Learned Behavior
Although competitive behavior has been with us for thousands of years, much of this behavior has been consciously programmed into us from childhood on by our parents, schools, athletics programs, governments, even our churches, and many other respected institutions. To paraphrase Alfie Kohn, competition has been a part of the subtext of almost every lesson we have learned. No wonder it seems natural. Having something reinforced and promoted over thousands of years deeply ingrains it in our nature. But the examples in this chapter support the view that some of this programming is learned; and suggest that it is possible to unlearn it, and evolve to a less destructive and more productive way of being.
In 1937, in one of the largest studies on competition in its time, psychologists Mark A. May and Leonard Doob concluded: “Human beings by original nature strive for goals, but striving with others or against others are learned forms of behavior. Neither of these two can be said to be the more genetically basic, fundamental or primordial.” To this we can add the thoughts of sports psychologists Thomas Tutko and William Bruns: “People are not born with a motivation to win or to be competitive. We inherit a potential for a degree of activity, and we all have the instinct to survive. But the will to win comes through training and the influences of one’s family and environment.”
Clearly, competitive behavior has been programmed into us, and become part of our human nature. Now let’s consider the possibility that we can alter this deep programming.
Human Genetics Research
Cellular biologist Dr. Bruce Lipton, in his research on human genetics, provides evidence that our genes do not ultimately control our behavior. This evidence goes against one of the popular beliefs about biology, that our genes determine our traits and behaviors, which are therefore largely predetermined. For over fifty years, many scientists, with the assistance of the media, have presented as scientific fact this idea of our fates being written in our genetic code.
As a result, many people do believe that we are genetically preprogrammed, and therefore have little control over our behavior. This view is the scientific Nature side of the classic Nature versus Nurture debate. The Nurture side believes that human behavior is mostly determined by conditioning. The truth likely includes a mixture of both.
Cutting-edge cellular biologists like Dr. Lipton now recognize that our environment and, more importantly, our perceptions of our environment strongly affect the activity of our genes. We have tendencies toward certain behavior, but these tendencies aren’t immutable. Even if the potential for aggressive, competitive behavior is encoded in our DNA, it isn’t necessarily our destiny.
This new research indicates that, rather than being at the mercy of our genes, our behavior is also influenced by what we perceive to be our environment. Our genes are turned on and off by our perceptions and beliefs, whether these perceptions and beliefs are true or false. As we saw earlier with regard to scarcity, what we perceive as real doesn’t have to be real to affect our behavior. Experiencing fear doesn’t mean danger is present; yet we feel and may even act as if we are in danger. Believing something is true doesn’t make it objectively true, yet it does seem to make it appear real subjectively. This new research suggests that cells respond to our perceptions by triggering either growth, or protective behaviors. If our perceptions are accurate, the resulting behavior is generally beneficial to us. But if we are operating from misperceptions, our behavior will likely be inappropriate and lead to undesirable results.
Learned perceptions, especially those derived from parents, peers, academic education, advertising, religion, or propaganda, may be based upon incorrect information or faulty interpretations. We often run into problems with religious, political, or philosophical beliefs, since people may act on these beliefs as if they were fundamental truths despite valid and even overwhelming evidence to the contrary. People tend to become dogmatic around their beliefs. The good news is that perceptions and beliefs can be relearned. We can alter our behaviors by retraining our consciousness.
This understanding of what influences our behavior has deepened with the completion of the Human Genome Project. In 1990, the Human Genome Project undertook an ambitious goal, to map the entire human genetic code, a project finished in 2003. Before scientists completed mapping the genetic code, there was general agreement that an organism as complex as a human would have approximately one hundred thousand genes. By comparison, a microscopic organism such as a roundworm has eighteen thousand genes. To their surprise, and probable dismay, the geneticists of the Human Genome Project found that humans had only about twenty-five thousand genes, far too few to control our biology and behavior. Genetically, we are not much more complex than a microscopic roundworm! Talk about humbling. Because of the relatively small number of genes found, we can’t attribute our individual character to genetic programming.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Human Nature & the Evolutionary Process, Part 2
Survival of the Fittest?
Because this competitive model has dominated for so long, many people believe that we are aggressive and competitive by nature and nothing can be done to change this behavior. The idea that human nature is inherently competitive received validation in the mid-1800s from the work of Charles Darwin. With his theory of evolution, Darwin presented a vast body of evidence that all life on Earth evolved over millions of years from a few common ancestors. This evolution occurred through a process called natural selection. From his research and observations, Darwin noted that possessing certain traits increased a species chance of survival; a higher percentage of animals with these traits would survive and, through procreation, pass them on genetically to the next generation. For example, when the climate grew significantly colder, animals with thicker fur would survive in disproportionate numbers. In a drought, animals that could survive on less water would endure.
Darwin’s theory promoted the idea of the survival of the fittest. This term is a bit misleading since the individuals possessing traits that increased their chances of survival had nothing to do with developing those traits. The male bird with brighter colors that made him more attractive to females did not control the amount of color in his feathers. The individual members of a species that survived dramatic climate change did not intentionally change their makeup in order to survive. It wasn’t survival of the fittest so much as the good fortune of those whose traits happened to suit the demands of the time.
Inevitably, supporters of a competitive worldview commandeered Darwin’s concept in order to prove that being competitive was natural and superior to all other ways of interacting. This view became known as Social Darwinism. When two animals fight to the death it is easy to conclude that the winner is the stronger, more competitive animal. The twisted logic of Social Darwinism holds that aggressive, competitive individuals are the most suited, and therefore the most deserving, of survival and success in life. Thus competition is viewed as natural and even essential to our progress and development.
Dog-eat-dog competition, seen as human nature, now defines most aspects of business, politics, sports, and even popular culture. It’s the new mode of popular entertainment, from TV’s Survivor, American Idol and The Apprentice, to the slew of programs that reduce “contestants” to the level of aggressive beasts hunting and fighting for survival around the drought-ravaged watering hole. There’s no disputing the potential in almost all species for highly competitive and aggressive behavior. And we human beings are an animal species. But does this prove the inevitability or the superiority, of competitive behavior? On the surface, this can seem to be the case. But if we look more closely, we see that competitive behavior manifests most frequently and intensely when there is a shortage of some necessity, like water, food, shelter, sex or, with the animal called Man, money. Competitive behavior manifests when we are threatened or our survival is at stake, and even when there is an illusory perception of a threat. Nature reveals that when there is no shortage in the necessities of survival, there is less competitive, aggressive behavior. And both animals and man thrive best when they cooperate with one another. This is why most animals form herds, packs and flocks, and why man formed tribes, villages, towns and nations.
