2 - Education and Fundamentalism

World Education and Religious Fundamentalism – 

Two Vital Aspects Not Elaborated in the First Article ⁽¹⁾

The following are elaborations on two most important and vital aspects that were referred to in passing in my earlier first article and were never elaborated, as it was the down side of … global policy and factors related to it that were the focus of that article.

In reality, these three topics, namely, the down sides of … policy and of the world education system and religions fundamentalism, are intimately intertwined and are integral subsets of what I call “the way human mind works” at a broader level.  In fact, much of the downsides of human social condition, especially the misunderstandings at family, community, national, and international levels, as well as racial hatred and ethnic violence (not to mention religious fundamentalism) are issues attributable to a critical aspect of the way the human mind works.  Thus it is inevitable that efforts to improve these/other areas will benefit handsomely from a better understanding of this aspect of “the workings of human mind.”  In the many cases that crossed my path, efforts for improving various facets of the human condition have not taken into account this vital aspect of the functioning of the human mind, and the low level of success of such efforts could be partly attributed to the lack of this vital understanding.⁽²⁾ 

To grasp the critical/pivotal role played by this aspect of the functioning of the human mind in human well-being, we have to understand the dual nature of the process involved.  The first side of the process relates to the natural or inborn way in which humans develop perceptions about the world around them and the second side relates to the way modern education system repeatedly, although inadvertently, reinforces shortcomings of this inborn natural perception-forming process and exacerbates the outcomes as a result.  

From the beginning of a child’s life, sensory inputs about both tangible and intangible aspects of the world around him or her are translated into perceptions which become increasingly complex.  Acquisition and development of language by a child greatly improves this process.  Later, through schooling, the child acquires problem-solving capabilities at a very early age, which are then developed systematically and progressively and a high level of competency is acquired by the time the teenager finishes school, subsequently gaining further sophistication in various specialized fields/areas by the time he or she completes a college education. 

The outcomes of the duel aspects of these processes relevant to this article are:

i) individuals’ perceptions are determined by the information bases acquired and conclusions arrived at either subconsciously or by thinking intuitively &/or methodically based on it; and

ii) given that these information bases become progressively narrower in scope as one goes up the education ladder, individuals end up having extremely narrow windows through which he or she can view and understand the world and its issues, thus with rather narrow world views. (See the long quote from Professor Will Durant at the end of this article for more details of this result.) 

Modern education system is thus guilty of reinforcing the downside of our inherent and natural perception process without any compensatory measures – without even being aware of the immensity of the problem it takes part in creating.  The outcome is that in the modern society we do not have a shared language for the much-needed high-level dialogue, and also, contrary to popular belief, that people with specialized educations will have a rather limited ability to grasp many of the societal problems which encompass an extensive range of entwined/complex aspects.⁽³⁾  This in turn means that societies have a rather limited ability to generate viable solutions to those problems – not to mention the multitude of endeavours that have potential to improve human wellbeing.  The outcome of all this (relevant to this article) is that while we recognize that humans are unique (arising from our brains being structurally and interactively different, both aspects progressively reinforcing each other) today’s world  education system, which is supposed to help us understand the world better and prepare us 

(page 2) 

for enhanced roles in society, failed miserably to bridge the inherent gaps among individuals (and thus communities and nations) resulting from our natural uniqueness, and inadvertently helped them to widen to immense chasms.  One can observe that this failure in turn underlies much of human misery – much of the reasons for disrupted families and racial & ethnic hatred and the resulting violence and social unrest within, and also war and turmoil among, nations.  

