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Bohr made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum mechanics - for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922 - but I wonder if he was around now, would he bemoan how little we have come in our understanding?
We think we know so much already, but the danger comes when we fail to realise how limited our level of understanding is. Why is no brain on Earth close to knowing what brains do in order to achieve full functionality? Realising this must surely push us on to ever widen our understanding of ourselves, and our natural, supernatural, preternatural worlds.
Yet, some say that when many around the world are still struggling just to survive, this pursuit of enlightenment is necessarily placed on the back-burner of existence as a low priority. They argue that in third world countries (what a terrible term that is) we are preoccupied with killing each other or else simply staying alive, while in first world countries this basic concept of a concern for the basics in life - that so many people undeservedly don't have in other countries - is completely lost on us.
However, those of us that complain about a too-short lead on a smart phone charger would quickly realise how insignificant a "problem" this is to an African struggling to find clean water to drink. This isn't about making us feel bad for complaining about needing two Wi-Fi routers in a big house, because in the grand scale of things that this isn't really a "problem" is self-evident. And not all Africans are hungry or starving, either. Most probably feel uncomfortable being used as symbols, and I'm sure some of them get annoyed when they can't find their phone chargers, too.
But the pertinent point made is that many in the West are comfortable in their lives, so why doesn't this free us up to pursue the real things that matter in life? Sadly, for many of us we have preoccupied ourselves with shallow distractions. Of course we have our fair share of serious issues - access to health care, domestic violence and wealth inequality to name a few. But the economic situation and our status and wealth in the world has blinded many of us to the direction in which we really need to go.
If only we could stop equating happiness with material possessions, we would understand that what really makes a "first world" is freedom, fair law and order, and certainty of services that secure dignity of life. Not the gadgets or riches that we can afford to clutter up our lives with - gadgets that we should use for fun and convenience, but not as the staple of our daily diet.
And yet, we very often we fall into that trap. This month brings the news that Facebook's population is as large as that of the entire world in 1804. Some complain we are becoming ostriches sticking our heads in the virtual sands of social media, and that the number of Facebook likes or wireless routers you have are not symbols of happiness, but addiction. A stressful one for that matter (and sometimes expensive).
Moreover, we should count our blessings, and be grateful for what we do have, and not lose ourselves in what we don't. Of course the adage "I stopped worrying about my need for shoes when I saw a person with no feet" won't change the circumstance of you having no shoes, but at least you can walk, and have a reason to buy shoes. Those who have been born without that opportunity, have greater concerns.
Toni Morrison has been a giant of American letters for decades - and for many the closest the country has to a national writer - has confessed to not fully understanding the contemporary world herself.
Nobel laureate Morrison, now in her 80s, has the wisdom acquired from years of reflecting on the world she grew up in, as a child in the 1930s, whose grandparents had been slaves, and who has lived to see an African American in the White House.
She is a writer who has changed how America talks and thinks about slavery, with her seminal novel, Beloved, in which a mother kills her daughter rather than see her suffer under slavery. But would Morrison be the regal woman she is today had her life just been filled with the speed of download times online?
Isn't it interesting then, that it seems the less important our concerns are, the more we preoccupy our time we even lesser things of importance? Why do we needed to be constantly reminded about the real concerns of life? Can't we keep our focus without a great tragedy befalling us or hitting the headlines?
By extension, why are we also more preoccupied with the ego part of ourselves; why are our goals more set towards power and domination, than the pursuit of self-improvement and understanding?
Naturally, there was all that lynching, beating, raping, shackling, etc. - that part obviously wasn't so good. But once that was over, black people were - and again I quote - "rewarded with citizenship in the greatest nation ever established upon the face of the Earth", as though such inhumanity could ever be excused. Taking a positive lesson from mass oppression when those oppressed overcome great injustices is one thing, but belittling it is by far another.
According to psychologist Guy Claxton, professor of learning sciences at the University of Winchester, when political leaders act in a power-hungry way, they are losing their touch with reality. He suggests their actions could be to do with "a disorder of intelligence".
At a Royal Society of Medicine conference this week, entitled The Intoxication Of Power, Prof Claxton says that human intelligence is made up of four different mental systems working in harmony. When one of these systems is not used, the decision-making process can become unreliable and potentially dangerous.
Instead of analysing actions, checking through the consequences of those actions and chatting through the decisions made, leaders too often rely on impulsive decision-making - and this is when hubris can set in. Professor Claxton says that none of these systems is infallible. You need what he describes as "a jazz quartet" of them (a kind of harmonious synergy) to achieve full human intelligence.
In another example, the laws of physics tell us that artificial intelligence must be possible. So why does it have such a long record of failure? Says physicist David Deutsch: "I cannot think of any other significant field of knowledge in which the prevailing wisdom, not only in society at large but also among experts, is so beset with entrenched, overlapping, fundamental errors." So what is it that may unblock our understanding? And is there a role for philosophy here?
And is this what has happened to those of us grown too comfortable in our "first world" societies? Have we lost touch with reality, too? Instead of analysing what has gone wrong in our lives, are we just impulse buying, or impulse storing material things? And is the current chaos in the world come to remind us of the things that are really important? To show us how limited our understanding still is, and without becoming consciously aware - and thus living consciously - enlightenment will remain further away than ever before.
We will continue to have artists censoring themselves for fear of causing offence; we shall continue to throw people in prison for not understanding their views; we shall continue to allow ourselves to be distracted by dogma and digital downloads. Speaking the truth has always been a high risk strategy, but let's not ignore or silence humans of great integrity and intellect any more, because in doing so we only deprive ourselves and the world of what they have to offer. Let's listen to them, and start to focus on love, instead. Love must be the cause in our lives, because it's the strongest drive to pushes us on to a deeper understanding, where we act not with prejudice but just cause.
Real love makes us think of others; it is an automatic check on making egotistical decisions. In love "power-play" is turned on its head; both sides only win when they learn how to surrender. Love, not violence, is the perfect response to hate; because it diffuses it. And sometimes forgiveness can be the sweetest form of revenge, because when we forgive we are not allowing the hateful action to harm us.
It is easier to hate than understand, because we often need no reason - indeed hate is the absence of reason. Take the anti-Muslim ads that hit New York's subways in America last month, which had a pro-Israeli group calling Muslims "savages". Now, Jewish and Christian groups have respond with a message of love - hanging pro-Muslim posters to condemn intolerance and celebrate the city's diversity.
Once enlightenment comes, choosing to understand others will be easier than hate - but that requires us to make level-headed decisions, and to realise that we are part of the same living community. We must do together, or die together. It's that simple.
You know, even nature shows us that friendly baboons do better in life than baboons who are loners. You'd think we'd get the message, wouldn't you?
Yours in love,
1 comments:
This is so true. Sometimes we can be worse than animals ... the more enlightened we become the better we become at being humans. That's the science, we just need to wake up to it!!!
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