Agreed. Decent human beings need to take back the world from the predators we have enabled. Even if they saw this episode or read something similar, these predators convince themselves that what they do benefits humanity. They are all deeply unhappy, miserable people and for a good reason. They are wasting their lives on exploiting others while lying to themselves. Human beings who live like this cannot be well psychologically.
I love Start Trek too, Avigail. My hope is that this horrible genocide in Gaza will change us all for the better. We can't go on like this. It's so barbaric, and genocide should never be allowed to happen again.
I know many human beings all over this planet are sharing your feelings. I think this has to be our turning point. If it is not, it will be our undoing.
I do think it's important to not ignore the influence of religious fanaticism in what is happening, especially in Gaza, and the West Bank. The Christian Zionists pre-date political Zionism by some 400 years! Some of their early proponents were the Puritans who brought their religious zeal to the US and gave us the infamous Salem Witch Trials.
I think religion may, even if it has some of the same causes and roots, as racism, and tribalism, have an even stronger hold on the opinions, and emotions, of those in its grip. We really mustn't neglect this aspect, which as you, Avigail, said a few weeks back, means there is a very strong similarity to dealing with those in a cult, which, I believe, is much more powerful than simply an outdated, settler-colonial, mindset, which may be more grounded in reality.
'There are too many people on this planet who have not ‘grown up’.'
Based on my observations, I feel that we humans are primarily driven by our primal emotions and instincts, instead of common sense and rationality....hence many of our short-sighted, impulsive decisions based on destructive qualities like greed, arrogance, vengeance, etc.
Yes, the absence of sufficient connectivity between our prefrontal cortex and our limbic system is a well known problem. In therapy we work to connect them better, which enables people to maintain their higher executive functions even under stress. But it is not something we are born with. We have the potential for better connectivity, but it is up to parents/adults to wire it into children’s brains — in the same way as they wire in everything else. I write about this in detail in my short book, Therapy Without A Therapist. You are absolutely correct, but our neurophysiology is what it is. We have two brains that do not talk to each other very well.
Thanks Avigail. Love the sophistication of your analyses and the humanity of your experience in your writings. And your developmentally comprehensive concepts. And your abundant links to references.
And your flexibility on subscriptions. The flexibiity of Buy me a coffee is great for the consumer. Nervewrackingly insecure for the writer though I imagine.
Hi Rob, so good to hear from you, and I am grateful for your generous feedback. It means a lot coming from you. I know how much you have impacted on Annette who has been such a role model, and a mentor to me. The ‘Buy me a coffee’ thing isn’t stressful at all. At least I don’t find it that way. I hope you are looking after yourself, in these difficult times, and thank you so much for taking the time to read my essays. 🙏👍
Where to start with this Star Trek Gaza Zionism the human condition rabbit hole?
I have so many comments… I’ll just jump right in.
Colonial settler mentality, the right to rob and exploit, is indeed one of our oldest dysfunctional traits as humans.
The original North Americans call it Wetiko, how we whites are infected with a mind virus that is all consuming, cannibalism of everything and everyone as a legitimate way to live. All based on endless domination and sadism that is so eloquently defined and outlined by Alon Mizrahi in his video blog.
For more on the Wetiko mind virus see Paul Leavy Wetiko Healing the Mind Virus that Plagues our world. And Jack D. Forbes Columbus and other Cannibals.
Division, fragmentation and attachment seem to be our core dysfunctions.
Division always leads to conflict.
So does fragmentation as well as attachment.
Division between man and woman and any other orientation. Racism, sexism, supremacy, nationalism, ego, pride, arrogance, elitism. All the isms dividing us, us and them, creating labels and instantly becoming blinded by the label we slap on someone.
Fragmentation, breaking everything thing into incomplete bits, specialising in just a bit, never seeing the whole means we continuously make a mess of literally everything.
Attachment to people and things because we think we cannot live without them, and “having” them will make us happy. This is perhaps one of our biggest single dysfunctions.
Finally add in beliefs and fears.
Our core fish brain is based on fear, it’s at our very foundation, run away.
And all the beliefs on literally everything and anything, handed on to us and forced down our throats, indoctrination and brain washing us, conditioning us on how to think and feel. We grow up in this social conditioning so it mostly invisible to us.
It’s no wonder most of us cannot think straight or see reality clearly.
The guides I have found most helpful for this personal revolution that we all need to undertake on our own, the journey within, is Anthony De Mello and Jiddu Krishnamurti.
