IN SEARCH OF REALITY V



The Rational Personality





A Study in Thought





by





Marius Heuff

@M.Heuff

Chapter 1

The concept of intelligence.
The behaviour of intelligence.
Leadership and intelligent behaviour.
The conceptual framework.
Cultural differences as a cause of apparent differences in intelligence.

What do we mean, when we use the world intelligence? If we think about it, it becomes clear that our concepts are vague, poorly delineated and variable, and it may be worthwhile to look into the features that represent our ideas about the nature of intelligence. Clearly, we are dealing with a useful and desirable capability, and, in general terms, intelligence, means, the ability to react to the present situation, or problem, in an advantageous or appropriate manner.

It may seem strange to emphasise in the concept of intelligence the element of opportunism, but, on reflection, it becomes clear, that the effects of intelligent behaviour have, almost always, an existential significance, and, these effects may be judged differently, depending on the degree of egocentricity displayed by the observed behaviour-patterns, and the significance of this behaviour for the observer.

We tend to understand the word "intelligence", primarily, as the ability to express knowledge well, but, at the same time, we notice, that we make use of the ability to be convincing and dominating. Dominance by intelligence has replaced, by and large, dominance by physical force, as a means of securing a position in the social hierarchy of the more affluent and sophisticated segments of society. Dominance by intelligence is, indeed, an important aspect of leadership, because the audience is "captured" by the persuasiveness of an intelligent individual, and the audience becomes, then, a "follower".

The author of a communication leads the community of listeners through a sequence of conceptual images in an experience that is intellectual as well as emotional in nature. Not only, is the flow of conceptual images more or less synchronised throughout the audience, but the emotional reactions, varying from moment to moment as the story unfolds, become synchronised as well. If this intellectual ability to lead people through a series of mental images is persuasive, the audience acknowledges, intuitively, the leadership of the author by showing a feeling of admiration towards him.

Intelligence and behavioural dominance are, therefore, almost inseparable, but, in a complex society, dominance by intelligence may apply, only, to a specialised area of knowledge or experience. No overall leadership is attributed to the person, who is only recognised for a particular skill or a specific area of expertise. Yet, intelligence is more than the ability to impress someone with a story or an input of knowledge and information.

The origin of the word "intelligence" clearly refers to an ability to "read in between" the lines. This indicates an ability to appreciate the sensory input in a particularly refined or subtle manner. The ability to perceive a finer and more detailed picture from the available sensory information than would be perceived at first sight, forms the basis for a better than average behavioural response. This may lead others to recognise, that, indeed, a particular response is the most appropriate and advantageous reaction under the circumstances. This definition seems to be a useful and appropriate formulation of the concept of intelligence.

The ability to appreciate a situation in fine detail, and, to sense, accurately, the variable, and, perhaps, contradictory moods and sentiments of an audience, is the basis for a carefully calculated but essentially intuitive response, which is designed to offend the least and impress the most; to be persuasive and charming at the same time. This is the full function of intelligent behaviour. Intelligence is far more than responding purely intellectually to a challenge. Intelligence is finely-tuned behaviour, where the individual is only partially aware of all the mechanisms that play a role.

Learning intelligently, on the other hand, implies the accumulation of factual knowledge and refers to a certain rapidity and ease with which new concepts or skills become incorporated into the memory functions of an individual. The ability to classify quickly, often subconsciously, new knowledge or information into an overall framework of comprehension is, therefore, another function of intelligence. The ability to scrutinise and criticise new information depends on the ability to evaluate, quickly, the validity of such information, and, to classify the information into previously established mental patterns of logical coherence.

Information that is presented as facts, but can not easily be placed into a framework of logical relationships, gives us great difficulties. We do not recognise the significance and meaning of such information, and we may reject the data as trivial or unreliable, or, we may try to retain a memory-trace of such information by making a special effort to "learn" and recall the information whenever needed.

Uncorrelated tid-bits of information or unrecognised data are, therefore, by definition, not easily classifed. They require an extra-ordinary effort to be retained by the learning person, especially, when one is getting-on in age, while the younger people have, generally, an easier time assimilating these "given" patterns into a flexible and still growing framework of explanatory relationships. For young and adolescent people, the learning processes include the acquisition of factual data, as well as the simultaneous construction of a "scaffold". The latter is a reference-system of inter-relationships in which these data will fit with varying degrees of ease and logic.

Often, we try to learn and retain certain data or bits of information, because the significance of these data is socially determined. External and cultural pressures, as well as the subconscious desire of youngsters to please and imitate exemplary behaviour, induce an attitude of willingness to learn, and these youngsters will make a serious effort to build-up a conceptual vocabulary. All early learning falls into this category, since the necessary conceptual framework to classify, scrutinise, criticise and recognise validity and coherence, is still being formed.

Often, we experience difficulties formulating an appropriate behavioural response, because the incoming sense-data from the present situation can not be interpreted adequately according to our classification systems. We are confused, and we understand the situation only partly. We become defensive when we realise that we are failing in our efforts to comprehend a situation. Differences in cultural background and other discrepancies with the cultural locale of the social environment in which we live, account for many apparent deficiencies in the function of intelligence; in particular, when we are trying to evaluate behaviour patterns of widely varying ethnic and cultural groupings within modern societies.

Political astuteness or sensitivity is also an example of intelligent fine-tuning by a political leader or a diplomat, and the same mechanisms of intelligent fine-tuning can be seen to operate, when we look at the skills and insights necessary to conduct a business venture or practice a field of science. The creative artist, too, behaves intelligently, when reflecting intuitively the attitudes and sentiments of the people of his social environment, and, he perfects, with long hours of study and hard work, the technical ability to express this intuitive perception in a work of art.

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Chapter 2

The subjective judgement of intelligence.
Intelligence and deceit.
Intelligent fine tuning of the behavioural choice.
Philosophy and intelligence.
The projection of desired qualities.

To what extent are the differences between people in their ability to formulate a finely tuned, appropriate response, a result of inherited differences in genetically endowed talents? Perhaps, we should focus our attention, first, on the question, whether or not differences in intelligence or intelligent behaviour are, indeed, reflecting differences in the genetically endowed ability to react intelligently; or, are we seeing, only, differences in the overall results, which do not necessarily reflect any differences in innate ability or talent?

Let us, therefore, examine the functions of our judgement mechanisms. When do we consider someone's behaviour to be intelligent or dull? These judgement criteria are vague and relate, almost exclusively, to task-performance and the power to impress. If we encounter a personality, or, if we observe someone who is obviously able to express ideas and intentions clearly, we will automatically acknowledge the forcefulness and persuasiveness of such behaviour. This intuitive acknowledgement of the force of a personality is translated into feelings of admiration, (sometimes tempered with cautious envy), and, it is consciously formulated in our minds as a judgement of "intelligence".

However, it is obvious that numerous factors play a role in this judgement. Not only, does the degree to which we feel threatened or persuaded by such a personality find an expression in our judgements, but, our intuitive positioning into a hierarchical relationship with such a forceful personality colours our sensory input with various emotional under-currents. Yet, as a rule, we do not analyse the many aspects or reasons why we think to have encountered a forceful and persuasive personality. These reasons may range from having found a master in an area of skill we thought to be quite proficient in, to being manipulated into a submissive attitude towards the intelligent personality; who has a clever, intuitive feel for the interpersonal relationships at play.

The mechanism of being hoodwinked into a submissive attitude is indeed very important when explaining the interplay between personalities and the mechanisms of our judgements. How often are we not, literally, hood-winked into submission; by believing that the forceful personality is more intelligent than we are, while we have, in essence, only been persuaded to believe this to be the case without a shred of objective evidence?

No doubt, the ability to persuade and impress is an essential part of the process of intelligent behaviour, but the importance lies in the recognition that intelligence is indeed a behavioural tool. This tool is nearly always used to obtain an egocentric advantage, because intelligence is often used as a weapon for personal gain. We may consider a certain response to be "clumsy", whenever we perceive, intuitively, that the behavioural act is no threat to us or is not persuasive enough to follow, and yet, in retrospect, such a judgement may turn out to be completely erroneous, and, another generation, or, another society, may re-evaluate the behavioural act or expression that appeared to be a failure, as a stroke of genius.

What, then, are the factors that play a role in this interplay between personalities, whenever we judge each other's behaviour and make intuitive judgements about the intelligence of other people, as well as our own? We have to come back to the statement that intelligence is the judgement, (made by surrounding observers or the people involved), that a certain response, (be it in the form of advise, action, persuasion or factual information), seems to be the best possible behavioural choice under the circumstances. Intelligence and leadership are, therefore, intricately interwoven, even, if there are many apparent exceptions to this general rule. "What about the lonely thinker, who is far removed from any involvement in the actual leadership of a community?", you may ask. "Eventually, his works may be acknowledged as a fine and intelligent expression about a specific area of human concern. Would he not be an intelligent personality?"

As long as he has not been recognised as someone, who formulates ideas that are persuasive and useful, he is nothing, and, he is not even considered to be an intelligent or particularly useful human being, but, if his works become widely read and influential, his ideas may spread throughout the living communities of mankind. He may become, and, perhaps, remain a "leader", long after he has ceased to exist as a living human being.

Leadership, therefore, is not confined to the act of literally leading a group of people in person. Leadership may also be defined as a contribution, (be it artistic, scientific or otherwise), that is eventually recognised as valuable.

It is worthwhile to follow a leader in whom we have confidence, since the end-result will be more beneficial for us than not to follow. We accentuate as a result of our own psychological needs certain qualities and characteristics of the leader we admire, and, it is logical, therefore, that people tend to see a leader as they want to see him; as a projection of their hopes, aspirations and expectations. Artistic leadership is a good example of this process of "projection", but the leadership comes, primarily, from the art-form itself, rather than from the personality of the artist. This allows the leadership function of an artist to extend far beyond the range of his physical presence. Actually, the function of leadership may not begin at all before he has died.

Intelligence and leadership are, indeed, intricately interwoven, except for the fact, that, in our concept of leadership, we imply, that the behaviour of the leader is not only intelligent, but also beneficial for his followers. On the other hand, intelligence may mean, simply, the ability to apply this skill as a weapon; using it for one's own benefit, and often seriously harming others in the process.

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Chapter 3

Relationships between intelligence and experience.
Genetic and environmental factors for differences in intelligent behaviour.
A review of the personality development.
The newly born infant.
Maturation of the central nervous system and the acquisition of skills.
Parallels between prenatal and postnatal developments.
The psychopathic personality.

The most common reason for an inappropriate behavioural response is a poor "fit" between the sensory input from a particular situation, and the memory and experience-background of the individual who is trying to comprehend the situation he or she has to cope with. Then, a large part of the available information can not be interpreted properly, or, it has not been absorbed and appreciated adequately. Consequently, the response has to be poor and inadequate, and, it will necessarily be judged as "dull". Experience and intelligence blend, therefore, into an overall behavioural response that is, often, taken as a measure of intelligence alone.

An adjustment to a recurrent situation requires experience, before the response can become "routine", and, the gradual adaptation and improvement of the response is, rightly, considered to be a "learned experience", rather than an expression of intelligence. An intelligent response would be an innovative, clever or novel solution to a situation, but, again, we have to recognise the fact, that such an ability rests, also, on a broad range of experiences, as well as on an excellent ability to generalise and to see similarities or implications from apparently widely diverging areas of experience.

Is such an ability inborn, acquired, or a combination of both? Anatomically, nor physiologically, are we able to pinpoint clear-cut differences in the structure and function of the human body between those, who perform superbly, and those, who are only average, or, even, slightly dull. Obviously, any demonstrable damage to the organism, or, any interference with the normal developmental sequences of embryological and post-natal unfolding, may lead to a gross impairment of many behavioural functions, but, apparently healthy and "normal" people show a remarkable similarity in their anatomical and physiological features. There exists a narrow range of constitutional or genetically endowed variability, which is in marked contrast to the much larger range of behavioural variations and capabilities of the mature and fully unfolded human being.

