In the beginning there was a god everywhere we looked. There was one god in the sky, another who determined our fortunes in the hunt for food, one who healed us and one who needed to be stroked for us to be victorious.
When societies grew more complex and leaders became representatives of the gods it did not take too long for these many gods to be grouped together to form the all powerful entity who created us in the beginning and who would guide us till the end. But again pluralism raised its ugly head when not everyone wanted to believe in the same God. Still, each new God was all powerful. In a sense the new Gods were part of the same family, like siblings or clones, different reincarnations of the same being.
True believers of each monotheistic religion claim that their god is God and that other gods are false gods. But for an agnostic bystander like myself these different gods and their teachings are basically the same, with a local flavor sprinkled in here and there.
We are now at the cusp of the next transformation in which people accept as Truth that there is only one god for us all and that its wisdom is contained in the holy books of all major religions. I predict here and now that soon someone will stumble upon the tablets that contain this universal truth.
In case you wonder if this is the final stage, I can tell you, without giving away the whole story, that at some point in time we will accept a more universal form of the truth when we visit or are visited by creatures from afar. From that moment on we will pretty much have a franchise that will live as long as someone will listen to . . . . the rest of the story.
Stay tuned!
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Monday, July 4, 2011
Let's face it
Man will forever follow the desire to understand reality. Which is to say that understanding reality comes to us naturally. It is inborn, we can't escape it. But where is this different from animals? Man and beast alike explore reality to find what we need to keep us going, whether it is air, food, a friend, a mate, or shelter from the storm. What sets man apart is our need and our ability to understand reality, not just experience it. What is this that we call understanding?
Understanding is forging agreement about what took place when and is taking place now by linking the facts to a theoretical framework. Understanding is a reflection about what is, a mental construct of our experience. Reality and our reflections of reality are all that we experience, whether our eyes are open or shut. When open, we can find agreement, when shut we can at best have faith that our life has a preordained purpose, although some people claim to know this rather than belief it. They have seen the light. But there is no way to be sure. Agreed, there is this biblical account, but by definition the bible, torah, koran, [fill in your sacred text] are closed books containing the secrets of life, the morals of which are reinterpreted by each passing generation. No new knowledge has been added to this age-old story, if we allow ourselves to forget about the Church's fanatical desire to find new saints where no science can find them.
Religion is only one form of shared belief. Science is another, although of a fundamentally different kind. One that offers the opportunity to shape the future. I belief in the scientific method to understand how nature works. I also belief that you and I share a common ancestor. I don't know all the pieces of this puzzle that goes back to our tribe in Africa, but I buy into it. It has painestakenly been put together by millions of people. For me it is just too good not to be true.
Compare the advances made by science with what organized religion has contributed to where we are today. While science, and there is only one science, works towards a common understanding of what is and towards a shared understanding of our destiny, the role of the many religions is to guide this search with stories about how to live our lives. Contrary to our ability to figure out how life works, we will never know the meaning of life. But we do know for a fact that each of us can't escape trying to find the answer. In the end only science can keep us all breathing freely, fed, and sheltered from the storm.
Understanding is forging agreement about what took place when and is taking place now by linking the facts to a theoretical framework. Understanding is a reflection about what is, a mental construct of our experience. Reality and our reflections of reality are all that we experience, whether our eyes are open or shut. When open, we can find agreement, when shut we can at best have faith that our life has a preordained purpose, although some people claim to know this rather than belief it. They have seen the light. But there is no way to be sure. Agreed, there is this biblical account, but by definition the bible, torah, koran, [fill in your sacred text] are closed books containing the secrets of life, the morals of which are reinterpreted by each passing generation. No new knowledge has been added to this age-old story, if we allow ourselves to forget about the Church's fanatical desire to find new saints where no science can find them.
Religion is only one form of shared belief. Science is another, although of a fundamentally different kind. One that offers the opportunity to shape the future. I belief in the scientific method to understand how nature works. I also belief that you and I share a common ancestor. I don't know all the pieces of this puzzle that goes back to our tribe in Africa, but I buy into it. It has painestakenly been put together by millions of people. For me it is just too good not to be true.
Compare the advances made by science with what organized religion has contributed to where we are today. While science, and there is only one science, works towards a common understanding of what is and towards a shared understanding of our destiny, the role of the many religions is to guide this search with stories about how to live our lives. Contrary to our ability to figure out how life works, we will never know the meaning of life. But we do know for a fact that each of us can't escape trying to find the answer. In the end only science can keep us all breathing freely, fed, and sheltered from the storm.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Wise guys
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.
You probably recognize this as (the first part of) the first amendment of the United States constitution. The Freedom of Speech part of the first amendment specifically gives us the right to be hateful. Who is to say what is hateful? Our courts have, when they carved out some hate speech restrictions.
Still, we, like the guy who holds up the sign in the photograph that accompanies today's NYT article, are free to say that "mosques are monuments to terrorism". He could also have said that "churches are monuments to pedophilia", that "synagogues are monuments to a false god", that "Obama is the anti-Christ", or that "Sarah Palin is an idiot". It simply does not mean that these statements are true, at least not all of them . . .
Them framers were pretty wise white guys.
You probably recognize this as (the first part of) the first amendment of the United States constitution. The Freedom of Speech part of the first amendment specifically gives us the right to be hateful. Who is to say what is hateful? Our courts have, when they carved out some hate speech restrictions.
Still, we, like the guy who holds up the sign in the photograph that accompanies today's NYT article, are free to say that "mosques are monuments to terrorism". He could also have said that "churches are monuments to pedophilia", that "synagogues are monuments to a false god", that "Obama is the anti-Christ", or that "Sarah Palin is an idiot". It simply does not mean that these statements are true, at least not all of them . . .
Them framers were pretty wise white guys.
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