Survival of the Luckiest
Sometimes survival of the fittest becomes survival of the luckiest, or even weakest. This was the case for one troop of savanna baboons in Kenya studied by researchers Robert Sapolsky and Lisa Share starting in 1978. Baboons, like chimpanzees and humans, are known to be quite hierarchical and male-dominated, with frequent aggressive interactions. Between 1983 and 1986, the troop’s dominant males, who were observed to be very aggressive, were wiped out by contracting bovine tuberculosis through foraging in the garbage dump at a nearby tourist lodge. The lesser males and the females did not contract the disease because the dominant males prevented them from feeding at the dump. The deaths of the dominant males drastically changed the gender composition of the troop, more than doubling the ratio of females to males, and by 1986 troop behavior had changed dramatically; males were now significantly less aggressive.
Observation of the troop stopped after 1986 and did not start again until 1993. At this time, the same less-aggressive behavior was observed in the troop. This is particularly surprising and enlightening because male baboons leave their birth troop after puberty. Even though there were few adult males from the previous period, the new males showed the less-aggressive behavior of their predecessors. Apparently, the adolescent baboons observing the interactions between the females and the older males of the troop learned that they didn’t have to be as aggressive to get what they needed! The researchers even analyzed blood samples from the troop during this second period of observation and found that the males lacked the distinctive physiological markers of stress normally found in male baboons in other areas.
Another anomaly is the bonobos, a Central African species of Great Ape closely related to chimpanzees and humans. Bonobo behavior is quite different than the average ape or human. Interactions in bonobo society are more egalitarian and peaceful – they typically resolve their differences by grooming one another or having some type of sexual contact. Sounds more civilized to me!
Evolutionary biologist, Dr. Lynn Margulis, has demonstrated that symbiotic relationships are a major driving force in evolution. A symbiotic relationship is one in which two or more dissimilar organisms live together, especially when this association is mutually beneficial. In other words, cooperation is fundamental to the nature of life and the evolutionary process. Margulis and her world-renowned husband, scientist Carl Sagan, concluded in 1996 “Life did not take over the globe by combat, but by networking” (i.e. by cooperation, interaction, and mutual dependence between living organisms).
Non-competitive Individuals and Cooperation
The instinct to survive is part of our human nature, but a survival instinct is different from a competitive instinct. A survival instinct usually becomes competitive when there is a perceived scarcity and others are trying to get what we need. For competitive behavior to truly be an immutable aspect of human nature, everyone would have to be competitive, and this is simply not the case. We all know people in our lives that are not the least bit competitive. Prime examples of people with a cooperative worldview would include Jesus, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Rumi, Mother Theresa, many spiritual practitioners of many faiths, quite a few members of the helping professions, and members of several indigenous tribes that still survive around the world. As psychologist Alfie Kohn has noted, “The ubiquity of cooperative interactions even in a relatively competitive society is powerful evidence against the generalization that humans are naturally competitive.” Cooperation is every bit as natural as competition.
Because this competitive model has dominated for so long, many people believe that we are aggressive and competitive by nature and nothing can be done to change this behavior. The idea that human nature is inherently competitive received validation in the mid-1800s from the work of Charles Darwin. With his theory of evolution, Darwin presented a vast body of evidence that all life on Earth evolved over millions of years from a few common ancestors. This evolution occurred through a process called natural selection. From his research and observations, Darwin noted that possessing certain traits increased a species chance of survival; a higher percentage of animals with these traits would survive and, through procreation, pass them on genetically to the next generation. For example, when the climate grew significantly colder, animals with thicker fur would survive in disproportionate numbers. In a drought, animals that could survive on less water would endure.
Darwin’s theory promoted the idea of the survival of the fittest. This term is a bit misleading since the individuals possessing traits that increased their chances of survival had nothing to do with developing those traits. The male bird with brighter colors that made him more attractive to females did not control the amount of color in his feathers. The individual members of a species that survived dramatic climate change did not intentionally change their makeup in order to survive. It wasn’t survival of the fittest so much as the good fortune of those whose traits happened to suit the demands of the time.
Inevitably, supporters of a competitive worldview commandeered Darwin’s concept in order to prove that being competitive was natural and superior to all other ways of interacting. This view became known as Social Darwinism. When two animals fight to the death it is easy to conclude that the winner is the stronger, more competitive animal. The twisted logic of Social Darwinism holds that aggressive, competitive individuals are the most suited, and therefore the most deserving, of survival and success in life. Thus competition is viewed as natural and even essential to our progress and development.
Dog-eat-dog competition, seen as human nature, now defines most aspects of business, politics, sports, and even popular culture. It’s the new mode of popular entertainment, from TV’s Survivor, American Idol and The Apprentice, to the slew of programs that reduce “contestants” to the level of aggressive beasts hunting and fighting for survival around the drought-ravaged watering hole. There’s no disputing the potential in almost all species for highly competitive and aggressive behavior. And we human beings are an animal species. But does this prove the inevitability or the superiority, of competitive behavior? On the surface, this can seem to be the case. But if we look more closely, we see that competitive behavior manifests most frequently and intensely when there is a shortage of some necessity, like water, food, shelter, sex or, with the animal called Man, money. Competitive behavior manifests when we are threatened or our survival is at stake, and even when there is an illusory perception of a threat. Nature reveals that when there is no shortage in the necessities of survival, there is less competitive, aggressive behavior. And both animals and man thrive best when they cooperate with one another. This is why most animals form herds, packs and flocks, and why man formed tribes, villages, towns and nations.
