A quote by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato (428 BC-348 BC) has long been on my list of topics: “Human behaviour flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge.” (book).
These 3 sources of human behaviour appear to be similar to the 3 stages in my concept of Needs, Wants & Beliefs.
My diagram (below) also connects these 3 sources and 3 stages to the concept of Body, Mind & Soul.
There seems to be a logical (time) direction and/or sequence, which is represented by the cycle of unhappiness, dissatisfaction and chaos, my recent blog.
After some reflection, I realised that this triangle must also have binding elements that prevent it from falling apart. These binding elements are another set of 3: Faith, Hope & Love.
I must admit that my diagram is a little gloomy as it seems to represent an endless loop in human behaviour. There is, however, always an exit which I refer to as an/the Awakening. The current general level of dissatisfaction and chaos suggests that we are somewhere at the top of the pyramid and that we need to make a choice.
Nowadays, Plato’s 3rd source of human behaviour, Knowledge, is turning into Beliefs, which are represented by my concept of the 7 Belief systems and its – again – 3 dimensions:
- Love: the 7th selfless belief – Emotion / Needs,
- Knowledge: the selfish 3 beliefs of Philosophy, Science, the Truth – Knowledge / Beliefs, and
- Power: the selfish 3 beliefs of Money, Politics, Religion – Desire / Wants.
Plato‘s 2nd source of human behaviour, Desire, includes the Nature-Nurture debate (eg, Wiki).
“There is a genetic basis to human behaviors. But there is also an environmental component. We used to say nature versus nurture. But we might say nature via nurture. [] It’s perfectly possible for two people to have identical genomes and one of them to be schizophrenic and the other one not.”
A 2017 quote by British geneticist Adam Rutherford in National Geographic (eg, Nat Geo)
I suppose that part of my writing is directed towards a human Awakening. This may also explain my regular use of a famous quote by Albert Einstein:
“Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.”
A Gentle Awakening (2010) by JD McPherson
artist, lyrics, video, Wiki-artist, Wiki-album+song
The people on the city streets
The farmers on the plains
They’re walking in the lucid dream
While the sky is set aflame
They soon will hear a quiet sound
So peaceful and serene
Then they might too may ease into
A gentle awakening
Note: all markings (bold, italic, underlining) by LO unless stated otherwise
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