Cause and Effect

 

Our lived experiences are filled with cause and effect. One action causes another. This is one of the rules of existence that we come to understand through our lived experience and those with the ability to discern what cause brings about a particular effect are able to use that knowledge in very powerful ways to bring about their desires.

The attempt to bring about a particular desire is what worship is about. Worship is the ritual act of pleasing a deity whom the worshipper believes has a particular power to grant their desires. The purpose of worship is to show that deity that you honor and respect it and wish to be in its good graces.  The goal of worship is to please the deity so that in turn the deity will act favorably towards you.  These are straightforward transactions that humans have been engaged in for a long time.  They like most of human behavior have developed through a process of trial and error.  Humans have discovered that if they act in a particular way they will receive a particular result.  This is the information that has been passed down through the generations as tradition. 

The same type of inquiry is now being performed by scientists with greater success. They have added the element of experimentation.  Rather than merely assuming that a particular result is caused by the preceding actions through experimentation they are able to identify the true cause of a particular effect. 

The scientific method has revealed causes that contradict long-held traditional views.  For example, this type of inquiry helped to explain the movement of celestial bodies which should have eliminated old superstitions like Astrology, which used celestial movements to predict future events. The most unnerving of people of faith are the discoveries that contradict deeply held religious beliefs. So unnerving that people would rather reject the new information rather than alter their way of thinking to one that would make living a more successful endeavor.

There are defined rules to existence. Rules that define the result of every action. Over the centuries humans have discovered many of these rules, the ancients call them the will of God. Those who understand them and make their actions consistent with them can bring about their desires. It is not alchemy, it’s more like chemistry. It’s the broader application of Newton’s Third Law of Motion. Every action in nature has an equal and opposite reaction. As knowledge increases so do our ability to fine-tune the rules and in some cases remove rules that we find no longer apply. It has been demonstrated that those who embrace new knowledge and act upon it are able to use that information to make their lives better and those who reject knowledge for tradition continue to suffer in life from their only consolation being their faith in the old.