Paradox of Human Nature and Religious Faith

G. Smith Christopher

Description

This is a book for our time. The advent of Covid-19 is turning our world upside down and highlighting the paradoxical nature of human behaviour. A minority of thoughtless people are indulging in selfish activities that threaten our safety, whilst NHS workers heroically risk their own lives to save others. In South Africa members of rival drug gangs, who would normally kill each other without a second thought, have called a truce and are now working together in order to ensure that food is distributed to needy families. Human nature is paradoxical because it is capable of perceiving both the finite (secular) and infinite (spiritual) which are juxtaposed within the context of reality. What makes this book different is that spirituality is not considered to be other-worldly. What we refer to as the secular and the spiritual are viewed as 'two sides of a coin' that co-exist as part of one reality, within the context of temporality. Both contribute to what we perceive to be a sense of 'self'. They are different perceptions of consciousness that influence human behaviour through conscious and subconscious processes.The aim of this book is to consider the factors that contribute to the paradoxical nature of being human and to explore the issues that cloud our perceptions and cause confusion. It proffers a vision of how a religious faith can be made intelligible at a time when the majority of people, living in our postmodern age, consider it to be irrelevant.

Sujets

• Religion
• Philosophy of science
• Philosophy
• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Troubador Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 19 novembre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781800468368
• Langue: English

Extrait

Copyright © 2020 Christopher G. Smith

The moral right of the author has been asserted.


Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.


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ISBN 978 1800468 368

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Matador is an imprint of Troubador Publishing Ltd

To my wife, Joan, for the insight she has given me into the nature of love and for encouraging me to write this book.
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements

Chapter 1 Limits to our Knowledge of Reality
Changing Perceptions of Reality
The Mystery of Thought
Cleverness and Intelligence
Reality and Theories
Quantum States in Living Systems

Chapter 2 Levels of ‘Being’ and Consciousness
Different Levels of ‘Being’
Man’s Capacity for Self-awareness
Scientific Truth and the Issue of Creation
Reason and Intuition in relation to Levels of Being
Convergent and Divergent Problems in Relation to Levels of ‘Being’

Chapter 3 The Two-Fold Nature of Man

Chapter 4 Faith as Commitment to an Ultimate Concern

Chapter 5 Psychological Time

Chapter 6 The Paradoxical Nature of Destiny and Fate and their Relationship with Freedom and Necessity

Chapter 7 The Paradox of Subjectivity and Objectivity and its Relationship to Ethical Behaviour

Chapter 8 Does Religion have a Future in our Postmodern World?
The Nature of Religion
Beyond Theism
The Relationship between Ethics and Religious Faith
Genuine Religious Faith and the Future.

