Limitations of religion ; Why an anthropological view of history is vital and important to Humanity
In investigating and exploring the human condition, our journey inevitably hits a roadblock when trying to reconcile the spiritual and practical understanding of human history.
Many take the pragmatic angle and rationalize painful transitions in the sociological process of civilized growth as an inevitable outcome of trying to satisfy practical necessity and pragmatic goals for a growing and fragmented population with limited resources. Others will take the moral angle and condemn the use of exploitation, domination , oppression to accomplish economic and political goals as an irresponsible byproduct of our sociological process toward civilized growth.
Many sets of pragmatic goals, gains and outcomes , as well many of our moral sentiments , are subconsciously, if not consciously, often rooted and based in a religious belief and conviction. Religion grants a mythological rationalization of past events, whether they are successes or failures , and grants us a mythological projection of world and social events into an unknown future . Divine authority becomes our guide to construct our vision and interpretation of the world ( the imagined world projected by our religious conviction ) , and we subsequently focus less of our active efforts on trying to observe, understand, analyze, and reflect on the misleading world of phenomenon ( the real world ).
Things began to get more sticky and confusing when we began to understand, through our reading of historical and modern events, that religion itself became the form and tool of many agendas of political and economic oppression , and itself deceived masses of people for the private gain of wealthy and elite class-sets. The Divine order breaks apart in our heart, and we forsake religion as an ancient and no longer relevant tool for survival, happiness , and intellectual growth . During this process of letting go, however, we also let go in our heart, if not our head, the moral and emotional sentiment, faith and conviction we so dearly cherished and regrettably attached to our now-gone religious convictions. Pragmatism rules our heart, and we leave no room for emotional-moral thinking ( although we may still philosophically discuss morality from a viewpoint of pragmatism ).
Anthropologically, ladies and gentlemen , we need to stay connected to and reflect on our indigenous albeit predated understanding of the world and way of living . To the indigenous person, the soul and spirit are not so much abstracted concepts of superior consciousness and divine order — rather, to the indigenous person, the soul and spirit are metaphorical and figurative projections of the physical body and mental self onto the conceptualized harmonious order of Earth, environment, and Nature. The indigenous person naturally felt this way, because their way of living was so connected to the Earth and localized resources and company of organisms and sustenance, whether they were sedentary or gatherers.
The value of advanced and modern civilization to better inform our understanding of our organic connection of spirit to Earth is in its ability to describe a structural framework that guides meta-physical phenomenon that we observe to inevitably guide the world to moral awakening and consciousness. Dr. King and Mahatma Gandhi. eloquently and comprehensively describe , in their writings, speeches and conversations, the profound realization each bears witness to : that a moral framework , possibly independent of any religious or divine order, and constituted by an understanding and harmony of truth and the way of non-violence, exists at a metaphysical level that influences the interaction of spirit and consciousness with the health and bio-organisms of the planet and Nature. They go to great lengths to convince us of this by describing their experience of this influence in the miraculous and radical social and political transformations that took place during their lives.
….A spiritual belief in a meta-physical moral framework that readily and actively influences the phenomenon of the world. A spiritual belief in the sacred and unbreakable connection of spirit to Earth and Nature. Belief independent of religious and divine authority.
That’s powerful ladies and gentlemen. It will allow Humanity to move forward in a pragmatic way with an emotional and moral conscience.
