The social qualities present during our ancestral hunter-gatherer era (1) just happen to parallel the core spiritual qualities that the world’s religions promote. That’s no coincidence. Indeed, those innate qualities of harmony we now seek are the very ones we lost when we left the old way for the alluring material benefits and security civilization affords. Everything has a price. Isn’t it ironic how religion’s clerics passionately sought to bring spiritual salvation to all the primitive hunter-gatherers ‘savages’ the civilized world encountered?
Why do religion and civilization exist?
If pollsters asked people why religion exists, many might say it arose to guide our salvation. Personally, I never bought the Biblical storyline for humanity’s downfall and subsequent need for salvation. Interestingly though, the Genesis account of the fruit of knowledge (of good and evil) speaks to the cognitive problems our species has faced for at least 100,000 years. That suggests we actually need salvation from our overly polarizing cognitive ability.
Next, if asked why civilization exists, many people would probably say humanity needs civilization’s progressive model to lift us out of ignorance and bestial behavior. This justification for civilization goes hand in hand with religion’s reasoning. This applies to pseudo religions, such as Marxism, which also aim to improve the human condition.
Knowing why paves the way to knowing how.
Over the years, I’ve spoken to the problematic side of cognition and the hypocritical side of civilization. Even so, I never clearly saw a direct link between these aspects and the old way. Now, I have no doubt. Losses suffered in the transition from the old way to civilization clearly account for the increase in humanity’s social and psychological problems, and for the solutions that religion and civilization promise. We can’t do anything about that in particular. We’re not going to return to the old way—we couldn’t even if we wanted to.
However, knowing the true origin of our ills, the why, helps greatly by neutralizing the blame-game and its inadequate solutions. Conversely, when we don’t know the natural underlying causes, we tend to flail about in circles, targeting the ‘scapegoat of the day’, and grasping for the ‘fix of the day’. I don’t know if knowing the deeper dynamics can change anything, per se. I’m not counting on it, but at least knowing why may help pave the way to how. In any case, knowing why calms much of the emotional conflict that arises when we don’t know. Alas, we are often too impatient to look deeper, and so settle for any answer that feels good, especially if it offers a culprit to blame and promises a quick fix.
Ignorance is bliss, or is it?
Consider the parable of The blind men and the elephant from a symptoms point of view. Why are the blind men so adamant in what they perceive and believe to be true? The survival instinct, particularly the emotions of need and fear, drives our pigheaded beliefs. Belief, in turn, serves our anxious need for solid answers that can pin down the mysterious elephant in the room. Buddha’s four truths don’t say anything about ‘Right Emotion’. Why is that? Perhaps it’s because we have little to no control over emotion. We feel what we feel, which colors perception and fuels belief. Next, as Buddha puts it, “The illusion of self originates and manifests itself in a cleaving to things [beliefs]”. What is more binding and blinding than belief? Furthermore, what is more comforting than belief? Is this ignorance born of belief why they say, “Ignorance is bliss”?
Presence of mind
Without presence of mind, there’s nothing to do but suffer the result of unbridled emotions driving thought. Merely knowing that we are succumbing to the bio hoodwink helps weaken the connection between emotion, thought, and belief to an extent. That leaves us with some degree of what Buddha called a “Right state of peaceful mind”.
Buddha’s Fourth Truth conveys a sense of necessity… and urgency. The more certain I know the true danger of something, the greater is my urge to do “Right” (p.604 to 623) [Buddha-1, Buddha-2, Buddha-3]. I don’t need to burn my hand more than once to know to keep my hand out of the flames. Our expectations burn indirectly, so we have trouble connecting the dots.
The emotional drive behind expectations hinders presence of mind and blinds us to unintended consequences. In fact, research has shown that expectations are the barrier to happiness. See Science Proves Buddha Right (p.483) for the research on this. Having research support what some have long realized intuitively helps “self disappear before truth” as Buddha put it in his Fourth Truth. Once we connect the dots, modifying behavior becomes much easier… thankfully! Alas, we also seem to have a great resistance to science when it points out anything that challenges fondly held beliefs and biases, and the expectations they encompass. An impartial “Right state of peaceful mind” can’t coexist smoothly with biases and belief!
