Written by Influence of Primeval Traditions.
Growing up to the blossom of the beguiling surroundings, our cultures taught us that nature had its way of appealing to our senses and needs which confer its astonishing beauty. Our elementary school science teachers however showed us a different spectrum to decipher the phenomena of nature. Nevertheless, we are even more convinced by the religious and cultural centered explanations for they are sourced from a magnificent potent being to whom all of these are attributed. How couldn’t they be? Extraordinary happenings deserve extraordinary causes. How do we afford to remain partial in how we view the world and its being? Why are primeval traditions more convincing than heuristic approaches? This column endeavor to explore the various philosophies and psychological factors that influence this deportment.
Psychological Analysis of Our Preferences.
Evolution explicates how animals and plants develop requisite features which make them adapt to their ecosystem. It unfolds how some of these features wear down due to dysfunctionality. Some of these happenings is noticed in our dentition, skeletal systems etc. The similarities in amphibian life cycle and humans are among the many evidences that point us to our common ancestors. This is to buttress how our environment models us at the biological level. Similarly, these eco chambers serve a great impact on our social and psychological formations as well. Our immediate philosophies inform our behavioral traits. From fashion to hospitality, religion, faith and beliefs, to rites of passage, we hold solemn how we perceive these ideals while expressing negligible tolerance to foreign values, practices, and ethics. This raises an eyebrow as to whether we have ever had free will or choices when we are already brewed in systems which consistently thrust us into making decisions influenced by the elements of our customs. For what is real and abstract when we measure these values on the standards we were raised with. We can never truly know who we are independent of our communal allegiance.
Generation of Pragmatism.
The only time we are in charge of our choices and will is from the early stages of our birth to the times we learn to speak. At that age, our minds are wired constantly by our closest experiences. Our sensory systems are on high alert to notice the happenings around us while emulating them continuously to form our character, attitudes and behavior. Our feeble and innocent minds succumb to the utterances we find ourselves within. It is the only stage in our lives we tend to make decisions and choices without external influences. Obviously, we know nothing at such premature stage. Are there any measures to ensure that we grow old enough to decipher these influences and choose those which can have positive impacts on our lives? We are evidently unable to filter our experiences. Arguably, parents are mandated to ensure their offspring at that age assume their traditions, values, concept of belief and attitudes. However, since parents themselves were victimized, they become liable to passing the misconceptions and falsehoods they were indoctrinated with. Children and infants at that stage need to be guided with pure reasoning, empirical knowledge, and values needed to preserve our species after clearly establishing the irreversible repercussions of being raised in toxic environment. Children should be raised on thresholds of logical reasoning and pragmatism. In doing so, we don’t only create skeptical young minds but a generation whose roots of choices are directed towards the survival of our species.
