Looking at the bigger
picture and never completely depending on others is what some people (obviously
not transcenders) perceive as sociopathic, something of a buzzword these days.
In its purest definition sociopath is the same as a psychopath, persons
displaying a complete lack of empathy and acting in violent and aggressive ways
towards others. In my experience though, when people use the term sociopath,
they use it as a lesser degree of psychopath, less violent and aggressive but
still emphasizing the lack of empathy and through that, the ability to mimic
emotional attachments. Not to say that there aren’t sick individuals out there
who truly need to be institutionalized because they otherwise pose a threat to
society and its citizens because of their innate need to do harm to others, but
I also believe, and I know Sam Harris agrees with me, that there are a lot more
sociopaths, in the lesser sense of the term, around than people care to
realize. But I also think the term is being thrown around too lightly, creating
an unnecessary negative connotation to go with it.
Just because most
transcenders understand that emotional attachments may be nice on a
micro-universal scale, they are ultimately always temporary as is everything in
life due to the scale of the macro-universe. And because transcenders simultaneously
appreciate all types of life equally instead of only their own species,
because they understand that we are all equal parts in the same clockwork, does
this necessarily mean that they are evil people? Does this mean they don’t
possess empathy, or any emotions whatsoever? In all honesty, whilst growing up,
I have at times posed these questions myself. Every time I actually feel
emotions strongly it reminds me that I am in fact humane, in the somewhat
negative sense that I possess emotions and that they sometimes control me. In
the words of my fellow blogger, emotions tend to drag you further down the
staircase, a sort of regression towards our animal ancestry. (See The Art of Transcending).
Emotions tend to be in
the same category as the noises around us in that they tend to also dictate our
life. Not to say that they are necessarily bad, but I think most transcenders
would agree, and I certainly do, that in order to progress further up the
evolutionary ladder, we need to be able to control these emotions and rely
primarily on rationale and not vice versa. After all, is it not precisely our
cold, hard rationale that have brought us up to our current evolutionary level?
Emotions are remnants of a more primitive past where fear, libido, stress etc.
were all needed to survive. Since then, with the ability to vocalize, we have
developed several other terms to describe our different mindsets but all of
these tend to stand in contrast to reason.
All emotions tend to
override reason from time to time, but one of the most potent examples is love.
How many crazy endeavors, crimes, murders, even wars, have been caused by love?
Even I have felt its effects from time to time and frankly, they scare me,
completely overriding every last bit of reason and rationale which I hold so
very dear. (Un)Fortunately, I have so far managed to bounce back to my happy
(ironic, I know) sensible macro frame of mind, but I am sure I will succumb
over and over again. Love after all is what causes us to procreate which is
necessary for the survival of the species. My hope is that I will still be able
to put my love for future partners into context and not let it dictate my
thoughts completely. This is something that comes with experience, because as
irrational as it seems, when you’re in it, you do feel extremely happy which is
why you tend to accept the irrationality of your actions. In their worst
manifestations, emotions can be as addictive as drugs and many great humans
have fallen as a result to them. I don’t think it is a coincidence that many
leading scientists and past super-transcenders such as for instance Newton or
Lovecraft, were complete social recluses lacking any type of social skills,
only functioning in the macro-universe. Even though in the past, as mentioned
earlier, I lacked a sense of belonging, having now expanded my personal world
and micro-universe I do feel a sense of belonging, and thus will eventually
most likely create emotional attachments. But hopefully never forgetting that
on a macro scale, emotions make you weak and that attachments can in worst
cases hinder your ambitions by creating too much noise and unrest in your car
as you are navigating down the infinite freeway. Lone wolf, remember? My hope
is that once you are secure enough in your navigation skills, you can more
easily let people into the car without them causing any deviation from your
road taken.
Because if you have
any ambitions besides being a monk or crazy old hermit, in the modern world you
need to be able to interact socially and this involves not being too macro
oriented, i.e. at times, but not always, faking social interaction in order to
appear “normal”. This is something sociopaths are allegedly very good at, but I
think it is something we all do regularly. Little white lies, trying not to
hurt people’s feelings by not stating your honest opinions, this in my opinion
all classifies as “faking” it. Transcenders might need to utilize these skills
a bit more often because they don’t rely too much on emotions as compared to
the people on the dancefloor, but it’s not coming from a violent or evil place,
as per the definition of a sociopath, nor is it grounded in a complete lack of
emotions. Rather it is caused by a higher understanding of the functions of
existence, an understanding not shared by non-transcenders, which still make up
the most of human populations, hence the need to “pretend”. Sometimes all this
means is not sharing your ideas and just go with the conversation in the room.
Although psychopaths are probably a lot more numerous than people and myself
like to think, sociopaths in their popularized definition are extremely
abundant, and usually very successful in whatever they endeavor to do. I know
this because I think most transcenders are also this non-violent type of
sociopath. I’ve definitely encountered a few, but these people should not be
feared necessarily. Probably some people feel threatened by this type of
sociopath, because they are not as dependent on or controlled by emotions as
themselves, and thus have more freedom for individual achievements. Sherlock
Holmes in his new BBC form refers to himself as a high-functioning sociopath, a
character and label I certainly have no qualms being associated with. In many
of the episodes, his more emotional counterpart, Dr. Watson, does specifically
question the power of rationale over emotions in his sociopathic friend.
Maybe a less negative
and hostile term for this so called emotional detachment found in many
transcenders is pragmatism, a word that carries a lot more positive
connotations and values and has in the past been associated by renowned leaders
such as for instance Dwight Eisenhower. Emotional detachment is quintessential
in any leader. When leaders start basing decisions on emotions rather than
rationale, is when leadership degrades into tyranny basing decisions on a micro
scale rather than looking at things in the larger perspective and encompassing
their subjects or subordinates. Yet pragmatism denotes almost the same as
sociopath in its cultural and modernized sense (not its original definition),
i.e. seeing things for exactly what they are and nothing more. Isn’t this just
another way of describing a macro point of view? Humans are just another
lifeform on one out of a potentially infinite number of planets in one out of a
potentially infinite number of galaxies and perhaps infinite multiverses and
beyond. Not really more important than cockroaches or Buganawas on that scale.
Our entire planet could be destroyed tomorrow and the universe wouldn’t even
blink. Clearly the universe is a giant sociopath ;)
This is the truth, but realizing it and living by it apparently puts you on the same level as a serial killer in people’s minds. I say it makes you a stronger and more mature form of life capable of rising higher up on the evolutionary scale and further expanding your own personal horizon and maybe other’s as well, not tied down or controlled by petty emotions. Don’t fear all sociopaths, they might actually be on to something. Appreciate the irony here, since being dictated by fear is part of what makes people non-transcenders.
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