Restore the ancient meanings of Good and Evil and change your life and world

Two of the most powerful words in the history of humans are “good” and “evil.” We hear them from infancy to death. The English words “good” and “evil” are very subjective and may be used to justify about anything. Find out what they meant in an ancient wisdom text by reading the complete blog at -- https://lives1st.blogspot.com/2018/08/restore-ancient-meanings-of-good-and.html

Transforming Belief Conflicts into Relationship Building Opportunities

The primary challenge facing Christians and Jews -- as well as members of other religions, agnostics and atheists -- is not a lack of information – it is getting new information past barriers created by our brains. Read the complete blog at -- https://lives1st.blogspot.com/2018/08/transforming-belief-conflicts-into.html

A God that Values Humans First

One of the most amazing things we (Rabbi Jeffrey Leynor & former pastor Jim Myers) discovered in the opening creation account in our shared scriptures is this -- the most valued creation of the mysterious Creator of the Heavens and the Earth is humans. Every act of creation in the first account is directly or indirectly related to meeting the needs of humans. This is a core principle of this wisdom account. And, as you probably know, the Creator even created humans “In the image of the Creator” – all humans not just members of one tribe or religion.

Another core principle in this account is revealed by what the Creator did in the process of creation. The Creator used a Standard to measure its work – the TOV Standard. For an act to measure up to the TOV Standard, the act must protect and preserve lives, make lives more functional and increase the quality of life.

One other core principle in the account is that the Creator did not reveal anything about what type of creature it is or anything it had done prior to the creation of the Heavens and the Earth. We call this the mystery of the Creator.

Let’s review the three core wisdom principles introduced above:

● The mystery of the Creator.

● Every act of creation is directly or indirectly related to meeting the needs of humans.

● The Creature used the TOV Standard.

This makes “human lives” the highest value of the Creator. That’s the lesson the author of this ancient wisdom text wanted readers to clearly understand. In the accounts that follow, readers learn the downfalls of gender inequality, valuing property above human lives, the breakdown of the family, valuing religious rituals above human lives, parents failing to teach their children Lives 1^st values and wisdom principles, failing to control appetites, desires, longings and anger, engaging in recreational violence and murder– which can all be summed up in one of the most repeated verses of the Bible -- “Am I my brother’s keeper?” We discovered all of this in the first four chapters of Genesis!

Another important part of the TOV Center approach is that we combine the values and principles of this ancient wisdom with the discoveries and knowledge of modern science. You will be amazed to discover how often ancient wisdom and modern science agree. This combination gives us exciting new options for dealing with challenges, issues, conflicts and problems we are facing today. History repeatedly records the horrible acts that human are capable of doing to other humans, when they value things above human lives – especially power, money and religious beliefs.

Just think about the impact this could have on lives today, if Lives 1^st went viral and people began learning the skills needed to protect and preserve lives, make lives more functional, increase the quality of life -- and promote transparency. We call that vision the Lives 1^st Initiative and promote #doingwhatslife over doing whatever people on both sides of every conflict call “right.”

If you like the TOV Center’s approach and would like to learn more,

please let us know by “liking” our Lives 1^st Facebook Page.

Follow us on Facebook or visit the TOV Center website and stay up to date

on TOV Center events and learning opportunities.

Make #doingwhatslife part of your decision making process today!

Ancient Wisdom and Science Agree Humans Truly are a Remarkable Species

For centuries theologians and scientists have existed in mutually exclusive domains. They have strongly disagreed about the uniqueness of humans. But now there has been a huge breakthrough that indicates science has taken a giant step has been taken toward bridging that gap. Scientific American (September 2018) is a “Special Issue: The Science of Being Human.” When Rabbi Jeffrey Leynor and Jim Myers created the TOV Center, an important part of its mission is this – “Combining ancient wisdom with modern science to maximize human experiences.” Read the entire blog at -- https://lives1st.blogspot.com/2018/08/ancient-wisdom-and-science-agree-humans.html

A Happiness Ritual

Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar born 1970, is an American and Israeli teacher, and writer in the areas of positive psychology and leadership. As a lecturer at Harvard University, Ben-Shahar created the most popular course in Harvard's history. The subject of the course was “happiness.” Learn about a “happiness ritual” that has proven to be very successful by reading the complete blog at -- https://lives1st.blogspot.com/2018/08/a-happiness-ritual.html

Two Standards to Live By

One of the amazing benefits of combining ancient wisdom and scientific facts in our research is that we discover things from them that are related and overlap. One example is the TOV Standard from ancient wisdom and Baby Morals from science (you won’t find a society where people don’t have some notion of Baby Morals). In this case ancient wisdom and science overlap to reveal two standards that could produce many benefits for individual lives and life in our society. Read the complete blog at -- https://lives1st.blogspot.com/2018/08/two-standards-to-live-by.html

What am I?

What am I? Now that’s a question a lot of people have asked in the history of humans. We (Rabbi Jeffrey Leynor and former pastor Jim Myers) created two models for working with that question – after wrestling with it for over 25 years. You may have noticed that use models instead of answers. Most questions about life are better understood by using models that reveal potentialities than statements of either/or answers.

Our models emerged from two sources in which our research and studies focused on during our journey together – one source is an ancient wisdom account embedded in our shared religious texts and the other source is modern science. This makes our approach at the TOV Center unique in many respects – we combine the wisdom of ancient texts with the facts of modern science to maximize human experiences.

As pointed out above, we created a model from each source to help us better understand humans:

(1) Ancient Wisdom Model – Humans are creatures that share things in common with animals and the Creator.

● Humans have many of the same appetites, desires and longings as animals. Humans have the potential of behaving like animals that live in herds (cattle, sheep, etc.) or like deadly wild predators.

● Each person has the presence of the Creator with him or her. Humans have the potential of behaving like the Creator and creating by changing things that exist by doing acts that protect and preserve lives, make lives more functional and/or increase the quality life.

● Humans must be taught how to control their animal impulses by developing their abilities to reflect the Creator’s image through their actions.

(2) Modern Science Model – Humans are genetic memetic social creatures.

● Genes make humans what they are as biological creatures.

● Memes create the reality models through individuals view their worlds and give meanings to what they perceive.

● Social means that humans are completely dependent on other humans for their existence and survival – from conception to death other humans are involved.

We use both models in understand human actions – completed and potential.

● The Ancient Wisdom Model makes us aware that people have the potential of doing amazing things for others like the Creator, as well as deadly destructive acts like predatory wild animals to people. We use familiar stories from Jewish and Christian Scriptures to teach the values, principles and standards of this ancient wisdom – without the conflicting theologies of the religions.

● The Modern Science Model makes us aware of the roles that genes, memes and social structures play in the decisions human make before they act.

And of course, whatever our understanding of “what I am” is, it also provides us with the models for another very important question – What are you?

Would you like to learn more about the TOV Center models and how to use them? Let us know by “Liking” our Lives 1^st Facebook Page. Also visit the TOV Center website and you will find more options for staying up to date on our blogs and being aware of upcoming local and online events.

Would you like to participate in a local group in the DFW Metroplex area that will be led by Jeffrey Leynor and Jim Myers? We are looking for people to host monthly or semi-monthly meetings and people to participate in them. For more information call or email Rabbi Leynor (972-816-7281 / rabbi@tovcenter.org) or email Jim Myers (jim@tovcenter.org). These will be open safe environment for learning and interacting. The number of participants is limited, so don’t hesitate to contact us if you are interested.