Delusions of Grandeur

If ignorance is the disease, then delusions are the main symptom.

Humankind has long given itself far too much credit for it's importance in the universe. If you were to wipe out the entire population of earth in a nuclear holocaust tommorrow, it would be like removing one speck of dust from the last page in a set of encyclopedias in the basement of a massive library--noone would notice.

It would, of course, be a tragedy. Not a surprising one, considering the constant struggle for mankind to come up with better and more efficient ways of killing each other. Most of the greatest technical advances of recent decades have been because of massive military budgets for developing superior weapons. Mankind has come a long way in a short time, and yet, stays in exactly the same place--running to stand still.

It is no more possible to explain how life began in the universe, than to explain how the universe itself began. The theological answers simply echo the delusions of grandeur that I discussed above. Humans, seeing that they exist, sought an answer to why. Some made the assumption that because they exist, something had to have created them--and some made the connection that whoever or whatever created them, must have had a purpose for doing so.

The recent arguments as to the origin of the species of man regarding so called 'intelligent design' are just another clue as to how delusional some people are. The widely regarded Theory of Evolution does not attempt, nor does it claim to try to attempt to explain the origins of life in the universe. Instead, it is the binding element that holds almost all other scientific study together. Ask any scientist that isn't getting funding from a 'Christian' establishment, and you will find very little doubt as to whether or not humans have evolved to become the bipedal, opposable thumb wielding, large forebrain posessing creatures that we know of today.

I have my own theories regarding the evolution of man. The first is the answer to the common question 'If humans evolved from apes, why are there still apes?'. Although a 'missing link' between apes and humans has never been found, it has been proven that humans share 99% of their genetic makeup with chimpanzees. I hold that there may have been something unique about the particular apes that eventually became humans. Something different in the sequence of genes in these apes allowed changes to occur, where it did not in others.

Secondly, there is an amazingly wide amount of diversity of genetic makeup in the great ape family, even within a particular kind of ape, and it would not be unlikely that this would explain the variety of human forms that are in existence at this moment in time right now. The idea of creation that most 'Christian' people hold to, is that 'God' created a man and a woman. These are usually depicted in 'Christian' literature as being two white people, tall and thin. This is the obvious work of ethnocentricity, which has long impeded attempts to investigate the evolution of mankind. The irony, is that the 'Christian' claims to be affronted by the concept of evolving from apes, and yet their bible claims that they were created from dirt.

However we ended up in our current form(s), and despite our perceived progress, we are still in our infancy when it comes to understanding the world and universe that surrounds us. I am glad that there are people who are willing to continue this process of understanding, rather than accepting the convenient and simple (if you are willing to stop questioning) explanations given by those who fear the unknown. The first step in having a greater understanding is always the realization that you do NOT know everything. It has been said throughout history, that the truly wise man, is the one who realizes how little he knows.

Next time: Religion--is it for me?