(Part 2) Top products from r/religion

> Perception and reality are not, and cannot be separated.

From a subjective level this is absolutely true, however consensus reality relies on the subjective perceptions which people agree are objective. If I say I'm a tomato because I'm perceiving being a tomato its subjectively real but its only objectively real once people agree with me.

> I have been doing more and more research into all of this. And I think I more or less have it figured out, and it does fit within the given range of what I would have been willing to accept before the event.

I can understand this, I accept many things now which I never would have accepted a decade ago. I would have thought you are a loony. lol now I'm probably more loony than you are.

> Graham Hancock

Some of his stuff is ok. He is a good writer but take a lot of it with a grain of salt, too many of his readers take it as gospel when its intended to be speculation. If you read his book Supernatural I recommend you read Shamanic Voices by the antropoligist Joan Halifax which he used as a source for much of his writing in that book.

> I am now completely convinced that I understand the nature of reality, and that this is only one plain of existence,

It's not so much that its only one "plain" of existence, in my experience, but rather that its only one "timeline set". Even if you experience these things as 100% real, not everyone will. You are experiencing multiple timelines simultaneously and they overlap partially with other people you communicate with. For some people the things you are describing are as real as the computer in front of you. For some they are not real at all. Both are right.

> and that I met a Reptilian that inadvertantly enlightened me while attempting to destroy me.

I can dig it.

> I met (I am looking for a word here that means EVERYTHING. The alpha, the omega, god, satan, yahweh, whaterver).

Sure. I call it "Existence Itself", "The System" or sometimes "Zooey" (long story on those names there). One night I had a 3-some with it and Non-Existence Itself. It was pretty hot. (I'm serious lol)

> I am that person, and that person is me. I am my own god of my own universe because this universe is only a matter of my own perception and therefore my own reality.

That's partly true but only as true as you are able to control your own experience. If you can't imagine that your walls are a different color and have them instantly be and stay that color than you are not only experiencing your universe but you are also experiencing the universe of one or more other people. Also you should check out the book Conference of the Birds in which the birds seek out what is basically God and discover that they themselves are God but that understanding this at a deep level is a very hazerdous journey.

> To summarize, I met a reptilian shape-shifter. They convinced me they were god using clever tricks of manipulation and mind-control. They have a better grasp on the energy and vibrations that allow this plain of existence to be manipulated, and they use that for their own gain.

Why would they use it for their own gain? What is there to gain? If they are shape-shifters are they reptilian or is that just one shape?

> On a side note, what do you think about things like psychedelics, monatomic gold, B17, pineal gland calcification, and things of this nature?

Psychedelic drugs can be useful for some people at some points in time to get them to learn to think outside of their native reality but one should be careful about extensive use. I believe mild stimulants to be more useful in getting one's brain into a state of controllable cross-reality experience but whatever works for you. I have no reality on the other things you are talking about there. If they make sense to you go for it, but they mean nothing to me.

> What do you think of "The Illuminati"?

Such groups exist in some timeline sets but not the ones that the majority of redditers experience, and not the one I'm experiencing right now. In the ones where they do exist they are typically not as 'evil' as people assume. Most of the ideas regarding groups like this come from past-life pre-earth memories and the groups now defunct.

> Do you think there is any chance that the entire world earth is being manipulated by Reptilians posing as the human super elite (ie Rothschilds) so that humans can be used as cattle/slaves by calcifying our pineal glands and brainwashing us?

Maybe in some realities but not any I've ever encountered, and I get around. Still it may be true in your reality, I'm certainly not going to tell you its not true for you but I will say its not true for me.

Our individual environments are manipulated by ourselves in ways we don't understand. Time is a lot more complicated than our memories suggest and much of what you do and think in your environment reinforces your future and past thoughts and beliefs. In a sense, we enslave ourselves by believing we are enslaved.

