SIXTH WAY OF WISDOM -- B Arthur M. Jackson
Copyright 2001, 2003, 2006
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DEEP THERAPY .
If an individual is to know themself and become psychologically healthy they must also become aware in so far as is possible of the knowledge and trauma stored in their subconscious, and body structures. One's nonconscious mind determines many of one's acts in the absence of awareness. To become more aware of when the foregoing is happening in ways that are not in one's best interests would seem to require some form of deep psychotherapy. Although Freud's psychoanalysis was the first such technique, his processes have not worked as he envisioned. Nevertheless, his naturalistic model of mind helped scientists to recognize that mind can be studied and understood. Before his time scientists as well as philosophers tended to accept 17th Century French philosopher Rene Descartes' division of the world into two parts: the natural world, and the "soul," with the former being the realm of science (i.e., cause and effect) and the latter the realm of folk religion (i.e., the realm of meaning). Freud was one of the first scientists with access to a large audience to seriously question Descartes' model. Although the psychoanalytic approach Freud invented -- like all scientific efforts -- has not turned out to be the final answer, it achieved some spectacular successes, that led us in the right direction.
There are probably many reasons why psychoanalysis has not always been successful. Alice Miller points out in her recent books such as THOU SHALT NOT BE AWARE,[10] deficiencies in psychoanalytic theories around child abuse. Another equally important issue deals with assumptions about the goals of therapy. Psychotherapy is a process of revealing. It allows persons -- at least in some instances -- to discard irrational ideas that have halted their progress and narrowed their outlook. It accomplishes the foregoing by showing the client the forces that have shaped them, thus sometimes making it possible for them to overcome those factors. However, while to reveal past trauma and ignorance is important, the thing that is vitally needed is to replace ignorance with mature and sustainable beliefs. All science-based therapies must be combined with a valid Science of Ethics to enable it to help persons rise above old ideas and transcend debilitating beliefs.
[p. 2]
But psychotherapy has additional difficulties. Even within an Enlightened Community contemporary psychotherapy would still often fail. Its theories and techniques are in need of further development. As new drugs and methods are discovered and knowledge is increased, individuals will find better ways to achieve self-knowledge, and reject self-destructive behavior. Victor Frankl's development of logotherapy was focused on some of these issues. However, he too left out the social dimension. Alfred Adler focused on social psychology, but he still thought in terms of family therapy, and working with the individual to help them better function as part of their group.
The position of this book is that persons must be helped as a whole and in every phase of their life. They must have assistance beyond mere recognition of their ills. They need help to realize their potentialities and also help to overcome their limitations. This requires changing societies not just the individual since no society currently exists that satisfactorily empowers its citizens. These changes will not be easy, but it must be done regardless of the difficulties. Each society needs to become an Enlightened Community which would provide resources to help all persons deal with all mental health issues including ones such as Freud discusses below. [11]
"In the ordinary way it is apparent that by flight into neurosis the ego gains a certain internal 'advantage through illness,' as we call it: Under certain conditions a tangible external advantage, more or less valuable in reality, may be combined with this. To take the commonest case of this kind: A woman who is brutally treated and mercilessly exploited by her husband fairly regularly takes refuge in a neurosis, if her disposition admits of it.... Her illness becomes her weapon in the struggle against him, one that she can use for her protection, or misuse for purposes of revenge. She can complain of her illness, though she probably dare not complain of her marriage.... Whenever this external or 'accidental' advantage through illness is at all pronounced, and no substitute for it can be found in reality, you need not look forward very hopefully to influencing the neurosis by your therapy."[11]
However, convincing people to undertake therapy can sometimes be very difficult. An example of this is mentioned by Ludwig Eidelberg [12] in a "case history" he discusses about an individual who came to him for psychoanalytic treatment. The patient was disturbed by a few minor difficulties that he would have liked to overcome. However, he feared to try psychoanalysis for fear it would end his desire for homosexual behavior, a condition he considered to be necessary to maintain his creativity thus giving purpose to his life. And this certainly might have been a problem since traditional psychotherapy interpreted homosexuality as a condition needing to be cured. It is hoped that individual development encouraged by membership in a Wisdom Group (VOLUME II, Chapter 1, "Levels of Membership in a Wisdom Group") [13] will not be diverted by similar errors. Rather it is hoped that a nurturing community will be provided that recognizes each individual’s full humanity while supporting them to become their best self.
