Listen to a reading of this article: ❖ Really, when it comes right down to it, things are a mess because humans are in a very awkward and confusing stage in our development as a species. Our giant brains evolved faster than we could adjust to, and now we're these scared little apex predators stumbling around the earth with massive prefrontal cortices overlaying a bunch of deep primordial conditioning. A rapidly developed capacity for language and abstract thought strapped on top of a fear response that our distant evolutionary ancestors developed to help them run away from long-extinct monsters with big sharp teeth.
Beautifully set up in the main, and in the abstract and social points.
I have a secondary point as regards the neurology. Most elements of empathy are mediated by the limbic system. That's why dogs are not less empathic than humans and why crocodiles raise their young. Some aspects of perspective that we sorely need and that are indeed key to what you are talking about require frontal cortical mediation, but these also require limbic involvement. If you impair the connection to the limbic system so that the frontal cortex "runs free," so to speak, you get someone who is clever about perspectives but lacks empathy. They have some idea what others feel, but they themselves are little concerned.
As shows so beautifully in your writing, our centers are soulful, and more so than our peripheries, even within our brains.
This piece makes me think of the work of psychiatrist and scholar, Iain McGilchrist and his lengthy analysis of the Left/Right brain hemispheres. His latest books (two tomes) are titled "The Matter With Things" and they look at the complimentary (often contradictory) functions of the left and right lobes. (This is quite different from past ideas about the divided brain.) In a nutshell his theory proposes a necessary, but fraught, relationship between two fundamental cognitive functions--that I would call the "contextualizing function" and the "exploiting function". This is my grossly simplistic interpretation of his scientifically grounded theory, so I don't claim to speak for him with any confidence. But his theory shows how much the dominance of the left hemisphere has affected modern culture and society negativity, leaving behind the hugely important contextualizing aspect of cognition, the pace where things and people (living beings) are interconnected--on all levels. Anyway, you may find him interesting, although I can hardy do his theory justice here. Love your work Caitlin!
Dear Caitlin, I love your stuff (first saw it on Opednews.com)! I want to ask if you've run across Iain McGilchrist's work on "The Divided Brain" and "The Matter With Things" (I'm a fan and a contributor on OEN, perhaps you can reach me through their messaging system). My substack thing isn't ready for primetime yet, but thinking of serializing my upcoming book.
I love, love sitting out on the patio with my coffee in the early morning. The birds are singing in praise of the coming dawn. It is so beautiful, and I joined in with them and sang my own song to the coming sunrise. You project your level of consciousness on to every thing and everyone, and humanity has been doing that with nature and mother earth. We are not as important to the earth as we like to think we are. We are her children, just like all beings here are, but we are not as all powerful as we think we are. Yes, we are destructive, but mother earth is a powerful being, and we are but cells in her organism. She has many, many ways to contain and constrain any damage we are doing. Nature is vastly more intelligent than we are. Earth is vastly more intelligent that we are. She knows what she is doing, and if she has not done us in yet, then I trust that she knows what is for the highest good of all. Death is not the end, but a new beginning, and even if this level of humanity ends, there are so many other forms to take. No matter what, I am an eternal soul, and everything is unfolding for the highest good. That being said, I choose love, harmony, peace, and unity with my thoughts, words, and actions in my daily life.
I have witnessed biokinesis, real life, radical transformation of the physical attributes that I watched change on an individual I did not know, simply through the power of meditation and intentional thought. Not at a magic show or in a controlled environment. Completely unscripted, two strangers meeting in an outdoor setting, not performative, just one person who was experienced in biokinesis teaching another person in a very interactive environment with a bunch of creatives. The only prerequisite noted was being experienced with meditation. They didn't know I was even observing. Casually. But what I saw occur after a short time blew my mind. Really happened. A supernatural phenomenon. I've even dabbled successfully with telekinesis, real results, controlled for causality.
There is much to the metaphysical world we do not have a clue about as a society or species. Though I'm sure the DoD has a lot they've never released or told us about. For the longest time many believed we use only 10% of our brain, though that's mostly been debunked. But we don't use a lot of the gray matter we are born with. At least not measured by tools we possess. I rather suspect our brains are capable of magnitudes more than we currently use them for.
