Hi Steve,
Yes, common intrinsic human nature, hard-wired in the neural structures;
genetic predispositions; cultural conditionings; and epigenetic effects
due to an interaction between the last two factors.
In my earlier involvement with Buddhism I may have sort-of believed in
the 'karmic' predipositions model. For about two decades now I use a
secular evolutionary psychological model.
Take for instance the first factor above, which is mostly resident in
the Limbic System, which is among the oldest parts of the brain and
modulates feelings relative to the fundamentals of life: Security,
survival and reproduction, that is, feelings of: love, loyalty, fear,
desire for retribution and so on.
And so, the Limbic System is what it is today as a function of the
selective process of the survival of the fittest.
Feelings of anger and a strong aversion to enemies, attachment and
clinging to experiences of good feelings associated with food, sex and
so on; and a self-centered ego are a normal and natural consequence of
the Darwinian evolutionary process.
--ED
--- In [email protected], "SteveW" <eugnostos2000@...> wrote:
>
> Hi ED. Yes. And not only cultural conditioning, but genetic
predisposition as well.
> As a Buddhist, I regard all of this as being karmic. However, on a
practical level, although much of this can never be seen directly, we
can be aware of the conditioned volitional impulse (samskara) approx.
half a second after it activates.
> I refer you to Dr. Benjamin Libet on this. In that half-second, we
have the capability of vetoing the
conditioned volitional impulse. This isn't so much Free-Will as it is
Free-Won't. If we veto negative impulses, after they percolate into
awareness, often enough, then the impulse will die-out from lack of
reinforcement.
> Conversely, if after vetoing the negative samskara, we substitute a
positive alternative, our brains will re-wire themselves in that
direction. This is the scientific basis of The Eightfold Path. Its not
an independant agent
(which is an illusion) initiating actions as a First Cause, but rather a
feed-back loop. IMO.
> Steve
--- In [email protected]
</group/Zen_Forum/post?postID=6gbMixMSKvZKAXIkBrTi_W88kzrlfA-GcTHWDkNk_s\
WFsbxW7yt9pD5Z2e6qq0gKAAQriUsZWppBRm82KI32frs> , "ED"
<seacrofter001@...> wrote:
>
> Deep-seated cultural memes, imbued into our minds in childhood, are
> almost impossible to detect and erase, the realization of Buddha
Nature
> notwithstanding.
>
> --ED
