CHAPTER
39
AFTER YOU READ THIS BOOK
Something about me!
Thomas E. Blaylock, Jr., has
personally experienced and lived the gambit of western philosophy and religion.
He began life in the superstitious and wildly ecstatic religious regions of the
Tennessee and North Georgia Mountains. He accepted Jesus and was saved early in
life. In time, he joined four different fundamental churches. He was baptized
four times each using different formulas. Add his thirteen years experience as
a Southern Baptist minister, eleven years as a Presbyterian minister and
chaplain, add his study of the Cao Dai, Tao and Buddhist religions in the
Orient and it seems his HONEST MAN’S PHILOSOPHY has been writing itself.
It is claimed by his mother
that he spoke his first words at eight months old when he pointed out the
window at a truck and asked, “What is that?” Since that time, he has never
stopped asking “What? Why? How? And When?” When asked if he were an expert on
philosophy, his answer was, “No, I am only an expert on wanting to know.”
At Stetson University, in
spite of making excellent grades, he continued to stay in trouble with his
religious professors by asking those irritating, and to the point, questions,
which are part and parcel of his thinking and interest in life. Three times he
was ejected from religion classes for asking questions like, “Can prayer change
God’s mind?” And “Where did all the water go after the flood?” The many claims
made by religion, politics and business seem to be a personal challenge to Mr.
Blaylock and in his quiet questing manner he probes deeply into those claims.
In the New Orleans Baptist
Theological Seminary, he faired worse with his professors than he did at the
university. Because of his questions, which soon embroiled the whole class in
theological, and philosophical turmoil, he was forbidden to speak in a couple
of his classes. He was to submit his (on the subject) questions in writing and
the professors were supposed to grant him personal time to deal with the
specific questions. Though he submitted questions and begged of an audience, it
never happened. The Baptist professors avoided him like the plague.
Becoming somewhat
disappointed with the scholarship of the Baptists, he accepted a call as
interim pastor to a Presbyterian Church while still a student. He remained with
that denomination for eleven years. He said the Presbyterians were kind,
gracious and helpful. The Presbyter encouraged him to answer his own questions
and gave him a monthly allowance to purchase the books he wished to study. He soon
studied himself out of the Presbyterian Church doctrines, but remained in the
church for a while due to the friendship and kindnesses of the members.
Mr. Blaylock served in
Vietnam as a Presbyterian Chaplain and made full use of any extra time to speak
with priests, monks and leaders there. He spent many long nights asking
questions of these Oriental religious leaders and philosophers. In return, he
received numerous books, engaged in many deep and eye opening discussions
concerning the truth about their religion and philosophies. He was even allowed
to participate in a Cao Dai service. That night he had a precognitive dream
that saved his life.
In 1974, he left the
Presbyterian Church and opened a bookstore north of Atlanta. It was there in
1979 that he began work on the HONEST MAN’S PHILOSOPHY. After many
delays and restarts, he finished the work in 1989 and like many do, he stored
it on a shelf in his office. When he sold his store in December of 1999 to
retire, he rediscovered the book, reread it and let some knowledgeable people
read it. He was pushed by his friends to publish the work. He put some of it on
the Internet and was flooded with request for personal copies.
Mr. Blaylock has revised and
edited the HONEST MAN’S PHILOSOPHY. When he wrote about leaving the
church he said, “I am glad I saved a portion of my life for myself. I also
saved some of me for you.” When you read the Honest Man’s Philosophy,
you will bless the day this book came your way.
If you like hard, to the
point questions, about philosophy, morality and religion, and if you like to
struggle and find the answers to the major issues of life, you will read and
reread the HONEST MAN’S PHILOSOPHY. Few writers have made philosophy as
interesting, lucid and challenging, as has Mr. Blaylock. He will be available
for lectures in the fall of 2008.
Thomas E. Blaylock, Jr. was
born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, October 18, 1931 on the day Thomas Alvin Edison
died. The sign he was born under said, “DO NOT DISTURB.” Since then he has
hunted and found peace with himself and the world.
Copyright: July 1999