I’ve ended my previous post by saying that we, humans, are tempted to see almost everything as a potential tool.
And the present one by asking myself ‘to what avail?’.
What are we trying to accomplish?
I kept telling you that we, humans, haven’t invented much. That everything we do has already been experimented by our predecessors. Plants and animals…
Well, one of the things that we did invent was ‘intent’. As in ‘premeditation’.
We don’t know whether plants are driven by anything else except their ‘vital spirit’.
Same thing is valid for ‘inferior animals’ (those which don’t have brains) while the superior (a.k.a. brained) ones seem to be driven by what we call emotion.
Including us!
No matter how much we pride ourselves about our ability to reason, we’re still driven by emotion.
Actually, we’re not even close to being rational!
At best, we rationalize our emotional impulses. Before or even after we put them into practice.
Dan Ariely and Daniel Kahneman, among others, have already settled this point.
Then why am I talking about ‘premeditation’?!?
And who said ‘premeditation’ is necessarily rational?
It is planned, OK, but …
You see, the real difference between us and the rest of most other animals is our ability to ‘watch ourselves watching the world‘. As if something inside each of ourselves is able to send a probe somewhere ‘outside’ and then examine its own individuality as an outside observer. I didn’t say an impartial observer, just an outsider. However biased.
I won’t elaborate on how we got here, Maturana had already done that. Brilliantly. I’m far more interested in the consequences of each of us being able to observe their own selves ‘from outside’, keeping in mind that our rationality is heavily bounded – Simon Herbert and others, and that we’re mainly driven by emotions.
The very first thing that each of us observes about their-selves is the overwhelming fragility which defines us.
And this is why we search solace in religion. In no matter which one of them, atheism included. There is ‘safety in numbers’, you know…
Our goal, professed or not, is to find inner peace.
No matter whether you call it salvation, redemption, nirvana, self acceptance or whatever else, what you crave is peace.
The sentiment (illusion?) that you are safe.
At least for a moment.
How long is that moment going to last?
Well, that depends on how you got there!
And who accompanies you…
nicichiarasa 