Peace in our time

I made time recently to read about evolutionary psychology (EP). Thoughts were thus with my ancestors in the early days of foraging in relatively small groups in the long human period before the sudden blossoming of language. The Bible reckons that “in the beginning was the Word”. But there were many new beginnings, many new doors were opened, and a small bands of seekers rushed through.

There have been many paradigm shifts in human evolution. There has been a long series of old endings and new beginnings - foraging, settled agriculture, city states, empires, nation states, transnational corporations, globalisation. The only constant thing is change. The only certainty is doubt. “Change and decay in all around I see.”

But most people desire unchanging certainty and that the eternal verities should all be the same in a hundred year’s time. True believers. Effectively encultured and brainwashed. Parochial xenophobics. Small minded wimps on frantic retreat from existential nihilism and from acceptance that there is no real reality out there.

Evolution doesn’t concern itself with abstract reality and truth. But ordinary people do. The major world religions are relics from pre-modern times. They are rooted in myth and magic from the iron age. There are still thought to be Gods who are omniscient and omnipotent father figures who operate in mysterious ways. And this remains the truth for the majority of people despite the major paradigm shift to meditation and mindfulness during the Axial Age from 800-200 BCE.

Mindfulness meditation involves giving non-judgemental attention to the thoughts, feelings and moods that are created in the ongoing, unconscious churn. The idea is to achieve enlightenment and liberation and thus to be able to operate in non-egoic flow.

The premise of meditation is counter intuitive but it holds the promise of peace of mind. When institutionalised there is often a pulling back to ensure that the peasants are kept in ignorance. But the up to date genie has recently been let out of the bottle thanks to the researches of the neuro scientists with their brain scanners. What was once mysterious and mystical is now a reasonable and objective target of the people in white coats. There is neural plasticity on the road from womb to tomb. By taking thought people can change the structure of their brain. If only enough people accept the existential challenge there may be peace in our time.