Bücher veröffentlicht von Ontosscience

This book is about the purpose of life, survival. Throughout human history this has been the most important and most fundamental issue. Our ancient ancestors thought a lot about this and developed explanations to make their efforts manageable and to provide other benefits such as support, morals, ethics, belongingness, and immortality. These explanations formed religions that continue to dominate societies; however, they have not kept up with modern experiences and research findings, and they have lost many of their benefits.Many of the current world's problems would be alleviated if we once again thought about this fundamental issue, and if our media, politicians, and educators emphasized this topic rather than the current emphasis on consumerism, power, and violence. Studies of history reveal a pattern of continuing development of nature. From the "big bang" when minute forces self-organized into atoms, then molecules, organisms, plants, animals, and humans. This pattern indicates a design and purpose of increasing complexity and sophistication that may develop life's ability to survive the eschaton predicted by most religions and the ultimate global warming predicted by science.

At some time most of us have wondered "why?" Why I am here struggling to make a living, to be comfortable and happy. These basic questions usually get submerged because of more immediate questions about meeting daily needs, but they are still there in the recesses of the subconscious mind where they can create a nebulous feeling of dissatisfaction or can boil up at an inconvenient time. Our media, politicians, and educators should emphasize these questions rather than consumerism, power, and violence. It would alleviate much of the current personal, domestic, and global problems. This is what the author learned during 90+ years of concern while progressing from a scrawny kid to a gung-ho soldier to a research psychologist.

Not everyone climb mountains, however stories of climbing adventures provide insight into the adventure of life that we all share: overcoming obstacles and reaching out to something bigger and higher than immediate daily activities. History and psychology indicate that this is a strong human need that includes having a sense of meaning and purpose. Mountains can symbolize obstacles in meeting these needs, and experiences in climbing mountains provide a vehicle both actually and figuratively for exploring mechanisms and impacts involved.The book begins with a personal experience climbing Mount Fuji that nearly ended in disaster, with the question of why people do such things. Subsequent chapters alternate between mountain climbing experiences and research results about why people pursue difficult tasks. A bottom-up approach supports culminating proposals of spirituality as a universal personality trait, nognosticism that recognizes knowledge is limited, ecumenical humanism for religious tolerance, and the philosophy of pragmatic pluralism. For life to be meaningful and manageable, people need a sense of purpose and coherence that is best met by having belief in a higher transcendent realm while also having enough doubt about its nature or validity to pursue a quest for ultimate reality despite the great paradox.