A thought occurred to me the other day - "I suppose God wonders who or what created Him." This thought didn't just pop into my mind, of course; I was led to it through various things that I've been reading and thinking about lately.

I've had a lot of time to read and think about such things in recent months. A little more than a year ago, like many intelligent, educated people these days, and probably throughout history, I chose a self-destructive course for my life that included the use and abuse of drugs, alcohol, and other people. I distanced myself from my family and others who loved and cared about me. While I didn't stop loving or caring about them, I chose to live on the streets without
responsibility or accountability.

Needless to say this was a dangerous path to choose and continuing it would have led to either institutionalization or death, perhaps both. But I can't say that I regret having taken that path now that I'm on a safer one. To spend mental energy chastising myself for past mistakes would be counterproductive, I think. Instead I should focus on improving myself as a human being and a member of society. I can now look at my recent experiences and learn from the consequences of my past behavior.

Improving myself as a human being and as a member of society are the things I've been focused on lately. In doing so, I have been reading a wide range of literature. One book that I've found fascinating is A History of God, by Karen Armstrong. In it she explores the three monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. She also compares historic beliefs in these religions with those in Buddhism, Hindu and pagan religions.

Here, I should let you know that, prior to my days of living on the streets I worked in the field of special education and that I'm particularly interested in Autism. One of the concepts important to understanding people with Autism is known as "Theory of Mind". The idea is that one can put ones-self in another's shoes, so to speak. Most of us can look at the actions of others, hear their words, their tone of voice, read their expressions and make judgments about how they feel, what their motivations are and so on. Theory of Mind is difficult for people with Autism. To varying degrees people with Autism and related disorders have a hard time understanding intentions of others and communicating in general. This tends to make them isolated.

So, it was reading Armstrong's book about the One God and thinking about theory of mind and the isolation of people with Autism that led me to put myself in God's shoe's, so to speak. I don't suppose it matters to you or to me whether God really does wonder who created Him, or even whether He was created at all or does he just exist. But it got me thinking about other things.

If I were God, what would motivate me to create a universe? Why would I create life in general and why would I create intelligent life? If I were God I guess it would be for two reasons: 1. Because I can. 2. To pass the time---Eternity is a long time. It must be very lonely to be the only Supreme Being. But it's not quite as bad for God if He can make something. It would be even better if He could make something He can interact with, something that would grow, something that he could nurture, something that needed him, a reason for being.

Thinking about Him in that way, I can really empathize with God. That is what we all want. We want to interact with others. We want to create things. We want to feel needed. We want a reason to be here. We want purpose in our lives. And we want to grow and learn and improve ourselves. And that's what we have been doing throughout recorded history and before. As individuals and as a race we have built on past achievements, learning from our own mistakes and those of others. Sometimes mistakes are repeated and we have had to suffer the consequences individually or as groups. But over time the progress has been sure.

In the last century human progress has been phenomenal and the pace is increasing. In elementary school I learned that the United States was the "melting pot" of the world. Today it is the whole world, but it is more like a good stew than a melting pot, where the carrots are still carrots and the onions are still onions but their flavors mingle together.

We are instantly connected around the globe. We can collaborate on projects, exchange information, and share insights with people we have never seen, who have perspectives very different from our own, but who want basically the same things: to create, to grow, to thrive. Yet we tend to isolate ourselves, individually and as groups. Science has made amazing advances in the study of medicine, psychology and human behavior. The quality of life for more and more people around the world is rapidly improving. Yet, many are getting left behind.

As cultures, nations, religions, and individuals, we tend to define ourselves by our differences. We exclude those who seem different to us. It is easier to for us to dismiss someone who we don't understand than to take the time to try and understand them.

As societies and cultures we are like people with Autism; though we see, hear, and can speak, we have a difficult time seeing things from the perspective of others, so we tend to have difficulty communicating. Nuances of language are lost in translation. Cultural practices misunderstood.

Even in the same language, within the same culture we have many different perspectives and plenty of miscommunication for the same reason as those with Autism: we need to develop our theory of mind, exercise it like a muscle, practice looking at things from the other perspective. There is the perception that religion and science are incompatible even though examples can be found today and throughout history of religious leaders embracing science and leaders of the scientific community with strong spiritual and religious beliefs.

So many of the ideas that seem to divide some religions from science and from each other seem to me to be controversies over minor details. Was the world literally created in seven days? Was Jesus the literal Son of God? Or was He a prophet? I believe these are just details and while the answers to these questions may be fundamental to our specific belief systems, we should not allow them to divide us as a human race.

After all, the essence of the message is the same whether we follow the teachings of Muhammad, Buddha, Jesus, or the best practices of science. A primary aim of science and all of the major religions is the improvement of the human condition. And each of these belief systems suggest similar avenues toward that process. Meditative practices, for instance, are encouraged, in various forms by all the major religions, and these practices have been shown by science to benefit us both physically and psychologically. Altruism and charity are valued by each religion and I believe that these characteristics in individuals and societies can be shown scientifically to benefit humans individually and collectively.

I think it's time we came together as a human race. While we can each still have our own national heritage, our own ethnic and cultural background and our own religious and spiritual beliefs, we should all recognize that we're all on this planet together and try to look at the world and each other through new eyes.

But let's not stop there. Why not try to actively learn from ourselves and from each other. Another book I've recently read, Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephan J. Dubner, I learned that if we have the right data and ask the right questions we can learn some interesting, useful and sometimes surprising things about human behavior. And in The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman, I've learned that people are collaborating all over the world by various methods and for a variety of reasons. Groups of people who may have never met are working together developing software. Doctors in India are reading CAT scans for patients in the U.S.
I propose that it is time that we, as one human race, collaborate on the improvement of our species and our general condition. We can do this in the same ways that people are already collaborating on many things over the internet as Friedman describes in his book. Software designers are collaborating on community developed software, software that rivals, and in some cases surpasses, the quality of commercially developed software. Wikipedia is an extensive encyclopedia that is being written by anyone who cares to contribute.

My hope is to create a world community, via technology, of people from all over the world, from all cultures and faiths, and from the various perspectives of the humanities and sciences. Members of the community could then share specific problems or ideas with the rest of the community. These problems could be local, cultural, national or international.

Think of it as a suggestion box for the human race. Please post a description of any human problems that you see that are not being addressed, or are being addressed inappropriately by government or non-governmental organizations concerned. Members of the community can respond with their own ideas that will hopefully lead to solutions. Solutions may include lobbying governments, non-governmental organizations, or even setting up new organizations to address the problem.

It is up to us as individuals. Governments can only do so much. We can not count on corporate altruism. We can evolve, we can have heaven on earth, utopia, paradise--great change can take place in our lifetime--Whatever language appeals to us, as individuals, it is all very much the same thing. I'm talking about a never-ending process. Progress toward unobtainable perfection of our species.