Johannes Tan, Indonesian Translator & Conference Interpreter
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Part 31

11/30/2015

 

Between Stockholm Syndrome and Lima Syndrome
Part 31: The Intersection of Religion and Martial Arts

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The true kinship between Zen and the martial arts lies in the fact that both can lead us toward the spirit of  the way:  because any conflict, whether it takes place within the body and mind or outside them, is always a battle against the self.
-TAISEN DESHIMARU (1914-1982)
 
Last week in Part 30 (The Source of Violence in Religion), we have explored how even Jesus' Sermon on The Mount as well as Islam's literal meaning of submission, surrender, peace or safety have failed to curb sectarian violence and religious wars for centuries. As outlined in Part 10 (The Pope who would have Burned his own Father), we need look no further than the Middle East—the cradle of human civilization and great monotheist Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). It has been a hot spot plagued by sectarian violence, bloody territorial disputes, protracted wars, and suicidal nihilism since the end of World War II. Somehow the eschatology of Abrahamic religions have generated unintended violent consequences.
 
Now let's explore how Zen Buddhism*, a nontheist religion, has its own unintended consequences, though in an entirely different direction. (First and foremost, though I have some interest in Zen Buddhism, my knowledge is quite basic. There are many excellent books about Zen Buddhism for those who want to explore further. The following is not a crash course in Zen Buddhism by any stretch of the imagination, much less an effort to proselytize anyone.)
 
"The prophet is without honor in his own land," Jesus once said. In 520 A.D. a Buddhist monk (not necessarily a prophet, but widely acknowledged as the first patriarch of Chan Buddhism), Bodhidharma (448-527), journeyed from India to China to spread Buddhism, and settled at a monastery called Shao Lin  (“Little Forest”). In those days, it was common for Indian Buddhist monks to travel to China where their Buddhist teachings were better received than in India, a Hindu stronghold. Although Buddhism was born in India, it had found a more nurturing environment in China for 3 (three) reasons. First, Buddhism’s temporal orientation in the present life—no promise of afterlife whatsoever—has never been quite compatible with that of Hinduism, which strongly believes in the rebirth and reincarnation of souls in afterlife. Whereas Buddhism accepts death at face value, Hinduism regards death merely as a temporary cessation of the physical body.
 
Second, there was an issue of linguistic incompatibility as explained by Alan Watts (1915-1973), a respected authority on the Judeo-Christian traditions, as well as an expert author of many books on Zen Buddhism and Taoism. Indian Buddhism did not translate well into the Chinese culture—then already a solid 2000-year old civilization under the influence of both nontheist Taoism and Confucianism. Recorded in Sanskrit, Indian Buddhism was abstract, speculative, poetic, philosophical, and metaphysical. On the other hand, the Chinese language is extremely practical, prosaic, and concrete as it is based on logograms (symbols that represent words or phrases) instead of phonemes (units of syllables within a word).
 
Third, in China, Buddhism found the perfect match made in heaven. The Chinese native philosophy of Taoism—which stresses the principle of yin and yang, living in harmony with nature and the Tao ("universal way")—has always shared Buddhism’ temporal orientation in the present life and nonchalant standpoint in afterlife. (Taoism classic text, Tao Te Ching, written more than 2500 years ago by Lao Tzu, is the second most translated book in the world after the Bible.) Indian Buddhism better compatibility with Chinese Taoism facilitated the amalgamation and syncretism between the two religions to become a kind of "hybrid" called Chan Buddhism in China, which eventually became Zen Buddhism in Japan. As the most secular among all branches in Buddhism, Zen Buddhism is not merely a philosophy; it became the spiritual foundation and creative force for Japanese arts of painting, landscaping, flower arrangement, poetry, calligraphy, tea ceremony, architecture, swordsmanship and martial arts like karate, judo, aikido, kendo, etcetera. But I'm getting ahead of myself here.
 
When Bodhidharma settled down at the Shao Lin monastery in the sixth century, he was disappointed to discover the monks were quite weak and unable to withstand the austere ways of Buddhism—a frugal lifestyle consisting of extended periods of fasting. According to legend, he then retired into a cave and after nine uninterrupted years of meditation facing a blank wall, he devised a set of physical exercises for the monks. Some of the exercises included yoga-like asanas and were intended to regulate and strengthen the monks' prana or chi (or qi) flow in order to improve their health and stamina.

