The Spirit Runs Through It

THE SPIRIT RUNS THROUGH IT ♦2
The Spirit Runs

Through It
A Study Of Creation
Glenn E. Grunenberger
"Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of

science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in
the laws of the Universe--a spirit vastly superior to
that of man, and one in the face of which we with our
modest powers must feel humble."
― ALBERT EINSTEIN, The World As I See It

3 ♦ FOREWORD
Copyright © 2009
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or

reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the written
permission of the Publisher. Printed in the United States of
America.
Contents
Foreword......................................................................5
Introduction..................................................................8
The Wisdom of Genesis..............................................19
The Growth of Language............................................22
Man Takes Control......................................................28
Constructs..................................................................37
Constructs For Understanding The Spirit....................42
A Comprehensive Example.........................................48
Comparisons..............................................................51
An In-depth Look At The Spirit’s Activity....................57
Matter Matters............................................................64
5 ♦ FOREWORD
Causality....................................................................68
Laws of Nature...........................................................79
Learning.....................................................................85
Determinism vs. Free Will..........................................92
Morality and Ethics.....................................................97
Religion....................................................................104
Life and Death..........................................................108
Summing Up.............................................................114
Foreword
SOME TIME AGO AS I was perusing a photo album which

documents the lives of my now grown children, I was
struck by the change in structure of their bodies. From
newborn, to crawler, to toddler, and then on through
elementary school, high school and college, and finally
to middle age, the transitions were amazing.
On another day I probably would not notice such
changes because of my familiarity with human
development, but seeing the entire progression spread
out before me brought the forcibly to my attention.
We see similar transitions in other organisms: the
infant to adult growth of mammals, the egg to adult
life cycles of reptiles, and most dramatically, the egg
to larva to pupa to imago (adult) transformations of
the insects. In the vegetable kingdom we are familiar
with the dramatic change from seed to carrot, and
from acorn to fully grown oak tree. As I thought about
it, I soon realized that an even more remarkable
transition had occurred that didn’t show in the
pictures, and that was the change that had taken
place on the inside of the children. Although both boys
had grown up in similar surroundings, they have
completely different likes, dislikes, loves, hates,
prejudices, interests, beliefs and worldviews in
general.
While this transition is not as apparent in other

species, it is obvious that something like it occurs. The
newborn fawn does not fight other fawns for the
attention of a doe as does the mature stag, nor does
the salmon fingerling swim up the river to its birth
place like the adult salmon. And the larva does not flit
from flower to flower like the adult butterfly.
In a like manner, changes occur in the outward

trappings of societies. New York City, for example, is
completely different from the New York City that
George Washington and Benjamin Franklin knew. And
the New York City of the founding fathers in no way
resembled ancient Rome or the tent villages of our
Native Americans. Each society remakes the physical
7 ♦ FOREWORD
world to its own specifications, which change
continually.
Similar to the invisible change in individuals, there

is a continuous change in the unseen culture which lies
beneath each society. New fads, morals, systems,
governments, commerce, architecture, etc. come and
go. In the early 1700s most colonists believed in the
divine right of kings to govern; today’s Americans
believe in democracy and individual freedom. In the
21st century medical science is far more popular as a
cure for illness than the blood-letting of the 18th
century. Some cultures believed that a certain dance
would cause rain to fall; others believed that human
sacrifice would relieve drought.
In the following pages we shall explore these

transitions and determine what relationships, if any,
might exist between them.
Introduction
THAT THERE ARE UNSEEN actions behind visible events is a

fact familiar to everyone. For example, we see leaves
flying about and bushes shaking, and since we know
that these events do not happen through the internal
efforts of leaves or bushes, we attribute them to the
action of the invisible wind.
Likewise, when we drop an object to the ground,
we know that the object did not fall of its own accord;
we say it fell because of the invisible “pull of gravity.”
9 ♦ INTRODUCTION
Sometimes we even attribute a visible event to the
action of an invisible entity when we know there is no
invisible entity present. For example, we say, “It is
raining.” Our senses can see, hear and feel rain, but no
matter how hard we try, they cannot detect “it.”
Of course, there are also visible actions behind

many transitions. Here is a thought experiment
concerning a common event:
1.) Imagine a site on which a new home

is scheduled to be built. Materials and
supplies have been delivered and are
awaiting the arrival of the construction
crew. There are stacks of lumber, piles
of bricks, skids of wallboard, crates of
glass, buckets of paint, kegs of nails,
coils of wire, lengths of pipe, everything
that will go into the new construction.
A contractor agrees to complete the
building. He hires carpenters,
bricklayers, painters, electricians,
plumbers and any other subcontractors
he needs, and eventually the building is
completed.
A new entity, a house, has been introduced into

the universe. The collection of materials and supplies
has been given a new structure. They would have lain
there forever unless some outside creative action,
supplied by the contractor and his crew, occurred that
transcended and transformed them. All the materials
are included in the new structure, but they now
perform functions that would have been impossible for
unaided nature to accomplish.
Although Jesus used the following parable to

illustrate a different point, it is particularly apropos for
demonstrating how new living entities are introduced
into the universe, and how entities, living and non-
living, can interact with each other:
2.) A sower went out to sow. And as he

sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and
the birds came and ate them up. Other
seeds fell on rocky ground, where they
did not have much soil, and they sprang
up quickly, since they had no depth of
soil. But when the sun rose, they were
scorched; and since they had no root,
they withered away. Other seeds fell
among thorns, and the thorns grew up
and choked them. Other seeds fell on
good soil and brought forth grain, some
a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
(Mark 13, 3-8).
In order to reach their full potential, seeds need to

have certain essential nutrients available: nitrogen,
phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, magnesium, calcium,
etc., as well as water for hydrogen and oxygen, and
open access to light and air.
11 ♦ INTRODUCTION
For those seeds which fell upon the path, the
action of completely unrelated entities, the birds,
prevented access to the necessary nutrients.
Plants acquire the necessary nutrients through

their root systems. Although the rocky soil contained
the necessary elements for growth, the growth of the
roots was impeded by the nonliving rocks.
Consequently the plants were weak and quickly
succumbed to the heat of the sun.
Seeds that landed on thorn-infested soil faced a

double problem. The taller, stronger, faster growing
thorns ate up most of the nutrients in the soil, and also
prevented the seeds from receiving the necessary
sunlight and air.
And those seeds that fell on good soil combined

with the elements therein and grew into healthy
plants.
Without the introduction of seeds, all the nutrients,

sunshine, water, etc., would remain dormant forever.
And as illustrated by the action of the birds, without
the nutrients the seeds would just remain seeds
forever.
This begs the question: why should there be an

interaction? Why do not seeds just remain seeds,
nitrogen just remains nitrogen…water just remains
water, etc.? What invisible creative action causes
these apparently unrelated entities to transcend and
transform themselves into producing something that is
more than just the sum of its parts: a brand new plant?
Some invisible creative activity must be at work.
A more complex process occurs as we consider the

animal kingdom:
3.) Shortly after a sperm penetrates an

ovum, their nuclear materials fuse to
form the required chromosomes of a
somatic cell. The fertilized ovum has
become a zygote. Depending upon the
particular species, the first of billions of
cell divisions occurs a few hours later,
and within days a fetus is formed.
Gathering all nutritional requirements
from the host-mother, the fetus
develops until the climactic moment of
birth.
There is no satisfactory reason why a sperm

should penetrate an ovum, or why a fertilized ovum
should metamorphose into a zygote, or why a zygote
should start dividing, or why nutritional elements
should not remain in the mother’s blood stream, or
why any of this should occur. It just does. Again some
invisible creative activity drives the transformation.
The following is a case from history:
4.) Sir Isaac Newton had invented the

calculus, and had formulated his laws of
motion. One day he saw an apple fall
from a tree. He wondered why the apple
13 ♦ INTRODUCTION
always fell toward the center of the
earth; why not fall sideways or upward?
He soon realized that if gravity
extended as far out from the earth as,
say, the moon, it must affect the
moon’s orbit. Upon calculating how
much of an effect earth’s gravity would
have on the moon’s orbit, he came upon
the concept that he called “universal
gravitation.” Before Newton, probably
millions of men had seen apples fall to
the ground, but this was the first apple
to change the world since one fell in the
Garden of Eden.
Sir Isaac had all the necessary elements in place in

his brain: the mathematical procedures, the laws of
motion and the years of observation and analysis of
natural events. If he had not observed the falling
apple, it is likely that he never would have come upon
his revolutionary concept. However, when the apple
fell, some invisible creative process brought all these
elements into play, transcended and transformed
them, and a new concept was introduced into the
world. The creative activity was again at work.
It is important to note that the creative activity

does not judge the value of its output. Consider the
following:
5.) Hester, a physical fitness devotee in
her mid-20s, ate all the right foods,
exercised regularly and got eight hours
of sleep every night. During her annual
physical checkup, the doctor discovered
a lump in her abdomen. After
exhaustive testing, she was diagnosed
with pancreatic cancer. An aggressive
series of treatments was begun, and the
cancer soon went into remission. But
gradually it returned, and eventually
she succumbed to it at the age of 31.
Some unknown aspect of Hester’s nature or

nurture combined with the cells of her pancreas to
create a chaotic growth. Chemotherapy, radiation, etc.
were able to halt the growth temporarily, but the
underlying pathological activity was too strong to
resist.
6.) Because his friends always raved

about his homemade ice cream, John
decided to start selling it. After
conducting an exhaustive market
survey, and meeting with a business
consultant, he drew up a realistic
business plan. Impressed with the plan,
his bank agreed to lend him the money
for the necessary equipment. He leased
a small shop in an area of heavy foot
15 ♦ INTRODUCTION
traffic, and after three months, sales
and profits were doing even better than
he had anticipated.
Then a war broke out in South
America, and in one week the price of
sugar doubled. In addition, a surge in
the world wide demand for oil sent
diesel fuel prices skyrocketing; as a
result, higher transportation costs
increased the price for milk and eggs by
30% in one month.
John tried increasing his prices to
cover the higher costs, but the fuel
shortage was hurting everyone, and ice
cream was one of the first luxuries that
people gave up. Six months after the
grand opening, John was forced to close
his dream store.
All the conditions for a successful business

appeared to be in place for John’s ice cream store, but
any entity operates in a universe of competing
activities. As with the birds that ate the seeds in our
second example, so did superficially unrelated
activities lead to the failure of the store. The creative
process driving John’s business was overwhelmed by
creative processes in the larger universe.
7.) On August 29, 2005, Katrina, a

category 3 hurricane, left 80% of the
city of New Orleans under water. Over
1,800 people were killed, and the
property damage amounted to an
estimated $81.2B.1
As of this writing, June 2008, many sections of the

city and surrounding area still lie in ruins. Many former
residents have opted not to return. The combination of
high winds, heavy rains, weakened levees, low-lying
streets, etc. transformed an active, vibrant city into a
scene of chaos and desolation.
We often do not realize that the past creates the

present which in turn creates the future. Using the
entities available at timet-1, the creative process
transforms and transcends them to create the entities
at timet, which transform into the entities at timet+1,
timet+2,…,timet+n. Anticipating the science of ecology
by a hundred years, Charles Darwin wrote:
8.) …but humble-bees alone visit the

common red clover…as other bees
cannot reach the nectar. Hence I have
very little doubt, that if the whole genus
of humble-bees became extinct or very
rare in England, the heartsease and red
clover would become very rare, or
wholly disappear. The number of
humble-bees in any district depends in
1
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
17 ♦ INTRODUCTION
a great degree on the number of field-
mice, which destroy their combs and
nests; and Mr. H. Newman, who has
long attended to the habits of humble-
bees, believes that ‘more than two
thirds of them are destroyed all over
England.’ Now the number of mice is
largely dependent, as every one knows,
on the number of cats; and Mr. Newman
says, ‘Near villages and small towns I
have found the nests of humble-bees
more numerous than elsewhere, which I
attribute to the number of cats that
destroy the mice.’ Hence it is quite
credible that the presence of the feline
animal in large numbers in a district
might determine, through the
intervention first of mice and then of
bees, the frequency of certain flowers in
that district!2
The number of flowers is dependent upon the
availability of instincts and actions of humble-bees,
field-mice and cats for use by the creative process.
The one thing that all of our examples have in

