Theme: Seeing Yourself as Part of a Great Cosmic Scheme
CONTENTS
Editorial
Quotes from Ramachandran and from Ellis
Poem by Erika Erdmann
Theobald-Obituary
Future Oriented Consciousness
A review of The 13th Labor: Improving Science Education Edited by Eric J. Chaisson & Tae-Chang Kim
John E. Teske
David Stover and Erika Erdmann A Mind for Tomorrow Excerpts from the Preface
A Review of D. Paul Schafer Culture: Beacon of the Future
The Restless Mind
A Review of Hanna Newcombe: How Things Come Together
New Insights Through New Conceptual Tools
Ashbrook and Albright
Quote from Katz
Remarks on book by Barney & Beversluis
Remarks on pamphlet by Ellis
Quote from Loye
Quote from Ignatieff
Editorial: Again, this is a celebration issue. Reasons to celebrate this time are 1) the start of the new Millennium without any of the predicted major breakdowns, 2) the publication date of my new book "A Mind For Tomorrow: Facts, Values, and the Future" (co-authored with David Stover, who is the leading author this time) on March 31, 2000, 3) the many valuable persons I met during the course of my ongoing research on humanity's future (the work of several of them is discussed in this issue), and 4) my continuing ability to think, write, and publish my quarterly, the new web site of which, I have been informed, is now visited by several hundred persons daily!
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The reason that science is so exciting is that it gives you a sense of timelessness. Here you are, your life is finite -- and you know that, human beings are unique in their acute awareness of their mortality -- but seeing the eternal dimension, the ongoing processes of nature, seeing yourself as part of a great cosmic scheme, this somehow enhances the awe and wonder. That's akin to a religious experience.
V.S. Ramachandran
"Planetary Consciousness" as a "feeling of oneness and interdependence of all mankind with one another and the cosmos" does not challenge any of the knowledge revealed by science and fits well with that cosmic wonder that one feels if one contemplates the mystery of the universe.
William (Bill) Ellis on Ervin Laszlo
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In Search of Wisdom
Encaged -
Rattling at the bars of stupidity
Man is aware
Of his impotence.
Where are you, God, to free me?
I am in you!
I am imprisoned with you!
You must free me!
How?
Recognize me!
See me in the wonders of nature
in her laws
And in the longing of your heart.
Understand that the laws of the Universe
(of which only the smallest part is known to you)
Determine your longings for love and justice.
I am in you -
And yet my might is maimed without your insight.
Recognize -
That your search for knowledge is sacred
And that your longing to know
how to create justice on earth
and how to grow humane sentiments
Is the most sacred of all -
Then I will give you power
to break your bars!
Erika Erdmann, 1981
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(Excempt from blanket permission to quote; please contact me first.)
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I had completely forgotten about this poem, written sometime around 1981 and transmitted unchanged. I had not marked the date, but found it in a box with keepsakes from that time, when Hurricane Floyd last fall reached an arm up to the Nova Scotia shoreline, damaged the roof, and sent torrents of rain down into my study closet, where unopened boxes were stored for decades. That forced me to sort through their content and led to the discovery of several soaked items worth saving, including this poem, which might otherwise have been destined for oblivion. Thus, it is literally a gift from heaven! E.E. ("Man" in the third line is used in the sense of "Humankind.")
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Robert Theobald, 1929-1999
Shortly after the last issue had gone to the printer, I was informed that Robert Theobald, one of the most well known futurists and social innovators, had passed away on Nov.27, 1999. The web site address http://www.transform.org/transform/tle/rtbio.html contains his full biography, including the information that he wrote and edited more than 25 books on economics and change. Nothing, however, can substitute for the impact his personality made within small circles and group meetings, where he was at his best. -- I met him at in one of these meetings at Tucson more than a decade ago and we remained good friends ever since. His innovative spirit and his full and honest dedication to work toward a more humane society were immediately recognizable; his was the gift to initiate change toward a more compassionate, rational and responsible way of thinking from the bottom upward. Throughout his life, his appeal was to kindness and courage.
