RE: Extreme Altruism and the Psychopathic Brain.
I think it's much more complex.
My view of people is that they have far more facets than one or the other. Trends: yes. But pure altruists and pure psychopaths I suspect both are in the absolute minority.
What I observe is that there is a fascination for extremes. There is a lot of room on the scale between extreme altruism and extreme egoism. The fascination of dealing with human pathologies is probably due to our interest in investigating human "failure" and finding out about it.
One's own mental condition plays a major role here. If I feel isolated and discouraged in an insecure and dangerous world, I tend to pathologize other people. My willingness to accept someone whom I have identified as the root of an evil is then very small. I do the same thing not only with individuals but with whole groups.
On the other hand, if I feel stable, involved in a community, I am encouraged and my abilities are recognized, my impression of the individual and of groups is different.
The scale is a good visual instrument because it reveals a tensional space between the extremes in which it lives very uncomfortably. Whenever in my daily life, when I feel torn between myself sacrificing myself for others, the point is always inevitably reached where I have to stop doing this and give my egoism the push I need.
As you say, the one who sacrifices himself might therefore even die and the one who thinks only of himself might be isolated from the group. But because life in the modern world is much different from prehistoric times, the visible effects are less extreme.
Basically, the scale viewpoint itself is a narrowing one also and requires that you expand it. Namely to see what is located away from the stress space. Where altruism does not appear in its absolute form, it is called "compassion" and "helpfulness". I'll stick with the latter. "Helpfulness" is a very common and frequently occurring human behaviour. What about psychopathy? The non-extreme form could be called "healthy egoism" and this is also a generally occurring phenomenon. If I now find a good middle way between these two qualities, I do not live under tension but more in harmony. I decide when to help others and when to look after myself. If my well-being is taken care of, I have time and energy for my fellow human beings.
In my opinion, the investigation and examination of my reality cannot take place via the media, but through my connection with what I believe to recognize in my own power of action. For me, the proof that I live out both selfish and helpful parts of my fellow human beings and myself and that I am aware of this is a good indicator of my mental health.
Determining the immediate effects of my actions and omissions in daily life is much more important to me than letting my mentality brood over things over which I have no direct influence (parliamentary decisions, technological developments, etc.). Nevertheless, of course, I have an influence, but this is beyond my control.
I used this extreme example because the scientific article that @valued-customer referred to in his post was a scientific study of the brain and the areas involved. Human beings are certainly not this cut and dried.
We do project our egos onto every situation, especially when we judge. This is part of our survival mechanism. In extreme cases of altruism, that discernment gets suspended. The man who throws himself on a grenade to save his comrades does it instinctively. Those who don't jump are saved while the one who jumped is deleted from the gene pool. The psychopathic general who gave the order to go into battle, kicks back and has a shot of whiskey and calculates his next move while the psychopathic politicians who instigated the conflict are trysting their secretary in a beach-front condo back home.
Exactly right. This is the middle path. We look inward to discover our motivations before we act. Anything else is insanity and a shirking of our responsibility to be human. This is why we have higher brain function, to become aware of our motivations.
Media is not reality. It is only a slice of propaganda, someone else's agenda to be examined and dissected to reveal its hidden message.
I will get back to you on this. Yours is a complex comment and I want to give it the appropriate response. Thanks
Thank you for taking time to answer. You got a lot response on this one.
From the Buddhist approach you should start to "love" the war lord and the "insane ones" as they offer a great teaching :-) I am not saying this is easy. In fact, that is one of the most difficult things to achieve in human relations.
Yes, lots of interest from many minnows and lots of little eyeballs. That's what this is all about for me. It certainly isn't the money. Hah, a little over $1 for all this effort!
I did a ten day Buddhist retreat with this organization. It was one of the best things I have ever done. For one, it's free. There are no fees for the course, meals or even lodging. The whole organization is voluntary and they would rather you serve at one of the retreats than to donate money, which they are also happy to accept. I know there is one in Germany, probably near you. If I ever make it to Thailand, I'll certainly attend one there.
This is a silent retreat. No talking, no reading, no cell phones. They don't even have anything iconic, like statues of the Buddha or mandalas or anything like that. The only thing that smacks of being Eastern is a small gong that a volunteer stikes at 4:30 in the morning to get you up for your 10 hours of daily meditation.
They provide two organic meals, but you cannot eat after noon. Bed time is at 21:00. A dharma talk is provided via video and you do have one opportunity during the day to approach and quietly ask a question of the moderator who sits on a stage and meditates along with the group.
Men and women are fed and housed separately and are also separated in the meditation hall. No commingling for the entire 10 days.
I found out a great many things about myself from this experience. The first thing I learned is that desire is not my stumbling block, but it's mirror image, aversion definitely is. The second thing l learned is that I am filled with fear, though I never would have guessed that if it hadn't erupted from my being as I struggled to sit for an entire hour without moving. That was a crisis I experienced on the 4th day, quite a watershed for me.
