ancestral tribute
Since i started this journal, the bio on my info page has read:
"I don't need myself remembered; but what I help create and leave behind is important to me!"
Perhaps i should explain this reference further? Particularly in my study of physical anthropology this semester, i have become acutely aware of why this idea has always resonated so strongly with me...
the cut tags in boldface provide a sampling of the subjects mentioned in this ridiculously long and rambling post:
--
cultural evolution; self-organizing systems; complexity theory; game theory; evolutionary psycho-socio-biology; storytelling and divination throughout history and geography; mutually beneficial relationships between the individual and the collective
Through the process of evolution, primates reached the physiological level of natural selection where their neocortex had grown so large that they found a superior way of adaptation... While other animals relied upon the purely biological methods of natural selection, primates used their cognitive/endocrine/dactylic functions to take advantage of cultural methods of adapting their environments and improving their living conditions. Thus, my own life has been improved through the contributions not only of biology, but also by the development and transmission of learned behaviours. I am indebted to all of our ancestors' utilization of social and technological systems to improve our fitness and ensure our survival throughout all of history (particularly since the Pleistocene, but more so in the Holocene, and exponentially so since the Industrial Age). I believe that the ethical way to honour these gifts is to return them in kind by contributing to the evolution of culture.
This is why self-organizing systems, complexity theory, game theory, and evolutionary psycho-socio-biology have always been so fascinating to me. Obviously, there is an interdependent relationship between the "super-organic" phenomenae of culture and the physiological aspects of our existence; but this only serves to further my point. The longer that I study the development of science, the more i am faced with my own obligation to fulfill my duty to the community. My studies of storytelling and divination throughout history and geography have further convinced me of the prevalence of this ethical philosophy of mutually beneficial relationships between the individual and the collective:
The Great Work
The Perennial Philosophy
The Heroic Cycle / Monomyth / Joseph Campbell
Ken Wilber / Integral Revolution
I Ching / Feng Shui
Ifa / Geomancy
Tarot / Kabbalah
The Bodhisattva Vow
--
reciprocal altruism; one on one dialogue & even more complex communication channels; The Ethical Slut; Sexual Paradox: Complementarity, Reproductive Conflict and Human Emergence: The Naturalistic Fallacy, Human Nature, and Evolutionary Ethics
Based on the idea of reciprocal altruism, I still believe that love is not a starvation economy. Although I also recognize that the basis of all relationships is a dialogue between two people -- and the communication channels only get exponentially more complex from there, as the recent jest by trans_simian clearly indicates. I have previously explored similar ideas in my post concerning Triangling, Projective Identification, & Group Dynamics.
Of course, the sexual strategies that humans employ in their communities bring the particular ethics of each individual into question. And as Jan Norman points out in her essay, "The Evolutionary Theory of Sexual Attraction,
` ` Fortunately, humans are not destined to merely follow their evolutionarily programmed callings to mate. Our advanced cognitive abilities allows us avoid blindly following physiological and emotional urges by anticipating the long-term outcomes of our behaviors. Yet, in spite of our human pride in being rational, logical, and ethical in love , our behaviors are often surprisingly and disappointingly, imitative of mating behaviors of other members of the animal kingdom. Our superior cognitive abilities may present a mixed blessing, allowing us to delude ourselves by rationalizing irrational acts and choices. Attraction messages from the primitive part of our brains pushing us to pursue seemingly superficial traits and sometimes inappropriate partners often seem so right at the time. As David Meyers (1995) states, sex differences and mate selection behaviors which may have once been helpful in ensuring the survival of our primitive ancestors and their young may no longer be adaptive and useful in today's world. ' '
The situations with which modern individuals are faced can be confusing to say the least. In the interest of understanding and improving these relationships, for some time now, I have been enjoying the book, "The Ethical Slut," which brings the crucial nature of ethics in sexual relationships back into focus. There are many classic pieces of advice contained within its pages, such as the infamous list of "How To Fuck Up!"
There is also an amazing work called, "Sexual Paradox: Complementarity, Reproductive Conflict and Human Emergence," which I cannot possibly praise enough for its inspiration to me, ever since I found it while researching for my post about gender and sexuality.
