Justification

By Author: Mark Gaffney
Total Articles: 16
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A significant observation concerning social trends is existence of enormous pressure toward mediocrity. Justification Many people living in impoverished countries may look upon wealth and materialism within western culture, developed nations, and within the United States with great contempt, disgust, and disdain. The truth is deep pockets of poverty exist in developed countries as well as the United States. People may wrongly believe that wealthy developed nations are trying to evolve toward an even more gaudy materialistic culture. People may wrongly believe developed nations are trying to evolve into a culture empty and devoid of all spiritual significance and meaningfulness. Every society has flaws and faults. Despite the flaws and faults of free democratic societies one has to admire openness and willingness to grapple with profound spiritual struggles and issues. It is a very valid noble cause to encourage people to place more emphasis upon spirituality and less emphasis upon material things. Can de-emphasize of the material world God created go too far? A significant observation concerning social trends is existence ...
... of enormous pressure toward mediocrity. Extreme poverty found throughout the world (including the United States) is round and twisted like a tourniquet to prevent people from desiring more material wealth, goods, and services. Extreme poverty serves a memetic function of invalidating material wealth. Memetic existence of enormous pressure toward mediocrity alludes to a vision of the future, which may include assignment of a bunk bed and a standard issue gray wool blanket to each and every person housed inside gigantic dormitories where swelling masses of the human population live. Who would want to live in a world where an individuals choices and options are severely restricted and limited to almost nil? Life is about making choices. In a brown bag lunch study of ancient Scripture a question was posed, What is sin? Sin is any action that prevents a person from becoming all that God created that person to be. God created every person to be a vessel for love and service, foremost to God, and secondly to one's neighbor. The denial of Life, Liberty, and happiness to a person is sin. Exercise of excessive power and control is a pervasive characteristic in dysfunctional interpersonal relationships. The exercise of excessive power and control contributes to domestic violence and high crime rates. The exercise of excessive power and control over the lives of other people amount to attempts to snuff out the God given gift of human personality. The future may be filled with an abundance of new choices. New types of pro-choice movements may arise. An individual should be allowed to decide how he or she should walk hand and hand with his or her Maker and pursue Life, Liberty, and happiness. Is there a movement to perpetuate poverty for the sole purpose to deliberately invalidate material wealth? If such a movement does indeed exist, does the perpetuation of poverty contribute to mediocrity of individuals? The strong desire for money and material wealth can be considered a natural desire. Money and material wealth can help people accomplish personal goals, lead authentic lives, and become wholly self-actualized as espoused by the renowned psychologist Abraham Maslow. Ownership of material possessions is intricately connected with ability to meet personal goals. People who feel it is somehow wrong to possess material goods may display a diminished drive or ambition to succeed. The use of God given talents leads to material wealth and success. On the road to material wealth and success, achieved by using God given talents, the individual perception of money and material wealth can drastically change. It is a well kept secret that people arrive at a deep profound revelation that money and material wealth is worthless only after individuals are allowed to use their God given talents to achieve self actualization (or as stated on the Dr. Phil web site, to live authentically). Anti-materialist are right. The material natures of products of mass production are worth next to nothing. A poignant illustration is to contemplate a working class father on a budget contemplating purchasing his child a toy for Christmas. The father may pace the department store floor in extreme emotional turmoil fearing he may blow his budget and face difficult financial times after Christmas. Why should any person on earth face such a dilemma? The purchase of this toy or material object is helping someone on earth make a living. No one on earth should have to fret about purchasing items that can bring a little happiness. New production processes should be discovered to make products of mass production worth next to nothing. Material objects possess a spiritual connection. People claiming to possess a gift of clairvoyance often need to be in contact with material objects of a person to make psychic connections. The sneakers of a jogger may be intimately connected to a jogger's personality. A clairvoyant may choose not to stay in contact with jogger's sneakers for too long due to offensive odors. A writer's pen may be intimately connected to a writer's personality. A gardener may have a favorite gardening tool he or she is specially