Both are probably the most sane people you’re ever likely to read or hear.
I can highly recommend listening to them speak, and
then go and read their words.
Most of what they point to is how we live in constant conflict with ourselves and reality and constantly need to fix it and change it to meet our ideas on how it should be.
How we so attached and all the dysfunction that brings of blindness, clinging and demanding. How programmed we are and how blindly we react endlessly.
How we act, and act and react and react blindly and in incomplete and fragmented ways which just creates more problems endlessly.
All from a lack of awareness, a lack of self observation in a non judgemental way, a lack of understanding and a lack of sight, so we can’t change and we don’t. What we don’t understand we are stuck with.
And on it goes, endlessly repeating our dysfunctional behaviours.
Thank you so much for reading and for your incredibly informative comment. I don’t need to add anything. You say it all yourself.
I did not know about Wetiko, and will look it up. I am so pleased you find my writings interesting and that they trigger your thoughts and reflections. We can learn so much from one another.
I suppose I am impressed with your linking the current insanity of the live stream genocide to the personnel.
We then need to go much further and much deeper.
“Who decides what will finally make its way to your conscious mind from all the material that is pouring in from the world? Three decisive filters: first your attachments, second your beliefs and third your fears.
“Your attachments: You will inevitably look for what fosters or threatens them and turn a blind eye to the rest. You won’t be interested in the rest…”
“Your beliefs: Just take a look at a fanatic who only notices what confirms his/her belief and blocks out whatever threatens it and you will understand what your beliefs are doing to you. “
“And then your fears: If you knew you were to be executed in a week’s time it would wonderfully concentrate your mind to the exclusion of everything else.
“That is what fears do; they irresistibly rivet your attention on to some things to the exclusion of others. You falsely think that your fears protect you, your beliefs have made you what you are and your attachments make your life exciting and secure. You fail to see that they are actually a screen between you and life’s symphony.”
Very thought-provoking and insightful piece which exposes the immaturity of too many humans leading to one catastrophe after another. Isreal and its equally vile enablers argue the toss about what they deserve. I would argue that our species has not earned the right to deserve to exist. Great stuff Avigail👍💚
Sadly we empathic people are outnumbered by the egotistical elite of our society who believe it is their right to take over and kill whomever they please in their plan to acquire more and more . In my many years on this planet i had hoped to see us moving forward but it seems we are going backwards. May God help all those who are suffering right now .
Yes, it’s interesting isn't it? I always think of Enterprise with Scott Bakula. It showed that humanity turned its racism against other species, and it was a struggle to eventually come up with the Federation. I sincerely hope we will not have a third world war, or some equivalent of the Eugenics war. But both of those showed a humanity still stuck in primitive survivalism before it grows up. Star Trek never goes into the question of how this growing up process happened. Thanks for understanding.
"Star Trek never goes into the question of how this growing up process happened"
I think it does to some extent. The shift in humanity happened due to the first contact with the Vulcans after the first warp flight on April 5, 2063 as per Star Trek: First Contact.
Only in the original series. From The Next Generation onwards things are very different. The original StarTrek has not aged well and is dated. Future series are very different.
“The age of nations has passed. Now, if we do not wish perish, we must set aside ancient prejudices and build the Earth”. - Teilhard de Chardin.
Indeed!! It has been said so many times before. But we are still not learning. Thank you!!
"People are no longer obsessed with the accumulation of things"
Zuckerman, Musk, Bezos, Gates, et al - I don't think they watched this one, not yet they did.
The race to the first trillionaire seem very much alive. What a special tribe they are.
That is one heck of a cynical and dangerous tribe we all could do without.
Edit:
Zuckerberg.
Agreed. Decent human beings need to take back the world from the predators we have enabled. Even if they saw this episode or read something similar, these predators convince themselves that what they do benefits humanity. They are all deeply unhappy, miserable people and for a good reason. They are wasting their lives on exploiting others while lying to themselves. Human beings who live like this cannot be well psychologically.
I love Start Trek too, Avigail. My hope is that this horrible genocide in Gaza will change us all for the better. We can't go on like this. It's so barbaric, and genocide should never be allowed to happen again.
I know many human beings all over this planet are sharing your feelings. I think this has to be our turning point. If it is not, it will be our undoing.
I agree, Avigail. If we can't stop this genocide, the world is doomed.
