Religion and Darwinism

As a comment to my last post, JoeAnonymousUser wrote:

So... regarding your statement above, "but simply because it’s the right thing to do", by what definition does "be nice to others", "try your best", and "forgive" equal the right thing to do? Who/what dictates that these attributes are "right" (vs. wrong)? Is it by virtue of our intelligence we are not like the common animal, whereby for the latter survival is the name of the game? Is the foundation of our civility for the human race based on our intelligence?

My response:

In a completely optimistic view of humanity as the highest form of life, yes, our intelligence is what separates us from other animals, and our “civility for the human race” is based on this intelligence. Man has learned, over many generations, that for us to maintain dominion over the animals – many of which are bigger and stronger than us – that we must use our intelligence (create weapons, find better hiding places, manage to escape) and cooperate with other humans to succeed. Stick a hungry lion in a cage with a human, however strong he or she may be, and odds are, the lion will not stay hungry. Give the human a weapon, however (a product of human intelligence), and the human has more of a chance to survive.

Animals generally kill to survive. They have to eat, so they kill and eat what they kill. Animals lower in the food chain tend to be more plentiful in number and guarantee survival by having more that may survive.

Humanity, I like to think, realized that we wouldn’t necessarily fare too well in the standard food chain setup. Of all creatures, humans are dependent the longest (a human baby takes one year to start walking, let alone fending for itself). Other animals care for their young, and for quite a while, but on a Darwinian Survival of the Fittest level, humans are not ideally equipped to survive in the wild without cooperation. Families, tribes, villages: all these groupings of humans (which I acknowledge exists in other species) work to ensure that humans survive.

We are now far removed from the pure survival model, having established ourselves, having built shelters and separated ourselves from the constant threat of being devoured by bigger and stronger carnivorous animals. And it is by our intelligence that we realized that we needed to separate ourselves, build walls (and not just climb trees or hide in caves that are already occupied by other animals that would probably be happy to devour us as well).

But this is not supposed to be about Darwin or the gradual transition of humans from the wild into cities. Every creature’s greatest wish, its underlying driving force, is survival. Humans are no different. We are driven to procreate, to thrive, to overpopulate the planet and drive all other species to extinction. We’ve still got that survival instinct, even after we’ve transitioned out of that stage. I believe we’re currently in the anti-Survival of the Fittest stage, where medicine and modern science are actually working counter to the theory. People with diseases and ailments that would normally kill them now live longer. Don’t misunderstand me: I am completely pro-science and think this to be a positive thing. But if the Survival of the Fittest model were still being followed, then those with disabilities would not survive, their genes would die out before they could be passed on, and the disability would eventually cease to exist. The problem is that if we went with that model, it would be at the expense of intelligence. Where would we be without Franklin D. Roosevelt or Stephen Hawkins?

By using our intelligence to set up societies to support the physically less able (by securing our survival), we are able to make further advances based on our intelligence. And our survival will only be guaranteed with a degree of trust. Say you’ve got two people trapped with a coyote, or some other creature that could take you out but you still stand a fighting chance. Person A is pretty strong, generally equally matched to the coyote, but after a while would probably tire out. Person B is not as strong, but is quite intelligent. In this scenario, one option for survival would be for Person A to let person B get eaten, then hope to defeat the coyote when it’s got a major food coma. Another option would be for Person A to fight off the coyote while Person B figures out a way to get them both out of danger. DISCLAIMER: This is, of course, a highly simplified scenario which assumes no intelligence on Person A’s part, and should not be interpreted as a judgment on the intelligence of strong people. That said, if Person B (smart weakling) does not trust that Person A would keep him from being eaten, then Person B will have a hard time thinking of a way to get them out. He needs to trust Person A. His survival needs need to be met. And for that matter, Person A needs to trust that Person B will come up with a way out for him to be willing to put himself in harm’s way.

I don’t know if that really explains why you need to be nice to each other, try your best, and forgive, but if I were in this scenario (and I’d have to be person B since I’m not particularly strong), trust me, I’d be nice to person A. And given that person A was keeping me from being eaten by a coyote (or at least maimed), I’d be trying my best to get us out. As for forgiveness, suppose that before A and B fell into this pit while out hiking and getting lost, they got into a bit of an argument where A called B a dumb jock and B called A a nerdy wimp. Well, in order to re-establish trust and survive, they’d have to forgive each other (and overcome their stereotypes).

Yes, that’s a highly simplified scenario, but think about it. We don’t live in a vacuum. We live in neighborhoods, go to school with people, work with people, and generally interact with other people day in and day out. We have but one life to live. When we die, that’s it. It’s over. (If you believe in reincarnation, then maybe not. And if you believe in heaven, again, you’d be surrounded by people, right? And then it would be for eternity, so this really holds true). Now, you can certainly go through life not being nice, not trying your best, and not forgiving, but where would that leave you? Alone, unliked, and bitter.

