- how the mind creates god
I can't wait to read Robert Wright's upcoming book 'The Evolution of God'. Looks like he is going to give a big account on how the Idea of God structured itself through human history to become whatever it is today. The part that interests me the most in God's story is how the idea begins. To me, God is more like an inherent part of human nature than some story through time. I am sure Wright would cover the way it begins in the first few chapters of his book, but that precisely is what I want to take up now. In this write-up I want to point out a few psychological aspects (individual and social) as prime factors for the idea of God to originate, take form and remain in the human mind.
My idea of how the process works is something like this: First we cook up a pattern to believe in. Second we relate that pattern to some external entity. And third we give that external entity a form and attribute to it some characteristics. These three steps get a section each below and the fourth section is about how the idea continues to remain.
Section 1: Lucky Pants & Human Sacrifice (cooking up a pattern) - Superstition
The explanation that links the reason why I wore the same orange pants to all my 62 exams in college and the reason why human sacrifices have been among us from ancient cultures is where I think God starts. It is a place where Pavlovian conditioning meets passionate expectations. When I badly want an event to produce a desired outcome, I try my best to facilitate it. But what about when I cannot do much? What about when the outcome is decided by something that I have no control over? (Just like most things in Nature). High passion creates high anxiety and high anxiety interferes with performance, peace and well being. So keeping myself cool becomes important. The chill pill that comes to the rescue is the Pavlovian unconditioned stimulus which in my case was my orange pants. I link my pants with acing the oncoming exam and Voila! my short-term fear relief is ready.
I have seen this dialogue "better you than me" used in more than one war movie; the thought that occurs to a soldier looking over the dead body of a close comrade. I can see how this would apply to somebody from a primitive tribe going through tough times. It would be something like this: "Our tribe is going through tough times. Every time this happened before, a bunch of us died and the remaining survived to see the better times. So, for us to get to the better times now, one or many of us should die." This is one of those instances where conditional logic makes us utterly stupid. We did not have a scientist around to tell that the last time was a deadly virus which some of the tribe members were immune to. Just like war, where some die and some live.
Lucky pants and human sacrifices are two examples on different levels of severity for the same phenomenon we call superstition; the flaw in human reasoning that makes us believe in patterns that don't really exist. And the reason we do that; seeking immediate gratification and temporary fear relief.
Section 2: Meat & Murder (pinning that pattern to something) - The Social Animal
There are two human traits that I think play an important role in making us 'social' to the right sense of the word. One of-course is we being cooperative with our fellow humans, but the other one is rather hidden. It is our ability to hold grudges against others and I think it plays an equally important role in making us social animals. Blaming and hating put us in the middle of the social arena just like how thanking and loving do. Also, it is undeniable that the 'common enemy' idea has always been a bonding element for tribes and countries just like totems and national flags.
Meat has been a bonding agent for all omnivores (including us since our pre-chimpanzee days). Plant diet, not being nutritious enough needs to be consumed in large quantities and it takes up a lot work and time, splitting the group into individuals and not leaving time to socialize. But an occasional hunt by any individual in the clan is a feast for everybody. One hunt by one individual saves time and energy for the whole group and makes time for social bonding. So, having gratitude toward someone that shares his/her hunt is a good trait to have for all. It encourages cooperation and aids group survival. On the other hand, holding vengeance against someone that has done harm to us or our kin is an equally important trait since killing the enemy directly maximizes our survival. So the optimal strategy is clearly a combination of the two.
So if we have this tendency to pin significant things in our life (good/bad) to another person or people, going a step further trying to thank or blame something for rather spontaneous outcomes of Nature (that are equally significant) is not a step too far. I remember I was about 8 years old when I thanked God for creating coins thoughtfully; with a bell like alert when dropped by mistake. And talking about blaming, I cannot remember even one instance when I did not feel the urge to blame somebody else right after banging my little toe hard on a furniture. And we are never short of examples of people blaming God when a friend or family member dies an untimely death. What we do in these instances is introduce an external entity to the same non-existent pattern which is the base.
