Judgement’s Day

[Abridged Version]

Acknowledgments

I would first like to thank God for blessing me with the opportunity, ability, and insight to write this book. And I would like to dedicate the book to my grandfather, Rev. H. Raymond Woodruff, who was a great inspiration to many, especially with his hope of world peace. While there were times in my life where I questioned whether God existed or not, I have realized that God must exist many times over through the task of researching and writing this book. Hopefully, through your reading of this book, you may also find God, or have your faith in God renewed. May this book bless you as a source of wisdom and encouragement for acting with goodness for all in mind.

This book has been made possible by the advancements in technology of computers and access to the World Wide Web through the Internet. Where it would have previously been an insurmountable task to gather, process, and write all of the information presented in this book in an intelligible manner, it was made possible today especially through the use of the internet for research and the feasibility of writing with an electronic word processor. Though I have also read and referenced numerous hardcopies of books written by various authors, websites such as Wikipedia.org have been immensely useful in gathering and sorting through the enormous amounts of information that is available today.

It should be mentioned that it has been through the work and dedication of countless individuals that all of this information has been gathered before me. I have tried to give credit to the sources of all non-original quotations, but it would be impossible for me to credit all of the sources referenced, as I have delved through uncountable resources in the process of composing this work. My apologies for not properly citing all of the individual sources of the plethora of information presented herein.

Many revolutionary thinkers have contributed to my own thoughts, and through this ever-flowing interaction of thoughts, which are nobody's possession, we are all interconnected. Thus, it would be somewhat of a falsity if I were to try to claim complete personal ownership of this work. For that reason, and also to facilitate open sharing, I, Colter Dallman, the writer of this work, state: This book must maintain an open copyright and therefore it may be reproduced and distributed by any individual or company for profit or for free without any threat of persecution under copyright infringement.

Preface

At the time of writing this book, much of the world has been either under stress or in direct turmoil. The world has repeatedly seen political unrest in underdeveloped countries, as well as in some of the largest and most developed countries. This unrest is usually in response to a sense of oppression of the common people under unjust dictatorships which have ignored peaceful calls for action. The unrest usually starts as peaceful protest, but when the people's issues are not properly addressed it can turn into riots and sometimes it can even escalate into violent revolts. Other times, dispute or violence has been intentionally stirred up between the peoples of a nation by their corrupt leaders as a crude tactic to keep the people divided so that they will not unify toward true progress.

Though violent riots are only more upsetting and should always be avoided, it has been inspiring to see people gather peacefully in attempt to influence their governments to be more truly representative of them with clearly defined points to be addressed. But, in sad cases, the leaders have called for the protestors to be dispersed by force, rather than addressing the concerns of the people like they responsibly should as government officials. As a result of such cases, we have seen civil unrest escalate into violent revolts and organized resistance against the ruling party. In such incidents, there has been blood spilled in the hopes of bringing a higher quality of life to the future of the common people. In some cases, we have seen that revolutions can be successful in removing corrupt totalitarian leaders from their positions of authority and reversing oppressive legislation.

Though courageous movements by the people can be inspiring, they are worrisome when they turn violent. They are worrisome not only because of the immediate violence and bloodshed itself, which is naturally appalling due to the involved level of human suffering and most upsetting because it should have been avoidable, but also because sometimes after the oppressive regimes have been ousted from power they have been replaced with little better representation for the people. Despite the risk of the new ruling party also falling to similar corruption to the previous party, the activists' hope for positive change has often been fulfilled with the fairness of the new legislation improving the conditions for the people.

While such revolts have obviously been most immediately distressing to the residents in the involved countries, such violence has also been concerning to citizens of other nations around the world. Though it may seem that the people of more stable countries have been indifferent to the turmoil in less stable countries, the hopes and prayers of many enjoying peace have been for those suffering the violent crises of war in their home lands. In some cases in which brutal regimes have made war on their own people, this support has been represented by military aid to protect the civilians. However, it has sometimes been difficult for outside nations to decide if they should involve themselves with internal conflicts in others.

In the background leading up to this current time of revolutions, an exaggerated threat of terrorism has been contrived in the most developed nations, particularly in the United States of America. This has included especially the terroristic events of September 11th, 2001 (now commonly referred to simply as 9/11) that were attributed to have been organized overseas by Islamic extremists and executed by hijackers to somehow attack the American way of life. But while pervasive propaganda has taught that all of the 9/11 events were entirely carried out by some terroristic hijackers, many details regarding the official story have been brought under serious question. Issues regarding the largely silenced questions regarding 9/11 inconsistencies, which have repeatedly been brought up by both legitimately concerned laymen and well-informed experts alike, have been collectively termed the 9/11 Truth Movement.

Still, even the Americans who did trustingly accept the repeated story that everything that happened on 9/11 was somehow all orchestrated by hijackers have known that the connecting story behind invading Iraq and then Afghanistan did not add up to legitimize war. The public was misled several times regarding the reasoning between the events of 9/11 and the invasion of the countries of Iraq and Afghanistan. As more Americans start to get an idea of what really happened, they legitimately begin to lose trust in their own government—trust which will only be able to be regained once the United States government honestly re-examines the 9/11 events and the malpractice involved with the original investigation, truthfully revises the official stories, and retracts or reforms the related legislation that was passed so that the civil rights protecting due process are reinstated.

For reasons such as these, when the observers in developed countries watch the uprisings in underdeveloped ones, they hope vicariously for their liberation from corrupt and secretive regimes. They hope that the newly empowered leaders will be less oppressive than the last and pray they will find lasting peace. But even more, they hope that their new leaders will not become involved with or fooled by secret plans to manipulate them, as though they were pawns to be used to profit some special agenda—like happened to everyone who has been negatively affected by 9/11 and the so-called "War on Terror", which has been a terror in itself. Altogether, the citizens of the world hope for peace through governmental honesty and freeness from corruption.

More recently, there has been focus on the supposed threat of Iran's nuclear facilities in the news. It seems that certain interests always want the public to be afraid of something to continually keep them on the offensive. In this case, Iran has been made out to be a threat to the world, though what Iran truly seeks is merely to stop being bullied and freedom from invasion. Even if Iran did possess a nuclear weapon, it would make no sense for them to use it, because that would immediately make them a target for all the world powers to destroy. For these reasons, it is totally irrational when publicists try to make Iran's nuclear facilities out to be a crisis that could lead to another world war. So long as people keep a level head and avoid being sensationalized for war, such worries should dissipate.

Every time the international viewer takes to heart the threats of terrorism and rumors of war, they are being manipulated through fear. It seems that the media heavily incorporates fear into everything as to keep the viewers watching. Fear tactics are used to try to pressure people into acting certain ways—generally, ways which are profitable to those selling things—and works to keep people from talking about certain topics which are not viewed popularly for fear of ostracism. People must no longer let themselves be manipulated by fear, but instead bring themselves to be free from fear. All this takes is to face any fears for what they are, evaluate how those fears are unreasonable, and grow fearless from them. Without being manipulated by fear, the current general trend of using worry to try to influence people to blame one another for problems that may not even occur will finally be put to rest.

When the media giants are not invoking fear, they commonly distract viewers with irrelevant news and sometimes manipulate the portrayal of the real issues in the world—often in ways that try to prevent people from thinking for themselves. In programming other than the news, shows temporarily stimulate the senses and emotions until the viewers become partially numbed to the more genuine experience of real life. Deep down, those viewers know that form of entertainment is often off beam, because it tends to continually leave them more superficial and dissatisfied. Yet they are tantalized by it, so they often keep watching and soaking up advertising. In its currently intended form, the programming leaves the viewer hooked just enough to keep them watching through the commercial breaks.

It has been through the commercials that the viewers have basically been washed of any idea that they should try to make a difference in the world, but instead should only think about what they want to add next to the list of things they own or consume. In the topic of politics, the media televises material that is most clearly intended to influence the viewers to fight against one another over issues. Most often, instead of realizing they could choose to be active participants in trying to solve any actual problems they face, the viewers are instead taught to emptily blame each other for problems. The viewers have basically been systematically programmed to feel that they are doing their part to make conditions better by pointing the finger to blame others for all of the problems they perceive, though themselves continuing unchanged to only be concerned with what they want.

And so, while television can be used for both entertainment and as a resource to share important information and valuable knowledge, it has been heavily influenced for the purpose of expanding consumption. And sadly, many of the efforts of advertising have been willing to subliminally make the viewer feel unhappy with themselves and their lives, just in order to get them to buy more things. Some advertisers have figured out that when people already truly have everything they need, the way to get them to buy more things anyway is to make a sense of void in their lives for their product. So, when they advertise, they portray it as though the individual is somehow flawed or lacking something without their product. In this way, they can influence people to buy things that they don't necessarily need. While it is not wrong to have or buy things that one wouldn't necessarily need, it is sad that some advertisements have been intended to make people feel incomplete as though lacking things they don't need.