common is that individual entities were somehow
transcended and transformed to create new and often
different entities. Persons with a religious outlook will
attribute the underlying process to God, Jehovah,
2
Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species, Crown Publishers,
Inc., Avenel 1979 Edition.
Allah, etc. while those with a scientific outlook will
attribute it to entropy or perhaps "tiny strings vibrating
through ten or eleven dimensions." Throughout this
book I will attribute this activity to the action of the
Spirit. Although the term has a religious connotation, I
cannot think of a more descriptive name. I hope those
with a scientific bent will bear with me.
The Wisdom of Genesis
THE FACT THAT THERE IS a great deal of controversy

regarding the physical creation as outlined in the book
of Genesis is not new, and the disagreement will
probably continue for a long time, perhaps forever. So
I will ignore the details of physical creation and
concentrate on the spiritual matters related in that
wise book.
With each phase of creation God saw that it was
good. But how could that be? Although not specifically
mentioned, the creation must have included such
things as sharks, jellyfish, poisonous snakes, deadly
germs, and fearsome creatures of all kinds, which
could hardly be classified as good by any stretch of the
imagination.
God simply considered the act of creation to be

good. For God, the means (creating) justified the ends
(creation). Because man had not yet been formed,
mankind’s “good” and “evil” had not yet been
invented.
After man was created, God presented all the

created objects to him for naming. Language was
born! And man’s eating the forbidden fruit of the tree
of good and evil signifies the primeval (perhaps I
should say the prime evil) classification, because this
was the birth not only of man’s greatest achievements,
but also his deepest troubles. Now man could assign
“things” to an infinite number of categories: not only
good and evil, but also large and small, friendly and
hostile, similar and different, red and green, etc., by
means of the Spirit working through language. Thus it
would appear as if man’s new toy, speech, brought
with it a universe of troubles.
But it is not that simple. Through the power of

speech, the Spirit was able to create religion,
architecture, music, democracy, love, altruism, and all
those achievements which we judge to be good.
Unfortunately, since the Spirit praises the act rather
than the results of creating, it also brought forth
murder, incest, wars, hatred, jealously, AIDS, and
other pestilences.
21 ♦ THE WISDOM OF GENESIS
Genesis proclaims that man was created, not from
nothing, but from the dust of the ground. Man was not
a supernatural being; he was, and still is, an integral
part of nature. But what an exciting part! Because of
its ability to store concepts, his brain holds the
potential for memory, insight, emotions, imagination;
entities that had never before existed. For the first
time in history the Spirit could look out and see what it
had done. It could combine what it saw with the
hidden cranial potentials and create all sorts of new
things. Because of the power of the Spirit working
through his brain, man received dominion over the
earth. Creativity took a quantum leap forward. And as
Genesis says, mankind was driven from the Garden of
Eden. His ability to speak and to classify separated him
from non-speaking nature, but not from the Spirit.
The Growth of Language
WHAT WAS MAN LIKE before the development of speech? Of

course, we will never really know, but undoubtedly he
shared some of the characteristics of lower animals.
We know that some higher animals dream, so
most likely early man also had dreams. For example,
when a dog sleeps, he sometimes wags his tail or
emits growls. It is quite natural to assume he is
dreaming of something pleasurable in the first
instance, and a threatening situation in the second. It
is likely that early man had similar dreams. Probably
he enjoyed a good meal, both in his daily life and in his
23 ♦ THE GROWTH OF LANGUAGE
dreams. Whether awake or asleep, he undoubtedly
encountered situations which aroused fear, and in
either case he fled just as a gazelle flees from an
approaching lion.
Certainly a lower mammal is capable of fleeing

from a threat, or enjoying a good meal, but he can
react to a situation only as it transpires. He cannot sit
down and plan what he will do if the dog in the next
block threatens him, or even what he will do if he finds
himself in a generally threatened position. Nor can he
plan ahead in other than the most rudimentary way,
such as going hunting when he is hungry, or sleeping
when he is tired.
One thing is certain: the animal is not thinking

logically. He can never think to himself, “If situation A
occurs I will react according to plan B.” Logic is
impossible except through the use of language. It is
strictly wordplay, and is of value only insofar as its
premises have some connection to the surrounding
world. Regardless of the world from which one’s
premises arise, it is wise to touch base with the real
world before taking action based on a logical
conclusion.
Somewhere along the way man developed one

thing which gave him a huge advantage over other
animals: a highly developed brain. We know this
because of his tool-making ability, for which evidence
abounds, not only in archaeological digs, but also in
anthropological studies of primitive tribes which even
today turn up from time to time. Although a few lower
animals have developed rudimentary tools, none has
been able to match even the axes, hammers, arrows
and spears ― not to mention the computers, aircraft,
economic systems, religions, etc. ― which the human
race has invented. And the increasing complexity of
man’s tools is evidence of the persistent pressure of
the Spirit, primarily through the use of logic, to
transcend and transform.
The expansion of the memory and the computing

ability of the human brain were absolute prerequisites
to the development of language. Without the brain one
could remember neither the words, nor their
connections to the outside world. And without access
to the memories of the vast number of events and
situations stored in the human brain, there would be
no way of creating solutions to the problems faced by
the early humans. Mankind would be no better off than
other animals.
Most likely the first words were little more than

cries to warn others of approaching danger. But as
with all things, once the first “words” became
available, they were transcended and transformed.
Using the sounds found in nature ― birdsong,
waterfalls, animal cries, rustling leaves, storms, etc. ―
as models, naming of objects probably followed soon
afterwards.
But because of the infinity of objects man found in

his world, naming was a little more complicated than
Genesis implies; it was impossible to label each
individual. Man might be able to give one name to the
duck he saw this morning, and a different name to the
one he saw this afternoon, but that became
impractical the first time he had to speak about a flock
of ducks. However, once he developed the power of
classification ― what Genesis calls eating the fruit of
the tree of good and evil ― the problem was solved.
Each object came to be a member of a class, and

then was identified by modifiers to differentiate it from
other members of its class. For example, a duck is
placed in the class of “birds,” then identified as the
bird with the wide bill, short legs, and other attributes
which make the “duck” different from other birds. If
necessary, man could name one duck “Donald” in the
morning and another one “Daisy” in the afternoon, but
he could also speak intelligently about the “flock” of
ducks that flew over last evening.
Eventually man discovered that in addition to

naming and classifying objects, he could impart some
information about their activity. What was the lion
doing? “Lion hunting” or “lion sleeping” conveys
substantially more important information to the
listener than just pointing the finger while saying
“lion.”
Through the power of language man was able to

pass along skills to children or apprentices. Whether
through logic or trial and error, a workman could
develop a new flaking process for the manufacture of
arrowheads, then teach it to others in his trade.
Practical information learned through experience ―
the best place to hunt, how to track game, the location
of the closest berry patch, etc. ― could be passed to
children and clan members while seated around the
campfire.
But the real power of language lay in its enabling

man to speak of things in his “inside” world: his
ambitions, hopes, dreams, fears, emotions, insights,
ideas, etc. It is obvious that other animals feel certain
emotions, for example, the gazelle fears the lion. But
the gazelle who escapes the lion cannot tell other
gazelles about the intense fear he felt.
The classification system built into the young

language soon enabled man to divide the world into
subjective categories: good vs. evil, fast vs. slow,
dangerous vs. safe, green vs. red, friend vs. foe, clan
vs. everyone else, etc.
Drawing upon the growing inventory of words, the

Spirit, as the saying goes, jumped on its horse and
rode off in all directions. Man could contemplate
objects and events which had no referent in the real
world. Imagination was born!
It may be true that an infinite number of monkeys,

each with his own word processor, would, in an
infinitely long period of time, write all the documents
that man ever did, or ever will, produce. But the
monkeys would not understand one word of what they
wrote.
Working with language and logic, the Spirit could
rearrange, combine, and transform the vast number of
memories in the human brain to create wholly new
solutions (and problems). The speed of creativity was
increased by many orders of magnitude. Insights
became possible. For the first time, a man could run
through the streets screaming, “Eureka, I have found
it.” He could also say, “If you don’t bow down before
my god, I will kill you.”
Man Takes Control
EARLY MAN FOUND HIMSELF in a world buzzing with activity.

Wild animals attacked, violent storms uprooted trees
and made streams and rivers overflow, and countless
other dangers and unknowns threatened him. But
man’s powerful new tool, language, soon supplied a
vast array of concepts which he could use to cope with
the surrounding world.
Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries
anthropologists have had the opportunity to study
many primitive cultures which have turned up in
remote areas of the world. In most cases these
29 ♦ MAN TAKES CONTROL
cultures have followed similar paths to understanding
their environment.
In all cases the earliest and biggest mystery

confronting man was that of the death of people close
to him: mates, children, clan members, etc. A common
acceptance concept was that of a soul which survived
the death of the body, either to wander about as an
animal or a disembodied spirit, or to be born again in
another form.
In many cultures the soul left the body temporarily

in sleep; if it left permanently, the body would die.
Thus it was important that the soul be induced to
return from any absence. In some cases dreams are
considered to be actual adventures of the soul while
the body is asleep, as illustrated by the following:
1.) The Santals, a large tribe in India,

told of a man who fell asleep, and his
soul, in the form of a lizard, entered a
pitcher for a drink of water. While the
soul was inside, the owner of the pitcher
covered it; consequently, the soul could
not return, and the man died. While his
friends were preparing to burn the
body, someone uncovered the pitcher
and the soul returned to the body,
which immediately revived. He said he
had been down in a well to get water,
but had found it hard to get out.3
3
Sir James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, Macmillan
Publishing Company, New York, 1922
Through the action of the Spirit, man arrived at the

next logical step: whatever moved man also moved
other entities. In particular, primitive man conceived
the concept that animals possessed feelings and
intelligence, and like men, they also possessed a soul.
Because animals were now on equal footing with

himself, the primitive hunter also believed that every
animal also had ties of kinship, etc. with others of the
same species. Thus if he killed an animal, he exposed
himself to reprisal, either from the soul of the
deceased animal, or at the hands of the victim’s
relatives. Accordingly, many tribes made it a rule to
spare the life of any animals which they had no
pressing motive to kill, particularly dangerous animals
from which rather bloody reprisals could be expected.
For example:
2.) Certain natives of Madagascar would

kill a crocodile only in revenge for the
crocodile’s first killing a man. The
natives who lived near the lake made a
proclamation every year to the
crocodiles, announcing they would kill
the same number of crocodiles as the
number of men killed by the crocodiles,
and warning well-intentioned crocodiles
to keep out of their way. If one of the
crocodiles killed a man, the natives
summoned the family of the offender to
deliver up the culprit. A baited hook was
cast into the water, and next day the
offender or a member of his family was
dragged ashore, and after a trial, he
was executed.4
Eventually man concluded that if he could control

his own movements, perhaps he could also control the
movements of the other entities in his environment.
There was no language with which he could directly
address the surrounding world — even his ability to
address other men was extremely rudimentary — but
perhaps he could assert control by his actions. Magic
was born!
3.) Some natives of Melanesia believed

that certain stones had magical powers,
which corresponded in their nature to
the shape of the stone. For example, if a
piece of water-worn coral were to be
found that looked somewhat like a
bread-fruit, the man who found it would
lay it at the root of one of his bread-fruit
trees in order to make it bear well. If the
tree did indeed produce as expected,
the owner would, for a fee, allow less
endowed stones of other men to be laid
near his stone in order that they might
pick up some of the magic which
4
ibid
resides in it. The power was not in the
stone itself, but in the spirit which
resided in the stone.5
So far in our discussion we have seen primitive

man practicing what may be called “private magic,”
i.e. magical rites and incantations practiced for the
benefit or injury of individuals. But whether it was
because of consistently good results from private
practice, seeing a cultural advantage, or some other
reason, certain individuals soon began practicing as
shamans, wizards, or witch doctors. Magic moved from
the private to the public sector.
4.) When the Mara tribe of Northern

