Human Culture and Belief Systems.  (September 2015)

On the eve of global financial collapse, the pain from which is still possibly eighteen months away, it seems fitting to talk about the human culture, behaviour and belief systems that have inevitably led human empire to the brink of collapse, yet again.   Sounds a bit dire perhaps but those with their ear to the railway tracks can hear the train wreck coming.  Soon it will be time to think about how humanity got itself into such difficulty and how a repeat of failure can be avoided. 

The world is run by institutions of celebrity sycophants, people call them politicians, financial regulators and corporate CEOs.  Practical self-aware thinkers need to rise up and be heard so that they can proffer real solutions based on deeper understanding of the human condition and its imperfections, as opposed to whatever wins votes or is popular.

Regardless of whether man has a soul or not, he is strongly influenced by some pretty basic needs, the same needs that all non-sentient animals crave.  If man doesn’t learn to recognise that he is hardwired to behave in unsustainable ways then complex society will always be doomed to failure.

Man is an Animal.

Thinking humbly and scientifically it can be agreed that humans are animals.  Just like chimpanzees, dolphins, cats and dogs are animals.  All animals want to survive and prosper. Consequently all animals seek out success and run from pain.  When an animal succeeds in this context, we could say it is happy. 

The pursuit of happiness isn’t just some lazy need.  It is an imperative.  It can be driven by relentless chemical and hormonal triggers, or by memories of events that cause happiness or fear (conditioning) or it can be the desire for family, the desire to belong, the need to be loved and feel safe. 

For the purpose of this blog we will call these driving triggers sources of positivity and we will use the word happiness very loosely to cover everything from gratification to contentment or harmony.

Animals will often kill to protect their sources of positivity in pursuit of happiness.

Positivity

In humans the things that make us feel positive, that make us feel satisfied or content can be quite complex.  We remember the things that make us “happy” and consequently are conditioned to pursue those things.  This could be swimming in the ocean, building a snowman, going to church, playing a sport, having sex, eating sugar, smoking and so on. 

In addition to seeking out sources of positivity humans reject negative influences which obviously work to undermine the gratifying effects of positivity.  This is the “be-happy” ideology which if taken too far can stop people listening to the bad news and unfortunate truths they need to hear in order to avoid becoming Lemmings doomed to follow the flow of positive rhetoric over the cliff to their doom.

One thing that makes humans particularly happy is love and a feeling of belonging or family.  It is reasonable to trace this emotion back to an instinctive survival tactic, where the likelihood of surviving and prospering improves when humans group together.  Love perhaps is the glue that helps to maintain strong bonds between group members.  Obviously, a person is more likely to help and protect someone they love than the person they do not.

Particular to humans is sentience, self-awareness or mindfulnesss, the recognition of self beyond the limits of meat and bone.  We could call this soul or spirit but its exact nature isn’t relevant for the purposes of this discussion.  It is simply the awareness of being and it imbues a feeling that beyond death and during sleep a person still exists in some form. 

Self-awareness or mindfulness works independently of emotion and instinct, it is what a person is when the influence of hormones, memories and conditioning are removed.

Rulebooks and the Culture Script.

Faced with this increased awareness early humans were exposed to a bunch of unknowns, like why does the wind blow, why does it rain, what is day and night?  This awareness of the unknown nature of things triggers fear within the limbic system of the brain and this drives humans to search for an explanation and ultimately some kind of control.  When they come up empty handed they posit a theory.  If the theory works the fear is mitigated. 

For example someone in a human group proposes that the wind is created by a powerful person that can’t be seen, the concept of god is born.  Calm weather means the god is happy, dangerous gusty weather means the god is angry.  Avoiding danger and appeasing the god by talking to it or praying therefore makes perfect sense.  Praying may even work once or twice, reinforcing in the group that the god is real and therefore praying is the correct thing to do.  Consequently praying becomes a source of positivity for the group.  It becomes a rule to pray to the wind God at sunset because they assume it increases the group’s likelihood they will be safe on the morrow.

Now the desire to side with a loved one reinforces agreement.  Obviously, conflict from disagreement can fracture a group which is bad for survival.  Thus when a group member proposes a theory the others in the group are obligated to consider and accept it.  Over time these theories, protected from the burden of proof, become ideals or rules about how the world works. Those rules tell man how to behave in that world. 

