God=mc2?
Getting Spirituality Down to a Science!
So that you can create the life of your dreams
by tapping the power of Divine Energy!
PRASANN V. THAKRAR
God=mc2?
By Prasann Thakrar at Smashwords
Copyright 2010 by Prasann Thakrar
God=mc2 is a Trademark of Om Enterprise Group, LLC.
Edited by: Debra Weigert * Cover concept by: Prasann Thakrar
Cover design by: Dharmesh and Kalpa Joshi, http://www.kalpart.com
All rights reserved.
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Medical Disclaimer: The author of this book is not a medical doctor and does not dispense any medical advice or prescribe the use of any principle or technique mentioned in this book as a form of diagnosis, treatment or cure for any medical problem - physical, emotional or mental - or for that matter any problem that could have a medical or clinical nature to it. If you think or know that you may be suffering from any such medical condition(s), please seek the advice of a physician or another medical professional. You may use the information in this book for your spiritual advancement and well-being or you may use it for any purpose at all. However, regardless of the reason for your use of any of this material, neither does the author, nor does the publisher assume any responsibility for your actions. By purchasing or reading this book in any form, whether that may be in print, electronically, i.e., via an e-book download, or listening to it in an audio format, you implicitly release the author and the publisher of this book of any liability, whatsoever.
To order a print copy of this book, please visit the author’s website(s):
http://www.GodEqualsmcSquared.com
Or
http://www.AllYourWishesFulfilled.com
ISBN-13: 978-0-9841947-7-3
ISBN-10: 0-9841947-7-0
Smashwords Edition
Dedicated to my son Krish,
the apple of my eye!
I love you!
FOREWORD – By Dr. Vipul Chitalia, M.D., Ph.D.
SECTION I: Introduction
Chapter 1: Goodbye!
Chapter 2: Huh? “Goodbye??!!” What kind of a nonsensical way to start a book?
Chapter 3: My own existential crisis
Chapter 4: Coming to America (Not quite Eddie Murphy-style!) and what has happened since then
SECTION II: Query - What Is “It” All About, Anyway?
Chapter 5: Can you handle the truth?
Chapter 6: Mission: Impossible? (Or at least, very, very difficult!)
Chapter 7: We are all One! (Really? That’s such a platitude, or is it?)
Chapter 8: Elementary, my dear human
Chapter 9: “My Karma ran over your dogma!”
Chapter 10: Dharma & Greg? No, Dharma and….you!
Chapter 11: Greed is good!
Chapter 12: Definitions - Spirituality Defined, Religion Understood, God Decoded, Science Demystified, Faith Fathomed, Conscience Comprehended
Chapter 13: Know Thyself! (What does that even mean?)
Chapter 14: Are you a (The) Secret admirer?
Chapter 15: Question: The one of Life, the Universe, and Everything; Answer: 42
SECTION III: Phenomena - Spiritual Phenomena On The Verge Of And Now Explicable By Science; And Vice Versa!
Chapter 16: The red shoe on the roof: Near Death Experiences examined; you guessed it; for science’s sake
Chapter 17: From near death to death actually! Is it so morbid that we shouldn’t talk about it? Naaaah!
Chapter 18: Are you a Sinner or a Saint?
Chapter 19: You got ghosts? Whoyagonna call?
Chapter 20: Conversations with a real psychic: My 11-year old niece!
Chapter 21: E.T.’s and UFO’s - Science “fiction” or science “fact?”
Chapter 22: Time would be on your side in your travels if you could Teleport or Bilocate
Chapter 23: Quantum Possibilities! A very “real” possibility of a “new” you?!
SECTION IV: Action - What Should We Do, Exactly, To Lead The Life Of Our Dreams - The Kind That We Are Meant To Lead?
Chapter 24: “Science is truth!”
Chapter 25: You want to change your life for the better? Then practice spirituality scientifically and apply science religiously
Chapter 26: Specific applications for specific situations
Chapter 27: Meditate; don’t medicate! (Well, medicate to heal your body; meditate to heal your soul)
Chapter 28: Kundalini Rising! How you can use the power of this evolutionary energy to change yourself and the world
Chapter 29: Pro Bono (Hint: This does not mean “being in favor of the band U2’s lead singer”)
Chapter 30: Can we ever afford to not be nice?
Chapter 31: Leggo my ego!
Chapter 32: Do you think that the world would be any different if you did not exist?
Chapter 33: How will you see yourself and everybody else after this?
Chapter 34: “God wants spiritual fruit, not religious nuts!”
Chapter 35: Closing time!
Chapter 36: Goodbye! (For real now, I mean it!)
By
Dr. Vipul Chitalia, M.D., PhD
Science is ever-evolving, while spirituality is eternal. Many attempts have been made to substantiate one on the basis of the other. However, as it happens in kidney transplants where the body finds it difficult to accept an external kidney, psychologically, the rejection of any concept is easier than its acceptance. This could explain why the acceptance of the idea of God or “Supreme Consciousness” is not a natural phenomenon, and why, most of the time, a book with an Atheistic message hits the New York Times bestseller list.