CONSCIOUSNESS AS AN ONTOLOGICAL PRIMITIVE: THE EXISTENCE OF GOD(S)

• Consciousness is empirically proven to be ontologically distinct from matter. This can be shown by comparing the properties of both, such as minds being nonspacial and matter taking up space, the contents of mind being subjective and those of matter objective, the contents of mind private to the individual and those of matter accessible to anyone, the contents of mind being about things and the contents of matter lacking aboutness, and these are only a few examples. Anyone can test this at any time. For instance, the volume in a room your body takes up will be the same if you're actively consciously thinking or dead, there's no difference. Or that no matter who you love the most of feeling you cannot actually access those feelings. [1]
  
  
• Consciousness is an absolute certainty, it is the one thing we know directly and can be sure exists. The existence of the Self and Consciousness is an axiomatic fact, it must be true and cannot even be logically argued against without violating that same logic. Anything that is Not-Consciousness in known through Consciousness, including the material world, body, and brain. Anything you ever have or will know about matter relies on consciousness, and while consciousness cannot have its existence doubted [2-3], we can EASILY doubt matter (such as brain in a vat, solipsism, idealism, philosophical skepticism, etc.) [4-7]. To reduce what we can doubt and never directly or certainly to something axiomatically true that we know with direct certainty is the height of unreasonable.
  
  
• Consciousness, even in less advanced being like animals, comes with very specific traits. This includes being aware of the self and others to some extent, having needs and desires, seeking either social situations or isolation actively, emotions, and so forth.
  
  
• CONCLUSION: since consciousness axiomatically exists, cannot be doubted, and is proven ontologically distinct from matter, consciousness must be a separate “substance” or “thing”, an ontological primitive. We know this primitive because we have direct access to it, so we can know about the nature of consciousness. An ontological primitive – something immaterial and eternal – which desires, has emotions, experiences, is self-aware, etc. is the best possible definition for a God. Therefore at least one God exists.
  
  
  
  THE NATURE/RISE OF CONSCIOUSNESS: THE INTERFERENCE FROM GOD(S)
  
  
• Not only are the properties of consciousness mutually exclusive from those of matter, but what we see consciousness is capable of, at least in humans, does not line up with the deterministic, linearly moving, material universe. For instance the mind of humans can question, manipulate, and even go against this linear, deterministic matter. Questioning is proven in this very writing, we are stepping outside of the system and looking in to figure out how it works, something which, to our knowledge, no other life does. If it does the certainly and evidently don’t to the same extent. We can manipulate nature such as the creation of complex chemical medications, the harnessing of electricity itself, the building of mega-structures that stand the tests of time [8-9], not to mention devices such as what you’re reading this on which would never have grown in a consciousness-less nature. Contradiction of this material nature is scientifically proven in things such as Self-Regulation, Cognitive Therapy, and Placebos without Deception [10-12]. All of these prove that we can willfully recognize our deterministic patters and freely choose to act differently.
  
  
• The rise of the higher consciousness possessed by humans is suspicious even if we ignore that this consciousness came to be able to contradict nature, and doesn’t fit with what we know about biological evolution. This is specifically in the Great Leap Forward of the Upper Paleolithic Revolution, a scientifically proven event well known in anthropology. Mankind went from “just another animal” to an abstractly questioning and thinking being. Art arose, religion, language, math, cultures, agriculture, and society and civilization themselves. This has never occurred to the same extent in another species, not even close. Further, there was no genetic change that occurred at this time, and biologically modern humans had already existed for over 100,000 years when the UPR happened![13~15?]
  
  
• CONCLUSION: The nature of the consciousness it birthed, along with the scientifically evidenced fact that it occurred abruptly and without biological evolution, suggest the interference of something outside of nature, i.e. a God.
  
