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Weird Sociocultural Evolution Comprising Social Evolution & Cultural Evolution! – Podcast Episode 29
Weird Sociocultural Evolution Comprising Social Evolution & Cultural Evolution! - Introduction
Today’s episode titled “Weird Sociocultural Evolution Comprising Social Evolution & Cultural Evolution!” will tell you about sociocultural chakras on the lines of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs turning to wants and thus affecting sociocultural evolution negatively.
Before we get to the social approach of Skeletal Leap, let us first look at how societies and cultures evolved, from a sociological and anthropological standpoint.
There have been a number of historical attempts by anthropologists and sociologists to understand how sociocultural evolution takes place.
SKELETAL LEAP, the mind body connection for mind and body healing, is a giant leap that our skeleton can take through the way it postures its joints.
I had stumbled upon this miracle many years ago, coincidentally
Weird Sociocultural Evolution Comprising Social Evolution & Cultural Evolution! - Show Notes
In this enlightening episode of Skeletal Leap, titled “Weird Sociocultural Evolution Comprising Social Evolution & Cultural Evolution!” I explain the intricate relationship between sociocultural structures and the mind's role in shaping our evolution.
Join me as I present a thought-provoking analogy between Maslow's hierarchy of needs and the chakra system, revealing how our societal constructs have been influenced by a fragmented mind's perceptions and fears.
Discover the historical context of socio cultural evolution, from unilineal to multilineal theories, and explore the emergence of Marxism as a lens for understanding cultural development.
As we navigate through the complexities of human nature, I argue for a new perspective on sociocultural evolution: the 'multi unilineal' approach. I examine how our sociocultural institutions, often flawed and harmful, have been erected by a fragmented mind, turning genuine needs into mere wants.
Furthermore, the episode discusses how the collective fragmented mind can create sociocultural chakras, leading to societal ailments like consumerism and the fragmentation of our consciousness. I emphasize the importance of recognizing and addressing these issues to pave the way for a more harmonious existence.
This episode invites you to reflect on the nature of your needs versus wants, and how understanding this distinction can lead to a more fulfilling life.
Weird Sociocultural Evolution Comprising Social Evolution & Cultural Evolution! - Chapters
Chapters:
(00:00:01) - Skeletal Leap
(00:00:48) - Sociological and anthropological perspectives on socio-cultural evolution
(00:05:49) - Sociological cultural chakras
Weird Sociocultural Evolution Comprising Social Evolution & Cultural Evolution! - Video
Weird Sociocultural Evolution Comprising Social Evolution & Cultural Evolution! - Transcript with Timestamps
0:00:01.120,0:00:05.920
As I was building up my case against
our sociocultural structures getting
0:00:05.920,0:00:22.000
erected by the mind, an analogy dawned upon me.
0:00:22.000,0:00:26.560
My name is Laadi Ojas. Welcome to “Skeletal Leap:
0:00:26.560,0:00:34.240
A Living Adventure”. Skeletal Leap
transforms one’s life into a personal heaven.
0:00:34.240,0:00:39.520
Today’s episode will tell you about
sociocultural chakras on the lines of
0:00:39.520,0:00:48.000
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs turning to wants and
thus affecting sociocultural evolution negatively.
0:00:48.640,0:00:53.200
Before we get to the social approach
of Skeletal Leap, let us first look at
0:00:53.200,0:01:00.800
how societies and cultures evolved, from a
sociological and anthropological standpoint.
0:01:00.800,0:01:06.720
There have been a number of historical attempts
by anthropologists and sociologists to understand
0:01:06.720,0:01:13.920
how sociocultural evolution takes place.
These attempts study how sociocultural
0:01:13.920,0:01:21.360
institutions change over time, thus weaving
together different evolutionary theories.
0:01:21.360,0:01:28.080
Most of the nineteenth century approaches based
themselves along unilineal evolution. They
0:01:28.080,0:01:34.160
believed that all of humanity socioculturally
evolved along the same process worldwide.
0:01:34.800,0:01:40.000
It was only that some of them were ahead
of the rest who would, nevertheless,
0:01:40.000,0:01:47.600
follow them along the same path in times to come.
On the other hand, most of the twentieth century
0:01:47.600,0:01:54.240
approaches based themselves along multilineal
evolution. They believed that different societies
0:01:54.240,0:02:01.040
evolved along their specific historical
contexts. They rejected the theory that
0:02:01.040,0:02:07.760
every society would be evolving along the
same cultural progress sooner or later.
0:02:07.760,0:02:13.920
They argued that different societies adapted
to their own uniquely different environments,
0:02:13.920,0:02:21.760
technological breakthroughs and outside cultural
influences. Multilineal approach also rejected
0:02:21.760,0:02:29.520
any similarity between cultural and biological
evolutions. It argued that cultural patterns
0:02:29.520,0:02:36.960
in far-off lands were genetically unrelated.
