I was inspired by
pastordan's diaries today about the Bible. At the conclusion to his second diary, he states that "[the Bible] is a testament to a people's journey with God over hundreds of years."
I would like to add my two cents about how this journey has taken us to where we are within the context of the evolution of the human mind. If you follow it through, it is really a reflection of our inherited ideologies and how they impact our collective decision-making processes today.
The real importance of the "trancendent man" myths of the lives of Jesus and of Buddha (just to name two) is that it is the first true manifestation of the triumph of the cortex over the limbic in the major life-deciding actions of human beings. To aspire to the decision-making processes of Jesus (WWJD) is to aspire to decisions that trancend the "hard-wiring" of the mind which resulted from natural selection during our prehistory.
The title of the diary is an oversimplification, so to clarify what I mean, let me start by defining the terms "cortex" and "limbic" as I intend them to be used.
By "cortex" I mean more exactly the frontal lobe of the cortex, or the area of the brain that is evolution's most recent addition to our mental biology. It is the part most associated with abstract ideas, concepts of morality and more complicated notions of right and wrong behavior.
By "limbic" I mean the hypothamamus and the amygdala mostly. These are the most emotive areas of the older mammalian brain. The section of the limbic system called the thalamus is actually where I think that this fundamental shift in behavior is made possible. Please note: this has nothing at all to do with the oft-mentioned "reptilian brain", which is actually sub-limbic and is in control of the more vegatative functions.
The life story of Jesus teaches us to value the intentions of our actions over our own preservation. We are to turn the other cheek in times of confrontation. It matters little whether our genes are carried on by us or by our kin. What matters is non-aggression over all else.
This non-aggression paradigm is fundamentally opposed to the concept of proselytizing behavior. I think pastordan might agree that too often the word evangelical is conflated with the word proselytizing. This is a consequence of the poor behavior of an influential group of evangelical Christians.
It has been poor behavior because it is not in keeping with the spirit of the importance of the story of Jesus' life.
Emotional signals, with their natural pathway through the limbic system and hypothalamous to the motor cortex often avoid conscious control by the frontal lobe. Here lies the root of our reactionary motivations. Up until the last 2000 years or so, the switching apparatus, located in the thalamus has been more apt to process these motivational catalysts directly to the parietal lobe for less conscious action or calculation, than to the frontal lobe, where a more conscious appreciation of the genesis of emotion can temper actions accordingly.
The knee-jerk reaction on emotions that stem from sensations that are judged to be threatening is necessary to individual survival in emergency situations. But in times of relatively low threat, where individuals are free to develop free from violent influence, there is a chance to trancend this do-or-die instinct in favor of higher moral reasoning.
The reason that a higher moral reasoning evolved at all is that in societal groups of a critical mass of people, like cities, the division of labor creates a mutual dependancy among individuals. It can eventually be said by an outside observer that no one is fundamentally better off than the least among them, since at any point when that group or city should be forced to act as a cohesive unit for its own survival, the actions of each person become more critically influential to the survival of all.
This cultural evolution generally served to create an environment where a natural selection of qualities such as altruism, forgiveness, empathy and love garnered greater fitness to the individuals who would find themselves functioning in such a culture.
The importance of Bible is that it codifies the actions that embody this relatively new adaptation. The same can be said of the other great religions of the world.
What the ascetics and martyrs throughout history have demonstrated is the inherent beauty of the transcendence of the self to the benefit of the whole of humanity. When this lesson has been truly learned, be it through study of the New Testamant, the Torah, the Koran, the Upanishads, or the Tripitaka, it can live a life of its own free of proselytization or idealism. The myths themselves are not what is fundamentally important; they are like training wheels or a magic feather. To focus on the veracity of scripture is to lose sight of the meaning of it.
This is the true lesson of the Bible as I understand it. Since it matters little which God you choose as the channel of this wisdom it is only an emotive and territorial response to judge those who have cultural disimilarities, be they lifestyle choices or religious ideas. It is incumbent upon us all to aspire to live our own transcendent lives and be conscious of our EVERY action as affects others here and abroad. It is living life authentically in this regard that is truely important.