Survival of the Luckiest
Sometimes survival of the fittest becomes survival of the luckiest, or even weakest. This was the case for one troop of savanna baboons in Kenya studied by researchers Robert Sapolsky and Lisa Share starting in 1978. Baboons, like chimpanzees and humans, are known to be quite hierarchical and male-dominated, with frequent aggressive interactions. Between 1983 and 1986, the troop’s dominant males, who were observed to be very aggressive, were wiped out by contracting bovine tuberculosis through foraging in the garbage dump at a nearby tourist lodge. The lesser males and the females did not contract the disease because the dominant males prevented them from feeding at the dump. The deaths of the dominant males drastically changed the gender composition of the troop, more than doubling the ratio of females to males, and by 1986 troop behavior had changed dramatically; males were now significantly less aggressive.
Observation of the troop stopped after 1986 and did not start again until 1993. At this time, the same less-aggressive behavior was observed in the troop. This is particularly surprising and enlightening because male baboons leave their birth troop after puberty. Even though there were few adult males from the previous period, the new males showed the less-aggressive behavior of their predecessors. Apparently, the adolescent baboons observing the interactions between the females and the older males of the troop learned that they didn’t have to be as aggressive to get what they needed! The researchers even analyzed blood samples from the troop during this second period of observation and found that the males lacked the distinctive physiological markers of stress normally found in male baboons in other areas.
Another anomaly is the bonobos, a Central African species of Great Ape closely related to chimpanzees and humans. Bonobo behavior is quite different than the average ape or human. Interactions in bonobo society are more egalitarian and peaceful – they typically resolve their differences by grooming one another or having some type of sexual contact. Sounds more civilized to me!
Evolutionary biologist, Dr. Lynn Margulis, has demonstrated that symbiotic relationships are a major driving force in evolution. A symbiotic relationship is one in which two or more dissimilar organisms live together, especially when this association is mutually beneficial. In other words, cooperation is fundamental to the nature of life and the evolutionary process. Margulis and her world-renowned husband, scientist Carl Sagan, concluded in 1996 “Life did not take over the globe by combat, but by networking” (i.e. by cooperation, interaction, and mutual dependence between living organisms).
Non-competitive Individuals and Cooperation
The instinct to survive is part of our human nature, but a survival instinct is different from a competitive instinct. A survival instinct usually becomes competitive when there is a perceived scarcity and others are trying to get what we need. For competitive behavior to truly be an immutable aspect of human nature, everyone would have to be competitive, and this is simply not the case. We all know people in our lives that are not the least bit competitive. Prime examples of people with a cooperative worldview would include Jesus, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Rumi, Mother Theresa, many spiritual practitioners of many faiths, quite a few members of the helping professions, and members of several indigenous tribes that still survive around the world. As psychologist Alfie Kohn has noted, “The ubiquity of cooperative interactions even in a relatively competitive society is powerful evidence against the generalization that humans are naturally competitive.” Cooperation is every bit as natural as competition.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Chapter 1: Human Nature and the Evolutionary Process, Part 1
"The basic question about human nature
isn’t whether humans are basically peaceful or basically violent —
for we are both — but which of the two are we going to organize."
— Joan Baez
In the Beginning
Figuring out how far back competition goes is easy; it’s in our history books, and our most ancient scriptures and stories, passed on orally from generation to generation before the written word. The theme of most significant events from our earliest recorded history is conquest. The stories, written by the victors, are about chiefs, kings, emperors and generals vanquishing their adversaries. Their legacy is competition and domination. War, the ultimate competition, has become a model for most of our enterprises.
Obviously, the competitive mentality goes back much further than recorded history. Anthropologists and archeologists trace this tribal mentality back to our primordial past. Has it always been this way, or was there ever a more cooperative time? Over the last thirty years a significant body of evidence has emerged from the archeological record suggesting that prior to about five thousand years ago a more cooperative culture flourished in the Near East, the Middle East, and on into Central Europe. The archeological record since then points to societies based on a hierarchical, competitive model. But before that, at least for a portion of the planet, evidence indicates that a different model prevailed.
At the religious and burial sites of these older societies dating back to Paleolithic and Neolithic times, archeologists have found a preponderance of female figurines. These artifacts from the Paleolithic period date back thirty thousand years, and those from the Neolithic date back about ten thousand years. Archeologists surmise that these figurines relate to worship of the feminine — evidence of a goddess culture. In later cultures, male deity figures are common in burial sites.
Examples of Neolithic paintings and other art depicting scenes of religious ceremonies centering around a female figure also abound. Feminine figurines and symbols occupied a central place in the mythology of this time. And in the art of the Neolithic era discovered so far, scenes of battles, conquering heroes, and even weapons are conspicuously absent. Excavations of many sites from this period do not reveal a hierarchical pattern of a few grand structures and many small ones, but a more egalitarian pattern, with most buildings similar in size. Nor did these sites reveal structures with a high level of fortification common to war-like cultures. Archeologists postulate that these societies were more egalitarian, with everyone closer to equal in status, and less war-like than later cultures. Excavations of later sites reveal much greater variability in building size, indicating a more hierarchical social system, with an abundance of fortification.
The historian Riane Eisler, in her highly acclaimed book The Chalice and the Blade, documents evidence of a culture that included a more egalitarian approach to living, which she calls a partnership model. Archeological research indicates that between five thousand and seven thousand years ago, groups of invaders, which Eisler calls dominator races (and which history books have called the Mongol hordes), came into these areas from the north and east. Through conquest these invaders displaced the cooperative cultures with their hierarchical ones. The archeological record provides a large body of evidence that these dominator cultures placed their religious sites directly on top of the earlier sites, attempting to erase any evidence of what came before.
The likelihood of a more cooperatively based culture somewhere in our past is important to our understanding of the history of competition. It lets us know that the current competitive model is not the only option. Another approach has at least been tried, and appears to have prospered for a time.
In any case, over the last five thousand years encompassing written history, the record is clear: Competition has been king. Hierarchical societies have been the norm. Domination, not cooperation, has been the rule. For the most part, those of us living today are descended from the winners of this dominator mentality. Our ancestors were those who survived the battles. We inherited their characteristics. No wonder many of us are competitive and aggressive.
isn’t whether humans are basically peaceful or basically violent —
for we are both — but which of the two are we going to organize."
