by Ben Huot
ben@benjamin-newton.com
www.benjamin-newton.com
Discover More About My Books
Why Give Them Away?
I am not making any profit off my books, because I am a disabled veteran and if I did, I would jeopardize my pension. Another reason is that I think too many things in life cost too much money. Where most people who want a free culture express these views by stealing music and movies, because they think they cost too much money, I have taken a proactive approach and have instead released my books for free.
The greatest things in life are free and the greatest works have no copyright. If I want my work to last, the best way to do it is to not sell my copyright and license it for free distribution. Like most good writers and revolutionary thinkers, I will likely be thought of as more important after I die. As it is, the only writers who make much off their books are people who are already famous.
Why so Negative on Science and Europe?
When we talk about Science, it would be hard for most people to agree what they were talking about. When I refer to Science, I mean the Enlightenment philosophy that arose in the last 500 years in Europe and America. When I refer to Science, it is usually capitalized, and refers to the Scientific Worldview.
This worldview as I see it is composed of Atheism, Materialism, and Systematic Thought drawn from Rousseau, Descartes, and Maimonides (most people falsely give Thomas Aquinas credit). The big idea uniting these 3 principles is arrogance and man controlling the world.
I
see Science as a discovery process and as a worldview as intertwined,
because if you tell most Scientists that you think Science is valid,
they jump to thinking you believe in Evolution. Contemporary movements
in Science such as Superstring Theories, Dark Matter and Dark Energy,
Global Warming (Global Catastrophe), Genetics, and advances in Ecology
theory are taking Science beyond the 3 principles in the Scientific
Worldview. The problem is that most people think in terms of 17th to
19th century Science.
I have a sister who teaches Science and I respect both what she is doing and the level of professionalism and her deep understanding of the vast knowledge base required to be a professional in Science. I think that if more people understood what Science is really about by learning from my sister and Scientists like her, we wouldn't have most of the problems in Science that we have now.
There are a number of Enlightenment philosphers I agree with or at least parially agree with. Berkeley is one of my favorite philosophers, Spinoza inspired some important aspects of my philosophy, John Locke's Letter Concerning Toleration was one of the most important works written and I totally agree with it accept I don't think we should limit toleration to religious beliefs, and Hume had some interesting ideas that could be useful for someone very creative. I also enjoy reading about physics and astronomy and I make heavy use of the Internet and anti-psychotics which all came out of Science.
When
I am referering to the autrocities that Europe has committed, I am
referring to the top leadership of the government. I am referring to
the dozen or so worldwide "rich white men," who control most of what
goes on in the world. And I have also been very critical of rich
politically conservative Christians in my writing as well.
I had thought I had been clear about this and this was obvious from what I have written, but I have recently found out that this needed to be clarified. Unfortunately this wasn't communicated to me in the right way, before I had completed 16 of the books. I only wished intellectuals who are negative on Christianity would be willing to say that it is not the Bible they are against but the way Christians act.
It is common amongst intellectuals to group all born-again Christians together. It is common for intellectuals to blame current problems in history on what the Bible says, when if they were to actually read it, they would find that the Bible speaks against much of what they feel has been done wrong in the name of Christianity.
Purpose of Books
It is common thinking amongst Evangelical Christians in postmodern times that the end of times is near, but it was near at the time of the New Testament. But I believe that the problems in the world have nothing to do with signaling the tribulation and the reason why we have survived this far is because of God's direct divine intervention.
Many people are trying to prepare for the world to end, but what if it lasted for thousand of years into the future, by God's grace of course? Who is planning for that? We have no idea what the end of times will be like or how to prepare, but we can guess as to how to prepare for humanity lasting thousands more years. And the answers lie in our past and in the Bible, but not in how we were taught.
Like
people who were born over 50 years ago and thought they wouldn't live
this long and are now in bad health but still alive or like the troops
in Iraqi Freedom who have been kept alive and greatly disabled when in
other wars they would have simply died, our civilization will likely
last into the future in some form or another even if we come close to
destroying ourselves, but we instead will be severely impaired
environmentally, technologically, economically, politically, and
socially.
My text books and picture books contain
most of my
work over the past 9 and 1/2 years. These include my reading of some
235 books containing the philosophical and religious thinking of the
world’s cultures for several thousand years and the application of the
main themes of some of the major Old Testament Prophets and major works
of the New Testament.
