“I believe the essence of Humanity is common sense.”

I believe that too, Ali.

Civilization occurred some 10,000 years ago. I often wonder what human life must have been like for the 2,000,000 years before then. I know it wasn’t an easy life. There were dangers lurking around every corner. And a man’s lifespan was probably cut short by the dangers he faced day in and day out.

But my guess has always been that on the whole, we were probably kind to one another. With so many obstacles to overcome, we would have needed each other’s help to survive yet another day. It wouldn’t have made any sense to kill one another, especially since everyone was a hunter/gatherer, and there was no reason to kill or steal.

The truth of this was made clear in a movie I saw on the Discovery Channel called The Rise of Man. In one scene, a clan was enjoying its cave and plenty of food, when along came a new clan in search of food and shelter. Would they kill one another, the question was asked? No. The comfortable clan took the new clan in, to increase the gene pool for procreation. That must have been the thinking of the day.

Well today, Ali, there are also serious problems lurking around each and every corner. Yes we are far more advanced technologically than the cavemen, but we’ve gotten ourselves into a fix of sorts. We’re so technological that we’ve created weapons of mass destruction that can be used to wipe us off the map. Our economies our spewing out gases that threaten our survival. And we’re so committed to our various ideologies, that some of us have come to believe that what we believe is more important than our own lives and the lives of others on this good earth.

So the fix is in, so to speak. In a way, and I know this sounds weird, could it be that the caveman’s ideological framework was superior to ours? Was his worldview more in sync with common sense? And is it just possible that we will have to imitate him, in certain respects, in order to restore a semblance of order to this world.

Picture yourself as a caveman trying to survive yet another day. How would you treat your fellow man? Would you kill him, or would you partner with him, and help each other out. Would you care what he believed about this or that, or would you discover things about one another that you could both believe in. Would you hog everything you could find for yourslelf, or would you share with your fellow man, because you need him, and becuase you have come to believe that he is very much like you, in search of the same things as you, and as vulnerable as you are.

Philosophical rules like The Golden Rule, “Treat others as you would have them treat you,” are universal, and are found in every major religion, not becuase Moses, or Jesus, of Muhammad, had to tell us so. They are universal because they make sense, because they are logical, and because they are self-evident. That is the gift that God gave us; the ability to make sense of this world.

The Golden Rule is common sense, and common sense is the collective wisdom born of shared expreience. The writing is on the wall. We either find a way to reach common ground using common sense principles, or we’re going down. That’s the deal my friends. It always has been, but world events are making the truth of that reality ever more clear day by day.

Both the poem and this quote are powerful statements.

But let me ask you this: When you take a person, a person like you and me, and you strip off all of the labels that are attached to him, all of the labels that are referred to in the poem, then what do you have left? In other words, if we look hard at the essence of a person, pure and naked, and stripped of all categories, what is it that we see? What is left of him?

For me, what you have left is Common Sense. Common Sense is who we are when all the BS is stripped off.

And that brings us to Einstein. What Einstein is saying, in effect, is this: What will happen when the leaders declare war, and no one shows up? In a way, you may think this to be naive, and unbelievable. But think about it. If we can find a way to use Common Sense to reach a universal ideological consensus, and if a universal ideology of common sense teaches us not to kill, then no one will show up, even if a war is declared. In other words, the idea of war will be so repugnant to human sensibilities that even the nutjobs we have as our leaders will not dare declare war, for fear of being out of step with the will of the people. You can’t declare war, when no one is listening.

Is any of this possible? Well let’s put it this way. Is it possible to sustain life as we know it without making some progress in this direction?

the reasons you mentioned are almost true. biased propaganda in Iran has led many people to believe that “Isrealis are their real enemies”. I think that this so-called brainwashed are the majority. you feel other way. all in all, we have one thing in common: there should be an informative propaganda.

(thanks for Lori. I didnt know about him.)

Nevertheless, nothing distorts the fact that Palestine and other occupied lands in the Middle East must be free according to the UN resolutions demanding Israel total withdraw and respect of 1967 borders.

most of Iranians see Israelis as their real enemies.

I don’t think this way Mohammad, I believe the main reason some people consider Israel as enemy is the propaganda, from our school books to the news and everywhere there is propaganda against Israel. Unfortunately the access to free information is very limited so many don’t see the real deal.
Once I had a discussion with an Israeli colleague here about an Iranian_German football player who refused to play against Israel, because of the fact that he was worried for his family. My friend could not believe the fact that in every Iranian Passport is written that the holder of the passport is not allowed to travel to “occupied Palestine” (meaning Israel).

About Lori you can read about her here in Wikipedia.

As an Israeli I can tell you that the people of Israel don’t see the people of Iran as their ennemy.

the problem exatly lies here: most of Iranians see Israelis as their real enemies. There must be a connection between two peoples, and it will remove much of the misunderstanding which exists right now.