— Joan Baez
In the Beginning
Figuring out how far back competition goes is easy; it’s in our history books, and our most ancient scriptures and stories, passed on orally from generation to generation before the written word. The theme of most significant events from our earliest recorded history is conquest. The stories, written by the victors, are about chiefs, kings, emperors and generals vanquishing their adversaries. Their legacy is competition and domination. War, the ultimate competition, has become a model for most of our enterprises.
Obviously, the competitive mentality goes back much further than recorded history. Anthropologists and archeologists trace this tribal mentality back to our primordial past. Has it always been this way, or was there ever a more cooperative time? Over the last thirty years a significant body of evidence has emerged from the archeological record suggesting that prior to about five thousand years ago a more cooperative culture flourished in the Near East, the Middle East, and on into Central Europe. The archeological record since then points to societies based on a hierarchical, competitive model. But before that, at least for a portion of the planet, evidence indicates that a different model prevailed.
At the religious and burial sites of these older societies dating back to Paleolithic and Neolithic times, archeologists have found a preponderance of female figurines. These artifacts from the Paleolithic period date back thirty thousand years, and those from the Neolithic date back about ten thousand years. Archeologists surmise that these figurines relate to worship of the feminine — evidence of a goddess culture. In later cultures, male deity figures are common in burial sites.
Examples of Neolithic paintings and other art depicting scenes of religious ceremonies centering around a female figure also abound. Feminine figurines and symbols occupied a central place in the mythology of this time. And in the art of the Neolithic era discovered so far, scenes of battles, conquering heroes, and even weapons are conspicuously absent. Excavations of many sites from this period do not reveal a hierarchical pattern of a few grand structures and many small ones, but a more egalitarian pattern, with most buildings similar in size. Nor did these sites reveal structures with a high level of fortification common to war-like cultures. Archeologists postulate that these societies were more egalitarian, with everyone closer to equal in status, and less war-like than later cultures. Excavations of later sites reveal much greater variability in building size, indicating a more hierarchical social system, with an abundance of fortification.
The historian Riane Eisler, in her highly acclaimed book The Chalice and the Blade, documents evidence of a culture that included a more egalitarian approach to living, which she calls a partnership model. Archeological research indicates that between five thousand and seven thousand years ago, groups of invaders, which Eisler calls dominator races (and which history books have called the Mongol hordes), came into these areas from the north and east. Through conquest these invaders displaced the cooperative cultures with their hierarchical ones. The archeological record provides a large body of evidence that these dominator cultures placed their religious sites directly on top of the earlier sites, attempting to erase any evidence of what came before.
The likelihood of a more cooperatively based culture somewhere in our past is important to our understanding of the history of competition. It lets us know that the current competitive model is not the only option. Another approach has at least been tried, and appears to have prospered for a time.
In any case, over the last five thousand years encompassing written history, the record is clear: Competition has been king. Hierarchical societies have been the norm. Domination, not cooperation, has been the rule. For the most part, those of us living today are descended from the winners of this dominator mentality. Our ancestors were those who survived the battles. We inherited their characteristics. No wonder many of us are competitive and aggressive.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Evolutionary Education—Intro Part 2
A Common Thread
The problems we face are diverse and complex. Some say they all stem from human laziness, greed, or evil: from inherently flawed human nature. But I have seen too many people display kindness, compassion, and courage to agree with that assessment.
As I examined the negative aspects of human behavior — over aggressiveness, anger, jealousy, fear, intimidation, violence, cheating, lying, and stealing — I kept noticing a common thread tying them together. That thread lies in competitive, aggressive behavior patterns, exacerbated by an innate survival instinct.
Currently, we live in a system predicated on a competitive model of behavior. We are raised to compete against one another from an early age. Unfortunately, this approach takes a serious toll on our psychological health and development, and thereby on our humanity. Competition is the norm for individuals, families, teams, tribes, communities, businesses, states, religions, and nations. In a way, life is one big contest, or a series of contests, marked by a constant jockeying for position in the pecking order. I’m better (smarter, stronger, faster, more beautiful, richer) than you are. My family is better than your family. Our community is better than your community. My school is better than your school. Our business, state, political party, country, or multi-national corporation is better than yours. My God is more powerful than your God. We are the chosen people and you are not!
We have been a competitive species for tens of thousands of years. And while that energy has motivated humanity to great accomplishments, it has also produced many of our darkest moments. Does having been a competitive species for so long mean we will be forever at war? Is this how it’s supposed to be? This seems like a pretty bleak picture. I believe we have a choice; that we don’t have to settle for this outcome.
In my search for answers, I have come to see competitive behavior as something we humans have learned over the course of our evolutionary history. Yes, in early times dangerous conditions forced humans to be more competitive to survive. But as societies developed, we transferred this competitive mentality into religion, commerce, relationships, politics, academics, and sports. Today, certain aspects of this mentality prevent us from fulfilling our greatest aspirations, and literally threaten our world.
Limitations of a Competitive Mindset
I do not advocate the elimination of competition. I do recommend that we examine where, when, and how competition creates problems, and seek healthy alternatives and solutions. Many people who call themselves highly competitive are simply people who have high expectations and a strong desire to succeed. The desire to be successful isn’t, in and of itself, competitive. You can possess high expectations and a strong desire for success, yet not be competitive. We conflate the desire for excellence with the trait of competitiveness, when in truth they are very different.
A competitive mindset has led to great advances for our species, and provided a powerful motivating force for individuals, communities, nations and civilizations, but it is not the be-all and end-all of existence. From my youth, sports have been an integral part of my life. I have participated in, enjoyed (some of the time), and done well (a majority of the time) in thousands of contests. These competitive experiences have taught me many valuable lessons. Whether in sports, academics, business, or the arts, it is exciting and motivating to see people perform at a high level. I have no desire to take that away from anyone.
The problem is that only a small percentage of people succeed in this system, most function at a fraction of their potential. Is that because most people are not that bright or talented or motivated? Are they just mediocre, or lazy? In my experience, this is simply not the case. I have seen first hand how the competitive system itself inhibits development, and thus performance.
I am convinced that the problem is systemic and results in most of us functioning well below our potential. I believe our competitive system, by repeatedly pitting us against each other in often premature and needlessly adversarial contests, destabilizes our confidence and motivation, and limits our ability, our enjoyment, and our overall development. I will show the evidence for these assertions in the following chapters.
