Tough reclusion

In setting myself up as a recluse I cut down on social involvements that use time. But it is not easy to “Make the world go away.” There are many calls for attention in modern cultures.

The default mental condition is monkey mind. The mindbrain evolved that way. The traffic from the sense doors has to be monitored to embrace the good, avoid the bad and ignore the neutral. There are two systems, fast reaction and slow response.

Some reactions have to be very fast eg when a snake appears on the path - or when you make an emergency stop while driving. Fractions of a second make the difference between life and death. The unconscious will have reacted before the self-conscious gets to know about it. Biases, intuitions, and rules of thumb shorten reaction times.

When there is no danger the mindbrain has two types of slow responses. It can churn the sensory inputs with memories of past reactions and responses and then create stories of what might happen in the future. Forewarned is forearmed.

When influenced by language the slow response system can create myths and magic. Imagine the beginning of language. There would have been words for a limited number of concepts dealing with aspects of being a forager, a tool maker, and a social animal etc. As the cultures evolved new words were needed to label new 'realities'. Metaphor and analogy facilitated the process. For example there was need to placate (a) the biological father whose purpose was to provide for his children and thus (b) a heavenly father who protects his people even when he works in mysterious ways.

NOTE: We are social animals. We have to live and work together. We are hard wired to fit into a social framework the details of which are provided by enculturation.

In foraging systems the ancestors are with the Gods in the transcendent world. Communicating between worlds is a specialist action reserved for shamen many of whom use psychedelic drugs to enter altered states of consciousness.

As settled agriculture and then city states evolved, the division of labour became more refined. The role of the shaman was taken over by the Priests who claimed a monopoly as the vehicle through which God spoke to his people and vice versa. In time, in the West, this led to such notions as papal infallibility and the Divine Right of Kings.

William James (1842 - 1920) reviewed the varieties of religious experience and famously noted that whether or not God really exists, those who believe he exists behave differently. And, more recently, neurologists have identified a part of the brain that lights up when the patient is thinking religious thoughts. It is contentiously called the God Spot. It seems possible that this is the part of the mindbrain affected by psychedelic drugs, psychotherapy and mindfulness.

For the last 200,000 years we have been hard wired with a framework to learn a language but the particular language that we learn depends on our particular culture. AND

For the last 200,000 years we have been hard wired with a framework to learn a religion but the particular religion that we learn depends on our particular culture. AND

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 – 1900) (Philosopher) reckoned that “God is dead” and thus opened the door to alternative ways of thinking

Maurice Bucke (1837 – 1902) (Psychiatrist) wrote “Cosmic Consciousness: A Study in the Evolution of the Human Mind”

Bob Marley (1945 – 1981) (Rastaman) recommended that you “Emancipate yourself from mental slavery.

More recently there have been advances in neurology, in mindfulness, and in positive,

social and experimental psychology; even in economics where there is talk of measuring human happiness.

There are grounds for believing that we are messing up the planet but that (a) there are many people who are able and willing to change their minds using mindfulness techniques and (b) they are acquiring ICT assisted grass root, bottom up, expertise in civil society organisation.

It is never too late to change your mind.