Is The Mind Primarily A Weapon?
Thoughts On A Theory And A Counterargument
Is The Mind Primarily A Weapon?
Thoughts On A Theory And A Counterargument
Written by a human, for humans, always.
I was just reading an interesting theory.
The idea goes...
That the mind that we have today...
Was designed as a weapon.
Which...
The argument was fairly convincing.
You have other tribes of people.
If you can out-think your enemies on the battlefield...
You survive.
Whoever has the greatest mind becomes the one who outlives the others.
The idea has merits.
But it really got me wondering...
Is the mind primarily a weapon?
Or...
Is there another possibility at play?
My initial thought was that the mind was a tool...
And just as a hammer can be used to build or destroy a house...
So, too, can a mind be used.
The theory I was reading made a quick decision to say this is not the “primary” use of the brain, though...
Many other species have brains that are used in a tool-like fashion, which are nowhere near as sharp as our own brain.
Now...
Does this automatically rule out the theory of the mind as a tool?
Not necessarily.
But it does beg the question of why our brains specifically have gone to such an extreme that we do not see in other species.
To get to this...
I think we have to actually go more deeply into what the brain is designed to do...
But also importantly...
What it seeks out.
My biggest issue with the idea that the brain is primarily a weapon...
Is the fact that the vast majority of people...
Avoid conflict.
In fact...
When we look deeply into psychophysiology...
Conflict actually is extremely detrimental to our health.
If we were to expect something to be a primary purpose...
You would also expect that the same purpose would prove healthy as its intended purpose...
But that is not what we see within psychophysiology.
The more conflict we experience...
The less healthy we become.
As they say...
Stress is the number one killer...
The precursor to every single disease and dysfunction we experience as humans.
This seems to quickly disqualify the idea that the brain’s design is primarily to be a weapon.
Yet...
We also know that we are exceptional at warfare.
Humans have become the apex predator of the world...
With our only significant widespread enemies being ourselves.
But if warfare and conflict are not the primary design of our psychophysiology...
Why are we also so good at it?
If we go back to the idea of a tool...
A tool can destroy...
But it can also create and defend.
Perhaps...
Our brains are, first and foremost, tools of protection.
When we look at our health...
The safer we feel...
Generally, the healthier we are.
We seek out things that make survival easier.
There are significant health benefits to being a part of a community...
Which would make sense if our brain’s goal is protection...
Because there is safety in numbers.
There is another aspect of how the brain functions that is also important to pay attention to...
Our drive to create.
When you look into Flow Psychology...
We are at our most creative and innovative...
When we are in a Flow State.
And...
Flow States are autotelic.
What this means...
Is that we will seek out these states...
For their own sake...
Without needing any other motivation except for the flow state itself.
We will seek out flow states...
Even at the expense of eating and sleeping...
Which are, inherently, necessary for survival.
In Flow States...
We also feel our best...
And when we get into Flow States with others...
We become closer to those individuals...
Capable of accomplishing significantly more together than alone.
What this indicates to me...
Is that our minds are not primarily weapons...
Rather, they are creative tools...
That are first designed to bring us together...
And secondarily designed to protect us.
This seems to be how we, as humans, function most optimally and healthily.
However...
Just as we have discussed...
A tool can easily be turned into a weapon.
This, I would say, is actually the byproduct of humans experiencing weakness and desiring safety.
We are not the fastest creatures.
We are not the strongest creatures.
We are big enough to be the target of many predators.
We have no natural weapons or defenses to protect us.
But...
With our creativity, we can see how being faster helps the predator catch prey or the prey to escape danger...
So we can create ways to make ourselves faster.
With our creativity, we can see how being stronger can deter others from trying to attack us...
So we create ways to become stronger.
With our creativity, we can see how having weapons or defenses can protect us...
So we create weapons and defenses.
When resources feel scarce, and we fear for our well-being...
We can turn this creativity on each other.
It is not how our brains and bodies desire to be utilized...
There are negative consequences when we do use them in these manners...
But we can do it exceptionally.
The more that I look into psychophysiology...
What drives us and what benefits us most as human beings...
The answer to me seems to be...
Creation.
We are designed to create...
To innovate...
To learn and understand so that we can do this at more incredible levels.
This seems to be more desirable and rewarded in our psychophysiology than even survival.
Simultaneously...
If we do not survive...
We cannot create.
This simple fact forces us to utilize our creativity in such a way as to ensure we do continue to survive.
If we feel or believe that there is something or someone that can cause us to perish...
This, too, means we cannot create...
So we will seek out ways to survive.
And...
If the situation appears to be so dire that cohabitation does not appear to be possible...
Regardless of whether it is true or simply a perception we have, inherently or trained...
Then our brains will consider creative solutions to eliminate that threat...
So that we can get back to the creation process we inherently seek.
The article I read that proposed this theory landed on the idea of training our brains in a similar manner to how we train in martial arts.
As a martial artist of over 25 years myself (I started when I was 5)...
I can appreciate that idea...
But I also find it ironic because I think this perfectly encapsulates what I am getting at more than it encapsulates the idea that the brain is a weapon.
The ultimate goal of the martial artist is not to fight...
It is to be so good at fighting...
That they can stop a fight before it even starts...
Turn someone who opposes them into an ally...
Then use their life and direct it toward something creative.
This is where the idea of the warrior who retires to become a gardener or farmer comes from...
As well as the martial artist who seeks to create a new style of martial art that represents something unique in the world...
It is also where the warrior poet and warrior philosopher are born.
What you see in all of these...
Is that the ultimate goal...
Is to actually become a creative force in the world.
This becomes the ultimate desire.
The only time we see a different type of culture born...
Such as warrior cultures...
Are within societies where they believed that war was the only way to survive.
But...
We have seen nearly every warrior culture collapse or evolve...
When they had survived long enough to gain enough peace...
To consider...
That there may be more to life than war...
And as soon as that thought enters their zeitgeist...
The subconscious desire to create takes over.
The mind only becomes a weapon when it believes...
Correctly or incorrectly...
That war is the only way to survive...
That there are existential threats that could prevent them from creating.
Yet...
As soon as the belief that there may be another way begins to be considered...
The creativity of the brain begins to seek other avenues forward.
What does this tell us about the world today?
If we believe that there is an existential threat...
Then we must seek to identify whether it is truly an existential threat...
Because there are real threats that exist in the world, and to delusionally deny that is fatal...
But if the threat is not existential...
Then we can begin to use our brains in ways it works best...
As a creative force to design a better world.
To Your Sageship,
Cody
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