connected too. God bestows many gifts. Material objects become extensions of the self. Material objects impart efficiency. Efficiency allows a person to individually organize and personally relate to his or her environment. Famed Psychoanalyst, Carl Jung, postulated that elements of material objects become integrated into the psychological make-up of people. Perceptual elements become integrated into the psychological make up of people as people encounter and interact with elements of objects for generation after generation over eons and eons of time. Renowned scientist, Albert Einstein, wrote, "physical objects do not exist in space, but are extensions of the space-time continuum". A basic tenet of nanotechnology is that inorganic molecules can be programmed to function in the same way as biological organic molecules. Biological organic molecules naturally become organized to function as factories. A major goal of full assembler based nanotechnology is to program inorganic molecules to function as machines in assembly task. The end result may be highly cost efficient extremely productive manufacturing methods. Successful research and development of full assembler based nanotechnology may create more material wealth and abundance within society. The break down of boundaries separating organic and inorganic molecules may demand we reexamine and reevaluate our view of the physical nature of the universe. Our reexamination and reevaluation of the physical nature of the universe may require us to theologically explore rather or not the physical nature of the universe is a mere linear extension of the after life? If indeed, the physical nature of the universe is a mere linear extension of the after life what does that mean in terms of our perceptions of the material world God created? A free and open theological study of these issues is important for the future. A free and open theological study of these issues should not become emotionally charged to point of crushing those who seek to expand knowledge of mankind. Authorities tried to crush scientist attempting to expand human knowledge during the days of the Inquisition. In religious circles, the dichotomy between physical and spiritual reality can generate massive confusion as to the value of physical existence or life on earth. The Spirit of Truth and Discernment attest God has not placed us here to dry up and die. Yet, in religious circles there is a strong clear message that we should disconnect from earthly cares and concerns encountered in this life. A view of discontinuity existing between life on earth and life after death may lead to the attitude that life on earth is absolutely of no value. The view that life on earth is absolutely of no value due to adhering to the strong believe in discontinuity between life on earth and life after death may be like growing a beautiful flower only to step on it and grind the flower in the dirt with the heal of one's boot. Some people keep pets, such as dogs, for whipping. Mankind has been asking the same questions since the dawn of time. Why are we here? Who am I? Why do bad things have to happen to good people? What is the purpose of life? In order to offset the negative impact of material physical reality upon the ability of a person to surrender and place complete faith in God many religious communities advocate an austere form of extreme self-denial. Seclusion by monks is an example of practicing an austere form of self-denial for the purpose of enhancing spirituality. Monks may argue that seclusion is not at all disconnecting from life. Instead, Monks may assert seclusion is establishing a profound meaningful connection to life on the most fundamental level of human existence. People who lead a sincere prayerful life remind us all to respect and hold in great esteem God and all the higher virtues God bestows upon humanity. The ultimate expression of love for God is allowing oneself to fall into a complete, total, selfless, surrender and self-abandonment to God. Religious practices from a wide variety of religious traditions are designed to facilitate self-abandonment and surrender to God. Self-abandonment and surrender to God give people strength to love one's neighbor as oneself. Love requires self-sacrifice. Self-sacrifice implies a personal need to engage in the processes of learning, growing, and ultimately changing one's behavior. If everyone is exactly the same there can be no pure form of love on this earth. Self-sacrifice requires diversity among individuals and groups of people. Change as a consequence of self-sacrifice should be tempered with reason and intelligence. Otherwise, if change is not tempered with reason and intelligence, change as a consequence of self-sacrifice may degenerate into a foolish naive formless massive sociological conformity. Change that is not tempered with reason and intelligence may lead to a destructive form of conformity built into dynamics of cult organizations. Change that is not tempered with reason and intelligence may lead to a one-world government that includes a diluted form of religion as prophesized in Ancient Scripture. Nanotechnology may eventually become a self-sustaining physical system dramatically increasing material wealth and abundance. Is it possible that an over reliance upon a self-sustaining physical system, that can potentially provide for all human needs, may