Peter-alisse July 18-06

Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Dear Alisse

You wrote:

Dear Peter,

Thank you for your email and for your interest in my work. I commend your efforts to bring religions together, and I also agree with you that all existence is one whole. Your website provides a very helpful resource for learning about the various religions of the world.

Thank you for this. Your encouraging words are much appreciated.

While I appreciate the invitation to consider becoming a guest author on your website, I regret that I am probably not able to do so at this time. Right now I don't have anything available in essay form (aside from two short papers published elsewhere), and my time to write is very limited. I am a conservation geneticist by training and have formally entered the science-religion dialogue only recently....

Yes, I understand this. Time is of the essence and is hard to come by. With regards to any available material, see below.
I am however particular interested in your entree in the "science-religion dialogue". Regardless of how recent your entree, this is a subject that is of great interest to me as well.,

... Additionally, I am not certain that our respective objectives are a good match. ...

The same thought had occurred to me.

... My primary objective is to forward the cause of conservation by fostering increased understanding and cooperation between science and diverse religious views. ...

A very worthwhile objective. fyi, just recently I attended a presentation by Mike Nickerson who spoke on "Guideposts for a Sustainable Future". I came away with many questions and two books written by him. Objective? More study on how to put his ideas in motion.
"Planning for 7 generations" ISBN 0-921842-27-9
"Life, Money and Illusion" ISBN 0-9780973-0-0

In addition I just received my copy of the RC mag. "Catholic New-Times" (June 18-2006) in which I read an interview with Jim Merkel the "five-thousand dollar man". What is this about? Jim's attempt to entice more people to adopt a smaller footprint for a life-style.

And to top all this of, the receipt of your recent presentation of : "Communication for conservation"

I think that the reason for my rise in enthusiasm in general and your presentation in particular doesn't take too much imagination.

... and I also notice that the essay on Christianity and science by Stephen Milton is relevant to my work, as are a few comments from other guest authors. ...

Good. Did you try:
http://project2000.ca/shekinah/Ruah/world%20religions/Christianity/perspective.htm

... But I am unsure how the different sections of your website relate to each other. More specifically, is there a connection between the "Sleeping Giant" and the rewriting of the beliefs of the United Church of Canada? I wonder if perhaps you can clarify for me the objectives of the "Sleeping Giant" section, as well as how you would summarize the objectives of your website as a whole.

As I may have mentioned, I started "Project 2000" in 1997 in preparation for delivery to General Council 2000 (United Church of Canada). For that occasion my focus was on the efforts made by TVangelists like Jack VanImpe and others to prepare the world for the changing millennium and the return visit by Jesus the Christ. Although, as I mentioned I consider myself to be Christian, I do not read the Bible literally and most certainly don't see it as a blueprint for future events. So, for the event of the year 2000, my focus was on proving the TVangelists wrong.

New year (2000) came and went and as indicated by me, nothing very dramatic happened.

What didn't change however was the efforts by TVangelists like JVI. Having noted that phenomenon, it struck me that not only was my job of presenting alternate points of view not finished, I had a ready-made pulpit (my computer) to help me do the job. The question now became: how to proceed?

As you noted, the original website was called "Project2000" and was easily recognizable by a Dove rising from the Flames.

As it became clear that I had to either quit or continue, and, having decided to continue, I cast about for a theme to cover the whole issue that was taking shape in my mind. To make this short, I designed an overall theme which I called "Existence". Why "Existence"? To give me the wherewithal to enclose all further ideas under the one roof of Existence/Being.

Turning to the concepts found in the Bible, I called the next two blocks: Ruah - the Breath/Spirit of God and Shekinah, the (physical) manifestations of God.
How will they be utilized? I will write book reviews that are pertinent to each section and place them there for all to see.

With regards to the "Sleeping Giant",

• From my vantage point on the 11th floor of my apartment in Thunder Bay (Ontario), I sit here overlooking Lake Superior and the mountain the "Sleeping Giant".
• One of the most puzzling texts in the Bible speaks about humanity behaving, thinking and acting like a child while it is in childhood and the changing habits when maturity comes. With regards to humanity and its understanding of the relationship God-Humanity is concerned, my conviction has grown that we are still messing about at the kindergarten level as far as our understanding of the relationship God-Humanity is concerned. It struck me we are entering a time where the giant (humanity) is about to arise from its slumber and is about to grow up. Consequences ... ?
• The one issue that forced me into my understanding of the kindergarten metaphor is the fact that Christianity to this day is based on a false premise, the Fall-Redemption Paradigm. Several things wrong with it:
  
  1. Creation didn't occur as presented.
  2. Humanity wasn't created as told
  3. The Fall didn't happen as told.
  4. God never demanded payment prior to passing "Go".
  5. Jesus died on the cross, but didn't do so in order to Pay for your or my sins.
  6. etc

Assuming that I am right, I, and others who think alike, have to come forward and present an alternate scenario by which to live, a scenario that is based on reality and accurate observations that can be verified.

The traditional thesis (Fall-Redemption) is no longer valid as fewer and fewer adults believe in the substitutionary atonement. It follows IMO that it is about to give way to a different model. That model? Again IMO, I believe that science in the form of quantum knowledge is about to supplant it.

There is the long and the short of my project "Existence"

Although I can fully understand that you have insufficient time to write for my website, I request your permission to post your presentation as an example of how thinking is changing at the academic levels. My own function in that scenario is to take that material and rework it in such a way as to make it palatable for the general public. It should be clearly understood that concise information will be imparted of the source my argument is based on. i.e. copyrights will be acknowledged.

If, and when you produce something that you think is of interest to my audience, please send me a heads up!!!

Again, I am flattered by your invitation to participate on your website, but I am hesitant to do so unless it becomes clear to me that this is the appropriate forum for my ideas. However, you may reference my website (www.conservationdialogue.org) or publications on your website, if you wish. You may be particularly interested in looking at the quotes in the Appendix to my poster (available at the website).

You are flattered? I am! I am very grateful for the time you have spend sharing your concerns with me. It is interesting. My son just received his masters in Ottawa and told me about the number of times he just about quit because of all the nitpicking by the professors. All I can say is that I now begin to understand what he was talking about and I take this opportunity to thank you again for your input. It is much appreciated, I assure you.

Thank you again for your interest. I would enjoy discussing your work and your website further.

That sounds great. Just to have met a fellow traveler makes the journey that much more enjoyable.

Sincerely,
Alisse

Shalom,
Peter

PS, finally, you asked:
" , is there a connection between the "Sleeping Giant" and the rewriting of the beliefs of the United Church of Canada?"
My response: A great change is taking place, the biggest one being that slowly but surely the denomination is changing from a "Trinitarian" position to that of "Trinitarian under the umbrella of Unitarian" (to be more specific, Panentheistic).
Will they spell this out? Not on your life, but that is what is happening.
Another enormous change that is taking place is the knowledge of the relationship God-Humanity. Under the Trinitarian model God and Humanity were totally separate, as in "Potter and Clay". Under the Unitarian position the relationship is so close as to be inseparable.

Hope these answers shed some additional light on the issues you raised. PV.