Exploring the lust to be nice
Empathy, compassion, kindness to the weak, these are strong emotions which come forth in each and every one of us. Though Darwinism says about survival of the fittest and the ruthless method of natural selection, the above emotions are very contradictory to the main motif - helping a kin would be beneficial as you are related and there is a chance of reciprocation, but helping an unknown vagabond or a crippled or a homeless person, who is not related as your kin ; to extend it much further, the person receiving help in some cases might not be our fellow countrymen this it is an act that might not be beneficial for the gene or the person. Applying natural selection, those people should survive on their own and if they can’t due to their deficient gene, they would perish as did millions of other mammals in the past, giving way for the much superior genes to reproduce and flourish. But that’s not how humans behave.
Theists would argue that it is religion that brings about empathy and preserves humanity. In a way, there are people who would help as their religion teaches them and walking away doing nothing amounts to sin, which they don’t wish to accumulate as it has a negative effect on their after-life or their karma in their cycle of rebirths. Thus they claim that religion has successfully altered natural selection, by its benevolent nature.
Evolutionists like Richard Dawkins have thrown up an explanation that empathy is due to the misfiring of the selfish gene. It works in the same way as lust: we have lust even though we use contraceptives and prevent further reproduction. To make it even clearer, the urge to reproduce and the trigger in our body i.e. lust does not stop, even when we are consciously making an effort to do the otherwise. In the same way, as we had evolved from apes which live in groups, where helping your kin and making partnerships is vital for gene survival.
Therefore, coming to the present age, where the hapless stranger on the street, in a metropolis need not be a blood related kin, the selfish gene, always on the lookout for its survival misfires and the urge kicks in go out and help them. In a way, it makes a mockery of our highly held morals.
Having laid down the facts known, is it religion and culture with its moral teachings or the misfiring of the selfish gene, has been a stellar force in making each and every one of us to be compassionate, helpful and nice to others ?
The answer as far as I could muster, comes from the holistic view of the society. My argument goes like there are social workers (mostly religious people) who do service to the society by being empathetic to the needy and poor, after they had endured suffering and say they are working towards eradicating the suffering, from others. It sounds much like the work of our immune system, which when hit with an infection after recovery, works to prevent another outbreak.
And man and definitely woman, being social animals imbibe beneficial traits from fellow beings and from their environment. Hence, there could be a misfiring in our selfish gene to help the needy, but the act of benevolence is very much fostered and rewarded by society, religion and culture, which could very make it a permanent behavioural trait in our genes. With time, it won’t be regarded as a misfire, but a behavioural trait evolved through religion and society.
My two cents ...
Theists would argue that it is religion that brings about empathy and preserves humanity. In a way, there are people who would help as their religion teaches them and walking away doing nothing amounts to sin, which they don’t wish to accumulate as it has a negative effect on their after-life or their karma in their cycle of rebirths. Thus they claim that religion has successfully altered natural selection, by its benevolent nature.
Evolutionists like Richard Dawkins have thrown up an explanation that empathy is due to the misfiring of the selfish gene. It works in the same way as lust: we have lust even though we use contraceptives and prevent further reproduction. To make it even clearer, the urge to reproduce and the trigger in our body i.e. lust does not stop, even when we are consciously making an effort to do the otherwise. In the same way, as we had evolved from apes which live in groups, where helping your kin and making partnerships is vital for gene survival.
Therefore, coming to the present age, where the hapless stranger on the street, in a metropolis need not be a blood related kin, the selfish gene, always on the lookout for its survival misfires and the urge kicks in go out and help them. In a way, it makes a mockery of our highly held morals.
Having laid down the facts known, is it religion and culture with its moral teachings or the misfiring of the selfish gene, has been a stellar force in making each and every one of us to be compassionate, helpful and nice to others ?
The answer as far as I could muster, comes from the holistic view of the society. My argument goes like there are social workers (mostly religious people) who do service to the society by being empathetic to the needy and poor, after they had endured suffering and say they are working towards eradicating the suffering, from others. It sounds much like the work of our immune system, which when hit with an infection after recovery, works to prevent another outbreak.
And man and definitely woman, being social animals imbibe beneficial traits from fellow beings and from their environment. Hence, there could be a misfiring in our selfish gene to help the needy, but the act of benevolence is very much fostered and rewarded by society, religion and culture, which could very make it a permanent behavioural trait in our genes. With time, it won’t be regarded as a misfire, but a behavioural trait evolved through religion and society.
My two cents ...
