Excerpts from LifeNotes

 

If you choose to read the following, and at any time, for any reason, you feel our discussion is not well reasoned or is unlikely to be true, then please read our book or our LifeNotes. Please do not reject our discussion of love and the existence of God without reading the entire book or notes. If you are or become discouraged, if you disagree with anything that is said, or if you simply don't believe what we are saying is "useful" to you, please read our book or LifeNotes from cover to cover. The first two paragraphs below are repeated from our website. Other sentences you read here are also repeated in our book and LifeNotes, however they are greatly expanded and more fully explained.

 

The day you were born you began a learning process that will continue for the rest of your life. You were, from the beginning, molded by your surroundings, parents, relatives, playmates, by all the general attitudes, ideas, and beliefs you came in contact with. Whether we realize it or not, most of us are voluntary prisoners of our minds, unwilling to question who we are and what we believe, happy to simply roll along through life. Most of us will live from birth to death in a world we have fashioned from our past to suit our present. Many will find comfort through unquestioned acceptance of their family's, or even a friend's, religious or philosophical heritage. Yet few will ever stand free from their present beliefs and daily lives to ask what is life about? Who am I? What should I do? What will I do? If there is meaning to life, and a reason for living, those questions must be answered.

 

Like most people, you probably belong to that vast river of humanity which seems to move along in a fairly discernible direction, concerned at any given minute with living that moment in the easiest, most pleasant way possible. If so, you were and are more or less able to blend ideas, feelings, philosophies, desires, and realities to justify what you want to do. Along with the majority of people, you were and are good at sending questions and ideas about the meaning of life and death, as well as thoughts and feelings about what is good and right, deep into the cloudy regions of your mind.

 

The routines of daily life that guide a normal person (and guide you if you are "normal") appear to be one of the strongest anesthetics of all time. The products of a normal person's labors include responsible corporate positions, attractive suburban houses, sensible cars, extensive charitable activities, active participation in church affairs, union membership, solid family ties, etc. All contribute to the individual's feeling that they are comfortably situated among, and a solid member of, the normal people of the world.

 

The output of the normal person's mind bombards his or her fellow human beings through newspapers, televisions, shows, theaters, books, advertisements, conversations, interviews, etc., with the message that the normal person's values, behavior, likes, dislikes, ideas, and lifestyles, are not only acceptable, but are right, good, normal, healthy, and desirable. As each member moves through familiar streets, shops, offices, and homes, the whole structure of normal society reinforces a belief that they and their peers are the foundation and strength of the society of which they are a part. Each reflection of the normal life, as seen by every member as they look at other members, solidifies their belief that they are what they should be.

 

General beliefs and traditions of whatever group or groups one identifies with (whether ethnic, social, political, economic, intellectual or otherwise) mold, and may distort, the personal ideas each of us spend lifetimes developing and nurturing. Group ideas are so much a part of our lives that they become for us truths which we not only must live by, but which we are duty bound to defend and propagate. Group beliefs are absorbed by individual minds, so that each of us lives our life, more or less intensely according to the nature of our beliefs, as if we, and the other members of our group, are the only ones who know how life should be lived.

 

There is another kind of pressure to conform to a “normal” routine, an internal pressure that few of us recognize. Each of us inherits millions of biological "traits" from our parents, who in turn inherited millions of traits from their parents, etc. Some of us inherit better math skills, some greater artistic ability, some more athletic dexterity, etc. Some of us are, from birth, calmer, more emotional, faster, slower, smarter, musically inclined, etc. As clearly as our environment is for us an external definition of a "normal" world, our heredity is an internal definition of a "normal" world.

 

For many, this inherited "normal" world can be a far stronger anesthetic than the "normal" world offered by a somewhat detached environment. Many, many people live their lives, from birth to death, blindly following the path that heredity provides for them. Those who are more emotional may be easily angered and lash out at family members, those who are less emotional may be apathetic toward the needs of others, etc. Each person who follows the hereditary forces at work within them, "feels" that they are doing what they do because they are who they are.  For most, it is far more difficult to recognize that they are intentionally following an ancient biologic roadmap, than it is to simply believe that they are just being "themselves". Indeed, many deny that they are "like" their parents, only to eventually see an image of their parents’ lives when they look in the mirror. They fail to realize and admit to themselves that, in many ways, they are willing clones of their ancestors.

 

Yet the traits that we inherit are just that, they are traits that cause us to have a "tendency" to make certain choices. While our hereditary traits may exert incredible internal pressure on us to make particular choices, the choices we make are none-the-less our own free will choices. Our choices are not automatic, they are not determined by our heredity or environment, unless we allow them to be. Our choice to follow our hereditary or environmental path is our free will choice not to do otherwise. If heredity or environment dictate our choice, it is because we have not been willing to recognize the influence of our biologic heritage and our surroundings, and because we have not been willing to make our own free will choices that transcend heredity and environment. Admittedly, it may be incredibly hard not to follow the path our heredity and environment dictates for us, yet it is clear that we can make our own free will choices, we can make our own path.

 

Each of us is born, we live lives of various lengths, and then we die. Each of us has, or perhaps develops, a separate nature and existence, a being, which is unique to us and sets us apart from every other person who lives or has ever lived. Indeed we share similar characteristics, but no two of us are the same person. As humans, each of us is distinct, each of us is an individual being.

 

What makes each of us unique is the fact that we perpetually make choices between alternatives. Our choices seem to be far more than mechanical selections based on some complex biological decision making scheme. Rather, your choice seems to be based not only on what you believe will happen if you make a certain choice, but also on what you "want" to happen. You, as all of us do, possess the ability to engage in what we will call “rational thought”, whereby each of us weighs many variables in a process that includes concepts of good and evil, right and wrong. “Rational thought”, as we define it, is reasoned thought that presents us with choices between alternatives. You ultimately reach a point in your rational thinking where that certain quality of being which is unique to you takes over and you make your free choice among the alternatives.

 

An animal may make a “choice” to act kindly toward another animal based in part on their "inherent personality" and “basic instincts”. Yet it appears that an animal cannot make a rational, reasoned, choice to go against "inherent personality" and "basic instincts". Human beings can choose to do that which they would not otherwise do, to go against what their instincts, personality, and emotions tell them to do. Unlike any animal, your choices are made after rational thought. Even though you have instinctive feelings for self-preservation, procreation, self-satisfaction, etc., decisions may be freely made for reasons and purposes totally opposite to those instincts. You can think about what you are going to do, and can choose to do what you believe is right and good even if it places you in grave danger. Similarly, you can choose to do what you believe is wrong and evil even if you would instinctively do otherwise. Your decision is your decision, a product of your singular existence and being. Able to engage in rational thought, and to choose freely among various courses of action based on those thoughts, you are in a very real sense what you choose to be.

