Early humans saw through the apparent chaos of nature: with a bit of imagination, order was revealed. Animals perceive relationships between events that matter to them the death of prey and the availabity of food, or worsening weather and the need for shelter. The urge to "make sense" of date by juxtaposing, and therefore accumulating them, seems to be a property of the mind, or what people loosely call "instinct."

There comes a point, however, when the "sense" we make of knowledge transcends anything in our experience, or when the intellectual pleasure it gives us exceeds material need. At that point, an idea was born.

Once evolution endowed them with sufficient memory, people could observe patchy instances of order in nature and make mental connections between them: the regularity of the heavenly bodies, the progress of the seasons, and the predictability of the life-cycle. But that was only the scaffolding upon which the idea of an orderly universe was erected.

There is a huge gap from the mind to leap, between observations of orderly relationships and the inference that order is universal. Indeed, the clam that order encompasses the whole of nature is so counterintuitive and so contrary to experience that it must have originated as an idea. At least I would like to believe this.

Order is not visible, except in a few fragments; the rest has to be inferred from the clues.

The idea of order makes the entire cosmos imaginable in a single mind and summons efforts to picture it whole. This fundamental breakthrough in the history of thought obviously happened independently in lots of different cultures, and, in every case, so long ago that we no longer remember when. The first clear evidence is embodied in the earliest cosmic diagrams - artistic or religion or magical depictions of the universe. You choose!

The oldest I am aware of is in a rock painting in Jaora in Madhya Pradesh, Indian, which, on present calculations, is maybe 8,0000 years old. It shows a world divided into seven regions, surrounded by symbols of water and air.



Another version decorate a 4,000 year old Egyptian bowl: the world resembles a pair of pyramids, surrounded by zigzags, between rising and setting suns.



The age of the concept, however, probably greatly exceeds the age of the evidence. For just about all hunter-peoples now known to anthropologists have an overall concept of the cosmos and describe it in their myths. Many of them represent it in rock painting or body art" the Caduveo of the Paraguay paint their faces with quartering’s that resemble the way they divide up the world.



Early descriptions of the world seem echoed in the "dreamtime" of Australian Aborigines, in which is inseparable tissue of all the universe was spun.



Dogon goatherds in Mali decorate rocks with diagrammatic representations of a four-quartered world.



Kongolese potters make vessels for initiation rites with depictions of the cosmos. Magic and oracular divination seems to presuppose an ordered world, bound by predictable, an even manipulable, chains of cause and effect.



So we have some who believe that the dice were thrown down and some who believe there are no dice when it comes to the creation of a universe. What is your speculation, conclusions, or even discoveries that you believe are true.



I will end this with a quote by Albert Einstein in which I think most people know who he was.

"You believe in the God who plays dice, and I in complete law and order in a world which objectively exists, and which I, in a wildly speculative way, am trying to capture..."

Albert Einstein, letter to Max Born (1944)

The question "What makes objects of perception appear real?" seems sophisticated, but early humans asked it. One possible answer was "An invisible, universal force."

Before there were spirits that are peculiar to the objects they inhabit - so some anthropologists claim - there was "mana," a supernatural force that helps the object to fulfill its purpose.

So when a fishing net is thrown, it is the net's mana that makes the catch; when herbs are prescribed for illness, it is their mana that endows them with healing properties. Mana is a word that sciences have borrowed from South Pacific languages, but a similar or identical concept is reported from other communities around the world. Known as arungquiltha among certain Australian tribes, or wakan, orenda, and manitu in Native America, which I found out by my old 96 year old friend who is a Native American.

It is not detectable by archaeology, only in traditions that have lain unrecorded until the fairly recent past. The arguments about it are warped by partisanship, for the controversy over which came first - spirits or mana - is animated by deep ideological divisions. Those who favor the priority of mana want to make animism, or belief in spirits, seems a later, and therefore more "developed," attitude to the world.

By implication, this makes animism less "primitive" for some and more sophisticated and mature realm of human thought and action, a development later than magic and therefore better. There seems, however, no reason why spirit and mana should not have been conceived simultaneously in some cultures, or in conflicting order in others.

A commonly asked - but effectively unanswerable - question about mana is "is it manipulable?" Did magic start as an attempt to tease or control? In some societies, especially among the Maoris and Hawaiians, the authority of chiefs, priests, and nobles is justified on the grounds of their special access or relationship to mana or to some similar source of power.