The chapter which to me seems most appropriate to reference, is called, "The Inescapable Game of Life, starting in the section entitled, "The Naturalistic Fallacy, Human Nature, and Evolutionary Ethics," and specifically beginning around the section which reads:
` ` Our future viability is not just a function of cultural or economic expectations which are notoriously unstable and in the absence of an understanding of sociobiology prone to self-deceptive pitfalls which could be lethal. The evolutionary evidence both from our past and from other species, all who have had to pass the evolutionary test over cumulative lifetimes is the best indication we can hope to avail ourselves of in assessing our own directions and course of action in future. Neither does this determine any social course of action based on biological grounds, but rather gives a wider deeper context in which to understand culture and our own evolutionary decisions. ' '
--
the development of ethics as a philosophical process one may use to question the rationale and efficacy of moral decisions; ethical statements: essentially based on emotional positions; Exceeding by delicacy; becoming conscious of our eating/drinking/sex/drug/etc. habits & developing a more nutritious/well-balanced/ethical lifestyle
I consider the development of ethics to be a philosophical process one may use to question the rationale and efficacy of moral decisions. The unexamined life is indeed not worth living, so I will continue to encourage everyone of us (certainly including myself), to challenge our own base assumptions. I trust that we will learn to balance a healthy amount of skepticism with a joyous degree of integrity! And I know that it will involve some juggling in the process... which I will endeavor to enjoy with a hearty sense of humor, and ample slack to share with my friends,
Catching up on lj last night, I read aethersinger's post, on hedonism, which was inspired by emeraldmyst's post, Pleasure.
This brief essay suggests that morals/ethics are the next logical step after having accepted the laws of nature, aesthetics, and hedonism.
I recently discussed my position on the use of ethics in a thread from a post called, "It can't be wrong if it feels so right."
` ` i concur with the position ... (described in slackananda's post called, Moral, Immoral, Amoral, More) ... of unqualified absolute moralism being repugnant. i generally prefer to use "if...then" statements so that my positions are not perceived as moral ultimatums; but the melting pot of cultures has produced an environment where decisions based on ethical grounds are often unfamiliar between the concerned parties. in the relativistic community we live in, it becomes increasingly apparent that ethical statements are essentially based on emotional positions. this is why i often speak of educating our consciences through learning about different cultures throughout time, and developing a mature responsible ethical system -- basically a utilitarian idea of finding the greatest good for the greatest number. ' '
And concerning hedonism specifically, i have similarly always followed the utilitarian maxim to, "maximize pleasure & minimize pain (within reason)"
If you'll pardon some pestilential thelemic rambling, a certain passage comes to my mind from The Book of the Law:
` ` There is help & hope in other spells. Wisdom says: be strong! Then canst thou bear more joy. Be not animal; refine thy rapture! If thou drink, drink by the eight and ninety rules of art: if thou love, exceed by delicacy; and if thou do aught joyous, let there be subtlety therein! ' ' Liber AL: II, 70
In the the new commentary for this passage, the matter is clearly elucidated in the context through which i am referencing it:
` ` "Exceed by delicacy": this does not mean, by refraining from so-called animalism. One should make every act a sacrament, full of divinest ecstasy and nourishment. There is no act which true delicacy cannot consecrate. ' '
I think that this is actually quite a simple idea, related in flowery prose & archaic poetry, and used as a symbolic reference to spiritual discipline... similar to my attitude towards the various diet crazes: I think that people will become more healthy if they even begin to work on being aware of what they are putting into their bodies... becoming consciously aware of our eating/drinking/sex/drug/etc. habits is the first step towards shifting our learned behaviours towards a more nutritious/well-balanced/ethical lifestyle! If one's actions are devoted to a "higher" cause, then the pleasures will produce a liberation of energized enthusiasm, rather than the guilt and shame of sin-restriction... q.v. The Law of Liberty for more philosophical rationalizations concerning this perspective. Some of the other major roots for these libertine ideals can be found in the work of Rabelais, which has also been particularly inspirational to me recently.
--
Let's transform our lives with cultural evolution!
--
And although I am delirious from sleep deprivation at the moment and i should just go rest, I feel compelled to mention another one of my personal fascinations... which concerns the ethics of slaughter, whether for food, or concerning the value of human life. And, being the idealist that I am, I also believe in non-violent conflict resolution whenever possible... like the Orang Asli.