  
  
  
  TELEOLOGY OF MIND AND BODY: THE PLAN OF GOD(S)
  
  
• There is a Telos to the mind which was proven by psychological scientist Abraham Maslow in his Hierarchy of Needs. This shows the best path for human beings to follow in order to reach their ideal life, something that applies across times in cultures. Maslow showed that there is a “proper” hierarchy to human priorities, and a “proper” end-goal of Self-Actualization whatever that may before you. [16]
  
  
• There is a Telos to the body which was proven by the Yale School of Medicine, especially through the works of Dr. Harold Burr. It shows that there are external fields creating and controlling, not simply produced by, the physical forms of all life. Anything from trees to amphibians to human beings. Readings of these “Life Fields” can predict cancer, ovulation, birth defects, and much more. Unfortunately Dr. Burr believed this to be evidence of an intelligent plan (it is…), so it has been largely swept under the rug in favor of (much more profitable!) materialism. [17-19]
  
  
• CONCLUSION: There being a clear proper path for both all matter and consciousness shows that there is a Telos, or purpose, to human life and that we do not exist or evolve randomly.
  
  
  
  
  PERSONAL EXPERIENCE: DIRECT EXPERIENCES OF GOD(S)
  
  
• Every single culture has experienced Gods. Hundreds of millions of people throughout human history and across cultures have experienced Gods, and these experiences have extremely similar characteristics. In fact these are so clear the can be categorized into 3 specific types of experiences (see Philosophy of Religion, and Introduction, by atheism William Rowe for example) [20]. Yes, the pantheons experienced seem to differ, but this is exactly what we would expect from cultures dependent on geography, weather, economy, class system, and so forth. To say this shows the experiences are invalid would be like saying the stars don’t exist because cultures came up with different constellations.
  
  
• We also don’t inherently reject and human experience as delusion off the bat. We accept people experience pain, love, fear, happiness, depression, etc., despite never having actual access to their experiences. Yet when it comes to religious experiences many non-believers fall back on SPECIAL PLEADING, which is to judge this one type of experience differently from the rest. [21]
  
  
• CONCLUSION: since we would expect gods to be interpreted differently by cultures, and without reasons to reject religious experiences (which would have to be on an individual basis, such as pain), all we have is something all cultures have consistent experienced across time, which parsimony would suggest means they actually experienced.
  
  
  
  
  
  POLYTHEISM: MORE THAN ONE GOD
  
  
• There are experiences of all different gods throughout time, and so if one accepts experience (you have to without reasons specific to that individual case, such as intoxication or mental illness) they cannot say THEIR god is valid while others are not without SPECIAL PLEADING.
  
  
• Monotheistic gods have been logically defeated, such as by the problem of evil, lack of miracles, lack of answered prayers, etc.
  
  
• CONCLUSION: If you believe ANY gods exist, it is more reasonable to believe MANY do.
  
  
  SOME References
  
  1- Mind/Body Dualism, SEP
  https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dualism/#MinBod
  
  2- About of Consciousness http://wiki.objectivismonline.net/Axiom_of_Consciousness
  
  3- Ontological Argument for Idealism by Bernardo Kastrup
  
  4 to 7- Skepticism and Content Externalism https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/skepticism-content-externalism/
  
  8- Making Medicines
  http://broughttolife.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/themes/treatments/medicines
  
  9- Powering a Generation
  https://americanhistory.si.edu/powering/generate/gnmain.htm
  
  10- How to Practice Self Regulation
  https://www.verywellmind.com/how-you-can-practice-self-regulation-4163536
  
  11- Cognitive Appraisal
  https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-1-4419-1005-9_1115
  
  12- Placebos Without Deception
  https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0015591
  
  13- Framework of the UPR
  https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0392192107076869
  
  14- Modern Humans Take the World
  https://www.thoughtco.com/upper-paleolithic-modern-humans-173073
  
  15- UP Technology, Art, Culture
  https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/world-history-beginnings/origin-humans-early-societies/a/paleolithic-culture-and-technology
  
  16- Hierarchy of Needs
  https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html
  
  17- The Electrical Patterns of Life
  http://www.wrf.org/men-women-medicine/dr-harold-s-burr.php
  