FUTURE ORIENTED CONSCIOUSNESS
Review of
The 13th Labor: Improving Science Education
Edited by Eric J. Chaisson & Tae-Chang Kim
Gordon and Breach Publishers, 1999
As our understanding of nature increases, our horizon widens, we perceive the intricacy and beauty of our world with a new awe and wonder, and though we know we are products of interacting events that were without aim and purpose at the beginning, we also know that the aims and purposes in our conscious minds are now the most important factors determining further evolution. That realization leads to a deeper meaning in life, to a more profound valuation of individual thought, and, most of all, to a safer road into the future than any alternative. -- That is why improving science education is of such significance.
The 18 essays collected by Eric J. Chaisson and Tae-Chang Kim present the subject matter from every perspective. Their origin is the first Boston Forum on "Science, Education and Future Generations" (1995), a gathering of thoughtful men and women from different backgrounds and disciplines. The resulting fruitful discussions were translated on the spot into English and Japanese and video taped by Japan's public broadcasting system.
Space permits only a short mention of some of the articles' content. Chaisson, aware that any workable approach toward a humane, globally oriented world must be grounded in facts, worries that we may be headed toward a scienceless society. Why? Most pre-college teachers don't understand science sufficiently. The discussion of the Forum, reflected in the book, centers on remedies, which Chaisson summarizes as a need for balance involving a genuine grasp of the subject matter as well as of the cultural context that would make future wonders of science not only safe but possible at all.
Werner Arbor, a Swiss Nobel biologist, emphasizes the need for cross-disciplinary work, for life-long learning, and for "a solid moral basis as a necessity for a person to carry out his or her professional duties with responsibility." -- Likewise, Ervin Laszlo's concern is the responsibility of science, both to society and to future generations. He, too, makes many practical suggestions, though his special philosophical leaning always shines through. -- Riane Eisler, a spokesperson for the female element in our culture, asks that empathy be infused into a world enlightened by science to make it more humane and less brutal and dominating. -- One of the most excellent articles, "Cosmological Education for Future Generations" is written by Brian Swimme, who compares the extravagant gift of the sun's energy to that of the human heart devoted to a better life for all, and who asks that children be taught "by the sun and moon, by the rainfall and starlight...to escape the lures of so much deceit, greed, hatred, and self doubt."
The title-essay, "The Thirteenth Labor of Hercules," written by Dudley Herschbach, explains that the Greek hero who successfully completed 12 tasks demanding superhuman strength and courage would have failed if a 13th task had been dependent upon new intellectual concepts. And that, exactly, is what humanity is confronted with. We need to encourage self-reliant thinking rather than conventional knowing. -- Andrew Fraknoi, too, sees critical, skeptical thinking as the most decisive determinant of our future. The hunger for meaning must be satisfied not by religious fundamentalism, belief in extraterrestrial influences upon our lives, or claims of advertisers identifying happiness with more unneeded possessions, but by confidence in one's own sound judgment. Unless that's what we teach our children, we will enter -- at our peril -- an era "where the rational is enchained by the irrational, where reasoning gives way before authority or self-interest, and where the enterprise of science is seriously endangered." -- Moreover, science can be pure pleasure. David Ellis reminds us that enjoyment and learning are not mutually exclusive and explains the importance of hand-on experience with the help of an old Chinese proverb: "I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand." -- Ursula Goodenough goes further and argues that "science is so fascinating that its mastery represents one of life's deep joys." Our children must learn that this will be their greatest reward; not money or prestige. -- One of the most exciting articles is that of David Loye, who discusses the role of the frontal lobes as "Guidance System of Higher Mind." These last evolved brain structures break our chains to the reality of the moment and allow the planning that carries us toward a preconceived future. It is here where science and morality meet. -- The last contribution, by Loyal Rue, refutes the belief that science destroys human uniqueness. On the contrary, science explains why humans are unique. Moreover, Rue suggests that true/false tests of scientific facts be replaced by inquiries into a person's general perspective and habits of mind, such as:
1) a drive to render one's experience intelligible
2) a disposition to seek the truth without regard for the outcome
3) a reticence to form opinions without a broad base of evidence
4) a willingness to change one's opinion in reponse to new evidence
5) a preference for the simplest adequate explanation
6) an aversion to "taking someone else's word for it."