In spite of the many barriers that stand in the way of helping a given individual do all that is necessary to become an Enlightened Person, the task is critical. The glimmer of hope that must inspire the process is the realization that anyone who has not achieved a Sustainable Belief that their Life Has Meaning will over and over confront the pain and despair resulting from the deficiencies of their religious position and their self-destructive life patterns. If a Center for the Practical Application of Wisdom is available at those times of intense depression, etc. to provide tangible help, then many persons can be encouraged to start the process.
Deep therapy at one time was the only technique available to help persons understand themselves well enough to discard the irrational and incongruent ideas that have an obvious role in producing their pain, and causing them to be immobilized. However, recent advances in rapid change technologies -- such as neuro-linguistic programming and outgrowths of those techniques -- demonstrate new potentials and new possibilities. It now seems more likely than ever before that any person who desires will be able to break their bondage to their past and achieve a Sustainable Belief that their Life Has Meaning. Nevertheless, it will be a mammoth undertaking to build a world where every individual has good mental health [14].
[p. 3]
Freud realized that psychoanalytic processes were too time-consuming and too limited in availability to heal all the persons with obvious mental illness, [15] let alone every person. But with rapid change technologies, and improved psychoactive medications it might be possible to reach everyone. When a person's average life span was only 30 or 40 years it would have been impossible for all persons to achieve adequate self-knowledge and good mental health sufficient to develop their "wisdom" potential. But humanity's longer life span and increasing level of education and prosperity now provide time and resources for more persons to achieve a Sustainable Belief that their Life Has Meaning.
Today, individuals spend thousands of hours attending all kinds of educational classes and activities to increase their competence and understanding, but they are often unable to use their education. In some cases they actually fill their life with socially destructive, and therefore self destructive behavior. However, even normal individuals spend the bulk of their life at such a low level of fulfillment and productivity any help they provide for developing the species is only by accident. When persons achieve a Sustainable Belief that their Life Has Meaning they will add their energy to the rest of humanity's. Their ongoing feeling of joy that comes out of their fulfillment and their productivity in every area of their live should more than compensate for the time taken to help them achieve a Sustainable Belief that their Life Has Meaning. The entire life of a person who has become an Enlightened Person would be rewarding to themselves and humanity in ways we currently can't even imagine.
However, much of the time taken now to carry out successful therapy is used just to overcome the social problems mentioned earlier, and related problems such as another one mentioned by Freud. "Analysts who know anything of the dissensions commonly splitting up family life will not be astonished to find that those nearest to patients frequently show less interest in their recovery than in keeping them as they are." [16]
With organizations to overcome the foregoing difficulties therapy will not take as long. Furthermore, as indicated before rapid change technologies, improved medical treatments, and other advancements will dramatically change the picture. And since this is the most pressing goal of Science of Ethics the combined efforts of all who have been liberated should provide an irresistible force to expand the percentage of people who achieve good mental health.
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MEMORY, INTELLIGENCE, PLEASURE .
Another area of self-knowledge involves the memory. The memory, it seems, can be greatly developed with appropriate techniques.[17] Also, individuals must learn their own intelligence, aptitudes, interests, etc. However, these things only become meaningful as they are related to and compared with other people. It is only as persons come to know themselves in relation to others that they come to know themselves at all. The foregoing is how individuals become able to achieve the greatest good for self and society. Individuals must know their abilities as compared to other's to discover the best way to develop their life. If persons understand their strengths and weaknesses as well as their deepest interests they will be more likely to achieve a Sustainable Belief that their Life Has Meaning.
In addition, it is important to be able to obtain pleasure from doing everyday things. Such activities comprise the major portion of almost everyone's life. The foregoing can be accomplished partially by learning to achieve the most from each act that must be performed. Also, individuals can learn to see most routine acts as having something pleasurable, interesting, or life-enhancing in them.
[p. 4]
A definite part of knowing oneself consists of being aware of those things that bring one joy. Sensual experiences are part of this enjoyment: an appreciation of beautiful music; the world of nature; the stimulation of painted, photographed, or sculptured objects; the exquisite smell of a rose bud; the ecstatic "taste" of cold water on a hot day; the surging sensation brought on by the caress of a loved one; and the thousands of other sensations that may be enjoyed.
