…it’s when humans believe they have left their animal nature behind, that they show the qualities that are their’s alone: obsession, self-deception and perpetual unrest. they think they are free, conscious beings, when in truth they are deluded animals. at the same time they never cease trying to escape from what they imagine themselves to be. their religions are attempts to be rid of a freedom they have never possessed. their utopias of right and left or their incessant blabber of national identity serve the same function. like religion, the modern cults of certain sciences live on the hope of miracles - empires of scientific capability have been built to manipulate the phenomena of nature into enormous manifestations of dreams of power, wealth and salvation. and politics is unconvincing even as entertainment. luckily, humans have a gift of self-deception, and thrive in ignorance of their natures…
…just as there is no central representation there is no central system. each activity connects perception to action directly. it is only the observer of a creature who imputes a central representation or central control; the creature itself has none - aren’t we at our most skillful when we are least self-aware? out of the local chaos of these interactions there emerges, in the eye of the observer, a coherent pattern of behaviour. selfhood in humans is not the expression of any essential unity, but a pattern of organisation, not unlike that found in insect colonies…
…we become more resistant to undesirable social influence by maintaining a sense of personal responsibility and by being willing to be held accountable for our actions…