Buddha’s Meta-Truth
Buddha’s first truth sets the stage by describing the sorrowful results of the self not getting what it wants. The second truth tells us the origin of the “illusion of self” that invariably amplifies this distress. The third truth tells us that conquering self reduces, if not ends, this distress. The fourth truth tells us there is salvation for him whose self disappears before truth. This suggests that facing truth honestly helps one conquer self. The trick lies in knowing the difference between the genuine truth and fondly held beliefs and biases.
Buddha’s Four Truths (p.604, 614) together convey a singular meta-truth. Here, thought is the common denominator, especially when we realize that the major “thing” we cleave to, vis-à-vis the second truth’s “cleaving to things”, is our story… and all the ideals, beliefs, thoughts and expectations this entails.
In summary: We left the old way for the security of agriculture. That diminished many of the socially connective benefits our ancestral way of life provided. This created an array of cultural beliefs to fill that void. True, beliefs held in common helps connect people, yet they fail to do so as naturally and completely as the old way of our ancestors. Even so, turning the clock back would be impossible for humanity overall. That’s not to say individuals can’t approach life more simply and intuitively. As I said, “I don’t need to burn my hand more than once to know to keep my hand out of the flames.” Once you know you are burning yourself, it is easier to begin returning to the root cause, as chapter 16 so eloquently puts it…
This is impossible when one is chasing expectations and the desires they embody. Having less energy to chase these is the one benefit of aging, at least if you yearn to nearly rise beyond oneself!
Desire = Need + Thought
Buddha wraps up his Noble Truths saying, “….whose sole desire is the performance of his duty”. The simple fact is, desire = need + thought, and of course, worry=fear + thought (see p.486). Knowing the inner workings of desire and worry helps sever the cognitive feedback loop that drives and amplifies desire and worry, i.e., initial stimuli ð emotion ð thought ð emotion ð thought, etc. (Note: the symbol ð stands for “brings forth” or “stimulate”)
It’s not perfect, but it’s a lot better than being lost in the fog of ignorance. At least now, my survival instincts have a better chance at aiming me at what is in my best interest, which is “Right State of Peaceful Mind” as Buddha said in his fourth truth. Alternatively, to put it in the words of chapter 16 above, avoid rash actions [that] lead to ominous results [and perhaps] nearly rise beyond oneself.
When I know what is happening, I find that I have little choice other than to act accordingly—not burn myself! That is just Do-It-Yourself cognitive therapy. Chapter 1 speaks to the finer points of such cognitive juggling…
Cup Half Empty — Cup Half Full — Cup Runneth Over
Hunter-gatherer instincts, along with the stories we cleave to, influence every aspect of our life. One example of this bio-hoodwink is the perception of ‘cup half empty’ vs. ‘cup half full’. Setting aside our glorious ‘cup runneth over’ moments, we naturally feel the ‘cup half empty’ more often than not. Feeling this negative – empty bias drives us to get out there to hunt and gather.
We no longer need to hunt and gather food, so we intuitively substitute other things that we think will make us happily full-filled. Try filling in the goal (“x”) that you wish to fulfill: buying “x”, learning “x”, fixing “x”, helping “x”, seeing “x”, winning “x”, etc. Here, you desire “x” (cup half-empty) and then you hunt and gather until you’re satiated. Frankly, this is what drives me. Various situations stir up my hungry curiosity to hunt and gather their deepest underlying causes. Finally, I share some of these food-for-thought observations on Centertao.
Towards Right State of Peaceful Mind
If you feel you’re lacking a “Right State of Peaceful Mind”, regard that as a symptom of the bio-hoodwink. Tracing this feeling back down the chain of causation via a Symptoms Point Of View (p.141) can ease the pressures your unfulfilled expectations cause. The Catch 22 here is that this cognitive side of hunting and gathering requires some presence of mind.
