How did we get where we are? We have war after war, looming weapons of mass destruction, trashing of the the environment, rampant anger, violence of every sort, indifference, addictions, promiscuity, declining health; and everything for sale to the highest bidder at rising costs; and personal relationships, even governments that are dysfunctional. This is not what most people want. So the question is why? What causes us to behave badly and make a mess of things? We like to think we are strong, unique, and self-determined - that we choose our own identity and lifestyle. But the reality is that taking a stand is not so easy. Love, acceptance and belonging - the need for emotional relationships - drives human behavior because humans evolved as social animals Our most basic needs are food, safety, love, and self-esteem, but it seems that acceptance can trump self-esteem. Belonging to a group was probably helpful to our ancestors. We have weak claws, little fur, and long childhoods; living in a group helped early humans survive harsh environments. Because of that, being part of a group still helps people feel safe and protected, even when walls and clothing have made it easier for one man to be an island entire of himself.
Ethnocentrism
is our tendency to partition the human world into in-groups and
out-groups (us against them).
A more explicit definition is that ethnocentrism means making false assumptions about others' ways based on our own limited experience. There are natural and intrinsic differences in meanings that make life experience unique for various human groups around the world, for example, skin color, language, dietary, geographic and climate differences. Wisdom includes, while ignorance excludes. At one moment, we may be arguing with a family member, growing more and more angry. But if someone else were to make a disparaging remark about that family member, we would probably be the first to rush to his or her defense—even to the point of becoming combative against the other person. This is especially true when a similar thing happens concerning our church or religious group, the aim is to maintain proper relationships with these people. Indeed, religious partisanship has been one of the most lethal of all human endeavors. There can be no doubt that religion has all too frequently contributed to humanity’s inhumanity and violence toward itself. That, of course, is a great irony.
"Every
[religious] tradition in the world talks about peace. This talk of love
for peace has been going on for thousands of years but, in spite of it,
human history tells us that in every tradition there have been wars.
War is not advisable, but preparation for war is going on everywhere.
The whole world wants peace, yet the whole world prepares for war." - Sunanda Shastri and Yajneshwar Shastri
We don't just war against each other, but against ore own mother - nature. Our ethnocentric views are also directly related the ecological destruction underway. Western thought and science draw rigid divisions when seeking control over nature. We don't think of Nature as nurturing parent but as a possession or even as an enemy. We think of other life forms as "subjects" which are not equally important as human beings - as objects we can manipulate as we wish. We don't think about 'proper' relationships with anything in the natural world. We are anthropocentric and assume our God is too. In fact, our ancestors even assumed that we lived at the center of a universe that was made just for us. Katharine Hayhoe is a Physicist and a Climate Scientist who is also religious. She is the lead author for the 2014 Third U.S. National Climate Assessment. She writes that climate change is one of the most pressing issues facing the United States and the world. Over the coming century, it is expected to affect agriculture, energy, health, infrastructure, natural resources, national security, and water availability. This assessment, which represents the most up to date and comprehensive overview of climate change impacts on the U.S., provides critical input to planning and policy at the state and national level to reduce the human influence on climate and adapt to future change. In a televised interview she and Bill Moyers discussed the gridlock between science and religion. They agreed that climate change is a disaster. Katherine stated flatly that one more scientific report won't fix the problem because more information is not the answer. Moyers said that there are about 80 million fundamental Christians in America and that 2/3 of white evangelical Christians refuse to take global warming seriously because of people like Rush Limbaugh who said, "If you believe in God, you cannot believe in global warming - that you must be either agnostic or atheistic to believe that man can control something he cannot create." We have been told that you can't be a Christian, or you can't be a conservative, or you cant be a person of faith and even be a person of integrity and agree that climate is changing, that humans are responsible, and that there is something really important we need to do about it. 80 Million people people wield considerable political clout. But climate change is a casualty of much larger societal issues. There should never be a conflict between true science and religion, because they both describe reality. But, still we have scientists on one side fundamentalists on the other side of the fence. Mrs. Hayhoe reminds us from the bible (Hebrews) that faith is the evidence of things not seen. But science is