But if everything in the universe is god then what exactly is the our purpose? Why does energy convert into matter convert into lifeforms convert into thoughts?

Could you define God as energy?

God has always existed, and is never created or ever be destroy.

Energy has always existed and is never created nor destroyed.

So the answer to the question if there is a God is: yes. But is there a God in the biblical sense or a god as everyone being, object, and thing in the whole universe is god?

Erik H. Erikson

Erik Erikson (1902-94) is best known for his theory of psychological development, which has its roots in the psychoanalytic importance of identity in personality. His biographies of Gandhi and Martin Luther reveal Erikson's positive view of religion. He considered religions to be important influences in successful personality development because they are the primary way that cultures promote the virtues associated with each stage of life. Religious rituals facilitate this development. Erikson's theory has not benefited from systematic empirical study, but it remains an influential and well-regarded theory in the psychological study of religion.

Alfred Adler

Austrian psychiatrist Alfred Adler (1870-1937), who parted ways with Freud, emphasised the role of goals and motivation in his Individual Psychology. One of Adler's most famous ideas is that we try to compensate for inferiorities that we perceive in ourselves. A lack of power often lies at the root of feelings of inferiority. One way that religion enters into this picture is through our beliefs in God, which are characteristic of our tendency to strive for perfection and superiority. For example, in many religions God is considered to be perfect and omnipotent, and commands people likewise to be perfect. If we, too, achieve perfection, we become one with God. By identifying with God in this way, we compensate for our imperfections and feelings of inferiority.

Our ideas about God are important indicators of how we view the world. According to Adler, these ideas have changed over time, as our vision of the world - and our place in it - has changed. Consider this example that Adler offers: the traditional belief that people were placed deliberately on earth as God's ultimate creation is being replaced with the idea that people have evolved by natural selection. This coincides with a view of God not as a real being, but as an abstract representation of nature's forces. In this way our view of God has changed from one that was concrete and specific to one that is more general. From Adler's vantage point, this is a relatively ineffective perception of God because it is so general that it fails to convey a strong sense of direction and purpose.

] Religion and drugs

[edit] James H. Leuba
The American psychologist James H. Leuba (1868-1946), in A Psychological Study of Religion, accounts for mystical experience psychologically and physiologically, pointing to analogies with certain drug-induced experiences. Leuba argued forcibly for a naturalistic treatment of religion, which he considered to be necessary if religious psychology were to be looked at scientifically. Shamans all over the world and in different cultures have traditionally used drugs, especially psychedelics, for their religious experiences. In these communities the absorption of drugs leads to dreams (visions) through sensory distortion.

William James was also interested in mystical experiences from a drug-induced perspective, leading him to make some experiments with nitrous oxide and even peyote. He concludes that while the revelations of the mystic hold true, they hold true only for the mystic; for others they are certainly ideas to be considered, but hold no claim to truth without personal experience of such.

See anyone who wrote that has to be on something. It's like overly dramatic riddles of damnation to scare people into believing such dogma.

Not so seriously, god could be a quite unassuming accountant living in a small apartment in Brooklyn but when ever he sleeps he creates the events for tomorrow. This god might not even know he's god.

No seriously everone on the planet, through the history of the universe could just be a very detail dream that God creates.
It's that philosphical question: Could we be apart of someone else's dream?

Could this universe be God's hallucination?

Hallucinogenic drug would explain the the prophetic visions in Revelations. Actually anticent religions did use drugs in their ceremonies, Hebrews could have too. And more recently the Salem Witch trials began because of the hallucinogen ergot, (AKA LSD) that was unknowingly ingested by eating bread.

"When Linnda Caporael began nosing into the Salem witch trials as a college student in the early 1970s, she had no idea that a common grain fungus might be responsible for the terrible events of 1692. But then the pieces began to fall into place. Caporael, now a behavioral psychologist at New York's Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, soon noticed a link between the strange symptoms reported by Salem's accusers, chiefly eight young women, and the hallucinogenic effects of drugs like LSD. LSD is a derivative of ergot, a fungus that affects rye grain. Ergotism -- ergot poisoning -- had indeed been implicated in other outbreaks of bizarre behavior, such as the one that afflicted the small French town of Pont-Saint-Esprit in 1951.

But could ergot actually have been the culprit? Did it have the means and the opportunity to wreak havoc in Salem? Caporael's sleuthing, with the help of science, provided the answers.

