Making The Earth Our Heaven
And Our HomeBy Dr. Gerry Lower
20 December, 2005
Axis Of LogicIt ought be self-evident to everyone that the world has come together more during the 20th century than in any time period in the past two millennia. Progress toward human unification has involved increasingly larger numbers of people over increasingly larger expanses of the earth's surface (Europe to the Americas to the World) over increasingly shorter spans of time. Cultural evolution has taken the western world from tribal to national to global levels of human organization.
The era of Roman imperialism lasted just over a millennium, the era of European colonialism lasted just over three centuries, and the era of American capitalism has lasted just over half a century. The Bush administration's religious capitalism has lasted just half a decade and is already dead by virtue of its ignorance (1), fraudulence (2) and incompetence (3). Humankind has been embedded in a spiraling program of cultural evolution from the onset and we are going where we are going at an exponential rate (4).
The driving force in this two-millennium long program of human unification (still ongoing), has been the greed-driven conquests of western states operating within the self-justifying confines of Old Testament Roman religion. Arming themselves in the name of the Christ, western seats of imperial, colonial and capitalistic power (e.g., Rome, Spain, Portugal, France, Britain, United States) have, in their turns, served to unify the world at the tip of a self-righteous sword (5).
Today, the requests for democracy come from thoughtful people in virtually every nation on earth, from China and Ukraine to Venezuela and Iran (and the U.S.). The demands for maintaining the conservative status quo come from less thoughtful people in virtually every nation in the world, from China and Ukraine to Venezuela and Iran (and the U.S.). The entire world is conflicted between the unfairness and inequality of the present (with roots in the past) and the need for fairness and equality in the future. The entire world is conflicted between the "haves" and "have nots" (6).
Given the severely de-evolved state of Democracy in America, the result of capitalism's bipartisan dominion, it is worthy to consider how political unification under democracy has come to the cultural evolutionary forefront in the past. What is the nature of the cultural changes, the new cultural bottomlines, that have traditionally led to the emergence and implementation of democracy, beginning over 2 millennia ago in ancient Greece?
CONCEPTUAL UNIFICATION - Compliments of Science
The first stage of democratization requires the people to see the world as one. Conceptual unification is necessary if the people are to live in THE SAME WORLD. This unification has been provided from the onset by Science alone. First comes a new way to think and then comes the new thinking (7).
Socrates' Inductive Revolution in Greece provided both a new way to think about the world as a whole and, as a result, a whole new world in which to think. These are two sides of the same thing, i.e., the evolution of human cognition. The Greek rejection of supernatural nonsense and their adoption of empirical and logical thought began an evolutionary program that resulted in the emergence of the world's first formal democracy, a program in which all of humankind is today embedded.
Newton's Deductive Revolution in Europe provided both a new way to think about the world as a whole and a whole new world in which to think. It resulted in Spinoza's resurrection of democracy as a knowledge-based political philosophy which, in turn, led to the EuroAmerican Enlightenment, Jefferson's Declaration and, ultimately, the formal emergence of American democracy, standing proudly in the ashes of Old Testament supernaturalism.
Einstein's Reductive Revolution in Europe and America provided both a new way to think about the world as a whole and a whole new world in which to think. Energy and mass were two sides of the same thing. Particles and waves were two sides of the same thing. All of life is made of the same stuff to comprise a living, evolutionary whole - with a human direction of its own (7).
The reductive revolution in science will ultimately result in a resurrection of Natural Philosophy, a global Enlightenment and a global Democracy. It happens to be the way the larger evolutionary world works, i.e., logically and purposefully overall. The "intelligent design" in the world comes built right in, at all levels of organization (physical, biological and cultural). At the human level of organization, God is embedded in the "will of the people."
The world of Einstein is as far removed from the world of the Bush administration as it is possible to be removed. In Bush's world, everything is ostensibly under the direction of the Roman god of imperialism - in a magical and incomprehensible but self-justifying sort of way -in spite of Bush's many failures in the eyes of God (8). In Einstein's world, everything runs itself (including you and me), no external forces required. The entire world runs naturally and it does so within the natural boundaries of Science. What Science does not embrace is largely irrelevant to the living and the dead could care less.
CULTURAL UNIFICATION - Compliments of Natural Philosophy
The second stage of democratization requires the people to comprehend and live in THE SAME HUMAN WORLD. This unification has been provided by Natural Philosophy from the onset.
Natural philosophy has always embraced the values and knowledge of Science because it depends on science for its own existence. It integrates the knowledge of science into larger world views with direct relevance to human comprehension and control.
Although its evolutionary roots are in western culture, creative natural philosophy has always embraced the intuitive bottomlines of eastern culture, e.g, the concept of oneness, the concept of interconnectedness and the concept that all is consciousness, that life is as we perceive it.
In the east, this was taken to mean that life is as we experience it. The Confucian emphasis on harmony and goodness has held open the doors to pragmatism, acceptance and nihilism for 1400 years (9). It has nourished an ethical despotism at the expense of the honest human truth.