Australia wanted rain, the rain-maker
went to a pool and sang his magic song
over it. Then he took some of the water
in his hands, drank it, and spit it out in
various directions. After that he threw
water all over himself, scattered it
around, and returned quietly to camp.
Rain was supposed to follow.6
Eventually it became apparent that most of the

attempts to control nature were not working. This did
not erase the idea that nature had powers; it merely
showed that they were vastly superior to man’s.
5
ibid
6
ibid
Nature was now controlled by gods operating behind
the scenes.
But if the gods could not be controlled, perhaps

they could be induced to communicate their plans for
the group. Under divine inspiration, priests and
priestesses could prophesy as to the will of the
particular god they served. In most cases the
achievement of divine inspiration required the
practitioner to become temporarily possessed by the
god. This was the beginning of religion.
5.) Among the Kuruvikkarans of

Southern India, it was believed that the
goddess Kali descended upon the priest,
and he gave oracular replies after
sucking the blood streaming from the
cut throat of a goat.7
From beliefs such as these, it is an easy step to the

conviction that certain persons are permanently
possessed by a deity, or in some way are able to
exercise supernatural power to the extent that they
deserve some degree of homage and sacrifice.
Sometimes they also have extreme political power, in
which case they are kings or queens as well as gods.
For example:
6.) In the Marquesas, there was a class

of men who were deified to the extent
that they could control the elements,
7
ibid
harvests, disease and even death.
Human sacrifices were offered to them.
They lived in seclusion, and their
powers were sometimes hereditary.
Except for the days when sacrifices
were offered, only persons dedicated to
the service of the god/king were allowed
to approach him.8
Perhaps because the gods’ answers to the desires

of humans were unpredictable, the Greeks endowed
their gods with the same fancies and whims that they
observed in their fellow mortals. Thus we find that the
leader of the gods, Zeus, was a playboy who had
affairs with both human women and goddesses. After
suffering a painful punishment for her part in a revolt
against her husband, his wife, Hera, spent much of her
time bestowing revenge upon the objects of Zeus’s
amorous advances. Since all other gods in the Greek
Pantheon also had their idiosyncrasies, unexpected
results, or no results at all, to human pleadings were
not surprising.
But the greatest example of transformation and

transcendence in man’s attempt to control his
surroundings was the Hebrew concept of monotheism.
Although the details are lost in antiquity, it appears
that this concept grew out of the idea of one god who
was superior to all other gods. At some time after that,
8
ibid
all other gods became superfluous. This one god was
admittedly a jealous god, and demanded rigorous
standards of worship from his chosen people. He was a
stern father figure.
It was the achievement of Christianity to graft the

idea of hope to the one god concept. In particular,
Christianity promised hope that the strict Hebraic god
would always be available to the worshiper, offer
forgiveness of sins instead of stern punishment, and
that everlasting life would overcome death.
The foregoing examples illustrate the points I wish

to make. From them we can conclude the following:
(1) The Spirit always builds on what has

come before; nothing appears out of
nothing.
(2) Through the use of language, man
has always attempted to control real
world events by the expansion of
concepts.
(3) In lock-step with the rapid
expansion of concepts, the actions of
the believers were also affected by the
Spirit. New concepts were accompanied
by new human activities.
Although language is a part of nature, it has one

property that is not found in other actions of the Spirit:
it is transformed and transcended at a rate many
orders of magnitude faster than any other entity.
Concept is piled upon concept until it is difficult to see
any relationship between man’s mental images and
the passing show. Joyce Carol Oates best describes the
situation, “Homo sapiens is the species that invents
symbols in which to invest passion and authority, then
forgets that the symbols are inventions.”
Constructs
IN PREVIOUS CHAPTERS I have tried to illustrate how

language began, and how man attempted to use it to
control his environment. Now I wish to examine
exactly how the Spirit works with language through
the use of constructs.
The term construct is usually used as a verb,
although Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged
Dictionary also defines it as a noun, i.e. (1) something
constructed or (2) an image, idea or theory, especially
a complex one formed from a number of simpler
elements.
Definition (1) covers anything from a physical bird
nest or beaver dam to a jet plane or a super highway,
and carries the connotation that the constructor has
some definite use planned, either consciously or
instinctively, for the construct.
Definition (2) is a little trickier; here I am thinking

of a mental or instinctive construct. It could be a plan,
say for a business or invention, or it could be a
concept, e.g., a political ideal, free will, consciousness,
etc., or it could be a thought experiment or a scientific
theory, or it could be the recipe for mother’s chicken
soup. It could also be the idea behind the behavior of a
sea otter when he cracks an oyster shell on a stone on
his chest, or the reason gray whales migrate to a
Mexican cove for mating. It includes any “thing” we
can conceive but not hold, touch or otherwise detect
by the use of the senses or other instruments.
Of all the constructs we humans use, the most

common is one that we seldom recognize: our
language. While we realize that “the word is not the
thing,” we implicitly assume that there is some
correspondence between the word and the thing. We
rarely realize that we are partners in a strict
agreement to cut up our view of the world in ways
over which we have no control. This agreement was
entered into by our remote ancestors, and we have
been stuck with it ever since.
It is obvious that constructs change over time. In

the very early days of the human race, if caveman
39 ♦ CONSTRUCTS
Alley Oop wanted to warn his friend Foozy that Dinny
the dinosaur was about to attack, all he could do was
yell or make some other noise to call Foozy’s attention
to the impending disaster.9 It took a long, long time to
develop a sophisticated form of communication such
as language.
Even then, the world was a magical place where

anything was possible. Natural history as we know it
did not exist. As illustrated by the examples in the
previous chapter, rivers, mountains, gods and men
were united in strange combinations. Even though the
minotaur, the sphinx and the unicorn had never been
seen, their existence was accepted without question.
Such was the situation when the Greek

philosophers and scientists came on the scene. These
unbelievably brilliant men invented language
constructs that we have been locked into ever since.
What were these constructs? There were two: the

law of identity and the law of the excluded middle.
The law of identity was a huge step forward.

Simply put, it states that a dog is a dog and nothing
else; likewise a tree is a tree and a river is a river.
Technically, A is A and not non-A.
The law of the excluded middle states that a

proposition is either true or false; there is no middle
ground.
9
I am well aware that dinosaurs and men did not coexist
during the same time period. It's just a fanciful example.
Taken together these two principles brought order
out of chaos. They refined the principle of classification
— the capability of distinguishing between animal,
vegetable and mineral, and between the various
species. “Things” were classified according to their
“natures” and “attributes.” It was the nature of fire to
burn, smoke to rise and water to flow. Grass had the
attribute of greenness, the sky had the attribute of
blueness and rocks had the attribute of hardness. The
subject/predicate structure of language was fixed.
Eventually men began to detect interactions

among the components of the universe; interactions
that could be described in the language of
mathematics. New constructs, the laws of nature,
redefined the old constructs. Planets followed regular
orbits, velocity and acceleration could be described
precisely, electricity and radiation were discovered;
the world bustled with activity.
Then Einstein fine-tuned the old constructs with his

theories of relativity10. Since then, the universe is
understood to consist of an infinite number of
point/events. Between point/event A and point/event B
are an infinite number of possibilities. Light is both a
particle and a wave, electron orbits are not real — only
probability functions — and if we know the position of
a particle we can’t know its velocity and vice versa. In
10
His general theory of relativity published in 1916
expanded his special theory which he had published in
1905.
41 ♦ CONSTRUCTS
some situations, the law of identity and the law of the
excluded middle do not apply.
Physicists tell us that the only thing we know about

nature is what we say about it. Our static construct,
language, even the language of mathematics, is no
longer adequate to explain today’s physical world.11
The situation is worse when we use language for

mental constructs. These days the big bone of
contention in politics is “morality.” Is abortion moral?
Is war ever moral? Should people be allowed to die
when they become brain dead? Under what
circumstances are any of these positions moral or
immoral? What does the construct “moral” signify?
As we have seen, the Spirit always builds on what

has come before; nothing appears out of nothing. If a
construct with reference to an object in physics or
chemistry is inadequate or incorrect, it will soon be
replaced by new and more accurate constructs. The
original “hard” object is still available for further
transcendence and transformation. A construct with
respect to a strictly mental construct, e.g., morality,
justice, love, etc. is hard to refine because its referent
varies from user to user.
11
Recent studies have called Einstein's theories into
question. Undoubtedly they will be revised in the not too
distant future.
Constructs For Understanding
The Spirit
I WISH TO CREATE four constructs which I have found to be

helpful in understanding how the Spirit works. The
basic idea is to define constructs of language which
will include all entities in the universe — real,
imaginary, physical or mental — and enable us to
examine their interactions.
The External Constructs
The first two of these constructs include all

physical entities; things that occupy a volume of
43 ♦ CONSTRUCTS FOR UNDERSTANDING THE SPIRIT
space, however small or large, and exist for a period of
time, however short or long. They include entities as
small as a subatomic particle which can be detected
only by a vapor trail in a cloud chamber, or as large as
the entire physical universe. Because these entities
have extension in space and time, I define these
constructs as external, and divide them into an
external individual construct (EI) and an external
group construct (EG).
When we observe an individual person’s

appearance or activities, a fish, a tree or an auto we
are referring to a member of the EI construct. The EI
construct also includes physical entities that are
usually hidden from view, e.g., a neuron, a kidney, an
atom within a rock, an undetected comet in deep
space, etc.
The EG construct comprises the outward

manifestation of an underlying group or system. For a
civilization it includes such things as its buildings as a
display of its architecture, its highways as a display of
its infrastructure, the proceedings in its courtrooms as
a display of its justice system, etc. It also includes a
rain dance as a display of a group's beliefs, the
synchronized movements of a school of fish as a
display of an as yet unknown system of animal
communication, or the plants and animals of a forest
as a display of its underlying ecology.
The Internal Constructs

The other constructs include all entities not
included in the external constructs: ideas, emotions,
instincts, attitudes, feelings, etc. Because they occur
within physical entities, I call them internal individual
(II) and internal group (IG) constructs.
As with the EI construct, it is not difficult to

understand what I mean by emotions, attitudes, ideas,
etc. within an individual, but what about internal items
within a group? Let me give a few examples.
We can observe the rites of a religion; we can

photograph or record them, but we cannot record the
emotions, beliefs and attitudes which the participants
entertain as a group. Likewise we can photograph a
rain dance, but the photos do not indicate what the
group has in mind as a group. We can observe the zigs
and zags of a school of sardines, but we cannot
photograph the instincts or communications behind
the highly synchronized motions as a group.
Table I Internal External

Emotions Space/time events
Ideas Facial expressions
Individual Insights Bodily movement
Memories Inorganic entities
Instincts
Beliefs Church buildings
Customs Transportation systems
Group Laws Infrastructure
Religion Sports facilities
Rites
Holiday observances
Table I shows the relationships between the
various constructs.
Interactions of the Constructs
The following hypothetical case is an illustration of

the interactions of the Spirit within the constructs of
two widely separated cultures:
A comet is captured by the gravity

of the sun; subsequently it falls into a
path which will take it from deep space
to within a few million miles of the
earth. Long before it is visible to the
unaided eye, a modern astronomer
spots it through a telescope.
Immediately he informs NASA, which
has been waiting for just such an
opportunity. After a few months of
feverish activity, a space probe, which
will pass through the tail of the comet
and return information regarding its
chemical composition to earth, is
launched. The probe is successful.
Because of the current civilization’s
belief in the importance of science, a
great deal of information regarding the
early makeup of the universe is now
widely available.
In the meantime, when the comet
becomes visible to the human eye, it is
spotted by a primitive tribesman deep
in the jungles of West Papua. The tribe’s
Shaman declares that this is a sign that
the gods are angry. The tribe
immediately begins a series of activities
designed to appease them: huge
bonfires, dances and other rites. Since
the omen eventually passes from sight
without incident, the tribe believes its
appeasement efforts have been
successful.
For the modern individuals, curiosity was the

driving force behind all the activity. Each person
involved in the discovery, and the planning and
preparation of the probe probably had private feelings
and emotions about the enterprise, but I believe it is
safe to say that in almost all cases the II feelings
included anticipation of the results and enthusiasm for
the project. Because of the IG attitude of the society
toward scientific discovery, the technology for the
probe was available.
The primitive individuals were undoubtedly driven

by fear, awe and the urgency to appease the gods
through the use of religious rites.
Table II illustrates the various constructs involved.

A Comprehensive Example
THE SPIRIT ACTS CONTINUOUSLY in all areas of the universe.

