To Madeleine From Grandad Patrick

TO MADELEINE FROM GRANDAD PATRICK

by

Patrick Barnett

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PUBLISHED BY CHARGAN AT SMASHWORDS

This book available in print from

www.chargan.com

To Madeleine From Grandad Patrick

Copyright © 2011 Patrick Barnett

ISBN: 978-1-4658-4798-0

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

Patrick Barnett has asserted his right under the Copyright Act 1976 to be identified as the author of this work.

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This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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Contents

Prologue

Obedience

Religion

Laughter, Smiling and Humor

Knowledge and Education

Health - Mental and Physical

Values and Virtues - Your Standards

The Value of Life

You and Your Mind

Relationships

The Environment of Your Planet Earth

Your Spare Time

Sensuality

Creativity and Innovation

Jobs and Career

Money, Finance, and Wealth

Politics and Government

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Dedication

To Kristie, Patricia, Sarah and John

Love from Dad

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Prologue

Dear Madeleine

I am writing this for you. It is also for any child, teenager or adult, male or female, of any nationality, race, culture, religion, ethnic origin, belief or way of life.

This is your birthright and my pleasurable responsibility. Any person who gives this book to another will have the same good intentions as I have in writing it.

It is a book which can never be satisfactorily completed because life itself is a work-in-progress and should be about constant change for the better. Every person has the capacity to contribute to a better life for themselves, others and future generations. Every person has the right to voice their opinion and to form new opinions as the experience of life confronts them. To this end I am leaving a blank leaf after the end of every subject. It can be used by the giver or the recipient of the book, if they wish, to add their own opinion or qualify anything I have said or to note thoughts which have special significance to them. I recommend you use a pencil or temporary stick-on when you are of a younger age as your thoughts and opinions may change as you grow older.

Sometimes it may help you to make small lists of key words which will prompt you to concentrate on addressing ways of improving certain aspects of your life.

Any parent, at the time of birth of a son or a daughter, would wish their child’s life to be one of happiness and fulfillment. A newborn child represents hope for a better future for all humankind. That same hope exists for the lifetime of the child. While there is life there is hope. All people have a responsibility to do their best to contribute to the success of the parents’ wishes, and the great expectations of a righteous and successful humankind which are inherent in that child. We are all one family. We must nurture one another throughout our lives. We must show our care for one another. This book is about the care I have for you. It is about the care that all people should have for each other.

Anytime someone wants to teach a person something, to impart knowledge or advice or counsel, to inform or to entertain, to sell an idea or image, to install the seed of want or nurture the seed of need in another’s mind, using any sound or visual medium to convey it, there must firstly exist the potential for acceptance and retention. Understanding is not a necessary requisite. A persons’ faith and trust in others may override that.

Please have faith in my good intentions for your welfare and progress in life. My knowledge and opinions are born from my own upbringing, my years of experience and development and learning in life, and what I believe is my God-given instinctive sense of what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is bad. Some of what I say may be ipse dixit but I have the beliefs and therefore the responsibility to influence accordingly, and as a worthy Grandad, the credibility and the right.

I think it is quite acceptable for elders to qualify their wise guidance to others with do as I say not do as I do, as long as they also state that even though it is more preferable to lead and show by example, it is still better than nothing to at least say what they think is right and at the same time be seen trying to practice what they preach. The message is more significant than the messenger. All people have a responsibility to give thanks for the gift of their existence by trying to sustain hope and leave the world a better place. It is part of the fulfillment of life.

We must also look to young people to help guide us to a better life because although they may not have the answers, they have the questions.

Some of the following subjects may not be applicable to you until you are older, some may not be of much interest until your needs dictate they become so. Others may have immediate relevance.

Madeleine, keep this book close to you. If you are ever feeling an emotion where you think you need or just want support, or if you are just wondering about something, or if you feel you need direction and guidance in your life, or if you just want to know what your Grandad thinks, you can always turn to it. You are never alone.

