The First Horn
Is it not strange that ignorance and complaisance are stronger than wisdom.
--Marcus Aurelius
Two horns, ignorance and complaisance. One bull, standing between you and wisdom.
Keeping with the last post, I found this quote by the true philosopher king. It seems to me that this disparity relies on the social conditioning that takes place our entire lives, and hence, is not strange at all. It is, afterall, easier and more familiar to be ignorant and compliant.
(note: the translation leaves a bit to be desired, as gratificatio is both "complaisance" and "compliance" or "obligingness". As compliance puts more ownership of the act in the hands of the individual, I'll prefer to use that term.)
A psychological experiment was done whereby a choice was offered to a subject; very simple, no manipulations, choice A = very good outcome, choice B = good outcome, choice C = pass/choose neither. The subject knew what each choice entailed, and the entirety of the experiment consisted of them simply making a decision and walking away with whatever choice they made. This same experiment was done a second time, only there were 5 options to choose from: A thru C = very good outcomes (A = A from ex.1, B and C are very good though all different outcomes), D = good outcome (same as B in ex.1), and E = pass/choose nothing. So what did they find? In ex.1 there was a 21% pass/choose neither rate. People were given two options to choose from, neither of them were bad, one was even very good. However, one fifth still decided they'd rather not make that decision. Understandable, if for only the need of a baseline. Now, in ex.2 what would you expect? Turns out that 58% of individuals given the choice chose to pass/choose nothing. With the same two options of ex, the only difference being two more very good outcomes to choose from, the subjects opted out of choosing anything. Now, why would an individual choose nothing over two good outcomes? Or worse, choose nothing over three very good outcomes and one good outcome? Perhaps, because by choosing nothing they nullify their responsibility in the matter.
We are so thoroughly programmed to submit to the will or intent of others. Skeptical? Mark it; in the next conversation you have, get outside yourself for a moment to see how often you check to make sure you're entertaining/pleasing/agreeing with/turning on/whatever the other person. I admit that I do it all the time. Anytime I make a joke or an intelligent comment, I find myself checking the faces of those I'm around to see wrinkling in the corners of the eyes or the brow into a peaked crease. However, this pleasing is just another form of submitting to the wills of others. It's a manner by which we socially nullify our responsibility. This process is the backbone of "group think" and probably plays an important role in many of the troubles plaguing this backwards country. But, hey, nevermind all that. Just turn the dial up to "11" and give your partner another electrical shock.
And that's just the compliant horn of the quote above. Perhaps purposefully, I haven't even touched the ignorance topic.
Namaste'.
Post Scripts...
--Marcus Aurelius
Two horns, ignorance and complaisance. One bull, standing between you and wisdom.
Keeping with the last post, I found this quote by the true philosopher king. It seems to me that this disparity relies on the social conditioning that takes place our entire lives, and hence, is not strange at all. It is, afterall, easier and more familiar to be ignorant and compliant.
(note: the translation leaves a bit to be desired, as gratificatio is both "complaisance" and "compliance" or "obligingness". As compliance puts more ownership of the act in the hands of the individual, I'll prefer to use that term.)
A psychological experiment was done whereby a choice was offered to a subject; very simple, no manipulations, choice A = very good outcome, choice B = good outcome, choice C = pass/choose neither. The subject knew what each choice entailed, and the entirety of the experiment consisted of them simply making a decision and walking away with whatever choice they made. This same experiment was done a second time, only there were 5 options to choose from: A thru C = very good outcomes (A = A from ex.1, B and C are very good though all different outcomes), D = good outcome (same as B in ex.1), and E = pass/choose nothing. So what did they find? In ex.1 there was a 21% pass/choose neither rate. People were given two options to choose from, neither of them were bad, one was even very good. However, one fifth still decided they'd rather not make that decision. Understandable, if for only the need of a baseline. Now, in ex.2 what would you expect? Turns out that 58% of individuals given the choice chose to pass/choose nothing. With the same two options of ex, the only difference being two more very good outcomes to choose from, the subjects opted out of choosing anything. Now, why would an individual choose nothing over two good outcomes? Or worse, choose nothing over three very good outcomes and one good outcome? Perhaps, because by choosing nothing they nullify their responsibility in the matter.
We are so thoroughly programmed to submit to the will or intent of others. Skeptical? Mark it; in the next conversation you have, get outside yourself for a moment to see how often you check to make sure you're entertaining/pleasing/agreeing with/turning on/whatever the other person. I admit that I do it all the time. Anytime I make a joke or an intelligent comment, I find myself checking the faces of those I'm around to see wrinkling in the corners of the eyes or the brow into a peaked crease. However, this pleasing is just another form of submitting to the wills of others. It's a manner by which we socially nullify our responsibility. This process is the backbone of "group think" and probably plays an important role in many of the troubles plaguing this backwards country. But, hey, nevermind all that. Just turn the dial up to "11" and give your partner another electrical shock.
And that's just the compliant horn of the quote above. Perhaps purposefully, I haven't even touched the ignorance topic.
Namaste'.
Post Scripts...
posted by J.B.P. at 10:39 AM
2 Comments:
pj....you never cease to amaze me.
...ashley
I don't neccesarily think that our social interactions are are nullifying our will. It is very different than the choice of not choosing anything. Because we are social creatures, our bodies and minds work to "maximize the flavor potential" out of the people that we meet. Most of the times, if we impress them, we will be able to gleam insights from them. There are reasons for "nullifying your will" when interacting with people, but unless your self esteem is so low that the only way you feel good is throught the eyes of other people, then you definately are nullifying you will.
Beeeeoch.
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