If you talk to growing kids, especially teenagers, you would realize that they would say “I hate you!” or “I hate this,” before they learn to love someone or something. Hatred and rejection, thus, are sort of immature instincts, whereas learning to love and being accepting requires a lot of practice and maturity. Similarly, when someone says “I don’t believe,” they have a lot of growing-up to do. They would need to embark on the journey “inward.” Since we all are spirits at the core of our being, it should be easy, or at least, easier, to accept something we are born with already or something which is internal or which lurks within us throughout our lives. Why then, even if we try hard to understand, we fail to see it? This begs the fundamental question, have we honestly dissociated ourselves from our souls which are within us, or have we chosen not to feel and see them?
Look at a ruler. On one side, the distance is depicted in centimeters and on the other side in terms of inches. Both run parallel and in perfect congruence! One would wish that science and God were so simple that they would have such a relationship. Neither has science perfected itself nor has God decided to fit Himself entirely in the “box” of human intelligence and scientific understanding.
It seems He loves playing Hide and Seek, especially with our inner “Einstein”; the inquisitiveness within all of us. And in playing that game of Hide and Seek, the Supreme reveals to us a few aspects of His whole truth, via science and the scientific method. So, even though science is moving towards being able to explain God, and it will remain ever-approaching that state of fully being able to explain All That He Is, we can still know and experience God in the meantime, however, through spiritual means.
Any discipline ought to be studied in its own terms and rules. Physicians undergo training for almost a decade before they can even prescribe an aspirin. The greater the depth of a discipline, the longer it takes to fathom. In that vein, the journey to imbibe the Eternal Truth usually spans over many births. One of the pivotal aspects of science is its reproducibility. If the experiment is done under the same conditions and using the same parameters, the result yielded ought to be similar. A game of chess played over and over again, following the rules would achieve the same result every time, thus the reproducibility. Similarly, many souls with an open and enthusiastic yet patient and loving attitude have had an experience of God with the same sort of reproducibility. In other words, the process of reaching the level where one can experience God is scientific because it is reproducible. Thus, God is scientific!
Over centuries, many institutions have come into existence and humongous volumes of text have been written to explain Him. We still have not evolved ourselves to experience or relish Him in a spontaneous way such as enjoying an ice cream cone or taking an evening stroll. However, He comes like a cool breeze or a heart beat; so simple and spontaneous. We have to train our senses to experience God everywhere, be it in a talk show or a movie.
In this book, Prasann Thakrar has provided a fundamental understanding regarding the different scientific and spiritual facets of God in an uncomplicated and easy-to-understand fashion. They say that “a mother is born in labor”; I feel Prasann was “born” in the process of writing this book! I have seen a metamorphosis of Prasann during this period from a habituated, worldly person to a cool and calm “surfer” on the “Innernet” of his soul.
In today’s world, we have a lot of information readily available everywhere and in every form, but still this does not treat loneliness or depression. While taking care of patients who may be suffering from loss of memory, Dementia, or are otherwise disoriented or delusional, I realize the value of a simple conversation or some form of human interaction. As you read this work, you will realize that this casual and conversational style is an unconventional one, as far as normal written prose is concerned; however, via this style of writing, Prasann has effectively delivered “the goods.” He has perfected the fine art of combining scientific and spiritual writing, and has done it in a uniquely fun way. Prasann covers these topics of science and spirit in a way that would be practical and usable to you. Based on that, I am of the opinion that the “conversation” that he engages you in would be appreciated very much in today’s environment where people have little to no time to interact with one another, let alone to engage someone in a conversation that could be potentially life-transforming. So, I know that you will enjoy this “talk” with him, and it just may change your life for the better.
In conclusion, on the overall subject of science versus spirit, I would like to say that God is and has always been all-encompassing; infinite and eternal; and therefore, science will remain ever-approaching Him!
Vipul Chitalia, M.D., PhD
Harvard-MIT Division of Science and Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
I want you to be happy. Not just the regular ol’ happy; I want you to be blissfully, completely, totally, infinitely and eternally happy! In other words, I want you to experience the state of being which is known as Ananda in the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit – Bliss!
I want you to know that not only is it possible, but that you came here to do just that. And that you; yes, you, the person reading these words; already possess all that you need or could ever need to accomplish that goal. And my job is, simply, to help you realize that knowledge, first, so that you would reach a point of believing that you do, in fact, possess all that you could ever need. And once you are there, it is my job to help you actually realize that goal; although, you will already be on your way to doing that on your own once you are aware of the infinite supernatural powers that you wield. But before I can do anything to get that process started, I have one very fundamental question to ask you:
Do you believe in God?
If you do believe in God’s existence, then think about the reason why you believe. If you don’t believe or are not sure, then think about why that is the case with you.
Please pause, and think about the answer to this question before you read any further. You could also answer this question: Are you an Atheist, an Agnostic, a Believer, a member of the Clergy, or a Layman, or a Scientist?
Your answer to the question above is moot, as far as I am concerned. I only asked it to get you to think about where you are on the Spectrum of Belief.
Regardless of whether you believe in God’s existence or not, or if you are unsure, I know one thing to be absolutely true: You want to believe! Why?
