The science of Psychology tries to explain why humans do what they do. In point of fact, the word psychology means: the study of behavior. From the time of Freud to the present, scientists have labored to come up with good explanations to try to understand the human condition and to try to make a roadmap, if you will, so that we can predict exactly what humans will do given any situation. In spite of the wonderful theories and great strides forward, we have in general, failed. Over time the theories have not become more crystallized, but they have become more muddled and blended. Behavioral theory seems to explain much of how humans are controlled by their environment, by reward and punishment, but it is limited to only a small facet of how humans operate. Psychoanalytic theory suggests how the human mentality and emotions are triggered to produce neurosis and psychosis, but “normal behavior” is not elucidated. Rogerian theory points out that the individual acts according to his own cognitions, but that only explains one person’s behavior at a time. In the present, we are seeing more ideas that say that all the older theories apply in some measure; thus a restructuring of the science of human behavior is always at hand. As a result, we really do not have a good explanation. But maybe we are working in a laboratory that is too small.

We Need To Think Bigger

Suppose that we look to that old standby, evolution, for some answers. The science of evolution attempts to explain the progression of a species from its beginnings to its present form. We have learned about the dinosaurs’ humble beginnings and how they evolved into the giants of the Jurassic Period. Then evolution stopped for them and proceeded with the next group of creatures. We know that all creatures came from the sea and then came on dry land and eventually walked upright. Then man came from the apes and started on the evolutionary road to where we are today. Over time the human animal evolved in many ways. The brain, however, appears to not be up to its task. We seek to explain our present environment by looking at our condition juxtaposed our intelligence. We say that we have become smarter because of all our accomplishments in the areas of food production, technology, buildings, communications, and warfare. We even think that we have conquered space. What we really need is to look at ourselves from a greater distance; we are too close to the problem (us) to see what is lacking.

We can’t say that genetics is the larger area of study because we are only now starting to understand a small bit of the genetic component of the human animal. If we suppose that the human has not yet evolved into what he will become, then the whole field of behavior study takes on a different light. It is one thing to say that an animal is evolved to his finished form; he cannot go any further and what you see is what you get. But if an animal is in the process of evolving, then we cannot judge accurately because we cannot know what the finished specie will look like. Take, for example, the common dog. The world over, a dog is a dog. The canine in China acts and reacts the same as a dog in Brazil, the same as a dog in Mexico, and so on. My belief is that the dog has evolved to his maximum; he is complete evolutionarily speaking. As a result, we see much the same behavior no matter where we see the dog. Whenever a male dog sees a fire hydrant, you know what he will do. This concept is true for most species on this planet. Not so with humans. Of course we can draw similar predictions with humans (not the fire hydrant thing) if we observe the lower activities. When any human gets hungry, of course he will head for the refrigerator; if he gets too hot or cold, he will seek shelter; if he is in danger, he will defend himself (sometimes). But, how do we explain the higher functions, those of the largest part of the brain? It has been said that humans do not use the greater portion of the brain; that we do all of our thinking with a tiny portion of the gray matter. No one seems to know why we have such a large brain; it makes no sense to have something that we do not use. It is doubtful that, like the appendix, it is an organ that was used long ago but its usefulness is no longer needed. If anything, the brain is not used enough. (Interestingly, the governments of our societies actively discourage and punish people for trying to think on their own. It seems that governments actively try to prevent evolution; thankfully, that is impossible.)

This writing is proposing that the brain has not evolved enough to become useful. Further, that the brains of some individuals (Einstein, Gandhi, et al.) have shown more development than the average individual. Why is it that there are geniuses? Why isn’t everyone’s brain developed to the point that we know that war, famine, disease, criminality, and other stupidities are contrary to a decent life? The answer cannot be education because having the correct information crammed down the throats of students is casting pearls before swine; the students are not capable of understanding and implementing the information. It makes more sense to say that the brain in most of us is not yet capable of decent living.

Other Organs

Imagine if you will, the heart not having evolved to its present state if efficiency. We would see the human animal dying sooner than he does today; he would not be able to perform the work necessary to build a community; the heart would be a weak point in the anatomy. Taking the amount of heart disease that we see into consideration, we know that the reason for this disease is neglect and stupid decisions, not evolution, for the human heart has evolved to the point where it can sustain us through tremendous abuse. Notice that we cannot take credit for the heart’s efficiency; it has evolved on its own. We did not educate the heart to this level of functioning. We didn’t sit down one day and say, “Hey, let’s make a better heart.” That is way beyond our abilities – at least for the present.

