Some years ago I was having one of those annoyingly frustrating conversations with someone about cultural evolution. The other's pessimistic argument was of the we're-evil-&-doomed-to-hell-in-a-handbasket variety.
I think I started it with commentary about my belief that Jesus & Buddha were probably the result of more advanced child-rearing, resulting in greater levels of empathy, & a clearer ability to see the 'true nature of reality' about them, rather than the prevalent hallucinatory projectiveness typical of those coming from the severely abusive childhoods 'normal' to those times. (Please see http://www.psychohistory.com/ for additional information about these theories about childhood & cultural evolution.)
The response of the other was to say, 'So where are all the Jesuses now? Why aren't there thousands of Jesuses running around performing miracles?' At that moment I was stumped. I can be very slow, & frequently think of the best rejoinders much later.
Some months pass & it came to me: we are surrounded by ordinary miracles, so ubiquitous that we don't even notice their specialness. Indeed, we expect miracles, & denigrate them for not being perfect. The examples that specifically came to my mind were the ordinary (& daily) miracles of modern medicine, particularly the surgeon's ability to 'kill' their patients in pursuit of healing.
Any time a patient undergoes major surgery they are, in effect, 'killed' on the operating table. Wounds so grievous that they would surely die if it were not for the miracles of modern medicine. & then they are brought back to life. Resurrected. Mostly better than they'd been before.
Ordinary miracles so often unappreciated are all around us, if we allow ourselves the optimism to see them.
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