Although these indicators cannot be quantified and compared, they nevertheless come closest to the outlook most needed to control our destiny.
This brief summary covers only a small fraction of the books' content, which represents a remarkable contribution to a better, more hopeful, more exciting, and more beautiful future.
Eric J. Chaisson is an astrophysicist and director of the Wright Center for Science Education at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, U.S.A. -- Tae-Chang Kim is a historian and head of the Institute for Integrated Study of Future Generations in Kyoto, Japan.
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An outstanding example of a scientific perspective that does not destroy the magic of life is demonstrated by the Professor of Psychology John A. Teske (ZYGON, June 1999).
"That there are mysteries yet unsolved does not entail that the solutions are anything other than cosmically, evolutionary, historically and developmentally rooted in perfectly natural processes." (P.308)
Teske talks about his frustrations as a teacher with what he calls "the escape to the supernatural," which terminates any effort to understand often very deep mysteries. Rather than simplifying the problem, supernatural answers to spiritual experiences provide "epistemic barriers." Especially, he deplores the belief that unless we explain it in supernatural terms, we reject the very existence of the human spirit. On the contrary; neuroscience and evolutionary biology, exploring thoughts, motivations, and feelings, infuse the human spirit -- without destroying its uniqueness and miraculous aspect -- with a reality it would not otherwise have. They enrich it and make it more meaningful, Teske believes, and describes example over example to prove his contention. -- On the other hand, the belief in, and yearning for, personal immortality diminishes rather than elevates a person's inner life.
"To the extent to which our spiritual lives are about living beyond ourselves, giving ourselves to something larger than we are, personal immortality, in saving the self, could lose the spirit." (P.317)
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A Mind for Tomorrow
Facts, Values, and the Future
David Stover and Erika Erdmann
Praeger, Westport, CT, in press
Excerpts from the Preface, written by David Stover
Within the next century (and perhaps much sooner) decisions will be made that will either set us on the path to a more fulfilling, humane, and progressive future or that will lead to oblivion. The stakes are high, and the various social, cultural, religious, ethical, and even scientific worldviews that have managed to get us this far now seem grievously inadequate to seeing us past the next great hurdle in our evolution as a sentient species. What we need now as much as action are ideas: new ideas, new worldviews, new philosophies that will enable us to create a long-term, sustainable global civilization capable of carrying us through the next millennium.
This book is about one particular worldview that, in our opinion and that of many others, holds great promise in helping us advance toward such a future. It is a worldview with the potential to resolve the old and sterile confrontation between science and religion, facts and values, the world of what is and what ought to be, and, in so doing, to allow us to more effectively analyze, address, and resolve the various crises threatening the continued existence of civilization. It is also a worldview with profound and enormously positive consequences for the status of science within society and the relationship among science, religion, the humanities, and the social sciences.
This Worldview was originally introduced and developed by Roger W. Sperry, the accomplished neuroscientist and Nobel laureate, during the mid- to late 1960s as he sought ways to address both what scientific research (including his own) told him about the nature of the relationship between the human mind and brain, as well as the need within society as a whole for new ways of approaching ethical decision making and making systems of human values more compatible with empirically determined scientific fact. The result of his work was a theory of the nature of mind and consciousness that has won increasing acceptance in the decades since.
