SPECTRUM: Springtime in Alaska

This is my awkward time of year because I like to keep busy, but it's too muddy to work outside, and as I get older I seem to lose interest in many of my former pastimes. Auditing a college class kept me occupied last winter, and I also continue to raise chickens and sell eggs. Writing letters to the editor has become a hobby, and I often think of myself as a “homemade philosopher” who looks at the realm of life with a questioning point of view — and some different ideas about man's existence.

Maybe I ought to “get out” more! Nah, I spent a lifetime in the thick of things, including ten rowdy years that ended in a recovery program. I also fathered six kids, and went through two divorces and a mid-life process of recognizing the advantages and benefits of bachelorhood, which was followed by fifteen seasons in community theater, and twenty or thirty classes at the local college. At age fifty I retired from regular employment to build a small house and establish a five acre subsistence farm. After slowing down in my golden years, I'm finding “answers” to most of the religious doubts and confusion that bothered me since high school. Thankfully, I now see that the different Organized Religions are humanities' cultural institutions that are necessary for the upward evolution of mankind.

The recent book, “Gro-Magnon” by Brian Fagan, surmised that the Neanderthals' primitive culture was concerned with the survival and well-being of every man, woman and child in the group —and evidently, the concept of “well-being” led to our modern religions— which are mankind's way to introduce the spiritual principles of life to every member of humanity. However, certain religious beliefs that were helpful in the past have been misinterpreted, which leads to the prejudice and discrimination that divides people and leads to holy war. Even so, and in spite of its shortcomings, the Organized Religions effectively promote the spiritual principles to the bulk of humanity, but that is only half the battle because the dual nature of man also requires a knowledge of science because it will insure our physical survival and well being. In other words, we need to pursue both physical knowledge and spiritual understanding in order to gain a measure of physical comfort and peace of mind.

However, because Organized Religion is a double edged sword, the bulk of mankind will continue to suffer because of our innate ignorance at birth. However, there is a growing number of broad-minded individuals who actively pursue physical knowledge, as well as spiritual understanding, and they apply both science and spirituality to their daily life.