Morality with me at the centre of the world

Twitter and other social networks are very judgemental environments - and I guess this post is already sounding like it's one of the same kind. In this, there is a difference between disagreements over ideas and  the  judging of one another for doing what is "wrong". How is a person able to judge the moral value of another making some statement, behaving in a certain way, or not doing something that, it is assumed, should have been done?

With that introduction, I want to give the rest of the space in this post over to a Christian leader who analyses why many people believe conduct in society is becoming worse, no matter whether looking at shoppers' behaviour to each other and to the staff, or in the business world, academia, and instutituions in general. With the understanding that the writer knows that the biblical account of the origin of humankind is a poetic one, consider the ideas below:

Clearly, we must trace the source of division [among people] in the human heart and the human mind.  This division is caused principally because man sought full autonomy from God.  This is the message from the book of Genesis.  We are told that God, after He created the earth, “shaped man from the soil of the ground and blew the breath of life into his nostrils, and man became a living being.”  God gave His Spirit to man and he became a living being.  Indeed, the moment God withdraws His Spirit, we will turn back to dust.  “If he should take back his spirit to himself, and gather to himself his breath, all flesh would perish together, and all mortals return to dust.”  (Job 34:14) Hence, man’s existence is dependent on God alone.  Without Him, man turns to nothing.

The biggest folly and ignorance of man today is to think that he is the center of the world.  The modern man thinks highly of himself, of his intellect, knowledge and power to do things.  He does not need God and makes no reference to God. He does not believe in absolute moral laws but everything is subjected to his whims and fancies.   He thinks he is the center, the whole world and everyone revolves around him.   What is needed is a Copernican revolution instead!  God made it clear that He is the center, not man.  “Yahweh God planted a garden in Eden, which is in the east, and there he put the man he had fashioned. From the soil, Yahweh God caused to grow every kind of tree, enticing to look at and good to eat, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”  The tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil is the symbol of God’s life and wisdom.  Only God can give us life.  Only God knows what is good and evil clearly.   He gives us laws so that He can guide us to the fullness of life.

God placed moral boundaries for human beings so that man can be protected from his ignorance.  “God took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden to cultivate and take care of it. Then Yahweh God gave the man this command, ‘You are free to eat of all the trees in the garden. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you are not to eat; for the day you eat of that, you are doomed to die.'”  In other words, man does not have absolute freedom.  He is given the freedom to choose but if he does not obey God’s moral laws which are part of creation and in harmony with natural laws, man will suffer a backlash.   

Morality is something placed in the hearts of man.  We have a conscience that tells us from within whether something is right or wrong.  We all know that there is objectivity to morality because of natural laws.   Who placed them there?  Even without studying morality, we know that something is not right.  Morality as what the world wants us to believe is more than just situational or conditional.   We are moral beings and God has planted truth in our hearts.  Truth is not an invention or creation of man.   But man uses his reason to rationalize and justify what he wants to do all in the name of relativism.  If we search deep into our heart, moral laws are as clear as the sun!

However, due to his arrogance, man wants to rely on himself instead on God.  He wants to continue with selfish and self-centered acts.  Without God, without absolute moral norms, he twists and turns all moral laws to suit himself.  We think that morality is a matter of opinions and statistics simply because the majority believe it to be right.  This is why when we use reason alone, we cannot agree on what is ethical or moral.  The tragedy is that God has been removed from humanity in the Post-Enlightenment Period.  Science and technology without God and without morality has led to the destruction of humanity.  We can see this in climate warming, pollution, deforestation, wars and nuclear armament.  Today, the world justifies every action, including terrorism, assassination of world leaders, chemical wars, abortion, and euthanasia, all in the name of justice and human rights.  We are blinded by our intellect and arrogance.  Fulfillment can only be found in God alone.

Published 10 February, 2021. Written  by Catholic Archbishop of Singapore William Goh. His reflections are not archieved, but his work can be read here.

DNA and genes and humans and chimpanzees

In this video, Simon Conway Morris talks about Convergent Evolution.