We have travelled through parts of this territory before in our book Beyond a World Divided, published nearly a decade ago, which met with a generally warm reception and introduced us to many new friends and new opportunities. While Beyond a World Divided, however, dealt rather narrowly with Sperry's ideas about consciousness and human values, A Mind for Tomorrow puts those ideas into a broader historical and philosophical context. As well, we deal with Sperry's last papers, published between the appearance of our earlier book and his death in 1994, and with the vigorous debate and discussion that has resulted from his philosophical work (and which continues even now). In the present book we also examine concrete strategies to put into action the ideas proposed by Sperry and his supporters, most notably the "Declaration of Human Duties," which has been proposed as a counterweight to the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights (the fiftieth anniversary of which was celebrated as we worked on this book). There are, after all, no such things as rights without concomitant responsibilities, and humanity will achieve a fulfilling and desirable future only if it realizes that fact.
Although we deal with such matters as neuroscience, philosophical controversies, ethical systems, and evolution, we emphasize that this is not a book aimed exclusively (or even primarily) at neuroscientists, philosophers, ethicists, or evolutionists. It is, instead, meant for anyone interested in the fate of our world and how that fate might be influenced for the better.
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Review (excerpted, with permission, from Future Survey, May 1999)
Culture: Beacon of the Future
D.Paul Schafer
(Director, World Culture Project, Markham Canada).
Praeger Studies on the 21st Century. Westport, CT: Praeger, Nov 1998. (Published in UK by Adamantine Press.)
Profound changes are taking place in the cultural complexion of the world; among them, none may be more significant than the shift from a passive to an active approach to culture. Two decades ago, culture was largely ignored; today, virtually every country is involved in many measures to promote culture, protect the historical heritage, and increase citizen participation in cultural life. Whereas culture has usually been viewed as a consequence of change, it is now increasingly seen as a cause of change, and an activity over which humanity must exercise a great deal of control. Given the anxiety about the present world system, more and more people are searching for a new one. There are many different views about what this should be: a new economic system, a new environmental system, a new information-/ communications system, or a new moral, social, legal, political, or religious system. Each group has a specialized way of looking at the world system, which may be the cause of the present predicament. It is clear that we may not be able to sustain the present world system for much longer. The world is rapidly becoming fragmented and disorganized, more dehumanized and impersonal. Gaps between rich and poor are widening, commodities have triumphed over people, and "there is a very real possibility that the entire global eco-system will collapse as a result of the colossal demands and expectations being placed on it." If a way is to be found out of this conundrum, "a world sytem must be created which is capable of confronting these problems and making serious inroads on them." A viable world system will have to be erected on proper foundations that recognize the centrality and holistic nature of culture and cultures. Culture possesses a number of qualities that make it of crucial importance to the future: the potential to see the world system in holistic terms, and capacities for context, value, identity, criticism, vision, creativity, and power. Making culture and cultures the centerpiece of global activity would enable creation of a world system according to culture's highest, wisest, and most enduring principles (the quest for equality, justice, and truth; the love of beauty, knowledge, and wisdom; the need for order and diversity; the importance of cooperation, caring and sharing; recognizing the rights and freedoms of others; harmonious association with nature and other species). Chapters dicuss culture as a concept and as a reality, the character of culture, the cultural interpretation of history, the cultural personality (a more compelling prototype than "economic man" or "specialized man"), community cultural development, the cultural state, international cultural relations (proposing a federation of world cultures in contrast to a single world culture), and the art of cultural development and policy.
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An editorial note under this review calls is "Challenging, high-minded" and compares it favourably with Future Survey reviews of other books, which express contrasting points of view, e.g. the subjection of culture to the unification of world markets. Reference is made to precursor articles by Schafer in Futures, Oct. 1994 (FSA96/13388) and April 1996 (FS 18:8/360).