Time for a Course Correction
Over the centuries, the competitive mindset has become the dominant model of behavior for a majority of people. I believe it is time to make some healthy changes in this model, which I will discuss later. I am basically an optimist. But as a longtime student of history and current events, I am aware that if we don’t change course soon, life may get ugly, not for just a few, but for most. The crux of the problem inherent in a competitive paradigm is that each generation must be more competitive than the last, not to achieve an absolute standard of excellence, but just to keep up. Each generation must be more competitive! The big question is, how much more competitive can we be? When does the stress of this unrealistic expectation begin producing more negative than positive results? And have we already reached that point?
Many people are uncertain and anxious about their future, and are doing all they can to keep up. Millions don’t get enough to eat on a daily basis. Greed and fear are present at every level from politics to business, to social institutions. Destruction and contamination of vital ecosystems is a planet-wide problem. Ethnic violence and prejudice are rampant around the globe. Our weapons of mass destruction make it possible for us to obliterate ourselves at any moment. I could provide many more such examples of the competitive mindset being out of control, but I am sure you get the point. This is no way to live — for anyone. And yet, it’s the way almost everyone lives.
We need to make major changes. I’m not talking about revolution, but higher evolution. Revolution entails an “us versus them” dynamic – a competitive mindset. In a revolution, one group works to overthrow those in power and take charge themselves. Most revolutions are rooted in anger and turn ugly and violent. Revolutions are examples of how the Darwinian law of the jungle has fueled our evolutionary process as a species. But eventually, our higher evolution will allow us to see that everyone is on the same side, working toward the same goal, and that making life better for everyone makes it better for ourselves.
Again, this book does not propose to banish competition. Rather, it examines the dynamics of competition and the many societal and inter-personal problems it causes. It looks to see if competition in fact produces the best attainable results; to see where and when competition is appropriate and effective, and where it isn’t.
Modern advances in technology have made Earth a very small planet. Whether we like it or not, we are all in this together. And we can all be part of the solutions to our collective problems. As Charles Darwin noted, “The survival or extinction of each organism is determined by that organism’s ability to adapt to its environment.” The same is true for a species. This book is a call for a new adaptation of human behavior in our increasingly changing and challenging environment. Our survival may depend upon it!
The problems we face are diverse and complex. Some say they all stem from human laziness, greed, or evil: from inherently flawed human nature. But I have seen too many people display kindness, compassion, and courage to agree with that assessment.
As I examined the negative aspects of human behavior — over aggressiveness, anger, jealousy, fear, intimidation, violence, cheating, lying, and stealing — I kept noticing a common thread tying them together. That thread lies in competitive, aggressive behavior patterns, exacerbated by an innate survival instinct.
Currently, we live in a system predicated on a competitive model of behavior. We are raised to compete against one another from an early age. Unfortunately, this approach takes a serious toll on our psychological health and development, and thereby on our humanity. Competition is the norm for individuals, families, teams, tribes, communities, businesses, states, religions, and nations. In a way, life is one big contest, or a series of contests, marked by a constant jockeying for position in the pecking order. I’m better (smarter, stronger, faster, more beautiful, richer) than you are. My family is better than your family. Our community is better than your community. My school is better than your school. Our business, state, political party, country, or multi-national corporation is better than yours. My God is more powerful than your God. We are the chosen people and you are not!
We have been a competitive species for tens of thousands of years. And while that energy has motivated humanity to great accomplishments, it has also produced many of our darkest moments. Does having been a competitive species for so long mean we will be forever at war? Is this how it’s supposed to be? This seems like a pretty bleak picture. I believe we have a choice; that we don’t have to settle for this outcome.
In my search for answers, I have come to see competitive behavior as something we humans have learned over the course of our evolutionary history. Yes, in early times dangerous conditions forced humans to be more competitive to survive. But as societies developed, we transferred this competitive mentality into religion, commerce, relationships, politics, academics, and sports. Today, certain aspects of this mentality prevent us from fulfilling our greatest aspirations, and literally threaten our world.
Limitations of a Competitive Mindset
I do not advocate the elimination of competition. I do recommend that we examine where, when, and how competition creates problems, and seek healthy alternatives and solutions. Many people who call themselves highly competitive are simply people who have high expectations and a strong desire to succeed. The desire to be successful isn’t, in and of itself, competitive. You can possess high expectations and a strong desire for success, yet not be competitive. We conflate the desire for excellence with the trait of competitiveness, when in truth they are very different.
A competitive mindset has led to great advances for our species, and provided a powerful motivating force for individuals, communities, nations and civilizations, but it is not the be-all and end-all of existence. From my youth, sports have been an integral part of my life. I have participated in, enjoyed (some of the time), and done well (a majority of the time) in thousands of contests. These competitive experiences have taught me many valuable lessons. Whether in sports, academics, business, or the arts, it is exciting and motivating to see people perform at a high level. I have no desire to take that away from anyone.
The problem is that only a small percentage of people succeed in this system, most function at a fraction of their potential. Is that because most people are not that bright or talented or motivated? Are they just mediocre, or lazy? In my experience, this is simply not the case. I have seen first hand how the competitive system itself inhibits development, and thus performance.
I am convinced that the problem is systemic and results in most of us functioning well below our potential. I believe our competitive system, by repeatedly pitting us against each other in often premature and needlessly adversarial contests, destabilizes our confidence and motivation, and limits our ability, our enjoyment, and our overall development. I will show the evidence for these assertions in the following chapters.
Time for a Course Correction
Over the centuries, the competitive mindset has become the dominant model of behavior for a majority of people. I believe it is time to make some healthy changes in this model, which I will discuss later. I am basically an optimist. But as a longtime student of history and current events, I am aware that if we don’t change course soon, life may get ugly, not for just a few, but for most. The crux of the problem inherent in a competitive paradigm is that each generation must be more competitive than the last, not to achieve an absolute standard of excellence, but just to keep up. Each generation must be more competitive! The big question is, how much more competitive can we be? When does the stress of this unrealistic expectation begin producing more negative than positive results? And have we already reached that point?