Considering this effect media advertising can have to make people feel less satisfied with their lives by replacing appreciation for what they already have with want for something else, it may be a good thing that some regions have not yet been reached and manipulated by the media. At least those who have not yet become consumers of the media maintain the understanding that if they are truly lacking something, they naturally know it without any advertisement to alert them to it. While it is not inherently wrong that media advertisements convince those who already have everything they need to spend yet more on themselves in the continual onslaught of materialism, the reality is there are people in the world who truly are in absolute need of things. Knowing this, those with excess resources ought to consider putting something feasible toward improving the quality of life of those in need through developing humanitarian efforts. Though such a suggestion may seem unconventional, those who practice it will ultimately find that it is one of the most rewarding things one can do.

The most common immediate response to such a suggestion is that people have their own problems to worry about. While there are some stresses for many in developed regions, in other places people are at a lack of the necessities needed to live—such as dependable access to drinking water, which is something entirely different from merely lacking things one thinks they might like. Generally speaking, the stresses on those who have everything they need to live could be considered unnecessary stresses. But they are stresses nonetheless. Many people with everything they need burden themselves with self-conscious stress, such as worry over the physical appearance of their bodies. On top of this, the construct of social status has been used to make people feel pressured to purchase trendy apparel to be socially acceptable. Amongst the continual spending to keep up with such unnecessary stress, many in the developed world end up with little left after paying the bills on a monthly basis.

These stresses are worsened by the spread of fearful rumors that national economies might fail and somehow take down the world economy. The creation of such ideas puts the worry of future scarcity into the minds of even those who are currently well-off. To manipulate the markets, the people have been purposely conditioned not to realize that it is the simple trade of goods from one place to another that truly creates the world economy, not the numbers on stock market screens. It seems that no one realizes that as long as everyone tries to fulfill some productive role in society, the trade of goods will continue and people will be able to continue to prosper in the abundance that truly exists in the world.

Through the power that has been placed in the trade markets, the masses have been brought to believe that the trade numbers make a difference to the actual amount of goods available in the world, when they really only represent the going rate of shares. One must know that all of the trade numbers on the screens could disappear and it would not mean that all of the goods in the world would disappear too. Finally, what people should really know is that the fiat currency that is money is the greatest sham of it all. Sure, stable monetary currency is needed to facilitate the trade of goods, but it truly has no value in and of itself. While banks and trade systems do work to serve a role in financing real projects and keeping the trade networks running, they themselves do not really produce anything.

In almost every country there are corrupt political scandals left and right. And in the modernized nations, much in politics seems to be steered by corporate lobbyists whose jobs are based on caring about only what will make greater profits for the companies. The lobbyists are thus basically paid representatives to push for making more money for the already wealthy. Yet no one lobbies for the people who are trying to just make an honest living and raise their kids in a healthy world. What this means is that in countries with lobbyists and widespread media representation, politics have successfully become highly susceptible to influence by those able to make large financial contributions.

But at least in the free and reputable countries the citizens of the general public can exercise their power to vote and trust that all of the votes will be justly counted. This is something that still needs to be ensured in some developing nations. Yet, so long as the campaign system is not reformed to be based on stances regarding issues rather than on advertising, the common people will only be able hope that their elected representatives will not sell out their morals once in office to pay back those who funded their advertising, and that instead they will maintain strong ethics and do what is best for everyone.

Now, in the regions that have developed infrastructure and organization to get them beyond the problems of not having enough food and water, new problems are emerging. In the rich countries, instead of people being plagued by thirst and hunger, there are epidemics of obesity and heart disease—many cases of which are the result unhealthy diets and sedentary lifestyles. It seems that only a small portion of the public has heeded the common educational wisdom that diets based on natural foods combined with regular exercise lead to better health. And, though it may seem clichéd to the youth, the wise eventually learn that it is true that the best wealth is health.

Only recently has it seemed to dawn on people that the fast-food restaurants could be selling more healthy food and that healthy lifestyles are truly the best and most efficient medicine. Furthermore, it seems that people are lately re-awakening to the wisdoms of traditional medicine, which oftentimes offers the most efficient and non-damaging treatments. Sadly, this awakening has had to come at the expense of the pharmaceutical industry literally making a killing through selling pills which often only mask problems and frequently cause damage to the body and even death if misused.

Contrary to the current trend, real medicine does not consist of merely prescribing pills, but rather figuring out what is ailing people and fixing the source. A truly informed and caring physician will make wise lifestyle recommendations to try before resorting to a prescription for common ailments like mild depression, anxiety, difficulty sleeping, and chronic pain—such as quitting smoking, improved dietary choices, adding some form of exercise, a better routine for sleeping, stretching such as yoga, and the magnificently beneficial practice of meditation. Truly, when one really considers the facts of the matter, medical ailments are generally not the result of lacking the right pills—even though it is true that certain health conditions are fixable by temporary medication and that sometimes prolonged medication is actually beneficial for proper treatment of certain chronic issues.

What can be attributed to have caused all of this confusion? At the most basic level, the increased focus on money and profits has gone hand-in-hand with the increasing sickness of the people. Though money has been continually glamorized and glorified by all facets of the media to the common people as the means to happiness, we have repeatedly seen examples of rich people who are completely unhappy with disastrous lives, such as celebrities who become addicted to drugs such as alcohol and whose relationships fall to infidelity.

Through many examples of cases where too much money has actually worked to destroy happiness, people are slowly beginning to wake up to see that focusing on money beyond what one needs for a comfortable life has largely been an empty faade. As many have learned for themselves during their own lifetimes, true happiness comes from taking pride in doing one's work well—regardless of the role one might serve—and from being a good person. But moreover, what makes people truly happy are genuine loving relationships. Those things, along with faith, are truly the things of the highest value in life, and they are priceless.

But while it is true that money cannot buy happiness, it is also true that people do need to have their basic necessities fulfilled to be happy. Furthermore, inequality breeds dissent, and this is why people are least satisfied with life in areas where there is the greatest inequality. For this reason, the widening gaps between the rich and the poor are good for no one. We have seen this issue mobilize into the rallies, riots, and revolutions that were the first topic to be raised at the outset of this preface. Intriguingly, while there are many who have hoarded more money than they would need to be comfortable for many lifetimes, there are many more who do not have enough to be comfortable for a day. There is some truth to the fact that working hard and not being wasteful are factors the poor can use to help themselves, but the problem of inequality is clearly more complicated than a lack of effort on the behalf of the poor.

In many developed countries including especially the United States, the greatest portion of the revenue goes to military spending which funds conquests to which most of the citizenry is adamantly opposed. Yet, the political disputes have been steered to center over cutting social spending to things such as basic public healthcare. This has occurred despite taxes being kept low for the unfairly rich while the poor and jobless are continually the scapegoats depicted as the source of all problems—though most would happily work to make an honest living if given the opportunity. Some of the wealthy may not believe it, but most people are intelligent enough to understand that work does need to be done by those who are able to maintain a thriving society, without having to be starved and homeless first.

As a testament to inequality, enormous aircraft carriers constituting moving military bases navigate the seas around the many areas in the world that continue to exist in conditions of true absolute poverty due to lack of development. Yet, by the means described above, those with everything they need in the developed nations are brainwashed to feel as though they don't have enough to be happy. There is all of this inequality in the distribution of money and finances, though there is more production in the world per person than ever before.

Perhaps the saddest occurrence involved in all of this subject matter is when those calling the shots in the corporate world cut corners and concede to avoidable pollution of the environment in pursuit of more so-called "profit". In those cases, the well-being of the future inhabitants of the Earth is being sold in order for those temporarily in control to see higher profits in the short term, and otherwise respectable industries are given a bad name. It is plain to realize that such irresponsibility has got to end if this civilization plans on continuing for any significant amount of time into the future. Though some pollution must occur in the process of upholding a thriving society, acts of irresponsible pollution should not be carried out in lazy disregard or in the name of profit, because they damage the very environment on which we and all of our children depend.

While all of these problems are depicted to be too big and complicated to solve, the average person knows deep inside that somehow most of the problems we see could be easily avoided. In many cases, it is clear that we are actively carrying out programs which only make problems worse. For example, the drug cartels succeeding in the lucrative international drug trade have only become more profitable and violent thanks to the so-called "War on Drugs". The War on Drugs is really a war on the people, as are basically all wars, especially considering that its most significant proven effects have not been decreases in drug use, but rather increases in criminal activity, violence, and imprisonment. One would have thought this clear lesson was already learned from the absolute disaster that amounted from the prohibition of alcohol in the United States in the 1920's.