But in the latter part of the twentieth century,
0:02:36.960,0:02:44.560
several multilineal anthropologists shifted
their approach. Through numerous incremental
0:02:44.560,0:02:52.800
shifts in sociocultural hypotheses, they arrived
at Marxism. Marxism made a speedy entry into the
0:02:52.800,0:02:59.680
world of politics adopted by almost half
the population worldwide. The lens that it
0:02:59.680,0:03:07.360
used to look at sociocultural development was
dialectical and historical materialism. But
0:03:07.360,0:03:13.760
toward the end of the twentieth century, it
started crumbling down under its own weight.
0:03:14.480,0:03:21.280
You may know it better as the fall of the
Soviet Union or the falling of the Berlin Wall.
0:03:21.280,0:03:27.280
The most modern twenty-first century
anthropologists have taken another step to reject
0:03:27.280,0:03:34.880
the very concept of cultural evolution outright.
They are rather exploring new approaches to the
0:03:34.880,0:03:42.960
relationship between culture and its environment.
One of them is a general systems approach
0:03:42.960,0:03:51.920
exploring emergent systems including political,
economic and social interactions among cultures.
0:03:51.920,0:03:58.640
As a special mention here, evolutionary biologist
Richard Dawkins came up with his book The Selfish
0:03:58.640,0:04:07.120
Gene in 1976. Dawkins’ book was voted as the
most influential science book of all time in
0:04:07.120,0:04:16.640
July 2017 on the 30th anniversary of the Royal
Society. He proposed a gene-centered hypothesis of
0:04:16.640,0:04:23.840
sociocultural evolution stating that genetically
related individuals cooperate the best between
0:04:23.840,0:04:32.080
them. And genes replicate themselves better when
they themselves get benefitted, at times even at
0:04:32.080,0:04:39.200
the cost of the entire organism. ‘Selfish’
replication may model culture successfully
0:04:39.200,0:04:47.760
via memes that are self-replicating units of
human cultural transmission analogous to genes.
0:04:47.760,0:04:52.560
This is where we are, at this moment,
as far as understanding sociocultural
0:04:52.560,0:05:00.400
evolution is concerned. And, in my
opinion, this is not sufficient.
0:05:00.400,0:05:06.800
‘Multi-unilineal’ Approach
I think we have missed something very basic.
0:05:06.800,0:05:14.800
We either look at sociocultural evolution as being
entirely unilineal or else entirely mutilineal.
0:05:14.800,0:05:21.360
Reality looks to be somewhere in between. It very
obviously has always been a combination of both,
0:05:21.360,0:05:28.720
in my opinion. Some parts of it have always been
unilineal, not necessarily through intercultural
0:05:28.720,0:05:34.560
interaction but independently evolving on
their own. Some other parts have certainly
0:05:34.560,0:05:41.840
been mutilineal, varying from culture to culture
depending on their specific genetic histories and
0:05:41.840,0:05:49.200
environments. I would like to address them all
with a new inclusive name ‘multi-unilineal’.
0:05:49.920,0:05:53.840
Let us look a little deeper into
these multi-unilineal patterns of
0:05:53.840,0:06:01.200
sociocultural evolution all around the world.
These are the patterns that essentially evolved
0:06:01.200,0:06:08.320
almost the same way, yet slightly differently,
in their local hues throughout the world.
0:06:09.120,0:06:15.360
Surprisingly enough, all our sociocultural
institutions have majorly been erected by
0:06:15.360,0:06:22.720
the mind and not through the dictates of the
brain alone. The brain had worked independently
0:06:22.720,0:06:30.320
when it devised wearing leather and burning
fire to ward off cold and cook food. The same
0:06:30.320,0:06:37.440
was true of inhabiting caves and inventing
languages. And these were four supremely
0:06:37.440,0:06:46.320
intelligent inventions that all tribes and races
arrived at in differently similar ways globally.
0:06:46.320,0:06:51.840
But the sociocultural structures erected
by the mind were unfortunately not so
0:06:51.840,0:06:59.760
intelligent. They were flawed at best
and harmful at worst in their design.
0:07:00.560,0:07:05.760
And why it happened so was because the
mind subjectively attached itself to its
0:07:05.760,0:07:15.120
faulty apprehensions of threat to life, in other
words to its self-preservative instincts. Hence,
0:07:15.120,0:07:21.760
it cunningly took control of the brain’s activity
in its fearful stupidity, thereby turning human
0:07:21.760,0:07:31.040
needs into wants. All these structures were
multi-unilenial in their evolutionary process.
0:07:31.040,0:07:35.920
Sociocultural Chakras
As I was building up my
0:07:35.920,0:07:44.800
case against our sociocultural structures getting
erected by the mind, an analogy dawned upon me.
0:07:44.800,0:07:52.240
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Before I come to the analogy, let us take a little
0:07:52.240,0:08:01.680
detour. Abraham Maslow came up with ‘A Theory
of Human Motivation’ in the year 1943. Later,
0:08:01.680,0:08:10.000
he refined it in ‘Motivation and Personality’ in
1954 introducing Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
0:08:10.000,0:08:15.760
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs comprises
physiological needs, safety, love
0:08:15.760,0:08:22.480
and belonging and esteem as deficiency
needs, and cognition as a growth need.
0:08:23.600,0:08:31.520
Growth needs further include aesthetic,
self-actualization and transcendence needs.
