MAN’S STRUGGLE TO BUILD & SUSTAIN FOUNDATIONAL VALUES
It has been recorded that primitive tribes, when a great leader or warrior died, would eat and drink from the body in an attempt to gain some of the hero’s values; bravery, wisdom, conviction. Our present day christian service of communion echoes this practice – symbolically trying to capture some of Christ’s spirit.
For centuries mankind has struggled to build a path of values through the surrounding jungle of hatred, selfishness,and greed. It almost seems that man is, by nature more attracted to the dark side. Is it the drama and excitement that is fertile soil for all our corrupt and vicious tendencies? The movement to give the ordinary man or woman an equal voice in society has been fought
for hundreds of years. Traditional religion has wandered through this jungle using benedictions from the pulpit and has failed. Now is the time for rational secular values be adopted internationally and many of man’s centuries old conflicts would become manageable. These newly focused secular values build a pathway that stops the glorification of violence and war and creates peace and an environment for business, trade and domestic life.
The Democratic path man has been working to build is a tedious slog , often two steps forward, then two back. In addition to the paths foundational materials: Honesty, Equality, Compassion, we have found additional tools to help – science, research, and communication – but there is no quick way to build an evolving democratic path. Mankind is still going through, ’THE TEENS’.
One of the difficulties with building democratic values is we encounter deep seated barriers rooted in culture, and religion. For instance, women’s reproductive rights, (a fundamental right in most modern societies), clashes with many religious beliefs. Another example again regarding women’s rights – is equal pay for equal work. The culture of capitalism has resisted this for many years as they have with government provided health care, pensions, and social assistance funding.
The common man and the common good have made headway in the last hundred years but Equality is the hardest concept to build into this path of values. Corporations, with the acquiescence of Government, wants to control every aspect of society. They believe they are the engine of progress, (money is everything) and they have entitlement.
Until the human species realizes that growth and material wealth is not the end game, completing this path of values will continue to be a battle of attrition.
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