Our world is struggling to successfully birth a global culture. At the same time, it is staggering under the growing conflict and violence created by religious and political fundamentalism.
It is becoming clear that the claims of absolute truth and certainty that come from primitive black-and-white fundamentalist thinking, in both politics and religion, need to be openly challenged and labeled as examples of ignorance by the modern world.
Continuing to tolerate, or pretending to ignore, such primitive thinking simply to avoid “offending” someone or being “politically correct” is no longer an option that makes any sense. Virtually “all” of the conflict and violence in the world today is the result of such primitive black-and-white political or religious thinking. It needs to be confronted and challenged.
Everyone should have the right to believe whatever they chose to believe, especially when it comes to issues of faith, but when they insist that their black-and-white-beliefs represent “absolute truth” it becomes the responsibility of each of us to publicly deny the veracity of such dangerous claims.
Absolute truth is an illusion. There is no such thing as “absolute truth”.
Absolute truths are simply the product of our unconscious inner-child’s primitive ego and its compelling need for security and safety. Developmentally, young children instinctively use the survival skill of “splitting” to simplify their world and manage their anxiety. Essentially, they divide the world into black-and-white, either-or categories of good v. bad and right v. wrong.
This survival skill is very helpful for young children to manage anxiety, but it is much too simplistic to use in an adult world. Like most of reality, truth is never black-and-white, it tends to be gray and is often embedded in ambiguity. Black-and-white thinking is beyond doubt the most dangerous creation of human consciousness.
Primitive black-and-white thinking must be intentionally confronted. We must begin teaching the psychological concepts of mature thinking and compassionate ethics to our children so they grow to become adults that are comfortable living without certainty and the rigid black-and-white thinking process of early childhood.
Until there is such a shift in our educational process, and we teach children the skills how to intentionally grow in self-awareness, we will continue to ignore the use of our primitive childhood survival skills in adulthood. The unconscious primitive ego thinking process of childhood will continue to drive our actions and behaviors as adults. The actions and behaviors of virtually all adult humans alive today are emotionally driven by the primitive ego of our unconscious inner-child psyche.
The creation of virtually all of the imperialistic self-righteous religious beliefs, the literal interpretation of biblical mythology, and the totalitarian political ideologies we see in the world are the direct result of childhood primitive ego thinking. It is hard to believe that more than a century after Freud and the birth of human psychology we are still not actively teaching children the psychological insights and skills required to mature developmentally.
The ultimate success of our emerging global culture is going to depend almost entirely on our ability as a conscious species to grow up, embrace more mature ways of thinking, and give up the primitive thinking processes of childhood. This urgently needed transformation and evolution in human consciousness is no longer an option.
The very survival of our human species, and the inter-dependent web of life that exists on our planet, will both depend on how quickly we can intentionally mature our species consciousness and incorporate the skills required to achieve the deep self-awareness that is so urgently needed.
Authentic spiritual growth and the maturity of our species consciousness will emerge only through education and our intentional growth in self-awareness; not through an adherence to the rigid beliefs of a primitive rigid black-and-white thinking process.
The illustration on the meaning of the Garden of Eden story in Genesis and the short discussion of the diagram below will give readers a brief over-view of human consciousness on each end of the “thinking” continuum when we attempt to use dangerous primitive ego “splitting” in the adult world.
CLICK HERE FOR MODEL ON BASIC HUMAN BELIEFS
On the left end of the “split” thinking continuum is reason and science. On this end of the thinking continuum, we find scientific facts and theories based on truths that are demonstrable and teachable. Scientific facts can be verified. Truth and beliefs on this end of the continuum are always open to inquiry and challenge by new theories, new facts, and new insights when the old scientific paradigms can no longer explain the new data being discovered. In other words they are open to change. They evolve and mature.