Compassion is another thing I struggle with, though I do believe I have the brain circuitry to experience it. I was trained not to be compassionate, that it was a weakness and so relearning how to do this is also difficult. In the evening the group is urged to send compassion out into the world.
At the end of the 10 days I felt that I could probably be content to never leave that temple. I don't know if everyone felt that way. If society were based on S.N. Goenka's meditation retreat model, there would be no scarcity, no excessive wanting, and peace and harmony would rule humanity.
The effects of this 10 day experience lasted at least 2 years. In the beginning I meditated an hour in the morning and then an hour in the evening. I ate healthfully and even quit drinking coffee, which the most addicting drug I've ever encountered (and I've done them all!).
Gradually, however, my meditation waned. I hit some blocks that I couldn't surmount. I needed more guidance but lived where none was available and was unwilling to uproot my life to become a monk, which I feel at this point is the only way for full liberation, which I know is possible from my satori experience in my 20s. Aversion still rules much of my life and compassion is a very dim bulb.
While knowing these things isn't surmounting them, at least I'm aware of my ego when it raises its ugly head. I've learned to let things go and not fret about my failings or gloat on my successes. At my stage of development its all about equanimity and helping others along the path to the best of my abilities in order to save this garden we humans inhabit.
Much of my knowledge is experiential but still intellectual and not visceral as it should be. But I have faith that when the student is ready the teacher will appear. It's happened to me before and it will happen again if that is what is needed. I also know that I cannot force it in that direction and that when I fully ripen I will drop from the tree of my own accord.
This was a very reflective introspective self-analysis. It takes a lot of experience and wisdom to do so realistically. Thanks for sharing.
It is not easy to know the weak points in your own existence so well and to work towards integrating them into your life in such a way that you do not commit self-denial.
Even with a trained and experienced knowledge about the basic rules of life, it is not enough. I buy it from the Buddhists without further ado and find it extremely wise that they are spreading such a conclusive teaching of the Trinity.
We already know the Dharma quite well, but then it is difficult to keep (or even begin to do so) the practice of meditation, and to cultivate a spiritual exchange with people who have a true interest in the value of the maintenance of knowledge in the sense that one talks about the teachings, interpretations, errors, debates. I as a Westerner, on the other hand, am untrained in this kind of thing and usually exchange opinions, or I want to complain and pass on the world's pain to others or stroke my ego - I realize that, when others pass theirs towards me, cause I get frustrated or impatient. The adulation you also spoke of.
I think, however, that I am a quite realistic and clear-thinking person and the experience of life has not made me bitter.
I see some things in common and would say that I definitely lack the "Sangha" and the practice of meditation. Such a retreat experience as you described I would probably not endure to the end.
However, I have the impression that you consider a monastic life and what you associate with it too much as an escape. I think that life on this planet is as it is and empathy and patience with what we are dealing with is essential. The world can only be changed by myself. But you already know that.
It helped me give birth to a child. This is probably the most existential experience I've ever had and it earths me, keeps me on the ground, just like raising a child.
I would be interested in details of your life where you describe experiences that tell a story either at the moment of their creation or in the retrospective. You already have a long life.
Maybe this is going to lead to help aversion and what else you want to work on. Say; the indirect way to deal with it.
Thank you for reminding me that I cannot change the world, only my viewpoint of it. The cosmos contains both good and bad in equal amounts. Energy flows where the mind goes and if we only look for the bad that is what we'll find.
On the other hand, this involves judgement, which I actively try to avoid and yet it's hard to be neutral when confronted with the destruction of the natural world of which I am so enamored and the delusional nature of those who could easily alter that course were it not for all-consuming self-interest.
I was a chiropractor because I wanted to help people learn to deal with their pain, to teach them how to take care of themselves. I quit after 16 years of practice because people just wanted me to fix them the way they go to a mechanic to get their car fixed. I tried to inform them that the body doesn't work that way, that you have to eat right, keep fit and most importantly, stop abusing it. A few responded and their health improved. The vast majority wouldn't or couldn't or weren't interested in exchanging their bad habits for good ones. While my colleagues made lots of money over-treating patients instead of educating them, my entire motivation was to help my patients, not cater to their ills for profit. My general opinion of people suffered greatly from that experience.
Here I am on Steemit trying to do the same thing. I want people to think for themselves, to evolve, to develop critical thinking skills, to reject being enslaved, but people want to feel good about their delusions, not overcome them. They want to see pictures of beautiful sunsets, of kittens and cupcakes and learn better ways to clean their frying pans, trivial stuff that keeps their minds cluttered and closed and focused on inanity.
I certainly can write about that tripe, but I have little motivation to do so. It's very frustrating.
In the end, this desolate outward quest to inform has taught me that perhaps the monastic life of quiet self-contemplation in quietude is the only journey worth undertaking; that all I can do is to let it all go and feel compassion for the mentally blind and this beautiful planet as it quietly dies under their weight.
It makes me wonder, though, why I was given this gift of communication if it is to fall only on deaf ears. I suppose in the big picture none of this matters a whit. Thanks for this opportunity to vent.