Religion, Science, Mythology and Progress

What do you think of atheism?  Many people who turn away from religion preach this idea that we do not need a god.  If we understand the world and grasp our power of intelligence and reasoning we can establish fair societies and a moral code for everyone on this earth.  Traditions and religions will just define our ancestry and our past.  Basically there could be a Jewish atheist or a Muslim atheist.  I find this idea is worth exploring.

In my wondering thoughts about religion and science I found the book "God is not Great. How Religion Poisons Everything." by Christopher Hitchens. 

He was a journalist that spent most of his time talking to people in war zones trying to explore the possibilities to negotiate peace.  In this book he preaches atheism by bringing much evidence that all scripture is based on mythology.  Hitchens explores all different religions and stresses the element of mythology in all of them.  Not only in the monotheistic religions, but also in Eastern religions and various cult worships.  He goes so far as tracing customs like circumcision Virgin births and sacrificing children to gods to old mythologies of early men.

 He believes in the power of the telescope and the microscope and he uses scientific findings of the past 500 years to show that we can strive to life without wars. But people would have to be able to think freely and critically.

 

          If you think mythologies belong to the past just check the excitement in the reception for the new Star Wars movie trailer.  Some internet websites crashed!  I heard from many young people that this creation of George Lucas is a modern day mythology.  My son had to enlighten me that this story was absolutely meant to be told as a mythology.  The heroes, their struggles and triumphs, the super natural effects and most importantly the sequels!  There is immense anticipation to the fate of Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Princess Leia and the others…

What is the importance of myths in human life?  I do not have an answer. 

I do not believe that religions are all bad.  I can see that the rituals and traditions of religion are essential for many people.  If we want to strive to a new world without wars, I think it is essential to have an interfaith dialogue.  I have already spoken of the church purchased by Muslims and turned into a community center.  Young people need places to meet socially and engage with others.  These meeting places should have clubs with activities such as chess, literature, poetry, dancing, science, astronomy, hiking or fishing.  There are so many common areas of interest for youth.  This is the best way to bring people together and use their collective intelligence.

In the conclusion to his book Hitchens talks about the need for a new Enlightenment.  I agree with his vision:

This new Enlightenment will not need to depend, like its predecessors, on the heroic breakthroughs of a few gifted and exceptionally courageous people.  It is within the compass of the average person. The pursuit of unfettered scientific inquiry, and the availability of new findings to masses of people by easy electronic means, will revolutionize our concepts of research and development.  Much of this new research, for the first time in our history, is within the reach if not the grasp of everyone.

However, only the most naïve utopian can believe that this new humane civilization will develop, like some dream of “progress,” in a straight line.  There are bound to be struggles and setbacks along the way. 

I know this from my various biological studies.  It is a daily search for the truth.  The scientist starts with ten ideas but after five years of work only one of them will be correct.

I believe this progress will be more linear if more and more children around the world will be educated and trained to think freely and pursue knowledge.

Paris ISIS and Petrodollars

Today I don't have any message.  I have mainly confusion and will try to pass along the fog surrounding me.

I am not an expert on political commentary or history or economics.  I only have some experience in the basic science of biochemistry and protein chemistry.
I try to keep up with current events by following different sources.  Radio, TV, international news.  It is ever more confusing to understand what the truth is especially after the Paris attacks of November 13.
Who is Isis?  How did it it begin?  Whose fault is it?  Who is funding it?  What is the best way to fight it?  You will hear as many opinions as there are commentators.  And all commentaries come with some bias: political right or left.  Religious orthodox or secular.   Emotionally the hard and the soft.
I like to follow an Israeli radio program that reviews the world newspapers.  This week most front page articles were about the Paris attacks.  Yitshak Noy, certainly with his own bias mentioned an exceptional article in the New York Times by an Algerian writer. 

Saudi Arabia, an ISIS That Has Made It:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/21/opinion/saudi-arabia-an-isis-that-has-made-it.html?_r=0

Kamel Daoud

This article is exceptional as it talks "On the Religious Industrial Complex of Saudi Arabia", a sensitive topic in an oil dependent world.  In the newspaper that usually holds left wing opinions.

Here is an excerpt:

"It is worth reading certain Islamist newspapers to see their reactions to the attacks in Paris. The West is cast as a land of “infidels.” The attacks were the result of the onslaught against Islam. Muslims and Arabs have become the enemies of the secular and the Jews. The Palestinian question is invoked along with the rape of Iraq and the memory of colonial trauma, and packaged into a messianic discourse meant to seduce the masses. Such talk spreads in the social spaces below, while up above, political leaders send their condolences to France and denounce a crime against humanity. This totally schizophrenic situation parallels the West’s denial regarding Saudi Arabia."

