Discerning Truth: Recent Episodes
Beyond The Rituals
The Discerning Truth podcast is an introduction to the Philosophy of the Divine Law. A philosophy based on the primal understanding, inherent within each of us, that we are all an integral aspect of one profound and collective truth, connected by the Divine Essence of God. Each week we will present one or more of the Divine Law's core concepts, to promote the understanding of how humanity can apply its principles and guidance, to prevent the social destruction of humankind.
Music Credits: The Show Must Go On, by Three Dog Night
Send In The Clowns, by Frank Sinatra
God's Word is not confined to one line of thought, one philosophy, one book, or one religion.
How does humanity resolve its myriad divisions to prevent its eventual social destruction?
Regardless of our race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or citizenship, ours is to live in a manner that prevents humanity’s social destruction and the human-caused ecological devastation of this planet we share.
Consumed by the fear of losing control of what they no longer control. And their longing for a time in an idyllic past that never was, right-wing conservative Republicans would rather destroy America than share it with all its citizens.
No matter the religion we practice, our philosophy, or our concept of God, the state of the world within our shared reality is the same for us all.
“We’ve got the power to shape our lives. No magic wands or wishing on stars. We’ve got to get up and put in the work!”
Emphasizing personal responsibility and living a fulfilling life, the Philosophy of the Divine Law rejects religious dogma, beliefs in the afterlife, and other unprovable claims while encouraging ethical action and seeking and accepting the Truth of our shared reality.
Adam explains that the Philosophy of the Divine Law addresses many of the existential challenges faced by our generation.
Adam asserts that though many believe everything is according to their god's plan, a god or gods are not required for things to be as they are.
Adam discusses the effect the alliance of conservative and fringe GOP politicians, Christian evangelicalism, Christian nationalism, and Dominionism has had on America's republic.
Many, if not most, of our greatest disappointments, result from our attempts to control what we cannot.
Everything the world's religions, mystical philosophies, and belief systems have told us about previous lives and life after death is nothing more than beliefs unsupported by testable and provable evidence.
Adam explains that to survive, as a species, we must change our focus from what might be after we die to what is while we live.
Hopelessly stuck in the mire of racism, bigotry, religious entitlement, and fear, we have changed, sabotaged, or reversed decisions on prayer in schools, affirmative action, voting rights, Roe v. Wade, and many others. Continuously returning to issues that keep the country divided.
“…people hold on to the mythology, superstition, and mystical beliefs endemic to their religions or belief systems. No matter how absurd or contrary they might be to the natural function of our shared reality.”
All that exists and can ever exist (regardless of whether we understand) exists because the physical laws that govern this reality support its existence.
Adam discusses the empowerment inherent in accepting the truth of the reality in which we live.
Adam examines the current attempts to suppress the truth and people's apathy toward doing anything about it.
Adam posits that Homo sapiens is an anomaly that has disrupted the Earth's natural state. That everything we have invented for our comfort and otherwise is not essential to the Earth but ourselves.
There are many reasons older people might not yet have reached their goals. Not every life is the same. Some may have earned a degree but have yet to make it work. Some might have committed crimes and served in prison. Others might have taken care of elderly or sick parents, helped to raise younger siblings, or had to work to support themselves. And yes, some simply played around until they couldn’t anymore.
Whatever the reason, regardless of age, again, one has not failed until one quits!
Today's presentation is about the tenets that form the foundational concept of the Philosophy of the Divine Law. The Foundation of Understanding. These ten statements outline the philosophy's methodology for living in our shared reality.
Even with all its problems and dark history, America has been, and still is, that great city on a hill whose distant light beckons those who seek freedom.
It is long past the time that humankind should direct its efforts toward overcoming that which keeps us divided and think beyond our beliefs.
The inevitability of death is the most profound aspect of the reality in which we live. That we haven't conquered death, overcome its total and final grip over us, and defeated its random nature, frightens us. And in our fear, we seek comfort in some plausible explanation of what happens to us after we die.
