Heroes Not Zombies

Isn’t this window beautiful?

There are some windows which are simply beautiful even when you can’t see through them to what lies beyond. I think I find round, or arched, windows especially appealing. Can you think of any windows which you really like?

What this image does for me is set off a train of thought about how we frame our views of reality. Is that a big leap for you? Stick with me for a moment…..

Have you ever noticed how your mood or mindset seems to influence what you see on a particular day. If you’re feeling a bit sad, you might notice other sad people, come across sad scenes, or feel that everything around you is bleak and grey. On the other hand, when you’re feeling happy, it can seem the world is full of delights and smiling people. You get the idea…

But it’s more than mood that creates a frame of mind. Our beliefs do that too. I think you can see that with luck. People who feel lucky, get lucky. People who consider themselves unlucky, get plenty of opportunities to confirm that. Which raises an important point….what beliefs are you carrying around with you – about yourself, about others, about the world?

My daily experience is that people are kind and friendly. I’m sure that’s partly because I believe that, at heart, most people are indeed kind and friendly. Of course I come across some people who are quite the opposite. I know they exist. But, in my life, they are by far the minority.

So here’s my question to you….do you believe the universe is a friendly place?

Actually, it was Einstein who first posed that question.

For if we decide that the universe is an unfriendly place, then we will use our technology, our scientific discoveries and our natural resources to achieve safety and power by creating bigger walls to keep out the unfriendliness and bigger weapons to destroy all that which is unfriendly and I believe that we are getting to a place where technology is powerful enough that we may either completely isolate or destroy ourselves as well in this process.

“If we decide that the universe is neither friendly nor unfriendly and that God is essentially ‘playing dice with the universe’, then we are simply victims to the random toss of the dice and our lives have no real purpose or meaning.

“But if we decide that the universe is a friendly place, then we will use our technology, our scientific discoveries and our natural resources to create tools and models for understanding that universe. Because power and safety will come through understanding its workings and its motives.”

“God does not play dice with the universe,”