MORALITY COMES FROM OUR
SOCIAL BRAIN
A
4X4 Nature-Based Context for Existence:
Bruce Eldine Morton, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor,
I. REALITY:
Four Types of Reality Exist for Everyone:
A. External Reality
(What really is happening out there):
External reality is the ongoing, ever-changing,
ever-the-same dialectic universe of extremes that surrounds us. The cosmos independently exists without
design, plan, or purpose in an eternal cycle of explosion and collapse, it is
the sole source of life, death, abundance, opportunity and power.
B. Internal
Reality (How I perceive and interpret it):
This is the sense-based model of external reality
that each unknowingly builds and improves over their lifetime to survive better
in the cosmos. One’s Internal Reality
mirror can provide an increasingly accurate Image of External Reality. But like any reflection, it is not the
absolute truth. Yet, when personal inner
models become accurate enough to cross “The Threshold of Workability”,
one can begin to use them to align with External Reality better and tap it to
meet human survival needs more effectively, thus avoiding death more
successfully.
C. Survival
Reality (Origin of Morality):
As expected, organisms with survival as their
highest priority have naturally been selected over time as the fittest. They are here with their families today. Survival Reality transforms the apathy of
External Reality’s meaningless existence into the zeal of “higher
purpose”. Existence becomes an intense
conflict between Good (God, Holy, Right), defined as the optimization of
the long-term survival of humanity and its living support systems, and Bad
(devil, evil, wrong, sin), defined as harm to the long-term survival of humanity
or to its life-support systems.
D. Cultural
Reality (Source of Memes):
A meme is any idea, model, or belief system
that can be communicated into the Internal Reality of another. Helpful memes save us from starting from zero
at birth. By preventing each generation
from having to reinvent the wheel, they allow us to stand on the shoulders of
our ancestors to survive more optimally. Harmful memes are wishful, inaccurate, short-sighted, or
selfish ideas that keep humanity wandering below The Threshold of Workability.
Although non-genetic, memes are as immortal as life
has been. They cannot readily be
destroyed. However, they can be
displaced by the evolution of new memes that work better to optimize our
survival; just as the car replaced the horse without the need to shoot the
horses. Cultural Progress is the
development and utilization of memes that more efficiently optimize and balance
the Survival of Humanity and its life-support systems. Institutions with selfish memes that harm
humanity retard cultural progress.
II. THE UNIVERSE:
We exist in a cosmos consisting of an endless series of strata, each
level containing unique structural types and laws. The strata of the universe range from the infinite to the
infinitesimal. So far, we have detected
about six levels of physical structure above and six below us.
Math and logic, including induction and deduction,
function well within each level, but not between them. That is, math can neither predict the
emergent properties of the composite types assembled by synthesis into
the next higher level, nor predict the properties of the subunits dissected
into the building block types of the level below. Yet, this does not make the appearance of
their unpredictable properties magical, any more than traffic or a muffler are
supernatural transformations of an automobile.
Different laws predominate at each level. Thus, the laws of electronics
may appear dwarfed by those that emerge at the level of economics.
III. LIFE AND
PURPOSE:
The optimization of the survival of the cell is the source and purpose
of all living behavior. There is no life below the level of
the cell. Sub-cellular organelles,
polymerized in the sea by chemical (RNA) evolution, self-assembled by known
physical rules into replicating cells.
Powerful genetic homeostatic systems have evolved to maintain optimal
cell survival conditions by combating stress at each of the many biological
levels, from the molecular, through the physiologic, to that of institutionalized
social services. From this cell survival-based
genetic determinism there is no escape, except by suicide. However within it, potentially each
individual has:
The Four Great Freedoms of Choice:
A. Do I choose to Reject
the universe as bad; resist it as a victim (Failure certain),
Or, do
I choose to Accept the universe as perfect; go with its flow (Success
sure).
B. Do I choose to use Self-Indulgence
and take my reward now,
Or, do
I choose to use Self-Discipline and defer for a better reward later.
C. Do I choose to serve Myself
(Parasitic: personal gain at long-term cost to society),
Or, do
I choose to serve my Family-Society (Synergistic: greater personal
benefits).
D.
I must choose Who my family is. Do I choose My Family Exclusively,
thus being forced into Reptilian Win-Lose Violence like Hitler? Or, Inclusively, being forced to use
Social Brain Win-Win Nonviolent behavior like Mohandas Gandhi or Martin Luther
King?
How each individual makes these choices over their
life is unique. They describe all past human behavior and accomplishment, from
the most depraved to the sublime.
IV. CONSCIOUSNESS:
A. Good and God:
God-Within is our genetic “Higher
Intelligence”. Although long
acknowledged, God has been misidentified for millennia as external and
supernatural. God-Within is the activity
of the Social Brain element of the Quadrimental Brain*. Operating independently of
usual awareness within the vastness of Primary Memory, it is wise, holy,
pure, and true.