lead to a decrease in the human capacity to practice love and self-sacrifice? What kind of world would we live in without self-sacrifice and love for one's neighbor? Complete surrender to God transforms an individual into a person more capable of self-sacrifice. True religion is supposed to teach love and self-sacrifice. Nanotechnology research leading to the break down of boundaries separating organic and inorganic molecules may lead to ownership of humans as physical objects. The health care fiasco points to a scenario in which huge corporate entities claim biological ownership of humans. Biological enslavement of humans may be played out with costly conventional medical technology without consideration of new emerging future technology. Today, many uninsured people who face enormous mountains of medical bills have lost financial control of their lives. As a collective society we have invested billions of dollars of taxpayers money to unravel and break the human genetic code. The social value of this scientific research has been compromised by huge numbers of companies scrambling to place patents upon DNA sequences. Companies that hold patents on DNA sequences can charge exorbitant prices for the use of a DNA sequence that may be critical for finding a cure for a deadly disease. The great number of companies that hold patents upon DNA sequences can create obstacles to prevent discovery of cures for deadly disease. I wonder how many of these companies are backed financially by people and organizations opposed to extension of human life by new medical procedures? Is it morally and ethically right to own a human DNA sequence? I believe these are questions that experts in theology need to discuss. Sometimes we, meaning all of us, pretend we have all the answers. In the book, Relativity: the Special and General Theory by Albert Einstein, an extremely intelligent man pointed out that we cannot "form the slightest conception" of a seemingly simple concept such as reality of space. Science has no clue as to the nature of space existing as completely devoid and empty of physical matter. Albert Einstein wrote his book, Relativity: the Special and General Theory,, so that laymen, like myself, can begin to understand his theory of Relativity. Albert Einstein helped laymen to understand his theory of Relativity by providing extremely vivid concrete examples of physical objects in motion relative to each other. As a layman it took me nearly a year to read Albert Einstein's book, Relativity: The Special and General Theory. Albert Einstein probably wrote this book one morning before he shaved. If an extremely intelligent man like Albert Einstein admits to not understanding a seemingly simple concept, such as the concept of space, what does that say about the rest of us? The marvel of the majestic workings of the physical universe can be humbling! The physical universe may be considered a puzzle within a puzzle. When one puzzle is solved a myriad of new puzzles emerge. The process repeats on, and on, and on until the collapse of the physical universe. The solution to one puzzle may provide certain individuals, groups, and organizations more power and control. It is therefore understandable that totalitarian societies and governments under the rule of a dictatorship do not like for people to ask too many questions. The flow of information in such societies is closely monitored and regulated. Biblical prophecy may shed light upon deliberate misuse and abuse of nanotechnology by the rich and powerful who seek to exercise relentless domination and control of the masses. According to Biblical prophecy, the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and free man hid in caves among the rocks of the mountains . . . Revelations 6 : 15 Oxford NIV Scofield Study Bible. Revelations 8 : 3-11 continues, And out of the smoke locusts came down upon the earth . . . The locust looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. Their hair was like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions teeth. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. They had tails and stings like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months. . . The prophetic visions quoted above reads like a scientific experiment gone bad. Does the crown on the head of the locust suggest an excessive attempt to dominate and control new emerging technology by the rich and powerful? Can we change the future by heeding the words of Biblical prophecy? About the Author Author byline and Bio: Mark Gaffney is a contributing freelance writer. Mark has earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology with a concentration of coursework in physiology, biology, and computer science. Mark is in the process of trying to start a new Not-for-Profit Foundation entitled, Wonderful Life Foundation. Mark plans to submit his online work as a thesis project to earn his Doctorate (PhD.) degree and officially become a Nanotechnology Sociologist. Bookmark this page now and click here to review preliminary plans for organizational development of Wonderful Life Foundation currently published on www.ServeNet.org. ServeNet.org, Idealist.org, and Network-for-Good.org are associated with the government web site portal, www.freedomcorp.gov, an initiative of President George W. Bush to promote volunteerism and provide services to help Not-for-Profit organizations.