Evolution teaches us that every molecule of our bodies came from over 3 billion years of slow change and assembly of more and more complex organisms, with humans as one result of this long process. In every conceivable way, we are “of” this world.
But for one from a Christian background, which teaches us that we are not of this world, this is a hard concept to “feel”. I remember all too clearly, such estranging teachings as, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (1 John 2:15), and, “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” (James 4:4)
I fell away from being a Christian as a very young man, in my late teens. It has been a long journey (my entire lifetime since), to come to terms with what it means to be “non” Christian. James Cameron’s movie, “Avatar”, was striking in showing a species adapted to and “of” its world in profound ways. We are like that, too, we are adapted to and “of” our world. That is an idea much easier to think intellectually than to “feel”.
I was reading some studies of sleep recently, and began reflecting that our world spends 8-12 hours in darkness every revolution, and that most animals, ourselves included, go into a nightly state of hibernation that is precisely tuned to the Earth on which we evolved. Just as the inhabitants of the world in “Avatar” are connected to the core of their being to their world, I realized that lying down and falling asleep is an act that shows how completely we are “of” our world, the Earth. Our nightly hibernation patterns are exactly tuned to the rotation of our own unique Earth world because our flesh is of its flesh.
Recently, each night, as I fall asleep, I reflect on this, and more than any place in my life, I feel “connected” to my world, my rotating Earth. I feel the millions and billions of years that tie me to the world I am falling asleep on. It is a transformative feeling, and is one more step in shedding the bonds of my old religion, and coming to terms of being a human being on a remote planet 2/3ds of the way out on one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way galaxy — MY HOME, and I am a part of our specific world, our Earth, my very molecules and every shred of my being are OF this world, my world. I am an avatar on my own world. Another step towards coming home.
Thoughtful and well stated, with much of it I am in total agreement. But I still contend there is (something other) a part of us and yet somehow beyond us that holds us and our good earth together. As a novice theologian I think that what James and John might be referencing would be worldliness, not the physical world. Don’t attach yourselves to greed, avarice, selfishness, deceitfulness etc. We are instructed in Genesis to be stewards of the earth, to take care of it and protect it. Don’t get me wrong, you are a thoughtful, very bright person and the broad extent of your knowledge and your competency in so many subjects impresses me to no end! Skinhorse
Skinhorse, you are probably right about the intent of those words, your background is theological, mine is as a young lay person. But I did come away from my childhood and young adulthood with a strong feeling of injunction against “this” world, and that we were “supposed” to live for “another world”. Perhaps is was just the personal views of the ministers I was raised with. I might add that being “stewards” of the Earth is not the same thing as being “of” the Earth, there is a subtle but powerful difference that is extraordinarily hard to escape from.
Okay, let me weigh-in on this semantical excursion of our evolutionary roots. Lumanis, as always, you make a good point, and I totally agree with your thoughts about how we came to be. Skinhorse also makes a good point by suggesting there is something other or beyond this world. (How’s that for straddling the fence?) To me, the two ideas are compatible. It may be semantics that begs the question, especially if we label the “something more” as “God.” That same energy and biological synchronicity that evolves our cycles of rest and activity, also evolves our spirit. Someday, we may move beyond the physical altogether, no longer needing physical rest or resources, but in the meantime, we’ll continue “feeling” the creative tug of this other dimension, even as we remain earthbound. Don’t sweat the ancient words of scripture. Listen to your heart as well as to your soul. Right now, love is as close as we get to this “other,” but believe me, there’s more.