RELIGION  REWRITTEN

A brief summary of the warnings official religion received to take more notice of scientific discoveries; and what it would have been wise to have done about it, while it still had some authority. Then a summary of what I attempt in the book, now that I consider the only basis from which I can start is that this is a spiritual world; in particular that I assume science and war have a truth equally valid to the truth of religion.

I have to reconcile a religion which is essentially pacifist, with the absolute necessity of fighting the last war, if everything we valued was not to be obliterated. The only way was to expound a Theory of Consciousness which postulates that all thought, and all judgements of value, may be vitiated by unspoken and often unconscious assumptions which are often false. I incorporate the language of conflict into the vocabulary of the book, and conclude it all  depends on judgement and initiative, in a word Morale.

I express the view that the situation is so dire that, to reverse terminal decline, we must cut adrift from all loyalties of the past, and on the basis of modern knowledge create a new way of looking at things, that respects all truth, and only then asks what is left of religion?

Under the guise of denouncing the myth that all men are equal, I state that what matters is the inner strength of human character, not the dogma of socialist politicians.

I reveal a minimum of my experience in the aftermath of the last war, to give credibility to my assertion that I have tested religion sufficiently to be able to rewrite it. 

I transfer the conflict of duties from private anguish to public leadership.

The Chapter heading says it all.

Using the Olympian view-point that my Theory of Consciousness gives, I dismiss any idea of proving the existence of God, and ask instead who, or what, is able to give human life significance? My answer is that Jesus Christ with his desire to found the Kingdom of God, or the perfect society, is the person best able to do this. And his fundamental lesson was that God himself is willing to dwell in the human heart or soul; and this is the way to follow him.

Recognising this is a spiritual world, does not mean it is a good world. Spirit has the potential for good or evil. But it is no good hiding away in a monastery. The last war made it as plain as can be that you have to embrace the whole of life, and make as much sense of it as you can.

The teaching of Jesus was exemplary in the context in which he spoke. But we have to re-interpret what Jesus said in the much wider context of the modern world, unless we want to be completely out of touch.

Salvation is mental, bodily, and spiritual health; and you do not achieve this today by practising an other-worldly way of life. You have to accept life as a whole.

Jesus was not a magician. If the stories of his healings are true, it means he had a most profound understanding of what was possible, and what was not possible, in the spiritual world. If we want to work “miracles”, then we should begin by studying the nature of the spiritual world. We may then discover we have a vocation to heal.

This is largely a repetition; but it emphasises more how little we know of the spiritual side of life, for instance family affections. Telepathy is not a spooky subject; it plays a part in all human relations.

The roots of evil are in ourselves; and the only way to overcome evil is to play a responsible part in trying to overcome the evil in society; even if one only succeeds in little ways.

This problem has racked the Church for 2000 years. I am hardly likely to have solved it.

I begin the explore the thought of Jesus, starting with the question “How does anyone start to save the world?”

What was it Jesus tried to give Mankind? Was it by any chance literal immortality? How can Godhead be less than immortal. If Jesus was not immortal, then how can he have been God in His completeness?

What lessons should we learn from the failure of the Kingdom of Heaven to descend in 2000 years. Life is more complicated than Jesus thought; and the only option for the religious person is to continue to trust in God, regardless of our inability to understand the pattern of events.

Why has the Christian message lost the attention of ordinary people? The heart of his message was that he tried to give us himself; but we can interpret this in various ways. My interpretation is that we should cope with the circumstances in which we find ourselves with the same confidence that Jesus displayed in the very different circumstances in which he lived.

What was it he achieved? Was not the greatest thing he did for us to set man’s spirit free, in a world in which discipline had almost extinguished hope? But was not his greatest achievement not what he did, but what he was? Did Jesus not fulfil Evolution?

There is nothing to choose between a scholasticism of science and the antique scholasticism of theology. And the best way of avoiding falling a prey to either, is to have a companionship with the Almighty himself!