Zen Temple, Gateway Park Revised December, 2015 What all the great faiths of the world have in common is faith itself. And faith is a mistake. Faith is ... " strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof." Well, doesn't Science itself have its "strong beliefs". Doesn't that make Science a religion? Actually, no. Scientific theories are only those that are capable of disproof. Scientists always hang on to the most reliable of theories, while thinking up ways to experimentally disprove others. If it is impossible to imagine a way to devise an experiment that would, at least in principal, disprove a theory, then the theory has little interest and little practical use. Scientific theories do not survive because they are proven, they survive because (so far) they have resisted disproof . This outlook leaves plenty of room for compassion and positively encourages a sense of awe and wonder. It is an outlo...

Many roads lead us to the same conclusion. The proper understanding of human life must de-emphasize the natural tendency to focus on "me" and "mine" and "I" and identify with the community. This is a very natural conclusion, but it tends to be lost as we lose our grip on traditional communities and face the world alone or in nuclear families. Evolution has left us equipped with a natural feeling of comfort and identity with community -- the first one being with our mother, then our "nuclear" family, then the extended family, then the village and beyond. Once we reach beyond the village, an element of distrust creeps in. The natural feeling of trust we have with the folks we encounter every day doesn't extend to people in the next village or the town over the mountain. Then, we start to see things in "economic" terms. We rely on trade and, eventually, money. Stripped to its bare essentials, money is simply a token of trust. We no lon...