Closing Thoughts

The purpose of a philosophy is to enrich human life. Right away this indicates that an enriched life is not a normal animal life. An animal does what it wants, when it wants, and as much as it wants. In contrast, humans hold themselves in rein and guide their actions according to a code of ethics. This requires self discipline. Philosophy attempts to raise humanity above the lives of animals in hopes of a control that will bring about a better life. This endeavor is as old as religion itself. When I was a child, a wise man told me that Moses was fighting animalism with all his laws. Though Moses based his laws on a magic Will of God, one cannot seriously consider his work without sensing a relationship to reality which is true. This relationship has been rediscovered over and over by many individuals reading the Bible. This way of enriching life was ascribed to the Will of God, but was actually based on the experience of wise men. Wise men are people who have learned something from life.

Realistic Idealism proposes to enrich life by getting acquainted with our physiology and its evolution. This approach is justified in that better control is brought about by understanding the functions and the limitations of our bodies. That part of our body called our mind has evolved rapidly. In a mere two thousand years we have progressed from almost complete superstition to vast understanding under a canopy of Science.

Part of understanding is due to the compilation of knowledge during these two thousand years, especially the last one hundred years. The reason for this growing number of people who are capable of using this knowledge, is the rigorous elimination of the progeny of the less competent individuals combined with sexual mate selection with a proponent of intellectual veneration. Up to just a few hundreds of years ago, sexual mate selection was primarily due to the ability to survive environmental hardships, practices of war, and outright genocide. Two thousand years ago only a few people could read and write. Yet today, probably a half of the world's population is literate.

Literacy, as a human characteristic, has been achieved on many levels which are based on the capability of passing the evolutionary threshold of literacy. This threshold is collectively an individual's biological ability to recognize words, comprehend their meaning, and development of the social motivation to scholastically achieve. This is certainly not to underestimate the importance of the teacher. Technology has also held a role in the recent rapid advent of the education of the world's population: printing, transportation, the media, and, even the internet. Our collective understanding is so vast now that no one person can comprehend it all. We must accept the conclusions of selected experts without going into details. Some of the important information is at variance with our desires and dreams. To eliminate this discrepancy, we must not only understand, we must also be humble, and sometimes reevaluate our dreams.

The value of deep satisfaction should be appreciated over superficial gaiety. Happiness is better based on comprehension and accomplishment. This takes study and work. From this we might conclude that we have no inborn right to happiness. We must earn it.

We have dropped first magic, and later pure logic from our Measure of Truth. Our findings are recognized by us to be a continuum rather than a denial of anything that has led us up to now. The dissolution of superstition and logic is not inimical to reverence and worship of Nature. "Nature" is a natural outgrowth of the evolution of the concept of God. God did not die. Only superstition and it's founding logic died. We have only to make a transition from a superstitious belief in God to an objective understanding of God/Nature. The break has been slow and massive. It has not been smooth, but it has been continuous. Not all people can make the break. Their belief in magic and logic is unshakable.

Realistic Idealism is devoted to creative, sustaining, covenanted, and redemptive Scientific principles without superstition. The virtues of the creative principle are: love, beauty, work and mystery. The wondrous mysteries may never be completely solved. It is a truism that the Truth of reality may some day lessen poverty, disease, crime, and wars. The covenant is that if we study, learn, and abide life supporting scientific principles with identification, humility, and dedication, we may experience the richest, fullest, life that we are capable of attaining.

We might best end this book with a benediction.

Prayer is a constant rededication of ourselves to G*D, Man, and Nature.
Prayer is concentration, and concentration is prayer.
In prayer we can identify and isolate a problem.
Through repetition, we can concentrate on its why and where for.
We can keep our goals before our mind's eye and strive in those directions.
Prayer is not magic, but it works.
Prayer must be followed by our doing something to bring about our desires and needs.
In a prayer there is a question of what can I do to bring this desire to fruition?