Sunday, 30 August 2015

If I could send one person back in time to the mid 19th century…

And on the matter of time – if I could send one person back in time to the mid 19th century, who would I send? The answer is Richard Dawkins, because this is precisely where he belongs. He would feel very much at home among the social Darwinists of that era, and from there he could do no more damage in our own time. But on the other hand we would then lose a key person who provides an excellent model of why we as human beings need to move beyond being ideological, beyond having minds that have closed in on fixed opinions, beyond being people who do not understand the true nature of being human, beyond being people who seek to project our self constructed understanding of reality onto others … and become instead, people who embrace – syncretism. Then, and only then, might we stand a chance of creating a world based on living together in peace and harmony, a world in which love and compassion are our overriding concerns.

“Um! That’s not something one often hears said these days Paul. Julia xxx”

“Yes Julia, you are right. That’s why I say these things, for it is time that people started to listen and to begin to change – a familiar message for sure, but one that is timelier than ever! And science will not help you to achieve this goal. So perhaps it is also time to tell all those caught-up in scientism, scientific atheism, and similar nonsense to stop being so stupid and begin to embrace the totality of being human. We surely need science, but to raise it above all other ways of knowing the world, and to claim it as being superior to other ways of engaging with life and understanding ourselves and our world, is a recipe for a human catastrophe on a scale never before experienced. We know this, because history demonstrates that this is exactly what happens when one belief system claims such a status: Christianity, Islam, Capitalism, Fascism, and Communism provide the historical evidence. The human mind will corrupt anything, and the way to deal with this is to recognise that this is so, and then to change as people and to stop projecting these beliefs onto others.”

“Paul, it is indeed a moment in time when people need to begin to understand the true nature of being human. Julia xxx.”

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