Biology dependent on Belief

 The Biology of belief

Introduction

I find it fascinating to reflect back and imagine the original primordial soup (Note 1) that occurred about 4 billion years ago which evolved from the almighty upheavals that gave birth to the Universe.

Although the early temperature was hostile to life, at 300 degrees Celsius, early forms of microbes have been discovered existing without oxygen in similar conditions within the heart of a volcano. (Note 2).

Therein a continuous migration amongst encoded lifeless forms, including viruses, banded together as determined by natural selection. That then became intelligent cells reliant on the DNA (Note 3) building blocks that underpin what make up life today. You might refer to this process as a form of evolved intelligent design or creation or biological evolution, (whichever term you feel best or most comfortable to describe it) arising effortlessly over many billions of years to our present wondrous life world of today.

To reiterate, before that momentous crossover into self-consciousness, in much earlier periods a series of seismic events transformed our living planet to create nature’s vision splendor. The timing of those massive upheavals was necessarily precise to change our planetary environment to enable life’s previous abundant first single cell life to evolve into the multi celled life complexity we see today; as our planet temporarily appearing like Jupiter – totally wrapped in thick ice –then thawed to cause water to carve out the new landscape warmed by immense erupting volcanoes. Miraculously the planetary environment reached a state of equilibrium to give birth to the first evolved multi cell creatures which are evident today in the fossilized imprints- as if just recently left in dried mud- in the thin layers of ancient rocks in the remote areas of what is known as the Flinders Ranges in South Australia. Note 4

So we might loosely associate that development as a continuous evolved intelligent transition or creation if you will. 

Astrophysics Jesuit George Coyne who was the Director of the Vatican Observatory since 1978 explores these ideas for the universe in a similar way: A theologian already poses the concept of god’s continuous creation with which to explore the implications of modern science for religious belief. God is working with the universe, the universe has a certain vitality of its own like a child does, and it has the ability to respond to words of endearment and encouragement.

Looking backwards in time my mind struggles to imagine how those first awakenings of self-consciousness were played out in humanity’s journey of discovery. I rather think those first early insights will remain hidden forever in our oral history, in the evolving stories of dance, in the lyrical chants of the ancients or in the wondrous dreamland scenes carved on rock walls up to 60,000 years ago. Elkhonon Goldberg in ‘The Executive Brain’ suggests religious ideas about this time may have first emerged as we struggled to separate the thoughts we have about others and are separate to those we think about. He suggests such self-memories about a deceased person may have been attributed to the current spirit of that deceased person as it became a taboo custom to speak of the dead.
These insights into our past are only made possible by the evolution of our self-consciousness which enables us to make sense of such things; to ponder the sequential events needed for one single cell to become the 50 trillion estimated to make up the human body. The mechanism to enable enjoyment of our enhanced understanding is in the architecture of our frontal lobes which allow us to retrieve information stored in the older ‘limbic’ areas of the brain for dynamic processing in the frontal lobes area coupled with repositories of self-awareness. Elhanan Goldberg in ‘The Executive Brain’
Interestingly just as these frontal lobes are our most recently evolved brain area they remain by far the most vulnerable or fragile to trauma and the onslaught of dementia which exhibits those frightening losses of cognitive memory ability. It is not that memory is lost in dementia patients but rather the circuitry connections to memory are either damaged or severed, - Elhanan Goldberg ‘The Executive Brain’.

Self-consciousness is thought to be only evident in humans and maybe in other highly developed life forms albeit such views continue to be debated and constrained by a lack of any known developed animal language.

Given our newly acquired self-consciousness- an insatiable curiosity combined with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge it is hardly surprising we have complex ever changing belief systems.
But with the onset of a scientific age of new discoveries to contradict many of the rigidly held religious ‘beliefs’ scientists became very wary of making any references to ‘beliefs’ in scientific discourses. They prefer to talk about concepts which were to be only to be accepted as science after stringent evidentiary validation. Materialism which manifested as genetic determinism erroneously took hold.   

Book Review- The Biology of Belief
The title of Bruce H Lipton’s (Ph.D.) book ‘The Biology of Belief’ aroused my interest- no doubt as was the author’s intention to engender for him a wider reader’s audience.
The author’s first watershed moment is vividly described in the Prologue when he was lecturing medical students in the Caribbean

‘I had resigned my tenured position at the University of Wisconsin’s School of medicine and was teaching at an offshore medical school in the Caribbean. Because the school was so far out of the academic mainstream, I started thinking outside the rigid parameters of belief that prevail in conventional academia. Far from ivory towers, isolated on an emerald island in the deep azure Caribbean Sea, I experienced a scientific epiphany that shattered my beliefs about the nature of life.
My Life changing moment occurred while I was reviewing research on the mechanisms by which cells control their physiology and behavior. Suddenly I realized that a cell’s life is controlled by the physical and energetic environment and not by its genes. Genes are simply molecular blueprints used in the construction of cells, tissues, and organs. The environment serves as a ‘contractor’ who reads and engages those genetic blueprints and is ultimately responsible for the character of a single cells ‘awareness ‘of the environment, not its genes that sets into motion the mechanisms of life.

His book is an amalgam of the next 20 years of research and experience which I will attempt to engage sufficient portions so that one can make sense of the nature of his findings.