Grandad Patrick

Obedience

To be obedient is to submit to the will of another person, to comply with a command, regulation, authority, rule or law. To accept direction.

Each time we obey it is supposed to be for our own good and the common good of others, assuming that what we are obeying was initiated by good people with good intentions. I use the word good in the context of what I have already referred to as the God-given instinct of what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is bad. The moral law.

The first times of obedience in your life were likely when you were leaving the cradle, when you were starting to become more aware of your surroundings, when your senses of sight, touch, sound, taste and smell were reacting to your emerging new world and accordingly influencing your emotions. That is probably when you heard your first Noooo … from your mother or father or close family member or minder. It was probably accompanied by your name, the sound of which you were now associating with yourself, and said with a stern expression on their face and in a stern tone of voice. It may have been the first time in your short life that you were ever aware of a look or a sound from them that was different to the softer ones you had associated with the people who had been nurturing you with comfort and food. People you had begun to trust.

It may have startled you. It would have got your attention, if not at first then when it was repeated because it was a new sound and a new look. If you had continued with what you were doing, which you probably did because you could not be expected to immediately associate what you saw and heard from them with what you were doing, the command would have been made again. Your instinct would have soon told you that if you kept doing it the admonishments would continue, and if you stopped then the more pleasant atmosphere which your instinct was telling your emotions was preferable to a harsher atmosphere, would have returned, perhaps with a smile and some praise, a reward. You were learning to obey.

It was part of the start of you being taught and of you learning that to obey quickly and without question had the reward of a pleasant atmosphere and of acceptance of you more readily. You learnt to recognize that a command did not have to be spoken. It could take the form of a raised eyebrow, a certain look, the clearing of a throat in a particular way. It did not necessarily mean that what you had been doing or what you were about to do was right or wrong or good or bad for yourself or humankind. It did mean that the initiator of the command had their will done, which should have been based on good intentions.

When a child is born, it is helpless. It relies on a parent or parents or guardian to live, and to be taught how to live. It is a natural instinct for people to look after and show care for a child. The child has not had the time in life in which it is given the experience and knowledge of what is good for it and what is bad for it. It does not know the difference between right and wrong. The child does not have values. It may not learn these lessons until much later in life. In the meantime it must rely on the people who are caring for it.

You must obey your parents, guardians or minders for the benefit of your own welfare, for your successful progress in life. They have the knowledge and experience. You do not. They consider themselves to be bringing you up with your best interests at heart, propelling you along what they sincerely believe to be the best road towards happiness and fulfillment. It is your obligation to thankfully and dutifully accept their direction.

Just as a young plant or sapling may have to be staked in order to give it support and direction in its growth upwards, so may a young person. Once the youngster has established roots to give it a strong base, and grown a trunk to give it stability, it need no longer be tied to the stake but should keep it in view as a reminder of a choice of the path and direction to be on.

You should have been nurtured and supported in a positive way so that as you grow you can form healthy views on what should be and what shouldn’t be in life, based on what you sense and experience yourself, not necessarily on what you are told. As you advance in years and gain more experience, knowledge, understanding, and therefore opinions about life, you are going to be faced with more choices about how to live your life. You will have the opportunities to chart what you consider to be the best road for yourself towards happiness and fulfillment. It is your obligation to yourself and to humankind to at least consider these choices. Life is about continual improvement. To help you choose wisely you now not only have the benefit of your own experiences in life but your philosophy has also been influenced by well-meaning people who have tried to instill in you what they considered to be good knowledge and values. They have exposed you to more choices. Be thankful to them for this, even if now you do not agree with everything they taught you.

Ideally, a parent should teach by example. However as many parents are still maturing themselves, there is nothing wrong with the adage do as I say, don’t do as I do. It is not the ideal but you should always try to be objective minded and don’t shoot the messenger, but ponder whatever it is you are being told, and if you agree, adopt it as part of your own code of conduct. Most parents would agree that they would like their children to develop with none of the negative characteristics which they themselves had, and with more positive ones which they don’t have.

