Chapter 2: The Rational in Non-Humans

In our effort to distinguish humans from other biological organisms in terms of irrationality and spirituality it is critical to establish a baseline for comparison. While it is difficult to discuss spirituality in humans, it makes absolutely no sense to project measures of spirituality on other animals. But one can examine the extent to which their actions appear rational or not. So we begin our exploration of the importance of the human irrationality by looking at its opposite – the rational. That is, we can to establish what other general animal behavior is like. Is it primarily rational or irrational? Specifically we need to see how animals        behave in their routine lives. 

To do this we start with a definition of the rational objectives of all animal species as being concerned with food, shelter, procreation and immediate pleasures.  The success of any species is tied to these four necessary aspects of life.  They are what will ensure that their genes will survive to be passed on to their offspring. Although across the animal kingdom the actual requirements for a species survival are incredibly diverse, they all need to be achieved within the lifetime of the individuals of the species. While the requirements for one species’ existence may need to be found within a very narrow range of environmental conditions, such as giant pandas that survive only in bamboo forests, in other species, such as the tardigard (Figure 4), that can actually survive for periods of time in the harsh environments such as in the vacuum of outer space[1].

Figure 4. Tardigrade that measures 0.5 mm / 0.02 inches and is one of the hardiest animals known. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrade).

For our examination we focus on higher order animals and their rational behavior patterns. They meet immediate needs and result in tangible benefits. We look here at a select number of examples of non-human animals that represent the broader rational approach to to meet survival requirements. In particular we explore the use of tools in animals.

Food 

Of course there are many behaviors that animals use to acquire their food. These could involve complex strategies for hunting and gathering food items. Many predators have developed complex coordinated action and social interactions for stalking and killing prey, such as can be seen with the archetypical actions of a pride of lions picking out a wildebeest on the African savanna. But in addition to highly evolved actions, many animals are known to select and modify items from their surroundings and use these items in their procurement of food[2].

We start with an example from the bird kingdom. While parrots are thought to be fairly intelligent through their well-known and amusing ability to mimic the voice of humans, in the bird world, crows, ravens and rooks better display traits indicating high intelligence in birds. Most critically this is reflected in their intelligent, ingenious use of tools. For example, ravens are known to drop walnuts in front of passing cars to get the nuts cracked and the meats made accessible. They have been observed using sticks to reach food that is beyond their grasp. They have also been observed to actually select specific objects for use in displacing water in a container to more efficiently access articles of food. This selection process can be quite complex.  That is, they choose objects that meet their needs on the basis of both their size and weight (Figure 5).  Another notable example of tool use by birds is that of the Egyptian vulture. It manipulates rocks with its beak to pound them onto the shell of an ostrich egg until it cracks (Figure 6).

Figure 5. The 'water displacement' tasks (pictured) were all variations of the Aesop's fable in which a thirsty crow drops stones to raise the level of water in a pitcher (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2590046/Crows-intelligent-CHILDREN-Study-reveals-birds-intelligence-seven-year-old.html).

Figure 6. Juvenile Egyptian vulture breaking egg with stone (http://www.arkive.org/egyptian-vulture/neophron-percnopterus/image-G30003.htm).

Moving to mammals, whales and dolphins are known to be especially intelligent for their communication and learning of human-taught tricks. But they also express their abilities when it comes to acquiring food. For example, a pod of bottlenose dolphins in Australia has been seen tearing off pieces of sponge and wrapping them around their noses, apparently to prevent abrasions while they poked about the sea floor hunting for buried animals as food.

Even the strong jaws of the sea otter aren't always enough to pry open a tasty clam or oyster. That's when this charismatic marine mammal gets wise. The otter makes use of stones. They might use one on its belly as an anvil or they might uses one to pound open its mollusk meal[3].

If we consider primates, there are many examples of animals modifying objects for procuring food. Capuchin monkeys make stone knives by banging flint against the floor until the pieces are sharp.  Primates also pick up or break off sticks and after some alteration stick, poke, or jab them into holes in various situations to acquire bush babies, ants, honey or other food sources. One case of such alterations of an object for purposes of getting food can be found in the Senegal chimpanzees[4]. In one reported case sticks were not only selected and stripped of their leaves, but the ends were sharpened by the chimpanzees by chewing them down to a point. Once pointed the “spears” could be jabbed into holes in trees to acquire bush babies that would otherwise have been inaccessible.

Shelter

Many higher animals are known to manipulate their environment and produce tools to enhance their use as shelter. For example, the octopus is heralded as the most intelligent non-human invertebrate on the planet. Octopuses have been observed carrying shells that can be used to protect them when threatened (Figure 7). Hermit crabs are the archetypal example of an animal that has a shelter made from materials in its environment. It also uses the shells from other species as its mobile home (Figure 8).  The Blanket octopus has been known to use “tools” for shelter from attack[5]. They tear off tentacles from a jellyfish and wield them as a weapon. Both of these uses of “tools” show the application of inventive rational activity to the task of procuring shelter.