Cells as Miniature Humans
He introduces us to the idea that every cell in our body – and there are roughly 50 trillion of them – is a smart cell capable of fulfilling all of the known bodily functions we attribute to our mind and body as a whole. This intelligence is resident in the cell membrane and reacts to its physiology through controlling proteins able to override the genetically encoded DNA resident in the cell nucleus. That is to say that although the DNA which is resident in the cell nuclei does determine our preprogrammed genetic characteristics their operation can be turned off and on by the controlling proteins within the cells membrane environment. Hence the author contends our ‘belief systems’ are instrumental in the control of our biological functioning rather than by genetic determinants. Lipton explains the trend scientifically towards genetic determinism was adopted since the discovery of genes provided the final missing link to show how Darwin’s species adaptations or changes were all transferred genetically into each new evolved generation.
An analogy to help explain the Magical Cell membrane
Lipton uses the analogy of the test pattern appearing on old TV sets. Those of us old enough to remember will recall how a test pattern appeared on our TV sets once the day’s program’s came to closures traditionally after midnight.
‘Think of the pattern of the test screen as the pattern encoded by a given gene, say the one for brown eyes. The dials and switches, TV fine –tune the test screen by allowing you to turn it on or off and modulate a number of characteristics , including color, hue, contrast, brightness, vertical and horizontal holds .By adjusting the dials, you can alter the appearance of the test pattern on the screen, while not actually changing the original broadcast pattern. This is the role of the regulatory proteins.

Waltzed through the ‘Magical Membrane’ and on to ‘The New physics; Planting both feet on thin Air” Lipton waltzes his readers through chapters entitled ‘Magical Membrane’, and on to ‘The New Physics”: Planting both feet firmly on thin Air’; to introduce the dual wave -particle physics theory to understand how energy underpins his biological beliefs and to persuade us more research is needed into the fields of energy waves rather than what is currently disproportionately devoted to genes. The question one skeptic might immediately ask is would this approach risk ‘throwing the baby out with the bathwater’ since it would signal a retreat away from genealogy which forms the mainstay applications of westernized based prescriptions. On a more general note however I think few would argue, not least of which, the inhabitants of developing nations, to say modern medical advances have ensured improved longevity and help enormously to maintain improved healthy sustainable lives. A visit to any impoverished nation reveals the extent to which provision of improved medical and mental health facilities with an array of prescription drugs has a beneficial improvement in the overall wellbeing of the population.

However I do not think the author risks ‘throwing out the baby out with the bathwater’ but I rather think the question might well be asked in reverse, ‘has the westernized approach become guilty of putting too much faith in the genealogy? , or put another way ‘putting too many of its research dollars into one basket?’ As Lipton reminds us ever since Darwin’s species adaptations or changes were thought to be conveniently verified via the modus operandi of genetically transferred information within the DNA of the cell nucleus into each new evolved generation, scientists have assumed this must represent the crucial frontier area to find future cures for such things as cancers and incurable disorders. Whilst it is true to say the environment was accepted as playing a pivotal role in outcomes this was more generally attributed to the overall attitude of the mind and reactions to external stimuli rather than thought be equally present in the individual cell intelligence as suggested by Lipton.
The manufacturers and distributors of drugs found a powerful advocate in money motivation to direct disproportionate research efforts into the genealogy pool and away from other forms of research which may be far less drug dependent and be more successful without the dreaded side effects of prescription medicine.
Maybe we are at the crossroads where a more multi-disciplinary approach offers the best future opportunities. We can be optimistic that so-called reliance in genetic determinism is almost dead in the water.
Positive thoughts and a conclusion
I think I am a positivist by nature but as the book moves into the realm of a personal empowerment treatise for living and loving, for me, I think his views are more intuitively driven than as a logical progression from earlier chapters. My point is a personal one and does not detract from the thrust of his inspirational message of self-empowerment which will be met joyously by many less skeptical readers than me - particularly as he shares his own personal journey in tandem with his fascinating scientific treatise.
The author’s message is of hope and joy with an emphasis that nurturing children is more important than their genealogy and that we can influence our outcomes by positive thoughts and what are fears already etched in subconscious memory might be unlocked in conscious thought. They are aspects that many of us have long held to be true, but Lipton takes on an evangelical emphasis to encourage believers to no longer feel they are trapped in the rut imposed by the false belief we are constrained by a preprogrammed genetic disposition.

But equally we know that the outcome does not always turn out as positive as we might have hoped as we are confronted by children born or contacting an incurable chronic disorder who die prematurely notwithstanding the loads of love nourished upon them so that it remains an enduring life mystery. The author does not broach such issues except to say that he thinks his biological way of thinking stands a better chance of finding a cure, by forging new frontiers into science.

The author’s admission that he has become a spiritual scientist oddly enough tucked away as an epilogue, was to me disappointing as I think he would be more effective if discussed earlier on. His spiritual visions are lucid, concise and exciting as he asserts our life in not arbitrary as may have been inferred from Darwin and his successors. Rather, it is rooted in a series of endless repeating patterns which depend upon cooperation for survival.

Who knows – maybe one day our cell’s membranes intelligence may respond to treatment to expand our conscious awareness sufficiently to ensure no damage can be done.
I would recommend this book for anyone with any interest in alternative idea to traditional biology.

