So i'm trying to understand some principles 'hypothesized' by C. Langan... i don't know if the guy has any official degrees, but you ought to put your 'PhD hat' on when reading his major papers/essays and books... he certainly understands many things that otherwise-intelligent people do not, specifically speaking theoretical physicists and the institutions that educate and sponsor them and their 'research', those folks do their best to conceptualize the universe through observational science with the absence of the reality of God... so Chris is more than smart enough to speak their language while explaining what many of them refuse to acknowledge (like i said 'otherwise intelligent' people)... going beyond laws of physics as we know them (actually i don't, never studied them, but probably will in the near future), there is 'metaphysics', and this is where my interest in his writings perk, it goes past the astrophysics, and jumps into how the universe actually operates, but--unlike the theoretical-physicists--it includes God, but it doesn't just include God, it emphasizes God, with God being the 'Ultimate Reality', so the metaphysics includes science, and science combined with 'religious scripture', it's not what others call scientology, or christian science, but science as it's been observed/studied/measures/repeated... referring to myself as a 'Christian', i look at much of what i read from Langan's works through the filter of things that i have understood as 'christian principles', those principles is what i refer to as 'thematic', they are what many of the stories/metaphors/analogies themes which are repeated several times over in the 'Holy Bible', and they aren't just repeated many times over, they are principles that we can identify as 'true', they are easily observed throughout our lives similar to 'laws of physics'... and many of those principles are also written and taught in various ways in other religions too, so they are more than just christian principles, they are universal themes/principles... so it's under those pretenses that Langan uses the term 'meta-religion', it pulls principles from several religions that are self-evident when you have an understanding of them, and it uses measurable/repeatable science and physics to present a picture of what's really going on around us, both in various environments, including our bodies, families, communities, states, countries, continents, solar system, and beyond in the far cosmos, the universe. In christian theology there is a principle that God knows our very thoughts, and that we commune with God in various ways, most religions call this 'communion' a type of prayer, or meditation, some go through various rituals and traditions, so there are internal (meditation) and external (physical acts of worship). The internal (prayer/meditation) is how we 'communicate' with God on an individual level, and the external is how we remember/symbolize God for 'joint gatherings' and religious traditions... so with that said, this is how Langan talks about the internal, but in MY OWN simple words... our 'prayer and meditation' is a focus on communicating with God, but the actual communication is by a 'wireless' means that he calls 'telesis', in fact we are ALWAYS communicating to God through telesis, whether it's intentional or not, think of it as an 'involuntary action' (like heart beating, and lungs breathing)... sure, we can slow down, or speed up our bodies involuntary actions, but if we don't try to manipulate them by holding our breath, or exercising they just do what our bodies require them to do, the just are... so that's how we might consider 'telesis'. You could also look at telesis like our senses, we don't have to try to feel something by touch, we feel something we touch whether we want to feel it or not, our bodies have (at least) five senses that are common enough in everyday life that they are scientific law... humans are intelligent physical unique multi-sensory 'telors', a telor being something that is capable of telesis, or, communicating with God through voluntary, or involuntary means, again, our communion with God is 'continual', through physical means, or internalized means... There is another christian principle to consider, it's that humans were 'made in the likeness of God' and that we are 'extensions of God', and that folks that make a conscious effort to acknowledge God in our lives have 'the mind of God'--but, we don't 'see' the physical aspect of God, He is not something that we take out of our pocket, or place in a shrine, hang on a wall, or simply gaze upon... we consider God to be a 'spiritual being', or, 'super-natural', but the BIGGEST 'being' that ever was, or can be, we say that he is everywhere, and is everywhere all of the time... if you look at that in conjunction with God knowing our thoughts and actions, well, that concept REALLY creeps some people out, it's not like you can just go in a closet, or dark-room, and hide from God, that's foolishly confining God to human/physical limitations (in our minds), God does not share our physical limitations, He created the physical... if you consider humans being made in the likeness of God you know/understand (self-evident) that we also 'create' things, we create our own little environments, we set-up and decorate our homes the way that we like them, or we build homes that we like, we build lot's of things from the physical resources that God already created, we do that because we have an endowed intelligence and creativity, and we exercise those gifts, sometimes without even thinking about it, we just are... our intelligence and creativity are both self-evident examples/expressions of humans being extensions made in the likeness of God who created and creates.

... Everything written above is just a small 'primer' for these ideas, let's look at some scientific and observable physical things, going from small to large... first, though, remember that i wasn't 'educated' beyond high-school, and i took as little science classes as possible during my academic 'career', i did take two-thirds of one semester in college that included biology, chemistry, and english composition (i think one other class too), those college classes were after a five year break from high school for an enlistment in the Army, and then working in a golf and tennis retail environment for a bit... i give you that background because i'm sure that i forgot most of what i learned in those classes almost thirty years ago now. But back to 'small to large', but keeping in mind that Langan describes God as a 'mind', maybe a type of a super-intelligence... so going from 'sciencey' small to large, we start with protons, neutrons, and electrons (and hypothesized 'quarks' too, if you want to get even smaller)... atoms are little bitty tiny things that are naturally stuck together, smart people know how to stick lot's of them together to make lot's of things, molecules, compounds, blah blah blah (my apologies to my chemist friends, but they already know that i'm not a sciencey guy and still appreciate me anyways), now look at a much bigger picture--our solar system, a bunch of planets that are stuck together... Now look beyond our solar system--galaxies, a bunch of smaller systems stuck together... now-- jump waaay out, to consider the Universe, the biggest thing that we can think of... now-- let's zoom waaay back in--to the human brain, it consists of mostly fatty matter that's made up of many cells that are more or less 'stuck together' too... so zoom back out, and consider our solar system as an atom of a cell, that is suspended in 'space' to make up a molecule called our galaxy, and, well, do you start to see the picture... and can grasp the concept of the universe as a 'brain', and God as a 'mind'... but the universe isn't suspended, or stuck together like grey fatty-mater, it's neuron-like connections are 'wireless', so now look at 'telesis' like wireless information passing to and from God and humans in what some folks call space and/or time... easy enough, right... right... so is the universe actually the physical 'brain' of God... i dunno, maybe.

