Meet Your Political Mind: The Interactions Between Instincts and Intellect and Its Impact on Human Behavior

By Mark Abraham

The Interactions Between Instinct and Intellect and its Impact on Human Behavior Length: 208 pages Mark Abraham was displeased by the phenomenon of politicking, although he studied it for a deeper and more accurate understanding of this fatigued term, "politics," as a major aspect of human affair. For reasons he could not identify as a student, he was never satisfied with the prevailing definitions. Thus, he asked his professors in both undergraduate and graduate school in the political science department to share their understanding of the term with him. Each of them seemed to have an understanding uniquely different from all the rest. Then, he realized that this was a vaguely understood phenomenon even by the professors in the field and he relented his efforts and concluded that, "politics," was one of the most used but the least understood phenomena. As he developed his own theories, he formulated that unlike the commonly perceived concept, politics is not just a profession for the few in each society, but it is a brand of behavior unique to humans that starts in early childhood. Thus, he formulated, "to be instinctive is to be selfish. To be selfish and intelligent is to be political. Because instincts and intellect are permanent human fixtures, politicking that results for their cofunction also becomes a permanent human fixture." This perception justifies Aristotle's claim that, "man is a political animal." The ultimate objective of politicking is to impose and thus, he tries to redefine it. He perceives politicking as a range of complex and manipulative deeds afforded by people to impose their will and interest on others against their will and interest. As such, it erodes innocence and is one of the least desirable of all human attributes. Yet the selfish nature of all instincts as the driving force behind politics is the sole force that governs the world of animals, thus politicking becomes the refined reflection of animals in man. Where animals use fangs, claws, venom, speed and brute force to subdue and devour their pray, humans apply politics that includes the use of brute force. Misconceiving this term greatly contributes to human conflicts at all levels, which is why most people unconsciously dislike politicking and politics worldwide.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 15, 2010
• ISBN: 9781456810139

Mark Abraham

Mark Abraham came to America as a student in 1973, bent on finding the hidden causes of perpetual human conflicts. By1982 he acquired two degrees in international politics, and in 1987 invented an item, founded a company, produced and distributed his product. In America he learned much about the world affair, but did not find his answers. For postgraduate he studied philosophy, seeking ideas from the thinkers of the past, but to no avail. However, he learned that these thinkers being so fascinated by human intellect had observed humans from the stance of intellect alone, while ignoring the mighty forces of instincts. Three human instincts are universally accepted, and Mark has identified 14 more each of which drives us more forcefully than does our intellect. Ignoring this mental force had created a missing link in studying man that is responsible for all human riddles. Placing this missing link in its rightful place reveals that the contrasting natures of the progressing intellect and stagnant instincts have resulted in a growing imbalance in the mind. Your stagnant instincts impair your intelligence, hinder your happiness and are responsible for all manmade disasters. However, because of its subtle nature it continues to escape attention. This work shows how to disengage your instincts and intellect, boost your intelligence and happiness, while it also resolves some major human enigmas. For the first time we see why humans are so spiritual; what makes man so incurably political; what makes us worship arts and also sports. Why, of all beings, humans alone are at the same time polygamous and monogamous that renders humans alone sexually confused. Mark Abraham came to America as a student in 1973, bent on finding the hidden causes of perpetual human conflicts. By1982 he acquired two degrees in international politics, and in 1987 invented an item, founded a company, produced and distributed his product. In America he learned much about the world affair, but did not find his answers. For postgraduate he studied philosophy, seeking ideas from the thinkers of the past, but to no avail. However, he learned that these thinkers being so fascinated by human intellect had observed humans from the stance of intellect alone, while ignoring the mighty forces of instincts. Three human instincts are universally accepted, and Mark has identified 14 more each of which drives us more forcefully than does our intellect. Ignoring this mental force had created a missing link in studying man that is responsible for all human riddles. Placing this missing link in its rightful place reveals that the contrasting natures of the progressing intellect and stagnant instincts have resulted in a growing imbalance in the mind. Your stagnant instincts impair your intelligence, hinder your happiness and are responsible for all manmade disasters. However, because of its subtle nature it continues to escape attention. This work shows how to disengage your instincts and intellect, boost your intelligence and happiness, while it also resolves some major human enigmas. For the first time we see why humans are so spiritual; what makes man so incurably political; what makes us worship arts and also sports. Why, of all beings, humans alone are at the same time polygamous and monogamous that renders humans alone sexually confused.

