tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34431464Sat, 29 Feb 2020 02:09:00 +0000By Arcturus Gregoryhttp://arctime.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Arcturus3)Blogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34431464.post-8277953288330274154Sun, 03 Jan 2010 16:02:00 +00002010-01-04T05:02:17.152+13:00I'd like to wish everyone a happy new year as we look forward to many new years to come and eventually a better future world and a transcendence of the human condition.   Some people think the better future is coming inevitably, and that all they have to do is wait for it - they channel their excitement into impatience and irritation at the slow progress they see so far. They think the shiny new http://arctime.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-year.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Arcturus3)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34431464.post-7204752364258957740Tue, 29 Dec 2009 01:40:00 +00002009-12-29T14:40:27.425+13:00Before, I used a metaphor of a storm to describe a person, to explain how we can understand a person as a process. Each one of us is, indeed, a force of nature. We are like storms in matter that give rise to spiritual storms. We usually do not think that storms will last very long, but under the right circumstances, they can last indefinitely. Perpetuating a process requires preparing and http://arctime.blogspot.com/2009/12/living-and-not.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Arcturus3)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34431464.post-8703383135424834420Sun, 20 Dec 2009 01:05:00 +00002009-12-20T14:05:51.841+13:00If the body gives rise to the soul, what we think of as the self, how can we understand the soul? What truly are we? We are not only our bodies, only material things, but we are also not only minds, disembodied or able to be disembodied. If the body gives rise to mind, then what we are is both together, in a way that is difficult to put into words.   We may take a metaphor from meteorology. A http://arctime.blogspot.com/2009/12/living-soul.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Arcturus3)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34431464.post-1224502457185598478Sun, 13 Dec 2009 20:15:00 +00002009-12-14T09:15:11.063+13:00Many people think there is not one world, but two - one world is material, the visible world or the scientifically detectable world; and the other world is spiritual and invisible, a holy reality. According to this view, the material world we see is only part of the full reality; alongside it is another, more important, world, containing things like God or Heaven.   We may call this the "http://arctime.blogspot.com/2009/12/spirit-and-world.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Arcturus3)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34431464.post-2908386999947763250Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:26:00 +00002009-11-22T08:27:00.040+13:00  What does it mean to say something or someone is good or evil? When we inspect things closely, even if we try hard to see what is good in all things, we may have a hard time realizing what about some things could possibly be good. What is evil? The ancient Christian philosopher Augustine of Hippo taught that evil is not a positive substance, but merely the absence of good. This way of thinking http://arctime.blogspot.com/2009/11/things-good-and-evil.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Arcturus3)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34431464.post-7533751805542627920Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:27:00 +00002009-11-16T08:27:18.286+13:00By nature we can mean all things, whether known or yet unknown. All things that really are, are real, as what they are. The non-natural and the supernatural  are incoherent categories and do not describe anything that exists.   Humanity is an expression, a manifestation, of nature. Humanity is thus natural, in all its nature (human nature). We can say that what humans make is "artificial," but http://arctime.blogspot.com/2009/11/nature-and-human.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Arcturus3)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34431464.post-5109023367275341601Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:06:00 +00002009-11-08T09:06:04.247+13:00Nature is the source of all the good things we find in this world, such as the myriad sources of natural beauty. All that is good in ourselves and other persons is also part of the natural world.   We human beings evolved from insensate matter and non-sapient beings, so everything we care about and value in ourselves and our lives and the world arises from our natural origin. It is in us that http://arctime.blogspot.com/2009/11/natures-double-nature.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Arcturus3)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34431464.post-63068511198750131Sat, 31 Oct 2009 18:15:00 +00002009-11-01T07:15:20.585+13:00Many people look for meaning and purpose for their lives by looking to other people, or to a supposed god, or to a political cause, or to wealth or fame or high status. Yet no matter how we may chase such things, we can never be truly happy that way. The true meaning and purpose of our lives is not "out there" to found or acquired; meaning and purposes are not to be randomly created, either, as http://arctime.blogspot.com/2009/11/reaching-higher.