Social Consciousness Pedagogy

By Charles Pidgeon

The book is a form of translation research whereby the Author translated information known to the scientific community as pier reviewed publication, into laymen's language. The book elucidates concepts of reality, Theory of Mind, parenting children and adolescents, talks about Mind Money® and how this can encourage communication between commerci

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dr. Charles Pidgeon Books
• Release date: Apr 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781641336444

Charles Pidgeon

Matthew Trotter joined the Neuroscience Sensory founded by Dr. Charles Pidgeon as a Freshman at Princeton. Matthew graduated in 2021 and is currently attending Medical School. At Princeton, Mr. Trotter majored in Neuroscience. He meticulously went studied the modern literature of taste from the perspective of several scientific disciplines: anatomy, physiology, genetics, biology, etc.

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Preface

Pedagogy denotes the method and practice of teaching, especially as an academic subject or theoretical concept (Google). The teaching subject matter being addressed in this book is social consciousness.

Many established principles of global social consciousness are discussed from modern or contemporary perspectives. In this regard, modern established principles of psychology, neuroscience, emotions, etc., are used to elucidate new thinking about the personal social constructs of the interpersonal minds during human interactions among many different social groups. Since each person has a unique reality, the term preality (personal reality) is used throughout the book.

A core assumption during the preparation of this book is "that religion is a product of complex interactions between cultural systems and basic human brain function" (Uffe Schjoedt, Geertz, and Roepstorff 2009). Basic human brain functions condense to the conclusion that the minds of humans created God concepts in their own cultural environment. This inspired my substitution of Mind(s) for God in traditional thinking and, in particular, the Serenity Prayer.

For instance, the We version of the original spiritual-based Serenity Prayer,

God, grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

has been rewritten as

Minds, grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

The substitution of the word Minds for God retained the social wisdom of the prayer but attributes human Minds as being responsible for executing the personal and social wisdom; using Minds instead of God humanizes the deity-based Serenity Prayer but keeps the social wisdom alive; hence, the term hSW (i.e., human social wisdom) is the root concept created by substituting Minds for God. Thus, the hSW is not a prayer because it has no reference to any religious deity and can be used in any social system regardless of religion, sexual orientation, age groups, etc.

Considering the many social situations, the use of the hSW in parenting is described in the parenting section. The well-established and accepted psychological theory of mind (ToM) recognizes that virtually all children intuitively understand that other people have their own mind that is separate from their own; this occurs at three to five years old. More important, children who have achieved the ToM developmental milestone recognize that people’s actions are based on what is in the mind of the other person (not what is in their own childhood Mind). In contrast, people are not born with religion, ethics, or morals; these are taught and are concepts from their specific environment. Thus, the abstract concept of a god is virtually impossible for children under ages three to five (i.e., the age where ToM has been achieved). In other words, the concept of having a mind is understood several years prior to having a true belief in God or any adult concept of God/god.

Consider next parenting a child who is emotionally upset over not being allowed to consume large quantities of cookies because of the sugar content. If this child was taught by his parents the hSW (perhaps instead of a nighttime prayer), then the child will be taught early in life that he/she must accept the things they cannot change. In other words, we are suggesting that the hSW could be a parenting tool to reduce conflict while parenting during childhood development. A dramatic example is for parents with a son/daughter who is LGBT. If the hSW is used for parenting early in the child’s life, when the individual starts feeling (i.e., has LGBT thoughts and is being different from others), they will likely be in a mental position to recognize in their mind to accept what they cannot change. Effectively, they may have internalized, It is not my fault. A direct consequence of this is that their identity, self-esteem, and perhaps the emotion experienced for both the parents and the child may be diminished, minimized, or even perhaps eliminated when the individual begins to come out.

Another concept suggested in the book is changing US currency that bears the word God (i.e., modification of In God We Trust). Since all of society was created, imagined, or conceived by humans using their Minds, this justifies the proposed modification of US Currency. Thus, we proposed, in the book, that US currency change In God We Trust to In Mind We Trust, which is a more culturally logical statement in today’s world, particularly regarding how many people in America have culturally evolved toward a non-religious (but spiritual) personal belief system. In other words, their spiritual preality (personal reality) is feeling spiritual and not religious.

Since money is important to both commercial and social systems, and credit card transactions are the primary transaction mechanism for purchasing goods and services, a concept using credit card transactions was proposed. The concept is to attach a one-to-two-penny social society fee on each credit card transaction. There are trillions of credit card transactions in America each year, and this fee would generate more than a billion dollars for a social purpose; for instance, Medicare for all. The political quid pro quo feature of this suggestion is that the people benefiting from universal health care would be paying a portion of their own health care when they use their credit cards (see back cover).

Several religions are discussed with reference to the use or acceptance of the hSW. Hence, chapters/sections on Christians, Buddhists, Protestants, Sikhs, Confucianists, atheists, agnostics, Hindus, and Secular Humanism were prepared. Consequently, this book may be useful as course material for introductory to religion courses.

Two labeled groups of society were discussed: abused women and Alcoholics Anonymous. The advice to abused women is to first clearly understand that it is not their fault. However, this is only a thought and perhaps a long-term memory. The follow-up recommendation is to build a belief system (much more mentally inflexible than a simple learned thought from memory) regarding the concept that it is not my fault. This is similar to a child learning the letters of the alphabet. First, they achieve a vulnerable understanding, but as they get older and read the letters more, their use becomes unquestionable, which is similar to having a strong belief system. Hopefully, converting the concept of it is not my fault to a belief system in their preality may increase the rate of recovery of abused women. The section on Alcoholics Anonymous provides a new psychological perspective of why AA works based on the theory and practice of AA groups. The chapter also contains an appendix that lists the contextual use of the word God from pages 1 to 179 of the first Alcoholics Anonymous edition. Many contextual uses of the word God is highly uncontemporary in all book editions.

Section 2 is the most difficult to read, the longest chapter, but it is the precursor information to all the other chapters. This chapter is the foundation for the remaining topics in the book.

Time should be taken to read and understand this chapter before directly navigating to one of the other sections. This section describes/explains the embodied mind, perception, theory of mind, and more.

Finally, and most important from the author’s perspective, if the hSW was globally accepted as a true belief system in each person’s preality, there would likely be less fear and anxiety in America and globally that was created from the currently ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. People would tend to accept what they cannot change in their minds, which is the COVID-19.

Charles Pidgeon, PhD

Reference

Uffe Schjoedt, Hans Stødkilde-Jørgensen, Armin W. Geertz, and Andreas Roepstorff. 2009. Highly Religious Participants Recruit Areas of Social Cognition in Personal Prayer. Soc. Cog. and Affect. Neuro. 4 (2): 199–207.

Acknowledgments

Dr. Charles Pidgeon is very grateful to Gustav Edward Escher III for both writing a section and discussing the manuscript from start to finish. He is also grateful for the expertise of Dr. Fred H. Previc for scrutinizing the entire content from his understanding of psychology, religion, and social cognitive neuroscience. He wishes to recognize the student authors who spent one to three years learning from him the science needed for their sections.

Author’s Recommendation for Reading

This book was not intended to be read sequentially, which is done with a typical novel or similar science fiction story. This book aims to provide the fundamental background information first, but each section is understandable if read independently of the other sections.

Several places in the text inform readers to skip some text in each section if the reader does not want to understand, study, or learn the science associated with the concept under study.

TED Talks and Google Scholar Talks Recommended Throughout the Book

(In the order mentioned in the book)

Achor, S. 2011. The Happy Secret to Better Work. TEDxBloomngton. www.ted.com/talks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_better_work?rid=54ktSWtrKd0o&utm_source=recommendation&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=explore&utm_term=watchNow.

Dennett, D. 2006. Let’s Teach Religion—All Religions—in Schools. TED Conferences. https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_dennett_s_response_to_rick_warren?language=en.

Liberman, M. 2019. The Social Brain and the Workplace. Talks at Google. https://www.youtube.com › watch.

Saxe, R. 2009. How We Read Each Other’s Mind. TED Talks. https://www.ted.com/talks/rebecca_saxe_how_brains_make_moral_judgments.

Seth, A. 2017. Your Brain Hallucinates Your Conscious Reality. TED Talks. https://www.ted.com/talks/anil_seth_how_your_brain_hallucinates_your_conscious_reality/discussion.

Herculano-Houzel, S. 2013. What Is So Special About the Human Brain. TED Talks. https://www.ted.com/talks/suzana_herculano_houzel_what_is_so_special_about_the_human_brain?language=en#t-705995.

Merzenich, M. 2009. Growing Evidence of Brain Plasticity. TED Talks. https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_merzenich_on_the_elastic_brain.

Shapiro, S. 2017. The Power of Mindfulness: What You Practice Grows Stronger. TED Talks. TEDxWashingtonSquare. www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeblJdB2-Vo. Accessed 21 June 2019.