Some Probing Questions

If we can accept the idea that the brain has not yet evolved to where it should be, then we might also ask why this is so. Why has Nature stopped its process? Or, is everything on track and we are just not intelligent enough to see it? Are the geniuses among us just the precursor to what will be? And, what about the lowest intellects among us? The worst examples of evolution like Hitler, Tojo, or any of the terrorists that sully the Earth these days are either throwbacks to when humans might have been nothing more than marauding animals or, like the advanced among us, they represent the bottom end of the continuum from good to evil. It would seem that an evolved mind seeks harmony among its environs in all areas. It would want peace, not war, freedom, not enslavement, enlightenment, not the seven deadly sins.

Why do people kill themselves? Certainly this is not the act of an evolved brain/mind. The intelligent person appreciates the life that has been given to him; he nourishes and protects the gift of life. Why do the sins of man exist? Certainly these are not the product of an evolved brain/mind. It seems that we may be in a stage of transition between a predator existence of long ago, where the human animal thought only of brutality and greed, and the kindness and altruism that one would expect from the evolved brain/mind. Truly we see both in today’s maelstrom that we refer to as “society”. There are myriad examples of greed, stupidity, criminality, injustices, in point of fact, these negative features are on the rise, and they are encouraged and condoned by moronic, bureaucratic leaders at every level of government. We also see wonderful examples of compassion and kindness in individuals. My observations appear to show that the more evolved brains/minds are nestled in single individuals acting toward other individuals; goodness and happiness seem to abound on an individual level. By contrast, the least developed/evolved brains/minds are more concentrated on the government levels where group dynamics (the herd mentality) proliferate. These observations make sense because the more evolved individual does not need interference by probing bureaucrats; they are self governing and they are more apt to enjoy a fruitful, and fulfilling life. The less evolved brains/minds still retain the fearful, ignorant thoughts of the jungle and, the more crowded this planet gets, the more these unintelligent people need to be herded by leaders of their own ilk. In the meantime, it appears that the struggle between evolved and ignorant brains/minds will intensify. Possibly this is the eternal battle between good and evil. As Gandhi pointed out: good always triumphs over evil. Unfortunately, there will be quite a bit of blood unnecessarily spilt.

If these observations and assumptions are accurate, then it is in the interests of human kind that evolution “hurries up” the process before we decimate ourselves. The field of psychology has contented itself with explaining why people are screwed up, but it is my feeling that evolution, when it has completed the human animal, will answer the question: What does the normal human resemble?

In other articles the joy of life has been described as the ultimate goal in living. Reaching a level of integrity, honesty, and education in life, we seek to combine all of our life’s accomplishments so that we can enjoy in full measure. The reason we exist on this planet is to mature as much as possible from cradle to grave. If this is not the task of living then there is no other reason that can be put forth to support the notion that our lives have meaning. There are, however, forces that oppose our journey. Our society, instead of supporting its citizens in attaining joy, actively works against us. It would appear that the society as a whole would rather control and enslave its constituents than encourage and enlighten them. I have heard it said that the Pharaohs have returned – actually, they never left.

Dumbed Down Society

As described elsewhere, the school system in this country has but one function: to brainwash the people so that they can be controlled and led to work to make rich the few who are the controllers. One of the ways the controllers encourage false hope in the masses is to put forth the notion that this is a “free society” where anyone can start at the bottom and work his or her way up to dizzying heights. They can point to several people who have done it; Bill Gates, Abraham Lincoln, you know the list. So all of us believe that with hard work and a little luck, we, too, can be one of the captains of industry. The truth? It probably will not happen for the majority of us. But the dream persists, we believe the lie, and we continue to work for the controllers. As there are exceptions to every rule, the exceptions are the few who “make it”. Someone will always slip through the cracks to defy the odds. For the rest of us, the odds are stacked so well against us that we see little if any hope of rising above where we have been put by the “school system”.

