THE MANY FACETS OF THE DIVINE

The concept of a god or gods is common to the vast majority of religions, albeit with often widely divergent views regarding the nature of any such gods. The capitalized “God” can be used as a sort of “proper name” for the Divine, however the Divine is defined or understood, and whether or not the Divine is understood as a personal god, or as an all-pervading loving force, or whatever. One may use whatever pronoun, It, He, She or Whatever to represent God, or the Divine.

In practice, however, “God” does mean very specific and yet very different things to people of different faiths. Thus Scionism prefers to eschew this term altogether, and instead employs the somewhat less baggage-filled term, “Divine.”

Scionism recognizes that various facets of the Divine can be identified with various aspects of the Mathos and the Cosmos. Thus we begin: “In the Beginning...”

Creator

The Divine is often conceptualized as the Creator of the universe and all it contains, including us. The Creator itself, however, is often considered to be eternal and uncreated, and as such is often described as a “necessary being,” or as “ontologically necessary.”

No truly compelling argument has ever been given for the ontological necessity of such a Creator. Existence itself simply could be (and in fact is) eternal and uncreated. Because every aspect of the Cosmos is fundamentally mathematical in nature, it is quite reasonable to assert that the Mathos is in some sense “metaphysically prior” to the Cosmos. The universally mathematical nature which lies at the heart of of every aspect of the entire Cosmos indicates the the Mathos is in a very real sense “metaphysically prior” to the Cosmos. To put this in stronger terms, the Mathos is the very metaphysical foundation of the Cosmos – and of all Existence.

The Mathos exists eternally unchanging through time, and the Cosmos exists eternally changing through time.

Thus, we see that there was no actual “In the Beginning,” to the Cosmos. There was an earlier moment before every moment, eternally into the past. There was no Creator “In the Beginning.” Existence is Self-Creating, infinite, and eternal, just as the Divine is often conceived to be.

Resurrection and Immortality

While the Mathos, Cosmos, Psykos, and Physikos are infinite and eternal, those things which exist within the Cosmos, composed of Psykos and Physikos, are temporary. Thus the Cosmos is eternally changing, and thus our minds and our bodies grow and live for a time, and then die.

There is no empiricorational proof that our Ios, the ever-changing Informational Structure correlated with our brain-mind state which begets our Identity, survives the deaths of our body and mind. But Hope may have some justification.

The many reports of near-death experiences may or may not be evidence of a continued existence after the death of the physical body. The many commonalities between such reports are striking. Even beyond such experiences, however, are certain fact regarding the nature of the Cosmos which seem to indicate the possibility of the Resurrection of the Ios.

For human beings, our lives and the lives of those we love are the most precious things in existence. When those we love are gone, we would give anything to have them back. We know from quantum mechanics that the Cosmos is Informational in Nature. We know from general relativity that the past, present, and future exist simultaneously and eternally. The Ios of those we love exists as a quantum-informational construct within the eternal structure of spacetime. If humanity survives for a thousand more years, or millions, or even billions, then what will be possible may well be inconceivable to us today. The day may come when we have technology which can access the quantum information which is embedded within the structure of spacetime, from essentially anywhere in the Cosmic past. This would enable the Reconstruction of the Ios of our loved ones and anyone else, from anywhere in the Cosmic past.

The Cosmos is infinite and eternal. Thus, if it is possible at all, then infinitely many other beings throughout time and space have already developed such Ios Resurrectional Technology, and infinitely many will continue to do so into the future. The members of each species which possess the God-like level of technology needed for such Ios Resurrection will join the infinite and eternal “Cosmic Scio-Civilization,” sharing eternal knowledge and wisdom.

The Cosmic Scio-Civilization is speculation, albeit an empiricorationally consistent one. It is a Hope, a goal we should strive for and may even achieve, but it is not a certainty. The Advent of Biological Immortality, however, is essentially a certainty.

