I have been debating how to share this article, which was published back in 2014. Since this blog is fairly permanent, and also of very limited distribution, I decided to put it here. I can't offend too many people, because no one reads this thing. AND . . when I want to find it, I know where to look.
This is the article reference:
https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/10/religion-for-the-nonreligious.html
Religion for the Non-Religious
That is the title all right, but don't be put off by it. This is a wonderful little summary of the latest evolutionary neuroscience research, coupled with a step by step explanation of how to gain real wisdom. I taught Steven Covey's 7 Habits for a decade or more and this author has condensed ihuis approach to a simple plan - with cool illustrations!
Covey developed his approach primarily by reading self help books. And back when he wrote, our understanding of how the human brain worked was still pretty minimal. We are now shedding a bit of light on our internal cognitive processes, and it seems Covey was really on to something. He did it primarily by observation and analysis, but we can step beyond that now. This author does it with pictures. Very cool.
Background
We are not very rational beings. If you have read anything I have posted here, our brains are awash with all kinds of instinctual things that drive our elephant hither and yon. Our slow brain takes a lot of energy, and it is really hard to stop and think things through - even when we want to do that. See the books I have cited: Thinking Fast and Slow, Righteous Minds, etc. Our evolving brain has arrived at intelligence, but we have not left behind any of the primary, instinctual things that got us to this point. And they get in the way of the thinking part pretty effectively.
With a little bit of work, some mindfulness and understanding of just what is going on in our heads and hearts, we can overcome that instinctual beast a bit, and get to some level of self knowledge - on occasion.
The good thing is that he greatly simplifies the problem, so that brings it home much more clearly to our "cluttered" brain. And the illustrations are cool.
Outline
I was going to give you some idea of what he put in here, But . . . just have it. It is good fun, nicely illustrated for "those of us who do not read". See Scheider's rules for life.
One Critique - No Tribal
I think he missed one big "emotion" or "fog" that seems to drive us more than any others - our need to belong to a TRIBE. We are social beings, and we go with the tribe without even thinking about it. It is our identity and protection. Just recognizing that is a major step up the ladder. When we realize that our actual tribe is every living thing, then we can get with the program.
When are those Vikings playing again?
