Our Beliefs Are Us
It is said that we should never discuss religion and politics in public.
I have always found that statement bizarre.
Why shouldn’t we discuss the very belief systems that form the basis for the way we live?
If you have any concern whatsoever for the state of our world, have a look — a very, very serious look — at belief systems.
That’s where all the problems begin and reside.
Our beliefs are us.
“The foundation of morality is to. . . give up pretending to believe that for which there is no evidence and repeating unintelligible propositions about things beyond the possibilities of knowledge.” – T.H. Huxley
Those of you who have had your fill of “religion” will find comfort and affirmation within these pages.
Assuredly, I will be attacked and scorned by conventional religious adherents for the material in this book.
That is normal.
It is expected.
Religions are tribal and aggressive.
It is the nature of religion.
The tribe must be defended.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
“If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
Perhaps this book will move us toward an understanding that there is only one tribe: humanity.
There are, of course, other species.
And they have their own tribes.
Our tribe needs to be reorganized if we are going to continue coexisting among the tribes of countless other species.
Charles Darwin (1809-1882): “It appears to me that direct arguments against Christianity and theism produce hardly any effect on the public; and freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men’s minds which follows from the advance of science.”
This illumination of men’s and women’s minds is an ongoing process — one that has accelerated since we’ve transitioned from Stone Age Hunter Gathers to the Agrarian Age, the Industrial Age, and into our present Post-Industrial High-Tech Information and Communication Age.
Our current Age allows us to disseminate information to or from almost anywhere, instantly.
No longer can governments or religious institutions solely control and distort information and knowledge although they still attempt to and often succeed.