Ergotism is caused by the fungus Claviceps purpurea, which affects rye, wheat and other cereal grasses. When first infected, the flowering head of a grain will spew out sweet, yellow-colored mucus, called "honey dew," which contains fungal spores that can spread the disease. Eventually, the fungus invades the developing kernels of grain, taking them over with a network of filaments that turn the grains into purplish-black sclerotia. Sclerotia can be mistaken for large, discolored grains of rye. Within them are potent chemicals: ergot alkaloids, including lysergic acid (from which LSD is made) and ergotamine (now used to treat migraine headaches). The alkaloids affect the central nervous system and cause the contraction of smooth muscle -- the muscles that make up the walls of veins and arteries, as well as the internal organs.

Toxicologists now know that eating ergot-contaminated food can lead to a convulsive disorder characterized by violent muscle spasms, vomiting, delusions, hallucinations, crawling sensations on the skin, and a host of other symptoms -- all of which, Linnda Caporael noted, are present in the records of the Salem witchcraft trials. Ergot thrives in warm, damp, rainy springs and summers. When Caporael examined the diaries of Salem residents, she found that those exact conditions had been present in 1691. Nearly all of the accusers lived in the western section of Salem village, a region of swampy meadows that would have been prime breeding ground for the fungus. At that time, rye was the staple grain of Salem. The rye crop consumed in the winter of 1691-1692 -- when the first unusual symptoms began to be reported -- could easily have been contaminated by large quantities of ergot. The summer of 1692, however, was dry, which could explain the abrupt end of the "bewitchments." These and other clues built up into a circumstantial case against ergot that Caporael found impossible to ignore."

When Moses brought the Ten Commandments down from Mount Sinai, he may have been high on a hallucinogenic plant, according to a new study by an Israeli psychology professor.

Writing in the British philosophy journal Time and Mind, Benny Shanon of Jerusalem’s Hebrew University said two plants in the Sinai desert contain the same psychoactive molecules as those found in plants from which the powerful Amazonian hallucinogenic brew ayahuasca is prepared.

The thunder, lightning and blaring of a trumpet which the Book of Exodus says emanated from Mount Sinai could just have been the imaginings of a people in an “altered state of awareness,” Shanon hypothesized.

“In advanced forms of ayahuasca inebriation, the seeing of light is accompanied by profound religious and spiritual feelings,” Shanon wrote.

“On such occasions, one often feels that in seeing the light, one is encountering the ground of all Being ... many identify this power as God.”

Shanon wrote that he was very familiar with the affects of the ayahuasca plant, having “partaken of the ... brew about 160 times in various locales and contexts.”

He said one of the psychoactive plants, harmal, found in the Sinai and elsewhere in the Middle East, has long been regarded by Jews in the region as having magical and curative powers.

Shanon acknowledged that he had "no direct proof of this interpretation" and said such proof cannot be expected.

Biblical scholars scoffed at Shanon's suggestion. Orthodox rabbi Yuval Sherlow told Israel Radio: “The Bible is trying to convey a very profound event. We have to fear not for the fate of the biblical Moses, but for the fate of science.”

Here more...

Now thinking about Iraq…
When it comes to the war in Iraq, do you think that removing Saddam Hussein from power was or was not worth the number of U.S. military casualties and the financial cost of the war?
Worth it 32%
Not worth it 59%
Depends 4%
Not sure 5%

Here's the run down of poll takers: liberal or consevervative

Thinking about your general approach to issues, do you consider yourself to be liberal, moderate, or conservative? (IF "LIBERAL" OR "CONSERVATIVE," ASK:) Do you consider yourself to be very (liberal/conservative) or somewhat (liberal/conservative)?
Very liberal 11%
Somewhat liberal 13%
Moderate 37%
Somewhat conservative 21%
Very conservative 14%
Not sure 4 %

Here's some more....

In looking at the next twelve months, do you think that it will be a time of economic expansion for you and your family and an opportunity to move ahead, or do you think that it will be a time to hold back and save because harder times are ahead?

Time of expansion/opportunity 19%
Time to hold back/harder times ahead 70%
Some of both (VOL) 7%
Not sure 4%

Here's more of the poll...

Who do you want to see take the lead role in setting policy for the country--George W. Bush or the Congress?

George W. Bush 21%
Congress 62%

Comming from a forum swarming with conservative republican nut jobs that not suprising.

Here's a poll conducted in Jan 08 among Americans with regards to the party they want the next president to be from, democrat or republican....

Putting aside for a moment the question of who each party's nominee might be, what is your preference for the outcome of the 2008 presidential election––that a Democrat be elected president, that a Republican be elected president, or that an independent candidate be elected president? (IF "DEMOCRAT" OR "REPUBLICAN," ASK:) And do you strongly prefer a (Democrat/Republican), or is your preference not that strong?
1/08
Democrat––strongly 41%

Democrat––not strongly 7 %

Republican––not strongly 7 %

Republican––strongly 23%

Independent candidate 9 %

Other (VOL) 2 %

Not sure 11%

Venezuelans increasingly turn to Santeria
Cuban influence gives rise to practice for those seeking spiritual healing

updated 2:48 a.m. ET, Fri., Feb. 8, 2008
CARACAS, Venezuela - The man says he is possessed by a god. He shouts, his body trembles and he lifts a sacrificed lamb to his lips, drinking its blood from the jugular.