We are, after all, an organism that has been structured according to the genetic building code we have inherited from our parents, but, the organism is filled with a life-time of experiences, which vary far more than our respective genetic blue-prints. The mode in which we work and classify our experiences, is determined, in part, by the organic structure of our brain, and partly, by our structures of belief. This means, that the ability to form concepts and other generalisations of our sense-impressions has been given as a potential by our organic structuring, but, the actual content of our conscious awareness, and, even, the major conceptual structures in which we classify our life's experiences, are determined by our cultural contacts and subsequent experiences.

We develop in our formative years, not only, the scaffold of explanatory relationships upon which we build the opinions and view-points we use for the rest of our lives, but, it is now becoming clear, that, prior to this, in the first few years of our existence, we develop the basic emotional reaction patterns that determine, to a large extent, what kind of a personality profile we will have. I do not want to suggest, that we have a clear picture of the development of a personality, but, we are beginning to appreciate a certain parallel with the embryological development of the organism.

The fertilised egg-cell is a cell with numerous potentials, and, during the development of this cell into the multi-billion cellular organism it is destined to become, it is programmed to unfold some of its potentials under the influence of various chemical substances. We see a gradual change; from an "omni-potentiality" or "pluri-potentiality" of the cells that constitute the early embryo, to a situation, where the cells are becoming increasingly locked into a specific form and a specialised function. The closer a cell-group comes to a position of being fully specialised into a specific organic role, the more it has lost the other potentials that were present, initially. Often, the potential for cellular reproduction has been lost as well.

The newborn human infant is remarkably fully developed in so far as the completion and functioning of its cellular specialisations is concerned, and yet, the organism matures for another twelve to fifteen years. The central nervous system undergoes a remarkable degree of maturation within the first few years of extra-uterine life. None of the higher functions of the central nervous system are present at the time of birth. The infant is able to suck, digest its food and cry, whenever something is wrong, but all its movements are incoordinated. It is unable to walk, crawl, or, even, turn around. The infant is totally helpless, until a few years have gone by.

We know, that the central nervous system is organically incomplete at the time of birth. Probably, all the essential connections of its "wiring diagram" are there, but many of the pathways for neural conduction have not yet been completed. The road-way is not finished. The "pavement", so to speak, still has to be laid-down, since the "myelin sheaths", (the "insulation" that is necessary to make the conduction of the electrical impulses possible), have, in many instances, not yet been laid-down at the time of birth.

The organic structuring of the brain has, however, been virtually completed, and, as long as the child is adequately nourished and not affected by disease processes, these anatomically visible and organically measurable maturation proceses of the central nervous system, will take place, irrespective of the particulars of the cultural contacts and inputs that are occurring during this period of unfolding. The pavement for the neural pathways is being completed under the instructions of the genetic code, but the kind of "neural traffic" that will make use of these pathways, will be determined by the content of the cultural input, as well as the sequence of personal experiences.

In the field of learning, then, the newly born infant is, just like the fertilised egg-cell; "pluri-potential". There is an enormous variety of potential skills and learning patterns. We have to assume, that all human skills are potentially given in the healthy newborn infant, but, the variability of the genetic code may contribute to the fact, that certain skills are acquired in preference to others. At the present time, we have no clear-cut answer to the question, whether or not the genetic endowment is a predominant feature in the development of a specific skill. It is certainly possible, that the differentiation of human beings during the acquisition of various skills is, primarily, a function of chance-contacts and cultural stimuli.

There is no doubt, that the ability to learn to speak and communicate with verbalised ideas and concepts has been encoded in the genetic instructions of the human species. We will see, why this evolutionary perspective will give us valuable clues in our attempts to sort the questions of genetic versus acquired possibilities for development. As an infant or child grows, it reaches cross-roads, and these cross-roads are important junctions in the course of its development.

It is clear that a choice of development in a particular direction, means, that the potential for realising other developments, fades gradually into the background, and is ultimately lost. This mechanism forms a remarkable parallel with the embryological developments that take place before birth. We have little insight, as yet, into the precise mechanisms that play a role in the embryological events of a multi-cellular organism. Similarly, we do not appreciate, to any significant extent, the myriad of factors and chance-happenings, that, ultimately, decide the behavioural choices, capabilities and goal-patterns of a human being.

We know, that, occasionally, the adaptation of a human being to its environment is severely defective, and, we have come to appreciate the enormous importance of early, existentially significant experiences for the development of the personality. Just as a defect in the sequence of organic-chemical induction processes during the early embryo-genesis of an organism will lead to very severe, often lethal, congenital malformations, so is a defect in the early development of a personality, often, a remarkably severe handicap for an individual; especially, when we look at its efforts to come to satisfactory relationships with other members of the social environment.

Just as we see a significant reduction in the physiological viability of an organism that has been damaged during its early embryological development, so do we see, also, nearly lethal defects in a personality, whenever the early formative years have not provided an adequate basis for the growth and maturation of normal interactions and emotional behaviour patterns.

We have to be cautious about the conclusion that all anti-social, psychopathic behaviour is due to emotional deprivation, or, to some sort of external influence or psychological injury after birth. It is certainly possible, that various forms of maladjustments we still classify as "psychopathic behaviour", have structural or genetic defects as their underlying cause.

We should not forget that our intellectual classification systems for the phenomena of human behaviour are still vague; regardless, whether we are looking at the so-called "normal range", or, the pathological or diseased forms of human behaviour. These classification systems are rough and empirical, and, they are, often, inconsistent, because we do not have a coherent picture of normal human behaviour; nor, do we have a consensus about the structure and function of the human personality.

In summary, then, the behavioural adaptations of the human organism in relation to its environment may be so severely disturbed, and, they may be so refractory to corrective attempts at rehabilitation, that these disturbances take the appearance of a "congenital defect". Whether such a defect is, indeed, due to a genetically encoded, structural defect of the human organism, or, to a faulty development of the personality during the earlier years of life, is difficult to say. Probably, the most common personality defects, (in the absence of demonstrable organic defects), are, indeed, due to a malfunction in the development of the personality during the earlier years of childhood.

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Chapter 4

The neurotic personality.
Difficulties evaluating the significance of childhood experiences.
Genetic and environmental factors in the development of skills.
Further mechanisms in the specialisation of skills.
The origins and content of speech.
The importance of a conscious reality perception.

Many personality defects may not be traceable as "neurotic suppressions" with the technique of a psycho-analytic evaluation, because these defects are a result of basic alterations in emotional mechanisms and expressions, rather than the suppression of a particular experience or sense-impression. Even the apparent similarity in up-bringing of siblings living within the same family environment, should not lead to the conclusion that conditions and relationships of the family members were identical; and, that, therefore, any personality defect must have a genetic origin or an organically structured, neurological defect.

Subtle and poorly recognised but critical differences in relationships may have existed for only short periods of time, and yet, these differences may lead to psychological developments contributing to widely divergent personality traits between siblings. Slight anatomical variations of the siblings, or, differences in attitudes towards them by their social environment, may lead to rather widely divergent emotional experiences and attitudes.

Let us look, once again, at the mechanisms of cellular specialisation during embryonic growth. Slight chemical differences, existing for only short periods of time, may lead to widely diverging anatomical and physiological differentiations. The genes, (the structures that carry the complex genetic instructions for the entire organism), are enclosed within every cell of the embryo, and, their influence is almost always dormant. For short periods during embryological unfolding, a segment of such a "string of genes", or "chromosome", may open-up and "bloom" like a flower. During this short period, the biochemical machinery of the cell may have been altered, permanently, as a result of "messengers", or instructors that were produced by the opened-up segment of the chromosomes.

The cell may, now, be producing different substances compared to a cell that has not experienced such a flowering at the same time-period of its unfolding. Perhaps, some of its chromosomes opened-up at a slightly different time, or, at a slightly different place, resulting in a slightly different "set" for the direction of the biochemical machinery of the cell.

We do not know, exactly, why such a "blooming" of the chromosomes takes place; neither do we know what the consequences are of such a momentary flow of genetic influences, but we speculate, that, during such a period of specialised chromosomal activity, inductive substances are being produced. These substances force the cell, (and, perhaps, others in the immediate neighbourhood), to develop into a specialised direction; with an equally specialised differentiation in form and function. Once the cell has responded to such an "inductive stimulus" and has become specialised, it can not respond to a stimulus that acts in a totally different direction. The cell has become "set in its ways", but, obviously, it is still capable of responding to a variety of stimuli within a certain range. However, this range is much narrower than before such a specialisation in form and function took place.

Again, we see a useful parallel with the development of human potentials after birth. As the child grows older, it will arrive at important cross-roads, or junctions, during certain periods of its development, and, it will be "ripe" for a stimulus that steers the child into a specific direction. After the youngster has received such a stimulus, the development proceeds, often rapidly, into a specific direction. The youngster matures, grows-up and develops its "talents", but, at the same time, the development in a particular direction closes the door for a development into a totally different direction.

The human infant is, probably, "omnipotential" at the time of birth, just like the fertilised egg-cell, and, what this infant will become during the following years, is, largely, a function of happenstance, cultural accident, and personal fortune or misfortune. The range of possibilities for development is given, however, in the genetic code of the human organism.

If we look at the range of skills the human being can acquire, we see a truly astounding diversity, reflecting the range of potentials contained within the human gene-pool. Yet, even the most elementary skills require a certain period of learning. Most of these skills are, probably, a result of organic maturation processes of the central nervous system that continue to take place place after birth, and, therefore, the primary skills, such as walking or running, flow naturally from the physical maturation of the organism. These developments are common to all human beings and require little or no "cultural input".

If we look at a skill such as "speech", it is clear that the ability to speak is, potentially, given to all human beings, and, this reflects, undoubtedly, a long evolutionary history that has led to a strong genetic endowment of this ability. The ability to speak, or, communicate rapidly with verbal symbols, was developed in a distant past, and, obviously, it was such a break-through and such an important acquisition, that those human or pre-human life-forms which were not or insufficiently endowed with this capability, lost-out in the struggle for continued existence. They lost the ability to perpetuate their genetic endowment in the gene-pools of the living species' of their time. It is likely, that they were part of our human ancestry, but, they were weeded-out by the ruthless mechanisms of natural selection. Yet, speech, or, the ability to form language symbols and communicate them with the social environment, requires a very large "cultural input". In addition, this ability has to be acquired at an early age, otherwise, the ability to learn a language is almost completely lost.

The organic foundation of the faculty of speech has been clearly recognised by the ability to localise the functions of speech within a few, more or less defined areas of the brain, and, we know, that the ability to re-learn speech is poorly developed, whenever the speech-areas of the brain have been damaged by accident or disease.

The faculty of speech is only part of a complex evolutionary development that took place, when the human species explored, in a unique experiment of nature, the development of dominance and mastery on the basis of learned, flexible behaviour patterns. Nature departed, here, from the more commonly used roads in the search for viability. The common methods used in the search for viability are laboriously selected, but precisely encoded, genetic instructions that form the foundation for a viable form of life. With speech, (which is a rapid form of symbolic communication), the possibility to modify behaviour in accordance with past experiences was explored in a remarkably efficient manner, because the search for viability on the basis of behavioural flexibility could now take place on a conscious or verbalised level; with an input from our conscious or deliberate "will". This ability forms the foundation for our viability as members of the species of mankind.

Many animals, certainly the larger mammals, are also able to modify their behaviour with learned experiences, or, even, with the help of "taught" or imitated experiences and secondarily transmitted patterns of behaviour. The major break-through in human behaviour is not the ability to modify behaviour according to experiences that have been recorded, classified, and, to some extent, generalised in the brain of an individual. The animals learn in this way, too, just as the human being. However, the learning processes of an animal are stereo-typed, and the anatomical and physiological functions of the central nervous system determine, how an animal learns from past experiences. Therefore, all animals of a species will react to similar experiences in, essentially, the same manner.