Figure 7. An octopus using a bivalve shell for its own protection (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tool_use_by_animals#In_cephalopods).

Figure 8. Hermit crab “housed” in the shell from another species (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermit_crab).

Nests in birds and primates provide one of the many, many examples where materials are fashioned to improve their use in life situations in very rational ways. In the world of mammals, for simplicity and ease, chimpanzees select large leaves to shelter themselves from the rain. Elephants use available sticks as back scratchers and for swatting flies making their lives more pleasant.  Many animals have developed consistent methods for creating very complex, amazingly detailed constructions with minimum tolerance on the form of the final product (Figure 9). In all cases the use of the tool is clearly related to the specific, rational intent and purpose. 

Figure 9. Intricate nest construction of a weaver bird’s nest[6].

Procreation

  All higher animals must mate to give rise to future generations that will continue the species. Of course each species has its own mating process. Whether it is the notable tail feathers of the peacock or the relatively over-sized human genitalia, successful attraction of a mate is critical to the species success[7]. But in addition to the way animals are built and how they behave, non-human animal species have also been seen to actually make use of objects to enhance their attractiveness and thus procreation success[8].

The rationality in animals for use in procreation can easily be seen in the usage by some animals of decoration for attraction. Magpies are believed to acquire shiny objects that will attract other ravens. Bearded vultures add color to their plumage by rubbing against certain soils[9].

Looking at modern human’s closest relatives bonobos and chimpanzees, they have been observed making "sponges" out of leaves and moss to suck up water and use the result for grooming, apparently resulting in increased attractiveness to mates.  In wild bonobos, tool use is mainly for personal care, cleaning and social purposes. It is to be noted that in both of these primate species tool use is more predominate among the females.

Immediate Pleasures

Finally, in addition to animal’s rational use of tools for food, shelter and procreation, there are also instances of animals making use of tools for immediate pleasures and apparent amusement. While such activities border on the irrational, the results of the tools use is immediate and closely tied in time to activity. Crows actually create toys for their pleasure.  Orcas kill for non-food use, possibly in relation to training and practicing their essential life skills in non-life-threatening situations. In addition to humans, a number of primate and non-primate animals have been observed to masturbate[10]. Mammals that masturbate include elephants, bats and marine mammals. In the bird world penguins masturbate. In the reptile world both turtles and lizards have been observed to carry out this kind of activity. In most of these cases other objects in their environment, such as a rock, may be made use of to help self-satisfy. We mention these examples of behavior here as evidence for the use of tools by animals that don’t immediately meet the needs of food, shelter and procreation. 

Summary

All these activities can be seen as totally rational - for the specific purpose of enhancing the survival of the fittest in a direct and immediate manner. Poking for food, building shelters, and adorning nests to attract a mate all are limited activities that are widely seen in the species of interest without much individual creativity, variation or abstraction. It is impressive to see how highly evolved are the diverse behaviors of animals. But it is important to note that, as we proceed to explore human rational and irrational characteristics, that all of these activities are expressions of rationality and that it is almost ubiquitous in the animal kingdom. And as humans are ultimately biological species, they too express high levels of rationality for their survival. Our tool making is highly refined and without a doubt a function of our success in occupying almost all areas of the globe.

But it is impossible to see the irrational in the behavior of non-hominin species. It is important for modern humans to recognize that much of our world is the result of rational mimicking of the outburst of a creative irrational discovery.  For humans this creative irrational is the basis of the application of our rationality. Together the rational and irrational may be shared essential characteristics that differentiate humans from the other animals and hominins, allowing H. sapiens to out-survive many and to propel us to dominate the globe. As we shall see later, the addition of the creative irrational opened up possibilities of development for both our collective as well as individual consciousnes.

—————— CHAPTER 3: PRE-HISTORIC/PRE-LITERATE HUMAN IRRATIONALITY ———————————

———————— Table of Contents —————————

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrade

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

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tool_use_by_sea_otters

[4] http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070222-chimps-spears.html

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

[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tool_use_by_animals

[7] Morris, D. 1994. The Naked Ape: A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal. Vintage Press.

[8] http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/06/150610-animals-camouflage-decoration-bugs-science/

[9] https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/06/150610-animals-camouflage-decoration-bugs-science/

[10] https://gizmodo.com/9-animals-that-masturbate-other-than-humans-1723592357

Chapter 1: Humans - Essentially Irrational and Spiritual?

We exist in this world only to the extent that we are aware of ourselves in it. For humans we picture an awareness beyond simply “I am cold” or “I am hungry”. Our worldview includes an image of ourselves that encompasses a connection with the dimensions we term: past, present and future. We sense an existence at different levels of consciousness - both higher and lower. These multiple levels of awareness are the basis for our sense that we exist as individuals. 

Our connection with these different levels of awareness represents our consciousness of “Being”, in fact, they make us human. So what is human and what is not-human? In spite of the general view of modern day Western civilization that humans are ultimately rational, much of these experiences of reality are definitely irrational. Morality, with concepts of good and bad, reward and punishment and ultimately good outcomes from good behavior is irrational.  The irrationality of spirituality allows humans to connect with what are called “higher” levels of existence, representing one of the most fleeting and powerful experiences of humans. It too is irrational yet its effects are undeniable in our world. We, the authors (Figure 1), explore in this book our understanding that humans are basically irrational and ultimately spiritual beings. This irrationality is evident in the very earliest of human development. It is evident in the earliest  modification of rock and bones into the early traces of artwork and in processes that remain of the burying of the dead, which give us clear evidence of human activity. Irrationality of humans is evident in the remains of the earliest development of megalithic structures. It continues today in the irrational goals of space exploration and travel. Modern day economics is just now recognizing the large role the irrational plays in our present-day modern behavior.  Whether it is seeing our irrational action in the purchase of needless consumer products or in better understanding the sides of ourselves that strive for higher awareness and consciousness, this book will show how humans are ultimately and essentially irrational and that it is critical for us as individuals and as a society to clearly examine its power and impact in our lives. It is the key to human success in the past and for our future.

Figure 1. The authors in the crypts of the Eastern Cemetery below the Great Pyramid, Giza, Egypt.

Irrational versus Rational/Creative versus Destructive

P.W. Martin, following the analyses of C.G. Jung[1], presented a model of modern human psychological types along two primary axes: the rational and the irrational (Figure 2)[2]. Along the rational axis he distinguished the “thinking” from the “feeling” aspects of human psychology. Along the irrational axis he saw the “sensation” and “intuition” aspects of humans. 

Figure 2. Jungian psychological types as described by Martin showing the two major axes rational (horizontal) and irrational (vertical) (from Martin (1955)).

The thinking and feeling aspects of the rational axis share many common traits, such as their “yes or no”, “good or bad”, “like or hate” results. Tracing back to the Greeks, the modern Western World has highly valued the rational side of humans in its ability to measure, analyze and manage its activities. Logical, additive, progressive development of modern cultures is often seen as the basis of its present day state. Much of modern day training is based on this rational exposure to progressively difficult challenges to build a framework for modern-day living. As for our opposing feeling functioning, the emotional aspects of human psychology, the affairs of the heart, have always been a driving force in the lives of humans. The comedy and drama themes of theatre throughout modern history offer only one of many examples of our feeling side.

Along the perpendicular irrational axis, in a different dimension, Jung and Martin identified the opposing functions of sensation and intuition. The sensation or physical side of humans is well represented in many aspects of modern human activity, such for example as the thrill of sport. It is also seen in the highly refined work of people involved in crafts, music and various creative arts. What has been less recognized in Western cultures is the other aspect of the irrational that Martin and Jung called the “intuitive”. It could be roughly defined as “operating without conscious reasoning”. It is captured in the concept of our “sixth sense” or “gut feeling”. 

  In this book, we use the word “irrational” in a very specific way. The general paradigm of the modern Western World, largely based in its Christian roots that distrust the natural, magical uncontrollable impulses of their congregation, is that the irrational is less reliable and less valuable than our more explicit rational sides. We do not use it in the pejorative sense relating to stupidity, dangerous or un-understandable actions. It is used here in the sense of being beyond logic. In particular we see the irrational as a functioning that is not directly connected to immediate benefits. Wikipedia includes in its explanation that "Irrationality is thus a means of freeing the mind toward purely imaginative solutions, to break out of historic patterns of dependence into new patterns that allow one to move on."[3] Jung clarifies his use of the term irrational as “not to denote something contrary to logic, but something beyond logic, something, therefore, not grounded on logic.[4]” We extoll the thoughts of Jung where he declares, “I have even found that men are far more irrational than animals”[5].  We will explore this in more detail in the next Chapter.

In this book, to clearly distinguish between the rational and irrational we look at the essential needs of biological life as being related to the rational: food, shelter, procreation, and immediate pleasures. But as we shall show, humans go far beyond these four rational objectives of other animals. For the purpose of exploring what makes humans different from animals, we define the rational as being related to these needs, while the irrational can be related to factors beyond immediate interests.  To make the point clearer one might say that the irrational is outside what is required for day-to-day survival operations. It is always associated with directions of humans’ belief and behavior that could not have been anticipated from the original initiatory impulse. 