Lindsay Byrnes September 2020 

 

Note 1 – Primordial Soup https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUPE2zYFhqM

 

Note 2 –Microbes in a Volcano

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLpam8jMp-o

 

Note 3 –DNA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O80feu-8yh0

 

Note 4 - first evolved multi cell creatures

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo49Pyhii-k

 

Biology of Belief - by Bruce Lipton (full documentary)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjj0xVM4x1I

Tom the Killer whale

There are many stories of animals interacting with humans, but a brutal arrangement was evident in the early whaling practices at Eden.  

Today the skeleton of “Tom” the killer whale is a fascinating tale of trust and betrayal.

Tom faithfully returned to Eden each year as part of a Killer whale pod who hunted whales with resident Homo sapiens. They blocked off escape routes of migratory wales, who they then chased around the bay until the wales were thoroughly exhausted. Then, close to the shoreline, the pod thrashed the water with their tails to signal the whalers to harvest the whales. The pods share the 4 ton tongues (of no use to the whalers) and their lips.

An extraordinary event is recorded involving a young man and his family who perished in a small boat that capsized due to a sudden squall. His family tragically all drowned and the bodies were recovered except the father.

Tom, aware of the body's location wedged under a rock entangled in seaweed, continually circled the area for days trying to attract the attention of the whalers. Finally he joined up the entire pod in a grand display, which led the whalers to the body. A few days later the recovered body was buried at sea witnessed by the Killers.    

But on occasions the over enthusiastic killer whales became temporarily beached. One fateful day a stranger rushed into the water with his gun and shot it dead. The traumatized whales hastily left the bay, never to return. However, Tom and some of the other whales did finally return. Locals concluded Tom must have persuaded the pod the stranger was unconnected to the community of whalers.  

The final betrayal occurred with a change in captaincy of the boat ensued, who decided he was not going to cut out the tongue for Tom. He ignored the warning from the crew “Tom is not going to like that, he’s likely to turn nasty and I don’t blame him! “

As they began to tow the whale to the shore, Tom grasped the rope in his mouth with such force it was as if a hand had reached out and shook the boat in fury. A tug of war ensued. The skipper ordered full throttle ahead until they witnessed an amazing sight. The rope had apparently caught around one of Tom’s teeth which finally gave way as it was dislodged and sank into the sea bed. Tragically the tooth cavity became infected with an obsess, and, unable to hunt, Tom died of starvation. His body was washed up on the foreshore. It was decided to preserve his skeleton.

The missing tooth is evident and even the jaw has markings that are the exact same size as that of the rope and harpoon lines. This can be seen today at Eden’s Maritime Museum.   

Old Tom  reference            

https://www.sapphirecoast.com.au/point-of-interest/davidson-whaling-station/

Trust – underpinning our feelings and progress

In this paper I will seek to demonstrate the importance of trust in our existence and how it underpins or impinges upon our progress or the lack thereof in its absence.    

There are many questions that come to mind:

To what extent can one trusts a loved ones side of a story in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Another thought is to what extent do we trust others and how do we determine a sensible balance. In other words what is a reasonable level of informed trust warranted in our existence and how does this play out in daily lives. 

Is there a crisis of Trust today? But is it more a matter of a lack of informed trust? Is there an ever increasing stream of anonymous information or conspiratorial theories undermining trust in general to be dissuaded away from scientific enquiry?  How we felt let down at periods in our life due to misplaced trust?  Do we consider trust a virtue?  

By way of example I simply follow the adage to trust someone until such time as there are reasons not to do so. But there is no doubt there is also a degree to which past events shape our present expectations. This is the distinction between placing your trust in another and delegating authority to the extent you accept that involves allowing someone to make mistakes, as opposed feeling one is aggrieved when there is the matter of the betrayal of that trust.

In some cultures the so-called loss of face is a much bigger issue than in the west. A trusting environment can also be enhanced by one’s surroundings and the built environment. The accompanying notes are aimed at providing food for thought.

Introduction

Trust is an essential feature of our existence and for the most part we trust in all manner of things that assume we won’t be let down. Walking out the door each day there is a high degree of trust that our technology will mostly work, people will be honest and institutional support will be provided when we need it. 

In personal relationships there is an assumed level of trust that unites people in a common bond. The other side of the coin is what some individuals might describe as a healthy dose of scepticism that underpin one's approach to life and particularly one's beliefs. The degree to which we feel we can place our trust in people, systems and institutions, will in turn be a reflection of our experiences and the underlying culture and system  of governance that permeates existence at given points of time. Invariably trust hinge on ethics and the extent or otherwise confidence will wax and wane as revelations of betrayal of trust emerge. In the aftermath there is the ongoing flurry of measures introduced to avoid so called systemic failures in the future. The degree of expanded knowledge has also led to ever increasing complexity in the modern world. We are now much more part of a global village as is the built environment coupled with economics which now play an increasingly important role. 

Building an environment of trust – Physical buildings                 

I recall a keynote address at a philosophy conference by three New Zealand academics namely Elizabeth Aitken-Rose, Douglas Pratt and Jennifer Dixon on “Community and Incarceration: The Architecture of Alienation and the Politics of Redemption”. 