Book preview

MEET YOUR

POLITICAL

MIND

The Interactions Between Instincts and

Intellect and its Impact on Human

Behavior

Mark Abraham

Copyright © 2011 by Mark Abraham.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2010916530

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4568-1012-2

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4568-1011-5

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4568-1013-9

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

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without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

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Contents

Acknowledgement:

The Use Of A Practical Philosophy

The Marks Of A Good Philosophy

Introduction To The Growing Imbalances In The Human Mind

On The True Lessons Of History

On Human Instincts

Classification Of Instincts

The Origins Of Instincts

The Properties Of Instincts

Comparing Instinct And Intellect From Another Perspective

More On The Two Segments Of Intellect

If We Are Made Of The Same Substances, Why Are We So Different?

Humans Are Neither Equally As Intelligent Nor Equally As Instinctive

Intelligence And Weaponry

CHAPTER TWO

The Anatomy Of Politics

An Illustration Of The Anatomy Of Politics

Why Politics And True Civilization Are Incompatible.

Why Politicking And True Civilization Are An Irreconcilable Contradiction

Another Imbalance In The Human Mind

Civilized Or Just Intelligent?

More On Why Politicking And True Civilization Are Incompatible

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

I would like to start this book with a quote from my father, to be friends you need no reason, but to be enemies, you must have a good reason. I wish and hope that at least some people will remember and observe it in the way they relate to other people at all levels. Having said that, I would like to dedicate this book to my beautiful and beloved wife, Firoozeh, who tolerated my persisting retreat to my office to relentlessly read, write and rewrite for decades until my books were finished. I feel much indebted for her understanding and endless patience through the years. Also, I wish to express my most sincere thanks to my wonderful cousin, Jamshid for his endless support and encouragement in difficult and tiring times. Finally, I wish to express my greatest gratitude to my very dear Friend, Dr. Reza Kamarei who has endlessly contributed to my work in different ways with his wealth of ideas and very practical suggestions. I would also like to express my heartfelt Thank You to my Author Services Representative, Gemma Ramos and Submission Representative, Greg Fuentes for all their help and guidance throughout the publication process of my books.

THE USE OF A

PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY

If you ask one hundred people to elaborate on their understanding of the term philosophy, you will probably get a hundred different answers. Not having a unified understanding of this phenomenon, it is worthwhile for each philosopher to depict what his or her perception of philosophy is and what is expected to do. Often in real life, we observe that certain thought systems acquire widespread acceptance, and create opinions that sway vast numbers of people in a certain direction. This can start trends that are good and constructive, if the philosophy is practical and correct, and very destructive, if incorrect. The spread of Communism on a universal scale is one example of this reality.

From my perspective, a good philosophy should serve multiple needs and satisfy a few requirement. On one level, a philosophical approach might unveil certain important factors that, had passed unnoticed up until that point. Detecting such phenomena might reveal valuable realities about important things. Not knowing that which can be known can best be described as negligence, which can cause momentous and preventable harm if not detected on time. On another level, it could unveil significant understanding of complex and seemingly inexplicable phenomena from which the world would otherwise be deprived. For example, in their early stages, the concept of gravity and the fact that the earth circled around the sun were philosophical discoveries. To use yet another example—the correlation between musical notes and what is now the periodic table of chemical elements began as a seemingly bizarre philosophical observation. Thus, detecting such hidden phenomena through philosophical study that ultimately develops into science is beneficial to humanity and the world at large.

Furthermore as such facts are detected and explained through philosophy, we increasingly find this chaotic world of ours more orderly. Through philosophy, we find answers to questions, which, at one point, seemed impossible to understand.

For instance, just before Sir Isaac Newton discovered the force of gravity, the inquisitive minds of the day were utterly confused in observing the different ways objects behaved in relation to earth. For instance, when an elevated object was released, it would travel toward the earth flawlessly. Yet another object, such as water in the form of a gas, would rise. And then, the same object, water in the form of a fluid, or a hard object such as snow or hail, would fall back to the earth. Furthermore, some objects, such as specks of dust, would float in the air. Such diverse behavior between different objects seemed utterly chaotic and beyond explanation at the time.

However, when gravity was identified as the force that pulls all objects to itself, it became easy to understand why some objects fell. And with the discovery of density, it made sense that some objects rise, others fall, and others float in midair.

