Do Unto Others as You Would Have Them Do Unto You
The way that most “Western” people see it, this means don’t do something to someone that you would not want done to you. This makes good plain sense: Hitting someone makes them likely to respond by hitting you back, when you yell at someone they often raise their voice to match or surpass yours; in the same way, smiling at another person will most times get a smile in return, people laugh when they hear others laugh. Everyone will have their own reasons for why they respond to a situation the way they do, but the response is one of imitation far more often than not, regardless of the specifics of the moment.
Humans are fundamentally imitative – it is as if we are still little kids, mimicking everything we see and hear, especially if it gives us some sort of pleasure, because we feel some need to learn as much as we can as quickly as possible to increase our chances for survival, leisure, food, pleasure, comfort, power, freedom, etc. That is because in some ways we ARE still children - barely able to walk around steadily, without falling over or bumping into things, maturing and growing - but, unlike in the biological growing process, we have a say in how and when and how fast we grow as a species.
We – who is this “we”? Trailing the pronouns back to the last specific plural noun subject, “we” signifies “most ‘Western’ people.” I only wrote that because that is the sphere I am most familiar with. I do not suggest that people in the “West” are like children in any derogatory way (hell, some of my best friends are children), nor do I mean to suggest that “Eastern” peoples are more “mature” or “wiser” than “we” are. It is certainly possible that, in the rather simplistic and not terribly accurate splitting of all-things-human into “West” and “East” (or any two-poled categorization system, for that matter), “we” are less mature in some things than “they” are, and so it therefore stands to reason that “we” also surpass “them” in some things.
In fact, I mean to suggest that “we” actually refers to all humankind. I would even go so far as to say that recognition of the unity of Humanity in such as way that it becomes a basic assumption in every person regardless of cultural background - so basic, so “no duh” that it is scarcely even considered or talked about for any length of time (like people don’t really sit around thinking too much about the air, which is a constant common to all, unless they are an environmentalist) - is the next step Humanity has to make on the collective path to maturity.
I have used the word “maturity” here a couple of times – but what do I mean by that? The word means completeness and fullness of a natural growth cycle, with earlier usages meaning ripeness; it is akin to the word “manes,” which was a Latin term for the departed souls of the dead, literally “the good ones.” I would say that the steps in the evolution of Humanity considered as a single entity have their parallels in the steps human beings take along the path from infancy to adulthood, to maturity.
The modern day finds Humanity in similar circumstances to that of a child that is just becoming aware of their body as separate from the world around them. This puts us at, what, around 2 or 3 years of age? Right around the time a 2-year old begins to walk, they begin to utilize and compete for space and territory. It is as if the moment of realizing that “I” am not “that” or “you” carries with it a momentum, a hunger that leaves us wanting even more freedom while at the same time all but terrifying us into catatonia or panic. The sense of separateness fills us with a longing for union and a desire for freedom at the same time.
At this stage in our development, humans have organized themselves into nation-states, a concept that came into its own in the 20th century (even though we start the millennium with some monarchies still around - holdovers from the 19th century). Each nation defines itself, with defined geographical, cultural, linguistic, etc. boundaries, and then deals/competes with other nation-states for various purposes of gain.
Each nation-state has its own character or personality, running the gamut from needy to bullying, generous to niggardly, just like human children.
As children grow older and develop, they come together to form groups and bands, sometimes of their own volition and sometimes imposed by outside sources (what class in school, neighbors, etc.). Human nation-states form treaties and alliances of economic, military, diplomatic, etc. blocs, which would actually put some nations at around 7 or 8, while others are still struggling to form identities, such as the Palestinian Authority, which brings the age of Humanity-as-a-whole down a bit to, let us say, 5 or 6 (taken as a global average).
