Flaws and brokenness of human beings (Case 1)

One example of the flaws of humans

I am going to do a series of tutorials that describe one by one various examples of inherent human flaws and examples of their brokenness. I am not at all doing this to be depressive or judgmental. To the contrary, I am going to put into words so that they can have a beneficial effect those things that are disturbing and harmful to humans without their even being aware of them. You’ll understand what I mean better after this first example.

One very destructive flaw of humans is that they are sad when they hear, and refuse to believe, good news that contradicts their own erroneous long held beliefs. In other words, humans would rather continue to believe something painful, bad and awful than be forced to shed those beliefs by news that they are wrong in them, and that actually something else that is more positive and joyous is the truth.

This comes about for two reasons. One is based on biology and survival instinct, and the second reason has come about from the domination of the emotion of pride over the logic of both faith and reasoning.

Humans, like the animals they spring from, are stubborn for a reason. If an animal can only eat one kind of forage, for example, the animal will be “stubborn” in not “trying new food,” because its biological and instinctive programming lets it know that it must stick to its own life sustaining forage. So if an animal eats only hay, for example, it is wise to reject efforts by someone to give it only squash. Humans have this same programming, but through their rise to self awareness, and their conflict between conscious intellect and instinct (which they no longer understand in themselves), they are confused about when to “hold their ground” and not change their beliefs, and when to do so.

Thus, suppose a human drinks a horrible and harmful liquid everyday that he or she was raised to believe is a “health tonic.” Not only are they emotionally and through upbringing attached to the vile tasting liquid (since their parents or other “role models” taught them to do this from an early age) but they are also emotionally attached through love of power, because they think they have a secret vile liquid that is a “health tonic” that other humans, who are “unenlightened” do not have. So believers in that liquid will continue to drink it even when evidence starts to pile up that not only is the liquid harmful, but that they would be joyous and happier without it. Many humans would resist giving up drinking that liquid to the end of their lives. But here is the point that I want to make in order to be helpful. Suppose that a human who used to drink that liquid is persuaded to give it up, or even is forced to do so due to life circumstances. A human who does not understand that flaw I am describing might short circuit his or her own rewarding feeling of improvement, and instead have a depression.

Here’s an analogy. Suppose a person has a cut in their arm, and they were taught by their family to rub a “magic mud” in it while it is healing. And because humans are strong, and the body does work hard to heal, the cut does eventually heal. So they believe they are “on to something special,” not noticing two things. One is that others who don’t use the “magic mud” are healing just fine without it, possibly even faster and cleaner in their scars. But unbeknownst to them, an unseen microscopic element in the “magic mud” accumulates in the body and one day causes cancer. Well, one day scientists discover this microscopic carcinogenetic element in the “magic mud” and realize that there is a group of people who rub it into their own and their children’s wounds. They are told not to do it, and some will believe and immediately stop, while others will resist, even if the evidence is irrefutable. That is the flaw I am speaking of, where humans, as a group, and to different degrees individually, have a biological and self imposed mental/ego barrier to giving up incorrect beliefs, even ones proven harmful, and even when the guaranteed reward is more joy and happiness.

By the way, of course just because I use an analogy, these are not code words for the usual arguments about alcohol, drugs, “natural healing,” nutrition, food additives, etc. I am using an analogy to describe a BELIEF, not the actual substance. I am explaining that humans have a flaw about giving up harmful beliefs that are proven to be wrong and more so, proven to be barriers to genuine well being. I use the dirt, food and cancer analogy only because it helps people to better understand through an example, not as code words about arguments involving those very topics.