Thus, what begins as a philosophical observation soon becomes a scientific discovery, and in time, not only explains ambiguities in the world around us, but also allows us to progress as humans. To put it differently, the simplest parts of philosophy ultimately gets explained scientifically, while the more complex parts of it continues to remain as philosophy until it gets resolved scientifically. This is my understanding of what purposes philosophy could and should serve, and throughout the course of this work, these objectives will be pursued accordingly. From this perspective I have come to firmly believe that momentous phenomena exist in the form of mental forces that drive human conduct, and that such phenomena continue to pass unnoticed with profound implications at all levels of human function and the future of human civilization as we shall see.

THE MARKS OF

A GOOD PHILOSOPHY

A good philosophy must display a few important characteristics including relevance, accessibility, and accuracy. Much in the field of philosophy is reduced to meaningless assertions devoid of any useful applications, such as the question if a tree falls in the forest, and no one is around to hear it fall, did it ever make a sound? However, to be a worthy philosophy, it must be relevant and lend itself to solving practical problems or clarifying ambiguities and instilling wisdom in individuals to better human condition.

Second, it needs to be accessible. One often reads philosophical material imbued with abstract thoughts difficult to wrap one’s head around. And while philosophy by nature can be complex and even difficult to fully grasp, it is incumbent upon the philosopher to simplify their philosophy and make it accessible to the widest number of people possible.

In many philosophical writings, words are treated as if they are the best-known phenomena. However, unlike concrete objects such as cars, houses, shoes, etc, terms such as wisdom, politics, rhythm, instincts, arts, love, hate terrorism, civility, civilization, knowledge, consciousness, will, and so on, are not as finite in definition or as universally understood. When philosophers use these terms as cornerstones of their thoughts and presume they are well-known terms, they fail to effectively communicate and their philosophy becomes inaccessible.

We know this because when people are asked to elaborate on their understanding of any such words, they will give various different answers that show various different understandings of the concept. And in philosophy, where an exact understanding of terms is a prerequisite for grasping the entire concept, any communication that uses such terms without first defining them, fails to be accessible.

Finally, a good philosophy needs to be accurate. As it was alluded to before, accuracy in philosophical observation exacts philosophical treatises and renders them pragmatic and useful, and its absence produces exactly the opposite. Such accuracy is first measured by the soundness of logic that supports it, and second, by how well the different aspects of it fit together. The more accurate a philosophy is, the less hypothetical and the more scientific it becomes. This is why many claim that good philosophy is the mother of all sciences.

To expand, in philosophy, you first make an observation about the realities that surround you. When this is done correctly, the observation can be supported by many different empirical examples which can verify the validity of the observation. Then you try to formulate an explanation of the subject by using the most sound and relevant logic, facts, trends, data, and so on—all of which, in unison, support the argument. In this regard, all the pertinent material begins to make up loops in your philosophical chain, and any weak loop in this chain renders the whole chain weak and useless.

To put it differently, drastically wrong conclusions can be derived from an improper reasoning in any of the steps used in constructing a philosophy. To use another analogy—suppose you begin to draw two parallel lines starting at point A. Furthermore suppose there is an exceedingly insignificant flaw in one of the lines that make it technically, although not noticeably not parallel. Although this tiny flaw may be unnoticeable at the start, as your line is further drawn out, the flaw will become so obvious, that no one will be able to ignore it.

This can best be illustrated through simple mathematical functions. As all of those who understand the basics of mathematics know, we can multiply and divide both sides of any mathematical equation by the same factor. Let us practice this mathematical principle on the following simple equation:

X²-X² = X²-X²

We can write the same equation as (X-X).(X+X) = X.(X-X). If you multiply the parenthesis and simplify the results, you would get the equation we started with. Now if we divide both sides of this equation by the factor of (X-X), this would be eliminated from each side of this equation. Then we would end up with (X+X) = X or 2X = X. If again, we divide the two sides of the last equation by the factor of X, we would end up with 2 = 1. If this were true indeed, it would turn the world as we know upside down. Of course, as we all know 1 does not equal 2.

Although every step in this mathematical practice is perfectly accurate, there is a simple flaw that escapes the attention of most people, in that, while we are allowed to multiply or divide both sides of an equation by the same factor, we cannot multiply or divide the sides of any equation by 0. This is because any number divided by -0- becomes infinity, and thus makes all numbers equal.

