There have always been challenges to human survival

To the editor:

During the process of developing my present worldview, I rejected religion in order to seek a better explanation about life and the purpose of existence because religion seemed to cause prejudice, intolerance, and holy wars. I proceeded to educate myself — which revealed my own ignorance about the general scheme of things, but I was impressed with the order and harmony in the universe and the realm of nature, so I continued to read books and take random classes of interest at the local college. I went through several stages of re-learning everything I’d been taught about the world and the purpose of existence, and I slowly developed my own common sense code of behavior to live by — which is in accordance with my own level of intelligence, emotional awareness, and circumstances.

Near retirement age it occurred to me that fairy tales, myths, and ancient scriptures explain certain aspects of “Truth” in ways that we can understand. Many people honestly understand the spiritual principles that scriptures are based on, but many others accept ancient scriptures as being literally true, while most of us use our own sense of reason to apply the spiritual principles in our daily life. But regardless of their origin, all world views are subject to many outside influences, such as the circumstances of life and our level of intelligence and emotion. We all have a mind of our own, and nobody goes to hell for having different beliefs. To some extent, all religious people, as well as secular humanists and independent thinkers, practice the spiritual principles that human culture is based on.

The physical universe and the realm of life are in a constant state of change, but even so, a basic “sameness” is always present in the overall scheme of things. Mountains wash into the sea while being replaced by plate tectonics, and we all experience a similar human existence — but in somewhat different circumstances. At any given time, everything in the world makes sense because everything is as it should be. Environmental changes result from the immutable laws of physics, and human beings respond to change by adjusting their attitudes and behavior to comply with different conditions.

We can’t change the laws of physics, but we can apply them to our own purpose, such as flying planes and producing electricity. If we set our minds to it, we can use our knowledge of physical laws to modify the effects of climate change. As we face the changes that lie ahead, we may need to change our attitudes about life and the things we take for granted, because global warming might be worse than the ice ages. There have always been challenges to human survival — mostly from each other and wars with nuclear bombs — but now it’s the effects of climate change, and it is really time to get serious.

Art Carney

Wasilla