Section 3: Headlines & Talking Rabbits (making that something into somebody) - Anthropomorphism
So, how does the 'something' that we want to thank or blame get its structure? How does it get a form of an old man in the skies or a blue woman with ten hands? I think it is the same reason why our newspaper headlines read "Storm is targeting Florida" and why we have always had talking animals in our stories and movies.
The buzz word is anthropomorphism - giving human traits to non-human (and non-living) entities. I think the reason we do this is because of the way our information processing works. For us to process information in the most efficient way, the information needs to have certain 'qualities'. And one of the important qualities is that the information has to make us care. One thing we care about for sure is our fellow humans. Be it about loving or hating, human forms certainly grab our attention like nothing else. Humanizing makes any complex concept a lot simpler and easy to understand. If you look carefully, you can see a lot of these examples all around. It varies between cats 'preparing' for winter to animals (and aliens) 'talking' in our movies to browsers 'remembering' your password to a storm 'targeting' Florida. Of these, the storm is an interesting example because we all know that the storm neither has an intent nor was it designed for a purpose. Still, we understand the news best when the storm is given some human-like trait; in this case consciousness. If you think about it, giving consciousness is the simplest way to make something human.
So the best metaphor for the external entity and the non-existent pattern (which obviously is a vague idea) ends up to be the all powerful, all knowing old man with white beard, living in the skies monitoring everyone's every move.
Section 4: Authorities & Intentions (and that somebody remains) - Religion
Okay, that was about how the idea of God begins and gets a form. But why would it continue to stay the same through thousands of generations? Though we have multiple religions and Gods, the overall idea has been the same (ultimate judgment and ultimate security). How does that continue to remain unaltered? To answer that question, I want to point to three types of people (or leaders) whom I think should take the credit or blame. The messiahs who want a better life for humanity, the politicians who want to control the masses and the businessmen who want to make a living out of God.
The Messiahs: If there is really something called enlightenment or some kind of super shift in one's consciousness that gives ultimate wisdom, then for many reasons I think the experience would be the same for anyone that undergoes that shift. Here is what I think the experience would be like: a strong realization of the fact that all existence is one big entity on which humans are a minute insignificant speck whose end is inevitable like all other things. Followed by a fantastic thought that unless every single human being experiences this realization, they don't really make themselves 'complete' (in whatever philosophically divine sense of the word). The betterment of the human race is a mere by-product in this 'global realization process'. Then comes the urge to help the world realize this profound truth. So the prophet compiles his message which in two words is 'discipline' and 'morality'. The wise man becomes the teacher. His lesson is the protocol and the culture that attempts to follow the protocol is a religion.
The Politicians: Every political leader from ancient kings to today's congressmen have used religion in some way or other to get the results they desired. And the results being good or bad depends on the side from which you are looking. But there is no doubt that religion with its powerful promises proves to be an effective tool in politics.
The Businessmen: This category of leaders are interesting. They are the ones that end up in the God business by chance or by family tradition. They would neither really want human betterment nor want to control people but are in the business just because they know of no other business or way of life. Some end up becoming greedy businessmen seeking more and more wealth and some just remain as ordinary 'servants' of God.
The lines that distinguish these authority types and the intentions are never distinct. So most of the figures that we come across may vary between the three authority types with intentions that vary between the three intention types. And if the world is seen to be run by less than 1% of its population where the rest of the 99% follow like a herd of sheep, our Gods are not going anywhere for a long while.
So... What now?
God is probably the most important idea that occurred to us so far. And it is natural we all have our curiosity to understand it. By writing this, I try to satisfy my curiosity in a rational way. God can certainly be something that is bigger than what our senses can comprehend. And (at the risk of sounding rude) I should say, unless one has that 'super sense' to experience it directly, all one has is rationality to work with.
