The Meaning Of Life Part One

                           THE MEANING OF LIFE PART ONE


We are all born for love. It is the principle of existence, and its only end." 
Benjamin Disraeli 



"Love is an enduring emotional state characterized by: compassion, charity, 
empathy, fairness, caring, altruism, and forgiveness." James Gordon Williams 



Ethologist Konrad Lorenz described and demonstrated a phenomenon called 
imprinting in birds. Many birds experience a critical or sensitive period 
for imprinting which begins several hours after hatching. During this period 
the young birds become physiologically aroused, and attempt to follow the 
first large moving object that they see. When allowed to do so, they develop 
an irreversible bond to this object. 



Ordinarily the first large moving object that they encounter is their mother, 
and proper species identification occurs. If, however, the young bird should 
accidentally follow a person, a dog, or a remote control toy car, for 
example, an improper identification will result. 



These sensitive periods are very short in duration, and the identifications they 
produce are permanent. If a bird should imprint on something other than its 
own kind, these birds will always prefer to be with the object to which they 
bonded during the sensitive period. 



When these birds become reproductively mature, they will be sexually responsive 
only to this object. These identifications will remain no matter what 
corrective therapy is attempted. If the young bird encounters no suitable 
object for imprinting during the sensitive period, they will become an 
isolate--a bird without identification, incapable of social and reproductive 
relations with its own kind. 



As a child I first observed occasions of improper imprinting on the farm of my 
aunt and uncle. On their farm my aunt and uncle raised chickens, turkeys and 
ducks. Occasionally an accident of imprinting resulted in a turkey who 
preferred to flock with the chickens, or a chicken who thought it was a duck. 



Years later I incubated fertile duck and quail eggs and allowed the young birds 
to imprint on me. For the rest of their lives they demonstrated a preference 
to be with people. 



Puppies and kittens must at least partially imprint upon people for them to 
become good pets. If a dog or cat is raised to adulthood having never been 
exposed to people, it will be more difficult for them to become good human 
companions. 



The effect of bonding in primates was dramatically demonstrated by the very 
famous research of psychologist Harry Harlow, et al. Harlow provided newborn 
rhesus monkeys with two types of inanimate substitute mothers. One 
substitute was constructed of wire with a milk bottle embedded in its chest. 
The other was similarly constructed, but covered with soft cloth and was not 
equipped to provide milk. 



When not nursing the infant monkeys chose to spend most of their time clinging 
to the cloth-covered mother substitute, whose softness more closely 
resembled the affectionate comfort of a real mother. This occurred despite 
the fact that only the wire substitute fulfilled their biological need for food. 



However, neither of these inanimate substitute mothers provided the affection, 
security and stimulation that would normally be provided by a real mother. 
Harlow noticed that the infant monkeys raised with these inadequate 
substitutes did not develop normally. 



When placed in a social unit with other monkeys, these monkeys were sexually 
inept and social isolates. Many were incapable of engaging in reproductive 
behavior. If a female monkey did become pregnant, she would often reject her 
young. And while therapy could reverse some of these adverse developmental 
effects, some developmental potential was permanently lost. 



In the early part of the twentieth century, some orphanages raised human infants 
in an environment that was not that different from the experimental 
environment of Harlow's monkeys. These institutions provided infants with 
only what they needed to survive. They did not provide the love, affection 
and stimulation which are developmental needs of children. 



As reported separately by researchers Margaret Ribble and R. A. Spitz, these 
children experienced a high death rate. Sometimes they appeared to die from 
the lack of the will to live. These children experienced retarded physical 
growth, and poor development of language and of intellect. They developed 
the symptoms of depression and were socially withdrawn. Without loving 
intervention these adverse developmental effects became permanent. 



In much of the animal kingdom there are critical or sensitive periods during 
which experience is required to permanently wire the brain in a way that 
will result in proper affiliation and socialization. In general, the more 
advanced the animal the longer the duration of these critical periods. 



This is why for Harlow's monkeys, and for the orphans observed by Ribble and 
Spitz, therapeutic intervention was somewhat effective in reversing some of 
the adverse developmental effects. However, in birds the critical periods 
have a duration of only a few hours. Once this time has passed, therapy will 
have no effect at all. 



The architecture of the human brain holds the potential for high level 
intellectual, psychological and social functioning. However, this capacity 
can only be realized if we are provided with and environment of love, 
affection, and stimulation in early life. Such an environment results in the 
brain becoming wired in a way which is conducive to loving character and 
moral conduct. This kind of environment maximizes the brain's potential for 
thinking and problem solving. For people, childhood is a time in which much 
of our potential for love, as well as our intellect, become permanently 
wired into the circuits of our brains. 



Love is an emotion. Our emotions are related to motivation--what we want or 
need. If we did not want or need anything, the emotional circuits of our 
brain would be very quiet. 



If, for example, we did not want or need money, but were given a million 
dollars, we would have no reason to become emotional about this money. If we 
did not want and need for our car to have a windshield, we would not respond 
emotionally should someone smash it with a brick. If parents did not want 
and need their children to arrive home safely, they would not experience 
anxiety when their children were late in arriving home. If we did not want 
or need for our favorite team to win, there would be no emotional response 
to victory or defeat. 



Generally speaking, the more motivation we have, the more emotional we will be. 
Because the human brain is conducive to a myriad of wants and needs, we may 
be the most emotional of all animals. 