Viewing every thing in life as a symptom of some deeper phenomenon cultivates a meta-perspective. The upside: This opens the doorway to deeper understanding. The downside: This downplays the stories that have always made us feel comfortable and secure. Naturally, this works the other way around somewhat, i.e., when stories that satisfy us begin failing to do so, we are more receptive to looking deeper.
Buddha’s eighth step, Right State of Peaceful Mind, hinges on depth of understanding. For example, let’s say I feel I lack an optimal Right State of Peaceful Mind. This may suggest an issue with Right Thought, which links back to issues around Right Comprehension. What do I not comprehend Right? Thoughts make up a large part of what I comprehend, and I know that emotions drive much of my thinking (2). That means need + thought = desire; fear + thought = worries. Knowing this, I feel I can’t really trust thought. While not the perfect answer, it does ease the vicious circle of thought and emotion feeding off each other.
Note, four of Buddha’s eight steps encompass cognitive dynamics directly. This underscores the urgency of chapter 71’s warning, Realizing I don’t’ know is better; not knowing this knowing is disease.
Peeking into the Future
The Tao Te Ching winds up its narrative with the futuristic vision of chapter 80… Small country, few people. Enable the existence of various tools, yet never need them… and so on. It’s a nice ideal, but that’s it. No animal would naturally give up a survival advantage, and tool use is a profound advantage for our species. The only time we give up a tool is when we find a better tool. The only exceptions are a few people driven more by their nostalgia or ideals than instinct. We’re not going back to the Stone Age, and so chapter 80’s Enable the people to again use the knotted rope is never going to happen.
Only circumstances of necessity can pull people together into a new old way, just as ancestral circumstances pulled our ancestors into their old way. Perhaps going forward, the necessity of emotional-survival will replace the necessity of material-survival that brought us this far. Only when all else fails are we able to see things anew; until then our ideals will drive perception. (See Necessity is the Mother, p.470)
How do you know you know?
Knowing whether you know or not is like the chicken and the egg conundrum. Emotion drives thought, so it is a challenge to stand apart and catch an impartial glimpse of this process. Chapter 16 (earlier) spoke to this. In particular, Knowing the constant allows, allowing therefore impartial.
The Taoist “Knowing the constant” parallels Buddha’s “whose sole desire is the performance of his duty”. One definite constant throughout my life has been that I’ve never felt regret after doing my duty, as I knew it to be at the time. The challenge and opportunity is remembering this fact whenever I feel the siren call of desire. Regret only occurs when desire overpowers remembrance. That experience, more than anything, helps bend my will toward what I ought to do.
(1) For background on the old way, see ethnographic literature on hunter-gatherers, e.g., Kung of Nyae Nyae, The Old Way: A Story of the First People, and The Harmless People.
(2) If I feel I lack a Right State of Peaceful Mind, I look to Right Thought and its source Right Comprehension. Of course, these hinge on ‘Right Emotion’. Do you see the problem? Emotion drives our thought and gives context to our perceptions. This is where the bio-hoodwink enters the picture. This is the need and fear side of the desire and worry equation, i.e., need + thought = desire and fear + thought = worry.
As far as I know, humanity has never truly (i.e., impartially) recognized how emotions drive thought. We emotionally want to feel control, which causes us to believe we have free will. Believing we have free will encourages us to assume that hate and lust are bad and unacceptable emotions, while passion and love are good and acceptable emotions. Down with the negative; up with the positive, we think. We believe we can choose the one and reject the other. The word “should” is a key symptom of this belief.
It’s difficult to accept a reality that is impossible to alter… specifically, that emotion drives thought, and we have virtually no control over emotion. Emotion lies at the heart of biology. Fortunately, simply acknowledging this fact helps settle emotion. Bravely accepting what is naturally so can help resolve quandary. As chapter 2 cautions us,
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