Understanding Human Behavior

[amosknows]

Think of yourself for a moment as simply a computer. For those of you familiar with a 2001: A Space Odyssey your name is Hal. You were programmed to survive. All of you actions were originally created to give you a means (without conscious thought) of surviving. You acted entirely via instincts. that is external stimuli and internal needs drove your behavior. There was no thought involved. And you were (at a certain time) simply an animal. You killed without remorse, you hoarded wealth without remorse, you stole without remorse. All of your actions were geared simply toward survival. This is the symbolic Garden of Eden in which men and women were in bliss. The kind of bliss that comes with not being aware that their actions (their behavior) could be “wrong” At some point, however, we evolved. We became more intelligent. The snake in the garden of Eden is a symbol for wisdom - and when we evolved a sufficient wisdom as humans we suddenly became self-aware. We could ascertain that we could replace sharing with stealing; we could replace self-interest with compassion; we could replace violence with peace. In a computer we would call this new self awareness artificial intelligence. But in humans we simply call this awareness consciousness.

The problem with this new consciousness is that the programming that was running all this time, the programming which permitted us to survive instinctively, has not been turned off -it’s still running. It’s running it the background. It still influences our behavior. And it does so silently. It rears it’s head in the form of greed and anger and violence and vanity and selfishness. It controls behavior in many people and they have no idea that it’s even influencing their behavior. What’s more, as humans not all of our programming is the same. There are for example dominant and submissive programs which will develop and influence behaviors according to external stimuli. There are degrees of programming at every level. And all of our programming can be influenced by external conditions such that it will develop in different individuals differently. As it is among animals, our programming develops based upon our environment. Some aspects can be strengthened through continual external stimuli. Some can even be made in to habitual behavior as a result of continual stimuli. Adding to the complexity of human behavior we have the additional component of what I like to call the varying degrees of morality. While this new consciousness permitted us to understand the difference between self-interest and selflessness, between a total lack of compassion and a sense of compassion, between hoarding toward survival and sharing toward survival, the ability to develop a true sense of right from wrong is also available to varying degrees and also developed as a result of external stimuli. That is exposure (for example) to compassion creates a greater sense and urgency of behaving compassionately.

Through out the known history of man, these competing forces upon behavior have been known and they have been expressly symbolized in various ways. It is the classic battle between dark and light and between good and evil. The greatest understanding is found in those symbols in which there is shown physically a weaving of your programming and your moral component. Some examples include the Ying Yang Symbol (as dark and light interwoven), a man hanging (split) by a cross , the Star of David (as two inter-connected triangles of competing degrees. Understanding this duality has been available to many men and yet it often eludes humanity. There are many reasons for this variance and most often depreciation of this understanding. Central to them all is the observance and dedication of our behavior to the programming part itself. Of creating dynamics which are essentially made to satiate internal survival programming. For our need to belong to a pack or a group. Religions, fanaticism, core beliefs in the strongest god or the greatest gods are a by-product of a pre-programmed needs to belong to the strongest pack. Similarly following is a product of dominant and submissive programming. It’s difficult for many people to understand (no less admit) that the reason they belong to any group is not a choice but rather due to an uncontrollable internal need Yet to understand your true inner workings and to be able to distinguish between your programming and your moral abilities is to be enlightened.

www.amosknows.com

[BaalChatzaf]

WTF!!!???? Does this poster have a serious chemical imbalance?

Ba'al Chatzaf

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

This poster is anonymous and his/her blog is anonymous.

The post is nothing more than a repeat of a text on his/her blog.

I will be reviewing further posts from this person before allowing them up.

Meanwhile, I don't mind providing a backlink to his/her blog from our garbage pile.

(This message will be repeated on the other two threads.)

Michael