Chapter 5

Predator-Prey Politics
/55},
05t rdigbnS play on home- territory senti- ments and seek to establish political- military' police- predator control. Position in the pecking order had always been influenced, if not determined, by religious status. Until 1960, for ex- ample, only a predator Protestant could become presi- dent of the United States.
God #2 is the presocial, wily-animal god of emotkm-hcomotion that resides within our nervous
systeniy ready to pour out flight-fight endocrine
juices. The Second God is the emotional Mammal
The Second Craft of God is intelligent access to
and control of emotions.
Religions activate midbrain centers that mediate mam- malian, emotional territorial behavior. Dumb religions stimulate defense of home turf aggression- control and submission docility. The smarter religions stimulate migra- tion. Judeo- Christian- Moslem, Marxist religions glorify conquest, expansion, and murder of nonbelie vers. The deliberate incitement of chauvinist- partisan fear- and- rage is a standard tactic in most human theologies.
22 Your&ramkGod
Anthropocentric Philosophies
Ethology and sociobiology observe the behavior of animals in natural habitats and study the reflex methods of social organization used by other species — territorial- ity, caste division of labor, bluff, slavery, gestural communication, olfactory signaling, migration, hierar- chy. There seems to be no social problem discussed in the Judeo- Christian Bible that has not been solved more
■■■™™"""™"™"™™™™"""'"'«™ harmoniously and
The deliberate incitement intelligently by social
of chau\/ini5t-parti5an insects.
fear-and-rage is a ^^^,^^ religions- standard tactic in moet ^^^, ^,ban and thus
human tfeoiogies. ^^,^ ^^ ,^^^ ^i,h
""^^ nature — have developed
ecological sensitivities that are in agreement with the recent insights of sociobiologists. Surely it is time for grim, suspicious, fear- rage mammalian Islamo- Christian sects to adapt a more genial, tolerant perspective of interspecies or intraspecies collaboration.
The psychedelic drug experimentation of the 1960s produced one wonderful bi- product — a pagan love of nature , a hippy sense of alienation from man- made anthropocentric philosophies. Is it not clear that the ecology movement owes its birth to barefoot acid- pagan concern for nature?
Here again, we see that brains activated by psyche- delic drugs readily accept the findings of modem science, restate the Oriental life- affirming philosophies of Bud- dhism, Jainism, Hinduism; and make possible the Scientific Paganism of the 2P^ Century
Timothy Leary
25
That's Dangerous, Man!
When I was studying mammalian theology at Folsom prison in 1973, it was my custom, during the clear, blue- sky, desert- hot summer months, to walk barefoot in the prison yard. One day the leader of the Hell's Angels, his name was James "Fu" Griffin, approached me.
"Hey, man, " he said, "how come you walk barefoot in the prison yard? Don't you know that's danger- ous? " We were the best of friends and his question was solicitous, not hostile. He wanted nothing but the best for me.
"Why is it dangerous? " I asked.
"Well you' re exposed. Like to germs and all. You know all these animals spit on the ground here. "
"Yeah, I know. But here' s how I look at It. When you walk barefoot, like undefended, you are very alert about where you put your feet. I'm more alive, like a wild animal, when I'm barefoot. And, come to think of it, I believe it would be better if more prison- ers here stopped spitting on the yard and joined me walking barefoot. "
"I see what you mean, " said James "Fu" Griffin.
He subsequently got a degree in anthropology from Berkeley and later became a Country- Western promoter in San Francisco.
Loco-Motions
Psychopharmacology, particularly in its use of the tranquilizers, has introduced the notion of "turning off* irrelevant or inappropriate emotion, thus giving medical respectability to the Hindu and hipster notion of being "cool. " Let us consider a dictionary definition. "Emo-
24 Your dra\n\5 God
tion: agitation of the passions or sensibilities often in- volving physiological changes. Rage, fear, greed, desire, gratitude, jealousy, self- pity. " Is this any way to run a species? Why do these loco- motions play such a visible part in human life?
Mediterranean
Personal emotions are poetically considered to be a diagnostic symptom of humanity. Mr. Spock, of Star Trek is "alien" because he does not break down in irra- tional outbursts, fits of temper, or sentiment. If, now and then a tiny little tear of self- pity would appear in Spock' s eye we would consider him one- of- us. To be human is, for many psychologists, to be honestly irratio- nal. One shows one's "real nature" when some unpleas- ant feeling is revealed.
