Ode to X and Y

An annotated conversation with your Master of Scenarios

X: 

Now that I find myself here, now what? What ought I do?

Y: 

Well, what’s important? What’s worth doing?

For some years, I’d awaken and ask these questions

As though just born or arriving into a new world

Not a blank slate – I have my memories

X: 

Taking advantage of this – that’s important

Y: 

How might we do that?

X tends to represent my own thoughts

I answer decisively – the old answer

Y is more diverse – coach, foil, challenger

Y now seems like a friendly Master of Scenarios, after we’ve acclimated

X: 

What does “doing” mean?

Y: 

Understanding?

What does it mean to do something?

I suppose that may sound silly – we’re always doing things

Thinking, moving the body, writing, conversing, creating deliverables, feeding the cat

The notion of doing can feel alien and beg critique

To understand is an action

Y is taunting me a bit, here

X: 

No, that’s asking too much

Y: 

Conceptualising

X: 

Yes, that’s do-able

I remind Y that that existence is perspectival

To understand implies a degree of objectivity

To conceptualise is subjective – shaping one’s concepts

Y: 

So, the question is: What the fuck is going on here? 

He wants to know as well

I sense that he’s hoping for something new and clever

That’s a lot to ask

X: 

Yes, but also experience  

Y: 

Seek the breadth and depth of conscious potential

X: 

That’s worth doing

Experience informs one’s perspective

Limited experience limits potential

Doing means experiencing

Y: 

Undoubtedly

X: 

And be helpful, for fuck’s sake!

Y: 

Make a contribution

X: 

Yes, please – we’re not alone here, after all

When I find myself in my head

I sometimes feel a pang of guilt or perhaps shame

Y: 

What might be an ideal contribution?

X: 

Reduce suffering in some small way

Y: 

That would be great – there’s suffering all around

He’s taunting me again

Making fun of me for imagining an ideal

Challenging me to do more than trying to feel better about myself

Challenging my concept of free will – or lack thereof

X: 

Fact: We tend to abuse the other, kill the other, eat the other

The first declared premise of the day

Suffering is a result of human nature

Aside from the occasional natural disaster – suffering is on us

Y: 

You intend to do something about that?

X: 

We’re often beautiful toward our own – we cooperate, collaborate, nurture

Y: 

And you want to widen the circle – to turn them into us?

X: 

Religion can turn non-kin into virtual kin

Y: 

With an equal and opposite reaction, perhaps?

X: 

An increase in ugliness toward the remainder

Y: 

We treat the other as enemy or as resource or simply as inconvenient

X: 

Adaptive, unfortunately

Belief is a set of neural pathways that bias judgement

One can mindfully critique one’s beliefs

But if you were tortured, compelling you to say what you really believe?

I believe human evil is adaptive

We steal, kill, oppress, rape, enslave because it improves reproductive success

Violence is, to my horror, a fundamental strategy of our species

Y: 

Therefore, reducing evil may require transcending human nature

X: 

That’s worth doing

This feels like an inevitable conclusion

Yes, we can use education, training and child-rearing to nudge attitudes and behaviours

But those don’t last well under stress

We’re fighting against human nature

Y: 

Yes, but how?

X: 

Let’s experiment on ourselves – to transcend our own nature

Y: 

Reasonable

X: 

Question and critique our internalised beliefs

Y: 

The conceptualisation we spoke of

X: 

Yes, those are mythic narratives that shape thought and behaviour

Concepts of our understanding – our beliefs – are myth

They serve to bias and direct thought and behaviour

This architecture evolved with our species

The rooms are designed through our upbringing

Re-authoring is like renovating – some walls are more easily moved than others

Transcending nature manipulates load-bearing walls

Y: 

What are we looking for, exactly?

X: 

Whether, or how well, our myths align with our intentions

Y:

Our actual cosmology and morality – what we believe to be so

X:

Unhelpful habits of mind

Y: 

And when they don’t align?

X: 

We revise, re-envision – we design more deliberate and authentic narratives

Y: 

What do we do with these new narratives?

X: 

We try them on – we design rituals to enact them

Y:  

How will we know if that’s working?

X: 

We’ll design rituals of reflection and continual improvement

Y: 

Experimental

X: 

Transcending human nature through mythic and ritual experimentation

Mythic and ritual experimentation is one pillar of a transcendence strategy

Various technologies, some yet to be invented, will enable and empower

We are talking about literal re-wiring of mind

Neurophysiology, neuropsychology, neuropsychopharmacology

Y: 

Ongoing experimentation and revision

Is anything stable or persisting?

X:

Good question – we’ll need to ask along the way

Y: 

Sounds a bit messy

How might we stay on track without chaos and confusion?

X: 

We’ll repeat and enact this dialogue

This is a core myth and ritual

This dialogue is a myth

Its creation, a ritual

Its retelling or enactment, a ritual

Y: 

Excellent – let’s try that on

Shall we begin?

X: 

Yes, let’s