An Ecology of MInd (22 page)

"Schliemann is immortalized as the discoverer of Troy. It's a great story. Of course, there is always more to a story if you look closer. The more detailed
facts are that what Schliemann actually did was discover a site of the remains of a city. In fact, there were the ruins of nine cities all piled up one
atop the other. Schliemann declared the second city from the bottom to be Troy and history was made."

"Later research suggested that Troy may have been the sixth city. Consensus now is that it was actually the seventh city but even that is not conclusive. A
few historians recently have argued that Troy was actually located in such diverse places as England, Croatia, and Scandinavia."

"Still, with little or no hard evidence that this was actually the Troy of Homer's literary work, Schliemann is the discoverer of Troy to most people, if
they have any interest in ancient history at all. Was he? Who knows? He stated it, there are ruins and it makes a hell of a good story. There is some basis
to it, but the facts don't match the actual story in detail. However, it doesn't matter. The story takes over and replaces the facts."

"Humans love stories. They just do. I don't know if it is something actually hard-wired in the brain, but I suspect it is in some way. Look at books,
songs, music videos, movies, television shows, or comic books. They are all different ways of delivering stories. There seems to be almost no limit to the
human brains desire for good stories."

"There are even similar characteristics for the types of stories that are popular. Certain archetypical stories occur repeatedly in different forms, and
the human brain never seems to tire of them. This means in any analysis of history for truth; you have to be aware that stories will overshadow and twist
facts. We often interpret reality around us in terms of those archetypical stories."

"You all know the types of things I mean by archetypical stories even if you don't know that term. They include things like, right defeating might, the
struggle between good and evil, the everyday person from humble beginnings defeating the powerful or making them look stupid, and stories of horrible
betrayals followed by the betrayer receiving their just rewards. It is the same few plots and themes repeated over and over in many forms."

"We as observers often seem to select individual facts and apply significance and meaning to events that may not actually be there, because it fits better
into the framework of a "story." In many ways it is like there is a filter in place that makes certain facts or details stand out in significance from
within the random mass of data that our senses receive."

"We often even see our own lives in this way as well. One researcher summarized this process and tendency by saying, "we are all stars in our own movie.""

"These themes or stories seem to persist over long periods of time and across cultures."

"Stories are not the only things that persist in human cultures. Some other things do as well. It is amazing how some things will persist, long after the
original reasons for them have passed."

"Other things that persist for long times within human societies are rituals, holidays and celebrations. The Western holidays of Christmas and Easter are
two examples. Both are seen as being related to Jesus Christ. They actually predate Christianity by over 2,000 years. The holidays were there long before
the time of Jesus, but when people began converting to Christianity, they did not want to stop celebrating these two major holidays so early Christians
attached the Christian significance of the birth and rebirth of Jesus to them, and the holidays continued in a new form."

"Think about some of the symbols of Easter. What do baby chicks, rabbits and colored eggs have to do with Jesus? They were related to the worship of
earlier pagan gods as symbols of fertility, rebirth and renewal at the time of spring when rebirth and renewal in nature were at its peak. This celebration
of rebirth and renewal was altered to represent the resurrection of Jesus. "

"I fully suspect that these holidays will persist in some form long after Christianity. If you think about the current holiday of Christmas, it is already
being altered again. Christmas is a holiday that is avidly celebrated by many people that are not religious in any way, so their first thought in the
celebration of Christmas is not as the celebration of the birth of Christ."

"Christians and non-Christians will often refer to Santa Clause and gifts from Santa, especially with their children, but even with other adults. I am
pretty sure that they don't actually believe in Santa Clause as a real entity, but they celebrate the holiday vigorously, just the same. They may not
believe in Jesus, but the celebration of the Christmas holiday continues.”

“Santa Clause is a recent cultural phenomenon, only a few hundred years. He has changed in even that relatively brief time. Originally, he was Saint
Nicholas. Later, he was an elf or brownie type of creature. Read the poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas," the one that begins with “Twas the night before
Christmas” you will see Santa Clause described as a small form of elf or brownie."

"The current image of Santa Clause as a large man with the white beard and red suit actually came from an image used by a popular cola in an advertising
campaign started in 1931. It became the image that most people had of Santa Clause. Subsequent movies, television shows and books popularized the concept
of Santa Clause across a number of cultures. First as a pagan holiday, then as a Christian holiday, now as a generic non-religious holiday, the celebration
of a holiday at the end of December continues to live on. It would not surprise me if it continues in some form or another for a long, long time."

"Ritual of any sort will tend to persist in human society, even if the reasons for it are no longer relevant. I remember an interview with one test subject
that described how he had an argument with his wife over whether any children they had, would be baptized shortly after birth. His wife belonged to a
denomination of Baptist who did not believe in baptism before you were an adult and could make a rational, informed decision on your own."

"She did not want any future children to be baptised as children. He, however, persisted in his argument that they should be. In frustration his wife asked
why he wanted it, since he was atheist and did not believe in God anyway. His reply was, "Because that's what people do." On further questioning he
recognized the seeming irrationality of his argument. He realized that he thought children should be baptised because when he was growing up the children
within his family and the children of friends had all been baptised. For him, it was a social custom that seemed right and familiar even though it did not
fit with his religious beliefs."

