Journey of the Universe by Brian Thomas Swimme and Mary Evelyn Tucker - Essay Example

? Journey of the Universe Journey of the Universe Introduction Human being is a special creature in the Universe. The existence ofhumans has been explained by many scholars in different views. For instance, Charles Darwin explained that human being evolved from Apes. Darwin thus gives the steps that it took for the current man to evolve, each stage constituting its own characteristics. Another account of existence of human a being is given in the bible which states that man was created by God and in the true image of God. The scientific and biblical accounts of the human beings have been of confusion to many people as they do not understand which account if the correct. Apart from the origin of the human beings, another thing that is not well understood is the role of the human beings in the Universe and the dimensions into which humans should exercise their roles. In the book, Journey of the Universe, Swimme and Tucker put it, “everything in the Universe exists in a physical and a spiritual dimension and that Universe presents a deep transfiguration process (Swimme & Tucker, 2011). They add that truth love and compassion should prevail amongst the human creature and should be regarded as divine. Personal Belief about Existence In my opinion, my deepest beliefs about the existence of humans in encrypted in religion. According the religion that I believe, existence of human beings is explained as the work of God who created a man and put him in the Garden of Eden. Then thereafter everything unfolds to show the responsibilities given to man by the creator. One of the major reasons that make me believe in this ideology is that the process of creating heaven and the earth was sacred as planned by God and the last step to create man, was more sacred. The first account of creation explains that God created Heaven and Earth by his words. For instance, he said, “Let there be light.” However, the creation of man took a different dimension whereby God molded some clay and breathed in. After creation, God also said that he created man in his image. This gave human being a special recognition in the Universe. During the second account of the creation, God introduced the man into the Garden of Eden and gave him responsibility of everything that was there. In fact, man was given the responsibility of naming all the creatures that were created by God. Man was also given the responsibility for the Garden of Eden and was allowed all the freedom but denied eating the fruit of wisdom. All this story line of creation emphasizes that existence of human beings solely takes a religious dimension. The other explanation of existence such as spiritual and scientific amongst others do not explain some issues, which I believe are important in human existence. For instance, they don’t explain the sacred life of a human being (Swimme & Tucker, 2011). In the scientific explanation of existence, man is told to have evolved from the Ape species and having undergone various steps of evolution, he reached the stage of the current man whose predecessor is Homo sapiens sapiens. In the whole evolution story, the holiness of man is not explained at all. What the entire story gives is that man gained experience after each evolutional phase. Everybody in the Universe can witness the specialty of human beings in deeds, beliefs and innovations. Hence to me, any existence story that does not account man as sacred and special creature is wrong. Personal Views on a Human Being and His Roles Having followed the story of creation, I consider myself a unique creature amongst other creatures. One of the major reasons that give me the pride as a human is that I have the power and wisdom to control other creatures; the power that is given to all human beings. That is the reason as to why man was able to tame other creatures now referred to as domestic animals. As a human creature, I can therefore, rear such animals and know their needs in every day’s life. In addition to that, I have leadership and organizational skill. This gift is only given to Humans. In the traditional tales, animals have been accorded the roles of leadership in their groups but the leadership amongst animals is not clear as encountered in the lives of humans. Thus, I believe that I am a creature with many qualities that are unique as compared to other creatures in the Universe. As such, it is my role and the role of any other human beings to take care of other creatures and make the environment better. Every human being should take responsibilities of rearing, feeding and treating the domestic animals as well as conserving other wild creatures. Swimme & Tucker (2011) argue that it is also an obligation to take care of the environment by ensuring its cleanliness all the time. According to my view, human beings should use their talents to develop the world, and as Swimme and Tucker put it, humans should make the Universe a divine place to live. This can only be achieved if humans would exist in a brotherly/sisterly manner. This means that love and compassion should prevail amongst us all and that we ought to develop a heart of forgiveness. Possibility Interfaith Dialogue and Coexistence According to my view, the statement by Swimme and Tucker about planetary sense of community culture and religion is very useful in life of a human being. This is because as I explained earlier, human beings ought to take responsibility over other creatures in the world. His thoughts should be based on new ideas that would lead to the betterment of the Universe in general. All humans should therefore, integrate the cultural and religious aspects of life to develop the Universe. There are many cultures that exist in the Universe and each has an origin and the founders. Thus, people should not criticize others’ cultures but should work to make them better or adopt them in their own lives. People can also correct cultures from other communities by giving advice on a few things that would make them better. Presently, there are many religions in the world and each religion has its beliefs and practices. At times, there are conflicts based on religions and this has led even to fights. For instance Christians may fight Muslims or Vice Versa. According to the statement by Swimme and Tucker, religions should serve the purpose of bringing people together and not bringing separation (Swimme & Tucker, 2011). The diverse ideologies and beliefs in the various religions should serve a purpose of coming up with different ideas aimed at making the Universe a better place to live. Though many efforts for interfaith coexistence have failed, my opinion is that interfaith dialogue could be possible if there is a good organization by the planners. When arranging for such dialogues, people should take it as an initiative for peace, consider it a serious agenda and even publicize it. The dialogue could lead to coexistence though due to the various doctrines, believers of the various religions may tend to oppose other people’s opinions. My opinion is that the coexistence, which should be advocated, is the one that makes believers of every religion note their duties while in the Universe. Otherwise, people should not be forced to follow the religions which are not their choices. Swimme and Tucker gave a baseline for humans to act their roles while in this Universe. Thus though humans believe in various accounts of existence such as religious, scientific, philosophical amongst others, they should stand on the same “foundation,” as far as innovations and development of the Universe is concerned. Humans should respect the various cultures and religions existing and should ensure that there is an agreement on how to develop the Universe and make it a divine place. Reference Swimme T, B. & Tucker E, M. (2011). Journey of the Universe. California: Yale University Press. Read More