Throughout the ages the works of humankind have been considered great to the extent that they lift our awareness of life to new levels of experience and Being. Human culture has employed metaphor, that is, a thing regarded as representative or symbolic of something else, especially something abstract, to communicate its higher knowledge. There exist innumerable structures, images and literature creations that are metaphors meant to create in us a connection with our higher Being and to draw us out of our ordinary sleeping existence. Essentially they are all the result of the creative irrational that continue to influence present day audiences. It is important for us to recognize that the creations were initiated from the creative irrational in a single person or small group of people. Someone had to have the initial bright idea to create the first circle at Göbekli Tepe or the first pyramid in ancient Egypt and from Plato to Einstein individuals are always influenced by their social surroundings, but the breakthroughs in inspiration can always be traced back to a unique individual. With time and persuasion their creative irrational vision would be taken up by those around them to the point where the people would move together to achieve something previously unknown. Up until this point in our examination we have focused on those creative breakthroughs that continue to impress. But it is critical to appreciate that in most humans the creative irrational isn’t expressed by the generation of great new ideas, but by our ability to connect and support the valuation of something provided to those few incredible humans able to think new thoughts; that is to come up with something that is “beyond reason”, which is how “the irrational” is defined in the usage of Jung.

Impressionable Irrational Creations

There is a world full of human creations that stagger the imagination. In this section we present a selection with which we, the authors, are personally acquainted and so can use to reinforce the feelings that many readers will have experienced in their lives. We begin with the works of Ancient Egypt and the fact of their great works that still inspire us 5,000 years after their construction. There is an unmistakable ground level reaction to being in the presence of the mysterious human head of the Great Sphinx peering towards the eastern horizon (Figure 34). The feeling of our own small physical size in the shadows of the Pyramids of Egypt's Giza Plateau is quite different from any rational questioning of how it was built, its alignments or its other purposes (Figure 35). These two examples of the Egyptian creations are from a distinctly different age. Yet they continue to arouse awe and wonder in us, and for brief moments enable us to glimpse a connection between ourselves and the boundlessness of our Universe. They allow us to perceive the insignificance of our small existence simultaneously with an encounter with a larger reality. Although there is undeniable extensive logic in these ancient sites, their present day impact is primarily on the irrational sides of the observer.

Figure 34. The Sphinx of Giza with the Great Pyramid of Kefren in the background. The photo is taken looking west from the base of the Giza Plateau in the vicinity of where the ancient Nile River used to flow.

Figure 35. An overview of the Giza plateau (circa 1982) with the Pyramid of Khufu right front, the Middle Pyramid of Khafren next and the smaller Pyramid of Menkaure at the left in the distance. The Great Sphinx is lost to view behind the buildings … — Figure 35. An overview of the Giza plateau (*circa* 1982) with the Pyramid of Khufu right front, the Middle Pyramid of Khafren next and the smaller Pyramid of Menkaure at the left in the distance. The Great Sphinx is lost to view behind the buildings that crowded the east side of the plateau where the Nile River once flowed. All the buildings in the foreground have since been replaced by new higher buildings, so that this perspective is no longer possible.

The moments of insight invoked by such influences do not last long. Following moments of internal “seeing”, in an attempt to hold or broaden our understanding of their significance, we find ourselves occupied with details. Rather than being brought and held closer to the level of the initial heightened perception, our attentions are so readily distracted that our experience is often reduced to the level of our ordinary waking sleep with its baggage of preconception. How can we avoid becoming automatically occupied with such questions as, "How could a primitive people have moved the huge blocks from the Sphinx Quarry to their site at the Sphinx Temple?" The more important question is “What was my internal state before the awe arose and where am I now that it has passed?”

There are many examples of cultures past and present that provide us with the benefit of experiencing different qualities of ourselves through their creations. Strong impressions are created by visits to the ruins of Machu Picchu, Peru, built circa 1450 CE. The site is perched upon a remote mountain peak that, with its companion peak Huayna Picchu, forms a bowl of mountain ridges, Figure 36. When personally experienced in its original setting we comprehend something essential about the intentions of its structures, even without knowing any details of the culture itself. And yet we most often return, and get lost in questions of the mind, such as, "How did the builders of Machu Picchu, put forth the physical effort required, when our reason tells us that modern, sea-level human beings cannot exert even normal physical efforts at such heights of the Andes?" The answers to such questions provide no support to our wish to approach the brief glimpse of what we in a retrospective state are tempted to attribute to Wisdom, the Self and Being, whether or not we yet know how to express our knowledge of such states.