There will be times, perhaps especially in your teenage years, when you lock horns with someone whose direction you have usually always obeyed, because of a difference of opinion in regard to their command or advice to you and your reluctance in accepting it. Especially with the onset of puberty and in the teenage years both parties should be mindful that emotions will also be going helter-skelter in company with the hormones. Sometimes adolescents can be angry at the world for reasons they don’t understand or even know. Perhaps they are confused by or questioning the values and behavior of the world around them. I can understand that. Both parents or guardians and their children should be prepared for turbulence, and everyone should be prepared to learn and mature. The teenage years can be like sherbet powder going into a glass of soda-pop, but that big effervescent explosion will usually subside as time goes by. Teenagers should be allowed a bit more leeway to stuff-up, as part of their learning about life experience, because if it is not allowed to happen then, sometimes repressed behavior can blow up even more later on, like when the top finally comes off a bottle of soda-pop which has been vigorously shaken. It’s best to utilize some kind of a pressure release valve during those special formative years. Plenty of robust physical exercise is especially good, as is plenty of open non-judgmental conversation. There will come times in a young person’s life when parents or guardians have to start letting go. The wings of their young bird are growing and it must be given the opportunity and encouragement to attempt to fly by itself. To think for itself. Birds can soar to great heights and distances, and they don’t need passports. You can never be constricted by anyone or anything in your thinking. Both parties must respect each other. There is no justification for disrespect to be shown by either one. Any adverse situation must be resolved patiently with each person considering the opinions of others. A criterion to be mindful of is what is best for someone’s physical and mental health and development, their moral well-being, and enjoyment of life, and how others may be affected in the same ways.

If an occasion arises when you choose to do something that does not conform with your parent’s or guardian’s wishes, or if you choose to take a new direction in your life, you must try to do your very best to respectfully and patiently explain to them your reasons. Hopefully their understanding will be gained because it is partly because of their good upbringing of you that you are now equipped to make responsible and objective choices in life. At this time though, also make sure you listen to their counsel and try to understand their opinions, and be prepared to perhaps modify your own thinking. They also, have the opportunity to perhaps advance their own perception of life if they consider your opinions and try to understand them.

No matter what the situation, you must always obey the universally socially accepted requirement of showing respect for your parents or guardians. You may not necessarily agree with them sometimes. You may even dislike them sometimes. Also, as you grow from a child in to a young adult there may be justified circumstances where you disobey them. However the subject of showing respect is never debatable. They have tried to successfully raise you to the best of their ability. You acknowledge this and thank them with your respect.

From the cradle to the grave there should always exist a respectful dialogue between parents or guardians and their children. This includes listening to each other and considering the well-meaning intent of words and viewpoints. Disagreements must be voiced respectfully, acknowledging the status of each other. I am almost sixty-three and my mother died just over two years ago in March 2009, only six weeks short of her 100th birthday, but I certainly never patronized her by necessarily agreeing with everything she may have said. She was mentally very, very healthy, although her body had naturally slowed down. If I thought it appropriate and necessary to voice my disagreement I would do so respectfully, and we would both retain our dignity and integrity. I think we would both understand that we were expressing our opinions, and that neither of us was necessarily wrong.

In your early years at home or with minders, you should have learnt the practice of obedience within the context of your own welfare and self-preservation, and manners. You learnt to obey authority.

During those years you learnt that to obey was for your own good and therefore you began to accept that what you were told by someone in authority was correct, proper and without reservation or qualification. You began to fully trust that authoritative communication to you. You accepted its authenticity. You were given answers to your questions. You began to be educated and acquire knowledge.