The reason I know that you want to believe is because by believing, life does get easier. Or at the very least, we think that life should get easier if we believe in God. Well, why would life get easier if we believed? It would get easier because we could ask for God’s help when we are in need of help, couldn’t we? And if we do believe in God’s existence, and ask for His help, we would also believe that He would, as a matter of fact, come to our aid. This would be a logical conclusion because if God does exist, and if we pray for His help, then how could He ignore our prayers?
I have a heartfelt request for you: Please do bear with me here because I know that you might have heard these questions - the question that I asked you about your belief in God, and the ones that I am about to ask - being asked of you before. Maybe you might have even heard them asked in the same way as I am asking them. And based on that you might start to think that you have read, and heard and even seen all of this before. That what is to follow after this series of questions is going to be the “same ol’, same ol’.”
I promise you that it will not! So, having made that solemn request and also the subsequent solemn promise, I have a few more questions for you. This time around, the answers to these questions do matter to me as well, and are not just of importance to you alone. Here are the other questions:
Do you want to have lots of money? I mean lots and lots of it? Do you want to find your “soul mate” and be madly and deeply in love with that person, forever? Do you want all your other relationships to be great also? Do you want to be at the peak of your health always, and have a great-looking body to go along with that? Do you want a great job or business that you absolutely love and enjoy working at every single day? Do you want fabulous friends with whom you can laugh and enjoy your life?
Well, of course you do! We all want all of those things, without exception. The questions in the paragraph above were not meant to be “trick” questions at all. However, they were meant to be rhetorical ones to get you to think about what are the things that you want in your life. And now, I have yet another set of rhetorical questions for you.
Do you want to be happy? I mean, really, really happy? Do you want peace in your life? Do you want to lead a stress-free life? And do you want to experience these states of being all the time?
Again, please do bear with me here because you may have also heard the correlation being made - a correlation that I am about to make - between the “material” things; i.e., the ones that I mentioned a few paragraphs ago, and the “feeling” states of being; the ones that I mentioned in the paragraph above.
We all know this to be true; it is not new knowledge that we all want all of these physical and material things in our life - the wealth, the relationships, the career, the health, the friends and anything and everything else we can imagine - for one ultimate reason or purpose, and that is….to be happy!
Happiness is the why of wanting all the material wealth, isn’t it?
(Again, this is not news to us, however, it may surely be the case that we seem to forget why, exactly, we might be striving to achieve some kind of a material success in our lives. And in our dogged pursuit of the means to the happiness, we forget the real why, the end to those means! That realization or remembrance may seem like new knowledge or news to us, however.)
The reason for wanting the ultimate end - happiness - is, simply, because we are meant to be happy. We all have a gut instinct of this being true, don’t we? In fact, not only are we meant to be happy, we are meant to be happy all the time! We are meant to be in a state called “bliss,” which means being in a state of happiness, contentment, peace and always experiencing and being filled with love.
Some religious and spiritual traditions have been quoted (erroneously, in my opinion) as saying that the material things are not important. The only thing that is important is the “inner” happiness. I would only partially agree with that. I do agree that inner happiness is extremely important, and I would even go as far as saying that the attainment of the ultimate inner happiness, this bliss that I just talked about, is the ultimate goal of life, and therefore not just an “extremely important” thing, but that it is the most important thing.
However, the problem that we, as humans, encounter is that we are both, physical and spiritual - body and soul - and therefore it becomes imperative that we achieve both, the physical and the spiritual goals, in order to be truly happy, and therefore experience the bliss that we are supposed to experience.
All material things exist for one and only one reason - to serve the spiritual being. In my opinion, if somebody were to say that they can teach us how to achieve spiritual enlightenment, but they will not, or worse, cannot teach us how we can achieve material wealth, they are simply not capable of doing either of those things. So, both are equally important in the context of humanity, and the human experience.
This book is about exactly that - how to achieve all of these goals - the physical and the spiritual, as you will see.
Now, switching gears or really only seeming to switch gears, I would like to ask you a few more questions.
Have you ever wondered about or asked yourself these questions: Who am I? Why am I here? What is the meaning or purpose of life? Does God really exist? And if He does exist, then why aren’t all my prayers answered? Why do “bad” things happen to “good” people?
And if you are really analytical, Why do “good” things happen to “bad” people? (Because you know that they do happen - you see some really “horrible” people seemingly enjoying their lives thoroughly and without a care, and all the while doing all the “bad” things, even criminal things, imaginable - and it just does not make sense to you. You might wonder, “How could that be?”)
You might have wondered about any of the combinations of good and bad, things and people that you could come up with. You might have pondered many other such seemingly unanswerable questions.
I know that I have pondered them. My having pondered these questions led me to doing extensive studies of some hard scientific research out there, and doing some spiritual analysis of the circumstances and events that have transpired in my own life. Moreover, it led to some scientific and spiritual “experimentation” in my life.
From my research, I have uncovered scientific evidence of God’s existence! Yes, you did read it correctly, there is scientific evidence of the existence of the thing, being, or entity we call God. The spiritual evidence, if you will, already existed. It exists in terms of what religion preaches and from what is said in the holy books of all religious and spiritual traditions. However, I had to prove it to myself that the spiritual evidence was also real and valid. And so I was also provided with the spiritual evidence of God’s existence, along with the scientific evidence that I sought.
