LivingandWorkingUniverse.com
Welcome to a new environment where the purpose of our lives is explained as an integral part of a living and working universe.

What if We are God is a new book which is the result of a 20 year sabbatical by its author John Coombes and comes out in January.
It will be available exclusively through this website.

Subjects covered include:

The Argument for a “Pick & Mix” Belief System

Engines that drive the Universe     A Universal “Intelligence” at work

The Language of this “Intelligence”        Non-Judgemental Disciplines of Life

Extracts from this forthcoming book give a flavour of this unique viewpoint in which God is not seen as a separate force sitting in judgement over mankind.
Instead it argues that we are a “living and working” part of a Universal Intelligence and by living our lives we are enabling it to find out who and what it is. It is present in every aspect of Creation, listening and communicating in ways you will quickly come to recognise.
Global Warming is not an “act of vengeance” but simply evidence of Intelligent Reaction to something going out of balance, which may or may not destroy us.
He suggests that the concept of Shareholding is responsible for the stress which now dominates most of Western life. Other observations range from why Princess Diana died, to why credit cards act against the human condition.
A more contentious view offers that Religious wars are inevitable as long as Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and all of our traditional beliefs operate exclusive directives - that they are “right” and everybody else is “wrong”.
The underlying theme that we are a part of an Intelligence at work is patiently argued and demonstrated through our everyday life and surroundings. It affects our food, marriage, education, Globalisation, defines a fuller purpose to procreation, as well as the use and abuse of money and Politics.
It will certainly guarantee to make the reader take a fresh look at life through a reassuring perspective that he tries to make both positive and exciting.

Tell me when the Book is Launched
If you would like to know when What if We are God is available please leave your email address – exclusively for this single approach – and I will get back to you. As a self publishing author I am properly registered under the Data Protection Act.
John Coombes – November 2006

About the Author
Following a successful career in the Financial Services Sector where he built several companies and a £100 million group, he became disillusioned with “just making money”. In his early 40’s he suffered ME and went from a City boardroom to the paint shop in a small factory in the space of 18 months. At the time the Stockmarket and housing market also collapsed and he lost everything, including his family.
Over the last 20 years he has endeavoured to make sense of how “what he loved the most, he hurt the most”. In so doing has come to view life and its workings from a totally different and more meaningful perspective.
There are amusing as well as very poignant stories that provide the backdrop to a deeply penetrating observation on the human condition, and how we seem to continually hold ourselves back from realising our true potential in this thing called life.

Extracts from What if We are God

Introduction

History is witness to a continuous cycle of conflict, wars, terrorism and now global warming, caused primarily because of what we believe.
We surround these beliefs in exclusivity - Science, Religion and Politics for example. Exclusivity creates “them and us” and “right and wrong” the root causes of conflict.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we were to try and break this cycle?
Try this for size.
Suppose that at the beginning of time there was just Intelligence – and nothing else!
Who is it? What is it? - Who knows! There’s nothing else with which it can compare - and there lies both the problem and the solution.
By creating an infinite number of different and interacting aspects of itself, this Intelligence can learn about who and what it is.
Evolution is the journey along which this information is provided, assessed, retained, refined or discarded.
This is my personal slant on what the Bible refers to as Creation and scientists calls “The Big Bang”.
It gives purpose to the vast diversity of life that includes planets, solar systems, mountains, trees, giraffes, rhinos, whales and you and me - all interacting with each other in one form or another.
It answers why an asteroid from deep space contains the same minerals that I take daily as supplements to nourish my body.
As a part of this Intelligence, operating in a living and working universe and experiencing the “paradox, pain and perfection” that is life, surely we are capable of so much more than continuous conflict that started in Neanderthal times.
Our technological innovation alone is witness to our phenomenal capabilities.
I am at the end of a 20 year sabbatical and truly believe that globalisation is providing a unique crossroads for us. Either we can review our traditional beliefs and make a massive evolutionary leap forward, or continue with what is a primary contributor to our current perilous position.
My thinking has been heavily influenced by among others:
Professor James Lovelock and his Gaia principle - that the planet is a living organism.
Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch - that promotes a non-judgemental God.
The Aquarian Conspiracy by Marilyn Ferguson - which foresaw in the 1970’s the social change that is now present in society, including the gradual breaking down of the traditional order of things and the rapid growth of self help groups