Eventually a whole rulebook is defined to explain every unknown and justify every ritual.  At that point a belief system or religion is born.  By curing the group of unknowns the rulebook makes the group feel secure and safe because the world is orderly and predictable.  The rulebook however isn’t limited just to unknowns it can be filled with practical rules, like avoid still water only drink from flowing streams, stay away from the edge of a high mountain track or don’t run with your eyes closed.  Some rules are obviously “right” others wrong and some are just unprovable.

Because the rulebook is particular to the group it affects behaviour and defines the group’s culture, it will define how they behave, what rituals they perform, how they interact, what they consider polite behaviour and so on.  This complex rulebook is sometimes referred to as a “culture script”. 

It can be surmised that anyone who challenges the rulebook or a rule within it is often ostracised.  Obviously such a challenge threatens the safety and stability of the group.  Consequently the rulebook is usually defended aggressively.  Without an obvious truth to justify a rule change, or a superb political strategy change is very difficult to implement.  The concept described above is encapsulated by the words: “Man resists change.  To change a man requires great courage”.

This is a fairly simplistic analysis, there are lots of factors involved in the formation of the rulebook but it is sufficient to say that all groups of people, families, governments, congregations, tribes and individuals have their own specific and very complex rulebooks.  Sometimes the rulebooks of two different individuals, families, tribes or congregations coincide with only minor differences whereas sometimes they are completely at odds. 

When Rulebooks Collide

Incompatible rulebooks create incompatible groups.  When those groups are integrated they resist each other’s conflicting rules and that leads to aggression, fear and hatred.  This manifests as bigotry, prejudice which can lead ultimate to fascism even war.

To think that anyone’s rulebook is 100% correct would be arrogant.  The rules are simply there to help a group prosper.  If the rulebook tells a group to kill off the neighbours that threaten the local supply of food and resources then it becomes right to go to war.  It becomes glorious to be a hero, a protector of the group.

Therefore, in pursuit of stability and safety, people are unable to see potential flaws in the rule book and even deny that flaws exist at all.  The result is an extremely rigid rulebook.  It is that inflexibility that puts modern society at risk, particularly in highly populated societies where the rulebooks often conflict or where the rules are simply environmentally or economically unsustainable. 

Self-Awareness, Mindfulness and Education not Denial, Propaganda or Authoritarianism.

To get around the conflict of rules people, humanitarianists perhaps, suggest open arms and love is the solution.  Their own rulebook dictates that people should tolerate the rulebooks of others, no matter how divergent.  It is however, idealistic to think that people can just find tolerance even love when such emotional positivity requires integration about a common rule-book.  It’s really a chicken-or-egg problem.  Until two conflicting cultures/rulebooks integrate they can’t really tolerate each other and they won’t integrate without conflict because their rulebooks are divergent.

Instead of just forcing everyone to love and tolerate, which is impossible without brainwashing or corralling everyone down a specific path by propagandising, people should be taught to realise that “rulebook” conflict is a natural part of being human; that human beings are hard wired to create rulebooks and defend them.  Prejudice and bigotry like love are hardwired human behaviours. 

However, by learning to recognise the way the brain and mind works, by learning the science of human behaviour, people can work on acceptance as opposed to just pasting over bad behaviour with enforced tolerance.  This is what a psychologist would do: Teach a person to recognise the source of the problem (the rulebook conflict) not supress the result with self-loathing or deny it with smiles and forced charity.

By looking practically at such root behavioural causes for the societal outcomes we see.  People would then be practicing self-awareness, looking past the emotions that cause prejudice, hatred and corruption.  They would be opening their minds to the idea that human beings are firstly animals and only secondarily sentient beings.  Such people would then recognise when they are being emotional slaves to their rulebooks and when they are really understanding an issue and passing a valid judgement.  This is not an easy thing to do, some people struggle to see through the fog of emotion that our rulebooks help fortify.  It takes practice and a practical mind (a specific personality type perhaps) and people would need to recognise that some people are better “outside” thinkers than others. 

