When we talk about belief we talk about valuing the earth in our everyday lives the way we value our family, friends and community.

At the moment, we live in a State of Separation. Our lives are lived separate from the reality of the earths systems, both physically and philosophically.

One could even argue that many global philosophies have evolved to such a point that the earths systems are considered primitive rather than grand, and that the painful reality of our daily lives necessitates the continued wearing away and outright destruction of the real world around us.

Out side of avoiding a global natural system collapse (one that becomes ever more real as we drive ourselves forward into the new millennium), what can the individual, the human community and humanity as a whole gain from (re)-fostering a real and practical value in the earth and in our place among its grand systems?

As I argued in the previous post, believing in the earth is about accepting, understanding and respecting the reality of the world around us and our place among it.

Every element that will ever be was created long ago at the dawn of the universe, and since that time, elements interacting have evolved systems – at first chemical, then physical and, over time, living.

The elements that are within you are the same that have formed the stars and the planets, the oceans and the mountains, the reptiles and the mammals, since the dawn of time. These elements are constantly passed between systems, to be used in different ways for different purposes.

In that sense, you are the universe, or more immediately, you are the earth. Valuing your place as part of it is thus basic real world stuff. It is not based on stories, or historical institutions or hierarchies. Not only is it scientific fact, It is physical, it is uniquely human and it is spiritual.

As a practical human belief system then, what does it serve?

Well, all value and belief systems, outside of their evolved institutions, mythologies and hierarchies, serve a basic healthy human need. They fulfil the burning human need to understand our origins, they give us a sense of belonging to something greater than ourselves, they give us a sense of life beyond death, they offer us a moral framework to which we can refer, and more often than not they provide us with a sense of community and purpose.

I am not talking here just about established communal belief systems, but individual and deeply personal value systems as well.

Without trying to sound like a salesman, valuing the earth ticks all the boxes, it ticks more than most, it does so in a way that brings all communities together and its is beautifully (open-your-eyes-to-the-reality-all-around-you) real.

- Origin Myth? Done – though the word myth can now be deleted from the phrase. For me this specific origin story is far more fantastical and dramatic than any in existence, with the added advantage, as if one was needed, that it actually did happen ‘once upon a time’.

- Belonging? Done – though it is neither ‘imagined’ nor community specific. When you gaze out at a sunset and feel the same real world sense of belonging that you get watching your first born getting married or your team winning the world cup you will know what I am talking about.

- Life after death? Done – (ish!). When our bodies eventually die, the elements that make them up will return finally to the earth’s grand systems. There is no heaven myth here, no afterlife for the being that is you. I will deal with this a little further down.

- Moral Framework? Done – It solidifies the idea that we are all one and the same, something the people of the earth, forever divided, will need now in this contemporary global village if they are to truly progress. We are all elements that make up the system entire. This should, by its very nature, foster the desire to evolve an all encompassing value system and way of life whereby humanity can live in relative peace, as part and parcel of the earths grand systems.

- Purpose? Done – Outside of highlighting the basic beauty of our own natural purpose I spoke about in the last post, there is the sense that our existence as part of the earth is adding something special and unique to the grand tapestry. Just as the evolution of plants or animals added a new and unique aspect, helping to create an overall balance, so to our human ways of life should aim for that, adding to the systems both physically and (considering our unique talents and abilities) culturally.

- Community? Done – we are the human community, part of a much larger community of living beings, working as part of a larger whole. Whether we choose to do that together or in spite of one another is our choice.

At a more local level, our nature connects us to a familial community and fosters in us a desire to live as part of a community at large. Instilling a value for the earth in that community gives it a chance to work as a team, evolving a way of life that compliments them and the world around them on a daily basis. The community can base much of what it achieves together on that value system, and know that it is good.

The beauty of all of this is that as a way of thought and a way of life going forward, it can feed into and inspire all existing value systems and belief systems. Much of what it incorporates is already part of the basic value systems of all cultures anyway.