The War on Drugs is a fantastic example of systematically making things worse. Because of the heightened risks of harsher punishments for merely buying and selling drug products, the drug cartels have dumbly figured they might as well also risk involvement with illegal weapons trade and human trafficking since they have already organized their criminal activity for the drug trade. Thus, more intensely fighting the drugs causes those involved to participate in worse, and the people who think they want to become intoxicated still manage to do so anyhow. But as a result of fighting a War on Drugs, good honest police officers with loving families end up dying in bloody shoot-outs over drugs while the corrupt ones simultaneously accept bribes to let them through elsewhere.

Truly, the best way to keep people from doing drugs is to educate them with true information about their harmful effects. Through such awareness, the demand for the harmful drugs is cut off at the source. Honestly, when persons are informed about the massively detrimental effects that drugs of abuse have on the body, the fact that they are hindering through addiction, and that they do a person no good anyway, they know well enough not to do them. One might site the evidence of the massive alcohol and tobacco industries, which are currently flourishing despite their well-known detrimental health effects, as evidence against this; however, the fact that they have both been heavily glamorized by the media thoroughly overshadows the knowledge that they are unhealthy. Though the previously glamorized cigarettes have now widely fallen from grace, alcohol abuse continues to be proudly supported despite its extreme healthcare costs and societal tolls.

Yet, while huge profits are being made perfectly legally on alcohol and tobacco, people continue to be imprisoned for possessing cannabis. This is especially unjust considering that cannabis has many medicinal usages and literally no one dies from cannabis consumption, but thousands upon thousands die from alcohol and tobacco. Furthermore, despite the fact that cannabis produces impairing intoxication when smoked or eaten after being cooked that can be detrimental and addictive, research has recently found that eating raw cannabis has plentiful health effects without so much intoxication and risk of addiction. Considering the many extremely impressive health benefits of consuming raw cannabis, including its anti-cancer effects, it is actually a crime against humanity for it to be illegal.

It is plainly absurd that in many places in the world it is currently illegal to possess naturally medicinal plant products which have been officially recognized by countless doctors for their medicinal properties. It should be shocking to realize that there are thousands of civilized, non-violent people detained in jails, prisons, and penitentiaries merely for being involved with the production and trade of entirely natural plants which have medicinal uses. Although it is not very appreciable to them, because they have had their freedom removed, the detained have their entire lives comfortably paid for by tax money. Politicians talk about reducing social welfare programs that give financial assistance to people who need it, but they are willing to pay full welfare to have people locked up for trading natural substances. The world has become a very, very confused place.

But despite all of the world's obvious problems, there is considerable progress being made on many fronts for which we can be thankful. For example, medical advances have improved the lives of many and are becoming more economical and available to the average person. Included in this have been tremendously helpful vaccines which have been developed to provide immunity for otherwise incurable contagious viral diseases and new tests for the early detection of diseases that have slow onset. Such testing has allowed for early diagnosis and treatment of some diseases to begin years before the symptoms would have even become apparent. It is good to know that our medical advances are helping to prevent and alleviate much suffering that simply had to be accepted in the past.

Poverty rates are declining in many places around the world through structural and economic developments, and availability of education is increasing all around the world. Girls and women are continuing to gain more equal rights through equal access to education and employment; and as this occurs, birth rates go down—which is especially important in areas that do not have enough basic necessities for those who are already living there. Successful developments such as building clean public water sources has helped alleviate human suffering greatly. There is much hope for continued increases in other humanitarian efforts, as well. It has been shown time and time again that the power of caring and empathy between human beings can empower us to overcome almost any adversity.

One most exciting front is in our new electronics technological horizon. Communications electronics have allowed the interconnectedness between persons around the world to increase at a rate far faster than ever imagined. The increased globalization facilitated by electronics has allowed the exchanging of information from around the world to move at nearly the speed of light. Communications developments such as internet-capable cellular phones are becoming more economically viable and widespread, making internet access to the World Wide Web commonplace to more and more people. Through the use of such technologies, people can now communicate with each other in live transmissions from opposite sides of the planet—something that is remarkable to think about even for those who have become used to it.

Today, computers the size of one book are capable of storing amounts of information that would have previously only been storable in monumental libraries. Additionally, websites like Wikipedia.org have allowed free access to great stores of knowledge in external databases. This means that people can remotely access information that does not even have to be stored on individual personal computers. The internet gives people the unprecedented ability to learn answers to nearly any question they might have—and accurate answers, at that, so long as the individual takes the time to carefully analyze the many results.

Search engines make the average internet user today momentarily comparable in knowledge acquisition to the most learned people in the world. Because of this, nearly anyone with internet access can become well educated in nearly any topic they choose to research. The only thing that is required is the ability and desire to read (and to analyze differing opinions with a balanced mind that doesn't necessarily have to be too certain about anything). Plus, because much is available in audio and video now, information has become available for even those who have difficulty reading. Basically, what has happened with computers in just the timeframe of one generation is that anyone with an electronic device capable of viewing the internet has been given access to the bulk of all of the world's knowledge.

Through this development, people are learning up-to-date information and general awareness is increasing in every category imaginable. Along with this, past ignorances are decreasing. For instance, more people are becoming informed of the fact that although burning fossil fuels clearly does pollute the air and may contribute to raising global temperatures, global warming and the increased incidence of extreme weather that may go along with it is not entirely due to our burning of fossil fuels. Such increases in awareness are optimistic, because they help people be reasonable with one another and reduce blind blaming. Further regarding this, it is refreshing to know that our technological developments are bringing increases in energy efficiency in leaps and bounds. And there has been great exploration and development of alternative energy sources as we have begun to plan for a more efficient future for our planet and everyone living on it.

The most important thing is not merely that we are learning about things, such as the effects our activities are having on the environment, but that we are actually beginning to act on our increasing wisdom. People are genuinely trying to be more efficient. While things like recycling are not new, our increased cooperation and coordination in such efforts continue to impress. And while our rampant advances have had their drawbacks, such as the improper disposal of the amassing waste produced from obsolete electronics, more and more people are becoming environmentally conscientious and making better decisions today than they did yesterday. People have really begun to wake up to the fact that we are going to be living on this planet for a long time, and therefore we really do need to take care of it.

Awareness about the importance of sustainability is spreading and even the large corporations appear to be making efforts toward environmental consideration. Even if this is simply to appease the consumers who are gaining conscience, it is nonetheless a step in the right direction. And while much of this is happening through the success of free markets operated in the pursuit of profit, a purer type of altruistic development is also progressing. Our means of sharing with one another reach farther than ever before, and even though there are more people now, each individual today has been empowered with the ability to make a bigger difference than ever before.

As global coordination has increased, we have begun to share our best advancements. In the process, many great minds have started to form a picture of a much improved future for civilization on our planet. For a long time people have envisioned a future in which there is less hardship, and it is finally beginning to emerge as a reality that can now be achieved through focusing more effort on more collaboration. Simply, the future society in which there can be vastly increased cooperation is here today. In the modern world, we have found that almost anything that can be dreamed can be accomplished, and a more harmonious way of life for the world is definitely a dream worth pursuing. Through progressing toward less corrupt systems and embracing human equality, global unity will increase and a better world for all will finally be able to truly blossom.

Though some people continue to have disputes due to upholding the false belief that some groups are subordinate to others, most people are coming to see that we are all really one big family. Hopefully, we can use our skills and technology to educate one another and increase reasonable thinking everywhere and reducing ignorances such as thoughtless racial or religious prejudices. Despite the fact that there continue to be some remaining instances of acts of intolerance, throughout the world people have shown that we are capable of a broad social and spiritual acceptance which encompasses most everyone. Surely, there is still a lot of progress to be made before we will have an ideal civilization, but we now have the greatest tools for cooperation available in all of our history to help us achieve it.

Information is being shared with the greatest of ease through the use of technology, and the distribution of telecommunications is reaching more and more people. With the combination of the internet and social media now available on mobile devices, the capabilities of free-walking telecommunication has been boosted to previously unimaginable levels. We are beginning to be able to share information and collaborate better than ever, and in the wake of this it seems that progress in human rights is inevitable.

There is reason to have confidence that we will be able to use our abundant resources, information, and technology with the guidance of philanthropy and the oversight of rationality to actualize our full potential by working cooperatively toward shared goals that will increase the quality of human life all around the world. Surely, we have it within us to make courageous decisions to improve the world. There are many ways the average person can make the world more heavenly—from simply being kind in interactions with one another to perhaps skipping on some extravagance and instead donating the money it would have cost to a humanitarian organization that provides assistance for people in need. Of course, while it has been made possible today to make a difference in lives around the world through money, people can still simply volunteer their time to improve things locally.

Perhaps we will even be able to one day collectively grow beyond our naturally self-serving egocentric mindsets. But even if we cannot, everybody with the ability to influence—which includes everyone—can at least start making more conscientious choices toward positive change through loving more and hating less. If we can do that, we will be able to make great progress, even while still acting without neglect for our own personal interests. We merely must remember not to ignore the questions of how our actions affect others today, and also how our actions can influence the future for later generations on this Earth.