A deeper question about belief in mana is whether it is valid or not. While most people make a fundamental distinction today between organic and inorganic matter, modern physics identifies all matter as characterized by essentially similar relationships between particles: composed of quantum charges, which are dynamic and formative and so resemble mana in a curious respect. I learned that from the Mingle2 scientists and researchers here. lol

They could reasonably be called a source of "force," though we are reluctant to suppose that they constitute a purposeful force, which, in most versions of the idea, is what mana seems to be. Mana should, in any event, be acknowledged as a sophisticated idea, since it seems to arise from a sophisticated problem: for the peoples who believe in it, it is what makes the perceived world real.

A further question is "how did the idea of mana contribute to the origins of the idea of a single, universal God?"

Some early missionaries who encountered mana-belief in North America and Polynesia identified it with awareness of God and regarded it as a king of religion is my hunch. The speculation that God is a sort of outgrowth of mana is a tempting one; really, however, the doctrine of mana seems more closely to resemble some esoteric modern beliefs, such as the "aura" of alternative health speak, or the "organic energy" ascribe to all matter by proponents of the orienatal-influenced "new physics" that I so admire.



So now that you read my essay what is "aura”, "mana", "force", "organic energy" to you. Is it but a mere superstition or does it hold value in a philosophical, personal, or even scientific way.

You think this is bad, try the Buddhist thread. I can't get a person to post in there for over 3 months at times!

I end up going on other sites to gain knowledge on Buddhism.

Anyway have fun guys/gals and good luck on finding a good conversation!

------) . (------- black hole

Willingness to help others without asking for anything back would be important to create peace in our environment.

Many countries claim they help others, but for what price.

Today we see how poor countries struggle to survive because the rich ones made sure they can never get back on their feet leading to internal conflicts.

But yes willingness to help others is one way to start creating peace.

I agree. I hope in time people will realize that there are some very good spiritual practices that many people should take just to find peace and harmony in their life. The problem is that many have different idealogies of what is peaceful to them. There will always be someone who will not like certain lessons of a certain religion or spiritual practice. With the ever growing population of the world and the many creative minds discovering new ways to find a peaceful mind this grows to be difficult.

What it is worth, I hope that in the future more peace and understanding of various cultures, belief systems, and discoverys can be attained without the resort to violence and hatred.

Peace be with you brother

For those who have a hard time trusting the government I pose this question.

What would it take to regain trust of the government?

This is a great analysis what you offer. This is very complex indeed. A multitude of opinions with alot of controversy and opinions at work concerning the Iraqi issue. It seems that the majority of the people with exception of Israel want the Americans with their western influence out of their countries. If that is what is going to happen I figure the United States will determine it although I prefer that the people of the country should vote for it.

What it is worth, I hope the two Iraqi's who want democracy will be leading rolemodels that can educate the benefits of democracy. In the end, I hope that there will be some stability and peace so the children can receive a good education and the ability to build their country into a free society that teaches tolerance, the importance of peace, and prosperity for (everyone) in that region. It looks like it will take some time though.

Thank you for taking the time to explain this to me.

Yes maybe there is a intelligent design. Perhaps there isn't. To be honest, I wouldn't know.

Sometimes I have the impression that it is given to us. Well at least this experience anyway.

At other times I say there is no reason or we are not meant to know.

It is a very difficult question indeed. Well if you, Abra, Creative, Shoku, Sky, Billy, Einstein, Newton, Jefferson, Franklin, or the other geniuses of our past and present don't know then I will certainly not know what created or if something created everything as we know it.

Naturalism sounds very good in many ways though.

Thank you for taking the time to respond to this post and the compliment.

It is very difficult when it comes to religion and cultures. Some religions become a way of life and even a law and some cultures are so different that another culture no matter how hard they try to understand it just can't. This is where prejudice, superstitions, racism, and disagreements happen. How to resolve them is a challenge! So you are absolutely right that "peacekeeping" is a extremely complex subject and perhaps more reason for more people to get involved with.