It is not based on any particular ideology, culture or institution. It is broad enough to be incorporated but specific enough in that it focuses all people onto the ideal that we are part and parcel of the earth, that we all belong, that we have a spiritual connection to the earth and therefore to each other.

Furthermore, it need not replace existing mythologies or institutions. Just as Irish Christianity incorporated many of the Celtic beliefs that preceded it, so too these values can evolve into existing practices, ideologies and rituals.

This is an important point when considering that there is no solid heaven myth put forward by the value system I am highlighting here – there is no place where we go when we die, no undiscovered country. Cultures can keep there myths, in tact, along with all of there other values and institutions. There is no conflict here. No opposing mythologies.

For me a heaven myth is not essential. Granted, as death closes in around me, Ill want to feel like this is not the end for me personally. At that level, a heaven myth is comfort, for me and those around me. But realistically I just can’t see a ‘higher power’, so that’s that. The systems that run our bodies are finite. Nature has made it so for the good of Life itself.

What comforts me is the fact that you and me and him and her have had the chance to live at all. Consider for a moment the countless possible outcomes of all these systems interacting over such a vast amount of time, and realise that we are all very lucky indeed just to be able to stand as living beings on the earth.

It can be agued that morally, the idea of heaven makes people believe that they will have to answer for their lives on earth in the afterlife and that that keeps people in check. Equally I would argue that it allows them to justify actions on earth that may be morally skewed in the hope that somehow they will be rewarded in heaven.

In both cases, the heaven myth takes away from the present, and I believe that is a bad thing overall. Life and living are about the here and now. Our focus must be on the earth and the physical universe, on our place within there grand systems and on the great natural potential of the human species. These things in themselves are deeply human and fulfilling.

The real moral issue that this focus on reality addresses then is ‘what kind of life am I living?’, ‘how am I contributing?’, ‘what good am I doing?’

The beauty for the individual is that he or she gets to ponder and be inspired by the natural world, along with the added human element, and realise the sense of purpose, greatness and belonging that should be part of all human belief systems. This is our home; our church; our place of contemplation; our playing field; the physical world from which we were all borne and to which we will all return.

As an individual, you can just ‘be’ as part of this grand tapestry, and add to it by thinking, and feeling, and creating what is in your heart, as an individual. Your nature does not paralyse you by telling you what you are, and making you feel like you must conform. Instead it instills you with these great desires, it provides you with these great tools, and it allows you the ability to make of them what you will.

How all of this may work practically in the real world, how it will aid humanity and how we get there I will deal with in the next post.

Believing in the earth is not about assigning yourself to a particular set of cultural rules or historical rituals. It is not about ‘growing into’ or taking on board an existing communal belief system.

It is about whether or not you decide to take on board some basic realities and find fulfilment in the fact that you belong to them and are an important part of them. As with your friends or your family, you then try to celebrate that relationship and live your life in respect of it.

The crucial point about this is that it is far more real to us and to our nature than any belief system we may evolve culturally. It comes from what I will refer to as our ‘natural purpose’.

All living beings have a natural purpose. We all have an inbuilt drive in us. We all have natural tasks we feel we need to complete and roles we feel we need to play. Nature builds these instincts into our collective conscious. We are rewarded with a sense of fulfilment, of physical or mental contentment.

Why does nature do this? For the survival and growth of life itself. For that is what we are – vessels for the continuation of Life itself, evolved over time into our current form through circumstance and the processes of trial and error.

The most basic forms of Life on earth have always have always been driven by this. Likewise with every plant, every fish, every reptile, every bird, every animal and every human. How that affects and drives the ‘vessel’ becomes more and more recognisable to us as we move up the contemporary food chain.

Daffodils open up to the suns energy. Sharks live for the kill. Iguanas bask happily in the morning sun. The Albatross loves to fly. Caribou live for the herd. Humans are consumed by sex. All of these are necessary for the survival and growth of each species, and of Life itself.

Obviously this has a huge impact on evolved human consciousness and culture. We are territorial and communal. We are, by our nature, omnivores. We invest in our offspring. We are affectionate. We are inquisitive and experimental. We have hierarchies, leaders and followers, male and female ‘roles’. All human cultures are built on these natural traits.