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Arcturus3)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34431464.post-1970974003988176944Sat, 24 Oct 2009 18:17:00 +00002009-10-25T07:17:04.053+13:00Some people take comfort in delusion. But the comfort of delusion is not a lasting, secure comfort. We cannot afford to be complacent and we cannot afford to be delusional.  In order to become what we must become, we must understand how far we are from it now and what we must realistically do to change. Understanding the truth, however painful, is the beginning of change, improving the conditionshttp://arctime.blogspot.com/2009/10/human-condition.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Arcturus3)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34431464.post-1509913660341836028Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:12:00 +00002009-10-18T13:12:11.453+13:00Many people have said biostasis and cryopreservation do not show the proper respect for the dead. For them, all cryopreservation techniques are inherently violations of the body. And in saying so, these people echo the benighted attitudes people once held towards anatomical dissection, surgery, and organ transplants.   Human dignity, they would argue, requires us to do as we have always done, http://arctime.blogspot.com/2009/10/true-dignity-for-those-whose-lives-are.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Arcturus3)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34431464.post-6034085796619411106Sun, 11 Oct 2009 19:25:00 +00002009-10-12T08:25:04.772+13:00The world has so many problems; how can we say there is a better future ahead?   We can and should pay attention to the problems and inadequacies that exist today and do everything we can to remedy them, but we should also not take the many things humanity has accomplished until now for granted. We should not take for granted the solutions to past problems, and focus only on current problems, if http://arctime.blogspot.com/2009/10/new-day-dawning.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Arcturus3)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34431464.post-8410846800861338001Sat, 03 Oct 2009 20:58:00 +00002009-10-04T09:58:40.689+13:00In my last few messages, I have discussed three concepts -- the better world to come, the divine, and immortality -- that link our transhuman vision of the future with themes common to religions from all over the world and throughout history.   The theme of the better world to come we now understand is realized in our efforts to make the world a better place through self-understanding, science, http://arctime.blogspot.com/2009/10/fulfillment.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Arcturus3)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34431464.post-5353948063971297367Sat, 26 Sep 2009 19:00:00 +00002009-09-27T08:00:10.325+13:00 Throughout history, human beings have aspired to immortality. In prehistoric times, humans buried the dead, showing respect for the body and for the soul of the person whom they loved. In ancient Egypt, the body was carefully preserved so the soul could be preserved and live forever. In ancient China, it was believed that some human beings, called the xian, were able to achieve immortality, and http://arctime.blogspot.com/2009/09/immortality.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Arcturus3)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34431464.post-3575256217234954225Sat, 19 Sep 2009 19:26:00 +00002009-09-20T07:26:08.518+12:00Human beings have always been inspired by hope for the future. Each generation has given rise to a new generation, hoping, at least, that they would survive and also experience some joy, and at best, that they would flourish and do better than the previous generation.   The ancient Hindus and Buddhists talked of a coming Golden Age, when people would be wiser and kinder, life would be easier, andhttp://arctime.blogspot.com/2009/09/better-world-to-come.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Arcturus3)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34431464.post-5159635369871131726Sat, 12 Sep 2009 20:50:00 +00002009-09-13T08:50:26.715+12:00Throughout history, human beings have imagined superior beings and told stories about superhuman figures.   In some religions, saints and holy men were admired for their superior ethical life; some were considered to have superhuman powers. Sometimes philosophers, sages, and wise men were admired and worshiped long after they died. Some of the gods of antiquity were noteworthy human beings who http://arctime.blogspot.com/2009/09/endpoint.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Arcturus3)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34431464.post-2981955436679153553Sun, 06 Sep 2009 00:15:00 +00002009-09-06T12:15:26.117+12:00The Marines have a motto, 'ever faithful'. This faithfulness of soldiers to one another is so very clearly illustrated by the principle of 'no one left behind.' Faithful soldiers will risk everything to return and retrieve a fallen comrade.   Life is also like a war. We all struggle to survive, fighting against many obstacles. But in this war of life, the combat fatality rate is 100%. When we http://arctime.blogspot.com/2009/09/semper-fidelis.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Arcturus3)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34431464.post-3074483794015524835Sat, 29 Aug 2009 22:12:00 +00002009-08-30T10:12:52.121+12:00The future world that we must bring into existence is the world that we human beings have sought since the very beginning. In bringing that world into existence, all our ancestors' hopes and dreams will be realized. The victory over every obstacle they faced will be won. Since human beings first arose in prehistoric <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />http://arctime.blogspot.com/2009/08/from-beginning.