You had undergone a preparation to begin a formal education away from the environment of your home or day care centre. You began to attend nursery school or kindergarten or pre-school, and then school itself. You may have only been four or five years of age but you had already learnt that to obey authority, someone who was more powerful than you, was deemed by others to be right and good, and even to merely question a command or regulation was often considered to be disobedient and that you were wrong and bad for doing so. If you were disobedient you were usually punished in some way, even just by being looked at or spoken to in a stern manner. You may have even started to think that it was sometimes better to obey without question and to keep your thoughts, your reservations, to yourself. It is possible that you may have started to feel confused about some things because of conflict between what you had been previously taught and what or how you were now being taught.

Under the tutelage of obedience perhaps the ideal trait of a young child of questioning, of not blindly accepting all commands, regulations or directions, whose pure logic may instinctively prompt the question Why?, is being stifled or influenced in a particular direction by the educators at this early age, which to a degree also has the potential to stifle the ideal balanced development and the continual improvement of not only the child but also of humankind, because of that child’s potential influence on its environment and other people in the future. Older people in authority may already be unwittingly failing in their obligations and responsibility to this child by teaching and promoting only what they think is right and good. What they choose to perceive as moral law is not necessarily what others may perceive as moral law. I am not talking about the passing on of knowledge in regard to demonstrated factual truths such as in mathematics, or reasonable commonly accepted standards relating to the written word and grammar used in verbal communication. In some cases they may be consciously influencing the child to accept a particular ideology or philosophy or religion and excluding exposure to and accurate knowledge about any other, thereby stunting that child’s growth by limiting its choices and therefore its potential balanced contribution to life. These people should encourage children to enquire and question, and with the common universally understood and accepted values of right and wrong, good and bad guiding them, they should be prepared to perhaps modify their own opinions to give the child the fullest and most truthful answer possible. If they do not, their own intentions, motives and suitability as unbiased educators are questionable. Their own free flowering intellectual growth has been stunted and perhaps twisted at some stage in their life.

The most powerful people on this earth are educators, who are anyone who impart knowledge in to the mind of a child. They sow the seeds which influence the future for right or wrong, for good or bad. With the passing of time the future becomes the present and the child becomes the educator.

A child’s potential and vision is our hope for a better future and it must not be consciously or unconsciously adversely affected by the misuse of the application of the controlling tool of obedience.

Of course common sense dictates that there are some commands, regulations, rules and laws which we are obliged to comply with because they are a part of the host state or environment in which we live and our acceptance by our host is conditional upon our observance of them. The fact that we or our guardians choose to live in this particular situation and wish to be accepted carries with it an implicit agreement that we will abide by these obligations.

A host state or environment includes our home, school, tertiary educational institute, place of work, community, clubs, associations, the governing and regulatory bodies of our regions, towns, cities, states and country, a particular religion we may ascribe to, the commonly accepted health and safety and behavioral and moral and ethical standards prevalent in the community, and the nature that we exist in.

If we choose not to or inadvertently don’t comply with these obligations it is the right of any policing and enforcement body to confer any penalties upon us as it sees appropriate, acting within the supporting policy. Our actions may be deleterious to ourselves and others. We may also be subject to discriminatory action because of other peoples’ perception of us. If our action is disadvantageous to the nature we exist in we must take responsibility for any resultant degree of loss or damage. We must be prepared to expect any consequences of our actions, of our disobedience, to impact on ourselves, others and to a degree humankind. Instead of fostering right and good as we should always be doing, our disobedient behavior could be promoting the development of wrong and bad for which there is no civilized or intelligent justification.