‘According to the International Centre for Prison Studies (Kings College, London) New Zealand has the fifth highest rate of incarceration per head of population in the OECD – after the USA, Chile, Poland and Czechoslovakia – and well ahead of Australia. New Zealanders pride themselves on breaking records and perhaps the most impressive is the rate at which they lock people up and throw away ongoing responsibility. A new prison in the city of Auckland looms large over the surrounding urban landscape: it is a larger, gloomier, shadier and more embarrassingly obvious human cage than anyone had anticipated. From a Correctional perspective, the locality addresses essential needs. It is close to the courts and a perfect situation for the requisite remand centre. ‘

The presenters argued for a radical improvement in the design and administration of prisons to combat the world wide high degrees of recidivism. Their multi-faceted approach highlighted the physiological and religious fundamentalism perpetuated in the design roots from a medieval societal view of incarceration. Those involved were working with the NZ government to instigate design improvements and were of particular interest to the press in Australia. The cost in NZ then was $90,000 pa per prisoner.

Aristotle’s Most Beautiful City
Scholar Andrew Murray was then involved within the Australian government to bring peace and stability to this troubled Solomon Islands located close to Australia. His key reference was the harmonious philosophy of Aristotle which underpinned his vision to bring peace and tranquility to these troubled Islands.
‘In Book VII of the Politics, Aristotle notes that beauty is realized in number and magnitude, and the city which combines magnitude with good order must necessarily be the most beautiful. ‘{Politics VII, 4 (1326a33-35)} Not much else is said there about beauty itself, and so the sentence must refer to other discussions. What is Aristotle‘s understanding of beauty? How is it found in the physical features of a city as discussed in Book VII? How does it relate to the moral entity of the best possible city? The paper will in three sections discuss Aristotle‘s understanding of beauty, the beauty of the built city and the beauty of the constituted city’.

Andrew provided some very useful insights as to how the design and architect of a city create a welcoming friendly beautiful environment. This approach was in contrast to the fortress mentality which only engenders mistrust as a bar to peaceful co-existence with one's neighbors.

But Aristotle’s ideas about living a more purposeful existence were very practical and extended to the built environment, which is of relevance to day as evident in his "Beautiful City” concepts. If we want to create a trusting environment we need to pay attention to providing warmth and appeal in a welcoming design layout for a model city.

Building an economy in which we can trust

Moral ethicist Adam Smith- introduced the idea of trusting in the invisible hand – trusting in free trade.

During the Victorian era philosopher and moral ethicist Adam Smith published in 1776 his influential classical economic work entitled ‘Wealth of Nations’ to criticize the 'mercantilist' system. Smith articulated the view that business and money was the invisible hand of free markets which will produce a satisfactory price return for land, labor and capital because the self interest in any free market benefits the whole of society as competition keeps prices low. The advantage of free trading has always benefited nations and was evident in that of the Australian aborigines. Like indigenous groups elsewhere, they traded ceremonial artefacts, grinding stones, sea shells, ochre, shields, axe heads, spears and even 'water rights' along the permanent waterways that marked trade routes. This enabled a "United Nations" approach to trade as scarce resources in one region were exchanged for another's in the same manner as Adam Smith suggested trading between nations having different natural resources yielded optimum outcomes.

Absence of trust

The trouble is, of course, with such free trade agreements today are reliant on the trust and goodwill of the respective negotiating parties – something that is prone to be absent in secret deals where each party vies to outwit the other.  The word “free trade” touted by politicians when entering into these agreements is misleading since invariably it involves the conferring of rights or preferences only disclosed later to the public.    

Smith was acutely aware any concentration in power would distort a free market and pointed out Merchants wielded monopolistic power afforded them as a consequence of bans on foreign competition. Mercantilism was also associated with a monetary system which used exported bullion to pay for imports- mainly from Asia- which reduced money supply to exert downward pressure on prices and economic activity at the expense of impoverished workers.

Mercantilism also adversely affected the colonies which were forced to use English ships, pay duties and only trade in commodities whose prices were set by the British Empire to effectively create an underclass of colonial citizens - a significant factor that led to world war and eventual American independence.

Although the classical economics of Smith was successful in overturning the unethical mercantilist system and his free market ideas remained popular up until the 1930’s his influence soon waned. In the period afterwards the inevitable boom and bust cycles continued in tandem with the growth of the larger financial institutions such as banks whose occasional lending sprees exceeded loanable funds beyond the level of maintainable voluntary savings to cause severe social dislocations. An arrogance took hold to disregard the lessons learnt in the past until the shock onset of the Great Depression years in the 1930’s.

The great ethicist and economist John Maynard Keynes

John Maynard Keynes was to present a radically different system to offer hope we could trust in his system of economics to avoid recurrences of the painful boom bust trade cycles. His sensible theory was we cannot rely on business as in markets to automatically adjust to ensure full employment so long as workers remained flexible in their demands. Rather his theory saw an active role for government intervention with both fiscal (taxation and spending measures) and monetary policy (control over the level of interest rates) to ensure economic growth and stability. Banks were to be regulated but enjoyed ‘Lender of last resort’ from a reserve to ensure confidence was maintained in the system.

Hence Keynesians thought it was imperative for government action during severe economic cycles to introduce government spending, tax breaks and reductions in interest rates during recessions but to reverse the situation during highly expansionary times. In other words to increase those same levers during inflationary times.

