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Understanding Religions: Christian Faith as a Reflection of Nature
Apr 7 2008 | Views 426 |
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What are religions?
Religions are fascinating wonders of the natural world. I am not referring to ...
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What are religions?
Religions are fascinating wonders of the natural world. I am not referring to the subject matter of faith but the fact of people believing. I look at religions with awe and respect, from a safe distance, as I would observe a fuming volcano. Religions are neither good nor bad. They are just there, like volcanoes, an integral part of the reality we experience. It is true that religions have contributed to enormous suffering in the world, but so have volcanoes.
Christians believe in a God who walked on the earth as a real person and conquered death on the cross. Anyone living in 21st century is expected to know this is impossible in a physical sense, but millions hold onto this belief with utmost conviction. This is what I find fascinating about religions. I don’t think those who believe are ignorant or deluded. I am baffled by the fact that people find it necessary to believe.
Evolutionary biologists explain the persistence religious faith as a ‘side effect’ of other ‘meaningful’ adaptations. This is correct in a limited sense. I may stand in the morning sun with the primary intention of warming myself, but that would always create a shadow. The shadow is a side effect of myself getting warmed in the morning sun. Religion is a side effect of the freedom to know objectively, a consequence of the knower trying to remember its own history.
Distant memories of a billion year long journey, from primeval mud ponds to self-aware existence, are reflected on human psyche in a variety of ways. Religions are the most complex forms of such reflection. Like a fuming volcano reflected on the calm waters of a deep blue lake, human mind sees itself and its evolutionary history in religious myths. We look at the reflection and pass judgments. It kills people, it is bad or it is only a delusion. In fact it is just there as a natural consequence of our rational self rising above the threshold of awareness.
My speculations may appear meaningless or even stupid. The urge to make sense of the whole range one’s experience can be a torturing experience. How can you be resigned to the fate of disappearing forever without even attempting to make sense of what you experience? Only 60 or 70 short years of self-aware existence and no second chance! What follows is a model that appears to me as the most logical and satisfying. I take the example of Christian faith as I am more familiar with it, but the argument could be extended for other religions.
Hidden patterns
Scientific evidence indicates that earthly life began about three and half billion years ago as relatively simple molecules. Complex cell colonies, plants and animals emerged from primitive molecular life through a slow and gradual process of genetic change and natural selection. There is no place for a supernatural soul in this description. Evolution of life is a fact supported by well-researched and documented evidences.
Bible offers a different perspective. God’s act of creation lasted only six days according to book of Genesis. Soul, which has no material basis, forms the essence of man in Christian thought. God shaped the first man Adam from dust and breathed life into his nostrils. Eve, the first woman was made from Adam's rib. They were allowed to roam freely in the Garden of Eden on condition that they do not eat from one particular tree at the center of the garden. But the first couple disobeyed God’s instruction. They were coaxed by a cunning serpent to taste the forbidden fruit and were expelled from Eden. All human beings are born with the burden of this original sin. Fortunately God did not abandon man forever. A promise of redemption was made and God sent his own son, Jesus Christ, to save mankind. Jesus preached the kingdom of God and those who wish to enter eternal life in God's kingdom must follow him. Jesus suffered and died on the cross for our sins. Mankind is saved by this supreme act of sacrifice. He conquered death by resurrecting on the third day, and ascended to heaven to be seated with the Father.
Literal interpretation of these articles of faith lead to conflict at many levels. Disagreement with science is unavoidable. It also leads to conflict with other religions because apparently non-Christians are doomed. I believe the meaning implicit in these stories become evident if we look at them from a slightly different angle.
The central tenets of Christianity are not statements relating to historical events but elaborate reflections of the movement of biological evolution. All major religions contain elements of this reflection. Christianity is an especially interesting case because its imagery internalizes one of the most bizarre events in the history of life: emergence of self-awareness.
To understand the patterns emerging out of the juxtaposition of science and Christian faith we should begin by questioning what it means to 'know objectively'. I have attempted to explain this thought process here. I will summarize the key points of my argument:
1) Creativity is a fundamental property of nature. It is the driving force of biological evolution. Evolution is not intentional or purposeful, but an expression of creativity, its reward being the pure joy of being. Physical survival is the most basic and self-actualization the most evolved forms of creative expression in living things.
2) Human rational self is a relatively recent outcome of evolution. Objective knowledge cannot 'grasp' creativity because the observer itself is a form of creativity.
3) The relationship between rational self (man) and the substrate from which it evolved (God) is the key to understanding human condition. Man, by his very nature, fears and distrusts God. This is the uneasy relationship between the active knower and its passive, unknowable source. Faith evolved as a safety device to protect man from God. It was an evolutionary necessity during early stages of human development. Man had to believe in God with absolute certainty before he could proceed with his war to conquer nature.
