Göbekli Tepe and the Great Cultural Bifurcation

One can imagine...

The group, having found some stability in a region,... an animal population that replenishes itself often enough feeding on plants and grasses in the area that also come back quickly enough to keep the herd from moving too far away... decides to establish a small settlement. Members who dedicate themselves to activities outside of hunting and gathering find more time for creative endeavors, children can be looked after and educated while mothers and fathers are out in the fields and groves procuring food for everyone. Everyone in the group, that is.

One can now imagine...

A more powerful group comes into the region and realizes quickly that the available animals, plants, grasses, etc... may not be sufficient for the survival of two groups. So, the original, weaker group is driven out. For the group that lost its hold on something that seemed to be a gift from whatever god or gods they worshiped, despair is likely to follow. And, in the lean months or years, they might come close to dying off completely.

But, then, one can imagine...

A small group of scouts from the larger, wandering group follows some tracks in the dirt and mud around a small mountain ridge, and in the valley below an amazing sight presents itself. The scouts rub their eyes in disbelief for a moment, and then unrestrained excitement ensues. Uncountable numbers of animal herds are spread out across the most fertile grounds they've ever encountered as far as their eyes can see.

And, they know that the game has changed.

Probability and the Boogeyman

For those who wish to be honest, there’s only one reality when it comes to human rights, and that is that there are none. Universally speaking, all lifeforms have the same basic right, which is the right to try to survive and thrive in whatever situations they find themselves in. Each and every one of us is entitled to nothing but a death. For those of us who drew a lucky card and were born into a life full of opportunities to thrive, we are usually imbued with a sense of gratitude, though we are aware of the fact that many are born into suffering. Only deranged thinking allows one to believe that some divine power blessed them with a good life while condemning others to enter the world, live short, painful existences and then be forgotten as easily as they were conceived. So, gratitude is not the best word to use in this context; it should be appreciation. If this appreciation leads to altruistic behavior, all the better.

Of course, explaining this all to a child is a challenge. No one in his or her right mind would have the following exchange with their five-year-old:

“Mommy, I’m afraid of the dark. I think there’s a monster in my closet.”
“Whatever gave you that idea?”
“Timmy was talking about it today.”
“Maybe he was just trying to scare you.”
“So, I’ll be OK? There are no monsters”
“Well, there are no monsters, but there are people in the world who do terrible things to others, even children. There may even be such a person in our town; he may be driving the streets right now, looking for a house to break into, a child to take away somewhere to torture and kill…”
“Mommy, you’re scaring me!”
“Don’t be afraid, there are so many houses out there that the possibility of the bad man choosing our house is so small, it’s not worth worrying about…”

However, encouraging beliefs in fairy tales isn’t the best approach either. Saying things like “God loves you and will protect you” seems ridiculous when your child is bound to learn that some other children in similar communities, whose parents have said the same thing to them, fall ill, suffer and die. And, to say then, “Well, the Lord works in mysterious ways” is likely to be seen as a cop out by many kids. Moreover, it could lead a child to think, “Geez, maybe I should try harder to be good, so the Lord doesn’t work any of his mysterious ways on me!”

Clearly, children need important people in their lives, like parents, other family, and teachers to guide them in their moral development. Teaching them critical thinking, and allowing them to come to their own conclusions with a minimal amount of bias should be the main strategy used. Endless explanations and repeated admonishments without attention given to making sure a child understands what it all means is likely to create moral deficiencies.

Let Me Guess What's On Your Mind

Everyone has an innate desire to feel special, a need to build self-esteem, which is likely part of the built-in need to thrive. There's a certain level of self-satisfaction that comes with a sense of belonging, of being a recognized member of the in-group. Sometimes the recognition comes from others in the group who heap praise on us for some good deed or another. Sometimes it comes from a rubber stamp; 'Congratulations, you're now an official member of the XXXX Fan Club! Enclosed you'll find your certificate of membership and a courtesy bumper sticker.' And, in one of the most important cases, your membership to a club is granted by virtue of being born; it's interesting to think that something one had no control over could instill in one such a swollen sense of pride.