As we continue to more genuinely accept ourselves and each other, we will be able to become more truly happy. People will find that while getting nice things for themselves is enjoyable, the truest and freest happiness comes from acting with true consideration for the well-being of others. By this, acting for the benefit of others is also acting for the benefit of oneself. As people living today come to realize this, all will begin to see that with cooperation there is no distinct dividing line between improving the lives of others and improving our own lives, but that the two blend together as one.

And so we will instill smart changes in our lives that will make for lasting improvements for everyone on the planet continuing on into the future. If nothing else, even if one chooses to merely live for today, it would be foolish for them to forget that they too will live in part of tomorrow's world. So let us hope—for each individual today, as well as for the larger society and for the future generations that will inhabit the Earth—that all may find it within themselves to do their best to act out of good friendship with one another.

To make the changes that we need to, we must let go of the debilitating ideas that many have been led to believe. For instance, we must refuse to let ourselves be discouraged by false, excusive statements, such as: "There is no way to feed everyone." And we will have to get over negative mindsets, like thinking: "People will never get along." That type of thinking, in itself, is what has been our greatest hindrance and is really the only problem left that is preventing us all from truly thriving together. This is a turning point for humanity, and we have everything we need to change away from our petty grievances, greed, and suffering toward more harmonious cooperation, prosperity, and limitless joy.

We all just need to make the decision to begin to act with consideration for one another and to wisely guide our activities according to their effects on one another. The time for the great awakening is truly here and now: All you have to do is choose to be an active participant in it. We should begin now to develop more peaceful and sustainable living with one another. It has been too long that there has been fighting and arbitrary division in this world. But it is never too late to stop fighting and begin to work together to clean up our messes. So let everyone use this opportunity, in which we have advanced our communication and interaction to the global scale, to really make a lasting change for humanity.

Let everyone put blind and careless opinionating behind them and make a good quality of life for themselves and the whole world a fundamental guide to actions today. If everyone made it their wish to simply share in existence with one another non-judgmentally and to help one another peacefully enjoy life, everyone could enjoy a much more beautiful experience of life together. We really can all enjoy life today and have an optimistic outlook to the future, so long as we are conscientious of how we choose to treat one another. If one is led to question the validity of that statement, it is that which has led them to question it in the first place which should be more thoroughly evaluated. To put it bluntly, we are all participants in shaping each day and the future, and we should proudly embrace that responsibility while still being able to truly enjoy life.

Contents Introduction Part One: Our World Interpreting what's Before Our Eyes Ch. 1: Earth (Our Wondrous World) Ch. 2: The Universe (What We've Come to Know of the Cosmos) Ch. 3: Life (The Evolution of Living Things on Earth) Part Two: Us Our Origins and What's Shaped Us Ch. 4: Our Emergence (The Evolution of Humans) Ch. 5: Origins of Spirituality (The Precursors to Religious Thought) Ch. 6: Our Violence (An Analysis of Our History of War) Ch. 7: Religiosity (Our Use of Structured Systems of Belief) Part Three: Our Religions The Various Results of Our Pursuit of Answers through Religion Ch. 8: Abrahamic Religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Latter-day Saints) Judaism Christianity Islam Latter Day Saints Ch. 9: Religions Originating in India (Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism) Hinduism Buddhism Jainism Sikhism Ch. 10: Religions Originating in China (Daoism, Confucianism, Chinese Traditional Religion) Daoism Confucianism Chinese Traditional Religion Ch. 11: Religions Originating in Japan (Shinto, Tenrikyo, Church of World Messianity) Shinto Tenrikyo Church of World Messianity Ch. 12: Indigenous Religions (Native Belief Systems) Religions Originating in Africa Mesoamerican Religions Native American Religion Ch. 13: Newer Religions (New Approaches to Religiosity) Spiritism Bahá’í Faith Unitarian Universalism Part Four: Our Reckoning Using Logical Thinking to Make Progress Ch. 14: Pride & Culture (Letting Go of Ego) Ch. 15: Independent Reasoning (Individual Reckoning) Ch. 16: Thinking Together (Creating Unity in Humanity) Ch. 17: Globalization (Connecting Worldwide) Part Five: Our Challenges Facing Our Current Obstacles to Overcome Ch. 18: Conflict (War, Terrorism, and Other Violence) Ch. 19: Global Social Problems (Trouble Areas in Human Wellbeing) Poverty & Hunger Population Growth Potable Water Unemployment Gender Inequality Human Rights Violations Crime & Society Drug Abuse Ch. 20: Environmental Issues (Pollution & Global Warming) Ch. 21: Government (National Administrative Systems) Ch. 22: Sustainability (Planning for the Future) Part Six: Our Future Moving Forward Ch. 23: Personal Development (Changing for the Better) Ch. 24: Social Change (Enacting Societal Evolution) Ch. 25: Future Generations (Parenting & Education) Part Seven: To Be Blessed Peace Be with You Ch. 26: Forgiving (True Salvation) Ch. 27: Appreciating (Truly Living)

Introduction

In nearly all of the stories that have been passed down from the earliest civilizations, there is usually one thing in common: They have a story of how everything was brought into being. It seems a story of origin has always been one of our most important questions to have answered. Many of the ancient creation stories share the ideation that before anything which exists today came to be, only the thought of the Holy Spirit existed. The Holy Spirit—which is now understood to be God by all those who have come to realize that they exist thanks to It—decided in divine thought that, rather than there being nothing, it would be good for a reality to exist in which other spirits might have the opportunity to exist. So the Holy Spirit manifested as God the Sovereign Creator and began the process from which the entire universe came into existence from nothing. It is an overwhelming commonality between most creation stories that the key ingredient in the beginning of this process was the creation of light—which is frequently depicted as bringing forth light to make distinction from darkness.

In modern times, scientists have used the approach of analyzing the existing universe, through fields of study such as astronomy, to try to get an idea of how the universe may have started out. After developing an understanding of the current state of the universe through gathering much observational information and processing it through scientific analysis, scientists have combined their learning from many different fields of expertise to develop a model which extrapolates backwards in time to the beginning of this universe. Through such efforts, they have developed the understanding that there must have been a starting point, over thirteen billion years ago, from which everything in this universe was set into motion. At the original starting point, it appears that everything which is spread out in the universe today must have come from one extremely condensed point. The event in which everything came out of that point—which has been termed a singularity—has been named the Big Bang. When the Big Bang occurred, time began as space expanded out of the singularity, and all of the energy that makes up matter today burst forth in the form of pure radiation, or light. After things cooled down from the extremely hot start of the Big Bang, some of the original energy that had been in the form of radiation became deposited into particles containing rest mass. In other words, all of the matter in the universe, including the matter which composes our bodies, came from the original light of the Big Bang.

What this means is that modern science has uncovered from the study of the laws of physics which govern our universe that the central component of many of the most ancient creation stories is true: Everything that we observe around us is composed of the light that came forth from the beginning of creation. Going a step further in relating the ancient creation stories to modern science, we find that the laws of physics (as well as all of the harder to define actions of metaphysics) which define the universe and its existence must be what the Spirit of God surmised for creation in the beginning and set forth with the creation of light. With this understanding, we find that God created everything that exists today through creating the laws of physics—because it has been through the laws of physics that everything in the history of the universe has occurred. And thus, everyone who has ever lived has been granted their life's existence through God's creation of reality.

In most of the ancient stories of origin, it is after the creation of light that the creation of the Earth is mentioned. Adding more detail to this from the study of particle physics, most of the matter which composes the Earth had to have been formed inside of stars from the fusion of the simpler elements that formed from the Big Bang. In fact, our entire solar system formed primarily from the remains of an exploded star which existed before the Sun. This has all been learned from studying the science of the laws that govern the interactions of matter and energy in space through time. To think that such foundational parts from ancient creation stories, which were originally passed down by people who had little to no knowledge of such things as particle physics, have come to be supported by our most advanced physical sciences is intriguingly remarkable. Such convergence is an authentication of these stories being divinely inspired, even if other details in the accounts are less scientifically accurate. More information about our current knowledge regarding the history of the universe and of the Earth will be covered in greater detail in the first few parts of this book.

Skipping forward over a vast amount of evolution to today, we are now the creators of things. Indeed, we now create things out of the very environment from which we emerged. We have been able to do this because our environment is plentiful in resources. For instance, we have found there to be multitudes of stores of resources in the ground. But despite the richness of the elements in the ground, it is the air and water that are the most vital to us. Second only to the air that we breathe; our fresh water is our most precious resource. In fact, we are mostly composed of water. It is now known that our earliest evolutionary ancestors first lived in water, but through a great number of small evolutionary steps over a vast amount of time, life took to carrying water within itself onto land. All along, all that was needed for living could be found in the bountiful environment.

