Tags: Blogging, Religion, The Venus Project
Hello! This is the first in what I hope will be a regular (if not necessarily frequent) series of written expressions of what is in my head at any given time. I do of course know that the reach of this series is likely to be relatively narrow, for obvious reasons (and I think it is only right that I should state, up front, that I will be assuming a fairly high level of intelligence on the part of my readers, few though they might be, if that isn’t arrogant?), but that is not going to either inhibit me from expounding on what I think is important, or by the same token, impart some level of hubris that would impel me to be flagrantly rude or objectionable, otherwise I become just another tub-thumper. It is more than possible (in fact, highly likely) that the majority of my postings will deal broadly with the same subject, but probably approached from a variety of different directions, and for this, I make no apology: unless I’m mistaken, this freedom from editorial constraints is what blogs are for anyway? Defining that subject is not as easy as I would like it to be, without sounding precious or pretentious, so some background, constrained by the bounds of my awareness of the advisability, in this modern monitored world, of circumspection in the divulging of potentially damaging personal information, should be instructive, allowing my readers, such as they might be, to draw their own conclusions; I also offer no apologies for not making this an open forum with the facility to reply: from my experience of social media, and the self-knowledge I have accrued in the past few years, I see no obvious benefit in a discussion on the points I raise, because my feeling is that (notwithstanding the opinions of those who agree with me) those who disagree are rarely, if ever, content just to accept my right to hold an opinion contrary to theirs, but actively seek to show me the error of my judgment while often casting aspersions on my intelligence for holding the opinions that I do.
This latter point has a direct bearing on what concerns me: if it is not overly simplistic, I want to play my part (not the least of which is encouraging people to think and internally debate) in making this a better world: a world I sincerely believe is possible, but the realisation of which is being prevented by a plethora of reasons (and even agreeing on a definition of what constitutes “a better world” is fraught with difficulties; perhaps this is the inherent dichotomy of the dialectic?); not the least of which is the intransigence of people who cling doggedly to the prevailing status quo, when it is patently obvious (to all but those who refuse to see or acknowledge it) that there is far too much inequality of status, and lack of concern for same (in some ways the more troubling), not to speak of violence and brutality in all their abhorrent forms, in the world, which we in the West, laughably, like to think of as ‘civilised’. Here I will use a generic term that is not meant in a pejorative sense, but it is economical: the religionists among us refer to this as ‘sin’, but this is only one of a whole heap of problems I have with religion, despite the predominantly well-intentioned aspirations of the people who adhere to its many manifestations.
Of course, these problems don’t mean that I would actively seek to prevent people following religions; quite the reverse, given the final paragraph, but it should, nevertheless, be a private matter. I have my own belief system, but however much it might influence my activities & interactions, I have to accept that those beliefs have no more right to determine human affairs than do others’ beliefs, and vice versa: surely it is only reasonable to expect that, as the currently (and for the foreseeable future) dominant species on this planet, we should conduct our affairs and formalise our laws (of the natural, as opposed to the statutory variety) on the basis of common sense (another term open to debate, of course) arrived at by reasonable mutual respect & consideration, not because it is writ in a ‘holy’ book; written by (hu)man, for (hu)man, and not either by or on behalf of some deity, however this might be defined or justified
As a conclusion to this introduction, and as what could be termed a ‘scene setter’ for the series, I would summarise the foregoing by saying that I think the question, which I believe is absolutely fundamental, that is now being addressed by (what I hope is, anyway) an increasing number of people, is: do you see the world, in its totality - its people and its natural environment - as something you want to care for in equal measure (the ‘holistic’ view), without discrimination by race, gender, colour, creed, status, breed (in the case of animals) or locality (some or all of which will no doubt occupy my thoughts from time to time); or do you see the world as the embodiment of natural selection, where competition is to be encouraged, because it provides the fertile environment for personal enrichment, as a result of morally justifiable ‘hard work’? More soon.