The Spirit itself cannot be analyzed, but its results in
the real world can be observed and analyzed. Here are
two scenarios.
A Trip To the Store - 1809
In the year 1809 Smith1 discovered that he needed

to go to the store for some salt. Since going to the
store was quite a project, he made a list of everything
else he needed in order to get it all done in one trip.
49 ♦ A COMPREHENSIVE EXAMPLE
After selecting the pelts which he planned to trade
for the items on his list, he hitched his horse to the
wagon, picked up his salt container and his Kentucky
Long Rifle, and drove for over an hour. The roads were
little more than tree-shrouded paths through the
wilderness, and were barely wide enough for the
wagon.
The store was very small; in fact it occupied the

front room of the proprietor’s home. The inventory
consisted of staple goods: salt, molasses, flour, etc.
still in the big barrels or wooden boxes in which they
had been shipped. There were also several bolts of
cloth, some tools and possibly a few miscellaneous
items.
The proprietor scooped the required quantity from

the salt barrel, weighed it under Smith1’s watchful eye
(Smith1 was sure he had been cheated on his last salt
purchase), and poured it into the customer’s container.
The other items on Smith1’s list were handled in more
or less similar fashion.
While looking around, Smith1 remembered that his

wife had been complaining about her worn out aprons,
so he decided to add a couple of yards of material to
his list. The value of his pelts more than covered the
cost of his supplies, so after the proprietor gave him
the difference in cash from a wooden box under the
counter, Smith1 drove home.
A Trip To the Store - 2009

In the year 2009 Smith2 discovered he needed to
go to the store for some salt. Since the store was only
a few blocks away, he started his car and drove for a
few minutes. Although he was pretty sure he needed
some other things, the store was so close that he
figured it wasn’t worth his time to compile a list. He
was too preoccupied to notice the beautiful elm trees
and the lovely flowers lining the four-lane streets and
median strip.
The huge supermarket was packed with tens of

thousands of items, most of them prepackaged, and
included a pharmacy, a bank and an optometry
department. A security guard stood by the door, and a
sign warned that surveillance was being conducted by
cameras mounted in the ceiling, and that shoplifters
would be prosecuted.
Smith2 found many kinds of salt: plain, iodized,

garlic, seasoned, kosher, sea and rock among others.
There was salt specially designed for curing meat;
another type was made just for flavoring popcorn.
Most contained additives to keep the product from
clumping or sticking. Salt also came in several
varieties of prepackaged containers, from little shakers
to cardboard cylinders with metal pour spouts. There
were large bags of rock salt, which was used to melt
ice and snow.
Suddenly he remembered that tomorrow was his

wedding anniversary, so he bought his wife a bouquet.
Smith2 laid his selections on a conveyor belt, and
swiped his credit card through a reader. The clerk
picked up the salt and flowers, passed them by a
scanner, and a bill printed out. Smith2 signed the bill
and drove home.
Comparisons
In this section I want to examine these scenarios

using the constructs we developed previously.
Individual Internal Comparisons
When Smith1 decided he needed some salt, what

other thoughts ran through his mind? Was he
frustrated because he had too many other things to
do? Was he worried that his old horse might not be
strong enough to make the trip, or was he happy
because he had a new young horse that he wanted to
try out? Was he angry because he felt the store owner
had cheated him on his last trip? Did he have enough
nails to finish the cabin repairs? Was he concerned
that it might rain before he got home? Was he afraid
he might not have enough pelts to cover the cost of
his supplies? Did he take his gun because he feared he
might run into highwaymen in the forest, or because
he was hopeful that he might find additional meat for
the winter in the form of a bear or a deer? Which
material would his wife like best for her aprons?
In addition to all these possibilities, every physical

move he made had a mental parallel in his brain:
writing the list, hitching the horse, driving through the
forest, talking to the storekeeper, etc.
Smith2 also had many thoughts running through
his mind. Was he upset because his alma mater’s
football team was on TV, and he would miss the
kickoff? Why didn’t he get the car washed this
morning? Anyway, it’s time to get a new one. Why did
that kid of his get such poor grades? All these salts —
which one should he get? Large or small size?
Definitely get iodized salt (the government says it
prevents goiter), but what flavor? Winter was coming
— should he get a supply of rock salt? Oops, almost
forgot the anniversary. Would his wife prefer roses or
violets? Red roses — perfect! He was going to have to
do something about that huge balance on his credit
card. Perhaps he should get a part time job.
All these and more, in addition to the mental

parallels of his motions, flitted through his mind:
walking to the car, driving down the street, physically
picking up the salt container and the bouquet, etc.
Individual External Comparisons:
The individual external comparisons include all the

visible activities of both Smiths as described above. In
addition, it includes their facial expressions or other
outward indications of their underlying emotions: looks
of fear, satisfaction, worry, indecision, etc.
Group Internal Comparisons:
Smith1 belonged to a society which valued self-

reliance and independence. Life was difficult and
dangerous, and the husband’s job was to protect the
family and provide the necessities. Women raised the
children and generally kept the home functioning.
Government’s major function was the apprehension
and punishment of outlaws.
In Smith2’s society, technology had practically

eliminated hardship; people expected a vast array of
leisure time activities, a huge selection of goods
packaged for convenience, easy credit, and
government protection from tainted foods, potentially
dangerous conditions and terrorists.
Group External Comparisons:
The society in which Smith1 lived had simple

homes, small isolated stores, earthen roads,
transportation by wagon and manufacturing by hand.
Smith2’s society displayed homes with indoor

plumbing, hi-tech gadgets, paved and beautified
highways, mega-stores filled with a huge supply of
goods, credit cards and hi-speed data processing
equipment.
See Table III for a side by side comparison.

It is important to understand that the Spirit is

occurring in all constructs simultaneously. For
example, the automobile could not have been
invented until sufficient progress had been made in
metallurgy, electrical engineering, fuels,
communication, materials, etc.
When an inventor or scientist has an idea (II) for an

advance in his particular field, he creates a physical
construct (EI) in the form of a model, experiment, etc.,
which becomes available to the surrounding society.
An idea for making stronger steel may make it possible
to build higher buildings, or the discovery of a new
tropical plant may provide a cure for a previously fatal
disease. As new constructs proliferate throughout
society (EG), the society’s internal beliefs, customs,
etc. (IG) gradually change, which leads to further
external individual and group changes. Every new
situation, whether a philosophy, an idea, a tool, a
design, even a casual remark to a friend or the sight of
a falling apple, is instantly available for the Spirit’s use
in all categories.
I do not mean to give the impression that each

advance is brought about by the conscious creative
efforts of individuals. The Spirit is blind and non-
directional; it is not about improvement; it is about the
act of creation. New constructs are born from the
constructs available at a given time, and along the
way it is likely that there are as many creative failures
as successes. But as constructs become available for
further use, the failures tend to disappear, while the
successes lead to further successes.
An In-depth Look At The Spirit’s
Activity
IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER WE DISCUSSED how the Spirit works

through the use of certain special constructs: internal
and external, individual and group. This method of
investigation is useful as a crutch, and while it has the
advantage of being easily understandable, it has the
disadvantage of giving an incomplete picture.
In order to expand our understanding of the Spirit,
I need to set up a new construct: space/time. When
most of us think of dimensions, we picture the
three spatial dimensions: length, width and height.
We can also navigate in four dimensions — the above
three plus a time dimension.
For example, if we schedule a meeting on the third

floor of the building at the intersection of King and
Queen Streets at 9:00 am, most of us would have no
trouble attending. We have simply substituted King
Street for length, Queen Street for width, third floor for
height, and added the time.
For our purpose, a point is defined as a specific

location in space. It is the tiniest imaginable unit, but it
is not quite nothing.
In this diagram, point (x,y,z) is located at the

convergence of a
fixed number of
units along the
x-coordinate
(length), another
fixed number of
units along the
y-coordinate
(width), and a
third fixed number of units along the z-coordinate
(height). If any of the three coordinates are changed, it
is no longer point (x,y,z). For example, if z is moved
one unit further along the z-coordinate, it becomes the
point (x,y,z+1).
The point/event (x,y,z,t) denotes the given point at

time t. Note that the location of (x,y,z) remains the
59 ♦ AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT THE SPIRIT'S ACTIVITY
same in relation to the coordinate system shown here,
regardless of the change in t or the movement of the
coordinate system itself, although the conditions in
effect at the point may change along with t. The
number of conditions possible for any given
point/event, as well as between any two point/events,
is infinite.
This does not mean that any given point can

change its condition randomly in the interval from t to
t+1; the Spirit transcends and transforms the
condition of each point/event in conjunction with the
preceding condition of each point/event in its
immediate neighborhood. The actual condition of
(x,y,z,t) is dependent upon three things: (1) the
condition at (x,y,z,t-1), (2) the conditions of the
point/events in the neighborhood of (x,y,z,t-1), and (3)
the action of the Spirit
It is important to understand that the Spirit is

operating throughout the entire universe
simultaneously for all point/events. Imagine that each
instant in time corresponds to a station on an
assembly line. This organic line differs from the usual
mechanistic assembly line in that there is no overall
blueprint for the product being assembled. Each
station must take whatever point/events are passed
to it, and through the action of the Spirit, make its own
transformation. In this way constructs are built up,
and their constant expansion and jostling makes up
the world we see. Each construct at all times attempts
to adjust itself harmoniously to the other constructs in
its environment.
It is easy to see how ever expanding constructs

can interfere with each other. Thorns can choke out
plants, changing economic conditions can ruin a
business, and cats can wipe out a colony of field-mice.
Within the human brain, bigotry can destroy
understanding, and fear can prevent creative thinking.
But creative interference can also lead to healthy

competition, as when athletes compete in sports and
games. In some cases it can lead to peaceful
coexistence between nations or religions; in others it
can lead to war. "Good" and "bad" results such as
these are obvious.
When we look at constructs which require both

cooperation and a limitation on component size, the
idea of creative interference needs to replaced by a
more subtle construct. What controls the size of
organs within a human body? Why would not the Spirit
continue to increase the size of a kidney, liver,
pancreas, etc. until the organ crowds out all the
surrounding organs? Is there some organizing center
that controls the construction of the various body
parts?
Suppose station one receives the point/events

comprising an egg which has just been penetrated by
a sperm. In the next instant, station two begins to
fuse the nuclear materials to form the chromosomes of
a somatic cell. Ensuing stations continue this process
to form a zygote. Later stations begin to form cells; a
few days later they occupy a volume of space/time
that we call a fetus.
At each of the ensuing stations new

transformations take place, each one taking what has
been passed to it, and contributing its own activity.
Nutrients are received from the mother, blood vessels
are built up, and enzymes and other proteins are
prepared and passed into the ever growing blood
stream. Based on point/events received from its own
expanding internal constructs, in addition to those
received from the mother, genes are turned on and
off, leading to transformations culminating in the
appearance of the internal organs.
At no time is there any hint of what the “product”

is becoming; only the materials here and now are
available for transcendence and transformation. This
eliminates “…the notion of top-down causation [which]
is incoherent [in] that it involves spooky forces exerted
by wholes upon their components.”12 Eventually an
infant is born.
But if there is no foreknowledge of the outcome of

the Spirit’s activity, why does every fetus go through
the same process? Why does the outcome of the
egg/sperm combination of a given species always
result in a similar infant?
12
Carl F. Carver and William Bechtel, Philosophy-
Neuroscience-Psychology Program, Washington University,
St. Louis.
While not actually determined, the action of the
Spirit is consistent. The egg/sperm combination of any
particular species starts nearly the same way. Similar
point/event combinations lead to similar
transformations and transcendences. The nearly
unique combinations of bovine sperm/egg
combinations cannot lead to equine sperm/egg
outcomes. And the fact that such combinations are
nearly unique, and yet not quite identical, leads to the
variety of individuals we see around us, as well as to
an occasional birth defect.13
While it is not difficult to apply the assembly line

metaphor to external constructs, it is not so simple to
picture how it applies to internal constructs. How can a
noun such as love, pain, joy, jealousy or beauty apply
to a volume of space/time?
Subjective nouns are a description of the internal