 

Since our discussion deals with the purpose of life, if what we are saying is true, your willingness to understand is a willingness to grasp the very reason for your living. If the answers you find are different from those you have molded for yourself, you must decide whether to continue on the path you are on, or go another way on a new path toward a new destination.

 

Many philosophers, psychiatrists, and others, argue persuasively that self-satisfaction is the most important human goal. A society made up of individuals who maximize their own well being is a society at its best. They conclude that when each of us reaches our own point of maximum pleasure, all of us benefit. What constitutes the maximization of pleasure is a hotly debated question, answered in countless, totally different ways. Ideas range from doing anything that makes you feel "good", to espousing intense dedication to such diverse things as political causes, meditation, or simply the pursuit of pleasure.

 

Many suggest the free market works well in selecting what is worthwhile in life, with various methods of providing pleasure coming and going as demand identifies, supplies, and satisfies needs. Others argue the best society is made up of family groups that seek to maximize the family's happiness. Some extend the group to include friends and even strangers, but often exclude those outside the group's geographic and social spheres. Volume after volume after volume has been written describing what various people believe life is all about. Multitudes of people have dedicated large parts of their lives to convincing others of the truth of their ideas and the wisdom of following their examples.

 

Instead of closely examining and eliminating one at a time what I believe to be the fallacies and follies of humankind, I will suggest to you what many believe life is all about. If you choose to know and understand what is said, I believe you will discover what is true and gives meaning and purpose to life. We are about to look for something in life worth living for, something to have faith in.

 

What many suggest is worth living for is love. Not what we often call love, but that which is the most profound of human experiences.

 

The love we are talking about is far more, incredibly more, than that which we normally call love. Love is the most positive of human experiences. It is the deepest, most profound, of human relationships. It is the giving of all you have to give to someone else.

 

What is love? Love is beyond definition, it cannot be described in words. No effort to describe love can in any way answer what love is. Love is beyond human ability to analyze and evaluate. Yet each of us has, as a part of our very being, an understanding of love. The love we are talking about is basic, profound, a fundamental part of our existence. In each and every one of our hearts and minds, and I believe souls, we know and understand what love is.

 

Love is so deeply a part of human beings, so far beyond definition and description, so elusive to those who halfheartedly seek it, that you will know and understand love only if you engage in a very personal search of heart and mind and soul which leads to the very essence of your being. To understand life it is necessary to understand love. No one can make you understand love, you alone must be willing to take the inward journey. I will repeatedly urge you to do so, for nothing can take the place of that understanding.

 

Most of us think we already know what love is, when in fact few of us do. Sometime during our lives the majority of us will believe we have found true love, even though we have not. Many of us will go to our graves believing we have loved, when we never loved at all.

 

For most people, their understanding of love is hidden deep within. Each time they glimpse love and feel it trying to surface, they push it back to its resting-place. Few are willing to search for the love that may be found inside them, few are willing to let their knowledge of love surface. I believe each and every person who truly wants to know and understand love, and who is willing to search and search and search their heart, mind, and soul, will know and understand love.

 

The search is difficult, it is perhaps the most difficult task you will ever face. If you search your heart, mind, and soul you will find yourself surrounded by multitudes of conflicting feelings, questions, doubts, etc. These will draw your attention away from your search, and may make it seem futile and worthless. If you try to deal with each distraction as it appears, you will end up floundering from side to side, without direction, your goal appearing on the horizon yet never getting closer.

 

Before answering the many questions love poses, before satisfying your doubts, you should complete your search. Search your heart, mind, and soul, your being, to know and understand love. Set aside all questions, doubts, and fears, put all your energy and thought into your search. First understand love, then ask and answer questions about it.

 

It is very hard to stay on track. Your search will take you through and among daily experiences and deep memories filled with the emptiness, cruelty, and physical pleasures of a world where love is seldom seen. The cold glance of strangers on the street, the reality of poverty in the shadow of enormous wealth, watching people get sick and die a seemingly final death. Thoughts of food, drink, luxury, sex, all the physical pleasures you could be enjoying. All these pull at your attention and cause your mind to drift. Your focus is blurred as first one thing and then another interrupts your search.

 

Even when you think you have broken through the fog and are running toward your goal, a tiny diversion, a moments pause, and you are flung back into that strange and cloudy state of doubts, not knowing where, if anywhere, you are. Back in the haze, you may find yourself believing you reached your goal when you did not. This feeling of success can be strong, and the rush of living may make it seem even more real since little time is available to stop and think about who you are, where you have been, and where you are going. What can happen is that you can make yourself believe you understand love, when in fact all you have seen is false illusions of love. You may wrongly conclude that love is really not that special at all.

 

To allow yourself to stop short of your goal, to allow yourself to believe you understand love when you do not, is to condemn yourself to the deep darkness shared by all who live without love. A darkness few recognize, a blackness the depth of which can be appreciated only by those who find love. Only those who finish their search will know and understand love.

 

Completing the search requires a willingness to start. It is far easier to live your life following whatever sort of daily routine you have, over the years, consciously and subconsciously constructed for yourself, a routine designed to make you feel good about your life. For most of us this means mixing with our daily activities that bring us self-satisfaction and physical pleasure, just enough "good" deeds to make us feel we are "good" people, even though we are not. For better or worse you nurture an image of yourself you have been developing since childhood. An image that dictates what is expected of you and rules how you act, making your life a repeating cycle of yesterdays.

 

Even if you do not feel good about your life, you are usually more comfortable not straying too far from the familiar. It is easier to live a "normal" life than to question and search and change. Yet if you want to know and understand love you must give the search your all, without fear of, or resistance to, the changes it may bring in your life. You need to search and search until you know what it means to love, what it would be like to live in a world where each and every person loves every other person.

 

In our book and Lifenotes we give some examples of love, discuss what those who love do, and talk in general about love. Yet nothing we say will bring you an understanding of love, only your search can do that. Your search will begin whenever you want it to, and will end whenever you want it to. Our book and notes are useful only if you take the hours, days, months, or years, whatever it takes, to complete your search. If you stop when you find that half-hearted, fleeting, shallow thing most people call "love", your efforts will have been futile and worthless. You will have failed to find what love really is.

