CHAPTER 8
There is this singular and objective hypothesis, which if accepted, paves way for objective understanding of how we humans are what we are. This hypothesis is a result of the scientifically singular understanding of brain functioning, which engenders very powerful insight into how our consciousness works. As this hypothesis about consciousness is accepted, it shall be easy to understand and accept the realism about how we have loads of obsolete and obstructive notions about cognition and causality, which we have uselessly carried forward since ages. This is time to shift to the new cognition and causalities.
It is now to be accepted that we humans are not a logical and intelligent creature, if we do not have a specialized, education, training and sustained practice of good things we have learned. Humans are not born intelligent and logical; rather we are totally reactive, instinctive and intuitive creature. Our behaviours are determined entirely by a multidimensional process of interaction between our various instincts. These instincts are genetically determined neural mechanisms, provided by evolution for action and behaviour. There is no mechanism for intelligence or memory which is separate from sensory, motor and instinct mechanisms.
The untrained and uneducated human is totally instinctive and not capable of objective reasoning or proper cultural behaviour under complex modern social environments. The human has been provided by evolution with instincts, which causes him to seek both training and education, as he or she is a competitive social animal. He is quite capable of logic, reason, and intelligence when he chooses to be so, provided that he learns and follows the necessary discipline and rigid methodology. Even then, he is instinctive in his goals. His instincts provide the direction, drive and power behind his every action.
Moreover, a section of scientists argue that nothing has remained instinctive in humans anymore as we all have been into this society and human made cultures since long. They believe, all instinctive drives of humans are not purely instinctive but coloured, shaped and conditioned by cultural benchmarks of action and behaviour.
However, there is no conflict in the two observations. No doubt, humanity has been impacted by two very powerful forces – nature and nurture; that is their pure instincts and cultural sense of appropriate and righteousness. This is evident from the fact that most humans are split between what their instincts drive them to and what their cultural upbringing leads them to. That is why often, a person would say – I am confused as whether I should listen to the call of my heart or that of my mind. An average person believes that there always are two calls on decision-making about an issue. One is from heart, which he or she believes is his or her gut feeling, which most people call visceral. Second voice comes from the mind, which most believe is the call of a culture within a person.
There is this preference of heart or visceral choice over the mind call as most believe, heart is where righteousness is, as average person believes, mind is devilish and it usually orchestrates complications, whereas heart is simple, pure and mostly right. This is populist psychology playing its part in everyone’s life and life-living choices. People love to listen to their hearts; that means most prefer to have the way their instincts lead them to. There is no doubt about the preference as, we already discussed how evolution has installed in us very powerful drives, which are so wired to the idea of survival that most of us lead ourselves the way our instinctive drive takes us to. Scientists say, even the culturally learnt behaviour finally becomes part of the instincts and that is why, it is accepted that humans are largely instinctive.
This works out as double trouble for humanity. Human mind mechanism has this wired facility to make most actions and behaviour as auto-mode, action-reaction causality. This is the reason most of us are in a perpetual state of drift and flux, which makes us auto-generated series of action-behaviour, the utility and worth of which we seldom think in a receptive-mode and retrospective thinking. That is why positive solitude is some facility for us, which makes us sit focused over our auto-mode decision-making instincts, to assess about their true and right utility and worth.
Scientists maintain that modern human developed intellect in parallel with other physical and neural traits. Modern humans have risen well over evolutionary instincts and they have this intellectual duty to create and prolong a good culture, where there is intellectual control over instinctive drives, for larger wellness of the society. Only through the application of the intellect, utilizing experience, education and training, as control mechanisms over the raw instincts, appropriate cultural behaviour can be obtained.
Scientists say that most human drives are without conscience. They do not care about long-range effects. It seeks only immediate gratification. Modern knowledge of brain realism also accepts that consciousness is very localized. It instinctively being a reactive mode facility cares for only short term utility and worth.
If conscience exists, it exists in the intellect of the human. To be human is to allow the intellect to preside over the utility and worth of every important action-behaviour over the dimensions of time, space, people and processes. It is this necessary intellectual control of the instincts which makes a culture successful. We see contemporary cultures in drift and flux because majority of people are behaving true to their instincts, without much intellectual control and conscience. And, this intellectual control is a learned function and is called self-discipline, to over-ride less desirable instinctive behaviour.
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