Wednesday, May 11, 2005

God and Religion

Arlen Wolpert has described in his article “General theory of Religion” in mathematically that Knots in Heart, Heart Openness, and the three memories in the cognitive mechanism are called state variables. In system dynamics they are called stocks. Forgiveness Response, Heart Unfoldment Rate, Primary Information Processing Rate, and Background Information Processing Rate are examples of rates. They act like either the bathtub's inlet faucets or outlet drains. The arrows indicate causation. For example, the arrows coming from Prayer Trueness and Prayer Intensity and pointing at Prayer Quality indicate that the first two variables determine the value of Prayer Quality at any time. Specifically, the mathematical model gives the following definition of Prayer Quality:
Prayer Quality = 0.5*(Prayer Trueness + Prayer Intensity)
When Prayer Quality reaches 100%, which is the "forgiveness threshold", the Forgiveness Response is triggered and one Knot in Heart is removed in a ratchet-like fashion. Action then shifts to the negative feedback loop associated with Heart Openness: The removal of this one knot unseals the restricted and rigid or tight heart a bit, causing Psychic Stress to decrease rapidly, which then causes the Heart Unfoldment Rate valve to open. This causes Heart Openness to fill or open further, causing Psychic Stress to rise again as the heart begins to encounter the next knot. As a result Fear Death Due To Knot, and then Prayer Intensity and Willful Attention, begin to rise again. The rise in fear and the attention leads to a shift in loop dominance: Action shifts to the cognitive mechanism, which is essentially a negative feedback loop concerned with problem solving (Ellis 1995). The fear and attention driven Primary Information Processing Rate in the cognitive mechanism speeds up, leading to an increase in Knot Origin Insight. This increasing insight is concerned with the solution to the following problem: What is the particular sin, guilt, or hatred that is at the origin of the knot? The gradual solution to this problem and its gradual acceptance lead to greater Prayer Trueness and then greater Prayer Quality until the latter reaches the "forgiveness threshold," triggering the Forgiveness Response again. Then, the next knot cycle begins.
God was a central part of Aristotle's vision of ethics because to him proper morality was considered divine and highly prized. Aristotle reasoned the "best" things are described as blessed and happy because this was the status of God and the most god-like men. Animals cannot attain in this status however humans only can achieve that status if they properly develop their souls.
Aristotle felt that happiness was not a state of feeling, enjoyment or pleasure; however rather it was the definition of that which is the most desirable and satisfying of life. Aristotle did not believe that God provided us with such a life but rather we had to earn it as a result of our good actions. Our good actions were the result of our acquired virtues we developed though learning, training, and cultivation of proper habits. If this were done, he believed we had acquired the most god-like blessed prize that humans can achieve in the world. To Aristotle, study and care rather than chance is how virtue, which was the greatest and most noble accomplishment of all, is won.

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