This romantic view of human nature is clearly Medi- ^ii^^a^iiiii^iiiiiiiiiiii,^^ terranean. Now that our species
Einotbrial actions is ready to send advanced probes arc the most into space it is a matter o{ COntrSiCtcd, amusement that our
dangerous f onn species- identity is influenced by a of f anatiCSiXipor. bunch of semi- illiterate
Emotions Si^C Bronze- Age Greeks , Italians , 3idd\Ct\VC, V\3rCOt\C, and Semites. Saint Augustine 9!C\d StUpcfacient. was a fanatic, superstitious ■■■■■■■■■■■■H Libyan. Aristotle was an Athe- nian living in a barbarous era when treachery, igno- rance, fanaticism were endemic. Old Testament drama, vulgarized by Italian opera and homogenized in our modem prime- time soap opera, has insidiously glorified emotions — mammalian, male- macho meanness, and self-pity. Even today this humorless, jumpy fanaticism arises from the Mediterranean basin like an adrenaline smog.
Timothy Leary 25
God the Emotional Mammal
Romantic poetry and fiction of the last 2 , 000 years has quite blinded us to the fact that emotions are a low mammalian form of jungle consciousness. Emotional actions are the most contracted, dangerous form of fanatic stupor. Any peasant, any child can tell you that. Beware of emotions. Watch out for the emotional person, the heavy- breathing lurching Latin lunatic. The emotional person is turned off sensually. Hir body is a churning robot; s/ he has lost all connection with cellular wisdom or atomic revelation. Emotions are addictive, narcotic, and stupefacient. Like an alcoholic or a junkie, the frightened person activates hir favorite mammalian circuit.
Moods such as sorrow and joy accompany emotions. Like a junkie who has just connected, the emotional person feels good when s/ he has scored emotionally — i. e. , put someone down or been beaten down.
Conscious love is not an emotion; it is serene merging with yourself, with other
people, with other forms of MMMHHMHHHHMnHMHi
energy. Love cannot exist in The Q^CSit k'lCk of the an emotional state. The great myStiC experience 13 the kick of the mystic experience euddcn relief from
is the sudden relief from emotional pre65Ure.
emotional pressure. The only ^ggggggggggggg/g^^ state in which we can leam,
harmonize, grow, merge, join, understand, is the absence of emotion called security, attained through fine- tuning the emotions.
Emergency Alarms
Why, then, if emotions are so painful, demanding, and blinding, are they built into the human repertoire
26 Your ^ain Is God
for a basic survival purpose. Emotions are emergency alarms. The organism at the point- of- death threat or territorial invasion goes into a paroxysm of frantic activ- ity, like a fish out of water, like a cornered animal.
The sensible animal avoids situations that elicit fear. Your wise animal prefers to lay back relaxed- using his senses, tuned into his delicious body- organ music, closing his eyes to drift back in cellular memory. Dogs and cats are high — alertly cool, all the time — except when bad luck demands emotional measures.
Evolution works through recapitulation, adding new somaticneural circuits to the old, requiring each indi- vidual to repeat the evolutionary stages of the species. Each of us has a mammalian midbrain geared for territo- rial security, physical safety, offensive. In order to perform any of the "higher" functions of intelligence, we must satisfy the midbrain. We must arrange our lives so that we feel "at home, " cozy, safe in a territorial niche, with adequate food supply.
It is also part of survival wisdom to check out, dry- run, our animal emotional repertoire. Flick through the paranoia dials regularly. What would I do if an armed robber stole into the house at midnight? What would I do if jumped by some hoods in the parking lot? What would I do if the underclasses break out of the ghetto or the rednecks invade the ghetto?
Like all our divinities, the presocial, wily- animal god of emotion- locomotion resides within our nervous system, ready to pour out flight- fight endocrine juices. Politicians and priests deliberately play on our fears and exaggerate our dangers for their own profit. This is the National Security ploy. The intelligent human being has learned to turn- on- and- off the emotions, the way you navigate the other circuits in your brain.