The human being also learns from experience, but, in addition, the human being can verbalise his learning experiences and awarenesses, and he can communicate these awarenesses amongst the members of a socially integrated grouping with the help of a number of symbolic representations. Collectively, human beings can formulate a "picture of reality" that may differ from time to time, or, from community to community. A new dimension of flexibility and adaptation has been introduced by this process of conscious verbalised contact. Rather than being rigidly bound to anatomical and physiological factors of learning and interpreting experiences, the human being can react to his learned experiences in a framework of conscious reality-perceptions. This is the essence of a "belief structure".

This structure of beliefs, or, framework for the interpretation of our reality-experiences, has been communally constructed as a sub-conscious "program" for the interpretation of sense-impressions, but, such a program or structure of beliefs may be subjected to modifications and adaptations on the basis of personal experiences, and, it gives, therefore, the human being an immense range of modifications for his behavioural choices.

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Chapter 5

Guidelines for the judgements of truth.
The specialised skills of athletic, artistic and scientific achievements.
A limited influence on the make-up of the gene-pool by modern patterns of functional specialisation.
Characteristics of the gene-pool.
The genetic "anlage" of small-scale social behaviour patterns.

The human being reacts, not only, to sense impressions and experiences as they are taking place, but, he reacts in accordance with a set of mental images that are structured into a framework of concepts. This structured framework of concepts is often considered to represent an unquestionable truth. Primary learning experiences can now be integrated into a far larger structure of coherent concepts, compared to the reality perceptions of the behaviourally flexible, but non-verbalising animals. This framework of reference is much larger than the cerebral framework of primary classifications into categories of similarity. The cerebral classification systems are completely sub-conscious and do not allow the ability to become aware of the fact, that there is some sort of an experience. By abstracting the process of being or becoming aware into the conscious symbols of a communicable experience, we create our, specifically human world of concepts, images and ideas.

As a human being, we frequently change our primary reactions in the light of a previous experience, as well as in accordance with our concepts about reality. We do this, so often, that it is reasonable to say, that none of our responses reflect primary, instinctive behaviour patterns that are unaffected by our beliefs about what is true or false. The only exception may be the primitive emotional response of a "rage", which is sometimes triggered within us and seems to take its course independently of what we believe or have learned.

The essence of being human does not lie in the fact, that we react in accordance with our previous experiences, but, that we interpret the significance and meaning of all our past and present experiences in the light of a conscious reality-image; a conceptual framework that lets us see relationships, generalisations, as well as predictions of what is likely to happen in the near future. This reality-image is a cultural, communal product, even, if we all differ, somewhat, in the content and precision of the reality-image we happen to have absorbed.

Let us now consider another category of capabilities that requires an extra-ordinary degree of effort to acquire and includes highly specialised skills, such as those of a musician, an athlete, a scientific expert, etc. Here, we see, that a period of ten to twenty years is necessary to accomplish the acquisition of a sophisticated skill or a framework of expert knowledge.

The narrowly focussed attention and hard work required to accomplish such a goal, shows, quite clearly, how other potentials are necessarily neglected or lost in the pursuit of a single objective. We can ask ourselves, once again, whether the ability to reach such a pinnacle of achievement is genetically endowed, or culturally determined. A precise answer is still not possible. However, by looking at the general aspects of natural selection we get a fairly accurate idea, how to approach such a question, and, how to outline a plausible point of view, which may help us see the overall mechanisms that determine human accomplishments.

In the example of the ability to speak, we saw, that this was a crucially important break-through. Human or near-human lifeforms, not or insufficiently endowed with this ability, lost-out in the struggle for survival. This brings us back to the well-known, generalised concept, that the gene-pool of a species is modified, only, when survival pressures on such a gene-pool start to favour, clearly, one trait or another. Only, if viability is determined by the presence or absence of a specific trait, will the constitution of the gene-pool change.

When we look at such specific abilities as playing an instrument, or becoming a surgeon, a scientist, philosopher or athlete, it is clear that none of these accomplishments have any obvious effect on the gene-pool of society. The unsuccessful musician or philosopher will still contribute to the gene-pool, because he will survive, in one way or another.

It is, therefore, more advantageous to look at the various influences that may have played a role in shaping the characteristics of human existence during early human evolution, because these naturally selective influences led, eventually, to the genetic make-up of modern mankind. In the past, the gene-pool of the human species was sequestered into small and relatively isolated communities. At least, sequestration was far more pronounced than has been the case, after man started to interact on a much larger scale at the beginning of recorded history. The final touches on the make-up of the human gene-pool by naturally selective mechanisms occurred, probably, in the last twenty to thirty thousand years. After that, the gene-pool has become so thoroughly mixed, that evolutionary mechanisms were not able to select a certain trait with any degree of finality. Viability of human societies has now become, exclusively, the responsibility of cultural traits and transmissions, rather than genetic instructions.

The traits of aggression, inquisitiveness, courage and flexibility, as well as the clever opportunism to make the best of a situation; these were traits that would favour survival, and, they were, obviously, selected in the distant past. When considering what traits may have been beneficial for the survival of a species, it is interesting to note that all these traits have disadvantages as well. For example, aggression towards the prey or the enemy, coupled with courage and intelligence, became, undoubtedly, a remarkable advantage in the struggle to survive, but, aggression towards members of the same group, or, reckless disregard for dangerous situations and the ruthless application of deceitful intelligence, such as treachery or abuse, were factors that weakened a group of socially integrated animals; even, if it would strengthen, momentarily, the existential security of the deceptive individual.

Species' that were experimenting with viability on the basis of social integration, experienced a curious deadlock in the forces of natural selection, as soon as the requirements for individual and collective survival became somewhat contradictory, and yet, inextricably intertwined. We see, therefore, that natural selection started to favour seemingly contradictory traits. Courage, aggression and cunning towards those lifeforms that do not belong to the group, and yet, at the same time, natural selection favoured the continued existence of a group that had learned the value of mutual cooperation, trust, help, and, even, the attitude of compassion.

We are heirs to these biological contradictions, or, rather, apparent contradictions, and, ever since, we have tried to understand the baffling range and apparent unpredictability of human behaviour.

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Chapter 6

The intelligent choice of behaviour.
Egocentric versus socio-centric choices.
The balance of belonging.
The importance of mutual trust.
Criteria for a continuing viability of the human gene-pool.
A trade-off between the experiences of victory and peaceful co-existence.

Here we are, back to the faculty of intelligence; the need and drive to understand, as well as the inevitable and recurrent choice between the interests of the self and those of the community.

Perhaps, this dilemma is, indeed, the essence of human intelligence. We approached this dilemma intuitively in the past, but, we have to approach this problem, now, much more deliberately, and, we will have to balance the importance of our choices ever more carefully. Either, we emphasise an egocentric attitude, (or an attitude of regionalism in our collective behaviour), and, we accept the consequences of strife, resistance and war with the groups of people around us, or, we opt for cooperation and mutual respect on an ever enlarging scale; gaining individual or regional security and a rich variety of contacts, but, at the same time, accepting and understanding the need for a compromise between conflicting interests and limits on individual drives and instincts.

We have to form an opinion, at all times, whether our individual viability and security are enhanced or hampered, acknowledged or exploited, by the social surroundings. Nothing is more natural than to rebel and revolt, and, to risk security and life, whenever we feel it as a burden to belong to society; when we feel exploited and humiliated; when we have nothing to lose. However, if we rebel or revolt, because we see a chance to dominate or free ourselves from responsibilities for people who are less fortunate than we, our attitudes are narrowly egocentric. Then, sooner or later, these attitudes and practices will be resented and invite retaliation from those who feel threatened by our behaviour.

It is possible to encourage individual security and increase the range of individualisation by accepting the principle that basic human rights should be extended to all the members of society. If we learn to see and accept the fundamental wisdom and justice of such a principle of essential equality, we may overcome this dilemma. We may acknowledge, then, that we can all gain, if we are able to trust the attitudes and actions of other people.

Would I not feel secure, if I could trust my neighbours to refrain from attacking me, whenever the opportunity would arise? At the same time, I will have to give my neighbours good reasons to believe, that I will not give-in to the temptation to take advantage of them, whenever I could.

Mutual security can be exchanged in a pact of mutual trust. We can give security to each other as the result of a conscious agreement, and, such an attitude would be the only way to raise the level of viability for everyone. At the same time, we would raise the viability of the human gene-pool. Every time we are lured by the temptation to work only for an egocentric, opportunistic gain, we create suspicions and hostile attitudes. Then, we encourage feelings of mutual resentment that will be weakening the existential security of us all.

One of the most obvious consequences of belligerent behaviour, (which is, apparently, still so difficult to see, clearly), is the fact, that any act on my part, threatening someone else, is bound to lead, eventually, to an act that threatens me. Such an atmosphere of mutual distrust consumes an enormous amount of vital energy, as we become locked into a framework of frozen tensions of mutual hostility. As a result, we are slowly weakening the purpose and elan vital of society as a whole.

We know, now, that our biological heritage has prepared us, at least, to some extent, to cope with the apparently conflicting demands of individual and collective security. Nature has provided us with some of the requirements for behavioural adaptations that are needed to live in a small-scale social organisation. We have also indicated, why we need to rely, increasingly, on the deliberate choice of consciously forged guidelines in order to make a much larger society viable.

When the human gene-pool was fragmented into small clusters of socially integrated human beings, the multitude of small nomadic groupings, and the length of time availabe for natural selection to bring certain personality traits to the fore, led to the possibility to encode, genetically, the essential features of small-scale, socially integrated behaviour.

We may assume, therefore, that the forces of natural selection promoted, as a rule, such traits as bravery, courage, aggression, cunning and cooperation, especially when dealing with a powerful and hostile environment. At the same time, hierarchical positioning, acceptance of leadership, mutual identification, tenderness, and, even, compassion towards the members of the group, would ensure the cohesion of the community and enhance the viability of the more fragile members. Any manifestation of abnormal behaviour, sickness, death, or organic malformations, were recognised as a threat to viability and created feelings of anxiety and aversion.

However, the close contacts between numerous different groupings within the framework of a larger social organisation, required a marked increase in the ability to identify each other as belonging to the same social entity, and, consequently, a far more sophisticated and consciously organised system of leadership was needed. The behavioural choice evolved from an intuitive, instinctive choice to a choice that had to be guided by a structure of beliefs; in the form of a conscious perception of reality.

The ability to formulate a conscious, deliberate choice, finely tuned to the ever more complex situations at hand, became a necessity, and, therefore, the ability to respond intelligently acquired an ever greater survival value. Indeed, the continued existence of the human gene-pool, as well as the cultural legacy that plays such an important role in shaping our behaviour, came to depend on insight and intelligence, rather than on physical strength or bravery. We need a clear insight, that strife weakens and may become disastrous, but, similarly, we need the insight that inequality of existence and great disparities in the possiblities to develop our potentials will always lead to serious tensions and can not be wished-away by pious hopes.

Inequality and disparity form a tension-gradient, since the people who are affected feel, rightly, that they do not belong to society; that they are being exploited. Unless we can all experience to benefit from belonging to society and a state of peaceful co-existence, the state of peace is a pious and unjust wish.

May our collective intelligence be able to recognise the mechanisms of human happiness, as well as the benefits that come with the ability to unfold a few potentials. May our collective intelligence also recognise, clearly, the causes of strife and misery. May it be recognised in a manner that is acceptable to most of us, and, may we then find our most glorious form of individual and collective existence in a world-wide bond of mutual trust and respect; foresaking the heady emotions of glory and victory, but, also, conquering, at last, the agony of suffering, humiliation and defeat.