I can't wait to read Robert Wright's upcoming book 'The Evolution of God'. Looks like he is going to give a big account on how the Idea of God structured itself through human history to become whatever it is today. The part that interests me the most in God's story is how the idea begins. To me, God is more like an inherent part of human nature than some story through time. I am sure Wright would cover the way it begins in the first few chapters of his book, but that precisely is what I want to take up now. In this write-up I want to point out a few psychological aspects (individual and social) as prime factors for the idea of God to originate, take form and remain in the human mind.
My idea of how the process works is something like this: First we cook up a pattern to believe in. Second we relate that pattern to some external entity. And third we give that external entity a form and attribute to it some characteristics. These three steps get a section each below and the fourth section is about how the idea continues to remain.
Section 1: Lucky Pants & Human Sacrifice (cooking up a pattern) - Superstition
The explanation that links the reason why I wore the same orange pants to all my 62 exams in college and the reason why human sacrifices have been among us from ancient cultures is where I think God starts. It is a place where Pavlovian conditioning meets passionate expectations. When I badly want an event to produce a desired outcome, I try my best to facilitate it. But what about when I cannot do much? What about when the outcome is decided by something that I have no control over? (Just like most things in Nature). High passion creates high anxiety and high anxiety interferes with performance, peace and well being. So keeping myself cool becomes important. The chill pill that comes to the rescue is the Pavlovian unconditioned stimulus which in my case was my orange pants. I link my pants with acing the oncoming exam and Voila! my short-term fear relief is ready.
I have seen this dialogue "better you than me" used in more than one war movie; the thought that occurs to a soldier looking over the dead body of a close comrade. I can see how this would apply to somebody from a primitive tribe going through tough times. It would be something like this: "Our tribe is going through tough times. Every time this happened before, a bunch of us died and the remaining survived to see the better times. So, for us to get to the better times now, one or many of us should die." This is one of those instances where conditional logic makes us utterly stupid. We did not have a scientist around to tell that the last time was a deadly virus which some of the tribe members were immune to. Just like war, where some die and some live.
Lucky pants and human sacrifices are two examples on different levels of severity for the same phenomenon we call superstition; the flaw in human reasoning that makes us believe in patterns that don't really exist. And the reason we do that; seeking immediate gratification and temporary fear relief.
Section 2: Meat & Murder (pinning that pattern to something) - The Social Animal
There are two human traits that I think play an important role in making us 'social' to the right sense of the word. One of-course is we being cooperative with our fellow humans, but the other one is rather hidden. It is our ability to hold grudges against others and I think it plays an equally important role in making us social animals. Blaming and hating put us in the middle of the social arena just like how thanking and loving do. Also, it is undeniable that the 'common enemy' idea has always been a bonding element for tribes and countries just like totems and national flags.
Meat has been a bonding agent for all omnivores (including us since our pre-chimpanzee days). Plant diet, not being nutritious enough needs to be consumed in large quantities and it takes up a lot work and time, splitting the group into individuals and not leaving time to socialize. But an occasional hunt by any individual in the clan is a feast for everybody. One hunt by one individual saves time and energy for the whole group and makes time for social bonding. So, having gratitude toward someone that shares his/her hunt is a good trait to have for all. It encourages cooperation and aids group survival. On the other hand, holding vengeance against someone that has done harm to us or our kin is an equally important trait since killing the enemy directly maximizes our survival. So the optimal strategy is clearly a combination of the two.
So if we have this tendency to pin significant things in our life (good/bad) to another person or people, going a step further trying to thank or blame something for rather spontaneous outcomes of Nature (that are equally significant) is not a step too far. I remember I was about 8 years old when I thanked God for creating coins thoughtfully; with a bell like alert when dropped by mistake. And talking about blaming, I cannot remember even one instance when I did not feel the urge to blame somebody else right after banging my little toe hard on a furniture. And we are never short of examples of people blaming God when a friend or family member dies an untimely death. What we do in these instances is introduce an external entity to the same non-existent pattern which is the base.
