Beyond the Human Heartland

During these years, when in all continents of our world there are economic troubles, social upheavals, and political unease, it might behoove us to cast a glance at the two borders of our human heartland, borders we have been taught to accept so blithely for such a long time. For, while it may seem at this moment that all our world is afloat on such a sea of troubles that only a nuclear war or total economic breakdown could be worse, it is possible that, prior to either grim eventuality, the time-bomb wired into those makeshift borders may explode.

One border that marks our human heartland distinguishes us, as we know, from animals. The other border gives us the feeling of being unique within the universe, where our planet has been seen as the only home of intelligence. Our reliance on that distinction and our pride in that privilege mark us as genuine heirs of the Enlightenment, those glorious 1700s flowering into the 1800s, when Western civilization’s long and close indenture to revealed religion was over. The leaders of Western science and humanism set out to master their environment. Confident in their view of humanness within those two borders, they would arrive at the perfection of being human solely by human intelligence and its reasoning power.

MM

About the Author

Malachi B. Martin

During these years, when in all continents of our world there are economic troubles, social upheavals, and political unease, it might behoove us to cast a glance at the two borders of our human heartland, borders we have been taught to accept so blithely for such a long time. For, while it may seem at this moment that all our world is afloat on such a sea of troubles that only a nuclear war or total economic breakdown could be worse, it is possible that, prior to either grim eventuality, the time-bomb wired into those makeshift borders may explode.

One border that marks our human heartland distinguishes us, as we know, from animals. The other border gives us the feeling of being unique within the universe, where our planet has been seen as the only home of intelligence. Our reliance on that distinction and our pride in that privilege mark us as genuine heirs of the Enlightenment, those glorious 1700s flowering into the 1800s, when Western civilization’s long and close indenture to revealed religion was over. The leaders of Western science and humanism set out to master their environment. Confident in their view of humanness within those two borders, they would arrive at the perfection of being human solely by human intelligence and its reasoning power.