​These exercises were proven to be so beneficial that Bodhidharma's
chi kung or qi gong exercises of holistic system which coordinate body posture, movement, breathing techniques, and meditation are still practiced today for health, spirituality, and martial arts training. Bodhidharma exercises formed the building blocks for Shao Lin Chinese martial arts developed by Buddhist monks to defend themselves from lawlessness due to endless civil wars. While in China, it evolved into kung fu, kuntao, and jeet kune do (popularized by Bruce Lee); in Japan, it evolved into karate, judo, aikido, and ju-jitsu; and in Korea, it evolved into hwarangdo, hapkido, and taekwondo.
 
Thus we arrive at the intersection of religion and martial arts, which is not only interesting, but quite revealing. Just juxtapose (a) the violence in religion with (b) the spirituality and pacifism of martial arts, and we may learn more than we bargained for about the eschatology of Abrahamic religions. If only we are willing to learn…
 
* Zen Buddhism, an offshoot of Mahayana Buddhism in Japan, should not be confused with the main three branches of Buddhism: (1) Theravada, mostly practiced in Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Sri Lanka; (2) Mahayana, mostly practiced in China, Japan, and Korea; and (3) Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhism mostly practiced in Tibet and Mongolia.
 
[To be continued.]
 Johannes Tan, Indonesian Translator & Conference Interpreter 

Part 30

11/23/2015

 

Between Stockholm Syndrome and Lima Syndrome
Part 30: The Source of Violence in Religion

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There is a joke about a teaching nun who asked her young students what they would like to be when they grew up. A little girl raised her hand and said, "When I grow up I want to be a prostitute." This reply shocked the nun tremendously and she fainted on the spot. When she regained her consciousness, she asked the little girl, "What did you say you wanted to be when you grew up?"
 
"A prostitute."
 
"Oh, praise the Lord,” the nun replied. “I thought you said you wanted to be a Protestant."
 
The joke may make us laugh, but sectarianism is surely no laughing matter. Among Christians, Catholics and Protestants had killed each other (at least) in the European Wars of Religion (1524-1648), the Troubles in Northern Ireland (1969-2002), and in the Rwandan genocide (1994). It was reported that a Rwandan Roman Catholic bishop once said, "(t)he best catechists, those who filled our churches on Sundays, were the first to go with machetes in their hands." Although the genocide itself was ethnically motivated, the Human Rights Watch reported that a number of Roman Catholic leaders in Rwanda failed to condemn the genocide publicly at the time. In fact, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda convicted several Rwandan Roman Catholic priests and nuns as well as a Seventh-day Adventist Church pastor for their roles in the genocide. So much for following in the footsteps of Jesus.
 
Among Muslims, sectarian violence has been as old as Islam itself. As illustrated in The Sunni-Shia Divide - A CFR InfoGuide Presentation published by the Council on Foreign Relations, Islam’s schism has simmered for fourteen centuries, not long after Mohammed's death in 632. It all started over a disagreement about who should be his legitimate successor. The Sunnis, who argued that leadership should be awarded to qualified individuals, elected Abu Bakr, a companion of Mohammed, as the first caliph. Not so, said the Shias, who argued that the legitimate leaders must come through Mohammed’s bloodline, namely the sons of Ali ibn Abi Talib and Fatima, (Mohammed’s daughter). As they say, the rest is history.
 
The history of Islam has been defined by perpetual bloodbath among Sunnis and Shias. Even today, rivalry, proxy wars and mutual hatred between Sunnis (led by Saudi Arabia) and Shias (led by Iran) have triggered innumerable civil wars, bloody persecution, and sectarian violence in Syria, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Bahrain, Yemen, and beyond. Millions have died and will die because of violence, cruelty, idiotic bigotry and suicidal nihilism committed in the name of Allah—all due to a disagreement that occurred almost 1,400 years ago. Suicide bombings, decapitations and mass shootings on innocent civilians are the products of this perpetual schism. (In addition, other sects in Islam, particularly Ahmadiyya and Sufism, have also been considered as "heretics and non-Muslim" by the Sunnis. Thousands of Ahmadis and Sufis in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, have been subjected to persecution and systematic oppression, even public stoning.)
 
Aren't religions supposed to provide compassion, grace, tolerance, and spirituality for believers, instead of making them violent, cruel, and murderous? In Christianity, the significance of the Sermon On The Mount (Matthew 5-7) cannot be overstated: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth, … Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy, … Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." In Arabic, the word "Islam" may mean submission or surrender, but also peace and safety. Bluntly speaking, what is the X factor which may explain this paradox? Why pious, devout and holier-than-thou believers tend to be cruel and violent? Why do they act in contrary to what they claim to believe?
 
