Is this only a dream or I’m actually here. How did I get here. What was it that determined that it was my time to be here. I know that I exist. I feel that I am alive, but where is here and why am I here, now. I mean I know that the act of intercourse brings about a child and that child grows. And, weather it’s nature versus nurture that controls the outcome of who I become, how come I didn’t come into being in 1525 or 200bc, but rather I came into being in 1970. What were that alignment of planets that said you will now be; Joseph it is now your turn to exist. God, if you exist in some form, I fight with this perplexing question and I’m constantly looking for answers. This dogmatic life-long pursuit for answers has me torn between two schools of though.

I’ve read the Torah, the Quran, and the Bible in it’s many variations and I have found all the Holy books pretty much say the same things. I’ve even read the recently found Gospel of Thomas. I have learned that God, is the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth, and in his only son Jesus Christ who was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born unto a virgin woman, Marion (or Mary). What were the alignment of starts and planets that said Marion you will now be -- it is now your turn to experience life; furthermore, what was it that had her destined to be the mother of Jesus Christ. Are we predestined to live out a certain existence or do we have a real choice in the matter when it’s our turn to come up to bat, and live out our life.

I’ve read scientific books like Carl Sagan’s “The Dragons of Eden” which documents the evolution of not only man but more specifically the evolution of man’s mind from a fish like brain, based more on basic instinct, to a reptilian brain, based more on aggression, to a mammalian brain, and eventually to the brain we have today which is a combination of all the previous brains used. We never lost the fish brain or reptilian brain we simply evolved with them. On top of the two sub-brains is a larger more complex brain, but how and why and why just us humans. I’ve read Isaac Asimov’s “The Story of Origins of Mankind, Life, the Earth, and the Universe” and got a sense that we humans, Homo-Sapiens, the only surviving human species, haven’t been in existence as long as the Earth is old and we are merely a quick flash in the pan when it comes to our time on Earth. Then what was that spark that said humans, Homo-Sapiens, you will now be; it is your turn for existence.

Which is it? You either have to go off of faith and believe something most people find intangible and that mankind was brought into being by God The Father Almighty or you have to go off of the evolution of mankind and to be honest, and hopefully not sound blasphemous, it’s hard to go off of a faith with no tangible evidence for the beginnings of mankind other than what was written down by many men and perhaps even a woman. It’s an interesting dilemma because if we go off of faith we believe there is a higher power greater than us that brought us into existence, a God weather in the Christian view of the Trinity of Father, Son, Holy Spirit or Islam’s one God, or Asia’s one God the living Buddha. Or, if we see our selves as somehow, through evolution, evolved into existence then we Humans place ourselves in the seat of God. With no God in heaven that created us, we somehow created ourselves -- we are the gods of our own existence.

There can’t be an in between; it’s either there is a God who created us or we were our own God and created ourselves. The other question that rises is that I can see if we were only flesh how we could have come about in some primordial ocean and evolved into a more and more complex life systems, but there is clearly a spirit that dwells within us that seems to be completely detached from the fleshly body. In a way we are kind of like the Holy Trinity of God because we exist in mind, body, and spirit -- the three work together to make us who we are, and all three must be present for us to be in existence. The mind or psyche is clearly independent of the body -- it will still function even if the body becomes paralyzed, the spirit still remains intact even if we lose a limb, and the fleshly body allows our spirit to see, touch, taste, and smell the world. It’s as if evolution created first this very complex joining of a mind -- with the ability to live out our own destiny and have critical thinking -- a body which allows us to experience the worldly things, and a spirit that is the essence who we are -- without it we would simply be flesh much like a tomato picked from a vine. If we did have the ability to create ourselves from such a complex structure system, I would say that definitely makes us gods.

If we are the gods that created ourselves and brought ourselves into existence where did we get the blueprint from, what tiny prehistoric ball of protein thought for itself and said this is how we will experience life. I’m not sure if Carl Sagan believed in God or not, but I do remember him saying we are the stuff of stardust -- it is what we are formed of. Our flesh is made up of the same elements that can be found in the Universe and our blood chemistry is the same as ocean water; consequently, he further added that life and the human experience is simply only the Universe trying to experience itself. The philosopher Depak Choprah said the same thing. Wouldn’t that idea make the Universe the god and in turn, we being the universe experiencing itself, also the god.