Individuals who are demoralized and bewildered can often be completely revitalized and refreshed by beautiful music. Music has the power to soothe. If one learns to really enjoy good music they are assured of many hours of happiness. Music is a truly wonderful discovery. Anyone benefits from fully appreciating it.
However, one must remember the other side of the coin that American composer, Aaron Copland, [18] mentions, "The sound appeal of music is a potent and primitive force, but you must not allow it to usurp a disproportionate share of your interest. The sensuous plane is an important one in music, a very important one, but it does not constitute the whole story." By understanding music, one can get much more from it.
Music is also a key to understanding in more depth how the mind works. Robert Jourdain [19] provides detail in a clear way to support this position in his seminal resource about music. The table of contents provided here (chapter 1 - 10) gives a hint of the range of material covered in this book. "From sound[1]... to tone[2]... to melody[3]... to harmony[4]... to rhythm[5]... to composition[6]... to performance[7]... to listening[8]... to understanding[9]... to ecstasy[10]." However, the simplicity of the table of contents may mislead the unwary about the breathtaking scope and importance of the material provided by this fact-filled, in-depth examination of music and the human mind.
The natural world is another source of beauty. Waterfalls, mountains, forests, canyons, a star-filled sky, ocean waves crashing on a shore -- all these and a million more can be a continuous source of exhilaration. These things probably mean something different to each person, but the important thing is that they can mean something vibrant and wonderful. Each experience can provide many hours of submersion and awe.
Also, art forms have the power to help us experience a plethora of emotions, and they, too, can be enjoyed to a greater degree if one learns how to properly evaluate them. However, figuring out how to "properly evaluate" art is a topic all of its own. ART & PHYSICS: Parallel Visions in Space, Time, and Light by Leonard Shlain [20] provides some interesting, stimulating, outrageous, and possibly insightful data and ideas about how to evaluate art. (See VOLUME II, Chapter 31, "Art and a Science of Ethics.")[21]
But, of course, utilizing the experiences discussed in the above pages will not be completely possible as long as a large percentage of the world's population lives only for the next scrap of food and has little ability to plan for the future. As Science of Ethics develops, and replaces folk religions that repress creativity and individual development, humanity will more and more fully realize its full potential. An ever increasing number of individuals will achieve all parts of this Way of Wisdom as is true of all the other Ways.
A core necessity of psychological health is the ability to experience intimacy and affiliative love. (See VOLUME II, Chapter 5.A [22], "Intimacy and a Science of Ethics;" and Chapter 7, "Romantic Love and a Science of Ethics." [23]) The foregoing concerns reside at the core of the EIGHTH WAY OF WISDOM: Help and be helped by other people. However, it is an example of the fact that each of the WAYS OF WISDOM move into the others as they are expanded to their full dimensions so that collectively they are joined at irregular boundaries.
[p. 5]
As IN SEARCH OF INTIMACY [22] points out America is the land of lonely people. "Surveys show that in any given month at least one in four Americans is lonely." But "Loneliness is a healthy hunger for intimacy and community -- a natural sign that we are lacking companionship, closeness, and a meaningful place in the world." [24] When the hunger for intimacy in infants and children is not satisfied, or is not handled in a healthy way I believe this lies at the core of many troubled lives. However, it is my guess that many Americans -- especially males -- never recognize that the painful feeling they often experience is loneliness. Our cultural models make it easy to interpret these feelings as something else: a need for sex, dissatisfaction with one's achievements, a need to exercise, see a movie, ride a roller-coaster, etc. In addition this deficit leads to a high percentage of all crime committed by vulnerable males. Most asocial and anti-social behavior has a similar social origin. An Enlightened Community would ensure that any person at any time can accurately interpret and respond to their inner signal of loneliness in a wholesome way and do what is life enhancing for them and society.
