(Sociology + Biology) / Religion =

Sometimes I tend to think there are just so many things to sort out these days. Then again, I read posts like these and I realize it's not so much sort things out, it's throw things out. There are just an awful lot of crazy scared people out there, many of whom want to run our lives.

There seems to be a growing population of people in the US today who are frightened to death of losing control. I think the problem is they don't really know who they are and, lacking personal competence and any real understanding of self, they are threatened by every wisp of social change. They hate any type of GBLT tolerance. They hate having their deity fall off the main stage of government. They hate allowing women autonomy outside of ancient relationships dictated by reproductive roles. (Similarly, they hate the thought of anyone choosing not to be pregnant.) They hate the poor for not taking charge of their lives. They hate those who would ask them to share their wealth. In short, they really don't care for anyone who is, well, not like them.

It fascinates and frustrates me that humans cannot move beyond their simple social fears. We cannot embrace tolerance. We cannot embrace sharing. We cannot extend our trust beyond the confines of a very small circle. And that, I'm afraid, is the bane of humanity. Too big for our own britches we are victims of a complex psychology bred at the intersection of biology and sociology.  At some point, hopefully before some religiously motivated group sets off a nuclear device, we will start to understand this fear and move beyond.

The chains that constrain our social progress are formidable. We struggle with the biological needs of shelter, hunger, and reproduction. We struggle with the sociological needs for belonging, cooperation, and shared resources. At some point, somehow, some way, we have to invoke the intellectual-- the only unique instrument we possess-- and move out of our primitive state. I'm not too optimistic, however. Religion will have to give way and allow spirituality to exist outside of the church/mosque/temple. The whole premise that has fueled wars for thousands of years will have to be discarded and leaders will have to convince their followers that those people over there, those guys, they are a part of us. What people do that offends your sense of the spiritual does not negate your sense of the spiritual. It's okay to be different. It's okay to let others be different too. The important thing is we all realize this experience, these 60, 70, 80 or so years will pass in the blink of an eye. And in that short time everyone needs to eat and everyone needs to be cared for and everyone deserves to be cared about. Anything else is stone age-- or obliteration.