It’s wonderful to glimpse into a human-being’s journey and shared sympathy respecting words. I refer to nearly 100 hours Vaughn Crombie and I enjoy -- intense, meandering-conversation that changes my 8 decades’ life, so far. Often, 5 dialogue-branches open, and we manage to close all six during 3.5 hours. If someone drops by, as Shannon MacDanel often does and Chris Nalepa did when work allowed, they increase diversions& resolutions yet-aid preserving the original thread.
I appreciate a complex essay by mutual friend, Michael Cavanaugh[1], and doubt Vaughn, busy in his 9th decade, will take the time to review such complexity.
I speculate that erroneous “write for the audience” ruined Albert Einstein’s opportunity to share with “ourselves and our Posterity”[2] of his time (we’re their posterity). He wrote for science& religion conversations, lessening our chance to learn from him. I think his heartfelt topic was research& ethics (but don’t know). I gained from Einstein the intention to discover expressions “so comprehensive and so well founded that [human beings] will accept them as grounded in the vast mass of their individual . . . experiences.”[3] Applying these principles I think Einstein’s writing expresses this metaphysical idea: Research without integrity is ruinous: integrity without research is ineffectual.[4]
Similarly, I think Michael wrote for his scholarly audience: process engineering attempting social authoritarianism, theologians, sociologists, and natural-religionists. Together, scholars lose the civic-citizen’s potential to develop their unique “image of God”. For example, Pugh[5] seems to think human being (verb) is passive.
I discovered that Genesis 1 expresses political philosophy that could be speculated 5,500 years ago instead of delivered by the-God 3,000 years ago and debated for 1,400 years and beyond. I began to view each person as a god-facing-death, with the opportunity, the power, the energy, and the authority to perfect their unique being before their ineluctable-death. In the image of God, they can& may perfect themselves and thereby aid humankind’s degree of perfection “to ourselves and our Posterity”. Pursuing perfection is in the person’s self-interest and coincidentally aids humankind’s presence& potential.
A person’s development unto human being (verb) is a process that begins the moment they comprehend, intend& act to perfect their person, low as their psychology may be. This self-appreciation is nearly impossible to discover alone, yet the discovery fulfills human desire. Discovery-chances can be enhanced if caretakers practice, facilitate, and encourage acceptance of the status, god-image-facing-death, or an improved equivalent. Escape from the god-image seems beneficial, but I do not know.
So far, humankind has not accepted the demands of Genesis 1:28. Female& male human-being can& may independently pursue order and prosperity to living on earth. I call this demand “responsible-human-independence (RHI)” and emphasize the choice by repeating “can& may”. Also, while there are many examples of choice-consequences, I must have fellow-citizens’ assistance, in order to suggest a system that records past mistakes and identifies critical actions that pursue future discovery. The first step is to inform the public of this approach with a clarity that makes it possible for them to improve the process I barely glimpse. Industrial engineering could be useful if the object is the process of the individual infant pursuing their transition to human being (verb).
With widespread practice the god-image metaphor may be left to privacy (I think yet don’t know). Both theists and ideologists who market institutional doctrine can& may either accommodate humankind’s RHI-culture and preserve revenues or change career to serve public demands. For example, recording humankind’s experiences& observations, so as to comprehend the consequences of human choices could lessen the tendency to attribute the unknowns to myths. Eventually, the demand for myths could dwindle.
After my speech in 2006 to the Freethinkers’ group at the Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge, “faith in the truth”, Harold Weingarten, PhD chemist asked: Phil, what truth do you speak of? I responded, “the truth that does not respond to opinion”. About 14 years later, I discovered “ineluctable” and proffered “the-ineluctable-truth”. Ineluctable means: not to be avoided, changed, escaped, neglected, or resisted: “truth” means, the actual-reality about something. Therein, “something” often lessens civil truth or civilization yet never impacts the-ineluctable-evidence. In other words, the ineluctable-evidence does not respond to “truth”. Bill Clinton infamously used the definition of is to trivialize stain-on-a-blue-dress based on now versus ever.[6] In other words, not-in-relations does not imply never-been-there. I hope the-ineluctable-truth becomes a constant civic demand in judicial processes. Only a-civic-people, in the U.S. We the People of the United States as defined by the preamble, can& may pursue the-ineluctable-truth. Only elected& appointed officials who are of a-civic-people can aid the journey.
I think Michael’s essay pursues the-ineluctable-truth to scholars debating an impossible persuasion: Humankind can& may negotiate a covenant on birth control, in order to save the earth. Saving the earth is the last thing on the heart of the person who wants someone to love them regardless of appreciation. For example, the woman who never appreciated the mature man who would care for her& her ova for a lifetime. Social-engineering-through-theism is too complicated to reach the procreating public.
