THE ANSWER.

This is how change comes about:
Desire > Choice > Intent > Change

We all have a desire to achieve more out of life - to reach a deeper meaning. This desire then provokes a choice which causes many people to choose religion! But this choice does not lead to change. (as we have seen over the 5000 years or so that religion has existed during recorded history)
What is the natural complimentary discipline to religion?
The answer is science.
Science and religion have yery similar areas of focus and this focus is on the nature of reality. On one hand religion claims to have everything figured out about how reality is and how reality works and on the other hand science makes no such claim, science has been constantly searching for the true nature of reality and only creates models to explain what it has discovered thus far.

Many people take religious teachings literally - this is because they have no scientific discipline. They have made the choice to have the intent to fulfill their desire, which is basically being a sheep to the shepards of religion.
Many people take scientific teaching literally - they don't understand that we have not reached a complete model and what we do know is only related to the physical, not the non-physical which we are only beginning to delve into (more on this later). These people have no spiritual discipline. They have made the choice to have the intent to fulfill their desire, again being sheeps to the shepards of science.

The real answer that science and religon come to when they are united is that consciousness is the answer. Science has painstakingly seached through the soup of quantum reality (really really small stuff) to conclude that we create reality!

For all you religious people who have neglected science, here are some scientific terms:
Superpositon: two or more particles existing in the same place at once (on top of eachother if it were 2-dimensional). This can also be used to define polarities (which 2-dimensional direction a wave is vibrating in. ie: horizonal, verticle, or anywhere in between) ... it is thought that when we don't measure anything that things exist in a superpositioned state and is mathematically reffered to as a wave function. Once we make a measurement we are collapsing that wave function and the atom or particle we are measuring comes into our reality from that state.

Quanta: the smallest possible part of anything (which is debatable whether it actually exists) - for instance one quanta of your keyboard would be each key, and they combine to form an inter-relating system which, when stimulated by consciousness, forms these words and ideas you read. (which actually is a good analogy for reality)

The Uncertainty Principle: When you measure an atom you cannot avoid changing that atom and therefore your measurment actually nullifies its own intent. You cannot know both position and velocity accuratley - the more accurate one is the less accurate the other will be.
Ok, so those are some basic concepts that have been around since the 1950s or so...
When we attempt to apply some of these concepts to our own perception of reality and existance we come to some really startling conclusions.
1) when we close our eyes reality becomes superimposed onto ourselves.
2) When in this state of superposition we can explore reality, basically determining our courses of action by thought alone. Our thoughts then are brought into reality when we act upon them and they will change reality. (like measuring the atom)
3) When we are doing something, like making a slam dunk for example, reality becomes solid and we become entirely immersed into that one action - the superpositioned state which existed before we went into that action becomes collapsed into one outcome by our act of doing.

In the macro world (the everyday world) instead of measurments affecting the superpositioned states it is our actions that affect those states - we are the observer.

So in conclusion, God as an omnipotent entity is the ultimate observer - the superpositioned state of all observers.

By searching through ourselves and not delving into any fundamentalism or extreme of belief we can (through prayr or meditation) see ourselves through the eyes of other people we have become, through the eyes of ourselves who we have become, through the eyes of the ultimate observer who we have become - we can then take that perspective and bring it into this reality which will forever change who we are and how we percieve reality.

The answer to the fundamental question of who is the creator is: WE. (being the superpositioned state of us.)

WE hold the power to influence reality and WE hold the power to manifest our own destinies - not some disconnected observer in the sky watching over us... for if we choose so, WE can become that observer.

Ultimatley; balance is the key to hapiness. No extreme of wealth fame or power can grant us this.

Originally posted by ChessJester
This is how change comes about:
Desire > Choice > Intent > Change

We all have a desire to achieve more out of life - to reach a deeper meaning. This desire then provokes a choice which causes many people to choose religion! But this choice does not lead to change. (as we have seen over the 5000 years or so that religion has existed during recorded ...[text shortened]... imatley; balance is the key to hapiness. No extreme of wealth fame or power can grant us this.

Originally posted by scottishinnz
You really have to keep off the sherry.

Originally posted by ChessJester
This is how change comes about:
Desire > Choice > Intent > Change

We all have a desire to achieve more out of life - to reach a deeper meaning. This desire then provokes a choice which causes many people to choose religion! But this choice does not lead to change. (as we have seen over the 5000 years or so that religion has existed during recorded ...[text shortened]... imatley; balance is the key to hapiness. No extreme of wealth fame or power can grant us this.

Originally posted by The Chess Express
Hey great post! I’ve been meaning to do a thread on quantum mechanics and consciousness for a few weeks now. I guess you beat me to it. You’re quite right. Quantum mechanics currently believes that our consciousness affects reality. Here is a link that shows how this principle has been applied in scientific experiments.

http://www.spiritofmaat.com/archive/aug1/consciouswater.html

Originally posted by ChessJester
This is how change comes about:
Desire > Choice > Intent > Change

We all have a desire to achieve more out of life - to reach a deeper meaning. This desire then provokes a choice which causes many people to choose religion! But this choice does not lead to change. (as we have seen over the 5000 years or so that religion has existed during recorded imatley; balance is the key to hapiness. No extreme of wealth fame or power can grant us this.

Originally posted by ChessJester
On one hand religion claims to have everything figured out about how reality is ...

I've been banned for creating threads with titles in capital letters.

Originally posted by sasquatch672
There you have it. The mysteries of the universe boiled down to five paragraphs. Why didn't I think of that?

He's right. Keep off the liquor.

I think it's 42.