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From D.P. Schafer directly, I received a list of other publications he wrote for the World Culture Project, seven of them for its International Component, and seven other ones for its Canadian Component. For details, please contact him at 19, Sir Gawaine Place,
Markham, ON L3P 3A1, Canada. (Tel.: 905-471-1342) Most importantly, he developed a web site for the Project:
THE RESTLESS MIND
Review of
How Things Come Together
A Collection of Essays by Hanna Newcombe
Peace Research Institute Dundas, 1998
This book is a testimony to an amazing mind, an inexhaustable fountain of exuberant creativity, welling up from an unusually large range of knowledge and emotions. The essays, sometimes several pages in length, take the place of short notes written down on the spot (as practised by other authors), either in the form of original thoughts arising from Dr. Newcombe's intense experiences, or in response to her reading. They never lose their vitality. Nor do they appear disconnected. In fact, seeing connections between seemingly unrelated facts and impressions -- a hallmark of scientific breakthroughs -- is the most outstanding gift of the author.
As a professor of chemistry, Dr. Newcombe has a good perception of how the brain functions, including its production of thoughts, emotions, and values, which she presents with clarity. But even this complicated subject leaves her mind dissatisfied and restless. Eager to tackle more difficult and controversial alternatives, she explores the thicket of the occult, numerology, and kabbalistic explanations -- not that she believes in them, but simply as a play to occupy her curious and ever searching thoughts. Normally, I do not like preoccupation with such matters, but here it is not done to substitute for lacking knowledge of essential facts, but to go beyond facts into dangerous and unexplored territory -- the kind of courage that propelled the evolution of our brains and our culture from its very beginning and that is expressed in the scientific imperative to always ask questions, even about things we know already.
Glimpses of the author's thorough knowledge of chemistry shine through in many of the subjects she discusses, and the range of these subjects seems inexhaustible. From Greek Anthology to Chaos Theory, from household problems to Quantum Mechanics, from the most abstract questions about the universe to intensely personal reports about her own life. It's these latter reports that convey insight into the amazing range of her emotional life -- from detached objectivity to passionate sensual love, from delightful humor to the tragedy of her husband's dying, from empathy with the world's disadvantaged to - - No! There is never a single outburst of hatred in the book, though it contains 296 large pages. In that respect, Dr. Newcombe's emotional life does not fully represent all human emotions; it approaches an ideal state that is more than human, a state we admire in the greatest personalities of history. Also missing -- and with intention, from the author's essays, are reports about her severe mental crises, which are too personal. There is much that weighed on her life; many of her relatives were victims of the Holocaust. It is this fate of hers, and her transformation through it into a lover rather than a hater of humanity, that I so deeply admire.
Many readers of this review may wish that Dr. Newcome had dedicated her extraordinary gifts to the future of humankind -- and that's exactly what she did. In fact, it seems that she was (and still is) involved in whatever step toward a more peaceful world was successful. She was active in numerous international conventions on peace, made considerable contributions to this cause (awarded with many prestigeous medals), wrote, edited, and co-edited several books on the subject, founded in 1976, together with her husband, the Peace Research Institute Dundas (a nonprofit organization that serves as an international resource of information, training, advocacy, and research on every aspect of peace issues, factors leading to war and peace, and related studies in international relations), and is furthermore the editor of Peace Research Abstracts and Peace Research Reviews (a series of 75-100 page monographs, each of them dealing in detail with a single topic). Her work output is astonishing; the essays reviewed here were merely a means to keep her restless mind occupied during her leisure hours.
Still, her mental ability is not adequately described without mentioning its perceptivity. For instance, in the early 1980's she offered to an unrecognized would-be student of values needed for human survival (myself), who had been rejected by 84 universities and other institutions, her assistance as supervisor of that student's doctoral work. She is the person about whom I wrote in my first issue of Humankind Advancing (January 1990) "She makes a liar out of everyone who claims that humanity does not deserve to survive."*
*An answer I had received several times in response to my survey on values needed for human survival, (described in Hopes and Fears, 1992).