But, intimacy has another dimension. Perhaps, one of the deepest truths about human beings is the truth of their mammalian nature that requires nurturing touch in order to experience and develop into their best self. Physical affection, touching, fondling, cuddling are essential elements in this development. Until a given individual recognizes and fulfills the requirements of this truth one cannot expect them to move very far toward becoming their best self. Unfortunately, when infants are not provided nurturing touch, but instead are slapped, whipped, battered, sexually abused, and/or ignored they can often experience touch as a negative rather than positive experience. Or, they may pursue a thousand different paths in a vain attempt to fulfill this essential human need. (See VOLUME II, Chapter 4, "Nurturing Touch and a Sustainable Belief that one's Life Has Meaning." [25]
Psychological health requires a clear understanding of the place of material goods in becoming an Enlightened Person. Some persons cannot distinguish between necessary wealth and wealth used for little more than ostentatious display. They think that the only thing that prevents their happiness is fear of hunger, lack of new clothing, need of a nicer house, etc. They see a person living in a big house on a high hill with a couple of Cadillacs in the garage and they assume that the owner is living a life of uninterrupted bliss. Many people, especially in the American culture, have the false idea that wealth and happiness are directly correlated. The foregoing brings to mind the poem "Richard Cory" by Edwin Arlington Robinson:
Whenever Richard Cory went down town,[p. 6]
We people on the pavement looked at him;
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim,
And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked,
And he was rich -- yes, richer than a king --
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.
So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.
It is essential to realize that wealth does not provide a Sustainable Belief that one's Life Has Meaning. Those who amass wealth through their own efforts are in almost every case pursuing their alpha male/female propensity. No rich person has ever achieved the goal for which all of humanity seeks. Therefore, they are as much in need of the assistance a Science of Ethics will provide as anyone else.
Although wealth is a necessary ingredient in becoming an Enlightened Person, it is a wealth not directly related to amassing piles of gold and collections of merchandise. Rather, it is the material resources to obtain an adequate education, the tools to pursue one’s life goal, to be able to travel to the degree necessary, and devices to lighten one’s burden to permit time and energy to engage life and the joyful living of it. In an Enlightened Community every individual must be ensured a satisfactory livelihood. Stated simply, production is wealth. As previously indicated wealth is many things. It is much more than two cars in every garage and a chicken in every pot. Nevertheless, every person must have the opportunity to produce so that the whole community will benefit and all persons will be able to maintain their life at an adequate level. (See Organizing for an Enlightened Community"[26] for more on this. Also, note VOLUME II, Chapter 34, "Work and a Science of Ethics.")[27]
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MAXIMUM SOCIAL INTEGRATION WHILE BECOMING ONE'S BEST SELF To be psychologically healthy one needs to be part of a nurturing society. And, total fellowship is the goal of this Way. But what does such fellowship mean? In every case up to now solidarity has been based on getting the individual to submerge themself within the group. This has taken advantage of their "tribal" propensities. There has been little room for nurturing the individual's full talents and abilities. Only those talents that satisfy group values and immediate needs were encouraged. At some level every culture realizes that to educate a citizen beyond some level is to lose them as a blind follower of custom and authoritarian decrees. These approaches by such cultures can be studied, but primarily to learn how to avoid their mistakes. Because of the vast differences in the ideas among cultures much can be learned by this study. As in all other areas better answers can only be determined by empirical study. But this is where clarity about the way the biology of one individual differs from another becomes critical..
It is likely that what is needed for one type of person will be inadequate or wrong in some ways for other individuals. They may need something very different. How to fit all this together will certainly not be easy. Also, integration of all these different needs -- so that the individual as well as everyone else benefits -- will be a challenge. But in many ways it is the range of these differences that make an Enlightened Community possible. Nevertheless, total integration of every person into an Enlightened Community will be difficult to achieve but, I think, not impossible. When individuals have clarity about their "wisdom" potential they will be better able to see how to achieve solidarity with their species and fulfill their own greatest needs at the same time.
A pre-literate society provides the direct contact and interaction that normally gives each member a Feeling that their Life Has Meaning. As a society grows and becomes more complex the opportunities are expanded for individuals to achieve higher levels of development because of the existence of more sophisticated memes. They are thereby able to better utilize the brain capacity made available by the evolution of the language ability. At the same time it becomes easier for individuals to lose the Feeling that their Life Has Meaning because of the loss of social support. The process of losing the Feeling that one's Life Has Meaning can easily be recognized because it is accompanied by a state of severe depression and/or self-abusive behavior; e.g., crime, general hostility, irrational use of power over others, self-destructive use of drugs and alcohol, etc. Every society has deficiencies and is, therefore, unsatisfactory to various kinds of people. As a result only the lowest level of the Feeling that one's Life Has Meaning is available to some members of the group.