Eschatology.
 
Oxford defines eschatology as "(t)he part of theology concerned with death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind." The concept of eschatology is present in all organized religions, except Buddhism. Thanks to eschatology, believers in Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) are constantly bombarded—consciously and subconsciously—with the notions of last day judgment, Battle of Armageddon, heaven and hell, and perhaps martyrdom in its most perverted form: screaming Allahu Akbar then blowing oneself (and others involuntarily) up to pieces. In Judaism and Christianity, according to the Book of Revelation, Armageddon will be "the site of a gathering of armies for a battle during the end times." In Islam, Muslims believe in Yawm al-Qiyāmah (Resurrection Day) or Yawm ad-Dīn (Judgment Day) which is believed to be "the final assessment of humanity by Allah, consisting of the annihilation of all life, resurrection and judgment." A polytheist religion, eschatology in Hinduism is more cyclical than the linear Abrahamic monotheist religions.
 
Buddhism, unlike other organized religions, is a nontheist religion. Thus it does not promise an afterlife like others do. The closest eschatological notion in Buddhism may be outlined in Sutta Pitaka, which states that "Gautama Buddha's teachings would disappear after 5,000 years," but does not include any reference to anything like the Battle of Armageddon. As we'll discover soon, the subtle eschatological difference between nontheistic Buddhism and other theistic religions—i.e. the Battle of Armageddon and any form of judgment, or the lack thereof—may reveal the source of violence in most organized religions.
 
[To be continued.]

 
Johannes Tan, Indonesian Translator & Conference Interpreter 

Part 29

11/16/2015

 

Between Stockholm Syndrome and Lima Syndrome
Part 29: The Importance of Intrapersonal Intelligence

to Curb Self-Aggrandizement and Filter Religious Dogmatism

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Why do seemingly smart people believe in, may I say, stupid things? A 2016 Presidential Candidate who happens to be a retired neurosurgeon believes that "Joseph built Egypt’s pyramids to store grain." An article titled Science Education is No Guarantee of Skepticism (Skeptic; Vol. 9, No. 3) by Richard Walker, Steven J. Hoekstra, and Rodnet J. Vogl found no correlation between scientific knowledge and paranormal beliefs. The authors concluded that: "Students that scored well on these [science knowledge] tests were no more or less skeptical of pseudoscientific claims than students that scored very poorly. Apparently, the students were not able to apply their scientific knowledge to evaluate these pseudoscientific claims. We suggest that this inability stems in part from the way that science is traditionally presented to students: Students are taught what to think but not how to think" (emphasis added). Then there was Mohamed Atta, ring leader of 9/11 attack, who believed in 72 virgins as heavenly reward for his barbaric act, despite his degree in architecture from Cairo University and enrollment in Urban Planning at the Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg (Germany) for a Master’s degree. Where is the disconnect?
 
Homo sapiens' psychobiological instinct to imitate others mindlessly as discussed in Part 26 (Mob Mentality and Groupthink) seems to be the origin of rote learning style that mainly relies on repetition and thus eliminate the development of critical thinking. Plain and simple, to imitate (taking something or following someone as a model, or copying a person’s speech or mannerisms) is basically to repeat (saying or doing the same thing again). Whether we call it aping, parroting, or regurgitating, successful memorization and the holy grail to cookie cutter academic degrees (with all their rights, privileges and honors) eliminates development of critical thinking.
 
By default, critical thinking (the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment - Oxford) means thinking outside the box, even thinking against the grain, and is the opposite of imitation and repetition. It also functions as a filter to weed out not only paranormal beliefs, but all sorts of mythologies, ideological and religious propaganda, pseudo-science, and misinformation. As concluded in the Skeptic (Vol. 9, No. 3) article, why is there a disconnect between scientific knowledge and paranormal beliefs? Why are students that scored well not able to apply their scientific knowledge to evaluate pseudoscientific claims? As the authors conclude, because students are taught what to think but not how to think!
 
How in the world can the education system fail so miserably? Since primary and secondary education in many countries are still based on the rote learning system, it is critical to distinguish between education and intelligence. By definition, education (the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university - Oxford), is provided by an external force, usually by teachers, instructors, or parents. Education is knowledge acquired in formal learning environments, usually at schools and colleges. On the other hand, intelligence (the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills - Oxford) is an innate and natural ability that we are born with. Intelligence is one's actual ability to learn, acquire, assimilate, synthesize then apply new knowledge properly. While education is an extrinsic or external force provided by formal education, intelligence is intrinsic and an internal force. While education is acquired, intelligence is inherited. One can be highly intelligent without being highly educated, and vice versa.
 
