Something has bothered me all my life. I can accept that this universe, random as it seems, has a purpose. I look around me and see that we humans are the only ones on the earth. or anywhere else, who can reason and make choices that affect our lives. We are capable of great good, but we can wage war with each other when we disagree, such as Iraq, Viet-Nam, WWII, and WWI. Humans may not be so sophisticated after all. When all exploded in a Big Bang, into what did all that matter explode? If it exploded into nothing, then nothing is something. If that is true, what are the properties of nothing? I have come to believe that time is like a balloon, with boundaries and is ever expanding. I use logic for this and not science, although scientific proof would be better. Everything we know, all matter, and time had a beginning and will have an end. Humans are the only species capable of reflecting on time and come up with spirituality as a way to provide a look at all of reality. Why is that? Time is so integral to life, and spirituality is critical to our future. I hope that this book will spark some further examination from you. All reality is evolving. There is one reality, but it has three dimensions, or universes. These three universes are qualitatively and quantitatively different, so we must use different methods of measurement to examine each one properly. All of this leads up to a way to look at one reality using science, philosophy and religion as lenses that are not at cross purposes, but actual enhance each other. I wrote this book to look at the Four Epochs of time, and how one person, with a simple "Yes," made a difference in our evolution and changed time itself. You have all the time there is during your lifetime to learn how to live...Forever. The spiritual universe began with a free choice by a human, Mary, the Mother of God. Her response, "Yes," to God's invitation to be the mother of the Master was so powerful, that it changed time itself. A new paradigm began with just one word, just as did creation in Genesis. Another paradigm shift happened with the woman who changed time with a simple "Let it be." I suggest that this shift in time happened in the spiritual universe, not the physical or mental ones. Like a shift in our polar caps, North became South. Now, spirituality is not at all like the world we live in, even though it looks the same. We find ourselves on an earth composed of matter and energy, the platform where we try to discover meaning. Why is that? Humans discovered science, philosophy, poetry, psychology, mathematics, psychology, literature, and spirituality for a reason. Why is that? Humans find themselves using their minds to ask why, and how, and why not? Why is that? Only humans emerged from the grand sprint for meaning, from all life forms that went before. Why is that? Humans had to be helped, not only to choose, but to choose what is correct. Pure energy took the form of a human and intervened in our universe to show us how to do that. Why is that? Mary was the human point-person to make that choice for all humanity, and she chose life, the life of contradictions. Why is that? To solve the mystery of reality, science, reason, and spirituality must learn to share the same dining room. There is one reality and to be fully human, we must see all of it, not just matter (physical universe, nor meaning (mental universe) but the product of all this energy--love and relationship. This in not the love that we hear about in our normal patterns of behavior, but something that is opposite. We find love because someone love us more fiercely than any human could. Read Philippians 2:5-12 to discover the polar opposite of love and how this is love beyond anything that exists in all of our universes. Spirituality, in this context, allows each of us to practice how to love so that we can prepare to continue it in Heaven after we die.
About the Author: ABOUT THE AUTHOR Michael F. Conrad, B.S., M.R.E., Ed.D., is retired from a full life of trying to make money, seek fame and recognition by the world, all without much success. Coming to his senses, even after the age of 70, he now struggles to have in him the mind of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 2:5-12) Still running the race and searching for the prize, he has had a lifetime of activities to help him in his quest: he is proud to have been a U.S. Army Chaplain, pastor of parish ministry, adjunct instructor of Adult Education at Indiana University (Bloomington) and University of South Florida (Tampa) and Barry University (Florida), high school instructor of religion, trainer of managers and supervisors, adjunct trainer for the Florida Certified Public Manager program, instructional designer for the State of Florida, former Florida Supreme Court Certified Family Mediator, and currently a publisher, blogger and author. He has been accepted as a Lay Cistercian member of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery, Conyers, Georgia, proud father of a daughter, and a humble husband.