One example of what I mean is I learned that there was something called scientific method, but the details of it were not explored or put into practice. So, hypotheses, predictions, experiments, peer review, and reproduction were not part of the "learning process" somehow.
Another example is that I remember learning something very vague about this person called Thomas Paine who printed a pamphlet during the time of the American Revolution that was influential. The reading of this pamphlet was not part of the curriculum.
I feel cheated, as I now read Thomas Paine's "The Age of Reason." What a riotous discussion our class of French-Canadian Catholics could have had if we'd debated it's contents in the classroom.
In the book Thomas Paine uses the Bible to refute the Bible and challenges believers to repent of their support of its' authenticity. Here are a couple of quotes to give you an idea of his viewpoint:
People in general do not know what wickedness there is in this pretended word of God. Brought up in the habits of superstition, they take it for granted that the Bible is true, and that it is good; they permit themselves not to doubt of it, and they carry the ideas they form of the benevolence of the Almighty to the book which they have been taught to believe was written by his authority. Good heavens! It is quite another thing; it is a book of lies, wickedness, and blasphemy; for what can be greater blasphemy than to ascribe the wickedness of man to the orders of the Almighty?
And
The evidence I have produced, and shall produce in the course of this work, to prove that the Bible is without authority, will, while it wounds the stubbornness of a priest, relieve and tranquilize the minds of millions; it will free them from all those hard thoughts of the Almighty which priestcraft and the Bible had infused into their minds, and which stood in everlasting opposition to all their ideas of his moral justice and benevolence...
While the above examples are mild in comparison to the logical assaults Thomas makes upon the Bible, it is interesting to note that he does believe in an Almighty Creator. Not only that, but he outlines a moral world view arrived at from Reason, rather than belief in revelation or miracles. Here is a small sample of the type of beliefs he held:
The only idea we can have of serving God, is that of contributing to the happiness of the living creation that God has made. This cannot be done by retiring ourselves from the society of the world and spending a recluse life in selfish devotion...
And
The Creation we behold is the real and ever-existing word of God, in which we cannot be deceived. It proclaims his power, it demonstrates his wisdom, it manifests his goodness and beneficence. The moral duty of man consists in imitating the moral goodness and beneficence of God, manifested in the creation toward all his creatures. That seeing, as we daily do, the goodness of God to all men, it is an example calling upon all men to practice the same toward each other; and consequently, that everything of persecution and revenge between man and man, and everything of cruelty to animals, is a violation of moral duty.
The Dalai Lama wrote a book called, "Ethics for the New Millennium" which constructs a secular moral code which requires no belief in miracles or revelations. I like to think of it as a continuation of Thomas' work.
The Dalai Lama seems to be saying that the key to a spiritually fulfilling life is ethical conduct, and ethical conduct can be logically determined by adhering to the principle that all human beings wish to be happy and avoid suffering.
I recommend both books very highly.
The Age of Reason
Ethics for the New Millennium
No comments:
Post a Comment