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Chapter 7

A look at modern behaviour patterns.
The confusion of contemporary Western societies.
The need for authority.
The pitfalls of consumerism.
Possiblities for an ideologial renewal.
The Christian heritage.
Extra-terrestial predation.
The task of designing a globally acceptable philosophy.
Possible extinction of the human gene-pool.

It is remarkable, that we, who consider ourselves to be intelligent and free in our affluent, Western societies, rely, so heavily, on authority for our opinions and beliefs, as well as on the expertise of other people to maintain our cars, houses and appliances; and yet, the way our complex societies are to be governed, is the subject of expert opinion from everyone. We rely on fashions to dictate what to wear and what to enjoy for entertainment. We rely on the critics to tell us, what we should see and what can be ignored with impunity. Scientists tell us what to eat and drink, what to believe or not to believe, and, the clergy is desperately trying to make us behave and believe as devout Christians, without being able to tell us, precisely, what Christ wants us to believe.

Confusion and exploitation are everywhere. We are constantly manipulated for someone else's gain. We are thrilled and stimulated by carefully measured doses of pornographic stimuli, enriching the clever and unscrupulous merchants of excitement, while we impoverish and strip-mine our own emotional soil. The ridiculous and the insane are cloaked in commercial respectability, as long as there is money to be made, and, we allow ourselves to be fooled and exploited, because we are so broad-minded and liberal. We think, that we have the insight and wisdom to make our own choices. The uninformed and gullible individual is always our neighbour, never ourselves, and, in the process of accepting the rip-off as a way of life, we tacitly allow ourselves, and our society, to go down the drain towards a wasteful decay.

Why? Because we do not realise, that we have lost our guidance patterns and our sense of direction. We have lost the ability to take a stand and decide for ourselves. We rely on the electronic mass-media and our television sets to entertain us and stimulate our desires, and, we allow ourselves to exist in the dull-average range of docile non-intelligence. We live in the mass-actions of the group, and, we reflect the opinions of a crystallised mediocrity. We represent the faceless inefficiency of bureaucratic inertia and half-hearted commitment. The absence of an inspiring, rallying, Western ideology, the emptiness of a hesitant, Christian theology, together with the confused foundations of our social structures, are the main reasons for our formless and spineless societies.

Our affluence is, probably, the only common bond we have, but it is becoming ever more doubtful, that we, as a Western society, really have the stamina, or, even, the inclination to defend and fight with any degree of enthousiasm and conviction for those features of affluence, which are so casually accepted and taken for granted.

The human being still is, and will always be, in essence, a religious creature. We are religious, in the sense that the average individual will have to rely on some kind of authoritarian guidance to come to a decision about nearly all behavioural choices.

Every complex society experiences the process of increasing sub-specialisation and mutual interdependence, and, every society develops, therefore, a need for mutual trust. Unless its members are offered a set of reliable criteria to judge the truth and validity of their experiences, (including all fields of specialisation), they will behave erratically and defensively, reverting to a confused behaviour pattern of misunderstood frustrations and an intense desire for immediate gratification. In short, we will not be viable, as a society, without a clear-cut, understandable and commonly agreed-upon set of criteria upon which we can base our judgements and opinions. These criteria of understanding will make it possible to come to a logical series of choices in this sea of incongruous events and confusing sense-impressions.

The question is; whether or not the affluent societies are still capable of formulating a unifying philosophy of life; whether or not people can still accept the inevitable limitations in behaviour that come with a measure of discipline. Probably not, since the most common and logical reaction to any attempt at disciplining a spoiled society, is to fight such infringements on individual freedoms, and, the reaction will be a swift and scornful rejection of any notion of discipline, since the need for discipline is rarely generally recognised.

It is easy to ridicule, with sophisticated witticisms, any attempt to sober a chronically intoxicated society, and, unfortunately, the process of rejuvenation and change may have to take place by an internal purge, an armed conflict, or, by the assimilation of an impoverished society into a new and, probably, non-white order of world dominance.

A period of intellectual and social turmoil, together with a great variety of diverging and conflicting opinions, trends and behaviour-patterns, is, however, a breeding ground for the formulation of a more coherent philosophy of life. At least, it is an incentive to formulate a new way of looking at ourselves. There will be a new ideology, certainly not identical to Revolutionary Marxism, nor, will it be similar to our watered-down Social-Democratic ideas; neither will it be a mere rekindling of existing religious doctrines.

The Christian beliefs can be a beautiful, influential and remarkably compassionate interpretation of human nature, but, it is my impression, that the belief in a Divine Revelation and Redemption will fade in favour of a balanced, well thought-out and carefully articulated analysis and understanding of our biological origins; where conscious awareness, as well as the mechanisms of emotional feelings and behaviour-patterns, will be grasped in a sweeping outline. Some day, we will agree about the meaning of victory and defeat, as well as the reasons for our experiences of beauty, suffering and compassion. Some day, we will realise, that we, ourselves, are the almost exclusive cause of suffering and defeat, and, we will learn to understand our nature and our needs in an evolutionary and relativistic framework of explanatory relationships.

Some day, we may make meaningful contact with an extra-terrestial intelligence, but, if we seek such contacts in an attitude of submission and reverence, we are only behaving in an old-fashioned pattern of religious dependence and obediance. With the possibilities of new dimensions in contact and enrichment, we will also have to face the possibility of massive conflict with an extra-terrestial predator, and, we may have to face the possibility of extermination. It may, therefore, be safer for mankind, if apparent contacts with extra-terrestial intelligence remain a product of our imagination, as well as a source of divine inspiration; a belief-structure of hope and expectation, where the extra-terrestial forces remain a projection of our dreams and a reflection of our needs.

How do we begin the task of formulating a global philosophy of life, with a widely appealing imagery of human existence and endeavour? How do we start the task of stream-lining our divergent hopes and ambitions into a cautious entity of controled, common interests, where we understand ourselves as well as we can, and acknowledge our individuality, as well as our shared needs? It has to be a structure of belief and explanation that allows us to organise our common interests into a highly effective and widely acceptable framework of cohesion.

A monumental task, but, it is possible, necessary and timely, since we need to have a common objective. We desperately need a blue-print for viable human behaviour patterns and succesful interactions on a global scale, and, we all would welcome an acceptable and understandable compromise between social well-being and individual aspirations.

We are still so unsophisticated in our understanding, that we opt, time and again, for a dictatorial regime of the left or the right, and, we suspend, willingly, our individual liberties. Or, we seem to destroy, without much thought, a fragile democracy by a stagnating, stifling obsession with self-interests and existential concerns. We are unable to formulate, clearly, where the rights of the individual and the prerogatives of society have their boundaries and limitations.

At the present time, we have no adequate means to prevent the egocentric orientation of the individual from sliding into outright greed and ignorant selfishness, whenever the opportunity exists to do so. This is an event that occurs rapidly and repeatedly; after only one or two generations of fortunate circumstances; whenever the children of affluence have been born and brought-up in conditions of unchallenged well-being. The processes of mental and cultural decay are so precipitous, because the cultural code has not been enshrined with the same rigidity as the genetic code.

We will have to duplicate, to some extent, the rigidity of the biological code, when constructing pathways of cultural transmission and transmitting, within certain limits of variability, the cultural heritage from one generation to the next. The cultural code will be allowed to modify, slowly, but not to abandon, recklessly, the entire cultural guidance-pattern. Nature does not abandon a blue-print of genetic organisation all at once, except, as an inevitable event in the extinction of a species of life.

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Chapter 8

The need for a common reality picture.
Speculations about the development of a world-wide philosophy of human nature.
Exhortations.

A commonly agreed-upon blue-print of concepts about ourselves and our environment, our nature and our psychological mechanisms, is, therefore, a necessary accomplishment; before we can hope to fuse into a global community and face, effectively, the problems of our limited ecological resources and reserves. Perhaps, we can preserve nature's experiment with human intelligence, if we are successful in our efforts, but, it may well be, that man's genetic blue-print has already been firmly set onto the road towards extinction. The essential nature of a common-sense, globally acceptable blue-print for a viable self-image, has to be based upon the massive evidence for the mechanisms of natural evolution, and, we have to see human behaviour as a result of a particular form of living existence that has evolved, naturally, on our planet.

The development of behavioural flexibility as a tool in the struggle for survival led to the development of the faculties of intelligence and reflection, and, these faculties became the foundation for the ability to form conceptual images. This, in turn, led to an increased predictability of events and a greatly increased ability to manipulate our environment. The inevitable consequence of an increased ability to predict what is going to happen, is the development of anxiety and suffering, together with the anticipation of death; but, with it comes, also, the possibility to experience love, hope and compassion.

Our range of emotions and experiences has been enlarged to a remarkable extent by our reflective intelligence and communicative skills, but, these faculties are still a natural product of life's evolution on earth, and, these faculties developed, so far as we can see at the present time, under a set of relatively stable, physical and environmental conditions. These physical and physiological potentials are reflected in various existence possibilities for naturally occurring elements of matter, rather than as a result of a specific creation by a psychological, spiritual or meta-physical power.

Our hopes, beliefs and expectations, as well as the development of religious beliefs, can be understood and harmoniously integrated within the concepts of natural evolution, and yet, such evolutionary concepts and scientific perceptions still depend upon the interactions and agreements of human beings within a socially integrated environment.

The gradual abandonment of a concept of absolute reality leads, initially, to a sense of dissatisfaction and confusion, but, when seen in its proper perspective, it is just this impossibility to obtain an absolute reality and the insight that absolute reality is an illusion, which helps us most in the task of integrating the seemingly mutually exclusive worlds of science and religion.

The concepts of religious or meta-physical reality perceptions have become victims of a scientific explanatory system of emotional needs and psychological mechanisms, but, scientific reality loses its pedestal of absolute validity as well. Both, science and religion, become interwoven into a network of mental possibilities of existence that are created by the human mind, the "free will", as well as the fragility of life.

Natural evolution does not stop at the stage of individualised human existence, and, the parallels between multi-cellular organisation and social evolution will be the main conceptual guideline to help us formulate a globally valid philosophy of human existence. Such a structure of philosophical explanations is, not only, possible, but, plausible and necessary; not in the form of a Divine Revelation of new insights, (grasped and propagated in a well-established religion with widespread public appeal), but, as a steadying, slowly permeating idea; as a slowly evolving factor of cohesion during the development of an intellectual structure of explanation and guidance for a new world-order.

This is the way the development of a globally acceptable philosophy is most likely to take place. No sudden cessation of hostilities and misunderstandings, but a slow appreciation for the reasons why and and how we behave. No sudden bliss or eternal happiness, but a gradual improvement in the living standards of millions upon millions of human beings, who still live in stultifying, degrading and sub-human conditions; depriving them of the possibility to understand the extent of their own miseries.

Let us not expect a sudden salvation in the imagery of a world-wide religion, or, through the appearance of a new Saviour, but, let us work for the slowly emerging awareness that man has the power, the will, the inclination, and, above all, the natural compassion and ability to understand the nature of his own existence and the criteria of his viability. Man has to understand in order to reach a level of existence with a higher degree of viability; an existence, that will be less susceptible to a destructive synchronisation of emotions, and, less likely to lead to disastrous conflicts or mutual annihilation.

The foundation for our common-sense beliefs will be the evolutionary development of our physical and mental parameters of existence, as well as the similarities of our physical and mental mechanisms. Those will be the main insights of a new philosophy; utterly simple and flowing in its essence, yet, surprisingly illuminating and emotionally satisfying, when finally understood.

Come, let us go-on with the task of outlining and sketching the features of a viable way of looking at ourselves, rather than speculate about its fate and progress in future developments. It will be a long and arduous task for everyone concerned. I will attempt to make a small contribution, but do not expect a ready-made package, summarised and digested to the point of easy understanding; simplified for the sake of a quick appeal or a systematised classification. The struggle for definition and form will be obvious, and, these difficulties will be presented, without hesitation, in a number of tightly woven, finely textured essays.

