Good Morning, Dearest Readers,
I’ve been reflecting recently on how some belief systems evolve over time and how others remain stuck in the era in which they were born. Belief systems first evolved into our human history for a reason and there’s always a historical context to them.
When humans civilized their external environment and moved out of nature, our human nature - the automatic, unconscious, impulsive, powerful forces that drive us - still remained within us. Belief systems helped us civilize our inner lives. We told stories that taught us how to live.
The more conscious ones of our species at the time - those who metaphorically climbed up the mountain for a wider view - could see the forces of human nature at play. They observed the movement of the masses and noticed how that movement was in service of life or against it.
They climbed back down and came to share what they saw and their message turned into teachings for how one should live in service of life for all, including future generations. Eventually, those teachings became indoctrinated.
A core tenet of many belief systems is the moral imperative of the continuation and betterment of life on earth, and doctrine is intended to herd the behavior of the masses in service of that imperative.
Its execution is not always done properly and in some (many) cases is ironically corrupted and weaponized by human nature’s desire for power or control over others. Additionally, in some (most) belief systems, that imperative is relegated to a very specific group of people.
But, nonetheless, the intention is to promote human life on earth by mastering or controlling human nature. The trouble with this is that the world evolves. Human life evolves. Civilization evolves. But many of our belief systems have not evolved to keep up with the times.
Belief systems have not been particularly good at reflecting back on and critiquing themselves. They haven’t been particularly quick to update their doctrines and tailor the written rules for how one should live in the current era specifically.
We need not squash entire belief systems. Many of them play an important role in human development. Many of them have important fundamental lessons to teach us or remind us of. Many, but not all.
Some of the teachings are timeless. Some are timely. Some of them no longer make sense in our time. work against the moral imperative, despite having served their purpose in the historical context in which they were born. Some have become destructive to modern life, despite being constructive thousands of years ago.
And sure, Jesus, for example, was the story of an awakened man. That is, awakened for his times. That’s what makes Jesus great. Not that he was perfect. Simply that he was awakened for his time. But there are several example of awakened people in our time. The world is much more populated these days, there’s a greater chance of such a person existing.
To be sure, Jesus’ message also became codified by his followers, by those less awakened and less evolved, hence the following part. Much gets lost in codification. It is not embodied knowledge. It is symbolic knowledge. It hits at the intellectual level, not at the level that actually shifts our nature.
For Jesus, who did the awakening, the message was embodied. It came from within. It came from deep in the collective unconscious. From the underbelly of the human condition. It was a bottom-up message. For his followers, the message was indoctrinated, or forced into them from the top-down.
Indoctrination is a poor way to help people awaken and think critically about living morally. It’s also a poor way to help them mature, deeply understand their own nature, and become responsible for harnessing it.
Indoctrination creates repression more than anything, which is the polar opposite of complete indulgence. It’s the opposite end of a very wide pendulum swing. Maturity is about learning to hold the tension between the poles and decrease the window of the swing.
I agree that the maturation of our species is direly necessary. I agree that we need to learn and harness our human nature and behave in service of life for all. I just don’t believe doctrine is a good long-term solution for that.
We must hold the moral imperative strongly and boldly, but we must learn to be humble and flexible with our doctrines. We must not accept them passively and uncritically. We’ve become so attached to keeping things the same and fighting for our ideals that we’ve lost sight of the moral imperative.
The consequence of our attachment is that we’re fighting against life itself to protect the doctrine, instead of questioning the doctrine in order to fight for life instead.
For our doctrines, we spew hate, vitriol, and judgement. We turn on our own kind through ostracism, enslavement, commodification, violence, and oppression. The attachments of our ego have made us lose sight of the grand purpose of it all.
If we are to live well with each other in the coming centuries, if we are to move life forward on this planet we call home for now, we must evolve our doctrines.
Warmly,
Deborah