Book I
PRIMARY SCRIPTURE: Cosmic Religion's First Lessons
by Sylvester L. Steffen
Published in 2001, available from AuthorHouse
Growing up at home in religion comes naturally when one grows up at
home in nature. Religion needs to connect with nature even as faith needs to connect with
reason. Bridging the chasm between faith and reason begins with connecting religion and
science.
"Primary Scripture" combines a working knowledge of science
with its essential connection to reason-based faith. The book serves as a first reader for
parents and teachers seeking to connect in children's minds the link of nature/religion,
reason/faith. Such true-to-life foundation gives children a solid faith basis that gets
stronger as they grow in scientific understanding.
"Primary Scripture, Cosmic Religion's First Lessons" is
unique for the reason that its author has professional competence in both religion
(theology) and science, but has always been independent of both disciplines for his
livelihood. Free from professional bias, Steffen brings religion and science together with
publicly sensible evenhandedness and with the commonplace freshness of a generalist, not a
specialist.
The general public will appreciate the non-schizophrenic approach of
treating religion and science as equals and not adversaries. From his insight of the
essential continuity of evolutionary consciousness, Steffen sees purpose and conscience as
co-dependent expressions of cosmic rationality grounded in relational well-being.
Ideological religions drive people apart for want of an always timely and universal basis
upon which to advance a theological consciousness that is consistent with individual and
universal harmony.
Ethics and civility, morality and politics, like religion and science,
ground in the universal rationality of the evolving quantum-electric universe. The author
provides just enough theology and just enough science to reconcile a universal harmony of
consciousness, cosmically grounded, that credibly substantiates the rational fidelity of
universal relationship by which the every day person can live in local and global civility
in correspondence with the family virtues of faith, hope and love.
Today, all mainline religions are experiencing a crisis of
credibility, for none has successfully witnessed or inspired general public respect for
nature and fellowman. Ideologically, their bureaucracies are more focused on corporate,
institutional priorities and advantage than on priorities of people and nature. In their
consumerist embrace they image transnational corporations more than they do the communal
nature of the Godhead they claim to serve.
Patriarchal religions, premised in dominion theology whether
Christianity, Judaism, Islamism or other, have historically prosecuted the politics of
confrontation, exploitation, violence and alienation. Public consciousness now seems to be
awakening to the irrationality of corporate religions and is becoming frustrated for their
fixation in misinformed consciousness. Universally, people consciously thirst for the
continuity experience of all life in the wisdom waters of common cosmic consciousness.
"Primary Scripture" offers a universal consciousness that is
cosmically originated and renewed in its natural processing of energetic
transubstantiation:
1.) Nature's elegantly simple process of rationality is presented as an empowering tool
that enables people individually to live consciously and conscionably, on a
moment-by-moment basis;
2.) By evolutionary nature's rational process, faith consciousness is ever renewed and
re-rooted in deep quantum-electric consciousness;
3.) Rationality and faith co-depend in the intentional conscience of natural purpose, the
symbiotic agency of successful interpersonal relationship;
4.) The Christian mandate to love God and one's neighbor as oneself grounds naturally in
the evolution of cosmic purpose/conscience;
Cosmic rationality and faith are not only consistent with the revelation ethics of
mainstream religion, they are the very well of religious consciousness.
"Primary Scripture" develops the "essential continuity" principle,
which identifies original energy/matter with evolved soul (spirituality) and body
(materiality). In the energetic codes (DNA) of all vitality nature transmits first
scripture lessons. Nature embodies for all time the place and "person" of
Godspeak-the sacrament of word/work.
Over the course of history, humans have ascended to the driver's seat,
over all other life. But, human recklessness "at the wheel" is wreaking havoc on
all Earthlife. If humankind would stop its recklessness, certain understandings need to be
put in place. For example: that the inherency/coherency of soul/substance, at the
atomic/molecular level, is commonly and essentially "quantum-electric", and,
that primary scripture (nature) encodes quantum-electrically the laws of network life's
interdependencies, whose rationality fundamentally informs the lessons of life's
sustainability.
In the author's view, the hallmark of authenticity is trustworthiness,
and the misdirected culture of the disconnection of conscious spirituality from
quantum-electric rationality disposes humans to irrational, distrustful behavior.
In "Primary Scripture" author Sylvester Steffen gives a science-perspective on
the great catholic (Christian) mandates to love God and to love one's neighbor as oneself.
In his view, science (experiential information) documents the "essential
continuity" of energy and matter, of soul and substance, of spirituality and
materiality-the natural logic/structure of rationality (religion). As a scientist, also
trained in philosophy and theology-he was an eleven-year student to the Catholic
priesthood-Steffen is qualified to associate credibly cosmic rationality in Earth-life's
self-evolving relativity.
In reading Teilhard de Chardin's "noogenesis" (expanding consciousness) and
"Christogenesis" (evolving conscience) into Einstein's quantum-electric
universe, Steffen finds validation in "new age" consciousness for the natural
wisdom of the ages. "Primary Scripture" is a helpful first reader for anyone
confused by the wave of new books seeking to connect science and religion.