Figure 36. Machu Picchu, Peru as viewed from a Southern Ridge. The companion peak, Huayna Picchu, rises behind it to the right. Below at the left is a glimpse of the Urubamba River, an upper tributary of the Ulcayli River, flowing into the Western r… — Figure 36. Machu Picchu, Peru as viewed from a Southern Ridge. The companion peak, Huayna Picchu, rises behind it to the right. Below at the left is a glimpse of the Urubamba River, an upper tributary of the Ulcayli River, flowing into the Western reaches of the mighty Amazon.

Our present Western culture also has its architectural structures built to establish awe and yearning for the higher in ourselves. The Gothic cathedrals, such as in the small French village of Chartres, Figure 37, with its incredible height of stone and airiness give rise to a sense of magnitude that comes from our rarely touched understanding of "higher" influences.

Figure 37. The Cathedral, Chartres, France.

Renaissance artists and writers were also exploring the effectiveness of metaphor for portraying our higher natures. Such great works as the plays of Shakespeare and Goethe's Faust juxtapose the foibles, weaknesses and the bestiality of our natures along with our humour, strength and nobility. They permit a glimpse of the scope of the foundations on which humanity is built, and open new dimensions of our aspirations. The "holistic" impression they afford enlivens our capacity to appreciate meanings on new and excitingly satisfactory levels.

Works of Renaissance visual art such as the painting by Titan in Figure 38 explore humanity and its possibilities by evoking mythical themes that can be seen directly on a canvas. The image deliberately worked to show higher and lower levels of life, some represented as young children, some old - all framed between the solid earth below and the clouds floating above.

Figure 38. Titian (Tiziano Vecellio) painting entitled “St. John the Evangelist at Patmos”[1]. — Figure 38. Titian (Tiziano Vecellio) painting entitled “St. John the Evangelist at Patmos”**[1]**.

The well-known and highly appreciated paintings of Van Gogh such as we show in Figure 39 show an intention to explore our direct impressions, but the meaning that they hold out to the viewer may not be so readily perceived. It is obvious within us that feelings have been touched in the artist and are being vividly communicated to the viewer, but their equivalence in the language of the mind is less certain.

Figure 39. Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh[2].

Even when distracted by the jostling of impatient tourists or the insistence of tour-guides, personal experiences of the Sistine Chapel, are over-whelming (Figure 40)! Here architecture and painting come together to create the uplifting experience of space. The results directly relate to higher levels in the great traditions of our culture.

Figure 40. The Sistine Chapel, The Vatican[3].

Questions of quality are unmistakable in all of these great works. Thus far we have dealt with the creative irrational in those endeavors that have left their continuing mark on the surviving western world. This very limited selection of human artful creations presented here reminds us the difficulty in assessing the relevance of the modern Western World’s rational approach to the physical world demonstrated in the great engineering accomplishments. Science was once widely applauded as evidence of the triumph of the human mind over the deficiencies of "blind nature" and its emotional undertones. Yet, the great art masterpieces continue to provide access to emotional connections that are hard to find in science and engineering.

Questions concerning the details of phenomena tend to draw us externally. Our enquiring minds are trained to seek answers while we are less well trained to experience our Being. Our search for answers sometimes obscures our impulses towards the higher aspects of life. Reductionist approaches result in a drop in the level of our perceptions of wholeness. The level of the questions dictates the possibilities in the level of the answers. Mechanistic approaches do not position us to appreciate both the observer and the observed. Even with their possibly confused emotional overtones of the searching for the observer, do not the efforts result in an important influence on the enlivening processes that accompany discovery?

Whether our direct experience is of art, architecture or myth, they all make use of our direct experience in a way that is difficult for us to specify rationally. This fact is sympathetically explored by Schwaller de Lubicz in his writings about pharaonic mathematics[4]. Even though the logic may not be apparent, the experiences are known to us in some part of our consciousness. Our ultimate aim in this study is to try to learn more about this, i.e. how to discern the different levels available to us.

In the presence of ancient works of humankind such as the Great Sphinx or Machu Picchu our understanding of the wider world is directly enhanced by the impressions received. But our interpretation of this effect depends on a mixture of impulses towards the contradictory elements that arise in our total consciousness. Some may be instinctive reactions such as fear of heights. Before the present guardrails were built at the Machu Picchu site, any attempt to walk (or even creep!) along the narrow paths on some of the precipices, particularly those joining it to the isolated peak of Huayna Picchu certainly gave rise to heightened awareness. Other, ethereal, magical, feelings may be inspired in early morning by this same site at a glimpse of the wisps of morning cloud suspended over the surrounding abyss and lighted by the brass-yellow sun rising over the near, clear horizon of the surrounding bowl of mountains. Yet, our direct impressions give rise to a sensitivity to both the surroundings and to the associated inner movements of energy that take place in us.

Nobel Prizes for Recognizing Humans are Irrational

The broader aspects of human irrationality and intuition are now being recognized and explored in the Western World in the embrace of modern day economics dealing with cognitive dissonance[5], behavioral economics and other such phenomena.