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All current and past societies are characterized by having both positive and negative elements. Some of these aspects are hurtful to some members of the society and have diverted them away from becoming their best self. At the same time the discoveries and efforts of each community have collectively helped move humankind toward the ability to assemble an Enlightened Community. Each culture has made discoveries and developed ideas that have helped other cultures to advance further than they could have without them.
The deficiencies of Christianity are legion and many of them have already been explored. On the other side of the scale Christianity has played an essential role in moving humanity to the position where society can now adopt a more universal view based on a more accurate understanding of the human condition and the Universe in general.
Every worldview up to this point has been deficient. I claim that all history since the evolution of the modern language ability has been a struggle to find a solution to the question, What is the meaning of human life? Because hunter-gatherers function like pre-language Modern Humans and die young they have been pretty successful in ignoring this question, and living within the range of their raw "tribal" propensities either suppressing or narrowly focusing their "wisdom" potential.
However, once a group has been forced out of the hunter-gatherer mode they have had to struggle with different aspects of this question. For 10,000 years the struggle has been intense. But thanks to the efforts of all those who have gone before we are now poised on the brink of success.
A Science of Ethics needs to provide the tools to achieve that success. The fundamental ingredients of this approach are theory, empirical study, and experimentation -- the essential tools of science. We must study every person, every culture, every worldview in as much detail as time and circumstances permit. In time, this study might produce a vast library. The goal is for it to eventually become a complete collection of the total history of humanity and every individual person in as much detail as possible. Its volumes of interconnected ideas, experiences, times, places, consequences, etc. would provide the source from which information would be assembled to guide each individual on their journey to become an Enlightened Person. By organizing and distilling this data, best guesses, hypotheses, etc. we should be able to help each person avoid getting stuck in a local low/high energy point and prevented from moving toward achieving a sustainable belief that their life has meaning. Some brief study of current and past worldviews is presented below as an introduction to this process. Additional material can be found in VOLUME II, Chapter 24-A, "What We Can Learn from the Study of Folk Religions, and Other World-Views." [28]
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A LOOK AT SOME WORLD VIEWS .
To know and to improve oneself it is essential for one to have at least some understanding of the various religious positions and world views and how they relate to achieving a Sustainable Belief that one's LIfe Has Meaning.
[p. 8]
A simplified version of such a study is presented here as a way to initiate the foregoing process. A more in-depth study is presented in VOLUME II, Chapter 24-A, "What We Can Learn from the Study of Folk Religions, and Other World-Views." [28]
I'll begin by exploring some comments on Stoicism: "...[F]or our purposes we can consider Stoicism a fairly unified body of thought that promised its adherents, when they attained the rare state of wisdom, a complete freedom from anxiety, dread, and evil.... Epictetus.... taught that by a supreme act of will we must in effect expel from our mind every possible distraction from what he repeatedly calls, 'the sphere of the moral purpose.'" [29]
"Marcus Aurelius implicitly assumes... that the mind or soul attains true freedom only when retired to its own inwardness untouched by things of the world."
"The ultimate victory of soul over body thus finds its characteristic expression for Stoic philosophy in the triumph over pain." [30] "The disdain with which this pagan philosopher [Marcus Aurelius] speaks of the body sounds like the severer excesses of theology.... 'A poor soul burdened with a corpse.'" [31] Epictetus' goal seems to be part of a common thread throughout human history. The belief is that achieving a mental state from which all "distractions" are expelled is a worthy goal. In these worldviews living is a distraction. There seems to be something very seductive about this idea since it lies at the core of most mystical religions including Hinduism and Buddhism. But as indicated below, I think, it is a mis-focused goal. It builds on the “tribal” propensity to believe in magic and the power of wishing, but distorts it in ways symbolic language permits. To use the mind to retire into oneself and become “untouched by things of the world” is the exact opposite of how Science of Ethics interprets the goal of the “wisdom” potential. The intent of a Science of Ethics is to provide a better goal, a better answer, a path toward completely utilizing our "wisdom" potential to develop all parts of our mind and body and our social nature to maintain and develop our species.
In a similar way Hinduism and Buddhism divert individuals into mysticism and prevent them from achieving a Sustainable Belief that their Life Has Meaning. See VOLUME II, Chapter 24-A.[28] In some forms of Buddhism the mysticism is less obvious. But they all develop a state of mind that is impervious to the growth necessary to become an Enlightened Person. (And since the goal of Buddhism is claimed to be "Enlightenment," the same as for Science of Ethics this provides an opportunity to compare the path of mysticism with the path of science: i,e., understanding physical reality so its activity can be predicted and its forces utilized to maintain and develop the human species.)
