( 3016 words)
So far human wisdom could not attribute the cause of wars, racial and other prejudices, crimes etc to any particular feature of human nature. So naturally, no remedy was in sight.
The only remedy that we could prescribe was adhering to morals and ethics. A remedy as confusing as the evil it targeted.
This is an attempt to see if certain specific features of nature instilled, human 'sense of self' behind all evils in the world. If they are, why so? Why man is here waging wars, kill each other, rape, hates and indulge in mass exterminations like what Hitler did?
Perhaps man is not here in life to please a God almighty as religions believe. This idea will be clear and makes good sense if we leave the aura of divinity around God concept. Conceptualizing substance of life as a mission to achieve moral heights makes no good sense. It will appear nonsensical before our basic, inherent sense of Reason. How can an almighty God be desirous of worship or virtuous deeds from his so-called army of created beings, humans? Won’t it be equal to making him silly, narcissist and pompous?
We should admit that the story of science is also equally naive and nonsensical. She claims life is rather a zero-sum game, an accidental occurrence in the fundamentally physical world.
The following link explains a nutshell story of science on the origin of life: http://bio1510.biology.gatech.edu/module-1-evolution/origin-of-life/
On the origin of the universe, following link ( a speech by Stephen Hawking) is provided as a sample: http://www.hawking.org.uk/the-origin-of-the-universe.html
Stories of science on the origin of the universe and life ‘childish’ like that of religions!
Science goes by the principle of 'evidence'. She finds no evidence for any basic sense and meaning of life, though her definition of 'evidence' is very subjectively her own. We know the concept of evidence of different species in air, water and earth would be unimaginably different. Evidence of dog may not be in line with that of an octopus in the sea. But men of science believe, his pieces of evidence have universal validity.
Science doesn’t even have any final idea, how a man could make the certainty of his beliefs. He seeks evidence only for hypotheses formed by him. How we could form sharp, to the point truth and goal of existence is yet unknown to science.
If open minds pay unbiased, objective attention to stories of science on the origin of world and life, it should shame similar stories of religions! Stories of science are in fact sillier than that of religions!
In a nutshell, the route of both parties, religions and science, is single directional, or in plain language, 'dogmatic'.
West lost her patience with the authoritarian ‘belief’ system that the Church had established. Perhaps that impatience had compelled her to invent a system that was totally opposite to ‘belief but based on measurable evidence. It was not born from a calm mind of introspection, but out of anger and frustration, a kind of adolescent rebellion.
Let us now try to know how our 'sense of self' mechanism has been set by Nature, causing wars and other evils of the world. It might have a relation to the WHY question, as she might have set it in such a way that she will achieve her ultimate goal from humankind.
No doubt, we all experience a strong sense of 'self', a kind of distinct separateness from others. Our experiences, relations, possessions etc are fiercely our own. What causes this irrefutable, fierce ‘sense of self?
Science claims, it is the result of the brain's circuitry features. Nature wants every living being to be capable of surviving, so she has helped with this sense of self to achieve her aim. This claim, based on Darwin 's survival theory, suffers from serious metaphysical and logical fallacies. No unit of life, whether man or amoeba, found ever conscious of its survival need, achieved by acts of mutation. Living beings are passive victims of changes in their environment.
So, they are unaware of how to physically change themselves or mutate, for better survival. They, of course, have the will to survive, but such 'will' never heard to cause automatic changes in their reproductive cells so that it passes such gene needs to their off-springs. If it happens, it is the sole work of Nature, who caused first the environmental changes that compelled mutation. An external force is what first causes environmental changes and create the need for mutation and survival.
The act of attributing evolutionary needs to individual units of life, hence fallacious and illogical. The following paper might throw a good light on this: https://leadingdogmasthatruletheworld.blogspot.com/2012/08/leading-dogmas-that-rule-contemporary.html
If survival based evolution is not the most sensible explanation for a man having a fierce sense of self and its protective urges, what else? We are trying to answer a very complex question. It is closely related to our most fierce urge, the urge ‘to be’. How do we attempt ‘to be’?
A peep into the WHY question of life
The answer is simple, but perhaps difficult to grasp for it's over simplicity. We try ‘to be’, by self-expressing ourselves! Like the fierce self-protection urge of the body, we have a similar, fierce protective urge to protect our ‘sense of self’ also. Many wars of the past have happened to ascertain own free sense of self and identity. When a man tries to protect his body, it is more to protect his sense of self.
The first step in developing a sense of self is to create one. We all carry the most fundamental urge to express ourselves for this purpose. When I express myself, what I gain? I try to create myself in you. I try to constitute my ‘being’ or self-identity in you. No one possesses any pre-knowledge, who he/she is. He/she gains it when he/she expresses himself/herself before others. One usually perceives himself as an entity only when he perceives it as the image of him in some ‘other’s mind. The way he expressed before others become his self-identity./image. What self-image one carry depends upon what ‘other’ he considers as central in life. If it is one of his worst enemies, then his self will be ‘revenge’ oriented. If someone treats him as inferior and thrash, he might develop a very revengeful sense of self!.
