The Spectrum of Human Functionality

Humans operate at many levels only some of which are accessible by consciousness. I propose to define here a spectrum of functionality, identifying the various levels and their attributes and the methods of dealing with them by humans. It will also be noted that the levels identified along the spectrum are established by the numbers of humans involved: one, two, a political group, and the species. I don't spend much time on the first three levels since they are well understood, aside from their participation in a spectrum.

1. The instinctive level

At this level the body manifests its demands on humans. So, we are talking about ingestion, elimination, sexuality, sleep. At this level the body communicates its needs to consciousness via sensations, mainly: hunger, sexual tension, drowsiness, the need to eliminate. In general these sensations start weak and gradually strengthen, giving the human time to arrange for suitable satisfaction. At the conscious level humans devise systems for managing these processes that are synchronized with the cultural values in use at the time. So, from culture to culture and from time to time, methods of dealing with these needs will change. In a masculinist culture, such as ours, that idealizes the mind and views the body as a tool, limiting the time and resources devoted to these needs should be expected. On the other hand, in a feminist culture that doesn't idealize the mind, much more importance will be attached to these functions.

2. The social level

Here the issue is relationships, so relating is done. Relating is the process of interacting with another individual in order to create bonding ties. Another way of thinking of this, from the scientific perspective is in terms of nodes and vertices. Individuals are the nodes and the vertices are the relationships between them. In general strength lies in numbers and therefore the need is to constantly be creating new relationships or strengthening existing ones. This is due to the effects of the second law of thermodynamics (entropy), also at work here. Initial forms of relating usually involve talking, since that is the least threatening form of relating. The talk usually has little content to make it even less threatening. The idea is to make it as easy as possible to establish the beginnings of a relationship. Women usually perform this function since they don't as commonly as men, identify with their intellectuality. Intellectuals find it difficult to operate on this level out of boredom. Nothing is going on mentally and unless sex is involved, it isn't clear that much is going on in the relating field, either.

3. The political level

Here the group attempts to assure its own survival. In order to do this it has to establish relationships between groups at a similar level of scale in such a way as to avoid being consumed by one's neighbors. This is managed in a variety of ways, the most common of which is to build defenses. But, that is far from the only way. One country will emphasize a particular benefit that it can provide for other countries, such as Switzerland. Another country will emphasize its manufacturing or art or whatever it can find to contribute to the success of the species. Another function at this level is to devise a system of domestic organization that contributes to the prospects for survival of the group. This will include many things from infrastructure to ideological orientation. The purpose of ideology is to rationalize the imposition upon the culture of its orientation towards sexuality by the species.

4. The species level

Here is the real purpose of this essay. To identify the operation of the species as an entity on individual humans. This is an important question. Are humans free to devise their own strategies for survival, or are they induced to adopt strategies emanating from some other agency? My experience suggests the later. It is difficult to know since humans don't bother much with identifying their motives or the impulses leading to them. There are many issues about life over which humans have no or little control: how large we are, how smart we are, how physically attractive we are, etc. It is also clear that, had we control in these areas, our limited understanding would produce many counter productive, in terms of survival, experiments. So, we accept these restraints as a given, in the same sense that we accept geography or the planets as a given. In the psychological realm our range of action is far wider, and here, therefore guidance is needed.
The species is also concerned with survival. It takes a very long view of our situation and is relatively unconcerned about individuals. The species imposes upon us, via our feelings, preferences regarding the implementation of individual lives. It controls our receptivity to ideas by this means. If the ideas are in accord with the general plan or goal towards which humanity is moving, good feelings result and in the opposite case bad feelings arise. Politics has the job of rationalizing these realities. Human consciousness is incapable of understanding large questions taking centuries to work themselves out, but they must be dealt with to survive anyway. So, the species operates on this level.
Some examples are needed. I would choose feminism and population as the two most important examples confronting us today. To categorize these movements in this way requires the demonstration that they are happening to us rather than the reverse. The modern feminist movement began in the '60's for no apparent reason. Since then the movement has gathered momentum without any direct resistance, even though many of its features, acceptance of homosexuals for instance, have involved extreme violations of the cultural values existing immediately prior the '60's. Or, look at the population question. Everything that can be done to restrain population growth is being done, even though the overwhelming majority of humans don't agree that there is any such problem. Take another example. Pornography is a gross violation of early twentieth century western values but it is allowed to flourish now even though it can't be readily identified as a problem or a solution.
In all of these cases much rationalizing is going on. By rationalizing we mean finding reasons for processes that are happening and began before any reasons for them were yet known. Rationalizing is normally performed after an act in response to the question: Why did you do that? Sometimes it is performed beforehand, especially when criticism is expected. The process of rationalization amounts to identifying the causality of a situation. In the case of feminism, equality is the rationalization most commonly employed. This is identified as an outgrowth of the democratic tradition in the west. After enough rationalizing, it can't clearly be identified which came first, the movement or the reason. In the case of the overpopulation question, the first sign that something was afoot here was the arrival of the birth control pill. No suggestion accompanied the pill that overpopulation was the issue it dealt with, instead freeing women from the subjugation of pregnancy was its reason for being, when any reason at all was wanted. Since then the birth control pill and many other devices and measures up to and including abortion have come along, seldom being identified with population per se, but having the effect of reducing the problem and postponing the final solution.
Pornography also falls into this generalization. The most obvious thing about pornography is that it disassociates the sexual function and propagation. It is also clear that, in the absence of sexual relations, there would be some danger of a shooting war between the sexes, so that, even though much less propagation is called for just as much sexual relating is called for as ever, if not more, given the exigencies of high density population.
So, I recognize the existence of a superior function in mankind, that imposes on consciousness the implementation of plans intended to enhance the survival prospects of the species and leaves consciousness to rationalize as best it can. This force cannot be resisted since it operates in each individual and generates positive or negative feelings according to whether the endeavor at hand is in accord with or opposed to the plan.
In the case of feminism, it should be clear by now that compassion is the value against which its actions are measured. It should also be clear that the first ideological figure in western culture to identify compassion as an important value was Jesus. From this we should be able to conclude that species formulae for continued survival are long term indeed.
Whether or not we wish to identify this entity as a god, or God, is a question of human rationalization. If that identification makes it easier to accept then it has value. If not, some other name must be chosen, or, of course, it can just be ignored and not taken into account. This is a common procedure for humans, especially since most cannot see its actions in any case. But it does cause a lot of confusion.
As the Rolling Stones pointed out in Sympathy for the Devil, "What's confusin' you is the nature of my game."