Ted Turner (CNN), Steve Jobs (Apple), Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates (Microsoft), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ralph Lauren, John Lennon, Wolfgang Puck, Frank Lloyd Wright and Woody Allen, are all college dropouts. Aviation pioneers Orville and Wilbur Wright never went to college. The same with  Ray Bradbury—famous science fiction author—because his parents could not afford college tuition. He sold newspapers on the street corners of Los Angeles during the day and immersed himself in libraries at night. “I never went to college. I went to the library.” Though he graduated from the library at 28, his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953) became required freshman reading in many colleges. No one would call any of these trailblazers as unintelligent. Formal education is merely a means to spark one's own intelligence.
 
It's useful to consider the Multiple Intelligence Theory that was first introduced by Harvard developmental psychologist Howard Gardner (b. 1943) in his book, Frames of Mind (1983). Gardner's theory posits that there are seven types of intelligence; respectively linguistic, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal intelligences. Einstein, for example, excelled in logical-mathematical intelligence, as Mozart did in musical and Novak Djokovic does in bodily-kinesthetic. [While initially Gardner described seven multiple intelligence, in 1994 he added naturalistic intelligence as the eighth type intelligence of being.]
 
Our current educational system is heavily biased toward an exclusive appreciation of linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences. Memorization of phonics (reading), the periodic table (chemistry), multiplication tables (arithmetic), irregular verb conjugation (grammar), anatomy (medicine), even legal cases or statutes (law) is highly rewarded. Those with visual-spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, and interpersonal intelligences are still appreciated, as the society-at-large needs architects, musicians, athletes, and teachers. But what about intrapersonal intelligence, the ability to know oneself, to filter junk information, that is perhaps the most underrated?
 
The word intrapersonal means 'within the self'. Since this underrated intelligence is pursued through self-awareness or introspection, the student is also the teacher himself (or herself). Thus intrapersonal intelligence can only be developed over time, through independent study, self-discipline, contemplation and introspection. After all, it takes time to be in tune with one's inner voice and synthesize wisdom kernels from multiple sources. Intrapersonal intelligence does not only entail the ability to filter junk information and distinguish between true wisdom kernels and misleading propaganda. Most importantly, it curbs the desire for self-aggrandizement that is the source of religious dogmatism and fanaticism. Arguably Lao Tzu, Buddha, Zen masters, Sufi mystics, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Krishnamurti, and the 14th Dalai Lama have excelled in intrapersonal intelligence.
 
Thus one can be highly educated, with multiple degrees, a Master's or even a PhD degree; that does not automatically make that person intelligent. There are two reasons why smart people still believe in stupid things. First, education does not guarantee intelligence. The acquisition of information and knowledge acquired in formal education does not necessarily translate into the development of insight and wisdom which are the hallmarks of intelligence. Second, education without intelligence equals brainwashing, because intelligence—especially intrapersonal intelligence—functions to filter religious propaganda and misinformation and curb self-aggrandizement.
 
[To be continued.]

 Johannes Tan, Indonesian Translator & Conference Interpreter 

Part 28

11/9/2015

 

Between Stockholm Syndrome and Lima Syndrome
Part 28: Reflection on Today's World Hotspot

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A donkey with a load of holy books is still a donkey.
-SUFI PROVERB
 
The relentless inclination to ape or imitate among Homo sapiens may be attributed to how one learns in a certain culture. As discussed in Part 23 (Do We Choose a Belief or Does a Belief Choose Us?), statistically speaking, one's religion depends very much on where he or she was born; i.e. a Sunni if born in Afghanistan; a Southern Baptist if in Atlanta; a Catholic if in Buenos Aires; a Hindu if in Mumbai; a Mormon if in Salt Lake City; and so on. The golden rule of real estate (Location, Location, Location) applies.
 
However, there is still another predictive factor: learning styles. We all learn differently. People who are reared in different cultures also learn to learn different things differently, even if they learn from the same book. All other things being equal, ceteris paribus, even within the same religion, different cultures have different preferred modes of learning, whether by memory (verbal-linguistic), cognition (logical-mathematical), active participation (discussion), demonstration (visual-spatial), interaction (interpersonal-social), contemplation (intrapersonal) or any combination thereof. The aforementioned taxonomy is but one among many offered by different experts in educational psychology and pedagogy. Dr Richard Feldman and Barbara Soloman from North Carolina State University for example, introduced The Index of Learning Styles (2002) consisting of four dimensions of learning styles in which each dimension is a continuum from one's learning preference to another: sensory to intuitive, visual to verbal, active to reflective, and sequential to global. 
 
