Friday, July 27, 2018

I am an Earth Centrist.

I've finally found a label I can wholeheartedly embrace and explain and defend.  I am an Earth Centrist !

The reason I'm posting this is because it's some thoughts I've been working on for decades and I'm finally getting close and I want to share even if it's far from finished.  Curious to see if anyone wants to bounce it around.

I am a fiercely independent guy and feeling more like H. Haller all the time so I don't make great internet intros, but feedback and networking is a requirement of life.  It's fine and poetic to be the sound of one hand clapping, but I'm concerned with finding out if any of this resonates with any one of the few who'll read it. Some of you folks know many people within the climate science communication and politics interface, one of them is looking for me.  Please help us connect.  

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated in comments or email.

Thank you.   citizenschallenge at gmail com
_______________________________________________________
( revisited and revised 7/31/2018, 12/30/2020 )

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


I've finally found a label I can wholeheartedly embrace and explain and defend.


I am an Earth Centrist !


Meaning that Earth and her physical processes and the pageant of her Evolution are my touchstones.  Understanding Evolution, and the biosphere I'm part of, and how we got here, is the foundation of all I know. 


Religions, political beliefs, science, art, god they are all products of the human mindscape, generations of imaginings built upon previous generations of imaginings, all the way down.  


Something real and to be reckoned with, yet in the end, it's only our mindscapes at work.  While the real creation, physical reality, keeps on unfolding outside of our minds regardless and we are left to hang on for dear life as time speeds us through our day to days.


In a way that mindscape is a product of Earth's evolution, yet it's certainly distinct and slightly separate from Earth's physical biological processes, something unique, ineffable, yet with the power to manifest personal gods and Earth shattering physical events.  


I suggest most people are unaware of the Map v Territory Problem, thus society commits the same ME FIRST self-destructive errors that it has repeated for thousands of years, never learning a god-damned thing.  


Just as mega-corporations that have grown big enough to destroy governments, so too our mega-species has become big enough to destroy our life sustaining biosphere.  


That evolving creation that has existed since Earth bounced back from the last big comet strike about 65 million years ago.  


The one that had achieved a splendid plateau 8-10 thousand years ago, but that now humanity has reset to something the likes of which Earth has not experienced in hundreds of millions of years.  It’ll take a few decades and centuries to fully blossom, but it is as down to Earth physically certain as tomorrow's sunrise.  Such a tragedy, yet that is where we find ourselves in 2018.  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Then there's the God v Science question.


Knowledge of God is the ultimate in personal intimate relationship, your experience cannot be transferred to, or replicated for, others.  


Religions are human constructs for enabling people to reconcile themselves with the seasons and hardships of their lives and to enable human societies to function in a civil organized manner. 


A God if there be one is All Things to All People, well beyond all human* understanding as the Holy Books warn us (* read petty, fearful, greedy, self-serving humans) individuals.  


If you are fortunate enough to be touched by God, that is your gift alone, something for you in your unique life.  It is not a recipe for your neighbors or the world.


Science on the other hand is humanity’s recipe for learning about the physical world and its processes as honestly as possible.


Science is:


Learning is the goal.


Fidelity to physical facts is the gold standard.  


Free Speech doesn’t mean it’s okay to lie and slander with malicious intent.  


Informed constructive skepticism is the rule.


Mistakes are for learning.   


Dishonest bluster and bullying is a crime.

No comments:

Post a Comment