Science and the Fundamentalist "Isms"
Dr. Gerry Lower, Keystone, South Dakota

I was sitting last evening, scratching myself where it counts, and a grand revelation came unto me, no gods involved, just an ant bite (or is it a sting?) on the butt. All revelations seem grand and godly, of course, but some are actually insightful and worthy. This is the way insights come to us, at unusual and sometimes awkward moments when we are least expecting it. The notion that someone could have an insight while working behind a desk is almost ludicrous.

Its more like Carl Sagan described it. You take a stoned shower with your wife, get lost in the romance of it all, and end up scribbling insights on the shower wall with a bar of soap. That is pretty much how it works, all right. Too bad for the fundamentalist folks who already know everything and do not need or seek insights. They miss the only glory to be found in scratching one's butt.

So, considering the world as a whole, here is the insight born of an itch.

In the Orient, the cultural world is dominated by Hinduism, Confucianism and Buddhism and their various cultural offspring. In the Occident, the cultural world is dominated by Judaism, JudeoRomanism and Islamism and their various cultural offspring. In other words, all traditional world cultures, both east and west, are "ISMS." That's it. What do you think? Did you see that little bolt of white light?

The obvious question, then, is what characteristics do these world beliefs have in common that make them all "isms"? How can cultures as different as Judaism and Confucianism (which happen to be complimentary cultural opposites) have anything in common?

One characteristic that comes quickly to mind is the fact that all "isms" have been maintained over the millennia by fundamentalists, those who defend their "ism" with incorrigibility, an overt refusal to consider alternatives that might pose a threat to their "ism." As a result, all "isms" are "timeless." They are maintained as fixed belief systems unaffected by the passage of time, unaffected by history and unaffected by the evolution of scientific thought and human knowledge.

"Isms" are perceived by fundamentalists as being complete and fully-assembled, right out of the box, as good today as yesterday, as if the world had not changed at all over the millennia, certainly not enough to require rethinking and re-evaluating the core "ism." As fixed belief systems, these cultural "worlds" have not evolved but have served as a stable base (cultural information content) which has provided for further differentiation and adaptation (cultural information expression), as these world cultures have been molded to fit specific times and places and needs. IDEA is to human culture as DNA is to human biology. It's all information at the bottom.

Buddhism in India crossed the mountains to China to become Chan Buddhism which then moved on to Japan to become Zen Buddhism, adaptive variations of the same theme. Judaism gave cause to nascent Christianity as a rejection of both Judaism and Romanism, and nascent Christianity was reunited with Judaism by the Roman emperor, Constantine, to produce JudeoRomanism. JudeoRomanism, in turn, ultimately gave cause to Lutheranism and Protestantism, from Methodists and Baptists to Mormons and Unitarians. In other words, parent "isms" differentiate into specialized "isms," all within the frameworks of the parental "ism."

JudeoRomanism, for example, emphasized Old Testament values to the exclusion of nascent Christian values and it did so for over a millennium in driving imperialism. Lutheranism and Protestantism joined in for several centuries to drive colonialism. Parent "isms" also establish and maintain operational "isms," e.g., imperialism, colonialism, capitalism, despotism, fascism).

Accordingly, the world has come to be over-endowed with "isms." Everywhere one looks, there is another "ism," e.g., "compassionate" conservatism, Osama bin Ladenism. And what are all these "isms" doing? They are uniformly holding onto themselves by their own "isms." Unfortunately, the evidence would have it that "isms" (all of which are cultural subsets) are largely unequipped and unable to comprehend and control what is going on in the larger world of human cultural evolution. The traditional "isms" really have no option but to play with themselves. They will not accomplish much by doing this. But, who knows, they might have an insight.

There are, however, human cultures which are not "isms" at all. Has anyone ever heard of "Christianism" or "Philosophism" or "Democratism"? No, of course not (by the same token, no one has ever heard of "Judeocracy" or "Confucianity").

So the next question, then, is what characteristics do these latter day science-based cultures have in common that disquality them as "isms"? What is it about Science, Philosophy, nascent Christianity and Democracy that set them apart from all other world cultures, apart from all the "isms"?

One characteristic that comes quickly to mind is the fact that these cultures are uniformly based on dialectic human thought and the values derived therefrom, values which embrace and transcend the values beneath western religious systems and eastern ethical systems. These are the values of Science, the values beneath Philosophy, nascent Christianity, and Democracy, not an "ism" in sight.

Hippocrates was a dialectician. He did not look at the victims of disease with conservative apathy or liberal sympathy. He looked at them with knowledgable empathy, the dialectic synthesis of these complimentary opposites. In other words, Hippocrates put himself in the victim's place and then addressed the issues of causation and course in earthbound terms so that he could do something about the situation in earthbound terms.

Jesus was a dialectian. In dealing with social problems, he did not condemn those who had gone astray or condone their behavior. He looked at the situation with an eye toward healing, the dialectic synthesis of these complimentary opposites. In other words, Jesus put himself in the "sinner's" (or victims) place and then addressed the issue of causation and course in earthbound human terms so he could do something about the situation in earthbound terms.

Jefferson was a dialectition. He did not concern himself with pure ethics or with religious law. He put the emphais on human rights, the dialectic synthesis of these complimentary cultlural opposites. He put himself in the citizen's place and then addressed the issues of causation and course in earthbound terms. He did something about it in earthbound terms. He established the separation of church and state, which Jesus had so long ago recommended, "Render unto Ceasar that which is Ceasar's ..."

The bulk of western cultural evolution is driven by conceptual evolution in Science and the impact of scientific values and knowledge on the traditional western "isms." There was, for example, the rediscovery of Greek knowledge and nascent Christian values during the 11th and 12th centuries which nourished the Rennaissance and culminated in the Reformation. There was Newton's Deductive Revolution which nourished the Industrial Revolution, the EuroAmerican Enlightenment and the emergence of the western Democracies. There was Einstein's Reductive Revolution which nourished the current Informational Revolution and the means to a global Enlightenment and a global Democracy (it'll happen).

The values of Science, Democracy and nascent Christianity are neither atheist or theist, neither liberal or conservative. They are dialectic human values designed to avoid the feudal extremes of fundamentalist western religious systems and fundamentalist eastern ethical systems. The world views of these scientific, knowledge-based cultures are neither empirical or transcendental, they are conceptual. They are built on what we can see and how we integrate and interpret what we "see" in our minds to maximize the explanatory value of knowledge and its utility in solving human problems. A long time ago, dialectitions used to call this approach Philosophy.

So, next time someone tries to sell you a chunk of "ism" with the sales pitch that this is somehow going to help you survive all the other "isms," you tell them that I was scratching my butt one night and decided that the "isms" were all a bunch of fluff.