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Chapter 9

An analysis of Christian beliefs and attitudes.
The intellectual difficulties of the Christian Faith.
The tendency of a strong emotional commitment to the Christian Faith.
The living saints.
A reversal of natural inclinations.
The concepts of good and evil.
The essential dualism of Christian reality perceptions.
The perfectionist attitude in secular and religious environments.

We see and experience in Christianity, perhaps, more so than in any other religion, the glorification of suffering, defeat and humiliation. Christianity envisages a kingdom of the humble and the poor, where the eternal, all-consuming attitude of concern for our fellow human beings is seen as a manifestation of the love of God for us all.

This seems to be a total reversal of the law of the jungle, where we see, only, the mechanisms of survival of the strongest, as well as a hierarchy of powers. The exaltation of love, poverty and humility is the very opposite of competitive success, wealth and power, and, the ardent longing for pain and suffering through an identification with Christ, the sacrificial Lamb, seems to be such an impossible cure for the ills of mankind.

The emotional forcefulness and persuasiveness of such a philosophy of love comes strongly to the fore during a period of intense turmoil, confusing contacts and rampant brutality. This gospel of love and fervor; this courageous defiance of the fear for death, misery and suffering, was, and still is, so overwhelming in its attractiveness and beauty, that this faith continues to have a strong fascination and attraction for millions of people who are weary of slavery and oppression, and, who have become confused by the wide range of human behaviour patterns and the unoverseeable variety of emotions and interhuman relationships.

The vague and imprecise mutterings of philosophers, forever quarreling amongst themselves, the nauseating opulence and extravagance of the rich, the stupefying misery of the poor, and the caricatures populating the pagan skies; all these conditions made it understandable, why the hope and inspiration flowing from the voluntary death of God's Son in an act of love and atonement for the sins of the world, found such a willing ear at the beginning of the Christian Era. The very fact of being despised and persecuted for this strange belief that God died for mankind and rose again, of being allowed to suffer and die with Christ, the Saviour of mankind, is a powerful source of inspiration and religious fervor.

Yet, logically and intellectually, the Christian belief-structures have always been difficult to comprehend. Many events recorded in the gospels as the acts or sayings of Christ and his disciples, are somewhat contradictory and reveal curious changes in attitudes and intellectual content. The understanding of early Christianity indicated, clearly, a strong belief in the immediacy of the Second Coming of Christ. When this event was not forthcoming, it became necessary to work-out, in greater detail, the intellectual structure and definition of the Christian beliefs. The long struggle for a "divine purity" of interpretation and religious practice has been well documented in the history of the Christian Church, as the Faith became slowly institutionalised and more precisely delineated.

From the beginning, but fluctuating in popularity and intensity, some Christian believers have sought an extra-ordinary strong commitment to the commandments and precepts of the Christian Faith, and, even in our present times, we receive, occasionally, a glimpse of those remarkable people, who are so totally dedicated to acts of charity and prayer.

The remarkable psychological characteristics of a life devoted to charity and prayer project a strangely persuasive image of these people with their austere and ascetic attitudes, but, at the same time, we experience a feeling of alienation when we look, closely, at the motives, drives and reasons behind such seemingly unnatural behaviour.

The people who benefit from the ceaseless efforts of self-less services provided by such devoted activists and charity workers, develop, naturally, an immediate sense of gratitude, and, these beneficiaries tend to idolise the living saints in an image of supra-human goodness and divine exaltation. Yet, these saints shy away from publicity, as well as from full emotional interactions with other people, because they are solidly entrenched in their private relationship with God. Sometimes, we are given a glimpse of their fierce struggles to believe, and, we see evidence for the strong battles between doubt and acceptance that take place within the souls of these living saints; as periods of a self-deprecating and frustrating depression alternate with periods of a serene resignation and hope in the mercy of their God.

We may see evidence for lingering doubts when these saints immerse themselves in the all-absorbing and taxing activities of charity, or, during their fervent and stormy prayers. While most of us will feel a sense of reverence and piety when confronted with these modern saints of compassion and hard work, (even, if we fail to understand them), occasionally, these people, the living saints, are accused, in a somewhat envious and petulant tone, of seeking to satisfy their instincts for glory and respect. Most of the time, however, the spiritual and worldly activities of these people, who are so rigorously committed to their Faith, fade into the background of our numerous news-worthy events of conflict and disaster.

It would be wrong, however, to assume, that religious activists are the only people so totally committed to the service of mankind, but, it is true, that we see in these children of God the most extreme forms of a voluntary and prolonged hardship. Who are these people; these saints of charity and prayer, but, more importantly, what motivates them? Why do they act the way they do? What do they believe, hope or fear? How do they handle their instincts, impulses and contradictory tendencies? Rather than judgeing these behavioural acts as right or wrong, let us see what mechanisms play a role. What insights can we gain from the sketchy utterings about their own intellectual and emotional experiences? Let us try to summarise, briefly, what the essential Christian beliefs and attitudes are, and, what they have to be, if Christians are able to consider themselves faithful believers in Christ.

Essential in the Christian structures of belief and explanation is the concept, that man was created in God's image by an Omnipotent, All-loving God, but, the act of Original Sin has spoiled the relationships between man and God. Man, now torn between the contradictory impulses of good and evil, has to choose in his acts, beliefs and attitudes, between God and Satan. He has to choose in order to determine the eventual destination of his immortal soul. The way to find acceptance by God is a combination of the acceptance of Christ's existential sacrifice for the atonement of the sins of mankind, together with a constant vigilance in attitudes and beliefs. Both aspects are necessary in order to live according to the precepts of the Christian Faith.

Some, if not most of these Christian commandments seem to be directly in conflict with man's nature and instinctive drives; such as, e.g., the suppression of anger and aggression, the conversion of these natural attitudes to a somewhat artificial attitude of love and compassion, as well as a rather patronising attitude of understanding. In addition, there are the difficult directives to renunciate wealth, power and success, as well as the encouragement to embrace suffering, misery and poverty.

This summary description does not do justice to the many aspects and interpretations that can be given to the precepts of Christian beliefs and behaviour. The main point we want to emphasise, here, is the interpretation that certain instincts and drives of the human being are considered to be, in essence, "evil" in nature. What are the consequences of such a judgement about many natural tendencies, including the fundamental drive of sexuality? What effect does such a reality-perception have on the behaviour patterns of man, if he sees many of his naturally evolved, basic reactions condemned as evil and despicable?

The constant struggle against nature is a perpetual source of anxiety and self-accusation for the Christian believer, but, at the same time, the admission of a state of sinful existence becomes a spur to an attitude of humility. It becomes a step towards accepting God's forgivenness. The strong tendency to seek suffering and misery is an expression of the powerful belief, that a sacrificial offering of one's own existence and personality to Christ, and God, is the most important way to gain acceptance, and, it becomes, then, an immense emotional investment in a difficult structure of beliefs.

The many intellectual contradictions that can be seen when this Faith is scrutinised closely, are seen as a divine test for the ability to accept God's guidance and infinite wisdom, which are essentially beyond the grasp of human intelligence. This attitude leads, at times, to an intense reflection on the mystery of the Divine Revelations. The difficulties, arising from the contradictions and vagueness of the Christian Faith, are solved; either by an ascetic, mystical attitude of reverent reflection, (which is characterised by an intuitive desire to blur the intellectual contradictions in an emotion of exaltation and cosmic consciousness), or, an attempt is made to solve the tensions by a diligent study and a humble exploration of the vast area of natural knowledge and divine revelation. If this is successful, a fusion between the two kingdoms of reality perceptions may lead to an intellectual refinement and an articulation of sophisticated theological insights.

For the individual who is strong and healthy, with an abundant elan vital, a natural ability to feel compassion, as well as an affinity to communicate with other people, the problems of the Faith are best solved by activities of charity and pastoral care for one's fellow human beings. The average clergyman, average in emotional and intellectual capabilities, with an average vitality, the fulfilment of the divine Will is found in an average commitment to all three aspects; study, contemplation or prayer, and pastoral work.

However, just as in the secular society, we see in the religious world, occasionally, the rise of a compulsive achiever; a perfectionist, intelligent and reflective personality, who is keenly aware of the contradictions in this wide range of human behaviour patterns and religious beliefs. For the perfectionist, there is a strong emotional appeal in a religion that finally gives meaning to suffering and conquers the finality of death; fostering hope for the depraved, oppressed and miserable victims of Original Sin. The salvation of man through a belief in Christ, together with a life of devotion to the forces of good, or God, in a continuing struggle against Evil, or Satan, is a powerful and persuasive structure of beliefs; and, these beliefs may become the dominant or exclusive guidance-pattern for the religious perfectionist.

The attitude of compulsive perfectionism, (worth a study on its own), can, probably, be summarised by saying, that the perfectionist solves, intuitively, the problems that have been created by keenly felt contradictory impulses, by focussing on a single goal-pattern. This single goal-pattern will, then, surpass in importance all other objectives, and tends to negate, or suppress, the awareness of contradictory impulses by its unifying, meaning-giving nature.

The natural ability of the strong, healthy and easy-going, socialising individual to find a comfortable niche in society with a minimum of anxiety or fear for rejection, stands in marked contrast to the highly intelligent, tense and reflective individualist, who has more difficulties finding his place, and, who is, often, haunted by an ill-defined uneasiness and restlessness. This uneasiness and restlessness may be the result of an intuitive perception, that, so many of the beliefs and attitudes of the average and somewhat lackadaisical members of society are illogical and inconsistent.

The compulsive perfectionist is always inclined to search for a more perfect harmony, because he is dissatisfied with the platitudes and superficialities of his surroundings. The compulsive perfectionist is strongly inclined to commit him- or herself, totally, to the goal that has been selected as the ultimate objective in life. The search for this idealised, harmonising goal, the ultimate in truth and beauty, is carried-out, to some extent, as a protest against the half-hearted commitment of the average religious person, who is blissfully ignoring the intellectual dilemmas, as well as the bigotry and fallacies that are so painfully apparent to the perfectionist.

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Chapter 10

The Christian emphasis on failure and imperfection; the problem of perpetual guilt feelings.
The attitudes of self-righteousness and humility.
The neurotic aspects of fervent religious attitudes.
Pathways to mystical exaltation.
Varying religious activities.
The incompatibility between the Christian and evolutionary perceptions of reality.

The Christian emphasis on the inevitability of personal guilt and imperfection, as well as the inversion of the instinct of aggression towards a deliberate attitude of humility and charity, tend to bring into focus the doubts and emotional tensions that arise as a result of the awareness of the inadequacies of one's own personality. The inevitable failure to live-up to the standards of religious perfection, (which the believer tries to adhere-to in response to the demands of his Faith); the questions that arise about God's all-loving nature in the face of persisting misery and suffering, and the general search for clarification of the many contradictory aspects of the Christian Faith; all these aspects are a constant source of rebellious doubts, followed by feelings of severe guilt and depression, as well as a tendency towards self-punishment and ascetism.

As we have mentioned before, the persistent and irreconcilable emotional and intellectual discrepancies between man's nature, his sense of reason, and the divine mysteries of the Christian Faith with its near-impossible guidelines and insistence on the inversion of basic biological instincts, lead to very severe tensions indeed; especially, for the intelligent and honest religious perfectionist. The result is a life-long search for spiritual excellence; either as an intellectual study, a mystical contemplation, or, as a furious and totally devoted activism; such as a complete dedication to working under the most arduous of circumstances, while constantly surrounded by misery and suffering.

What does such an effort do to the mind and emotions of the religious perfectionist? We see, that these people, often, refer to a sudden, personal revelation of a divine nature, which leads to an even deeper and more absorbing commitment. We see, frequently, that these people become aware of a strong, personal struggle to obtain and retain an absolutely committed attitude of faith.