I wouldn't be surprised to learn that our species has been intentionally dumbed down through the ages, powers unlearned. Because of the hazards of great power in the hands of the undisciplined. I think of how the martial arts are taught. Discipline comes first. Only after demonstrating sufficient discipline are the most powerful skills taught. Perhaps this is what our species is like. Perhaps our species has achieved great and wondrous feats using the full potential of our brains. But the fallen nature of man exposes how easily power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. And when human knowledge relearns the forgotten and erased knowledge of how to use our full brain power we are also capable of doing terrible things. The mythology of a Sorcerer's Stone, Lost Ark, Thor's Hammer, Excalibur as a metaphors, dangerous in the hands of all but the most pure and wisest among us.
Our sociopathic, unwise, fallen leaders, exposed for their true natures these past two years as they've grabbed and exercised unchecked pandemic emergency powers, have shown how terrible our species can be with great power. If these same sociopathic, unwise, fallen leaders had unchecked supernatural powers unlocked within their own brains most of this world we know would have been obliterated by now, billions of live's extinguished from existence. "For the greater good" they'd say. Makes me wonder if and how many times we've obliterated ourselves in the course of history. Only to try it again. Maybe our giant brains evolved for a great species that was tainted over time? That cast aside self-discipline in pursuit of the sins of scripture? Perhaps Scripture is eternal truth and guidance for our species after all? Scripture as God gave it, not as man's loose interpretations in versions we know today that corrupted his original words?
Some perspective from an octogenarian: around 1950 my homeroom teacher, a burly woman named Miss Ray, shared a very similar sentiment with me when I was questioning her about why we were required to “duck & cover.”
She said: Humankind is the first species with the capacity to totally destroy itself. Lions, elephants, apes etc. could never do that - no matter how crazy one of them was. So it is essential that our species develops the self-control to match its destructive capability.
"Previous collapses have been regional. Our upcoming collapse will be planetary, and with no place to hide. People wonder why man was stuck for so long without progress before civilization, but man wasn’t stuck. Man was home. True, things didn’t change much pre-civilization but that’s not a bad thing. From what I’ve seen, merely interacting with one’s pets, or chatting with someone with a brain has been more fulfilling than watching TV. And evidence suggests humans were happier back then, when they weren’t breeding themselves into overdrive. Christopher sees the only answer today as this: put hunter-gatherer thinking in charge. Top-down structures must become “peer progressive networks” while divestment $$$ from war and weaponry must go to provide basic income for all and provide big incentives for not having children. Note that today’s progressive agenda often shares forementioned forager communal values, while today’s conservative agenda often aligns with the worst long-term aspects of civilization: patriarchy, monotheism, monoculture, raping a land base to secure $$$ and power, and a wildly un-Christ-like lust for money and organized violence (war). Great book that really covers good anti-civ stuff from a different angle than the older known anti-civ writers."
I can only think it's going to be painful! There's so so much stupidity and hate and stupidity now that clearing that would be a huge thing. Some people blame it on evil leaders but the people in the trenches have bought into it for a reason. They're participants in the crazy. The have skin in the carnivore game. The big teeth monsters have been replaced with big gun ships. Every movie is violent unless it has Diane Keaton in it. Conflict isn't going away. We have to become more creative about it tho. Left in the unconscious realm it could end us.
I’ve been reading your thoughts for a few months now and your observations are interesting and often objective but too often just a lot of complaining. Yes we have serious societal problems, nearly all the result of short term decisions made by both voters and our representatives. Money and power, can’t be restrained by ignorance and apathy. Encourage solutions to the complaints you so eloquently describe. Everyone who loves humanity should be working to educate and engage at least one other person to the danger we face from tribalism and bureaucratic corruption. Do it slowly and with compassion to limit the inevitable defensive response. Encourage reading, Thomas Sowell, Animal Farm, The Gulag Archipelago, Life at The Bottom, etc., and share independent journalists writings like yours and others. Refuse to be guilty for the past sins of the world and have confidence in your own actions if they are sincere and just. Ask why hasn’t Ray Epps been arrested?
Beautifully set up in the main, and in the abstract and social points.
I have a secondary point as regards the neurology. Most elements of empathy are mediated by the limbic system. That's why dogs are not less empathic than humans and why crocodiles raise their young. Some aspects of perspective that we sorely need and that are indeed key to what you are talking about require frontal cortical mediation, but these also require limbic involvement. If you impair the connection to the limbic system so that the frontal cortex "runs free," so to speak, you get someone who is clever about perspectives but lacks empathy. They have some idea what others feel, but they themselves are little concerned.
