Create your best definition of love
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Editor,
The earth is thought to be about 4.5 billion years old. The first life form fossils originated about 3.5 billion years ago. Dinosaurs lived about 65 to 230 million years ago. The first known humanoid forms are about 4 to 6 million years old. Finally, the modern human (homo sapien) has been around only for about 100,000 years (a drop in the bucket of time).
Ever since the human brain developed the cerebral cortex, it seems that humans have had extraordinary abilities – to conceptualize, to direct thought toward particular aspects of our existence, to imagine, to remake our surroundings ... to learn in exceptional ways.
How do humans learn? A simplified (but still useful) model is to think of deductive and inductive processes. Deductive learning does save time and has value in the education of any individual. “Don’t kiss rattlesnakes” has been useful for many people.
Inductive learning provides a wealth of new data as an individual gradually collects information about the surroundings, the universe and him/herself. Curiosity begets new information, new discoveries, new “truths” — and new questions. What a grand learning model.
Religions generally stress the deductive model. Information (instruction, rules) comes from outside authoritarian sources. Accurate rules can be useful. But when the information/rules are not accurate, they can be very limiting, slow down the progress of humankind’s development, and even be destructive.
Take the definition of “love” for example. There are many differing “rules” (limitations) that specialized groups of humans have adopted. A point to be observed is that all of these “differing rules” have been made by humans. In fact, all rules (traditions, proclamations, laws, treaties, theories, supernatural explanations, religions, etc.) have been made by human beings. Even before there were “modern humans,” it seems likely that other creatures did similar things. But we humans have made an art (sometimes a travesty) of it.
Morality and ethics have very likely evolved from generations of inductive experiences, which later became the deductive “be good to others” theme. Suggestions: encourage scientific questioning; be open to change; challenge some old assumptions. Create your best definition of love.
Gene Johnson
Polson