  18- Harold Burr's Biofields
  http://www.energymed.org/hbank/handouts/harold_burr_biofields.htm
  
  19- Electromagnetics of Life (PDF)
  https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://journals.sfu.ca/seemj/index.php/seemj/article/download/401/362&ved=2ahUKEwjv6Mm9xe_kAhW_CTQIHSjDCd8QFjAHegQIBhAB&usg=AOvVaw0xWf76krbzIG2DWHWuOP4q&cshid=1569537305106
  
  20- Phi of Religion https://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Religion-Introduction-William-Rowe/dp/0495007250
  
  21- Special Pleading
  https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/163/Special-Pleading

First of all, can I just say how much I love giving and receiving book recommendations? I was a religious studies major in college (and was even a T.A. in the World Religions class) so, this is right up my alley. So, I'm just going to take a seat in front of my book cases...

General:

1. A History of God by Karen Armstrong
   
   
2. The Great Transformation by Karen Armstrong
   
   
3. Myths: gods, heroes, and saviors by Leonard Biallas (highly recommended)
   
   
4. Natural History of Religion by David Hume
   
   
5. Beyond Tolerance by Gustav Niebuhr
   
   
6. Acts of Faith by Eboo Patel (very highly recommended, completely shaped my view on pluralism and interfaith dialogue)
   
   
7. The Evolution of God by Robert Wright
   
   Christianity:
   
   
8. Tales of the End by David L. Barr
   
   
9. The Historical Jesus by John Dominic Crossan
   
   
10. Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography by John Dominic Crossan
    
    
11. The Birth of Christianity by John Dominic Crossan
    
    
12. Who Wrote the New Testament? by Burton Mack
    
    
13. Jesus in America by Richard Wightman Fox
    
    
14. The Five Gospels by Robert Funk, Roy W. Hoover, and the Jesus Seminar (highly recommended)
    
    
15. Remedial Christianity by Paul Alan Laughlin
    
    Judaism:
    
    
16. The Jewish Mystical Tradition by Ben Zion Bokser
    
    
17. Who Wrote the Bible? by Richard Elliot Friedman
    
    Islam:
    
    
18. Muhammad by Karen Armstrong
    
    
19. No God but God by Reza Aslan
    
    
20. Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations by Michael Sells
    
    Buddhism:
    
    
21. Buddha by Karen Armstrong
    
    
22. Entering the Stream ed. Samuel Bercholz & Sherab Chodzin Kohn
    
    
23. The Life of Milarepa translated by Lobsang P. Lhalungpa
    
    
24. Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism by John Powers
    
    
25. Zen Flesh, Zen Bones compiled by Paul Reps (a classic in Western approached to Buddhism)
    
    
26. Buddhist Thought by Paul Williams (if you're at all interested in Buddhist doctrine and philosophy, you would be doing yourself a disservice by not reading this book)
    
    Taoism:
    
    
27. The Essential Chuang Tzu trans. by Sam Hamill & J.P. Seaton
    
    Atheism:
    
    
28. Atheism by Julian Baggini
    
    
29. The Future of an Illusion by Sigmund Freud
    
    
30. Doubt: A History by Jennifer Michael Hecht
    
    
31. When Atheism Becomes Religion by Chris Hedges
    
    
32. Atheism: The Case Against God by George H. Smith

The Case for God and The Bible: A Biography by Karen Armstrong are both good. The God Delusion is a simple breakdown and explanation of most major religious claims. Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World by the Dalai Llama is an interesting book on ethics. The Koran: A Very Short Introduction by Michael Cook is 150 funny and insightful pages on Islam. Under the Banner of Heaven is a shocking and fascinating account of fundamentalist Mormonism. The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan discusses religion, and Cosmos and Pale Blue Dot are my secular versions of holy books. And of course given the occasion, I can't leave out God is Not Great.