The fact that we share 98.8% of our DNA with chimpanzees gives rise to some strange conclusions. However, to avoid comparing apples and oranges, it needs to be noted at once that “DNA” does not mean the same thing as a “gene”. The significance of this point is drawn out by science writer and educator Maggie Ciskanik. This post drinks at the well of her enlightening article. She writes:

The DNA molecule is extraordinary. When stretched out, the length of DNA in one cell is close to 6 feet (almost 2 meters). Along its length are over 3 billion base pairs that make up the “rungs” of the DNA double helix. The Human Genome Project identified over 20,000 genes along its length.

Genes are functional sections of DNA which vary in the number and sequence of base pairs that make them up. Genes code for functional products, like structural proteins or enzymes; but there are large stretches of DNA for which there is no known function. Couple this “unmapped” region with the fact that a 0.1% difference in base pair sequences still leaves 3 million base pairs to make [each person] unique!

What About Similarity to Chimpanzees?

Let’s go to genetic similarity of humans to a different species, the chimpanzee. Being 98.8% similar in DNA to a chimpanzee can be misleading. This percentage is based on the similarity among base pairs on the same gene.

A good example is the gene that enables both species to see red. Since the gene’s function is the same in both species, this fact shouldn’t alarm us or surprise us. The percent similarity emphatically does not mean that we are 98.8% genetically the same as a chimpanzee. First, the size and number of chromosomes is different among species, and there are genes we do not share.

It is true that we do share many genes with other mammals, from those governing the production of functional and structural proteins to the development of the eye. The latter is used by paleontologist Simon Conway Morris as an example of convergent evolution. In this video, he compares the eye of an octopus and other mammals with the human eye. Fantastic!

It is unfortunate that genetic similarity statistics are used in what seems to be an assault on the unique characteristics of the human person, especially any characteristic that points to a transcendent origin and destiny. We must learn to ignore the more materialist interpretations of what these numbers mean and rejoice that this kind of order is in evidence throughout the created world.

Another take on the similarity and difference between humans and chimps (and bonobos):

Human and chimp DNA is so similar because the two species are so closely related. Humans, chimps and bonobos descended from a single ancestor species that lived six or seven million years ago. As humans and chimps gradually evolved from a common ancestor, their DNA, passed from generation to generation, changed too. In fact, many of these DNA changes led to differences between human and chimp appearance and behavior.

If human and chimp DNA is 98.8 percent the same, why are we so different? Numbers tell part of the story. Each human cell contains roughly three billion base pairs, or bits of information. Just 1.2 percent of that equals about 35 million differences. Some of these have a big impact, others don't. And even two identical stretches of DNA can work differently - they can be "turned on" in different amounts, in different places or at different times.

 Although humans and chimps have many identical genes, they often use them in different ways. A gene's activity, or expression, can be turned up or down like the volume on a radio. So the same gene can be turned up high in humans, but very low in chimps.

The same genes are expressed in the same brain regions in human, chimp and gorilla, but in different amounts. Thousands of differences like these affect brain development and function, and help explain why the human brain is larger and smarter.

See also: 70,000 Years Ago, What Made Us Human: The Origin of a Soul? 

Orphans capture the moment as they borrow a phone

Time for a selfie at Que Huong Orphanage, Binh Duong, near Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, March 20, 2021.

This orphanage has about 300 boys and girls from babies to teenagers.

LGBTQ+ questions over identity and faith connections

How can I stay connected to my faith when Christian teachings conflict with who I feel I am as a person?

Reply: It is key to realize that your deepest and most abiding identity is not around your sexuality but rather around your relationship with God. That is what is deepest and most abiding and most important about you. So, what is most important is that you're a beloved child of God.

It's only out of that more fundamental identity that you'll come to understand something like your sexuality. [We need to resist] the tendency to say that anyone's sexual identity is what's most basic about them. That is not true. It's that we're a beloved child of God that is what's most basic. That's what the church is fundamentally addressing all the time - how to be a mature child of God.

Here’s another insight:

People who experience same-sex attraction should know that, according to the Bible, they are not condemned for that attraction, any more than a heterosexual person is condemned for experiencing wrong sexual desires.

