themselves over others. These are all limitations of expression that exist for temporal beings.

People also have a cap on how much love they can receive. Normally, this is a level of comfort involving how much love you desire and how much is taken in. Too much can create discomfort, and a person who receives too much may find the giver to have ulterior motives or to be too attached. It is also a thing of expectations: what you expect to receive (or earn) and what you expect others to try to give. The former is an internal focus on the individual (you), and involves the reception of love from all interactions. The latter is an outward focus on someone else, and what you expect them to give to those they interact with. Though there are good social reasons to create certain limits on love reception, this behavior can also result in misunderstandings when one receives far more than expected, or far less.

Remember, no matter how much the reader may wish to serve others, there are still physical restrictions created by your body and the involved natural laws, and mental limits created by those you interact with and choose to serve.

Blog Design

One thing I wish I could do with this blog is properly sort the material. The search function does not seem to search for titles, so organizing things based on title is not too helpful. I would sort posts and put them on different pages, but it seems these pages simply act as a lone post. This is not very helpful. I did not want to do this, but I am starting to think WordPress would offer the right options needed. I do not wish to move as I like the Google+ integration, but it is obvious to me that I cannot get everything I want while using Blogspot. Hopefully I will find a solution.