Emergence: The Seeds of Rebellion

A free-thinking person isn't viewed as trust worthy. But if not for those who shun tradition, we'd still likely be living in the Dark Ages. It seems that for the important things--- who we love, who we hate, and even the security of our species, we place far too much emphasis on religion or nationality.

If everything noble to which we hope to aspire must first be validated by one view, then of what possible importance could the affairs of the rest of the world be? Given how increasingly sectarian our country’s become… not much. In the end, it's not about choices, but is more about reducing them. The view is, it's best to keep things simple. Such an economy of thought isn't good for any country that welcomes new ideas.

Religion clouds a person’s natural curiosity about life's great mysteries with a false dichotomy. It effectively trumps every natural instinct humans have been inspired to have, and turns them into acts of vanity or sin. Religion says that to think on your own terms is an affront to the creator.

Of course, a concession must be made for recognizing the need for belief; but that we should all be homogenized into believing in the same thing is troubling. Worse than that, reserving for one’s self the right not to believe in anything at all is often met with scorn and ridicule.

Why are religious people so incensed by those of us who simply don’t find it necessary to vet every important decision we’ve ever made through a god of some kind? It's all about keeping us apathetic to the point where we've become complacent.

I'd like to show you exactly why religion and governments in particular are so adamant about what it is that we should or shouldn’t believe. I do my level best to show that it’s characteristically been those who aren’t limited by the constraints of belief who have struggled against convention so that they could drag the rest of us forward. It’s been the creative thinking approach that’s invoked by art, music, and science that’s liberated humanity from the stale and arcane limits represented best by religion and nationalistic fervor.

Somewhere along the way, everything’s gotten watered down and shallow. In our rush for the quick fix, we’re losing our ability to think for ourselves. No matter how idealistically, I'll suggest how we might break the dreary chain of causality that's created our willing imprisonment. Despite the media's insistence that we focus on the mundane, I'll explain how we can focus again on those things that ought to matter. Belief is important. Religion is our way of reconciling ourselves to dying, but it shouldn’t become so powerful that it prevents us from living.

If we notice an ant crawling around on the lip of a drinking glass caught in an unending circle, we’re amused at first. Hours later, when the ant continues on its relentless trek around the glass’s edge, we start to get mildly annoyed. We’re dismayed by how this apparently stupid creature hasn’t yet figured out that it’s been going around in this little circle. In fact, if we don’t intercede in some way, it will likely go on like this for the rest of its life.

What most of us fail to take into account, is the fact that one of the ways scout ants blaze new paths, is by laying down a pheromone trail that will aid it in returning to the colony later. If the trip was successful in yielding up new food sources, then that same trail can be followed by other members of the colony at some future point. Since there have been ants, that’s a pretty good way to run a business.
It’s a safe bet that most such scouting adventures won’t end up on the edge of a glass somewhere, since such items are relatively rare in nature. In that same spirit, I wonder what some dispassionate observer would think if they were to look at some of the things we believe. Would they laugh at our plight, or would they be appalled by our short-sightedness? Like the intrepid ant, it seems we're still going around in this big, endl