states of certain portions of the brain. An external
analogy would be the comparison of a container to its
contents. If I say there is a glass of milk on the
counter, and state further that the contents are
buttermilk as opposed to whole milk, chocolate milk or
2% milk, that is analogous to saying that the internal
13
Birth defects can also result from occasional
creative variations, whether good or bad, in the
actions of the Spirit during the “assembly line”
process.
conditions of my brain are such that I am joyful, as
opposed to depressed, happy, or in pain.
The internal conditions of the brain do not cause or

lead to joy, depression, et. al.; these conditions are
joy, depression, happiness, etc. Because the animal
body is a group of point/events which are fully
imbedded in nature, these conditions are irrevocably
subject to the actions of the Spirit. I shall have more to
say on this subject in a later chapter.
Matter Matters
IN THE FIRST SEVEN CHAPTERS I discussed the Spirit's activity

in the macro world ― constructs which can be sensed,
or inferred through the use of special instruments. In
chapter eight I wrote about the micro world ― the
space/time world of point/events. Now I wish to
examine the connection between the two. First let me
take you through a short history of the universe.
The Spirit's activity started simultaneously with the
creation of the universe. Within a tiny fraction of the
65 ♦ MATTER MATTERS
first second, the point/events which were to become
the universe were transformed into a gaseous mixture
of quarks, electrons, photons, neutrinos and other
particles. A few minutes later they began to combine
to form the nuclei of the lighter elements: hydrogen,
helium and lithium.
It took the next 300,000 years for the nuclei to

start capturing electrons to form neutral atoms.
Matter, in the form of complete atoms of the light
elements, was born!
Some 300 million years later the first stars ignited,

enabling the formation of approximately 90 heavier
natural elements within their interiors. These elements
were ejected into the surrounding space as "stardust."
About 5 billion years ago, a small star on one of

the outlying arms of the Milky Way Galaxy was ignited.
We call it the Sun. The solar system, including our
beautiful Earth, coalesced out of the surrounding
stardust about 4.5+ billion years ago. At least for us, it
was the Spirit's crowning achievement. We still get
stardust as well as occasional other visitors
(meteorites) from outer space.
For over 13 billion years the Spirit has been

transcending and transforming point/events to adjust
to their immediate surroundings. The primeval
constructs were the most stable: quarks, electrons,
etc.; constructs with such complete internal
adjustments that they are impossible to tear apart.
These were the "clay" from which atoms, the basic
building blocks of the physical universe, were
constructed.
The atomic nuclei which followed were somewhat

less stable. The hierarchy continued with the capture
of electrons, the accumulation into stars, the formation
of the heavier elements, planets, etc. Each tier in the
hierarchy, although still relatively stable, was
somewhat less so than its predecessors.
The culmination was the appearance of the least

stable tier of all: life itself! Living organisms did not
come into the universe; they came out of it! We are all
created from stardust!
None of the above history would have been

possible had it not been for the Spirit's activities in
empty space; the space within the atom as well as the
space between the atoms.
Textbooks tell us that atoms are ridiculously small

― about one tenth of a millionth of a millimeter across.
That means that a human hair, one of the narrowest
things visible to the eye, is roughly a million atoms
across. Put another way, there are more atoms in a
glass of water than there are glasses of water in all the
oceans in the world.
Now for the hard part: The atom is 99.9…9% (13

nines after the decimal point) empty space! If you
were to remove all the empty space in the atoms that
make up a human being, he or she would be a lot
smaller than a grain of salt!
67 ♦ MATTER MATTERS
The action of the Spirit holds each atomic nucleus
together and tethers its orbiting electrons to it; the
Spirit also holds planets, comets and other stellar
bodies in their orbits. An interaction of the Spirit
between an occupied volume and an empty volume of
space/time is called a force, as is an interaction
between two occupied volumes of space/time, e.g.
gravity.
Depending upon the structure of the individual

atoms, electrons can be either shared between atoms
or, in some cases, moved from one atom to another.
This results in the formation of molecules which, along
with the basic elements, make up the physical
constructs that we have discussed in previous
chapters.
Causality14
IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER I discussed how the physical

universe progresses by means of the Spirit’s activities
on the space, atoms and molecules that comprise it.
But our language is composed of a different kind of
construct, i.e. words, which carve out volumes of
space/time from the surrounding flow of events. This
14
Portions of this chapter are taken from Dowe, Phil, "Causal
Processes", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall
2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL =
<http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2008/entries/causatio
n-process/>.
69 ♦ CAUSALITY
chapter will examine how we use language to talk
about this process.
Although he was writing about pornography when
he said, “I shall not today attempt further to define the
kinds of material but I know it when I see it,” Supreme
Court Justice Potter Stewart might just as well been
speaking about causality. Philosophers have been
trying to explain, or even to define, causality for
twenty-five hundred years, and have yet to reach an
agreement. The physicists have come closest to
agreeing, but even they are floating competing
theories. A couple of examples follow:
In 1948 Bertrand Russell, who had

previously rejected the notion of
causality, suggested that under certain
conditions the idea had some
usefulness as a shorthand mechanism,
primarily in scientific inductive
reasoning. Briefly, his theory suggested
that “a persistence of something, a
person, a table, a photon, or what not”
may be considered as a string of events
having a causal connection with each
other. Under Russell’s definition, a chair
at time t is connected to a chair at time
t-1 and also at t+1. As he put it, “Given
a certain event at a certain time, then
at any slightly earlier or slightly later
time there is, at some neighbouring
place, a closely similar event.” The chair
at time t is caused by the earlier chair
(at t-1), and is the cause of the later
chair (at t+1).
One problem with the theory was that there are

some events that look like they are a “persistence of
something,” but are not, and Russell’s theory could not
distinguish between real causal processes and so-
called pseudo processes. For example, a moving spot
of light at time t on a wall seems to be related to the
spot at t-1 and also at t+1, but it’s not. Each
manifestation of the spot is related to the interaction
of the light source and the wall, not the preceding
spot. Likewise, a shadow appears to be related
causally to itself in the interval between t-1 and t+1,
but again it is related only to the interaction of the
light source, the intervening body and the ground.
Wesley Salmon (1925 – 2001) attempted to overcome
the shortcomings of Russell’s theory as follows:
Suppose that there is a process P,

which has some characteristic that,
without intervening interactions, would
remain unchanged between t-1 and
t+1. Then at some point, say t, there is
an interaction which introduces a mark,
defined as a modification of that
particular characteristic. If and only if
that characteristic remains changed at
71 ♦ CAUSALITY
all points between t and t+1, P is a
causal process.
Unfortunately, Salmon’s theory requires that the

process P must be self-propagating without further
interaction. This would seem to rule out falling bodies,
electric currents, sound waves and others. These are
causal processes, but they are not self-propagating
without outside interaction. Falling bodies and
electricity are moved by their respective fields, and
sound waves do not exist without air, water or some
other medium.
In addition, some pseudo processes are not

excluded by Salmon’s theory. Consider the shadow
cast by a car. If someone inside the car sticks an arm
out the window while holding up a flag, the mark, the
change in the shadow, is transmitted from the flag to
the shadow on the ground. Sticking out the arm
seemingly qualifies as a mark which modifies a
characteristic of the shadow.
These objections can be overcome by requiring

that causal processes, not pseudo processes, transmit
some conserved quantity, such as mass-energy, linear
momentum, etc. from one occasion to the next.
But why bother to separate pseudo processes from

real processes? According to Einstein’s Special Theory
of Relativity, information cannot travel faster than the
speed of light (approximately 186,000 miles per
second). But there are things which can travel faster
than that, at least theoretically. For example, suppose
one could build a circular wall, similar to a wall around
a castle, with a radius of approximately 29,600 miles.
Such a wall would be 186,000 miles in circumference.
At the center of the circular wall there is a laser which
projects a spot on the wall. If the laser revolves at the
rate of one revolution per second, the spot will move
along the wall at 186,000 miles per second. If the wall
is moved say, 500 miles further away from the laser,
the spot will move about 189,125 miles per second,
which would violate the theory. The Special Theory
does not apply to pseudo processes.
With these restrictions, causality differs from the

way it is normally understood in ordinary language.
Sentences such as “The horse got away because I
forgot to close the barn door,” and, “The eight ball
didn’t go into the pocket because someone bumped
the table,” would not be covered under the meaning of
causality. Some philosophers deny that omissions and
preventions such as these are cases of causation, but
if not, what are they?
Patches to the conserved energy theory, as well as

alternative physical theories, abound. For example,
see Aronson, 1971; Fair, 1979; Skyrms, 1980; and
others.
If the understanding of causation is iffy among

physicists, it gets even more so in other sciences. For
example, if one mixes baking soda and vinegar,
carbon dioxide forms. Is the cause of carbon dioxide
73 ♦ CAUSALITY
the baking soda, the vinegar, or the mixing? What
about more complex reactions? In most cases, there is
not just one cause. By the time one gets into biology
or psychology, the physicists’ explanation of “cause”
has slipped out of sight.
In attempting to apply an overall causal law to

economics, Nancy Cartwright has arrived at the
following conclusion:
There is a variety of different kinds

of causal laws that operate in a variety
of different ways, and a variety of
different kinds of causal questions that
we can ask.
Each of these can have its own
characteristic markers; but there are no
interesting features that they all share
in common. (2004, p.814).
Ordinary usage implies that Russell was correct in

saying that under certain conditions causality has
some usefulness as a shorthand mechanism. It is a
quick and easy way for a scientist, or anyone else, to
describe an event, but it is necessary to keep in mind
that causality is a creation of language ― a way of
talking about the world; it is not an objective real world
event. In order to avoid misunderstandings, one needs
to be sure that the certain conditions underlying his
shorthand mechanism are in sync with those of his
listeners. This is especially true when an expert
addresses laymen, e.g. when a scientist speaks to an
audience of non-scientists.
But how do we non-scientists use causality in daily

conversation? Here is an informal working definition:
We may say event A causes event B if

all of the following statements apply:
1. B follows A.
2. If A had not occurred, neither would
B.
3. Either A is in physical contact with B,
or between A and B there is a string of
connected events x, such that if x were
interrupted, B would not occur.
Note that event B may be triggered by events

other than A, but whenever B occurs, there must be a
triggering event, A, C, etc. which satisfies all of the
above conditions. That seems simple enough.
Here are a few examples:
(1) We see the bat hit the baseball, and

the ball changes direction. All three
conditions are satisfied. In particular,
the ball and bat are in direct contact.
We may say, “Striking the ball with the
bat caused the fly ball.”
(2) We see the baseball hit the ground,

and the ball takes a bad bounce away
from the shortstop. All three conditions
75 ♦ CAUSALITY
are satisfied. In examples 1 and 2, the
ball changes direction, but the
triggering events are different. We may
say, “The shortstop missed the ball
because it took a bad bounce.”
(3) The cue ball strikes the eight ball,

which rolls into the corner pocket. Again
all three conditions are satisfied. The
striking of the eight ball by the cue ball
and the sinking into the corner pocket
are connected by the string of events
(x) which are manifested by the rolling
of the ball. We may say, “The eight ball
dropped into the corner pocket because
the cue ball hit it just right.” If x is
interrupted by someone striking the
table, the eight ball will not sink. In that
case we may say, “The eight ball did
not sink because someone bumped the
table.”
(4) We mix baking soda and vinegar,

and carbon dioxide is formed. There is a
string of events, namely the chemical
reaction, between the mixing of the
chemicals and the resulting carbon
dioxide. We may say, “Mixing baking
soda and vinegar caused the formation
of carbon dioxide.”
(5) As a result of the particular coding

sequences in genes EYCL1, EYCL2 and
EYCL3 in the fetus, the baby is born with
eyes that will eventually be blue. The
string x consists of the sequence of
molecular transformations during and
after gestation, as directed by the
genetic coding. We may say, “The baby
developed blue eyes because of the
coding sequences of the relevant
genes.”
(6) When the station clock indicates

