Skreeworld - A New Paradigm 2
Clearly, despite the scientific revolution having found no unifying thread it remains the only system of establishing anything close to empirical truths. Despite its restricted reach, most today believe it is all we have. The excitement of the early days of reason, when it appeared man was taking the early steps on a linear journey to a genuine understanding of our predicament, initiated a sense of liberation from superstition however the paradigm perspective mirrored religious models of thought that preceded it. In essence the quest for human knowledge was a secular parallel of the Christian journey toward salvation. The hubristic notion went 'Through knowledge we will be able to overcome the natural forces that affect other animals'. In the current secular paradigm suggestion that knowledge is anything but good is blasphemous. The effect of scientific knowledge may, in practice, be closer to the biblical myth of 'The Fall'. The belief that through accumulated knowledge humanity advances to a greater good lies at the heart of humanism. In most respects humanism is no more than secular Christianity deprived of the spiritual dimension. It's faith in our supreme ability to overcome natures laws amounts to quasi religious superstition. Christianity grew to become the most anthropocentric of all religious faiths. Christians believe we are seperated from the natural world, only humans have souls, other animals exist only to serve us. This belief in our supreme value has travelled from Christian thought into secular modern thought. However this makes little sense once stripped of a divine being. The central revelation of Darwin returned us, rightly, to stand alongside other animals. Yet this most profound revelation of Darwin is ignored. This ignorance mirrors the leaps of Christian faith. John Gray argues the religious impulse is as naturally human as the sexual impulse. The suppression of our spiritual yearnings will deliver parallel problems to the suppression of the sexual impulse. Perversions develop just as readily as they did under Victorian sexual repression.
Overpopulation, the inevitable exhaustion of resources, the fact half the species on the planet have become extinct during the last fifty years, ought to be of such overwhelming concern we alter our entire approach yet there is a conspicuous absence of any real discussion on these matters, the communal insanity of looking the other way, all amount to blindness beyond the comprehension of a rational mind. The modern liberal humanist lives in a far more deluded world than those of any religious outlook. Any rational person would stop their endless search for betterment. Stop any work that isn't absolutely necessary. As someone who has chosen not to breed I may find this easy to say, but the few mindful people I know justify their quest for wealth and material comfort in absolving responsibility. 'I do my money making to ensure a future for my children'. They accept the bio depleted world they create as a necessary result of personal genetic furtherment. So runs the argument of justification. Passing the buck is not respecting your children.
Hinduism and Buddhism see not the linear path of progress that deludes both science and Christianity. Both these beliefs operate a cyclic perception of birth, death and renewal. The Pagan mind had offered a cyclic vision that saw the seasons of the year reflecting the birth, life and death of all life forms. Hunter gatherer peoples and nomadic tribes remain today though few are isolated from westerners. Their cyclic vision of entwinement and inter relatedness to the environment seeks no separation nor hubristic superiority over other creatures or forces. This perspective ensures a vested interest in preserving the planet, it's life cycles of which they are but one aspect. Shorter lives and focus on the tribe and species as the unit rather than a focus the individual and nuclear family characterises the pagan perspective. A common racist assumption presupposes that these remaining groups of humanity offer us a view of ourselves at an earlier stage of development. That their inexorable path is a linear one to be, in time, like us. Studies suggest that by most impartial measures, it is we who have the lower intelligence. In solving new problems, envisaging fresh concepts and even enjoyment in being we come second. This may be down to the fact that death rates are far higher meaning the individuals that reach maturity are the smartest ones where as in our culture we support the weakest and least intelligent. This in itself means a Darwinian selection of brighter breeders. Another factor comes from the interplay of a variety of people. From birth tribal children are interacting with all other children and adults engaging in practical activities from sport, games, debate, crafting of materials and confrontation with the variety of values and opinions of a larger spectrum of the group. Western children are often isolated first to close family and later to selective schooling where social class prejudices are enforced. Survival in western society requires that empathy is ditched in favour of personal progress. Nevertheless, we are all evolutionary equals. There is but one species of human, our differences being cultural and not biological. Modern humanism holds on to a faith that through the power of science we can transcend the natural laws that govern other animals. We are certainly at crisis point as our destructive using up of the planet and overpopulation have left us looking pretty stupid. Ridiculous postulations of steering spaceships to new planets for us to inhabit are submitted in scientific journals with no irony. Such hubris characterises the optimist and a depressive acceptance that as a species our time is up characterises the pessimist mind.
Whether our unconscious separation from our environment grew from Ancient Greek philosophy, Judaism, Christianity or other historical perspectives, it's damaging effects have run parallel to the modern era of science and reason. Knowledge has both liberated and enslaved.
When we look back at the history of our understanding of existence and reality the lineage of names is a history of male thought. Homer, Plato, Aristotle,Christ, Augustine, Aquinas, Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Newton, Bacon, Descartes, Locke, Hume, Kant, Hegel, Freud, Jung. Our language presupposes male dominance. Even with the benefit of great feminist thinkers it is still hard to avoid talking of, not human history but 'man', 'mankind', 'mans relationship to the planet', 'the destiny of man'. Western intellectual tradition developed to denote the human species with words that are masculine in gender. Greek anthropos, Latin homo, Italian L'uomo, French L'homme, Spanish El hombre, Russian chelovek, German der mensch, English man. This is a history of men writing for other men. Whilst it is clear that the unspoken understanding may be that the discussion taking place intended an inclusive meaning, it is hard to understate the depth of the unconscious gender bias running throughout the history of western thought. The age of reason, the scientific revolution, our current predicament can be seen as the ultimate conclusion to male intellectual endeavour. Feminism, or an equal interplay between the sexes could never have delivered this deleted, infertile habitat.
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