It is important to recognize that both rational and irrational functioning can have positive and negative outcomes. In Table 1 we provide some examples of human behavior that help to clarify this. Starting with the rational, it is evident that rational thought has resulted in major contributions to modern day society. The example in Table 1 of modern day engineering is unquestionable. Its ability to calculate the physical, biological and chemical state in our world allows us to drive cars across safe bridges, grow incredible amounts of food, fly to the moon, etc., etc.. This aspect of human endeavor is for the most part related to the not-so-creative replication and implementation of existing ideas, essentially the copying of the end results of the creative irrational breakthroughs. Without a doubt our present day success is tied to the successful application of the scientific method of “testing the hypothesis”[6]. This includes research endeavors, mathematics and engineering. It is what allows the possibility for the majority of humans to live in very dense populations with most food imported and most of our waste products exported from urban centers. Most things that we take for granted in our world are the result of mass-producing successful products or processes. The replication of new and useful ideas is as important today as in our very earliest stages of stone tool development. A single ancient hominin with a stone ax would not have left much of an impression if the idea hadn’t been appreciated and copied by innumerable followers. It is as true today with the Internet technology as it was with the original stone axes.

Table 1. Examples of the Rational and Irrational as aspects of human nature.

  The outcomes of the rational to quantify observations and replicate past successes is also evident in its negative outcomes. We see these negative aspects as those that result in outcomes that go contrary to our primary needs for food, shelter, procreation, and immediate pleasures. War engineering that continues today with nuclear weapons demonstrates a very high level of human technical competency, but also has the potential to severely impact on life as we now know it. We take it for granted that the reader is well trained in both the positive and negative aspects of the rational.

Similarly the irrational can also result in negative destructive outcomes. The extermination of other human societies such as has appeared in conflicts and wars over the last millennia is unheard of in other species. Suicide is another example that is ultimately irrational and is only observed in humans. Modern day paranoia that contrasts with proven scientific medical benefits of vaccine use is just one of the many less extreme negative irrational expressions in today’s society. The negative irrational is comparable to Koestler’s “Ghost in the Machine”[7]. While the negative irrational adds support to our exploration of the uniqueness of the irrational in humans, we prefer to not dwell here on its destructive aspects. Yet it is important to appreciate that the destructive aspects have not been sufficient to impede human’s continuing development and success. 

On the plus side, the irrational is unmistakable in many of humanities developments and outcomes. As we shall see in this work the irrational is associated with all of the greatest breakthroughs in human development. For Philo of Alexandria and other early Greek philosophers Logos spermatikos has as one if its meanings “seed-bearing reason” which yields new insights in a person[8]. Such insights and breakthroughs that result from this human quality, as for example the active application of fire, distinguish us from other animals. They have been essential in making us human. While human art is undervalued in the modern world in terms of the economic support it receives compared to the amount given to the war machine, it has been a function of human life since our very earliest distinction from other animals. In science the creative irrational is associated with the initiation of a hypothesis that is totally different from the later formalistic steps in testing and validating a hypothesis. As we shall present in Chapter 10 this is still a very subjective and mysterious step in the overall scientific process. The creative irrational is what makes us modern day humans.

Personal Experiences of The Irrational

It is critical for this exploration of spirituality and irrationality to address the negative bias associated with concepts of the irrational. The starting point of any personal understanding of the topic is our personal direct experience and knowledge of it. Our irrational functioning can be found in our own existence: the phenomenon of being truly aware of oneself at the same time as experiencing impressions that arise from the external as well. This results in “direct” knowledge. It is associated with the condition of being awake to what is experienced at this particular present moment, giving it an immediate personal validity. 

That different levels of experience and understanding are present in us from very early in our lives can be accessed through remembrances of childhood experiences. Whether they are associated with early experiences of danger and emergency or of love and connection they reflect an unsuspected knowledge of quite different dimensions of reality. We can best illustrate their scope by re-telling some personal experiences.

The first personal example of direct experience of our higher awareness relates to our “sense of time”. Throughout our daily lives, we rarely question our experience of the flow of time. With effort we can note that routines as common as the drive to work every morning can leave quite different impressions. Some days one arrives at work without any noticeable passage of time; it is like not even having done any driving. But on other days each mile is an eternity. Neither of them is likely to be specifically remembered. By contrast a third possibility can be experienced where the commute is a relaxed peaceful drive when the sun is shining, the colours of autumn leaves are brilliant, the air smells fresh and the wind blowing in the window is invigorating. Although one may think at the time that these pleasant moments will always be remembered as special and in great detail, they almost always fade into indistinct memories of a general mood. All three states can emerge from the same daily drive, so the variety comes from within me. An awareness of these different experiences verifies different degrees of what we take to be reality in the passing of our lives. Is it automatic? Or does it depend on parts of our unconscious nature; something that is clearly a part that we do not know about - until we enter such an experience?