0:08:31.520,0:08:38.800
And now, let’s come back to my analogy. I
find that the lowest two deficiency needs,
0:08:38.800,0:08:44.800
namely “physiological needs” and “safety needs”,
are parallel to the concerns of the root chakra
0:08:44.800,0:08:51.760
within the chakra system. The third need from
the bottom, “love and belonging”, parallels
0:08:51.760,0:09:00.800
the heart chakra. The fourth deficiency need,
“esteem”, is akin to the throat chakra. Moving
0:09:00.800,0:09:08.400
to Maslow’s growth needs, “cognitive needs”
parallel solar plexus chakra while “aesthetic”,
0:09:08.400,0:09:15.680
“self-actualization” and “transcendence”
needs find their chakra equivalents in sacral,
0:09:15.680,0:09:23.600
third-eye and crown chakras, respectively.
Now that we have established that Maslow’s
0:09:23.600,0:09:28.640
Hierarchy of Needs is analogous to
the chakra system, I would like to
0:09:28.640,0:09:36.480
bring our attention to a second analogy.
We know that an individual autonomous mind
0:09:36.480,0:09:42.720
generates closed biological chakras in the
human body by corrupting skeletal anatomy.
0:09:43.280,0:09:49.760
I asked myself if a collective autonomous
mind could have generated similarly closed
0:09:49.760,0:09:55.520
sociocultural chakras in human society.
The modus operandi could have been the
0:09:55.520,0:10:03.040
corruption of social needs into societal wants.
Things started getting distorted since the very
0:10:03.040,0:10:12.400
beginning of our evolution into Homo sapiens. It
all started with pursuing cognitive needs. We,
0:10:12.400,0:10:20.720
as a society, cognized reality within what was a
suffocating environment dotted with threats and
0:10:20.720,0:10:29.840
challenges. And that perceived reality continues
till date. Humanity is yet to take a sigh of
0:10:29.840,0:10:38.400
relief, thereby seriously corrupting its breathing
pattern. It was this corruption that gave birth to
0:10:38.400,0:10:46.080
a blocked sociocultural solar plexus chakra.
Acting out of the mind’s fearful perception
0:10:46.080,0:10:53.520
of so-called threats and challenges, humanity has
always been in a hurry to control the environment
0:10:53.520,0:11:01.040
which is a mirage in itself. Just like the solar
plexus charka leads to asthma and other diseases
0:11:01.040,0:11:08.720
in the body, this sociocultural solar plexus
chakra, i.e., hurry to control the environment,
0:11:08.720,0:11:17.440
gives rise to social ‘diseases’ such as the ‘rat
race’. And thus, humanity handed over the reins
0:11:17.440,0:11:25.920
of cognition to its collective autonomous mind
instead of a spontaneous collective brain. We know
0:11:25.920,0:11:33.200
that an open solar plexus chakra means renewing
the brain continuously and thus energizing it
0:11:33.200,0:11:41.760
cyclically. Unfortunately for us, since our
sociocultural solar plexus chakra got closed,
0:11:41.760,0:11:50.640
it left the collective autonomous mind stuck at
its aggressive cognitive wants rather than needs.
0:11:50.640,0:11:58.320
These wants individualized personal ownership of
resources used to fulfill genuine social needs
0:11:58.320,0:12:06.640
before. As this personal ownership of resources
assumes a bigger-than-necessary stature, social
0:12:06.640,0:12:15.360
needs start turning into personal wants. Needs are
the realm of the brain while the mind is the abode
0:12:15.360,0:12:23.280
of wants. Thus, they get corrupted and end up in
sociocultural chakras in the hands of a collective
0:12:23.280,0:12:32.880
autonomous mind. After all, human society is just
a collective extension of multiple human bodies.
0:12:32.880,0:12:39.280
And these sociocultural chakras would tend to
block collective human energy flow exactly like
0:12:39.280,0:12:47.840
biological chakras block individual energy flow.
Let us now combine the above two analogies,
0:12:47.840,0:12:54.480
i.e. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
vis-a-vis chakra system + sociocultural
0:12:54.480,0:13:01.280
chakras mirroring individual chakras.
When individual energy flow gets blocked
0:13:01.280,0:13:09.600
at the base of the chakra system, it results in a
closed root chakra. Similarly, when the collective
0:13:09.600,0:13:16.640
human energy flow gets blocked at the base of the
chakra equivalent in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs,
0:13:16.640,0:13:25.360
it does so at the lowest two levels of social
needs, i.e., physiological and safety needs.
0:13:25.360,0:13:31.520
Same would be true about the deficiency needs
of love and belonging and esteem needs as well.
0:13:32.320,0:13:39.040
It is my contention that we, Homo sapiens,
find ourselves today struggling with an
0:13:39.040,0:13:47.200
imbalance in the mind-brain equilibrium as we
go along Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs from the
0:13:47.200,0:13:53.360
lowest (physiological) deficiency needs to the
highest (transcendence) growth needs. Individuals
0:13:53.360,0:14:01.280
and societies that are stuck in making ends meet,
i.e., meeting their physiological needs, tend to
0:14:01.280,0:14:09.360
operate primarily from the brain. As they ‘climb’
up the Hierarchy and their deficiency needs are
0:14:09.360,0:14:17.280
met, a major shift seems to occur. This is where
the mind starts taking over and the brain’s
0:14:17.280,0:14:23.760
functionality starts getting stunted inflicting
the lower chakras as well, along with the higher
0:14:23.760,0:14:33.840
ones. In other words, needs start yielding to
wants. It is no surprise, then, that most of
0:14:33.840,0:14:41.120
the growth needs are governed by the concerns
of the mind way more than those of the brain.