And while not everyone died in the war, the world has gotten progressively worse since…
I do think it's important to not ignore the influence of religious fanaticism in what is happening, especially in Gaza, and the West Bank. The Christian Zionists pre-date political Zionism by some 400 years! Some of their early proponents were the Puritans who brought their religious zeal to the US and gave us the infamous Salem Witch Trials.
I think religion may, even if it has some of the same causes and roots, as racism, and tribalism, have an even stronger hold on the opinions, and emotions, of those in its grip. We really mustn't neglect this aspect, which as you, Avigail, said a few weeks back, means there is a very strong similarity to dealing with those in a cult, which, I believe, is much more powerful than simply an outdated, settler-colonial, mindset, which may be more grounded in reality.
Thank you for your article. It much appreciated.
Thank you Joy. I wrote a longer comment on your restack. I do agree with you.
'There are too many people on this planet who have not ‘grown up’.'
Based on my observations, I feel that we humans are primarily driven by our primal emotions and instincts, instead of common sense and rationality....hence many of our short-sighted, impulsive decisions based on destructive qualities like greed, arrogance, vengeance, etc.
Yes, the absence of sufficient connectivity between our prefrontal cortex and our limbic system is a well known problem. In therapy we work to connect them better, which enables people to maintain their higher executive functions even under stress. But it is not something we are born with. We have the potential for better connectivity, but it is up to parents/adults to wire it into children’s brains — in the same way as they wire in everything else. I write about this in detail in my short book, Therapy Without A Therapist. You are absolutely correct, but our neurophysiology is what it is. We have two brains that do not talk to each other very well.
I am scheduled to give online seminar about this exact topic for the Scientific & Medical Network on 20th of November. https://scientificandmedical.net/events/avigail-abarbanel-the-neuroscience-of-self-love-and-world-peace/
(They have misspelt my name on the banner, but they said they’d correct it very soon).
Thanks Avigail. Love the sophistication of your analyses and the humanity of your experience in your writings. And your developmentally comprehensive concepts. And your abundant links to references.
And your flexibility on subscriptions. The flexibiity of Buy me a coffee is great for the consumer. Nervewrackingly insecure for the writer though I imagine.
Thanks again.
Hi Rob, so good to hear from you, and I am grateful for your generous feedback. It means a lot coming from you. I know how much you have impacted on Annette who has been such a role model, and a mentor to me. The ‘Buy me a coffee’ thing isn’t stressful at all. At least I don’t find it that way. I hope you are looking after yourself, in these difficult times, and thank you so much for taking the time to read my essays. 🙏👍
Thanks Avigail, it's a great article. I'm so grateful to you for articulating these points so clearly.
Thank you for all the proofreading and editing. It is superb, and I am grateful for your amazing feedback too.
Where to start with this Star Trek Gaza Zionism the human condition rabbit hole?
I have so many comments… I’ll just jump right in.
Colonial settler mentality, the right to rob and exploit, is indeed one of our oldest dysfunctional traits as humans.
The original North Americans call it Wetiko, how we whites are infected with a mind virus that is all consuming, cannibalism of everything and everyone as a legitimate way to live. All based on endless domination and sadism that is so eloquently defined and outlined by Alon Mizrahi in his video blog.
See - https://substack.com/@alonmizrahi/note/p-150024915?r=3pd49j&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
For more on the Wetiko mind virus see Paul Leavy Wetiko Healing the Mind Virus that Plagues our world. And Jack D. Forbes Columbus and other Cannibals.
Division, fragmentation and attachment seem to be our core dysfunctions.
Division always leads to conflict.
So does fragmentation as well as attachment.
Division between man and woman and any other orientation. Racism, sexism, supremacy, nationalism, ego, pride, arrogance, elitism. All the isms dividing us, us and them, creating labels and instantly becoming blinded by the label we slap on someone.
Fragmentation, breaking everything thing into incomplete bits, specialising in just a bit, never seeing the whole means we continuously make a mess of literally everything.
Attachment to people and things because we think we cannot live without them, and “having” them will make us happy. This is perhaps one of our biggest single dysfunctions.
Finally add in beliefs and fears.
Our core fish brain is based on fear, it’s at our very foundation, run away.
And all the beliefs on literally everything and anything, handed on to us and forced down our throats, indoctrination and brain washing us, conditioning us on how to think and feel. We grow up in this social conditioning so it mostly invisible to us.
It’s no wonder most of us cannot think straight or see reality clearly.