In the particular situation we wish to present here there arose a quite different perception of time in a moment of “waking up” in the face of a mortal threat. We relate here a particular car accident experienced by a young driver, PRB, out on an innocent summer’s evening’s drive. Such experiences are invariably individual, so it is appropriate to tell the story in the first person:

“It began as an uneventful drive with friends in my father's car towards a narrow causeway along a mostly dirt road, much like many similar trips that summer, but this one is still recalled as a specific, stand alone, event. The car bumped as it dropped from the pavement onto the dirt road that led to the causeway and “short” bridge, just as expected. The back tires gently slid sideways, a moment of thrill that always brought smiles to the faces of the friends. All is relaxed and the young driver enjoys the easy corrections of the steering along the causeway to the bridge. But suddenly the world takes on an enormously different appearance! The moments of pleasure are suddenly transformed into a frightening threat to life, when, in an instant, the car’s movement onto the bridge changed from controlled to uncontrollable - perhaps the result of an unrecognized, involuntary turn of the drive wheel, or a slight bump from an undetected small rock in the tire-track. The sudden lurch changed the whole perspective!

“But in the same inexplicable instant, time suddenly began to move much more slowly. The world took on a peaceful, deliberate feeling. Nothing is rushed or rushing. Everything is suddenly seen in a much broader perspective and there is an abundance of time; time to feel the car's movement, time to plan the next few instants of action. In this moment the impressions of events and surroundings is crystallized, now broadened to include the low guardrail of the bridge, that diverted the car from a plunge into the water below, the gasp of friends inside, and the drivers instant prayer to a God for protection.”

“Then the moment was over, deflected by the guardrail, and the violent shake of a friend to grab the wheel and steer! Back in regular time, the car "miraculously" was still on the narrow causeway going straight down the centre of the road. Then an eerie silence contrasted with the strange sounds of the newly damaged car. The driver felt himself to be back in his regular world with a regular car, regular time and eventually regular father!”

If not for this moment of experience of a different kind of time, the day would have been as little memorable as other summer days with friends heading for the beach. But this one was different. I still remember the sudden change in perception of time to a previously unknown level of what has only much later been seen as the reality of being alive in a moment, a special instant in which time seemed to stand still. It is a moment that in the re-experiencing now helps me to understand what can be meant by the eternal.”

Our second illustration of early awakening is found in the childhood memory of a brief encounter with a very old Mi'kmaq First Nations, "Indian", woman by LMD as a young boy. This example recalls a moment of intense connection without the sharing of any spoken words. The other person is still vividly remembered with a mixture of wonder, reverence and fear:

"I remember her sitting in a 'wigwam' made of vertically arranged spruce poles in the middle of the summer encampment that was set up regularly outside the village where I was born and lived as a child. I could not have been older than seven or eight at the time of the event in question. The memories are in the form of emotionally tinged images.

"The summer encampment was at the edge of a vertical red sandstone cliff. It faced east towards the rising sun, and was situated just to the south of the deeply eroded gully of a small stream that spilled out through a cleft in the cliff face. The gully provided the encampment with fresh water as well as with access to the beach and salt waters of Minas Basin, Nova Scotia, at the head of the Bay of Fundy. The site looked out over the beach and water towards Cape Blomidon that the Mi'kmaq say was the home of the great god, Glooscap. Perhaps because of a quality of the cool, damp mists that often arose from the stream, especially in mid summer, the white villagers knew the place as 'Ghoul's Hollow'. Visits to the site in recent years still have the capacity to invoke images of the spectacular beauty of the stream-cooled surroundings and of the remembered event itself.

"I didn’t know where the band spent its winters, but I remember the small, family-like group that regularly arrived in our village on the local train in late June or early July. They would unload their belongings, packed in real "Indian" baskets, and with little fuss or conversation, pick them up and trudge the mile or two along the dirt road to the quiet and beautiful site, now, despite the subsequent erosion of the cliff, still occupied by a few lucky cottagers.

"On the particular day I remember, my uncle had taken me and a younger cousin to visit the encampment. There, after walking guardedly through the strange surroundings, I watched from a vantage position near the entrance to the wigwam as a scantily-clothed young brave, probably fourteen or fifteen years old but seemingly very grown-up to me, finished whittling a wooden arrow. He then fitted it to a bow, and walking purposefully to the edge of the cliff, with a slight flourish shot it up into the air, over the water. I remember the adults, my uncle amongst them, exclaiming about his shot, and caught a glimpse of myself also murmuring with them, but then suddenly stopping when I realized my situation. What is left in my memory was the brief glimpse as though from outside myself, of making the impulsive murmuring sound in copy of others around me, but how it was in sharp contrast with my actual lost feeling of frustration and of missing something because although standing where there was a clear view of all in front, I had not seen the arrow after it left the bow!

