Hidden inside our heads, conveyors of thoughts and avenues of meaning: The axons. They operate physically, but their products are also intangible. And one principle seems to guide them: That which they transmit helps us to recognize the familiar and in doing so generates a general peacefulness. Similarity breeds content. Recognizable organization makes us feel secure.
That which is dissimilar breeds discontent. Okay, that’s fair. We recognize ourselves because we are different, so contrast is a part of who we are; contrast generates Self. Yet, while we cherish difference as identity, so many of us seek the comfort of similarity. Thus, groups, gangs, gaggles, and gatherings.
Somehow all those axons in our heads work not only in unison, but also for unison. There’s that inexplicable axiom that is an accepted norm: We are a gregarious species. We don’t have to prove the principle. It is self evident, and because so many have sacrificed so much for the good of others, it might be the principal principle, surpassing in those times of self sacrifice even the principle of self preservation.
Sometime in our development we pass from the baby that cries when someone takes a toy from its hand to the baby that offers a toy to another baby. Sometime in our development we learn to give for no apparent reason other than to give. Yes, caretakers tell children to share, but is that necessary for the first act of sharing, the act that precedes even the age of toddler?
Is there an axiom of altruism that courses as electrical impulses through the axons in our brains? Is gregariousness built into the neuronal transportation system? If it is, then antisocial behavior, selfishness, and cruelty have to be environmental. Maybe. Some, like William Golding, author of Lord of the Flies, would argue for an innate savagery held in check by environment. In his view, bloodlust courses through the axons, the electrical potential releases a deadly lightning strike that only environment, the total nature of a place held in check by custom, rules, and laws, is capable of protecting humans from the shock. Otherwise, each is a self-centered Self with little concern for others.
If you are a neuroscientist, psychologist, or biologist, you might say, “No, this isn’t how it works. There’s no evidence for innate gregariousness, save the built-in protection of the species as evidenced in parents protecting offspring.”
And, hey, who am I to debate the learned? I just wonder, the next time you have either feelings of altruism or feelings of self-centeredness, dislike, or even hate, could you stop for a moment to ask why you feel the way you do? Of course, introspection can mislead. We all know that. But you could picture yourself racing like an electrical potential through an axon, carrying some deep-seated axiom of altruism, or, in the instances of selfishness, finding your channel in the axon interrupted by some imposed environmental inculturation.
I prefer to think that altruism is built in, that we innately care and that all the hate is learned. But we can see that those who hate have comrades in hatred, so there is some principle of cooperating, even if to the detriment of others. For me, the axiom of altruism manifests itself at least partially even in the midst of a group of haters united by their hatred.
Axons convey impulses, and those impulses are subject to quantum effects. In the quantum world connections defy our intuition. Strange things occur. But, “All modern physics, including cosmology, implies interconnectedness and interpenetration of physical reality in space-time,” as Menas Kafatos and Robert Nadeau argue in The Conscious Universe.* Is it possible that the quantum effects generated down the axons of our neurons tie us together and provide the axiom of gregariousness and altruism that many recognize as the highest principle of value, ethics, and morality of our species?
*Springer-Verlag, 1990. p. 93.
That which is dissimilar breeds discontent. Okay, that’s fair. We recognize ourselves because we are different, so contrast is a part of who we are; contrast generates Self. Yet, while we cherish difference as identity, so many of us seek the comfort of similarity. Thus, groups, gangs, gaggles, and gatherings.
Somehow all those axons in our heads work not only in unison, but also for unison. There’s that inexplicable axiom that is an accepted norm: We are a gregarious species. We don’t have to prove the principle. It is self evident, and because so many have sacrificed so much for the good of others, it might be the principal principle, surpassing in those times of self sacrifice even the principle of self preservation.
Sometime in our development we pass from the baby that cries when someone takes a toy from its hand to the baby that offers a toy to another baby. Sometime in our development we learn to give for no apparent reason other than to give. Yes, caretakers tell children to share, but is that necessary for the first act of sharing, the act that precedes even the age of toddler?
Is there an axiom of altruism that courses as electrical impulses through the axons in our brains? Is gregariousness built into the neuronal transportation system? If it is, then antisocial behavior, selfishness, and cruelty have to be environmental. Maybe. Some, like William Golding, author of Lord of the Flies, would argue for an innate savagery held in check by environment. In his view, bloodlust courses through the axons, the electrical potential releases a deadly lightning strike that only environment, the total nature of a place held in check by custom, rules, and laws, is capable of protecting humans from the shock. Otherwise, each is a self-centered Self with little concern for others.
If you are a neuroscientist, psychologist, or biologist, you might say, “No, this isn’t how it works. There’s no evidence for innate gregariousness, save the built-in protection of the species as evidenced in parents protecting offspring.”
And, hey, who am I to debate the learned? I just wonder, the next time you have either feelings of altruism or feelings of self-centeredness, dislike, or even hate, could you stop for a moment to ask why you feel the way you do? Of course, introspection can mislead. We all know that. But you could picture yourself racing like an electrical potential through an axon, carrying some deep-seated axiom of altruism, or, in the instances of selfishness, finding your channel in the axon interrupted by some imposed environmental inculturation.
I prefer to think that altruism is built in, that we innately care and that all the hate is learned. But we can see that those who hate have comrades in hatred, so there is some principle of cooperating, even if to the detriment of others. For me, the axiom of altruism manifests itself at least partially even in the midst of a group of haters united by their hatred.
Axons convey impulses, and those impulses are subject to quantum effects. In the quantum world connections defy our intuition. Strange things occur. But, “All modern physics, including cosmology, implies interconnectedness and interpenetration of physical reality in space-time,” as Menas Kafatos and Robert Nadeau argue in The Conscious Universe.* Is it possible that the quantum effects generated down the axons of our neurons tie us together and provide the axiom of gregariousness and altruism that many recognize as the highest principle of value, ethics, and morality of our species?
*Springer-Verlag, 1990. p. 93.
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