Master of our own destiny

To the editor:

Liberal and conservative ideology was established through a series of debates between the American patriot, Thomas Paine, and his protagonist, Edmond Burke, an English intellectual. The basis for their point of view is explained by Yuval Levin, a think tank scholar and policy staffer for George W. Bush.

Levin’s recent book, “The Great Debate,” gives an account of the original disagreement between Paine and Burke, and the controversy has continued ever since. Nevertheless, our political system is based on sound principles that have served America very well in the past, but in recent years Wall Street bankers and conservative idealists began to contribute large sums of money to political campaigns, then the trade unions and liberals followed suit. Now we have a real mess, and from a liberal point of view, it looks like the conservatives are “winning,” as evidenced by the near elimination of America’s middle class, and the growing disparity between the very rich and the poor.

There is agreement that change is needed, but cultural change is very slow and painful, as evidenced by the “Arab Spring” that resulted from the poverty and despair of desperate people in the Middle East. But regardless of how problems come about, they must be dealt with, and now they also include the results of global warming. Since miracles seem to be a thing of Biblical times, we need to rely more on common sense and cooperation, rather than the outdated methods of the past.

Evidently, because of the innocent ignorance of early Shamans, the mysteries of nature were misconstrued by our ancient ancestors, which caused a major misunderstanding of “God” at the time our religious beliefs were being established. Now that we understand the laws of physics, we also know that evil spirits do not cause hurricanes, etc. But we still need religion to help us cope with the negative aspects of human culture, however, the primary function of religion is to introduce mankind to spiritual principles that can be applied to our everyday life — providing we recognize their intrinsic value.

In spite of their lack of knowledge, the ancient Shamans were aware that man’s survival depends on moral principles and the unified cooperation of the entire group. Our common goals eventually led to civilized societies and respect for individual rights, however, people continue to have a problem finding the right balance between their rights and their cultural responsibilities. Even with our general understanding of physics and nature, human culture will never be perfect because we still have problems understanding our self.

However, through self-honesty and the use of reason, as individuals we can come to know our self and our place in the scheme of things —by paying attention to other people and the role of our community. When we learn to live by principles that are a step above religious beliefs and civil laws, we’ll realize that we are the master of our own destiny.

Art Carney

Wasilla