In the school system we are taught to read and write and to count from one to ten. Then we are told to seek a job and to stay there for thirty years to receive the rewards of a gold watch and a pension whereby the benevolent controllers will take care of us for the rest of our lives. Who wants to be taken care of for life; certainly not anyone with integrity? They (the school system) provide only enough information to allow us to think that we are being educated, but the truth is that we are only given fragments of information. Fragments only get people into trouble. They mislead the average person so that bad decisions are made throughout life and then, confusion, and disillusionment take over the person’s life. They frequently say, “Is this all there is?” The promises of the school system are shallow and ephemeral at best; at worst they are disillusionments and prevarications. The system is specifically designed to keep the people ignorant while giving them false hopes of grandeur.

The controllers, mainly big business and government, seek to treat the people as cattle to be herded into workstations to manufacture whatever is the product that will ultimately bring riches to the leaders. The key issue is control. There is no freedom where there is control. A good example of the concept is in the Stars Wars movie where Princess Leia tells the general that the more he tries to control the people by closing his fist around them, the more the people will slip through his fingers. Control issues don’t work for controllers if the people refuse to be controlled. This message was well pointed out in the movie. Gandhi proved this concept as well. He told the British that there was no way they could control the Indian population if the population refused to cooperate. He was right.

The Fruit Of Control

When a population allows itself to be controlled by anyone, the results are devastating. If people can never achieve that which they have been led to believe, they lose hope and they become apathetic. First the workplace suffers because this is the arena where the herd has been led. If things remain the same, the workers bring their apathy home to their families. Now the home is destroyed be uncaring people. Next, whatever passion for living that may have existed in the individual family members erodes. Now we have disenchanted, dispassionate people that fit well into the “herd mentality”. We have now come full circle. First the school system has dumbed down its students, then these people move on to the work environment. The work environment disillusions them further, robbing their enthusiasm and passion for living. The plague is visited again upon the home where the next generation is affected. It is easy to see that the young have no chance of escape. They are being bombarded from school, and from their parent’s work area. At the same time the family is being adversely affected by all the advertising through television and other mediums. Our whole society is enmeshed in a cacophony of stimuli where there is no respite. It is no surprise that many people look to suicide as a way out. For most people the only way out is to surrender to the controlling forces; they willingly join the herd and they let themselves be brainwashed into thinking that the controllers are their salvation. They willingly give up their passion for living, their goals, dreams, and desires, and embrace the machine. They live out their lives as pebbles to be trod on by the controllers at their pleasure. When they die, they are already forgotten and replaced by another sheep that has been trained to follow blindly, neither thinking nor capable of questioning what is happening to them. The cycle goes on ad infinitum.

Damage To The Individual

For the individual in such a society as above described, there is no hope, only despair. It is rare that a person can realize what is happening to him or her and actually strike out effectively to retain his or her integrity. It does happen occasionally. We face a grim future when we step out into the real world. This has become a world where no one is revered as a human being, or a person of worth, or is seen as one to be emulated. Instead, we only praise someone who has made tons of money. Why do we think Bill Gates is great? Because he is the richest man in the country, not because of any laudable endeavor he may have undertaken. Why do we think astronauts are great? Actually we don’t think that astronauts are great, we relegate them as proof that man can go to the moon, not that the individual pilots did a great job. Do you remember the three astronauts who went to the moon? What were their names? Who was the first to step on the moon’s surface? Who was the second? Who was the first person to climb to the summit of the world’s highest mountain? What is the name of that mountain and in what country do we find it? Right, I don’t know some of the answers either. You see that we don’t appreciate a person’s talent or accomplishments, we only see that a job was done, that huge amounts of money were accumulated, or that the tallest mountains were conquered. We are taught that a person is nothing; he or she is not worthy of note; that a person’s life does not matter in the grand scheme of things.

Take Note Of The Notable

To find joy in our lives we must find our own worth and then we must not let anyone take it away from us. People matter, nothing else can take the place of an individual’s integrity. We cannot let our individual identity be erased by technology, or control freaks, or governments. Joy comes only from within, we create it by recognizing the good inside of us, by nurturing it, and seeking it out in other individuals.

On a societal level we can recognize the achievements of real people who have trail blazed for the rest of us. There can only be one “first to the North pole”. All the rest of us would have to revere the first person to undertake the journey. He or she took the initiative; it is up to the rest of us to grant accolades for the individual achievement. As we would remember Abraham Lincoln, so should we also remember important individuals who have paved the way, or invented things that have made life easier.