Quotations from Dr. Newcombe's Essays
In the tension between individuals and society, we should not stray too far to the collectivist mode. As pointed out elsewhere, the "body politic" is not as closely coupled as a biological organism, and should not be, or we fall into fascism, and we lose the possibility of full development of the human spiritual potential, which has not yet been exhausted. More aggregated levels of organization are not always more desirable. We must seek the optimum (the golden mean) in the subsidiarity spectrum. (P.53)
The distinction between Maxwell-Boltzman statistics and the other two kinds hinges on something else: Boltzman particles (everything from whole atoms up) have continuous identity: if we could in imagination tie a little red ribbon around one of them, it could be labelled and recognized through all its subsequent interactions and transformations as a distinct entity. With fermions and bosons this cannot be done, even in principle: they seem to wink in and out of existence like twinkling sparks, and we cannot know which is which or which was formerly which. They are all not only identical (except for different quantum states) but totally indistinguishable or exchangeable. (P.54)
A case can also be made for not preserving information. Remembering a past wrong to oneself or to one's nation or group leads to desire for revenge and thus engenders an endless chain of violence and counter-violence. While Quebec licence plates proclaim "Je me souviens" [I remember], (which I take to refer to defeat in 1759), I want to reply "Forget it and get on with the future." (P.58)
Like a virus, the RNA can replicate itself only inside a living cell where the appropriate enzymes are available, not outside. This is still true of modern viruses...It has long been a puzzle for biologists to decide whether bacteria or viruses came to the scene first -- in fact, whether viruses were alive at all. We may now be close to an answer: what might be called "akaryotic cells" (ones without any nucleic acids) came on the scene first, viruses second, and their union produced bacteria, i.e. prokaryotes, with which the story as told in our text books usually starts. -- How did the akaryotes overcome the "sickness" introduced accidentally by the newly synthesizes RNA virus? This is a case of converting a parasitic relationship (where the parasite exploits the host to the parasite's benefit and the host's disadvantage) gradually through reluctant tolerance to coexistence to adaptation and finally to symbiosis, a cooperative relationship in which both partners benefit. A zero-sum game becomes non-zero-sum and then cooperative, a win-lose game goes to a win-win game. The two "origins" of life, the metabolizers and the replicators (proteins and nucleic acids), co-evolved not only to be complementary in their functions, but became so tightly coupled that they are now almost inconceivable without each other. "Overcoming your enemies by converting them into friends" has never seen a better example.(153)
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NEW INSIGHTS THROUGH NEW CONCEPTUAL TOOLS
The article "The Humanizing Brain: An Introduction" by Ashbrook and Albright (ZYGON, March 1999) is an example of the way new conceptions lead to new insights. Complexity theory is used to highlight the intricate interrelationship of all things living and non-living, including chemo-pysical interactions within our brains, and the depth of individual experience for which words are inadequate. "We cannot put the dimension of depth -- the gestalt of grace and the elegance of the whole -- into words. It simply is inaccessible to adequate conceptualization. Further, it is inexpressible in that it is beyond description. Our only recourse is to express that "depth" in symbol and metaphor. The word God refers to a "depth" and "wholeness" unlike anything that we humans know or can know." (P.14)
All this is tied in, and the result of, a thorough knowledge of brain function. In all complex systems (of which the brain is a prime example) "there are a number of decision makers or natural causes acting in parallel. They interact with one another and then each adapts to the action of the others. These adaptations, in turn, create more new situations. Again, everything must readapt to the changes. ...Continual coadaptation leads to more intricate interrelationships and the emergence of novel situations." (P.30)
The capacity of the human mind to abstract, project, select, and plan goal-oriented activity shows such emergence at the most advanced level. "We can get outside our own individualistic perspectives. We can look back on our involvement. We can ask questions. We can obtain evidence. We can weigh alternatives. We can anticipate consequences. We can interrupt a strict reptilian stimulus-response reaction by taking into account other values and other perspectives." (P.37)
Ashbrook and Albright demonstrate convincingly how new knowledge leads to new conceptual tools, which in turn lead to new insights. Though some of the conclusions may be questioned, the conception of God as a symbol for inner depth is far superior to that of dogmatic fundamentalists or shallow cynics; it is not upheld for lack of, nor in spite of, but directly because of a thorough acquaintance with science and its most recent advances.