 

It is very easy to stop short of understanding love. The idea of pure, real love, is so alien to our experiences, so foreign to the world we live in, we subconsciously, and even consciously, reject it as a non-existent fantasy. Yet it does exist. Because we seldom, if ever, witness such love does not mean it is less than real. Because the experiences of our past and the realities of our daily existence attack love does not mean it is a fantasy. Our doubts and fears, desires and temptations, weaknesses and longing to "live", cannot change the fact that pure, true, real, love exists, and that people can love one another.

 

If you love someone who is hungry, you will give them food; someone who is thirsty, you will give them water; someone who is cold, you will give them your coat. If you love someone who is sick, you will care for them until they are well; someone who is in prison, you will visit them; someone without a home, you will take them home with you. These are all acts and deeds those who love do for the people they love. Yet love is far more than the doing of any particular act or deed. While those who love people will do the things we just mentioned, simply doing "good deeds" is not the same as loving. Many who do not love do "good deeds". Many who say they love, and perhaps even believe they love, if they love at all, do so only halfheartedly and from moment to moment.

 

It is hard to say that someone who feeds a person when they are hungry and then leaves them to find their own shelter, really loves that person. It is hard to call love the giving of money to an orphanage, when children's cries for attention and companionship go unanswered. It is difficult to understand how someone can say they love a person when they make that person feel they must applaud their donor for every gift they receive. Love is far more than acts, deeds, words, or feelings. To love someone, really love someone, is to give them true, deep, pure, indefinable, indescribable love. It is giving to others the love that you will find and understand if you complete your search of heart, mind, and soul.

 

We said we seldom, maybe never, see true love. You may have witnessed, or been part of, one of those rare occasions when people truly love other people. When a mother gently hugs her baby and love flows between them, when two people’s eyes meet and they exchange soft smiles that flow from the love in their hearts, when someone gives all they have to help someone in need. These are moments of true love, moments we choose to give one another. What we are talking about is love - true, pure, real, love.

 

If you love, you will help a stranger who needs help, even if it puts you in danger. If you love, you will think first about the needs of those you love, and only then think about your own needs. If you love, you will do what you can, all you can, for everyone you meet. 

 

Those who really understand love know in their heart, mind, and soul that love is the greatest thing in life one human being can give another. If you truly love someone you are giving them your very best. We have reached an awkward point in trying to use language to describe a state of being which affects the totality of human existence. How can we adequately describe how a person who truly loves thinks, feels, and acts? We can't. Only you can search within yourself to know and understand love. Unless you have completed your search of your heart, mind, and soul and know and understand love, you will not understand what I am saying, or what anyone else is saying, when we tell you about the love we find in our heart, mind, and soul. So how can you understand what we are saying when we say love is the best part of human life?

 

Regardless of human inability to describe love, you and I and everyone else can look inward to know and understand love. And when you, or I, or anyone else, completes their search and knows and understands love, we know and understand that love is indeed the most positive element of human existence. We know that the very best each of us can do is to love. We may find it difficult to talk about love with someone who has not yet finished their search, however once a person understands love they join all others who have completed their search in a communion of knowledge which makes communication of ideas about love easy, and makes what is said clear.

 

If you have trouble visualizing love, it may be helpful for you to travel in your mind to a world where pure love is freely given by every human being to every other human being. Do not let the fact that such a world does not exist around you discourage you. We may never choose to fill our world with pure love. Yet because each of us can choose love, such a world is possible! Let yourself feel in your heart, mind, and soul the love such a world would be filled with.

 

Visualize in your heart, mind, and soul a place where you love every person, and where every person loves you. Feel the joy of love flowing from you to every person, and from every person to you. No war, or even anger, no prisons. No loneliness, no hunger, no poverty. Instead that world would be an incredible place filled with peaceful joys of love not only shared by, but in fact chosen by, all who live there.

 

It may take minutes, or it may take years, for you to enter that world in your imagination and feel the glowing warmth and peace. Now is the time to start your trip. If visions of a place filled with love do not come to you today, try again tomorrow, or next week. Keep letting your heart, mind, and soul drift off to a world of pure love. Love every person you meet in that world and let them love you in return.

 

At this point you should sit back and think about what is being said, for we have jumped from looking for something worth living for, to the suggestion that you search yourself for an understanding of love, to the idea that all people should love one another. If you have not searched your heart, mind, soul, your very being, and do not yet understood love, what we are saying may seem interesting but not profound. I wish I could think of words and logical arguments that would make true, pure, real, love, crystal clear to you, but I can't. We are simply not talking about the kind of understanding that comes from reasoned analysis. I could fill these pages with elegant prose and poetry describing love, yet not one word would have the power or effect that even a fleeting inward glimpse of love has.

 

If you understand love you know loving does not require you to mechanically follow a set pattern of "right" actions. You know instead that if you love you will do the best you can in every situation, even if you cannot determine what the real solution is. If you love you do your best, and doing your best is something you can always do. Doing your best simply requires that which you are capable of, no more.

 

This does not mean loving is any easier because you do not have to know what the "correct" answer is. On the contrary, to say love requires you to do your best is to say that love requires of you all you have to give. Love requires everything you can give, your total effort. By requiring only that which you are capable of giving, it is always your choice whether you love or don't love. If you understand love you know it is your choice, and your choice alone, to love or not to love. It is a profound responsibility to be able, every moment of your life, to love or not to love.

 

If you love another human being you are giving that human being your very best. If you love every human being you are doing the very best you can do for each of them. Similarly, if they love you they are doing the very best they can for you. It is not hard to see that a world where each and every person loves each and every other person would be the best possible world. Since each of us can love if and when we want to love, a world filled with love is very much a possibility. Pure love is so rare a quantity in daily life it may seem almost impossible that, if they are willing to, people can love all other people. Yet they can. We can bring about a world filled with love, a world that is worth living for.

 

Few of us seriously expect to see a day on earth when all people love one another. There are too many people for whom physical pleasure is more desirable than love. Only the most optimistic dreamers hold hope for a world filled with love. So what is the next best world? If you understand love you know you can love people even if they do not love you. You can always choose to love, and if love is the best you can do, does it not seem true that you should love even if you are not loved? Does it not seem intuitively true that you should always choose love?

 

Who should you love? If loving is good, the question really becomes is there anyone you should not love? If you understand love you know you can always love someone even if the person you love hates you. When you hate those who hate you, you are doing the same wrong to them they are doing to you. The natural reaction is to hate those who hate you, but if you understand love you should, after deep thought and consideration, reach the conclusion that since you never have to hate, you should always love. (As you read this please keep in mind that in Appendix C of our book we discuss whether or not we should love those people who have totally rejected love.)

