Galileo and the Prodigal Son

The wisdom underlying
both the scientific retraction forced upon Galileo by the Roman Catholic Church
as well as the basic psychology underlying the parable of the Prodigal Son
has been entirely lost in translation by our culture

Galileo [b][i]had[/i][/b] to be rebuffed
not because he was disbelieved by the intelligentsia of his time
who were all educated members of the Roman Church
but because of far wider implications than simply under-mining the authority of the Pope
and refuting the religious teachings of the Holy Bible

Galileo's discoveries also challenged the credibility and investment
of a vast world-wide mission-based educational infrastructure
that had taken 1500 years to install
one that had sent out thousands of learned scribes
to educate tens of millions of illiterate peasants
graduated whole tribes out of an antiquated oral-based system of instruction
putting an end to an entire Bronze Age of contentiously conflicting totemic idiosyncrasies
and clannish feuding
replacing it with a formalized Iron Age standard of literate development
and religious disciplines
essential to formulation and government of national industries of thought and application

It is upon this primary school base of education
established by organized Religions
that the High School of Science
has evolved and flourished

Even now
five hundred years later
the Religious system of education is not yet quite finished
with literate goals it originally set out to achieve

The wisdom underlying the parable of the Prodigal Son
and rejection of an authoritarian Father
while gambling away his inheritance
refers to typical teenage rebellious demands for independence
reckless self determination
pseudo-intellectual political argumentation
and an eventual humble return to responsible ancestral estate management

We can see the biblical parable duplicated
in the scientific rejection of an authoritarian god
its scorn for religious dogma
its wars over political ideologies
its gamble with commodities on the global market
and its bankruptcy into a collapsing environment
forcing us into a humble return
to a religion of responsible stewardship