Belief, That Tricky Business

by

Lloyd D. Miller

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Essay 9  

Confidence

            You may have been told daily as a child about the God up there that is looking out for your best interests here on earth and your life in eternity.  My folks never said much about it and we were not big prayers but we did get some pretty heavy doses of it in Methodist Sunday School.  When you depart from those basic concepts you received as a child and choose to believe otherwise, it would be nice to have on hand some of the documents and personages that exemplify your present belief.  The religions have the Bible, the Talmud, the Koran, the Upanishads, the Eight Fold Path, the Rig Veda and etc.  The alternate believer also has a wealth of documents and important people to look to for confidence and inspiration.  When I say alternate believer I am including all those people that don’t consider themselves as true members of a particular religion and that have beliefs that are related to science and nature and the unrestricted search for the truth of our world.  Also, I use “alternate believer” because it is not accurate for anyone to assume that because a person does not profess an organized religion that he therefore does not have strong, justifiable beliefs. This essay will be devoted to presenting a few of those documents and personages that will give breadth and depth to the alternate believer’s resources.

The Humanist Manifesto II

This important document, which was published in 1973, is available in a variety publications.  The Sourcebook of the World’s Religions has the full document.  The Manifesto is quite lengthy so I have included only the introduction.  It outlines well the contents of the full document.

“The next century can be and should be the humanistic century.  Dramatic scientific, technological, and ever-accelerating social and political changes crowd our awareness.  We have virtually conquered the planet, explored the moon, overcome the natural limits of travel and communication; we stand at the dawn of a new age, ready to move farther into space and perhaps inhabit other planets.  Using technology wisely, we can control our environment, conquer poverty, markedly reduce disease, extend our life span, significantly modify our behavior, alter the course of human evolution and cultural development, unlock vast new powers, and provide humankind with unparalleled opportunity for achieving an abundant and meaningful life.

            The future is, however, filled with dangers.  In learning to apply the scientific method to nature and human life, we have opened the door to ecological damage, overpopulation, dehumanizing institutions, totalitarian repression, and nuclear and biochemical disaster.  Faced with apocalyptic prophesies and doomsday scenarios, many flee in despair from reason and embrace irrational cults and theologies of withdrawal and retreat.

            Traditional moral codes and newer irrational cults both fail to meet the pressing needs of today and tomorrow.  False “theologies of hope” and messianic ideologies, substituting new dogmas for old, cannot cope with existing world realities.  They separate rather than unite peoples.

            Humanity, to survive, requires bold and daring measures.  We need to extend the uses of scientific method, not renounce them, to fuse reason with compassion in order to build constructive social and moral values.  Confronted by many possible futures, we must decide which to pursue.  The ultimate goal should be the fulfillment of the potential for growth in each human personality--not for the favored few, but for all of humankind.  Only a shared world and global measures will suffice.

            A humanist outlook will tap the creativity of each human being and provide the vision and courage for us to work together.  This outlook emphasizes the role human beings can play in their own spheres of action.  The decades ahead call for dedicated, clear minded men and women able to marshal the will, intelligence, and cooperative skills for shaping a desirable future.  Humanism can provide the purpose and inspiration that so many seek; it can give personal meaning and significance to human life.

            Many kinds of humanism exist in the contemporary world.  The varieties and emphasis of naturalistic humanism include “scientific,” “ethical,”  “Democratic,” “religious,” and “Marxist” humanism.  Free thought, atheism, agnosticism, skepticism, deism, rationalism, ethical culture, and liberal religions all claim to be heir to the humanist tradition.  Humanism traces its roots from ancient China , classical Greece and Rome , through the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, to the scientific revolution of the modern world.  But views that merely reject theism are not equivalent to humanism.  They lack commitment to the positive belief in the possibilities of human progress and to the values central to it.  Many within religious groups, believing in the future of humanism, now claim humanist credentials.  Humanism is an ethical process through which we all can move, above and beyond the divisive particulars, heroic personalities, dogmatic creeds and ritual customs of past religions or their mere negation.

            We affirm a set of common principles that can serve as a basis for united action--positive principles relevant to the present human condition.  They are a design for a secular society on a planetary scale.

            For these reasons, we submit this new Humanist Manifesto for the future of humankind; for us, it is a vision of hope, a direction for satisfying survival.”