God defines anything that optimizes species survival
as Good. It motivates use of
compassionate Win-Win, Non-Violent Cooperation toward family and society by
rewarding pro-family/social behavior as life’s greatest pleasure. It acts independently of our Ego to punish
antisocial acts as Bad.
Triadism* demonstrates the impossibility of the supernatural, extra-corporeal,
spiritual, and immortal souls. Even as
metaphors, these dualistic memes have failed to identify the true sources of
human harm and suffering, or of growth, happiness, and joy.
B. Evil and the Devil:
The evolutionary heritage of the life-supporting
Reptilian Brain core includes many invaluable ancient genetic survival drives
and instincts. From the narrow
consciousness of this foundational element of the Quadrimental Brain, there is
no past or future, only immediate cell survival right now. To this end, it seeks to control everything
and everybody. If resisted,
instinctively it can escalate the use of physical force up to the level of
killing. In the past, it has provided
effective win-lose, violent strategies against alien competitors.
“The Double Standard”:
From the perspective of group survival optimization, certain instinctive
rules, valid at the Reptilian Brain individual level, such as killing alien
competitors, become totally antisocial at the family level. These are seen as
bad, evil, even diabolic by the Social Brain, God-Within.
C. The Great
Conflict between Good and Evil:
Stress can arouse our Reptilian Brain’s self-survival
instincts, including its “Double Standard”, to harm others as aliens and
enemies, instead of helping them as family and friends. To counteract this, the Social Brain,
God-Within inflicts the “pain of guilt” upon the Reptilian Brain to cause it to
reverse attempts to benefit itself by forcibly perpetrating survival harm upon
others. From our usual consciousness
within the Language Brain, this guilt is felt as “pangs of conscience”.
This mechanism, together with ostracism from
the family or group, was once sufficient to cause an individual to remove the
harm they had caused, regain the acceptance of the family, and restore
symbiosis to the unit.
D. Paradise Lost
and Restored. Choices that make a
Difference:
With population increases and the migrations of the
last few millennia, new possibilities and cultural memes have arisen that tempt
the Reptilian Brain to try to bypass the pain and guilt impose upon it by the
Social Brain for helping itself at others expense. This social short-circuit began when survival
free from familial and social restraint became possible. It became amplified by access to alcohol,
hemp, or opium; products that temporarily replace guilt’s pain and anxiety with
inappropriate feelings of well-being and euphoria.
However, because of cellular homeostasis, tolerance
to pain-killing drugs always develops.
As a result, punishments from the Social Brain always return more
strongly. This requires increased
amounts of drug to suppress the pain, and causes the intense drug seeking that
leads to further crimes against the Nature and Humanity. Once obtained, the higher drug levels
required inhibit the guilt and pain cause increased intoxication. Consequent drunk driving, alone, brings
enormous fatality to us all.
Further, harmful memes also entice the Quadrimental
Brain’s Intellect to rebel against the Social Brain’s emphasis on deferred
gratification and service, and join the Reptilian Brain’s dark side in
indulgence or greed at cost to others.
These memes bring conflict, reproductive irresponsibility, waste,
suffering, and killing on society.
Ironically, they unavoidably backfire to bring personal unhappiness,
alienation, and depression. This leads
to overdose, suicide, incarceration, and harm to many innocent mates, children,
and animals. With the development of
massive production of abusable drugs, multilevel
marketing, and tempting bad memes, this problem has now escalated to a level
that is actively destroying our terrestrial ecosystem and degrading human
society.
E. Who We Are and
Who We can Become:
This depends on how we balance the powerful 1)
Reptilian Brain self-survival element and 2) Godlike Social Brain
species-survival elements of our Quadrimental Brain*. This balance is influenced more by the
strength of our 3) Executive Ego, than by the rationalizations of our 4)
Language-Based Intellect.
Temporary weakening the Executive Ego by fatigue,
drugs, or lasting physical damage (Frontal lobe syndrome) removes its ability
to inhibit the Reptilian Brain’s destructive powers. This can happen to individuals who
intellectually know the “right thing to do”.
Thus, Reptilian Brain self-indulgence is the true gateway to the broad
path spiraling downward to needless conflict, alienation, depression, drugs,
crime, and death.
F. The Balance of our Quadrimental Brain Can be
Shifted towards God and Good:
Even for those who find themselves on that dark
path, their wisdom-filled God- Within still waits, “closer than one’s
breath”. Its alienation against one’s
antisocial acts can be reversed; simply by surrendering to It again. Then, “let Its conscience be the guide” to
restore of the survival of those harmed.
With full restitution, they will freely and delightedly forgive,
accept, and trust once more. Then the
alienated one can return to the warm embrace of family and again use their many
skills in service of humanity.
2003 *http://www2.hawaii.edu/~bemorton, includes
The Triadic Solution of the Mind-Body Problem and the Quadrimental
Brain.
Many of the above concepts
are embedded in 12 Step Programs, such as Alcoholics Anonymous or Overeaters
Anonymous.