In some so-called enlightened countries these days I think that the civil rights lobby has wrongly been allowed to weaken the ability of a police force to quickly, efficiently, and effectively bring under their control any instances of civil disobedience which law abiding people, who treat others with decency and respect, would consider unreasonable and unacceptable behavior. Some situations have therefore developed to stages where the safety and health and wellbeing of the protagonists, the law enforcement officers, and anybody in the vicinity have been seriously jeopardized. Far better to quickly bring a tardy miscreant to heel by a sting in the tail or an action which takes the wind out of what could be alcohol or drug fuelled sails. In my father’s day it was known as a boot up the arse. A bit of biff which is going to have no long term harmful effects is preferable to someone ending up dead or in a wheelchair or with head injuries. If people decide to play-up or put themselves in a position where they could lose control of themselves because of drink or drugs, they should also be prepared to take reasonable consequences meted out by law enforcers who have the support of the general population. Control is lost when weakness prevails.

However, the upholding and promotion of what you consider to be right and good, which is a choice you may have made, should be the overriding propellant behind your behavior throughout your life. Your disobedience is fully justified when it is the result of such thinking. Advocacy of the end justifies the means can never be an excuse for wrong or bad behavior.

It is wrong and bad to intentionally cause physical, intellectual or emotional harm to another human being or physical harm to our natural environment. It is wrong and bad to intentionally retard the optimal development of either. As early as possible in life you should set your values and goals, governed by what is right and wrong and good and bad, at the highest ideal level imaginable. It is irresponsible, foolish, weak and unintelligent not to imagine this ideal, not to have the vision that it is achievable, and not to try your best to achieve it. No one is incapable of doing it for themselves. The ideals will all be different to a degree but should all embrace the same good faith and hope for the future of humankind. These will be some of the signposts along the road to your happiness and fulfillment. You may falter along this road but you only fail if you stop moving forward.

A commendable example of justifiable disobedience is when a person for reason of conscience refuses to comply with a state law such as that requiring her or his compulsory military service for their country. Such conscientious objectors’ have sometimes been branded as cowards. Only they know their own minds but I think such people show great moral virtue and courage. Whatever their motivation their action is ideal. They are to be held in greater esteem than the perpetrators of a war, although there are circumstances where it is understandable to enter and maintain such a conflict. That is when defense of one’s own country and people and what is considered to be the best way of life as opposed to one the assailants would impose on you, is at stake. In such a situation it would be quite rational to expect a conscientious objector to partake in a conflict in a non-combative and non-supportive role such as in medical, repatriation or rehabilitation fields.

If every person on this earth obeyed the common moral law as it is universally understood and accepted by all good and righteous peoples, there would be only peace and goodness and the ideal development of humankind. There is no moral justification for anything but this ideal. It is a vision and a goal we should all have, all practice, and all preach. If you think and say it could never happen, it will never happen.

All man-made laws and behaviors should resonate with your own values and must therefore be subject to your scrutiny, appraisal and if necessary your attempts to change them for the better. To not do so would be irresponsible of you and would be an unquestioning and weak capitulation to the wills of other people who may or may not be right and good in regard to what they have laid down. Do not arbitrarily obey. You should not obey a direction which you know will have a wrong or bad effect if you do so. You can contribute to making this world a better place if you try your best to effect change which you perceive as necessary.

Religion

Religion is affecting the future life of every person before they are even born. How and to what degree depends on where they are born and who their parents are. It either positively or negatively affects the quality of their lives until the moment they die. It may have no effect on them after they die.

A religion is a faith shared with other people in the existence of a particular intangible controlling power over their lives, their environment, and the universe, and the organized, institutionalized procedures by which they acknowledge, worship and venerate this power, their god or deity or enlightened being, how they strive to connect, and how they try to obey what they perceive is the righteous will of this being. A religion can be a rallying point for similarly-minded people who are looking for leadership. Religions offer some people a means by which they think they can have the answers to how they should live their lives, by what values, and how we came in to existence, and to show their appreciation and give thanks for that, implicit in which is the exhortation for it all to continue. A religion enables them to ask for help, to celebrate the joy of living, of belonging, of goodness and a sense of purpose in life, and to be guided forward on what they consider to be a righteous path in this life, with like- minded people, towards what some hope is a continuing happy existence in some form after they die. Some religions may give them hope that when they die, if it is deemed by the power over them that they are not yet worthy of entering a certain perfect state, they will be reincarnated in another body in order to live another life in a better way which will be more acceptable to their god or whatever it is they deify or revere. This belief may involve being reincarnated more than once until they die ultimately in a state of worthiness. A religion may offer some people what they think is an answer to the question that science cannot answer, why humankind exists. The answer may be, because it is the will of, for example, Allah, God, Jehovah, Vahiguru, Yahweh, or whatever the name of the god is that the religion deifies.