Adam explains that dependency is inherent to our existence, an innate aspect of our development. The seed that helps to establish our awareness of the Divine Law.
Adam explains that the Philosophy of the Divine Law is not a philosophical flight of fancy, a theory, or a thought experiment. Instead, it is a philosophy that reflects real life. Therefore, its primary purpose is to focus our thinking on this reality and what it requires of us to live successfully within it.
The word of God surrounds us. It is everywhere!
God's word teaches and guides us, but does not force us to take the path it reveals. Like a well, it does not yield its water to only one bucket; and like the seas, it does not send its waves to only one shore.
It does not confine itself to one line of thought, one philosophy, one book, or one religion, but is obtainable in every aspect of the reality God has created. God did not give His word to a chosen few, or only to those who claim divine privilege, but to us all.
The Philosophy of the Divine Law defines salvation as the prevention of humanity's social destruction and the deterrence of our planet's ecological devastation by human means. And holds that God has already provided humankind with the guidance essential to save itself and live in peace.
As human beings, we are all equal. Divisions based on race, caste systems, and other birth-group socio-economic classifications are human constructions. False categories, established with erroneous definitions.
This podcast, and the three that will follow, will teach the Core Doctrines of the Philosophy of the Divine Law. The Concept of God. The Nature of our Reality. Humanity's Role on the Earth. And the Path to Salvation.
If God has a plan, then the world, as it is, reflects that plan. And everything that has happened, that is happening, and that will happen is a part of that plan. The Good, the bad, and the ugly!
It doesn’t matter to which family, in which country, or under which political system we were born. Whether rich, poor, free, oppressed, or somewhere in between, it is still our responsibility to live a positive and responsible life.
No matter where we find the truth, no matter its bearer, no matter its bearer’s agenda, we must accept it! Even when it disproves beliefs, we have held all of our lives.
Respect and treat others as you would yourself. This is the second law of the Divine Law. In direct and no uncertain terms, it tells us to hold each other in respect. To treat other people as we would want them to treat us.
Adam explains the first principle of the Divine Law. “Love God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your being.”
Adam outlines the Divine Law's Definition of Evil. For centuries, humankind has struggled to find an answer to what we call the problem of evil: how to reconcile an all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-loving God with the existence of suffering.
Purchase the ebook or the paperback of The Philosophy of the Divine Law: The Path To Harmony and Peace, on Amazon
Adam Reads the preface to Derek Crockett's new book, The Philosophy of the Divine Law: The Path To Harmony And Peace.
Illustration by Na Kim; Source photographs by Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty (Trump); BO Zaunders / Getty (White House)
Live the life God has given you as positively and as responsibly as you possibly can. It doesn’t matter to which family, in which country, or under which political system we were born, it is still our responsibility to live a positive and responsible life.
Seek and accept the truth no matter where you find it. The third of the four laws that comprise the Divine Law directs that no matter where we find the truth, no matter its bearer, no matter its bearer’s agenda, we must accept it!
Regardless of our relationship with someone or what we think of them, the one thing over which we have control is how we treat them.
The love that is required of us is more than what we feel. It is a direct representation of who we are as human beings.
Humankind has many faces. It is our fear of the other that keeps us divided. We will not find a path to cooperation and peace until we recognize we are but one species, regardless of our differences.
Most of us ignore that the greatest uniter of all is not the human constructs of race, ethnicity, religion, and culture, but the desire to be financially independent. We shout freedom, equality, and equal rights for all. But money is what we want!
Adam discusses how our unique abilities make us the earth's caretakers, not its rulers.
Adam discusses how Disinformation has swayed elections, defeated government policy initiatives, destroyed careers, and challenged the ability of some to determine what to believe.
As serious as the concerns were for eighteenth-century Americans to make the Second Amendment law, the concerns are just as, if not more serious, for twenty-first-century Americans to repeal it!
Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic and protests against Racial Injustice, America, once again, has come full circle to stand at the crossroads of defining its identity.
If we want things to change for the better, it is time to elect people who have the knowledge and ability to lead. To continue to reelect the people who broke the system, to fix the problems they purposely created, is an exercise in stupidity!
When a government fails some of the people, it inevitably threatens the social stability of all of the people. What happened to George Floyd is only one of the symptoms. Poor leadership is the disease.
Donald Trump, a man with a long title, the President of the United States of America, has a great responsibility. The leadership of a nation. Which, is unfortunate for the people of the United States because what Donald Trump lacks is the ability to lead!
The American people want to get back to normal. But what we all have to face is that getting back to normal is not going to happen. What we are going to get to is a new normal.
How did we allow ourselves, as a nation, to become so divided that we can't even come together and agree on how to save ourselves?
Our protection from the Coronavirus is our responsibility. Just because someone says, it is safe. It doesn't mean that it is.
With less than one percent of the country tested, an insignificant sample of contact tracing, and no data that indicates that the virus has peaked and is on the decline, Adam questions the logic of Donald Trump’s push to relax the current guidelines and open the country.
Donald Trump says he wants to open the country as soon as possible. And business owners and many, who are tired of being cooped-up, are encouraging his efforts to do so. If he could get away with it, he would probably open it now! But what is his motivation? Are his efforts grounded in getting the economy restarted by reopening businesses and returning people to work? His current medical advisers are telling him that opening the country now would almost certainly mean a rebound of the virus by the fall. Then, why the rush? Why not keep the current guidance in place until we see a final flattening of the curve and then open the country? Could it be that Trump wants a rebound? That he is trying to delay the November election and remain president for as long as possible?
I'm not saying that that is the case; I'm just asking the question.
Responsible leaders tell their people the truth. And give them the information they need to make informed decisions. They don't waste time patting themselves on the back and disparaging others. They direct their efforts toward unifying and motivating the people to come together to confront a mutual threat. They don't divide the people into Us versus Them. Instead, they come to the aid and support of other leaders and their constituents. And don't allow petty grievances to determine their willingness to help them.
When we allow our fears to overwhelm us, the irrational becomes the monsters others use to control us!
Sound Clip: How we can protect ourselves in the age of misinformation.
Sinan Aral, Data Scientist, Entrepreneur, Investor
TEDXCERN November 2018
https://www.ted.com/talks/sinan_aral_how_we_can_protect_truth_in_the_age_of_misinformation?language=en
The Truth Regarding God
What is the Truth regarding God? Does God exist? Do we have proof of God’s existence? What is the nature of God?
Some say it is evidence of God when the wind touches our skin. That it is God we see when we look at a tree, or a bird, or whatever else we believe God has created. That it is God, we encounter, when we experience that which we do not understand. However, are these things proof of God or proof of themselves? Which then is the Truth?
The Divine Law holds that Truth; is that which, as presented, is self-evident, devoid of all variables, and supported by the physical laws that govern this reality. Under these criteria, we can define a tree as a tree, and a bird as a bird, but we cannot define God as God, or His existence, as Truth!
The Divine Law asserts that God is neither supernatural nor separate from reality, but inherent within its creation. But if or how the laws that govern this reality apply to Him, He has not revealed to us.
When we attempt to describe God or define His power and magnitude, we confine God to the limitations of our imaginations, where we diminish and render Him, to less than that which we are trying to describe.
The Second Principle of The Divine Law holds that accepting there is no explanation for God, is the first step toward understanding the Truth of the reality in which we live. It asserts that we cannot determine the origin of God, that we do not know the attributes of God, and that we cannot prove God exists, from one to another.
The Divine Law rejects the belief that humankind discerns, shares, or experiences God collectively; and teaches that God is not a concept in which we must believe, but a real and intimate understanding that inherently exists within our personal experience.
