“Know thyself”
Plato
A recent article in the Economist discusses the results of a study in Neuroeconomics, a field which focuses on humans biological motivations as opposed to the “pure” financial motivation defined by classical economics. In this study at least, money isn’t everything.
The study involved multiple games with 2 male players, wherein an amount of money was split by one player, which the other could accept or reject. If the 2nd player rejected the offer, neither got anything. According to classical economic thinking, the 2nd player should have taken the offer regardless of the split, because something is better than nothing, but that is not how it worked out. Even more interesting are the results when correlated with the player’s testosterone levels.
Turns out that players with the highest testosterone levels were the most likely to reject an inequitable split. Which, when viewed in biological terms, makes sense. Players with the highest testosterone, a hormone that is strongly correlated with social dominance, would rather accept nothing than see a rival get ahead.
What does this mean from the perspective of Modern Spiritualism? It means that as an individual you have many facets; intellectual, physical and emotional (and if you were religious, spiritual). Each one of these can pull your “pull your strings” in terms of affecting the decisions that you take.
While I do not believe that there are external supernatural forces guiding your life, I do believe that there are numerous internal natural forces. Until you are aware of these forces, you will not be fully in charge of your life and destiny but will continue to be a puppet on a string.
You can start to gain an awareness of these strings by practicing lifelong reading, learning and introspection. Realizing that the “you” in “you”, is not a single entity but rather a complex gestalt of experience, biology and intellect, will allow you to go from being the puppet, to the puppet master.