From all of my research and experimentation, I have found evidence that not only does God exist, but that He (or She or It) wants to answer all our prayers!
Well, as long as we “pray” the “right” way. (Here when I say “pray,” it does not mean religiously. It could simply be a wish that you might have or it might have been a request. In other words, it might simply be something you want or desire in your life.)
And when we learn to “pray” the “right” way, we can have all the material wealth, and all the spiritual bliss, and also have all our “unanswerable” questions answered - all in one fell swoop!
Please know that I write about non-denominational spirituality, based on science. I do not preach any particular religion, and I write very little about the overall subject of religion. If this book is taken in the right context, and I have faith and a knowing that it will be, the information that is revealed here will only serve to strengthen a reader’s faith in whatever religion one believes in, and at the same time, paradoxically, make them stronger believers in science. And the reason I believe that this will happen is because my book reveals the scientific evidence of God’s existence. So, now, science will be backing up the faith of Believers. Interestingly enough, if Atheists or Agnostics are open to seeing and accepting the evidence presented here, it will make them believers of God.
Another note of importance: I have used a very conversational and colloquial style of writing in this book, with mixed-in narration. For the most part, I have written it the way I would speak; the way I would talk to you, if you were my friend or acquaintance. It will “sound” to you like we are sitting across from each other and having an informal conversation. You will find that this style of writing is unlike traditional prose you might find elsewhere and that I don’t always follow the rules of grammar. For example, I start many sentences with “And.” I also use capitals for the initial letters of many words which may not be proper nouns, and thus do not require capital letters; however, I have done so for specific effect or emphasis. My hopes are that you all will really like this unique approach that I have chosen as a way to express my thoughts.
Also, to make these complex and “heavy” topics of science and spirituality seem simple and “light” and therefore, very easy to understand, I have used all kinds of pop-culture references; viz., movies and movie quotes, lyrics from popular songs, TV shows, commercials, bumper stickers, church signs, popular books, spiritual texts, my personal experiences, and quite frankly, anything and everything that I found which could help get the message across more effectively, and even humorously and entertainingly. I hope that this will also make these topics easy to relate to. And if they become easy to understand and relate to, it will be a breeze to apply the related practical principles in your life.
In other words, it will make these goals of life-transformation, and of creating and leading one’s dream life very easy to achieve. (As they surely can be, and should be!)
Having said that, I beg of you to know that you need not have experienced any of these “pop-culture” things that I refer to in order to really understand what I am talking about. In other words, you need not have seen the movies, heard the songs, watched the TV shows or commercials, have come across the same bumper sticker, seen the particular church sign, read the particular books, or otherwise have known about the particular person, place, event or thing that I am referring to, for you to “get” what I am trying to convey.
Of course, it surely can only help if you have, but it is not entirely necessary because I do try to provide proper context of the particular pop-culture reference, and therefore, even if you may not know of the one I am referring to, the concept behind it should still be understandable to you. As an exception to this rule, if there is something that will be extremely important for you to know about or experience – for example, read a particular book or watch a particular movie - I will say so expressly.
Also, I would like to reiterate that this book will, if anything, reinforce the faith that one may have in one’s own religion. It will make that faith stronger. And if some Believers have had their faith questioned lately, it will serve to remove those questions, once and for all. This book is not meant to sway Believers into becoming Non-Believers, and it is also not meant to promote one specific religion or spiritual tradition over another. It may, however, without intention, make Believers out of Non-Believers. It is also not meant to undermine science; it merely points out that science is approaching that point where it will be able to march in lock-step with spirituality; however, that it is not quite there yet.
I would also like to add that even though this is not a “peer-reviewed scientific work,” it does have a lot of scientific material, examples, experiments, and conclusions - all of which are based on sound scientific principles and the scientific method. At the very least, that is my own opinion.
So, that was all about the overall concept of the book. Now, I will give you a breakdown of the physical layout of its content. And after that, I will end the Preface with the ultimate intent of this book.
It is broken down into four different sections, and I have presented a more detailed description of each section right before it begins, so you will know what that section entails. However, here’s a brief description of those sections so you will have an idea of what to expect.
The first section is a more detailed introduction of the book. It has a description of the circumstances that led to my writing it and the several reasons for my having done so. It has more of my personal information than any other section or chapters. Personal information such as my life-crises and the struggles that I have had in my life. It also elaborates on my intention for the readers of this book, more so than I have done here.
The second section is a Query Section, in which I delve deeply into the question and answer of what “it” is all about, “it” being Life, God, the Universe, Spirituality, etc.
In the third section, the Phenomena Section, I hone in on various “spooky” or “mysterious” phenomena which, up until very recently, most scientists were simply not willing to do research on. In this section, I also reveal what these phenomena have to do with science or spirituality, and ultimately, what they have to do with you.
The fourth section is what I call the Action Section of the book. In this section, I suggest the actions that one can take; and if taken step-by-step, and methodically, actions which will guarantee success in transforming one’s life. So, those are the four sections of the book and that describes the physical lay-out of the book.