The philosophy holds that God is not separate from us. His presence is not an entity, that exists detached from us, but is an inherent component of our being, an integral aspect of who we are. Like the walls of a house are a fundamental aspect of its structure, such is our relationship with God.
Words: Derek Crockett
Music: Sounds of Isha
Album: Yoga Padhi
We have allowed our politicians and religious leaders to use our differences to divide us for far too long. We can no longer afford to let them implant the fear of the other into our minds, and then exploit that fear to control us.
To resolve the problems of social instability created by the exploitation of our religious differences, we must first recognize the fundamental truth inherent within each of us, that we are all connected by the Divine Essence of God.
We label each other, to divide each other, to fight each other. An age-old cycle that, if not broken, will someday lead to our ultimate demise. If we are waiting on the gods of the world’s religions to help us solve our problems, we are waiting in vain!
We are Boarders on a small planet, nourished by a small star, in a small solar system, in a vast universe. Together, we are all we have. All our hopes, all our dreams, our survival, and our salvation—rests in our hands.
To develop beyond the infancy of our nature and reach our full potential as human beings, we must direct our efforts toward overcoming the fear and divisiveness our beliefs have instilled, and evolve beyond the gods we know.
No nation, in the history of humankind, has long-survived the erosion of civil discourse and the loss of confidence in the integrity and credibility of its legislative institutions. Ours will not be the exception.
Now is the time to decide. Whether it is nobler to come to the aid of our constitution, or to be silent, and let it die a cruel death on a partisan senate floor!
The Divine Law is an inherent aspect of our earliest understanding that God’s Divine Essence guides us to love and help one another. And that our fundamental differences, are natural to our existence, and do not define us, as enemies.
When we allow our leaders to divide us along any lines, whether racial, ethnic, cultural, or religious, we are allowing them to maintain and control us.
If God is the creator of all, God of all, and all are equal in the eyes of God, how can God be on anyone’s side? For some, and against others?
God is talking to you. Do you recognize His voice? Adam Reviews the book, Quietation, Quietening the Mind: The Return to Yourself. A new book by Derek Crockett, a long-time advisor, and contributor to the Discerning Truth podcast and the Beyond the Rituals community.
No matter the circumstances of our birth, wealthy, poor, middle class, or somewhere in between, we will come to a point where the condition of our lives will reflect the choices we have made. And it won't be what we believe that will have mattered, but what we have done!
For centuries, the world’s religions have taught us that God has a plan. And trained us to stand idle, and look outward to God, instead of looking inward to find solutions for ourselves.
The Divine Law teaches that for every decision and choice, there is a positive or adverse consequence. Although we are ultimately responsible for ourselves, the impact of our choices determines or affects not only the quality of our lives but the lives of others as well.
The podcast explains that at its core, the foundation of the Divine Law is the understanding that we must seek and accept the truth of the reality in which we live, no matter where we find it. No matter its bearer. No matter its bearer’s agenda.
We seem to have entered an age of being unreasonable. A time when our support of a person or an issue is paramount, and the truth and being honest about that person or issue, no longer matters.
Life, as many religions would have us to believe, is not a test to determine where we will spend eternity. It is the reality we live every day, in this here, and this now.
A nation that does not attend to the health, welfare, and needs of its children, or does not protect them from harm, is a nation whose future existence, is in jeopardy!
America is like a ship with a divided crew and a captain who benefits from their division, aimlessly sailing into an uncertain future. A nation in crisis!
The solution to a personal problem and the world’s problems begin with the same action. A positive step toward a resolution! To take that step, however, requires trust!
Seek and accept the truth of the reality in which we live. No matter its bearer, no matter its bearer’s agenda!
Although there is much that divides us, what separates us, doesn’t necessarily make us enemies. No matter our race, ethnicity, religion, belief, personality, or situation—the universal value we all share is that we are human. And as humans, we are all equal.