the evidence of things that are seen. Since God doesn't Tweet, show up on TV, or Facebook, or YouTube, that sometimes leaves us guessing. The scriptures are thousands of years old, and the Bible has been translated into various languages, various times, by various people who tend to be self-righteous, and usually claiming greater virtue than the rest of us. And each translator had their own agenda. So it's possible to justify just about any idea by quoting scriptures because they are littered with contradictions and ambiguities. If your are not a scholar of the Bible it may seem confusing - and sometimes it even seems that the confusion has deliberately not been cleared up. Does that mean we should throw out the baby with the bath and just forget about religion? A lot of people have, but we don't seem to be any better for it. HOPE is central to all religions - not just hope of the hereafter, but the hope of having a decent life. Hope is small word with big implications. Without hope we just give up. But when the world says, "Give up," Hope whispers, "Try it one more time." Hope is the key to our dreams, a way of making dreams become reality. Listening to the still, small voice in your heart will make hope into a reality. Hope finds a way, provides a structure for planning and coordination. Even in our sleep, hope is the gate into the secret garden of our dreams that can pave the way, and sometimes even solve the problems that seem to hinder us. Hope is the key to doors that we had assumed would be locked. Hope will keep you from taking a small loss and allowing that small loss to develop into a large loss. Hope is like a small rudder that can steer a big ship. Hope heals, hope finds a way.
"Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul - and sings the tunes without the words - and never stops at all." -Emily Dickinson
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. Indifference, unconcern, listlessness, apathy, insensibility all imply lack of hope. But there is a huge difference between that and spiritual detachment.
"Built into the very nature of our existence is the drive toward greater
knowledge, love, happiness and fulfillment. This is the fundamental
force of evolution that impels us toward self-realization or
enlightenment. In that sense our seeking is inherent in our life and
effortlessly moves us forward in our awakening regardless of the small
things we seek. The law of detachment is about letting go of our mental
and emotional attachment to our desires and simply Being that quiet,
simple awareness. This state of unattachment is a way to get the little
self or ego out of the way and let the wisdom and power of the higher
self shine reveal the happiness that is its inherent nature. That is why
detachment brought forth that deep happiness that transcended seeking.
You realized you are that happiness, so you didn’t need to seek
yourself, you just allowed yourself to fully be who you are." - Deepak Chopra
You have probably watched a cops and robbers TV show where they identify a suspect by quickly searching through a large number of images using facial recognition software in a computer. Our own brains work in a similar way called pattern recognition, which is the process of recognizing a set of stimuli arranged in a certain pattern that is characteristic of stored memories. The pattern search might be rational or emotional, or both. It recalls a similar object or experience and in effect reports, "this seems to be one of those, and you might be able to deal with this as you have in the past." You then approach or avoid, based on previous experience(s). The media plays a large part in what is stored in our memory banks, simply because it is so pervasive. And much of it is distorted or manipulative, and becoming more so all the time, especially since media ownership is now in the hands of a powerful few. Eye-catching headlines sell more newspapers, just as violence and sex grabs the attention of TV audiences. The tobacco industry used the media for years to disseminate misinformation that nicotine was not harmful to your health. There has also been a huge media campaign to dissuade the public from taking action against the pollution that is at the root of climate change, because corrections might cut into corporate profits. In fact, the media has become ever more cynical in a frenzied can-you-top-this game of sensationalism, violence, yellow journalism and political manipulation.One of the things you can easily do is to just say no to such negativity by clicking it away, and making a conscious choice to control how you program your subconscious mind. The delusion that we had some privileged place in the physical universe was just human conceit. Fear and hate are common, which can only make matters worse. But so far our consciousness does seem to be quite unique. Our minds just might be the universe becoming aware of itself. What is uncommon is real imagination to see and be grateful for all that is and can be. Katharine Hayhoe offers some other steps to take in response to the global crisis we are facing:
1. Adaptation - prepare to adapt to what we can't avoid
2. Mitigation - know your carbon footprint 3. Take a stand - tell your leaders we care about these issues "People are given problems to grow strong on..... You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with the best you have to give." - Eleanor Roosevelt Links
|
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Taking A Stand
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment