Scientists in the 1970s found that when they taught a group of monkeys on an isolated island a new behavior, monkeys on the other side of the ocean eventually learned it themselves.

The phenomenon is called the Hundredth Monkey Effect.  The observations are highly misrepresented and there were actually only 59 monkeys, but the hypothesis makes for an interesting allegory on human society and collective consciousness.

I find it interesting how someone makes a comment every time I wear my cross earrings. Sometimes the comment isn’t vocal, it is an eye-roll or a laugh. You can visualize it… the same response people get when they reveal their religious or political identity. I’ve always squinted my eyes, that isn’t party dialogue. But as we near 2020, it is a top three conversation topic.

I don’t know what led me to this post or what my focus was even intended to be. My first blog post fell into my lap; too many words to cram into a poem. The last few weeks I waited for something to nudge me to my keyboard. I guess the judgement of my earrings annoyed me. It happened the same week one of my only Christian friends was in town visiting. He is one of the few people I find comfort in expressing my beliefs with. He doesn’t take complicated issues and convert them to simple narratives.

We convert oxygen to carbon dioxide, regenerate cells, transmit nerve signals to our brains, you get it. We are all connected in some way or another and by something far more superior than we can comprehend, who is in-control of everything else as well (Colossians 1:15-17). Whatever way it is thought about, whatever way its discussed and debated, a common understanding among the majority is there is a cosmic intelligence.

I say this while being highly entranced with quantum biology and pseudoscience.

The state of spirituality is concerning in the age of technology. Society is quickly abandoning Abrahamic religions for pseudo-philosophical and spiritual movements. Alan Watts, Terence McKenna, and Timothy Leary are the founding fathers and Buddha is Jesus. A new America. Read James Redfield’s 1993 novel “The Celestine Prophecy” for reference.

When discussing your viewpoints and beliefs with most people, there is a polarization. But there are too many complexities to shade out the grey areas. According to Psychologists, our brain processes in a dualistic way, resulting in quick and irrational decisions and behaviors. The issues at stake are foundational, like religion and politics. One idea is either enlightening and morally right to us, which must mean the other idea is wrong and evil. It is a psychological anchor and it is much easier to find a flaw in a system than to amend it.

I lost a handful of friends throughout college because of this very perplexing binary dilemma. These boxes with specific labels and the assumptions that follow… how can neurological development be promoted in an environment like this? These practices malform us. Education ends when polarization begins. How boringly predictable. We should be stimulated by the so-called antagonist.

Harrison Warren wrote that “the cultural pressure to sort ourselves into ideological pure and homogenous cliques is strong” …is this eating away at our ability as a society to seek common ground?  It isn’t that elegantly divided.

It is Twilightzone-ish, isn’t it? How we forsake our skin and bones for filters? A third mediating element could resolve these dilemmas and perhaps it could breed hope… the Hundredth Human Effect we could call it.

Or maybe we are just meant to be crushed to smithereens.