Many people are uncertain and anxious about their future, and are doing all they can to keep up. Millions don’t get enough to eat on a daily basis. Greed and fear are present at every level from politics to business, to social institutions. Destruction and contamination of vital ecosystems is a planet-wide problem. Ethnic violence and prejudice are rampant around the globe. Our weapons of mass destruction make it possible for us to obliterate ourselves at any moment. I could provide many more such examples of the competitive mindset being out of control, but I am sure you get the point. This is no way to live — for anyone. And yet, it’s the way almost everyone lives.
We need to make major changes. I’m not talking about revolution, but higher evolution. Revolution entails an “us versus them” dynamic – a competitive mindset. In a revolution, one group works to overthrow those in power and take charge themselves. Most revolutions are rooted in anger and turn ugly and violent. Revolutions are examples of how the Darwinian law of the jungle has fueled our evolutionary process as a species. But eventually, our higher evolution will allow us to see that everyone is on the same side, working toward the same goal, and that making life better for everyone makes it better for ourselves.
Again, this book does not propose to banish competition. Rather, it examines the dynamics of competition and the many societal and inter-personal problems it causes. It looks to see if competition in fact produces the best attainable results; to see where and when competition is appropriate and effective, and where it isn’t.
Modern advances in technology have made Earth a very small planet. Whether we like it or not, we are all in this together. And we can all be part of the solutions to our collective problems. As Charles Darwin noted, “The survival or extinction of each organism is determined by that organism’s ability to adapt to its environment.” The same is true for a species. This book is a call for a new adaptation of human behavior in our increasingly changing and challenging environment. Our survival may depend upon it!
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Evolutionary Education—Introduction
It’s been nearly 150 years since Charles Darwin wrote On the Origin of Species, and we are still seeking a key to unlock the secrets of the evolution of the human species. To fulfill our potential as a species, it is essential to come to a deeper understanding of the concept of evolution.
One definition of evolution is simply “change over time toward a more highly developed state.” Things do change over time; no one can dispute that! Think of how children evolve in a few years from helpless little beings to people who can do things for themselves. Think of how electronics – cell phones, TV’s, cameras and computers – have evolved within a short time frame. Such changes are examples of evolution. Evolution is a natural fact; it is nothing to be afraid of. Despite the recurrence of old controversies, accepting the reality of evolution doesn’t rule out the existence of a Supreme Being. Belief or nonbelief in God can coexist with the concept of evolution. Whatever our religious beliefs, or lack thereof, it makes sense to understand how the human species has evolved until now — and how, and equally important, where it can evolve as we move forward.
Pieces of the Puzzle
My interest in the evolution of our species arose as I grappled with several key events that took place while growing up in the 1960s. The most important of these were the Civil Rights and women’s movements; the assassinations of President Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Bobby Kennedy; the blossoming and decline of the hippie movement; and the horrors of the Vietnam War. Watching these events unfold awakened in me a desire to help make the world a better, more peaceful place to live. I don’t view this as a noble motive. I just didn’t want to live in a world where violence and injustice were a norm that could potentially negatively impact my life. Of course good things were also happening, but the negatives made it hard for me to fully enjoy my life. I simply couldn’t look the other way.
Since then, my life’s goal has been to help make the world, and my own life, significantly better by working to transform destructive behaviors that have defined our species for thousands of years. Unfortunately, the world situation in regards to levels of violence and aggression is not that much different today. Some might say it’s even worse. Technologically, we have advanced exponentially in the last two hundred years. But instinctively, our primal responses are not much different from those of our ancestors who roamed the savannas of Africa thousands of years ago.
Although at times I have been discouraged, somehow I’ve managed to keep my idealism alive and make it through my moments of doubt. We live on an incredible planet. We humans are amazing beings. Our accomplishments over the centuries are awe-inspiring. No one living a thousand years ago could have imagined any of what we take as commonplace today. As a species, our potential is virtually unlimited. But in order to achieve our potential, we need to ask and answer a few questions:
• With so many accomplishments to our credit, why is there still so much suffering in the world?
• With all of the extraordinary insights achieved from ancient spiritual traditions, philosophy and modern psychology, why does man’s inhumanity prevail and produce so much stress, turmoil, despair, and sadness in so many people’s lives?
• Are these realities unavoidable aspects of human nature? Is it simply our fate to possess virtually unlimited potential, yet forever limit that potential by behaving in ways that are petty, cruel, unconscious and self-destructive? Or do we have the ability to change?
I have spent nearly four decades pondering such questions, wondering what I can do – what all of us can do – to help move the evolution of our species forward, and move the world in a more positive direction. My longtime friends have called me a seeker. At some point, I started seeing life as a puzzle, and began looking to see how all the pieces might fit together into a harmonious whole.
Always searching for answers, I have read books, listened to speakers, and shared ideas with those who were willing to engage with me, or guide me. With each book, each speaker, and each intuition, another piece of that puzzle has fallen into place for me. As the pieces came together, it occurred to me that a core issue might underlie the negative aspects of human behavior, and a common thread might link the many manifestations of our suffering.
One definition of evolution is simply “change over time toward a more highly developed state.” Things do change over time; no one can dispute that! Think of how children evolve in a few years from helpless little beings to people who can do things for themselves. Think of how electronics – cell phones, TV’s, cameras and computers – have evolved within a short time frame. Such changes are examples of evolution. Evolution is a natural fact; it is nothing to be afraid of. Despite the recurrence of old controversies, accepting the reality of evolution doesn’t rule out the existence of a Supreme Being. Belief or nonbelief in God can coexist with the concept of evolution. Whatever our religious beliefs, or lack thereof, it makes sense to understand how the human species has evolved until now — and how, and equally important, where it can evolve as we move forward.
Pieces of the Puzzle
My interest in the evolution of our species arose as I grappled with several key events that took place while growing up in the 1960s. The most important of these were the Civil Rights and women’s movements; the assassinations of President Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Bobby Kennedy; the blossoming and decline of the hippie movement; and the horrors of the Vietnam War. Watching these events unfold awakened in me a desire to help make the world a better, more peaceful place to live. I don’t view this as a noble motive. I just didn’t want to live in a world where violence and injustice were a norm that could potentially negatively impact my life. Of course good things were also happening, but the negatives made it hard for me to fully enjoy my life. I simply couldn’t look the other way.
