The Human Mind and Belief Ii - Unplugged: Man and Woman of the 21St Century Deserve a Philosophy and Pyschology and Culture Worthy of Their Special Dignity as Persons. These Should Be Based on the Truth and Reality of What Man and Woman Are and Not on What Some Genius Thinks!

By Eugene G. Breen

Philosophy, psychology and culture shape society, economics, human behaviour and even theology. The 20th Century has witnessed communism, relativism, atheism, materialism, marxism and psychoanalysis. These false theories of man have reaped a terrible harvest of deeath, depravity and depression. Millions survived these waves of hate and sexual deviance and died or lived for their beliefs and their respect for their fellow man. The International Declaration of Human Rights hard won by two world wars is already being eroded and picked apart in the West. A bulwark of solid philosophy and psychology and culture based on what is real is needed to bolster the Renaissance Man and Woman of the 21st Century. These should reflect what is true and attractive and hopeful in the human person and be as relevant to an aborigine as to an intellectual.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Feb 13, 2014
• ISBN: 9781491890684

Eugene G. Breen

Eugene G. Breen works as a psychiatrist in an inner city practice. He has penned two previous books in this series: The Human Mind and Belief – Opening Shots and The Human Mind and Belief 11 – Unplugged. The basic idea is that the human mind is the best hint there is to direct our understanding of what life and death are about and of what it means to be human. The philosophical underpinning is metaphysics and the psychology is optimistic realism. He writes in a conversational style and speaks to the lay person as well as the specialist. Humour and a light touch make challenging realities more palatable. The gaping hole that purely human thinking exposes about the origin and cause of the universe and man is gazed at, and believe it or not, instead of an infinite abyss, an enormous reality is discovered. The interface between philosophy and psychology and religion and science is explored and the reader is left to research the issues further.

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© 2014 Eugene G Breen. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 02/10/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4918-9066-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4918-9068-4 (e)

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

To all those suffering from mental illness in Dublin’s North inner city.

Contact the author at mindandbelief.com

Contents

1.   Foreword

2.   Introduction

3.   General Considerations

4.   Thoughts About Thoughts

5.   Life is Beautiful

6.   Freedom

7.   Dreams

8.   Key Ideas

9.   Suffering

10.   When You are Dead You are Dead

11.   Contemplation

12.   Final Remarks

Foreword

Life in the twentieth century was like seeing a wrecking ball smash through the walls of a palace. It was a cataclysm of entire cultures and societies. It featured two world wars, in the northern hemisphere mainly and famine and starvation and tribal warfare in the southern hemisphere. It spawned ideologies and philosophies and behaviours germane to a fallen humanity and these wreaked havoc on the mind sets of entire generations. It witnessed the banishing of God from the public square and the deification of wealth and power and materialism. Technology and science and moral relativism became the new idols. Millions died in wars and concentration camps and from hunger. Yet we are still here.

Hegel, Marx, Stalin, Lenin, Freud, Jung, Darwin, and their followers and ideologies have had their day and have ruined the lives of billions. They have had their day and failed miserably. Another century needs a new love. A new culture and philosophy and psychology are needed. A theory of man based on the real and true nature of man and the universe are required. A basis in human thought that will elevate man to his true worth and dignity as a person with inalienable rights and a transcendent nature. A mission statement and commencement speech worthy of his dignity.

The last century was not all bad and we saw enormous advancement in science and communication and globalisation of the world. We saw heroic people like Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn to mention a few. We saw the power of the human spirit undimmed by torture or oppression in Poland and Eastern Europe and Russia. People who held fast to their beliefs despite the cost of their very lives. These are some of the examples we know of but these stalwart souls shine out like beacons from the wastage and carnage of humanity proving that man is greater than all that can happen to him. These and others like them show the real and true calibre of man.

The real hallmarks of man are love, endurance, magnanimity and generosity, humility, mercy and forgiveness, and unshakable hope in himself, humanity and the future. He is not a fallen smashed and hopeless being. He is flawed but he has the seeds of greatness and transcendence. A theory of man in keeping with his calling, which is to surpass and overcome his shortcomings and damaged nature, to speed him on to a better human future is what’s needed. Man needs a shot in the arm like a football coach who tells his star players you are better than that, you can win this easily, now go out there and do it! We have seen what the best of humanity is capable of achieving and now we need a philosophy and psychology of man to capture this reality. You don’t build a team around your worst player but around your best player. A culture and theory of man should likewise be built around the best men and women we have known who were true exemplars of what it is to be human.

A Renaissance philosophy for Renaissance man and woman is what will ring-fence our identity into the next century. Like positive psychology which focuses on the resilience and strong points of personality, a new image of man should build on what is best in him and draw everyone upwards, like the rising tide raising all boats, to a higher happier and more human level of being. In order to do this you have to take the entirety of men and women and their various circumstances into account, because philosophy of man is not just about man in USA or Western Europe but also in Somalia and Vietnam and East Timor. We are all the same and in order to reach conclusions you have to see the big picture and include all people from all times and places. The lives of the over 400 million people in Africa have an enormous importance in compiling any comprehensive analysis of man’s true nature. After all there are several billion people in similar circumstances and as such these people are more characteristic of where man is at than the half billion or so well fed and educated folk in the Northern hemisphere. The Southern hemisphere skews the image of man seriously toward a human image, an image of simplicity and vulnerability and community and family and generosity. An image of hope and appreciation for life and fear of and trust in God. Over half the world population do not read or write or even understand philosophy or psychology and yet they are the very ones it is supposed to be about! Maybe they are the ones that should vet any theory of man or philosophy or psychology… . and they may smile at you and say come live with me a few days and I will show you what man is and what is philosophy and what is psychology! Philosophy and psychology and culture need to be able to talk to a man or woman with no food in their bellies or roof over their heads to pass muster as a science of man. A woman with terminal cancer and an orphan bandied between 20 foster homes and a nomad in the Kenyan rift valley all need to identify with the description of Man captured in these new 21st century philosophies. If not, they are not philosophies of man. They are something else.

