Viewed from a historical perspective, humanity seems to have passed through periods in which a
dominant mode of thinking and force(s) behind it have determined people’s way
of life – beliefs, customs, laws, and
living conditions.
It probably started with fear of nature’s mysteries such as cycles
of sun and the moon, season, rain, and drought, and natural disasters and death itself. Magical
thinking dominated. Shamans were the leaders.
Then came the early philosophers who went beyond magical
thinking, started using observation and reason to study nature and its laws.
Warriors and local rulers were the leaders. Thinkers provided ideas.
Some went beyond such observation of external phenomena and
looked deeply into man himself, his thinking, and his relationship to nature.
They were the seers and wise ones and the spiritualists. But they did not have many followers.
Religions started appearing in many parts of the world with
rigid dogmas, belief systems and rules of conduct, and organizational structure.
Religious heads were the leaders, often in conjunction with powerful
warrior-kings. Individual thinking was not favored and was even punished.
After many centuries, a few bold thinkers, and reformers,
questioned the authority of religious institutions and local monarchs and
defied them. Thus came a period of observation, empiricism, and reasoning as
drivers of knowledge in understanding nature. Scientific mode of thinking
combined with the release of individual initiative, academic freedom and reward
for success dominated civilization for a few centuries. Democracies started and
flourished. Innovations of science and technology enriched the lives of many
people and reduced poverty and eliminated many diseases.
It is too bad I had to put science in the past tense. The
reality is that we seem to be living in an era when both science and religion
are questioned, if not denied. Everything seems to be driven by politics and politicians – even science and religion. Individual
variations are not tolerated. Academic freedom is disappearing even in US.
Authoritarianism in some form or other is emerging all over the world. Civil
discourse is disappearing. False and mis-information demand equal attention and
same respect as truth. Legal documents seem to be more important than moral and
ethical values.
This does not bode well for humanity.
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