This initiation ceremony, seldom witnessed by outsiders, has become increasingly common in Venezuela, as the Afro-Cuban traditions of Santeria and other folk religions gain followers.

The rituals have become an attractive option for Venezuelans seeking a unique spiritual path, including healing ceremonies aimed at curing everything from illness to heartache. Some even believe certain gods will offer protection from Venezuela's rampant violent crime.

The surge in Santeria, which is practiced by many in Cuba, can partly be explained by the arrival of thousands of Cuban doctors in Venezuela. President Hugo Chavez has been providing Cuba with subsidized oil in exchange for thousands of physicians who come to the South American country to treat poor people.


Santeria priests are also making annual predictions for Venezuelans and issuing warnings — just like Cuban "santeros" do in Havana. Last month, one group of priests said the gods have indicated the twice-divorced Chavez would be a more effective leader with a woman at his side.

It's a familiar pattern. Santeria has grown in popularity in New York, Miami and Puerto Rico in the past following influxes of Cubans, according to Margarite Fernandez Olmos, a professor at City University of New York who has researched the religion.

In overwhelmingly Roman Catholic Venezuela, many shops have sprung up in recent years selling roosters, goats and other animals to be sacrificed in Caracas' working class barrios. In the city's churches, believers can be seen in head-to-toe white, praying to their gods before statues of Catholic saints.

Santeria was born in Cuba among Yoruba slaves from West Africa. They were forbidden to practice their own religion, so they fused their beliefs with the Catholicism of their masters, starting a tradition that has spread throughout the Americas. Catholic leaders consider the rituals idolatrous, but have come to tolerate the popular practice.

Existing religion now popularized
Santeria has been present in Venezuela for decades, though some experts say it is more out in the open now due to the political situation.

"The current political ambiance created by a populist government with its emphasis on nationalism has made Santeria more visible," said Leslie Desmangles, a religion and international studies professor at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.

Along with Santeria, Venezuela is home to other folk religions, such as the sect surrounding the Indian goddess Maria Lionza, which has also been flourishing.

Believers in Maria Lionza make quick dashes through highway traffic in Caracas to reach a statue of the goddess in a highway divider. They lay offerings of flowers, liquor or coins at the foot of the statue, which depicts the naked goddess riding atop a tapir, a jungle animal.

The Santeria movement nowadays cuts across racial groups and class lines, and includes lawyers and other professionals as well as the unemployed among its adherents. In spite of rapid economic growth propelled by Venezuela's key oil industry, people here face problems from crime to inflation.

"Santeria is on the rise because there are many people who need the help of higher powers to overcome their problems," said Belkis, a 51-year-old "santera" who declined to give her last name, saying true followers prefer anonymity.

She was among hundreds of white-clad believers who recently crowded into a Catholic church, praying before a statue of the Virgen de Las Mercedes, a manifestation of the Virgin Mary, who they said represents Obatala, a patriarch in the pantheon of Yoruba gods.

'Babalaos' and offerings
Some pay up to $7,000 for the yearslong initiation process to become "babalaos," or Santeria priests. The Followers of Ifa, a Santeria association, says it objects to the practice of charging such sums, saying the religion is based on "humility, brotherhood and honesty."

The patchwork of other folk rituals in Venezuela includes lighting candles and leaving fruit and cups of liquor at makeshift altars among the tombstones at Caracas' largest cemetery. Others pray using idols that range from toy dolls to wooden statues of "malandros" — street hoodlums who serve as protector spirits on streets where killings are frequent.

One santero, a 40-year-old named Wilfredo who would not give his last name, said that while Santeria attracts many for positive reasons, there are those who use it for black magic "because they think they can go kill and rob and nothing will happen to them."

CONTINUED: Pilgrimages for spiritual healing
Black magic practitioners known as "paleros" are known to gather human bones from cemeteries in order to seal pacts with the dead, to call upon their spirits for vengeance. At least some of the grave-robbing that plagues Caracas' main cemetery is thought to be due to the paleros, who according to some Santeria followers offer up to $5,000 for a skull.

In contrast, those seeking enlightenment and healing often visit the mountains of Sorte in rural north-central Venezuela, a key site for followers of the Maria Lionza sect.

A poor 21-year-old woman, Andrea Gomez, came here to see a Maria Lionza priestess who leads healing rituals, hoping her wisdom could help improve a troubled relationship with her boyfriend and find a spiritual cure for what she called "psychological pregnancy" — uncomfortable abdominal swelling in spite of the fact she wasn't pregnant.