For one of the authors (PRB) insights into the hidden irrationality of human behavour began with the kitschy publication of material on “subliminal seduction” in the mid-1970’s[6]. Of course there are many functions that occur for humans that are under their threshold of conscious perception such as breathing and heartbeat. But the idea that there are relatively large human responses that are mediated by unseen influences such as the shape of a smile on a face, the positioning of the body or unrecognized sexual components of photo images was a new and interesting insight. Although the power of subliminal stimuli turns out to be somewhat less than that promised in the 1974 publication, it is a phenomenon that continues to influence aspects of our modern western world such as the bright colours employed in all fast-food restaurants to speed patrons through their meals[7]. This is just one example of the many physical stimuli that are used to influence our decisions and actions - actions that are below our rational notice and decision-making processes. From the new-car smell, to the deliberate cover design of modern-day print books, to the “like” buttons on social media apps, the irrational continues to strongly influence modern Western humans.

It is only relatively recently that researchers have begun to explore how the influence of the irrational extends far beyond that associated with physical stimuli. We are now beginning to see how basically irrational humans are in most of our daily decisions. To a great extent the irrational contributes to how humans survive and thrive in the modern world.

Focused studies on the operation of the irrational in humans can be traced back to the research originated with two psychologists: Daniel Kahneman[8] and Amos Tversky[9] who were active in the 1970’s and ‘80’s at around the time that the book on subliminal seduction was published. Their research on human decision-making has given rise to a new field of human studies that is now called behavioral economics that deals with how humans are influenced in their life choices[10]. Often humans make decisions that are contrary to rationality. Kahneman won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2002) in recognition of his work[11]. His book “Thinking Fast and Thinking Slow” has become a best seller[12]. In it he identifies two separate paths of human decision-making. System 1 is associated with fast automatic thinking and a second independent System 2 that carries out controlled, slowly thought-out decision making. The two systems are roughly equivalent with the two axes presented by Martin above in Figure 2 of the irrational and rational. It is curious that Kahneman presents these two “Systems” of oneself as two separate entities with their own “individual personalities, abilities and liabilities” – much as Gurdjieff presents the centres in a three-brained being. The two systems interact and often conflict. System 1, the automatic system, strives for a quick and easy decision based on rules-of-thumb that are called heuristics[13]. System 2, the reflective system, is our analytical rational side that can come into play to verify or challenge System 1 results. For the majority of humans, System 2 is our ultimately lazy side and only becomes engaged in special situations as after extensive preparatory training or external circumstances that raises the consequence of the decision to a more conscious level. A key role of System 2 is most frequently concerned with justifications for decisions, either good or bad, made by System 1. Through many thought experiments, much like those at the basis of Einstein work in physics, Kahneman and Tversky were able to document the many different ways that we make irrational decisions. They brought human psychology into the field of economics in regards to the choices we make and in doing so highlighted the extent to which our irrational sides operate – most often without our awareness. Their research verified many biases in human decision-making that conflicted with the established purely rational approach of economics. One example is their development of the value function that represents the differing feedback from gaining or losing (Figure41)[14]. The curve in the figure represents the fact that humans feel more pain or discomfort from the loss of something, as on the left side of the figure, than they would feel as happiness or comfort from gaining the same amount of the right hand side of the figure. For instance humans generally feel much more negative about losing $10 from their wallet than they would feel as positive from finding a $10 bill on the sidewalk. This is clearly in contrast with conventional economics where $10 is $10 whether it is lost or gained in usual transactions. Humans are not machines and see plus or minus in the two different situations quite differently. This is just one example of the many such studies carried out by Kahneman and Tversky.

Figure 41. Value Function of human response to gains or losses relative to a reference point. The higher slope of the line for a loss relative to the slope of a gain on the right expresses the increased discomfort of losing something, such as losing… — Figure 41. Value Function of human response to gains or losses relative to a reference point. The higher slope of the line for a loss relative to the slope of a gain on the right expresses the increased discomfort of losing something, such as losing $10, relative to the slope of gaining, such as winning $10.

Richard Thaler, an economist, who worked with Kahneman and Tversky at Stanford University in 1977-78, received his Nobel Memorial Prize in 2017 for his contributions to behavioural economics through his development of the ‘nudge theory’[15]. Through his studies he clarified that humans can be relatively easily influenced by small, directed stimuli to make what would otherwise be difficult choices and actions. Something as simple as placing the sweet candy treats close to the checkout lines at stores is enough to significantly increase sales of these unhealthy products. Or as PRB has experienced in The Netherlands, a painted housefly at the bottom of a urinal nudges better aim and improved cleanliness in men’s washrooms (Figure 42). This little pictorial nudge is much more effective than any number of words printed on signs and posters – even though it is impossible to imagine a rational reason for the change in behavior and attention.

