From what I understand The Bible was originally a bunch of scrolls with no definite order or sequence (correct me if I’m wrong), and over time it began to resemble what we see today when we pick up the book i.e. encompassing the history of the world from its creation, through the fall and redemption of mankind, to the final judgement. That ‘the Book of Books’, is a unity greater than its constituent parts. Because the Bible takes it for granted that there is a meaning to the whole cycle of human existence and that every event, however trivial has a symbolic relation to the whole, we have learned in other areas of our existence to look for narrative, with a pattern of hidden meaning, rather than a mere chronicle of events. This expectation runs deep in Western society, affecting not merely fiction but biography, history, and, of course, science - the belief in a rational and stable universe where every part has its meaning in relation to the whole.
Is the way we think about our lives, past, present, and future merely a byproduct of this biblical method?
Am I susceptible to overlooking aspects of life when thinking in such a manner?
Does a Chinese person view his life differently?
Does the West view historical events differenlty from the East? What are these differences?
What can we say about science if it’s a product of biblical belief? Is it in any way…flawed?
Interesting questions. We read history from left to right like a sentence in the European based languages. We fragment being into past present and future. We overlook being itself by thinking in this way. The pagan way is to think of history in terms of cycles. Being is intensified in this way. But science has drained meaning from being in service of the will to control. Perennial wisdom sought to adapt humanity to the Ultimate. Science seeks to reduce reality to controllable stuff that serves the human will.
Interesting post - what do you imagine “perennial” wisdom revealed about the ultimate which science does not? Do you think scientific thought can’t conceptualize things in cycles?
I’m sure it is. I’m sure that can be said of any worldview concerning its roots in past worldviews.
I’m sure you are. But I think you would be regardless of what religion or ideology lies in the past of your culture, no matter how much you’ve progressed beyond it. There’s always going to be more to life than we can surmise at any given time.
I’m sure he does.
I’m sure it does, but I’m not nearly educated enough in eastern worldviews to be able to say in what way it differs.
Yes, in a certain way it is, but only in regards to the initial misson statement of science, which has changed over the years. Science originally aimed to replace religion with respect to acquiring certain knowledge. Now-a-days, however, we generally don’t regard knowledge as certain or that certainty is in fact possible. Science still has it’s use though - namely, the description of nature as empirically experienced and the refinement of mental models whose value lay in their predictive reliability - and in this sense, science is, as far as we can tell, not flawed.
Your more general point (or question) is an interesting one. I’ve never fully embraced the faith that our religious, scientific, and intellectual progress (if we can call it that) would ultimately lead to a final resting point where we as a species were fully satisfied with what we’ve achieved, nor do I feel that what we call ‘progress’ today will be viewed as such indefinitely. I view humanity as though it were on a quest, searching for something, and we used as our guide a map (symbolic for our beliefs), but it’s a map that keeps changing, and our destination always in a different spot. So one day we decide that we ought to be travelling in one direction, and when we move in that direction a certain way, we say we’ve ‘made progress’, but then over time the map starts to change, and we notice that our destination is no longer in the spot it once was, and so we re-evaluate our course and come to grips with the fact that we’ve been heading in the wrong direction and that we must undertake a new one. Once again, after a while, we call it progress. In the end, however, the trail we blaze ends up looking more like a random meandering throughout the land with no discernable method or goal (much like the course evolution tends to take).
I don’t know how accurately this view reflects the reality of the human species. It could be that in our current attempts to achieve a respectable standard of scientific diligence and efficiency, we may well attain that standard, and once attained, we may stay there for a good long while (that is, our method won’t change, which says little about what that method helps us to discover), but I highly doubt that it would remain that way forever. We may stick with it for several millennia, but things always change, and there will come a time when we either come to regard our science as somehow flawed or not of any high value, and thus begin the same timeless practice of reassessing our current position and settling on a new direction to be called ‘progress’.
Well, isn’t that a matter of opinion. You quote it as fact though…
The first books of the bible was written by Moses. It is a history of events since God choose the Israelites as as “God’s chosen people,” or as it was called, “a nation of priests.” In this God showed life plainly. When the Isrealites choose a king over tribal leaders, God warned them and then choose King Solomon, (who started as a coward,… and the bible showed that thoroughly, and ended up being a tyrant) before the Great David came into command. Even David went through trials to enrich his character toward the task.
Then we have the books of history. Then we have the books of poetry and wisdom,… and then the major and minor prophets (which are scattered through the history books) Then we have the Books of Jesus. then history… then letters arranged by size. Then the book of revelation.
A thought which has just occured to me regarding science is that the mentality may have shifted from the likes of Newton who may have used science to proove the existence of God or some kind of divine creator and now this will to control in the hands of man. Considering God may have died for the most part, what do modern scientists do with the original biblical reins of science? Where do they steer it and with what ends in sight?
The question of how we perceive our life is one which i haven’t fully grasped although i consider it of huge importance. I mean, how do people here relate to their past and how do they perceive their future? i sense a profound dilemma in these questions although i can’t quite articulate it, i did have a few too many tonight maybe…
No science doesn’t have a problem with cycles. I was, however, going with the OP’s idea that western culture inherited the concept of linear time from the “religions of the book.” A fundamental difference between modern science and perennial wisdom is on the vertical plane. Materialistic science recognizes only one kind of being. Perennial philosophy recognizes a “great chain of being.” So modern science must explain everything in term of the lower. Failure to give the lower its due was a serious problem for the traditional worldview. Nonetheless, the traditional view can also recognize superior realms of being. The modern world is ontologically metaphysically flat.
The Bible I’m currently reading is the Authorized King James version. The first book is Genesis, the last, Revelation. I understand that in the past the books didn’t have this lineality, and it only began to take the shape which it appears in today via numerous councils or something…I’m not too sure, it would be an interesting subject, to see how and why the church has presented it as it is.