The Genetic Argument: Understanding that Social Advancement is our Collective Responsibility

American neuroscientist, Dr. Robert Sapolsky, states that there is a widespread and dangerous notion that has taken root in our dominant scientific understanding of human behavior.  The notion is we believe that human behavior is genetically determined.  This deterministic view of life suggests life is rooted in biology and genetics, that we are our genes, and that genes cannot be changed.  This notion is used to support the view that human nature is governed by an innate self-interest, a trait we developed through evolution.  This notion suggests that mental health conditions, addictions, most of our physical disease, and or violence could be explained in respect to our genetic inheritance.  This is a dangerous notion because if we suppose this to be true we do not have to worry about changing the social pre-conditions that fosters social dysfunction.

Dr. Gabor Mate, a physician and addiction specialist, states that this is the "genetic argument."  It allows us the luxury of ignoring past and present historical and social factors as they relate to our modern day social ills.  Dr. Mate, Dr. Sapolsky, and others, believe that the genetic argument is a cop out.

"Most complex conditions might have a predisposition that has a genetic component, but a predisposition is not the same as a per-determination." - Dr. Gabor Mate

Gabor Mate suggests that no condition is solely genetically determined.  He understands that there is a genetic influence, but his claim is that the environment in which we live in and take part in determines, ultimately, which genes will express themselves and which will not.  In support of this claim he highlighted a breast cancer study that found that for every 100 women with breast cancer, only 7 of these women will carry the breast cancer gene.  And out of all the women who do have the breast cancer gene, not all of them will get breast cancer.  It would seem logical then to state that the stressful and toxic environment in which we live has a greater influence over the development of breast cancer than the genetic influence itself.

Given our stressful way of life we allow our genetic predispositions for violence, apathy, and greed to explode into epidemic proportion.  I will go into the social institutional influences in a latter post, but as we start to explore this topic I suggest we start looking at the importance of childhood.  British researcher, Richard Wilkinson, states that child rearing strongly effects gene expression.  I feel that Dr. Mate and Dr. Sapolsky would agree.  It is scientific fact that within the first five years of life most of our neuronal connections undergo development [source].  Childhood is the point in the human lifespan where we are most susceptible to the ills of our society.

There is a term in neuroscience called Neural Darwinism.  The term suggests that the brain circuits that get the appropriate input from the environment will develop optimally, and if these neural circuits do not get the proper input they will not develop properly or at all.  So for example, if you put a child with perfectly good eyesight at birth in a dark room for five years this child will be blind for the remainder of his or her life.  This is because the circuits for vision require light waves for their development.  Without this light the vision circuits become weak and eventually die [source].

In a significant way our early experiences shape our adult behavior and dispositions.  Note that physical input, as well as emotional input, from the environment influences neuronal development and gene expression within children.  So therefore, if children are not raised in a way where they are safe and compassionately engaged they grow up to see the world as an insecure and untrusting place.  They become "wired" this way.

Each parental experience is the gateway into future, not only for their offspring, but for their community and beyond.  I understand we live a stressful life, but our adversity as parents is passed onto children.  Our emotional disposition, after a stressful day, gets passed onto our children.  How nurturing or how apathetic we our towards our children paints the picture of how children will develop to see, experience, and relate to the world.  Our genomes can be expressed in a multitude of ways.  Some genes become activated while others stay dormant.  Yet this process depends on how we develop within our environment after birth [as well as while we are in the womb].  That is why parenting is one of the most important social responsibilities.

We need to understand that our societies most violent criminals were victims of forms of substantial child abuse.  Violent people are not just violent because they are "wired" that way.  Society breeds violence.  Communities breed violent people.  People breed violent people.  And if we are going to progress socially we need to all become responsible for the way in which our society operates.

We need to realize that we pattern our social and political arrangements according to the dominant vision of our physical reality.  And as it stands now our dominant view of reality is that people are "the way god made them," or that "they just are the way they are," or that a person is mentally ill because their "disease" is "genetically determined."  For how long are we going to stay in denial and stay stubborn?  Isn't it time to observe and question our dominant views of reality?  If we are going to create a great society we need to.