0:14:41.120,0:14:47.680
Real Needs Overshadowed by Greedy Wants
This had its debilitating effect on the
0:14:47.680,0:14:53.600
sociocultural equivalent of sacral
chakra, namely aesthetic needs,
0:14:53.600,0:15:02.480
as well. And it did so by negatively affecting the
quality of sex that humanity was meant to enjoy.
0:15:02.480,0:15:09.600
When sex gets frustrated, it tends to take
refuge in its sublimation through arts in
0:15:09.600,0:15:18.560
creative and aesthetic pursuits. This sublimation
is the handiwork of none other than the mind!
0:15:18.560,0:15:25.040
In the process of sublimation, however, the mind
does lose a little bit of its control as emotions
0:15:25.040,0:15:31.120
give way to passion and sexual frustration
yields to a broader creative perception.
0:15:32.000,0:15:38.560
This works, but only partially, as a therapeutic
process that addresses the aesthetic needs
0:15:38.560,0:15:47.360
in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs at an individual
level. In society, this partial therapy addresses
0:15:47.360,0:15:55.040
this sociocultural sacral chakra in the form of
cinema, poetry and other artistic expressions.
0:15:55.760,0:16:01.600
However, the unaddressed part of this chakra
results in the social disease that we know as
0:16:01.600,0:16:10.160
‘consumerism’. And we have even given it
a rather ironic name, ‘retail therapy’.
0:16:10.160,0:16:18.320
No wonder slogans like “the more, the better”
appear to provide solace to our frustrations.
0:16:18.320,0:16:25.200
Moving higher along the Hierarchy, the growth
need of self actualization aims at discovering
0:16:25.200,0:16:32.320
one’s inherent talents and developing them
further. It results in achieving one’s full
0:16:32.320,0:16:40.000
potential as far as socially productive soft
skills are concerned. This is synonymous with
0:16:40.000,0:16:47.360
the concerns of the third eye chakra. However,
once corrupted by the mind at a social level,
0:16:47.360,0:16:53.440
it leads to an analogous collective third eye
charka resulting in social ‘diseases’ such as
0:16:53.440,0:17:00.400
‘professional qualifications’ as a want
that is detached from the original need.
0:17:00.400,0:17:05.600
Transcendence needs are the ultimate that
an individual in a society can cultivate,
0:17:05.600,0:17:13.440
giving oneself to something beyond oneself. It
enables one to create one’s personal heaven for
0:17:13.440,0:17:23.120
oneself. At a social level, it parallels the
sociocultural crown chakra which, when closed,
0:17:23.120,0:17:30.560
leads to the social malaise of ‘acute
insensitivity’. Consequently, opening this
0:17:30.560,0:17:38.320
chakra sets the highest levels of collective
human consciousness. Simultaneously, it sets
0:17:38.320,0:17:46.640
all the lower chakras open as well, automatically
addressing their related sociocultural ailments.
0:17:46.640,0:17:52.400
This has the potential to turn human
life on earth into a collective heaven.
0:17:53.120,0:18:01.440
However, in reality, the collective mind fragments
itself exactly like the individual biological mind
0:18:01.440,0:18:09.440
and, thus, belittles every single real need in
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and, by extension,
0:18:09.440,0:18:16.240
its analogous sociocultural chakra.
When it comes to our collective needs,
0:18:16.240,0:18:22.640
human societies use various ‘currencies’ to enable
exchange of these needs between their individuals
0:18:22.640,0:18:30.640
or groups. It is these currencies that we used to
fulfill real needs which later started assuming
0:18:30.640,0:18:39.120
bigger stature in an individual mind, shifting
the focus from needs to wants. As a result, those
0:18:39.120,0:18:45.280
currencies got corrupted away from their original
purpose and became ends in themselves as opposed
0:18:45.280,0:18:52.880
to serving as mere means toward the ends which
have always remained as those underlying needs.
0:18:52.880,0:18:59.280
These corrupted currencies have led to
several institutions in our societies that,
0:18:59.280,0:19:06.880
I contend, are the physical manifestations
of the underlying sociocultural chakras.
0:19:06.880,0:19:13.520
Within the construct that I have presented above,
we can now look at sociocultural evolution in
0:19:13.520,0:19:20.080
light of genuine needs getting usurped by the
mere wants for their corrupted currencies.
0:19:20.800,0:19:28.240
Thanks for listening to this episode of Skeletal
Leap: A Living Adventure! In the next episode,
0:19:28.240,0:19:35.120
I will tell you about corruption in
industrial complex, big pharma & insurance,
0:19:35.120,0:19:41.280
military-industrial complex
and politics-business nexus.