Lastly, I would like to disclose the overall intent of the book by taking immense pride in saying that this is the second Self-Empowerment book in print. Of course, this “fact” is self-proclaimed because there is only one other book of its nature that I have come across.
The first one in the “new” genre of Self-Empowerment books is entitled The Biology of Belief. In the Preface of the book, the author, Dr. Bruce Lipton, says that his book is not a Self-Help book, it is a Self-Empowerment book. I loved that! In that same vein, I could truly say that mine is also the same. So, instead of being the umpteenth in a genre of “Self-Help” books, this is the second entry in this new genre of Self-Empowerment books.
By virtue of it being so, my intention for it is to be the facilitator or purveyor of the knowledge that is going to help create the life of their dreams for billions of people worldwide. To empower them with the knowledge - the knowledge that is encoded in their souls, but that they have temporarily forgotten how to access - that they already possess the power to bring bliss to themselves. And by being thus empowered, they will then be inspired to start using that power to create and lead the life of their dreams.
So, I truly wish you all the best that life has to offer, and I have faith that in your being empowered and inspired to create and lead the life of your dreams, you will also empower and inspire others you may come into contact with to do the same.
Now, that’s what I call a truly virtuous cycle!
SECTION I: Introduction
In this Introductory Section, I start with the mention of the nuances of the English language by talking about the meaning of some words in common use that we will find is not exactly what we originally thought it might have been. The close examination of these words of everyday-usage will, quite literally, change the English language, if I may say so without sounding boastful. Or, at the very least, change that small part of the English language that pertains to the usage of those specific words. Of course, we will also examine what the usage or meaning of those words have to do with science or spirituality, exactly.
Apart from that, in the first two chapters, I mention the several reasons why I decided to write this book, and also explain why I think this may be relevant to you.
I would like to say, here, that after about five pages or so into Chapter 2, you may choose to, temporarily, skip the rest of that chapter and fast-forward to Chapter 3, because although the rest of Chapter 2 is important, it is more of a personal rant and rave from me. I am not asking you to ignore and not read what I have written in the rest of Chapter 2 because that would be completely absurd, coming from an author. (But then again, this is a unique book, so maybe even that is not so absurd.) I am just saying that you may want to come back to it, later on. I just don’t want it to stop you from moving ahead in your reading, and if you do find that it is stalling you, you can simply skip ahead, but only after having read the first five pages of that chapter.
In Chapter 3, I discuss my most major life-crisis, among other crises; I write about my struggle with Depression, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and my hunger-strike against God in my early teenage years - the deepest, darkest and most frightening and hopeless times of my life - and my subsequent encounter with a person who, to this very day, I cannot be sure was a human being. In Chapter 4, I talk about how and why that encounter led to my deciding to immigrate to the United States. I briefly mention my struggle with a second major bout of Depression later on in my late twenties, and how I, eventually, ended up on my current path.
The reason I go into these details about how and why I was inspired to write this book, and what I went through in my life, is because I think that once you know these details, I truly believe that you will find them to be relevant to your own life, or to some issue or problem that you may have been dealing with in your own life. I trust that you will find this information invaluable in helping you figure out what it is that you want to change in your life, and why. And not only that, I have faith that you will come to a place of knowing that you can truly change anything in your life, also.
You know, the much corny and clichéd “If I can do it, so can you!” message is what I am trying to convey by briefly divulging my “boring” life-story in this section.
And thereby, I hope to successfully segue into what my intention is for you, which is to have a permanent, positive impact on your life - a total change or transformation in every aspect imaginable - so that you can create and lead a life of your dreams, which is what we all are meant to do.
Goodbye!
Goodbye! (Yup, that’s it - “Goodbye” - I am going for the shortest chapter in history - one word, well, of course, not counting these words within the parentheses here!)
Huh? “Goodbye??!!”
What kind of a nonsensical way to start a book?
Yes. Goodbye! We have all used this word all our lives, haven’t we? We have all used it regardless of whether we are at one end of the spectrum of religious belief, as the most devout believers or as members of the clergy; or if we are agnostics, scientists, laymen or are at the other end of the spectrum as complete atheists. (You might be wondering what the word Goodbye has to do with one’s religious beliefs. As you will see just a little bit later on, it has a lot to do with it.)
Despite having used this word all our lives, most of us have no idea as to what it means. Okay, maybe we do, but we think it means something like “Hasta La Vista, baby!” as my favorite movie star and Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has so famously said and immortalized in The Terminator franchise, basically meaning “See you later,” or “See you tomorrow,” or something to that effect. Have a “good” bye as opposed to having a “bad” bye; whatever bye is supposed to mean. Why would we ever wish anything bad to anybody; so it had to be a good bye, right?
I had thought the same thing too until I was exposed to its true meaning. Here’s how it happened:
A few years ago, one evening, on my way back from work on my commute from South Station (Boston) back to Attleboro (a small city located in the southern part of Massachusetts), I had picked up the Boston Herald and was reading it on the commuter train, as had been my routine for the previous few years. After having read some news stories, I read the puzzle or trivia question of the day, which was a daily feature of the Paper. The question for that day was, “What does the word Goodbye mean?”