Likewise, any number multiplied by -0- becomes -0- and this too, makes them equal despite the infinite differences between them. Thus, a single wrong step in a range of steps can lead to a drastically wrong, misleading, and unacceptable conclusion. Hence, in addition to the whole philosophy, each of the links in the entire structure of a philosophy must be logically sound. And the more this is maintained, the more the philosophy is elevated to the realm of science.

INTRODUCTION

TO THE GROWING IMBALANCES

IN THE HUMAN MIND

In introducing my own philosophy, I will start with a question. Do you ever wonder, with progress increasing on all fronts, why the human entity itself remains a mystery? In the past 2,400 years, great minds have diligently tried to demystify man, yet many aspects of the human remain unanswered.

Some of this failure to answer stems from the fact that great thinkers have often been fascinated by a particular mental faculty of the human and have tried to understand the whole being through this single mental element alone. That element, of course, is human intellect. Being mesmerized by this, many continue to disregard another mental force, that drives our conduct at all levels much more forcefully than intellect does.

Ignoring this mighty force has created a missing link in most of their works, and renders them inconclusive, if not misleading. Thus, the human enigma continues to present itself in many aspects of human affairs. But restoring this missing link to its rightful place renders man nakedly clear and easy to understand. Instinct is the missing link, and three types of it are universally acknowledged and accepted. This study presents fourteen more, each of which induces its own brand of behavior. Correct treatment of these instincts is essential in accurately understanding humankind, and as we shall see, even the three accepted instincts are not properly taken into consideration in studying man.

When we learn the properties and the missions of each of these mental forces, we clearly see how these forces have created the human condition from inception. And these mental elements, being unchanging, have permanently solidified this human condition, making man mostly incapable of departing from this base mode of conduct, in which he has constant conflict. Although this is only one of many different human conditions frozen in time, it affects other major aspects of human affairs in most profound ways. For example, war by becoming a permanent and hugely costly human condition molds the over all economy of the world into shape. Also, war as the ultimate form of competition demands the cutting edge science and technology. This in turn, drives a great aspect of humans’ brainpower and largely gives direction to a huge portion of the progress of science and technology. Moreover, war being exceedingly destructive; it psychologically afflicts those who are subjected to such conflicts that violently claims the lives of many of peoples’loved ones. And it is only in recognizing these mental forces that have permanently trapped humanity in this undesirable condition and taking the required steps to compensate for them, that we can hope to break free from this perpetual cycle.

The first principle that needs to be recognized is that the human mind is not a single polar entity consisting of intellect alone, but it is a bipolar one consisting of instinct and intellect. These two mental forces are distinctly different from one another, and each is responsible for a particular and vast category of human affairs. Thus, when we do anything (individually or collectively), it is crucial for us to know which part of the mind is driving such behavior. This is because of the contrasting natures of these two mental forces (one stagnant, the other growing), which causes an increasing imbalance in the function of the human mind. This widening divide has been accelerating from the dawn of humanity to the modern time, and left unchecked, it will ultimately determine the future of the human civilization in the most unpleasant ways.

To explore this further, we see that instincts, which are unchanging, control our behavior each by blindly and selfishly striving for a distinct pleasure and satisfaction. The pleasures such selfish pursuits promise to all beings and humans are so strong that they frequently overcome our reasoning faculty and we act unintelligently.

Countering these instincts is intellect, which divides into two major segments, each with a completely different function and mission of its own. Through this philosophy, the two types of intellect are labeled as the utilitarian intellect and the behavioral intellect or moral virtue. While it will be elaborated upon later in more details, the instincts and the behavioral intellect affect human conduct in opposite ways. Instincts pull humans in one direction while intellect tries to force them in the other, and this tug of war becomes the source of many of life’s dualities.

The utilitarian intellect consists of the various faculties that deal with reasoning, science, technology, contemplation, imagination, creativity, inventions, discoveries, and cognition at large. These are all mental tools at the disposal of humans to achieve all their needs, wants, and desires, large and small, individually and collectively. What is important to recognize, however, is that not all of our pursuits are exclusively good or evil, but often, are a comprise of both. The faculty of utilitarian intellect is the mental element that applies itself unconditionally and indiscriminately to achieve all of them, regardless of if they are noble, evil, or neutral.

For instance, the Wright brothers used their utilitarian intellect to invent the airplane, which has immeasurably contributed to human progress. Yet Bin Laden, through his intellect, used this same invention to savagely take 3,800 innocent lives in the most horrifying way, triggering wars that have claimed an even greater more. The danger here looms in two factors: (1) The mental element of intellect grows increasingly more potent without any