What is the nature of man?
I use the term “man” here in the generic sense, meaning for the term to stand for both genders. I am a big fan of the writer/physician/philosopher Walker Percy and just purchased my third (or fourth) copy of a collection of his essays, lectures and letters entitled “Signposts in a Strange Land”.
Over time, I have given the copies away to folks whom I knew would appreciate Walker’s style, sense of humor and viewpoint on life, writing and religion and needed to restock my bookshelf with my own copy.
One of the essays in the book is: “Is a Theory of Man Possible?”
Are we simply another organic creature, one of the thousands that inhabit the earth, or does our possession of certain unique properties among them being; language, abstract thinking, complex tool using, art, and the development of culture, give us a distinction from the rest of the world’s creatures?
I pose this question as a result of the event of the last week. Events that include a scientific panel releasing a report that says the earth is dying, and mankind is responsible. Another notable event was the release of President Bush’s military budget that comes in at around 625 billion dollars or roughly a shade under 25% of the total budget of 2.9 trillion dollars.
Can you imagine the good that this nation could do if we channeled 600 billion dollars to other more positive things than funding the manufacture and execution of weapons and weapon systems? It staggers the mind.
What is the nature of man?
My fundamentalist friends would say that man was created in God’s image, guess what folks? I got a phone call from the boss the other day and she said forget it. We were no more created in her image than Oral Roberts, who God said was madder than a hatter if old Oral thought he saw a 600 foot Jesus.
God told me that she rolled the dice, or in this instance the planets, with a little move we humans like to call the Big Bang and then she stepped back to see how long it would take for us to (in her words) “Screw the pooch.”
She also told me that the fate of ourselves, our planet, our healings (spiritual and physical), and the success of our sports teams are all left up to us. So stop asking her, though she did admit to helping the ’69 Mets just a little, the rest was the Cubs folding, hence their need to wander in the baseball desert for a full generation.
She said that we should stop looking everywhere for proof of her existence, she said if you need proof of something look to science, her existence is based on FAITH.
She said for us not to waste our time or money on prayer cloths from TV preachers, that the “Expositor’s Study Bible” is less of a religious text than Christopher Moore’s book “Lamb”, which was much funnier and far less harmful for us to read.
She said her idea of Heaven was Benny Hinn, Jimmy Swagart, Jerry Falwell, Ron Parsley, Pat Robertson, Creflo Dollar and any preacher from TBN in a van with Joel Osteen behind the wheel in a one-car crash over the edge of some steep cliff on the Pacific Coast Highway.
And finally, she said that the most discouraging thing about us is that regardless of how nice this planet is, regardless of how much she has provided for us, her children, regardless of the existence of things like beauty, love, sunrise, sunset, mountains, babies, fried chicken and chocolate chip cookie dough; we (people that is,) still insists that there is someplace better for us when our time is up here on our big blue ball.
That just makes her sad.
Peace,
RW
Labels: earth, global warming, Joel Osteen, religion