"I don't need myself remembered; but what I help create and leave behind is important to me!"
Perhaps i should explain this reference further? Particularly in my study of physical anthropology this semester, i have become acutely aware of why this idea has always resonated so strongly with me...
the cut tags in boldface provide a sampling of the subjects mentioned in this ridiculously long and rambling post:
--
cultural evolution; self-organizing systems; complexity theory; game theory; evolutionary psycho-socio-biology; storytelling and divination throughout history and geography; mutually beneficial relationships between the individual and the collective
Through the process of evolution, primates reached the physiological level of natural selection where their neocortex had grown so large that they found a superior way of adaptation... While other animals relied upon the purely biological methods of natural selection, primates used their cognitive/endocrine/dactylic functions to take advantage of cultural methods of adapting their environments and improving their living conditions. Thus, my own life has been improved through the contributions not only of biology, but also by the development and transmission of learned behaviours. I am indebted to all of our ancestors' utilization of social and technological systems to improve our fitness and ensure our survival throughout all of history (particularly since the Pleistocene, but more so in the Holocene, and exponentially so since the Industrial Age). I believe that the ethical way to honour these gifts is to return them in kind by contributing to the evolution of culture.
This is why self-organizing systems, complexity theory, game theory, and evolutionary psycho-socio-biology have always been so fascinating to me. Obviously, there is an interdependent relationship between the "super-organic" phenomenae of culture and the physiological aspects of our existence; but this only serves to further my point. The longer that I study the development of science, the more i am faced with my own obligation to fulfill my duty to the community. My studies of storytelling and divination throughout history and geography have further convinced me of the prevalence of this ethical philosophy of mutually beneficial relationships between the individual and the collective:
The Great Work
The Perennial Philosophy
The Heroic Cycle / Monomyth / Joseph Campbell
Ken Wilber / Integral Revolution
I Ching / Feng Shui
Ifa / Geomancy
Tarot / Kabbalah
The Bodhisattva Vow
--
reciprocal altruism; one on one dialogue & even more complex communication channels; The Ethical Slut; Sexual Paradox: Complementarity, Reproductive Conflict and Human Emergence: The Naturalistic Fallacy, Human Nature, and Evolutionary Ethics
Based on the idea of reciprocal altruism, I still believe that love is not a starvation economy. Although I also recognize that the basis of all relationships is a dialogue between two people -- and the communication channels only get exponentially more complex from there, as the recent jest by trans_simian clearly indicates. I have previously explored similar ideas in my post concerning Triangling, Projective Identification, & Group Dynamics.
Of course, the sexual strategies that humans employ in their communities bring the particular ethics of each individual into question. And as Jan Norman points out in her essay, "The Evolutionary Theory of Sexual Attraction,
` ` Fortunately, humans are not destined to merely follow their evolutionarily programmed callings to mate. Our advanced cognitive abilities allows us avoid blindly following physiological and emotional urges by anticipating the long-term outcomes of our behaviors. Yet, in spite of our human pride in being rational, logical, and ethical in love , our behaviors are often surprisingly and disappointingly, imitative of mating behaviors of other members of the animal kingdom. Our superior cognitive abilities may present a mixed blessing, allowing us to delude ourselves by rationalizing irrational acts and choices. Attraction messages from the primitive part of our brains pushing us to pursue seemingly superficial traits and sometimes inappropriate partners often seem so right at the time. As David Meyers (1995) states, sex differences and mate selection behaviors which may have once been helpful in ensuring the survival of our primitive ancestors and their young may no longer be adaptive and useful in today's world. ' '
The situations with which modern individuals are faced can be confusing to say the least. In the interest of understanding and improving these relationships, for some time now, I have been enjoying the book, "The Ethical Slut," which brings the crucial nature of ethics in sexual relationships back into focus. There are many classic pieces of advice contained within its pages, such as the infamous list of "How To Fuck Up!"
There is also an amazing work called, "Sexual Paradox: Complementarity, Reproductive Conflict and Human Emergence," which I cannot possibly praise enough for its inspiration to me, ever since I found it while researching for my post about gender and sexuality.