Since emotion is not helpful or required in science, any attempt to live totally on the left end of the continuum using only reason and logic, would result in our having to live without the very things that make us human; the need for community, relationships, emotions, and feelings. Because these are not qualities valued in pure research, and because interaction with the object being studied is discouraged, we would find ourselves quickly relegated to living the life of a two dimensional observer.
On the right end of the “split” thinking continuum we have rigid black-and-white ideological and religious beliefs. Since individuals and institutions on this end of the continuum already possess “the truth”, new data and new insights that challenge the status quo are rigorously banned or ignored. For example, when Galileo attempted to show the Church that the sun, not our earth, was the center of our solar system, his insight was banned and he was imprisoned for the rest of his life.
Faith beliefs taken from 2000 to 3000 year old primitive cultures are rigorously and emotionally defended as representing absolute truth. Even today, modern biblical scholars who attempt to bring new theological insights often find themselves excommunicated or otherwise marginalized by conservative and fundamental Churches.
Scriptural metaphors and myths are interpreted literally and truth is dispensed to the uneducated by well educated infallible authority figures such as Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and the Pope.
A fundamental characteristic of being human is to be curious. To inquire and ask questions; to “become”. Therefore any religious or political system that ideologically denies change so-as-to insure continuity and security, will not survive for long in the modern world. Human institutions must be willing to embrace veracity and intellectual honesty. They must be willing to live authentically in the moment with things exactly as they are. This is also true for each of us as individuals.
If we try to live on the fundamental or right end of the continuum driven only by the passion and emotions of absolute certainty, we will have to give up our ability to think for ourselves and our freedom to be curious and search for new meaning and insight. In other words, once again we would have to forego the very things that make us human.
This leaves us with only the middle of the continuum if we wish to live as fully authentic human beings. Only in the middle of the continuum will we discover the openness of mind, and a spirit of deep listening, that come from an emptiness of ego and the humility of “not-knowing”.
Only in the middle of the continuum are reason and emotion balanced; only in the middle is there the possibility of deep self-awareness; only in the middle will we be able to make an intentional commitment to live in the intellectual, scientific, and social world that we “know”.
When we learn to live in the middle of the continuum and walk a path between science and faith we will discover a “gray” middlepath spirituality where meaning and truth are found in all conflicting issues; a middlepath spirituality where wisdom and insight are found embedded “in” myth and metaphor, not in literal interpretations "of" biblical stories.
For example, the Garden of Eden is a mythical story about the birth of human reflexive consciousness, not about sin and a fall from grace as fundamentalist Jewish or Christian theologians would have us believe. With the birth of our human ability to be conscious of our consciousness, or in other words, when we evolved to the point where we could think about our thinking, we lost the innocence and “now-ness” of the other animals; the ability to live life totally in the moment.
With the evolution of reflexive consciousness we had the ability to struggle with the meaning of our lives. We could consciously and intentionally contemplate our own death and even the meaning of life itself. We became conscious of the existence of good and evil, and concepts such as compassion, unconditional love, and justice. We were no longer innocent! We were conscious beings!
In other words, humans were not “thrown” out of the Garden of Eden; the place of innocence, they “could not” go back because once innocence was lost through the process of evolution, there was literally no “way” of going back to our more innocent beginnings. Theologically, we have not fallen from perfection, we are simply a young, emerging, evolving species struggling to find our way into an unknown future. A literalist or fundamentalist interpretation of the Genesis story totally misses the meaning and wisdom embedded in this important and well-known biblical myth.
To state it simply, we cannot live on either extreme of the human beliefs continuum. We have find a way to live with balance in the middle between science and faith; a place of authentic spirituality and enlightenment; a place where compassion, diversity, inclusiveness, and justice are the foundation of cultural ethics and morality.
We are no longer children. We can no longer afford to behave as children grasping at the continuity and security that comes from certainty and the maintenance of the status quo. Change and the growth of human culture and human consciousness are inevitable. We can no longer pretend that a theistic God will somehow magically take care of us if we agree to be obedient and follow His rules.
