In religion, country, and culture, human nature tells me that we sometimes exceed with glory and other times fail miserably.

And, like human consciousness, we have a difficult time reconciling these differences.

During the 2008 election, Barack Obama began his nomination by not wearing a flag pin on his jacket. Suddenly, he is recognized as the “non-patriotic” candidate, even though his entire candidacy focused on lifting up “the better angels of ourselves.” This is paradox #1.

During the 2000 election, George W. Bush ran on a platform on compassionate conservatism and sought to restore ethical integrity to the White House. Eight years later, we have entered two unnecessary wars, defied the United Nations' authority, broken international laws of torture, and showed the worst examples of imperialism, colonization, and anger—the worst demons of ourselves. This is paradox #2.

Over sixty years ago, the Roman Catholic Church, among other Christian nations, turned a blind eye to the fascism promoted by Hitler and the Nazis, and during the aftermath of World War II, at least six million Jews and others were gassed, murdered by gunpoint, or died by starvation or other gruesome means. We call this the Holocaust. This is paradox #3.

The United States dropped nuclear weapons of mass destruction on Japan. "But, it probably saved our lives," my grandfather told me many years ago." Would I be alive then without nuclear warfare? Paradox #4

I could spend an entire article on the paradox of culture, particularly the most evil kind of culture, including the rape of women who were later beaten because they became pregnant! However, we don't always like to think of the evil elements in the dark shadows of our unconsciousness. We'd rather forget about the evil and preach a God of forgiveness and love.

However, we must approach history from a real perspective and recognize not only the paradoxes existing in religion, culture, and ethics, but also how to reconcile an earth consciousness to explain what it means to be human on many levels: as an individual, as a participant in larger culture, and as a social construct by other human beings from different geographical locations.

Reconciliation is perhaps based on the paradoxical elements of human nature. We have good qualities, and we sometimes fail. We can celebrate the goodness, but when we fail not as human beings but as human cultures, our individuality is overpowered by the “common purpose.” The “common purpose” sometimes fails horribly!

So, what then is the answer to paradoxical reconciliation.

1. We must recognize human compassion as one answer to reconcile differences.
2. We must recognize the failure of our past heritages and not hide from them.
3. We must do what all religions ask us to do: love our neighbors and seek direction beyond egocentric desire.

The “common purpose” does not have to be evil; we simply lose direction when we become a social construct of an entire country, religion, or heritage. The human individual voice gets weeded out in too many directions by media, government, country, and creeds. However, Thomas Jefferson, adulterer and owner of slaves, challenged us when democracy was upon the United States of America: “We hold these truths to be self evident.”

Jefferson speaks of an absolute, universal truth. All people deserve equality and will receive it...one day. We have yet to reach that ideal, yet looking at the commonality of religions and still respecting the heritage of each human being, perhaps we can reach for something out of Jefferson's idealism and make the crowded world a little more personal and inviting!

--Jinglett