Science
may not have a perfect understanding of evolved human behavior and our
cognitive limitations but scientists certainly know a great deal more than they
did twenty-five years ago. During the same period, Rabbi Jeffrey Leynor and former pastor Jim
Myers were working together to understand the histories of their religions and
their relationships to each other. They followed the evolution of Judaism and
Christianity from the first century CE to today and it was clear that their theologies
were primary sources of conflict and division. However, during their journey they
discovered values and principles from ancient wisdom texts in their Scriptures
that they shared and agree on.
An
important guideline they used in their work stated – “Our belief systems will be large enough to include all of the facts . .
.” This brought them into the realm of science. They found many things in
their ancient wisdom texts and agreed with things they discovered in scientific
studies. When they created the TOV Center, an important part of its mission is
this – “Combining ancient wisdom with
modern science to maximize human experiences.”
At
the heart of TOV Center’s Lives 1st
Initiative is the core principle
that “humans are unique creatures” – they share some things with other forms of
life, but have certain traits that are unknown in other forms of life. However,
humans have the capacity to live as unique creatures that are above other
animals or behave like deadly wild predatory animals. This is a foundational
principle in their Judaism and
Christianity too.
For centuries theologians and scientists have
existed in mutually exclusive domains. They have strongly disagreed about the
uniqueness of humans. But now there has been a huge breakthrough that indicates
science has taken a giant step has been taken toward bridging that gap. Scientific American
(September 2018) is a “Special Issue: The
Science of Being Human.” The information below is from an article in that
issue, “How We Became a Different Kind of
Animal: An Evolved Uniqueness” (p. 33). Highlights have been added to
stress key points.
Most people on this planet blithely
assume, largely without any valid scientific rationale, that humans are special
creatures, distinct from other animals. Curiously,
the scientists best qualified to evaluate this claim have often appeared
reticent to acknowledge the uniqueness of Homo sapiens, perhaps for fear of
reinforcing the idea of human exceptionalism put forward in religious doctrines.
Yet hard scientific data have been amassed across fields ranging from
ecology to cognitive psychology affirming that humans truly are a remarkable
species. . .
When one also considers our
intelligence, powers of communication, capacity for knowledge acquisition and
sharing — along with magnificent works of
art, architecture and music we create — humans genuinely do stand out as
a very different kind of animal. Our culture seems to separate us from the
rest of nature, and the yet that culture, too, must be a product of evolution. .
.
The emerging consensus is that
humanity’s accomplishments derive from an ability to acquire knowledge and
skills from other people. Individuals then build on that reservoir of pooled
knowledge over long periods. This
communal store of experience enables creation of ever more efficient and
diverse solutions to life’s challenges. It was not our large brains,
intelligence or language that gave us culture but rather our culture that gave
us large brains, intelligence and language. For our species and perhaps a
small number of other species, too, culture transformed the evolutionary
process.
The term “culture” implies fashion or
haute cuisine, but boiled down to its scientific essence, culture comprises
behavior patterns shared by members of a community that rely on socially
transmitted information. Whether we consider automobile designs, popular music
styles, scientific theories or the foraging of small-scale societies, all
evolve through endless rounds of innovations that add incremental refinements
to an initial baseline of knowledge. Perpetual, relentless copying and innovation
— that is the secret of our species’
success.
I
urge you to buy a copy of this issue of Scientific
American and read the entire magazine and follow the TOV Center’s Lives 1st
Blog. Combining science and ancient wisdom provides amazing new options
for dealing with the 21st century challenges our generation faces.
____________________________________________________
Would you like
to learn more about this subject?
for staying up
to date on local and online events.
____________________________________________________
Comments
Post a Comment