“We” are responsible for the decisions we make and the “forms” we Co-create. Stated simply, we are responsible for the consequences of our choices. Learning to live in the world we “know” is, without doubt, one of the most important choices we need make as an evolving conscious species.
I will conclude this discussion on the importance of embracing mature middlepath thinking, and learning to live in the world we “know” in the next issue of the Stonyhill Newsletter. I am convinced that the future of both our species, and the rest of life on our planet, will depend on our learning these critically needed skills.
Personal Thoughts
I was at a social gathering recently where the subject of how to deal with the escalating violence of fundamental Christians and Muslims around the world came up. Some people agreed with the approach we are currently taking in Iraq. Others thought we should just ignore Iraq and let them do whatever they want with their own country as long as it does not directly affect us.
It was a good discussion on religion and the religious violence that fundamentalists were creating around the world. After listening to the discussion for a while I asked if they actually believed in the basic beliefs of Christianity such as the virgin birth, the Garden of Eden, and whether they believed in heaven and life after death. Because I was in the middle of writing the main article for this Newsletter and had just finished reading Sam Harris’ book The End of Faith, I was curious to hear what they thought.
Virtually everyone agreed that these beliefs were certainly part of their “faith”, but when pressed, most also agreed that a literal understanding of many Christian beliefs and events were “probably” not accurate. When I pressed for a yes or no answer to the above questions including the reality of miracles, an inerrant bible, the existence of angels, and the reality of Satin, virtually all of the people said no…”not really”. They could not explain why God appeared to only heal some people and not everyone. They agreed that, for some unknown reason, God does not appear to answer all prayers.
They were unconsciously living with these “faith” stories and myths as if they actually happened, but when confronted directly, they did not believe they were actually true. They said that they had not really thought about them being “literally” true or not. They were just part of their faith that they accepted without really thinking about them. It was a small sample, but they confirmed the point of the article I was writing; most people do not believe in the literalness of the stories that make up their “faith”--- even when those beliefs represented core doctrines of their faith.
One conservative member of the group made a half-hearted attempt to defend the literalness of the bible but because it was a relatively liberal group of people, and a social environment, the majority of those in the group simply politely disengaged and walked away to talk with other people.
I went back to writing the my article the next day wondering what would happen if people of faith, like those in the group the night before, were less concerned with offending those conservative people who are inclined to insist that their “faith” stories actually happened. What if they spoke up and named such claims of absolute truth as ignorance.
I suspect that confronting fundamentalist directly would probably be a waste of time and ultimately create more conflict in the world, but openly confronting the dangers of black-and-white thinking in general might actually begin to waken the consciousness of others to the dangers of this kind of thinking for the world.
What would the world be like if more people were committed to living their lives with veracity; a deep spiritual commitment to see things exactly as they really are, and to name fundamentalist claims of absolute truth as ridiculous; a form of ignorance. I am certain that until a large number of people were willing to manifest this kind of honest feedback, it would initially create conflict.
It would definitely take courage to live that authentically because black-and-white thinkers who claim to possess absolute truth on untestable beliefs get most of their power and authority because of their passionate belief that they possess the truth. They rarely back down. They quickly escalate challenges to their beliefs and turn them into a more personal conflict. They are right and anyone who disagrees with them is wrong. Convinced that they possess “the truth, fundamentalists can quickly become angry and aggressive.
For example, a while back I wrote an editorial for a local newspaper on evolution v. religious fundamentalism. The Pastor of a local Fundamental Church not only wrote several scathing editorials over the next three weeks pointing out the fact that I was significantly uneducated on the subject, but he then sent me several personal letters inviting me to come to his Church where he would personally educate me on the “facts”.
When I refused to engage with him and give him a public platform for his sarcasms and his “faith” beliefs, he took one last attempt to get me to engage by sending a letter to my Bishop stating that I was an abomination to the Church and that I should be defrocked. My Bishop of course ignored the letter. This was all in response to one relatively short editorial on evolution. I did not personally or publicly respond to any of his threats or demeaning remarks.
