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The Nature Of Man - The UT Instinct Chapter 1 The Investigation If this is your first visit to this site please read the Glossary
What is Man? We have at least a few thousand years of history which we can use as evidence to shed light on what we are - that is, apart from the scant knowledge we have of our 'pre-history' ancestors. We have daily accounts of Man's behaviour via the newspapers, radio, and television. Each one of us, in our daily lives, encounters human behaviour when interacting with other members of this species. So where is the problem with understanding Man? Or is there a problem? Is there a mystery? The fact is that most people think they understand Man and therefore they do not see a problem. Man has already been defined so what am I on about? You may consider that Man has been explained but to come to that conclusion you had to use your evaluation mechanism - but, unless you understand how your evaluation mechanism works, you cannot know whether your conclusion is correct or not! Did you ever wonder why the behaviour of Man was sometimes very strange and seemingly inexplicable? We see the savage behaviour of the Nazis during WW2 and cannot understand how they considered themselves as being civilised, superior and decent while comitting acts of barbaric brutality. So we end up using terms like 'evil', and 'hypocrites', to pathetically explain away their behaviour, rather than question our definition of Man. This can be said of other atrocities. For example, the destruction of the World Trade Centre in New York in 2001 by members of Islamic extremist organisations who consider that America is the 'great Satan', thereby justifying their terrible actions; yet they (the terrorists) are considered by the Americans as being the very personification of evil. The situation seems inexplicable. Well, I hope to demonstrate that the accepted definition we have of Man is totally incorrect and misleading, thereby creating the anomalies between the presumed definition of Man, on the one hand, and the actual behaviour of Man on the other. It is the UT Instinct, and Man's evaluation mechanism which is at the core of the explanation of Man and the explanation as to why we are so blind to the truth regarding Man. What follows is my explanation of the nature of Man. But what follows is not a proof, but merely an explanation; an explanation which explains the evidence. On one level Man is merely a biological animal. Our bodies are made up of cells. Our brain is made up of cells. It is a biological circuit board - cells connected to each other by biological 'wires'. To think that this collection of cells; which in themselves are only a collection of molecules, which in themselves are only a collection of atoms, which in themselves are tiny packets of enormous levels of nuclear energy, can be rational, intelligent or 'objectively' moral, does not make any logical sense whatsoever - it is totally unrealistic. When we look around at Man's achievements we can easily be lead, or more truthfully - mislead, into thinking that Man is intelligent and rational. Man has actually managed to travel through the totally inhospitable environment of space, landed on the surface and has actually walked on the moon. But it took many inventions and discoveries to get to that wonderful and exciting point in the history of Man. It all started back about a hundred thousand, or maybe even five hundred thousand, years ago when Man threw the first stone, or stick; then discovered fire; then smelting, etc etc, until Man finally put bes footprints in the dust on the moon's surface. Each invention, or discovery, in itself, is usually a small step beyond what was already known. The more that is invented the more that can be invented. There must have been more inventions in the 20th century than any previous century but it would be a major foolish error to think that this demonstrated a greater intelligence in modern Man as compared to Man a few centuries, or even a few millennia ago. To be truthful, I think it took more 'intelligence' to create the wheel, or to understand and control fire, or to come to the understanding that the never-ending succession of days were actually a sequence which denoted the regular passage of seasons, than it took in the ten or so years of preparation which was required to get Man to the moon. Also understand this: when Neil Armstrong put his foot on the moon it was the foot of a man - a man with the same human nature as that of a man born 10,000 years ago. Human nature does not, and CANNOT, change. So the achievement of stepping foot on the moon may give the impression of advancement - but it is an advancement of technology NOT of human nature. When investigating Man it is absolutely vital and important to look beyond the superficial and subjective, especially as regards Man's traits (beliefs, culture, morals, values, knowledge etc). It is too easy, and natural, to see Man as intelligent, moral and rational and on the surface it may well appear to be the case. The investigation of Man is, in effect, an investigation of the self and any negative reflection also reflects back on the investigator, so impartiality is practically impossible. So, rather than looking at OUR beliefs, OUR knowledge, OUR morals, OUR culture and OUR values; for we cannot but elevate these traits, view them in a positive light, and justify them; we need to look at and understand the nature of how we both evaluate the world around us and, above all, how we acquire these beliefs, knowledge, morals and values, with which we evaluate ourselves (in a positive light) and others (in a negative light).
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Points : There are many times I will verbalise the thought processes of Man and, rather than stating, on each and every such occasion, that certain processes are THEIR biased opinion I will usually use inverted commas eg 'woman are not equal because they do not think the same way', to demonstrate that these are not facts nor my opinion but the (stupid) subjective opinions, judgments or values of others, and to save repeating the fact that everybody is equal as regards our nature, which would become very very tedious throughout these pages. Please keep this in mind. To give examples of the UT Instinct is a very frustrating experience. I try, as much as possible, to first show the foundation for the necessary existence of the UT Instinct, and Man's evaluation mechanism, and then carry on with examples of these in daily life. But, just as there are many facets to Man and bes actions, there are also as many facets to any single specific example. There are times when it seems as if I am going in circles - most likely that is because I am! Sometimes one single example - an incident eg Timothy McVeigh and the bombing atrocity in the USA, can shed light and explain the theories to an infinite degree; it is difficult to know when to decide that enough information, or explanation, has been given. That one act is connected to Timothy McVeigh, which is connected to his UT Instinct and his evaluation mechanism which, in turn, is connected to every other member of this species, and their UT Instinct and evaluation mechanism (how they each judge his actions), and thus is connected to every action, and evaluation, of every member of this species. So there is one thing I can truly say about this site - I have left out millions and billions of interconnected examples and explanations of the UT Instinct and Man's evaluation mechanism. I have tried to use just enough examples to give you some idea of how varied the situations can be which are influenced by the UT Instinct. No matter how large this manuscript site actually turns out to be - it will always be nothing more than a mere booklet.
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GO N-ÉIRÍ AN BHÓTHAR LEAT - HAVE A GOOD JOURNEY ! Louis Gogan - May 2002.
If you want to contact me to discuss, or to get me to clarify, a specific point, please only do so AFTER reading the whole section about the UT Instinct. Thank you.
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Last Update : 2nd October 2009
| << Chapter 0 - Introduction | Chapter 2 - The Individual >> |
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