Yet there is a danger in using only one metaphor to describe something as complex as Humanity for there is the temptation to fudge the data in order to fit the model. Another model I have found useful the 8 Circuit Model developed by Dr. Timothy Leary. Say what you will about Dr. Leary, but in a world where people ardently adhere to the incoherent writings of the madman Nostradamus, and people blow themselves up for an ethereal promise of a harem in the afterworld, I certainly have no problem taking the ideas of a former Harvard professor and one of the pioneers of group psychology under consideration. I find this model to be useful in seeing where we have been and are as a species, and where we might possibly be heading.
The 8-Circuit Model of Consciousness
In brief, Leary suggests 8 “circuits” or modes of behavior and perception for the brain (also called gears or mini-brains), divided into a lower 4 circuits, and an upper 4 circuits (which are correlated to the lower ones: I to V, II to VI, III to VII, and IV to VIII); in between the lower and upper four circuits there is an intermediate stage. One may consider the circuits as a progression, with the first one activated (“imprinted”, in Leary’s terminology) around six months of age and the fourth circuit around the early teens; most adult humans do not spontaneously imprint the upper 4 circuits.
Circuit I is the most basic one – it is the oral stage, a one-dimensional tunnel reality of “go towards good things, go away from or attack bad things.” Imprints around six months of age, after the initial neural “shearing” process that reduces the number of connections in the brain to half of what they were (this number of connections remain fairly constant for the remainder of the person’s life). Known neurotransmitters include opium and heroin. Sense of self in limited to the body and immediate surroundings in contact with the body; passive; initial ideas of self. “I” am (cold, warm, frightened, hungry, etc.). Physical Intelligence. Operates within the organism itself. Its primary goal is safety.
Circuit II imprints around the time a child starts to walk. It is associated with emotional dominance, spatial manipulation, pecking order, and the like. In adult life, this extends into the realm of politics and other dominance-hierarchy systems. The neurotransmitter is alcohol. Sense of self extends to include territory; the extension of self through space. “I” am “my” things/space. Emotional Intelligence. Operates within belief systems. Primary goal is Herd Security. All mammals imprint the first 2 circuits.
Circuit III gets its imprint around the time the child begins to talk. It deals with the manipulation of symbols for communication through time. These include language and any other skills that have lasting effect, especially beyond the life of a person. The neurotransmitters include caffeine, speed, high protein, and cocaine. Sense of self extends further to include language and other symbol manipulation systems; the extension of self through time. “I” am my language, words, concepts. Conceptual Intelligence. Operates within conceptual frameworks. Primary goal is Hive Sanity.
A person receives their Circuit IV imprint around the time of their first non-self-induced orgasm. It regulates the person’s identity as a sexual being, as well as their larger place in the social and moral organisms. There is no know neurotransmitter for this circuit (though Ecstasy may come close), but it is chemically triggered by the glands during pubescence. Sense of self extends to superorganisms (nationality, religion, etc.) and sexual identification. Extension of self through memes and superorganisms, as well as through biological reproduction. “I” am my sexual role and morals. Social Intelligence. Operates within a code of ethics. Primary goal is socio-sexual role/niche.
That’s pretty much where natural human development ends at this stage in our evolution. I would suggest that different cultures are currently going through different stages in a sort of evolution of superorganisms that parallels individual human development. Some countries are still struggling with basic sustenance issues (Circuit I), others competing for land/power (Circuit II), others trying to find ways to express themselves through spacetime (III), and a few are currently dealing with their moral/ethical identity. Obviously, all of these issues are being dealt with by every country – I mean only that one is currently being emphasized in each nation-state.
The nation-states of the wealthy industrialized West are presently struggling for their Circuit IV identity. We see an increase in legal issues (Circuit III expression of Circuit IV concerns), various human rights (homosexual marriage/adoption, abortion, equal suffrage, workers’ rights, the elimination of racism, etc.), and much heated public debate over what is or is not appropriate behavior and what is or is not appropriate punishment for inappropriate behavior. One problem with our current legal system is that it is filtered through Circuit II dominance concerns.