If this is the case, it will be futile to talk about the betterment of the human condition without developing effective tools for bridging the gaps resulting from the above processes.  Writers mint millions talking about men being from Mars and women from Venus or about how one has not meant one thing or another, without really providing effective tools for addressing the actual problem.  Such talk is in the category of cures for symptoms and not cures for the root causes responsible for those symptoms.  (The “symptomatic” versus “fundamental” dichotomy elaborated in the first article.⁽⁴⁾)  As such, they are among the “end-of-the-pipe solutions,” to borrow a phrase from environmentalists, referring to the provision of catalytic converters at the end of exhaust pipes rather than taking into account what actually goes into the engine in the first place.  In a similar vein, most international conferences on “peace” are in the end-of-the-pipe solutions category – since they are usually measures after-the-fact and not efforts to prevent conflicts that would otherwise become inevitable if their root causes were not dealt with beforehand.  Such measures will be of limited effectiveness at best without addressing the deeper root cause discussed here that underlies much of the human misery. 

At a practical level, this root cause of human misery can be reduced markedly by providing effective tools to individuals for bridging the inherent gaps that inevitably arise from human uniqueness (which are inadvertently reinforced and exacerbated by an education system that is unaware or insensitive of the fiasco to which it is party for creating) by teaching them how to communicate effectively across those gaps with fellow human beings.  For best results, the methodology for effective communication and related psychology should be incorporated in curricula at all levels of the world education system, for the desired competencies cannot be instilled without such education and training from an early age.  (At all levels because on the one hand an “attitude to communicate with empathy,” like other such attitudes, can be formed only while we are small children but at which stage we are not geared to understand theory, and on the other hand, teaching theory when we are older will not be effective since without the correct attitudes instilled in us to begin with, what we study will be compartmentalized in a corner in our brains and will have questionable impact on our behaviour; both approaches in isolation – either to only instil attitude without the scope for theory or to teach theory without instilling the right attitude – will defeat the purpose.)  Luckily our mere awareness that what one says cannot reach others fully due to human uniqueness will go a long way to counter present deficiencies and improve mutual understanding, which will significantly help advance better human relations within and among nations and reduce religious and ethnic hatred and the resulting intolerance and violence that plague much of the world today.  

(Paragraph 9) Currently, is there anything called “communication” at any level of world education system – including in the economically and technologically advanced countries?  An emphatic “No!” is the answer.  In the current system, a child is taught from the early stages to deal with largely an inanimate world, for example, wooden or Lego blocks or clay initially, graduating perhaps to frogs and mice from the world of the living, but no effort whatsoever is made to assist him or her to understand fellow human students, and finally shifting to higher levels of thinking, including the manipulation of symbols.  This of course includes something called “English” or “Maldivian” or whatever but never enabling them to effectively deal with fellow students!  Although we live in human societies, instilling competency in the crucially important and yet extremely difficult task of effectively interacting or communicating with other human beings does not warrant any importance in today’s world education system!    

The result is that we may grow up to be brilliant engineers expert in minutiae of microchips  and intricacies of space flight or scientists competent in dealing with subtleties of the DNA of life, but would such persons be able to communicate meaningfully and without argument with one’s mate or children or colleagues?  Without the right attitude for communicating with empathy (which can be instilled only when we are small children) followed by a good grounding in theoretical basics and supplemented by adequate training, it is only a few who have a natural knack for sympathetic interaction and meaningful communication, who can listen with insight as well as talk; most do a lot of talking or lecturing but little meaningful listening, and add to the dissatisfaction and turmoil we see around the world daily.  Thus if we want to better the human condition, we have to start with the root causes as stepping stones to arrive at the relevant answers, not end-of-the-pipe solutions.  And for best results, this thinking should be adopted globally in our interdependent age in which distance has shrunk unprecedentedly and irrevocably.  

It is clear that adopting the “root-cause view” put forward here and addressing the chasms arising from inherent human uniqueness which are inadvertently reinforced and exacerbated currently by the world’s education system by helping people to communicate better has the potential to uplift human wellbeing to unprecedented heights; it will also enable us to focus our limited energies more productively on pressing issues instead of the vain “debates” now in vogue.  But it should be kept in mind that for this thinking to bear fruit in the near future, the global community at large has to start acting now.  And for that to happen effectively, … … , which in turn means coming to grips with the nature/dimensions of the problem, foremost among which being the recognition that that vital problem actually exists, which in its turn will naturally open the door for practicalities of better understanding and addressing it.  