Epilogue
References
Bibliography
Preface
Why can human nature seem paradoxical? Part of the reason is the limited ability of language to define reality as it really is. Knowledge is based on concepts and paradigms that are built from perceptions of the macroscopic world. Perceptions can change with the passage of time, and when they do, concepts need to change in order to accommodate or give meaning to the new perceptions.
At the beginning of the twentieth century when scientists turned their attention to the microscopic world of sub-atomic particles, it revealed perceptions that were truly paradoxical and difficult to conceptualise in terms of our experience of the macroscopic world. The only way that scientists could explain their findings was to think of sub-atomic reality as a dualistic phenomenon that had particle and wave-like properties. I believe that this conception can be used metaphorically to describe human nature.
Human behaviour is generally prompted by thought which arises through conscious or unconscious processes. The eminent psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, who survived the horrors of the concentration camps at Auschwitz and Dachau, believed that the unconscious was not simply driven by instincts but could be divided into what he called unconscious instinctuality and unconscious spirituality. He suggested that the dichotomy between conscious and unconscious was a secondary issue, and that the essential problem was one of spiritual existence versus what he referred to as psychophysical facticity. Herein lies the paradox of human nature.
As I approach the completion of this book, the world is facing a new threat in the form of the Coronavirus. Living in a time of rapid global travel, it is no surprise that this virus is spreading like wildfire and affecting the whole world. The arrival of this pandemic is highlighting the paradoxical nature of human behaviour. It would appear that members of rival drug gangs in South Africa, who would normally kill each other without a second thought, have called a truce and are now working together in order to ensure that food is distributed to needy families. What has prompted these people to have a change of heart and will this change prevail when the current crisis is over?
What are we to make of the human state of existence and the beliefs that influence the way we live? How do we decide what gives meaning and value to our lives? There are times when most of us struggle to make sense of who we are and how to come to terms with our conflicting thoughts and emotions. What makes an NHS doctor or nurse put their own lives at risk in striving to save the life of a complete stranger, whilst a psychopathic murderer can take the life of somebody who has never caused them any harm. These examples illustrate the extreme limits of what we refer to as human nature and relate to different levels of ‘being’.
The aim of this book is to reflect on why human nature can seem paradoxical and to throw some light on the issues that cloud our perception of reality and cause confusion. It looks at the nature of religious faith and provides insight into how this could be made more intelligible in our postmodern world.
In Chapter 1, I set the scene by discussing the limitations of our knowledge of reality and our use of language. Modern science suggests that the world, at its most basic, exists as a complex web of interdependent relationships which are indivisible. Whilst such a notion is alien to our physical senses, I believe there is a dimension to human nature which is aware of this reality at a sub-conscious level. In Chapter 1, I give some insight into the paradoxical nature of sub-atomic reality which I use metaphorically in Chapter 3.
When we look at human nature, we observe a vast range of behaviour that can be related to different levels of ‘being’ which are a function of ‘self-awareness’. In Chapter 2, I consider the ways that reason and intuition relate to these different levels. The author and theologian, Martin Buber, perceived self-awareness to have a two-fold nature that could be broadly described as spiritual and psychophysical. In Chapter 3, I develop some of his thoughts and draw some comparisons between self-awareness and reality at a sub-atomic level.
In Chapter 4, I explore Paul Tillich’s view of faith as the state of being ultimately concerned. I argue that love is the spiritual reality that is the focus of ultimate concern and that authentic faith is the commitment to its psychophysical expression. However, to live from this perspective is extremely difficult for psychophysical existence is dominated by the concerns of the empirical ego. The lecturer and author J. Krishnamurti called the time we spend in preoccupation with the empirical ego, ‘Psychological Time’, and in Chapter 5, I discuss the insidious, toxic effect this can have on the way life is lived.
As I have already suggested, man has a two-fold nature with spiritual and psychophysical dimensions that contribute towards his sense of ‘self’ and affect his fate or destiny. In Chapter 6, I examine what we mean when we use the words ‘fate’ and ‘destiny’ and examine the implications for related concepts like freedom and necessity.
Chapter 7 is concerned with what we mean by ethical behaviour. Each of us has our own subjective thoughts and likes to believe that our view of reality is objective. However, objectivity can be an ephemeral concept that changes with the evolution of our knowledge of the world. Ethical behaviour arises through a sense of integration between the spiritual and psychophysical aspects of existence. Although we may try to define its nature in terms of moral codes, it has to be a spontaneous, intuitive, heart-felt response, from the depths of our ‘being’, to what we feel is necessary in the moment. Actions speak louder than words.
In recent years, a number of books have been published that have dismissed certain religions as antiquated belief systems with no relevance in the twenty-first century. Chapter 8 asks whether religion has a future in our postmodern world and, if so, what form this should take.
Finally, I wish to clarify and confirm my use, in this book, of the generic terms ‘man’ and ‘he’ as a general reference for the species Homo sapiens. The use of ‘man’ in this context is in no way intended to be sexist and implies a sex-undifferentiated reference to the human race.
Acknowledgements
We human beings are a strange mixture of nature and nurture and very much influenced by the culture in which we live. In more recent times, the expansion of global travel and the development of the internet have led to a more cosmopolitan world. We have become more aware of cross-cultural ideas and beliefs, and come to realise that all knowledge is a human construct that is evolutionary in nature.
In writing this book, I am conscious of the debt of gratitude I owe to many authors who have come before me and helped to shape a lot of my thinking. Whilst I cannot mention them all, I am particularly indebted to David Bohm, E. F. Schumacher, Martin Buber, Paul Tillich, Viktor Frankl, J. Krishnamurti, John Shelby Spong and John Hick.
Finally, I should like to thank my wife, Joan, for her patience and the encouragement she has given me with my writing.
Chapter 1
Limits to our Knowledge of Reality
Changing Perceptions of Reality
Our perception of reality is strongly influenced by the culture in which we live and by the world-views which it promot