"There are numerous examples of human behavior where people do things without thinking through the reasons why and just continue. In many cases if
questioned on it, they have no reason other than that was how it is supposed to be done, because that's how their parents did it."

“There was an experiment conducted on learning, using human children and chimpanzees. A puzzle box was fabricated, and the test subjects were shown a
process involving a series of movements with a group of large levers and buttons on the box. The series of movements were demonstrated and at the end a
compartment was opened, and a candy treat was available for the test subject. Both the human children and the chimpanzees were completely successful in
replicating the sequence of movements with the levers and buttons and obtaining the candy treat.”

“For the second part of the experiment, a duplicate puzzle box was used. The only difference between it and the first box was that the second box was made
of clear plastic. The same series of movements with the levers and buttons were demonstrated to the human children and the chimpanzees. This time, however,
it was obvious due to the clear box that the movements of the levers and buttons did absolutely nothing and had no relevance at all to obtaining the candy
treat. You could just open the small drawer with the candy directly and completely bypass the series of manipulations."

"During this part of the experiment, the chimpanzees would watch the series of movements and see that they had no purpose. When it was their turn to do
them, would just open the small drawer directly and take the candy. For the human children, however, this was not the case. They would still continue to
perform the series of movements with the levers and buttons, even though it was clearly obvious that it served no actual purpose.”

“The human brain seems to be hard-wired in some way to give the tendency to continue to carry out rituals or procedures as observed, even if the reason for
them no longer applies. How many actions and life decisions are you making in your lives that fall under this behavioral tendency instead of being a
response to reality or even a conscious choice?"

"Things like cultures and rituals do change over time, but it can be a very slow process. The human race used to be able to go for centuries without, there
being major changes to our environment or cultures. Now, technological advancement is causing changes in our environment at a phenomenal rate. Electric
lights, automobiles, planes, radio, television, computers, space travel, gene splicing, and cloning were all added to our society in the last one hundred
fifty years and the rate of new advances has been accelerating. The world is changing around us much quicker than the old systems of altering thought, and
cultures can accommodate. We need a faster, pro-active, more responsive way of thinking to be able to adapt.

"I am sure it seems as if I have gotten far-off topic from our original stated subject of this seminar at times. This is not so. Everything that I
mentioned today is either a barrier in some way to understand the reality around us, or is an example."

"To do an overall recap for today, what we do know or seem to have data to support is that the functioning of the human brain has some interesting
limitations and actions that are very different from the general understanding of how most people think it operates. Observation is warped and altered by
the brain assigning complete mental constructs based on very limited information and then being resistant to correction. We cannot even always trust what
we observe about ourselves because our brain through confabulation, will fabricate reasons after the fact for our actions without us realizing it. An
outside observer is needed to observe this bending of reality."

"We also know that questioning some beliefs or mental constructs evokes very strong emotional defenses but that if questions are asked, the results are
sometimes surprising."

"We looked at examples of how biases in a number of forms can be a barrier to reality. We also looked at the fact that some biases or stereotypes have a
basis, in reality, and actual differences do exist between cultural behaviors. "

"We looked at language and how it shapes and can limit thought. We discovered that to get around this shaping or limitation can be extremely difficult
because the very tools of thought are contaminated with the limitations."

"We know that DNA controls the hardware or physical bodies of humans and all other species, and also controls at least some of the behavior. How much of
our behavior is controlled without our being aware of it is unknown."

"We know that we are actually only a part of a larger ecosystem and are not separate from it or above it, even though our technology and society often
create an altered environment that makes us think we are."

"We also know DNA and natural selection don't care if we are advanced and the top predator on the planet. The system will continue to throw challenges
against us and try to replace us. It is how natural selection works. Nothing personal, that's just the way it is."

"Also, we are not positive of where DNA originated or how it came to be, or if there may be some greater plan encoded in the DNA beyond the individual
species level. If there is an overall plan, humans do not seem to be the end point, at least not as we are now. Any logical end point implies the constant
attack and testing of natural selection would stop attacking the desired final organism or that the organism would be strong enough to be able to stop the
natural selection process. This has not happened so if there is a master plan in the DNA the result or goal of the plan does not seem to have been achieved
yet. We, in our present form are not the pinnacle or final goal of creation. To believe so is merely species bias. Perhaps technology or something else
will allow us to attain that status in the future, but it is far from guaranteed."

"Through everything is the repeated realization that a surprising amount of what we do is accomplished without any real thought or input from our conscious
minds. We have seen a glimpse of what a flawed instrument the human brain actually is. Despite these flaws it is now in control of powers and abilities
that can greatly transform or even destroy the planet as we know it. With the type of power and potential for destruction the human race now possesses,
this is not a situation that is healthy to let continue."

"While we may never be able to remove our barriers to reality completely, any improvement in our current status in this respect would be beneficial and
perhaps become a requirement at some point for continued survival as a species."

"I strongly urge everyone here to start looking at your own thoughts, beliefs, and actions and start questioning and looking for inconsistencies. Stop
being a passive, unquestioning passenger in your own mind and try to be more aware and take more control to ensure that to the best of your ability, your
thought and actions reflect the reality around you and the conscious choices you want to make. Total success at doing this is probably beyond us, but we
can do better than we have been doing."

"I realize that we are all bombarded by people around us wanting us to think like they do. It could be your friends, your family, church, country, or
culture. What I am urging is something different."