In the west, this was taken to mean that life is as we see it. The Abrahamic emphasis on law and order has held open the doors to empirical good and evil, judgementalism and idealism for 1700 years. It has nourished a religious despotism at the expense of the honest human truth.
In science, the dialectic synthesis (embracing both eastern and western values) is found in natural philosophy's insistence that life is as we know it. The Greek emphasis on knowledge has held open the doors to empirical/logical comprehension, realism, and democracy for 2500 years. It also inspired the Deism of America's fathers, i.e., to think and do as a thoughtful and caring God would do (because life can get difficult and dangerous in the absence of a human touch).
Because natural philosophy has been global in scope from the onset, it makes no distinctions based on gender, color, or ethnic background. Natural philosophy is built from the ground up to be human. In Jefferson's hands, it achieved that goal by basing itself on human knowledge and nascent Christian human rights (which have no relationships to supernatural religion) (10).
Within human rights frameworks, it remains entirely possible to remain both occidental and oriental because the values of natural philosophy are the dialectic syntheses of the values of western religious systems and eastern ethical systems (10). Within human rights frameworks, it remains entirely possible to achieve what western religious systems were hoping to achieve all along, i.e., an honest order. Within human rights frameworks, it remains entirely possible to achieve what eastern ethical systems were hoping to achieve all along, i.e., an honest harmony.
In both western and eastern cultural systems, these end results have not been attainable because of the despotic imbalances imposed upon the people by ancient world views that justify dominion by the rich and powerful. Abrahamism and Confucianism are complementary cultural opposites, a fact that makes it possible for postmodern natural philosophy to easily bridge the cultural gap.
POLITICAL UNIFICATION - Compliments of Democracy
The third stage of democratization requires the people to live in THE SAME HUMAN WORLD AS A PEOPLE. This unification has been provided by Democracy from the onset.
Right along with the concept of human rights are the complementary principles of religious freedom and freedom from religious oppression. Jefferson's Declaration basically says that if you honor nascent Christian human rights, you are already with the human program. If you honor ancient Roman authoritarianism, self-righteousness, vengeance and legal absolutism, then you are on your own in the eyes of God (i.e., the People). If you honor ancient Confucianist authoritarianism, goodness aimed at harmony and an ethics unrelated to knowledge, you are on your own in the eyes of the People (i.e., God).
Human rights guarantee the people individual theological freedom as long as they do not impose their personal theology upon others, i.e., as long as they do not impose their personal "why" upon others or upon our collective "why." In Jefferson's Democracy, public theology is restricted, therefore, to a human rights-based theology and an ethical morality derived from the values of nascent Christianity.
The only relationships between nascent Christianity and Roman religion are the relationships falsely assigned to them by the emperor of Rome in the early 4th century, a lie from the beginning to the prophetic end, from imperial Rome to colonial Europe to capitalistic America. It is the millennial lie that has kept the rich and powerful both rich and powerful, as their greed and propensity to conquer and control has unified the world in the socioeconomic sense.
With regard to theological unification, it is the principle of religious (theological) freedom that makes possible individual contributions to the public "Why" and enables collective efforts to approach fairness and equality in the interest of meaning and purpose. Otherwise, the people end up attempting to control each other on theological ground that literally makes no sense whatsoever - because both eastern and western cultures are based on one-sided value systems bracing up too much collectivity and too much individuality, respectively, leaving too little middle ground for humanity.
Human Dialectics
The dialectic synthesis of eastern "harmony" and western "law and order" is found in freedom. The dialectic synthesis of eastern loyalty and western obedience is found in honesty. The dialectic synthesis of eastern ethics and western morality is found in an ethical morality. The dialectic synthesis of eastern acceptance and western judgement is found in compassion. The dialectic synthesis of eastern pragmatism and western idealism is found in realism. The dialectic synthesis of eastern goodness and western righteousness is found in justice and fairness (10).
American capitalism and its supporters have literally thrown away the gifts from God brought to the people by men like Jefferson and Franklin and Paine ... in the name of what again? Do we squander American wisdom for no reason but to sustain those encumbered with too much wealth and power? Do we let it all go down so that two investment bankers can blow $30,000 during one evening on booze for a party of eight people (11). Do we let it all die for those who have no common sense at all, no grasp of when enough is enough, and no concept of who they are (12)?
The Bush administration's pandering efforts to abandon the separation of church and state are integral to its efforts to reunite church and state as a means of justifying its narrow, monied, militaristic, conquering agenda. These efforts make the Bush administration the most egregiously anti-American administration in U.S. history, and its supporters the most egregiously misled electorate in U.S. history.
Are we "a nation in revolt against the modern world?" Or are we "a nation at the vanguard of the modern world (13)?" Are we rapidly approaching the Biblical ideal of an "end of time," as the fundamentalist supporters of the Bush administration suppose? Or are we rapidly approaching a highly-networked global democracy honoring human rights, fairness and equality for all? The only adequate answer to these questions is "Yes."
