Harry T. Cook will be speaking at C3 Exchange, an independent center for spiritual and intellectual pursuits, at 10 a.m. Sunday, December 6. The topic of his address is: "Fear Is the Enemy of All Good Things." C3 Exchange meets in the Grand Haven  Community Center, 412 Columbus, Grand Haven, Michigan.
 
No Admittance?
Harry T. Cook


By Harry T. Cook
11/27/15
 
 
"Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him;
For ye were strangers in the land of Egypt."
-- Exodus 22:21
 
Deeply imbedded in the intellectual genes of all expressions of religion that derive from Hebraic texts is the idea that all of us are in some ways aliens and strangers, that what we have in common is a planet the making of which we had nothing to do but on which, nonetheless, we live and move and have our being. It is as if each and all of us carry a green card until death takes it back and we are no more.
 
A fourth century BCE poet-philosopher whose outlook probably had been influenced by Babylonian and Egyptian paeans to a creating deity (Paul Tillich's "uncreated creator"?) saw it this way: "The Earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof; the world, and all they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods."/1
 
That poet-philosopher seemed to say that territorial borders, a variety of languages and differing appearances do not determine ownership of any part of the planet by self-selected tribes, clans, kith or kin. It all belongs to one whose unspeakable name is YHWH, whose exertion and expression brought it forth, us included.
 
Was the author of the 24th psalm channeling the 8th century BCE document known as the Book of the Covenant from which the Exodus text above is thought to have come? The central idea is the same. In effect, there is no such thing as an alien or stranger unless each and all of us are aliens and strangers. Charles Darwin would help us understand that condition with his observations:
 
... from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object of which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved./2
 
In that sense, a refugee would be one who showed up on Earth from another planet, not from another part of Earth. How can one be a refugee in his or her home? Yes, of course, there must be reasonable divisions of space and resources, but oil from the wells, say, of Syria or Iran is oil that belongs to Earth itself and not just to those from under whose claimed territory it comes.
 
Water was not made by human beings. It is a natural resource that can be either plentiful or scarce, depending on the place in which it is sought. But just because it is plentiful under your back 40 does not mean it is your water exclusively for your use. It, like the air we breathe, is nothing short of the gift of life to each and every human being. The water in the Great Lakes does not belong to the American states or Canadian provinces contiguous to any of their shores. It is part of Earth itself and must not be hoarded by those closest to it.
 
We are all aliens and may not alienate or withdraw from other aliens what both they and we they require to live. There can be no exclusive claim to any such resource proper to the planet. The psalmist, certainly no scientist by modern standards, did seem to understand the nature of nature: Earth proceeded from the exertion of powers beyond the knowledge of its temporary residents and therefore in its fullness cannot be said to be anything other than the property of such powers.
 
The Hebraic thinkers, perhaps out of the tribulations of their own wandering tribes, figured out that they were permanent aliens - and not only in Egypt but everywhere they went. The tent was the first mobile home, pitched here, pitched there as war, violence, hunger or thirst required it to be pitched elsewhere. The tent dwellers had their own green cards, we might say, and knew what they meant.
 
People of the 21st century who identify with any branch of Judaism or of Christianity must understand this. If they are inclined to believe that they have a moral obligation to live as Torah or as its refinements in New Testament thought prescribe, then they must accept that, in effect, they themselves are aliens living on the grace of the green card of privilege. Anyone of us is no less alien than those we may call aliens and with whose presence we would rather not be bothered.
 
"The Earth is YHWH's and the fullness thereof. The world and all they that dwell therein." YHWH can be taken as Darwin's "several powers" or the massive process Darwin perceived in the evolution of the biosphere. Yes, the survival of the fittest is inherent in Darwin's findings.
 
The tribal elders of the ancient Hebraic world must have sensed that reality as they invented communities of law and order. And that's exactly what their latter-day rabbi, Hillel the Great, meant when he said that Torah could be -- and must be -- understood as treating others as one wishes to be treated. No aliens there.

1/Psalm 24:1-2 (KJV)
2/Last paragraph of On the Origin of Species

Copyright 2015 Harry T. Cook. All rights reserved. This article may not be used or reproduced without proper credit.
 


Readers Write
Re essay of 11/20/15 Truth or Consequences
 

Karl Groves, Syracuse, New York:
Much gratitude for the essay of what truth is and how it cannot be avoided if one is honest. "Honest" may be the key word here. We read you every Friday morning and profit mentally from doing so.
 
Cynthia Chase, Laurel, Maryland:
Good essay. Dinosaur that I am, I prefer to search for "truth" by a slow and careful reading of the op-ed pages in the Washington Post rather than listening to the constant, repetitious chatter on the cable news channels. However, one thing I heard on CNN sounded about right: ISIS would rather tune in to FOX than CNN or MNBC. According to the commentators, they like what they hear there: "Armageddon? Bring it on."
 