Following the outbreak of World War II Keynes's ideas were universally adopted throughout the western world with commensurate success so that by the time we reached the mid-fifties all western capitalist nations mirrored his views to share in the relatively strong, stable economic fortunes of the immediate post war era. When I first studied economics in the mid-sixties Keynes and Samuelson dominated our textbooks, and there was a sense of confidence and trust that sound economics would guard against recessions. I remember student debates where we considered the ethics of economic theory and how its implementation would benefit or otherwise society in general.

For Keynes was one of the first philosophical economists who insisted economic theories must lead to fairer more ethical outcomes for everyone. No one could argue his philosophy was the mirror of a more virtuous system first championed by Aristotle and then Smith.  

Keynes' views were no doubt forged from his desire to avoid a repeat of the great depression where he held onto his shares and subsequently lost his fortune along with many others. His theories, supported by extensive mathematical modelling, suggested the need for a strong regulatory regime to prudently effectively use both monetary (supply of money and interest rates) and fiscal policy (government spending and taxation) to help iron out the inevitable economic imbalances. His theories were largely adopted in Australia with some considerable success.

Keynes influence begins to wane

As Keynes influence began to wane many of his sound principles were jettisoned – particularly in relation to banking which has led to the more recent malaise where arrogant reckless and immoral activities became embedded into an economy whose systematic banking was destined to failure and become a blight on society at large. The paucity in intellectual enquiry during this period is breathtaking and I can only conclude much of it was only possible due to the growth in “crony capitalism” such was the utter nonsense that underpinned its erroneous applications.

The monetarists who gained ascendancy were skeptical over the ability of governments to effectively regulate the economy with fiscal policy as suggested by Keynes, mounting arguments his measures were both costly and unnecessary – a boon to the naïve politician striving to appease lobbyists.  Their argument was one could rely solely on tight control of money to maintain price stability, a nonsensical concept never capable of sustaining any modern economy anywhere. These highly simplistic theories were both easily understood and very appealing to politicians at a time of high inflation but selectively seized upon by crony capitalists and vested interests with no interest whatsoever in supporting a free market economy.

Philosophical materialism

Concurrent to that change in economic focus was a type of philosophical materialism which had taken an even firmer root to assert our wellbeing or happiness in terms of business prosperity measured solely by money. This became linked to the fundamentalist type religions who promised future wealth as if synonymous with salvation. Simply put -if it doesn’t make money it doesn’t matter! A type of economic fundamentalism persuasively joined forces with branded religion to present a rather potent cocktail of political inspiration based upon a minimalist role for regulation, suggesting business as in markets are sufficient as the sole arbitrator except for control over the money supply. Undoubtedly this was simply ego driven madness on a rather grand scale underpinning many of our current problems and the lack of a moral compass in business today, although the shock of the GFC and several royal commissions later we are now seeing many encouraging trends.

Placing our trust in consumerism

Whilst we associate 'consumerism" as a modern phenomenon the underlying human condition to gravitate to materialism seems unchanged - given the opportunity a desire inevitably arises to accumulate material wealth.

The story of Solomon reminds us there is nothing new about how our desire for material wealth can be all consuming. Solomon was both wise and ruled as king during a period of unrivalled prosperity, - as a great trader who secured from King Hiram of Phoenicia the materials for the magnificent temple. But towards the end of his reign he succumbed to the great trappings of immense wealth and worshipped idols.

The point to all of this is that all of us, even those with the Wisdom of Solomon, may not be immune to an excessive desire for material goods. It also serves as a sobering reminder that what we may regard as basic human material needs can be the equivalent of rampant consumerism to a struggling African family or even those homeless within our shores.
This also applies to nations just as it does to individuals and the amount we are willing to pledge in aid. Going against the trend it is remarkable that a tiny country such as Ireland whose generosity as a percentage of GDP puts other countries, including Australia to shame.

Although you cannot effectively legislate morality or orchestrate more even social outcomes you can have regulations to ensure free markets operate in a regulatory environment which specify basic human rights. That is to create a trusting environment and one that enhances a sense of pride to belong to an egalitarian society

We can make provision for safety nets and ensure ethical principles or codes are operational for both corporations and citizens alike. The irony is once nations become industrialized, the potential exists for more equal societies to do much better in terms of health, well-being and social cohesion. 

There are less income inequalities which have the capacity to destroy the social fabric and the quality of life for everyone. We can place our trust in such an outcome as it can be ably demonstrated at every level  

Much of this inequality is driven by a desire to have more and be rewarded with more as end unto itself which can lead to treating people like goods. The trouble with having too many possessions is that eventually they may own you.

Changing with the times for the better.

But it is not all bad news, as the groundswell in collective consciousness to embrace a more ethical application is gaining momentum wherever you look. All of our big institutions are moving towards more sustainable practices to reduce the carbon footprint which mean they only occupy the very top independently assessed 5 star energy efficient buildings.

The question of trust then is dependent on the nature of individuals and their attitudes or reliance on the governance systems that underpins existence. This in turn is influenced by one’s cultural roots. 

It is very important the degree of trust one feels as this in turn leads to people feeling they have a degree of freedom and general wellbeing that they are living in a caring environment. This in turn relates to the economic factors that are often overlooked as to the degree of fairness or otherwise inherent in an idea of say individualism compared to a more egalitarian based vision. 