Both need their sexuality redeemed and all their sins forgiven. Both desperately need Christ and are called to live according to his kingdom.

A final thought:

Whatever personal (human) rights we have are not absolute. In every circumstance of our life we are limited in a variety of ways, whether we are dealing with free speech, or the gamut of conditions under “the right to life, liberty and security of person”.

Our rights are God-given, meaning they arise from the status of each human being as one endowed with qualities – transphysical characteristics – that point to a divine intervention in the history of the development of humans. Therefore, we recognize the fact that “God is God; I’m not”. God has made us in a certain way – in his image – and we are at most peace with ourselves when our behaviour is guided by the attributes of God. Also, the knowledge that God loves us balances any grief we feel because of restrictions on our wayward desires.

If anyone has a response to this post, write a comment. Complex matters demand thorough discussion.

Suffering and other acts of growth

With the Covid-19 virus continuing to cause upheaval both among nations and individually, the importance of accepting suffering in our life is gaining renewed attention. This attention is using the new experience of suffering to build on the realisation of people who have come through severe suffering in their life that the experience was formative, spurring growth and maturity. Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung has left us with this conclusion from his studies:

A life of ease has convinced everyone of all the material joys, and has even compelled the spirit to devise and better ways to material welfare, but it has never produced spirit. Probably only suffering, disillusion, and self-denial do that.

Researchers from Bath University in England last year were surprised to find that 88.6% of the participants in their study identified positives arising from the pandemic. "The majority (74%) of respondents were working exclusively from home, and almost half reported a reduction in income. Most of their children (93%) were home taught, and 19.5% of them reported having a family member with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infection." 

Despite these burdens, participants reported "improved relationships, a greater appreciation of life, discovering and embracing new possibilities, and positive spiritual change". From this outcome, researchers were able to gain insights into what is categorised as "post-traumatic growth".

Mental health counselor GinaMarie Guarino explains:

Trauma has a lasting impact on a person, but it is a misconception that you cannot recover from or grow from trauma. Post-traumatic growth comes from overcoming challenges that you may experience in reaction to trauma and learning from the recovery process.

Self-denial and personal discipline, though partly forced upon a person by the dificult circumstances of the pandemic, can foster a person's ability to both look beyond inconvenience and more deeply consider the needs of others. Guarino puts it this way:

The removal of distractions helped many people reconnect with family and focus on their life goals and career aspirations.

Paul Stallard, professor of child and adolescent mental health at Bath University, says of his research:

It’s important to share the findings to provide a more balanced story about COVID-19. There are lots of news stories about the negative effects on mental health but people are also identifying some benefits out of this difficult situation.  

"Most of what we learn that has any value arises out of our own personal experiences", according to Stephanie Dowrick, a writer and explorer of Christian and Buddhist spirituality. "And often what we learn from, because they are so tenacious and difficult to escape, are our experiences of suffering". 

What suffering does that books, or conversation, or observing others, do not do is that it "knocks our corners off".

Suffering does that. Through tearing us down, and forcing us to think about what really does matter, it offers an irreplaceable opportunity to see things through the wisdom of the heart as well as of the mind. 

Finally, in her book Forgiveness and Other Acts of Love Dowrick points out that deciding to rise above the suffering that each person's life delivers makes "sublime good sense" whereas not doing so puts a person on a path to "inner bleakness". 

All of this has its echoes in Jesus' words just before his crucifixion: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."

It's an intriguing snippet of information that the advice "Be not afraid" occurs a total of precisely 365 times in the Old and New Testaments. 

Grasping at an understanding of the universe

                                                                                     Courtesy of PBS Learning Media

On the occasion of a recent startling discovery one astrophysicist exclaimed that it's a great time to be studying the universe because there was so much to learn about "the cosmos and the exotic and extreme objects that exist". Reporting on the discoverythat evoked that excitement, Marina Koren at The Atlantic relates how astrophysicists are puzzled by new findings on the Cygnus X-1 black hole. 