Mark Bendure, Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan:
As always, thank you for a thought-provoking reminder of the debt we owe the "media." It occurs to me that. In a competitive world of constant "news"(or what passes for it), the "media" are not as "truthful" as they self-righteously proclaim themselves to be (speaking collectively). In the good old days of which you fondly speak, I represented a fairly prominent attorney who was charged in professional misconduct proceedings with some salacious misdeed. If convicted, he could have lost his license to practice law. While the matter was pending (of which he was eventually acquitted), the Detroit News published a scathing article. In the two paragraphs, I counted something like six out-and-out factual misstatements. Not the least of these was the assertion that he had been convicted. No courtesy of a pre-publication phone call to check the facts. Later, nothing more than a lame-ass so-called retraction sufficient to avoid a defamation lawsuit. Add to this the distortions, if not lies, of some media (FOX seems to take the cake), and it is easy to understand why the public is not as trustful of the media as it once was. With this said, the proliferation of media, on all sides of the political spectrum in their bent, does assure that any candidate for serious office is thoroughly vetted. Now, if we could only assure a public open-minded and thoughtful enough to educate themselves and avail themselves of the "truth."
 
William R. Sampson, Kansas City, Missouri:
Ted Everingham introduced me to your essays several years ago. I thought this one was outstanding!
 
John Andrews, Novi, Michigan:
Well said [with reference to] the critical value of investigative reporting. I would suggest two modifications. The persistent and thorough investigative reporting you and I knew some years ago appears to me to be more rare these days, perhaps due to economic constraints that don't allow sufficient resources for reporters to put in the time and effort. Get it done, do it superficially and quickly!! Secondly, the 24 hour news cycle on today's ever present media seems to result in the same story being repeated over and over ad nauseam, including the same questions being asked by reporters again and again long after they have been answered. Having said this, your comments about the necessity of good investigative reporting in order to have some real grasp of truth is right on target.
 
Henry MacLean, London, Ontario:
We come to the states every now and so often and do not really feel the difference unless we turn from the CBC to one of your radio stations. The difference in what each says news is tells the tale. If it weren't for your public radio stations, you wouldn't hear much useful truth.
 
Pamela Neubacher, Milford, Michigan:  
I have a coaster with a quote from Gloria Steinem. It says: "The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off." I wonder if the release of the movie, Spotlight, might get people to rally around investigative journalism, much as All the President's Men did. I'm going to forward your essay to Dolly Katz, the quack-doctor slayer, and Mike Graham, as well as others.
 
Marilyn Schultz, Austin, Texas:
You use language so beautifully to get your points across. Truth is almost a verb, as you apparently see it. That would make it intransitive in nature since much truth goes unrevealed. Your essays give me hope.
 
Hannah Provence Donigan:
Commerce Township, Michigan:
In the third paragraph of this essay you recognize the news organizations and their reporters who work hard to find the truth on our behalf. The new movie "Spotlight" tells the story of Boston Globe reporters who helped expose the Catholic Church's molestation. In 1976 the film "All The President's Men" highlighted investigative journalism also. I am an avid movie fan who appreciates how the arts reflect life and conversely.
 
Fred Fenton, Concord, California:
Our whole society is built on falsehood of every kind. No wonder the public does not demand the truth or recognize it when it comes to light. Truth is not sexy or fashionable. It is not exciting or distracting. Truth lays bare uncomfortable facts, annoying realities, indefensible posturing. The response to Bernie Sanders' truth telling is encouraging, but the media gives most of its attention to the rantings of Donald Trump. 
 
Eunice M. Rose, Southfield, Michigan:
I loved today's subject and your take on the media, oops, I mean The Press! Sometimes I wonder . . .
 
Clifford Mendenhall, Palo Alto, California:
You handle Greek with great aplomb. Like Latin, Greek illuminates our sometimes one-dimensional English. Nice work on this week's essay.

Karen Davis, Royal Oak, Michigan:
Thanks for a really good essay this week, Harry. Sadly, I think we're going to have many more consequences from the current recitations of Republican "candidates" than we will have truths. It makes me so sad to see my country succumb to such stupidity. Thank you for being a voice of reason and truth. It's splendid to share in the results of your upbringing, education, exploration, search for, and acquisition of, knowledge.

David S. Stewart, Huntington Woods, Michigan:  
I am dismayed at the crisis to which our country has come expressed by your gesture at the end of our lecture yesterday, saying it would be a critical election, and you pointed one hand to the right and one to the left. Conservatives use the exact same words as the Progressives do -- "fear for the country" and so on. The stark reality is that I may have to live with the devastation of a Clinton presidency or you may have to live with a Republican presidency. 

What do you think?
I'd like to hear from you. E-mail your comments to me at revharrytcook@aol.com.