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Life was
not created full-blown for once and forever. Only fundamentalists may
believe
this; yet it is gospel. Therefore, a new religion is needed based on both
perennial
religious values and virtues - on the concepts of total unity - encompassing the
interdependence of ail parts - continuity - eternity - infinity - and the inevitability
of constant change and adaptation to energy in motion, with its demand for ever
new equilibriums between altering speeds, temperatures, directions, gravities, pressures,
spaces - a religion tuned to contemporary knowledge and experience.
The
extraordinary phenomenon of life occurs when the balance of forces,
temperatures,
speeds, etc. achieve a high degree of permanence within a restricted range of
extremes, compatible with the environmental requirements of living cells.
The human
biped is by definition a religious animal. God has never rested (I
doubt he
took Sunday off), and as life has evolved from rich and slimy matter to an ever-growing
choice of alternatives, based on memory of cause and effect, consciousness
and imagination eventually spawned in man the key philosophic and
religious
questions of "how" and "why".
Now, the
vanity of man is such that he must have, he must know the answers.
No
self-respecting man can admit to any suspicion of ignorance, even if, from
remote
sources
of the memory of species, fanciful imagery, he constructs a tale which is
totally
unprovable,
even unlikely, even downright false.
These
free interpretations of our inalienable philosophic and religious selves are
the
religions of our day, as of every past day. They ail contain the same core of
that
need to
understand, of that faith that there is a higher order, which we can
only revere,
respect,
worship, fear, flatter, sacrifice to, pray to and beg of; a power, like fire, a
volcano,
the sun; a mind, perhaps an old man, a king seated on his throne - someone
like us,
who knows, who has a purpose, whose servants we are - an all-knowing Deity,
who
surely knows "how" and "why". If we could only win or curry
His favour, we
should be
protected and spoilt forever, each in the paradise of our choice, as in those
"safe-havens"
for the wealthy in Florida.
We, of
course, already know how he created us, how we came to be - and
perforce,
every interpretation, every religion, every fascinating myth, is different. But
none of
us can explain who made God, because if he made us, surely we could not
have made
or invented Him.
Yet that
is what happened. Every myth has served to reinforce the cultural,
social
and economic structure of its followers, of the believers. Every King had to be
divinely
appointed - ordained, anointed by the High Priests, the vicars of God on earth.
Whether
in the case as the sun-worshipping Aztecs, who believed that virgins' blood
was
essential to placate the setting sun - equally red - to ensure the sunrise next
morning,
or any other King who, once made and chosen by his people, following some
great
conquest, invoked the Gods to lend him their own total authority. Yet, where
the
institution
exists, weathered and tamed, domesticated, as it were, and I am speaking of
Constitutional
Monarchy, it must be guarded lovingly and fiercely by the twin steeds of
tradition
and heredity.
But now,
however beautiful, meaningful, truly symbolic are the religious myths
of creation,
however glorious are religious works in music, architecture, sculpture,
painting,
and literature, however true they appeared to their separate cultures in the
past, and
however much progress they have made in formulating ever more abstract
models of
worship, compatible with each other - as monotheism, for instance -, they
have not
yet formulated a belief which can now be accepted by, reconciled with,
reconciled
to, ail other religions.
In the
evolving history of religion, it is perfectly clear that we are evolving from
the fixed
and arbitrary to a more fluid truth, which recognizes the forever changing in
the
forever being, i.e. the unity of the whole, of the total sum of energy, of
will, of
purpose,
remaining constant, whilst the myriad relationships of the parts are in
constant
flux.
I believe
that every cell, every atom of organic and inorganic matter, is
inhabited
by, possessed of eternity and infinity (the binding substance), which in the
human
being leads to infinite and eternal ambitions, visions, utopias and the
powerful
drives
which occur when the infinite and the eternal are translated into material size
and
power, rather than into the creation in art, in craft, in thought, in social
harmony,
in education,
in science, in the understanding and pursuit of beauty, knowledge and
utility,
in short, in creative living, which alone can justify life which men serve as
an
ideal of
those infinite and eternal values implicit in every part of ourselves and in
our
environment.
It is
really a matter of what we hold sacred. Do we wish to worship monsters?
Are we in
danger of worshipping "success" or a temporal power above our own
lives
and the
life of others, who would lead us to war and butchery?
I am
convinced that our new world demands newly spelt-out sacred values, a
new
religious concept, perfectly compatible with the principles of worship and
prayer,
but newly
formulated to recognize our own being as sacred, and thus every other one
as well -
our own responsibilities to each other and to our extended living
environment,
always acknowledging our humility in ignorance, our pride in our
growing
understanding and knowledge, our capacity to create a more just world, and
our
capacity to reject out-dated reflexes, false ambitions, perverted ideas and
motives,
from our
civilization. We must cultivate both harmony and courage; we must retain
divine
intolerance against the intolerable, against the destruction of species, the
degradation
of air and water as of body and mind; we must preserve the intolerant holy
crusades
against racism, against every kind of superiority, expressed in contempt and
exploitation,
whether of children, natives, communists, capitalists, Jews, Protestants,
Catholics,
the illiterate or any other groups. We must be tolérant to those who teach,
protect
and help.
This
creed must form an inalienable part of our new religion; namely, that the
protector
has the responsibility, the protected the right; the powerful, the teacher, the
informed,
the skilled, the surgeon, or, for that matter, the driver and the cook, have
the
responsibility
whilst the passenger, the guest, the patient, the sick, and the poor have
the right
- but these should also be trusted with responsibility.
A
person's worth is not dependent on whether he or she is formally employed
or
unemployed. Every person is important and carries equal title to rights and
responsibilities.
The
rights include the right to life-long education, shelter, food, dress, hobbies,
specialties,
music, theatre, sport, holidays, locomotion, free time - as long as he or she
do no
harm to themselves, family, neighbour or society. If they do, society must be
protected,
and the perpetrator helped.
The
responsibilities would include the obligation to help, to serve, to teach, to
learn,
and to work in reciprocity with others.
The
freedom beyond these rights and responsibilities, if the individual so
wishes,
is to scale the ladder of achievement as high as possible, as freely, as
imaginatively
and as resourcefully as the talent and ambition of each one can take
them.
This,
then, is religion, economy, social order, creative living, the arts and the
craft and
education, rolled into one - one platform for thought
and action.
Yehudi
Menuhin
(2000)
(Texte
en anglais paru en français dans “Le 21e siècle, suicide planétaire ou résurrection”)
