Mqurice,
The Geek Shall Inherit the Earth.
I take this as your central theme: that those (men) less prone toward violence and more contemplative shall ultimately prevail. In some African tribes, there is a moment in a man’s life where a he surrenders his spear for a waking cane. This is meant to symbolize a transition from acting instinctively as a hunter/warrior to taking a more reasoned approach, that of a man of wisdom. We hope that reason can ultimately win over passions.
After reading the book The Da Vinci Code, I started to re-evaluate the ideas behind the symbols that I had seen throughout my life, and the basic ideas of Christianity in a new context of evolutionary biology and sociobiology. I became overwhelmed by the number of direct connections between the messages handed down in our civilization and the genetically-derived requirements for survival in our prehistory.
While I don’t think that our genetic coding could have significantly changed over the last 5,000 years, I do think that our self-understanding has developed at a breakneck speed. This has allowed us to move from hunter/gatherer societies to space explorers within an astoundingly short interval. In Jared Diamond’s book Guns, Germs & Steel, he suggests that the rapid development of technology was due to geographical luck, but also due to the “weapons race” between competing countries around the world. So IMO, the existence of evil/predation forces an evolution in technology and an evolution in our thinking. Unfortunately our thinking (by which I mean the ethics and justice of using these weapons) generally lags behind our technology.
Joseph Campbell described the symbology of the statute of Shiva standing on one foot in a circle of fire. He said that the ring represented the fire of passion that slowly burns away our earthly desires, and as we age these passions subside and we begin to understand the true nature of our existence. Shiva stands on a prone figure representing ignorance and desire that must be overcome. By surrendering these failings (genetic starting points), we may achieve an enlightened sense of our condition.
When I think of how little ground is given on this board, and on a larger scale, the ME, I think that we have not yet burned away enough the passions to reach the more practical-minded part of our respective civilizations. I think we’ll be this way for many centuries to come.
Maurice, you seem like a happy guy and enjoy/cherish the time that you spend with your grandson. Your posts are insouciant, but entertaining to me. Are you happy?
From chapter 5 of Matthew we read:
- Happy are the gentle: for the earth will be their heritage.
- Happy are those whose heart's desire is for righteousness: for they will have their desire.
- Happy are those who have mercy: for they will be given mercy.
- Happy are the clean in heart: for they will see God.
- Happy are the peacemakers: for they will be named sons of God.
Best to you and Hayes,
GPS |
