This book examines the ways in which religious communities experimentally engage the world and function as fallible inquisitive agents, despite frequent protests to the contrary. Using the philosophy of inquiry and semiotics of Charles Sanders Peirce, it develops unique naturalist conceptions of religious meaning and ultimate orientation while also arguing for a reappraisal of the ways in which the world's venerable religious traditions enable novel forms of communal inquiry into what Peirce termed "vital matters." Pragmatic inquiry, it argues, is a ubiquitous and continuous phenomenon. Thus, religious participation, though cautiously conservative in many ways, is best understood as a variety of inhabited experimentation. Religious communities embody historically mediated hypotheses about how best to engage the world and curate networks of semiotic resources for rendering those engagements meaningful. Religions best fulfill their inquisitive function when they both deploy and reform their sign systems as they learn better to engage reality.

This book examines the ways in which religious communities experimentally engage the world and function as fallible inquisitive agents, despite frequent protests to the contrary. Using the philosophy of inquiry and semiotics of Charles Sanders Peirce, it develops unique naturalist conceptions of religious meaning and ultimate orientation while also arguing for a reappraisal of the ways in which the world's venerable religious traditions enable novel forms of communal inquiry into what Peirce termed "vital matters." Pragmatic inquiry, it argues, is a ubiquitous and continuous phenomenon. Thus, religious participation, though cautiously conservative in many ways, is best understood as a variety of inhabited experimentation. Religious communities embody historically mediated hypotheses about how best to engage the world and curate networks of semiotic resources for rendering those engagements meaningful. Religions best fulfill their inquisitive function when they both deploy and reform their sign systems as they learn better to engage reality.

In this Element, we extend our earlier treatment of biology's first law. The law says that in any evolutionary system in which there is variation and heredity, there is a tendency for diversity and complexity to increase. The law plays the same role in biology that Newton's first law plays in physics, explaining what biological systems are expected to do when no forces act, in other words, what happens when nothing happens. Here we offer a deeper explanation of certain features of the law, develop a quantitative version of it, and explore its consequences for our understanding of diversity and complexity.

White Bird Returns White Bird was born under very strange circumstances. His mother Sweentouk had just given birth when a band of strange Indians passed nearby. One of the men began chasing her and she knew she couldn't outrun him and hid the baby in a hollow tree. He got his name from a Great Snowy Owl that lived in that tree. Later, White Bird would be an outcast from his own tribe and join with a band of French trapper. He would begin a journey of thousands of miles because of that association, but it would be the English that carried him back to the old world as a bonded slave. During this period he would be captured by the Iroquois Indians to be sold in slavery. He would escape and become a lifelong enemy to the Iroquois who he continually outfoxes throughout his association with them. He also meets his future wife during his first encounter with these slave trading Indians. Naragomset will be his lifelong partner and the mother of his children. His return and experiences is the story in this book. He faces many, many challenges and one great challenge is a more than twenty year separation from his wife and two sons. His destiny is to find an Irish lad who will accompany him back to the New World and become the most famous chief in all of Wisnook history. The Irish lad, Alvy will become the guiding spirit of the Wisnook tribe for a thousand years and is the spirit behind all of the books about the Wisnook Indians.

When a story comes to mind it often takes a life of its own and becomes something greater than the author envisioned. This story has grown out of other stories I have heard or read that always put me in mind of the O'Bannon Castle back in the old days of Ireland. I am sure no one knows all the history associated with that monument to time and this story just might be part of it. In your own life you have heard stories told by family members that were unverifiable and possibly without truth, but maybe there was a possible hint of truth hidden somewhere between the lines that made you wonder. The 'What If' factor has always intrigued me, because what if I hadn't said this or done that, where would I be today? I am sure if you haven't had that thought run through your mind before, you will someday. What if this story really did happen just as it is written? Even the main character has doubts after all is said and done: if he can't prove his story, who can say what actually happened? The main character is Robert Copeland, a young man from the States who takes a train heading north in England. During the train ride, he meets a young lady who will not only become his friend, but help him in solving a half-century-old mystery. But strange things happen during their train ride that puts the story into a different perspective than anyone could have imagined up to that point. The young lady gets off the train and meets him again on anther train. She looks the same, but he can't shake the feeling that she isn't quite the same girl. This story involves a lot of friendly ghosts who have not always lived a friendly life, either after becoming a ghost or before. The main character has to sort through a lot of different people and by good fortune and wise choices eventually produces a conclusion that is satisfactory to all: the ghosts, his friends, the young lady that he met on the train and also the church that is involved in the conclusion.

Robin Long Bird was born Robert Copeland, but extreme circumstances and devastating threats from several spy agencies throughout the world required a name change for his personal safety. Robert Copeland had been hired to take secret pictures for a cartel of international spy agencies linked by their need to share information without sharing their true identities. Robert Copeland failed to turn over this secret information to any of the agencies demanding it and not even to the covert American agency that authorized his service. He was treated badly by the agency that hired him, which also tried to prevent him from being paid for his summer of spy work. With the help of some special friends, he was able to get his payment and escape into an unknown and untraceable identity. His revenge for his poor treatment was in keeping the secret information. This story is about Robin's ability to hide from those who wanted the information that only he had access to. Robert Long Bird has one unique feature which is extremely rare and not known by many, and that is his ability to move between dimensions and to take objects and people with him. This may seem unlikely, but when the concept of dimensional travel is understood, the events in this book become a possibility.