By Chic Hollis – Philosophical Musings
Despite the faith that many sincere seekers of the truth have in the sketchy religious history of early Judaism and unorganized Christianity, there is no verifiable evidence anywhere that the Creator ever spoke to anyone in any dialect at any time. The Intelligent Designer left no decipherable record that explains how the universe was invented, created, or launched by some cataclysmic explosion called the Big Bang.
Maybe our universe is just a minor mutation in some evolutioary process that simultaneously established all the basic physical laws that govern what we call the physical cosmos. One theory about the observable physical chaos is that it may be “ordered” somehow. As understood currently by human scientists, the Classical, visible material “reality” is quite different from the Quantum, invisible “reality.”
The acrimonious dispute today between educated scientists and learned religious scholars is over “the Word,” which the author of the Gospel of St. John says was “God.” Some of the hottest arguments among men and women are over theories, ideas, and events that can’t be proven one way or the other. Common human wisdom would suggest that anything that can’t be proven should not become an issue that divides us.
However, since every person wants to be believe that whatever is lodged in his/her mind is the truth, humans constantly vie for the prize of being more right about something than someone else is. I won’t try to convince you that the scientists or the preachers are right. Until God shows up and actually speaks to someone in an audible voice using a language that the man in the street can understand and hopefully record, no more breath should be wasted arguing about who was the alleged Creator.
What small truth I would like to reveal here is that “In the beginning was the Big Lie” which naive humans have swallowed hook, line, sinker, and fishing pole! Human tribes don’t appear to be the favorites of any Deity. If present day strife among humans continues, human dominion over this small planet will not last as long as the dominion of the dinosaurs.
The second Big Lie is that we are capable of understanding why we are here or (stated in another way) what we are here to accomplish. Blasphemy from an infidel? Could be, but the ball is in your court to prove that it is heresy or that it isn’t. Choose your weapons carefully and the evidence you plan to use as proof.
If Jehovah, God, or Allah has a favorite nation, race, or tribe of humans who inhabit the Earth, He or She is not keeping His/Her unspoken word. It may not bother you much that infidels of whatever faith are dying all over this globe. And have for centuries. You can attribute these innocent deaths to the retribution of some Lord if you want to, but you had better be careful to explain why the ones who die are guilty in the eyes of some unseen Almighty. Just don’t invent another invisible, mysterious, mesmerizing power called the Devil to blame for the many evils that plague mankind.
If we use our fallible human logic and the evidence accumulated by historians and scientists, we can readily understand how misguided humans have been by the Big Lie. Religion based on the Big Lie has aided tribal leaders in organizing their followers. However, one man’s religion is another man’s heresy, and our competitive human nature has no room for conflictive ideas, profound or nonsensical. Wars ensue, theology is forgotten, and animosity is instilled in “the third or fourth generation of those that hate…” Can’t we intelligent humans do something to demonstrate that we are not under the direct or indirect influence of the Big Lie?
It certainly won’t be easy to brainwash the inflexible minds of the faithful believers who have sold themselves on their invincibility, immortality, and blessedness. The arrogance of the human race in believing that they are the esteemed of some Almighty is fortified by their irrational belief that they will be the beneficiaries of some kind of eternal life. These beliefs would be quite easy to accept if true, but the trilobites found out that their dominion over the primitive life in the seas of the Paleozoic Era was not forever. Sooner or later, the humans will discover their vulnerability also.
The problem caused by removing the Big Lie from the structure of religious beliefs that control a society in any country like Iran is replacing it with something of value equally stimulating and motivating. Demoting the Homo sapiens species in its present form of evolution from being Numero Uno on Earth to the status of an also-ran creature in the over-populated Animal Kingdom is demoralizing.
Eliminating the Big Lie ultimately allows the most ambitious and powerful secular leaders to usurp the temporary leadership role on the Earth by following the Law of the Jungle. The weak will end up with no defenders if there isn’t some kind of reward for taking care of the defenseless. When we watch documentary films of wild animals being devoured by predators, we don’t automatically think that, “Wow, this is what primitive man faced in his struggle to survive centuries ago.” (Until he invented weapons.)
“Civilized” society is not as brutal today as it was perhaps, but the brutish behavior inherent in our human species has not been eradicated. Far from it. Examples of violent terrorism, police brutality, and mob rioting remind us that there are individuals quite ready to maim and kill other humans when provoked or ordered to do so for some military authority.
The sublimation of our natural animal instincts through hunting and fishing parties, African safaris, and rough-house sporting events like Wrestle-mania may be a step in the right direction, but you can’t forget the slaughter house activities, the clubbing of baby seals, and the many random, detestable, inhumane criminal acts of mayhem. The Big Lie allows humans to gleefully demonstrate their dominion over the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, and the rest of the animal species who share the ark of the Earth with us.
No one dares to cancel the beneficial social role of the Big Lie. Voiding the promise that believers will enjoy a better and much longer life in exchange for obeying the laws of the land and of some mysterious Deity brings a monumental risk with it. The positive psychological effect caused by the Big Lie would be replaced by the negative consequences of establishing a new pecking order.
Changing a regime is never a pretty picture as we have recently witnessed in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the not too distant past, battles over who was to be the next heir to the throne were always vicious, insidious, and sometimes decapitating. The divine right bestowed on a monarch could be taken away from the heir-apparent by a mere jealous mortal.
We must admit that with the advent of any good idea comes the opportunity for the opposition to spoil the celebration. What actually is worse: religious zealots (including the atheistic infidels) warring forever over which divine entity should be worshiped and obeyed, or imperialistic secular leaders vying with one another for the local or global scepter? Either solution brings out the brutish nature of the human race as the events of our human history have tried to teach us.
Given the human propensity to lose control of their emotions over the edicts of authority figures, the ideal solution may never be discovered by human philosophers and psychologists. Nevertheless, uncovering the Big Lie may help future intelligent statesmen to find a solution before one is handed to them by some alien invader or, if the Darwinians are right, by a more advanced animal mutation. Then, humans will learn what the other animal species on our planet have known for generations: when push comes to shove, the Law of the Jungle is the definitive authority.
Eventually our food supplies will diminish as the population explodes and the weather changes. Our cup of oil won’t run over forever. The strongest and the cruelest among us will wield all the power: electrical, military, nuclear, or water.
Go ahead and pray to your deity for a different solution. Then ask yourself, “Are the meek really going to inherit the Earth?”