Something that does not include the most destitute of our race cannot be generalised to assume the title of Man. The philosophies of the 20th century would not pass this test. They would not pass any test because their concept of man was seriously flawed to begin with. Marxist socialism, psychoanalysis, evolutionism and materialism were doomed to fail before they even started. They have failed man and are buried. The following lines are some ideas gleaned from the experience of dealing with thousands of suffering people in the form of physical and mental illness, and also from over 35 years studying and working as a general physician and psychiatrist in a busy city centre practice. Fasten your safety belt and feel free to contact me, hopefully to tweak rather than to upbraid this attempt at describing some of the real characteristics of man and woman. In the text the word man is used. Please understand woman at the same time. Style makes inclusiveness difficult. Thank you and see you later!

Introduction

We are inside looking out. We see the earth and the sky and the sea. We see some of the cosmos with our eye and more with telescopes and satellites. We have come a long way from Stone Age Gary Larson Far Side primitive man! For all we know all we see is real. Whatever, it is real to us. We have a brain and a mind and or soul and senses. We think rationally and intuitively and come to knowledge through life’s events and ups and downs. We get inspired and have hunches and have gut feelings. We have an array of drives and passions and dreams and negative experiences in our bodies and psyches. In a nutshell, that’s us. We suffer and we experience pain and we strive and struggle and win and lose. We have moments of joy and some attain a lasting joy though always underpinned by sorrow. Who are we? Where are we? What are we?

This is the canvas of human life seen from our standpoint. Is there another stand point? Let’s say, who is behind it all? Definitely not the plants nor trees nor animals. We have surpassed them in ingenuity and intelligence and advancement. We definitely didn’t do it all because for one thing we have been groping around the place for millennia and still don’t know the overall plan and design of reality. There has to be an intelligent cause and it has to be superior to man. The beauty and refinement and amazing vastness of everything, and the infinitesimally tiny detail underlying it all points to an intelligence and power beyond our comprehension.

To have some purchase on what it is all about we have to begin somewhere. We must acknowledge that things, as we see them and experience them, are real. If not, we are not real, and everything is a nonsense. The next step is to use the real things we experience and see, and when it comes to ourselves we accept the things that typify us and that are part of our world, including our rationality. These key ideas and realities may shine a light on the causality and destiny questions for man and humanity. The quality and basis of human thought and human psychology are crucial because if the language or communication is flawed the entire thesis is wrong.

You have to have real rationality not cognitive distortion or faddism or crazy genius ideas or unbalanced minds laying down the foundation. The true basis of human thought, culture and psychology is the true nature of man and the truth about the universe.

A satellite view of man shows the big data. There are now 7 billion or so of us and add in a few Russians and Americans flying in outer space! The vast majority of people live in poverty and want. Suffering is the dominant colour; let’s say it’s purple, of the planet. Everyone tests positive for suffering. Some suffer more than others but it is a permanent feature for everyone. Joy is like a mirage. You see sparks here and there and some retain a constant low burning glow shining through the purple colour of suffering. Generations die. They come and go like the seasons in a constant aging and renewing of the species. There is constant change. Nothing stays static.

The entire cosmos is constantly moving and changing and getting older and yet there are ample signs of newness emerging from the old planet earth as well. There are new babies, and trees and shiny new metals and crystal clear waters and beaches. The place is definitely getting older based on our understanding of aging and yet there are signs of newness in the old world. We see evidence of aging in trees and plants and soil and stones and elements. They oxidise and tarnish and rust and wear out. Fields and peaks don’t seem to do so at such a rapid pace, but buildings do. The planet and universe is definitely older now than a century ago. Maybe it is long life material and it takes millions of years in our time to see a change! But changing it is because all things we know change. For us change means we get older and usually this means we decay. Toward the peak of our human development, 25 years of age let’s say, we grow and develop and mature. After that it is down hill to death. Life begins peaks and declines to death.

A scan of man’s nature shows the following:

He is a rational animal.

He suffers, as seemingly do animals and plants and earth (storms, volcanoes, earthquakes for example for inanimate matter; killings, illnesses, hunger for animals).

He loves (this is not as obvious in plants and animals, though pet dogs and horses do confer joy and company on owners and? each other!).

He has an inborn and increasingly maturing sense of right and wrong as he grows older.

He has a free will and will power varies in intensity and strength.

Happiness and joy are fleeting characteristics of many, and sustained joy is shown by some.

He hankers toward a better happier longer lasting, even eternal life. This can be seen as a watermark in his being and memory, reminiscent perhaps of a previous happier state. He pines for the life