Chapter 9.                      Part D 

         Orthodox Jews and Muslims have long been taught not to eat pork. What survival value lay in eating beef, chicken, fish, etc. but not pork? The answer, from a scientific perspective, is that pigs for hundreds of years have been the main intermediary hosts carrying trichinosis to humans. The early Jews and the Muslims did not know that such was the case; trichina eggs and worms are microscopic. But Jewish and Muslim communities benefited over the long haul by eliminating pork from their diets nevertheless.

                                          Enlightenment-era coffee house, Vienna 

            Many Europeans drank largely malt liquor, wine, beer, and, later, tea and coffee, for centuries. This moré was based in custom rather than religion, but its beneficial effect was felt just the same. Local water often contained dangerous bacteria. The blessings here were mixed ones because, of course, they often were counter-balanced by the negative effects of alcohol and caffeine abuse. But the important thing to see is that these people did not need to know anything about bacteria in order to arrive over generations, by trial and deadly error, at a set of behaviors which enabled them to survive in greater numbers over the long haul. Of course, in China, the drinking of tea had been looked on as a healthful practice for both the individual and society for much, much longer.

               

                 

            The laws of Moses, in another area of life, instruct followers of the Hebrew, Christian and Muslim faiths: “Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land that the Lord thy God hath given thee.” The words instruct the faithful to care for, treat respectfully, and consult, their parents (and therefore, by a small logical extension, all citizens of the community should be cared for in their old age).

               

            Honoring our elders means consulting with them on all kinds of matters. Before writing was invented, an old person was a walking encyclopedia that could be consulted for useful information on treatment of diseases and injuries, planting, harvesting and preserving food, making and fixing shelters and tools, hunting, gathering, etc. Knowledge and wisdom were passed down through the generations by oral means.  By honoring elders, the people in a community preserved, and thus had access to, much larger stores of knowledge than they would have been able to call on if they had simply abandoned their elderly as soon as keeping them seemed a net drain on the tribe’s resources. An elder’s knowledge often solved small problems, and sometimes solved major crises, for the whole tribe. Over many generations, societies which respected and valued their elders gradually outfed, outbred, and outfought their competitors.

            "We have to boil the water. This sickness came once before, when I was seven summers old. Only people who drank soup and tea did not get sick. All who drank the water got sick and died." 

               

            It is worth noting that the commandment in its original wording said: “Honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long ...” and so on. At first glance, this seems odd. If I honor my parents, they will likely enjoy a more peaceful and comfortable old age, but that fact will not guarantee anything about my own final years. By then, my parents, even if they are grateful folk, will most probably be long since dead. At that point, they can't do much to reciprocate and so benefit me. 

            On closer examination though, we see that there is more here. As one treats elders with respect in their last years, consults their opinions on a whole range of matters, includes them in social functions, and so on, one models for one’s children a behavior that is imprinted on the children for a lifetime; they, in turn, will practice this same behavior in twenty years or so. The commandment turns out to be literally true.

               

            Note also, the deep and complex relationship between our morés or patterns of behavior and our values programming. The common behavior patterns in a culture, patterns that we call “morés”, are just ways of acting out in the physical world beliefs that are held deep inside the individual in his or her mental world, beliefs about what kinds of behaviors are consistent with the individual’s code of right and wrong, appropriate or inappropriate, sensible or silly. More on these matters as we go along.