An important psychological mechanism must be understood if humanity is to succeed in building a harmonious and peaceful world.
People everywhere are distressed by the colossal suffering stemming from multiple conflicts in Europe and the Middle East. History is filled with countless examples of such brutality. But in our naiveté, we dismiss them as aberrations perpetrated in a bygone era.
However, “modern” human beings do indeed regress to the valleys of nihilistic cruelty.
Whatever happened to our accomplishments in building a compassionate world? Haven’t we made enormous leaps in areas of professional practice, in non-violent conflict resolution, peace studies, international relations, emotional intelligence, basic norms around combat, and the proliferation of international organizations and humanitarian relief agencies?
They all now appear as if they were an exercise in futility.
We propose that humanity has plateaued in its consciousness despite scientific and technological breakthroughs due to the assumption that our rational, “executive” mind — the driving force in scientific advances — is equally capable of managing individual and collective decisions in the face of overwhelming emotions.
The reality is that the rational, conscious mind is a very fragile entity that can only function in the absence of emotional headwinds. At the slightest perceived stress in the social, political or emotional realm, our rational mind is hijacked in a thousand directions.
That’s when the unconscious mind — a repository of repressed rage, revenge, jealously and anger — takes over.
The human mind can be compared to an iceberg, with a small, visible peak that is rational and conscious. Simultaneously, there exists a large, hidden, unconscious mind that is irrational and volatile.
Unless we teach children to recognize the mechanisms of the unconscious mind and to transcend the tendency to lose all sense of proportion in the face of threat, we will be left with a planet of adults who give in to deep, barbaric, hidden impulses.
The trigger for this eruption of uncontrolled emotion is often a moment of deep psychological pain.
Pain is a difficult emotion to be with, and therefore we reflexively convert it into anger. Pain leaves us vulnerable, while anger leaves us with the illusion of power.
When we transform pain into anger, we often act out, heaping violence onto others.
Our emotions are hijacked both at deeply personal and global levels. When we experience pain, sadness and fear, powerful feelings of anger, retaliation and revenge are automatically unleashed.
The people we claim to love most deeply are the ones we often hurt the most. When we are emotionally invested, we are more vulnerable to feeling pain. It is tragic that we heap violence upon those we love the most.
Similarly, it is ironic that in war, we heap rage upon complete strangers who have personally done no harm to us.
As a species, our survival will depend upon cultivating our capacity to remain mindful and not reactively lash out in the face of pain. Reflexively displacing pain into anger and aggression upon others only triggers retaliatory cycles of violence.
Only in embracing our pain, sharing our wounds and listening compassionately to the pain of others is there any hope of connecting with the “higher selves” of others.
The sharp contrast between humanity’s successes in technology on the one hand and our lack of progress in growing even a basic level of human empathy and compassion in a so-called civilized world is simply staggering.