THE RATIONAL RELIGION OF PERMAN WILSON

MY RATIONAL RELIGION: 

I believe in nature, humanity, and my own mind. 

In order to survive and thrive, I have to learn and obey the laws of nature.

To get along well with other good and fair people, I engage responsibly in good and fair social agreements.

I must persistently use my own mind to learn and improve in order to be healthy, happy and wholesome. 

To put my rational religion into the best operative perspective for myself, I have chosen to believe that my God is a trinity--nature, humanity and my own mind. 

Unlike most people who use the name, 'God,' I have a rational definition for the concept. 

I define 'god' to mean ruler. 

When I write the name 'God' with a capital 'G,' I am referring to each one of the elements in my trinity working together in harmony. 

Thus, for me: (1) NATURE is god of this universe. (2) HUMANITY is god of this planet. (3) MY OWN MIND is god of my own body.

KNOWLEDGE VS. WISDOM

KNOWLEDGE comes from INFORMATION or OBSERVATION.

WISDOM comes from CRITICALLY THINKING about knowledge.

BUT WHAT IS CRITICAL THINKING?

Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness.

It entails the examination of those structures or elements of thought implicit in all reasoning: purpose, problem, or question-at-issue; assumptions; concepts; empirical grounding; reasoning leading to conclusions; implications and consequences; objections from alternative viewpoints; and frame of reference. Critical thinking — in being responsive to variable subject matter, issues, and purposes — is incorporated in a family of interwoven modes of thinking, among them: scientific thinking, mathematical thinking, historical thinking, anthropological thinking, economic thinking, moral thinking, and philosophical thinking.

WHAT EXACTLY IS ATHEISM?

Some people have a gross misconception as to what atheism is or means.

Atheism is NOT a religion or philosophy or belief.

Atheism  IS a non-belief in theism.

Theism is a belief in a supernatural god.

So, ATHEISM has no belief to defend. It is simply A NON-BELIEF IN THEISM.

WHY I CALL NATURE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE

NATURE is the first cause of any existence.

Nature has no beginning and no end. 

Although life exists in it, nature is not life itself, and it is mechanical--that is, it does not think or feel as human beings do; however, scientists strive to discover its laws, and technicians use the laws that scientists discover.

If persons or groups do not obey or conform to the laws of nature, then they will cease to exist.

MAKING AND BREAKING HABITS & ATTITUDES

Let's start with with two key terms: 'conditioning' and 'stimulus.' Professional psychologists have referred to the common term 'habit' as 'conditioning.' A stimulus (stimuli is plural) is a term that refers to the cause of an action, reaction, or response.

The following information is from a great book about self-improvement, entitled: 'The New Psycho-Cybernetics.' The author of this great book is Maxwell Maltz, M.D., F.I.C.S.:

In much the same way that you automatically obey or respond to the ring of the telephone, we all become conditioned to respond in a certain way to various stimuli in our environment.

The word "conditioning" in psychological circles grew out of Pavlov's well-known experiments where he "conditioned" a dog to salivate at the sound of a bell, by ringing it just before presenting food to the dog.

This procedure was repeated many times. First, the sound of the bell. A few seconds later, the appearance of food. The dog "learned" to respond to the sound of the bell by salivating in anticipation of the food.

Originally, the response made sense, the bell signified that food was forthcoming, and the dog got ready by salivating. However, after the process was repeated a number of times, the dog would continue to salivate whenever the bell was rung, whether or not food was immediately forthcoming. The dog had now become "conditioned" to salivate at the mere sound of the bell. Its response made no sense and served no good purpose, but it continued to respond in the same way out of habit.

There are a great many "bells," or disturbing stimuli, in our various environmental situations, to which we have become conditioned to and to which we continue to respond out of habit, whether or not the response makes any sense. But you are NOT a poor, dumb animal who must go through life so unwittingly and easily manipulated and controlled. You ARE a human being with creative powers, with the power of rational thinking, with the ability to assert yourself. YOU MUST DECIDE to be "worked like a dog" or to be your own person, to be controlled or to be in control. This is a decision with far-reaching consequences. It is the answer to the question, how can I get respect in a disrespectful world?