At many times, there would be pre-images in the world, like words, that carry powerful images, say like that of kings, warlords, criminals, saints and leaders. If one happens to develop his sense of self-taking cue from any such images, which is very usual, the world will have to bear with many Hitlers, Idi Amin and other similar cruel peoples’ leaders. This sense of self-mechanism also can lead one to self-express in ways of known smugglers, religious leaders, saints, moral men, war-lords, underworld dons, killers, terrorists and thieves.
This phenomenon is very similar to the usage of words; images and concepts mould first in the form of already existing, ready-made words and images. Behaviour has close similarity to words; many men follow existing behaviour patterns. A terrorist can mould his ego in line with the well-formed ‘image’ available outside in the world. Look at the recent Mosque attack in Christchurch , New Zealand ; the white supremacist might have moulded his sense of self (ego) in such wild form, akin to that of other similar men world is familiar with.
Here his logic is his own logic; an intense hatred for ‘migrants’ who share white nations’ resources. What is ‘right’ here by some established, alien standards is immaterial to him. He and his fellow terrorists had formed their own logic here. Common logic is nothing but that based on a common universal premise. There is no means at the disposal of man today to know and establish what the ultimate truth of life and existence! So, men and communities form own logic, that at times are extremely dangerous to others and communities.
Why ‘self’ of man was schemed to be singularities?
Coming back to our discussion on self-expression, the purpose of my self expressing before you is that I want you to understand me and to recognize me. If I fail in this basic urge, I become frustrated and even violent. Your act of refusal or reluctance to recognize me and accept me is a kind of negating my existence. It creates serious existential conflicts in me. I might try to lead the world and people, like Hitler, to wage wars, defeat everyone and prove that I was right!
We all know the deepest act of self-expression is to be in love. When I am in love with someone, it is the deepest opportunity for me to deep express myself. If my love culminates in physical lovemaking, it is the ultimate satisfaction of my urge to be. When two persons engage in sex, it is the most intimate self-expression! It is the closest ever self-expression possible. That is why LOVE sways man the most. It is related to one's most intense existential urge.
We have no better logic to understand the most basic urge to existence. If my most basic intention in life is to make myself known, to be known by others by my self-expression, it might have been the basic intention, the very logic of existence too, ie, in the act of having us here, along with flowers and million other types of living beings, what existence might have intended is, to have her self expressed the maximum. When I attain my most complete self-expression, it might be existence who shares her ecstasy with me.
We could create any physical object. Most difficult to task is to create truly KNOWING beings. Perhaps for AI scientists, this might be their most difficult to achieve the task.
We are familiar with the frustration and anger when the other person refuses to understand and recognize us. We get angry and many times, even violent!
The following paper on these fundamental existential URGES set by nature inherent in us might explain the subject in detail: http://unrecognizedobjectsofthemind.blogspot.com/2013/07/existential-drives-of-man.html
About our 'sense of self' mechanism, the following specific paper gives a complete picture:
Following specific paper on 'why life' question might explain it in more detail: http://newphilosophyoflife.blogspot.com/2018/05/why-life-why-existence.html
Another paper link on the subject of 'why' question also is shared here, so that the subject becomes very clear to readers: http://thewhyquestionofexistenceanswered.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-logical-inevitability-of.html
Each human person is empirically under existential laws to be a SELF. This sense of self of humans is under natural laws similar to physical objects under gravity like natural laws. One of the central features of this sense of self-mechanism is its fierce urge of 'singularity'; each one will experience its internal pull to be himself. Singularity means, like the gravitational internal pull each physical object encounters, like atoms are under inherent pull to be its natural structure always with a nucleus at the centre and electrons on the orbits, every living unit also carries similar inner pull to be itself always.
Without such an internal pull, the individual identity of objects will be non-existing. We know, atoms ensure the chemical nature of molecules by their internal gravitational pull to be itself at all times.
Here are some passages on the structure of atoms to prove the point:
“Now, consider the attraction and repulsion properties of the nucleons-the proton-neutron centre of atoms. Its attraction is active only when other nucleons come close to it-say, the distance equal to 2 to 3 times their diameter. At lesser than this distance, ie. if other nucleons approach each other closer than the above limit, the reaction becomes negative; instead of aggregating the attraction, it shows a propensity to strongly repulse them! Nucleons cannot come closer than the above distance. This way, the nuclear force keep nucleons in an extremely stable manner, in an equally dynamic equilibrium. This repulsion factor is what gives matter its solid nature, and provide the links necessary to build up the molecular structures. They are also involved in the chemical reactions and are responsible for the chemical properties of matter" ( see link for reference purpose: http://patternsofapproachtodiscoverreality.blogspot.com/2014/06/rethinking-ultimate-stuff-of-universe.html)
Now the matter is clear. Wars etc are caused when humans are fiercely attached to their above explained 'sense of self'. They often face situations where they are totally cut off from all other realities, including, also perhaps especially with their link with existence, under the heavy influence of the singularity feature of their sense of self. They experience a kind of animal-like fierce, primitive urge to be itself, protecting its independence. Love to repeat share the following paper here,
(this link has been already been shared above once) that explains this feature of EGO, the raw sense of self of man:
Without this fierce sense of self, one will not achieve nature's sole goal of having him as an entity, an entity capable of having own 'experience' of life, a seeker of knowledge. Achieving a sense of self, hence is the primary goal of nature or existence out of life. More than survival, this is the primary need of Nature about a man. Survival perhaps is merely a silly story invented by science in the absence of any other sensible explanation as to the cause of life.