The Buddha argued that everything depends on everything else.  The "leaf contains the sun, the sky, and the Earth." And in terms of human development and progress everything is connected.  The same goes with genetic expression.  Our genetic expression changes in tandem with the evolution of our collective social ideologies.

There is undoubtedly a genetic contribution as to how we respond to our environment, but there is also something about the human experience that gives us power over inheritance.  That power exist in the form of awareness and choice.  Herein lies our ability to influence the evolution of our species.  I feel that this is a moral dilemma because it has to do with our collective will and intention.

Essentially, we are one human community and if we do not take individual and communal responsibility for the ills we see in society we will never progress and move forward out of this violent and cruel dog eat dog world.  It is not our inherent nature to be purely self interested.  So I ask all of us, myself included, can we expand our perceptions and take responsibility for what we see?  At this critical juncture in human civilization it is of utmost importance to do the best we can to create supportive, nurturing, and symbiotic environmental structures if we want the prosperous future we really desire


Links to the researchers in this post:
Dr. Gabor Mate
Dr. Robert Sapolsky
Dr. Richard G. Wilkinson

A Movement Towards The Enlightened Society

"Seeking enlightenment for oneself is egotistical. True enlightenment occurs when all of mankind is enlightened." - Michael St. Clair

I want to clarify and expand on some points that Michael St. Clair brought up here. Firstly, his emphasis that enlightenment is only a group experience, exemplifies the "oneness" nature of all of existence. The "oneness" experience may be felt individually, but it will not be sustained (on a very deep level) until it is felt by the general mass. Mankind in itself is one entity.

At this point in time our cumulative actions are, for the most part, directed by a dominant paradigm. Yes, different parts of the world function in different ways, but at the end of the day our similarities are more prominent than our cultural differences.  More than that, we are all living a life that is controlled, to some degree, by the world bank and the elite that impose economic, judicial, and social "sanctions" on the general population.

For the most part we all function under western economic principles. Except for a few indigenous tribes, that still live in harmony with our planet, we have on a collective level devised a society that honors particular principles that dispose "seperationism." We still live by "survival of the fittest" principles.  We are governed by rules that prioritize monopolized profits of general wellness.  Although I feel that we can possibly change the system from in the inside out through direct democracy [events like the occupy movement].  But living in the midst of an economic system that thrives off of never ending profit and never ending growth leaves me to believe that the only way through this mess is through unity.  Yeah, that simple old principle.  The industrial military complex attempts to strangle us in fear, pining each other against each other.  But only when we realize how important our unity is comes the day when we will see past the illusory strong hold that the elite have over this world.  Why not peer into the mind....and see where this illusion started to begin with....

We separate ourselves with ideas...you are a Christian, I am a Muslim...you are rich, I am poor. And so on. These cultural dogmas upkeep the status-quo, which perpetuates separation.  Now if we are psychologically separated through adhering to our social institutions, do we not play out the same separated relationship with the Earth. Typically, what we produce from the inside becomes our reality on the outside and if we are thinking and acting from a place of adhered too "separatism" we must believe we are separated from the Earth. Therefore the feeling of experiential oneness, in a collective state, is not occurring under the current paradigm. Now, are their consequences to this?

Our Science, has for quite some time now, has discovered the effects of our interactions with the Earth (given our current way of being). Our inner reality has created an outer reality to whereas we are out of balance with the ways of the Earth. We demand more from the Earth than the Earth can supply us with. And the insatiable ways of the ego...its ability to separate us from one another and the endless desires that it perpetuates (due to an existential void that it creates) has created an outer world to whereas we are running a society that is "unsustainable" (not in sync with the movements of the Earth). Again, the inner reality has caused this outer reality.

This is not to say their is not enough resource that we are to be provided with to ensure our survival...yet there is not enough for an ego inflated populous which is taught to derive its satisfactions from the hoarding of material, of which happens to be unsustainably acquired. Mankind than, as one entity, is dissociated from the Earth because we have lost communication with our own inner sixth sense. The ego keeps us within our minds and cut off from our ability to function beyond mind...into realms deeper than we can currently experience. The ego quiets our ability to communicate from soul level, and it takes soul communication to empathize with the ALL, with the human race, with the Earth.