There is an an instinctive reaction to suppress doubts by an ever more fervent immersion in the religious Faith, as well as an ever enlarging emotional investment in the righteousness of the religious doctrines. We even see evidence of an attitude, where, subconsciously of course, the religious perfectionist considers himself to have an even greater spiritual force of love and compassion than God Himself. There is this remarkable revelation by Mother Theresa, (Time magazine, 1975), where she consented to the publicity created by a magazine article for the good of the people she was serving, and, "she pleaded with God, that, for each photograph taken, a soul would be released from purgatory".

This brings us to the question, how such a religious perfectionist sees him- or herself, emotionally and intuitively; in contrast to the conscious and rational attitudes of total servitude and humbleness to God. The deep, total commitment of one's life to the service of God, often associated with painful struggles within the soul; the fantastic self-sacrifice and the enormous, if only vaguely felt psychological energy needed to maintain such a commitment, year after year; the inevitable questions arising from circumstances and contacts, renewing, again and again, doubts of one kind or another; all these factors, as well as the immense energy-expenditure of hard work, must lead, eventually, to the conclusion, that, at least, this effort and hard work must be somewhat pleasing to God.

The sacrifice in personal well-being, the constant suppression of numerous natural instincts, as well as the incessant contacts with misery, must lead to a deep confidence of being righteous and pleasing to God, but, at the same time, this confidence is a source of worry about the disappearance of an attitude of humility.

Therefore, there are always tensions. There are always intractable and unsolvable tensions, and the intensity of these tensions depends, entirely, on the intensity of the personality. It is not surprising, that this constant expenditure of psychological constraining energies; this outright suppression of all feelings of anger and doubt, aggressiveness or sexual desire, forms a personality that is, by definition, severely neurotic.

Let me make it clear, that no value judgement is implied in the term "neurotic". It only refers to the inevitability of neurotic suppressions, which are essential in order to reach the religious goals in attitudes and beliefs. The routine, rigorous existence, the quiet admiration or adulation by those who are suffering and being helped, the respect from the social surroundings, and, the inevitable self-respect creeping-up with persistence and successful commitment, lead to strange feelings of comfort, happiness and satisfaction.

As we have discussed before, these feelings of comfort, happiness and satisfaction give rise to doubts about the required attitude of humility, and, even, the strange satisfaction of self-inflicted pain and suffering in an attempt to subdue persistent desires or tendencies that are considered to represent "evil temptations", leads to a confusing, contradictory set of masochistic attitudes and experiences, which are disturbing and delightful at the same time. These desperate attempts to conquer human nature, often, facilitate hallucinations or divine revelations, but these revelations are more illuminating as a study of human psycho-dynamics, than as a guide to understanding the Divine Will. It is clear, therefore, why, and how, the conditions for mystical experiences emerge in these compulsive religious perfectionists.

The religious perfectionist, who emphasises intellectual work rather than mystical exaltation, has, in a sense, an easier time, since he is always able to temper his sense of failure in achieving perfect understanding, by reminding himself about the essence of God's mystery. The mystery of God's nature and plans must, by definition, exceed the capabilities of the human mind to understand. In addition, compared to the mystic, the intellectual has more varied human contacts. His travels, frequent discourses, as well as the ability to lead a more relaxing and less constrained lifestyle, prevent the development of the extreme emotional and psychological tensions that characterise the life of the religious mystic.

In summary, then, the perfectionist in religious behaviour is always caught in the dilemma of inevitable failure. At least, there is no escape from the experience of failing to some degree, and, the inevitable feelings of sinfulness, inadequacy and betrayal of the Divine Love, lead the conscientious, compulsive, honest individual to an ever increasing commitment to the elusive behavioural ideal. When the ideal is finally reached after a life-long struggle, the feelings of success and accomplishment are, once again, tempered by a feeling of sinful pride; of religious elitism, and, a worry about the lack of humility fuels tensions of doubt and inadequacy, anew.

Psychologically, Christianity is, therefore, a cruel Faith for the compulsive perfectionist, since every Christian is, by the definition of his own belief structures, caught in an inescapable web of perpetual failure and guilt-feelings. The objective of obtaining psychological happiness on the basis of religious success, has to remain an elusive ideal, leading to perpetual emotional tensions, which may, on occasion, prove to be a source of fantastic achievements; be they psychological, intellectual or artistic in nature. For the average, less compulsive personality, the Christian Faith has promoted, over the centuries, a now generally accepted faculty of conscience. It has softened brutal attitudes and enhanced the feelings of compassion, but, it has also led to a blatant religious elitism, resulting in conflict, bloodshed and a cult of brutality all its own.

For the compulsive, mystic perfectionist, total happiness has come in short flashes of exalted or "expanded" consciousness, with the experience of receiving a personalised message of a divine nature. Very likely, these experiences of total happiness function as a psychological escape-mechanism in order to resolve or reconcile otherwise unbearable psychological tensions and inner conflicts.

For the more intellectually inclined religious activists, happiness has come in the suppression of doubts by a rigorous routine of acts of mercy and charity. Their happiness is buoyed by a soft glow of gratitude and adulation from their subjects. However, the sense of success is tempered by the ever-present fear for pride and self-esteem, but, eventually, the religious intellectual settles into a blissful and comfortable routine of service and personal control.

The emotional responsiveness of the "working saints" has to be restrained, as they administer, day in day out, to the dying and the sick. This restraint has to be there, partly, because of their own inner tensions, and, partly, because a deep emotional involvement with human misery would, time and again, raise doubts about God's loving nature. Their attitude becomes a calm acceptance of God's wisdom, rather than a constant personal identification with the occurrence of suffering.

Under this saintly image, hiding the results of a hard-fought emotional and intellectual battle, the tendency towards psychological turmoil must be great, and, the potential for a wide-ranging kaleidoscope of mental images, thoughts and partially allowed emotions, must be very large, indeed. It is logical, therefore, that these people would make a fascinating object for study and speculation. However, we should be able to outline the essential, psychological mechanisms of these working saints by understanding and conceptualising human behaviour in evolutionary terms. It is, therefore, not necessary, not even desirable, to invade the privacy of these great and remarkable human beings; who are living examples of the potential of the human mind, and, who represent a clear demonstration of the power of our belief structures and guidance patterns, in particular, when these guidance patterns acquire such a significant emotional investment.

The attitudes of altruism and self-sacrifice are remarkable and valuable qualities of human behaviour, and, they show us the way to a beneficial road of evolutionary developments for a large-scale social integration. However, the price paid by the religious perfectionist for this achievement, is gigantic, and, often, unnecessary. The intellectual suppressions of the mystics and the activists, the cruelty of perpetual psychological tensions, inherent to the Christian belief-structure, together with the inevitable, divisive and destructive trends of religious elitism, should all be considered and weighed carefully, before one accepts, with a full emotional commitment, the religious belief patterns of Christianity.

However, the exemplary behaviour of many living saints has to be beneficial for the people who are in contact with these giants of humanity, and, the saints serve as a model for behavioural emulation, as we try to overcome the problems of conflict, anger and frustration. Let us study and know these people, but let us not be afraid to scrutinise and analyse with total intellectual and emotional honesty, and, let us describe the psychological mechanisms and events as we find them.

May the fascinating developments of the Christian belief structure be a permanent part of our global cultural heritage; studied and perceived with emotional neutrality and an open understanding of its functions and its continuing influence on our modern societies. However, let us not be blind for intellectual and psychological short-comings. Let us not be surprised about the inability of the Christian believer to see man as an evolutionary creature, because, in spite of many liberal, pseudo-Christian beliefs, the essential dualism of body and soul, as well as the forgivenness of sin in the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, are beliefs that are essentially incompatible with an evolutionary point of view.

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Chapter 11

A discussion of the conceptualisation of non-existence.
Physiological limitations.
Existence before birth and after death.
The egocentricity of our imagery about the world.
The individualised creation of the quality of existence.
We are the central spectator and judge of the past, the present and the future.

I am convinced that most of us, if, indeed, not all of us, asked ourselves, at one time or another, what it would be like to be dead, or, "where do we go when we die"? Is there a life after death, or, is there just nothing? We do not have to search far in history, to see, that all civilisations have concerned themselves with the fate of the human individual after death. As a matter of fact, we have some indication of the earliest beliefs and thought processes of the human being in the graves and burial sites of prehistoric man, and, we have come to take the evidence of burial as a criterium for the existence of a community of fully human beings, because the members of a socially integrated grouping had developed the ability to reflect and form some mental imagery about the existence of life and death.

From historical and pre-historical evidence, it is abundantly clear, that man has always believed, (in some way, regardless, how vague or shadowy), that something remained of the human being after death. It has always been very difficult to accept that nothing was "left over" of the member who had just died, and, who was, until so recently, a respected or well-loved member of the community; just like those, who are now pondering the facts and phenomena of death. The natural preservation of the body in the dry sands of the desert, stimulated the efforts of the Egyptians to preserve the body even further with a variety of embalming techniques; but, even, in those regions, where the inevitable decay of the flesh was all too clear a fact of death, the belief in some sort of a spiritual or ghost-like remnant of the deceased seems to have been present in every known society.

We, as the modern, living generations of mankind, have attributed such a belief to the persistence of the deceased in the dreams of survivors, or, to the general acceptance of spirits and other anthropomorphic forces, which could dwell, even, in items of existence that are now clearly regarded as inorganic or inanimate in nature. Or, we have attributed these beliefs in some sort of after-life to the role of hope, encouraging the concept that death would not be the end of all existence, etc.

However, on occasion, the imagined existence of the dead was so horrifying, that, surely, it would have been a relief to these people, if they could accept that nothing would exist after death. Occasionally, the belief in a mysterious and ambiguous after-life was so strong, that the living were often placed under a constant shadow of doom and gloom, whenever they reflected upon their lot after death. Why have people, almost invariably, refused to accept the irrevocable end of individual existence at the time of death?

I like to explore, here, the possibility, or, even, the likelyhood, that this inability to accept non-existence is closely linked with the functions of our brain, and I like to argue in favour of the concept that this inability is linked, also, with the mechanisms that take place when we build-up our reality-perceptions. In other words, our concepts about the way our brain and body function are highly relevant in a philosophical discussion about our ideas about "being", or, existing.

While we live and think, we create, continuously, a series of mental ideas, concepts or images, or, whatever you want to call them. These images apply, not only, to our present experiences, but, they form also the imagery of the past, as well as the expectations of the future. On previous occasions, we have outlined our ideas about the emergence of the contemporary reality-perception, and, we have seen, how we are, continuously and simultaneously, engaged in the past, the present and the future. Our present sensory experiences are compared and classified against a pool of recorded memory-traces because of the urgent need to recognise every on-going experience.

Every event is, therefore, recognised and classified with a grasp of cause and effect relationships that span the past and the present. This grasp spans the past, because the recalled memories from past events provide the function of recognition and these images belong to the past, but, the present, the past and the immediate future are grasped in one sweeping mental imagery, because the immediate future blends imperceptibly with the experience of the present. From this concept, we see, not only, that we recognise a contemporary sense impression with an act of comparison against a past experience, but, we continuously anticipate, what is going to happen in the near future, and we adjust our behaviour accordingly.

We may summarise this concept by saying, that we exist, simultaneously, in the past, the present and the future, and, it becomes clear, that we create in our minds, (as a result of the classifying mechanisms that take place in our brains), an imagery that includes the past, the present and the future. The immediate past and future are so intricately interwoven with each other, that we experience the act of recognition and the anticipation of an immediate event, as taking place in the sphere of "present experiences".

To build-up a coherent picture of the more distant past, we rely on more generalised memories, as well as a few specific events of great personal significance. However, if we want to recreate a past in which we did not personally participate, we have to rely on technological aids, such as orally transmitted mental images, artifacts, pictures, writings and other types of records of the past; e.g., legends and stories. All these records and sources of information have to be available for study, before we can build-up a coherent imagery of the past. This is the only way the past exists for us, and, if there would not be a living person around who is concerned with an effort to build-up an idea or mental imagery of the past, the past would not exist.