Was it prehistoric man trying to fathom existence and brought about a God or gods. I remember a story about some westerners who went into the heart of the Amazon and made contact with villagers who never learned any western ideas, religions, medicines, etc. The westerner was speaking about a man who was sick in the village and tried to explain that the man was sick because he drank contaminated water and the organisms in the water got into his blood stream, and digestive system causing him to become sick. The Amazon Indian witch doctor looked at him and could not comprehend what the westerner was saying. The witch doctor explained to the westerner. He said the man had went down to the river, and drank from it, and had acquired bad spirits. The bad spirits were possessing his body and it would take some time before the spirits decided to leave him.

It’s interesting that both the Amazon Indian and the westerner both were really saying the same things with different views on life. The witch doctor was educated in his own ways and the westerner was educated in his own ways, but both really knew that the man was sick because he ingested something: The westerner called it an organism, and the Amazonian witch doctor called it a evil spirit. Who is right? They both are. They simply have different names for the same cause of the man’s ailment. Could it be the first man to contemplate and ponder on the ideas of where he came from may have known that we did in fact come from stardust, from the Universe, and a maybe someone like a westerner came along and named that Universe Heaven and the stardust that created us he named God. Is the Bible simply a collection of songs, soliloquies, metaphors, similes, and poems written by man to try and make sense and give to the Universe, that created us, a name.

In a way we do act as gods. We are in control of our destiny, we create civilizations, we control the growth of and alter the DNA of vegetables and animals to soot ourselves. We can even create life and make clones of life -- as if we are playing with life. No other living species on the planet has the ability to do this. Of all the living species on the planet, humans are the only species that seems to know it has a beginning and an end -- a death -- or at least in the physical because weather you have faith in a God or believe we are the creation of the universe itself, we don’t really die we either return back to dust -- stardust -- and our spirit returns back to God or it returns back to the universe.

If my existence is merely only a dream then who is the director of this dream. Am I the dream director -- the Universe -- trying to experience itself or, if this is life as we believe it to be, who is the creator. Clearly we did not get here alone or by ourselves. And if it is the universe which has no beginning or end, much like God, why did it now choose to experience life, and because we do act like gods, we can not be predestined to live out a life like a puppet on strings. We have a spirit, a mind, and a body that directs our direction in life as well as gives life. I gather that to understand what life is, why we are here, and get a greater sense of our destiny, reading the Holy books is the best way to get a better understanding of such questions. Reading biology books and books on evolution only tell us how we came about, but they don’t answer the questions of what our purpose is, or why we came into existence in the first place. I think of the evolutionary books as the principles of life, but the Holy books as the fundamentals to why there is life.

In reading the Holy Bible we begin with Genesis which gives an account to the creation of life and life for Adam in the Garden of Eden. Is this garden of Eden a metaphor or did it really exist. It is said that God was lonely and created Adam from the clay of the Earth -- stardust -- and Adam lived in the Garden of Eden -- a place I imagine was like heaven on Earth. Adam did not have any worries; everything he could ever need was provided to him. He lived in peace, in harmony amongst the many creatures and plants that God had created before him; furthermore, Adam had a job to name all the animals and plants in this garden. It was as if Adam was set out to live like a god in the Garden of Eden and rule over and care for all the plants and animals. Is this what is meant when it is said that we were created in his image. We function similarly, but one of the only differences that God and Adam had was that Adam did not know good from evil.

God, making Adam in his image also gave him emotions much like God’s own: to love, and to be lonely. God realized that Adam needed a mate and created Eve from Adam’s side. Is this a metaphor for the creation and evolution of life. Whatever that first protein chain was that decided it wanted to experience life had to also create life for itself and created a mate to ingeniously trade off genetic information to further evolve into more advanced and complex creatures. It’s as if this single cell protein chain had a blueprint in mind of how it would create life -- where did this ball of protein, single celled organism, yet with the ability to think, come from and how was it so intelligent to create an entire world of life.

If it is not a metaphor and Adam truly did walk with God in the garden and lived in peace and harmony with all the animals then it wasn’t until the temptation of the serpent at the tree of knowledge of good and evil that truly changed Adam and his partner Eve’s perception of life. I’m sure they did not even contemplate death -- they had no need to. They were to live forever in the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 2: 17 God says, “ but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” But Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, and they believed at that moment in time as the Bible said Genesis 3:4 says, "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman.” But, God said you shall surely die, so Lucifer lied to Adam and Eve. After they had eaten of the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge, God said behold they have become like one of us, knowing both good and evil. God must have surely known at this point that the flesh, after eating from the tree of knowledge, could not resist other temptations or chose to always follow right over wrong.

