Wednesday Hike and Lament

Wednesday Hike and Lament

There is a fundamental defect in the mind of man. Its existence can be traced as an artifact of evolution’s creating us but cannot be understood intellectually. This defect is the concept of good and evil. We believe we understand what is good and evil but have never been able to agree on a definition. If there is a reason for our actions then we are not responsible for them, the conditions that engender the action are at fault. If there are no reasons for an action and it is merely random, a chance choice, we are also not responsible. Yet we all know with certainty we are responsible for our actions. Could this all be just an artifact of our brains, of how the brain functions?

Reason can’t tell us the evolutionary advantage of being bald. An old lion may lose its teeth but not its mane. An old gorilla will have its hair turn gray (silver) but not fall out. Reason does not tell us why we lose our hair but we insist that there is a reason. We just don’t know the reason. Otherwise there would be a flaw in our understanding of evolution. But then maybe baldness is just and artifact to something more easily understood by evolutionary theory. It’s just the tail end of a very advantageous gene. But doesn’t that lead to the sophistry that has made theology so useless and irrational? Where do we non-bald people fit in?

Death is an absolute requirement for human beings to have been evolved. Without death there would be no change and no chance to develop into the complex animal we call Homo sapiens. Death is absolutely essential to life. Reason is clear and absolute about this. Still few consider this fact and fantasize about overcoming the mortal human condition.

It is possible that the minds defect is not universally distributed amongst the people of the world. It may be that the Western World has most of it just as we have most of the wealth of the world. In the United States we have many religions. People proclaim their allegiance to one or another church and supposedly to that churches doctrine. However, ask a few defining questions about that faith and a total lack of intellectual interest or understanding become evident. Take for example, “Who or what is God?” It is astounding that grown people still retain the idea of their childhood. God is an old man with a beard shrouded in a white gown. He doesn’t ware glasses and he speaks the language of the person being questioned. Asked if he sleeps eight hours a night and they are baffled and confused. Asked the nature of good and evil and even the most thoughtful are unprepared to give a reasoned answer. A statement like “Doing God’s will” is sufficient to satisfy the question. Their preacher or priest can tell them what the will of God is. Is it any wonder that we have a government that can mislead us so completely and feel no need to tell the truth about its motivations knowing that we will spend little time questioning their propaganda? It is the will of the superior power. That is enough.

I share Europe’s amused contempt for the American naive megalomania. I also share the exasperated disgust for the excessive greed and hubris as that megalomania turns lethal with the American whimsical use of war as its diplomacy. And when I read that eighty percent of the American people support such a war I conclude that reason is a defect that few of us must endure. When I remember that Europe perused war for centuries I understand that reason must be a universal deficit.

When I quite hiking on Wednesday I not only lost the healthful benefits of that activity but also lost my pulpit. As we walked together I could almost always find someone with whom to exchange my opinions. Some of my fellow hikers would actually move forwards or backwards in the group to avoid the endless laments about our wanting culture and shameful government. But there was always at least one who would engage with me. I miss those Wednesdays. So as an enfeebled surrogate I sit at my computer and type these thoughts to be posted on a blog that no one has ever perused except at my request. Still there is that need to try to explain, to convince, to proselytize. Is that just a missionary’s hangover or is it a more universal trait; one that most people practice one way or another? Is that part of the cause we try to force everyone else to accept our government principals even by force? Too bad everyone can’t just go on a Wednesday hike. The world would be a better place if they did.