So we need a vision to encompass ideas of what a trusting society would resemble rather than encompass an economic, social and justice system that supports such a vision.  Terms like ‘whatever it takes’, if it doesn’t make money then it’s of no interest and make it happen’ exemplify the sort of materialistic led ideas that are rooted in self-interest. We have ceded control economically to a vested market greed which is exactly what the first founding fathers of economics rallied against

Without wanting to convey any sense of self that suggests a moral paradigm of virtue, but due principally to my field of employment I have been involved in many instances of stamping out corruption that I believe exists at a much greater level than most people realise.

Conclusion

There is no easy answer to the question of the extent one places trust in one's own judgment about individuals and institutions. Central to this idea is the way systems have attempted to evolve to reflect justice and good governance, but fail due to corruption or ambivalence of one kind or another. The extent or otherwise they are perceived to offer fair and just outcomes underpins societies attitudes to the extent to which trust exists. On a personal level in a democracy that is not perpetually engaged in conflicts just about everything one does is based on the idea we can mostly trust people and those institutions that operate under such a system. What becomes of critical importance is the ability of such a system to incorporate inbuilt safeguards designed to uncover corruption that betray the goodwill or faith inherent in any system. Institutions can build up a reputation of trustworthiness, this is just as easily dissipated caused by greed or corruption. 

The same principles apply to individuals and the perils of procrastination inherent in not acting on our inner compass that tells us when to act against injustices and corruption. The two are inextricably linked, the failure to act on what is known to be wrong is often because of the discomfort such a stand would have on the status quo and the pressure it imposes upon us. Many times I have been told corruption is just another cultural difference or it's just idealistic and impractical to make a stand against corruption. All I can say is that my experiences tell me otherwise.

 

In search of true Love

Do we believe in true love and what can our experience tell us about love. Let me provide some talking points.

My first question is:  Is love a feeling or a conscious decision we make every day? Love is still one of the more commonly used words in our language, although used less than the 19th century when romanticism figured more strongly in literature. Love’s use can extend in many different usages. The ancient Greeks defined love as either storge, phileo, eros and agape. Storge was for your family and relations, Phileo was the affectionate love you feel for your friends and Eros was driven by desires and exemplifies passionate love, whilst agape was the pure and ideal love which was unconditional.

Hence we can have all of these expressions of love from mushy affection to unconditional love. Probably the one we identify the most is the love of a parent for a child.  

The use of love can mean a personal affection in intimacy, to devotion, to a cause as in love for one’s country which can turn to war, to love as in sacrifice or in the desire or admiration for beautiful objects or art forms or when we simply say with sincerity “I love you.” Yet we are not clear on how love arises; the inclination is to link love as emanating from the heart to revert to feelings of love whilst others think love is a matter of daily decisions to consciously act in a loving manner. Another assumption is to say love is a kind of noble intuitive force which contributes to the greater good, but as we have so much evidence of countless crimes committed under the allure of love, this seems implausible.  Biblically this leads those authors to distinguish passionate love as in intimacy -versus Agape, to mean "unconditional love", but who’s rather grand application, given our limitations as human beings, also seems to me to be somewhat of a contentious issue. Rather I think that the power of love gives one the capacity for loving unions to blossom over time, but that in turn is usually dependent upon a continuing encouragement or willingness to compromise, sufficient to withstand the mounting pressures of life’s experiences. The idea to me then that love leads to a more willing  desire to make compromises or sacrifices seems more realistic than “unconditional love” which I prefer to leave to the province of divine love, as is included in the notion of grace.  You can't really define it by saying what true love is but just discuss what our experiences have been in our life, which will then define it for us.           

In search of the elusive inner Moral Compass.

Introduction

Continuing the idea of a moral compass as an innate characteristic of the infant, as opposed to empiricism which argues it subsequent experiences conveyed through the senses I aim to explore this idea in this paper. The question of morals themselves is therefore of interest as to their origin and expression in their ethical outcomes. Although ethics and morals can be lumped together for the purpose of this paper I define morals as to the heading given for ethical outcomes and ethics therefore as practical outcomes.

 

Where do Morals come from?

Possibly morality first arose from the ability to view the ‘self’ separate to oneself as in self-consciousness around 150,000 years ago.

Therein early tribespeople began to attribute notions of morality in relation to what was considered right for the use of the land and in ensuring the existence of the tribe.

How this was conveyed in the evolutionary journey was brought about by psychological patterns into conscious play to associate values with feelings.  From there we see evidence of tribal law and the emergence of religion acknowledging Creator spirit(s).  

However such a narrative is rather vague and you can’t really say definitively where they came from, except to the extent a picture can emerge that ingredients in tribal law for instance facilitated social cohesion, which was paramount to survival in the long migratory journeys.

 

We see ample evidence in the First nation’s people throughout the world whose survival was dependent on a continued affinity with nature. This naturally became their spiritual roots. Hence it is virtually impossible to trace their origins specifically other than the generalized assumptions one can make of how they arose as in adoption within hostile environments.

Ethics inherent in Homers polytheism   

Homer’s phenomenology of the body incorporates the idea that our various moods keep us continually in tune with ourselves and give rise to a meaningful life; a reflection of, or as arising from the various GODs, so that there is sacred nature to our existence.  Another way of putting it would be to say our consciousness depends upon personalities at a higher level than our own, emanating from the GODS. 

