Axial Age?
In my life I realized that there should be a way for us to have proof of a Supreme if there were one. There are too many things that take place in our experience that we not have some kind of evidence to rest our curiosity upon calming the spirits. This thought process was a puzzle piece in my early experience. I have expressed often that throughout my life I have puzzled about that. In my research I realized that there was evidence best seen in the foundational principle that has become known as the Golden Rule. I found Aristotle, Confucius, Zarathustra, Isaiah, Plato, Buddha and many others teaching a similar philosophy without any connection to one another. This is the mystery of the Golden Rule and an era that has become known as the Axial Age.
Searching for Evidence
If we have a creator, wouldn’t that creator desire that we know? I think I can answer in the affirmative as many scriptures refer to a Supreme interfacing with its people. These instances are considered proof, true enough. However, many of these stories are often considered flawed because they refer to a “Supreme” seemingly limited in scope or influence. I considered these arguments and actually used some of them when I went through my “destroy the Christian” phase. You can read all about than in my book: The Simple Little Rule.
My studies kept teasing me to keep searching, however. Out of my hunt for that slippery thing called the Truth pops linkages between ancient teachers professing similar perspectives. There was Confucius teaching what I later discovered was called the “silver rule” because it was the negative variant: “Do not do to others what you would not want done in return.” Okay, I knew the Golden Rule (positive variation) from my youth in my Christian experience. There it was, it popped up in China too. Okay. [Read more…] about Mystery of the Axial Age: Finding Guiding Hand?
If you have been following me you know that I accept and believe in evolutionary principles. We rise out of the savannas of Africa a very simple, bipedal creature. Because of that upright stature we are already communal. It is a necessary function of extended rearing of our young borne prematurely. At that point, it’s care for the clan⏤survive. “Care for others as you would like them to care for you.” Move forward 200,000 years or approximately 7000 generations, in a sophisticated technological wonder land, we find many conflicting ideas about how one should treat others. Explaining how sticking to a standard that really isn’t taught, is difficult. Time to organize a practice to guide connected cooperation.