And so, when the wildebeest sits content with its herd on the opens plains of the African Savannah, its belly full from grazing, its eyes watching out for its young as they play, we can see how in fulfilling its natural purpose, it has found a sense of peace and purpose. Its brain or its body does not need any more to feel satisfied.

Not so with the human. We are unique (rather than ‘advanced’ or ‘progressive’) as our specific intelligence and abilities add an extra dimension to these evolved traits. We have a need to know; a need to explain; a need to understand. It is a natural trait that aids all living beings in the game of survival, but our intelligence and our abilities allow us to explore and express these in uniquely human ways.

Whether this is a blessing or a curse is open to debate. These are not absolutely necessary for our survival or indeed (when you consider the wildebeest) our personal contentment. Our natural purpose is such that we can find contentment as part of a community, raising our young, living in peace where possible. But our ability to ponder and our need to understand drive us to other things.

Where did we come from? What is our purpose? What created us? How did it all begin? These questions naturally have formed the basis of all belief systems dotted throughout the Human Experience.

You can almost imagine our earliest ancestors pondering such things and attempting to explain them with reference to the world around them as they knew it. Epic tales were weaved. Rituals were performed. Wise people emerged. Institutions were formed. Monuments were erected.

This cultures that it creates is something quite brilliant. Just as with the evolution of the first animals or the first birds, it adds another layer to the grand systems of life.

But our culture and our generation must decide how we will answer these burning questions with reference to the world as we know it. We do not need origin tales to explain the world. Our wise men can answer more clearly the questions of where, what and why. We now know the beautiful reality of our natural purpose, and we can feel content in fulfilling it.

But we will always have that burning need to believe in the idea that we are part of something greater than ourselves; something that we belong to; something that we are an important part of. Something that was here long before us that we lived among and contributed to, and that will live on long after we have returned to the earth.

This could be a football team, a family, a city or a nation. All can and do suffice.

But nothing is more pure, more epic, more relevant or more real than the earth itself. Know that you are a part of the earth. That’s its elements and its systems flow in your veins. That you have a natural purpose, however that may inform your inner self or your daily life. That you belong. That you can be inspired by the earth, its physical landscapes and its living systems.

We can feel everything the wildebeest does; that contentment; that sense of purpose performed – and we can satisfy our need to know without inventing stories – it is real.

Believing in the earth is knowing that we understand and accept the reality of what we are and what we belong to, celebrating it, respecting it, safe in the knowledge that when we die, our bodies will remain as an important part of its grand systems.

This belief system does not necessarily require rituals, institutions, wise men or even a standard mythology. It is both individual and communal all at once. As I said in response to a previous post, ‘Imagine instead what it feels like to sit with a group of friends on the edge of the Grand Canyon at sunset, admiring the greatness in front of you and feeling like you belong. That’s the kind of belief system I am aiming at here.’

What this offers the individual, the human community and human culture I will deal with in the next post on this thread.

So the question is ‘what belief systems can we evolve that are based on the reality of the world as we know it today?’

As noted in the previous post, I believe it is unhealthy for a culture and a society to leave its life rituals in the hands of an institution whose work is not as meaningful to that society as it once was. Its nothing against the contemporary institutions, I just believe that as a basic fact in any culture. But to date there has been nothing significant to replace it.

But I have a suggestion. What if we were to evolve a practical belief in the Earth and in our place among its grand systems? The Earth as the great stage where all of Life’s games are played out and all of its greatness is on show to behold. The Human as a natural being, borne from the earth, belonging to the earth, and returning to the earth when it dies.

It is a powerful idea, one that serves many of the basic needs of any belief system. The crucial point, considering the knowledge that we now possess (knowledge that is freely available on a global scale), is that it is based on an absolute reality.

There is a beautiful natural basic reality here and it is this – the basis of everything you see around you, everything in the universe, was created in one moment, the Big Bang. The evolution of different systems has allowed these basic particles to be taken up, used and reused. This is the true tale of the reality of which we now find ourselves a part.