Since then, my life’s goal has been to help make the world, and my own life, significantly better by working to transform destructive behaviors that have defined our species for thousands of years. Unfortunately, the world situation in regards to levels of violence and aggression is not that much different today. Some might say it’s even worse. Technologically, we have advanced exponentially in the last two hundred years. But instinctively, our primal responses are not much different from those of our ancestors who roamed the savannas of Africa thousands of years ago.
Although at times I have been discouraged, somehow I’ve managed to keep my idealism alive and make it through my moments of doubt. We live on an incredible planet. We humans are amazing beings. Our accomplishments over the centuries are awe-inspiring. No one living a thousand years ago could have imagined any of what we take as commonplace today. As a species, our potential is virtually unlimited. But in order to achieve our potential, we need to ask and answer a few questions:
• With so many accomplishments to our credit, why is there still so much suffering in the world?
• With all of the extraordinary insights achieved from ancient spiritual traditions, philosophy and modern psychology, why does man’s inhumanity prevail and produce so much stress, turmoil, despair, and sadness in so many people’s lives?
• Are these realities unavoidable aspects of human nature? Is it simply our fate to possess virtually unlimited potential, yet forever limit that potential by behaving in ways that are petty, cruel, unconscious and self-destructive? Or do we have the ability to change?
I have spent nearly four decades pondering such questions, wondering what I can do – what all of us can do – to help move the evolution of our species forward, and move the world in a more positive direction. My longtime friends have called me a seeker. At some point, I started seeing life as a puzzle, and began looking to see how all the pieces might fit together into a harmonious whole.
Always searching for answers, I have read books, listened to speakers, and shared ideas with those who were willing to engage with me, or guide me. With each book, each speaker, and each intuition, another piece of that puzzle has fallen into place for me. As the pieces came together, it occurred to me that a core issue might underlie the negative aspects of human behavior, and a common thread might link the many manifestations of our suffering.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Where are our priorities?
While I love watching well played sporting events, I can't help wondering, when there are so many problems all around us that require our utmost attention, why do we put so much time, money, and energy into sports? Yes, learning to excel in sports can teach many good life lessons like work ethic, concentration, patience, perseverance, self-motivation, self-responsibility, and physical fitness, but it seems ridiculous how much importance, energy, and money we put into these endeavors. I have been an athlete my whole life. I’ve been playing tennis for over 40 years and teaching the sport for 35 years so I am not some academic nerd wondering these things, I know of what I’m talking.
When you combine the time, money, and energy of youth sports, high school, college, and professional sports, the total amount of energy expended is astronomical. How many hundreds of thousands, probably millions, of hours do we spend annually thinking about, training, traveling, playing, and watching sports? How many billions of dollars are spent? Is it really worth that much of an investment? Aren’t there better, more efficient, and important ways to spend our limited resources and energy? Is our emphasis on sports distracting us from more important priorities?
With the seemingly overwhelming problems that we face as a society such as hunger, poverty, racism, economic turmoil, greed, inadequate and overly expensive healthcare, terrorism, and a deteriorating environment, it’s natural to want to distract ourselves with simpler, more pleasant and enjoyable activities. But just think what we could accomplish if we used even a quarter of that time, money, and energy that we spend on sports working to solve our relentless problems. What a world it would be.
One of the reasons that people want to ignore or look the other way at these problem areas is that they feel there is no “solution,” there's nothing they can do. It’s just the way it is and how it will forever be. But there is a solution. Find it at www.evolutionaryeducation.com. On this Easter Sunday it would be good to ask, "What would Jesus do with his time, money, and energy?"
When you combine the time, money, and energy of youth sports, high school, college, and professional sports, the total amount of energy expended is astronomical. How many hundreds of thousands, probably millions, of hours do we spend annually thinking about, training, traveling, playing, and watching sports? How many billions of dollars are spent? Is it really worth that much of an investment? Aren’t there better, more efficient, and important ways to spend our limited resources and energy? Is our emphasis on sports distracting us from more important priorities?
With the seemingly overwhelming problems that we face as a society such as hunger, poverty, racism, economic turmoil, greed, inadequate and overly expensive healthcare, terrorism, and a deteriorating environment, it’s natural to want to distract ourselves with simpler, more pleasant and enjoyable activities. But just think what we could accomplish if we used even a quarter of that time, money, and energy that we spend on sports working to solve our relentless problems. What a world it would be.
One of the reasons that people want to ignore or look the other way at these problem areas is that they feel there is no “solution,” there's nothing they can do. It’s just the way it is and how it will forever be. But there is a solution. Find it at www.evolutionaryeducation.com. On this Easter Sunday it would be good to ask, "What would Jesus do with his time, money, and energy?"
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
The Nature of Mass Events
The Nature of Mass Events
Pondering the tragedy in Haiti I can't help thinking back to a book I read many years ago, Jane Robert's "The Individual and the Nature of Mass Events." It seems to be available on amazon.com if anyone is interested. Anyway, the premise is that these large or mass events, like the earthquake in Haiti, Hurricane Katrina, and the tsunami in Asia a few years back, are brought on by a group consciousness. I know this doesn't make sense scientifically, but it is interesting to be open to the idea that our collective unconscious does affect life here on Earth. With so much suffering on this planet and little being done about it on a large scale, does all that ignored suffering somehow bring about these types of cataclysmic events in order to get our attention? It does seem like there are more of these large-scale events happening in the last few years.
Every time there is an event like this there is a great outpouring of help, sympathy, and humanitarian aid. This is great and it always makes you feel good seeing people in need being helped, but this is a small band-aid in an otherwise miserable life. It's the same as putting a finger in the dike hoping to keep the water back. Things were terrible in Haiti long before the earthquake. These events provide a bold reminder of just how bad things are for so many people around the world. And it takes these kinds of events to make our species wake up and come together to help. Unfortunately, several months afterward, these people are forgotten and we once again go about our business.
