Science is a mode-of-operation that is obviously very useful. However, assuming that it should be the psychological state of a person is an abhorrent error. Science has become so strong in our culture that our very identities are caught up in the scientific vantage point. If one introspects long enough through pragmatic analysis, he will come to a very intricate mental understanding of himself and the world around him. This IS reality for American culture- it is our pragmatic thinking that is continuous in our everyday life, not our biological receptivity and natural response to our environment. Pragmatic thinking in its essence denounces the intelligence of anything but the comprehending mind and thus limits us to a very rigid (though tremendously elaborate) mode of seeing the world.
To frame another description, a human infant is born into the world with his biological perceptions unfiltered by social influence. She does not know what to look for in her environment, and thus she identifies with only her biological vantage point. When she goes to school, she is taught what things are. Yet she does not only learn “dog” and “tree” and mere cultural labels for things, she is taught how to see through a social lens. Eventually, the unfiltered nerve impulses that make up her world are filtered by her cultural lens. This lens in our culture is strictly pragmatic. It is mental analysis that makes up the adult human world, and the biological (infant) way of seeing the world is forgotten. We now warp our natural, biological attention to the needs of our society- which is often at great contrast to our biological needs. This creates a conflict between our natural-biological selves, and our mental-social selves.
I have found that people get tired of this conflict and eventually totally suppress their biological selves. These people thrive on addictions for their energy. They thrive on screaming at each other because of the adrenal-energy this creates. They eat sugar and smoke cigarettes to dull their nervous systems and to feel a certain way so that they can continue to function. They ignore their biological needs, because these needs compete with their contrasting needs to socially operate. Thus, their pragmatic vantage point dominates their lives and they cannot function fluidly. People cannot feel alive and free because they are slaves to their knowledge of the world around them. The creativity of their child-selves is bottled up forever while they see the world from the same dead lens. It is ultimately the balance of the two, analytic thinking and the human organism’s natural intelligence, that creates the harmonious relationships of a person that is whole.
To frame another description, a human infant is born into the world with his biological perceptions unfiltered by social influence. She does not know what to look for in her environment, and thus she identifies with only her biological vantage point. When she goes to school, she is taught what things are. Yet she does not only learn “dog” and “tree” and mere cultural labels for things, she is taught how to see through a social lens. Eventually, the unfiltered nerve impulses that make up her world are filtered by her cultural lens. This lens in our culture is strictly pragmatic. It is mental analysis that makes up the adult human world, and the biological (infant) way of seeing the world is forgotten. We now warp our natural, biological attention to the needs of our society- which is often at great contrast to our biological needs. This creates a conflict between our natural-biological selves, and our mental-social selves.
I have found that people get tired of this conflict and eventually totally suppress their biological selves. These people thrive on addictions for their energy. They thrive on screaming at each other because of the adrenal-energy this creates. They eat sugar and smoke cigarettes to dull their nervous systems and to feel a certain way so that they can continue to function. They ignore their biological needs, because these needs compete with their contrasting needs to socially operate. Thus, their pragmatic vantage point dominates their lives and they cannot function fluidly. People cannot feel alive and free because they are slaves to their knowledge of the world around them. The creativity of their child-selves is bottled up forever while they see the world from the same dead lens. It is ultimately the balance of the two, analytic thinking and the human organism’s natural intelligence, that creates the harmonious relationships of a person that is whole.
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