3:00 pm, the train arrives at the
platform. Although condition 1 is
satisfied, this is not an example of
causation. We can stop the station clock
at 2:30, and the train still arrives at
3:00, which violates condition 2. Or at
2:30 we can turn the clock ahead to
3:00, but the train does not arrive, thus
violating condition 1. Condition 3 is not
satisfied in either case. Although it is
trivial, we may say, “The time on the
clock has no connection with the arrival
of the train.” This is an illustration of a
very important point: CORRELATION IS
NOT CAUSATION!
77 ♦ CAUSALITY
It is important to remember that causality is only a
shorthand way of describing reality. It is for this
reason that I have phrased the above illustrations as
propositions rather than objective realities. In example
1 above, we could say we observe the ball speeding
toward the plate, we see the batter swing, we see the
ball hit the bat, we hear the sound of the impact, and
we see the ball flying toward the outfield. It is easier to
say, “The impact of the ball with the bat caused the fly
ball.”
How does the above definition apply in day to day

conversation? For example, the sentence, “I’m late
because the alarm didn’t go off,” implies (1) I have a
normal sequence of events that I follow in the
morning, and (2) the usual sequence was interrupted
because of the not-ringing of the alarm. The sentence
fits the definition.
The sentence, “Isaac Newton invented the theory

of gravity because an apple fell on his head,” implies
that the falling apple stimulated Newton’s thinking into
a sequence of connected mental processes which
resulted in his theory of universal gravitation. While it
is historically and psychologically suspect, the
sentence does satisfy the definition of causality.
It is possible for a proposition to satisfy all three of

our conditions, and still not be true. For example:
(7) A driver is waiting at a red traffic

light. When the light changes to green,
he tries to drive, but his car refuses to
move. While he is trying to get going, a
careless driver speeds through the red
light, after which our driver’s car moves
just fine. If his car had moved when he
first tried, the other driver would have
crashed into him. We may say, “The
crash did not occur because a
momentary mechanical malfunction
prevented his car from moving.” We
may also say, “The crash did not occur
because his guardian angel was
protecting him.”
Both sentences technically satisfy the form of our

working definition, but no matter what we say, any
proposition needs to pass a reality check, or it is
useless. But reality sometimes differs between
individuals.
We have come a long way from Bertrand Russell;

at this point, unless we keep in mind the action of the
Spirit upon physical constructs, any definition of
causality seems to have problems. Shades of Potter
Stewart!
Laws of Nature
THE Laws of Nature constitute a set of propositions

that describe constructs which are presumed to be
true at all times and places in the universe. Most
philosophers agree that to be a Law of Nature, a
proposition must be structured according to the
following format:15
15
The format and some examples are from the Internet
Encyclopedia of Philosophy at
http://www.iep.utm.edu/l/lawofnat.htm.
1.) It must be a factual truth, not a
logical truth. "Water boils at a
temperature of 212º F" is a factual
truth; "For every numerical expression
a+b there is a number c such that
a+b=c" is a logical truth.
2.) It must be true for every time
and place in the universe. If it is true
only on planet earth, or during the 19th
century, it is not a Law of Nature.
3.) It must not contain any proper
names. It may contain general terms
such as "common cold", "ocean", etc.
but not "European Common Market",
"the South Pacific", "Galaxy NGC 4414",
"September 11, 2001", etc.
4.) It must be a universal or
statistical claim. "In its gaseous state
oxygen is colorless, odorless and
tasteless" is a universal proposition.
"The half-life of uranium-238 is about
4.47 billion years" is a statistical
proposition.
5.) It must be a conditional term or
equivalent. Some categorical terms can
be converted to a conditional term. "If
one mixes baking soda and vinegar,
carbon dioxide is formed." is
conditional. "Mixing baking soda and
vinegar results in the formation of
81 ♦ LAWS OF NATURE
carbon dioxide" is a categorical term
which can be converted to a conditional
term.
Here are a few examples:
1.) If water is heated to a temperature

of 70° C, it will boil. The proposition is
not a factual truth.. It is not a Law of
Nature.
2.) One night last week a deer jumped

the fence into my back yard, and exited
through the open gate. While this may
be a factual truth, it is limited to a
particular time and place. It is not a Law
of Nature.
3.) The Milky Way Galaxy is composed

of billions of stars. True, but proper
names are not allowed.
4.) Uranium exists. True, but this is

neither a universal nor a statistical
claim. To be a universal truth, uranium
would need to exist everywhere,
including my living room. I assure you, it
does not exist there. It is not a Law of
Nature.
5.) There is a ball of uranium one mile

in diameter in the outer reaches of the
galaxy. This a physical impossibility
because a ball of uranium would
explode long before it reached that size.
It is not a Law of Nature. Its converse,
"If a ball of material is one mile in
diameter, it is not uranium." is a Law of
Nature.
6.) There is a china teapot in orbit

between the third and forth planets
from the sun. Most likely not true, and
definitely not descriptive of any
observed reality, so it is not a Law of
Nature.
7.) Bad money drives out good. Sir

Thomas Gresham (1519-1579). Suppose
a government issues metallic or paper
money which can be exchanged for
"good" money, e.g. gold bullion, in an
amount equal to its face value. As long
as both government money and bullion
can be exchanged at face value, there
is no problem. As the exchange rate
becomes less than the face value, the
government-issued money becomes
"bad" money. People will hoard the
"good" bullion and circulate the "bad"
government money. Eventually only the
bad money will remain in circulation.
83 ♦ LAWS OF NATURE
Does Gresham's Law meet the five conditions?

There is no doubt that it is a factual truth. It has been
observed many times, is not limited to a particular
time or place, contains no proper names, is a universal
claim, and can be converted to a conditional term. It is
a Law of Nature.
As with all Laws of Nature, it does not force the

world to behave in a certain way, but merely describes
how, in fact, it does act. There is no reason why any
Laws of Nature cannot be broken; they simply have
not and supposedly will not be broken at any time in
the future.
Suppose the proposition, "Human beings cannot

live longer than 120 years" is proposed as a Law of
Nature. It has been observed to be true for every time
and place, contains no proper names, is a universal
claim and can be converted to a conditional
proposition. Thus it qualifies as a Law of Nature.
However, if a 121-year-old human being were to turn
up, it means that what was considered to be a Law of
Nature was not a true description of reality, and must
be changed.
Anything that actually occurs is obviously true, and

for every such occurrence there is a universal
statement ― a sometimes as yet unstated Law of
Nature ― which describes it. If an event is a physical
impossibility, its non-occurrence is a Law of Nature.
The term "Law of Nature" is a construct of
language; it is a description of observed events. If the
event has not been observed, or cannot be inferred
from actual observations of other events, it cannot be
a Law of Nature.
There is one subset of the Laws of Nature which is

of particular importance to scientists: the Laws of
Science, also known as physical laws. It is a basic
assumption of science that physical bodies follow the
same interactive principles wherever they occur in the
universe; science would be impossible otherwise.
For example, Newton's Law of Universal

Gravitation is usually expressed as a mathematical
expression, Fg=G(m1m2/r2), which can be converted to
a conditional term: If two bodies of mass m1 and m2
are separated by a distance r, then the gravitational
force Fg between the two equals… This law has been
refined somewhat by Einstein's General Theory of
Relativity, but it is still applicable. If a counter example
were to be found, it would cause a tremendous
upheaval in the world of science.
Such upheavals occasionally do occur; new

discoveries may lead to updating of Laws of Science,
and scientists the world over are constantly probing
the established laws in order to insure that they truly
describe "reality." Fortunately such upheavals are
becoming a rarity.
Learning
AT THIS POINT I WISH to discuss how information passes

from one human being to another. In particular for a
child, how are atomic particles in the brain used to
learn a language, or use chopsticks, or who mommy
is?
First a quick biology lesson. In the human body the
particles are arranged in cells which perform the
various functions: liver, heart, lungs, brain, etc. The
100 billion cells (neurons) in the human nervous
system may be very short within the brain itself; those
which connect the spinal cord to the feet may be as
long as a
meter. The
drawing is a
simplified
version of a
neuron.
Neurons have
a large
number of extensions called dendrites. They often
look like branches or spikes extending out from the
cell body. It is primarily the surfaces of the dendrites
that receive chemical messages from other neurons.
One extension is different from all the others, and

is called the axon. Although in some neurons, it is
hard to distinguish from the dendrites, in others it is
easily distinguished by its length. The purpose of the
axon is to transmit an electro-chemical signal to other
neurons.
At the very end of the axon is the axon ending.

Between the axon ending and the dendrite of the next
neuron is a very tiny gap called the synapse. For
every neuron, there are between 1000 and 10,000
synapses; for the entire nervous system it is estimated
that there may be nearly 100 trillion of them.
When the dendrites receive a stimulus from

another neuron, they instigate an electro-chemical
flow along the axon to the axon terminal. At this point,
87 ♦ LEARNING
tiny bubbles of chemicals called vesicles release their
contents into the synaptic gap. These chemicals are
called neurotransmitters. These sail across the gap to
the next neuron, where they find special places on the
dendrites of the next neuron called receptor sites.
Then the whole process starts over in the receiving
neuron.
Not every stimulus is transmitted through the

system intact. Some neurons are inhibitors; they stop
the flow of neurotransmitters. Nor do all neurons
operate at the same speed, in fact, a given neuron
may transmit at different speeds at different times and
under different conditions.
As a result the neurons are continually changing

connections which, of course, changes the passage of
any given stimulus. For any given sensory input the
resultant output may not be identical at different times
or situations. A given volume of space/time may be a
beloved spouse during today's honeymoon, and a
bitter foe in a divorce proceeding tomorrow.
While there are many different kinds of neurons,

there are three broad categories based on function:
1. Sensory neurons are sensitive to

various non-neural stimuli. There are
sensory neurons in the skin, muscles,
joints, and organs that indicate
pressure, temperature, and pain. There
are more specialized neurons in the
nose and tongue that are sensitive to
the molecular shapes we perceive as
tastes and smells. Neurons in the inner
ear provide us with information about
sound. And the rods and cones of the
retina allow us to see.
2. Motor neurons are able to

stimulate muscle cells throughout the
body, including the muscles of the
heart, diaphragm, intestines, bladder,
glands, limbs, vocal cords, etc.
3. Interneurons are the neurons that

provide connections between sensory
and motor neurons, as well as between
each other. The neurons of the central
nervous system, including the brain, are
all interneurons.
In addition to connecting sensory neurons to motor

neurons, the interneurons perform an extremely
important function among themselves: storing those
configurations which form ideas, memories and
emotions. An idea, memory or emotion is not caused
by a given configuration of connections ― it is the
configuration itself. At the time of its origination it is
stored along with any concurrent sensory and
emotional inputs, and is subject to recall by a later
reoccurrence of the accompanying sight, odor, etc. In
addition, it is subject to action by the Spirit, and could
89 ♦ LEARNING
be recalled intact, altered, combined with other
configurations, or even forgotten.
When a mother's motor neurons stimulate say, the

vocal cords, the resulting vibrations are transmitted
through the air to the sensory neurons in the child's
ear, and then to the brain. At that point the
interneurons perform their tasks of translating them
into sounds, instigating emotional connections, storing
the sensations, etc. Learning has begun.
In an infant, the earliest form of learning is not

difficult to understand: when a certain distinct volume
of space/time is sensed it is usually accompanied by
other sensations in the form of food or warmth or
snuggling or tickling. These wonderful sensations
eventually induce connections in the brain which our
language translates as "mommy." The names of other
objects which the infant finds in its immediate
environment are learned in a similar way; mommy
parades them before the infant, meanwhile repeating
the names: rattle, doggie, bottle, teddy bear, daddy,
etc.
In his An Essay Concerning Human Understanding,

