Love is the answer. Nonjudgmental laws of logic make that answer practical, workable, and achievable-globally.
The problem is not our lack of spirituality; it is the misuse of reasoning. In the past we have turned towards spirituality and away from reason to find solutions for personal and world problems. What we did not understand was that it was our judgmental system of logic that was undermining our spiritual values. Understanding nonjudgmental logic empowers us to elevate reason to the same level our spiritual values-which makes living those values possible.
In the past, we have not been able to harmonize the judgmental nature of our reasoning mind with the nonjudgmental nature of spiritual values. Even the wisdom of the wisest of us is, more often than not, at odds with our spiritual values.
Ancient Greek philosophers refer to this dilemma as the paradox of two minds in one head. Others refer to this dilemma as the conflict between mind and heart, spirit and flesh, and/or religion and reason.
Nonjudgmental logic overcomes the discord between mind and spirit. It expands our potentials of reasoning by adding to it a nonjudgmental method of reasoning that is in harmony with spiritual values. Traditionally, spiritual values could not be rationalized in the context of judgmental rules for correct reasoning. Nonjudgmental logic, however, creates a nonjudgmental method of reasoning that supports spiritual values.
Nonjudgmental logic can be considered the common ground for solving personal and world problems. The need to feed the children, free the oppressed, save the whales, and stop the misuse of nuclear materials and political power would disappear if the fears and selfishness that judgmental reasoning breeds gave way to the unconditional love and caring nonjudgmental logic justifies. The point is that if organizations created to make the world a better place recognized that judgmental reasoning was the common denominator of our problems, they could work together to solve this one problem-thereby solving all the rest.
Nonjudgmental logic is not a quick fix for personal and world problems. We need to debate the theory that some classes have more than one nature-and create new rules of logic and language based on that theory. After which, we need to teach these new rules to our children on a global scale. I consider nonjudgmental reasoning the 4th R of education. Is not learning how to reason nonjudgmentally/lovingly as important to our children's happiness as is reading, writing and arithmetic?
In our educational system, we must ask whether we want to perpetuate our judgmental values. Do we want to teach ways of thinking which break the natural instincts of our children to love? Our children need not be taught that fear, hate, and prejudice are not natural reactions to situations in the world, but rather are emotional manifestations of judgmental reasoning. To realize this truth is to gain control of our emotions; to replace that thinking is to free ourselves from those negative expressions. We can, as the Director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein, said so eloquently, "live the will to love." Let us give all children the vision of a world in which all the walls between us would come tumbling down and we would stand together as did so many at the Berlin Wall, singing the great, "Ode to Joy" of Beethoven's 9th Symphony. We have sung about love long enough. It is time to live it.
A practical suggestion would be to teach our children the higher expressions of human nature, of Stages IV and V, not the lower, of Stages II and III: teach our goodness, not our depravity. This would offer them the goal of a future rooted in love and would provide them with a chance to develop into human beings fully capable of loving and being loved unconditionally. It is their rightful future. It is the promise of their religious heritage. It is the hope of every life-affirming philosophy. It is the free gift of Jesus' Gnostic teachings.
I issue a call to action to my readers, for each of us, in his or her own way, to include the principles of nonjudgmental logic and, in turn, unconditional love in the school curriculum. This could be taught in the context of conflict resolution, in both public and church schools throughout the world, for it is in accord with the teachings of brotherly love and kindness which should be acceptable to both the religious and non-religious. Just imagine what would happen if a logic with both/and categories were considered a subject as important as the so called "three R's". It cannot be over- emphasized that learning to reason lovingly is more important than reading, writing, and arithmetic. Moreover, it is the rational thing to do.
Critics have long lamented the fact that our moral development has not kept up with scientific achievements and technological advancements. But how could we be expected to grow morally, if we were never taught a logical basis for tolerance, acceptance, love, appreciation of difference, and openness to views different from our own. We have failed to integrate the principles of unconditional love and brotherhood into our lives because our traditional system of logic and, therefore, our reasoning do not support those principles.
A new frontier in civilization is as close as the nearest kindergarten class! If we want a better life for our children, we will need to make a commitment to educate them in the principles of reasoning lovingly. If we begin to teach nonjudgmental logic now, our children will, in but a few generations, live in a world populated by people who will have learned to reason lovingly.
"Perhaps the child of the future will be born out of a balance of both unconditional and conditional love and thus into a world of total acceptance. This would mark a quantum change in human consciousness." (68)
It is not unrealistic to hope that nonjudgmental logic can create a global revolution in consciousness. Who would have believed that computers would create a new world in one generation? Who would have believed it possible for knowledge to be globally and instantaneously available to all on the Internet? If computers could change the world in one generation, is it less reasonable to hope that nonjudgmental logic could be known to all in a very short time?
Our century has known 250 wars. We squander our resources on armies, terrorism, and instruments of destruction. Every minute the nations of the world spend nearly $150,000,000 on instruments of war! In a world peace, just imagine what would be possible if that money were spent for the enhancement of families, education, health, the environment, retirement and recreation. But until we get past the judgmental reasoning of Stages II and III, we will continue to toil for that which will bring about our own destruction rather than pleasure.
Jesus presented his Gnostic teachings two thousand years ago. Few accepted those teachings. Most preferred his more popular public teachings to the theory of nature that he taught in private. In the third millennium, the majority will accept Jesus' private teachings because contemporary physics supports his theory which makes it factually undeniable. In effect, the support that contemporary physics gives Jesus' theory of nature will make that theory as important globally as is the prevailing theory.
Jesus' Gnostic teachings provide us with a method of reasoning that could make loving relations a practical reality. It would cost nothing, but a change in the way we think about one another and the world. Nothing more is required than recognizing that nonjudgmental laws of logic are as natural as those of physics, chemistry, and biology.
Love "is" the answer to the crisises which grip our cities, our nation, our world, and our hearts. Love is the answer to our crisis. We have always known that. But without a logic of nonjudgment, love was never the rational answer. Now love is the logical answer because nonjudgmental logic makes love the reasonable thing to do.
Let us return to the idyllic garden of paradise. The tree of life is not forbidden, only guarded against those of us who do not yet understand how to enter its gate. Jesus' knowledge teachings open that gate. We are now ready to complete our journey of the development of consciousness into that garden. The kingdom of heaven is not an impossible dream in an unattainable realm, but a state of consciousness closer to us than our own breath! It has always been there for our taking: not by scaling the gates of heaven or through supernatural intervention, but by the slow, steady development of our hearts and minds. The kingdom of heaven is within us. Through Jesus' Gnostic teachings that heaven on earth will come forth from us.
We stand on the edge of a revolution in consciousness as momentous as any in history. We are but one thought away from that revolution-namely, recognizing that nonjudgmental logic is warranted by the theory that some classes have more than one nature. I believe this one thought is the most important idea for this millennium.
In the third millennium, we will develop nonjudgmental logic based on that theory. It will be used to harmonize our spiritual values with the reality of our everyday rational world. No longer will we rationalize away what we know in our heart is right. We will, from within both mind and spirit, take our rightful place as co-creators with God, and make life a heaven on earth in the here and now.
Love is the answer. The third millennium can, with nonjudgmental logic, reflect that answer. The future will be determined by our choice to act, or not, from love.
Copyright © February 2, 2001, William C. Kiefert