[When...] a team of researchers directed their attention to it a few years ago, they noticed something weird. According to their recently published findings, the black hole, the [stellar] system’s main attraction, is much more massive than they thought. Which is particularly strange because, based on what astronomers currently understand about these kinds of objects and the way they form, this black hole probably shouldn’t exist.

Koren continues her report on the findings, published in Science, The Astrophysical Journal, and here, by pointing out:

Black holes are some of the most mysterious objects in the universe, in our own Milky Way galaxy and many light-years beyond, and they often surprise the researchers trying to understand them. [In this case, ] a familiar black hole showed it still has secrets. The accidental discovery is a reminder that astronomers are still trying to understand some of the most basic forces in our galaxy. 

[][][][]

There are still many unknowns, and even the most familiar objects, like Cygnus X-1, can still confound scientists. The latest research updates the black hole’s size from 15 times the mass of our sun to 21 times that of our sun. To the untrained eye, this is a small, almost negligible, jump. But to astronomers, the revised estimate means they must revisit their theories on massive stars and the black holes they become. 

[][][][]

Astronomers thought, based on what they understood about stellar metallicities—a gorgeous term for the abundance of heavy metals in massive stars—that the biggest black hole an environment such as the Milky Way could produce would max out at about 15 times the mass of our sun. The existence of Cygnus X-1 suggests that this fundamental fact of our galaxy is incomplete. 

In summary, Koren writes, "attempting to decipher black holes can often feel like a game of galactic whack-a-mole. 'Every time you have some new bit of information, or answer one question,' [a team member] said, 'three more appear.'”

Postscript: From the Eurekalert website we get these reasonable comments from the leader of the Cygnus X-1 team, Professor James Miller-Jones from Curtin University and the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research:

Studying black holes is like shining a light on the Universe's best kept secret - it's a challenging but exciting area of research.

As the next generation of telescopes comes online, their improved sensitivity reveals the Universe in increasingly more detail, leveraging decades of effort invested by scientists and research teams around the world to better understand the cosmos and the exotic and extreme objects that exist. It's a great time to be an astronomer!

Near-death experiences and the spiritual realm

 A new book is out in which a psychiatrist relates what he has found from a long investigation into what sometimes happens to those at the point of death. Bruce Greyson, now a professor emeritus in psychiatry at the University of Virginia, tells an interviewer how, a month into his psychiatric training, in the 1960s, he had been “confronted by a patient who claimed to have left her body” while unconscious on a hospital bed, and who later provided an accurate description of events that had taken place “in a different room”.

 This made no sense to him. “I was raised in a scientific household,” he says. “My father was a chemist. Growing up, the physical world was all there was.” 

“It was a common phenomenon.” He became fascinated by the qualities of the episodes and the questions they raised, including perhaps the biggest of all: what actually happens when we die? “I plunged in,” he says. “And here I am, 50 years later, [still] trying to understand.”

Over the years, he has collected hundreds of near-death experiences, he says, either from people who, aware of his research, have volunteered their stories, or from patients who happened to have episodes in hospital. 

Of those patients he interviewed, about one in five had had an experience. His book is titled After, and it contains accounts of many experiences. "Most episodes involve  feelings of wonder, mental clarity and bliss, Greyson says."

His interviewer draws from him information on what makes this kind of experience so fascinating. This is whether there is evidence of a "transphysical" or "transcendent" element beyond the physical brain.

When I ask Greyson why he decided to publish After now, after all these years, he explains that “we had to wait until we had enough knowledge about near-death experiences to be able to understand what was going on,” by which he means not that we know what NDEs are, but that advances in science have allowed us to rule out a heap of things they are not. “There are physiological hypotheses that seem plausible theoretically,” he says, but none have stuck. Are feelgood chemicals, like endorphins, released into the body at the point of peril, creating euphoria? Does the brain become starved of oxygen, prompting real-seeming fantasies? Do various areas of the brain suddenly begin to work in concert to create strange, altered states? Nobody knows for sure. “We keep thinking, ‘Oh it’s got to be this,’” Greyson says. “No, the data doesn’t show that. ‘Oh, this then?’ Well, nope, the data doesn’t show that, either.”

