Prospering horizons

Barry Boyce believes that “Our minds are … basically sound and good.” But what does that mean? What are minds for? We can consider this through the lens of evolutionary psychology. Our minds sit between stimuli and responses.

stimulus --- mind --- response

We are social animals whose minds respond to social stimuli. Some of these responses are hard wired as reflexes and instincts and are the source of our intuitions, biases, schema, and rules of thumb. Some of the responses are learned during our cultural programming, education and brainwashing. Consciously and unconsciously we are conditioned by nature and nurture. But surely what was conditioned can be reconditioned.

Being social we are neurologically hard wired to conceptualise in terms of 'me', 'us' and 'them'.

When the concepts of I, me, mine, ego, and self are active, a person's behaviour may be self-ish or self-less.

When being selfless a person supports an expanding horizon of 'us' which includes parents, siblings, family, friends, community, group and tribe. There are intra group rules related to division of labour and power. Evolution favours those groups that deal effectively with social interaction.

When being selfish, 'us' competes with 'them' for resources. There are different rules for interacting in inter group conflicts which often have a territorial base. Emigration, murder and genocide have been common features of human evolution.

The poet Alfred Tennyson gave us the image of, “Nature red in tooth and claw.” Evolution has created animal bodies adapted to eating plants only, eating other animals only, or eating both. Human teeth and guts are adapted for eating both and we spent most of our ancestral time hunting and killing to complement the plant based section of our diet. But the only constant thing is change. And history need not be destiny.

SO? When the champions of modern mindfulness aspire to be vegetarians they are going against their evolved nature. Is this wise?

When people aspire to a bloodless and nicey nicey world as a sound and good thing they are not dealing with the way things truly are as yet.

BUT, on the positive side, there is neural plasticity. Even old people can change their mind. Even murderous meat eaters can expand their horizons to include as part of 'us' all of humanity, all living things and even the non-living environment. (ref Wilber's 'No Boundaries)

All human brains are capable of mindfulness. People have embraced it for thousands of years and it is now vigorously spreading through modern western culture. Unlike the other animals, humanity thinks and the thoughts can be captured, if still imperfectly, in spoken and written words.

SO I can theorise possible futures where there is a compassionate container for 'us' with prospering horizons