And I never forgot the answer to it! I was awestruck at the fact that it was a word that I had used, pretty much, all my life and never really had any idea, whatsoever, as to what it really meant. In fact, it had been one of the very first words that I ever spoke when I learned to talk, as it is for almost all children. One of the very first words that children learn to speak is, in fact, Bye.
Before moving on, I have to give credit where credit is due for this “new” knowledge that I had gained. And it is due the Boston Herald, one of the two biggest newspapers in the Boston metro area.
So, you might ask impatiently, “What is the real meaning of the word Goodbye?” The meaning is “God be with you!”
Shocked? Surprised?! I know that I was definitely surprised! And quite frankly, I was even more surprised to find out that it is not even a word - it is actually a shortened Middle English phrase - “Good be with ye,” i.e., “May the Good be with you.” In other words, may God be with you. As Good and God are synonymous, and this fact will be evident when we discuss, in detail, the definitions of both of those words, later on in the book. Also, the actual word God originated from the word Good.
So, technically, now knowing this, the atheists and/or agnostics of the world would, or at least, should, stop using this word to bid somebody adieu, shouldn’t they? The reason that non-believers would stop using the word, in my humble opinion, is because they would be wishing that may God be with that somebody that they are saying Bye to. (Goodbye further contracted is Bye, as it may be evident to us now.)
Incidentally, another Middle English version of the same is Goodspeed, or Godspeed, again, meaning pretty much the same thing - “May God speed you.” In other words, “May God accelerate your progress.” (This reminds me of a scene from the 1996 hit action flick, The Rock. The legendary Sean Connery, who plays a former British intelligence agent named John Patrick Mason, makes a comment about Nicolas Cage’s character who is a biochemist and an expert on chemical weapons and works for the FBI in this capacity. His name in the movie is Dr. Stanley Goodspeed. If memory serves me well, Connery says to Cage that Godspeed and Goodspeed are the same, or mean the same thing.)
Anyhow, regardless of which one of these you use, you are acknowledging not just the existence of God, but also the presence and the active involvement of God in everybody’s life, or at the very least, in the life of the person to whom you are wishing the same. That by simply “wishing” or “praying” that it would be so, God would actually be with somebody; that is what you are saying when you utter that word. But here’s the problem, if it is a problem: You can only truly believe that God is actually with somebody, if you first believe in the existence of God Himself (or Herself); that goes without saying but I am saying it anyway.
(Note: For simplicity’s sake, I will often refer to God as a “He,” or a “She,” or an “It,” because I don’t want to give an indication one way or another. I am neither asserting nor denying that God is a being like us, and that God is a male or a female entity. Please know that I will use any one of those pronouns at any given time and that I am referring to the same God, no matter what pronoun I may use.)
Regardless of how we may choose to or choose not to use this word in the future, Bye does have a new meaning to us; or I should say we are now being exposed to its true meaning, which is new to us.
This realization just stuck with me like a few other things that have stuck with me, and I will also share those other things with you later on. Anyhow, that realization made me think about the fact that there are so many more words and phrases and idioms and clichés we use on a regular basis and only have a vague idea of their etymology and therefore the meaning of the same because, for the most part, when you learn how and from what source a word originated, you also learn its original and true meaning - its real meaning - the meaning that the person who coined it wanted to convey. The same applies to a phrase, or an idiom or a cliché. (As far as Goodbye is concerned, for simplicity’s sake, I will just call it a “word,” instead of a word formerly known as a phrase.)
The word Goodbye is truly a perfect example of an actual English word that we all use - all over the world, regardless of the native language. It may not be news to you (or it may be news to you) that even in a lot of countries where English is not the primary language, people say the word Bye to each other when leaving each other’s presence or company. And now we know that it has huge religious implications, doesn’t it? (As I had mentioned in the first paragraph of this chapter, we will see that it does.)
Wars have been fought and countless lives have been lost over the meaning of words! Millions - many, many millions, if not billions have been needlessly sacrificed over the meaning of the words Life, and that of God and Religion and for that matter, even Science.
Some people might argue that it is not the meaning of the words that people fight over, but rather the ideas represented by those words. And again, I would say that, ultimately, it is still the meaning of the words that make up the concept or the idea of what it is that the word is describing. And that is precisely why one word has a different meaning for one person and another meaning for another person (and thus, the resulting fights over it).
And for that reason, I found it completely, totally, and utterly necessary that I write this book. I had to do it to honor the lives of the people who tried to convey the right meaning of these words to us. I had to do it as a sign of respect and homage to them.
Now, it may sound petty, but despite, and especially because of what I just conveyed, that is not the primary reason for my writing this book.
My primary reason or aim is to get us thinking about how it is that these ideas or concepts represented by these words - God, Religion, Science, Spirituality, Life - actually interact with one another and how they compare and contrast with one another. In turn, causing us to see these words in a new light, while and as we really understand their true meaning. And thus, truly getting enlightened about all of these subjects - because, deep down in our hearts and minds, we all really do want to be enlightened, don’t we?