I see this article as pointing out a reality in the Arab world.  I have read many of Ayaan Hirsi Ali's writings.  I have been following this Somali woman who grew up Muslim.  She is considered an infidel and Muslims are threatening her since they murdered the Dutch director Theo Van Goch.  She insists that Islam must have a reformation and specifically the problem of "preaching teachers."  

 

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Another opinion published in the same newspaper by Thomas L. Friedman is showing a softer point of view:

 

Cabs, Camels or ISIS

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/18/opinion/cabs-camels-or-isis.html

 

Thomas Friedman

In this article we hear about positive innovations in the Arab world and the need to strengthen good non ISIS Sunnis.  But he ends the article so:

"Turkey cares more about defeating Kurds; Saudi Arabia and its Arab Gulf allies care more about defeating Iran and its proxies in Iraq, Yemen and Syria; Qatar cares more about promoting the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria and annoying Saudi Arabia; Iran cares more about protecting Shiites in Iraq and Syria than creating a space for decent Sunnis to thrive; and many of the non-ISIS Sunni activists in Syria and Iraq are still Islamists — and they’re not going away. How do you weave a decent carpet from these threads?

I don’t know — and until I do I’d be cautious about going far beyond what we’re already doing. Paris may be totally different today. The Middle East is not."

Each of us can read these articles and figure out what should we do next.  Many people agree with me that we should insist on sustainable sources of energy.  Heard from a friend how to take personal action:

http://www.fuelfreedom.org/

-started by successful Israel entrepreneurs to fight the energy establishment that steers the US policies to support the Saudi Kingdom.

And we should remember to be thankful.

 

Interfaith Solutions for the Secular Minds

How do we bring more understanding among people from different parts of the world and opposing traditions?  I have already stressed the importance of knowledge and understanding our physical world.  I believe empowering women is also essential for progress of humanity as I have already spoken about women.

This time I want to talk about traditions, rituals, and faith.  I have been watching people closely, hearing many stories and reading a lot.
I can see that some people need rituals and some have no need for it at all.  I know many Jewish or Christians families where one brother lives his life going to weekly services, feels great about bowing down, waving different kinds of wands or a brush, and following age old traditions.  These are traditions that "have passed the test of time" as they say.
At the same time, a second brother in the same family laughs at the whole thing.  This brother has no need for any rituals.  The tradition has no magical or spiritual power over him. 
In the old world the community leaders would frown upon this second brother.   They would call him to a meeting and question his absences.  Even worse, there would be an internal police to spy on the activities of such people and shame them in public. But in recent times this brother happily stays away from rituals.  He stays home to read a book or go to a football game, a hike in the mountains, a surf in the ocean. 
In the old world large resources of the community would go into building massive lavish cathedrals or mosques or monasteries.  The rituals and ceremonies would be enhanced by the beauty of the structure and this would be the main meeting place for the community.
So we have two brothers, the traditionalist and the rebel.  In the wider world this creates a serious conflict between the "faithful" and the secular.

In Europe many of these lavish cathedrals are losing their grandeur as more and more of the young generations do not find the rituals comforting or necessary.  These young people are asking for a replacement of the churches as community centers and meeting places.  As I was pondering this sort of news for many years I heard this article on NPR about a 19^th century church in Bolton, England that was abandoned.  Then it was bought by the local Muslim community and everyone was wondering if it would turn into a mosque.  But it was turned into a secular community center.  “Now, amid stories about religious friction and ethnic tensions, the transformation of All Souls Church provides a story of harmony and integration in one culturally diverse community.”

http://www.npr.org/2015/03/03/390286095/in-english-town-muslims-lead-effort-to-create-interfaith-haven

The Old:

Here is the article in the Guardian:

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/dec/07/abandoned-churches-find-new-secular-life

In the remodeled building there are now “halls for clubs and hobby groups, a garden for a local grow-your-own project, a concert space and a business and training center for local startups.”

 

The New:

This is the kind of solution that I feel will bring people together, will help cohesion and integration.  People will focus on their similar interests and common goals rather than stressing their differences.  Both brothers, the faithful and the rebel will belong here.

 

The Importance of Knowledge for All

Our world is getting more and more complex every day and we need people with knowledge to tackle this complexity and help us solve problems.  Progress is inevitable and educating the young generations is essential in meeting the needs for this progress to continue improving our lives.  We now have the amazing internet with unimaginable power to increase our knowledge and at the same time to destroy us.  We need creative knowledgeable people to deal with cyber security and complex economies.  We need clever specialists to help with curing diseases and understanding behavior.

In the past most exceptional minds came from families with privileged means.  But nevertheless there were those young curious minds from very poor families that did manage to learn to read, get access to books and make their way to meet the right people and come up with great discoveries.