There are many different religions in this world of ours and each one is not necessarily linked solely to the population of any particular country. Some countries political systems tolerate a broad range of religions while others do not. Some religions are very influential in determining the politics of the countries they exist in.

Through the ages there have been many religions and religious sects and cults established and gods and deities installed, by different cultures. Many of these no longer exist inasmuch as they have no devotees.

When we are born most of us are assigned by default to the religion or non-religion our parent, parents or guardian ascribes to because they, with good intentions, make the choice for us that we are incapable of making then, and naturally they think that what is best for them is best for us.

A negative aspect of this is that a young immature child could be indoctrinated in to the teachings and ways of a particular religion from which it may never extricate its mind. It may be understandable that elders and influential people in that religion have such a faith that they truly believe what they are doing is right and good but ideally, and we should all aspire to ideals, that child should also be exposed to the visions and teachings of many and at least all the major religions and sects and schools of related thought, so as it grows older it would have a greater and informed choice in regard to the religion, if any, it practices.

It is arrogant, irresponsible, incompetent, narrow minded, insecure, mean, wrong and bad for educators, who are anyone who impart knowledge in to the mind of a person, not to equip that child for the opportunity to make a best choice for itself as it grows older.

To this end privately run schools which are based on a particular religion should not exist, as they understandably try and inculcate minds solely with religious doctrines of which they have a vested interest in teaching.

I think the ideal is to have only a state run education system where religion and ethics are taught as curriculum subjects and students are accordingly examined on their knowledge. The syllabus should be determined only after all religious schools of thought were given the opportunity for input and a reasonable consensus reached.

I do think that all schools should have an appropriately qualified and trained secular type of chaplain, who could be drawn from any of the religions or be non-religious, who conforms with the requirement to display non-bias in regard to any religion or non-religion, and who offers any person wise and caring and understanding confidential counsel, and trustworthy friendship, and non-judgmental support for the person as a person in need. A person should always feel that they could turn to and rely on such a chaplain at any time, but especially when in need of social and emotional advice and support. I think the word chaplain presents a more inviting and accurate perception of this type of assistance which should be available to all students, as compared to the word counselor which should relate to matters solely of a more secular nature.

At least until a young person is of school leaving age they should conform with the wishes of their parents or guardians in regard to what religious observance they should make, although as a child is maturing the parents or guardians should be prepared to willingly participate in any dialogue it may wish to embark on, in an atmosphere of understanding, mutual respect and the potential for either party to modify their thinking.

I think, however, that some religions today are also so much entwined with the material trappings and finances and power and status of social and political culture that the spiritual aspect, which should be their prime reason for existing, is sometimes compromised in the interests of the mercenary. Because of this I think the objectivity of their vision and their endeavors are sometimes limited to the confines of their own religion rather than encompassing all of humankind on this small planet Earth. I think some religious hierarchy would be very mindful of maintaining a large and committed army of followers, not just ostensibly because of their conviction that their religion was the only true one but also to jealously guard the potential contributions and support base such numbers would represent.

I also think that the intense fervor with which some adherents try to advance the cause of their religions is a reflection of a conviction these zealots have that certain other religions should be vanquished or repressed, because they represent a way of life of their followers that is seen as a threat to what they see as the purity, integrity, status, earthly power and wealth, and potential expansion, of their own religion. It is an age-old reason for conflict and armed aggression between countries and within countries. It represents the contamination of good spiritual values by bad earthly values.