Later in the article:

In After, Greyson writes: “I take seriously the possibility that NDEs may be brought on by physical changes in the brain,” though he also accepts that the mind might be able to function “independent” of it. There have been reports of people experiencing near-death episodes while their brains are inactive, he says, and “yet that’s when they say they have the most vivid experience of their lives.” This doesn’t make sense to him. Partway though our conversation, he asks: “Are these the final moments of consciousness? Or the beginning moments of the afterlife?”

The article provides a sampling of explanations for near-death experiences. Greyson seems to hold that they are more than the product of the brain. The article goes on:

Greyson knows that events in near-death experiences are impossible to corroborate. “We can’t do research on a deity,” he says, drily. But still, he finds it tough to dismiss wackier theories, even if the data isn’t there. When I ask him what his current logical understanding is, he looks resigned. “It seems most likely to me that the mind is somehow separate to the brain,” he says, “and, if that’s true, maybe it can function when the brain dies.” Then he adds, “But if the mind is not there in the brain, where is it? And what is it?”

Further:

To Greyson, the impact near-death experiences have on people’s lives has been his most surprising discovery. “I make a living by trying to help people change their lives,” he says. “It’s not easy to do. But here I’ve found an experience that, sometimes in a matter of seconds, dramatically transforms people’s attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviours.” Often, these changes persist over decades. In most instances, experiencers realise they are no longer afraid to die, which “has a profound impact on how they live their lives”, because “you lose your fear of life as well – you’re not afraid of taking chances.” Greyson sometimes asks people to describe their partners before and after an event, “and they’ll say, ‘Yeah, this isn’t the person I married; this is someone different.’” He adds, “They see a purpose in life they didn’t see before. I don’t know of anything else that powerful.”

The final paragraphs contain telling conclusions about Greyson's insight into the spiritual capacity of the human person:

I ask if Greyson’s research has changed the way he thinks.

“I don’t think it’s changed me in terms of my relationships with other people,” he says, “except it’s made me more accepting, more open to unusual ideas.” As a psychiatrist, he remains “aware of what it means to be psychotic”, but, he says: “I’m more accepting of unusual thoughts that aren’t crazy, and it’s made me much more conscionable with the unknown.

“I grew up without any kind of a spiritual background,” he continues. “And I’m still not sure I understand what spiritual means. I am convinced now, after doing this for 40, 50 years, that there is more to life than just our physical bodies. I recognise that there is a non-physical part of us..."

That recognition can also be derived by the findings of Dr Janice Holden's assessment of 39 near-death experience studies in her Handbook of Near-Death Experiences (2009), where she found that there was a great deal of accuracy (83 per cent of the cases surveyed) in what the patients reported, and this was using strict criteria. In Spitzer's words (2015) commenting on Holden's findings :

It is difficult to believe that this degree of verifiably accurate reporting, which occurred at a time when there was no electrical activity in the cortex, can be attributed to a physical or physiological cause.

In view of this fact, as well as many of the reported incidents reached beyond human capabilities of the patient, it is not unreasonable to conclude that these perceptions (as well as the self-consciousness that accompanied them) existed independently of bodily function and could therefore persist after death.

The publisher provides these endorsements of Greyson, whom it states is "the world's leading expert on near-death experiences":

"Captivating…a major contribution to the study of what happens when we die, and will quickly prove to be a classic in near-death studies." —Raymond Moody, M.D., Ph.D., author of Life After Life.

"Dr. Greyson’s work has the potential to completely change our fractured and confused world, offering insights that may lead to an explanation of the nature of consciousness." —Eben Alexander, M.D., bestselling author of Proof of Heaven.

"A major international book of lasting value." —Alexander Batthyány, Ph.D., professor of Philosophy and Psychology, International Academy of Philosophy, Liechtenstein Director of the Viktor Frankl Institute, author of Mind and Its Place in the World.

After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal About Life and Beyond. St Martin's Essentials (a Macmillan company) 2021