Artifacts and records of the past lose easily their meaning, if we, the living generations, lose the ability, and the inclination, to give a coherent meaning to this body of records and artifacts. How easily information or meaning can be lost, is seen in the frequent discovery of language symbols from a bygone era, without the means to decipher their meaning.

This process of creating or, rather, re-creating the world of the past in our own minds, is the basis for our experience of the quality of "existence" Together with other people in society, we create the images of the past, the present and the future. The very fact, that we create a concept gives this concept a "quality of existence".

We may well acknowledge the fact that a particular image or concept has a limited reality; in the sense, that it may not correspond, in any way, with a reality-image upon which we can rely for our behavioural responses. For example, in a fantasy, we may create a series of events, or, a sequence of images, which, we know, are only images of the mind, and, these images are not to be used as a guide for present behaviour; and yet, the images themselves are real. They exist in our mind, and, they may be pleasing or frightening, depending upon the subconscious motivations that bring these images into a focus of conscious awareness.

The quality of existence is, therefore, automatically given to any image, concept or awareness that comes into the focus of our attention. Even an illogical concept, a vague notion or a fantasy, has "existence"; not in the sense that we rely on such an image for responding to the present circumstances, but, it exists as an image; as a possibility, a concept, an idea, or just as a simple awareness.

When exploring our ideas and concepts about a possible existence after death, we have to refer to the parallel question about our existence before birth. It seems, indeed, strange, that we accept, without any hesitation or difficulty, the fact that we did not exist before birth, and, we hardly reflect upon the fact, that, even, the existence of the first few years of our life, after birth, are not really available to us as a source for recollecting experiences. Our experience tells us, that we just "found" ourselves, somewhere, at some moment in time. We found ourselves, somewhere in a social environment, and we know that our recollections of what we were, and where we were before this moment of "finding ourselves", peter-out into a form of existence as an infant or small child. This existence is not accessible to our conscious recollections. Yet, it does not seem to bother us.

However, any attempt at considering or imagining ourselves during and just after the process of dying, leaves us with an almost complete inability to visualise a total nothing-ness; a total non-existence, resulting from the processes of death and decay. Why is this?

Let us analyse, first, what happens, when we consider our early childhood, as well as the happenings and events that preceded our own individual existence. Since we create the past in our own minds, this past, regardless, how far back in time we go, is our particular concept of the past, and, we participate, therefore, in this past; by giving it an existence within our own sphere of conscious awarenesses.

We, as a thinking individual, create the concepts of the past within us, and, we do not have the slightest difficulty, therefore, to accept the fact that we did not exist in this past. Actually, we do exist in the past, since we are giving this past its existence. We participate in this process of creating the images of the past, and, we are participating so intimately in this process, that we feel ourselves to be the "central spectator" of this past, even, if we are not consciously aware of this. And, even more remarkable is the fact, that we are the central judge, the "giver of life" to this past. We have, therefore, never the nagging question, where we existed at the time this past actually took place.

The same considerations apply to our ideas about the future. We create the future as a plausible development or extrapolation from existing conditions and circumstances, and, we are the central agent in this projected future. We are also, by necessity, the central spectator and judge of the future, even, if we acknowledge, intellectually, the fact, that we are not going to be present in these future happenings. The future is nothing more than a contemporary extra-polation of the present. The imagery of the future is a complex of ideas and potentials, created by an individual or a group of people, living, thinking and anticipating in the present. The existence of the future depends, entirely, on our living presence, now; at the moment we are engaging in these mental activities.

What does this mean for the concepts we develop about our own death? By trying to form an image about our existence, after we have died, we run into a paradox; an impossibility. With the help of a process of extra-polation, we try, very hard, to fathom this mystery of death, and, in trying to understand or conquer this inevitable event, we have to give existence to whatever we imagine this existence of non-existence to be. Yet, all our observations seem to point to the fact, that the essence of death is the cessation of existence. How, then, can we imagine, or come to grips, with the non-existence of ourselves, when attempting to create a concept of this fact of non-existence?

Even a void can only be visualised, or imagined, as a space between objects. We try, intuitively, to form a compromise between the rational conclusion that death is the dissolution of our existence, and, the inherent impossibility of our mind to comprehend, or visualise, this fact of dissolution, because we automatically give the quality of existence to any concept, including the concept of non-existence. What we do, then, is to strip from this concept of non-existence more and more functions of our being; such as, e.g., mental and bodily functions, even awarenesses and memories, until we are left with a shadowy existence of apparently "pure being".

Past civilisations have pictured this residual existence in many different ways, from a full, physical existence through a Resurrection, after death, to a shadowy and ill-defined existence of many non-Christian cultures, where, at all times, the qualities and possibilities of this shadoy existence were augmented by human imagination beyond the possibilities given to it by rational argument.

The most consequential and radical stripping of the qualities of life from a concept about existence in a state of death, can be found in those beliefs, where the quality of individuality has also been stripped away from an existence in death. However, a vague awareness of tranquility, rest or bliss remains, and has to remain, in order to make the concept of an existence after death, meaningful.

We feel compelled to believe in the existence of a residual being after death; not, because we fear death, nor, because we adopt the belief in a life after death as a psychological adaptation to cope with present conditions of stress; but, primarily, we believe in an existence after death as a result of our innate inability to visualise the existence of non-existence. We try to compromise with our rational conclusions about the qualities of non-existence. We do this by stripping from this existence of non-existence, almost all the functions of existence we experience in the awareness of being alive as a human being.

However, it is impossible to strip all functions of awareness from this concept of non-existence, since we would fall into the original difficulty of visualising the existence of non-existence, if there is nothing to visualise. Besides, we would make the concept of an after-life meaningless as a symbol for fortitude and hope. These are the aspects that play a role in creating this residual feeling of existence, whenever we try to capture the imagery of being deceased.

In summary, I am convinced, that the widely acknowledged inability of man to see his own death as a final dissolution into a complete nothingness, is inherently related to, or caused by, the physiological mechanisms that play a role in our mental functions. The realisation, that all being or existence is a creation of the living mind, (regardless, how far in the past or the future our concepts and ideas extend), is fundamental to an understanding of the concepts of immortality. The concept of the experience of death, especially, personal death, has, therefore, the impossible task of conceptualising what happens during and after death, without giving, whatever concept is being arrived at, the essence of existence, or, at least, a "feeling of existence".

We can not, really and truly, imagine or conceptualise non-existence, or a void, nor, can we visualise the complete cessation of mental functioning, since any conceptualisation of non-existence is a fundamental contradiction.

The acknowledged experience of death and dissolution in our environment, as well as the irreversibility of the processes of decay and dissolution, have led to a gradual stripping of all qualities of existence after death, until we reach a markedly varied, sometimes horrifying and extremely gloomy concept of death. Sometimes, we arrive at the concept of an almost unimaginable nothingness of existence, a "nirvana", which comes closest to our physiological conclusions. However, even in the concept of a nirvana, the experience of identity has to remain, in order for this concept to have meaning for the contemplative, living individual. Yet, we know, now, that an "identity experience" can not be part of such a form of "nothingness".

The preservation of deceased bodies in the dry desert sands, as well as the preservation of memory-traces about appearance and behaviour in the minds and dreams of living friends and relatives, together with the interpretation of the natural force-fields as a world of spirits; all these factors certainly re-enforce the belief in an after-life. However, the gradual increase in sophistication of the ability to distinguish between reality and dreams, as well as the gradual disappearance of the world of the spirits as a result of the rise of a scientific imagery, led to a gradual abolition of most, but not all the qualities of existence, when attempting to visualise a state of non-existence after death.

We have not forgotten the many psychological reasons to adhere to a belief in a rewarded after-life, but, let us contemplate the merits of the functional reasons as discussed above.

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Chapter 12

Suffering and the forces of displacement.
The many forms of stress and the element of hope.
Behavioural mechanisms; in the individual and the community.
Relationships between stress-adaptation and the attitudes of insight.
Man's finest hour.

Suffering occurs, when the forces that act on an individual organism are driving the organism away from a comfortable equilibrium and are reaching uncomfortable proportions. Interestingly, we need most of these same forces as stimuli for our existence. We need them as a challenge to sharpen our faculties, but, when these forces exceed an ill-defined and variable limit, the stress becomes harmful, and, it is this harmful effect, or the fear of harmful consequences, which is interpreted as unpleasant. When the potential of serious harm, or, even, loss of life has been reached, the resistance to such stressful force-fields is felt as "suffering".

Stress may occur when exposed to harsh natural force-fields or conditions, causing a lack of adequate food and shelter, or, a lack of physical security. Physical force-fields may cause accidents or disease processes, but, the most common forms of stress are related to strife and conflict between human beings, or, the lack of cooperation and trust. Man-made stress is directly related to the numerous conflicting interests human beings experience as a result of their competing existential needs. These diverging or competing interests may lead to the predatory solution of combat and warfare, as we have discussed before. These mechanisms represent, in essence, the "law of the jungle", determining the survival of the fittest life-forms and the most successful predators.

There are numerous examples in human interactions, where we behave according to the laws of the jungle, and, it is clear, that another human being, or group of human beings, is the cause of the most stressful situations man has to suffer through. Man's ingenuity to cause suffering for his follow-men is without parallel, but, it would be wrong to assume that such man-made stress is always caused with sadistic intentions.

Suffering may also result from conflicting force-fields operating within a single individual. Unresolved conflicts between contradictory impulses, desires or sensations, provoke a feeling of doubt, insecurity and tension, and, the observation that such internal stress may be felt as extremely severe, or, even, unbearable, is substantiated by the remarkable number of suicides occurring in every confusing and chaotic social environment.

The tolerance of stress varies widely from person to person, and, from one social grouping to another. Many forms of internal stress are felt by some people as "too heavy to bear"; not, because these people are subjected to particularly severe forms of internal stress, but, because their tolerance to stress is poorly developed. A neurotic fixation upon one's own problems tends to magnify the experience of stress, and, the absence of clear-cut guidelines from the social environment, or, an emotional maturation-defect resulting from a faulty early development, leaves such an individual vulnerable to all sorts of stress; internal as well as external.

In an introvert, neurotic fixation, we concentrate all our attention on internal stress experiences. We tend to neglect all comparisons with other people, or with our own past, and, we even tend to neglect the realisation that our situation could easily have been worse. In short, we literally feel sorry for ourselves, and, we elevate our problems to a position of supreme importance.

In a maturation-defect, we find ourselves unable to cope with a significant form of stress, because we have never learned to cope with stress during our formative years. As a result, we find ourselves confused, or, even, helpless, when we suddenly have to cope with stressful situations.

Those, who are somewhat poorly adapted to their social environment, experience chronic stress as a result of discrepancies in outlook and behaviour with the social environment, and, consequently, these people experience a lack of trust and support from their social environment. Again, we differ markedly to what degree we are able, and willing, to accept a chronic stress or tension between ourselves and our social environment, and, we also note, that societies differ markedly in their tolerance of individualised behaviour.

A strong pre-occupation with internal, personal stress makes us weak members of society, because we require much more support from our environment than we can give to others in return. Such a weakness tends to make us conform as much as possible, since we shy away from any additional stress that would result from non-conformist behaviour.

A strong and stable personality is able to tolerate a far higher level of tension between himself and his social environment, and, such a personality may overcome this chronic tension by an increase in self-confidence, or, by adopting an attitude of skepticism towards the commonly accepted social goals and value-judgements.

Similarly, we can solve, at least partially, the tensions of internal conflicts that are caused by unfulfilled objectives. We can do this by denying the importance of such goals and desires, and, by applying our drive and vital energies to more easily obtained goal-patterns. A feeling of internal security, or peace of mind, a certain ease in handling daily problems and confrontations, a flexibility in judgeing the importance of various goals, (expressed as satire, ridicule, humor or laughter), a flexible and confident aggressiveness and resilience in accepting defeat, failure, or, even, loss of prestige; these are all mechanisms that can, and do, relieve stress.