Whether we believe in God, whether we share the same understanding; whether we practice our beliefs in the same manner, or on the same day; we must respect one another. God did not create our divisions; we did!
Faith is to accept without evidence. To believe, on someone else’s authority, that what someone has told us is the truth. Truth does not require faith and is the representation of God in this reality.
The god one worships, should protect and defend them. The god one has to protect and defend, is not much of a god!
Until the god of a religion gives us testable and provable evidence of itself and openly reveals itself to us, we should not allow religious beliefs to curtail the rights of other people, and that which, is the best interest of us all.
When we consider that we do not know how, why, what, or if something created the universe, one has to wonder, why are we destroying ourselves, over questions we cannot answer?
The choices you make, determine the quality of your life. Think about them carefully. No matter how good or bad your life is, you can improve it by making better choices.
Humanity's sense of right and wrong does not come from powerful rulers, prophets, or deities. It is an integral part of our natural evolution—the cornerstone of our altruism, and an essential aspect of the properties that make us human beings.
Regardless of whether we accept it, neither God nor religion is in control. We are! We control our behavior, and our behavior towards each other determines the state of the world!
. Our time here is short. Between birth and death, the bulk of our time doesn’t belong to us. When we finally get a handle on it all, if we ever do, there is not much time left. So, if you’re going to live, do it now!
The Divine Law holds that it will not be an angry and wrathful god that will destroy humankind, but that left unabated, humanity will destroy itself, through war, bigotry, oppression, racism, and other anti-social behavior.
Love God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your being. Not because you fear God’s wrath, but because it is through your love of God, whom you cannot see, that you obtain the ability to love yourself and others whom you can, in the same manner, as you love Him.
That we haven't conquered death, overcome its total and final grip over us, defeated its seemingly random nature, frightens us. And in our fear, we seek comfort in some plausible explanation of what happens to us after we die.
If the behavior of humankind is the measure of the success of the world’s religions, then their teachings, have not been effective. If the gods that represent them are omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, these gods have not used their powers to convince us to conduct ourselves in a manner such power should demand.
The word of God surrounds us; it is everywhere. It teaches and guides us, but does not force us to take the path it reveals. It is not confined to one line of thought, to one philosophy, to one book, or one religion, but is available to every aspect of the reality God has created.
God is personal. We cannot convey from one to another the truth, depth, or understanding of our experience of Him. His significance resides within. For those who have experienced His presence, God’s existence is conscientiously undeniable. And proof of His existence is wholly unnecessary.
America is not yours, mine, or theirs; it belongs to us all; Black, White, Brown, Asian, all the colors of the world. Its diversity has been, and is its strength!
We experience together, only one reality. The reality in which we live! It is where we are born, where we live, and where we die. It is all we have; and has become, what we have made of it.
Each of us is capable of effecting great help, and of causing great harm. Whether motivated by action or inaction, altruism or selfishness, we are all consciously dual of nature, and agents of our determination.
Beliefs about God are commonplace. But are so diverse, they differ, even among those who share the same views or religion. We use the word, God, so loosely, that it no longer describes or identifies a particular being, but has evolved into a generic term for the word, Deity, which is why, when talking to another person about God, we should first, define what we mean.
The Divine Law holds that Good and Evil are not separate entities, but opposing aspects of a single identity. Duality! Like the two sides of a coin, one does not exist, without the presence of the other.
Whether the belief system is personal, tribal; a social philosophy; or a dominant world religion, they all have one thing in common. None can show testable and provable evidence that support the claims they make, about their god, or gods.
Some religions teach that we should fear God. But fear of God is not of God, but of religion itself.
The Beyond The Rituals podcast is an introduction to the Philosophy of the Divine Law. Each week we will present one or more of philosophy's core concepts to show you how applying its guidance can help humanity to address the problems of social instability.
Our subject this week: One of the foundational pillars of the Philosophy of the Divine Law: How to discern Truth.