The Reality of It All: Our Soul, Life and Death, God and Religion, and a Whole Bunch of Science with a Little Humor Mixed In

Copyright © 2012 by Ronnie Cohen

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ISBN: 978-1-4759-3281-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4759-3283-6 (e)

ISBN: 978-1-4759-3282-9 (dj)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012910524

iUniverse rev. date: 06/21/2012

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1 In the Beginning, There Was Ronnie

Chapter 2 God

Chapter 3 The Soul

Chapter 4 Religion

Chapter 5 Science and Religion

Chapter 6 Life

Chapter 7 Death

Chapter 8 The Journeys of Our Soul

Chapter 9 The Baha’i Faith

Chapter 10 Where Do We Go from Here?

Chapter 11 And Finally

This book is dedicated to the following:

Maurie Willows,

for his Friday night pearls of wisdom led to many a declaration … including mine

Laurie,

for without her … I’m not

Matthew,

for he is my wonderful little proof

Preface

When I first decided to write this book, the main premise was to be about dreams. My nightly dreams are many and vivid, and I have always had a fascination with dreams because, for most of us, they are so different from the reality of our daily lives. Furthermore, I have always felt that our dreams have some connection with our soul.

As I began to gather ideas in my mind about the relationship of dreams to one’s soul, the singular word that always moved to the forefront of my thoughts was reality. I think the reason for this was that, although dreams for the most part do not reflect reality, our soul is our reality. So my thinking about this book progressed to the reality of our immortal soul.

From that point, I thought about what kind of book I should write: one that followed a logical path that connected the reality of our soul to God, religion, life, and death. Naturally, because of my interest in both the physical and nonphysical sides of life, I had to bring science into the picture. I began to get excited, for I realized that it would be a great bounty to share the reality of all these subjects.

As I began to write, I was able to look ahead and see a reason and purpose beginning to take shape. I found myself expressing thoughts as to how everything pertaining to our soul, God, religion, life, death, and science was leading up to the notion that there can be a better life ahead for people, on both an individual and a collective level. There is a blueprint for the advancement of civilization for this day in which we live, and it is for everyone. I know about it, and by the end of this book, so will you!

All writers express their thoughts from many different points of view. I am fortunate to be able to express my thoughts from the points of view of someone who was raised Jewish, who became an atheist, and who then became a member of the Baha’i Faith. Furthermore, my lifelong interest in science and mathematics has always played a role in my thinking.

The absolute first thought of this endeavor took root one morning upon wakening out of a dream; I tried to remember every aspect of that dream. The project ended up to be about where we have been and where we go from here, as a civilization. Funny how things can change—it’s all part of the reality of it all.

Acknowledgments

I would like to acknowledge the following authors, from whose books I have taken a few quotes:

Stephen Hawking: The Grand Design

Guy Murchie: The Seven Mysteries of Life

P. D. Ouspensky: The New Model of the Universe

William Sears: Thief in the Night

Glenn A. Shook: Mysticism, Science, and Revelation

I would also like to acknowledge a few of those folks who had the patience to put up with my hard head while trying to tech me the Faith, both before and after becoming a Baha’i: the Willows, the Bulkins, Richard Lewellen, John Kavelin, Marcia Day and her girls, Jimmy and Dash, and Danny and John.

Finally, if you looked up the word spiritual in the dictionary of life, you might see pictures of many people I had the bounty of meeting. However, there are two souls that have departed this world of ours that surely would be at the top of the list: Mr. A. Q. Faizi and David Bond. I must acknowledge the light that emanated from their souls.

Chapter 1

In the Beginning, There Was Ronnie

In reality, this book is about just that—reality. The reality of life, death, God, religion, and the role science plays in all of this, pertaining to life in today’s world. This book is also about the reality of our soul. Because that is what the human soul—my soul, your soul, everyone’s soul—is. Everyone must someday discover that the soul is our only true reality.

Since the main discussions of this book deal with subjects that most of us have preconceived (and often incorrect) ideas about, you need to have an open mind. Put aside all preconceived notions while reading this book, and upon completion, if so desired, bring them back out and compare them to many of the astounding ideas presented here.

And astounding they are, for you will learn if the following is true:

• The existence of God can be proven.

• People are far more than physical beings.

• Religion may be so messed up; nevertheless it is perfect and necessary.

• Science and religion are in perfect harmony.

• Life is not at all random; it has a purpose.

• Death is a messenger of joy guiding you to the hereafter.

• Our soul can journey through both time and space.

• There is in place a working blueprint to bring about peace and unity to our planet.

But before I begin to present some of these concepts (which may be the most mind-boggling ideas that you have ever encountered), I’d like to provide a bit of my background to serve as an introduction.

I was born into a Jewish family; I was considered Jewish at birth, although I was never asked if Judaism was my religion of choice, or if I even had a religion of choice. I grew up in St. Louis and spent every Saturday morning at our temple in Sunday school. I still don’t know why school on Saturday is called Sunday school, but I suppose that will remain one of life’s great mysteries. Anyway, attending Sunday school was not my first choice in considering what I wanted to do with my Saturday mornings. In fact, it was not in my top ten. However, I went because my family told me that I did not have any options. All of your cousins go—you are going! Besides, you are Jewish! So it was hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to Sunday school (on Saturday) I go.

Worse than that, by far worse than that, was that when I was about eleven, I was sent to Hebrew school five days a week after elementary school to learn to read, write, and speak Hebrew. And why was I subjected to this new form of torture? Because I was to celebrate my bar mitzvah when I turned thirteen! The reason for this made total sense to my parents, but not to me. All of my cousins were bar and bat mitzvahed, and therefore, I was to be also. Besides, I was Jewish! Had I been given the option to either study Hebrew or fight a tiger, there would have been blood.

During these years, I had a great interest in science and mathematics. Science seemed to provide answers to the many questions I had about life on earth and the mysteries of the universe, and math taught me how to think in a logical manner. At Sunday school and Hebrew school, I learned about the history of Judaism and about God, Moses, Abraham, and many other biblical figures found in the Old Testament. Not only did I have zero interest in any of this, but none of it made any sense to me. It was no different than any of the fairy tales that I had learned as a little kid. And the idea of God and prophets was just not logical! It went against the logical teachings of science.

On Saturday mornings, I attended a reformed Jewish temple. At the same time, my cousins went to a conservative Jewish temple located right across the street. I asked my family why I could not go with my cousins or why they could not go with me. I was told that they believed in something different. (My cousins called their temple a shul, so I guess I was glad that I didn’t go there, for that word sounded way too Jewish to me!) Furthermore, I had friends that were of different denominations of the Christian religion. Some were Catholic, some were Presbyterian, and some were Protestant. I learned that they all believed in Jesus Christ, who, I was told, was not on the same level as our Moses and Abraham. They were taught that Jesus was the son of God. Are you kidding me? I knew a little something about childbirth, and the idea that a nonphysical being could impregnate a physical woman—give me a break! But it was just as bad at my temple. The burning bush, the parting of the Red Sea, fire carving out instructions on stone tablets—what were they trying to sell every Saturday? As it turned out, it seemed as if everyone believed in something different, and everyone thought that his or her beliefs were mostly right. But no one could prove anything. This whole religion thing was far from my cup of tea. (And I really can’t stand tea—I