The main point of this work is to get people to stop living their lives
with their minds, but instead follow their hearts. I bring a radically
different combination of viewpoints that you have not heard of before.
I am not asking people to follow what I have written, but rather let
the words stir up some sort of emotional response in your heart.
I challenge my readers to come up with their own unique ideas and that
can lead the world in a new direction. We need a much broader diversity
of ideas in our culture to deal with the problems we are facing in
America and throughout the rest of the world.
Book Contents and Organization
The Text Books fall into a number of categories: Systematic Series (Read First), Free Thinking Christian Series (Humanities Series), and the Social Science Series. The Humanities Series and the Social Science Series together form the Academic Series.
The major difference between the Systematic and Academic series is a matter of organization, as they share similar material. In the Systematic Series, the books are arranged by topic; and in the Academic Series, the books are poetically or musically arranged with similar topics discussed in each book but with a different focus.
The Reference Books include Technical Challenges which describes some of what I learned designing my websites and books, while the Book of Books is a recommended reading list. The Picture Books include World Beliefs Illustrations (Drawings Book) and Suburban Farm (Photos Book).
Academic Books
The Free Thinking Christian is a new series of books self-published by myself, a previously unknown author, Ben Huot. My series of 4 books on philosophy challenge the assumptions made by Christian Churches in America and Europe. I believe that people of other major belief systems each understand an element of the Trinity better than any Christian church of the Western world.
The Free Thinking Christian series as well as my other academic books, Justice and Hope and Total Person and Society are all based on Biblical theology which I see as composed of a number of paradoxes. The series is about humility and compassion and kindness and seriousness. Justice and Hope is about class justice and hope for everlasting life, while Total Person and Society is about reason and emotions and the spirit and the will. Unexpected is about the unexpected good things about America. Faith and Creativity in Education is about what is wrong with education in America.
These books are composed of both poetry and essay and are a collection
of different works loosely connected by the same themes much like the
Bible, Kierkegaard’s writings, and many great works of Eastern
Philosophy.
In my writings and in my thinking, I don't see a separation between my personal experiences, my mental illness, my philosophy, the type of Christianity I practice, the politics I believe in, and the condition of the world.
Philosophy Core is an introduction to my methods
Philosophy Electives applications of my theories
North and South contrasts the atheist Northern Hemisphere with the very religious Southern Hemisphere
Beyond Philosophy the farthest disciplines from the Scientific worldview are poetry and art
Free Thinking Christian Series
This book is based on almost 8 years of my readings of 165 texts, 80% classics or primary texts in philosophy, religion, and literature, more Asian than European and some African. I am the only one I know of that has combined Philosophical Taoism and Christian Existentialism. All 4 texts together include 195 original poems by myself and over 500 pages of original text. These 4 books combined are called the Free Thinking Christian Series.
I am a born again Christian Existentialist as well as a Neoconfucian and a Philosophical Taoist and see no contradiction in that. I also have Paranoid Schizophrenia and have served in the Army - I am now a disabled veteran.
This book is a combination of poetry and articles concerning my philosophy. The style is inspired from the Bible and Kierkegaard. My content is inspired by Jeremiah, Nehemiah, Acts, Romans, and 1 Corinthians as well as Chuang Tzu, Chu Hsi, Kierkegaard, and Camus.
It is primarily theologically focused on the Trinity. I believe that there is a tremendous misunderstanding of the Holy Spirit, God the Father, and Jesus Christ in the western Christian tradition.
I believe that the Holy Spirit is better understood by Hindus (bhakti path), Zen Buddhists, and Philosophical Taoists than any Christian church in America or Europe. I believe that Muslims understand God the Father better than any Christian church in America or Europe. I believe that African Christians understand Jesus Christ better than any Christian church in America or Europe.
The texts are: Philosophy Core, Philosophy Electives, North and South, and Beyond Philosophy. They are meant to teach people to think for themselves. Philosophy Core is the text that introduces you to my methods. Philosophy Electives includes Introduction to Ethics, Introduction to Belief and Schizophrenia, Topics in Theology, and Community through the Humanities. These are applications of my theories. North and South contrasts the Postmodernist Atheism of the Northern Hemisphere and the Christianity and Islam of the Southern Hemisphere. Beyond Philosophy takes the ideas to the conclusion that poetry and art are the greatest departure from Science as Worldview.
Other Versions
Get the Texts
You can download the entire texts of all the books by myself at
