Thoughts about what a "projection" of human ethics could be.

No doubt, I would have been hanged for this idea less than a 200 years ago, in the Christian realm. Worse it might happen to me in some (Mid-Eastern) parts of the world, even today.

Does the above caption stand for something new or revolutionary? Not quite. The mainstream view of religions rooted in the Bible affirm, that God created the world. Alternatively, a few thinkers, such as the ‘heretic’ philosopher Feuerbach, dared to claim in the 19th century, that men invented God. Again others (Lord Buddha) teach that the world in uncreated, but that she renews herself in countless cycles of particular time-quality. These views are divergent, and certainly difficult to reconcile.

The major problem is that God, seen or believed as the absolute dimension, cannot be defined through lower dimensions of thought, emotion or experience.
Among those, who searched for God, there have been two fundamental approaches:

(1) The top-to-bottom approach of the Priesthood (= mainstream Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and others). In this approach, it is argued that Angels and Prophets communicated the Divine Law. A selected number of humans act as priests, and are entitled (or endowed with exclusive rights), to interpret the Word of God. Given the fact that such positions equate to power in any society of the past and present, holy books were tampered with right from the very beginning (results are known, and obvious).

(2) The grassroots approach of the Seekers and Saints (= mystics and saints of Buddhism, Hinduism, Sufi, Hinduism, Christian Mysticism and others). These try to discover God from within, through meditation, focus, exercise and prayer. This leads to ‘mystic’ experiences and also to interesting and sometimes eccentric life style manifestations. Teachings from that corner can be pragmatic, humorous, often un-orthodox and sometimes confusing for the non-initiated.

The number ones normally hate the number two, as the latter cut into the (perceived exclusive) religious business of the number one. The two’s tend to make fun out of the priesthood. In brief, saints and priests don’t go well along with each other, and love to mix like oil and water.

Others have tried to tackle God from neutral grounds: avoiding emotion (the human elixir of all joy, and all misery) and approaching the fundamental question through science, learning and philosophy. Though not necessarily advocating this approach, I argue it may have elements and merits that could be developed farther in the context of the Greater Good - given we’re having a few big problems with religions, faith, interpretations etc.

What I’m advocating here translates into exponentially projecting human values such as truthfulness, and love, far into the realm of the un-seen and un-experienced. What I’m describing here may not be entirely new, but it has certainly the merits of potentially reconciling groups of different faith: rather than cock-fighting over who is right or wrong, or more right than the others, it may be wiser to focus on common grounds, such as the two universally recognized pillars of goodness: these are truthfulness and love/compassion.

I would like to refer here to the eminent thinking of the 18th century philosopher Immanuel Kant, who said (in my own particular no-nonsense translation): “One should always act such as the sublime aspiration of one’s acts (“Maxime”) could be endorsed as (a blueprint of) Universal Law.”

History shows there have been countless examples of courage, truthful behavior, love, and compassionate sacrifice. One could take these examples, and plot these on exponential curves, where the X axis stands for the number of people (6.5 billion right now, and cumulatively perhaps 10 billion at a cut-off date at - 50000 years), and the Y axis for the degree of accomplishment.

Assign numbers such as 1 for oneself, and figures such as 10, 100, and 1000 for outstanding leaders and a few 10000 for people who have demonstrated universally recognized deeds of love and courage etc, in an attitude of sincerity, devotion and truthfulness, etc.

Guess what lurks, where the curve is pointing to: the unseen infinite potential of the human race, if not the ultimate potential of all beings of all times. I keep it like this, in respectful distance. It’s up to you what you want to call it.

I would like to end this article by pointing to the richness of our human experience and history, and to the countless examples of human achievement. Let it be up to the individual, which example he or she wants to follow.

© 2007 by Franz L Kessler