Section 3: Headlines & Talking Rabbits (making that something into somebody) - Anthropomorphism
So, how does the 'something' that we want to thank or blame get its structure? How does it get a form of an old man in the skies or a blue woman with ten hands? I think it is the same reason why our newspaper headlines read "Storm is targeting Florida" and why we have always had talking animals in our stories and movies.
The buzz word is anthropomorphism - giving human traits to non-human (and non-living) entities. I think the reason we do this is because of the way our information processing works. For us to process information in the most efficient way, the information needs to have certain 'qualities'. And one of the important qualities is that the information has to make us care. One thing we care about for sure is our fellow humans. Be it about loving or hating, human forms certainly grab our attention like nothing else. Humanizing makes any complex concept a lot simpler and easy to understand. If you look carefully, you can see a lot of these examples all around. It varies between cats 'preparing' for winter to animals (and aliens) 'talking' in our movies to browsers 'remembering' your password to a storm 'targeting' Florida. Of these, the storm is an interesting example because we all know that the storm neither has an intent nor was it designed for a purpose. Still, we understand the news best when the storm is given some human-like trait; in this case consciousness. If you think about it, giving consciousness is the simplest way to make something human.
So the best metaphor for the external entity and the non-existent pattern (which obviously is a vague idea) ends up to be the all powerful, all knowing old man with white beard, living in the skies monitoring everyone's every move.
Section 4: Authorities & Intentions (and that somebody remains) - Religion
Okay, that was about how the idea of God begins and gets a form. But why would it continue to stay the same through thousands of generations? Though we have multiple religions and Gods, the overall idea has been the same (ultimate judgment and ultimate security). How does that continue to remain unaltered? To answer that question, I want to point to three types of people (or leaders) whom I think should take the credit or blame. The messiahs who want a better life for humanity, the politicians who want to control the masses and the businessmen who want to make a living out of God.
The Messiahs: If there is really something called enlightenment or some kind of super shift in one's consciousness that gives ultimate wisdom, then for many reasons I think the experience would be the same for anyone that undergoes that shift. Here is what I think the experience would be like: a strong realization of the fact that all existence is one big entity on which humans are a minute insignificant speck whose end is inevitable like all other things. Followed by a fantastic thought that unless every single human being experiences this realization, they don't really make themselves 'complete' (in whatever philosophically divine sense of the word). The betterment of the human race is a mere by-product in this 'global realization process'. Then comes the urge to help the world realize this profound truth. So the prophet compiles his message which in two words is 'discipline' and 'morality'. The wise man becomes the teacher. His lesson is the protocol and the culture that attempts to follow the protocol is a religion.
The Politicians: Every political leader from ancient kings to today's congressmen have used religion in some way or other to get the results they desired. And the results being good or bad depends on the side from which you are looking. But there is no doubt that religion with its powerful promises proves to be an effective tool in politics.
The Businessmen: This category of leaders are interesting. They are the ones that end up in the God business by chance or by family tradition. They would neither really want human betterment nor want to control people but are in the business just because they know of no other business or way of life. Some end up becoming greedy businessmen seeking more and more wealth and some just remain as ordinary 'servants' of God.
The lines that distinguish these authority types and the intentions are never distinct. So most of the figures that we come across may vary between the three authority types with intentions that vary between the three intention types. And if the world is seen to be run by less than 1% of its population where the rest of the 99% follow like a herd of sheep, our Gods are not going anywhere for a long while.
So... What now?
God is probably the most important idea that occurred to us so far. And it is natural we all have our curiosity to understand it. By writing this, I try to satisfy my curiosity in a rational way. God can certainly be something that is bigger than what our senses can comprehend. And (at the risk of sounding rude) I should say, unless one has that 'super sense' to experience it directly, all one has is rationality to work with.
2 comments:
Hey,
This is a message for the webmaster/admin here at voidbuff.blogspot.com.
May I use part of the information from this post right above if I provide a link back to your website?
Thanks,
Peter
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Thanks,
Suresh.
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