We have an opportunity and a responsibility to correct errors that began thousands of years ago in the infancy of our intelligence.
We did not then understand what is truly sacred in life.
Instead of recognizing the sacredness in life all around us, we created and worshipped fictional gods.
Many of us, albeit less and less, still do.
We created these fictional supernatural beings long before the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment (the Age of Reason) to explain the mysteries of life and to provide us with the courage to face life’s challenges and tragedies.
Over time, we transformed fiction into “fact” and forfeited our power to these deities.
We then wove a web of deceit to respond to every logical challenge to our own contrived stories.
This deceit and delusion continues today.
With the knowledge we have, it is long past time to let go of this ancient fiction.
It’s time to get grounded in reality and honor that which is clearly sacred here and now.
There are no saviors that will come to our rescue.
It’s just us.
Only we can save ourselves.
What is sacred here and now is that in life which at our peril we cannot violate, damage, dishonor, or destroy.
It has nothing to do with gods, religions, or anything supernatural.
We cannot violate our health.
We cannot violate other people.
We cannot violate our environment.
Unless we wish to suffer.
We have everything we require on this spaceship we call Earth to create a splendid world and fulfilling lives.
In order to thrive, all life forms must align with that which supports and sustains life.
To do so means to be responsible for our health, be kind to others, and respect our environment.
That’s the simple truth.
The large number of people who have abandoned and continue to leave antiquated religions is profound, understandable, and a sign of progress.
The trend will continue.
It’s been said that there is nothing as powerful as an idea whose time has come.
The reverse is true: there is nothing as weak as an idea whose time has passed.
That’s what’s going on in the world of our inherited ancient religions.
They are being abandoned.
Their time has passed.
I saw this development to be inevitable many years ago when I studied at Harvard Divinity School.
In polls, the reasons for quitting religion vary to include rejection of one’s childhood faith, antipathy toward organized religion, and negative personal experiences with religion.
From my perspective, the abandonment of religion is also a consequence of our age of information and communication.
The close examination of religion afforded to anyone today, which in the past was not possible, translates into ongoing declines for these ancient dinosaurs and, for many, inevitable extinction.
The children of the future will look incredulously at how long into the modern era these primitive religions held power, influence, and followers.
For good reason, many people are alarmed and fearful of the multiple challenges humanity, with its ever-expanding population, faces.
Most people today seek answers to life’s challenges here and now in reality.
Not in some afterlife.
Not from supernatural sources.
That’s a positive development that is essential if we are to sustain humanity, advance our civilization, and succeed as a species.
Species come and go.
Only if humanity improves its ways will it survive.
Otherwise humanity will continue to be mired in unnecessary, debilitating, worsening, and more complicated problems.
The empirical evidence is that change often comes, not from enlightenment but, from crises.
Enlightenment often comes from crises as well.
A crisis is life’s way of telling us it’s time for a change.
We have many crises on our planet.
We are in a position to learn much if we pay attention and respond appropriately.
Life is always teaching; we’re not always listening and learning.
When a crisis occurs, one of two things happens.
One, the crisis is ignored.
This results in tragic, often terminal, consequences.
Or second, the crisis is a wakeup call.
Changes are made, the crisis is averted, and incremental improvement begins.
This is true for individuals, and groups of individuals as small as marriages to as large as nation states and civilizations.
While it is true that we learn from crises, it is also true that we can learn from observing the crises of others.
We do not have to experience crises ourselves to learn their lessons.
Humanity can learn from virtual crises that we can project with our current knowledge and technologies.
Humanity can act while the crises are in their earlier stages and stop their advance.
Humanity is challenged always to evolve and improve.
The Time Has Come
- The time has come to abandon our primitive instincts and behavior.
- The time has come to feed people’s hope, not their hate.
- The time has come to move beyond the use of force to settle our differences.
- The time has come when the destruction of any living species is no longer acceptable and will no longer be tolerated.
- The time has come for us to advance beyond antiquated and divisive religions to a world grounded in reality.
- The time has come to understand that our planet exists within a very narrow and fragile band in our solar system that enables life to flourish.
- The time has come for the people of Earth, with unprecedented inclusiveness, respect for diversity, and a sense of responsibility for the whole of life to join together and move humanity and civilization in a direction that is peaceful, just, and sustainable.
Be healthy.
Be kind.
Respect the environment.