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

It is a short way from here to reach the conclusion that religious fundamentalism is a direct spin-off of the very same phenomenon of “the way the human mind works” as described in the preceding paragraphs and which by its nature creates barriers to consensus progressively. 

To know how this works, we have to understand a basic mechanism through which evolution of human knowledge (which underlies perception) takes place.  In the case of non-religious human knowledge, evolution is characterized by improvement over historical time whereas in the case of religious knowledge, the process involves degeneration.  Let me elaborate/explain.  

Of the body of non-religions knowledge, scientific knowledge best epitomizes this positive improvement phenomenon.  Science has advanced over time by eliminating concepts and/or practices that were not verifiable by yielding positive results, as the ancient practice of drilling holes in the skull to drive out demons or the more recent practice of blood-letting to cleanse the body of whatever that ails it.  It might take time, perhaps a decade or two currently, for viable/proven concepts/techniques to go mainstream.  The body of non-religions knowledge, particularly the sciences, therefore has kept improving over historical time. 

But such is not the case with regard to the body of religious knowledge; in matters religious, there is no viable means to verify the truth or falsity of issues.  Furthermore, matters religious are cloaked with a “divine” protective veneer (similar to a resistant strain of bacteria that has developed a defensive outer layer impene-trable to conventional drugs), thus few in their right minds would want to be subject to the ire of a populace that fervently believes every minor tidbit to be “divine.”  This is one factor.  The other is that all matters religious are subject to “interpretations” by those who claim to have the intellectual wherewithal, that is, the clergy, during which process (stretched over historical time) the full body of religious knowledge gradually but steadily gets tainted with the limited (leading to distorted) perceptions of those who do such “interpretation.”  (See above: perception formation.)  Because of these two vital factors, namely, the path for evaluation of religious issues being blocked for the non-clergy, and simultaneously, due to “interpretations” of those issues by the clergy who claim to know but in reality do not,⁽⁵⁾ the body of religious knowledge has evolved over historical time in the wrong direction, towards distortion and degeneration, away from the original messages of the pioneers responsible for them, be it Moses or Jesus or Mohamed.⁽⁶⁾  It should also be noted that a basic reason underlying this degeneration arose from the lack of ability to separate the “message” from the incident circumstances that surrounded it, ie, the life conditions and mindsets at the time of those pioneers.  Moreover, necessity for the messages frequently arose from dictates of those circumstances themselves.  This makes a significant part of what we inherited from the past as “religion” doubly meaningless in the twenty first century. 

(Paragraph 15) This already confused situation is further exacerbated by engaging children in rote-learning from an early age, which stunts their innate curiosity and ability to think and reason critically.  In addition, given that the specialization focus of world’s education system leaves one with a significantly narrow worldview, the process also leaves many of those who get rote-learned educations as children vulnerable as adults to be swayed by eloquent mischief-makers out to get a compliant following, since they claim answers to many questions their victims ponder but to which the latter’s limited information bases and stunted ability for reasoning cannot generate satisfying answers, especially given their lack of a suitable value system to show the way in our complex life conditions; chances of such victimization being further enhanced by heightened aspirations that cannot be fulfilled to one’s content in today’s competitive world. 

