Think about it, aren't the Abrahamic religions all about self-centeredness - ours as well as God’s? Worse is their contempt and disregard for the sovereignty of our Earth’s biosphere, her other inhabitants and the reality of our Evolutionary origins.
August 30th, 2020, an update on my
Hoffman Playing Basketball in Zero-gravity project
I’ve one last assignment before I can put the bow on my Hoffman Playing Basketball in Zero-gravity project. But it’s a challenging topic, easy to avoid and procrastinate, plus I’ve had a very busy summer, still do.
On the other hand, time and experience has been clarifying these fundamental questions most others have also pondered, so of course I want to enunciate and share my perspective, while I'm still around.
I want my final installment to Hoffman's project to be a sharp essay, so have decided to go slow, share the introduction, and basically conduct a personal workshop and hopefully by doing it online, it'll push me to completing the final details in style.
It would be wonderful if some others would chime in, and in fact, I have a thread started over at CFI's CenterForInquiryForum and invite you to share any comments or general thoughts over there.
This isn’t for everyone, but if concepts such as Earth Centrism, Evolution, deep time and Earth as a physical geo-biological entity, resonates, you may find this fascinating.
Introduction
I’ll wager that if you took some time to think about it, you’d acknowledge that on a fundamental level the Abrahamic religions are all about self-centeredness - ours as well as God’s.
These religions were founded on the basis of self-interest, they were focused on selected kernels of knowledge, born of an aggressive insecurity, and supported by a passionate sense of self-important certitude. Usually with empire building in mind while reeking with hostility towards outsiders, other teachers and learning. They did achieve results.
All the while pretty much ignoring the sovereignty of our Earth’s biosphere, her other inhabitants and the reality of our Evolutionary origins.
Consider, within the Abrahamic tradition our planet’s life support system and her inhabitants never rise above something to exploit until we suck it dry, then we move on to the next bonanza.
Whereas for me, Earth, her creatures and biosphere, her Evolution, these are my touchstones with physical reality. I feel time flowing through me as I travel through my days. I live within a mindscape that’s filled with an awareness of time in its entire spectrum, from microseconds, to my heart beat, to the days, seasons, years and decades, on to the eons of Evolution.
So, naturally I have this apparently somewhat unique perspective concerning our human condition, that I believe is worth sharing.
Where does “God” come from?
It seems to me most people think, “God” and “Truth” come down to us from on high. From out there in the heavens, beyond our Earth and daily realities? For many, their "God" demands incessant worship, like some petty tyrant.
Western philosophy was born out of that intellectual ego-centric mindset, and given what I read and hear from contemporary philosophers, most still haven’t broken free of it, let alone acknowledging it.
In the same vein, contemporary searches for the ultimate answers within the quantum realm and mathematical philosophy are little different from counting angels dancing on the head of a pin.
I've learned that “God” originates from deep within our selves. A consequence of many converging influences, some with roots deep into our mammalian heritage.
Think about it, we come from the breast sucklers.
That means, some 175 million years worth of live births and instinctive nurturing, family units along with communities consisting of many families as a survival strategy.
Then we developed a brain that could look at the world, and back on itself, in thoughtful introspection. We learned to observe, finding patterns and learning from those patterns ( learning from observing nature ) and we remembered our experiences, plus we were able to tell the stories that conveyed our experiences/lessons to others, who could record and share those moments/lessons countless times, in countless different contexts.
That was big.
... (to be continued)
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