... Introduction ...

values paradoxes

The last chapter, a personal statement of faith, is the only section of the book focused on my specific religions background and traditions. Throughout the book, the effort is to quote from Catholic and Protestant, Jewish, Shiite and Sunni branches of Islam, Buddhist and Confucius, Hindu, American Indian, and other religious traditions, with which I am at least superficially acquainted.

From my studies, I have concluded most religions have a common origin. Likewise most religions provide benefit to adherents through an increased dedication to God, a strong moral base, as well as encouraging consideration and respect for others. As occurs whenever writing about personal things, personal experiences will be in scattered throughout the text. In my case, the scientific side of these personal experiences revolve around geology, geophysics, and exploration for hydrocarbons. The spiritual side of my personal experiences are based on the writings about and by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Please accept my personal experiences as simply one instantiation of the science and faith paradox. The hope is to encourage you, the reader, to use these words and experiences as a springboard for reconciling your personal integration of the physical world with your spiritual world.

To encourage personalization of the comments contained herein, this book is prepared as an ELDO (ELectronic DOcument, or God's Word, where EL is the singular tense of the Hebrew word Elohim, [generally interpreted to denote plentitude of mightP2] and DO means: to perform; to execute; to accomplish; to finish; to complete; to put forth, the cause of, to render, to deal with, to travel, to serve, to approve, to prepare, to serve, to create, to translate into, to study, to explore,P3 and DO also is short for "document" which means evidence, proof, reference, citations, etc. P4). The only radio program I regularly listen to is "The Engines of our Ingenuity," by Dr. John Lienhard at the University of Houston. Episode 877P5 is about the difference between Books (mentors, parents, where the author presents an opinion) and Computers (servants, children, where the reader controls the story). As I listened to a replay of this program, I realized by supplying the text and key databases referenced in "An Open Mind" as an ELDO (initially a website hypertext document,P6 then a searchable CD with the hardcopy printing of the book, and eventually a solar-powered electronic hyperjournal or a portable electronic replacement for the book), it empowers readers to take control of the context and to tie in content from their own spiritual traditions. The idea is to provide a mechanism for documenting and sharing different spiritual context in order to more universally show the relationship between science and religion. The Internet has certainly shown us that everyone is smarter than anyone,P7 The world will be a better place when everyone helps to define how true science and true religion intersect.

timedex infinite grid

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