 

What if the person who hates you continues to hate you, and does all kinds of evil to you and to others without sign of remorse? Again, if you understand love you know you can always love another person even if that person hates you. If you can always choose to love people, does it not seem true that you should continue to love them even if they hate you? If we agree that the best we can do in this life, and in a life after death if one exists, is to love each other, the answer seems clear. If it is your choice to love or not, you should choose to love every moment of your earthly life. That means you should love even if you are not loved.

 

Loving someone does not mean you must condone, or even tolerate, the wrongs they do. Many people who love others and try to help them out of problems like gambling, drinking, casual sex, etc., find themselves defending the other person and slipping into their way of life. There is a fine line between being with people and loving and helping them, and, in an attempt to reach them, accepting at least part of their way of life. If at all times you keep in your heart, mind, and soul what it means to truly love, you will have no trouble knowing where that line is.

 

If you choose to love, you will constantly have to decide what you should do in particular situations. The natural tendency is to take a middle of the road position that seems to be positive toward everyone involved without being too negative toward yourself. You then declare that your decision is based on love, and all seems well. Loving is not that easy, every single decision about love must be made from your heart, mind, and soul.

 

If you want to love you must search your very being for the answers love requires, and you must be willing to accept without change the answers you find. You are driving home from work, heading for a birthday party your wife and friends have been planning for you. Traffic is heavy on the freeway. You see a man hitchhiking, he seems unsure of his footing, as you get closer you can tell he is drunk. If you stop you are sure to be late for your party, anyway, there are lots of cars one of which is bound to pick him up, and he doesn't look like he will stagger into the roadway.

 

You think, "he may be pretending to be drunk so he can rob somebody, a policeman is bound to drive by, I can call one as soon as I get home". Time to decide what to do. You want to drive on by him and not have to decide, but you know you have to stop or not stop. You stop your car, help the man into the passenger seat, he mumbles the town he is going to and then passes out. When you reach the right exit, you get off and try to rouse your passenger. He gets sick and throws up, you stop to let him get some air and to clean out the car.

 

You're forty minutes late for your party and there isn't a phone in sight. You think about leaving him at a gas station, but you help him back in the car and go on. He sees a bar, yells for you to stop, and curses you when you don't. You arrive in his hometown, but he is too drunk to remember where he lives. You see a motel, get the hitchhiker a room, and pay the desk clerk to look in on him to see he is all right and to bring him breakfast the next morning. You buy him some clean clothes and put them in the room.

 

You call home and your wife slams the phone down. Finally you arrive home three hours late, your guests have gone, your wife and kids are mad, you are hungry and cold. You think about all the hassle you went through; the party you missed, your party; the drunk hitchhiker cursing you. You think, I hope I never get into another situation like this one, but if I do, I'll do it all over again. If you have not completed your search you may not understand the love given the hitchhiker. If you have, you know that if you choose love you would do the same things the driver did.

 

You choose love, that means everything is all right, right? In a very real sense the answer to that question is yes, for you everything is all right. Everything being all right does not, however, mean that your life on earth will be physically better. Probably it will get much worse, for those who choose not to love will be doubly hard on those who do. If you love someone you will not hit them when they strike you. You will give them food, and drink, and shelter even if they hate you and even if you end up not having enough for yourself. If you love them you will help them when they are sick, even if they have cheated you and cursed your stupidity. You will love them no matter what they do to you, with the knowledge that you are doing what all human beings can and should do.

 

What if the choice comes whether to kill someone, or be killed by them? The answer to that, and other questions less dramatic but as hard or harder to answer, is to be found in your knowledge and understanding of love. After you have completed your search, and know and understand love, you will have to decide for yourself whether or not our answer to the question about killing, as well as our answers to the many other difficult questions found in our book, are based on love, or not. We believe they are, but perhaps they are not.

 

Back to the question about killing or being killed. I cannot see how someone could choose to intentionally kill someone they love. It seems to me that if you love a person, you will never choose to do physical harm to them. If someone intends to kill you, the answer is not to kill them, rather it is to love that person with the hope that they will choose to love you, and not to harm you.

 

We believe that after you complete your search of heart, mind, and soul you will know and understand that if anything is true, it is true that every moment of their lives each and every human being can and should love each and every other human being. There is no question in my heart, mind, and soul, that every person should love every other person. Indeed, if every person chose to love every other person as they would have those people love them, if every person chose to love every other person as himself or herself, then each of us would do the very best that we could do for every human being in the world. There would be nothing more that we should do for each other, nothing more that we could do.

 

Difficult questions arise only because there are people who are unwilling to love each other. There are many people who chose not to love other people. There are many people who chose to hate other people. Even though it is a difficult answer, it seems intuitively clear to me that we should love those who love us and we should love those who hate us. The important thing to remember is that your answers to the millions of questions you face throughout your life must come from the knowledge and understanding of love that you will find when you complete your search of your heart, mind, and soul. You must be absolutely certain that you complete your search, and that you know and understand true, pure, real, love.

 

One essential warning, when faced with a hard question the normal human response is toward self-interest, with elaborate arguments to justify the answer and make it seem to be the result of love. The answer dictated by love is often (for some people almost always) very, very, hard to accept. Yet we are convinced that if you choose love you will accept the toughest of answers, and will find peace and hope in your decisions. At all times you must be absolutely certain that your answers are based on the knowledge and understanding of love you find in your heart, mind, and soul. You must be certain that you always choose true, pure, real, love.

 

If there is anything in life we can count on occurring without fail, it is physical death. The successful bank president, the champion athlete, the housewife, the famous, the unknown, every human being, you, I, die. While all acknowledge the certainty of their eventual demise, few think about death until they are faced with it. The simple fact of death is not news to anyone, yet the reality of its impending occurrence is ignored by virtually every living person. The very nature of human life denies death and shrouds it in the cloak of future events, events that are not yet real and need not be dealt with in the present. Living is too important and time consuming to be concerned with mortality. The fact that you are moving steadily toward your death is most likely, and literally, to be the last thing on your mind.

 

Observing the inevitable death of every creature that inhabits the earth, we may have a recurrent feeling that death is the end. On the other hand, it is virtually inconceivable to us that all we are, all we have been, all we will be, will be rendered void in that moment of death. It goes against human nature to visualize the effective destruction of our past, present, and future, which accompanies death without existence beyond death. Yet if each human being does cease to exist, then all human beings are, or in the case of generations yet unborn will be, waiting their turn to cease existing. If each and every human being ceases to be, then the feeling of continuity that pervades the human race is false (please note - we do not believe that life is in fact destroyed by physical death – if you are in anyway whatsoever disturbed by our comments please immediately read the discussion in our book or Lifenotes that explains why there is absolutely no reason to be distressed).