4) Scientific progress over the past few centuries has taught us enough to recognize the true nature of God. The safety device of faith has outlived its purpose and should be replaced with knowledge.
Christian God and creative evolution
Bible describes the act of creation thus:
'And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them”--Genesis 1, 26-27.
This puzzling account of creation by an omnipotent God makes sense if we realize that God is the creative force inherent in nature. The primary substance (what we call matter) propelled by its own creativity, wanted to see it-self, hear it-self, and above all know it-self. Evolution is primary substance's journey of self-discovery. An optimal set of 'tools’ or organs evolved as aids in this journey. Eyes help the primary substance to see it-self and ears to hear it-self. Survival is the greatest of all creative needs and hence the earliest organs were optimized for increasing chances of physical survival.
Human rational self is another tool that evolved out of this creative thrust for novelty and participation. God created man in his own image (rational self is the reflection of nature's creativity) and granted him dominion over other creations (the power of reason and objective knowledge). The story of man’s origin in the book of Genesis is an allegory of the emergence and separation of rational self from primitive wholeness.
Christian faith is primarily about the emergence of the rational self and its integration with rest of nature. Stories about creation form the background for this very important development.
The new man
'And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul' -- Genesis 2, 7.
What is man? What is this 'I' that stands for myself in all my thought and speech? Man is in fact a conglomeration of many entities. Rational self is just one of the parts, but this verbal, expressive fragment dominates all aspect of life today, often to the exclusion of other parts. Man-the-animal gradually took possession of this powerful tool that alienated him from everything else in nature. The word 'I' stands for our rational self.. This ‘new man’ emerged over a period of 200,000 or more years before the dawn of civilizations. Looking back, human mind is tempted to project this pre-historic process into a dramatic event such as ‘LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul’
In the beginning man-the-animal was one with nature, like beasts of the wild. He was not self-aware or his consciousness was not differentiated. Flowering of biological complexity reached unprecedented levels about 250,000 years ago with the appearance of a new form of life, self-aware man. This is the ‘Man’ that the book of Genesis speaks about.
There were no supernatural interventions. Self-awareness evolved from un-aware life through entirely natural processes, like a volcanic island rising from the seabed. We could speculate that a tendency for awareness existed in earlier life forms or even in non-living matter. Undifferentiated whole contained seeds of self-awareness and this emerged into the light of the day in human species.
Human race survived as the suckling infant of mother nature for thousands of years. Emerging self awareness slowly realized its proximity to an unknown force and reacted through the defense mechanism of fear. Why is man afraid? Man in his bare essence is a primitive restlessness to know. Knowing is a dangerous proposition when the knower is seated on the lap of an unknown force. Life thrived for millions of years, surviving, seeing, hearing and tasting reality. Knowing was the next phase of creative evolution, and rational man emerged as nature’s organ of knowing.
This primitive restlessness that manifested in human beings as the will to know reached a critical force about 6000 years ago when new religions, new ways of comprehending the rational self in relation with its source, became necessary. The suckling infant had grown into a confident but over ambitious young man. This new man’s troubling relationship with his source is symbolized in the story of expulsion from Eden. God prohibited Adam and Eve from eating fruits of the tree of knowledge, but man proceeded against this warning to taste the forbidden fruit. Their 'eyes opened' and they became 'fully aware of their own nakedness'.
Christ symbol - An apology and a statement of triumph
Human mind is the only instance where creativity becomes self-aware. Man is the realization of God's quest for knowing himself. In that sense God himself scripted the act of disobedience in Eden. Self-awareness marks the culmination of a creative process that began with swarming molecular life in primeval mud ponds, or even earlier with the big bang. God forced man into this precarious position because this was the only way he could know himself. The serpent represents the other side of God.
Primitive man realized that he is surrounded by a world of unknowns. He proceeded to wield his new tool, rational self, to extinguish this unknowability. But ‘knowing’ or the act of de-mystification tears man away from his source. It is a war against the unknowable and hence anti-God. A disastrous existential war was about to erupt as the knower matured in confidence, a war that could have lead to the extinction of man. A way had to be found to accommodate self-awareness within the natural order. Its power needed to be harnessed for the good of the species. At the same time, it had to be made subservient to the creative wisdom in nature. Jesus Christ is the symbol of this reconciliation.
Man owes nature a debt for being what he is. Knowledge comes with a huge responsibility. The burden of this debt is his original sin. Death and resurrection of Jesus offers man a new freedom to use his knowledge without destroying himself or nature. Unfortunately, most of those who heard the good news took it literally, they saw the freedom but not the responsibility that came with it, reducing it meaningless repetitive rituals.
Jesus died for the sins of mankind, rose from the dead and ascended to heaven, to be with God, the Father. Christ is ‘word made flesh’ or reason opposed to the old animal ways of blind following. But reason is ultimately inferior to a more fundamental reality and must surrender to its authority. Death of the new man on the cross is a symbol of this surrender.