I recommend avoiding authors like Lee Strobel and Deepak Chopra. Both are essentially liars for their causes, either inventing evidence, or deliberately being incredibly misleading in how they use terms. Popularity in those cases definitely doesn't indicate quality.

Physical edition and the reason for the drastic price differences.

Update: Due to popular feedback, I decided to make split versions of the ebook edition for anyone who found 2554 pages too daunting but are still interested in reading my book. In case any of you are still interested.

Part I Only.

Part II Only.

Explanation on pricing can be read here.

I'll grant that.

Since I mentioned it above, the holy book of my religion which gelled with me / spoke to me is the Principia Discordia. I don't know if it's what you're looking for, though. If it doesn't gel with you, all I can say is you're probably looking for a different god. Nothing wrong with that.

To bring things back on track, you may be interested in Anthony Flew's There is a God. It's been a few years since I read it, though, and all I remember is that it was decent enough that I think I read the whole thing.

When we are talking about something irrational, yes.

For good examples of rational things people believe that they cannot prove, see the book of the similar name.

I, for instance, believe that the nature of the universe is entirely understandable, and that the creatures that we become will eventually have the ability to answer any meaningful question.

Mere Christianity is a great read. As far as a biography where he steps through his journey, I'm not sure he ever wrote anything quite like that.

Edit: Perhaps this might help

I can attest to the credibility of this documentary. One of the experts in this documentary is my Professor at the University of Texas and is a brilliant scholar on the history of early Christianity. Here is his book.

References

1- Mind/Body Dualism, SEP
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dualism/#MinBod

2- Axiom of Consciousness http://wiki.objectivismonline.net/Axiom_of_Consciousness

3- Ontological Argument for Idealism by Bernardo Kastrup
https://philpapers.org/rec/KASAOS

4 to 7- Skepticism and Content Externalism https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/skepticism-content-externalism/

8- Making Medicines
http://broughttolife.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/themes/treatments/medicines

9- Powering a Generation
https://americanhistory.si.edu/powering/generate/gnmain.htm

10- How to Practice Self Regulation
https://www.verywellmind.com/how-you-can-practice-self-regulation-4163536

11- Cognitive Appraisal
https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-1-4419-1005-9_1115

12- Placebos Without Deception
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0015591

13- Framework of the UPR
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0392192107076869

14- Modern Humans Take the World
https://www.thoughtco.com/upper-paleolithic-modern-humans-173073

15- UP Technology, Art, Culture
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/world-history-beginnings/origin-humans-early-societies/a/paleolithic-culture-and-technology

16- Hierarchy of Needs
https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html

17- The Electrical Patterns of Life
http://www.wrf.org/men-women-medicine/dr-harold-s-burr.php

18- Harold Burr's Biofields
http://www.energymed.org/hbank/handouts/harold_burr_biofields.htm

19- Electromagnetics of Life (PDF)
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://journals.sfu.ca/seemj/index.php/seemj/article/download/401/362&ved=2ahUKEwjv6Mm9xe_kAhW_CTQIHSjDCd8QFjAHegQIBhAB&usg=AOvVaw0xWf76krbzIG2DWHWuOP4q&cshid=1569537305106

20- Phi of Religion https://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Religion-Introduction-William-Rowe/dp/0495007250

21- Special Pleading
https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/163/Special-Pleading

I would highly recommend The Study Quran. It is probably the most academic translation out there, at least in my opinion.

This site has basically every major English translation of the Qur'an (including The Study Quran) for comparison, more than any other site I've found.

Whether or not this particular article is sensationalistic fear-mongering, witch-mania and superstitious fervor are endemic to the human condition. I recommend reading the book The Demon-Haunted World.

It's an article about an article about a study that isn't mentioned by name, which prevents me from going to the source.

However, I did find a blog entry by the professor leading the study who says that this newspaper article and several others substantially mis-interpreted and overgeneralized the findings.

Edit: Apparently, the study can be found in this book, which came out six months ago.

A balanced view only can be developed by hearing both sides.