 

In their arguments for humanism, existentialism, etc., philosophers have spent lifetimes trying to construct a difference between the apparent continuity of humankind, and the periodic death of individual humans. Most of us think of our ancestors as a link to the past, and our children as a link to the future, yet if we do not survive the grave each generation dies an isolated death that mocks any assertion that humankind has a continuing existence apart from its individual members. If each person's death results in their no longer existing, then no manner of historical recording, social progression, or other remembrance in the minds of those whose time to die is yet to come, can in any way affect, preserve, or make any difference whatsoever to those who no longer are. No one will survive to remember. If each of us ceases to be, then your life has no meaning and your choices make no difference.

 

We admit that this logic seems counter intuitive, and even wrong, but if we are willing to dissociate ourselves from the incredible biologic urge for self-preservation, both of the individual and the species, and are willing to apply purely objective reasoning, the logical conclusion, while discomforting, is perhaps inevitable (please note that there is at least one possible logical loophole, based on Einstein’s theory of relativity and the nature of spacetime, that we discuss in our book that might give permanent meaning and value to a finite physical life). This is a very difficult conclusion to accept, it goes against our intuitive feelings about the continuity of human life, and against our assumptions that individual physical lives have some kind of meaning and value. Yet if we are little more than doomed animals, our intuitive feeling of meaning and value would not be surprising. From the very beginning, to assure survival of any species, evolution would certainly have instilled in living creatures the feeling that there is a reason for them to exist, a reason for them to crawl out of the ocean and build cities. If there is no life after death, and our lives are in fact consumed by "nothing", it is no wonder that our genetic heritage argues so strongly against that possibility (again, we believe that life in fact does have meaning and value).

 

What should our response be to all of this? We strongly believe that there is absolutely no reason not to live for the possibility that life has meaning and value. We think we are right about the transitory nature of physical consciousness, but we may be wrong. If our conclusions are wrong, perhaps we do in fact have a physical consciousness that survives physical death. If we are wrong, we may have a perpetual physical existence that gives meaning and value to our physical lives, even if there is no non-physical life after death. We will not pursue this possibility, yet you should recognize that it exists.

 

If we are right, if our physical consciousness does not survive physical death, our death may mark the end of our existence, and our past, present, and future may be annihilated. Yet if our physical consciousness dies, it is still quite possible that we will not face a "nihilistic" death. Perhaps we have a non-physical consciousness that survives physical death, and that gives meaning and value to our lives.

 

Beyond the human desire for meaning in life, we would suggest that the logical consequence of what philosophers call a nihilistic death, "requires" the search for alternatives to nihilism. Those who believe that the nihilistic void is approaching are, by the very nature of their humanity, required to search for something to believe in other than the void. While it appears to be impossible to scientifically prove that life has meaning and value, it is equally impossible to prove that life has no meaning and value. No matter what the person who believes that life is meaningless may believe to be true at any particular time in their life, the possibility always exists that he or she may eventually find true meaning and value in their life.

 

There is no reason to be a "nihilist", no reason to believe that life ends at death. If nihilism is correct, if life does end at death, it makes no difference whatsoever if we believe it is correct, or not. If we believe nihilism is correct, and it is correct, that does not alter the void that would follow death. If we believe nihilism is not correct, and it is correct, that does not alter the void that would follow death. If we do not believe anything at all about nihilism, and it is correct, that does not alter the void that would follow death. Yet if nihilism is not correct, belief and/or faith in that which offers a reason for living, belief and/or faith in a life after physical death, may well be essential to our existence. If because we believe nihilism is correct we accept the void, and we are wrong, then we have doomed ourselves. If we recognize that the humanistic belief that there is no life after death leads to the nihilistic conclusion that the "void" will consume past, present, and future, then to escape the quicksand of nihilistic time we must search for alternatives that provide a reason for living.

 

If it is true that your existence ends with physical death, does that mean that your life is meaningless? As we have said, the answer is probably (but not “certainly”) yes. Therefore, is it true that your life has no meaning? The answer is a qualified no. If we are somehow more than our physical bodies, if we can exist beyond and apart from those bodies, then perhaps each of us survives physical death and continues to exist, in some manner and form, beyond the grave. If you are, or you become through living, a unique individual who possesses the ability to engage in rational thought and exercise freedom of choice transcending biological processes of determinism, perhaps you have an existence beyond your physical mind and body, perhaps not.

 

If and when you complete your search and know and understand love, you will know what your life could be like both now and after death, and you will be able to choose whether or not you want to have faith that love is worth living for now and after death. You may choose to have faith that your life has meaning and purpose. You may find that you want to have faith your life will not end at the grave. You may choose to live the kind of life now you hope you will live after death. You may decide that there is "good" in this life that makes it worth having faith in a life after death.

 

If life ends with physical death, perhaps the proper response to hate would not be love, but would be some form of resistance to hate that minimizes its influence on others? Yet that cannot be, for we have already said if existence ends with physical death nothing we do really matters at all, so any response, or no response, would be equally acceptable. But what if life continues after death, would it matter what we do when faced with hate?

 

If life exists beyond the grave, and if love is the best part of life in this world, does it not seem intuitively likely that if life after death is to be good it will be an existence filled with love? Of course we are dealing with questions beyond human ability to answer, we are in fact in the murky area where intellect, insight, and intuition blend with belief and faith. There is no way at all we can say anything concrete about what life after death may or may not be like. Yet there exists a "feeling" that at least a portion of whatever lies beyond the grave, if anything, possesses the positive characteristics of life in this world. If we come to believe the most positive aspect of life is love, then the jump to postulating a life after death filled with love seems to be, for some reason, a rather comfortable assumption. It is beyond human ability to know whether that assumption is based on a realistic interpretation of our existence, or whether it is an illusory fairy tale of immortality based on what our minds would like to be true. Even though we will not know if anything lies beyond physical death until we die, it somehow seems intuitively likely that there may be a life after death, and that it may be a life that is filled with love.