The guides I have found most helpful for this personal revolution that we all need to undertake on our own, the journey within, is Anthony De Mello and Jiddu Krishnamurti.
Both are probably the most sane people you’re ever likely to read or hear.
I can highly recommend listening to them speak, and
then go and read their words.
Most of what they point to is how we live in constant conflict with ourselves and reality and constantly need to fix it and change it to meet our ideas on how it should be.
How we so attached and all the dysfunction that brings of blindness, clinging and demanding. How programmed we are and how blindly we react endlessly.
How we act, and act and react and react blindly and in incomplete and fragmented ways which just creates more problems endlessly.
All from a lack of awareness, a lack of self observation in a non judgemental way, a lack of understanding and a lack of sight, so we can’t change and we don’t. What we don’t understand we are stuck with.
And on it goes, endlessly repeating our dysfunctional behaviours.
Wake Up!
Start here with Krishnamurti-
https://youtu.be/pi7jdQHi3Q4
And -
https://youtu.be/1EURGBUzJRM?si=k9YgSKSklp3e9_a4
De Mello -
https://youtu.be/d3Y6zOizpf0
Thank you so much for reading and for your incredibly informative comment. I don’t need to add anything. You say it all yourself.
I did not know about Wetiko, and will look it up. I am so pleased you find my writings interesting and that they trigger your thoughts and reflections. We can learn so much from one another.
Thank you so much. 🙏
I suppose I am impressed with your linking the current insanity of the live stream genocide to the personnel.
We then need to go much further and much deeper.
“Who decides what will finally make its way to your conscious mind from all the material that is pouring in from the world? Three decisive filters: first your attachments, second your beliefs and third your fears.
“Your attachments: You will inevitably look for what fosters or threatens them and turn a blind eye to the rest. You won’t be interested in the rest…”
“Your beliefs: Just take a look at a fanatic who only notices what confirms his/her belief and blocks out whatever threatens it and you will understand what your beliefs are doing to you. “
“And then your fears: If you knew you were to be executed in a week’s time it would wonderfully concentrate your mind to the exclusion of everything else.
“That is what fears do; they irresistibly rivet your attention on to some things to the exclusion of others. You falsely think that your fears protect you, your beliefs have made you what you are and your attachments make your life exciting and secure. You fail to see that they are actually a screen between you and life’s symphony.”
- Anthony De Mello, The Way to Love
Good stuff. Thank you!!
Very thought-provoking and insightful piece which exposes the immaturity of too many humans leading to one catastrophe after another. Isreal and its equally vile enablers argue the toss about what they deserve. I would argue that our species has not earned the right to deserve to exist. Great stuff Avigail👍💚
Thank you Brendan. 🙏🏼💚
Sadly we empathic people are outnumbered by the egotistical elite of our society who believe it is their right to take over and kill whomever they please in their plan to acquire more and more . In my many years on this planet i had hoped to see us moving forward but it seems we are going backwards. May God help all those who are suffering right now .
🙏🏼
An article highly appropriate for Columbus Day.
Didn’t think about that. When it the abominable day?
I love Star Trek . First we have to have WW3 then the Eugenics war and other shit then we get Star Trek future.
Yes, it’s interesting isn't it? I always think of Enterprise with Scott Bakula. It showed that humanity turned its racism against other species, and it was a struggle to eventually come up with the Federation. I sincerely hope we will not have a third world war, or some equivalent of the Eugenics war. But both of those showed a humanity still stuck in primitive survivalism before it grows up. Star Trek never goes into the question of how this growing up process happened. Thanks for understanding.
"Star Trek never goes into the question of how this growing up process happened"
I think it does to some extent. The shift in humanity happened due to the first contact with the Vulcans after the first warp flight on April 5, 2063 as per Star Trek: First Contact.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2orQxtEmtjE
So basically, it was due to an external influence by more evolved beings.
Saying that, this is obviously a movie. In reality, we are on our own and will have to manage to evolve ourselves...or perish!
It had to be this way unfortunately, because this is how it ALWAYS works!
And then, maybe one day, we will even get the privilege of influencing the course of history of another civilisation for the better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYZ4IoyztIw
Keep in mind that the “more evolved beings” are in reality the humans just like us who wrote the script. It’s in us, now.
I know! That’s why I think we can take a new path.
AMEN to that!!!!!
Only in the original series. From The Next Generation onwards things are very different. The original StarTrek has not aged well and is dated. Future series are very different.