Adam and Eve, as God said, they have become like one us. What was God saying and who was God referring to when he said “us.” Was God referring to the Angels and Lucifer with his fallen angels, or was God referring to himself in the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I believe, if this historical record is not simply a metaphor, then God was referring to Himself, in the Holy Trinity. But, if this story is a metaphor it seems that as humans evolved they became less connected to the symbolic Garden of Eden -- the animal kingdom. Just like the Amazonian witch doctor trying to give reason for why the villager got sick could it be that the Garden of Eden was written after man had became less of an animal, with basic instincts, and no knowledge of life and death, nor any concept of good and evil. If man lived as an animal then this would make sense, because the only reason for doing something to harm another living thing would be for survival sake, much like lions, and wolves. The wolf knows no evil it is only living out its existence through its basic instincts for survival.

Could it be that we being banished from the Garden of Eden is really a metaphor for losing our place in the animal kingdom. Once we no longer operated off of basic instincts, much like the animals, and had emotions of love, hate, sadness, and knew the difference between good and evil we became like the gods of the jungle rather than simply other inhabitants of the jungle. We could no longer be in the same realm as the animals, in a sense losing our connection to the Garden of Eden -- the Animal Kingdom -- and with the ability to no longer operate off of basic instinct, but could now think about life, how we would live life, what our personal destiny would be. We no longer were apart of the Garden or Animal Kingdom but raised above it and became like what the Bible says God said, “They have become like one of us.” We had become like God.

But what exactly did that mean to become like one of us. We ate from the tree of knowledge and now operated off of more than basic instinct. We immediately knew we were naked and ran to cover ourselves. No animal realizes that it is naked and runs in shame to cover itself; I’m sure it never crosses their mind. But God also said we were created in his image and that God is all around us. Why would God create us first as animals much like apes which we know carry a DNA that is 99% similar to ours. Why would God create us first as animals and then say I have created you in my image. Could the image God referred to be of the Trinity in the Son, Jesus Christ. If God had always existed -- much like the universe -- with no beginning and no end then Jesus was not exactly created. Sure, He was born to a virgin, but He was in fact God come to Earth. God in Jesus Christ, whom I would have to believe always existed in the Trinity. Why do I believe this because when Jesus was crucified on the cross he looked up to heaven and said Father why have you forsaken me. Jesus had never been separated from God and the Holy Spirit and asked why he was alone at this horrible moment.

Jesus was the God of the Trinity who walked in the garden with Adam and Adam was also created in Jesus image; furthermore if science and the bible were to ever to agree then God is all around us. Just like the Amazonian witch doctor trying to explain in simple terms why the villager was sick. Maybe the Bible was using God as a metaphor in saying every element from the periodic table of elements that can be found in the Universe, and makes up the Universe, also makes up who we are. We are the stardust, the elements of the Earth, Air, Water, etc. And, if we were created in Jesus image and Jesus is flesh and bone, well, the flesh we are made up of comes from what scientist refer to as stardust. We are made up of the same things that are in our surroundings. Just about all the elements on the element table practically make up who we are and those same elements can be found throughout our environment. So, if we are created in God’s -- Jesus -- image then the Earth and the Universe all around us is also apart of Jesus; Jesus -- God -- is in fact everywhere; pieces of who we are are all around us.

But what made us different from the animals. We know Elephants do greave, we also know Elephants are very intelligent animals, do appear to love and have family bonds, and apparently know what death is. Elephants will take the bones of their families to a special place -- call it the bone yard -- but it is essentially an Elephant cemetery which the Elephants visit every so often, and they seem to know whose bones belonged to what fallen Elephant and greave over their loss. So, what makes us different from the animals when the elephant is emotionally much just like us? What caused us to lose our connection to the metaphorical Garden of Eden -- the animal kingdom? God said, “They have become like one of us.” Although Elephants are intelligent, have the ability to love, have family bonds, and greave and know death, and acquire knowledge through an incredible memory, what makes us different is that we know of both good and evil not just basic instincts and have the ability to act on one over the other. If you believe in evolution then you would know that unlike animals we can make a choice we are no longer governed by basic instincts, but if you have faith in God then we have always had this ability to make choices; nonetheless, both outlooks are saying the same thing and it is this knowledge of good and evil that separates us from the Animal Kingdom and puts us above the animals.