Civilization

 

The pursuit of pleasure is found in the U.S. Constitution.  However, a recent survey by the World Happiness Report found that the United States did not make the top 20 happiest nations in the world.  In other words, find your happiness elsewhere  This essay pertains to the why and how reality is falsified .

The existentialists identified the dualism crisis affecting mankind.  Simply put, man is a creation with a mind, imagination, self-consciousness and body.  But,with the body, there is finitude ,a decaying body.  In other words, it’s important for man to become aware and not to deny our biological  reality .

A newborn  is dependent, frail, insecure, inadequate, inferior and totally dependent on the parent or parents for comfort, safety and survival.  With experience, that newborn in various degrees either moves toward the parent or parents in a "loving" manner; moves against the parent or parents rebelliously and hatefully; or moves toward that parent symbiotically. In any event, fear, anxiety, frustration, love-hate become part of the reality .

Other  fear, anxiety ,distress ,hazards   affecting that newborn relate to the rules, regulations, barriers, conflicts, contradictions  within his society which includes socioeconomic's, religion, political philosophy, zip code, and the color of his skin.  Secondly, the anxiety associated with the biological reality of his body, in which there is evolution decay,frailty. And death .  Every part of his body is affected-brain, heart, kidneys, lungs, and so forth.  The third fear and anxiety factor relates to nature with its hurricanes, blizzards, tornadoes, and tsunamis, earthquakes and fires.  In other words, being human is not only difficult, but has been called by Maslow "The Jonah syndrome That."  He called the syndrome "innovation of the full intensity of life."  We are just not strong enough to endure more;..... it's too much or I can't stand it.  Or I could die..... Delirious happiness cannot be born for long.  Our organisms are just too weak for any large doses of greatness…Therefore , the experience of survival  can be challenging to say the least.,

A few examples of my reality experience follows.  On one hand, my interaction with nature has been wonderful, exciting, pleasurable  with joy, bliss  and  satisfying . I've run  and ridden on many magnificent and wonderful trails in California, Washington and Oregon.; I visited islands in the Caribbean and sailed to Alaska; drove to the four corners in the Southwest and skied in Killington, Vermont.  I've dived in Hawaii and Mexico ; kayaked in California.  I've traveled and seen the wonders in Canada, England, France, Spain, Netherlands, Denmark and Germany with family, friends and lovers.  I've also been to the majority of our states…

On the other hand, a few other experiences  of  the reality of fear and anxiety follows. In the late afternoon in October in 1989 I was  providing psychotherapy in my office ,when all of a sudden the room started shaking, resulting from the 6.9 magnitude earthquake.  I was like that small child scared, terrified, insecure with that  powerful occurrence  taking place.  My concern was about safety, security and survival.  I later witnessed the damage on television.and eventually saw some of that  damage in San Francisco ,Oakland and Santa Cruz.  And earthquake insurance supposed to?  Earthquake insurance does not address fear, powerlessness, and terror.

A few years later we were living on a 25+ acre ranch in the Bay Area.  Our ranch home had a creek running parallel to my home and separating the acreage.  Tom, the original owner, built the bridge with three large culverts for the crossing.  At that time there was a drought and there were plenty of weeds in the creek bed.  Tom told me that if there was a storm, I should divert the trees and branches so they could pass through the culvert safely and not create a dam.  That sounded simple enough.  Then the following occurred in January in the 1990s.  It seemed to rain for that entire month and the creek became raging as I heard rocks and boulders being pushed past.  Unfortunately, I could not divert anything because of the river force as the trees, branches and rocks created a dam.  In essence, the raging water went around the blocked culverts and created a gap between the long driveway and my residence.  Initially a plank walkway was built for us to be able to reach the house and then a temporary bridge strong enough for  our motorcycle crossings.

The power and force of the January storm was awesome, powerful and destructive.  We even had the Red Cross visiting to see if we were okay.  Once again the feelings of anxiety, fear being powerless not in control and helplessness was again experienced.