I have seen people cling to the most vile and vicious erroneous beliefs because of this basic flaw in humanity, even when those beliefs make them miserable and cause havoc and suffering in other people’s lives. It is one of the worst of the human flaws. Biblically, it falls under the general heading of “pride.” But I wanted to compassionately explain that it’s not just pride, but there is a biological and instinctive imperative that humans to varying degrees do not understand in themselves, yet will subjugate themselves to it in inappropriate circumstances. They almost have “crossed wires,” to use an electrical term, in modern times. Again, for convenience, here is a food analogy. Humans are omnivorous, which means they eat both meat and vegetation. Suppose a child is raised to believe that hitting him on the head once a day with a hammer is a good and “magical” thing. Instinct should tell the child that is wrong and against self preservation, to hit him with the hammer, yet instinct fails him in this case. Yet that same child may give up eating meat because he has an “instinct” that humans are not “meant” to eat meat. Again, I’m not pushing either a meat eating agenda (or an anti-hammer agenda) in this analogy, LOL. I’m showing how this human ego based flaw overrides and cross connects the protective power of instinct. Where instinct should tell the child to eat meat and not get hit on the head with the hammer each day, humans override and short circuit true instinct (to say nothing of common sense and learning) so that instinct seems to “enable” the harmful belief, and instinct “deprives” them of the helpful belief.

This is one reason why humans are often depressed when they have gone through some sort of legitimate rehab program, such as giving up drugs or alcohol. It’s not just the biology of craving and it’s not just the missing of the habit and its social scene. That flaw in humanity, where they cling to obvious wrong and harmful beliefs directly in the face of the beliefs being proven wrong, is an underlying source of humanity’s weakness and brokenness. This is not necessary and humans are not forced to feel that way. For example, someone who is humble and who loves “correction,” as the Bible puts it, is much less prone to this flaw and sin of pride than someone who is an insecure smarty pants. Children used to love to learn from their parents, and they still do. But parents used to teach the children only sane and correct things, because in an agricultural and hunter society, ultimately one must do things correctly and in a reality based world, otherwise one goes hungry. Moderns, however, feel free to teach their children totally insane things, and to live based on insane and wrong beliefs, even when they are proven to be not only wrong but devastatingly harmful.

I understand that no one enjoys being “proven wrong,” that it is often an embarrassing situation. But here is my main point. When one is wrong about an insane and harmful, even vile, belief or situation, one should feel the flood of joy at being proven wrong. Upon being corrected, sure, the person may think “What an idiot I was.” But the whole point of learning the correction is that the correct belief feels better instantly. This is documented in abundance in the Bible during conversion, for example. In true conversion, people do not mope around and mourn that they used to believe that a piece of wood was “god” and get depressed that they were “wrong.” They are thrilled and elated to discover the true God in their genuine conversion. The ancient humans were much more philosophical and well balanced even the most uneducated and ignorant. When it came to correcting a self destructive belief, the ancients were not as “superstitious” as moderns like to accuse because their survival instincts were still balanced and intact. You’d not be able to convince an ancient that his corn would grow better if you threw the seeds in spring up in a tree rather than plant it in rows in the ground. But there would be no problem in modern times finding people to convince that they will get a successful corn harvest if they just throw the seeds up into tree tops. Ancient people wanted and needed to know what are correct when it came to their basic ability to survive, while modern people have the luxury and delusional powers to cling to anti-survival instinct beliefs.

So, to summarize, one inherent flaw in humanity, one that used to be self managed, but has in modern times become a serious problem, is the refusal to give up even erroneous and demonstrated harmful beliefs. Further, even when people give up the incorrect beliefs, many hamper themselves from feeling the benefit and joy of the elimination of the wrong belief. For many moderns, pride and ego have overcome both correct self preservation instinct but also access to happiness and peace of mind. Many moderns have equated “peace of mind” with their possession of erroneous beliefs, rather than in the possession of correct beliefs. Thus, rather than gain “peace of mind” with correct beliefs, many lose their “peace of mind” (which is actually pride and ego based) when they are forced to give up their erroneous beliefs. They then wonder why they don’t feel “better” when they finally do the correct things. This is because they incorrectly threw away their capacity to feel better, because they linked it to the strength of holding their incorrect beliefs. This is one of the problems that I focus on when I conduct counseling and spiritual direction.

I hope that you find this helpful.