While we can, often, do relatively little about the forces that cause us stress, we can try to avoid or modify their impact, and, in doing so, we are evolving or adapting, changing and adjusting, in the full evolutionary sense of this concept.

Rather severe, chronic types of stress may act upon a group of people, or, even, a large community, e.g., when occupied or dominated by an alien society, or, more rarely, as a result of a natural catastrophe. A commonly shared situation of stress may give rise to a fertile communication of the feelings of fear and the experiences of distress. As a result, the communal experiences of a commonly shared stress may lead to very effective collective attempts to cope with this stress.

Acute, severe stress may certainly cause a break-down in communications and the mechanisms of communal cohesion, but more chronic forms of stress allow for an adaptation by increasing the level of social cohesion. The leadership of such a social entity will often formulate a collective form of repentance for past sins, which are then expressed as a collective expression of guilt-feelings and attitudes of atonement towards the super-natural protector, who, somehow, allows the forces of stress to act and persist.

Whenever adversity has been interpreted by the social environment as punishment for past wrong-doings, we see many examples of increased religious fervor. This leads to various rituals of sacrifice in an effort to restore the collective ease of mind, and, to facilitate the acceptance of the circumstances in an attitude of resilience and vigilance. The costs in sacrifice, anguish, mental conformity and emotional investment, are staggering, however.

The security and stability of the religious belief structure is extremely important for maintaining collective sanity, and, even the less religious individual is inclined, in times of despair, to turn to God for help. A lonely individual is vulnerable and needs help. Without help his physical and mental resources will soon be exhausted. The anguish associated with any attempt to resist severe stress is extremely painful, and, it is, therefore, a basic mechanism of human nature to ask for help and forgivenness, when in distress.

This basic behaviour pattern has come to the fore in every society of mankind. Logically, the leaders, representing the community as a whole, will adopt similar attitudes towards the forces that are perceived to be superior to them. While the act of pleading for help and forgivenness by an individual who has sinned against the social environment, is a clear-cut act, (and results are, usually, swift and concrete), the same behavioural act in relation to the mysterious realm of the super-natural, has to contend with ambiguities, unexpected and unexplained delays, unresponsiveness, and, often, a long period of nagging doubts; whether or not the behavioural act is going to find favour with the super-natural forces. This period of hopeful waiting, of wishful thinking about better times to come; the collective reminiscences about the past, the confessions of wrong-doings, as well as the acts of ritual and sacrifice; they all encourage a feeling, or, even, a conviction, that the future is going to be better.

This element of hope; the belief, that the circumstances are going to be better in the near future, is one of the most powerful mental adaptations to severe and chronic forms of stress; especially, for the community as a whole, where the emotional communications of the attitude of hope re-enforce this hopeful expectation into an "absolute certainty" through the powerful mechanisms of "emotional resonance".

Hope, then, transforms the perception of the possibility of an improvement into the certainty that such an improvement will take place, or, it will re-enforce a belief in the fulfillment of the expected or promised events. In the process of sharing hopeful expectations, a common bond of shared hope and misery synchronises the minds and emotions of the people into a common attitude of trust and cooperation, minimising disruptive internal conflicts of interest.

A synchronisation of the collective mind is possible with many moods and emotions, except the emotionally neutral attitudes of the inquisitive and critical individual. This mass-emotional resonance leads, often, to intense feelings of comradeship and contributes to a remarkable level of collective resilience. Faith and mutual trust tie-together the collective moods of hopeful expectations, and, they become rallying points for collective and individual patterns of religious behaviour, inducing, often, an extra-ordinary level of stress-tolerance by a state of mass- or self-hypnosis. This happens, in particular, if the meaning of suffering has been given a psychologically sophisticated quality in the prevailing religious structures of belief. Suffering, then, becomes, almost, a state to be desired. It becomes a goal in itself. It becomes a way to eternal happiness, and, thereby, another powerful adaptation to a situation of stress has been accomplished.

In a different way, the stress of fear, (as well as the fear of stress), can be conquered by fostering an atittude of courage; which means, usually, that the expression of the emotion of fear is frowned upon. It is made "taboo" as a socially unacceptable form of behaviour. Such a social attitude is, therefore, an attempt to cope with stress by synchronising a collective, but, essentially neurotic suppression of the emotions of fear and anxiety. However, such an attempt is psychologically far less sophisticated than the stress-tolerance induced by the synchronisation of hope and the attitudes of mutual trust, because a mass-suppression of naturally occurring behaviour patterns does not allow for a relief of tensions generated by anxiety-producing sitmuli.

The efforts that are needed to suppress the primary emotional behaviour patterns and emotions aroused by threat, fear and insecurity, are a powerful source of tensions, because they can not easily find an outlet, as long as their expression is considered to be undesirable. In such a society, the individual who shows fear is ostracised, and yet, the same powerful mental stress must be experienced by everyone else in the community. Here, we see a collective denial of the existence of a common and real emotion, "fear". This denial is accomplished through the mechanisms of a collective, neurotic suppression; a form of collective and deliberate non-communication, or silence.

The development of a courageous facade may be beneficial to society when trying to foster martial attitudes, but, in the long run, the practice of unsophisticated bravery must have a stultifying effect on the emotional and intellectual development of people, as well as an entire community. It must represent, therefore, a form of behaviour that is less than optimally viable and represents, in essence, an evolutionary "dead-end".

There are many forms of stress we have little control over, such as natural disasters and adversities, accidents, sickness and disease, or, even the mechanisms of natural death at a ripe old age, but, we should not forget, that, in almost all these examples, we can soften the impact of suffering by cooperation and mutual respect. Suffering can, therefore, be relieved by man's insight, knowledge and manipulative skills.

We have learned to see, that, most of the factors and circumstances causing stress are caused by our actions against each other, but, we still fail to see, that, almost invariably, our moments of triumph, joy and happiness, (so longed for during periods of stress), are, themselves, the seeds of future strife and conflict, because they become a source of stress for our fellow human beings; even, if these fellow human beings are considered to be our arch-enemies.

The deliberate act of inflicting stress on our enemies gives us the pleasure of revenge, as well as a feeling of power, but, we fail to see, that we pay a price for such an experience of victory and triumph. The price is the likelyhood, that, once again, we may be defeated and humiliated, and, it will be very likely, that our misery and suffering will be someone else's pleasure and triumph.

As long as we search for the joy of triumphing over someone else, we will not break through the bonds of misery an defeat. Even in the traditional religious images of Heaven and Hell, we triumph over our enemies as the chosen elite of our God, and, our enemies, the sinners, are cast into eternal defeat and suffering. Our image of Heaven is a curiously stilled, faceless and emotion-less permanence of joy and adoration of God in a state of eternal bliss. We can not, really, accept this imagery as a full-blooded human happiness, but Christianity had to formulate, intuitively, such a pale and lifeless state of universal, eternal happiness, because of the subconscious recognition that there are many stress-provoking elements inherent in our human experiences of joy and triumph.

The remarkable feature, here, is not, that someone's triumph is someone else's death. This, after all, is natural evolution and biological selection in action, and, it is, also, the basis for life's evolutionary search for possibilities of existence. The remarkable fact is, that man has the ability to conceptualise suffering and stress, and, man has the ability to see the consequences of his triumphs. He is able to feel sobered by the destruction, suffering, misery and death caused by human beings towards each other as a result of the promptings of their existential drives.

We have spoken about the ability to identify with each other; to feel compassion; to feel, that we could have lost instead of won. This faculty to feel compassion; to compromise in the struggle for existence; to be flexible in our judgements about what is right or wrong; the ability to see ourselves as a part of a broader entity; to question our drives and motivations; all these elements form the natural foundation for our ethical evolution.

Where will this lead us? Who knows?. However, to explore and trace these developments, is to trace human possibilities of existence. Perhaps, insight and understanding will, after all, play a role in the large-scale societies of mankind.

A code of ethics, based on the religious belief in a divinely revealed truth, causes, by definition, religious exclusivity and elitism, since the form of such a belief implies, by necessity, that the truth is possessed, only, by a small part of mankind. Ethics should be formulated on a tentative grasp over our evolutionary nature. It should be based on the evidence and imagery of our psychological make-up, and, ethics should be formulated through an increased communication of ideas and insights, as well as a gradual reduction of disparity in living conditions. All these developments will induce us to negotiate and compromise; to understand each other, and, to make our judgements more flexible.

Ironically, then, the final common bond which will, eventually, unite mankind into a harmonious synchrony of thought and behaviour, may well be mankind's finest hour, when, finally united, mankind dies in its own toxic waste-products, suffocating in a deliberate or accidental global pollution of radio-activity, or some other cause for a fatal toxicity, making mankind's death and destiny synonymous in concept and occurrence.

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Summary

1. The concept of intelligence.
   The behaviour of intelligence.
   Leadership and intelligent behaviour.
   The conceptual framework.
   Cultural differences as a cause of apparent differences in intelligence.

2. The subjective judgement of intelligence.
   Intelligence and deceit.
   Intelligent fine-tuning of the behavioural choice.
   Philosophy and intelligence.
   The projection of desired qualities.

3. Relationships between intelligence and experience.
   Genetic and environmental factors for differences in intelligent behaviour.
   A review of the personality development.
   The newly born infant.
   Maturation of the central nervous system and the acquisition of skills.
   Parallels between prenatal and postnatal developments.
   The psychoptathic personality.

4. The neurotic personality.
   Difficulties evaluating the significance of childhood experiences.
   Genetic and environmental factors in the development of skills.
   Further mechanisms in the specialisation of skills.
   The origins and content of speech.
   The importance of a conscious reality perception.

5. Guidelines for the judgements of truth.
   The specialised skills of athletic, artistic and scientific achievements.
   A limited influence on the make-up of the gene-pool by modern patterns of functional specialisation.
   Characteristics of the gene-pool.
   The genetic "anlage" of small-scale social behaviour patterns.

6. The intelligent choice of behaviour.
   Egocentric versus socio-centric choices.
   The balance of belonging.
   The importance of mutual trust.
   Criteria for a continuing viability of the human gene-pool.
   A trade-off between the experiences of victory and peaceful co-existence.

7. A look at modern behaviour patterns.
   The confusion of contemporary Western societies.
   The need for authority.
   The pitfalls of consumerism.
   Possiblities for an ideologial renewal.
   The Christian heritage.
   Extra-terrestial predation.
   The task of designing a globally acceptable philosophy.
   Possible extinction of the human gene-pool.

8. The need for a common reality picture.
   Speculations about the development of a world-wide philosophy of human nature.
   Exhortations.

9. An analysis of Christian beliefs and attitudes.
   The intellectual difficulties of the Christian Faith.
   The tendency of a strong emotional commitment to the Christian Faith.
   The living saints.
   A reversal of natural inclinations.
   The concepts of good and evil.
   The essential dualism of Christian reality perceptions.
   The perfectionist attitude in secular and religious environments.

10. The Christian emphasis on failure and imperfection; the problem of perpetual guilt feelings.
    The attitudes of self-righteousness and humility.
    The neurotic aspects of fervent religious attitudes.
    Pathways to mystical exaltation.
    Varying religious activities.
    The incompatibility between the Christian and evolutionary perceptions of reality.

11. A discussion of the conceptualisation of non-existence.
    Physiological limitations.
    Existence before birth and after death.
    The egocentricity of our imagery about the world.
    The individualised creation of the quality of existence.
    We are the central spectator and judge of the past, the present and the future.

12. Suffering and the forces of displacement.
    The many forms of stress and the element of hope.
    Behavioural mechanisms; in the individual and the community.
    Relationships between stress-adaptation and the attitudes of insight.
    Man's finest hour.

@Marius Heuff



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