 

If love is the best part of life in this world, if love is worth living for, and if we can always choose to love, then it would seem that we should never choose not to love. It seems intuitively likely that if we choose to love while we are living, then if we continue to exist after our death we will enter a world filled with love. Conversely, it seems intuitively likely that if we do not choose to love while we are living, then on our death we will not enter a world filled with love. If we do not choose to love, it seems intuitively likely that if we continue to exist after death our eternity would somehow be a loveless one. If we believe that love is worth living for, then an endless existence devoid of love is the worst possible existence imaginable. It would be an inescapable, tortured existence, totally without that which is worth living for, love.

 

So what is our answer? If life exists after physical death, and if you choose love you may on your physical death enter a world filled with love, and if it is always your choice in this world to love or not to love, then it would seem that you should always choose love.

 

If love is worth living for in this life, it is worth living for in whatever life may follow death. If it is possible that we continue to exist after death, it would seem that we should love now with the hope that when we die we will pass into a life where love will not only continue, but will be shared by all who join us there.

 

Throughout human history there has existed in the majority of people a belief in some power, existence, a logical presence beyond human existence, a God (or gods). During at least the past few thousand years there has appeared in many cultures a belief in a God who is good, a God who wants human beings to do that which is good. Those who have completed their search of their heart, mind, and soul, know and understand love. Those who have completed their search know and understand in their heart, mind, and soul that it is good for people to love each other. Many who believe that a God exists who wants people to do that which is good, believe that God wants people to love each other. This belief in a God who wants people to love each other has its roots in intuitive feelings of humankind, in messages of prophets, and for those who believe in Jesus, in the word of God. There will always be arguments that the messages are messages made up by the messengers, yet from all that we have discussed, from all that those who have completed their search know and understand about love, it seems that if God does exist the message from him would be for us to love one another, precisely what we are told it is.

 

There is, I believe, in most of us a feeling that perhaps God does exist. That feeling may be insight, or it may be the result of a collective deep seeded desperation in human beings to be more than doomed animals. We will not know until our death, the definitive answer forever prohibited us by the limits imposed by our being no more than a part of that which we seek to explore. We are forbidden the ultimate knowledge, leaving us forever poised at the point where faith must take over if we are to believe in the existence of God.

 

Perhaps the "logical" selections that appear to take place in nature cannot be explained by physical processes, but rather represent actions taken by some indescribable presence, God, perhaps not. It seems to me, no matter what their predisposition's are toward the existence of God, future generations of scientists will find themselves faced with the necessity of postulating an intelligence which somehow directs natural events. Of course, scientific theories would not prove nor disprove the existence of God, we simply cannot scientifically prove God does or does not exist. We may "believe" that God exists, yet rather than belief, is the existence of God something we should have "faith in"?

 

Having faith something is true is far more than believing it is true. Faith comes from your heart, mind, and soul, it is beyond adequate definition. We can say that those who have faith accept as true what they choose to believe is true, at least until proven beyond doubt to be untrue. Yet if you realize what it means to say that nothing can be totally proved or disproved, then what you choose to have faith in is in fact what you choose to accept as true for the rest of your life. What you have faith in is not simply what you believe to be true, but rather what you choose to believe is true because in your heart, mind, and soul, you want it to be true. You decide what you will have faith in, what you want to be true. Having faith that something is true does not make it true, if it is not true, it is not true. Yet if what you have faith in is in fact true, it is true, period.

 

Why should you have faith God exists? If the message about God had been that he wanted wars or sacrifices or other manner of destruction, then there would be little reason to have faith in him. But the message was and is that God wants every human being to do that which is good.  The message was and is that God wants every human being to love every other human being. In our heart, mind, and soul we know and understand love. In our heart, mind, and soul we know and understand that it is "good" for each of us to love each other. If you have not completed your search of your heart, mind, and soul, if you do not yet understand that it is good to love each other, if you do not yet understand that we can and should do that which is good, then you will find it very difficult to find a reason to have faith in the existence of God. But if you have searched your heart, mind, soul, your very being, and know and understand love, you should find it worth having faith that a God exists who wants all people to do that which is good, a God who wants all people to love each other. For if God exists he exists, period.

       

In your heart, mind, and soul you know and understand that if God exists, God is good. Why do we say that if God exists, God is good? In your heart, mind, and soul, you know and understand that if a presence greater than all else in this universe, a Supreme Being, God, exists, God is good. In your heart, mind, and soul, you know and understand that the love that is in your heart, mind, and soul is good. In your heart, mind, and soul, you know and understand that if a Supreme Being, God exists, then it is that Supreme Being, God, who has given you the love that is in your heart, mind, and soul.

 

Saying that if God exists, God is good, does not "prove" that God exists, it does not even say that God exists. It says that if God exists, God is good, period. It says that if God exists, God is good, and that he wants each and every person to do that which is good. Even if you do not believe that God exists, or you are not sure what the "good" is that God would have us do in this world, in your heart, mind, and soul you know and understand that if God exists, God is good.

 

If you do not want evil to have power over good, if you do not want evil to fill the world instead of good, I cannot imagine why you would not choose to have absolute faith that if the presence greater than all else in this universe, the Supreme Being, God, exists, God is good. Whether you believe that God exists or does not exist, if you do not want to reject good and embrace evil, if you are not against good, you should have absolute faith that if God exists, God is good. There is absolutely no reason not to have absolute faith that if God exists, God is good. I have absolute faith that if God exists, God is good. You can and should have absolute faith that if God exists, God is good.

 

In our heart, mind, and soul, each of us knows and understands that if God exists, God is good. In our heart, mind, and soul, each of us knows and understands that if God exists, God wants every human being to do that which is good. The question is not "If God exists what would God have us do?", for in our heart, mind, and soul we know and understand that God would have us do that which is good. The question is, if God exists "What is the good that God would have us do?”

 

I have almost absolute faith that every human being who has completed their search of their heart, mind, and soul, knows and understands the love that is in their heart, mind, and soul. I have almost absolute faith that every human being who knows and understands the love that is in their heart, mind, and soul, knows and understands that it is good for each and every human being to love each and every other human being. I have almost absolute faith that every human being who has completed their search of their heart, mind, and soul, and who knows and understands the love that is in their heart, mind, and soul, knows and understands that if God exists God would have each and every human being love each and every other human being.

 

If physical death annihilates our physical past, present, and future, then our life has meaning and purpose and value only if after our physical death our consciousness continues to exist in a non-physical life. We cannot prove that we continue, or do not continue, to exist after our physical death. Indeed there may be no life after death, and your life may have no meaning and value. Yet if there is a life after death, then you do continue to experience a non-physical existence after your physical death, and your life may in fact have meaning and value.