Michaels’s personal expressions need to reach the layperson’s ear, consideration, and intentions. For example, “Everyone yearns for more safety and integrity.” But almost no civic-citizen pursues integrity; most adults self-satisfy through honest-opinion. But honesty is insufficient.[7] And “Countries ought to cooperate to further their own self interests.” Like countries, civic-citizens can& may pursue civic-integrity, in their own self-interest; but it’s a hard sell that has no chance (I think) if responsible-human-independence (RHI)[8] is never proffered to the public.
RHI is almost impossible when people who are nations continuously rear their youth to seek higher power --- God, ideal, or government --- to usurp their pursuit of civic-integrity. I plan, in June, 2023, to show how cultural evolution, including Bible stories, led to the political proposition proffered by the signers of the 1787 U.S. Constitution, especially the preamble. I may show that the 1787 Constitution conforms to Genesis-1-RHI.
On the other hand, Michael’s conclusion that we need to “listen to our understanding of human nature” invites error. Understanding grounded in reason that ignores the-ineluctable-evidence, may escape the civic-integrity that is required for RHI. Escaping RHI is not in the person’s self-interest. R. E. Lee honestly thought slavery-abolitionists were evil-to attempt-to accelerate God’s thousands-of-years-plan to redeem blacks from the sins of their ancestors.[9] His local Christian ministers misled Lee. Lee lost everything, including Lee Circle, now Harmony Circle at Tivoli Circle.[10]
Similarly, Loyal Rue’s model of religious-values-bemusing-the-facts seems merely an excuse for metaphors such as Abrahamic-order through a personal God.[11] Groups construct competitive religions, in order to attempt to persuade self-advantage if not RHI-usurpation.
Theologians and other religious perpetrators do all they can to gain followers. Politicians learned that domestic police and foreign military are inefficient in controlling fellow-citizens, so they partner with religions, in order to facilitate coercion rather than force. Academics think they can enhance personal income if they can devise theories that the Chapter XI Machiavellian[12] partnership can use to sustain their power. The scholars compete for high salaries without regard for fellow-citizens. Only an RHI-culture by a-civic-people can end the tyranny.
Michael refers to taking every chance to advance Jesus’ advice on being a good neighbor -- perhaps a colleague’s idea. I think that is a risky constraint on Jesus’ potential aid to human being (verb). According to the stories, every time someone challenged Jesus, the response was surprisingly instructive toward self-interested reliability. For example, an RHI man leaves father and mother and unites to his wife to become an androgynous unit.[13] These 2,000 years later, typical first-marriage in the U.S. lasts 21 years[14] with typical adulthoods 60 years. That’s the tip of an iceberg we could develop by considering what was written about Jesus’s statements and actual-reality “ourselves and our Posterity” can& may discern from the-ineluctable-evidence.
Michael lists the professions that need to awaken to process theory,[15] I think overlooking the value of applications engineers, such as chemical engineers. The University of Tennessee instilled in me the perception that they authorized my professional career with the expectation that nothing I designed would blow up. I recently visited with a mechanical engineer who said, “The scientists care not about wrongful research-design& interpretation (wrongful statistics), and we are immune, because being responsible for an operable system, we discover the actual requirements.” Applications engineers cannot brook eternity for disproof of their work.
Rue, Barlow& Dowd discuss Amythia and much more[16] and invite me to offer a metaphor to connect cosmology& morality. The metaphor is: the consequences of human choice& action express that female& male-human-being can& may pursue comprehensive-safety& security to life on earth& its-extensions. The evidence of cultural evolution provides both continuity& plausibility to this proposal. Human being (verb) flourishes on the discovery& positive application of the-laws-of-physics. For example, nuclear energy is responsibly used to produce electricity and for national-defense rather than for military power. Bemusement by science& religion as research& integrity become private enjoyment rather than civil impositions.
This idea of privatizing myths is a consequence
of mutual interest with the people of University Baptist Church, Baton Rouge,
LA.
Copyright©2022 by Phillip R. Beaver. All rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted for the publication of all or portions of this paper as long as this complete copyright notice is included.
______________
[1] Michael
Cavanaugh, “Gobal Population Equilibirum” (June 1997); Global
Population Equilibrium: A Model for the Twenty‐First Century - Cavanaugh - 1997
- Zygon® - Wiley Online Library
[2] The
continuity that is addressed in the intentions sentence of the preamble to the
United States Constitution.
[3] Einstein
essay embedded in Sam Harris | My Friend
Einstein?
[5] The
Biological Origin Of Human Values by George Edgin Pugh | Goodreads,
review by Bob Nichols.
[7] Integrity by
Stephen L. Carter | Goodreads. Carter makes the case that honesty is
insufficient but fails to note that the last word rests with whatever
constrains the consequences of human choice, which may be God: nobody knows.
[8] The
political philosophy that is stated in Genesis 1:28 may be paraphrased as
follows: Female& male human-being
can& may independently pursue comprehensive-safety& security to life on
earth. I call the practice, facilitation, and encouragement
“responsible-human-independence” or RHI.
[9] Letter
from Robert E. Lee to Mary Randolph Custis Lee (December 27, 1856) -
Encyclopedia Virginia
[13] Matthew
19:5
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