Column sparks pondering on faith

A recent Faith column in this newspaper suggested that we should spend more time pondering — which I’ve done a lot of in my life, mostly about God and religion. However, in my mid-40s I realized that religion no longer makes sense to me, and that if there is a God, he must have stayed on the other side of the Big Bang.

After a lot more pondering, I decided to put my old beliefs on the shelf and start all over by living my life as if there is no God. I figured if I’m wrong and there really is a divine plan for me, then the powers that be would have the wherewithal to let me know what it is or to otherwise make it happen.

Within a year or two, I came to see that in the natural course of events, we human beings have worked out different ways and means to survive and prosper in this world. I also realized that a reasonably good life is possible for anyone who obeys our laws and customs, participates in the economy, and contributes to the wellbeing of the community. We Americans are fortunate that after doing our fair share as a citizen, we are free to pursue happiness according to our own ability, beliefs and preferences.

After retirement, I pondered about the origin and nature of existence, which led me to imagine that an “intelligent force” and an “emotional need” came together somehow and caused a Big Bang and the establishment of matter and life. The origin of the Big Bang remains a mystery, but the nature of matter is plain to see in the actions of the intelligent laws of physics that govern the physical universe. In like manner, the nature of life can be seen in our will-to-live and our human need for emotional experience.

Evolution brought about the establishment of life by uniting the simple-consciousness of a will-to-live with certain elements of matter and, eventually, evolution brought about the higher mental abilities of a certain species of primate, and one of its members became aware that he or she had a mind of its own. That realization was the “birth” of the human species.

After a few million years of man’s evolution, some wise men in India pondered about the nature of human life and they concluded “there is no truth, except from a single point of view.” Not long after discovering that bit of original wisdom, old Lao-tzu of China claimed, “There are ways (to live), but the ways are unknown,” and later, Confucius applied his “truth” to a code of behavior for each level of society to live by, while the meditations of the Buddha revealed concerns about the soul of man.

At the same time, in the faraway Middle East, the Jewish nation remained faithful to the one true god, but there was a split when Jesus tried to explain a new covenant for people to live by. Some of his apostles understood the gist of his message, but for the most part, Christians willingly accept the truth of his teachings on faith. After a few more centuries, Muhammad came along and transcribed another set of instructions that were dictated by an angel, and 1,000 years later, after the turmoil of the Dark Ages, the general consciousness of man was enhanced by the enlightenment and the advent of science, which led to the establishment of our modern civilization. Recently, Joseph Smith, with the help of another angel, founded the Mormons and another way to ponder the mysteries of life.

All these different ways to live constitute a virtual sea of religious denominations, sects and cults, as well as a number of secular theories and attitudes that attempt to guide certain factions of the human race toward some kind of consensus. However, human knowledge and experience continues to reveal that, “there is no truth, except from a single point of view,” because all human beings are at different levels of mental and emotional development, and individuals can only live by those beliefs that “ring true” in their own heart.

It would behoove many of us to trust the wisdom of our own common sense and learn to live all over again — according to the Truths of our own point of view.

Art Carney is a Wasilla resident.