"What I particularly remember at that moment, however, was how my attention was suddenly taken by the quiet look that the women seated in the shade of her wigwam gave me and the young man. The look on her rugged face was almost without reaction, rather like a faint smile of knowing observation, that seemed to my childish impressions to show that she saw more of all of us than the actions of a young brave and me as part of his audience. I think I was a little afraid of her unfamiliar quietness and the sense of the vast scope of her vision. It was consciousness of her that suddenly caused me to internally "stand back" and notice the contradiction in feelings at what was happening inside and outside of me, almost as though to someone else - perhaps helping me to remember it.

“In retrospect, I have a sense of recall of the whole ambience of the camp at that moment, especially a feeling of the quiet and reverence with which the other Mi'kmaq always watched and approached her, even the very young ones.

"I have no doubt that this short-lived but timeless image from my childhood has provided important colouring for my concept of a ‘wise person’. The event itself: the arising through her quiet glance of the internal “standing back” and observing the contradiction between the feeling of failure inside me, my copying of the outside murmur, and my simultaneous realization of my failure to see. The combination, occurring in her presence, seemed to touch something important in me that had not been active before. The state induced was clearly not part of my usual, everyday self. The memory still holds the flavour of a special moment – a brief participation in a state that transcended the particular place or time, and more than seventy years later still elicits an instinctive model of a wise person."

One final story illustrating an awakening comes not from the authors’ lifetime but from 2,000 years ago at the time of Christ by Philo of Alexandra[9]. He was a leading Jewish philosopher trying to deal with the apparent dichotomy between scientific laws and theology, between deterministic divine creation and man’s free will. Although possibly not on the same level of existential experience as above, there are definitely hauntingly similar tones in Philo’s story:

“There was once a time when by devoting myself to philosophy and to contemplation of the world and its parts I achieved the enjoyment of that Mind which is truly beautiful, desirable, and blessed; for I lived in constant communion with sacred utterances and teaching, in which I greedily and insatiably rejoiced. No base or worldly thoughts occurred to me, nor did I grovel for glory, wealth or bodily comfort, but I seemed ever to be borne aloft in the heights in a rapture of the soul, and to accompany sun, moon, and all heaven and the universe in their revolutions. Then, ah, then peering downwards from the ethereal heights and directing the eye of my intelligence as from a watchtower, I regarded the untold spectacle of all earthly things, and reckoned myself happy and having forcibly escaped the calamities of mortal life.[10]”

  Philo’s story sounds remarkably like the themes the Ancient Egyptians captured in the Pyramid Texts that we will present in Chapter 4. Possibly the Christian Saint Paul had a similar experience during his “Conversion on the road to Damascus”[11]. Whether in our personal stories or those of the greater traditions, there is a consist sense of encountering something beyond our personal ordinary life. The occurrences come on quickly as a great surprise. It is as if something extraordinary touches us.

What is it? The answer is beyond our ordinary knowledge or our control. The power and unexpectedness of such moments may however, give rise to similar memories in the reader, in which case the reality of the described experience will not be in doubt. It is an instance of experiencing properties in myself, and my perceptions of them, that results in direct knowledge that are beyond those typically discussed in everyday conversations, such as that of my Uncle at the moment of my connection with the old woman. The difference between the lack of connection with my Uncle and the strong connection established by the “look” from the woman was undeniable. Words were not a necessary component of the knowledge that the old lady seemed to offer. What was conveyed remains an aspect of learning and understanding that is quite outside the avenues of the rational, clearly depending as much on the state of the very young observer as it was on what was observed. The moments show that we are able, especially when quite young, to recognize that our day-to-day world lacks a comprehensiveness that is naturally invoked in us by special conditions. This type of experience has provided us the authors with a basis for a lifelong appreciation of the different levels of Being. They have given rise to a strong desire in us to encounter such a state again in life.  They hold the key to appreciating our irrational side.

At other times and for other individuals, the experience of the irrational might be more or less intense. It may just include moments of heightened flavours or aromas during a meal. It might contain moments of “waking up” from our usual state of sleep-walking through our daily lives. But although they are generally short-lived, these brief moments leave their mark. They raise questions about how can we live through such different levels of existence and still consider ourselves as single, homogeneous, unified individuals?

These examples of our direct experiences describe phenomena that played an essential role in our development. In those moments we experienced different sides of ourselves: the observer and the observed, both within ourselves. Such experiences open us up to a world with extra-dimensionality in addition to our ordinary sense of connection and time. There is here a taste of what Blake saw in a grain of sand and an hour[12].

Whether the paradox is stated in ancient myths such as posed by the story of King Solomon[13] or in modern times by the insights of physicist, Niels Bohr[14], into the irreconcilable duality of the wave and particle nature of light energy, these examples are indicative of the innate capacity of the observer in us to approach questions about the irrational aspects of life. We can be aware of an extra-dimensionality with which in some part of our organism we seem to have direct contact. Unfortunately, the reality of such experiences is either soon forgotten or actually blocked out by other demands for a sense of the comprehensible. As we grow older, they seem to be less and less frequent, to the point where in retrospect the seemingly timeless event may even seem to have been an illusion!