Figure 42. A photo of a urinal with a painting of a housefly.

Daniel Ariely’s [16] was named one of the 50 most influential living psychologists in the world in 2018[17]. His book “Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape our Decisions” highlights recognizable patterns in human irrationality[18]. Our irrationality is not random. Figure 43 represents one of his main insights into how humans make non-rational decisions. The left-hand graph presents the situation where a person is presented with two options “A” and “B”. As an example: option “A” could represent an all-inclusive trip to Paris while option “B” represents an all-inclusive trip to Rome. Both cities are similar but not the same and not directly comparable. As a result, this represents a difficult decision for a person who has never been to either city. Both cities offer things of interest, but they are not equal. The right-hand graph in the figure represents the situation where a third, obviously less desirable option is presented which he calls “-A”. The addition of this third less desirable option allows for an easier, yet irrational, comparison. For instance “–A” may represent a trip to Paris without meals. This is a very similar option to A, but is obviously less desirable without the inclusion of pre-arranged meals. Humans presented with three options have been observed to easily assess A as better than –A, and studies have shown that as a result, they also easily assess A as better than B! With keeping the initial options and just adding a third less desirable option, humans irrationally reassess the initial conditions and tend to make an easy, quick yet irrational, choice. Yes indeed an all inclusive trip to Paris is better than one without meals, but why should this have any affect on the all inclusive trip to Rome? Such influences are apparently common throughout human life choices. We tend to be influenced by what a strict economist would consider supposedly irrelevant factors (SIF)[19]. In this way more-expensively-priced aspirin has proven to be more effective in pain relief than exactly the same aspirin offered at a lower-price. A line-up of people waiting to get into a restaurant makes us falsely assume that it is a preferable restaurant. Getting something for free gives us great happiness – even if the object is less desirable than one available at a low price.

Figure 43. The left-hand graph represents a difficult human choice between two dissimilar options. The right-hand represents the addition of a slightly less preferable option called –A that leads the average person to easily select option A as the b… — Figure 43. The left-hand graph represents a difficult human choice between two dissimilar options. The right-hand represents the addition of a slightly less preferable option called –A that leads the average person to easily select option A as the best of all options – even though option A is identical that in the left-handed graph[20].

The field of behavioural economics has established that we are very far from being rational, as are the entities that economists typically would prefer to deal with. It is our irrational components of behaviour and thought that make us so human. Their research showed that these kinds of operations are a key component of normal human behaviour. Their work showed how humans make many irrational decisions. Hearing that there is a 40% chance of rain or snow in the forecast brings wet weather to mind in a way that a forecast of 60% chance of the absence of rain would not. Storm warnings necessarily warn us of the extreme possibilities, but they also “anchor” our expectations for the worst and have us glued to the Internet for confirmation of the notable extremes.

The work of modern day economics is becoming more and more adept at recognizing and dealing with humans as irrational beings. We can be led to appreciate the irrational as the key, essential characteristic of humans that separates us from all other species. We strongly believe that the insights of this research on modern humans holds true for much, if not all, of the time period over which humans developed. We are a species that is strongly influenced by others – beyond just the simple training and learning that all higher animals exhibit. We as humans exhibit the creative irrational in the work of the discoveries of individuals. We show a strong tendency to be irrationally influenced by their work whether it is bringing fire into a cave for the first time or exerting effort to carve and erect massive stone blocks. As an obvious expansion of Ariely’s book title “The Upside of Irrationality”[21], we see that creative irrationality is the key to human success through time. This includes the human experience of the more-than-merely-personal of the spiritual. Spirituality, once conceived by certain individuals who have directly experienced a higher consciousness, can be conveyed to others through the role of our creative irrational that exists in everyone. Modern economics are becoming attuned to the importance of this activity in structuring the modern human world. It is time for the existence of the creative irrational to be better appreciated by all participants in our society.

———- Chapter 12: The Essential Human Creative Irrational ————————-

—————————- Table of Contents ————————————————

[1] http://www.artsunlight.com/artist-NT/N-T0001-Titian-Tiziano-Vecellio/N-T0001-299-st-john-the-evangelist-on-patmos.html

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Starry_Night

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sistine_chapel.jpg.

[4] Schwaller de Lubicz, R.A. 1998. The Temple of Man: Apet of the South at Luxor. (Two Volumes) Inner Traditions International, Rochester, Vermont. 1048 pp.

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance

[6] Key, W.B. 1974. Subliminal Seduction. Signet.

[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subliminal_stimuli

[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Kahneman

[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amos_Tversky

[10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_economics

[11] http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economic-sciences/laureates/2002/kahneman-facts.html

[12] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow

[13] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heuristic

[14] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prospect_theory

[15] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Thaler

[16] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predictably_Irrational