Divine Illumination and Revelation
Section Three
REALITY
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Part Three CREATED REALITY The present forms of the universe and its living constituents have been determined by the decisions of the Christ, and constructed by the Holy Spirit. The mission of the Christ is to give effect to the purpose of God the Infinite Spirit which is to create a large number of individuals, some of whom may form a community of self-managing and eternally existing persons. This has been done in conformity with the rules of the moral universe. The decisions of the Christ have resulted in the human situation in which we have physical bodies existing in a three dimensional physical universe. However, since the Christ is the ground of life these decisions are to be taken as the decisions of life in all its forms. Human beings, if they were sufficiently knowledgeable, would have made exactly the same decisions as the Christ has taken. Exactly the same judgments would have been made because they are the optimum decisions. This is the best of all currently possible worlds, where the range of good possibilities is limited only by the present stage of development of life. The current phase of the development programme for human beings as a group is the creation of a rational and moral culture. Human beings, as participators in Christ, are associated with the Christ in this mission. ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ Created Reality Chapter One THE IDEA OF CREATED REALITY The existence of Reality is offered as the explanation for the set of human experience. The cognitive self is taken as the datum and all experience is seen to occur to that self, and its source is a reality external to the self. Experiences divide naturally into two categories, the one referring to the ultimate reality of God, and the other to created reality. The path to knowledge of ultimate reality has been discussed earlier. Ultimate reality and created reality meet in the scheme of fundamental reality. Ultimate reality is personal, intelligent and moral. Fundamental reality is systematic, purposeful, and benevolent. These realities provide the substrata for created reality. In a self-creating system nothing is pre-ordained except its moral foundation and all power is freely available through knowledge. Created reality is specified by the choices of self-creating beings and created according to that specification by the Holy Spirit. However, the transient states of created reality have only a passing truth, and the absolute truth of the ultimate and fundamental realities may be relied on to guide thought and behaviour at all times. The love of God and the morality of creation are the points of departure for all thinking about human affairs. ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ The Model of Created Reality In the analysis of created reality the starting point is St.Augustine's observations on the nature of time. In St.Augustine's view the cognitive self never experiences a past time nor a future. Its experiences are always in the Now. It exists in the everlasting present which is eternity. To
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◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ Created Reality Chapter Two THE MEANING OF LIFE IN THE WORLD The Meaning of the Cosmos Albert Einstein has said that the significant thing about the Cosmos is that it can be understood by human intellects. The Cosmos is a rational place and serves a purpose. The purpose of the Cosmos is to produce rational self-determining individuals. The objective is the development of persons who have a true understanding of themselves and their potential, and can protect themselves from dangers and errors by trust in God. The Cosmos is a teaching system and its method of working is given by the problem and solution formula which is the only way that intellects can develop. It is, from the point of view of the intellect, a set of problems which can be solved by the rational problem solving method. The Cosmos is also the infrastructure of life. It offers an adventure to be lived and enjoyed. The teaching is in part the gift of the understanding necessary to the proper enjoyment of life. The Cosmos is a system of the Holy Spirit and is located in the Mind of God. The Mind is not a medium of thought of the Infinite Spirit but is a logical construction made in pursuit of purposes. The structure of the Mind is similar to the intellect except that, whereas the intellect is developing and therefore incomplete, the Mind exists in its complete state. A principal purpose of the Mind of God is communication of meaning. Meaning here is the same primitive language which was referred to in the discussion concerning the creation of new understandings and theories. The form of communication of meaning may be ideal or physical. The Cosmos reflects the character of Mind and consists in structured complex meanings. ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ The Theory of Life The fundamental theory is incompatible with Darwin's theory of the origin of species. Darwin's explanation is reductionist and atheistic. To
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◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ Created Reality Chapter Three THE CREATION OF HUMAN CULTURE The culture is designed to accelerate the development of rational intellects and to produce the best living environment for all the peoples of the world. A better culture leads to a happier, more rational and more moral people. The greatest opportunities for humanity lie in applying rational scientific method to the improvement of the culture and through this to the improvement of human intellects. This objective has two aspects which are the creation of a corpus of rational objective knowledge and the proper education of individuals. Both these aims fall within the responsibilities of the culture. In the solution of the problems of cultural development the Christ is working through the set of rational intellects. ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ The Cultural and Knowledge Problem Western culture dates from the reforms in learning inaugurated by Charlemagne in the ninth century. Western culture is knowledge-based and therefore normally progressive. A progressive culture should be able to solve all its problems and to create the best living environment for its members. A knowledge-based culture should thereby make itself better in every way than non-progressive cultures and replace them all. At the present time no culture or subculture is recognisably the best. Western culture has lost its understanding of truth and now has no knowledge. Present cultural reality is in many aspects pre-rational, and even irrational. Existing cultural reality is characterised by pluralism, which is a pre-rational condition. There are a number of cultures, each with its merits and demerits. Within cultures there are a multiplicity of religions, philosophies and ideologies with differing concepts of reality and consequently differing purposes. The condition of conflicting understandings and purposes and consequent struggles and violence is symptomatic of irrationality. Western Culture must be classed as a pre-rational culture even though it is knowledge based because it has no truth and therefore has no means of resolving internal differences. The majority of human beings are intellectually sub-standard and therefore irrational. People's intellects are often no more than messy collections of ideas. This is the direct consequence of the quality of their culture and not of their natural capabilities. The blame for this state of affairs lies solely with the cultural ideologies and of course with those whose job it is, in a knowledge based culture, to find and disseminate knowledge. The solution to the problems of the people lies in the improvement of their intellects through rational knowledge. Cultures which do not act from rational knowledge do not understand reality and will in time go under, to be replaced by better cultures. The perfect culture is the one which supplies all human needs, ensures the maximal growth of every individual in intellectual power and freedom, and provides the groundwork to allow all individuals to lead personally satisfactory lives. The individual in a civilised state, emerges from the cultural education process fully able to solve all his problems and to pursue those objectives that he deems worthwhile. ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ The Real Aspect of the Culture The culture is more than theoretical knowledge. It contains a metaphysical and physical environment which is applied knowledge. Human life means life in the real cultural environment. If objective knowledge is uniform for all the peoples of the world the application of that knowledge may introduce differences in the real environment. This may be seen in examining the various societies of the world. To
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