It is most important that every child around the world has access to knowledge and proper education.  Nobody knows when and where the most brilliant mind will appear.  Those rare brilliant minds may have the ability to solve problems that seem unsurmountable to many of us.

I have to stress here that progress is necessary to make sure the earth can sustain us all in peaceful productive life.  And we should all agree on this.  History shows us that sometimes people believe that “ignorance is bliss”.  Many rulers and autocrats denied people access to books and any kind of knowledge.  How often did governments burn books or ban them?  It was easier to control ignorant people I assume.

I came across a study by the National Science Foundation (NSF).  Questioning 2200 people they found that: 1 in 4 Americans Don't Know Earth Orbits the Sun. Yes, Really, in the United States.  Can you believe people are certain that the sun orbits the earth?

 

http://news.discovery.com/space/astronomy/1-in-4-americans-dont-know-earth-orbits-the-sun-yes-really-140214.htm

You can imagine the level of knowledge of the simple fact that the earth orbits the sun around the world in less developed countries.  There are places where there is no mandatory education.  Places where girls are not allowed to go to school.  I am with Malala: The pen is mightier than the sword.

I am optimistic about the power of the internet in bringing basic knowledge to masses of young children.  There are already programs like Kahn Academy with lesson plans in many basic areas as well as advanced topics.

https://www.khanacademy.org/

Here is the opening statement from a the learning site:

https://blog.udemy.com/importance-of-knowledge/

You’ve probably heard the old quote, “Knowledge is Power,” That’s truer than you can ever imagine. Few people understand how important knowledge can be. Knowledge is what allows us to drive cars instead of ride horses, it is what helps us survive far longer than we should, and knowledge is even what prevents us from making the same mistakes we made in the past.

Lets obliterate ignorance!

 

When Knowledge Conquers Fear

I believe that knowledge is most important in bringing understanding and cooperation in our world.  The more I look at conflicts and disagreements the more convinced I am that knowledge and only with knowledge we can solve the many problems in our world.

The question is what is important to know?  I think it is important to understand the physical powers in our world.  It is important to know the basic tools that scientists and historians used to research different phenomena in our lives. 

This idea is very well explained in the TV series “Cosmos- A Spacetime Odyssey” narrated by the astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.  In the episode “When Knowledge Conquers Fear” it is shown how people were so afraid of floods and droughts and invented all sorts of gods and superstitions to overcome this fear.

Worshipping of Egyptian Bull God.

 

"The episode begins with Tyson describing how we were born into this world without an explanation of our surroundings, much like a baby abandoned on a doorstep. To help us learn about our surroundings, Tyson explains how we manifested pattern recognition early in mankind, sharpening over eons of evolution. We distinguished predator from prey; poisonous plants from nourishing ones - enhancing our chance to live and reproduce, and passing on our genes. We used pattern recognition in astronomy and astrology, where different cultures, recognizing the patterns of stars in the skies, projected different symbols and pictures for constellations. We used it to predict the passing of the seasons, including how every culture determined that the passage of a comet was taken as an omen. Tyson continues to explain that the origin of comets only became known in the 20th century.

Tyson then continues to relate the collaboration Edmund Halley and Isaac Newton in the last part of the 17th century. The collaboration would result in the publication of Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, the first major work to describe the laws of physics in mathematical terms, challenging the prevailing notion that God had planned out the heavens. Tyson explains how Newton's work would influence many factors of life, including modern space flight. Tyson further describes Halley's contributions including determining Earth's distance to the sun, the motion of stars and predicting of the orbit of the then-unnamed Halley's comet using Newton's laws. Tyson contrasts these scientific approaches to understanding the galaxy compared to what early mankind had done."

Isaac Newton and his historical publication of the mathematical principles

to describe  the movements of the planets in the universe.

 

Modern day archeologists find plenty of evidence on early humans, studying their bones and teeth and recently even DNA.  Physicists are conducting amazing experiments in the hydron collider to understand the very first event that caused the creation of our universe.  But the more we know, the more we find out there are more mysteries to unravel.  It is up to the most curious brilliant minds to figure out how to prevent diseases from a simple cold to mental illness.  Why do we face so many genocides in each generation?    We all want peaceful lives.  Why do we still have wars?  Some brilliant psychologists will come next and unravel the mysteries of our behavior.  Why is our planet heating up?  We are trying to convince people in power that it is up to us to stop this global warming.

I think the old traditions of faith in god and systems of ethical code of behavior are extremely important in our evolution.  But I cannot see how one faith will declare itself as the ultimate true faith and thus dismiss all the others.  The main goal is for all to understand that the earth can sustain us all and we should use our collective intelligence to cooperate and live in peacefull coexistence.

Know, understand and never fear!

 

Things I Learned from my Mother: Helping Others

Here I want to tell you the stories of things I learned from my mother.  My dear mother who passed away in 2013, may she rest in peace.

