Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
Is it all about survival, then?
betaboy
Veteran
A friend of mine is an evo psych. nut - he believes that everything has a reason in natural selection. For instance, we find sex joyful (well, most of us do, lol), but that's only because we need it for reproduction. We love sweet things cuz the body needs energy from sugar - again survival.
Point is, all the things we like are useful for survival purposes, essentially. But we make a big deal out of them, glorify them - the lust for another body, we call it love (when the truth is, we simply need the other to propagate our species), faith in God/religion is also born of a desire to survive death, art for the sake of leaving a name/memory (which is also a kind of survival).
In other words, everything seems to be rooted in the desire for survival. If you see things in this light, does it change everything you've so far believed about life, love, art, religion, and so on? Does it disturb you or motivate you?
Point is, all the things we like are useful for survival purposes, essentially. But we make a big deal out of them, glorify them - the lust for another body, we call it love (when the truth is, we simply need the other to propagate our species), faith in God/religion is also born of a desire to survive death, art for the sake of leaving a name/memory (which is also a kind of survival).
In other words, everything seems to be rooted in the desire for survival. If you see things in this light, does it change everything you've so far believed about life, love, art, religion, and so on? Does it disturb you or motivate you?
5
Comments
IIRC buddhism talked about another kind of cause and effect than karma. Karma has to do with intentions. There are other types such as 'genetic'. Even in Buddhas time they knew that you can breed animals.
So I think karma and enlightnement are a different type of thing than genetic.
Why do we like music? Ask your friend that..
and now back to the enlightenment . . .
"Gog tried to climb over the mountain. Told Gog it might be too dangerous and he prove it for rest of us. Rest of us stay off mountain, and name mountain after Gog in tribute."
To paraphrase -- and perhaps oversimplify -- you're saying that whether I find something joyful depends on whether it is useful for survival, and you gave the examples of sex and sugar. Good examples by the way, which biologists call "feeding/breeding."
But couldn't it also be viewed the other way? My survival depends on what I find joyful, and therefore spend time doing; rather than what I find joyful being dependent on whether it is needed for survival. For example, an ancient primitive human child who found joy in playing with snakes probably experienced a diminished likelihood of survival.
I think this applies on a broader scale, too. If agriculture is a trait within a tribe, then survival is enhanced. Not all members of the tribe need the trait. Survival of the tribe only needs there to be enough members that agriculture benefits the tribe. I am a musician and songwriter. I assure you that mankind derives no benefit from my creations. But mankind certainly derives great benefit from the trait of creativity being present among the "tribe."
The fact he is an 'evo nut' implies he is quite excited and enthusiastic about collapsing every single thing down into a biological, reproductive imperative.
So what would he call his enthusiasm about insisting that this is all there is? How does his philosophical bent fit in with natural selection?
BTW, natural selection is only ONE way evolution goes forth.
He sounds very young and idealistic, IMO. I remember getting ideas like that, where I thought I had 'found the reason for everything'
Gassho
One dog saves another on a highway.
Wesley Autrey holds man having a seizure down while an oncoming subway train rolls over them.
Is Buddhism all about transcending the survival instincts?
Is Buddhism all about transcending the survival instincts?
Probably. Sure does seem that way, to me.
error 430285 universe is searching for an answer to the problem