However, we can also experience emotions when our emotional brain circuits 
become activated independent of wants and needs. Psychologists Stanley 
Schachter and Jerome Singer demonstrated this tendency experimentally in the 
1960's. If our emotional circuits are artificially activated, or 
spontaneously activate, we experience a subjective emotional feeling 
independent of a motivational cause. We then have the tendency to look for 
something to which we can attribute this subjective feeling. 



Psychoactive drugs chemically activate our emotional circuits causing us to 
become emotionally involved in, what otherwise might be, unemotional 
activities. Most psychoactive drugs affect the emotional centers of the 
brain. This artificial activation leads us to attribute these induced 
feelings to something. 



Many writers, for example, have attributed this artificial activation to some 
wonderful and insightful idea, only to examine this idea later and find it 
to be quite absurd. Under the influence of drugs, many people think that 
they love the whole world and everyone in it. But when the drugs are no 
longer activating their emotional circuits, the fondness disappears. 



Low levels of brain chemicals, called neurotransmitters, can create depression 
which may be independent of what is actually occurring in the life of that 
person. The person then attributes their depression to something or 
someone.  



Some drugs, as well as malfunctions of brain circuits, create anxiety and panic 
which have no basis in the external environment. This fear will likely be 
attributed to the places or the circumstances in which these panic attacks 
happened to occur. Other drugs stimulate the brain to anger, which is then 
attributed to an innocent person, or to an innocuous situation. 



Our emotional circuits are subject to natural variation.  This predisposes us to 
be emotionally unique.  However, other differences in emotionality probably 
involve the physiological development of emotional circuits from different 
levels of activity during critical periods of our development.



Almost every person can show gratitude which manifests some of the qualities of 
love in response to the satisfaction of their wants and needs. However, 
enduring feelings of compassion, charity, empathy, fairness, caring, 
altruism, and forgiveness are probably dependent upon having our circuitry 
for love developed during some critical or sensitive period (or periods) in 
our maturation. Such optimal development likely results in brain circuits of 
love which show high levels of spontaneous and continual activity. The 
optimal development of the brain circuits for love during this/these 
critical period(s) result in love becoming a personality trait.  It is like 
there is a permanent drug in our brain which predisposes us to enduring 
feelings of compassion, charity, empathy, fairness, caring, altruism, and 
forgiveness. 



Love is not alone in this regard. So many brain circuits will achieve complete 
maturity and a maximum level of functioning only when proper experience 
occurs during some critical or sensitive period in our maturation. 



Language, for example, develops best if experience with language occurs early in 
life.  It has long been known that when young children are exposed to a 
second language, they tend to learn the language quickly, and speak it 
fluently without accent. If, however, one is exposed to a second language 
later in life, they require more experience to both learn the language, and 
to avoid an accent. 



If a child is born deaf they do not develop normal speech. This is the case 
because they cannot experience speech.  However, some deafness can be 
corrected surgically. If deafness is corrected surgically at an early age, 
normal speech develops.  If, however, this is done later in life, speech is 
slower in developing and is impeded.  Normal, fluent speech is dependent 
upon experience during a critical or sensitive period in early life. 



Vision is also dependent upon experience during a critical period in our 
maturation. If children are deprived of sight during the first few months of 
their lives, they will forever lose the chance to have their brains wired 
for normal vision. 



Educators and educational psychologists have good evidence that there are 
critical periods for the development of various educational skills, such as 
reading and mathematical manipulations. This evidence indicates that the 
brain circuits involved in these skills develop best when experience begins 
at the right time. If the necessary experience should occur later than the 
optimal time, these skills may develop; but they will not develop to the 
same high level that they would have if the experience had occurred during 
the critical period. 



In 1994 the Carnegie Foundation issued a report on the scientific research which 
demonstrates that children will not develop their complete neurological 
potential if they do not experience a loving and stimulating environment 
during the first three years of their lives. This evidence indicates that 
the first three years of life is a critical period to maximize the learning 
and decision making capacity of the brain. 



The same is almost certainly true of the brain circuits for love. If these 
circuits are not stimulated by some amount of love in early life, the window 
of opportunity will close, and the development of these circuits will suffer 
some amount of permanent retardation. And while love may exist in such a 
deprived person, it will not exist at the level which it could have if they 
had received the benefit of a loving environment during the critical 
period(s) during which these circuits were primed for maximum development. 



Consequently, such a deprived person will have a diminished capacity to exhibit 
compassion, charity, empathy, fairness, caring, altruism, and forgiveness.  
The quality of their life will suffer because they will be unable to fully 
experience this high quality human emotion.  They will not have a strong 
attitude of love. They will be deficient in love as a personality trait. 



As is characteristic of most human skills, the amount of experience needed to 
achieve maximum development in the circuitry for love probably varies from 
person to person. Maybe because of genetic differences, some people will 
develop a strong capacity to love even if they receive very little love in 
their upbringing. Other people will develop a weak capacity to love, even if 
they are raised in a very loving environment. However, for most people the 
capacity to love will be closely correlated to the quality and quantity of 
love which they experienced in early life. 



If we exclude philosophies based upon magic and myth, the meaning of life is the 
pleasure derived from it.  If carnal pleasure can be described as hedonism- 
a, and the pleasure derived from acts of love as hedonism-b, we see that 
these two exist as something like mathematical complements. To the extent 
that our capacity to love is developed, the good feelings provided by these 
brain circuits will guide our behavior. To whatever degree these circuits 
are incomplete in their development, hedonism-a will grow to fill this void. 



"We are all born for love." Love will make us moral and humane. Loving character 
improves our chance of high quality individual and collective existence.  

Email