THE NUB OF THE PROBLEM AS I SEE IT

When President George W Bush declared war on Iraq and followed up by inferring that “God is on our side” I suddenly thought to myself, “Wait a minute - We did this a thousand years ago with the Crusades – and continue doing it with monotonous regularity.” And where has it got us over all those centuries? Absolutely nowhere as a civilisation I would beg to suggest.
Suppose we were able to “beam down” into the present one of those crusading knights of 1000 years ago, (chain mail and all!) what might his reaction be?
I think he would be completely speechless when confronted by such things as a microwave cooker and seeing food cook without fire – to say nothing of cars, light bulbs and rocket ships to the moon - just a few of our many spectacular achievements in a relatively short space of time. If we were then to say to him “We’re going to war with some Muslims over the water, fancy helping out?” I’m sure his reaction would be enthusiastic approvable and support.
The point I am making is that in spite of stratospheric advances in our technologies and all that we surround ourselves with, we seem totally incapable of mirroring similar advances in the way in which we interact as a species.
Indeed we are as barbaric now as we were when we lived in caves. I would go further and suggest that the atom bomb is no more than a sophisticated 21st century club – and the caveman’s club was a lot more environmentally friendly!
Based upon ignorance and vested interest we have created “labels” with which we identify each other. In so doing we have set up boundaries of acceptance based on these labels which in turn breeds judgemental opinion. Instead of seeking to understand we seek to control because each label believes it has exclusive rights. These rights take the shape of “control” of a water hole, “ownership” of a piece of land, (be it a field or a country), the “one and only” True God . . . and so on.

Engines that drive the Universe

The one thing that continues to elude even the most brilliant of minds is at the very heart of the workings of this Universe – perpetual motion. Like the pulses in our bodies the activities of the Universe continue ceaselessly 24/7, generating experiences which convert into knowledge.
At the very core of this ceaseless activity is emotion which is fuelled by opposites. (For the purposes of this book I define emotion as the means by which a reaction is caused, be it through anger, love, hate, ambition, hunger or desire etc.)
Whatever item or subject matter you can think of has an opposite and is the force which propels emotion back and forth like a tennis ball:
Man/Woman - Day/Night - Back/Forth – Earth/Sea – North/South – and so on.
From the interaction of these aspects of life a myriad of information is provided and causes an avalanche of new interactions, which in turn react and perpetuate.
Indeed by creating a Universe of opposites, an environment of interaction is born in which continuous questioning, argument and counter argument flourish. Within this arena of what I see as perpetual motion, the net result is knowledge.

The Universal Disciplines of Life

For me guidance in the work we are doing extends beyond simple human interaction and encompasses our ability to interact with the Universe at large. To this end this Intelligence seems to provide just a few simple disciplines, designed not so much to control as allow maximum investigation through experience in the attainment of knowledge.
They consist of one common principle and construction – they are supremely non-judgemental:
1. Time – The true outcomes of our actions result from the passing of time and take into account their effect upon the whole and connected Universe. Within this discipline is found knowledge and wisdom through experience, which could take minutes or millennia to produce.
2. Ignorance – The very vastness of the Universe dictates that we are kept in ignorance of how it operates. By the very nature of a journey of investigation not all the knowledge is available – that’s the job of Creation! It is also worth considering that if we were not in ignorance we would be capable of abusing the true nature of our work and defeat the whole purpose of life.
3. Balance – Imbalance creates learning, and balance true understanding.
4. Diversity – The very essence of discovery is the ability to compare and evaluate. Limitless diversity, with its core of Opposites and Paradox, ensure unlimited interactions take place in a perpetual motion of experience and learning.
5. Procreation – Without a powerful sex drive providing the ability to procreate and diversify no investigation could occur.
6. Power – The Universal “Muscle” by which we create balance and imbalance.
7. Connectedness – Only by having a “common denominator” can Creation interact, function and evolve. Through understanding our connectedness we can revere our individuality.