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James A. Ashbrook (deceased) was Professor Emeritus of Religion and Personality at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Evanstown, Illinois, U.S.A. Carol Rausch Albright (5415 S.Hyde Park Avenue, Chicago, IL 60615, U.S.A.) a scholar and writer, is Co-Director of the Southern Region of the John Templeton Foundation Science and Religion Course Program. The article is taken from their book "The Humanizing Brain."
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We desperately need a global morality, one that transcends culture, race, ethnicity, politics, and religion.
Solomon Katz
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It is maintained by serious thinkers, that a global morality must be preceded by, or at least cannot exist without, mutual understanding and harmony among the world's religions. A spokesperson for that point of view is Joel Beversluis (Editor of A Sourcebook for the Community of Religions, first published in 1993 by the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions, and Publisher, CoNexus Press).
Going beyond religion and promoting integrated thinking among all persons concerned with our long-range future is the founder of the Millennium Institute, a non-profit organization, Dr. Gerald O.Barney, (Physicist and national modeler, who directed the U.S. government's Global 2000 Report to the President in 1980).
Both, the Millennium Institute and CoNexus Press, recently co-published a new edition of Global 2000 Revisited, which is enhanced with new material and entitled Threshold 2000: Critical Issues and Spiritual Values for a Global Age. Impressed by the importance of its message, an anonymous donor provided the means to sell the book at an especially low price. For more information contact: CoNexus Press, 6264 Grand River Dr. NE, Ada, MI 49301-9549, U.S.A.
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Other authors listen to the voice of nature in their search for future-oriented wisdom. "Nature always, so to speak, knows where and when to stop. Greater even than the mystery of natural growth is the mystery of natural cessation of growth." That is the voice of E.F.Schumacher (author of "Small is Beautiful"), quoted in Flapping Butterfly Wings by William Ellis (Former editor of TRANET and previous government consultant on science projects). The author describes his interest in, and promotion of, small-scale self-help technology through his journal TRANET (Transnational Network About Alternative Technology), as well as his further thoughts on guarding the health of our earth and our way into the future. The title of his pamphlet refers to complexity theory's discovery that extremely small causes may lead to major effects -- which strengthens his confidence in grassroots approaches. The pamphlet is available at a very low price from its publisher, the E.F.Schumacher Society, 140 Jug End Road, Great Barrington, MA 01230, U.S.A.
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The differences between religion, philosophy, and Science, so magnified by history, drop away before the greater majesty of Evolution.
David Loye
The strength of a purely secular ethics is its insistence that there are no sacred purposes which can ever justify the inhuman use of human beings.
Michael Ignatieff
REFLECTIONS
Questioning the need for a new religion. Many scientists and well-informed thinkers suggest that, to counteract the fierce adherence to outdated fundamentalism, the "Epic of Evolution" ought to be taught in the form of a new religion, complete with special rituals, songs, celebrations, holidays (Darwin-day, winter-solstice, etc.), and spirit-lifting get-togethers. These are the keys to open the hearts of the majority to the scientific account of the universe and of life, and without them, it is argued, a shift to more rational attitudes cannot be accomplished.
If I question the need for a new religion it is on the grounds that it is impossible to "invent" meaningful rituals or celebrations, and that a religion -- any religion -- is bound to become in time chained and shackled by dogmas. What we need is freedom -- freedom to let our thoughts soar into the skies of our hope and imagination -- unbound and unrestricted.