As shows so beautifully in your writing, our centers are soulful, and more so than our peripheries, even within our brains.
This piece makes me think of the work of psychiatrist and scholar, Iain McGilchrist and his lengthy analysis of the Left/Right brain hemispheres. His latest books (two tomes) are titled "The Matter With Things" and they look at the complimentary (often contradictory) functions of the left and right lobes. (This is quite different from past ideas about the divided brain.) In a nutshell his theory proposes a necessary, but fraught, relationship between two fundamental cognitive functions--that I would call the "contextualizing function" and the "exploiting function". This is my grossly simplistic interpretation of his scientifically grounded theory, so I don't claim to speak for him with any confidence. But his theory shows how much the dominance of the left hemisphere has affected modern culture and society negativity, leaving behind the hugely important contextualizing aspect of cognition, the pace where things and people (living beings) are interconnected--on all levels. Anyway, you may find him interesting, although I can hardy do his theory justice here. Love your work Caitlin!
Caitlin, you clarified the problem but forgot to mention the solution which is jettisoning the philosophy of materialism.
Consciousness did not come from matter. Consciousness is the superset, matter is the subset. Consciousness is the ontological primitive.
Why would that understanding change humanity?
Because it means the end of fear. Consciousness can never be harmed.
Dear Caitlin, I love your stuff (first saw it on Opednews.com)! I want to ask if you've run across Iain McGilchrist's work on "The Divided Brain" and "The Matter With Things" (I'm a fan and a contributor on OEN, perhaps you can reach me through their messaging system). My substack thing isn't ready for primetime yet, but thinking of serializing my upcoming book.
I love, love sitting out on the patio with my coffee in the early morning. The birds are singing in praise of the coming dawn. It is so beautiful, and I joined in with them and sang my own song to the coming sunrise. You project your level of consciousness on to every thing and everyone, and humanity has been doing that with nature and mother earth. We are not as important to the earth as we like to think we are. We are her children, just like all beings here are, but we are not as all powerful as we think we are. Yes, we are destructive, but mother earth is a powerful being, and we are but cells in her organism. She has many, many ways to contain and constrain any damage we are doing. Nature is vastly more intelligent than we are. Earth is vastly more intelligent that we are. She knows what she is doing, and if she has not done us in yet, then I trust that she knows what is for the highest good of all. Death is not the end, but a new beginning, and even if this level of humanity ends, there are so many other forms to take. No matter what, I am an eternal soul, and everything is unfolding for the highest good. That being said, I choose love, harmony, peace, and unity with my thoughts, words, and actions in my daily life.
I have witnessed biokinesis, real life, radical transformation of the physical attributes that I watched change on an individual I did not know, simply through the power of meditation and intentional thought. Not at a magic show or in a controlled environment. Completely unscripted, two strangers meeting in an outdoor setting, not performative, just one person who was experienced in biokinesis teaching another person in a very interactive environment with a bunch of creatives. The only prerequisite noted was being experienced with meditation. They didn't know I was even observing. Casually. But what I saw occur after a short time blew my mind. Really happened. A supernatural phenomenon. I've even dabbled successfully with telekinesis, real results, controlled for causality.
There is much to the metaphysical world we do not have a clue about as a society or species. Though I'm sure the DoD has a lot they've never released or told us about. For the longest time many believed we use only 10% of our brain, though that's mostly been debunked. But we don't use a lot of the gray matter we are born with. At least not measured by tools we possess. I rather suspect our brains are capable of magnitudes more than we currently use them for.
I wouldn't be surprised to learn that our species has been intentionally dumbed down through the ages, powers unlearned. Because of the hazards of great power in the hands of the undisciplined. I think of how the martial arts are taught. Discipline comes first. Only after demonstrating sufficient discipline are the most powerful skills taught. Perhaps this is what our species is like. Perhaps our species has achieved great and wondrous feats using the full potential of our brains. But the fallen nature of man exposes how easily power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. And when human knowledge relearns the forgotten and erased knowledge of how to use our full brain power we are also capable of doing terrible things. The mythology of a Sorcerer's Stone, Lost Ark, Thor's Hammer, Excalibur as a metaphors, dangerous in the hands of all but the most pure and wisest among us.
