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Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)
Hope and the Dynamics of Change
In the latest issue of Free Inquiry Magazine (February/ March 2010, Volume 30 Number 2), Paul Kurtz states that the promise of eternal salvation is the single most important hope religion affords believers. The evidence for immortality of the soul, Kurtz asserts, "is totally insufficient, based entirely on wishful thinking."
Kurtz favors a stance by skeptics and other non-theists that challenges (in a nice way, of course) the belief in immortality. He believes it would be healthy for society to expose the supernatural promise of "eternal life" as a false hope. Far better would be a message that death is the end "for everyone—the believer and nonbeliever, the commander of armies and the lowly soldier, the dedicated teacher and the beginning student, the moral idealist and the profligate hedonist."
A change of this nature in the American populace would be a big shift, given the famous (infamous?) religiosity of Americans. Is this kind of dramatic change possible?
It seems the answer might be "Yes," given the fact that a majority of Americans profess a great respect for science. (Source: The Pew Forum report.) An appreciation of the prospects for changing attitudes about eternal salvation must begin with an understanding of the basics dynamics of the process of change itself.
According to Webster, change is "to become different, to pass from one phase to another, to undergo transformation and transition." This is what happens in life, we change as do all organisms—the economy changes, society changes, our needs, preferences and desires change—almost everything changes and very little stays the same.
Yet, despite the fact that it happens all the time, change entails much stress. This is as true today as in the past—there is no reason to expect this fact to "change" any time soon. Futurists and others who write about these things believe the rate of change in years to come will be at a faster rate than before. We live in a global information age; many workers are running faster to stay in the same place, like Alice in her fictional Wonderland. Only now the nature of the change for many is not so wonderful, because too few have learned to welcome, manage, and turn this change phenomenon to their advantage.
Consider this: The amount of information generated from 1960 to 1985 equaled what had previously taken five thousand years; further, this doubling occurred again in the last fifteen years! The current estimate is that the next doubling will occur in five years—hold on to your hat!
Fortunately, we are not powerless in the face of rapid change. We can all take more control of change. Leland Kaiser, one of my former professors when I was studying for a doctorate in the late seventies, said, "Don't wait for the future, invent it now."
That is what Kurtz wants us to do—and I'm all for it. In the coming days, I will review his latest book—Exuberant Skepticism (Prometheus Books, 2010) in which the issue of false hopes versus science and realistic possibilities for quality of life are explored.
Until then, look on the bright side and enjoy this life—there is no evidence whatsoever that another awaits in the clouds or, as the religions assert, in some vague place for "souls" (also non-existent) in heaven or hell.
Note: This essay appeared here on October 27, 2000 in a somewhat different version. It was then entitled, "Guidelines for Dealing with Change."
Domain: mentalSubdomain: effective decisions
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