In spite of developments in educational psychology and improvements in pedagogy, certain cultures are still stuck (if not left behind) in their traditional learning systems. While modern learning systems all over the world have significantly improved by applying meaningful learning, associative learning, and active learning styles which promote bilateral (even multilateral) discussions with fellow students and teachers (acting as facilitators), traditional ones still rely on rote learning, which is basically a memorization technique based on repetition imposed by teachers (acting as infallible gods).
 
To be fair, rote learning has proven to be effective to master phonics (reading), the periodic table (chemistry), multiplication table (arithmetic), irregular verb conjugation (grammar), anatomy (medicine), even legal cases or statutes (law). The fact that most major religions emerged before the 1439 Printing Revolution—sparked by German blacksmith and printer Johannes Gutenberg (1398-1468)—rules out any possibility of religious education beyond rote learning. Initially, Hinduism and Buddhism were spread through oral transmission and rote learning without the existence of text. After all, without printed books, what were other options? In Judaism, Jewish cheders use rote learning to teach the Torah. In pre-Enlightenment Europe, the method of loci (Latin: "places"), was mainly practiced in monasteries and universities, where divinity was taught. (Basically this method is a memory enhancement technique to use visualization in order to organize and recall information. Consecutive interpreters still use this technique to this very day.) Likewise, Muslim madrasas all over the world utilize rote learning to make students memorize the Qur'an. By the way, in the Summer of 2015, several media reported that to honor the holy month of Ramadan, the Islamic State (ISIS) launched a Qur'an memorization competition, with slave girls as prizes.
 
The rote learning style is still widely practiced in schools across Brazil, China, Greece, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, Romania, Turkey, and most Middle Eastern countries. While Gutenberg's invention of mechanical movable type printing had prompted the Renaissance, Reformation, the Age of Enlightenment, the Industrial revolution and modern science, pre-Gutenberg rote learning style persists to this very day. Old habits die hard.
 
Naturally, rote learning has several drawbacks. Since by default it is based on repetition and comprehension takes a backseat, many educational psychologists regard rote learning as not more than parroting, or regurgitating. Under this system, a student may easily give the wrong impression of having comprehend something merely by saying or writing it. It also appeals to lazy teachers, as rote learning means less work.
 
Now let's reflect on the side-effect of rote learning in the Middle East, which is today's world hotspot. Interestingly, Arab researchers themselves—not infidels—have stated that rote learning is a "major contributing factor to the lack of progress in science and research and development in the Arab countries." As stated in the United Nations Development Program's Arab Human Development Report (2004): "In Arab educational institutions, curricula, teaching and evaluation methods tend to rely on dictation and instill submissiveness. They do not permit free dialogue and active, exploratory learning and consequently do not open the doors to freedom of thought and criticism. On the contrary, they weaken the capacity to hold opposing viewpoints and to think outside the box. Their societal role focuses on the reproduction of control in Arab societies" (page 147). Furthermore: "Learning comes to be governed by dictation without the learner being educated in, or practicing, freedom" (page 149).
 
The cruelest irony is that the futility of repetition had long been emphasized by the wise Sufis as illustrated in Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way (1983) by Idries Shah (1924-1996): "The more often you do a thing, the more likely you are to do it again. There is no certainty that you will gain anything else from repetition than a likelihood of further repetition."
 
[To be continued.]
 Johannes Tan, Indonesian Translator & Conference Interpreter 

Part 27

11/2/2015

 

Between Stockholm Syndrome and Lima Syndrome
Part 27: A Familiar Story that is Untrue is More Comforting than an Unfamiliar Story that is True

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There are one hundred and ninety-three living species of monkeys and apes.
One hundred and ninety-two of them are covered with hair.
The exception is a naked ape self-named Homo sapiens.
-DESMOND MORRIS, The Naked Ape (1967)
 
The fact that Homo sapiens is the only hairless species among monkeys and apes seems to cause them having a soft spot for stories, narratives, and gossips. It seems that the less hair a species has, the more it is addicted to narratives. How so? What is the correlation between hair and narratives anyway?
 
Chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, baboons, bonobos (the closest extant relative to humans, who may share 98.6% of their DNA with us) all have hair, but no taste whatsoever for narratives. Sure, they may have some primordial language communication system expressed in screams and grunts but not to the sophisticated level of human language. On the other hand we, Homo sapiens, are the opposite: hairless but with a knack to develop language and to structure narratives. The negative correlation between hair and the thirst for narratives cannot be ignored.
 
The explanation for this phenomenon may be buried in Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language (1998) by psychologist Robin Dunbar. Gossip, as defined in the Oxford Dictionary, is: "casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true." True or not, gossip satisfies human social instincts, especially that unquenchable thirst for narratives. Dunbar looks at gossip as an "instrument of social order and cohesion—much like the endless grooming with which our primate cousins tend to their social relationships."
 
According to Dunbar, apes and monkeys, humanity's closest kin, differ from other animals in the intensity of these relationships. All their grooming is not so much about cleaning each other of dead skin, debris, ticks, fleas, lice, and lice eggs (which groomers immediately eat as those fleas and lice are a protein source anyway), as it is about "cementing bonds, making friends, and influencing fellow primates." But for early humans—the most economic animal on earth—grooming as a way to social survival was too cumbersome. Given their large social groups of hundreds or so, early humans would have had to spend a significant chunk of precious time in the parasite removal business of grooming each other. After all, among early humans, limited amount of hair seemed to produce only limited amount of ticks, fleas, and lice.
 
Enter language. Dunbar concludes that, "humans developed language to serve the same purpose, but far more efficiently. It seems there is nothing idle about chatter, which holds together a diverse, dynamic group—whether of hunter-gatherers, soldiers, or workmates."
 
In short, whereas apes and monkeys form social bonding through grooming each other, humans do the same thing through telling gossips, stories, narratives. Whereas the social currency for apes and monkeys are ticks, fleas, lice; for humans it is gossips, stories, and narratives. Indeed anthropologists Levi-Strauss and Mircea Eliade have long argued that one of the earliest roles of the shaman or sage was to tell stories which provided "symbolic solutions to contradictions which could not be solved empirically." It did not really matter whether the protagonists and actors in those stories—whether gods, ghosts, dragons, unicorns, mermaids, centaurs, goblins—exist or not. That's beside the point. The most important thing was that those ancient mythologies and symbolism fulfill human desperate need for gossips, narratives, social taboos, explanations, even self-fulfilling prophecies.
 
Whereas there is an infinite supply of ticks, fleas, and lice for monkeys and apes, there is only a finite supply of stories for humans. Repetitions after repetitions became unavoidable. Therefore a familiar story that is untrue is much more comforting, compelling, and validating than an unfamiliar story that is true. Familiarity does trump truthfulness. The Great Stories, as eloquently described by Indian novelist Arundhati Roy, "are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably… They don't surprise you with the unforeseen. They are as familiar as the house you live in. Or the smell of your lover's skin. You know how they end, yet you listen as though you don't. In the Great Stories you know who lives, who dies, who finds love, who doesn't. And yet you want to know again. THAT is their mystery and magic." I don't even know how many dozen times I watched Rodgers & Hammerstein's The Sounds of Music (1965) when my daughter was between 8 and 12 years old.
 
Familiarity breeds complacency and credulity. As argued by American microbiologist and environmentalist René Jules Dubos (1901-1982), while ideally "man should remain receptive to new stimuli and new situations in order to continue to develop; in practice the ability to perceive the external worlds with freshness decrease as the senses and the mind are increasingly conditioned in the course of life." Not only does familiarity influences perception, but it diminishes our critical thinking and conscious attention with which we perform our acts. Not only we became conditioned to act on autopilot, we are conditioned to think this is normal! Thus our mind became hopelessly desensitized and extremely vulnerable to propaganda, pseudo-science, disinformation, and 1001 religious claims.
 
Thanks to this strong inclination to imitate whatever is familiar regardless of whether it's true or not, we became extremely vulnerable to Joseph Goebbels's maxim as stated in Part 25 (What If Adam had not Eaten an Apple?): "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it." That's why so many among us, in this 21st Century, still take every single word in a particular holy book literally. Curiously, the definition of to ape in the Oxford Dictionary is: "(to) imitate the behavior or manner of (someone or something), especially in an absurd or unthinking way." What better way to underline this bitter truth by quoting Desmond Morris again, "I viewed my fellow man not as a fallen angel, but as a risen ape."
 
There is still reason to be optimistic.
 
[To be continued.]

 Johannes Tan, Indonesian Translator & Conference Interpreter 

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