renunciation is in our plastic genes

Evolution is possible because of selection which can be either natural or under domestication: and selection is possible because of variation which is generated through reproductive processes at cosmic, biological and cultural levels.

The biological and cultural levels can be plotted on an expanding horizon:

Gene, individual, family, community, political party, nation state, TNC, UN

TNC = Transnational Corporation; UN = United Nations

Selection operates simultaneously on these many levels. What is good for the TNC might be bad for the individual.  What is good for the individual might be bad for the community.  What is good at one level can be good or bad at other levels. The value judgement depends on the location of the judge. The overall process is value free and ruthless. Fitness means being better represented in the next generation than the competition.

At a personal level the horizons are very familiar:

Me  -  Us  -  Them

In western capitalist countries the individuated and selfish Me is the reified centre of attention. But this is unlikely to lead to evolutionary success because humans are social animals who need family and friends to survive. 

 

Every Me has an Us and every Us has a Them. With Us there is altruistic in-group cooperation; with Them there is selfish, out-group competition.

After many generations of hunting and gathering in competitive groups we would expect evolution to have hard wired certain cognitive and affective orientations in the human brain. Thus we have instincts as part of our nature: and these provide the platform for the nurturing process of learning what we need to know, say and do to survive.

Planet Earth

Survival is a hot topic at this stage in human evolution on the surface of planet earth. There is now consciousness of consciousness. This lets us see a need for sustainable development at the level of the planet. 

People will have to consume less. This requires a change of heart and mind. This may not be as difficult as is commonly thought.  The root concept is ‘belonging’. It is in our nature to think in terms of Me, Us and Them but it is our nurture that decides where the boundaries are set.

Sages and mystics from many times and places have demonstrated that it is possible to turn the mind away from its selfish nurturing. Selfless renunciation is in our plastic genes.

So there is a theoretical solution. Are you going to help realise it?