 

If God exists, God is good. If God exists, perhaps God gives each of us a non-physical life after death, so that our life both before and after physical death has meaning and value. If God in some manner beyond human comprehension grants existence to human beings even after the death of their bodies, then and only then life becomes more than a brief, isolated event. Then, and only then, life and love have meaning and purpose, we can do that which is good, and life is worth living.

 

Is it possible that even if God does not exist, there may be a non-physical life after death that gives meaning and value to our life? The intuitive answer seems to be no. I cannot imagine a human spirit that survives death if there is no presence beyond life other than human spirits, if there is no Spirit greater than the human soul. I do not believe that the only non-physical presence in the universe can be the human soul. I intuitively believe that if there is no Spirit greater than the human spirit, then there is no human soul, and we do in fact cease to exist on our death.

 

If there is no non-physical Spirit greater than the human soul, if there is no God, it makes no sense to conclude that a physical being born into our physical world has at birth, or somehow develops, a non-physical soul. I can see no possible way that a physical human being, who is a tiny part of an unimaginably huge universe, can survive physical death if there is no Spirit, no God, to grant that "physical being", in some manner and fashion beyond our understanding, a non-physical soul and life. It somehow seems intuitively true that without God there would be no reason to believe that we possess a "consciousness" that continues to exist beyond the death of our bodies, no reason to have hope that after our death we may live forever in a non-physical world. Even though it cannot be proven, it seems intuitively clear that if God does not exist then there is no life after death.

 

Similarly, it seems intuitively clear that if God does not exist there is no "heaven", no life after death, that is good. It is intuitively impossible for me to imagine the existence of a life after death in a heaven where there is no Spirit greater than the human soul, where God is not present. I cannot imagine a heaven filled with perfect love that is "created" or "sustained" by imperfect human souls, who during their physical lives repeatedly fail to choose love. It would seem that only God, the One who is good, the One who is perfect, the One who loves with perfect love, could forgive human sins so that heaven would be filled with love. I cannot imagine a heaven filled with real, true, pure, love without the presence in heaven of One who loves with perfect love, without the presence of One who is good. Without the presence of God who loves with perfect love, I cannot envision a heaven where human beings share real, true, pure, love. I cannot "prove" anything to be true, yet it seems intuitively clear that if God does not exist, there is no heaven.

 

I simply do not believe that there is a life after death in a heaven filled with love if God, the One who is good, the One who is perfect, the One who loves with perfect love, does not exist. It would seem that without God each of us ceases to exist on the day of our death, annihilating our past, present, and future. It somehow seems intuitively true that without God, good and love and life are empty ideas that live and die with each human being.

 

Perhaps God has "revealed" to all or some of us that he exists. Yet even if God has not "revealed" this to you, he has given you the choice to have faith or not to have faith that he exists. Why should you have faith that God exists? We have said that we should have absolute faith that if God exists God is good, and we should have absolute faith that God would have us do that which is good. Should we have faith that God exists because if God exists, God is good? I believe the answer to that question is that if we want to do good, we should have faith that God exists. If we want good to exist and have meaning, if we want to do that which is good, we should have faith that the Supreme Being, the One who is good, God, exists.

 

If God exists, God is good. If we want to do good, we should have faith that God exists. Should we love God because if God exists, God is good? The answer is that if we want good to exist and have meaning, if we want to do that which is good, we should have faith in God, and we should love God, the Supreme Being, the One who is good.

 

If God does not exist, good and love and life are meaningless and have no value. If love among people is good and meaningful and has purpose, it is good and meaningful and has purpose only if God exists and only because of God. It should be clear to all who want to do that which is good that they should have faith that God exists, and that they should love God, the One who is good. It should be clear to all who believe that loving people is good, and who want to love their neighbor, that they should have faith in God, and love God, the One who is good, the One alone who gives meaning and purpose and value to love and to life.

 

If God makes it good for us to love each other in this life and in a world after death, and thus makes life worth living, then his existence alone gives us hope. It is right to have faith in God and to love God, the One who is good. It is right to have faith in God and to love God, for without him love would be no more than one of many emotions that die with those who embrace them. Without God each of us would cease to exist, making all the love we gave and received during our lifetimes empty and totally useless. Without God love would be destroyed by physical death and life would have absolutely no meaning or purpose. Without God, good and life and love have no meaning, or purpose, or value. Without God there would be no reason for living.

 

When you complete your search of your heart, mind, and soul, you will know and understand that you should have faith in God and love God because God is good. When you complete your search of your heart, mind, and soul, you will know and understand love, and you will know and understand that you should have faith in God and love God because God gives meaning and purpose to love and to life. You will know and understand that the existence of God gives meaning and value to a "good" life on earth, and gives us hope for a "good" life after death. You should love God for making life worth living by giving us love in this world, and by giving us hope for a world after death that is filled with love.

 

If God exists, God is good. You should love God with the greatest love you can give. I have absolute faith that you should love God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, all your strength. You should love God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, all your strength, for God alone makes it meaningful and right and good for us to love him and to love each other. You should love God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, all your strength, for God alone gives us hope that if we love him and love each other we will live forever in a joyous communion of love. If you love God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, all your strength, you have chosen to do that which you can do, you can do no more, you should do no less. If you love God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, all your strength, you will do what God wants you to do, you will love your neighbor as yourself.

 

We have completed a full circle back to the question, what is the meaning and purpose of life, yet it has become the question, should we believe God exists and have faith in him and love him? We have suggested that the reason we should have faith in and love God is because if God exists, God is good, he wants us to love him and to love each other, and he gives meaning and purpose to life and love. A "why not" argument can be made that if God does not exist nihilists are probably right and death is the end, but since God might exist we should do what he would want us to do or we might end up tortured in some form of eternal punishment. That play it safe logic sounds good in theory, yet it leaves us with a feeling that those who love to avoid punishment don't really love at all. If we are to have faith in God, and love as he would have us love, we must choose to love him because we want to love as he would have us love, not because we want to avoid the consequences of not loving.

 

After you have searched your heart, mind, and soul and know and understand love, you must choose whether or not to believe that there is nothing in the world better than people loving other people. If you truly know and understand love I believe you will agree if anything in life is worth living for, love is worth living for. If you agree love is worth living for, and if love has meaning only if God exists, then you must choose whether or not to live for the one hope for human beings, that God exists. You should not have faith in God because you want to avoid eternal punishment. You should have faith in God and love God, because God is good. You should have faith in God and love God because you want to do that which is good, you want to love God and your neighbor.