As such, all in the universe is one. The parts that one day formed part of a meteor millions of years ago could very well be pumping through your veins as your read this. You are the universe.

On earth, the same systems that created all that you see around you – the mountains, the rivers, the oceans, the herds – created you. You are the earth. All through your life your body consumes elements from the earth around it in order to live, it gives back to the earth as it grows, and it will return to be used by the earth’s grand systems once you finally fade into death.

As intelligent beings, we can logically understand this. We can study the evidence in front of our very eyes. We can dig through the evidence laid down over the millennia. We can speed up the process and watch the elements and the systems as they interact and create a visible whole. We can map the evolution of these systems over time to our own age.

As I said in the beginning – it is an absolute truth. But this is not enough on the face of it, to form a true human belief system. For this we need to truly ‘believe’. But what does this mean?

Despite the decline in the churches influence, no other institution has evolved to perform this function, so naturally people return to what they, their family and their community know.

What follows is not a statement on orgnised religion or an attempt to define ‘the modern’. It is borne of a love of human culture in general and the rituals that evolve to express it.

I believe the influence of the church and its teachings will continue to decline outside of the day to day christenings, weddings, confirmations and funerals. But really I think that is unhealthy. Here you have an institution that people don’t feel they really belong to in their daily lives, and yet it still provides for all the ritual needs of that society.

There is a dislocation there that in itself takes away from the meaning of the ritual entire. Rituals evolve as a way of showing our belief in and our belonging to an idea. Institutions evolve as a way of leading and championing those rituals. Without meaning, the ritual itself just becomes window dressing, as anyone who has sat through the traditional script of a confirmation or a wedding will testify.

This is not just nick-picking. This is a hugely significant point for society at large. In a way, I agree with many Church leaders. People need to involve themselves in rituals (alone and in a communal setting) that express their values and beliefs. This is indicative of a society with deep values and strong moral convictions – the physical expression of their spiritual self.

Witness the rituals of the Maori, the Native Americans, the Aborigines, Baptists or the Celts, any culture where the rituals still speak of and to the real culture of the people. To act out something in a communal ritualistic manner that expresses the beliefs and values of that culture is one of the defining cornerstones of humanity at large. They instil something great in the individual, and give the community at large a sense of belonging, purpose and togetherness.

This is why rituals such as this evolved in the human community in the first place. Without them, and this is not some conservative apocalyptic prediction but a genuine real world point, culture and society can become pretty shallow and lacking in honest human meaning.

Unfortunately for us, (and this is in no way an attempt to castigate Christianity, its traditions, its leaders or its institutions) by allowing the Church to remain in place as the ‘grand master’ of the rituals that define our lives, we may be threatening to remove any real spiritual meaning from them at all.

What we have here (and forgive me if I am labelling the point) is a situation where a grand institution evolved over time to ‘service’ (for want of a better word) the rituals of our community. And that was a good thing. But now that the belief system has moved on, we are left with an institution that not a lot of people feel any real spiritual belonging to.

Imagine a society where those rituals, those get togethers, those significant watershed moments, those stepping stones through life, did mean something spiritual to us. People get to physically act out there values in a way that is communal and mainstream. That was the whole point in the first place. That in itself, I believe, would lead to a more moral society. It would inspire meaningful human culture. And it would promote the human community.

Are we to accept that the major rituals in our society (the ones that define our lives and our culture at large) are to remain in the hands of a dying institution?

Or do we evolve new rituals that may allow people to act out their beliefs in a more meaningful, mainstream way? What form would those rituals take? What basic beliefs would shape them? With all the knowledge that we all have now about humanity, the earth and the universe, is it possible to us to evolve a grand belief system relevant to people on a global basis?

I will deal with that in the next post.

I have been hearing a lot of religious minded people asking the age old question lately: ‘If God is good why does he let so many bad things happen?’ It’s understandable when you look at the climate crisis, global greed and poverty, the wars in Iraq and elsewhere and the death of thousands of people in natural disasters such as Katrina and more recently in Burma.