As indicated above it is my assumption that mystical traditions build on and expand the brain mechanisms responsible for the belief in magic and the power of wishing to the degree that any other aspects of the body not related to this are ignored. As a result the individual is cut off from their "wisdom" potential and becomes the outward manifestation of a minor brain structure that exists as one of our "tribal" propensities. Nevertheless, both Hinduism and Buddhism have centuries worth of experience with meditation and other techniques for body control and integration. When properly used these skills should be an important part of the process to achieve a Sustainable Belief that one's Life Has Meaning. However, possibly as a result of these beliefs mathematicians of India had the mental stimulation to envision zero and pass it on to Western society. Without zero mathematics would have been stymied and existed as only a shadow of what we have today. As indicated previously, Buddhism and Hinduism are examined more fully in VOLUME II, Chapter 24-A, "What We Can Learn from the Study of Folk Religions, and Other World-Views." [28]
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The ancient Greek cultures lacked the potential to provide their members a Sustainable Belief that their Life Has Meaning because, "...in spite of the keenness of observation, the extraordinary power of logical reasoning and the great freedom of speculation attained by the Athenian... industrial craftspersons were only just above the slave in social rank, their type of knowledge and the method upon which it depended lacked prestige and authority." [17] The Greeks, therefore, made the knowledge and interests of the craftsperson inferior, unworthy, unimportant. Yet, it is these skills and interests that led to the recognition of the importance of study of empirical processes, the core of modern science. Since ancient Greek thinkers scorned the empirical process their efforts to understand the universe were based almost entirely on rational speculation guided by debate. Nevertheless, at a fundamental level their worldview was proscribed by custom and authority. They perpetuated slavery and suppression of females. As a result, injustice was a necessary part of their philosophy. The "Sustainable Belief that one's Life Has Meaning" concept was beyond their comprehension. Therefore, their destruction or change was inevitable. However, the Greeks discovered many of the key ideas necessary to develop the Sustainable Belief that one's Life Has Meaning concept. According to Alan Cromer [33] the seminal concepts of objectivity and deductive reasoning were contributed by the Greeks. Without the Greeks Cromer postulates that these concepts, essential to the development of modern science, might never have been discovered.
My own opinion is that humanity's "wisdom" potential would eventually have found a way to reach these or similar tools even in the absence of the Greeks. But, regardless of whether this is true or not, all of humanity has much to be grateful for because of that fruitful era.
Medieval Europe did not permit its members a Sustainable Belief that their Life Has Meaning. These societies did not possess the technical knowledge, social structures, or spiritual level necessary to provide it. They made it impossible to attain the foregoing things because they had accepted resistance to change as a necessary part of their world-view. "...[T]hat which had rested upon custom was to be restored, resting no longer upon the habits of the past, but upon the very metaphysics of Being and the Universe. Metaphysics is a substitute for custom as the source and guarantor of higher moral and social values...." [34] They were merely finding a different way to provide a Feeling that one's Life Has Meaning. A Sustainable Feeling/Belief that one's Life Has Meaning was not possible until this idea was overthrown, hence change was necessary. Nevertheless, medieval Europe's contributions were critical parts of the mosaic that allowed us to reach our current level of understanding.
American Indians lacked the technological (including medical), psychological, philosophical, and religious knowledge necessary to protect themselves from invasion and control. Because their societies could not withstand this external impact and protect them from its effects they had their societies shaken down around them. They lacked the knowledge necessary to cope with new situations as they arose. And their societies could show them no way of obtaining this knowledge. Also, their societies could not free members from bondage to a limiting world-view. Their lives were proscribed by "tribal" propensities. They could not prolong life, develop each person's full positive potential, nor move all members of their society to become Enlightened Persons. Although, many were content with their lot (just as are many of the members of any society) they had not attained nor could their society help them attain a Sustainable Belief that their Life Has Meaning. But American Indians contributed in numerous ways to those things that have made it possible to develop a Science of Ethics. Possibly, they provided the model that led to the development of government by federal union, a critical idea in the development of the modern world.
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