Rational Thinking

Before the rise of science people used religion as a moral compass for their lives. Bible gave us ten commandments as a guide on how to live our lives. Science gradually debunked many myths and superstitions and mainly answered the question how the world works. But it still can not answer the question why it works this way and can not fulfill spiritual needs of people. So science is not replacement for religion. Both of them are needed for humans. We can observe what was created, derive the laws of nature, organize the knowledge and use this knowledge to create products that we need to not only survive but thrive. Scientific approach uses rational thinking which led to great discoveries that improved people's lives around the world. However, the same rational thinking gave us the most bloodiest wars and weapons of mass destruction that have been used to destroy many human lives. The history of humanity can be compared to a life of a person. When a child is born, he lives similar to an animal without rational thinking and advanced communication skills like language. Then, there is a period of development of language skills and thinking, but still the child's mind is full of irrational beliefs. At this age person's belief system is developed. When a child goes to school he is taught how to think rationally. But it is equally important to teach children values at an early age. Unfortunately, schools do not teach universal human values, what is good and what is bad. At school, children learn science and make them ready for today's world. The history of humanity follows the same steps, early humans developed from animals, then they developed common belief systems, known as religion, and then when civilizations thrived the scientific progress happened to answer the questions humans had about the world and to improve human lives. From the birth to finishing school we are reliving the history of humanity until we are ready to participate in this world. Problems happen when some of these components of education are missing. For example, if people have a wrong value system, but posses rational thinking, they can use this rational thinking to harm other people. That's what happened with Hitler. In Soviet Union, religion was taken out from the society. This is similar to trying to replace person's value system with another less powerful one later in his life. It is also similar to removing foundation on which the society was built. The country went through great turmoil and in the end the system collapsed because of this vital religion foundation component. On the other hand, people and societies who are only rooted in religion and deny scientific progress come in conflict with the rest of the world and may become terrorists. To become content with today's world one has to embrace the history of humanity in its wholeness and understand how we got here. To avoid great tragedies one should not employ rational thinking without a good value system. The goal, means, and product of this rational thinking should be checked against such value system as ten commandments in Bible. If it does not comply with the value system this rational thinking should be dismissed no matter how sophisticated and convincing this thinking may be. Every person has some kind of value system which he uses to make decisions. This value system should be in line with the universal value system. If it is not problems can happen. Since a person's decisions are based on his value system, society as a whole should make decisions based on its value system developed in early days of its formation. If person or society actions contradict its value system problems may arise and foundation can crumble. However, if the actions are in line with the value system and are directed to correct the wrongs of the past, then the actions can be justified, and in this way the society can be gradually transformed in positive direction to improve lives of all citizens.