Of course, it has only been relatively recently that we have found that we can create just about anything we can imagine out of the materials contained in the crust of our Earth. Still, we have had to come to terms with the reality that all of these materials are limited and there is only so much that the Earth can provide. Though we originally had no clue of how big our Earth was, we have now found that it is smaller than we once thought. And while we once thought there was no end to the sky and the oceans, we have now come to find that they are both finite, and that pollution builds up in them over time. Furthermore, there are now so many people living on our planet that we have begun to change the environment from what was naturally shaped over huge amounts of time. Realizing the truth of the impact of our activities on our planetary environment is absolutely humbling, and many have yet to fully come to terms with it.

The good news is that we have discovered this rather quickly, and as mentioned in the preface, there have been many developments in the means of making changes to our current patterns. It has only been around a hundred years—the course of just a few generations—that personal vehicles fueled by gasoline have become widely commonplace. And already we have developed technologies to make personal vehicles run partially or purely on electric power. Furthermore, ways to create electricity without burning fossil fuels and emitting greenhouse gas emissions have been invented and could become the primary means of electricity production relatively soon. So long as these new energies are allowed to be developed unimpeded, we should soon be able to use electricity and transportation without so much burden of polluting the environment.

It is interesting to consider that while the problem of air pollution is really quite new, problems such as hunger and war have been with us for thousands of generations. There have also recently been more problems with running out of fresh water in some places, due to various local population densities having consumption beyond what the land can support. Problems such as these—as well as those others mentioned in the preface—are covered in more detail later in the book, and optimistic suggestions as to what can be done to solve them are discussed. The type of thinking required to peacefully overcome the difficulties and complications that face humanity today are the real focuses of this book.

Over time, great amounts of information have been stored in countless books. Especially recently, many books have been written which discuss how we might go about solving our problems. But while this book is only one of many, effort has been made to include the most vital information that one ought to know about the world within this one volume. It is important that people discover the current state of the world and share it with others, because by doing so we can work out solutions to our problems. As one reads this book, it is invited that they critically think about what is being discussed as to foster true progress.

As is important with life in general, everyone absolutely must think for themselves. People have been living in an era where misguidance has been spread in bulk to the multitudes. As was already mentioned in the preface, many people have now even been tantalized and led to be unhappy with themselves, let alone unhappy with others. Worst of all, people have been systematically taught to pursue the wrong goals, which is really what is at the bottom of much of the distress in the world. Far too many people in the world today have lost their moral compass in life in the midst of the mess created by materialism.

Sadly, not only has materialism made messes of individual lives, but it has also led to messes in the larger world. Due to the draw created around materialistic consumption and the emphasis that has been placed on money, people have been led into destructive behaviors we would be better not to participate in. Some have even theorized that recent warfare has been contrived to bring certain people and corporations within the population increases in wealth through military contracts and corporate expansion. Obviously, if this is the case, the premise of economic expansion has mutated to become detrimental for humanity. Still, no matter the extent of our problems, we will always have the capacity to overcome them. Because we contain exceptional abilities, including both the versatility of intelligence for adaptation and the compassion needed to rightly guide it, we have the aptitude for limitless positive change. All that we must do to truly utilize our potential is to break through the old mindset of competition and instead focus our efforts on cooperation.

Most of our problems come from one issue: We have become confused about what is truly of importance in life. Due to the unequal sharing of resources that has occurred as a drawback of our current monetary system, many have come to think that money is the most important thing in life. Conversely, money merely represents value and is useless by itself, so it really deserves to be nowhere near the top of our priorities. In truth, what is really important is priceless, such as true acceptance and honest loving relationships. It has become clear that too much focus is being placed on money when people become depressed from thinking they do not have enough of it, even when they already have enough to live comfortably and therefore everything they need to be happy. It is plainly disheartening to see that many people have been so tantalized by the media portrayal of wasteful opulence that they have come to feel they cannot be happy without being rich, which is absolutely untrue. With lovingness, a person can be happy and satisfied with life even if they have little more than the necessities.

Something priceless has been robbed from a person when they are led to forget that they truly can be happy without being rich. It is similar to when persons become addicted to drugs and begin to feel that they cannot have fun without them, though they know they were originally capable of enjoying life sober. Just as people have been led to believe that ingesting substances will make them feel better, they have been led to believe that getting more things will make them feel better. And sadly, just as ingesting substances can be addicting, gaining material possessions can be addicting. Surely, it is certain that some material things are necessary for an enjoyable life; but ultimately, the pursuit of happiness through material things will be a vain pursuit. Like drug abuse, it makes people dependent upon things that previously weren't needed for happiness and leaves their lives and world in ruins.

In reality, people are beings with souls, even if some deny it to be true. For, while God created the laws of physics that determine all of the interactions of matter within the universe, matter itself cannot make choices, because matter does not have free will. Rather, our spirits are what have the free will to make choices, and it is merely through the matter of our bodies that the choices of our spirits are carried out. Something critical to consider here is that, because our spirits are not made out of matter which can be destroyed, they cannot be destroyed like our bodies can. This is how, despite the fact that matter is impermanent and all bodies are mortal, the metaphysically extant spirit is indestructible and everlastingly immortal. Therefore, as has been rightly understood and proclaimed by the world's many spiritual traditions, our souls are the eternal entities which will be held responsible by God for making the choices that were carried out by our bodies while alive.

One can gather from this that God is the Lord of Spirits, and will have sovereign judgment over all of the spirits which are the ends that have come about through the life that has occurred by God's means of the creation of the universe. This information is much more valuable than any amount of money. While bribes may get people places while living, the soul will not be able to bring money with it to bribe God in the afterlife. Indeed, in the judgment of a person's soul, the money they had in life will mean little to nothing compared to their influence on the lives of others. What will really count is whether a person made the world a better place or a worse place through their actions. Especially considering the fact that all matter is impermanent, it can only make sense that a person's material possessions, such as money, will ultimately only be of significance in how they were used to affect other living beings with eternal spirits.

In accordance with this, the key is simple: caring enough to find the right motivation for action in life through altruistic spiritual direction. Unlike taking substances or buying things one does not need, which generally only provide a temporarily good sensation, finding spirituality actually gives a person lasting wholeness. With the right motivation—which is caring about others—an individual can form the right goals, choose the proper actions to accomplish them, and then eventually receive the right reward. In this, everyone should intend to grow spiritually and to help others, rather than emptily setting out in the selfish pursuit of personal gains. Everyone knows at the center of their being that the difference between altruism and selfishness is what constitutes the differences between good and evil, but sometimes people become influenced by outside sources to lose sight of that inner truth.

Our true nature can be seen in the classic portrayal of our cultural stories. It is a recurring theme in the stories used for entertainment that the bad guys are always doing evil in the greedy pursuit of money and power, and the good guys are always selflessly trying to help protect the well-being of others. It is plain and simple that this reflects what we know in ourselves. Yet, people support this society in which some can get rich while others starve, simply out of hoping that they might be able to become those few that get rich. But then those few that actually do successfully get rich become obsessed with their riches and it usually doesn't even make them truly happy anyway. Instead, they become worried about losing their riches and grow resentful of the poor. And, of course, the poor naturally detest the rich for not sharing their excess with them, as any child knows would be right for them to do. So, it seems that this system only results in most everyone becoming unhappy. Can't everyone see that this is a miserable way of doing things?

One can easily envision a better functioning society than the current one. A society based more on altruistic sharing instead of such crass greed would result in far less inequality, and thus much less unhappiness. If people did more sharing with one another, the world would not seem so cold and uncaring, and not so many people would become so bitter and heartless towards others in response. Truly, the world could be run better out of love than out of hate. And not only would a world run on love run better than one run on hate run better, but it would also be much happier. A change to such an improved world could be considered a new era for humanity. In this new era, societies would wake up to realize that everyone in the world really is on the same larger team, and therefore everyone should cooperate more toward shared goals of common wellbeing, instead of viewing life as some kind of competition with one another.

Though it may seem cliché, in reality it is true that everyone can be winners by taking on the viewpoint that life is not some kind of competition, but rather a freely given opportunity by God for each individual to personally improve over time. And still, the time we are given in life for development can be enjoyed. Truly, life was meant to be enjoyed from the start, and it was intended to be enjoyable for everyone. Sure, there will always end up being some who—out of some faltering or misguidance in their own lives—end up becoming careless towards others, but no one should let fear or hatred of those few ruin an otherwise enjoyable life. From birth, people do naturally care about others, and it is only through mistreatment that this beautifully engrained characteristic is lost. If the vast majority of people would chose to embrace their innate inner caring and let helping one another bring them to action, as we naturally do have the capacity for, it would be much more like Heaven on Earth.