And when this aim is realized, we all will see that, really, Science and Spirituality simply don’t have to be in the diagonally opposite corners of the Cosmic Boxing Ring. They simply are on the same exact team, and just passing the baton onto another member of the team for this lap of the track - this “lap” being whatever you want to choose - this decade, century or millennium.
I know, I know - I just mixed two sporting metaphors, but you get the point, don’t you? Or to use a non-sports metaphor - that they are two sides of the same exact coin. Oh, wait - that could be the coin toss in a sporting event - ok, so now I have used three sporting metaphors.
Regardless, when that happens; i.e., when we will see that Science and Spirituality are on the same team, we will be able to see the “practical” side of Spirituality as never before explored and explained. We will learn the “How’s” and the “Why’s” of practicing Spirituality scientifically, and of applying Science religiously, in our lives. And this “technology” or “know-how” will help us lead a more happy, peaceful and joyous life - which is what we all want - regardless of where we fall on the Spectrum of Belief or which Spiritual/Religious tradition we subscribe to (or even if we subscribe to none).
Of course, we can have all the other things that we all want too; all the “juicy” stuff; the stuff of our dreams - to have a lot of money, better relationships, better health and a better body than ever before, a beautiful home, a fancy car, or a few fancy cars, great friends, and anything else that we can think of - all of which only add to our happiness, peace and joy in life. At least, all of these things are supposed to add to our happiness, peace and joy in life. And if we find that they are not doing so, we will learn how to allow for that to happen, and at the same time, bring more of these things into our lives.
Thus, the practice of applying this knowledge will allow us to do exactly that - create and lead a life of our dreams - in every possible way and even in ways that we may have previously thought to be impossible.
(As I had mentioned in the explanation of this Section, this is the part from where you could choose to hit the “fast-forward” button to the beginning of Chapter 3 for now, and come back to the rest of this chapter later on. If you are a brave soul, and wish to continue reading this chapter and want to read my rant, I do commend you on that, but please don’t say I did not warn you.)
To reiterate what I had mentioned in the Preface, please know that I write about non-denominational spirituality, based on science. I do this because it is my opinion that spirituality is more important than any specific religion, and that, ultimately, religion teaches spirituality anyway; i.e., how to become spiritual; in other words, how to connect to Originating Spirit – God. So, if you can connect to God, or want to do so with or without subscribing to any particular religion or spiritual tradition, then you are following what religion teaches anyway. (Well, religion is supposed to teach that; whether it really does that or not would be a subject that would require a whole other book.) That’s why I neither follow any particular religion, nor “preach” it, and that’s also why I write very little about the overall subject of religion.
However, only for a few moments, why don’t we discuss one of the two most controversial subjects of our time - Religion, and the other being Politics – as in “Don’t talk about Religion or Politics!” Well, since I was told, more than once or twice, to not talk about either of these subjects because they are “controversial,” “sensitive,” or even “offensive,” I am not only going to talk about them - I am going to write a whole flipping book about a subject related to both of them.
(Pun most definitely intended in terms of it being a “flipping book,” and also notice that I did not use the obvious offensive “f” words - either of them - a la What the BLEEP do we (k)now!? Which, by the way, is one of my favorite movies - a hybrid film - a combination of a documentary and a feature film. It is a favorite because it changed my life and it also happens to be one of the several reasons for my writing this book.)
And of course, I have already done that; i.e., write the book; you are holding it in your hands right now, flipping through it, scanning it, or reading it.
But before I go on, I would like to, if I may, opine a little bit more on the sensitive or controversial subjects of Religion and Politics as to the reason why they are so. Here’s the fact that the reason people find it difficult, if not impossible, to have a “civil” discussion about Religion and/or Politics is that they are just downright intolerant of another person’s belief about either or both of these controversial topics. (In my “opinion” this is a “fact”; I say that tongue-in-cheek because how can an opinion be a fact!?)
There, I said it! Better yet, I wrote it - it is in print - that I think that people are not as tolerant as they may think they are. People might think and even genuinely feel that they are not intolerant (please pardon the double-negative here) and that they are really open-minded and are, in fact, open to new ideas and suggestions. That they are more than willing to change their mind if presented with a good argument from somebody that would make them reconsider their position on anything.
But they are simply not that way. (At least, most of them are not. Again, these folks may be good-natured and good-hearted people, and they may really believe that they are open-minded and very tolerant. However, they don’t know that they aren’t that way because their mind-set and thought processes have just not been challenged enough to make them realize that.) Some are truly so, and indeed, those “some” make the world a better place in which to live, and thankfully, many more are moving towards a more open-minded attitude, and that makes me very hopeful about our future.
I am looking forward to a time, very soon, when we can have a “civil” discourse and a discussion; a healthy debate about these things. I truly do believe that this will transpire in a not-so-distant future.
Hopefully, my endeavors here help do just that - allow many more minds to be open to the ideas presented in this book and, at the very least, generate intelligent debate about them, if not an acceptance and application of the principles presented here.
Throughout the book, I do tend to digress a little (really, a lot) and those segues and detours may not seem related to the subject at hand, but mostly, they are. It may be some additional information, say, about a particular word, or a place or something quirky about the topic at hand. I do hope that you will really find these little “detours” and digressions as amusing, entertaining, educational, or even enlightening as I think and hope they are.