Long before we enter the speculative Cosmic Scio-Civilization, if we ever do, we will certainly have the technology for Biological Immortality. Life can and will be extended indefinitely, with the advance of medical and other technology. Every disease, including aging, will ultimately be curable and reversible. Biological Immortality, i.e., Eternal Youth and Eternal Health, await us just around the technological corner. The near certainty of Biological Immortality makes cryogenic preservation a very plausible means for attaining Biological Immortality.

Humanity my become its own Resurrector. We may become Immortals. Our Immortality will be the result of empiricorational technology turned to Resurrection and Immortality. This Divine State will be reached, not in some imaginary supernatural realm, but in the very real Cosmos. This is our choice, our responsibility, and our birthright.

Universal Redemption

In most traditional religions, there is a “good place” and a “bad place” to which your soul could go, typically depending upon whether your life has been such that you deserve either the good or bad place. In some religions, this isn’t really so much a matter of a good or bad place, but of some other good or bad outcome, for example, being reincarnated favorably or unfavorably.

A truly loving Resurrector, however, would send no one to the “bad place,” nor would such a “bad place” even exist. If the Resurrection of the Ios is possible, then it is also possible to Resurrect the Ios with Mercy, Forgiveness, and Healing. A Resurrector expressing Divine Love would deliver Universal Perfected Resurrection: the Universal Resurrection and Redemption of every Ios as Perfected Immortal Citizen of the Cosmic Scio-Civilization.

IF: Universal Redemption
THEN: Love Conquers All

The Author of Morality

We are imperfect. While we may be Resurrected into an Immortal Perfection, we can and sometimes do sin now, prior to any such possible Immortal Perfected Resurrection. Most traditional religions hold that the Divine is the Author of Morality, stipulating that which is good and evil. Universal Perfected Resurrection entails that we are neither rewarded for good acts nor punished for bad acts, but are all Resurrected as Perfected Immortals, regardless of our actions in this life. Thus, the Resurrector acts in complete harmony with Divine Love, engendering Universal Loving Mercy, or simply Universal Grace. We all go to Heaven.

There is a fairly widespread notion that the idea of rewards or punishments in the afterlife is a strong motivator towards good behavior, and away from bad. Some even feel that human society itself would become chaotic, violent, and lawless without such ideas about the afterlife. If we all go to Heaven, then what compels us towards good and away from evil? Furthermore, without some Divine Lawgiver, who decides what is good and evil? Who is the Author of Morality?

Most traditional religions portray the Divine as explicitly enumerating the Laws of Morality, with these Laws being Authored by the Divine, or by some representative thereof, written in some book or books, and interpreted by priests, rabbis, and the like. While no such book of Divinely Authored Law exists, we can study our Divinely Authored Reality/Existence itself: the Mathos and the Cosmos. It is by empiricorationally studying the Mathos and the Cosmos themselves that we will best come to understand how to live within Reality/Existence.

It is thus we ourselves who must determine that which is moral or immoral and act accordingly, and it is we ourselves who also may seek to enforce this or that moral code upon one another as a Scio-Society. In this sense, then, it is we who find ourselves in the role of Author, Judge, and Enforcer of Morality, despite any imperfections or inadequacies we may have regarding our ability to fulfill these Divine roles.

In our imperfections and inadequacies, we must approach our fulfillment of the Divine Roles of Author, Judge, and Enforcer of Morality with the greatest of humility and care. This necessitates the non-aggression principle, i.e., the non-initiation of force, colloquially expressed as “Live and Let Live.” This may be viewed as the combination of “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you,” and “Do not do unto others that which you would not have them do unto you.” This Divine Principle of Morality mandates that no individual or group may initiate force, fraud, or coercion upon any other individual or group. Reverence for, adherence to, and enforcement of the non-aggression principle is an optimizing principle of human society, and a foundational element of any Scio-Society, and is a foundation element of Scionism.

Live and Let Live!