Civilization really could be held up through individuals working out of the idea of maintaining a prosperous society just as easily as it is held up by individuals working out of self-interest. Indeed, one would think that such a stimulus for action would be far more proficient than the every-man-for-himself type mentality—especially now that we have already used that old method to figure out how to make things more efficient. In a more ideal civilization, people could be much happier about working because they would know that they were working as part of a system intended to benefit everyone. Therefore, in this way of doing things, not only is a more truly productive civilization established, but it also allows more genuine happiness for all of the individuals involved.

While the way of selfishness has produced much for the world, it has also shown itself to result in great waste. In the wake of the glamorization of money, lavish wastefulness has grown from greed. In the money system, it has led people to participate in fraudulent financial schemes and exhibit plainly shameful dishonesty. In industry, it has lead companies to participate in planned obsolescence, in which products are produced intentionally to become obsolete or to fail so that new models will be bought. Of course, it is more responsible to the people for people in the money system to be honest, and it is more responsible to the environment for industry to create products to last in which the parts that wear out fastest are easily replaceable so that the whole unit does not have to be wasted. It is time to see a rejuvenation of the good wholesome education in the world, including the old ideas of honesty and of reducing waste by reusing perfectly good used items and recycling worn out ones.

The whole idea that a healthy economy consists of massive production of products for needless consumption is detrimental to the environment and also to the common people, just like wars. If one really thinks about the problem of there not being enough jobs, they will find that it is not really the problem that it has been depicted to be at all, but rather a blessing in disguise. Honestly, how could it really be a problem that there is not enough work to go around? What that means is that all the work that needs to be done to provide a living for everyone in the society is being done! A reasonable solution to the issue is that the work that is being done by those currently working can be divvied up and spread among the people that aren't working.

If the current work being done now were shared more evenly, everyone could then work less! This would mean that everyone would have more free time. People could use their free time to do whatever they choose to—whether they wish to sit and poison themselves with toxins and arguably pointless television programming or videogames they happen to enjoy or to do more productive activity like reading, exercising, meditating, community development like planting trees or tending gardens for themselves and others, cleaning up litter in their environment, or spending time creating their own art. Indeed, any person can proudly and happily do any mix of those things. And for people in a society with not enough work to go around could put in effort toward helping people in other societies in which there is need for development.

The technology is now available to where if it were shared altruistically, it could make the lives of all the people of the world easier. Though it has been depicted by some that it is smart to only care about oneself, it is truly the foolish who are only motivated by the pursuit of profit to do things and the wise who will work to help others. For, those who only do things to profit themselves will continually be led by that leash of selfishness—and, eventually, if they don't free themselves from that leash, it will pull them down to a place no one really wants to end up in. So, while it may be contrary to current popular belief, the wisest care about others in the world and act on that caring. It is time that people not be tricked into being abashed about caring about the good of the world—for, in all truth, that is one of the few things in life about which one should really be proud. It is time that good honest people decide to throw down the shackles of self-consciousness that others fueled by selfish judgment, or even some subconscious worry of that, has placed upon them. This applies to all those who have continued to be ruled by that corrupt social enforcement and who have not already loosed those chains.

The time ruled by hogging spoils and shamelessly using people merely as a means for profit, rather than ends in their own happiness, is over. It is due time that society evolve beyond that type of thinking. It seems to be one of the best kept secrets that wishing upon others the same good that you wish upon yourself is the way to having a spirit that is at peace, but there is no good reason that should be a secret! It is this plain and simple understanding that we can enjoy life best when we wish for all others the same things we wish for ourselves—physical sustenance, peace, love, and appreciation—which has been thought to be some elusive enlightenment. (It has been a misperception that an honest respect for the pure truth in that last sentence is not equal to the rigorous enlightenment that has been portrayed as unattainable by the average person for some inexplicable reason.)

Many individuals have already made the progression to such an awakened understanding themselves, and they have been trying to wait patiently for the larger society to also wake up and realize it. Now, in the new era, this understanding will no longer be some unsung secret to inner peace, but instead it will be beautifully shared common knowledge—which, when acted upon, will bring to the world a degree of widespread harmony the likes of which humanity has not yet seen. And the world will continue to see vast innovation and progress, but instead of only benefitting a few it will be shared more cooperatively for the good of all humanity.

People have been led to go about their lives wasting their days in the pursuit of treasure that they will never be able to keep. It is time to stop esteeming that nonsense. In the new era, people will enjoy the true satisfaction of working in pursuit of helping each other, and from this they will gain real everlasting reward which the soul will be able to keep. Rather than wanting to hurt one another, people will come to the realization that it is more rewarding to aid one another. After gaining greater insight, they will realize that not sharing is actually stealing from themselves. Then, by acting out of genuine caring for the well-being of others, people will solve problems previously thought unsolvable. And in doing so, they will overcome the very negative thinking that had previously made them bitter and hateful toward one another. This will be the actualization of the new era.

The spirit is ultimately the only thing that holds value, and this is a time of a great spiritual awakening. Because it had been through denying this reality that humanity's truest potential was previously hindered, the horizon of the new era will be vast and endless. Instead of bringing strife between one other, people will bring balance to themselves and each other. Instead of wasting energy fighting against one another, they will return to attunement with nature and each another. And by doing so the transition to the new era should actually be able to be made rather smoothly. The information and directions needed to accomplish the transition to the new era are before your very eyes, right now. Reading this book will help you make the new era a reality. Indeed, the transition has been underway in the world for some time now already. If each individual lets no one convince them that accomplishing these things is impossible, the success of such a better civilization will be inevitable.

While some might view this type of talk as dreaming, there is nothing more real than the reality that the world collectively shares the future. And though some have said out of pure negativity that we will never be able to get along, the future truly needn't be marred by continual conflict. In fact, it will only be marred by conflict if individuals choose to continue to be led into bringing conflict along with themselves into the future.

One day, the people of the world will be able to forget everything about the game of tug-of-war that life has been made out to be. Countries will no longer be tricked into opposing one another, and instead they will view one another as teammates to cooperate with toward a global success for all. By making this simple change in worldview, humanity will be able to develop and finally grow from an immature civilization composed of factions verses one another to a mature civilization that is composed of independent parts all in supportive contribution to the intercombined whole. Maybe, just maybe, everyone will be able to realize we were all really just independent parts of one larger whole all along, and had merely been confused to think we were not.

Part One

Our World:

Interpreting What's Before Our Eyes





Chapter 1

Earth

(Our Wondrous World)

So here we are, alive and breathing. It is truly great to simply be alive and breathing. Though it is not a common consideration in our daily lives, it is a wonderful thing that our world has an atmosphere made up of air which fills our lungs with the elements needed to replenish our tissues. It can be a rare occurrence for us to actually take notice of the many things it takes for our lives to be continually sustained. For instance, we would rarely take note of things like the fact that the air pressure around us keeps us from exploding, as would basically happen if the Earth's atmosphere were to vanish and stop protecting our bodies from the vacuum of space, or that if gravity were to suddenly stop working, we would all float off the ground and spin away from this Earth with everything else not attached to it.

Now, it is not surprising that none of us think of these things very frequently, because they are accepted to always hold true and thus we don't really need to think about them in our daily lives. We need not worry about such things as gravity stopping working because God ordained the laws of physics to be constant and unyielding. Because of that fact, our mere existence and living is proof in itself of God's existence. Knowing this should make one feel a little more comforted. Creation was God's gift to us so that we might be able to enjoy reality. Therefore, the experience of life is a free blessing. All gifts come from God, down to the mere ability to take a deep breath or a drink of water. Every meal is a blessing, as well as the mere opportunity to pray, meditate, or otherwise give praise.

The realization that there are human beings on every continent all around this wonderful planet sharing in this experience of life is really quite amazing. More amazing yet is the fact that we have made connections to one another all around the globe, making our whole planet not only one shared world, but also an integrated one. People are no longer isolated from the rest of the world, not even by the greatest obstacles, including the widest oceans and tallest mountains. We overcame such obstacles long ago through the inventions of transportation such as boats and airplanes.

More recently, through the creation of wired and now wireless communications, we have succeeded in making it possible to communicate almost instantaneously with people nearly anywhere in the civilized world. This is something that most people never could have dreamt possible before it really happened. And, though our world is not yet one of peace, with much conflict and inequality left to resolve, we have better conversation between our societies than ever before in the past, and for the most part our interactions are getting better. It is a beautiful thing to be able to see and share in all of the cultures of the world at once with the ease with which we can today. It is interesting to think how far we have come to reach this state of affairs. But to really appreciate it, we have to consider what our ancestors had to make it through in the past on the way here.