John Locke argues that "Attention and repetition help
much to fixing any ideas in the memory: but those,
which naturally at first make the deepest, and most
lasting impression, are those, which are accompanied
with pleasure or pain." Although Locke's repetition
theory of memory has long been discredited, it has
some merit in explaining how an infant acquires
certain skills and habits. The infant eventually learns
that when mommy is happy, approval (pleasure) is
forthcoming. Likewise when mommy is upset, she
shows disapproval (pain), perhaps by withholding
affection, or by a grimace, word, or some other sign..
By this means the child learns to use the potty, eat
with chopsticks, and many other routine, socially
acceptable actions.
The child's powers of observation are a significant

source of early learning; such things as eating a good
breakfast, going to bed at a certain time, regular
church attendance, etc. are all learned without
specifically calling them to attention. By the same
token the habits of swearing, rudeness, and crossing
the street in the middle of the block instead of at the
crosswalk can also result from repeated observations.
Whether consciously observed or not, the more often
an action is performed, the stronger the habit
becomes. It is analogous to the construct of
momentum in physics.
The next phase of learning occurs when mommy

deserts the child and leaves him in the care of this
stranger known as "teacher." It's a tough lesson the
first time the child learns that it doesn't matter
whether or not he likes it, that's the way it's going to
be.16
But throughout life one of the most effective

methods of learning is through the use of language; a
16
Usually the parent doesn't put it quite like that, but that's
the way it turns out.
91 ♦ LEARNING
set of neural connections inside Smith1 is able to affect
the transcendence and transformation of a second set
of neural connections inside Smith2. Language
provides the ability not only to listen, read and discuss,
but also to manipulate symbols (logic). Observation
followed by logic followed by action is the Spirit's most
potent tool for transcendence and transformation
within the human being.
Determinism vs. Free Will
FOR MORE THAN TWO MILLENNIA philosophers have been

debating the term "free will." What is it? And do we
have it? For purposes of this chapter I propose the
following working definition: Free will is the ability to
freely choose, after due deliberation, between a choice
of opportunities as presented in a given situation.
Some philosophers assert that one must act on
that choice, while others point out that one can make
the choice, but cannot act on it for one reason or
93 ♦ DETERMINISM VS. FREE WILL
another, e.g. the chooser may be in jail, ill, or
otherwise constrained. I will assume that free will is in
the choice, whether or not subsequently constrained in
any way.
But do we have it? The opposing school of

philosophy, determinism, maintains that free will is
impossible. Everything that happens is "determined"
by what has gone before. According to this school, if
one could know the state of every particle in the
universe at some given point in time, then by
application of the "laws of nature" to that starting
position, it would be possible to predict every event at
any time in the future. Thus there really are no
choices; through the application of the laws of nature,
one's previous experiences dictate which option one
"chooses."
And then there is the compatibilist school, that

maintains that both free will and determinism coexist.
At this point I wish to make two assumptions about

the nervous system:
1.) A change in the internal state of

the brain affects the body.
2.) The brain is part of a determined
system, i.e. conditions affecting the
body have a corresponding effect upon
the state of the brain.
While these conditions have not been absolutely

proven, there is evidence that they are true. It is
obvious that changes in the brain are mirrored in the
external body, e.g. depression, brain injuries,
schizophrenia, etc., all manifest themselves in the
external appearance and activities.
Likewise the effects of alcohol, drugs, sensory

deprivation, even hunger, upon the brain are not only
well documented, but also obvious to any observer. So
it is no stretch of the imagination to assume that an
ability to select between alternatives has its roots in
the state of the brain.
In order for a choice to be made, there must be

some change in the structure of the brain. There are
several ways this can happen. Perhaps there is some
outside influence: God, gamma rays, torture, etc. can
bring about such a change. But if there is an outside
influence, then the choice is not free.
Such a change can also be made internally.

Perhaps some area of the brain "flips" to a new
configuration on a random basis, possibly due to a
quantum event. Some philosophers maintain that such
a micro event could not influence a macro structure
such as the brain, but consider the following:
An airplane is flying over a

metropolitan area. The plane is carrying
a Geiger counter which, upon detecting
a stray electron, will initiate the arming
and dropping of a hydrogen bomb. On
the other hand, its only effect may be to
change a counter from zero to one.
95 ♦ DETERMINISM VS. FREE WILL
Between these two extremes, anything
is possible.
In any case a random change is not what most

people would call free will. And to suppose that God or
some other type of monitoring presence decides what
to flip is also not what people think of as free will.
In the 1980s Benjamin Libet conducted an

experiment designed to measure how much time
elapsed between the time a subject felt the conscious
decision to move her wrist, and the actual movement
of the wrist. He found that the wrist moved before the
actual awareness of the decision, which would indicate
that instead of making a decision to move, the mind
actually ratified a movement already made. Although
the experiment has been repeated many times, the
interpretation of the results is still understandably
controversial.
But why do we feel that we can freely choose

between options? I suspect it is an after-the-fact
conclusion. For example, suppose the menu offers a
choice between steak and fish. We choose one or the
other, say steak, and afterwards we think "I chose
steak but I could just as easily have chosen fish." But
that is begging the question by assuming that a free
choice was available before-the-fact.
Both free will and determinism can be explained as

the action of the Spirit upon the connections within the
brain. To the extent that the connections at t-1 provide
the past, and the Spirit provides the "flip" through its
actions of transcendence and transformation, both are
true, although not in the same way they are normally
understood.
And as for being compatible, a better description

of their relationship would be that they are
complementary.
Morality and Ethics17
AS WITH ALL CONSTRUCTS BASED on language, "morality" is

built upon certain observed actions of the Spirit. It is a
guide to conduct that either prohibits, requires,
discourages, encourages, or allows actions that a
rational person would like to see adopted by everyone.
For our purpose I propose the following definition:
17
Portions of this chapter have been adapted from Gert,
Bernard, "The Definition of Morality", The Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2008 Edition), Edward N.
Zalta (ed.), URL =
<http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2008/entries/morality
-definition/>.
Morality is an informal public system applying to all
rational persons, governing behavior that affects
others, and has the lessening of evil or harm as its
goal
Unlike formal codes of conduct such as legal
systems and religions, morality has no explicit written
rules, penalties, and officials who interpret the rules
and apply the penalties as has a legal system; nor
does it include stories, usually about supernatural
beings, that are used to explain or justify the behavior
that a religion prohibits or requires. Moral criticism is
often used to support a change in the law, while
religion requires somewhat more, in the form of belief,
than morality does.
In everyday language the term “morality” can be

used either:
1. descriptively to refer to a code of

conduct put forward by
a. a society or,
b. some other group, such as a
religion, or
c. accepted by an individual for his
or her own behavior
or
2. normatively to refer to a code of
conduct that, given specified conditions,
would be put forward by all rational
persons.18
18
ibid
99 ♦ MORALITY AND ETHICS
As an example of a normative code of conduct, the

prohibition expressed as "Thou shalt not kill" is a
precept that most rational people everywhere would
like to see adopted by everyone.
Descriptive codes of conduct are proposed by a

myriad of groups such as nations, societies, religions,
financial institutions and others, and seem to override
normative codes for the most part. For example, the
American people have long considered it to be a moral
obligation to assure certain benefits for themselves:
freedom, education, opportunity, etc., yet during the
same period some internal groups practiced slavery,
torture, lynching and other practices which would be
considered immoral under a normative morality.
Further complexities are introduced by way of

individual codes of conduct. For example, some
persons who purport to follow the ten commandments
believe in life for the unborn and death for abortion
practitioners.
For any given person at a particular time, it is not

clear whether morality refers to (1) a guide to behavior
that is put forward by a society, either his own or some
other society; (2) a guide that is put forward by a
group, either one to which he belongs or another; (3) a
guide that a person, perhaps himself, regards as
overriding and wants adopted by everyone in his
group, or (4) is a universal guide that all rational
persons should put forward for governing the behavior
of all moral agents.
There are likely to be significant moral disputes

between those who regard different guides as more
relevant in a given situation. When it is important that
such disagreements be settled, societies generally use
political and legal systems to supplement morality.
Can everyone be held accountable for immoral

behavior? Not if the person does not know about or
understand moral behavior. Generally we don't expect
children or insane persons to act morally.
If free will exists only as an unexpected action of

the Spirit, what becomes of responsibility for immoral
behavior? Are we reduced to the irresponsible
condition promoted by Clarence Darrow in his
summation at the trial of Leopold and Loeb?:
"What has this boy to do with it? He was

not his own father; he was not his own
mother; he was not his own
grandparents. All of this was handed to
him. He did not surround himself with
governesses and wealth. He did not
make himself. And yet he is to be
compelled to pay."19
19
Darrow, Clarence, 1924, “The Plea of Clarence Darrow, in
Defense of Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, Jr., On Trial for
Murder” page reference is to the reprint in Philosophical
Explorations: Freedom, God, and Goodness, S. Cahn (ed.),
New York: Prometheus Books, 1989.
Not necessarily, Clarence. Saint Paul presents a
metaphor for an opposing view:
"Hath not the potter power over the

clay, of the same lump to make one
vessel unto honour, and another unto
dishonour?"20
In this view, individuals can still be dishonoured for

their acts even though those acts were ultimately
completely determined by God.
As the Spirit works to transcend and transform the

individual to act morally or immorally, it is also acting
in lock-step on the lawmakers, priests, judges,
attorneys, peace officers, philosophers and others of
the legal, political, religious, justice, societal and other
systems involved in furthering moral activity. Each
construct acts continuously to adjust itself
harmoniously to its environment, including other
constructs. It is as impossible to stop moral judgment
and responsibility as it is to stop the sunrise.
The field of ethics, also called moral philosophy,

involves systematizing, defending, and recommending
concepts of right and wrong behavior.21 According to
Aristotle's ethical system, man should live well, with
conduct governed by moderate virtue. This is difficult,
20
St. Paul, "Epistle to the Romans", 9:21, King James Bible
Tennessee: The Gideons International
21
The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, James Fieser
http://www.utm.edu/~jfieser/
because virtue denotes doing the right thing, to the
right person, at the right time, to the right extent, in
the right fashion, for the right reason. Defining these
rights has been a major problem for ethicists ever
since.
Today's ethicists confront many controversial

situations. Biomedical ethics focuses on a range of
issues which arise in clinical settings.
Health care professionals deal constantly in life

and death situations. In addition, questions arise
concerning genetic manipulation, stem cell research,
physicians' responsibilities to tell the truth to dying
patients, refusal to treat AIDS patients, end of life
issues, etc.22
The field of business ethics examines moral

controversies relating to the social responsibilities of
capitalist business practices, the moral status of
corporate entities, deceptive advertising, insider
trading, basic employee rights, job discrimination,
affirmative action, drug testing, and whistle blowing.
Issues in environmental ethics often overlap with

business and medical issues. These include the rights
of animals, the morality of animal experimentation,
preserving endangered species, pollution control,
management of environmental resources, whether
eco-systems are entitled to direct moral consideration,
and our obligation to future generations.
22
Ibid.
Controversial issues of sexual morality include
monogamy vs. polygamy, sexual relations without
love, homosexual relations, and extramarital affairs.
Finally, there are issues of social morality which

examine capital punishment, nuclear war, gun control,
the recreational use of drugs, welfare rights, and
racism.23
The practices and conclusions under various

ethical systems may vary in conjunction with the
particular moral system being studied, as well as the
world-view of the individual undertaking the study. As
with morality, the actions of the Spirit guarantee that
the study of ethics will continue to expand.
Certainly none of the foregoing suggests that all

moral or ethical systems are relatively equal, nor do
they necessarily deserve equal consideration. As with
all constructs, those having the greatest value will
tend to persist and expand, while those of lesser value
will eventually disappear.
23
Ibid.
Religion
THERE ARE MANY DEFINITIONS of the term "religion" in

common usage. For our purpose, I wish to define it
very broadly, in order to include the greatest number
of belief systems: "Religion is any specific system of
belief about deity, often involving rituals, a code of
ethics, and a philosophy of life."24 Thus, I include here
all of the great monotheistic religions, Eastern
religions, Neopagan religions, a wide range of other
24
World Religions,
http://www.religioustolerance.org/var_rel.htm
105 ♦ RELIGION
faith groups, spiritual paths, and ethical systems; and
beliefs about the existence of God(s) and Goddess(es).
I recognize that most people define religion in a much
more exclusive manner.
But why are there religions in the first place? I
have discussed this question in depth in Chapter 4, but
I have not delved into the question of why such varied
beliefs continue to exist. Constructs that have the
greatest value tend to persist, while those of lesser
value tend to die out. Thousands of religions have
disappeared, but some still remain, and continue to
grow stronger with each passing year. What is their
value?
Perhaps it is that they are true. However, although

the successful ones have many things in common,
particularly in their ethical teachings, there is
widespread disagreement in their beliefs concerning
deities. Even within a given religion there is often
significant disagreement in beliefs, e.g. within
Christianity some Protestants would deny that
Catholics or Seventh Day Adventists are Christians.
Adherents to each system insist that theirs is the one
true belief concerning God(s) or Goddess(es), and
since proving otherwise is impossible, no argument
can change their minds.
How do they arrive at such a conclusion? Perhaps

