The Real Simple Life

A friend recently sent me an email, annoyed at the lack of creativity and foresight displayed by a few people with whom he is acquainted.  His tone was slightly accusatory, bemoaning what he felt was limited and narrow thinking.  He wrote, "I think that we can be much like simple organisms in our response to the world.  We sense cold, and we move away.  We sense warmth and we are encouraged toward it.  We move toward acceptance and away from rejection.  We move towards those who understand us because they validate us and make us feel good about ourselves.  It has been suggested that there is a higher energy or a higher intelligence in the world, and that it seeks a response from us." Below is my response:  

I do believe that for the most part, the world view is very narrow.  This is not meant as a putdown or a sad commentary on the woeful state of the world.  In the larger view of evolution (or intelligent design) homo sapiens sapiens is hardly past the amoeba stage.  We are basically very simple organisms and the race consciousness still hasn't reached much beyond basic survival, although progress (whatever that is -- and its definition will differ considerably depending on one's own proclivities) is being made. 

Hominids have been evolving for five million years.  That's approximately 250,000 generations.  Rudimentary stone tools only came into use about two million years ago (100,000 generations).  Full mastery of fire is thought to have taken place only about 200,000 years ago.  The Great Leap Forward, when finer tools, societal organization and language (e.g. culture) began to take shape, took place a scant 50,000 years ago.  Art appeared only about 40,000 years ago.  The agricultural revolution occurred 10,000 years (400 generations) ago.  The industrial revolution, which truly provided for more wealth, better health, stability, education of larger numbers of people, and leisure time, has only affected human evolution for about a dozen generations.  And now we have the very young information revolution, spanning only about a generation and a half.   

Evolutionary time is generational time, not clock time.  It takes huge effort to create change.  According to Paul R. Ehrlich, "...Only very strong selection pressures, involving great disparities in reproductive success, would produce much change in 400 generations, let alone 12 generations.  It is thus reasonable to assume that to whatever degree humanity has been shaped by genetic evolution, it has largely been to adapt to hunting and gathering - to the lifestyles of our pre-agricultural ancestors."  (Ehrlich, Human Natures: Genes, Cultures and the Human Prospect, 2002, pg. 166)

Until the cultivation of food became the dominant means of survival (and requiring group cooperation for its success) our predecessors were hunter/gatherers.  Basically, their attention was focused on survival.  That boils down to the obtaining of food, reproduction, and the avoidance of anything that might shorten one's ability to undertake either of those activities.  For tens of thousands of years, "modern" hominids focused their attention on increased productivity of their hunting and gathering techniques.  They moved around a lot,  constantly having to adapt to new and changing environments.  It was a subsistence existence.  There's not much of an opportunity to contemplate one's navel in those circumstances.   

The average group size is believed to have been about 25-50 individuals, largely familial in origin (observe siblings who want the same toy!).  Eventually, groups grew to 100-200.  Then larger tribes of 500-1,000 individuals sharing a common language began to gather, and creation mythology began. 

Eventually, the need to defend resource territory and enhance mating opportunities decreased with the recognition that survival was enhanced with group cooperation.  Intellect and skill began to be appreciated and valued over brute strength.  But we still retain a dominance hierarchy.   

Homo sapiens still is basically a small group animal, according to Ehrlich. 

I take that to mean that we're trying to adapt our tribal, small group natures into a complex societal structure and we haven't had the time to adapt to our rapidly changing surroundings.  In moving into that "global" societal structure we're abrogating the ancient wisdom for a much thinner and less developed psyche, becoming more insular rather than remembering our integral natures. 

There are those who believe that observance of the ancient ways is essential to maintaining our connection with our souls and higher purpose.  Those ancient teachings are the deepest repository for  our core, or root values.  My experience tells me that there is wisdom in that viewpoint.   We lose the tools for progress when we deny our ancient souls.  A good ritual can transform one and release the angst and anxiety of our current world through the remembrance of those core values.

I think we all share the experience, DNA, etc., of our ancestors.  It's part of us; it's the way we're coded.  We basically haven't changed much since The Beginning.  Many human attitudes and behaviors are similar regardless of culture, gender, economic environment, etc.  The primary drive still is survival.  That survival, despite our ability to do so with comparative ease, is very basic.  Our hominid focus is still eating and copulating, and the effort to acquire food and copulation partners.  To that extent, we're still pretty territorial.  People really haven't evolved past the primal need or want to  have their subsistence urges satisfied, regardless of the fact that they can do so in relative luxury and comfort now -- at least in our society.  We simply don't know how to incorporate those basic drives into a finer and more diverse human experience.   

Still, I'm an optimist.  I absolutely believe that there is an infinite something that calls us to itself.  And I believe that we are wired to hear that call and to respond to it.  But, our focus on survival, which race consciousness has not yet outgrown, keeps us from hearing the still small voice.The Gita warns that the addiction to sensory experiences is the greatest diversion keeping us from the awareness of our union with the Divine.  All of the world's great scriptures pretty much teach us the same.  Those scriptures and their teachers and followers have been around for millennia, although their teachings have been distorted beyond recognition.

According to Dr. David Hawkins, today only about four percent of the world's population truly and deeply contemplates the immanent and transcendent.   Interestingly, throughout history the mystics and spiritualists have been in the minority among cultures.  Their existence only began to emerge when creation mythology began to emerge.  Therefore, the contemplation of the divine is in its infancy in our world - or at least in this cycle of the world's life (I tend to believe that we all have passed this way more than once before).  Their wisdom about the world beyond the gritty day to day gives their tribes and clans hope.  The larger population of the group focuses on the dirty work of just living.  But they turn to their mystics to provide a moral compass to relieve the pressure of basic survival struggles and the brutality of sensory-based subsistence.  So, there is hope for a brighter future because there is a Truth that beckons us from someplace.  Thankfully, there are some who hear that call and respond to it.    

Still, I think there's nothing wrong in the simplistic life of the amoeba.  To be attracted to warmth and light and to be repulsed by the cold darkness seems to be as basic to life as DNA.  Assuming, that is, that life really is defined by the presence of DNA and by and active consciousness or sentience.  And, since we don't know anything about what we can't perceive, we can't possibly know whether the amoeba is or isn't any better off than we are.  In the basic structure of all that is, I think perhaps the amoeba has the benefit of something we more complex organisms have lost.  The holy texts have always invited us to move toward the light and to lead a simpler life. 

Karen E. Kelsay © 2007  All rights reserved.