To avoid the chaos, anarchy, and mutual brutality of unrestricted freedom, and to create empathy and concern for one another, not rituals and dogmas are needed but the example of a loving mother and/or father in early youth -- later augmented by the wisdom expressed by outstanding humans of any era. It is important that the mind of a young person be kept open to receive such wisdom with reverence, but it is not important that it be expressed in the framework of a formal religion, or that Christmas is replaced by winter-solstice. Such replacement-celebrations can never substitute for kindness and care, and they are useless without it. The uprooting of traditional rituals which are bound to, and intertwined with, the fondest memories of one's life would result in nothing but emptiness. Even love for our earth cannot be created at will, unless bonds with nature are established in early youth -- bonds which cannot be forced or planned, but which receive their strength through unceasing search for explanations of nature's miracles, while fully opening one's senses to the experience of beauty and solitude.
Rituals and celebrations are the result of immensely powerful special events, e.g. of relief from decades or centuries of suppression. Such profound experiences (as for instance the Jew's escape from Egyption slavery and their voyage through the desert) reverberate from generation to generation and receive their meaning from that resonance. In comparison, any "invented" ritual is shallow and meaningless -- even ridiculous.
The destruction of our biosphere and loss of our life support system are serious enough dangers to be concerned about -- and every responsible thinker knows that. But these dangers increase in such small increments that they are unable to shock the majority into action. Behavioral adjustments, however, may become possible if the Epic of Evolution is told with such mastery that its superior explanatory power becomes self-evident -- that seeing the ongoing processes of nature with oneself as part, and as co-determinator, of a constant creative exploration, becomes as natural and as necessary as breathing the life-sustaining air surrounding us.
In such an atmosphere, evolution is not any more opposed to religion but explains it as a necessary stage of our cultural history. Persons who need the emotional support of celebrations and rituals will find those that have become part of their lives most meaningful, even if these are interpreted as valued traditions rather than as expressions of an all-powerful being's dominant commands. Traditions can be honoured independently of accepting evolutions' lessons -- the lesson that every species perished that was unable to adjust to changed conditions, the lesson that the brains and minds of our own species generate our experience of beauty, as well as our highest values, and the lesson that these values will vanish from our world with the loss of humankind.
The Growing Tip. Much has been said and written about the need to implement change "from the bottom upward," that is, through the influence of the masses upon their contemporaries. Here, too, I am of a different opinion. To think independently takes more effort than the majority of the population feels comfortable with -- even if sufficient information of the right kind were available to all, and even if it were not buried under avalanches of ever increasing media input. What appears to be the "influence of the masses" is in reality a reflection of the influence of skillful leaders or irresponsible manipulators (both of which may or may not have risen from below).
Where enclaves are retained, or newly created, which cling to the sufficiency, simplicity, and contentment of their traditions, the resulting stagnancy of life cannot be recommended as ideal. I fully endorse (and practice) voluntary simplicity -- the rejection of unneeded clutter that buries essentials -- but not of labor-saving devices, which liberate the mind from routine work and allow the exploration of new worlds.
As an alternative to either unhealthy growth or none at all, I am thinking of the growing tip of a plant. Here, a wonder of nature is allowed to reach its full inherent form and beauty only if its growing tip is retained intact. If it is mowed off, the plant will remain unfinished and crippled. Likewise, humanity will remain crippled if its growing tip -- that is persons with extraordinary insight and wisdom -- are removed through wars or mass exterminations (or if their voices are suppressed by powerful authorities). These are the persons whose foresight and sense of responsibility are able to differentiate beneficial progress from detrimental one and to encourage the former.
No one can visualize or imagine the full potential of the human species; only careful, groping steps into the future are possible, during which the results of any change must be constantly checked and needed readjustments made. The most important task at present is the protection of humanity's growing tip.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I wish to thank Eric J. Chaisson and Hanna Newcombe for sending me their books, and Michael Marien, Editor of Future Survey, for his blanket permission to use reviews from his Publication.
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