it is because they have been so trained from infancy. It
is more difficult to change one's deity from God to
Allah than it is to change from using chopsticks to
using a knife and fork, though the principle is the
same. It has recently become fashionable to change
from Christianity to Islam, although it only happens in
a very small percentage of cases.
The rites of the particular system reinforce such

training. From the sprinkling of holy water to the daily
prostrations toward Mecca, the faithful are reinforced
in their adherence to their particular system.
An important source of strength in most systems is

that the individual is not responsible when things go
wrong. No one likes to be accused of wrongdoing, and
religion allows one to say, "It is God's/Allah's will," or
"It is due to bad Karma," at such times. In times of
need, "God/Allah will provide." In order to stay on the
good side of the deity, one must offer sacrifices
(tithes) and thanks when things are going well. Such
beliefs offer inner strength not only to the individual,
but also to the particular system of religion he follows.
Each system is further strengthened by the belief

that no matter how bad life seems to be, things will be
better eventually. The certainty that you will be with
your loved ones in heaven is a powerful incentive not
to examine your earthly beliefs too closely. The same
applies to your certainty that you will achieve nirvana,
or that you will enjoy the charms of many virgins in the
afterlife.
Since all constructs are continually jostling each

other and making harmonious adjustments to their
environment, the question arises as to why competing
107 ♦ RELIGION
religious systems have not destroyed, or at least
seriously weakened, each other. And they have; today
there are only 19 major world religions, which are
subdivided into 270 large religious groups out of the
estimated tens of thousands that have seen the light
of day during the history of the human race.25 At the
present time the strain between some of the systems
is becoming quite evident. The jury is still out as to
whether all will come through unscathed.
None of the foregoing discussion is meant to imply

that any religion is better or worse than any other, nor
does it suggest that any religion is true or false. All
religions persist because of the actions of the Spirit on
those point/events it finds at any given moment within
the brains their followers.
25
World Christian Encyclopedia: A comparative survey of
churches and religions - AD 30 to 2200.
Life and Death
BECAUSE OF EVER-CHANGING SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES, the definition

of life has also changed over the years. A basic
definition suitable for our purpose is the following:
Living things are systems that tend to respond to
changes in their environment, and inside themselves,
in such a way as to promote their own continuation.
This definition includes all plants and animals ― living
organisms that are capable of growth and
reproduction, communication in some cases, and for
109 ♦ LIFE AND DEATH
many, adaptation to the environment through changes
originating internally. At this point however, I am
particularly interested in the volume of space/time
which we designate by the construct "human being."
Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary,
Aristotle’s definition of man as a rational animal is still
in vogue today. The problem is that on the rare
occasions when man is being rational, he is still so
much more than that. Aristotle was locked in to the
subject/predicate (and the masculine) form demanded
by his language.
But that is true for all of us. We single out a

process from the ongoing universe and give it a name,
freezing it forever into a static event. Then we assign
characteristics to the event, not realizing that the
characteristics are supplied by our brains and not by
the event itself.
The least we can do, especially for an event as

dynamic as a human being, is to use a noun which
implies that there is more to this process than a
snapshot. I am indebted to J. Samuel Bois of
Viewpoints Institute in Los Angeles for this definition,
and the following is my understanding of it:
A human being is a process. To call a human being

a process is merely indicating that this event is not
going to remain static over time. It is going to
assimilate materials from its environment, and give
back other materials in return. As energy in the form
of wax and oxygen flows into a candle flame, and
other energy in the form of heat and light flows out, so
will energy pass into and out of the human being. In an
even more fundamental sense, the very atoms and
molecules of the process itself are constantly being
sloughed off and replenished. There is no such thing as
a static human being, or any other animal for that
matter.
A human being is a self-moving process. Other

animals are self-moving, many in highly specialized
ways. The cheetah can run 70 miles per hour for short
distances, monkeys can swing by their tails, and fish
can swim in the seas. But no other animal has the
generalized movements that the human being has ―
movements that enable one to travel from the bottom
of the sea to the valleys of the moon, and to an infinite
number of environments in between.
A human being is an electro-chemical process.

Again, other animals are also electro-chemical
processes, but none has the billions of neurons and the
trillions of connections, both electrical and chemical,
that constitute the human brain and nervous system.
Even while one is asleep, the circuits continue their
ebb and flow.
A human being is a feeling process. While other

animals may possess some instinctive feelings ―
hunger, fear or reproduction ― the deeper emotions of
love, empathy, joy, angst, jealousy, apathy,
enthusiasm and others seem to be rudimentary at
best.
A human being is a thinking process. While some
degree of thinking occurs in the great apes, porpoises
and perhaps a few other species, none has the powers
of creativity and self-reflexiveness that exist in the
human being. No other animal has created language,
mathematics, religion and other institutions, nor has
any other animal constructed a skyscraper, an
automobile or even an arrowhead. And most
importantly, no other animal can create concepts and
discuss or argue about them with other members of its
species.
A human being is in continuous transaction with a

space/time environment. Certain self-moving
transactions were discussed above, but I am speaking
here about a different type of transaction. The human
being takes from the environment and gives back to
the environment. For example, it takes sand and
water, iron ore and other materials and gives back a
skyscraper. It takes beef and fruits and vegetables and
milk and water and sunlight and gives back an infant.
All the material inventions were taken from the
environment and put back as new creations. The
downside is that it also puts back slag heaps, smog
and landfills.
An even more subtle relationship colors a human

being’s time-wise transactions with the environment. A
human being approaches each transaction with a
memory of past events and their results, and with
hopes and aspirations for future events, and modifies
its behavior accordingly. Every transaction is shot
through with the time component as internalized by
the individual.
To recapitulate ― A human being is a self-moving,

electro-chemical, feeling, thinking process in
continuous and directed transaction with a space/time
environment. I believe Aristotle would approve of this
definition.
We know that all of these processes are constructs

built upon the on-going activities of the Spirit on
constructs making up the body. We also know that
from the moment of birth, jostling and adjusting to the
other constructs in the immediate vicinity is the norm.
Fortunately, most bodies start out with copious
internal resources and strengths which enable them
hold their own against the many entities with which
they are forced to compete or adjust. Additional coping
resources are provided by parents and other
caregivers.
But the body is subject to tremendous external

pressures: injuries, infection, cold, heat, starvation,
and any number of unfortunate encounters with other
constructs in its environment. In addition, its own
internal constructs have been transcended and
transformed over the years; in some cases their
original characteristics no longer exist.
Eventually the overwhelming odds take a toll on

the body's processes. Movement becomes painful and
sluggish and the rapidly decreasing number of brain
cells slowly transforms the individual with the quick wit
to the outsider who doesn't get the joke. Senses
become jaded, and hopes and aspirations give way to
memories of long ago. Finally, when the electro-
chemical processes of the brain cease, death has
occurred. The only remaining transactions are those of
non-living entities: decay, assimilation, absorption, etc.
The human being returns to the universe from whence
he came.
The corpse is a fingerprint of something the

universe has stopped doing.
Summing Up
WE HAVE COME A LONG WAY in our discussion of the Spirit:

from the very beginning of time to the present, from
the almost nothing point/event to the entire universe,
from the fetus to the old man, and from the unseen to
the concrete. Throughout this book I have tried to use
everyday examples that are obvious and easily
understood. And yet, the whole concept of the one
Spirit which creates both good and bad seems contrary
to common sense. Why?
115 ♦ SUMMING UP
I believe that the subject/predicate format of our
language is what makes this construct so difficult to
grasp. From its beginning, language has demanded
that every object, every event, be placed in a
category: good/bad, large/small, etc. There was no
provision for a construct which could not be
categorized, such as the Spirit. "Not applicable" was
not a categorical option, and because language
worked reasonably well, it never became one.
The Spirit is neither a subject nor an object. One

can study the Spirit's results, but not the Spirit itself.
Understanding the Spirit is similar to understanding a
nuclear particle by studying the trail it leaves in a
cloud chamber; one can study the trail, and come to
some conclusions regarding its cause, but one cannot
study the particle itself.
A second problem brought on by our language is

the impression that we are an entity separate from
nature. Although we are different from any other
natural entity by virtue of our use of language, we are
as deeply imbedded otherwise as a mountain stream
or a deer. Anything that exists, even a merest wisp of
existence in far off space, is a part of nature.
If you were to accept the Spirit worldview, how

much effect would it have on your day-to-day living?
The objective answer is "not much." The sun would

still rise tomorrow; people, nations and religions would
still disagree with each other, your sore tooth would
still require a trip to the dentist, and the young would
still get older while the elders would eventually die.
Even more importantly, you would still be

responsible for supporting your family, and you would
still be punished if you committed a crime. There will
always be people who need help, just as there will
always be people who need to be restrained for the
good of society.
As it has always done, the blind Spirit would

continue to make numerous "good" constructs to
combat the "bad," and vice versa. The battle we
humans wage between good and evil would continue
unabated.
But the subjective answer is that you personally

would view the world with a very different attitude.
Once you understand that the Spirit is experiencing
the world through your five senses, you realize that
you are an important center of creativity. It is an
exhilarating feeling to know that, at each instant, you
are helping to create the universe! And at each
instant, the universe is creating you!
But before you get carried away with your own

importance, you also realize that the same is true of
everyone else; each one of us is a part of creativity. In
addition to the exhilarating knowledge of individual
responsibility, it is humbling to be part of such a
magnificent enterprise.
Realizing that the Spirit creates new events at

every instant, you are not surprised if not all plans
117 ♦ SUMMING UP
work out as expected, and you often feel an extra jolt
of elation when they are successful. Any such plans
would, of course, be created on the basis of trends
observed in the surrounding world instead of luck,
horoscopes, Ouija boards or fortune tellers.
You rise each morning with the almost certainty

that the day will bring something new ― not
necessarily "good" ― but at least different, and
hopefully interesting. Every event is an opportunity.

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The Spirit Runs Through It

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THE SPIRIT RUNS THROUGH IT ♦2

The Spirit Runs

"Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of

― ALBERT EINSTEIN, The World As I See It

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or

The Wisdom of Genesis..............................................19

The Growth of Language............................................22

Man Takes Control......................................................28

Constructs For Understanding The Spirit....................42

An In-depth Look At The Spirit’s Activity....................57

Determinism vs. Free Will..........................................92

Morality and Ethics.....................................................97

Life and Death..........................................................108

SOME TIME AGO AS I was perusing a photo album which

While this transition is not as apparent in other

In a like manner, changes occur in the outward

Similar to the invisible change in individuals, there

In the following pages we shall explore these

THAT THERE ARE UNSEEN actions behind visible events is a

Of course, there are also visible actions behind

1.) Imagine a site on which a new home

A new entity, a house, has been introduced into

Although Jesus used the following parable to

2.) A sower went out to sow. And as he

In order to reach their full potential, seeds need to

Plants acquire the necessary nutrients through

Seeds that landed on thorn-infested soil faced a

And those seeds that fell on good soil combined

Without the introduction of seeds, all the nutrients,

This begs the question: why should there be an

A more complex process occurs as we consider the

3.) Shortly after a sperm penetrates an

There is no satisfactory reason why a sperm

The following is a case from history:

4.) Sir Isaac Newton had invented the

Sir Isaac had all the necessary elements in place in

It is important to note that the creative activity

Some unknown aspect of Hester’s nature or

6.) Because his friends always raved

All the conditions for a successful business

7.) On August 29, 2005, Katrina, a

As of this writing, June 2008, many sections of the

We often do not realize that the past creates the

8.) …but humble-bees alone visit the

The one thing that all of our examples have in

THE FACT THAT THERE IS a great deal of controversy

God simply considered the act of creation to be

After man was created, God presented all the

But it is not that simple. Through the power of

WHAT WAS MAN LIKE before the development of speech? Of

Certainly a lower mammal is capable of fleeing

One thing is certain: the animal is not thinking

Somewhere along the way man developed one

The expansion of the memory and the computing

Most likely the first words were little more than

But because of the infinity of objects man found in

Each object came to be a member of a class, and

Eventually man discovered that in addition to

Through the power of language man was able to

But the real power of language lay in its enabling

The classification system built into the young

Drawing upon the growing inventory of words, the

It may be true that an infinite number of monkeys,

EARLY MAN FOUND HIMSELF in a world buzzing with activity.