The ceremony began as the "curandera" priestess offered Gomez a tea-like drink made with anise, and then gave her a cigar and asked her to chew it. It wasn't long before Gomez spat it out and vomited — the first stage in the cleansing ritual.

Then she was led into a stream, where the priestess and her two helpers rubbed a concoction of herbs, stems and rum over her skin, and dunked her in the water.

Dressing her in a hospital robe, they led her to a large flat rock, on which they poured a trail of talcum powder to draw a door-like "portal" for spiritual healing. They asked her to lie inside the white lines on a bed of banana leaves, and lit candles around her.

The priestess prayed aloud, speaking in tongues for the spirit world. The healer closed her eyes and appeared to drift into a trance, then placed her hands on the woman's abdomen and forehead.

Afterward, Gomez was helped up by her brother and cousin, and she sat on a rock appearing tired and peaceful. The priestess told the woman not to speak, and announced to those who witnessed the hour-and-a-half ceremony that "the evil" was gone.




I know that the practice seems out there in the deep end but is it any stranger than casting out demons in the Medival ages and even today or the spritual healing in chruches like Benny Hinn's ministery?

I think it's the belief that causes relief.

Lonely people more likely to believe in God
Study: Those who feel isolated try to create social connections elsewhere

updated 3:37 p.m. ET, Thurs., Jan. 24, 2008
People who feel lonely are more likely to believe in the supernatural, whether that is God, angels or miracles, a new study finds.

Humans have evolved as social creatures, so loneliness cuts to the quick. Living in groups was critical to the survival and safety of our ancient ancestors, and "complete isolation or ostracism has been tantamount to a death sentence," said University of Chicago researcher Nicholas Epley, who led the study.

While group living isn't critical to survival in the modern world, feeling socially connected is. Feeling isolated and lonely is a very painful emotional state for people, Epley said, and can lead to ill health, both physically and mentally.

"Being socially isolated is just not good for you," he said.

Seeking connections
When people feel lonely, they may try to rekindle old friendships, seek out new ones or, as Epley's study suggests, they may create social connections by anthropomorphizing nearby gadgets, such as computers or cars, pets, or by believing in supernatural events or religious figures.

In their study, detailed in the February issue of the journal Psychological Science, Epley's team tried to induce feelings of loneliness in people to see how it affected how they thought of pets and their belief in religious figures.

In one experiment, college undergraduates were shown movie clips and told to try and empathize with the protagonist as best they could, in order to set them in one of three emotional states.

One group was shown a clip from "Cast Away," the movie in which the main character played by Tom Hanks is deserted on a remote island, in order to induce a feeling of isolation. The second group was shown a clip from the crime thriller "The Silence of the Lambs" to promote a sense of fear. A third, control group was shown a clip from the sports comedy feature film "Major League."

All three groups were then asked to describe a pet they owned or knew well and pick three traits from a list that best described them. The list included anthropomorphic traits that related to social connections (thoughtful, sympathetic) and simple behavioral descriptions (aggressive, energetic, fearful).

Believing in the supernatural
Participants from the loneliness group were more likely to describe the pet using the anthropomorphic descriptions than those in the fear or control groups.

All three groups were also asked to rate their belief in ghosts, angels, the devil, miracles, curses, and God, and again, those in the loneliness group reported stronger belief in these supernatural agents.

In another part of their study, Epley and his colleagues asked participants from the University of Chicago to fill out a personality questionnaire and were then told that the answers would be fed to a computer which would generate a future-life prediction for them. Half of the participants were read statements implying they would be lonely later in life, while the other half were told they would be socially connected for the rest of their lives.

"We tried to manipulate their loneliness, to make them feel lonely," Epley said.

The participants were then asked to rate their belief in the same supernatural agents in the other study, and those in the "lonely group" reported stronger belief than those in the "connected group." The results were also compared to ratings the participants gave before they got their life predictions, and those who reported a belief in God before and were made to feel lonely reported a stronger belief after the experiment.

"We found that inducing people to feel lonely made them more religious essentially," Epley told LiveScience, though he notes it won't cause any sudden conversions.

Owning pets and religious beliefs and practices are both known to increase a person's sense of well-being, but why exactly that is isn’t well known, Epley said.

Epley and his colleagues plan to probe the issue further to see if anthropomorphizing pets or believing in anthropomorphized supernatural agents is what is responsible for alleviating feelings of loneliness. If it is, it could provide alternate means for people to feel socially connected when connecting to humans isn't an option.

"There are health benefits that come from being connected to other people, and those same benefits seem to come from connection with pets and with religious agents, too," Epley said.

I can't believe how racist this thread has got.