The way they viewed their existence was to see their Gods as an image of humanity possessing human foibles except they were immensely powerful and eternal.

You may recall Nietzsche thought Homer's ideas are closer to our natural mode of existence than the autonomy and self-determination of the enlightenment.  

Aeschylus and divine justice

Athens was the first known democracy at the time when Aeschylus grew up about 500BC. Athenian democracy was recovering from its prior tyrannical ruler and coming to grips with a more meaningful existence. Against that backdrop of deliverance his plays covered the whole spectrum of human interactions. The plots involved the hand of fate and the consequential effect on communities in relation to the new GODs.     

Zeus, as the chief GOD maintained order, with lesser GODs believed to despise man’s greatness; so the idea took root of a sense of impiety, a false pride which consumed individuals in what we might think of today as hubris. The unjust were not always punished in their lifetime so that legacy became part of heredity, guilt and vengeance. There was a strong correlation to the idea of acting unethically brought with it retribution of one kind or another.   

The plays also talk about reconciliation and divine justice administered in the Athenian courts of justice, with help from the GODS.  

Chinese Ethics

Concurrently in China Confucius (552-479BC), and others were making a mark on society that continues to this day.  
In ancient China no separation existed between church and state. Confucius happily existed alongside the prophetic streams from Abraham and Buddha.  China was influenced from outside cultures by virtue of the ancient Silk Road 130 -1453 BC) linking east and west. The introduction of Buddhism from India in 150 BC initially met with stiff opposition so was reconciled Daoist’s traditions. Both Pure Land Buddhism and Chan (Zen) Buddhism are the two prominent strains today.

But ultimately the predominant force for ethical behavior is Confucianism due to its relevance and attraction as it relates to everyday life. For instance it is concerned with how one is to live a meaningful life: determining the optimum balance between families versus strangers. Its ethics don’t extend into the moral dilemmas talked about in the west. Rather, it is concerned with what is the right way and requires imagination according to its defining principles. However, like the west, the evolution of ideas has parallels in terms of its ethical attributes of love, loyalty. Justice, piety and affection.      

In modern day terms Confucian ethics and liberal democratic values found their way into discussions in the late 19^th and 20^th century.  But Mau brought an abrupt halt to this movement and a suppression of the ancient religious practices and belief as China became an atheist state. But post the Cultural Revolution it has thankfully moved away from these extremes and terror to work towards a more democratic society, which sits paradoxically uneasily within the confines of a communist state. However, human rights abuses continue as does the persecution of minorities.  Recent events have started to see a reversal of previous encouraging trends.    

So, there remains a tension between what represents a good and meaningful life individually versus the Confucian ideal of social harmony and allegiance to the state.
The contemplative practices are almost always tied to a fairly straightforward ethical framework.

Buddhist Ethics -5th century B.C. 

Buddhism teaches one is to purify the minds so that one has the capacity for loving kindness and compassion for all sentient beings. There are many various forms of Buddhism, but they all offer a systematic approach to understand the traits of character and actions that are the cause of our problems for both ourselves and others. It also offers ways that it proposes will assist in healing the suffering of the world. There is a step by step path that forbids destructive actions until one reaches an advanced form of spiritual development where one will act spontaneously (enlightenment) for the benefit of others.

Buddhist principles are based on a truth seeker, as such they are committed to scientific principles but whose objectives are to alleviate suffering, to be desirous of happiness, of good outcomes, to be supportive of individuals in their shared aspirations, to realize these values, to show compassion in the rendering of services and so on.

Western Ethics

Returning to our western heritage we have the Ethics of Plato 428/427 BE, Athens, Greece—died 348/347) talks about the highest conduct in life and the virtues required to attain it. Plato’s conceptual basis for happiness is not clear and he treats it in different ways- maybe because his ideas evolved during his life. His dialogues make reference to Socrates (469/470-399BC) who was his teacher.  

For Plato the soul must remain aloof and be separate to the pleasures of the body to obtain higher knowledge. In the same manner the individual must be subordinate to the community for the common good.

Plato thought moral values were absolute truths which spirit-like abstract entities. In that sense moral values were thought to be spiritual objects, which was refuted by Aristotle.   

The legacy of Aristotle

His philosophy shaped the Byzantine Philosophy during the period 730 to 1453 AD.

Ethics in Byzantium was not a formal discipline, but various responses to problems posed in relation to everyday life. It covered the full spectrum of ethical views on virtues and vices, evil and passions, the good, and how to observe the commandments and so on. In the Arabic world his influence was such that it became known as The First Teacher.

Thomas Aquinas 1225- 274 AD sought a reconciliation of Aristotle’s philosophy with Christian ideas and so Aquinas became the home of theological and philosophical underpinnings for Christianity that remains in many respects to continue to be its bedrock even today.

Today, philosophers regard him as the reliable sage for virtue ethics. 

Saint Augustine (354–430)

His authority was far reaching and his authority supplanted that of Aristotle’s, to be invoked on both sides of the Reformation.  His ideas on the problem of evil and on free remain a reference point today.

According to Augustine the existence of goodness must allow evil to exist, which is solely the fault of humans. He also influenced John Calvin, who supported Augustine's view and argued in turn that corrupted humans required God's grace to give moral guidance. Politically his theory of the stringent conditions to be satisfied to justify a war are still invoked today.

