A Perfect World
A Perfect World. What exactly is that? Is it the promise that religion makes to us when it says that lions will eat grass and sleep with lambs? Or is it heaven (or a heaven-like place) that we go to in the after life?
I say that it’s unrealistic to believe in either of those things. Let’s go into some detail.
A perfect world here on Earth, as some religions describe it, would require the physical alteration of several animals, bugs, and plants. Not just a few of them, but every single one of their species both born and unborn. Why? Simple, you have poisonous plants, meat eating beasts, and poisonous bugs. All of which pose considerable danger to humans and to each other.
For the religiously promised “perfect world” to ever come to pass, each of those species would have to be physically altered in order to remove the threat that they pose (plus, that lion is going to have a difficult time eating grass with its sharp meat-tearing teeth!)… or they would need to be completely wiped out.
That would be bad in and of itself because wiping out multiple species would collapse ecosystems, and that could very well lead to the starvation of humans and/or many other animals. Besides, it would be a rotten thing to do.
Some perfect world!
So how about a perfect world occurring in the after life? Let’s take a quick logical look at that.
A belief in the after life is perfectly fine. It can be a very beautiful thing and I’m not attacking such beliefs. However, viewing some sort of reward in the after-life as one’s only hope for a decent life is pointedly backward. You’re dead. That precludes any possibility for a decent life. Also, of course you’re not going to cry or go hungry if you’re in spirit form. Spirit forms have no physical parts. Physical parts are required both for crying and for being hungry. Hereto, no tears or hunger. No sunshine. No feeling the grass between your toes. No tasting delicious foods. No…. well, “no” a lot of things!
So much for that perfect concept for most of us.
Then there’s the mere concept of a perfect world. It’s a problem. Have you ever asked someone what they think a “perfect world” would be? Chances are that they each have a personal spin on just what constitutes a “perfect world”. So for all of these people to gain a perfect world of some form or another, wouldn’t that require that many worlds co-existed just for them?
Now we’re going to take a fun U-turn. I’ve attacked the concept of a perfect world, so let’s now take another point of view. You see, I do believe that it’s possible… in a way.
From here on out this article is going to explore the not-so-impossible by examining what would be needed to achieve a real life “perfect world”. No, this is not going to be a religious treatise nor will it be some self-help document. Well, not deliberately anyway.
Disclaimer: I’m an idealist. Obviously. It would take an idealist to think about this, to write about it, and to believe it. I whole heartily embrace this fact.
Of course, there’s always the possibility that the human race will destroy itself - and a great deal of other life along with it - before a perfect world is ever attained. In addition to that, there are natural disasters that could wreak havoc on a significant portion of the Earth’s population of both wild life and humans and set us back technologically by thousands of years.
Well, I never said that it would be easy. I simply think that it’s possible.
So in acknowledging all of the above, how can such a condition be achieved? What is a condition that could be considered a “perfect world”?
Have you ever hugged and held your partner or child, looked at them, and told them, “You’re perfect”? When you do that do you actually think that they are flawless, or do you mean that they are as perfect as they ever need to be?
You first have to accept that we humans are not perfect in the ideal sense, and regardless of how long our life spans may eventually come to be I doubt that we will ever achieve archetypal perfection. Acknowledging this is the first step in figuring out exactly what a “perfect world” is not: It’s not ideal!
I’m sure that you now see where I’m going with this.
Is this contradictory? I don’t think so. I think that it’s simply being realistic. We can only begin to get into the achievable details of a “perfect world” once the ’story book romance’ idea of “perfection” is shed. It’s a childish notion that we all love to cling to, but it’s one that we must gently put to rest.
Now the question becomes not what is a perfect world, but “what do we need to accomplish it?”. Aha! Now we’re getting somewhere. To answer that question we have to achieve a base, and doing that is surprisingly simple. In addition to their romantic notions of “perfection”, when someone describes a perfect world they will invariably list the following (in their own words, of course):
- good health
- a good quality of living
- long life for those of us who want it
- enough healthy food for everyone
- a tolerance of others
- (relative) safety
- being happy
Now we have broken down the idea of a perfect existence into parts that we can understand and, more importantly, that are attainable. Each one of the items on that list are achievable, it’s simply going to take time and effort. By all of us. Probably for generations to come. The point is, we can do it! (ed- ergh, yes, that does sound horribly self-helpish, but it is nonetheless true)
There are a lot of things to do before we get to a place where all of those things exists for every person on this planet. The first step, in my opinion, is to address social problems. This is like cleaning up your own life before you try to give others advice on how to live their’s; we won’t have any business trying to tackle the bigger issues until we - as a species - have grown up more and moved beyond many of our problems.
So how do we do that? Through science and education.
If you’ve read my post, “The Importance of Spirituality“, then you may be surprised that I say that science is how we’ll get there. Fact is, the future will need a healthy dose of science right along side whatever spiritual ways of life we humans choose to take.
Science, if we look at our current situation in comparison to, say, life 1,000 years ago, has already provided us with everything on that list. It’s simply not at the level that it could be (and needs to be). The reasons for this are many, ranging from the fact that we’re just humans doing the best that we can, to groups of crazy people who are trying their best to stop the human race from improving its situation on this planet.
So one of the first things that we need to do is to get rid of the things that are stopping us from moving forward as a species. To do this requires not a culling of numbers, but an education. Not just an education of numbers, history, and of literature, but an education of human behavior and thought along with a focus on the emotional and ecological ramifications of our actions. Ideally, these topics would be covered in every school, beginning in a simple form in our childrens’ schools and then progressing to more in-depth studies as grade levels advance.
This type of education is needed so that future humans will recognize crazy belief systems - both old and new - that would either hold us back or would be destructive. Or both.
The first step to our “perfect world”, then, is a much more reasonable and well grounded education, and through this education, the eventual abolishment of belief systems that currently hold back the human race. It will take many generations, but the first step is often a small one.
Let me point you to a very fascinating article:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Stem cells taken from human fat can be transformed into smooth muscle cells, offering a way to treat many kinds of heart disease, gastrointestinal and bladder ills, U.S. researchers reported on Monday. - Source
A requirement for this realistic achievement of our perfect world is that significant diseases and handicaps be cured. This is possible, and we see the beginnings of that here, but it will only happen if the human race allows itself to move forward.
We must embrace these discoveries as well as future discoveries. We must collectively do what is best for our species’ future. This all starts with education.
Despite the troubles in the world today I firmly believe that this will eventually be attained.
If we don’t wipe ourselves out first, that is.
~Steph
Topics: Spirituality |
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