This blog contains responses to blog prompts, & thoughts on spiritual or religious themes |
Kamál (Perfection), 10 ʻAẓamat (Grandeur) 177 B.E. Monday, May 25, 2020 Memorial Day
Day 2747: What does getting back to normal mean to you? For the inspiration of this question see "Warren Harding Tried to Return America to ‘Normalcy’ After WWI and the 1918 Pandemic. It Failed." by William Deverell https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/warren-harding-back-to-normalcy-after-191... For several decades now the world and humanity has been slowly moving toward international cooperation and unity. The COVID-19 virus proves that no one country is an island, or perhaps planet would be a better metaphor, cut off from the rest of world. When a virus in one country can move quickly and silently to another country demonstrates that the Earth is a single country and humanity a single species. The United States and other countries can't afford to retreat into isolationism or segregation from other nations, because healthy economies depend on international trade. Finding a new vaccine or a cure for quickly spreading diseases is cheaper and faster it there is cooperation and free interchange of ideas between the scientist of different countries. The old status quo--that encouraged isolationism, segregation of humanity into nationalities, and the separation of science from other areas of life--is dying from the cancers of xenophobia, superstition, and isolation. A new normal, a new status quo, is coming into existence. Today, the majority of humanity has a choice between becoming the midwives for the new normal by assisting in its birth or attempting, the impossible, by stopping the birth of the new normal or (if you like) the new status quo. Since we still have the choice to assist in the birth of the new normal, we need to take it because our survival depends on it.
DAY 2139: Does Memorial Day make you feel patriotic, and do you think we could ever have a world where we wouldn’t need a military? First, let me say, that for me patriotic feelings go beyond the military and national borders to take in the entire planet and all of humanity. I believe there will be world peace and unity, which doesn't mean we won't need national or international military units. The military, along with religion and science, are necessary and intricate part of human civilization. Civilization without any of these is impossible and would make life on Earth more difficult. The military, just like all other components of civilization, will evolve with the maturity of the human race. What the military or even civilization will look like in fifty or one hundred years is difficult for us to visualize. We are living in a time of change and witnessing the birth of a civilization that will encompass the entire planet. We can't stop the birth of this new civilization, we can speed it up or we can slow it down, but we can't stop it any more than we can stop an avalanche once it starts. |