Sunday, January 13, 2013

Change

In 1633, Galileo Galilei faced the inquisition court. He was sentenced to house arrest and forced to recant his assertion that the earth revolves around the sun. It would take until 1835 before his book “Dialogue” was removed from the Catholic Church’s list of prohibited books. In 1992, John Paul II issued a declaration acknowledging the errors committed by the Catholic Church regarding Galileo Galilei.

It’s hard to abandon erroneous beliefs. Not only Catholics have this problem. Most people cling to all kinds of outdated erroneous beliefs and misunderstandings.

It was hard for the Germans to accept that Nazism was an evil ideology. They had loved Hitler so much. It was hard for the communists to realize that communism didn‘t work. Today it is hard for neo-liberals (conservatives as Americans say) to realize that also their ideology is a disaster. (An unregulated market fueled by the idea that greed is good can of course not solve the problems of global warming and environmental degradation. On the contrary, unregulated markets are the cause of the global warming and the environmental degradation.) The whole world is about to go under because of these idiotic ideas.

Some men cannot understand that their love is unrequited. Many smokers with serious lung problems refuse to give up smoking because then they wouldn’t have anything to live for. Many people do not leave their religious sect although they no longer believe in its crazy tenets and dogmas, simply because they have nowhere else to go.

What is wrong with us? Why is it so difficult to let go of stupidities and madness? Why are we so incredible stubborn?

Anyway, which convictions do you refuse to let go of? What do you refuse to realize? What do you refuse to see?

Relax. Sorry that I disturbed you. Go back to sleep. Hold on tight to your stuffed little teddy bear. Outside is nothing but howling winds and darkness.