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 %GOD POWER SUSPEND NATURAL LAW PRAYER CONTROL LIFE+930822
 %MISLEAD ULTIMATE QUESTION COMPULSIVE CONCERN LOVE 930822

     We are motivated, led and guided by what questions we
regard  as being of ultimate importance;   which  in  turn
depends  upon what are the most basic assumptions which we
make   without   any   thorough   examination   of   their
implications.

     If  we  assume  that God is literally a person  in  a
special place in the universe (as people have done)   then
it  is meaningful to ask what color and length God's  hair
is.    In  human  terms  this is  likely  to  depend  upon
assumptions we may make about what race God comes from and
what sex God is.  Then we are lead to ask what nationality
and religious persuasion God is most intimately associated
with.    All  these  assumptions naturally  lead  us  into
conflicts which are naturally implied by the nature of the
assumptions and the questions.

     Once  we  have made a certain set of assumptions  and
become   compulsively   preoccupied  with  the   naturally
associated  ultimate  questions, it is then  impossible to
arrive at  integrative  ways to find helpful responses  to
the questions; much less to find ways to resolve the human
conflicts  which  the assumptions and questions  engender.
Rather  than  admit  the  folly  of  our  assumptions  and
questions,  we are  more likely to increase our  degree of
certainty as has been described in the book "When Prophecy
Fails"   by Festinger.   The book describes the pattern of
behavior of people who publicly commit themselves fully to
a  prediction  of the coming of the end of the world on  a
certain day.  When the world survives past the date of the
predicted  end,   such people become  more  committed  and
fanatical in the face of contrary evidence.   They worship
their predictions.

     If  we assume that God is all powerful in  the  sense
that  humans (and especially addictive/codependent humans)
conceive  of power;  and we believe that God can and  does
suspend  the  regular laws of nature---then we are  almost
certain  that  God  does suspend the  laws  of  nature  to
control the lives of living creatures  and to favor "good"
creatures more so than "evil" creatures.  We are likely to
believe that God will  favor creatures associated with His
Sex, His Race,  His Nationality, His Religious Group, etc.
Such assumptions, and beliefs are certain to engender high
levels of  conflicts which  cannot  be  resolved  with out
changing the assumptions, questions and beliefs.

     If   we  believe  that  what  should  be   ultimately
important  to us is the individualistic salvation  of  our
individual souls by how we behave as individuals---then we
are  bound to  be led to act  in  ways which sacrifice our
communal   integrity  with  the  consequent  loss  of  our
personal integrity; for the two kinds of integrity are two
sides of one coin.
                                                                                                                               
                         (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in      
                    (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)  
                                                                                                                               
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