The Argument for a “Pick & Mix” Belief System

In reading about various beliefs I came away with a perception of each which was powerful in its simplicity and application to life. These perceptions in no way try to diminish the comprehensive nature of each teaching but denote the impact they individually had upon my view of life.
For this reason I refer to it as a “Pick & Mix” belief and the main perceptions can be best described as follows in what they taught me:
- Humility and respect for each other, from Christianity
- Choosing the right paths in life for livelihood, speech, intention etc from Buddhism
- Acceptance of divine intervention and its holistic nature, from Taoism
- Love and respect for all creatures and the planet, from Shamanism
- Lateral thinking and serenity, from Zen
- The individuality of people and our interconnectedness with the Universe, from Astrology
- The importance of family values, from the Jewish faith
- The importance of having and respecting a belief system, from Islam
- The equality of male and female, from Witchcraft
The very nature of this belief not only provides universal wisdom for me, but also reduces my ignorance and thus better enabling me to see and understand those who share this planet with me.

Truth & Honesty
For us to grow as a society, like any individual member, we have to assume responsibility for our actions by identifying and owning them truthfully and honestly.
The death of Princess Diana in a high speed car chase was the result of a culmination of circumstances prevalent in our society today. Photographers driven by the lure of huge fees were aggressively seeking pictures of her. Newspapers were eager to print these photos because they were guaranteed a readership whose thirst for such material was proving insatiable. This in turn made the papers large amounts of money from advertisers eager to get to the readers.
The similarity between the relentless chase after this beautiful woman and foxhunting seems a little too close for comfort. Hypocrisy dictates that we condemn one and allow the other to flourish unabated.
I believe that when we are able to accept our collective part in her death we will then want to seek a new belief system that helps to moderate our excesses. Maybe the huge outpouring of grief at the time was a subconscious display of that acceptance.
In our lust for power and money, the inability to assume responsibility for how we treat each other and manage our surroundings will eventually result in our own destruction. The tsunamis, hurricanes and other planetary “vibrations” are getting worse not better, as we continue to rape the planet and each other in our blind rush to the myth of financial nirvana.

Courage
Courage is not displayed by the lack of fear . . . but by overcoming that fear!
Every aspect of Creation provides evidence of courage – here are just two.
A friend of mine was married for many years and brought up two lovely children in spite of a difficult marriage. Eventually when the kids were old enough, and because the violence had not subsided she plucked up the courage and left. Her favourite hobby was sport and she was very talented. She had a friendship with one of the other members of the club and gradually it turned to something much deeper with the other woman.
I remember poignantly her telling me how she sat in the lavatory one day with her head buried in her hands, weeping uncontrollably as she tried to come to terms with her desire to follow a new and happier life with her partner. How would she confront her children and how would her friends react? Her life was in turmoil.
Eventually she told her kids and was overwhelmed with their declarations of support and love for her. Her friends, the ones who counted as she found out, continued with the friendship as if nothing had happened. Her loneliness in that lavatory must have been all consuming at the time, and the “mountain” before her immense. The courage she displayed has rewarded her with a happiness and contentment that she has never previously experienced.
The second example is something many would ignore but I cannot omit from this important chapter. Jasper is my partner Wendy’s black and white cat. He has an air rifle pellet logged in his hind leg, which gives him a permanent limp. He was run over when younger and this causes his left ear to be continually “gunged up”, as well as loosing some teeth. To add to this he has been diagnosed with a tumour in his spine too close to his brain for safe surgery to remove it, and is therefore a source of considerable irritation in his right ear.
In consequence of all this he has a problem walking, and his blocked ear has dramatically reduced his sense of balance to a point where he carefully selects his route to food and garden to ensure he has something to lean against at all times. Often he will spin around and around to try and regain his balance but invariably without success, and collapse on his back in a heap. You can see from his face that he has no idea where he is, and patiently waits for the world to stop revolving before getting up again and continuing his interrupted journey.
In spite of all this he has a healthy appetite, a beautiful glossy coat and his purring when receiving attention would drown out a London Transport bus! That small animal is a constant reminder to me that any aches and pains I think I might have, pale into insignificance compared with what he is dealing with every waking minute of his life. (Sadly poor Jasper died in 2006 when his tough little body finally gave up on him, but his memory will always be a source of courage to me.)
These examples are just a few of the experiences I have been privileged to witness over my life. They try in some small way to identify and pay homage to the wonder of life and how we cope with what is presented to us.
Perhaps a review of society’s current values would help to reduce the need for many of the acts of courage that currently occur, including some that I have identified here. Changing some of our beliefs might assist in this evolutionary process assisting us to find true happiness and contentment!