0:19:41.280,0:19:47.280
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By Laadi OjasWeird Sociocultural Evolution Comprising Social Evolution & Cultural Evolution! - Introduction
Today’s episode titled “Weird Sociocultural Evolution Comprising Social Evolution & Cultural Evolution!” will tell you about sociocultural chakras on the lines of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs turning to wants and thus affecting sociocultural evolution negatively.
Before we get to the social approach of Skeletal Leap, let us first look at how societies and cultures evolved, from a sociological and anthropological standpoint.
There have been a number of historical attempts by anthropologists and sociologists to understand how sociocultural evolution takes place.
SKELETAL LEAP, the mind body connection for mind and body healing, is a giant leap that our skeleton can take through the way it postures its joints.
I had stumbled upon this miracle many years ago, coincidentally
Weird Sociocultural Evolution Comprising Social Evolution & Cultural Evolution! - Show Notes
In this enlightening episode of Skeletal Leap, titled “Weird Sociocultural Evolution Comprising Social Evolution & Cultural Evolution!” I explain the intricate relationship between sociocultural structures and the mind's role in shaping our evolution.
Join me as I present a thought-provoking analogy between Maslow's hierarchy of needs and the chakra system, revealing how our societal constructs have been influenced by a fragmented mind's perceptions and fears.
Discover the historical context of socio cultural evolution, from unilineal to multilineal theories, and explore the emergence of Marxism as a lens for understanding cultural development.
As we navigate through the complexities of human nature, I argue for a new perspective on sociocultural evolution: the 'multi unilineal' approach. I examine how our sociocultural institutions, often flawed and harmful, have been erected by a fragmented mind, turning genuine needs into mere wants.
Furthermore, the episode discusses how the collective fragmented mind can create sociocultural chakras, leading to societal ailments like consumerism and the fragmentation of our consciousness. I emphasize the importance of recognizing and addressing these issues to pave the way for a more harmonious existence.
This episode invites you to reflect on the nature of your needs versus wants, and how understanding this distinction can lead to a more fulfilling life.
Weird Sociocultural Evolution Comprising Social Evolution & Cultural Evolution! - Chapters
Chapters:
(00:00:01) - Skeletal Leap
(00:00:48) - Sociological and anthropological perspectives on socio-cultural evolution
(00:05:49) - Sociological cultural chakras
Weird Sociocultural Evolution Comprising Social Evolution & Cultural Evolution! - Video
Weird Sociocultural Evolution Comprising Social Evolution & Cultural Evolution! - Transcript with Timestamps
0:00:01.120,0:00:05.920
As I was building up my case against
our sociocultural structures getting
0:00:05.920,0:00:22.000
erected by the mind, an analogy dawned upon me.
0:00:22.000,0:00:26.560
My name is Laadi Ojas. Welcome to “Skeletal Leap:
0:00:26.560,0:00:34.240
A Living Adventure”. Skeletal Leap
transforms one’s life into a personal heaven.
0:00:34.240,0:00:39.520
Today’s episode will tell you about
sociocultural chakras on the lines of
0:00:39.520,0:00:48.000
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs turning to wants and
thus affecting sociocultural evolution negatively.
0:00:48.640,0:00:53.200
Before we get to the social approach
of Skeletal Leap, let us first look at
0:00:53.200,0:01:00.800
how societies and cultures evolved, from a
sociological and anthropological standpoint.
0:01:00.800,0:01:06.720
There have been a number of historical attempts
by anthropologists and sociologists to understand
0:01:06.720,0:01:13.920
how sociocultural evolution takes place.
These attempts study how sociocultural
0:01:13.920,0:01:21.360
institutions change over time, thus weaving
together different evolutionary theories.
0:01:21.360,0:01:28.080
Most of the nineteenth century approaches based
themselves along unilineal evolution. They
0:01:28.080,0:01:34.160
believed that all of humanity socioculturally
evolved along the same process worldwide.
0:01:34.800,0:01:40.000
It was only that some of them were ahead
of the rest who would, nevertheless,
0:01:40.000,0:01:47.600
follow them along the same path in times to come.
On the other hand, most of the twentieth century
0:01:47.600,0:01:54.240
approaches based themselves along multilineal
evolution. They believed that different societies
0:01:54.240,0:02:01.040
evolved along their specific historical
contexts. They rejected the theory that
0:02:01.040,0:02:07.760
every society would be evolving along the
same cultural progress sooner or later.
0:02:07.760,0:02:13.920
They argued that different societies adapted
to their own uniquely different environments,
0:02:13.920,0:02:21.760
technological breakthroughs and outside cultural
influences. Multilineal approach also rejected
0:02:21.760,0:02:29.520
any similarity between cultural and biological
evolutions. It argued that cultural patterns
0:02:29.520,0:02:36.960
in far-off lands were genetically unrelated.
But in the latter part of the twentieth century,
0:02:36.960,0:02:44.560
several multilineal anthropologists shifted
their approach. Through numerous incremental
0:02:44.560,0:02:52.800
shifts in sociocultural hypotheses, they arrived
at Marxism. Marxism made a speedy entry into the
0:02:52.800,0:02:59.680
world of politics adopted by almost half
the population worldwide. The lens that it
0:02:59.680,0:03:07.360
used to look at sociocultural development was
dialectical and historical materialism. But
0:03:07.360,0:03:13.760
toward the end of the twentieth century, it
started crumbling down under its own weight.