Music

            Of all the arts, music perhaps has the greatest power to grab hold of your mind and send you spinning through the emotional and intellectual clouds.  People in general experience music at a variety of levels and for a variety of purposes including political, religious and simple love songs and ballads.  My purpose here is to suggest some of the great works of music that have stood the test of time for structure and content.  People often use music as a form of relaxation and diversion and there is certainly nothing wrong with that but the music that I am suggesting here has a deeper purpose.  The great symphonic composers like Beethoven and Brahms built their symphonies like a well designed house.  Their music seems to have an inevitable quality about it.  Of course this is not true due to the free nature of the arts.  After hearing a work many times its progress does seem inevitable.  The joy of this music is for the listener to be able to follow the structure or intentions of the music and respond in an intellectual and emotional manner.  It takes some doing but is worth the effort.  In building a life full of confidence, beauty and truth it is to our benefit to include those great works of the arts that reflect the order and development that characterizes the best in our human endeavors.  The following is my short list of those monumental works of music that have become favorites among musicians and serious listeners.  This list could go on and on but for present purposes here are some suggestions.

            Beethoven - Symphonies number 5 and 9.

            Brahms - All four symphonies

            Mahler - Symphonies number 2 and 5

            Shostakovich - Symphony number 5

            Mozart - Requiem - G minor Symphony

            Bach - B minor mass - Brandenburg Concertos

            Stravinsky - Firebird Suite - Petrouchka

            Carl Orff - Carmina Burana

            Bizet - Opera Carmen

            Wagner - Opera Meistersinger - Flying Dutchman

            Puccini - All of the operas

            Copeland - Appalachian Spring

            Tchaikovsky - Violin Concerto - Symphonies number 5 and 6

            Richard Strauss - All of the tone poems

            Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto No. 2

            Verdi - Requiem - Aida

            Villa-Lobos - Bachianis Brazilianis

History is full of wonderful music and my short list doesn’t do justice to the possibilities; however this is a start.  My list doesn’t include contemporary works which may be deserving but I just don’t have the confidence in them as yet.

The Unity of Knowledge

Consilience The Unity of Knowledge by Edward O. Wilson, published in 1998 by Vintage Books.

            Edward O. Wilson is the Pulitzer Prize winning author of On Human Nature and the Ants.  His monumental book Consilience is very challenging but full of thoughtful, valuable concepts.  This following quote is from the final two pages of his book.

The legacy of the Enlightenment is the belief that entirely on our own we can know, and in knowing, understand, and in understanding, choose wisely.  The self-confidence has risen with the exponential growth of scientific knowledge, which is being woven into an increasingly full explanatory web of cause and effect.  In the course of the enterprise, we have learned a great deal about ourselves as a species.  We now better understand where humanity came from, and what it is.  Homo sapiens, like the rest of life, was self-assembled.  So here we are, no one having guided us to this condition, no one looking over our shoulder, our future entirely up to us.  Human autonomy having thus been recognized, we should now feel more disposed to reflect on where we wish to go.

              In such an endeavor it is not enough to say that history unfolds by processes too complex for reductionistic analysis.  That is the white flag of the secular intellectual, the lazy modernist equivalent of the The Will of God.  On the other hand, it is too early to speak seriously of ultimate goals, such as perfect green-belted cities and robot expeditions to the nearest stars.  It is enough to get Homo sapiens settled down and happy before we wreck the planet.  A great deal of serious thinking is needed to navigate the decades immediately ahead.  We are gaining in our ability to identify options in the political economy most likely to be ruinous.  We have begun to probe the foundations of human nature, revealing what people intrinsically most need, and why.  We are entering a new era of existentialism, not the old absurdist existentialism of Kiekegaard and Sartre, giving complete autonomy to the individual, but the concept that only unified learning, universally shared, makes accurate foresight and wise choice possible.

              In the course of all of it we are learning the fundamental principle that ethics is everything.  Human social existence, unlike animal sociality, is based on the genetic propensity to form long-term contracts that evolve by culture into moral precepts and law.  The rules of contract formation were not given to humanity from above, nor did they emerge randomly in the mechanics of the brain.  They evolved over tens or hundreds of millennia because they conferred upon the genes prescribing them survival and the opportunity to be represented in future generations.  We are not errant children who occasionally sin by disobeying instructions from outside our species.  We are adults who have discovered which covenants are necessary for survival, and we have accepted the necessity of securing them by sacred oath.”

