Every identifiable culture since the beginning of time has
created a multiplicity of gods to forge history and traditions in molding races
and languages of people. Gods that possessed
the same characteristics of the cultures they were associated with. Gods married (sometimes several wives) and
had families; the Gods fought among themselves for superior positions; the Gods even committed murder of other
deities and humans to enhance their powers. Gods mirrored the culture of their creators. There have been thousands of gods to guide
and control the fate of their adherents, many of which continue to exist even
today, too many to enumerate in a page.
The earliest gods had only single focused powers of interest
for which they were summoned by humans for aid or influence. These multiple gods were called upon for their
specialties concerning men, women, children, families, fertility, domestic
animals, wild animals, seas, war, peace, earth, sun, rain, seasons, crops, under-world,
etc. Later, many of these deity specialties were
combined into single gods as their powers of influence tended to overlap. Today, some single gods have inherited the
powers of all previous multiple gods. Although
most Western cultures use the same texts to define a single god, they continue
to pursue the aid of multiple gods.
There are multiple Baptist Gods, there are multiple Methodist Gods, there
are multiple Jewish Gods, there are multiple Muslim Gods, there are multiple Catholic
Gods, etc. Many of these gods share a common
history but have become separated by political, cultural, and ritual practices.
Today, there is a new god and her name is “Science”. She has become the whipping-dog of all
traditional gods, not by her aggressive nature, but by the presentation of a
new knowledge and reality of the universe.
Science has provided verifiable answers to natural cataclysmic
phenomena, superstitious curses, threatening plagues, miraculous healing,
seasons, historical creation, and the eventual destiny of our solar system. This new god has provided mankind with an
alternate philosophy to traditional ignorance, making ritual prayers to
powerless demagogues of ancient texts obsolete, which is upsetting to the traditional
religious community.
Science has opened “Pandora’s Box” to verifiable
information. She has answered the
age-old question, “where did we come from, and why are we here – now.” Answers which conflict with traditional information
produced in the vapor of superstitions and ignorance. Cultures and traditions are experiencing an
impending sense of finality and terminal anxiety.
The knowledge-bank produced by Science is growing by leaps
and bounds. Her High-Priests are forging
answers about the universe from the sub-atomic world, and using it to enable a
vision into the past 13.8 billion years.
Just as fish are condemned to live their lives in the
confinement of water, so are we condemned to live our lives in the confines of
this planet. We are products of this
planets characteristics, its gravity, its seasons, its chemistry, its
atmosphere, its protective Ozone layer, and are condemned to remain prisoners
of this realm for as long as we shall live.
Although we dream of establishing biological life on a Planet B, we are
unable to make the necessary transition required to do so in only single
generations. To say this transition is
impossible is to deny that we (humans) have made a similar transition from single
cell origins. It can be done, but will
take many generations of biological adjustments.
Until then, I wish you to, “Live long, and prosper”.
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