“The ancient Egyptians believed that the stability of the created world had to be carefully preserved through the upholding of their deities--for it was the care and sustenance of the gods and the maintenance of cosmic balance which kept chaos and non-being from encroaching upon and overwhelming the world.” - Richard H. Wilkinson (8)
“When [the chimpanzee hierarchy] is at its most stable, overall levels of aggression are likely to be low.” – Jane Goodall (9)
Why is anarchy--chaos of the social sort--so stressful? In a (non-)state of anarchy, it is true that stronger individuals can and do take advantage of weaker without recourse. Yet even near equality between individuals can foster uncertainty. Among baboons, males will engage in “wahoo contests.” Think gorilla chest-thumping, but of the vocal variety. These contests are more likely when the males are not less-equal, but more; their rank is confused. (10) In a book chapter tellingly titled, “Conflict as Negotiation,” Frans de Waal notes that “peaceful coexistence among male chimpanzees depends on a formal clarification of their dominance relationship.”(11) A big part of the primate’s social toolkit is the awareness of relative rank, as well as methods of establishing and maintaining it. A dominant chimpanzee male will, for example, give a subordinate a brief touch of reassurance when first formally “asked.” An open palm is extended and it is stroked. Thus rank is recognized as resolved, behavior more predictable than if it weren’t. Historically, in the court of human dominants, there have been plenty of such reassuring gestures.(12) The subordinate bows, the dominant extending his ring hand to be kissed. This formal ritual is not an empty one; it maintains rank.
Anarchy and Impulse Control
Human beings are born into this world with a rudimentary emotional toolkit. An infant cries and its mother responds. An emotional expression is followed by a social effect--a perfect example of how the social and emotional are intertwined. As individuals grow and age, their toolkit expands. Around the age of 3, the child's sense of self sufficiently formed, the individual develops what are known as the “social emotions” (is if the others were fully individual!). These include shame and guilt, embarrassment, humiliation, pride and jealousy. What are these emotions for? They help an individual function within a social group. They foster group cooperation and conformity (13)--for the good of the group, which is generally good for the individual.
Guilt and shame can be a good thing? Sure, for the group. Even good for the individual when, say, they help correct behavior after-the fact, or before-the-fact as a threat of bad feelings to follow. The stereotypical Jewish mother brandishes guilt like a master swordsman. Reformed Catholics speak of the shame that permeated the explicit and implicit teachings of their church. Christians are said to be guilty from the get-go, for they enter this world saddled with original sin. Bad Christians! What are you going to do to redeem yourself?
In religions we find teachings aimed at governing socially dangerous emotions. For example, the 16th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, titled, “The Divine and Demoniac Natures,” lists arrogance, pride, anger, conceit, harshness and ignorance as qualities of a demonic nature.(14) Might we differentiate the divine and the demonic as that which inspires pro- group structure and harmony and that which runs counter to our ideas of these?
Even today in relatively educated America you will hear preachers and believers talk about sinful urges and the devil within. Whether or not these potentially social-group-disturbing forces are personified or not, religion aims to help control them.(15) And whether or not the “accepting a higher power” element works—core to AA and other groups centered around assisting with impulse-control (as it relates to alcohol, drugs, gambling, sex)—in the very least the public identification of undesirable behavior likely promotes specific values and makes group members less likely to express acceptance of them.
Believe in Our Lord and you shall be a better person. You will be less likely to engage in behavior our group has identified as bad. The deity of the Bible had his Ten Commandments; the Buddha included proscriptions such as these in his Eightfold Path to enlightenment: right intention, right speech, right action. Yahweh said, don’t do these, the Buddha, focus on these. Meanwhile, in the following verse of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna summed up what one Our Lord promises to do:
I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear. (18:66)
Perhaps it is reasonable to translate “sinful reaction” as “socially problematic behavior.”
Primary among human “sinful reaction” (demonic impulses) are those involving the sex drive. The human sex drive is very strong. It can be a home-wrecker, a disruptor of community tranquility. On the national level, it nearly caused a U.S. President to be impeached. It is no surprise that so much religious mythology, dogma and preaching, advise the control of it, if not outright command it. Such as 3:43 in the Bhagavad Gita and 5:28 the Gospel of Matthew:
Thus knowing oneself to be transcendental to material senses, mind and intelligence, one should control the lower self by the higher self and thus--by spiritual strength--conquer this insatiable enemy known as lust.
But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Lust, the insatiable enemy. How to control it? Make control a priority to the group. An individual on his/her own is more likely to struggle. But if the individual knows that the group considers it bad, the social emotions of shame and guilt, etc., can help counteract these impulses. Let’s see, if I have sex with him/her, it will feel good. But then I may experience social shame and rejection, or even be severely punished. I may experience guilt for upsetting my family, and that will feel bad.
During the course of their first half-dozen years, children develop self-control, with some degree of success. They progress from “situational compliance” to “committed compliance.” Meaning that they go from not stealing a cookie when they are being watched to not stealing when they aren’t. For those with poor control, and/or very strong impulses, having an imaginary set of eyes above, always monitoring their behavior, might tip the scales of motivation toward the better, on occasion. Maybe those watchful eyes are of the compound variety, consisting of a collection of the eyes of one’s community. Does this strategy work? Not always, that is for certain. Consider sexual abuse crimes by clergy members. Even though they believed they were being watched by their almighty alpha above, within their equally invisible souls lurked a devil . . . ish impulse they were unable to control.
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(8) Wilkinson, R.H., The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt; Thames & Hudson, NY, 2003, p. 40
(9) Goodall, J. The Chimpanzees of the Gombe: Patterns of Behavior, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1986, p. 410
(10) Cheney, D. L., & Seyfarth, R. M. Baboon Metaphysics: The Evolution of a Social Mind, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2007, p.54
(11) de Waal, F. B. M., “Conflict as negotiation,” in McGrew, W. C. , Marchant, L. F. & Nishida, T., Great Ape Societies, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 1996, p.166
(12) Trexler, R. C. (ed.) Gender Rhetorics: Postures of Dominance and Submission in History. Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, Binghamton, NY, 1994, p.21
(13) Ford, M.E., Motivating Humans: Goals, Emotions, And Personal Agency Beliefs, Sage, 1992, p.150
(14) Prabhupada, A.C. Bhaktivedanta, Bhagavad Gita As It Is, Collier Books, NY, 1972, 16:4
(15) The Buddhist supernatural agent, M?ra comes to mind. According to the entry at Wikipedia, “M?ra is the demon that tempted Gautama Buddha by trying to seduce him with the vision of beautiful women who, in various legends, are often said to be Mara's daughters. In Buddhist cosmology, Mara personifies unskillfulness, the "death" of the spiritual life. He is a tempter, distracting humans from practicing the spiritual life by making the mundane alluring or the negative seem positive.” In other words, M?ra tests and wrecks an individual’s self-control. Which runs counter to the spiritual life.
Tags: An Almighty Alpha, primates, religion
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