Finding Myth, Magic, and Public Policy in Evolutionary Religious Studies

The Norse tale of Auðumbla, the Sacred Cow who fed the God
Ymir, and licked Buri - the origins of Humanity -
from the Salt of the Earth.

Folks often ask me: How can I teach Evolutionary Studies in such a largely Christian Community? For that matter- a community so supposedly different in so many ways from my own cultural background?

The answer is quite simple:
With genuine Human-to-Human respect; and the unstoppable magic of combining great story and great science!

Indeed - there appears to be little or no conflict for most of my students regarding our path of study - especially under the awe-inspiring gaze of evidential deep-time!

Our developing Teacher Training Core Course postulates that we must cultivate in our Students; a humble-awe and deep transdisciplinary understanding of the mythic Human Origins stories from across all cultures, times, and belief systems. That means; the Evolutionary Story is simply among the more recent of such epic tales of Human Origins - differentiated only by it's sacred focus on convergent evidence!

With these stories - of course - come belief systems; and our students are increasingly comfortable analyzing such phenomena through the  interconnections between culture; life experience; and of course; the biology of the brain. Criss-crossing throughout temporal and organizational scales of analysis during each and every seminar day!

We discuss the difference between Factual Realism and Practical Realism when it comes to these legends of mythic proportion. The former referring to how a given story connects with the exploding convergent evidence of Human Origins. The latter referring to how a given story motivates adaptive (i.e. beneficial) behavior in the individuals and communities which cherish it. Let's see how these two concepts from Wilson (2002) help us interpret my favorite mythic narrative about the origins of Humans and our relationship to the Bovid family of non-human animals.

The Norse Mythology of Auðumbla

Those who know me - know - I am gonzo for Cows! So let me share one of Humanities great bovine-based  myths of yore - the Norse tale of Auðumbla. What is this mythic story? And - how can we talk about it's factual versus it's practical realism? 

Ymir was the God of his day - literally; living the good life, lazing around and suckling copious quantity of milk from the four streaming teats of his primeval ruminant; Auðumbla. Yet - from where did Auðumbla get her nourishment? According to a 1916 English translation:

"She licked the ice-blocks, which were salty; and the first day that she licked the blocks, there came forth from the blocks in the evening a man's hair; the second day, a man's head; the third day the whole man was there. He is named Búri." (Brodeur 1916)

How many of you now believe the Story of Auðumbla is factually real? 
Not a hand among my 26 undergrad students was raised. It seems my efforts to convert them to this ancient Scandinavian Bovine-Worship Cult had failed ;)

But why did it fail? Did Students reject the truth of this story based on a cross-cultural intuition - a moral distaste for it? Or - was it because of a reasoned response based on sound science? That's a hard question to dissect - but many of them are now certainly able to articulate that we would need a LARGE amount of convergent evidence to try to argue in favor of the factual realism of Auðumbla.

But - if this story is so clearly not factually real - WHY - why do you think these peoples would create and tell such a myth, for so many generations (possibly dating back to proto-indo-european origins)?

I'm training my students to think as skilled functionalists - that is - I want them to think about what the functional impacts of any given Human trait (including the story of Ymir and Auðumbla).  If we understand the function - we may also glean insights into the origins. 

Students were hesitant to offer a hypothesis....

If you did actually - really really believe this story; how do you think you would might feel and act towards Cows? 

AHHH.... I can see some light bulbs flashing in the faces seated before me!

"well - we would treat the zebu like our mother or sister - like family"

While our Students easily reject the factual realism of the Auðumbla mythology; we can not be so quick to reject it's practical realism. It seems apparent that such a story could have quantifiable (in theory) positive impacts on how individuals and communities cared for and treated their bovid-buddies across the generations. During this nordic-slice of Human ancestry; those with healthy, happy cows undoubtedly fared better than their neighbors who sacralized less practical beliefs. An inspiring, culturally owned story that motivated one to do the absolute best for her cattle - this would certainly be a story with enduring value!

Now - did we just cheapen the story of this Divine Bovine, Auðumbla, by bringing an evidential understanding to it? Did we just reduce a cherished piece of ancient culture to "mere evolutionary principles"? HARDLY!

Integrating the Evolutionary Origins Story;
a Practical Matter of Night & Day!

The Reverend and Philosopher, Michael Dowd famously uses the concept of Night Language and Day Language to discuss the differences and connections between Science, Religion, and Mythology-at-large.

At a recent TEDxGrandRapids Talk; Dowd eloquently explained:

"What we used to speak about only in the Night Language of Religion, we can now also speak about in the plain, factual Day Language of Science". 

The Mythology of Auðumbla offers
spine-tingling Night Language for the
Scientific Day Language  of
Human-Bovine Co-Evolution!

For Dowd - Religious Mythology and Hard Science can be two sides of the same coin - an effort to help Humanity live in, what he calls, "right relationship" with our world. What my scientist colleagues refer to as; promoting adaptive behaviors. Recognizing that, on a neurological level, our Brains can literally be said to be "wired for story" - it seems premature of strong Atheists to fanaticize religious believers for embracing the Night Language of their faiths. In-fact; I argue we should all strive to cultivate the art of night language; in appropriately strong connection to the day language of hard science.

I love the Auðumbla story precisely for the spine-tingling night language translation of the evidential day language we now can share about the co-evolution of Humans and Cows! 