The joy of life depends upon the fact that we see ourselves as noteworthy. Without recognizing the individual’s effort there is no achievement. No matter how technical we get, no matter how big or complicated our machines are, no matter how powerful our country is, everything depends solely upon the individual effort of someone who believed in his or her own ability to get the job done in spite of the control freaks who would rob that individual of his or her just deserts.

I discovered the magic in music when I was seventeen years of age. This was in the early 1960’s. I started to play drums professionally in the local bars and in Rock ‘n’ Roll shows. Maybe because I was so young I didn’t realize the impact that the music was having on me; I just knew that it was intoxicating. I met many interesting people in the decades that followed and eventually I entered the field of psychology.

A good friend of mine, and a fellow musician, said to me, “Your profession cures the mind (psychologist), my profession cures the body (nurse), and music cures the soul (we are both musicians).” This statement is profound. It is easy to see that the medical profession cures the body. It is somewhat more difficult to see the results of the psychologist’s work. It is confusing to think of music as a healing art; most people think of music as a hobby. Nonetheless, music is one of the most effective healers. Music embellishes all the other healing professions; it can be seen as the soul, or spirit, of well-being.

There was a festival in one of the local towns recently and I happened to arrive at the beginning of the day. There was much food and lots of people. And there was music, real music from real people. There were singers and dancers from many different areas, mostly young people in colorful costumes and smiling faces. There were bands too. Rock, standards, country-western, and a genuine Dixieland band complete with straw hats and striped shirts. I had not seen a Dixieland band in a long time; it was fun to listen and to watch these real musicians perform. I say “real” because young people these days listen to canned music more than they listen to anything else. They don’t realize what goes into learning and performing music on the bandstand. Great respect ought to be accorded to all performers for the years of dedication to the learning, not only of their instruments, but also to the stage presence that must be demonstrated in front of a live audience.

The Key is Live Music

When you listen to a live band, especially a good one, you can feel the energy coming from the stage. There is an ethereal connection between the performer and the listener; it is a form of communication that must be experienced. You can only get this feeling by listening to live music. When we communicate in this way we become one; it is like saying, “I understand you and we are in this together”. The warm emotions and/or exciting feelings that are exchanged bring comfort and emotional release to both entertainer and patron. The people on stage draw as much from the crowd as the listeners draw from the band. Without energy from the audience, the more difficult it is for the musicians to play; it would be like a one-sided conversation. It is a meeting of souls and the communion is healing in many different ways. Sometimes we need to feel that we are not alone; sometimes we need to hear a friendly voice; sometimes we want to celebrate with others. Live music can provide all of these things and much more. When we need something from other people, music is one of the most effective ways to get it; and there is never any judgment or rejection involved. In the field of psychology we sometimes use music in the therapy session to probe a person’s unconscious or to bring out feelings that may be difficult to express in the waking state. Music represents the spirit of the healing arts.

Timeless Communication

Real communication is essential to a successful life. Live music, when you have a receptive audience and good entertainment, becomes a vessel through which meaningful communication flows. There is more joy in life when there are more ways to communicate with our fellow beings. Sometimes music is the only way to communicate. Just think of the great composers who produced classical music that all people, regardless of language or regional barriers, can enjoy.

Music and human emotions are timeless. This is demonstrated by the fact that the emotions expressed today are the very same emotions that were expressed hundreds of years ago. Music enhances the joy of life by connecting humans over the centuries as well as in the here and now. The more we know about others and ourselves, the more communication is possible. The more communication, the more joy in life.

Let’s face it; if you feel out of control, you can’t be comfortable and you are probably fearful of everything and everyone. It has become the norm these days to feel pressured in your job, tension in your home life, and terror in how you view life in general. Most people, if they were to answer honestly, would reveal that they are not comfortable most of the time. There are so many things that affect us, like constant advertising, a roller coaster economy, family problems, and medical situations, that it is no wonder that most of us feel overburdened. Most people make believe that their problems don’t exist, that some magical force, a hero, will come to vanquish the evils in their lives. We call this “magical thinking”; it is neurotic. When we feel out of control, we naturally try to gain control by controlling others. This we call a “control issue”. And it never solves the problem; rather, it always makes things worse.