The next step is the decent into the Abyss, the Long Dark Night of the Soul (where it is always 3 o’clock in the morning, F. Scott Fitzgerald tells us), the Chapel Perilous.
Each step to a higher circuit involves an expansion of contexts and a subsequent expansion of the sense of self. We start off concerned only with what flits before our eyes and getting comfort, food, and sleep, and we grow into beings that weld together into various superorganisms, driven by ideas (memes), communicating information through many generations, utilizing every single thing we come across in the pursuit of one meme or another. The next step, from Circuit IV consciousness to Circuit V, involves a radical expansion of self and contexts as well as a sublimation of same. This precipitates a crisis, in which all the comfortable truths and realities of our various tunnel-realities are called into question, plus no clear indication of what comes next. It is a form of ego death, and it scares the bejeezus out of everyone who goes through it. It is a negative activation of Circuit V. Yet this stripping away of outside certainties is as natural a step in the evolutionary process as all the previous steps. We prepare ourselves to take control of our own perceptions, eventually shifting perspectives at will. The Land on the Other Side of the River, the mental state one enters after calling all previous truths into question and confronting the fear of death and separation in a very physical sense, is that of Circuit V.
Circuit V correlates to Circuit I inasmuch as it has to do with the body. But instead of a consciousness that becomes aware of itself contained within a body with specific temporal-spatial coordinates, it is a sense of consciousness integrated with the body (or rather, that previous ideas of a body separate from consciousness were simplistic and ultimately fallacious – there is no “reunion” because there was never any separation to begin with: It is our perspective that has changed). It is the psyche-soma (what Ken Wilbur calls the Centaur stage).
In Circuit V consciousness, the primary contextual focus is the body system, which includes the mind. All other reality-views are sublimated and contained within this context. “I” am my psyche-somatic system. Signals are received directly from the outside world, without the survival imprints of the previous four circuits. Matters of nourishment, comfort, territory, language and other symbolic communication systems, ethics, morality, and sexuality are all considered within the context of the self as a conscious participant in a spatial-temporally defined biological organism. Conscious control of previously automatic psyche-somatic operations is part of this mode of consciousness with the aim of eventual somatic reprogramming. It is associated with feelings of physical and mental bliss, “being high,” and the like. The Zen metaphor is walking “one foot above the ground.” The neurotransmitter is THC, as well as certain yogas. It is hedonistic in nature. “I” am this specific mental-physical body and the signals it receives and transmits. Sensory Intelligence. Operates within the realm of the body’s (5) senses. Primary goal is total body control and permanent body rapture.
I maintain that this is the next main step for humanity. Once the issues of the first four circuits are satisfactorily worked out, we enter into the Dark Night of the Soul, and emerge into Circuit V consciousness. This is true for individual humans (made up of cells) and well as for individual superorganisms (made up of people and memes). We in countries such as the US are currently involved in Circuit IV issues, and then we shall enter the Dark Night, and then Circuit V. This will be partly the result of genetic engineering and the like, partly the result of an overall evolutionary trend, partly the result of cultural/economic cross-fertilization, et al.
At the same time, we see the nation-state as an organizing principle beginning to erode, yet no new forms for superorganism structuring are on the table for discussion yet. Perhaps the Internet will give us some clues. New consciousness requires new tools for expression and organization.
One idea that it would be most useful to embrace is that of the unity of Mankind. We all bleed red, we all have to breathe, to eat, to sleep. We all get ill and, most importantly, we all die and we are all aware of the fact that we are going to die. This is the essence of the human condition. The differences we have in culture, language, religion, philosophy – all the various ways the first four circuits express themselves – are simply different styles of dealing with the essential human condition.
The present day goal of forward-thinking people ought to be the encouragement of this mode of consciousness and expression, in order to facilitate the combination of the various human superorganisms into a larger, whole superorganism. Cooperation combined with competition beats simple competition any day. A + B > A or B (obviously).
We are cells in a larger being AND are also beings in our own right.
Doing unto others IS doing unto ourselves.
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