Our sociopathic, unwise, fallen leaders, exposed for their true natures these past two years as they've grabbed and exercised unchecked pandemic emergency powers, have shown how terrible our species can be with great power. If these same sociopathic, unwise, fallen leaders had unchecked supernatural powers unlocked within their own brains most of this world we know would have been obliterated by now, billions of live's extinguished from existence. "For the greater good" they'd say. Makes me wonder if and how many times we've obliterated ourselves in the course of history. Only to try it again. Maybe our giant brains evolved for a great species that was tainted over time? That cast aside self-discipline in pursuit of the sins of scripture? Perhaps Scripture is eternal truth and guidance for our species after all? Scripture as God gave it, not as man's loose interpretations in versions we know today that corrupted his original words?
Some perspective from an octogenarian: around 1950 my homeroom teacher, a burly woman named Miss Ray, shared a very similar sentiment with me when I was questioning her about why we were required to “duck & cover.”
She said: Humankind is the first species with the capacity to totally destroy itself. Lions, elephants, apes etc. could never do that - no matter how crazy one of them was. So it is essential that our species develops the self-control to match its destructive capability.
Miss Ray, you were so right!
(And so far, so good; whodathunkit.)
PEACE! Caitlin, excellent, and if you have time: THE MATTER WITH THINGS OUR BRAINS, OUR DELUSIONS AND THE UNMAKING OF THE WORLD IAIN MCGILCHRIST
McGilchrist, Iain . The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions and the Unmaking of the World (p. 1). Perspectiva Press. Kindle Edition.
this is really one of your best yet!
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/28596619-civilized-to-death
This is an excellent read and pertinent.
"Previous collapses have been regional. Our upcoming collapse will be planetary, and with no place to hide. People wonder why man was stuck for so long without progress before civilization, but man wasn’t stuck. Man was home. True, things didn’t change much pre-civilization but that’s not a bad thing. From what I’ve seen, merely interacting with one’s pets, or chatting with someone with a brain has been more fulfilling than watching TV. And evidence suggests humans were happier back then, when they weren’t breeding themselves into overdrive. Christopher sees the only answer today as this: put hunter-gatherer thinking in charge. Top-down structures must become “peer progressive networks” while divestment $$$ from war and weaponry must go to provide basic income for all and provide big incentives for not having children. Note that today’s progressive agenda often shares forementioned forager communal values, while today’s conservative agenda often aligns with the worst long-term aspects of civilization: patriarchy, monotheism, monoculture, raping a land base to secure $$$ and power, and a wildly un-Christ-like lust for money and organized violence (war). Great book that really covers good anti-civ stuff from a different angle than the older known anti-civ writers."
Beautifully put, yet tragically sad. For some reason this reminds me of the book by Zen teacher David Loy - ‘The World is Made of Stories’.
https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/The-World-Is-Made-of-Stories/David-R-Loy/9780861719259
I can only think it's going to be painful! There's so so much stupidity and hate and stupidity now that clearing that would be a huge thing. Some people blame it on evil leaders but the people in the trenches have bought into it for a reason. They're participants in the crazy. The have skin in the carnivore game. The big teeth monsters have been replaced with big gun ships. Every movie is violent unless it has Diane Keaton in it. Conflict isn't going away. We have to become more creative about it tho. Left in the unconscious realm it could end us.
Yes! Great points, well delivered. For once I see nothing to complain about. Well done, Caitlin.
We can't be lied to constantly by dual citizens and not be at least, a little confused. Truthfully, I'm not confused and know who the enemy is!
This article reminded me of something I scribbled onto medium in what seems like ages ago. https://medium.com/@greybluedot/a-new-spirituality-1902d3fbb674
Thank you for your writing.
I’ve been reading your thoughts for a few months now and your observations are interesting and often objective but too often just a lot of complaining. Yes we have serious societal problems, nearly all the result of short term decisions made by both voters and our representatives. Money and power, can’t be restrained by ignorance and apathy. Encourage solutions to the complaints you so eloquently describe. Everyone who loves humanity should be working to educate and engage at least one other person to the danger we face from tribalism and bureaucratic corruption. Do it slowly and with compassion to limit the inevitable defensive response. Encourage reading, Thomas Sowell, Animal Farm, The Gulag Archipelago, Life at The Bottom, etc., and share independent journalists writings like yours and others. Refuse to be guilty for the past sins of the world and have confidence in your own actions if they are sincere and just. Ask why hasn’t Ray Epps been arrested?