The cure for control issues is to build self-confidence. Unfortunately, in this society, acquiring confidence, building respect, and increasing your self-esteem is tough to do because of the enormous forces working against us. This article will not focus on these debilitating forces but will offer the best way to cure some of the control issues most people suffer.

To achieve joy in life a person must think well of themselves. There must be a feeling inside of us that tells us that we are solid, confident, and self-reliant. These factors, along with many others, leads to a feeling of integrity, an honest, trustworthy feeling that makes us know that we are praiseworthy for our attitude and performance. A confident person seeks to improve herself/himself and will welcome constructive criticism from mature, intelligent others. She feels, and is, self-reliant. Such a person invites scrutiny when it promises to enlighten.

To gain confidence one must be successful. (Note: “success” in no way should be connected to “money”.) Success really is an accomplishment of a given task. If, for example, your task is to gain employment, then getting the job represents success. If tying your shoes is the goal, then you are a success when the shoes are tied. Once you have achieved success, you can feel confident in that goal accomplishment. It is important to see that accomplishing goals makes you successful in those particular goals. After tying your shoes thousands of times, you become a success, and confident, in shoe tying. After many years of engaging in many different activities, a person naturally becomes successful in many things, and therefore confident in many things. In later years of development there are crossover feelings of success. For instance, the confidence gained in learning to drive a Chevy crosses over to driving any other make of car. Study habits learned while practicing math problems can cross over to the study of any other subject. Sometimes, all too often in fact, people are prevented from accomplishing goals in life. For example, instead of Mommy requiring a child to tie his own shoes, she ties them for him. He therefore never learns to tie shoes on his own, he never accomplishes the mission, he is not a success, he gains no confidence, he fears the embarrassment, he may develop a control issue in a neurotic attempt to hide what he sees as a deficit. He is on the road to self-loathing.

We humans need to be allowed to accomplish as many things as we can. The role of parents is to encourage us to dabble in as many things as possible and to keep us safe if we venture too close to danger. One of the problems is that parents frequently lack self-confidence and so cannot present an open field of safe experimentation for their children. Once a person gains a certain level of maturity (not age) then that person is wise to seek counsel to fill in the open spots where his caretakers may have fallen down.

With the proper guidance a person can resume accomplishing goals, becoming successful, and gaining self-confidence. A confident person with a high order of honest integrity has no need to try to control anyone else. A person of this stature is confident that he can control situations to the benefit of all. And there is no fear in such a person. While the “control issue” person is forever fearful of being controlled by others, he tries to control them first, and is always unsuccessful, and is plunged further into the control issue problem, the confident, successful person experiences the joy of life.

The idea of having fun appeals to almost everyone. If given a choice, most folks would rather “have fun” than do anything else. But what is fun? Most definitions would say that fun is the quality of a situation that separates “play” from “work”. We like to have fun, but we don’t like to work. This is a general definition and there are always exceptions to every rule. For those looking for the joy of life, however, we need to change how we look at “fun” in our lives.

Fun is better understood as an integral part of our everyday life. If we see it only as a separate amusement, then it becomes detached from us. It is like looking at life through a window, never touching reality, never getting the “flavor” of life. If we take fun as a separate entity, we therefore take work as a separate entity. Fun can never be work; work can never be fun. A dull life indeed!

From a psycho/emotional point of view, if a person’s life is divided, it is time for some sort of therapy to “reintegrate” the personality. There can never be joy in the life of a person whose personality is disintegrated.

For the integrated personality, all aspects of life are part of the whole. The concepts of fun, work, play, seriousness, and relationships are all part of a person’s wholeness. As such, when the person greets any situation, she brings all parts of her being to share. Any individual part of our personality is imbued with qualities of all the other parts of our personality. We are at once funny, serious, attending to work, and mindful of our fellow citizens; we are alive. Others see us as entertaining, happy, joyful, competent, and confident. There are many parts of our personality showing at once because we are integrated. There is something for other people to share because we present a multitude of qualities. We give the impression that we are happy with our lives and other people seek to share with us. Other folks tend to gravitate toward people who demonstrate a joy of life. We can always find the “fun in life” if we pay attention.