After running the Western states.  I continued working out on the Wendell Robie trail.  Near home about  1 ½ miles from home ,  I encountered a lioness and her two cubs.  I stopped dead in my tracks, slowly backed up, turned around and went in the other direction.  I found a club and looked repeatedly over my shoulder as I backtracked.  I am no match for a lioness protecting her cubs.  I was terrified and eventually reached the safety of my home.  Another time Linda was riding with a friend on the Brown Bear trail when they encountered an angry bear and cubs.  Likely Linda and her friend and their horses were able to retreat from that menacing bear.

A couple years ago Linda and I were spending a few days vacationing in Carmel.  On our trip home, Paul called to tell us about the fire and that we should stay away because of the danger.  I continued driving in the direction of home  and near Roseville we witnessed the smoke.  We continued and did arrive home making plans to evacuate.  Fortunately, we did not receive a call to evacuate ..

Years ago our home insurance was canceled and we now have insurance administered by the state.  Each year I clear the weeds in and around my 11+ acre residence.  Our homeowners association has received grants to cut the surrounding fuel.  I know from experience that my weed eating might help.  But ,I also know that fire and winds create havoc and destruction.  During the summer and fall, Linda and I have moved from our upstairs master bedroom to the downstairs bedroom with bags packed.  Not only that when there's fire danger.  I check the air quality to determine if it's okay to go outside and run.  I am fearful  of the prospect of fire. I remain and acknowledge that residing in California can be terrific or terrifying.

It's clear that all Homo sapiens experience trouble, worry, anxiety, distress in various degrees throughout a lifetime.  Which means that human existence can be described according to Pascal ‘s reflection.  "Not to be mad would amount to another form of madness."  This means that we deny the truth of our condition and pretend not to be mad.  One explanation  of our condition relates to the existential idea that we are irrational, and therefore we are not logical nor reasonable.

Freud explained the cost of pretending not to be mad within his psychoanalytic theory.  He made it clear about the role that anxiety plays in development beginning with the birth trauma and then identified different types of anxiety which are anticipated by our thinking  from a real  or non real threat from the environment . Now, the  ego must defend itself against the outbreak of unpleasant ,uncontrollable anxiety  in which the ego  either flees or attempts some kind of effective motor action to remove the danger. 

 As a result, we have mechanisms of defense  like repression which is the weapon to exclude the danger from consciousness.  So this dangerous thought or idea is forced out of consciousness.  As a result of the signal of anxiety, the mechanisms of defense operate consciously and characteristically to deny, distort or falsify the ego’s perception of events, either internal or external or both.In essence, the mechanisms of defense interfere with  the perception of both reality and rationality.In other words, the defense mechanisms makes it possible to live in the overwhelming miracle, incomprehensive world  which is full of beauty, majesty and terror.

The defense mechanisms make it possible  for us to  be blind to our smallness, insignificance, physical and moral inadequacy, guilt, evil intentions, death wishes  resulting from our instincts,anxiety,  frustrations, barriers and conflicts. Essentially it's the anxiety that results in the face of life's dangers and  in the great necessities of fate against which there is no remedy stated Freud. 

Because of the significance of fear and anxiety, Homo sapiens easily pursue fiction, non-truth , illusion and propaganda in their thinking and beliefs for their well-being. However , the negative consequences related to political "news" is a perfect example of the distortion of reality.  The president and followers have presented a major amount of “fake news“ pertaining to Epstein.  Iran, tariffs, economy, healthcare, ice, global warming, etc. Another point of view comes  from the satire of Stewart, Colbert ,Fallon ,Maher  and Meyers. And your reality is ? 

In essence, humankind is extremely vulnerable and unable avoid the primitive emotions of anxiety, distress,love,hate  and threats.Subsequently ,man automatically and consciously  pursues many cognitive and behavioral diversions accompanied with a number of motivational tendencies, resulting in the consequences of malignancy, toxicity ,neuroses and self-defeat .Therefore,social history has been repeated with extinctions and revolutions .Also, another occurrence is the  composite of contrast of  rational-irrational, truth-lies, reality-fiction along with significant polarities between the powerful-powerlessness, wealthy-poor, healthy-unhealthy,authentic- unauthentic, educated-un educated, and intelligent-ignorant continues. Further, we can expect more of the same either before or during AI and/or the cooling of the sun.

Reference

Becker,Ernest. The Denial of Death.