SOCIETIES AND CULTURES

The Inevitability of Change

by Alex Hutchins

It has been said by those wiser than me that “people don’t change until the pain of not changing is greater than the pain of changing.”

This statement has never been truer than what we see throughout the world in our modern present day societies and cultures.  While Iran attempts to hold onto fundamental teaching of the Quran, it purchases, refurbishes and releases Russian submarines in an attempt to protect its borders, claiming they will only be used for defense.  Is it possible for Muslims to remain faithful to the teachings of Islam while holding onto their “old school” beliefs?



Cardinal Martini

And, while we are wondering about that, let me point out that a Archbishop (Carlo Maria Martini) of the Catholic Church, recently stated before his death this year at the age of 85, that

 

"The church is 200 years out of date. Why don't we rouse ourselves? Are we afraid?  …Our culture has aged, our churches are big and empty and the church bureaucracy rises up, our rituals and our cassocks are pompous," Martini said in the interview published in Italian daily Corriere della Sera.  "The Church must admit its mistakes and begin a radical change, starting from the pope and the bishops. The pedophilia scandals oblige us to take a journey of transformation…"

 

WOW, admit our mistakes…

Who in their right mind would want to do that much less admit that they made mistakes in the first place?

So, is this what Iran is doing when the country purchases Russian built submarines that the teachings of Islam must change with the times?

And, will we ever be able to co-exist in the world with people of other religions or faiths or will everyone who does not believe like us need to be killed?  Is this the kind of change the world needs?

Few “things” are certain in this life or what we might call truisms or truth.  We are all born and we all die and until the latter happens we must eat, digest, and breathe.  Those are inevitable truths.

But, can we say that change is inevitable as well?  Probably so, but it comes with a caveat does it not?  That our desire for knowledge must come first or another way to say this is that the inevitability of changes presupposes that knowledge precedes it.

• Our bodies change as we get older.
• Our minds change as we get older.
• Our beliefs, personalities, values, morals may also change as we get older.

Technology advances, which are likely never to stop advancing, will forever, be changing our lives and how we live our lives.

For example:

• Terrorist organizations have access to the internet via wireless routers and satellite connections.
• Terrorist organizations, using the internet, can learn how to build and deploy dirty bombs.
• Terrorist organizations can communicate via cell phones, Skype, Facebook, or a variety of other social media.

Technology changes the way we believe and the way we can kill non-believers; and, if we did not see it before we now know that change is inevitable and that will never change.