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The Logic of Love
[Prologue|Intoduction]
[Table of Contents|Overview]
Prologue
The dress code at Phillips Exeter Academy required coats and ties above
the waist, but permitted jeans, even shorts, below the waist. This administratively
adopted schizophrenic approach to apparel represented an attempt at balancing
Ivy League intellects with adolescent bodies. The academics were advanced
and the facilities were fantastic, but aside from that, it had all the
same social dynamics as any other high school in America.
Culturally speaking, Exeter was the epitome of preppy, and anyone
who broke out of this stereotype assumed certain risks. Adolescence,
of course, provided a heaping helping of ostracism for deviants. But
attendance at Exeter was supposed to be a ticket to the good life. So,
the price of nonconformity had a premium attached. Nonconformity was
blasphemy because it meant a rare opportunity was being foolishly squandered.
We were being prepared for corporate culture. The name of the game was
Coloring Within The Lines.
Consequently, an expectation of the ordinary pervaded the student
body whenever student council presidential candidates gave their campaign
speeches. Our highest hope was to be amused. This usually came in the
form of watching a peer sweat under the pressure of public speaking.
They tried their best to be compelling, and we tried our best to be
polite. The only thing out of the ordinary the year my classmates were
running was that Scott Greene sat on stage, waiting his turn.
Scott was not your typical student. There was nothing preppy about
him. His hair was long. He often wore it under a bandanna tied gypsy
style. That's why Scott had been affectionately nicknamed Gypsy.
To those of us who knew him, he was a bright light of kindness. But
as a candidate in this race, he was a dark horse indeed.
When it was Scott's turn to speak, we could see immediately that his
agenda was bigger than the election. He was writhing with excitement
and consumed with passion. Neither protocol nor preparation could shepherd
him through the experience. With a certain degree of reluctance, he
apparently allowed a desperate muse to enter his body. He seemed both
possessed and self-aware.
At first, he tried to use the microphone. Then, he apologetically
cut loose from the tether and, stepping away from the lectern, made
sure that his natural voice could reach the ears of all those present.
Unprotected by the lectern's safe harbor, he began tacking back and
forth across the breadth of the stage. We all watched in amazement as
Scott sailed forth with a plea for a student body dedicated to the values
of love, honesty, and forgiveness. He spoke briefly on the importance
of these values as they related to student life and ended his talk by
affirming that his purpose was to deliver the message, not to get elected.
In less than one minute he accomplished what he had set out to do. So,
with touching humility, he thanked us for indulging him and returned
to his seat.
Scott won, and I learned something. Love transforms the individual
and transcends cultural differences. It empowers people and unifies
communities. Love accomplishes more than it sets out to do; it is the
self-created miracle in our lives. Scott's election inspired hope and
revealed the good in others. I had never witnessed a friend take such
an extraordinary stand for love. His willingness to do so opened the
doors of opportunity wider than imagination.
There is a direct connection between that day and this book. Scott
was a catalyst for helping me focus on what I had been striving to create
in my life. He took the ethereal sentiments of the heart and crystallized
them into expressible values. His courage was inspirational and his
election affirmed the transformational power of love. On that day I
learned that with love, anything is possible.
Thanks Scott.
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Introduction
The Logic of Love is written for those who embrace love - the desire
and willingness to do well for others - as the most important value in
life. The tools of logic are used to fabricate a paradigm of spiritual
family from the material of commonly shared experiences. This structure
is held together with love.
The Logic of Love demonstrates how faith in God can be
a logical extension of love. If you do not have faith in God, this book
offers an approach to faith that does not play upon your emotions or
ask you to believe testimonials. In fact, it is written from an agnostic
perspective. If you do have faith, but have trouble communicating to
others that this is reasonable, the ideas presented here can help you
express your faith to others as a logical and loving approach to life.
This is a conversation about spirituality that is based on nothing more
than love and freewill. It is not about trying to prove the existence
of God. It is about exploring the possibilities and making a choice.
My challenge is to use words such as love, God, and faith in
a clear and consistent manner. Though there is nothing unusual about
how I define these terms, for most people these words are loaded with
layers of personal meaning. We create individual definitions for words
relating to spirituality because these words reflect our own understanding
of life. Given the diversity of spiritual experience, we naturally allow
words to take on various shades of meanings. For now, please accept
the way I use these terms. My goal is not to create crystallized definitions
designed to transcend time. It is only to show how holding love as the
highest value can logically support faith in God.
This book presents an internally consistent theistic paradigm and
considers which of the three gnostic paradigms - atheism, agnosticism
or theism - best complements the value of love. It provides a foundation
for understanding that faith in God is not only a reasonable choice,
but also a choice that is a logical outgrowth of love. The internal
consistency of atheistic and agnostic paradigms is assumed and, therefore,
will not be explored in depth.
Valid reasons exist that admonish us to approach the subject of faith
cautiously. Life is filled with what seems like needless suffering.
Atrocities are, and always have been, committed in the name of God.
Religions have failed to co-exist peacefully with each other. Superficially,
the condition of our planet suggests that we do not enjoy the loving
care of an all-powerful, all-knowing God. There are reasons that make
faith in God look like a bad idea. But, if love is espoused as
the highest value in life, then I believe we can find even better
reasons for having faith. This is what I would like to share with you.