The entire notion of an "end of time" is, in and of itself, an exercise in utter self-righteousness. Here we have a tiny handful of American fundamentalists (about one third of the U.S. electorate) who believe that they alone know that the entire world is coming to an end for all people (whether those people know about apocalyptic western religions or not). The notion of an "end of time" for all people and the world is an ideological stance that does not need sociopolitical analysis, it needs psychoanalysis (14).
To be sure, the people will survive the prophetic "end of time" as the people have survived all wars, all pestilence and all natural disasters since we have been able to write about them. In surviving religion's "end of time," the people will no doubt be wondering just what in hell the "end of time" is all about. It is all about a global cultural rebirth in human values and human knowledge, a rebirth that will require the self-termination of religious capitalism.
Between now (standing on the edge of the abyss) and then (standing on the threshold of a dream), we can be sure of one thing. The human cost in making the transition from despotism to democracy will be as high as it takes to wake conservative America up to what an inherently corrupt capitalism has done to everything that made America human and beautiful, because truth and beauty are one. That realization is already well underway as a result of the Bush administration's pan-political failures (8).
To be involved in a cultural evolutionary program that can be defined is to be involved in a cultural evolutionary program that can be controlled. We now know that God has provided us with everything we need to comprehend ourselves and our world and everything we need to find our way home to oneness. That being the case, before we impose capitalism's crony corporate "democracy" on others, we best be redefining and re-implementing democracy in America (15).
What else is there to do, really? On this earth, we each get a one lifetime shot at making an honest human contribution. Under religious capitalism, most of us waste that shot in service to a greed-driven corporate aristocracy, crime and corruption incarnate. Jefferson's democracy is dead at our own hands and we ought be doing something about that loss because the Bush "administration is too far gone, the problems intractable (16)."
Think of it, people. Think of what it would be like to LIVE IN THE SAME HUMAN WORLD AS A PEOPLE with a world full of friends who comprehend what is meant by fairness and equality. With the emergence of humankind and a direct global democracy, we will hear, for the first time on earth, the voice of the people, a distinctly human voice that will echo throughout known space and time. That voice will speak of human rights and the freedoms that flow therefrom. That voice will not speak of God. That voice will speak with God (17).
It not only can happen, it will happen, of that all thoughtful and caring people can be certain. It will happen because that is the underlying millennial direction and objective of human conceptual and cultural evolution. It is what we have been up to for two millennia - to comprehend the earth as our heaven and our home, to implement a human rights-based path to God, and to walk on that path as a people.
Readings
1) Richard Cohen, Ignoring the Facts, Washington Post, November 17, 2005.
2) Paul Krugman, Ending the Fraudulence, NY Times, October 31, 2005.
3) Thomas Friedman, Bush's third term a disaster for U.S., NY Times, November 27, 2005.
4) Dr. Gerry Lower, A Divided America: Setting the Stage for Cultural Evolution, Axis of Logic, Date, 2005.
5 Dr. Gerry Lower, The Evolutionary "Why" of Religious Capitalism, Axis of Logic, July 14, 2005.
6) Dr. Gerry Lower, Fairness and Equality in America, Axis of Logic. October 26, 2005.
7) Dr. Gerry Lower, Einstein's Reductive Revolution, Axis of Logic, November 11, 2005.
8) Dr. Gerry Lower, Knowing Nothing of God and Failing in Public, Axis of Logic, November, 2005.
9) Ross Terrill, Shiping Hua, Anne F. Thurston, Suisheng Zhao, Inside the Chinese Mind, The Wilson Quarterly, Autumn, 2005.
10) Dr. Gerry Lower, Dialectic Synthesis and Enlightenment, Jefferson's Eyes, www.jeffersonseyes.com), ISBN: 0-9747128-0-9, 2003.
11) Jonathan Freedland, It may be beyond passé - but we'll have to do something about the rich, The Guardian, November 23, 2005.
12) Dr. Gerry Lower, Who Pays the Bills for the Bush Administration, Axis of Logic, November 9, 2005.
13) Martin Kettle, America is Caught in a Conflict Between Science and God, Guardian UK, November 26, 2005.
14) E.J. Dionne, Jr., Dysfunctional democracy - Has Washington gone insane? Washington Post, November 23, 2005.
15) David Ignatius, Replant the American Dream, Washington Post, November 25, 2005.
16) Eleanor Clift, Let's Try Baloney, Newsweek, November 12, 2005.
17) Dr. Gerry Lower, The Deist Epiphany: God is Human and So Are We, Axis of Logic, September 2005.
© Copyright 2005 by AxisofLogic.com
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Dr. Gerry Lower is an Axis of Logic Columnist, residing in Eugene, Oregon. He can be reached at: [email protected].