I am totally and thoroughly ready for the fact that some of you may not agree with some, or even a lot, of what I have to say in this book and that is perfectly okay with me as long as you do see what my primary intent behind it is. Which is, after all is said and done - or in this case, after all is written and done - to have a permanent, positive impact on you. I hope to change your life for the better, once and for all. And if this book does that even for one person on this whole planet, then I would have done my job, and I would have done it very well.
Anyway, as Jay Severin, a host of a “controversial” radio talk program that focuses on Politics and political issues which is aired on the Boston Talks radio station on the WTKK, Greater Boston Radio, Inc. network, would always say, “We should be able to disagree without being disagreeable.” (President Obama used to say that a lot on the campaign trail when he was still a candidate in the last Presidential election. I have also heard him say the same after he was elected to the highest office in the Land. However, the first person that I have ever heard make that statement is Jay.)
So, in that vein, I don’t agree with a lot of things that Jay says on-air, and then there are a few things that I do agree with him on. However, now, after having learnt to really think for myself, and also having adopted Jay’s motto, I try not to allow any disagreements I have with anybody let me become disagreeable with them, and if that does happen in a rare case, I apologize as soon as I can.
(Sidebar: I am an advocate of free speech, controversial or otherwise. Any wonder why I, myself, am writing this book which could, very easily, be categorized as “controversial.” However, having said that, just because one has the right to express oneself freely doesn’t mean that one is also exempt from the consequences, whether they may be good or bad, resulting from the exercise of that right. There is still a responsibility that comes along with the right to freedom of expression.)
By the way, if you really want to have your thinking challenged and can see through; rather, hear through, the controversy (regardless of political persuasion, and only if you are a strong individual who can take potentially belief-changing metaphorical “punches” to the head), other than reading this book, I would suggest that you tune-in to Jay’s show - every weekday - from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM. By the way, in comparison to Jay’s show, my book represents potentially belief-changing, and therefore, life-transforming metaphorical “gentle taps” to the noggin. (Not quite the punches that Jay throws, but still pretty potent in their effects!)
And did I just hear somebody ask, “What’s the frequency, Kenneth?” 96.9 FM - in the Boston-Metro area, if you are in range of the transmitted frequency and can tune in.
(Note: I have no affiliation, whatsoever, with Jay Severin or with the 96.9 FM Boston Talks radio station, as a whole, and any opinions expressed by Jay are solely his opinions, and are not related to mine and make no reflection on my book, either positive or negative; well, with the exception of the one point I mentioned above about “disagreeing without becoming disagreeable.”)
So anyway, I will now step off the Political Soap Box - that’s all from me on that subject and believe me, that was not much at all - I could have gone on for hundreds of pages (maybe Jay will invite me to co-author a book with him about Politics, if I may be so lucky and deemed qualified enough to do so) however, for now, that was enough.
We have other very controversial subjects to tackle here. The point in mentioning Jay’s show was (and still is) that we don’t have to agree on everything. In fact, it really would be pretty boring if we actually did agree on everything. A lot of you might agree with me on that, I reckon, and the irony of that agreement is not lost on me.
If there were no disagreements over anything, there would be no new ideas created or discussed. No progress, in the real sense of the word, would be made! So, we do want opposing and challenging ideas and philosophies and schools of thought interacting with each other all the time - the only caveat being, we don’t allow ourselves to get disagreeable in the process.
That, my friends, is the way to be a part of and to encourage the evolution of humankind, and yes, we are evolving - in every possible way - physically, mentally, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually!
Incidentally, Jay’s show or for that matter, the 96.9 FM Boston Talks radio station, as a whole, has (or used to have) a tag-line - it is “Boston’s Talk Evolution.” Coincidence? I think not. (That may have changed, recently – maybe only a few months before this book goes to print. However, that only reiterates and signifies the importance of this talk about evolution and change.)
And that, among several other reasons, is the dialogue and discourse that I want to generate by writing this book. To get all of us to think about God, Religion, Science and Spirituality - the meaning of those words - in the true sense - in the way they were originally meant to be understood, and I really do mean all of us - regardless of whether we are Believers, Atheists, Scientists, Agnostics, Clergy or Layman. And yes, even if we think that we really know the meaning of those words already.
Of course, what good is knowing, intellectually, the real meaning of these words if we don’t start applying the practical principles behind them in order to create and lead the life of our dreams? For you to learn how to apply the principles mentioned herein is the ultimate goal or intention of mine, and we will surely realize that intention together.
At the very real danger of sounding like I am bragging (and I beg for your forgiveness if I do sound like that because I am not doing so), another one of the several reasons that I am writing this book is because I think that I have received a blessing. I am so very thankful for having received this blessing which is, in my opinion, this ability to write. And not just the ability to write, I am also thankful for the inspiration, hopefully, to write well. I am talking about an ability to express oneself in an articulate manner, and to write in such a way that the true intents and meanings of the words written are clear to the reader. When the reader understands what the writer is trying to convey, that, in my opinion, is good writing, regardless of whether the reader agrees with the presented ideas or not.