I just finished a book titled Denial. It was an interesting read that posits that who we have become as humans with our particular cognitive brain structure is our ability to deny reality. The authors note that what seems to make humans human is their ability to be self aware, to be able to comprehend that their are other self aware beings, and that those beings have feelings, needs, beliefs, etc, that make that being unique and one of themselves. With this self awareness brings the ability to understand the reality we live in. Then go one to posit that as we come to understand our reality we would have noted that we are finite beings destined to die and nothing we know about our world changes that out come. Given such an awareness they conclude would lead our species to become despondent and lead to our extinction. Therefore we needed to develop a coping mechanism which in their assessment is our ability to selectively deny reality. They go on to state that hence our philosophical and theological systems are parts of this denial coping mechanism. One line of argument that they follow concerning their development of their model of human development is that given that other species have been part of this evolutionary process for all these years why is it that humanity has achieved a state of development that has lead to such a brain structure that we have. They would say that what has kept other forms of life from evolving to the same level of brain function is a boundary which is psychological in nature and that being the ability to think and belief what is real contrary to the facts if there are such a thing as a fact. Now as I read this I then hear within my head the echo of our major foundation myth of our creation contained in the Bible and that is the import of Gods breath and his breathing into the portion of earth he as formed to make man. This suggests something that differs from what is contained or could have evolved out of that which is contained in the earth as being needed for the development of mankind. The think that catches my mind is the need for something beyond man to permit man to be man. Whether or not their view of how man became man is to a certain extent mote as we are were we are. However, they focus on the role of denial seems to have some basis in at least explaining why some of us see the sky falling and others dont. Or why we use fantasy, or become addicts or have delusions or other coping mechanisms to allow us to deal with the pain of life. So as with many things this gets me thinking. Perhaps this is one form a denial or distraction that keeps me from living or at least in taking out the garbage. But to a certain extent if we change the word denial into the concept of world view or life view, it seems we come to an important aspect how we humans accept as reality and what is not and as such how we should act and live our life. As I reflect on how this perception of reality forms a key component of how we live, who we choose as brothers or kin, who we claim as enemy or the other, etc. We as humans all want love, need to eat, have children, love our families, but we will also, deny the same things in others if they threat us in some fashion. So what does this all mean. Other than it continues to reinforce that aspect of what I understand a key component of what it means to be a Christian and that is, there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave, nor free, male or female. We are all human and in need of each other.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 20:09:28 +0000
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