Secular Humanism

           We humans are so language oriented that we like to label all things,  movements and concepts.  My own personal belief  which I call “Nature’s Way” would fall into the “Secular Humanist” movement which has broad support and membership around the world.  I really don’t feel the need of a label but I’m sure that is the category my beliefs would belong.  A person need not feel isolated because of their beliefs when almost everywhere there are like minded people in the Secular Humanist movement.  This movement has the periodical Free Inquiry  which is closely associated with the Council for Secular Humanism.  This following quote is from the Fall publication of the Free Inquiry 1999, the article “Humanist Manifesto 2000, by Paul Kurtz,

page 18.

                “Planetary Humanism rejects nihilistic philosophies of doom and despair and those that counsel an escape from reason and freedom, that fester in fear and foreboding, and that are obsessed with apocalyptic scenarios of Armageddon.  The human species has always faced challenges.  That is the continuing saga of our planetary adventure.  As humanists we urge today, as in the past, that humans not look beyond themselves for salvation.  We alone are responsible for our own destiny, and the best we can do is to muster our intelligence, courage, and compassion to realize our highest aspirations.  We believe that a good life is possible for each and every person of the planetary society of the future.  Life can be meaningful for those willing to assume responsibility and undertake the cooperative efforts necessary to fulfill its promise.  We can and ought to help create the new world of tomorrow.  The future can be wholesome and bountiful, and it can open up new, daring, and exciting vistas.  Planetary Humanism can contribute significantly to the development of the positive attitudes so necessary if we are to realize the unparalleled opportunities that await humankind in the third millennium and beyond.”

Unitarian Universalist Church and Association

              I have attended the Unitarian Church many times and have found it much to my liking.  Their services are somewhat like a mainline Protestant Church with many of the traditional parts of the service but with different texts.  In general the prayer concept is missing and is replaced with the practice of meditation.  It is a service where an alternate believer can find a satisfaction and a social environment without committing to a list of religious dogma that is unacceptable.  Although I am not a member of this Church, it is my intention to become a member in the days ahead.  The following quote is from the Unitarian Universalist Association outlining their basic beliefs.

This material was taken directly from the web site of the Association.

  We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote

       The inherent worth and dignity of every person;

       Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;

       Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;

       A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;

       The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;

       The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;

       Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

The living tradition which we share draws from many sources:

       Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life;

       Words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love;

       Wisdom from the world's religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life;

       Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God's love by loving our neighbors as ourselves;

       Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit.

       Spiritual teachings of earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.

Grateful for the religious pluralism which enriches and ennobles our faith, we are inspired to deepen our understanding and expand our vision. As free congregations we enter into this covenant, promising to one another our mutual trust and support.

The Unitarian Universalist Association shall devote its resources to and exercise its corporate powers for religious, educational and humanitarian purposes. The primary purpose of the Association is to serve the needs of its member congregations, organize new congregations, extend and strengthen Unitarian Universalist institutions and implement its principles.

The Association declares and affirms its special responsibility, and that of its member societies and organizations, to promote the full participation of persons in all of its and their activities and in the full range of human endeavor without regard to race, color, sex, disability, affectional or sexual orientation, age, or national origin and without requiring adherence to any particular interpretation of religion or to any particular religious belief or creed.

Nothing herein shall be deemed to infringe upon the individual freedom of belief which is inherent in the Universalist and Unitarian heritages or to conflict with any statement of purpose, covenant, or bond of union used by any society unless such is used as a creedal test.”

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins

             This important book about ethology examines in great detail a whole array of animal behaviors that have great implications for our thinking in every aspect of our existence.  It is just too good a book to pass up.  The following is from the first page of chapter one:

  Why are people?

“Intelligent life on a planet comes of age when it first works out the reason for its own existence.  If superior creatures from space ever visit earth, the first question they will ask, in order to assess the level of our civilization, is: “Have they discovered evolution yet?:” Living organisms had existed on earth, without ever knowing why, for over three thousand million years before the truth finally dawned on one of them.  His name was Charles Darwin.  To be fair, others had had inklings of the truth, but it was Darwin who first put together a coherent and tenable account of why we exist.  Darwin made it possible for us to give a sensible answer to the curious child whose question heads this chapter.  We no longer have to resort to superstition when faced with the deep problems: Is there a meaning to life?  What are we for?  What is man?  After posing the last of these questions, the eminent zoologist G. G. Simpson put it thus: “The point I want to make now is that all attempts to answer that question before 1859 are worthless and that we will be better off if we ignore them completely.”

              Today the theory of evolution is about as much open to doubt as the theory that the earth goes round sun, but the full implications of Darwin ’s revolution have yet to be widely realized.  Zoology is still a minority subject in universities, and even those who choose to study it often make their decision without appreciating its profound philosophical significance.  Philosophy and the subjects known as ‘humanities’ are still taught almost as if Darwin had never lived.  No doubt this will change in time.  In any case, this book is not intended as a general advocacy of Darwinism.  Instead, it will explore the consequences of the evolution theory for a particular issue.  My purpose is to examine the biology of selfishness and altruism.