• Literature:
  
  Timothy Keller - The Reason for God - Believing in an Age of Skepticism (chapter summaries)
  
  C.S. Lewis - Mere Christianity
  
  J. Warner Wallace - Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels
  
  Alvin Plantinga - Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism
  
  Francis S. Collins - The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief
  
  Craig A. Evans - Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels
  
  You can find longer list over at christianapologetics or at Kindle Deals in Christianity, Christian Worldview, and Apologetics
  
  
• Online Ressources:
  
  bethinking.org exists to help you make sense of the big questions about life.
  
  The Biologos Foundation Ressource Finder
  
  The Veritas Forum Talks

Define the features you place on this word "god."


All of this proves what I call god doesn't exist.

God has one or more of theses features:

• transcendent mind
  
• telepathy
  
• magic
  
• consciously controlling reality
  
• using nothing to make something
  
  Why these things fail:
  
  
• every mind we know about requires a physical brain and people used hyperactive agent detection to decide things without minds have them
  
• many versions of god exist in imagination yet nobody can prove any of them for reality
  
• violates physics and never observed
  
• without a mind this is impossible
  
• everything comes from something before it (until you reach a scientific nothing which is still something in the philosophical sense)
  
  Also :
  
  
• the kalam's cosmological argument is about a first state of existence not a first being
  
• if god is greater than anything we can think of by also existing it is complex requiring a precursor
  
• god can't evolve from simple to complex failing kalam and anselm before anything else exists
  
• outside of reality means imaginary
  
• http://www.humanreligions.info/hyperactive_agent_detection.html takes the facts and explains them logically
  
• https://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0029117062/65536-21 shows how intellect is flawed
  
• the levels of cognition are instinct, intellect, and knowledge
  
• knowledge means knowing things, when you know facts you know the truth
  
• verifiable facts require empirical evidence
  
• I provided evidence
  
• you provided argument to the stone
  
• just because god is obvious to you doesn't mean it exists
  
• if you can't show me god exists you don't know that god exists
  
• if you can't prove me wrong you don't know that I don't know god doesn't exist
  
• if you define god as something that obviously does exist I don't consider it god
  
• my definition of god does not exist
  
• if I'm wrong prove it
  
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_the_stone - since you say I'm wrong and can't prove it
  
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof_by_assertion - since you say evolution proves god but you can't prove that either.
  
  https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2018/01/31/the-four-scientific-meanings-of-nothing/
  
  The scientific nothing used for a universe from nothing is not the same thing as a philosophical nothing. The philosophical nothing is never observed and may not exist except outside all existence. Nothing at all can exist outside all existence because that is no place and no time with no properties whatsoever. Outside existence doesn't exist basically.
  
  What happened before the big bang? Nobody actually knows and that is okay. Everything after the big bang was completely natural and we have no indication that before it was any different. "God did it" is only valid in a fact debate if you can prove it.
  
  The deist god literally uses magic to take a philosophical nothing and turning it into something yet has no place or time to exist within. The theist god is based on religious text and those fail on things we can test easily.

>conflicts between science and religion

By religion I mean the texts that make up a religion - not the popular interpretations of those texts. (This argument works for Judaism, Christianity and Islam - it may not hold true for other religions)

So there are three possibilities:

1. Science is wrong and the 'text' is right. In order to take this position one has to deny the human capacity for reason (which is the foundation of free will). This therefore denies one of the basic beliefs of your religion and this position should be rejected.
   
   
2. Science is right and the 'text' is wrong. In order to take this position one has to deny the significance of their religion. IT also ignored all the gaps in scientific explanations. Thus this position should also be rejected.
   
   
3. Science is right and the text is right. This means that any apparent contradiction between the text and science is a result of your misunderstanding of either the science, or the text.
   
   So there is not really any conflict between science and religion, there is only conflict in heads of those who cling to dogma rather than use their capacity for reason.
   
   You might find these books interesting:
   
   Genesis and the Big Bang
   
   God According to God