I also agree that wealth distribution is being abused especially between the most powerful international world banks the world offers including the WTO and the IMF. Their unfair practices of lending at high interests doesn't allow poor countries to ever repay their debt forcing them to have unsettle disputes, resources being raped, and poor conditions leading to poverty and unrest. It is truly a big problem. It just kills me to watch a Indonesian working 36 hours straight for a couple of dollars so we can buy the product at a Nike or Gap store later on. And the Indonesian has to settle for rice and salty fish in a unhygiene shack. It is just wrong! Such discouragements can lead to violence unfortunately.

I will probably will never have a answer to stop all the violence across the world, but maybe this book will somehow influence a few people to review their lives and approach it differently to live more peacefully. That would be great and a big success if can be done.

Concerning Americans. It is such a diverse population that it is hard to say if they arrogant. I personally think that many Americans don't understand how good they might have it compared to a great many countries. One only has to see the quality of life many live to see that. It is saddening when you watch an American giving a waitress a hard time just because he got a mineral water with bubbles instead of it being flat. One can still fix the problem without acting like the world will end or being aggressive about it. The same goes for Europeans also.

I also believe that alot of Americans have a hard time identifying countries and their history. Many Americans usually only understand something about a country after watching it from a news channel. There they will make a judgement from this information. I see it all the time in the political forums here on mingle2.

So yes understanding cultures by actually traveling to them does make a big difference. Understanding its culture, learning there lifestyles and beliefs can help us understand and create chances for peace to establish itself. The problem is how many people can afford to travel around the world to various countries each year? Therefore the internet could be a great way to start projects (if not already) to create peacekeeping ideas. I do hope more will get involved with this project here on Mingle2. I will not hesitate to add credits in the book if more ideas establish itself to be added into the project.

I am sure you are experiencing alot being in Kurdistan at the moment. If I understand correctly most Iraqis are glad Saddam Hussein isn't in power anymore, yet they are not so happy that the Americans are still there in their country. Perhaps you can enlighten us on how the inhabitants of this ancient civilization feel about the situation at the moment and what you believe should be done to eleviate some of the tensions between the US and Iraq.

I also think Americans are having what I call a "Roman Empire" syndrome at times. I too feel they are missing the point that the world is shared by many countries and that they are not the authority of how each country should live. One can only see this by the many replies Americans give when talking about a different country. I do hope the Roman Empire syndrome does reside so other countries can enjoy the American population more.

You are probably right. I was just thinking about the CIA and the FBI.

I wonder can we trust them? Are they truly there to protect the people of this country or do they really just work for individual interests. This would interest me.

I once had a book on how the CIA commits so many crimes per year around the world including deaths. How valid this information is, I would have to research on it, yet everyone I ask agrees with the author.

How do Americans feel about the different branches of the government?

Is there a branch that you feel you cannot trust and why?

Thank you for sharing your wisdom. I especially like the last one "Until hate is no longer taught from birth, peace cannot exist.

It is already happening today with Mandarin. My child is on her second year of Mandarin in her private school.

I myself am studying it intensively, but not because of what China will be or become, but because I am fascinated with the culture, language, food, history, and its people.

Nevertheless, I also do not wish a civil war in the United States, but it surely seems like there are two different strong opinions on a great deal of topics Congress presents to the public.

For me the definition for "naturalism" is a beautiful and magical word, philosophy, and conscience full of positivity.

It describes that nature is doing its own course of survival regardless of what humans are doing to it. That we can enjoy the beauty nature gives us and also intergrate with it become naturalists if wanted.

It also tells me personally that an evidence for a designer isn't necessary or important and that we should just enjoy the time given to us. To respect our environment and take care of it.

Naturalism means to me that it is independent from many belief systems, yet also supportive of many also at the same time. It holds no sides, yet preserves all idealogies regardless.

Naturalism is in itself beauty, patience, love, serenity, and nourishing to all who embrace it.

That would be my personal dictionary definition.

At the moment I have been intensively studying to write and speak the Mandarin language. China fascinates me with its history, culture, food, and language. Upon studying the rules of the language, I discover this:

The achievement of peace (pyeonghwa) refers to a subject partner and an object partner being one with each other. The Chinese characters for pyeong and hwa mean "horizontal" and "harmony" respectively. The subject partner does not come into conflict with the object partner, but harmonizes with it.

Harmonize or Harmony is a beautiful word

Peace, Love, and Unity is the only way to maintaining peace

Sometimes little can say very much.

Thankyou for decorating this thread.