Posted Oct 14, 2010
Ruth asks:
If God did not create Principles and Laws then how do they just manifest during creation? They are either a part of the One God/Intelligence or they are not?
…if God did not create principles and laws, then who did?
JJ
Good question.
Core principles are not created. They just are without beginning and without end.
Let us take cause and effect for example. When would God create such a thing? Without cause and effect there could exist no God and no life in universe. Wherever there is life there already exists cause and effect because the essence of life is decision and decision cannot exist unless cause ad effect is already in existence.
Let us take the principles of math as manifest in 2+2=4. Did either man or God create these numbers or do they just eternally exist?
The numbers just are, eternally. No one created them. All a life can do is name them and use them.
A scripture says something interesting on this topic:
And if ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no sin. If ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is no righteousness. And if there be no righteousness there be no happiness. And if there be no righteousness nor happiness there be no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not there is no God. And if there is no God we are not, neither the earth; for there could have been no creation of things, neither to act (cause) nor to be acted upon (effect); wherefore, all things must have vanished away. II Nephi 2:13
In other words, if there is no cause and effect then there would be no God, no creation – there would be nothing.
Look at it this way. You are reflection of God. As a reflection of God did you create cause and effect? In other words, did you cause, cause?
No.
You merely find yourself in the midst of cause and effect and work with this principle toward what you hope is a good end.
Rob:
What you wrote to Ruth below is a very curious statement to me. It sounds like you’re saying Cause/Effect transcend the One Great Life. Is that what you’re saying, or is it more like one of those triangular concepts like Decision-Attention-Consciousness where one can’t exist without the other?
JJ
Intelligence is an aspect of cause and effect which means that all life – Gods, devils and angels evolve through cause and effect. Before God had consciousness there was cause and effect which interplay could be called elementary intelligence. God and you and I exist be-CAUSE. We consciously realize we are participating with cause and this brings forth life and decision. We either exist in a state of Being Cause or Becoming Cause.
There is no first or last Cause or Effect.
Jason quotes me from the 2007 Gathering:
We are approaching a time when the two great energies are meeting with each other. I am not going to go into the details of the energies because much of what is good today, people are calling evil. A lot of that which is evil, people are calling good. So even if I were to spell it out in this room there would be much disagreement, people over here would say this good and people over there would say no, this is good.
Then he asks:
Well, now this is just teasing us… you’ve got to share now! 🙂 So, can you go into some of the details now?
JJ
We had kind of a mixed group at the gathering and I didn’t want to cause any disturbance in the good atmosphere we had there.
It takes the second key of judgment to discern the true good and evil at play in the various situations and ideologies.
For instance, a large segment of society think that capitalism is good and socialism is evil and the other half think the opposite.
Good and evil can manifest within each system. The problem is that we seek to identify good and evil through labels rather than principles and when this happens illusion and distortion enter in.
Evil can manifest in capitalism when people become selfish and only think of their own advancement and do not have enough empathy for the disadvantaged to help them.
Good manifests in capitalism when abundance is created, jobs are provided and a natural assistance to the many is provided.
Evil manifests in socialism when force is used to further its goals, even goals that sound benevolent. Forcing people to do good has created the greatest of evils in our history. Every tyrant has tried to force his people to do his version of good.
Now where judgment enters in is the fact that any nation under law has to use some force. One could technically argue that forcing people to not steal is forcing them to do good.
Where is the dividing line between good and evil in the use of force?
The dividing line is the principle of freedom. To insure good prevails one must always go in the direction of maximum freedom. Force can be used to prevent theft because theft takes away more freedom than it gives.
Social programs can be good if they are not forced. Insurance, for example draws from the may for the common good and operates through free will. On the other hand, when government takes money by force to finance benevolent sounding programs then the social program becomes evil because it operates contrary to the principle of maximum freedom.
Thus universal health care through stealing money to pay for it is an evil.
What those who support theft to do good do not realize is that all their social ideals can be realized through free will and the result will be much higher quality and efficiency.
If I had thus picked on various social programs that operate by the power of force contrary to the principle of freedom I’m sure I would have offended some.
LWK writes:
The evil you describe above is not some particular symptom of capitalism. It has existed from before recorded history. If anything real capitalism has done a lot to discourage that sort of evil. The reason is not hard to understand if people will drop their prejudices.
JJ
I think we are on the same page with capitalism and free enterprise but my point is that evil can manifest in any system. There can be no system produced that will cause people to do good all the time. They all open the door to abuse. The only real cure for the evil that men do lies in our spiritual evolution. Eventually we as a human race will learn to treat all people with kindness.
For example, we all agree that freedom is a much better situation than slavery. But does this mean that there are no problems associated with greater freedom? No. There are problems.
I remember reading an article about a study done about 40 years or so after the Civil War. They interviewed a significant number of slave survivors and asked them to compare their situation where they are now free with being a slave and an amazing number of them thought they were better off being a slave.
Freedom, free enterprise, capitalism and other endeavors that moved us forward can all be used toward a good end provided our consciousness meets the need. If it doesn’t then we can use the advantages toward a negative end.
A person can use freedom to abuse his fellow men and take advantage of them.
Another can succeed through capitalism and because of his success assume that anyone who has not done what he has is just lazy and has no empathy for those who are having a difficult financial time.
Overall the good that comes from freedom and endeavors that use this principle is more abundant than lack of freedom and the evil that comes from it is much less than slavery but problems will occur within any system that we create. Humans are not perfect and freedom allows certain evils to surface that restriction does not. But such evils must eventually surface and be subdued, harnessed and redirected toward that which is the good, the beautiful and the true through free will. On the other hand, when government takes money by force to finance benevolent sounding programs then the social program becomes evil because it operates contrary to the principle of maximum freedom.
Thus universal health care through stealing money to pay for it is an evil.
What those who support theft to do good do not realize is that all their social ideals can be realized through free will and the result will be much higher quality and efficiency.
If I had thus picked on various social programs that operate by the power of force contrary to the principle of freedom I’m sure I would have offended some.
Copyright 2010 by J J Dewey