No rules found in space
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Editor,
There are no Mondays in Space. There are also no rules about speed limits, recipes for tomato soup, or suggestions of how to have peace on Earth. The Universe doesn’t care. Humans do this.
All of our rules and mores are human-derived inventions. They are born from human dilemmas which trigger intricate and adaptive thinking abilities - (Google the human brain). We have internal awarenesses, thought-models, explanations, solutions, and plans. Add the external abilities of the human opposable thumb. You then have possibilities not only for explosions of diverse thoughts but also for the fantastic manipulation of the environment. Personal and group projects emerge which promote such purposes as survival, pain-avoidance, socialization, pleasure and more. Humans are uniquely able to exploit an initial awareness (of self and environment) and then manipulate solutions (whether plausible or implausible)
Some of these human-mind-inventions have been useful. It is no surprise that today we have medicines, governments, and planes that fly. But there have also been false leads, wrong solutions and some ideas that were just plain nutty. Some medicines do not work. Some governments crash. Some planes do not fly. Some ideas just do not fit reality.
Thus, it is with one of the really bad ideas – that humans (some of them) can have life-after-death. This has been one of the least plausible false leads. It also has the potential to be one of the most harmful. It aims directly at the intense narcissistic human desire/project of living forever. As such, it is highly susceptible to manipulation and exploitation. Emotion easily overrides reason. Unprovable promises override sensibility.
The human ability of thinking and planning has dark sides. Humans can manipulate exploitation just as easily as altruism. Thus, we see political motives intertwined with religious concepts to increase personal influence, power and wealth. Life-after-death is central to all of this. What a nutty idea.
There are many explanations why some people believe things that are unbelievable. It is time that humans explored what these are. Don’t fall for false promises – whether in your personal life-decisions – or at the ballot box. Look for evidence.
Gene Johnson
Polson
