Deep into Human Psychology: Expectations and living in the Future.

Expectations, or living in the future as how I like to call it, is one of the most prominent features that is fully developed in our human species. By this I mean that it can also be observed in some extent as an instinct in other animals but only in humans as a processed, mostly unconscious behavior. I will try to discuss its origins, manifestations and effects.

As by all other human psychological behaviors and emotions, Expecting is also a result of our evolution in the direction that allow us to survive. Let me first define what we are looking at. I do not mean expectations in the sense of relationships or career or war plan but rather in the more general abstract sense. In the most basic of interactions. When we wake up, when we get dressed, when we talk and communicate, when we entertain ourselves. Our whole language and thoughts are consisted mainly of expecting. When we say something we expect a certain reply. When we press the light button we expect the light to be on. Expecting is both our greatest survival kit and our greatest misery. By expecting and analysing we were able to form a society, to think of plans and draw in our minds a vision of a future and thus trying to work achieving this vision. By expecting we eased the communication between each others. By the practice of such delicate behavior it is now in the realm of subconscious, freeing the conscious mind to have the power to analyse other patterns.

Expecting however, as per my observations, lies in the heart of the cycle of misery; disappointment, anger and sadness. The line of thought usually is as follows: One initiates a talk, expects a certain reply (usually a logical one), to his surprise may not get it, gets disappointed. The degree of disappointment, and thus anger, could very much depend on the psychological magnitude of the initiating action. In other words, depending on how the action's priority is being held in one's mind on the psychological level, the degree of disappointment will be equally proportional. Building on that in a further analysis of the nature of Expectations we can conclude that it is one of the prominent reasons of why we get angry. Because we expect a certain behavior or 'reaction' and it failed us. It hits us deep that our most important survival instinct (it is not an instinct though) has failed. The feeling of power, the will to power, failed us so we get angry. Psychologically hurt.

This kind of psychological behavior interests me because it goes hand in hand with my quest for Reality. Our expectations are usually idealistic. Subjectively idealistic. In some way we refuse to expect something that contradicts our subjective rationality. Our expectations are usually a question of What Should happen. And 'should' is usually a question of an ideal scenario. And here lies the paradox, in which we find that expecting an ideal scenario does not make sense and is just an illusion after all as what truly is real could not be subjective and hence could never be related to idealism.

Which gets me to the point of living in the future. Our mind usually functions in a futuristic mode that it visualises to us what will happen (consequences/expectations) in the future as per one's subjective rationality and reality. This continued to happen, the same pattern is being used to, is being conducted deep down in the mind that it became the norm. It became normal to visualise and expect then it became normal to 'live' in the future. To live in the future that we in a way forgot how to live in the present.

This is not something new. Eastern philosophy is based on the idea of living in the present and by means of extensive spiritual activities they try to reach it. Admirable. I do not think however this is the only way to go. By sheer control and analysis upon one's behavior, one can indeed transcend Expecting. But our time is not helping in that. We value much qualities like 'critical thinking' and what similar thereto that as said before, it became ingrained to lead one's life that way.

"Man is something that shall be overcome. Man is a rope,tied between beast and overman - a rope over an abyss.What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end."

"I teach you beyond Man. Man is something that shall be surpassed. What have you done to surpass him?'"

Die Schrecklichkeit.‏

Ich habe mich heute erinnert, warum ich die Menschlichkeit schrecklich finde. Wir mögen immer Tyrannen in fast allen Aspekten unserer Realität machen; Personen, Religionen, Ideologien/Philosophien und überraschenderweise, Wissenschaft. Der Grund dazu ist ganz einfach; unsere Arroganz. Wir haben immer diesen Glauben und denken, dass wir das Recht haben, eine Lebensbedeutung zu haben. Deswegen wird dieser Wille in unserem Bedarf von einem 'Führer' manifestiert. 

Aber die Frage hier ist ein Warum. Warum haben wir diesen Glauben? Besser: Warum brauchen wir diesen Glauben? Durch Evolution sind wir von der Natur ausgewählt, biologische ausgewählt, dennoch sind uns unsere Schwächen bewusst, und von hier ist sie gestammt. Infolgedessen haben wir 'Vorbilder' geschaffen, perfekte Vorbilder, als ein Versuch mit seiner Perfektion uns zu involvieren, um eine Bedeutung zu haben, um unsere Schwäche zu überzusehen, und dann haben wir es Gott gennant. Ein Führer in der Vergangenheit wurde als Gottkönig bezeichnet, also ist er mit Gott, oder dem perfekten Vorbild, gleichgestellt worden. Aber Gott is tot. Was soll die Menschlichkeit nun machen? Neue Götter schöpfen. Neue Ideologien, neue Utopien erschaffen, um unsere Schwächen wieder zu ergänzen. 

Albert Camus: "Die Götter hatten Sisyphos dazu verurteilt, unablässig einen Felsbrocken einen Berg hinauf zu wälzen, von dessen Gipfel der Stein selber wieder herunter rollte." Aber wahrscheinlich das gilt nicht mit der meisten der Leute weil es offensichtlich unsere Absurde aufdeckt. 

Schließlich haben wir viele und viele Symbole und Illusionen erfunden um uns stärker zu fühlen, dass wir vergessen haben, wie ist es, in der Realität wieder zu leben. Wir bevorzugen in einer virtuellen Welt zu leben, als in einer Realen. Die Schrecklichkeit.

