Over the years, I’ve heard a lot of talk about what is natural or unnatural in regards to human behavior. I suppose it all depends on which part of the elephant one currently perceives. Beyond that though, I see this like layers of an onion—an emergent property situation. I’ll take a stab at sorting this out…
Humans are naturally (and usually) inclined to take the easy way, go for pleasure and avoid pain. In the wild this bio-hoodwink usually works out well. Human culture has been driven by this primary instinctive drive shared by all animals, from ants to duck to dogs to people. Consider the human highway on the left and the ant highway on the right (photo left). Both species are just trying to make life easier and more efficient. As I pointed out in Ants are Us, the similarities are striking. Continue reading ‘Naturally Unnatural, Naturally!’
Styles of thinking and clothing have a lot in common. We are born with mind simple and body naked. We soon dress our body in clothes and our mind in thoughts. Wishing to return to our original self physically, we can simply go naked. Wishing to return to our original no mind, is another matter. The main glitch in returning to one’s roots here lies in styles of thinking. I see two archetypical cognitive styles (A and B below) from which we ‘choose’, sometimes one, sometimes the other. Which is your most common ‘choice’ in real life? Continue reading ‘Naked Thought’
Success Thru Failure
Most of us eventually realize that all success must inevitably pass through a failure stage. From our first years of stumbling before walking, of mumbling before talking, and on through life we gradually learn (perhaps intuitive and subconscious) that if we would take from a thing, we must first give to it. However, I will take this even further: success IS failure. Is this an example of chapter 78’s straightforward words seem paradoxical? It all depends on which phase of the life cycle you consider and how you define success. Continue reading ‘Chapter of the Week: #78′
I am always reassured when I see a strong correlation between ostensibly lowly, mundane life forms and myself. For one thing, it shows Nature is no fool; she simplifies her work by using time tested tools at every level of life—and ‘non life’ as well. Those tools are the so-called instincts. I suppose the reassurance I feel arise from seeing examples of my being truly connected to all life being.
Indeed, it is somewhat puzzling why humanity has gone to such lengths to see itself otherwise, like being created in God’s image. Perhaps having no way to notice the subtle (yet profound) similarities between ‘them’ and us, we turned to myth and imagination, with our species centric ego giving our myths direction. Continue reading ‘I, Amoeba’
King Sahura c.2487-2475 B.C.E.
This morning lightning struck. I got a great ideal for a book. Even so, it is a book I’ll never write. Still, I have a provocative working title, Why Man Is King, or perhaps, Why Man is King, is God. I’m not even keen on writing a post addressing this, or at least addressing all of ‘this’. As it turns out, the end of the book would dovetail right into a recent post Ant Are Us, so I just have to say something, otherwise this will haunt me for the rest of the day.
Up until now, civilization has done everything possible to put Man at the top, and Woman at the bottom of culture’s hierarchical structure. I always attributed this to simple social zoology where the ‘alpha male’ heads the group. That may still be a major reason for the main origins of human cultural biases. However, I realized another source as I was pondering the dynamics of male-female relationships… what keeps them either working or leads to their demise. Continue reading ‘Why Man is King’
Ethics as an Emergent Property
Ethics is a curious cultural creature. What is ethical for one group may well be immoral for another. Certainly there are some ethical rules which span most groups, at least on the surface. ‘Thou shall not kill’ is almost universal, except for the many exceptions, e.g., it’s all right to kill those who kill, but not embryos, or visa versa… Continue reading ‘Chapter of the Week: #77′
Shishi odoshi ("deer scarer")
Yes, it is true. The reason it may sound ridiculous is that we are biologically set up to respond positively to gain and negatively to loss. A useful trick I’ve found in life is convincing my hoodwinking emotions of the actual benefit of loss and the hidden downside of gain.
Years of evidence, hard-won through personal experience, helps keep me constantly convinced now. The Tao Te Ching echos this view in chapter 58, It is on disaster that good fortune perches; It is beneath good fortune that disaster crouches. The proverb “be careful what you wish for, it may come true” points in the same direction. Continue reading ‘Loss is Gain; Gain is Loss’
The BBC aired an excellent six part series on India recently. The other night we watched part two, The story of India (part 2). The first half hour retells the life of Buddha. Incorporating present day video footage of India with the story makes this telling especially good. The end of the segment stood out to me. To quote:
Buddha (around the age of 80, 486bc) felt his time nearing the end, traveled North towards the land of his childhood. The Buddha reached a little town on the edge of the Ganges plane where he fell ill. Continue reading ‘“… Strive On Diligently”’
Is Pain the Constant?
Pleasure and pain (like life and death) are a fascinating duo. In this relationship, I imagine that pain is the head of the household. That’s not to say pain is ‘the constant‘; that would be going too far, of course. Nevertheless pain, like water, may come close to describing the way. That puts pain at the same primeval level as fear. They are the leaders in the evolution of life, with supporting roles in life’s drama going to pleasure and need (and in us humans, desire). Continue reading ‘Chapter of the Week: #76′
Gathering around the water cooler
When I saw this story, What ants can teach us, I was left with the gut feeling that we’re simply ants with big brains and hands with opposable thumbs.
Talk about mysterious sameness! Just imagine what ants could do if they had those two assets at their disposal. I suppose they would ruin the earth even faster than we appear to be doing. Continue reading ‘Ants Are Us’
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