Auðumbla needed nourishment - and in her search for it - she found a most amazing ice-block. An as-yet unsculpted piece of nature whose potential to emerge as Human- she  would ultimately unleash. Slowly; and with the same cosmic care we can see as a modern mother cow licks her fresh calf into the world - 

Auðumbla licked Humanity into world - even as our traces nourished her own development  - and fed the God Ymir with abundance! 

Probably no one believes in the factual story of Auðumbla today; yet every single human today should appreciate the role of Human-Animal partnerships in the agonizing, astonishing, ancestral rise of our Species. We are the descendants of those who believed and acted in the most "right relation" to their given environments.  Rather than deride the lack of reason we may now judge in our ancestor's beliefs; we can celebrate their adaptive innovation - and hope we have the heart-felt (and reason-tested??)  insights to do as well in our modern environments!

Integrating both night & day language cultivates a truly mythic understanding of evidential reality - and is an approach that pleases many of my most fiercely faithful - and most soulfully secular Students.

From Myth to Policy - Understanding the Moral Psychology Determining the Future of Education

Armed with a basic understanding of the above concepts derived from Evolutionary Religious Studies and Moral Psychology;  we were now prepared to delve into the most potentially contentious moralistic issue imaginable; 

What should Educational Policy around the teaching of 'Evolution vs. Creationism' look like for University of Toliara? What about for the Malagasy High Schools our Students will soon be Teaching and Administrating?

A sample PPT slide from my course; illustrating both the diversity
of moral positions; and the nature of disagreements and congruence
between individuals who care about the topics of Science & Religion
The Yellow Arrows denote the expected and temporary disagreements
to be found amongst believers in Convergent Evidence
The Red Arrow denotes the critical dividing line for respecting the
 nature of Convergent Evidence - and entering the domain of
Science conspiracy theory.
(From L-R; Zack Kopplin, David Sloan Wilson, Michael Dowd, Ken Ham,
Richard Dawkins, Jonathan Haidt, Connie Barlow)

We looked at US media coverage of the "debate" - and could easily see that it paints a "2-sided" image. That of a strong and impenetrable divide between Scientists and Religious Folks. Our new understanding of In-Group / Out-Group psychology helped us easily make sense of why this vast simplification may occur.

As Moral Psychologists, however - we decided to pierce the veil of the media and take a more scientific look at the full moral diversity on the issue.

We spent more than half a class (2 hours) discussing the nature of agreement and conflict around this issue. We began to understand it as  a broad and complex spectrum of diverse beliefs - rooted in our basic understanding of moral psych. We noted the prevalence and diversity of disagreements across all groups; but we also noted such diversity was not "a wash". That is - it's not that all of these differences of opinion are on equal footing. In particular we examined the sentiments of many major players relevant to our topic (see the PPT slide caption above). After examining the moral diversity of our elite sample group; we were able to notice only one hard dividing line.

By analyzing the Moral Diversity on Science Education Policy;
We can see a broad spectrum - yet when Creationists deny
convergent evidence; they do create a harder-line division 

In the context of what we know about our moral brains; I offered Students the idea that Science is a culture - a socially binding force based on the sacred (untouchable) notion of convergent evidence. Just as all cultural moral matrices have their sacred notions - convergent evidence is the untouchable ideal for Scientists.

Yet in fact; Scientists DON'T all believe the same thing - nor do we believe in unchanging truths. In the PPT slide above; we see a bevy of disagreements represented by the Yellow arrows above the Black spectrum line. These are disagreements about the nature, breadth, and depth of the evidence around relatively small claims concerning human nature and origins. 

These disagreements - which we all expect to occur - will come and go. New agreements will be made based on new evidence; new disagreements will arise based on new evidence. But - the discussion always relies solely on the powerful notion of convergent evidence. The Big Red Arrow - separating Creation Museum Operator, Ken Ham - from the rest of the sample - this represents a hard line of in-congruence. The line beyond which the concept of convergent evidence no longer holds sway. Here, beyond our red arrow, science becomes a global conspiracy to test the faith of any particular Religion's followers. 

My emphasis - to be clear - is not on "converting" Students to my explicitly held sacred belief in convergent evidence; not anymore at least, than I genuinely sought to convert them to the ancient Norse belief in the Sacred Cow Auðumbla. My point is ONLY to demarcate identifiable boundaries within the complexity of moral diversity we can see - and offer them a road-map to the moral mind from which they can make sound personal choices. Students will never be graded on their personal beliefs; as long as they demonstrate understanding of what beliefs on either side of the red line genuinely entail!

By conquering the false-dualism of "Evolution-vs.-Religious Belief" and looking instead at the real complexity of moral diversity; from a transdisciplinary and evidence-based perspective; we offer students a truly empowering education from which to craft their adoption of mythology and science in genuinely awe-inspiring - and we can hope - adaptive ways!

Atheist Fundamentalists may criticize this approach as still allowing my Students of the Human Sciences to hold on to "unscientific ideas".... To this I remind the strong Atheists that skepticism is a scientific ideal..... Atheism - even Dawkins readily concedes - purports an untenable certainty to be a good Scientific proposition. As long as Science can not Hypothesize about the existence of a God who chooses to remain beyond the vision of methodological naturalism; let us cultivate the broadest and strongest respect for the nature of convergent evidence  - and allow our newly-minted Scientists to otherwise believe as they will. 

References:

• Brodeur, Arthur Gilchrist (tr.) (1916). The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation.
• Dowd, M. (2012) Why Do We Struggle Now? TEDxGrandRapids
• Wilson, D.S. (2002) Darwin's Cathedral: The Nature of Evolution, Religion, and Society.