But medieval philosophers continued to talk about moral principles as "eternal laws" which were classified as spirit-like objects.

Moving into the more modern era

Following the enlightenment and more rational thinking in the 17^th century Samuel Clarke changed that definition spirit-like objects. Rather he talked about the idea GOD has willed the physical world into existence, just as was willed human life, so too are all the moral values willed into existence.

Sitting on the other side of the fence the sceptics denied values can be classified as spirit-like objects, to posit the idea moral values are purely human inventions.

Emotion and Reason- David Hume

Another important aspect to moral psychology concerns the role of reasoning as applied to moral actions.

David Hume argued that all our moral assessments must involve our emotions, and not our reason. He conceded reason might be of service in providing the context, but "reason is, and ought to be, the slave of the passions."

Over time various categories of ethics developed into 6 principal categories: normative, evolutionary, virtue, duty, consequential and applied. Applied refers to those issues which require application to the prior mentioned in responding to a thorny issue. 
The categorization is useful in helping explain ethics but is also somewhat arbitrary.

Normative Ethics

As previously outlined normative ethics invoke the golden rule or guiding principles that are generally agreed. Hence, one decides something is simply right or wrong by invoking the Golden Rule. However, inevitably what I desire may be different to someone else so that such a single rule can be highly subjective.

 In Confucius ethics we have the negative of the golden rule - what you don't want yourself, don't do to others.”

Evolutionary ethics favor the idea of fairness as it applies to the community to take precedence over individualism. From a biological perspective position there doesn’t seem to be any reason to favor self-interest over altruism. Certainly there is no evidence to support the selfish gene theories and those exposing only survival of the fittest that dominated discussions in the late sixties and seventies.    

Virtue ethics have surfaced in modernity as a credible source of reference, spearheaded by such philosophers as Alasdair Macintyre who has been a staunch defender of Aristotelian virtues, contending they all emerge from within social traditions.
As outlined previously morality consists of following precise rules of conduct, such as "don't kill," or "don't steal."

However virtue ethics places less emphasis on the rules and more on cultivating good character habits so that habitually these become part of who you are as in your good character.  

Plato talked principally about the four key virtues- wisdom, courage, temperance and justice. Others mentioned were fortitude, generosity, self-respect, good temper, and sincerity.

In addition to ensuring good character, virtue ethics talks about avoiding the vices in the first place by reverting to the virtues.

Hence Plato first emphasized the importance of moral education so that a virtuous character be instilled in the young so they might subsequently lead a virtuous life.

Aristotle then advanced the argument further by linking acquired good habits to controlling the emotions and declaring how we respond to live a virtuous life. 
Duty ethics cover almost all aspects of life to those who favor this approach. For most of us we don’t have to think about a duty to family and to the various organizations and institutions integral to our existence. To some extent there is an overlap to virtue ethics as what is determinant as a duty, has to be linked to what virtue makes such a duty valid. A duty approach provides meaning in the sense of pride as derives in selfless duty to serve others. The idea of duty could also include a duty to look after our own body.  They are sometimes called no consequence ethics because the duty does not have to have a consequence. In the metaphysical realm one might say one has a duty to a higher being or a higher self.
Consequentialism, as the name suggests, attempts to trace the result of decisions so that they become ethical only as far as they result in good outcomes. An example is the utilitarian philosophical school. The problem with consequentialism is you can’t always determine outcomes, unless the matter is rather obvious. The idea of attempting to evaluate all possible consequences has, of course, considerable merit.  

 

Following on the question arises as to make use of ethics in the partial outcomes that can be applied to existence. There are application stop day in every aspect of modern day life and particularly in economics.

 

Ethical outcomes are what underpin the reputation in organizations inclusive of the regulators charged with responsibility for the systems integrity. Early economists were in fact moral philosophers and we can apply Aristotelian ideas to the build environment. 

Herein we find the idea of a city-state can be fashioned on aristocratic nobility and justice principles for all and not as a business enterprise whose sole purpose is to maximize wealth.

Nor was it to be a place purely to promote liberty and equality, but rather he argued for a constitution based upon noble actions and in the virtuous sharing in the community.

Such ideas remain just as relevant for us today as there were then. For Aristotle was a philosopher who associated happiness with the habit of making virtuous choices so that by embracing such a disposition he asserted we build our moral compass to enable us to walk a virtuous path through the moral dilemma that life presents to us.

Conclusions

Many of the ideas of how to live and find meaning in the ancient wisdom streams are increasingly finding relevance to modern day thinking, to give impetus to the next generation to forge more meaningful and superior outcomes. 

The task of the philosopher is to continue to ask questions and advance those wisdom streams as far as they remain relevant to the new age we inhabit, that is the age of the humans. 

This will require a different way of thinking that will be contingent on a more empathetic approach to other cultures as we increasingly form a part of a global village. 

There is a need to develop universal secular ethical standards that provide us with a moral compass to live a meaningful life, but to leave the door open to imagination. Descriptive principles requiring imagination can lead the way to better outcomes, for you cannot legislate morality. One will inevitably fall off the ethical tightrope at times, so in humility one must in any system, leave room to consult the moral compass, to steer her back on track without fear or favor.  
The future then of religion and philosophy lies in introspection and to meditate on the ongoing rich narrative that remains freely (barring mental disorders) available to us.