Just because we or anyone else “believes” something to be “true” and “certain” does not make it so. Loud and aggressive, angry rhetoric is not a substitute for truth. Ignorance is still ignorance even when it is cloaked in spiritual “faith’ language.
Untestable beliefs, including faith beliefs, cannot claim the title of certainty. They are simply subjective beliefs. Untestable beliefs that cannot be verified must, by definition, be labeled and understood as faith; not absolute truth.
So how do we confront black-and-white thinkers without sounding like black-and-white thinkers ourselves?
The only answer I can offer is to refer you to Mark Twain. Mark Twain would always begin his outrageously humorous statements with the words “Now I could be wrong, but it seems to me that……………”
There were very few who escaped his straight forward biting humor and criticism. The more powerful and important a person was, the more Mark Twain would hold them accountable for their words, their behaviors, and their beliefs. No one was immune from his comments.
I try to use that quote whenever I am talking about controversial subjects. It can be a very helpful way of avoiding claims of absolute truth and certainty. I am very careful never to challenge the person or their “faith”, only the dangerous black-and-white primitive ego thinking process they are using.
I will conclude this discussion on black-and-white thinking and learning to live in the world we “know” in the next issue of the Newsletter. Live authentically, have a Happy New Year, and don’t forget Mark Twain. He was a great spiritual teacher.
Quote:
“It is time we recognized that the only thing that permits human beings to collaborate with one another in a truly open-ended way is their willingness to have their beliefs modified by new facts. Only openness to evidence and argument will secure a common world for us. Nothing guarantees that reasonable people will agree about everything, of course, but the unreasonable are certain to be divided by their dogmas (rigid black and white beliefs). This spirit of mutual inquiry is the very antithesis of religious faith.…...........………………..the concessions we have made to religious faith---to the idea that belief can be sanctified by something other than evidence----have rendered us unable to name, much less address, one of the most pervasive causes of conflict in our world……………………………..our world is fast succumbing to the activities of men and women who would stake the future of our species on beliefs that should not survive an elementary school education.”Sam Harris, The End of Faith, Norton and Co., N.Y., 2004
A Spiritual Practice
A spiritual practice is designed only to help us become self-aware, to awaken our consciousness.
An effective spiritual practice is designed to explore the beliefs that control our actions and behaviors. We do that by watching our actions and behaviors. For example, pay attention when you find yourself waxing eloquent “truths” to another person; especially when your “energy” is climbing. Usually you will become aware that the other person is beginning to annoy you or make you angry because they refuse to agree that you are “absolutely” right.
When that happens learn to pay attention and simply sit with the feelings. Stop and look at the belief behind your emotions. Are you 100% positive that you are right? Remind yourself that there is no such thing as absolute truth in the human world…..despite what our primitive ego would like us to believe. Even if our “truth” can be verified, it is open to inquiry and new insights. In other words, it will probably under-go change. All truths are relative because “absolute truth” is an illusion; a creation of inner-child’s primitive ego.
Another effective technique to become more self-aware is to examine your “faith” beliefs. Do you believe them to be literal or metaphoric? Where does your “absolute certainty” come from? How do you know it is “absolutely true”? Who told you that? Can it be verified? Do you have clear testable and repeatable evidence for the belief or is it a “faith” belief?
If you can sit with your emotions and not simply dismiss them as “being caused by some other person or event”, you will eventually begin to get a clearer understanding of your inner-child and your unconscious primitive ego. Don’t try to change anything, simply pay attention. If something you have believed is no longer making sense to you, it will eventually change all by itself; effortlessly. Just continue to pay attention.
Remember, all truth is relative. All truth is ambiguous. There is always truth on both sides of any subject. Never forget that our primitive ego is very self-focused; very narcissistic. Growth in self-awareness takes great courage, a lot of humility, courageous tenacity, and a healthy sense of self-humor. When we can laugh at ourselves, we are beginning to grow in self-awareness.
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