Zapolsky, R. 2017. The Biology or Our Best and Worst Selves. TED Talks. https://www.ted.com/talks/robert_sapolsky_the_biology_of_our_best_and_worst_selves.

Grown, B. 2012. Listening to Shame. TED 2012. https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_listening_to_shame.

Carter, J. 2015. Why I Believe the Mistreatment of Women Is the Number One Human Rights Abuse. TEDWomen. https://www.ted.com/talks/jimmy_carter_why_i_believe_the_mistreatment_of_women_is_the_number_one_human_rights_abuse.

Judd, A. 2016. How Online Violence of Women Has Spiraled Out of Control. TEDWomen, TED Talks. https://www.ted.com/talks/ashley_judd_how_online_abuse_of_women_has_spiraled_out_of_control#t-959579.

Rosenthal, J. B. 2018. The Journey Through Loss and Grief. TED 2028. https://www.ted.com/talks/jason_b_rosenthal_the_journey_through_loss_and_grief.

Steiner, L. M. 2012. Why Domestic Violence Victims Don’t Leave. TEDxRainer. https://www.ted.com/talks/leslie_morgan_steiner_why_domestic_violence_victims_don_t_leave.

Solomon, A. 2014. How the Worst Moments in Our Lives Make Us Who We Are. TED 2014. https://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_solomon_how_the_worst_moments_in_our_lives_make_us_who_we_are.

Stoler, E. 2013. How We Turned the Tide on Domestic Violence (Hint: The Polaroid Helped). TEDWomen. https://www.ted.com/talks/esta_soler_how_we_turned_the_tide_on_domestic_violence_hint_the_polaroid_helped#t-695.

Wright, T. iO. 2012. Fifty Shades of Gay. TEDXWomen. https://blog.ted.com/gallery-io-tillett-wright-examines-the-50-shades-of-gay/.

Quinn, E. 2018. The Way We Think About Biological Sex Is Wrong. TEDWomen. https://www.ted.com/talks/emily_quinn_the_way_we_think_about_biological_sex_is_wrong?rid=y0rZQJ4TPaDf&utm_source=recommendation&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=explore&utm_term=watchNow.

Orenstein, P. 2016. "What Young Women Believe About Their Own

Sexual Pleasure." TED Talks. https://www.ted.com/talks/peggy_orenstein_what_young_women_believe_about_their_own_sexual_pleasure.

Lessig, L. 2013. Taking Back the Republic. TED 2013. https://blog.ted.com/taking-back-the-republic-larry-lessig-at-ted2013/.

Mind Money™

Recognizing that the world was built by people using their minds facilitates social reform from being primarily guided by money considerations to at least some emphasis that money, and what it is used for, is a creation from and for society by people using their minds. A two-penny tax, discussed in the book, on each credit card transaction could annually generate $1B annually for social purposes, perhaps health care, job creation, etc. Why not? The people paying the credit card fee would benefit from their payments.

In the author’s opinion, the optimum use of billions of dollars generated annually should be to use the money for political campaign money. The penny taxes on credit card transactions is a reliable source of large amounts of money annually; surely this is enough to fund campaigns for virtually all people running for office. Most importantly, if preference was given to people running for (i) the congress, (ii) the senate, and (iii) the Presidency, there would be no need to take donor money for campaigning. Under this condition, elected politicians would not have hidden, secret, handshake deals with money men which influences their decision when casting a vote. This also means the people being elected for high offices would have to pay more attention to what the people want, not what their donors want. There will be large amounts of pressure on all congressional and senate people in power from not only the donors and their lobbyists, but also personal pressure on individual elected officials to maintain the status quo. This would change the political system in America. The ‘wall’ of barriers for each politician would have to slowly erode to make such a change.

Section 1 Opening Comments

1.1 Oxymoron

The common adage that "change is constant" is, in fact, a wise oxymoron that should include all traditional religious teachings being malleable to social changes over time. People need to accept unavoidable social changes. The lesser the need to change any form of global social wisdom, without the need for a religious, spiritual, or any social group to change, the better. The reader should not "let his/her belief system interfere with accepting and understanding facts" and think about the concept that "brains are the factories of belief systems."

