Adaptation, Spiritually Speaking

I’m a very middle brained person.  I’m not strongly right-brained or left-brained.  “A person who is “left-brained” is often said to be more logical, analytical, and objective, while a person who is “right-brained” is said to be more intuitive, thoughtful, and subjective.”  When I was in high school, I was part of the National Art Honor Society, I went to a special art school for half the day, and after I graduated I wanted to go study visual art in college and become an art teacher.  But I also loved science and math, and I ended up going into Biology in college and came out a Biology teacher.

Science is very exacting, even though it hasn’t managed to describe every phenomenon out there.  It tries very hard to describe the physical word, how it works and how it got here.  I love knowledge.  I love evidence.  I really love Biology (Especially the fields of Genetics and Evolution).

Adaptation
noun
1.  Something, such as a device or mechanism, that is changed or changes so as to become suitable to a new or special application or situation.
2.  Biology An alteration or adjustment in structure or habits, often hereditary, by which a species or individual improves its condition in relationship to its environment.
3.  Change in behavior of a person or group in response to new or modified surroundings.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/adaptation

As a species, we have adapted to many different environments all over the planet.  The world is a very different place than it was millions of years ago.  Hell, it’s a different place than it was hundreds of years ago.

There’s a thought process moving through the world right now that science and religion cannot live peacefully next to each other or that the world would be a better place if we got rid of religion all together.  I respect these opinions, but I challenge them also.

There are things out there that science cannot explain (consciousness, life).  Science can describe what makes something alive or what consciousness is and some attempts to explain where it comes from or when it begins, but it’s constantly changing.  There’s no telling if/when science will be able to fully explain these concepts, and when they do, there will be other things that arise that science can’t explain fully.  Science is a process, and it’s a process that changes quite a bit.

Religion is a process, and it’s a process that changes quite a bit, and just because it changes doesn’t make it invalid.  We use to think the world was flat, and we had what we thought was evidence to support that idea.  Now we know better, but that doesn’t make science a bad process.  It makes science a learning process.

We don’t need religion to tell us that killing people is bad.  We don’t need religion to tell us that hatred or war or disease or poverty or greed are bad.  We can see all of this for ourselves simply by having an objective look at the world around us and at our history as a country and a globe.

The Wiccans have a saying, “And it harm none, do what you will.”  A lot of other religions have similar sayings as well…  Things about doing unto others as you would have them do unto you and the golden rule.

Here’s the thing: None of that invalidates a global need for faith or religion.  And yes, I think there is a global need for faith and religion.  Religion provides hope where there is none.  Religion provides a light in the darkness where none exists.  The higher power that you believe in isn’t going to abandon you when you have nothing else.

Humans have adapted to a changing environment.  We’ve adapted to live all over this planet.  Science has allowed us to adapt to environments that we definitely couldn’t have otherwise.  And just as we’ve learned to adapt and change our views and ideas and gain knowledge, so has religion and faith practices.

Religion, which has always been seen as a way to be a better person, has been inadvertently used to wipe people off the planet and suppress people into slavery and second class citizenship.  Science, which has always been seen as a way to create a better society, has been inadvertently used to create MRSA and nuclear weapons.  Religion is sometimes not used correctly and neither is science.

We never blame the science, though.

Religion and faith have a place in this society.  It has a way to give people something that they might not get anywhere else: hope.  Religion and faith allow us to always have hope.