We all seek acceptance. It validates our existence, makes us feel important. Building good personal relationships is one of the main ways we gain the needed acceptance. And, just as the need to feel special is inborn, it seems that the ability to empathize is as well. What better tool to have than one which allows us to slip into someone else's mind, find an itch that needs to be scratched, and then offer some relief, thereby gaining a measure of positive recognition from that other. Such manipulation is managed even by the very young...

Yet, there’s evidence that infants will favor altruistic behavior around strangers as long as they don’t feel threatened by them. This is interesting in that it could show the innateness of empathy. In one study, for example, half of toddlers tested spontaneously got up and opened a door for a stranger who was trying to open it but was unable to manage it due to having both arms full. Somehow, these toddlers recognized not only what the stranger wanted to do, but also that the stranger would likely react in a favorable way toward a person who helped him to do it. It’s also interesting to consider that the toddlers likely recognized that by pleasing the stranger, they would be accepted by him, leading to a feeling of increased self-importance. So, it would seem that altruistic behavior is conducive to fostering self-esteem, but not because we feel good about ourselves for having done something perceived by us to be good, but because it is perceived by others to be good, which should lead to their approval of us if they were to be made aware of our ‘good’ behavior.*

And, with this, we can begin a discussion on moral development.

*Excerpted from the book I'm currently working on

The Self You Worship

The sidelong stare, the apparent sneer, the laugh as they pass out of sight in the opposite direction... These things don't quite boil the blood, but they do cause sparks. A look over the shoulder reveals no further information as both their backs are turned. They round a corner and are gone.

Why does it rankle so?

Who you see yourself as (the idealized self) and who you really are (the real self) couldn't be two more different characters. You've done a smashing job, though, of not recognizing this. Most of the time, anyway.

Blame it on your upbringing, blame it on society... At the end of the day, it's still your problem. And, it will bring you low eventually if you don't get it together.

Start seeing yourself for who you are. Try this: next time you're on a train or a bus, look around for someone with nearly the same posture as the one you have. Maybe his hands are folded resting on his lap, or maybe she's leaning against a support rail. Now, try to guess where they're going, what they're going to do there. Imagine the conversations they might have with others, the feelings they might feel. Don't fantasize. Be realistic.

What's your impression of this person? Whatever it is, you might just understand yourself a little better afterward.

A Life Less Meaningful

"You don't believe in God, you don't believe we were created to live here on this beautifully designed world... In fact, you believe that humanity has no divine purpose and could disappear in a very short time, and the universe would be hardly changed at all... So, tell me, what motivates you to get out of bed in the morning? I mean, what are you living for?"

"I get out of bed in the morning, because the brewing coffee down the hall in the kitchen smells rather good, and I should quite like to have a cup or two with a bagel and cream cheese. I enjoy having my first meal by the window of my breakfast nook and looking out on the front lawn, seeing the squirrels run about while hummingbirds drink from the feeder hanging on a branch of the tree in the middle of the grass."

"You're not being facetious, are you?"

"I live for long hikes in the forest and slow walks on the beach, Scotch whisky by the fire on cold winter nights, the pleasure of lying with a beautiful woman, the thrill of discovering something new..."

"Yes, yes, I see where you're going. But, is that enough?"

"Enough for me, yes."

Taken by the Prevailing Winds

Where my thoughts go, so do I.


Your last thought, you know not from where it came. But, come it did. And so it goes for your next thought, and the one after that. Like a river flowing, they sweep you along and direct you from one point of your life to the next. You believe that they define you; indeed they guide your actions, and others define you by those actions, so in a way, you're correct.

Most of the time, anyway.

There are times when it occurs to you that rather than be guided by your thoughts, it's better for you to actively guide them. Studying, learning, putting ideas into practice... these activities make it much more likely that you'll make optimal decisions in certain contexts.

This is the closest thing we have to free will. You can decide now to act in such a way that at some point in the future you'll most likely arrive at a place that is closer to your desired destination than one you would've arrived at had you not decided to guide your thoughts at all.

In a short-enough time frame, free will all but disappears. In a long-enough one, free will is a lot less fuzzy.

Those dark thoughts you've been having, you wish they'd go away, and sometimes they do. But, they come back eventually. Is it a chemical problem? An environmental one? Is it something else? Shouldn't you at least try to know the answer?