Be Nice: You can certainly go around being mean to everyone you meet, putting them down, and making them feel bad. But will they really want to spend time with you or ever do anything nice for you? If I’m hanging out with friends, I don’t like to feel crappy. If I’m having a bad day, seeing or talking to my friends makes me feel better.

Try Your Best: In my high school math classroom, there was a poster on the wall that read, “If you aim at nothing, you will hit it.” You could go through life not applying yourself and just gliding by. But where’s the sense of accomplishment? Where’s the pride? Try your best, and even if you fail, you won’t have to wonder if you missed your calling because you were too lazy to try. Besides which, pulling the weight, supporting someone who won’t help himself, gets old. If I’m working on a project with someone who only does a half-ass job, and I have to work harder, and we still get paid the same amount of money, I won’t be very happy with that person.

Forgive: Every wrong that someone could do to you, generally, will fade in importance after time. In the end, the fact that your supposed best friend got the pink shirt when you said you really wanted it, or even if she kissed the boy you told her you liked, means nothing. If anything, it speaks of her own insecurities and perhaps jealousy of you. Is a shirt or a boy really worth a friendship. And if it is, then fine, move on. But let go of the resentment. Because if the friendship isn’t as important as a shirt or a boy you said you liked but never did anything about, then it’s not worth the bitterness. It’s a lesson learned. And even that slacker at work, he’s taught you the value of work and how capable you are. Forgive him. And maybe keep track of these occasions to bring up during your own annual review so you can showcase how much you deserve a raise (without criticizing the other guy, because that just makes you look petty). (Look at me, giving employment advice when I haven’t worked in almost five years. Ain’t that grand? But I know you’ll forgive me.)

Getting back to the original question, as far as who dictates what is right vs. wrong, let me share my guiding philosophy in life. I believe everyone has a guiding philosophy, something that motivates him and makes him get up in the morning. Those who don’t, well, maybe it would help them if they did. I don’t know. But anyhow, here’s my guiding philosophy:

To make the world a better place for having had me in it.

That’s it. Now, I don’t consciously think about this philosophy every day. I don’t wake up saying “okay, how can I make this world better today?” I don’t hug trees, I drive a non-hybrid car, I use disposable diapers on my kid, and I’m sure I do plenty of other things that aren’t necessarily making the world better. But in general, that’s how I live. I don’t imagine my funeral very often (that still came across sounding kind of morbid), but I’d like to think that when it happens, the people there will be sad that I’m gone but will be filled with happy memories of me. That’s it. Ideally, nobody will be dancing around, thankful that that evil shrew is finally gone. If there is dancing, cool. As long as there’s no line dancing. All free-form, happy dancing. Maybe I’ll stipulate in my will that there be a DJ, playing all my favorite songs through the years. From the Eighties, there’d be some Duran Duran, definitely Men At Work, that song “Ain’t Nothing Gonna Break My Stride/Ain’t Nothing Gonna Slow Me Down/Oh No, I’ve Got To Keep On Moving,” DeBarge’s “Rhythm of the Night,” and Modern English’s “I Melt With You.” From the Nineties: Crash Test Dummies, Blues Traveler, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, but no Alanis Morissette (certainly not “Irony” in which she doesn’t include one actual example of irony). From these days: maybe some Coldplay, Flaming Lips, Maroon Five, and the Wiggles. Yeah, that sounds pretty good.

Anyhow, in my goal to leave the world a better place for having had me in it, I try to avoid pissing people off. I try my hardest at whatever I do, giving as much time for volunteering at my kid’s school as I can reasonably do without neglecting my kids. I say please and thank you. I try not to walk around with a chip on my shoulder (I forgive wrongs that may be done to me, usually inadvertently). I’m nice to my neighbors, my friends, the lady at the checkout counter who may be a little mean because she’s had a rough day that won’t end soon enough.

And this is what I’m trying to teach my kids. This is what I’ve learned is basically the commonality between all religions, lessons that can be taught without needing some higher being keeping you in line. Religion was formed to keep people from being savages, from dying young by being killed by each other, by neighbor coveting his neighbor’s wife. Apparently people needed rules to keep them from killing one another and undoing the human intelligent advances that kept people from being eaten by lions and tigers and bears (oh my).

At the beginning, I mentioned my optimistic view of humans as the highest form of life because of intelligence. I feel then that it must be coupled with my pessimistic view, which is that while religions were formed to hold people to higher moral standards, it has become a crutch, an excuse, for seeing other people of other religions as having lower moral standards, and justifying acts – which go against the spirit of religion – to get rid of opposing religions, and is the biggest challenge to the survival of our species.

In the end, everyone dies. It’s natural, it’s normal, and it’s the stuff of movies if it doesn’t happen (how sad is the boy in AI? And isn’t the price of being a vampire – at least according to Anne Rice - that you are condemned to leave behind and forever miss the ones you left behind?).

It’s what happens while you’re alive that matters, whether you’re seeking eternal salvation or not. You live amongst other humans, animals, and nature. Respect everyone and everything. They have as much right to be here as you do. And it would probably be nice to have them feel the same about you.