The story of Jesus is an apology and a statement of triumph at the same time. It is nature’s apology to mankind for the sufferings and fragmentation inherent in rational existence. At the same time it is a statement of triumph because ritual sacrifice of reason is the only answer to human condition. How can polar opposites rational self and irrational whole occupy the same time and space? This puzzle has only one solution – man, the rational self need to serve his master, a deeper, irrational wisdom inherent in nature. Jesus showed the path for all future generations by sacrificing himself on the cross, surrendering his individual will to the wisdom of his source.
Many Christians believe there is no salvation outside the church. This is a highly corrupted version of an archetypal truth about human existence. Reconciliation of the rational and irrational, as exemplified in the symbolism of Christ’s death and resurrection, is the only way for human race to move forward. Of course this in no way means that one should belong to a religious organization, Christian or otherwise. Christ symbol is part of our collective inheritance, just as Krishna, Buddha or the Hebrew prophets. We must re-invent the true meaning of these luminous symbols by complementing our scientific knowledge with an awareness of the patterns extending beyond our tiny self, both in time and space.
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Very inspired and genuine introspection. Congratulations.
-Yvi
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Thanks, riverine.
Religions evolved as a cure for the division in human mind. Self-aware existence is impossible without a means of communication between the aware and unaware parts of the psyche. This used to be function of religions, but as awareness grows in strength focus is shifting towards more rational means of integration. A different kind of science will emerge to fill this gap, a science that recognizes the primacy of subjective experience.
-shajan
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Shajan
What you have written is quite profound...especially grasping one's attention is the simile of the religion being the shadow cast as a 'side-effect'. I shall not touch upon Christianity as a stand-alone entity, but in general, my opinion is: The religions (or their independent believers) that were intially 'shadows' (without realising being so) but adapted to becoming beacons are the religions that cause a path to be laid between religion and science. When that happens, the distinction between religions blur...towards the end of your essay, you have touched upon the observer and the observed being one, but deluded into believing as different -- just like that it is with 'distinction' between religions and so it is between religion and science.
I hope I am clear...
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Thanks Satyanarayana sir, for the visit and recommendation. We need to look beyond the apparent contradictions in religions to understand the essence.
spiritual bee, thanks for the visit.
-shajan
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Dear Sir
Interesting !!! and educative!!!!!
Religion is the path-way to reach (unite) the goal (God-Almighty) of Creation.
Regards
Satyanarayana
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I really inspired about your blog post
Nice Blog to read..Keep doing good work
Thanks
Free Online bible study
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Thanks, matheikal. Neither the christian church nor the church of science will find this acceptable. But the change will ultimately come from science because rational thinking is our one and only source of light. Science must accept the importance of quality in its descriptions of reality. This is not happening yet because materialism confuses Real with Measurable.
-shajan
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You have made a very fine attempt to make religion, Christianity in this case, more sensible to intelligent people. But the problem with religions are destined to remain: their divisive nature. "... no salvation outside the church..." Such attitudes abound in many religions and their various sects, particularly the Semitic ones. That makes religion detestable to many thinking people.
Will the official church be ready to accept interpretations of the type that you've provided? I doubt.
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Raghuram,
Almost all my posts deal with the same theme -creativity is a property of nature, and realizing this fact leads to a fresh understanding of biological evolution. I know it sounds stupid to say it so bluntly. Creativity? what is that? where is the evidence? So I go about to explain why creativity has to be unknowable and how the whole picture, with evolution driven by nature's creativity makes perfect logical sense. I believe it leads to a new way of looking at science, religion and our own lives. I am sorry to disappoint you, but I am afraid there is no easy way to express these thoroughly unconventional thoughts.
The way human societies evolved in different parts of the glob depended to a large degree on how rational mind was shaped by environmental conditions. Like the African evolving with dark skin as a reaction to environment, human societies in northern Europe evolved with a deeper schism in conscious-unconscious relationship. Striving for complete 'dominion over nature' was perhaps the only way humans could have survived harsh living conditions in early middle east.
I am not at all hinting that 'ancients knew about ideas that are emerging only now'. Does a parrot repeating 'one plus one is two' know what it is talking about?
-shajan
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shajanm, you lost me after about the fourth paragraph; this is just too deep for me. yest, I have one question. How justified are we in reading into texts meanings or even ideas that are emerging only now? If the pre-historical (or even ancient) men had an inkling of connection with all other elements of nature the way we do now, why would he have written in a language that sanctifies "dominion" over all other things? Would he not have talked about stewardship of everything natural? I am extremely sceptical about putting words ideas into the mouth of the ancients.
I am sorry, but the stuff you wrote is at least an order higher than your previous posts on the matter and you lost me.
Raghuram Ekambaram
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