 

If we love as God would have us love, what will happen to us after our physical death? Think about the real, true, pure, love you found when you searched your heart, mind, and soul, and you will know and understand what love in heaven would be like. I have absolute faith that if God exists, and if there is a heaven, then if we choose to do God's will, we will live forever in heaven in the presence of God, the One alone who is good. After one moment in heaven, we will know that every single moment of our existence, for the rest of eternity, will be filled with the joy of real, true, pure love. We will know that our entire being will be totally filled with real, true, pure love, forever. All the illness, pain, and sorrow we experienced during our life on earth will vanish completely. In an instant, memories of even the worst tortures that happened to us before our death will be overwhelmed by the love that surrounds us, and will "disappear" forever. We will exist in the presence of real, true, pure, perfect love, forever. We will exist in the presence of God.

 

If the existence of God is your one hope for an eternal life of love, and if you believe love is good, and if you want to love your neighbor, you will choose to have faith in God and to love God, the One who is good. If you want to love your neighbor, you will choose to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, for without God your desire to love any person is an empty dream that ends at the grave. If you love God you will do what he wants you to do, you will love your neighbor as God would have you love, you will love your neighbor as yourself. To love God and your neighbor is right and good, it gives meaning and purpose to life, it makes life worth living.

 

Answers to the many questions life poses may now be found by those who truly know and understand love. Yet knowing the answers does not mean you will choose love. If you believe love is good, you must decide whether or not you want to love. The alternatives to faith in God and to love are tempting. Many, if not most, people will choose them.

 

Just as it is your choice to love people or not to love people, it is your choice to love God or not to love God. The choice is yours, and yours alone. I can only hope you choose, every single moment of your lives, to have faith in God and to love as he would have you love. I truly believe if you know and understand love and want to do good you will choose to love God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, and with all your strength, and you will choose to love your neighbor as yourself. This is the complete answer to all questions.

 

I have absolute faith that if God exists, God is good. I have absolute faith that if God exists, God is perfect. I have absolute faith that if God exists, it is God’s will that each and every one of us do that which is good. If God exists, it is God’s will that each and every one of us be perfect. If you do God’s will, you will love God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, and with all your strength, and you will love your neighbor as yourself.

 

If you think about it for a few minutes, you should realize that if you love God and your neighbor you will in every instance do the best you can to do what is right. That is all you can do, that is all God requires. Certainly loving God means you will help your neighbors when they are in need of help. Perhaps you will decide that if you love God you must be baptized and observe communion, perhaps not. Perhaps you will decide loving God requires you to make many changes in your religious beliefs, perhaps not. When you choose to love God and your neighbor, every choice you make will be made out of love. It is the choice to love God as he would have you love him, and out of that love to love people as he would have you love them, that is the one important choice, all other choices will be governed by that one profound decision. To love God and our neighbor as God would have us love is the complete answer to all our questions.

 

I have absolute faith that if God exists, God is good. I have absolute faith that if God exists, God does that which is good. I have absolute faith that if God exists, God would have us do that which is good. I have absolute faith that if God exists, and if there is a heaven, then if we do God's will, after our death we will live forever in a heaven filled with joy. Even if I am wrong about what it is that we should do if we choose to do God's will, I have absolute faith that if God exists, we should do God's will. If you complete your search of your heart, mind, and soul, you will know and understand what God would have you do. You must be absolutely certain that you complete your search of your heart, mind, and soul, and know and understand the love that God has given us. You must be absolutely certain that you complete your search of your heart, mind, and soul, and know and understand and do God’s will.

 

We have talked about existence after death, love, and God, and now we have come to a point where you will make choices and decisions about what you have read, for even if you do nothing you have made your choice. I believe all we have discussed is so deeply a part of human existence that you must search your heart, mind, and soul to know and understand what we have been talking about. I believe that you must search your heart, mind, and soul to know and understand love. I believe that if you complete your search, you will find in your heart, mind, and soul, the love God has given us, you will find the reason for living. At all times you must be absolutely certain that you have completed your search, and that each of your answers is based on the knowledge and understanding of the love that God has given you that is in your heart, mind, and soul. If you choose to love as God would have you love, you will accept the most difficult of answers, and you will find peace and hope in your choices and decisions.

 

I have almost absolute faith that when you have completed your search of your heart and mind and soul, you will know and understand that you can and should "love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength" and "love your neighbor as yourself". You will know and understand that it is your choice, now and for every moment of the rest of your life on earth, to believe and have faith in God and to love as he would have you love, or not. You will know and understand that if there is a heaven, if you love as God would have you love, you will live a life worth living on this earth, and after your physical death you will live an endless, joyful, life in heaven in the presence of God, the One who is good.

 

After many, many years of thought and discussion, I believe that there are many difficult questions which have answers that are unclear, uncertain, or unknown; that there are many thoughts and ideas that language cannot adequately express; that there is knowledge beyond human ability to know; that we cannot "prove" anything unless truth is revealed to us; etc. After completing my search of my heart, my mind, and my soul, I believe that we do not need to answer all the difficult questions, express in words all that we intuitively feel, know what we cannot know, "prove" what is beyond human ability to prove, etc.

 

      I have absolute faith that if God exists, God is good.

 

      I have absolute faith that if God exists, God would have us do that which is good.

 

      I have absolute faith that if God exists, and if there is a heaven, if we choose to do that which God would have us do, after our death we will live forever in heaven in the presence of God, the One who is good.

 

      I have almost absolute faith that if you complete your search of your heart, mind, and soul, your very being, you will know and understand the love that God has given us, and you will know and understand that you can and should "love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength" and "love your neighbor as yourself", nothing more, nothing less, period.

 

      You will make your choice.

 

      Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. Love your neighbor as yourself.

 

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There is no question that you can choose to love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. There is also no question that you should choose to love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. What if you choose to love God with less than all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength, and to love your neighbor less than yourself?

 

It is wrong to choose not to love as God would have us love, yet most of us will do just that. It seems that the vast majority of people do not choose to love as God would have them love. God would have you love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. There is never any reason not to love as God would have you love, period.

 

You can and should love as God would have you love. I believe that if you are unwilling to love God and your neighbors as God commands, you can choose to love God with a lesser love, you can choose to love God with as much of your heart, your soul, your mind, and your strength as you are willing to love him with, and you can choose to love your neighbors with a lesser love, you can choose to love your neighbor as much as yourself as you are willing to love them. Perhaps God will forgive you for not having loved as he would have you love if you choose to love him and your neighbors, perhaps not.