By trying to look at the world through the eyes of early humans living up to a couple hundred thousand years ago, we might be able to describe the basis for the common experience which all of our ancestors shared. Now, as one might imagine, growing up as early humans wasn't the most comfortable life conceivable. But we thankfully were always blessed with the ability to think and use problem solving skills to overcome adversities. Thanks to our development of the ability to walk upright, which freed up our hands to become dexterous with thumbs, we have been able to manipulate our environment to suit our needs like no other animal native to this Earth. Furthermore, thanks to our creative minds, we have been able to adapt from the natural wilderness to our now commonplace offices. Truly, the human mind is one of the most powerful gifts held among all of the living creatures in the known universe. Though we haven't always been this smart, we know we had to start somewhere.

So, let us think of some of the common experiences that the earliest humans of the world might have shared. To do this, one can imagine what the first things they would have noticed in the world would have been through their own observation, having never had anyone explain any of it to them. There are many basic things that virtually all humans must have shared in their existence, going all the way back to our most ancient ancestors. These include the same things that are common to all of our experience today. The first thing any conscious being must notice here on Earth is the day itself.

There is nothing more clear to see than the difference between night and day. We and all of our ancestors are basically obliged to know that at dawn the Sun rises, and at dusk the Sun sets. We would also all come to notice that the Sun always comes up in the east. Of course, at first, we would have had no name for the east. Rather, the east would simply have been designated as the general direction in which the Sun rises. Next we would notice that through the morning, the Sun rises slowly upward, until it is at its highest position overhead at midday. And then it continues on toward the opposite side from which it rose, always coming back down and setting in the direction we now call west. Sunsets, as well as sunrises, would have then been particularly remarkable to early humans as something of the most beauty to behold. After sunset, of course, night would fall until the Sun rose again.

At night time, in the absence of the brightness of the Sun, one can see countless stars. Little did early humans know that each of the stars was just like the Sun, except at a much farther distance. Then, at night, rather than the Sun, it became the Moon that we would notice dominating the sky. The Moon and the stars helped us by providing enough light during the night for us to make out what is around us. But besides that, they have also been something quite entrancing in and of themselves to simply gaze upon. Eventually, the phases of the Moon were found to be useful in keeping track of time.

To the early humans, the stars had to have been one of the very most magical things to take in. Many stargazers would agree that this still applies today, but before light pollution made them hard for those of us in cities today to see, every clear night would have been a brilliant show of uncountable twinkling lights. Many tales were spun about the constellations that could be drawn if one looks with imagination to connect the dots among the bright stars. Further, many great societies would eventually study the stars and measure their motions to incredible accuracy. More recently we have found out that it is from the stars that the elements in our very own bodies come from, making their existence and ours all the more fascinating.

What other things would early humans have particularly taken note of in rudimentary life? First off, they would have had to have made a living. Our earliest ancestors roamed as hunter-gatherers on the earth for millennia, not very unlike most other animals. They moved along without much speaking, searching for food that was edible to them and finding a nice place to lie down. Along with this often came the need for fitting shelter, which had to be found or constructed frequently when on the move, but could also be kept for regular use in places where food sources were more stable.

With these needs always requiring maintenance, one might figure that it did not matter much what early people thought of life, because they were simply kept busy staying alive. Yet, because the early humans depended more on the Earth to provide them with what they needed, it very well could have been that these early people actually had more time to think about the true nature of life than we do today—especially considering they had not made so many distractions for themselves as we have for ourselves nowadays. Earlier people probably took more time to enjoy the smaller things in life, such as appreciating the natural details of the environment and one another. Of course, just as we are today, they were first and foremost led along in their motions by pursuit of satisfying their own physical needs, the needs of their families, and the needs of their communities. These are the basic drives to sustain enjoyable life as a person living in any type of society.

There are several most basic needs which we most obviously share with all our ancestors: We all must breathe, drink, eat, and sleep. The near constant requirement of breathing is most essential, then the thirst to drink, the hunger to eat, and the need of sleep for rejuvenation. Of course, after the bodily development of puberty, the more or less required need to satisfy the physical drive for sex is added to these others. But beyond these more obvious physical needs, there is something which is commonly overlooked as a basic need: each of our intrinsic need for therapeutic social interaction. It has been learned that good social interaction is something that is absolutely essential for healthy emotional development and continued mental health.

Beside our basic needs being physical requirements, they are also sources of pleasure to us. Nonetheless, we have come to find that it is the higher level things in life—such as love and the sense of accomplishment gained from helping others—that are truly the most rewarding. Still, as a fact of life, the ground-level physical requirements of the body have to be fulfilled in order to perform the higher order achievements. So, as we have been in the process of developing, it has been our basic physical needs that have been the primary drives behind the things we do. Steadily through time, however, we have become better at having our lower needs fulfilled; and we have been able to spend more time doing the more satisfactory, higher level activities.

Many people today have extra time after doing what is needed to sustain themselves physically for activities of interest. This free time can be filled by doing things simply because they are enjoyable to us, such as participating in cultural activities or finding intellectual or spiritual growth through reading. Though reading and writing are essential in most lives today, this advancement was not produced until quite recently in our development. Still today, some people have not been lucky enough to have free time for hobbies after taking care of what must be done for their sustenance. Oddly, for others on the opposite side of the spectrum, activities originally developed for mere amusement or entertainment in idle time have in some ways hijacked our instinctual programming to become obsessions which individuals feel drawn to as though they were essential requirements for fulfillment.

We have found that just as we share our most basic physical requirements with many of the other animals with which we share our environment, we also share common instincts with them. This is because we got our primary instincts through evolution just as they did. Because of this, basically all living things naturally have innumerable common experiences through life. Originally, we were exposed to the elements in the same way as all the other animals, and we still are at times when we are not protected from it with shelter. One of the biggest experiences of our environment, of course, is the weather. People have always known weather for its great power over us. This is especially made clear to us when there is extreme weather. We can find ourselves battered by precipitation in strong wind, scorching in the heat of the sun, or freezing in the cold.

One does not have to spend much time living to realize that we are really quite fragile and that we are entirely subject to the forces of nature. Our flesh can easily be cut, torn, and bruised, and many are even easily burned simply from too much exposure to sunlight. Thus, pain—in addition to thirst, hunger, and tiredness—is common to our lives, and was especially so in the past. This can make life a true struggle at times, and especially so with our strong emotions. However, if not for also having the risk of experiencing pain and suffering, we would never have been able to experience pleasure and happiness. Indeed, every singly type of negative experience in life can be viewed as the only way for us to be able to appreciate the opposite positive.

There would be no enjoyment or appreciation of getting to eat and drink if not for also having to be able to experience hunger and thirst, and there would be no satisfaction in rest if not for tiredness. To truly be able to appreciate anything, we must be exposed to the possibility of lacking it. Therefore, life is a means of being able to enjoy, or otherwise there could really be no such thing. So, we must take the good with the bad and try to be appreciative of it all. All that we experience comes by way of a few unremitting forces of nature which rule the entire universe, our bodies included. The laws of physics have dictated everything that occurs in reality; though, for the longest time, we had no clue as to what exactly those laws were.

Overarching the forces of nature is time, though we may never entirely understand it. What we do know of time is that the present is continually progressing forward, toward the future and away from the past. Interestingly though, some well-informed scientists have pointed out that there is no reason that they can find by the laws of physics for why time should only go in the one direction. Still, and despite any wishing of our own, it is entirely clear that there is no use in arguing with the fact that it does. It would only make sense that the reason that time only goes in one direction in this physical universe is because God ordained it that way.

We have seen that all things develop over the course of time. In our lives, after being born, we grow from infant, to child, to adolescent, to adult. Eventually, we all have to face another fact of time: Every body that lives will someday die. While this is true for all things that live, it seems a cruel rule of life for those with more advanced emotions to have to learn. Indeed, it can hurt greatly to have to give up someone to death. Dealing with death can be grievous, but it is simply the price to play. Though we can never directly see someone who has died again in this life, that does not mean that we won't ever be able to see them again. Because no spirit can ever be destroyed, as was discussed in the introduction, you may be able to see your loved ones again after you yourself have also passed on—depending upon their and your intentions in life.

But despite death, life is beautiful, and there are vast amounts of life in our world. We see innumerable plants which grow from the ground, and creatures which move upon it and within it, as well as ones that fly in the sky, and ones that swim in the waters of rivers, lakes, and seas. All of the life works together to form balanced ecosystems which support one another in harmony. The great variety of living things is astounding, and many of them have colors that are truly delightful to the eyes—especially in flowers and birds. Some birds can boast the colors of a dozen varieties of flowers, with the pheasant, the peacock, and the parrot, being known especially for their many colors. This variety in life makes it more interesting.