What can I tell about my mother?  This was a woman who knew everybody and helped all.  We all loved and appreciated her.  I was sad to leave my mother when I married and ended up raising my sons far away in California.

My mother visited me one time when I was sick, she loyally took care of me and helped me in such an impressive way that I shall never forget it.  We had many close conversations about our childhood hers in her homeland in Mashhad and mine in our new country Israel.  My mother Rivka then told me a story about her mother, Mina who raised six children.  All the kids were asleep and Mina was still sitting at the sewing machine and sewing clothes way into the wee hours of the night. Little Rivka asks her mother: “Why are you working so hard so late at night?”  My grandmother answers: “We are good people who like to help the poor.  We are unable to help them with money or with goods therefore I devote my time to make clothes for their little children.”
I was very impressed with this story and I understood that this was one of the important values in my family: there are always people with fate worse than ours and we should help them.
This is what I meant in my previous post when I spoke about innate responsibility to help the less fortunate.  I had some strong reactions against that sentiment.  Some people saw the political angle: “We don’t need the government!”  That is so regrettable that our political views blind us from watching our fellow human beings.  I think personal responsibility is the most innate value we should remember.  My Bell Curve just showed distribution of IQ.  But people who are fortunate in other areas of life, they also have something to contribute.  People with artistic talents entertain us and tell us stories.  They create beautiful art and enhance our sense of awe.  Scientists and engineers discover the secrets of our universe and create technologies to improve our lives.  Even the physically handicapped have emotional power to help us when we are sad.  It is an amazing world of diverse life.

I’d like to show you this photo of my family from the 1950’s with my two grandmothers all living in one small house.  But helping others was something I learned to cherish.
Ever since I remember, mother loved to help people.  She had an incredible memory and she knew every family member of every relative and acquaintance who came to Israel from the old country.  On one hand she knew the successful, rich families who moved to New York, with the large homes and fancy parties.  (She got invited to many of these parties…)  On the other hand she knew the less fortunate people who could not afford to support their large families or their sick and disabled children.  She had an amazing ability to mix in any society and find friends who loved her.  This way she had always been successful in convincing the rich to donate money to those in need.
Mother always reminded us of the memorials for our grandparents: It is important to remember.  I could continue and mention more examples of how mother loved to help everybody.  Not only she felt an obligation to help, she did it with pleasure and tremendous joy.  And that is the main lesson: To revere the joy you feel by helping others.
Maybe in the modern world today it is not as simple to figure who can use help and who needs to be punished.  Here is where our intelligence and imagination can guide us in figuring out how to achieve this balance.

 

 

Separation of Church and State

These days people often say the world is going mad!  With all the wars political debates and endless disagreements I often had this idea:  At times like this we need better leaders!  We need some spiritual guidance of what is right and wrong in this world.  We need inspiration.  It cannot be always about money and power!
Coming from science I'd like to bring a simple illustration of the Bell Curve.  This is the universal statistics of how all options spread.

Now let's us talk about intelligence.  The IQ test examines the intelligence of people.  The results are defined such that IQ of 100 is the average.  If you check the bell curve in the graph below, you can see that most people have an IQ between 85 and 115.  The smartest are the 2% on the right side, and the most unintelligent are the 2% on the left.
 

 

In the simplest terms this means that half the people are smarter than the rest.  The other half are not as smart.  So in general the smarter people have a better chance to succeed in life, get a degree, accumulate wealth and so on.  The other half naturally will not have the same chances.  They maybe trash collectors or menial laborers.
For a rational mind it is obvious that the fortunate smarter people have an inherent responsibility to look after the less fortunate ones.  This idea of the greater good is very basic.  We all benefit when others do well. 

All this rational reasoning hardly works in the world of politics today.  Rich powerful people get richer and control politicians.  In the US we have Citizens United which allows corporations to donate unlimited amounts of money to political campaigns.  The oil rich Arab countries keep funding Muslim organizations around the world.  The largest refugee crisis in the world brings a stream of refugees to the shores of Europe every day.  And there is no end in sight.
We believe in the principle of separation of Church and State, so no one expects any religious leader to rise and preach for goodness.  I kept wondering when will such a leader show up?
And then Pope Francis came to visit and gave a speech to congress.  He said what needs to be said: We should respect each other’s traditions.  We should remember the Golden Rule.  Most important: we should protect the sick and the weak.  Homelessness is our communal failure.  We should protect our earth, our common home.  

I wonder how well we can keep this idea of separating religion from politics.  We can all doubt the existence of God (what god?Jesus?  Allah?)  We can all doubt the legends and superstitions attached to the various religions.  But as history unfolds we can see various leaders arise to guide the human connection: Sometimes it is a military commander, sometimes a philosopher or the Dalai Lama.  This time is it a catholic Pope?