As humans we spend most of our time on earth asleep and unconnected to our higher possibilities. The moments we recall when we perceived our other states of awareness point directly to the possibilities in the elusive irrational, spiritual aspects of Being. The fact that we are not often connected with these more-than-merely physical moments is, of course, not news to anyone who has attempted to appreciate one’s human nature and/or spirituality. This book deals with humanity’s efforts to observe, remember and present a coherent representation of this higher Being. Therein lies the key. We strive to be more than our sleeping selves. This human longing can be understood as both a collective human motivation and, more importantly, as a primary force in our own personal lives, one that we define as our “essential irrational”.

These experiences of the more-than-ordinary lead us in our efforts to be more aware, more awake; that is to develop our irrational, spiritual aspects. 

The Spiritual

In common with the concept of the irrational; spirituality has been given many conflicting and confusing interpretations. It can be viewed in many ways for example from the routine behavior of regular attendance at religious service to what has been described by some authors as the direct experience of God[15]. It is most difficult to write directly of either irrationality or spirituality and to link these concepts to other traits of living beings.

The lack of a direct lexicon for sharing and exchanging about the essential human experience of spirituality has persisted throughout our history. While the actual word “spirituality” can be traced back to only the 5th Century, Middle Ages Christianity, its recognition and meaning can certainly be seen at the beginning of human writing in the first-known literature of the Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts[16]. Phrases that draw on physical experiences have always been coopted in an attempt to represent non-physical experiences.  Religious writings are filled with references to being “lifted up”, “His glory shone down”, “carried up into heaven”, “thrown down into hell”, etc., etc.. For many, such phrases are interpreted literally in spite of the lack of individual, personal observations of such physical lifting up to the heavens. It is not only in literature that humans have difficulty expressing the more-than-physical realm of the spiritual. The gloriously painted halos that surround the heads of blessed ones in Christian paintings are a good example of our inability to directly represent our awareness of the spiritual in others (Figure 3). Maybe the saints glowed literally with light, or maybe these are just attempts to represent that which cannot be represented in the solely physical domain.

Figure 3. Image from 1305 painted in the Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, Italy as one early example of a halo to represent spiritual figures(https://daydreamtourist.com/2015/05/18/visiting-scrovegni-chapel/).

So at face value, spirituality has to be recognized as related to something beyond the physical, rational aspects of our world. Human lexicon and grammar is still firmly grounded in the physical. It is not surprising that powerful topics such as love, hate, and the spiritual are difficult to deal with directly, without metaphor and symbolism,  in our literature and thus in our worldview.

Spirituality may, in our view, be defined as the quality of an experience of the divine in our immediate present-moment existence. It is recognized by us as the perception of an impulse that is above our usual and ordinary levels of perception. It is that which makes us aware of the more-than-merely personal. It is a state that we can cultivate in ourselves and recognize in others that raises and assists us in appreciating the mysterious, sometimes ephemeral, but ideally permanent sense of being a taste of a “higher level” of being. In the words used by the 1st Century philosopher Plotinus to describe the spiritual aspirations of humans, “I am striving to give back the Divine in myself to the Divine in the All.”[17] It is a “beyond the fringe” experience that is ultimately irrational. There is nothing here that can be applied to the seeking of the spiritual that could be considered equivalent to the learning of mathematics.

The Link between the Creative Irrational and the Spiritual

As we have explored in our previous work there are various levels of human existence that relate to the spiritual[18]. Many sages, philosophers, religious and secular authors have worked to describe the spiritual. We wish to emphasize that there are a number of critical traits that we see shared between the creative irrational and the spiritual. First: they are both irrational; that is they both reach beyond the extensive analysis by our ordinary minds.  Second:  they both originate in a very few individuals who are then followed by others. Whether it is stone axes or awareness of higher levels of consciousness, they both seem to be discovered by individuals, appreciated by others and then become representative in a population. Finally, both traits move humans from living like all other organisms on the planet to what is widely accepted as being less animal and more uniquely “human”. In this work we find that it is easy to see the role of the creative irrational in the history and present day activities of humans. We build on what we see as the strong linkage between our creative irrational and our spiritual sides in order to explore them in our evolution and in our present day functioning. In the present case it appears that they may be what make us human. 