Some creatures can even change their colors on demand, such as chameleons which can magnificently change the color of their skin to match their environment. More colors yet can be found in the oceans, with corals and tropical fish have colors of stunning clarity. Some aquatic life in the oceans can even dispel light from themselves, with some flashing what would otherwise seem to be artificial neon colors in the sea's darkness—though these few unique species of life have rarely been seen by human eyes. Likewise, fireflies can emit their own light. Judging from the vast differences in life we see on Earth, the great possibilities of evolution are hard to fathom. Detail regarding the evolution of life on Earth is discussed in the third chapter of this book.

Let us, for now, move back to the discussion of the human experience of the nature of life. We can continue by returning to the age-old talking point of the weather. One thing early humans were bound to learn to study regarding the weather was what would come of the clouds. For, they were sure to find that while they could not control the weather, though some may have developed some feeling of influence over it through superstitious ritual in early religious thought, they could at least watch the developments of the clouds in the sky to try to be a step ahead of the changes in the weather soon to come. This way, they might not be caught by total surprise when the ever-important changes in the clouds made their immediate presence clear through precipitation.

As the earliest peoples surely discovered, the clouds that float in the sky come in many forms, and their forms can give clues to the coming weather. This was probably the first form of the far more advanced meteorology forecasters use today to predict the weather. Surely, the most important quality of the clouds has always been that they bring precipitation, by their suspending water molecules up in the sky, seemingly in an act of defiance of gravity, and then dropping it seemingly randomly. As any child can observe, the precipitation can come down from the clouds in any fashion from a light misting to a drenching downpour. Of course, depending on the conditions, precipitation can come down in many forms besides the more regular rain—including sleet, snow, and hail. As hail can be very destructive, especially on agricultural crops, it was surely thought of as some kind of punishment from above to the early humans. (However, today we have figured out the science of how hail forms, and have even begun to develop ways to affect it through things like the aerial spraying of elements. Where affecting the weather was attributed to God or gods in the past, now we have become able to influence it ourselves—though it is generally not a good idea to try to tamper with nature.)

Within the more minor changes in the weather, such as those indicated by individual clouds, our weather patterns are also experienced to change in greater cycles, called seasons. The seasons pass in a predictable course of cycles, all over the world, again and again in the same order each year. Most likely, the course of the seasons are what made early humans first begin to pay attention to years in the first place. Especially in the Northern and Southern hemispheres, where there are stronger seasonal effects, including very cold winters in which it snows, it has always been very important to pay attention to the changing of the seasons—as to be prepared for the winter. Even in the more central latitudes, knowing the time of the seasons would have been important for those who planted and harvested crops.

Because of how critical it is to have proper timing in the seasons, developing a system with which to gauge the changing of the seasons would have been very helpful to early people. As careful stargazers of the ancient civilizations noticed, different stars show up in the night sky at different times throughout the year. This was most easily notable by recognizing certain constellations only appear during certain seasons. These particular constellations would not be seen throughout the rest of the year, but would eventually come back again after the course of a yearly cycle. Once this pattern was recognized, the days could be counted between when a certain star or constellation became viewable in one year and when it became viewable again in the next. If one were to manage to keep track in counting the number of days of this cycle, they would find that each cycle took just about 365 days. However, this counting method would have been difficult, because 365 is quite a large number.

One way to keep track of the year, instead of counting the days, would have been to build a structure that would maintain a point to a certain star at one time in the year and wait until the cycle brought it back to that same position. Doing it this way would relieve the individual of having to count to such a high number of days. We have found ancient evidence that this was indeed done in many places throughout the ancient world. For example, pyramids in the awe-inspiring and mysterious ancient city of Teotihuacan, in the Basin of Mexico near the modern-day Mexico City, have markings which line up with certain constellations coinciding with important times of the agricultural calendar.

Another way to measure the passing of the year similar to watching the celestial movements in the night sky would have been to note the position of the Sun during the day. If one carefully takes note of the Sun's apparent positioning in the sky, they will find that it moves in its position relative to the horizon slowly throughout the course of the year. This is now understood to be due to the tilt of the Earth's rotational axis relative to the Sun as it revolves around it throughout the year. In fact, the regular variation in sunlight exposure caused by the planet's axial tilt and its revolution around the Sun is the very cause of the differences between the seasons in the first place, though this explanation would have been very difficult for early humans to understand. The times when the Earth's axial tilt is the most extreme relative to the Sun are called the summer and winter solstices. Something interesting regarding this is that when it is winter solstice in the northern hemisphere, it is summer solstice in the southern hemisphere, and vice versa. The two times per year that are halfway between the solstices are known as the equinoxes.

People have also built structures to keep track of the passing of time according to the Sun's movement between the seasons. By making a permanent marker from one place on the ground to note the precise location of the Sun on a solstice or equinox, people could always know when that solstice or equinox occurred. With such a method to note these regularly occurring events in the year, it could be known when the seasons would again be changing, and the people could make important decisions accordingly. Many ancient societies developed and used this method of keeping track of the seasons. Indeed, we have evidence that proves some of them built structures which included such purposes, such as the famous site of Stonehenge, in today's English county of Wiltshire in the United Kingdom.

The cycles of the Moon were also used to keep track of periods of time, including seasonal time-keeping. This was perhaps more common to earlier humans, because lunar cycles are relatively easy to identify, with one full Moon occurring roughly every thirty days. Because the phases of the Moon can be identified with the naked eye, they do not require the building of any physical structures to monitor, as is the case for the fine tuning needed to denote the precise location of the Sun on a solstice or equinox. Of course, it was also a bonus that a person will not go blind from spending too much time looking at the Moon, as can happen from staring at the Sun! Many early societies based their calendars from the lunar cycles. However, it is difficult to make a yearly calendar based on the cycles of the Moon, because they don't occur in an even number of cycles per year. Since there are approximately 12.37 lunar cycles in one year, using lunar cycles results in inconsistencies. This is why there is so much variation between the many separately developed lunar calendars.

Mapping out the motions of the stars, Sun, and Moon to make a regular calendar was a great achievement of some early societies. It was a much greater task, however, for people to figure out the explanations for the motions of the objects in the sky. While it is now common knowledge that the year is specifically one revolution of the Earth around the Sun, it took us an extremely long time to attain that understanding. Looking back, it is easy understand why it was hard to believe that the Earth revolved around the Sun, and not the other way around. Since it was plain to see that the Sun rises and sets in opposite directions, and that it apparently moves in an arching motion over the Earth throughout the day, it seemed obvious that the Sun moved around the Earth.

The discovery that it is the Earth that moves around the Sun marks one of the most prominent counter-intuitive changes in human perspective ever. This change in perspective was a very hard one for people to take, but it taught us an important lesson: It showed us that something that many people feel entirely certain about can turn out to be entirely incorrect. You see, though it naturally feels that the Earth is steadfast, and that all other that are moving around it, it only appears this way from our own frame of reference. And, especially since Albert Einstein's revelation of the Special Theory of Relativity in 1905, we have come to know that no one frame of reference has any privilege over any other. Put simply, we have all slowly had to become aware that differences are always relative.

It was quite difficult for us to imagine that it is the Earth which is moving around the Sun, because everyone naturally has a view of life in which it seems that everything is always moving around us. And, as it naturally seems that things move relative to us, with us always being in the center of our own observational view of things, it also naturally seems that things move relative to our world. However, just as a child comes to find that the world does not revolve around them, we as a civilization have had to find that the universe does not revolve around us. Instead of the Earth being the center point of the universe around which all other things revolve, we now know the Earth to be just one of several planets that revolve around the Sun.

And beyond gaining the understanding that the Earth is just one of several planets revolving around the Sun in our solar system, we have further come to understand that the Sun is just one a star, much like all of those others that twinkle in the night sky. Complicating things somewhat, we have also figured out that the Sun and the stars we see in the night sky are all a part of an enormously large disk-shaped grouping of stars called the Milky Way Galaxy. Furthermore, all of the stars in the Milky Way Galaxy—the number of which is in the hundreds of billions—are also moving about the center of the galaxy as the entire galaxy rotates. And further yet, the Milky Way Galaxy is also moving about in space, relative to the hundreds of billions of other galaxies. A basic description of how we came to know this, along with our understanding of how it all came to be, will be explained in the next chapter.

But for now, let us move back to the subject of the Earth, as it holds plenty of interesting characteristics in itself to be discussed. As people have experienced the nature of our planet over time, we have uncovered more and more of the wondrous qualities that it holds. As anyone who lives will come to know, some things in nature just stand out from the rest. This would have been especially true of our oldest ancestors, whose views of the world were more limited to their direct surroundings. Without having pictures and video, a person would have had to actually go someplace to view it with their own eyes, and the mobility of early people was mostly limited to walking.

So, in the distant past, very few people were able to get a glimpse of the various natural wonders of the world, except those viewable directly around the location in which they happened to live. For this reason, few people in ancient times had the chance to see more than one or two of the wo