Sunday Musings - August 6, 2023
I am fascinated by our human resistance to the revelations of science. I understand most of us live within carefully constructed systems. The fear may often be if we disturb or let go of one part or piece the entire structure will fall apart.
Religious leaders often play a role in attempting to ensure that our belief systems are not disturbed. They count on fear of God’s punishment or being ostracized by God’s community. It is easy for all institutions, including religious ones, to fall into the trap of making the primary goal to ensure the continuation of the institution at any cost.
Two of the delusions which are embraced by most Christian leaders as well as by other religious leaders is that we have free will and punishment is an appropriate response to our alleged “misbehavior”; for breaking the rules/laws.
We hold tightly to the illusion of free will. Just this week I read several articles by various secular and religious “scholars” stating that if a person was able to plan and execute a crime that they must have had free will and, thus, deserve to be tried, convicted, and punished for their “crime”. Yet science and even common sense tells us this is not the case. We know, for example:
The second of these beliefs is if punishment if severe enough it will have positive results. In the United States we continue to incarcerate more people than any other country and have one of the highest recidivism rates in the world. Yet we pretend that our judicial system is designed to rehabilitate those we incarcerate. While it is true that some people do find their better selves when incarcerated this is despite the system and not because of it. There is ample evidence that the more humane, scientific approach of counties such as Norway is more effective. There is ample evidence that Portugal’s decriminalizing or all recreational drugs has been very effective.
It is not true that we know we can cure mental illness or even consistently effectively treat it. It is not true that we can heal all those who are unable to have a shared, empathetic reality: who are unable to consider the needs of others. No one orders a psychotic or sociopathic brain from Amazon. Some people may need to be in a protective environment, even for life, but there is no reason to punish someone for not having a brain which is able to make socially conscious decisions.
As a society we need to decide to be honest about the role science will or should play in how be live with each other and Mother Earth. I am not suggesting that science provides all the answers. I am suggesting that many of our believes and actions are not rooted in the answers with which science does gift us.
I am not arguing against religion or a belief in something we call God to describe the oneness – the interconnectedness and interdependence – of all that is. I am not arguing against the magic which is not explained by science. I am suggesting that we need beliefs and behavior which embrace and honor the truths science does reveal.
Written August 6, 202
Jimmy F. Pickett
coachpickett.org
I am fascinated by our human resistance to the revelations of science. I understand most of us live within carefully constructed systems. The fear may often be if we disturb or let go of one part or piece the entire structure will fall apart.
Religious leaders often play a role in attempting to ensure that our belief systems are not disturbed. They count on fear of God’s punishment or being ostracized by God’s community. It is easy for all institutions, including religious ones, to fall into the trap of making the primary goal to ensure the continuation of the institution at any cost.
Two of the delusions which are embraced by most Christian leaders as well as by other religious leaders is that we have free will and punishment is an appropriate response to our alleged “misbehavior”; for breaking the rules/laws.
We hold tightly to the illusion of free will. Just this week I read several articles by various secular and religious “scholars” stating that if a person was able to plan and execute a crime that they must have had free will and, thus, deserve to be tried, convicted, and punished for their “crime”. Yet science and even common sense tells us this is not the case. We know, for example:
- One can plan and execute a behavior without the ability to realize or accept that harming another will, in the long run, harm all. At age 4, I, consciously and without empathy, decided to use what I knew to be my mother’s racism to blame a playmate of color for my behavior. I knew what I was doing. I did not, however, have the capacity to fully comprehend why racism hurt all of us; why racism is stupid and immoral.
- We humans daily use our creative and often unscientific brains to excuse some of our decisions or behavior. We smoke cigarettes, eat unhealthy food, use alcohol, sugar, and caffeine excessively and make many other unhealthy decisions. We daily create “reasons” for putting off exercise; for stretching tax loopholes and for other behavior we know is unhealthy, unethical, and possibly illegal.
- Science tells us that a significant number of facts affect the firing of neurons in our brain; how we perceive reality, and how we retrieve information to form a thought, experience, or emotional reaction. Yet, we continue to keep the legal definition of insanity very narrow and insist even when someone has a diagnosed mental illness, they are responsible for their decisions and behavior.
- We say that the normal human brain does not physically mature until one is in their early to mid-twenties and, yet we continue to try underage children as adults. To be fair our incarceration of “children” has decreased significantly for many years. Yet, in the current sentencing debate of a teenager in Michigan there are those who maintain he “knew was he was doing” and, thus, for the killing of 4 individuals and the insuring of others at age 15 he should face life without possibility of parole in prison.
The second of these beliefs is if punishment if severe enough it will have positive results. In the United States we continue to incarcerate more people than any other country and have one of the highest recidivism rates in the world. Yet we pretend that our judicial system is designed to rehabilitate those we incarcerate. While it is true that some people do find their better selves when incarcerated this is despite the system and not because of it. There is ample evidence that the more humane, scientific approach of counties such as Norway is more effective. There is ample evidence that Portugal’s decriminalizing or all recreational drugs has been very effective.
It is not true that we know we can cure mental illness or even consistently effectively treat it. It is not true that we can heal all those who are unable to have a shared, empathetic reality: who are unable to consider the needs of others. No one orders a psychotic or sociopathic brain from Amazon. Some people may need to be in a protective environment, even for life, but there is no reason to punish someone for not having a brain which is able to make socially conscious decisions.
As a society we need to decide to be honest about the role science will or should play in how be live with each other and Mother Earth. I am not suggesting that science provides all the answers. I am suggesting that many of our believes and actions are not rooted in the answers with which science does gift us.
I am not arguing against religion or a belief in something we call God to describe the oneness – the interconnectedness and interdependence – of all that is. I am not arguing against the magic which is not explained by science. I am suggesting that we need beliefs and behavior which embrace and honor the truths science does reveal.
Written August 6, 202
Jimmy F. Pickett
coachpickett.org
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