... Thanks for humoring me, and probably chuckling at my ignorance of something that i probably mis-stated with my examples, based on my very limited education from decades ago (told you i wasn't a sciencey guy, i'm not a mathy guy either), but simpleton errors and all, it sort of makes sense if you understand some Christian principles, and the observed science considered laws of physics/physical-structure and movement... so Langan's theory is good, very Very VERY good. Whether or not God is a giant human with a brain that can move around like humans do will probably never be known, the universe is just too big, and we can't even see the 'brain' in it's entirety, never-mind what's outside of that brain (if there is anything else at all)... but i like the principle that God is the Universe as a whole, and that the Universe is God's 'mind', and that God is a mind, like a natural super-computer and controller that isn't bound to a bunch of metal circuits and pathways stuck on layers of silicon attached to boards, all of God's processing and communicating is done 'wireless' or 'telesis'... so if we zoom way back down to humans, and our physical bodies we have senses, our senses plus our brains help us to process and navigate our environment, they help us to observe and process (understand) lot's of things, but if we break it down to two simple things it's easy to understand, our senses help keep us alive by understanding what is GOOD and what is BAD... what is POSITIVE and what is NEGATIVE... or binary 1 or 0... simple, right... right... but, if we are connected to God, and are 'extensions' of God, and if God is a 'mind', then you can probably understand the concept of humans being God's 'sensors', and that our senses connected to God via telesis is how God can observe, and experience the earth that He created, and in the most small/detailed way... humans 'senses' are God's 'sensors'... we were created on purpose and for purpose... and we use our senses to observe things that are good and bad, and we navigate and live our lives working with the things that are good, and working around things that are bad... we try to build on what is good, and we try to remove/eliminate what we know are bad.  Chris Langan talks about 'reality' quite a bit, and that our reality/environment is like a display/monitor that both 'we' and 'God' observe our lives, and various levels of geography/environment--including each other--through us, and encompassing all environments--the entire earth, and even beyond... the story/book of Genesis tells us that after God created the earth He declared that it was GOOD, and the story/book of Revelation tells of a time when the earth is no longer deemed to be good, but is now BAD... the story of Noah tells us of a time when humanity is/was no longer GOOD, all but for one person and his family that God can still work with... some folks try to work with God and for God, and others seem to do the opposite... it's probably obvious to the reader that i'm not a professional religiousy guy, and haven't 'studied' a whole lot of what i've actually read in religious texts, other than identifying things that are good, and things that are bad, but i mostly read now just try to understand the principles in between the front and back covers... but for years now i've heard sciencey guys saying that religion is nonsense, and i've heard religiousy guys say how in many instances theoretical science is nonsense, but reality is that they are both sensible in many ways... physical science and religion both make a lot of sense in many ways in relation to one another, one can teach about the other, they work both ways when we consider many of the same principles/correlations, and we should be able to connect the self-evident 'dots' when we start to consider them... some folks like to consider the mutual principles at large, and others are curious to the point where they must understand these things at much smaller levels...

i am sooo notttttt a mathyguy, i think i'm more of a language guy, i understand that there is algebra behind language and interpretation, and processing life, and validating life, and passing along information to current and future generations, but i think it's different symbols that really fvck me up, i don't know how to hold A=*, and g=* in my head very well, i need the variable replaced with relevant points to help process many times... but with that said, Langan just sent a couple of 'formulas' in wordy sort of ways via substack, and did it sarcastically enough that i was able to understand, and figure-out some weird ideas that i had, wasn't expending that today, but now i feel > = in some respects, if you try to quantify equality, but maybe that's how God views folks, in some respects.  God may have greater value assigned to those who choose to work for him, maybe that in itself is encouraging and motivating to keep plugging away, it helps with an endurance element maybe... maybe there is a sense of God appreciating his people who appreciate him/it/whatever... i suppose this should be self-evident, but living in a 'fallen world', and swimming against the flow doesn't really enforce that truth a whole lot... Langan was responding to some trolls in his own unique way, but his response corrected some of my own perspective and inconsistency, wasn't expecting so much from today... today i was busy venting frustrations with the excessively noisy vehicles in town, but correction is appreciated when necessary... sometimes you need to see the formula to work it out, even when you aren't a mathy sort of guy, i guess math/accountability makes sense, but i'm sooo not a mathyguy.  --  ct

01-25-23:

TBC ...