It has been a consistent Christian concern for centuries and has always been answered with the similarly age old ‘God works in mysterious ways’ retort that drives many ‘non-believers’ and those ‘on the fence’ crazy.

It is a natural paradox for those who believe in a moral God on high with the power to influence the daily lives of his subjects on earth.

I don’t believe in this idea of an all powerful, all seeing God. I was raised in a Catholic society. I believe, based on my readings of history, that Jesus was a real person and that he was a great man with a powerful spiritual message at a time when it was needed, as was Muhammed, Buddha, Gandhi, Martin Luther King and host of other inspiring individuals.

The ‘One True All Powerful God’ thesis is unhealthy I believe for 2 reasons:

Firstly, in instils the belief in followers that all other belief systems are ‘wrong’. Despite any message of brotherhood and the rights of man, they’re religion by default believes anyone who doesn’t agree with them are heathens and atheists, to be pitied and/or converted. Read your history books ladies and gentlemen. This idea hasn’t exactly brought people together.

Does it mean the present Pope is out to slaughter Native Americans or Buddhists? I think not. But I do believe he sits at home at night and worries about those poor little people with their funny little stories and hatches a plan to bring them into the light.

Religion in my mind is culture. It is stories that create meaning for a people. It is the physical expression of our basic spirituality. It is rituals that define our lives. To turn around and say that yours, fundamentally, is the only one allowed is like a rugby player trying to ban soccer, or a jazz musician demanding an end to rock. It works against the great melting point and tapestry of human culture entire. And it’s bloody racist.

Secondly, and this goes for most religions out there so sorry guys, the idea that there is a God up there deciding our fate on a daily basis who we will have to answer to in the next life, by its very nature, takes away from the reality of the here and now.

OK you can argue that it inspires you to try and be a better person on earth because you will be judged. But surely there are more immediate ways of motivating people along those lines. It makes us feel part of something greater than ourselves. But surely this ‘thing’ does not have to exist solely in the heavens. And of course it gives us a sense of something after death which is comforting for us and for our loved ones.

I’ve never been dead, so I cant comment on the undiscovered country. But I draw comfort from the fact that when I die my body will return to the earth and the elements will not go to waste. They will remain as part of the grand systems that created us. Just as my body used them, so will another. What made me, what I come from, will never fade.

It is completely understandable and commendable that certain cultures evolved stories and beliefs to explain and draw meaning from the world around them based on the knowledge that they possessed at the time. But maybe it is time, with the knowledge that we now possess of the world around us and our place within it, to form a more contemporary belief system.

There is no divine hand of creation. We are not pawns in some celestial game. This is it – the here and now. This is our shot. This is our chance to do something with the gift of life we have been given.

What physical form would such a belief system take? What rituals, hierarchies and institutions will evolve? What leaders will emerge? Who knows?

What is needed now is an instillation of values based on the truth that we are natural beings who belong as part of a great living planet unique, as far as we know, in the universe.

Let culture and the evolving human experience worry about the rest.

Ill be kicking off a series of threads on religion and belief systems in general in the next day or so. As such I thought ‘What better way to introduce it than with a comment on organised (and some thankfully dis-organised) religions in general’.

I like getting down to the nitty gritty of what defines us as humans, and how these have shaped ways of life throughout the human experience. We can look at history and be very sceptical of humanity in general. But if you get down to the very base reality of what we are, you come to the conclusion that we are pretty fascinating creatures. You start thinking ‘If i saw one of them in a shop, I’d buy one’.

Forget the terrible things done in the name of organised religion since the dawn of time. Forget the fact that people live and die everyday in respect of stories that were made up once upon a time by someone or other. Realise that people have, by their nature, a basic healthy spirituality. It is one of the defining characteristics of the human and it is a great thing.

It comes from our ability to ponder the earth and our own existence. It is driven by our need to belong and to find meaning in the world around us. Rituals, leaders and institutions evolve over time out of this, and these can be judged on their own merits. But regardless, the worst atrocities performed by the worst people in the name of the worst religious organisations in the history of the human experience should never take away from that basic reality.

Full synopsis here.