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During its early years the child should be encouraged to think that the ideal notion of one god, one religion for all people, is attainable and should be strived for. This is the only way we will ever achieve a permanent peace between all peoples of the world. All religions should be continually assessing each others’ doctrines and determining where they could establish a dialogue on grounds with potential for agreement. This common thread should be continually strengthened and lengthened until it binds us all.

The successful implementation of this vision of unity and peace and goodness may require the involvement of an unbiased facilitator whose pure objective would be to see this goal attained. The world is ready for the visitation on all religions of such a single-minded prophet. Perhaps this prophet is amongst us now, awaiting our receptive state to its guiding message.

Religion is a personal belief and every mature person should have complete freedom of choice in relation to it, and expect respect if not understanding from others in regard to their viewpoint and observance of it, as long as it is not harmful mentally or physically to another person.

For example, just as there must be mutual tolerance and a pleasant co-existence between non-Muslim people and Muslim people in the United States of America, the same must occur between Muslims and non-Muslim people, such as the Christian Assyrian and Chaldean Catholics, in Iraq. It must also occur of course between people belonging to different branches of the same religion, such as Christian Protestant and Christian Catholics in Northern Ireland, and Sunni Muslims and Shi’ite Muslims in Iraq.

Some religions profess that their perception or interpretation of the manifestation and the will of this great power, this god, is the one and only true one and therefore there is only one god in one form which is the same for all humankind, and accordingly they address this god as God. People who believe there is only one God are known as monotheists.

However, in the name of this one God more than one religion, and breakaway sects from these religions, exists. It is ironic and an indictment on the failure of humankind to date and a reflection of how much progress we still have to make, that civilized peoples of the world are not yet united in the same vision of this purportedly one God, and subsequently nor in the one religion.

Some monotheistic religions have different names for God. For example the Christian religions such as Anglican, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Latter-day Saints, Pentecostal, Protestant (which includes The Salvation Army), know it as God, but it is Allah to Muslims of the Islam religion, Vahiguru to the Sikhism religion, Yahweh to the Judaism religion, Jehovah to the Jehovah’s Witnesses sect, and God to the Quaker sect, some of whom profess to be Christians while others do not.

People who do not believe this God exists are known as atheists. People who neither believe nor disbelieve because there is no material or scientific evidence to support either the existence or the non-existence of a God or gods are known as agnostics.

Some atheists and agnostics may belong to or subscribe to an organized group of people who espouse the same stance.

The spiritual beliefs and disbeliefs of atheists and agnostics make them no less worthy or more worthy as human beings. I do think though that they are limiting their growth and happiness by choosing not to embrace and accommodate the potential of the unknown. Believers have hope. Non-believers have no hope.

Some people are non-religious. They do not belong to any religion but they may still believe in God, or a god, deity, spirit or being, whatever they perceive it to be and whatever it represents to them.

Some people may belong to a religion whose followers believe in a god other than the God of the monotheists, or a being or beings they consider worthy of similar status and reverence. For example, the various buddhas of Buddhism, the gods and goddesses of Hinduism, the innumerable spirit gods and goddesses of the Shinto religion in Japan, the Hindu deity Krishna of the Hare Krishna sect. The Chinese traditional religion incorporates elements of more than one religion and therefore acknowledges and reveres many supernatural beings or spiritual concepts, such as hundreds of gods and goddesses.

Some people may say they belong to a particular religion but they may not practice the faith or may do so only selectively. Some groups of followers of a particular religion may be selective in obeying the will of their god or whatever, in order to achieve an outcome of a course of action that is beneficial to them for wrong earthly reasons rather than for good spiritual reasons.

Some people describe themselves as secular humanist which may not be a religion but is still a grouping of people united by a concept which is basically to try to live an existence of goodness, happiness and fulfillment without accepting that anything supernatural exists and guides them or has an