0:03:14.480,0:03:21.280
You may know it better as the fall of the
Soviet Union or the falling of the Berlin Wall.
0:03:21.280,0:03:27.280
The most modern twenty-first century
anthropologists have taken another step to reject
0:03:27.280,0:03:34.880
the very concept of cultural evolution outright.
They are rather exploring new approaches to the
0:03:34.880,0:03:42.960
relationship between culture and its environment.
One of them is a general systems approach
0:03:42.960,0:03:51.920
exploring emergent systems including political,
economic and social interactions among cultures.
0:03:51.920,0:03:58.640
As a special mention here, evolutionary biologist
Richard Dawkins came up with his book The Selfish
0:03:58.640,0:04:07.120
Gene in 1976. Dawkins’ book was voted as the
most influential science book of all time in
0:04:07.120,0:04:16.640
July 2017 on the 30th anniversary of the Royal
Society. He proposed a gene-centered hypothesis of
0:04:16.640,0:04:23.840
sociocultural evolution stating that genetically
related individuals cooperate the best between
0:04:23.840,0:04:32.080
them. And genes replicate themselves better when
they themselves get benefitted, at times even at
0:04:32.080,0:04:39.200
the cost of the entire organism. ‘Selfish’
replication may model culture successfully
0:04:39.200,0:04:47.760
via memes that are self-replicating units of
human cultural transmission analogous to genes.
0:04:47.760,0:04:52.560
This is where we are, at this moment,
as far as understanding sociocultural
0:04:52.560,0:05:00.400
evolution is concerned. And, in my
opinion, this is not sufficient.
0:05:00.400,0:05:06.800
‘Multi-unilineal’ Approach
I think we have missed something very basic.
0:05:06.800,0:05:14.800
We either look at sociocultural evolution as being
entirely unilineal or else entirely mutilineal.
0:05:14.800,0:05:21.360
Reality looks to be somewhere in between. It very
obviously has always been a combination of both,
0:05:21.360,0:05:28.720
in my opinion. Some parts of it have always been
unilineal, not necessarily through intercultural
0:05:28.720,0:05:34.560
interaction but independently evolving on
their own. Some other parts have certainly
0:05:34.560,0:05:41.840
been mutilineal, varying from culture to culture
depending on their specific genetic histories and
0:05:41.840,0:05:49.200
environments. I would like to address them all
with a new inclusive name ‘multi-unilineal’.
0:05:49.920,0:05:53.840
Let us look a little deeper into
these multi-unilineal patterns of
0:05:53.840,0:06:01.200
sociocultural evolution all around the world.
These are the patterns that essentially evolved
0:06:01.200,0:06:08.320
almost the same way, yet slightly differently,
in their local hues throughout the world.
0:06:09.120,0:06:15.360
Surprisingly enough, all our sociocultural
institutions have majorly been erected by
0:06:15.360,0:06:22.720
the mind and not through the dictates of the
brain alone. The brain had worked independently
0:06:22.720,0:06:30.320
when it devised wearing leather and burning
fire to ward off cold and cook food. The same
0:06:30.320,0:06:37.440
was true of inhabiting caves and inventing
languages. And these were four supremely
0:06:37.440,0:06:46.320
intelligent inventions that all tribes and races
arrived at in differently similar ways globally.
0:06:46.320,0:06:51.840
But the sociocultural structures erected
by the mind were unfortunately not so
0:06:51.840,0:06:59.760
intelligent. They were flawed at best
and harmful at worst in their design.
0:07:00.560,0:07:05.760
And why it happened so was because the
mind subjectively attached itself to its
0:07:05.760,0:07:15.120
faulty apprehensions of threat to life, in other
words to its self-preservative instincts. Hence,
0:07:15.120,0:07:21.760
it cunningly took control of the brain’s activity
in its fearful stupidity, thereby turning human
0:07:21.760,0:07:31.040
needs into wants. All these structures were
multi-unilenial in their evolutionary process.
0:07:31.040,0:07:35.920
Sociocultural Chakras
As I was building up my
0:07:35.920,0:07:44.800
case against our sociocultural structures getting
erected by the mind, an analogy dawned upon me.
0:07:44.800,0:07:52.240
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Before I come to the analogy, let us take a little
0:07:52.240,0:08:01.680
detour. Abraham Maslow came up with ‘A Theory
of Human Motivation’ in the year 1943. Later,
0:08:01.680,0:08:10.000
he refined it in ‘Motivation and Personality’ in
1954 introducing Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
0:08:10.000,0:08:15.760
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs comprises
physiological needs, safety, love
0:08:15.760,0:08:22.480
and belonging and esteem as deficiency
needs, and cognition as a growth need.
0:08:23.600,0:08:31.520
Growth needs further include aesthetic,
self-actualization and transcendence needs.
