November 15, 2009 | 
Author by Max Richey
Upon further review, a more simplified explanation is warranted, as regards the previous blog, “The Human Compulsion.”
Habits result from repetitive thoughts. In many cases, repetitive thoughts can be obsessive. Consider an obsession as an unshakable idea that rattles around inside the brain. Nothing can make it go away. It keeps coming back around over and over. In the same way that an addict or an alcoholic cannot dispel the idea of the next drink or fix, many human beings experience the same fixed processes about things that may not seem quite so socially or personally damaging.
For example, religious people are fixated on certain traditions that they believe to be wholesome and virtuous. Scientific people feel the same way about their objectivity and the scientific method. Some sense mainly the forest, while still others focus on the details in the trees. Everyone acts upon their own particular set of beliefs and understandings. And when a person finds another person, who believes and thinks the same way, a natural sort of bonding takes place. These groupings of like minded people are a pattern of human behavior in all societies.
The result of a combined set of understandings is a common sense. Banded by a common thought, these groups are then catapulted by some force to assert, articulate, document or otherwise convey these forms of common sense. Most believe themselves right and good, while those who disagree are considered wrong or even evil. This is an example of compulsion. Once having started the process of behavior that is based on a fixed idea, both the individuals and the groups they belong to are unable to escape the process of acting on these ideas. Compelled, they press in with their common sense to be more and more understood.
When comparing the forces of human behavior to other natural phenomena, certain laws of nature can be seen to govern the universe in much the same way. Human behaviors are like the law of motion in that they either remain at rest or in the uniform motion of their common senses until acted upon by some external, unbalanced force.
Yet, the weirdest thing happens. Ideas and behaviors become less and less common. While still seeking to gain the understanding of those who do not understand, humans continue to assert the things that define them as a separate set of believers. All the different forms of religion are an excellent example. Obsessed and compelled by beliefs about God, human differences override mankind’s similarities.
If insanity is doing the same things over and over, while expecting different results, then why do people keep doing it? Is everyone insane? Certainly not.
Another of nature’s laws states that the universe is becoming more and more chaotic. And so are humans. There is a lock step form of believing and acting that seems irrational, yet unavoidable, when considering that the universe itself is evolving in like manner.
Is this merely coincidence? Are there any reasonable explanations for why these things make sense, even though they appear not to? And how can any group of people ever have hope to evolve beyond such apparent disparity?
E-Sword