With this backdrop, a helpful way to put religious fundamentalism in perspective is to ponder the implications of the “Social Judgement Theory,” a prominent theory in the field of social psychology, or more specifically, what it says about social perception.  The theory postulates three “latitudes” or parts as constituting the sum total of one’s schema for evaluating others’ viewpoints: latitudes of acceptance (agree), non-commitment (neither agree nor disagree), and rejection (disagree).  (This evaluative process can be expected to likely operate at an unconscious or at best a semiconscious level.)  Thus those whose knowledge is said to be complex (that is, those with a wide variety in their knowledge bases) tend to have relatively wider latitudes of acceptance and non-commitment but narrower latitudes of rejection.  On the other hand, those with simple (or limited) knowledge bases tend to have relatively narrower latitudes of acceptance and non-commitment but wider latitudes of rejection.  As a result, it is relatively easy to talk about issues with those who have complex or extensive knowledge bases without much argument while such conversations are not possible with those who have simple or limited knowledge bases.  And given the way humans make sense of the world based on what they have between their ears, it would not be surprising in the least that those with knowledge limited to religious doctrines will be among the most “narrow-minded” and with whom one cannot have a reasonable conversation about anything without what they consider their deities’ pronouncements getting in the way! 

We can get further insight into how such narrow-mindedness is reinforced daily by realizing that it is due to the outcomes of the thesis of SJT in conjunction with our innermost yearnings to affirm our beliefs and prejudices that “birds of a feather” congregate with their kind – be it those of various denominations of religious faiths or political inclinations.  In such gatherings much of the talk participants hear will fall within their latitudes of either acceptance or non-commitment, and little will venture beyond either into latitudes of rejection.  Thus common beliefs and prejudices are reinforced in individuals and they come out of gatherings elated, with “happiness” neurotransmitters flooding their brains.  Since such gatherings make participants happy/satisfied, they provide powerful motivation to uphold shared beliefs and prejudices but little to question them, since the driving force behind our motives lies in what makes us happy/satisfied/fulfilled.  (Think of Skinner's pigeons or lever-pressing monkeys in psychology experiments to visualize how "reinforcement" works – the forces driving human behaviour may be much more sophisticated but operate on the same basic principles.)  

We can reasonably conclude that religious fundamentalism is a state of mind arising from the indoctrination of people from a young age with religious doctrines that originated in response to circumstances far removed from those of our time and moreover seen extensive distortions over historical time; the transformation of this mental state towards extremism being greatly enhanced by the downsides of both “the way the human mind works” and the way the world  education system is currently set up, and further exacerbated significantly by the exploitation of thus transformed states of mind by some people to attain their own ends – regardless of the nature of those ends or whether underlying motives are labelled “bad” or “good.”  And given its complex nature, it will be prudent for those dealing with religious fundamentalism to take account of the various factors that collectively contribute to that illusive phenomenon.  It will also be clear from preceding accounts of the dynamics of the processes involved that it will be futile to reason with those who are literally brainwashed with narrow belief systems that have seen progressive distortions over historical time and moreover do not have even an inkling that many beliefs they so ardently hold do not have much of a reality to them.  … …

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

 ⁽¹⁾ As mentioned in “1 - Introduction,” this article was originally not written for global circulation.  It is in fact the second of two articles that address three topics with global implications – world education and religious fundamentalism being two of them.  For clarity, I have kept the focus here on only these two topics and deleted the few references this article had to the first one, which is largely about international politics.  

⁽²⁾ Such understanding would call upon integrated knowledge, to varying degrees, from the fields of education, philosophy, psychology, sociology, political science, as well as communication – among others.  

⁽³⁾ Arthur Koestler’s novel The Call-Girls: A Tragic Comedy, although a bit dated, convincingly captures many aspects of the controversies and uncertainties associated with this crucial but illusive phenomenon. 

⁽⁴⁾ The labels were adopted from the USA’s MIT Professor Peter Senge’s classic The Fifth Discipline. 
⁽⁵⁾ Examples: The Galileo fiasco centered on the Church's geocentric solar system, inquisition, and witch hunts; current “interpretations” relate to creationism, abortion, stem-cell research, and nuclear physics.  

⁽⁶⁾ Significant insight into this process of historical distortion in the realm of Christendom can be gleaned from Dan Brown’s international bestselling novels The Da Vinci Code and Angles & Demons. 

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Malé, Maldives; October 2009 (original article); significant changes made in August 2010 & March 2011