The chapter which to me seems most appropriate to reference, is called, "The Inescapable Game of Life, starting in the section entitled, "The Naturalistic Fallacy, Human Nature, and Evolutionary Ethics," and specifically beginning around the section which reads:
` ` Our future viability is not just a function of cultural or economic expectations which are notoriously unstable and in the absence of an understanding of sociobiology prone to self-deceptive pitfalls which could be lethal. The evolutionary evidence both from our past and from other species, all who have had to pass the evolutionary test over cumulative lifetimes is the best indication we can hope to avail ourselves of in assessing our own directions and course of action in future. Neither does this determine any social course of action based on biological grounds, but rather gives a wider deeper context in which to understand culture and our own evolutionary decisions. ' '
--
the development of ethics as a philosophical process one may use to question the rationale and efficacy of moral decisions; ethical statements: essentially based on emotional positions; Exceeding by delicacy; becoming conscious of our eating/drinking/sex/drug/etc. habits & developing a more nutritious/well-balanced/ethical lifestyle
I consider the development of ethics to be a philosophical process one may use to question the rationale and efficacy of moral decisions. The unexamined life is indeed not worth living, so I will continue to encourage everyone of us (certainly including myself), to challenge our own base assumptions. I trust that we will learn to balance a healthy amount of skepticism with a joyous degree of integrity! And I know that it will involve some juggling in the process... which I will endeavor to enjoy with a hearty sense of humor, and ample slack to share with my friends,
Catching up on lj last night, I read aethersinger's post, on hedonism, which was inspired by emeraldmyst's post, Pleasure.
This brief essay suggests that morals/ethics are the next logical step after having accepted the laws of nature, aesthetics, and hedonism.
I recently discussed my position on the use of ethics in a thread from a post called, "It can't be wrong if it feels so right."
` ` i concur with the position ... (described in slackananda's post called, Moral, Immoral, Amoral, More) ... of unqualified absolute moralism being repugnant. i generally prefer to use "if...then" statements so that my positions are not perceived as moral ultimatums; but the melting pot of cultures has produced an environment where decisions based on ethical grounds are often unfamiliar between the concerned parties. in the relativistic community we live in, it becomes increasingly apparent that ethical statements are essentially based on emotional positions. this is why i often speak of educating our consciences through learning about different cultures throughout time, and developing a mature responsible ethical system -- basically a utilitarian idea of finding the greatest good for the greatest number. ' '
And concerning hedonism specifically, i have similarly always followed the utilitarian maxim to, "maximize pleasure & minimize pain (within reason)"
If you'll pardon some pestilential thelemic rambling, a certain passage comes to my mind from The Book of the Law:
` ` There is help & hope in other spells. Wisdom says: be strong! Then canst thou bear more joy. Be not animal; refine thy rapture! If thou drink, drink by the eight and ninety rules of art: if thou love, exceed by delicacy; and if thou do aught joyous, let there be subtlety therein! ' ' Liber AL: II, 70
In the the new commentary for this passage, the matter is clearly elucidated in the context through which i am referencing it:
` ` "Exceed by delicacy": this does not mean, by refraining from so-called animalism. One should make every act a sacrament, full of divinest ecstasy and nourishment. There is no act which true delicacy cannot consecrate. ' '
I think that this is actually quite a simple idea, related in flowery prose & archaic poetry, and used as a symbolic reference to spiritual discipline... similar to my attitude towards the various diet crazes: I think that people will become more healthy if they even begin to work on being aware of what they are putting into their bodies... becoming consciously aware of our eating/drinking/sex/drug/etc. habits is the first step towards shifting our learned behaviours towards a more nutritious/well-balanced/ethical lifestyle! If one's actions are devoted to a "higher" cause, then the pleasures will produce a liberation of energized enthusiasm, rather than the guilt and shame of sin-restriction... q.v. The Law of Liberty for more philosophical rationalizations concerning this perspective. Some of the other major roots for these libertine ideals can be found in the work of Rabelais, which has also been particularly inspirational to me recently.
--
Let's transform our lives with cultural evolution!
--
And although I am delirious from sleep deprivation at the moment and i should just go rest, I feel compelled to mention another one of my personal fascinations... which concerns the ethics of slaughter, whether for food, or concerning the value of human life. And, being the idealist that I am, I also believe in non-violent conflict resolution whenever possible... like the Orang Asli.