Stranger in a Stranger Land

[Guest guest]

Of THE LITTLE WE KNOW OF THE EVOLUTION OF OUR SPECIES it Seems

that as intelligence increased in our distant ancestors, nature found

herself with a design problem. In order to walk vertically the wide

ape-like pelvis of the earlier Australopithecines gave way to

smaller, more graceful hips. However, the brain was becoming far

bigger which could have made childbirth painful and a hazard to both

child and mother alike. Nature came up with a compromise juggling the

losses and gains. Her highly novel solution changed the whole

direction of our species. The gestation period in the womb was

drastically shortened which allowed a less developed brain of

bearable size.

This ingenious evolutionary device had the unavoidable side-effect of

a prolonged period of infant dependence which was unparalleled in the

animal kingdom. It is almost as if nature washed her hands of the

genetic evolution of the species and from the very moment of birth

abandoned the responsibility for the programming of the half-made-

up " embryos " straight into the human lap.

We arrive at birth in a way incomplete and the group into which we

are born has the freedom to complete the job. The rate of growth of

the brain is kept to a minimum in the last months of pregnancy.

However, once the organism leaves the confines of the womb the brain

enlarges to three times its birth size within the first year of life.

This is unique also within the animal kingdom even including our

nearest relatives, the great apes.

However, the rest of the body remains infantile by comparison and

often stays that way into adolescence. It may be seen then, that

perhaps we are born too young and too soon. From the moment of birth

a cultural programming begins its relentless re-designing of the

vulnerable little animal, over-riding nature's original program. We

are all so open at that age that anything can be put into the soft

computers in our heads — any program or any imprint. To many it would

seem that our brains and minds have been tampered with. The

disquieting part of this is that we are not aware of the corruption.

We are fish in the ocean who don't notice the water. We are

unconscious of the continual linguistic ocean which shapes our

perceptions, our experience and our actions within the phenomenal

world. We remain unaware of the role of language in molding our

experience and giving that experience significance and meaning. The

child is not protected in any way against the ideas which man passes

down as normal behavior from generation to generation.

And the most inhibiting idea of all is that of the ego. Almost every

historic culture, in its own way, has managed to give birth to that

monster.(to be cont.)

 

Unknown Man....Yatri

 

posted by: ......bob