Not Myth: Man will become gods

 Using modern high technology and the great power of world union to help people to become “gods” together and help mankind evolve into immortals,is just an unparalleled great idea that may bring happiness to the whole world. It is not hard to imagine, its fate may also be the same as that mentioned by Goethe. To many people, it is “an offence”,considered as “a rebellion against orthodoxy”,and in the eyes of those “masterminds” or “scholars” who are well learned but actually do not have real wisdom, it may also be regarded as a “folly” or “fallacy”.

 In human history,when a truth was discovered at the outset, it was often incompatible with traditions like water and fire. Civilization lies in innovation,and innovation is often a synonym of rebellion against orthodoxy. The same is true of ideological innovation.

Whether it is an innovation in the theory of the humanities or in the theory of natural science, or a technology innovation,it is often treated as “strange thinking” or “fallacy” by those “scholars” or “general public” confined by traditional ideas. From the “heliocentric theory” in astronomy and the “continental drift hypothesis” in geology,to the “genetic gene theory” in biology,all of them were once criticized as “fallacies to deceive people” or “absolutely preposterous”. However, at last, all those “fallacies” and “absurdities” became mental wealth that has brought great benefit to mankind.

 Originally,Darwin’s evolutionism was apposed strongly by many people, as they thought listing mankind together with beasts was a great profanity to man’s dignity, which angered most philosophers and scientists and all the religionists of that time. When the bishop’s wife, Mrs Wurster, saw Darwin’s Origin of Species published in 1859, she said： “Let’s hope it is not true. Even if it is true, let’s pray it will not be generally accepted!”  But now, Origin of Species has come into the classroom of American churches.

 In 1919,when the rocketry inventor Goddard expressed his viewpoint that the rocket could fly out of the gravitational attraction to reach the moon and outer space, it also aroused a great hiss, even New York Times mocked at him as “the man on the moon”. But it goes without saying Goddard’s contribution to science development is obvious to all of us.

 The cyberneticist Wina proposed the bold idea of putting the “robot” into production and management areas, which suffered ruthless criticism from philosophers.
 When a puzzle pending for hundreds of years in the mathematical world was solved suddenly by the mathematic paper by Abel, a little figure at that time, the then “King of Mathematics” Gauss cried out in surprise： “Too terrible! He should have worked out such a foolish thing!” The young French mathematician Galois also met with the same fate: He handed in his mathematic paper three times,but it was denounced by the authorities twice and got lost once. Galois commented on those “authorities”: “These people have lagged behind for one hundred years!”

 Malthus’ “population theory” was seen as evil sayings and was attacked severely by many people. When Madam Marguerite Sanger proposed and advocated family planning in USA, she was thrown into prison for many times…

 Not only all kinds of ideological innovation and theoretic innovation are often under fire,but the conservative forces are often very stubborn, too, refusing any change. So, just as Planck, the great German physicist who brought up the quantum theory and sounded the clarion of technological revolution of the 20th century, said: “It is impossible for a new scientific truth to win by convincing its opponents and making them understand it, but its winning is chiefly because its opponents have died at last and the new generation familiar with it has grown up.” Such a sad story is recurrent and hard to evade in history.

 Those recurring stories have reminded me of the saying by Hegel: “What we have learned from history is only：Mankind has never learned anything from history.” However,I believe,since mankind has already entered the 21st century and especially the whole country of China is advocating “liberating ideology, seeking truth from facts and keeping abreast with the times”, such a historic tragedy will not recur.

 Napoleon said, in the world, there are two most powerful things: one is the sword, the other is the thought. But the thought is more powerful than the sword.

 When the thinking is upright,the people will be upright; When the people are upright, the world will be upright. To value innovation,first of all, we should value innovation in thinking；To treat innovation in the right manner,first of all, we should treat ideological innovation in the right manner.

 Laozi (ancient saint of China) said: “When the upper man learns the Way, he follows it with diligence; When the middle man learns the Way, he follows it on occasion; When the lower man learns the Way, he laughs out loud; If it is not laughed at, it will not deserve the calling of ‘the Way’.” When the wise person hears the truth,he will practice it earnestly；When the ordinary person hears the truth,he will hesitate, half-believing and half-doubting；But when the foolish person hears the truth,he will have a good laugh. If it is not laughed at, it will not deserve the calling of “the Way” (great truth or law). No great way or great truth can avoid being mocked at by foolish people, even being laughed at loudly.

 But I believe more people are “upper people”, not “middle people”, nor “lower people”.

When a great idea as an evangel befalls this world, it may become an offence to the common people bonded by outmoded conventions and customs, and it seems to be a foolery in the eyes of those who have read many books but do not have true profound thinking.

Donate for Kindness

Hi man, if you find this article useful, please donate a few bucks to help the one in need.

Donate

Topics: ,,,,,,,