Stalactites, Religion, and the Age of the Earth
I saw a stalactite formation at Cumberland Caverns this past weekend which is estimated to be around 168,000 years old (not pictured). Its growth is measurable and has been measured. Wikipedia says an average stalactite growth rate is 0.13 mm (0.0051 inches) a year.
And yet some people still think the earth is 6,000-8,000 years old. The mental gymnastics needed to justify this thinking are intense. There's no attempt to disprove a hypothesis, just to confirm it enough and stop questioning. To question one view of dogma opens others to scrutiny which may cause the whole house to fall. If that house also holds up community, morality, family, purpose, and meaning... it's not going down easily. I know first hand.
Religion may have been a wonderfully helpful tool for making sense of the world. It may still be very useful today for bringing joy, peace, comfort and so much more. That said, it has to align with science to survive. The gatekeepers for information no longer exist. Not only can people read things for themselves, they can read counter arguments and find evidence to disprove a theory. The evidence is all around in history, nature, our brains, and our growing understanding of the universe. It's a wonderful thing to embrace what may come. To let go of outdated views like a flat earth or geocentric solar system. Let's embrace what is and see where it takes us, letting go of ancient stories and myths which aren't describing realities as much as teaching us about ourselves and the things we need to believe to make sense of our existence.
This universe may have been designed (maybe it's a simulation after all?), but few today believe it was built by Odin, Loki, or Zeus. It probably wasn't built by Allah or Jeshua either. If we can all be open to that, maybe we can begin to grow and learn together.
I originally shared these thoughts on my Facebook wall which sparked quite a bit of conversation. I'm curious what my fellow Steemians think. Sorry for the low-quality pictures. I just had my phone and the light was pretty low.
It's great that you tied this is with an earlier post you made elsewhere. I was supposed to leave my thoughts on that, but I'll comment here instead.
We share the same exact sentiments regarding religion. It was a very useful tool before, but I feel it has served its ultimate purpose. With advancements in human understanding, the notion of religion may seem a bit outdated. It used to be that it was the only source of knowledge, but now it can't seem to accept the fact that science has taken its place.
I do agree that it's current purpose is to bring joy, peace, comfort, among many others, but on the flip side, it's also being used to foster division, disagreements and other negative things that seem to counteract its benefits. There's a balance that can be struck there, but unless the figureheads can't see beyond their petty competition, it'll just be an endless cycle of non-progress.
Heh, isn't that the truth. For me, the main thing I dislike about (most) religions is they are built on concepts that are not designed for change and are not to be questioned. If you go to any Christian church here in the U.S., you'll probably see they have a tenants of faith. Essentially, these are the things you are not to question if you are to be part of their community. The way we learn is by questioning everything and only loosely holding on to whatever stands up to scrutiny. To gain knowledge, we should purposefully try to disprove our own thinking and the ideas of our communities. Only then can we know what's closer to truth.
Thanks for the comment, Jed. I hope you're doing well.
YES. Very well put. Challenging preconceived notions is truly the way to go. We can't just discover something and be satisfied just because that's what we're told. If anything, that's the main enemy of learning. I hope that one day, the human mind would evolve to a point that it's wired to question everything until a definitive conclusion is presented.
I am :) I hope you, your family and the guys at Foxy are doing great as well.
Thank you for the post @lukestokes. In my opinion, the questioning of one's own faith is very important. Moreover, the rejection of science by certain religious beliefs seems problematic to me. Indeed, I think that religions can learn from science, so it should be constructive. Although this is difficult, because most believers think their beliefs are genuine and therefore those of others are not. And in general, this leaves very little room for discussion, argumentation and debate.
I am very interested in your post, a lot of unique scenery in the your pictures, I have never seen it in directly, and of course your writing insightful us all. remarkable.
Thank you! :)
Beautiful. Really good post. Violence seems so childish and illogical, but we are emotional Beings.
Thanks Skypal. I hope we can transition towards positive emotions and away from negative ones. Violence is just a tragic expression of an unmet need.