Social wisdom can exist without depending on a religious belief system, and there are forms of social wisdom that are independent of not only all belief systems but also gender, race, culture, country of origin, etc. Such wisdom is global social wisdom, which is the theme of the collection of topics in this book. Social navigation in a global society benefits from wisdom that is least likely to change with cultural diversity. We offer this book as a start for others attempting to develop, invent, or create global social wisdom. I wish I understood something that is undoubtedly true regarding people’s global sense of social justice for all. From this perspective, the American Constitution phrase We the people is ineffable and should be applied globally.

1.2 Problem and Implementation

Remoras are small fish following sharks that sharks don’t eat. The remoras use the shark’s skin as a food source; they eat any biological material on the shark’s skin. This helps both parties. The remoras are not eaten, and they get food, and the shark has cleaner skin with probably less fluid drag while navigating and less susceptibility to infections. Globalization is typically viewed as the commercialization of goods and services. It is the shark. The skin feeders off the backs of globalization are social groups feeding off the financial leftovers of the globalizing sharks. The ocean of business does not contain only sharks (i.e., corporate managers that ignore social consciousness). For example, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Warren Buffett are people using, at least partially, their wealth for global social causes.

Solving the problem of a virtual total commercial domination over social globalization is most likely to require international cooperation. Also, funding should be made available for academic universities to compete for funding to develop and test models for linking social globalization with commercial globalization. Asking scientists to propose solutions to social problems does not exist in any request for proposal (RFP) from government funding agencies.

Nevertheless, a start at making the link stronger between commercial globalization and social globalization can be found in the last section, Mind Money™ (sections 5.1 and 5.2), which presents a few suggestions for implementing social change. Previous sections discuss some of the issues among different religions (section 3) and labeled social groups (section 4) and the roots of embodied cognition and social wisdom (section 2.1).

However, simply stated, anyone who makes a mental decision about a person’s qualia based on any biological attribute is ignorant. Biology built a good machine (i.e., humans). An attitude or opinion based on biologically derived color, facial structure, gender, and anything else is a direct assault on the genuine value of the biological diversity of human evolution. It is not biology that created social predicament in today’s world. It is the people (commercial industry sector) striving for control, money, power, recognition, etc., and globalization created the modern-day social globalized hurdles and difficulties.

Worse are the judgments based primarily or solely on religious belief systems. The social belief systems in early hominids were quite minimal, in part because they did not form large groups. Albeit true that apes had kinship group sizes with multiple apes (maybe twenty or more), they did not have the population size and global distribution of today’s social groups using the internet. Today it is not uncommon for a person to know hundreds to thousands of people. Social navigation within outside groups (i.e., their non-kinship groups) required the brain to renovate the limbic system to have cortical regulation of the animal brain for social navigation among large groups (Barger 2012; Barger et al. 2014). This is because social navigation requires control of the basic (primordial or animal-like) emotions to survive (see section 2.7 and 2.8). Several non-animal emotions are uniquely human (section 2.8) and essential for the survival of both the individual and group in modern society.

Thus, modern belief systems are a human construct of Homo sapiens, and their human minds, usually for personal peace or specific social objectives.

Although some sections can be read without the need for other sections (e.g., section 5.1, Mind Money), this book is not intended to be read sequentially, section by section. Readers are encouraged to start with section 2, then choose a belief system, or topic, from the index, and navigate directly to their section of choice; however, understanding section 2 in its entirety is essential to appreciate that reality can be understood to be the following:

A movie (with no prewritten plot) produced by the brain.

A controlled hallucination because the brain is an inference generator.

Your social reality being in constant change throughout your life.

People have a personal reality, denoted as preality. Preality is personal intellectual property (IP) in contrast with public domain IP. It is discussed throughout the book.

1.3 Definitions: Social Wisdom, Social Global Wisdom, Social Navigation, Social Globalization, and Preality

The following definitions were used throughout the book and would be understood in the context described below.

Social wisdom: Refers to wisdom that is a guide for a particular group (e.g., Alcoholics Anonymous), country (e.g., We the people for America), and globally (e.g., the hSW described in section 2.5 and 2.6). It is aimed at procedures for people to live a better life (i.e., becoming a better human being in their own environment).

Global social wisdom: Refers to the wisdom that is independent of (1) any human attribute, (2) social group, (3) either religious or non-religious groups and (4) is not intrinsic to any specific geographic location on earth.

Social navigation: The behavior and thought processes used during social interactions based on a person’s preality (personal reality). Any beliefs and formal inferences used while socially navigating are left hemisphere and dopaminergic systems that required dopamine in modern brains (section 5, figure 5.1). In fact, there is an almost linear correlation between brain dopamine levels