  If we return to the model of human psychology provide by Jung and Martin, with both a rational and irrational axis, we can begin to appreciate that the connection between the irrational and spiritual will lead us to find our spiritual nature as an aspect of our sensation and intuition functions. The “spiritual” thus involves the experience of a powerful sensory and intuitive movement. This aspect of our spiritual Being is quite outside of our thinking and feeling functions. We need to learn to appreciate that the spiritual is outside rational processing, beyond thought and emotion. Although experiences of the spiritual are often reported as being felt with great emotional energy, this likely results from a lack of discrimination between our intuitive and our feeling sides. We will return to this in later chapters where we consider its relations to the whole of our psychological nature. The common phrase “gut feeling” often used to refer to our intuition also exemplifies this lack of clarity and is now being actively explored in modern day economics research. The spiritual is definitely related to the more mysterious irrational, not the later rational, perhaps more ordinary side of the human.

So with these concepts properly defined we are ready to explore the question of what it means to be human. What is it about Homo sapiens that distinguishes them from all other biological organisms? When did this differentiation begin? How has the human worldview, particularly the creative irrational and spiritual, led to our success as a species and what does it mean for our present day self study as individuals and as a society? 

================ CHAPTER 2 - THE RATIONAL IN NON-HUMANS ==========


———————- Table of Contents ——————————

[1] Jung, C.G. 1921. Psychological Types (Jung's Collected Works #6).

[2] Martin, P.W. 1955. Experiment in Depth: A study of the work of Jung, Eliot and Toynbee. Pantheon. New York.  276 pp.

[3] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrationality

[4] Jung, C.G. 1976. Psychological Types. Princeton University Press.  (p. 454, par. 773).

[5] Jung, C.G. 1999.  Carl Jung, Letters Vol. I, Princeton University Press. Page 119. 

[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method

[7] Koestler, A. 1967. The Ghost in the Machine. Macmillan, New York.

[8] Wright, R., 2009. The Evolution of God. Little, Brown and Company. New York.

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

[10] Goodenough. 1986. An Introduction to Philo Judaeus. University Press of America. p. 5. quoted in Wright, R. 2009. The Evolution of God. Little, Brown and Company, New York.

[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_of_Paul_the_Apostle

[12] http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/blake/to_see_world.html

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

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

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

[16] Brind Morrow, S.  2015.  The Dawning Moon of the Mind: Unlocking the Pyramid Texts.  Farrar, Straus and Giroux.  New York.  289 pp.

[17] MacKenna, S. 1992. Plotinus The Enneads. Larson Publications. Page 2.

[18] Dickie, L.M. and P.R. Boudreau. 2015. Awakening Higher Consciousness: Guidance from Ancient Egypt and Sumer. Inner Traditions. Vermont. USA.

Egyptians nailed mathematics long before the Greeks.

Of course the Ancient Egyptians were competent in mathematics - long before the Greeks: http://www.awhico.com/blog/2015/2/4/egyptianmath.

How else could they construct what they constructed???

The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity's Search for Meaning

“What a great history of, and prediction for, human development! Of course human worldview determines our history and this influences what/how we act. As we are now impacting on a global scale, it is critical to review how we have gotten here so that we make decisions on where we might choose to go.

This is the first book that I have encountered that presents many of what I view as the most critical humans/individuals: hunter-gatherers, Akhenaten, Plato, Saint Paul, Philo of Alexandria, Roger and Francis Bacon, Einstein, Lovelock and many others. Their interjections to the developing Western worldview continue to be reflected in our present day perceptions. But their influences are rarely appreciated. Lent lays them out in a clear understandable fashion. 

His treatment of Eastern worldview may appear strange and foreign to most readers - as it is should. It is an excellent control study for those imagining the Western approach to nature and the environment as the only way.

Yes there is a lot of detail that may not appeal to all readers. Life is complicated. It is a mistake to think of humans - and our culture - as machines. There is relatively a lot of history to consider in assessing our present predicament. Our present beliefs are so firmly held that they not easily seen.

This book deserves the time and effort.”

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3065334540

A church is not a graveyard! A pyramid is not tomb!

In the modern Western World we would not maintain that a church and its associated graveyard as being strictly funerary, even though they are found in close proximity of one another and present similar images. Similarly, even though the structures within the pyramid complex might use some of the same images, concepts and themes, they may have performed different functions for the pharaoh throughout their lives and after their deaths. It is most likely that the Egyptians buried their dead in tombs, celebrated in their temples and used the great pyramids for their own directed purposes that we are still trying to fully understand." 

http://www.awhico.com/blog/egyptianpyramidmysticism

There is no "self-help" - it takes more than one

As much as we have been taught that rationality is the key to success (that is "grit, determination, perseverance), research is showing that human resilience in the face of adversity is based on available community support - i.e. our irrational:

http://dalmag.dal.ca/2019/11/the-science-of-bouncing-back/

Change Your World: The Science and the True Path to Success

by

Michael Unger: http://www.michaelungar.com/books/

What was the environment like while hominins were evolving? Quite different than today and quite different than usually imagined.

https://m.phys.org/news/2019-10-early-humans-evolved-ecosystems-today.htm