            Apart from its academic interest, the human importance of this subject is obvious.  It touches every aspect of our social lives, our loving and hating, fighting and cooperating, giving and stealing, our greed and our generosity.”

The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP )

           This organization, founded around 1976, is dedicated to the scientific examination of phenomena the explanation of which has achieved acceptance by segments of the population using non-scientific methods.   Members are dedicated to keeping an open mind on all issues but are also dedicated to debunking claims by all of those people that would lead the populace into false thinking.  It is comforting to have an organization such as this for all of us who have decided not to swallow the party line of the various beliefs that come along.  The following quote is from the book Skeptical Odysseys, edited by Paul Kurtz, Prometheus Books.  Page 15.    

Paul Kurtz is one of the founding members of CISCOP..  This quote briefly outlines the purposes and procedures of CISCOP.

“The Agenda

              There were four controversial issues that CSICOP had to address at its founding.  These emerged in the first year and were debated heavily by the Executive Council, its policy-making body.

              First, what would be our approach to such phenomena?  Would we simply be debunkers out to show by ridicule the folly of the claims that were made, or would we be serious investigators concerned with research into claims; dispassionate, open-minded inquirers?  The answer was clear: Our chief focus would be on inquiry, not doubt.  Where we had investigated a claim and found it wanting, we would express our doubt and perhaps even debunk it, but this would be only after careful investigation.

              Second, we asked what would be our relationship to pro-paranormal believers.  We observed that there were by now hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of pro-paranormal magazines and publications in the world, and that we were virtually the lone dissenting voice in the wilderness, as it were.  We would be glad to engage believers in debate, but it would be our agenda, not theirs.  Accordingly, we decided that we wished by and large to pursue our own research strategy, namely to encourage exhaustive scientific and skeptical inquiry.

              Third, one of the most difficult problems that we faced was, What was the relationship of the paranormal to religion?  Would CSICOP deal with religious questions?  CISCOP was originally founded under the auspices of the Humanist magazine, sponsored by the American Humanist Association.  But the Executive Council decided immediately that it would separately incorporate and that it would pursue its own agenda.  And so our position has been from the start that we would not investigate religious claims unless there were empirical or experimental means for evaluating them.  We were not concerned with religious faith, theology, or morality, but only with scientific evidence adduced for the religious claims.

            Fourth, a  most interesting development occurred, and this was totally unexpected; immediately after forming CISCOP, many concerned scientists and skeptics said that they wanted to establish similar local groups in their areas in the United States .  Similarly, researchers in other countries said that they wished to do the same.  Thus skeptical organizations began forming throughout the world.  What this meant was that CISCOP had become an international organization.  Since science was international in scope, the critical examination of paranormal claims was also a matter for the international scientific community.  This became all the more evident as the years went by, as the media became further globalized and paranormal programs, produced, for example, in Hollywood, were exported virtually everywhere.  Accordingly, if we were to really do a service to scientific inquiry and cultivate the public understanding of science, then our efforts should be global.”

Conclusion

            My goal at the beginning of writing these essays was to clarify,  in my own mind at least, where I stood on the important issues concerning belief.  The next time I am in a conversation that drifts into religion or philosophy of life I will be ready with an organized, defensible set of beliefs.  My Nature’s Way philosophy does not claim to be unique in any way.  There have been people throughout history with like beliefs that revolve around nature.  With the monumental work by Darwin in the 19^th Century and now followed by the revolution engendered by the research in molecular biology, it is inescapable that many will look to the natural world to answer some of the most crucial questions about life.  Reading through such authors as Stephen Hawking, Edward O. Wilson, Richard Dawkins, Charles Darwin, Paul Davies, Paul Kurtz and many others, we begin to realize how far we have come from belief in the old gods of thunder and lightning to the modern theories of the “Big Bang” and “DNA”.  We probably have that far to go again in the future to make similar progress.  At least we are on the way.  And so confidence is ours as we look problems square in the face and don’t flinch from going after the truth of the matter.

            I suppose when my time comes to look down the barrel of some dangerous and perhaps incurable disease, I too will entertain thoughts and wishes for a continuation of life in another world.  Such desires are part of the human condition.  In the meantime, I shall remain a part of that community of people that look to truth and beauty to light our path to the future.

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