On Tyranny.

According to my observations I can see that for some reason, we like to make tyrants out of stuff; People, ideologies/philosophies, religion and most recently, science. And whatever that tyrant be, it takes over most if not all aspects of the human life; knowledge, culture, thinking and reality.

The two main tyrants in human history are religion and science. Religion was always a part of human reality until the scientific revolution. It affected their way of viewing the world, their way of thinking and of reasoning, of making art and music. It was a tyrant because it was allowed to take over. It can not see beyond itself. As a tyrant, it cannot accept any other tyrants and hence the taking over. And like any 'dictatorship', there are goods and bads. Concerning religion, the good can be summarized in a word: Culture. Even though many pieces of art have nothing to do with religion, but it's the mindset of it that gave rise to this art in the first place. The mindset of fairy tales and imagination and unreality. And also to philosophy, since religion is in most parts subjective rather than objective. And I think this same non objectivity can be viewed as bad since this mindset hinders scientific progress which looks for objective truths.

Now to my main and newest observation and that is the tyranny of Science. As an intellectual, I am a lover of science but I am in no way accepting its ways of replacing everything and mainly culture. I can see science growing and evolving to be the same as religion. Bestowing morals and creeds, arrogance and selfishness. The way that science works by working out the rules of nature as objective reality has much to do with the decline of art, philosophy and overall culture. Paintings are becoming mere measurements. "Philosophy is dead" as said by Stephan Hawking because science effectively killed it. The rise of science is from the main causes of the whole existentialist movement trying to find the way through life with the absence of religion. But I do not see how is that a problem and for this I will quote Charles Darwin on the implications of his theory of evolution on his concept of God: "Science has nothing to do with Christ". Why is it that when people thought of reducing reality to be only materialistic, it would be a good thing? Because it is graspable? Because of their fear of the unknown so they would rather have everything known?

I admire the Islamic middle ages as well as the European enlightenment movement. I can see in them that delicate balance between intellect and spirituality. We need that balance. It is rather sad that we had to sacrifice an entire part of reality by orders of a tyrant. We need spirituality in our lives, and I'm not talking about religious spirituality and its dogmas. Rather overall spirituality and awe. Ironically enough, one can find spirituality even in science. By regaining parts of our lost reality, I would say we would be more and more fully alive. Nietzsche said it, we need to develop both parts of our reality. The Apollonian (the rational) and the Dionysian (the spiritual). We can't just deny one of them. That is not the wiser way to go.

A disease called Death

I watched a movie recently and this quote struck me on so many levels. It says: "Death is a disease, it's like any other. And there's a cure."

From the beginning of time, religion played the role of this cure. Although the actor here means by death as the physical ceasing of existence of someone, I hold a more general definition. "That each passing irreversible thing is death". And spirituality has always been the answer, indeed, as the higher a man in his spiritual belief, the more he loses his own individuality and thus loses all concepts attached to such individuality. Like time, space, death and pain, happiness and rejoice. The whole of eastern philosophy is based upon this idea. Monotheistic religions hold it a bit differently, by promising another world where there will be no death nor pain.

Modern and post modern philosophies handle it more realistically. They are trying to make us face the true reality of things. That time passes, people die, life changes. We just have to find the individual purpose of each one of us and living in it. Why do we get hurt by the disease of death? Because we're setting for ourselves the wrong priorities. We can indeed transcend our attachment to things without losing our selves and that is by shifting priorities.

By the dawn of the scientific age, things are being seen in a wholly new light. The light of science, of particles and of chemistry. Indeed things lose their glamour when they are figured out or understood. Applying the same concept to Death also makes it lose its glamour. But one must be careful not to lose his mammalian instincts of caring and grief as well. For, after all, we are social species (until now).

I do believe in a cure. It just lies deep in one's mind.

Desires

Desires are the need to posses something, to do something to be something. It's unique in human beings since we are the only beings who are capable of evaluating the past, drawing up the future without the reliance of the instinctive nature which is dominant in other beings.

Desires can be categorised to different categories, maybe like sexual desires, material desires, futuristic desires as in career or life in general.

Are desires bad? Yes. Are all desires bad? Yes. Even for example the desire to help or to build, yes. Desire gives birth to craving then to 'running after' then to fulfillment and back to desire. And the cycle keeps on going. If one would guarantee he'll always find ways of fulfillment then by all means, enjoy. But that's not always the case, even for that same individual. Sooner or later disease will strike, old age will strike and fulfillment will not be possible.

Enter the Overman. Transcendence. The key will be to transcend desires and thus ending the cycle of craving. Meditation would help, spirituality and mysticism as well. They work by denying oneself all in all, by realising that there is no subject. No mental self, no owner and the body is just a collection of bones and skin and reality is the observation of these things. Good enough solution, denying. Works.

I'm, however, looking for a more materialistic solution and I think it's found in the passions. I deny the past and the future because they're all but illusions. The only true thing is this moment. Being engulfed in the passion would never give rise to desires. Even though passion itself is desire, and it would give rise to the same cycle but I think it would limit the other more harmful desires. And it's certainly not as harmful as denying oneself. Meditation is also recommended but without it's associated dogmatic belief, just for its uses in sharpening the mind and removing the 'static noise' from it.

Find your passion, pursue your passion everywhere, engulf in it, meditate. Transcend.