0:08:31.520,0:08:38.800
And now, let’s come back to my analogy. I
find that the lowest two deficiency needs,
0:08:38.800,0:08:44.800
namely “physiological needs” and “safety needs”,
are parallel to the concerns of the root chakra
0:08:44.800,0:08:51.760
within the chakra system. The third need from
the bottom, “love and belonging”, parallels
0:08:51.760,0:09:00.800
the heart chakra. The fourth deficiency need,
“esteem”, is akin to the throat chakra. Moving
0:09:00.800,0:09:08.400
to Maslow’s growth needs, “cognitive needs”
parallel solar plexus chakra while “aesthetic”,
0:09:08.400,0:09:15.680
“self-actualization” and “transcendence”
needs find their chakra equivalents in sacral,
0:09:15.680,0:09:23.600
third-eye and crown chakras, respectively.
Now that we have established that Maslow’s
0:09:23.600,0:09:28.640
Hierarchy of Needs is analogous to
the chakra system, I would like to
0:09:28.640,0:09:36.480
bring our attention to a second analogy.
We know that an individual autonomous mind
0:09:36.480,0:09:42.720
generates closed biological chakras in the
human body by corrupting skeletal anatomy.
0:09:43.280,0:09:49.760
I asked myself if a collective autonomous
mind could have generated similarly closed
0:09:49.760,0:09:55.520
sociocultural chakras in human society.
The modus operandi could have been the
0:09:55.520,0:10:03.040
corruption of social needs into societal wants.
Things started getting distorted since the very
0:10:03.040,0:10:12.400
beginning of our evolution into Homo sapiens. It
all started with pursuing cognitive needs. We,
0:10:12.400,0:10:20.720
as a society, cognized reality within what was a
suffocating environment dotted with threats and
0:10:20.720,0:10:29.840
challenges. And that perceived reality continues
till date. Humanity is yet to take a sigh of
0:10:29.840,0:10:38.400
relief, thereby seriously corrupting its breathing
pattern. It was this corruption that gave birth to
0:10:38.400,0:10:46.080
a blocked sociocultural solar plexus chakra.
Acting out of the mind’s fearful perception
0:10:46.080,0:10:53.520
of so-called threats and challenges, humanity has
always been in a hurry to control the environment
0:10:53.520,0:11:01.040
which is a mirage in itself. Just like the solar
plexus charka leads to asthma and other diseases
0:11:01.040,0:11:08.720
in the body, this sociocultural solar plexus
chakra, i.e., hurry to control the environment,
0:11:08.720,0:11:17.440
gives rise to social ‘diseases’ such as the ‘rat
race’. And thus, humanity handed over the reins
0:11:17.440,0:11:25.920
of cognition to its collective autonomous mind
instead of a spontaneous collective brain. We know
0:11:25.920,0:11:33.200
that an open solar plexus chakra means renewing
the brain continuously and thus energizing it
0:11:33.200,0:11:41.760
cyclically. Unfortunately for us, since our
sociocultural solar plexus chakra got closed,
0:11:41.760,0:11:50.640
it left the collective autonomous mind stuck at
its aggressive cognitive wants rather than needs.
0:11:50.640,0:11:58.320
These wants individualized personal ownership of
resources used to fulfill genuine social needs
0:11:58.320,0:12:06.640
before. As this personal ownership of resources
assumes a bigger-than-necessary stature, social
0:12:06.640,0:12:15.360
needs start turning into personal wants. Needs are
the realm of the brain while the mind is the abode
0:12:15.360,0:12:23.280
of wants. Thus, they get corrupted and end up in
sociocultural chakras in the hands of a collective
0:12:23.280,0:12:32.880
autonomous mind. After all, human society is just
a collective extension of multiple human bodies.
0:12:32.880,0:12:39.280
And these sociocultural chakras would tend to
block collective human energy flow exactly like
0:12:39.280,0:12:47.840
biological chakras block individual energy flow.
Let us now combine the above two analogies,
0:12:47.840,0:12:54.480
i.e. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
vis-a-vis chakra system + sociocultural
0:12:54.480,0:13:01.280
chakras mirroring individual chakras.
When individual energy flow gets blocked
0:13:01.280,0:13:09.600
at the base of the chakra system, it results in a
closed root chakra. Similarly, when the collective
0:13:09.600,0:13:16.640
human energy flow gets blocked at the base of the
chakra equivalent in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs,
0:13:16.640,0:13:25.360
it does so at the lowest two levels of social
needs, i.e., physiological and safety needs.
0:13:25.360,0:13:31.520
Same would be true about the deficiency needs
of love and belonging and esteem needs as well.
0:13:32.320,0:13:39.040
It is my contention that we, Homo sapiens,
find ourselves today struggling with an
0:13:39.040,0:13:47.200
imbalance in the mind-brain equilibrium as we
go along Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs from the
0:13:47.200,0:13:53.360
lowest (physiological) deficiency needs to the
highest (transcendence) growth needs. Individuals
0:13:53.360,0:14:01.280
and societies that are stuck in making ends meet,
i.e., meeting their physiological needs, tend to
0:14:01.280,0:14:09.360
operate primarily from the brain. As they ‘climb’
up the Hierarchy and their deficiency needs are
0:14:09.360,0:14:17.280
met, a major shift seems to occur. This is where
the mind starts taking over and the brain’s
0:14:17.280,0:14:23.760
functionality starts getting stunted inflicting
the lower chakras as well, along with the higher
0:14:23.760,0:14:33.840
ones. In other words, needs start yielding to
wants. It is no surprise, then, that most of
0:14:33.840,0:14:41.120
the growth needs are governed by the concerns
of the mind way more than those of the brain.