Wouldn't it be great if we could change this so that we consciously work on mitigating people’s suffering as a part of everyday life? It's easy to say, “How can we doing anything about this, it's been going on for thousands of years and it's just too big?” This is true, but if we are ever to realize our potential as a species, we need to take care of the less fortunate and have that be a priority. We get caught up in our own survival mode, understandably so, and forget about others. There are many wonderful, responsible people in this country and around the world who are doing everything they can just to keep themselves and their families’ heads above the continually rising tide. It's hard to think about others when we are barely making it ourselves.
The problems our species' faces are huge and it is going to take a systemic change to bring about any significant long-term positive solution.
As I have stated before, much of our suffering and the difficulty of making it through everyday life for a vast majority of people is a result of the dominant competitive paradigm that we are all living in. A competitive dynamic dominates our activities and our consciousness. We are taught to see others as opponents, adversaries, enemies, or obstacles to our goals. It's an “eat or be eaten” mentality. This mentality is why things never seem to change or get any better. It has become habitual behavior.
Abraham Maslow, in his Hierarchy of Needs, shows that when people have their most basic needs met, it allows them to think about and begin to work on their next higher level of needs. If we took this approach as a species and worked to help everyone get his or her most basic needs met and then moved on to the next higher level, there would be significantly less suffering, pain and violence. And more people would be able to attain their potential, which would also help improve conditions for everyone.
Instead of the competitive dynamic that keeps us in an "us versus them" mindset most of the time, we need to move to a new paradigm that keeps us aware of those less fortunate than ourselves. These mass events remind us of the fragility of life and how we all are tied together in our humanity.
The means to accomplish such change is through a non-competitive education system, where we can teach and promote the idea that we are partners and friends with each other, instead of adversaries and enemies. By gradually moving to a non-competitive paradigm on a species-wide scale, we can begin to end the horrible suffering of a majority of the planet.
Although this is a long-term goal, it is where we need to head in order to make life better for more people on the planet, and even more importantly for future generations. If you have children, are you confident that the world will be a better place for them to live after you are gone? What about your children's children?
This is an enormous project, but if we want to leave this world a better place than when we came in, we need to get started. As philosopher and mathematician Norbert Weiner stated, “What gives our species its evolutionary edge is our vastly superior ability to change our behavior in response to feedback: changing information about the effectiveness or lack of effectiveness of past behavior and new information about present conditions. We have a further evolutionary advantage in that we can change our behavior quickly.” It’s time to change our behavior, because the feedback is overwhelming.
To learn more about how to bring about this change please go to www.evolutionaryeducation.com. Thanks for your time.
Pondering the tragedy in Haiti I can't help thinking back to a book I read many years ago, Jane Robert's "The Individual and the Nature of Mass Events." It seems to be available on amazon.com if anyone is interested. Anyway, the premise is that these large or mass events, like the earthquake in Haiti, Hurricane Katrina, and the tsunami in Asia a few years back, are brought on by a group consciousness. I know this doesn't make sense scientifically, but it is interesting to be open to the idea that our collective unconscious does affect life here on Earth. With so much suffering on this planet and little being done about it on a large scale, does all that ignored suffering somehow bring about these types of cataclysmic events in order to get our attention? It does seem like there are more of these large-scale events happening in the last few years.
Every time there is an event like this there is a great outpouring of help, sympathy, and humanitarian aid. This is great and it always makes you feel good seeing people in need being helped, but this is a small band-aid in an otherwise miserable life. It's the same as putting a finger in the dike hoping to keep the water back. Things were terrible in Haiti long before the earthquake. These events provide a bold reminder of just how bad things are for so many people around the world. And it takes these kinds of events to make our species wake up and come together to help. Unfortunately, several months afterward, these people are forgotten and we once again go about our business.
Wouldn't it be great if we could change this so that we consciously work on mitigating people’s suffering as a part of everyday life? It's easy to say, “How can we doing anything about this, it's been going on for thousands of years and it's just too big?” This is true, but if we are ever to realize our potential as a species, we need to take care of the less fortunate and have that be a priority. We get caught up in our own survival mode, understandably so, and forget about others. There are many wonderful, responsible people in this country and around the world who are doing everything they can just to keep themselves and their families’ heads above the continually rising tide. It's hard to think about others when we are barely making it ourselves.
The problems our species' faces are huge and it is going to take a systemic change to bring about any significant long-term positive solution.
As I have stated before, much of our suffering and the difficulty of making it through everyday life for a vast majority of people is a result of the dominant competitive paradigm that we are all living in. A competitive dynamic dominates our activities and our consciousness. We are taught to see others as opponents, adversaries, enemies, or obstacles to our goals. It's an “eat or be eaten” mentality. This mentality is why things never seem to change or get any better. It has become habitual behavior.
Abraham Maslow, in his Hierarchy of Needs, shows that when people have their most basic needs met, it allows them to think about and begin to work on their next higher level of needs. If we took this approach as a species and worked to help everyone get his or her most basic needs met and then moved on to the next higher level, there would be significantly less suffering, pain and violence. And more people would be able to attain their potential, which would also help improve conditions for everyone.
Instead of the competitive dynamic that keeps us in an "us versus them" mindset most of the time, we need to move to a new paradigm that keeps us aware of those less fortunate than ourselves. These mass events remind us of the fragility of life and how we all are tied together in our humanity.
The means to accomplish such change is through a non-competitive education system, where we can teach and promote the idea that we are partners and friends with each other, instead of adversaries and enemies. By gradually moving to a non-competitive paradigm on a species-wide scale, we can begin to end the horrible suffering of a majority of the planet.
Although this is a long-term goal, it is where we need to head in order to make life better for more people on the planet, and even more importantly for future generations. If you have children, are you confident that the world will be a better place for them to live after you are gone? What about your children's children?
This is an enormous project, but if we want to leave this world a better place than when we came in, we need to get started. As philosopher and mathematician Norbert Weiner stated, “What gives our species its evolutionary edge is our vastly superior ability to change our behavior in response to feedback: changing information about the effectiveness or lack of effectiveness of past behavior and new information about present conditions. We have a further evolutionary advantage in that we can change our behavior quickly.” It’s time to change our behavior, because the feedback is overwhelming.
To learn more about how to bring about this change please go to www.evolutionaryeducation.com. Thanks for your time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