What is enlightenment than really? Of course enlightenment is not something that can be understood in the mind. There is no IQ test for enlightenment and even in my experiences some of the most enlightened entities that I have come across have not been that "academically intelligent" (for in their hearts they had a knowing to move away from conventional teachings for they knew, without even thinking, that these conventional teachings were detached from spirit). I know we have all come across "enlightened beings." Those are the people who are awoken to their inner feeling reality. The thing is, if one does not go within they can not understand the outer reality in its entirety. The reason for this is that the outer reality is understood through the inner experience. The outer reality becomes manifest through our inner relation to it (and it is our degree of "going within" that produces a conscious society or an unconscious society - too not go within, you go without). And if our current inner relation to the outer reality goes unsensed (to a large varying degree) becuase we submit to a cultural authority that is prescribed to us than how are we going to manifest an outer reality that is consciously our own, that is enlightened, and that is not just a creation of those "in power."

---------------Back to Observing "Enlightenment"---------------

Individual entities (individual people) can be "enlightened," it is just they do not think about it. They do not see themselves as enlightened for they know that they are not their thoughts, not their ego identifications and the like. They are the "oneness." Yes they can understand the illusion of their individuality, yet they know that on an absolute level that they are the grandeur, the oneness, the all. So essentially, if someone declares to you that they are enlightened they are rather confused to what enlightenment means. To be enlightened is a humbling experience for it takes you away from your ego. In this sense there is no confirmation to "know" if you are enlightened. It is just a state that simply is...nothing more. So if we keep striving to become "enlightened" we will never become the energy which the word tries to describe.

Rather instead on focusing to become "enlightened" it is important we focus on making the practical implications of the oneness realization. This will bring the society into an "enlightened" state, and from there we may experience experientially the collective enlightenment through our own individual experiences (I think this is what St. Clair was trying to talk about). The thing is, if the majority of people are still asleep to the notion that all is one...if the majority of people still identify and function through ego identification our society will remain "unenlightened"...and the movement of spiritual awakening will slow.

Can "enlightenment" for an individual truly exist if the society is not itself enlightened. The thing is...in a way it can, yet for it to be fully realized it needs to be a collective experience. A person can be of dual nature...that is they can understand experientially both living through the ego and living through the oneness. This is an important undertaking pre-2012 and beyond era. For when we know both how the ego functions and how the oneness feels we can "bridge the gap" between being an unconscious society (an "unenlightened" society) to a conscious society (enlightened society). We will also be undergoing a cosmic influence that pushes our boundaries as to what we thought we are, what we thought we are doing on this planet, and what our purpose was in this existence. To me this is what 2012 is all about it. It is not the end of time (the end of days)...but it is the end of "time" (the end of clock time and the illusory reality that it creates). No doubt there are Earth Changes ahead...but in the words of St.Clair..."If we know our future...can we change it?" Can we realize our purpose by seeing how the future is shaping out to be? Or will we continue to submit to a reality that is prescribed to us.  A reality that perpetuates the illusion, the divide, and all of the effects that come with separation?

The words I write before you, to me, are in no way depressing. For it is an existential realization that brings greater harmony in our own lives. And we first must witness the inner reality to really witness the outer reality.

Yet there is something I am witnessing. There is a movement going on here, especially with the younger generations. People are beginning to realize the unconsciousness and the separation that the current system prescribes. Their is an inner build up of awareness that people are beginning to witness from within. They may not know how to put words on this...but there is tension building...for the soul knows what needs to unfold.  So because the inner aspect of our being is realizing that it is not nourished it will push you, and the world, to become unified and at peace...even if that means completely flipping your life upside down.

It is the spark that starts the fire (the transformation), but it is the sustaining fuel source that allows the fire to happen.  The momentum generated from the planetary awakening is that sustaining fuel...yet, it is the moment in ones life where he or she must choose to see "truth" or stay unconscious that defines how the monumental changes ahead of us will affect their life.  2012 and beyond is that the spark...