0:14:41.120,0:14:47.680
Real Needs Overshadowed by Greedy Wants
This had its debilitating effect on the
0:14:47.680,0:14:53.600
sociocultural equivalent of sacral
chakra, namely aesthetic needs,
0:14:53.600,0:15:02.480
as well. And it did so by negatively affecting the
quality of sex that humanity was meant to enjoy.
0:15:02.480,0:15:09.600
When sex gets frustrated, it tends to take
refuge in its sublimation through arts in
0:15:09.600,0:15:18.560
creative and aesthetic pursuits. This sublimation
is the handiwork of none other than the mind!
0:15:18.560,0:15:25.040
In the process of sublimation, however, the mind
does lose a little bit of its control as emotions
0:15:25.040,0:15:31.120
give way to passion and sexual frustration
yields to a broader creative perception.
0:15:32.000,0:15:38.560
This works, but only partially, as a therapeutic
process that addresses the aesthetic needs
0:15:38.560,0:15:47.360
in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs at an individual
level. In society, this partial therapy addresses
0:15:47.360,0:15:55.040
this sociocultural sacral chakra in the form of
cinema, poetry and other artistic expressions.
0:15:55.760,0:16:01.600
However, the unaddressed part of this chakra
results in the social disease that we know as
0:16:01.600,0:16:10.160
‘consumerism’. And we have even given it
a rather ironic name, ‘retail therapy’.
0:16:10.160,0:16:18.320
No wonder slogans like “the more, the better”
appear to provide solace to our frustrations.
0:16:18.320,0:16:25.200
Moving higher along the Hierarchy, the growth
need of self actualization aims at discovering
0:16:25.200,0:16:32.320
one’s inherent talents and developing them
further. It results in achieving one’s full
0:16:32.320,0:16:40.000
potential as far as socially productive soft
skills are concerned. This is synonymous with
0:16:40.000,0:16:47.360
the concerns of the third eye chakra. However,
once corrupted by the mind at a social level,
0:16:47.360,0:16:53.440
it leads to an analogous collective third eye
charka resulting in social ‘diseases’ such as
0:16:53.440,0:17:00.400
‘professional qualifications’ as a want
that is detached from the original need.
0:17:00.400,0:17:05.600
Transcendence needs are the ultimate that
an individual in a society can cultivate,
0:17:05.600,0:17:13.440
giving oneself to something beyond oneself. It
enables one to create one’s personal heaven for
0:17:13.440,0:17:23.120
oneself. At a social level, it parallels the
sociocultural crown chakra which, when closed,
0:17:23.120,0:17:30.560
leads to the social malaise of ‘acute
insensitivity’. Consequently, opening this
0:17:30.560,0:17:38.320
chakra sets the highest levels of collective
human consciousness. Simultaneously, it sets
0:17:38.320,0:17:46.640
all the lower chakras open as well, automatically
addressing their related sociocultural ailments.
0:17:46.640,0:17:52.400
This has the potential to turn human
life on earth into a collective heaven.
0:17:53.120,0:18:01.440
However, in reality, the collective mind fragments
itself exactly like the individual biological mind
0:18:01.440,0:18:09.440
and, thus, belittles every single real need in
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and, by extension,
0:18:09.440,0:18:16.240
its analogous sociocultural chakra.
When it comes to our collective needs,
0:18:16.240,0:18:22.640
human societies use various ‘currencies’ to enable
exchange of these needs between their individuals
0:18:22.640,0:18:30.640
or groups. It is these currencies that we used to
fulfill real needs which later started assuming
0:18:30.640,0:18:39.120
bigger stature in an individual mind, shifting
the focus from needs to wants. As a result, those
0:18:39.120,0:18:45.280
currencies got corrupted away from their original
purpose and became ends in themselves as opposed
0:18:45.280,0:18:52.880
to serving as mere means toward the ends which
have always remained as those underlying needs.
0:18:52.880,0:18:59.280
These corrupted currencies have led to
several institutions in our societies that,
0:18:59.280,0:19:06.880
I contend, are the physical manifestations
of the underlying sociocultural chakras.
0:19:06.880,0:19:13.520
Within the construct that I have presented above,
we can now look at sociocultural evolution in
0:19:13.520,0:19:20.080
light of genuine needs getting usurped by the
mere wants for their corrupted currencies.
0:19:20.800,0:19:28.240
Thanks for listening to this episode of Skeletal
Leap: A Living Adventure! In the next episode,
0:19:28.240,0:19:35.120
I will tell you about corruption in
industrial complex, big pharma & insurance,
0:19:35.120,0:19:41.280
military-industrial complex
and politics-business nexus.
0:19:41.280,0:19:47.280
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