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Arcturus3)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34431464.post-2705643782044980325Sun, 23 Aug 2009 00:54:00 +00002009-08-23T12:54:07.989+12:00I believe in a better world to come. I believe we human beings must work towards it with all our effort and in hope. If we cannot imagine a better world, we cannot hope. If we cannot hope, we cannot have faith in ourselves and what we are working towards. If we do not believe that we will succeed, then we will not succeed; we will not even try.   And we should trust what we know and learn what wehttp://arctime.blogspot.com/2009/08/2-obstacles-impatience-and-laziness.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Arcturus3)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34431464.post-6921830373179436711Sat, 15 Aug 2009 02:37:00 +00002009-08-15T14:37:58.523+12:00In some philosophies, harmony can be a principle in which some suffer and submit to others for the happiness of those others, or in which the absence of violence covers the presence of injustice, or in which the only melody is one which smothers dissonance. But true harmony is something different; full harmony is harmony between each and every part in its own fulfillment and nature and happiness.http://arctime.blogspot.com/2009/08/harmony-1.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Arcturus3)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34431464.post-5700513856416795348Sat, 08 Aug 2009 18:17:00 +00002009-08-09T06:17:15.686+12:00Some people will say that it is arrogant for humanity to aspire to become godlike.   There is a paradoxical truth here -- to be divine is to be humble, in the sense of realistic self-appraisal. So if we are humble, then we do not claim to be god, because we are not yet god, but it is precisely then, when we are humble, that we are for that very reason more like God.   Humans often delude http://arctime.blogspot.com/2009/08/humility-in-ascension.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Arcturus3)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34431464.post-6045387116594449803Sun, 02 Aug 2009 14:12:00 +00002009-08-03T02:13:00.794+12:00The future will be built by the tools of technology, but not only by them. The tools of technology are wielded only by the will of human beings, and the will of human beings arises from the nature of human beings. In order to arrive at a better future through more advanced science and technology, the tools of technology will have to be wielded by the good wills of good people, who will use those http://arctime.blogspot.com/2009/08/better-humans.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Arcturus3)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34431464.post-707607635626465271Sat, 25 Jul 2009 17:42:00 +00002009-07-26T05:42:51.577+12:00People say there are three times: the past, the present, and the future. We live in the present and we have mementos all around us of the past. People often think, 'the past is gone and nonexist now, and the future is not yet created'. But this is not true. The past is not destroyed, just because we cannot access it. The future is not nonexistent because we do not know it yet. Both are as real ashttp://arctime.blogspot.com/2009/07/time-present-time-past-and-time-yet-to.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Arcturus3)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34431464.post-216953867266617918Sat, 18 Jul 2009 02:13:00 +00002009-07-18T14:13:39.334+12:00Someone once tried to console me after the death of someone I loved, "There is a better place." And I told him, "Yes, it's called the future, and we must get there any way we can." Many people think there is a heaven somewhere out there. They look up - maybe up there? Heaven is an old word for sky. And yet we know much more about what is in that sky than our ancient ancestors. Our ancestors had http://arctime.blogspot.com/2009/07/heaven-is-not-place-its-time.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Arcturus3)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34431464.post-1899950615790767445Sun, 12 Jul 2009 02:42:00 +00002009-07-12T14:42:49.762+12:00Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach famously suggested that God was made in the image of man. More specifically, he recognized that the infinity projected on the idea of God by human beings is the infinite capacy of human nature itself.So it would be better to say that God is not made in the image of man, but rather, in the image of what human beings should aspire to become. Because, in the past, human http://arctime.blogspot.com/2009/07/in-image-of-man_12.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Arcturus3)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34431464.post-3448055627242628914Thu, 28 May 2009 01:31:00 +00002009-05-28T13:31:17.368+12:00 "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth . . . There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." - The Book of Revelation   The vision of a new earth is one that should embolden us. We can believe in the better world to come -- not a world falling down out of the sky, from someone else, as in the Book of Revelation, but a world that we, who http://arctime.blogspot.com/2009/05/better-world-to-come.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Arcturus3)0