Wars and all kind of mutual hatred serve the purpose of achieving this ENTITY need. It was a game of nature to create entities from virtual nothingness. We are selves exclusively to our social interactions.’ I am because you are’ could be the right theory, than that of Descartes' 'I think, therefore I am'.
For real-world examples, take Modi’s India or Trump’s USA . Under Modi, the majority religion followers, Hindus, seems to have got a new sense of self. He spread the propaganda, that despite being the 80% majority in the country, Hindus are not ascertaining their deserving majority rights! Why they should remain equal to others when they have a natural right to be lords over others, the minorities? Like the German citizens under Hitler, the Indian majority is in a similar mood. They now got a new identity. Their sense of self has got a new twist.
Similar is the people in America under Trump. He promised to make America and Americans great again. Why she, being the most wealthy and powerful nation in the world, serve the interest of other nations? Why she should act as Cop of the world at her expenses? Why she remains a job provider to migrants from all parts of the world? Why Americans be for themselves alone? Majority of American citizens fell for his propaganda, like the Germans under Hitler!
Look at Europe . Many nations are now under a mass sense of ‘white supremacism’. We have already discussed the recent Christ Church mass shooting at a mosque in New Zealand . Such mass mindsets are similar to a similar sense of Muslims in the world. They are under the wrong belief that they are a marginalized lot in the world. Due to excess relevance of Christianity and other religions like Hinduism and Buddhism in certain nations, Islam not getting her due relevance and centrality. So, many of her followers have adopted means of terrorism to ascertain their rights by defeating, destroying their enemies. A specific paper explaining why Muslims tend to adopt terrorism more and more is here: https://closedmodernworlddespitedemocracy.blogspot.com/
All because of the self-glorification URGE of human ego, per its existential urge to be singularities. Ego wants to ascertain herself always, in relations, in mass vs mass dealings, and country vs country dealings.
We know why animals spent millions of years on earth attached to their primordial urges. They fought for territories and lived absolutely as their physical beings. Man too, when he is an animal as far as his primal 'sense of self' features are considered, readily enter into wars, crimes and all related evils exactly like animals!.
We know that man evolved into non-animal, human, in a drastic mind evolution. Evolution is a reality when considered in its factors concerning mind, as explained in the following paper: http://metaphysicsofthehumansoul.blogspot.com/2013/02/spiritual-evolution-ofman-from-age-of.html
Yes, when a man is still caught up in his animal type ‘sense of self’, he is not different from any animal. In matters of waging wars, cruelty towards others, extreme selfishness, causing mass destruction etc, he will think and behave only like animals. A good majority of humankind today is still in the above-described animal stage of development. That is why we have no dearth of wars, war threats, social and racial bigotry abundantly in the world. There is no remedy other than mass mind evolution via proper education. Our institution of education is to evolve many folds, freeing her self from the teachings of science. Science, as all thinking men know, is a technology mission. She doesn't believe in sense of self-mechanism of humans. She believes, Nature is animal-like, and humans too are super animals but who learned to use hi-tech gadgets etc to make life better.
Has the picture become clear now? Existence wants knowing beings to ascertain themselves first, and turn independent knowledge entities. Only such fierce knowledge entities can develop questions like who they are etc within. Then only they will be able to strive for a deeper sense of selves. Abandoning their EGO priorities and turn themselves different self-identities, perhaps truly connecting themselves with larger reality of existence, as depicted in the above-given link on WHY life.
To achieve her above goal, she had no alternative but to let mankind and individual men undergo maximum chaos, wars, diseases, and similar turmoil. This is similar to millions of years mankind has spent in jungles as animals. This is now an advanced stage of her development.
So, the change in the world has no moral route. It has only a spiritual route; by individual men realizing their real ancestry by relating himself with existence directly.
It is establishing a new self-identity, new self-realization by all thinking men. This was what Nature or existence might have been waiting for long, centuries and ages!
Perhaps following paper on self-realization might throw more light on the theme: http://unrecognizedobjectsofthemind.blogspot.com/2018/09/why-crisis-of-human-consciousness.html
Authored by: Abraham J.Palakudy
He is an independent philosophy, mind, reason, polity and spirituality seeker and researcher.
His other blogs and brief profile are at, https://www.blogger.com/profile/14249415589712707293
Twitter account: Voice of philosophy@jopan1