Fascism is Human Nature.

From what we have described above it could be concluded that humans are naturally fascist.  They will defend their rulebooks, assume them to be good and right, and they will go to extremes to do it.

They will even impose their ideals upon other people, like Hitler and Lenin did.  These people aren’t evil they are just powerful, dogmatic and relentless in their desire to impose their imperfect rulebooks. 

Such fascism is clearly demonstrated by the policies of the modern developed nations.  The idea or “rule” that there is only one right political system, only one good economic system is what drives the G7 countries to spend trillions on defence and political aggression.  They incite regime changes in country after country, impose embargos on countries whose rulebooks diverge, fight currency wars, control the flow of fossil fuel resources and manipulate financial systems all in the interest of fortifying their rulebooks.  Again the people behind this aren’t evil, they are simply doing what they think is right without the humility and awareness to consider that maybe their rulebooks are errant in places.

Clearly it’s time to start questioning the rulebooks because a century of profligacy, intervention and wars have not created harmony on earth.  Quite the opposite in fact, wealth inequality, declining health, over population and climate change are just a few of the side effects.

Propaganda Perpetuates The Errant Rule-Book.

Propaganda has evolved over the decades.  The psychology behind it is well practiced and invasive.  It preys on people’s lack of self-awareness.  By following a trusted leader a group remains integrated and prosperous and avoids the destabilising effect of anarchy or indecision.  They feel safe.  In small groups the leaders are usually the strongest and smartest.  They therefore become the most popular and respected of the group.  They apply the rulebook and reinforce it for the group.  Popularity therefore is automatically associated with good leadership. 

Consequently if you make a person popular, even if they make bad decisions, have errant rulebooks and therefore make terrible leaders, the sense of leadership associated with that popularity will trigger the hardwired behavioural assumption that the person must have the better rulebook, one that will garner prosperity, safety and stability for the group. 

The process of popularising someone isn’t foolproof of course which is why a campaign needs to be relentless before it can be convincing.  The person with the most money therefore is the person who plasters their face and reinforcing rhetoric in the most places.  They are the popularity contest winners that often become our presidents.

If a person is self-ware, then they are more aware of the way their dependence on a rulebook can run their life.  They are more aware of how human behaviour makes them vulnerable and manipulable and consequently propaganda loses its power. 

In a world where opportunity is declining and hardship is on the rise, people will be more likely to look for a positive message.  The ugly, harsh truth therefore will be ignored unless people become more aware of why they are falling for the rulebook of happy endings and manufactured, unsustainable prosperity.

The Path to Open Mindedness follows Self-awareness and Mindfulness.

The extent to which a person questions their rulebook or belief systems defines their level of their self-awareness.  It determines just how open minded they are, how far outside of the box they can think.

To be truly open minded people would need to be self-aware enough to be able to step back from their rulebook belief systems and consider the counter arguments while recognising that their hardwired desire to protect positivity drives them like an addiction to protect their current rulebook.

That kind self-awareness allows a person to see themselves as a being trapped within a flesh and blood container, at the mercy of conditioning from past memories or traumas and under the undeniable chemical influence of the body’s endocrinal system.  It requires that a person also accept the limits of their scientific knowledge and practical intelligence.  Such a person would know that making decisions from limited data is dangerous and want to look for the information they lack.

Self-awareness is difficult to come by and needs to be taught as a special way of thinking from early child-hood.  Unfortunately society has evolved with an education system that is more likely to teach people to be drones and protect religion, belief systems and rulebooks from any kind of scrutiny.  We therefore encourage everyone to operate without understanding anything about human behaviour.  Such an education system is less likely to create self-aware thinkers who deeply question right, wrong, good and bad.

Being self-aware and accepting that a particular rule is wrong is painful.  It takes strength and stoicism to admit a culture or belief is wrong or errant.  Relying on emotional propaganda or popular opinion to improve the rules doesn’t work.  If we let revolution, war, starvation and popularity evolve our rulebook then it is likely society will continue to fail, one empire at a time. History seems to suggest this is indeed the case.

Clearly the human race needs to learn how to audit their culture and belief systems if it is genuine about ending the endless cycle of human suffering that precedes and follows collapse.