I've been dreaming up this blog for some time, because I want to share stories with you that illustrate something that's very important to me.
It seems to be true that human beings want to be decent to one another, and are, in most places, under most circumstances, most of the time. This is evidenced first and foremost by the fact of civilization, which would not be possible if most human beings did not spend not only much of their time cooperating, but also being polite, caring, and altruistic.
I'd like to take it a step further and demonstrate that human beings do this best and most consistently when pressures from forces such as natural catastrophes, the frenzy of mob rule, extreme patriotism, or dogma warp their natural sensibilities. Human beings do not need to be commanded, bribed, or threatened into being good: they just want to be, and are most of the time! This runs counter to the prevalent philosophical and religious trends, which effectively spread the misconception for many hundreds of years that human beings are wicked and must be forced, bribed, or inspired from without to be good, until Enlightenment thinkers and the sciences slowly began to dispel this myth.
Here's an article from three years ago, with a story about some neuroscientists at the National Institutes of Health, whose research confirmed the musings many Enlightenment philosophers, who thought that kindness and generosity are nit only innate, but pleasurable to human beings. This research seemed to show that altruistic behavior activates the pleasure centers of the brain in the same way that other pleasurable activities do, like eating good food or having sex.
I figure this is a great place to start this blog. I am one of those of who agree with the Enlightenment idea that philosophy is all well and good, but to find its true value, your reasonings must be tested and backed up by evidence to keep you honest; that's when you find out whether you have advanced in the search for truth, or just indulged in rhetorical gymnastics.
Yes! Yes! Yes! Cooperation and connectedness are the human default. How different a world if we could know that. Trouble is, there's so much that can go wrong, even just from a neurochemical perspective. Receptors for neurotransmitters such as dopamine and oxytocin, goodness, the entire apparatus, is established in... utero and for quite a few years beyond. Maternal stress, lack of loving eye-gazing, not to mention all manner of childhood traumas lay the groundwork for addictions and selfish behavior.
ReplyDeleteOxytocin has been long thought of as a maternal hormone. Turns out it operates in our daily lives, also in men, more than previously known. It's the hormone that makes a mother's milk let down when she hears a baby cry. It's known to be associated with strong emotions of love and connectedness. I can vouch for many tears of joy. I sensed even then it was an ancient biochemical reaction. Far from belittling the experience, it gave me transcendant sense of being a cog in a great wheel. Which brought on more tears of joy. I digress.... Here's a link to some of my favorite oxytocin research, My Big Fat Geek Wedding:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1261236/Our-happy-hormone-wedding-How-levels-love-hormone-oxytocin-ceremony--intriguing-results.html
In a book called "A Chorus of Stones" Susan Griffin says that a common practice in Austria in the time Hitler and his cohorts were born, was to tie an infants hands to their bed while sleeping so they couldn't touch themselves. What would that do to your brain? That's just one small example from a larger framework of anti-human behavior training. The rationale being that it is evil to touch one's own body, and a child must be taught from the start to go against their nature, which is sinful.