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Table of Contents
Prologue
Introduction
Part I: Defining Love, Logic, Freewill,
and God
- Love
- Reasoning and Experience
- Freewill
- God
- How To Safely Mix Love, Logic, Freewill, and God
Part II: Faith
- A Definition Beyond Words
- The Danger of Faith Based on Anecdotes
- The Knowledge-versus-Belief Dilemma
- Why Spiritual Beliefs Look Like Secular Knowledge
- Faith to Last a Lifetime
- Feeling Faithful versus Choosing Faith
- A Few Words to the Faithful
For The Love of Love
Intuitive Faith versus Logical Faith
Being A League Player
Part III: Transcending Obstacles
to Faith
- Religion
- Is Imperfection a Good Idea?
- It's Just Not Fair
And Justice for All
The Mercy of Nonintervention
- What Evil Lurks?
- It's a Matter of Proof
Part IV: Recognizing the Possibilities
- The Geometry Analogy
- Competing Paradigms
Part V: The Leap: Believing
Without Knowing
- The Nature of Faith as a Choice
- Freeing One's Self From Past Experience
- Love is the Greatest
- The Integrity of Faith-Beliefs
- Love is in the Present
Fear: The Seed of Selfishness
Letting Go of Judgment
- Join the Club
Part VI: Using the Word Father
for God
- Transforming the Generic God into a Name Brand
- Three Crucial Connotations
We Are Children Of God
We Are Persons With God
We Have Freewill
Part VII: Emotions and Attitude
- Spirituality and Emotions
- 3D Love
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Overview
Part I: Defining
Love, Logic, Freewill, and God
The beginning of wisdom is the definition
of terms. -Socrates
Why is it that proof of God's existence would
undermine freewill and our ability to know that love is real?
The answer to this question is found in the concluding chapter
of Part I. First, love, logic, freewill, and God
are defined. Though the definitions are common, the insights developed
out these definitions are not. The interrelation of these concepts
in Chapter 5 (How to Safely Mix Love, Logic, Freewill, and
God) sets up an appreciation for the nature of spiritual faith.
Back to Table of Contents
Part II: Faith
The material in Part II sorts through the differences
between belief and knowledge as these terms are applied in a spiritual
versus a secular context. It focuses on the implications of making
a decision that is intended to be a life-long re-affirmation of
belief. Additionally, Part II considers the propriety, when considering
faith in God, of accepting the testimony of others (in contrast
with relying on one's own thoughts and experiences). The last
chapter is addressed to those who already have faith. It highlights
the importance of progressively developing a love-motivated faith
and speaks to the value of experiencing faith as a logical extension
of love.
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Part III: Transcending
Obstacles to Faith
We must find a way of making sense of this world
as it is in order for faith to be appreciated as a logical
extension of love. At least on the surface, our world reeks with
reasons to believe there is no God. These reasons have plagued
people for ages in their attempts to find meaning in life and
vindication for love. The goal of Part III is to respect but also
to invalidate the reasoning that suggests our state of existence
is inconsistent with the concept of a loving God. Part III considers
the predominant objections to choosing to have faith in God. The
chapters in Part III cover the following issues:
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Atrocities committed in the name of God undermine
claims that God is a loving being.
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The inherent conditions of this world do not
reflect the creative hand of an omnipotent and loving God.
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The injustices that we suffer in life are
an affront to the belief that God is both omnipotent and loving.
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The existence of evil is inconsistent with
the belief that God is both omnipotent and loving.
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There can be no proof of God's existence.
Back to Table of Contents
Part IV: Recognizing the
Possibilities
At this point The Logic of Love has covered
the ground necessary to show that the concept of God is not
inconsistent with the conditions of this world and that the
existence of God is plausible. The next step is to consider atheism,
agnosticism, and theism (the "gnostic paradigms") as three internally
consistent but mutually exclusive paradigms. An analogy to geometry
is used to make this material crystal clear. It just so happens
that there are three internally consistent but mutually exclusive
models in geometry. No previous understanding of these geometric
models is necessary, and what needs to be explained is easily
understood!
Back to Table of Contents
Part V: The Leap: Believing
Without Knowing
Part IV focuses on the nature of our choice between
the gnostic paradigms. Part V is about what it takes to make that
choice. The first two chapters in Part V are about appreciating
the profundity of making the choice to have faith in God and about
leaving behind our emotional baggage as we prepare to make that
decision. This is followed by an application of the value of love
to the decision-making process and an exploration of what beliefs
are minimally necessary for the full liberation of love.
Part V concludes with an invitation to join the family of the
faith-children of God. This is not an invitation to join a religion.
It is an invitation to share an experience of spiritual identity.
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Part VI: Using the Word
Father for God
Part VI and VII presume that you have chosen
to have faith in God. This means that the language of theism,
rather than the language of agnosticism, now becomes the language
of choice. With this change, a whole new world of possibilities
opens up for discussion. The possibility addressed in Part VI
is the opportunity to pick a name for God that reflects our core
values and beliefs about God. To this end a redefinition of the
word Father is offered which, ironically, is consistent
with the feminist critique of language.
Back to Table of Contents
Part VII: Emotions and
Attitude
The purpose of this section is to help re-integrate
our emotional bodies with our spiritual life. Just as a surgeon
must have the emotional control to not cry over the patient, it
was important to not allow the roller-coaster ride of emotions
to undermine our ability to think critically about the choice
to have faith in God. Now that the logic of love has led us to
the conclusion that faith in God best supports love, an appreciation
for the role of emotions can take on new meaning and value. The
last chapter is about maintaining a positive spiritual attitude.
It's called 3D Love because it addresses how to achieve
a good attitude about the material, mental, and spiritual facets
of life.
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