Getting Beyond the Matrix

John Stanley writes an interesting, brief article where he describes the "believing brain" and the nature of psychopathology. Our brains construct their worlds based on beliefs inculcated in us by society, family, school, church, etc., thus enabling us to exist and move about in our worlds. However, when we are confronted with a reality or new set of facts which challenge this ingrained view, how do we respond? With empathy and the ability to change, or with lack of empathy and rejection of those facts (and, often, people)?

Research by Simon Baron-Cohen and colleagues has more recently identified the circuit in our brain that generates spontaneous empathy for others' feelings. Unsurprisingly, it is underactive in individuals who commit acts of cruelty. Unfeeling cruelty toward others has traditionally been called "evil." Now we have a precise neurogenetic definition: "zero-empathy" is the root of all evil.


He likens this conflict with the choice Neo had in "The Matrix": remain in the Matrix or take the "red pill" and leave the Matrix to join the greater reality. He uses the current conflict surrounding global warming as an example: corporations place profit above empathy for future generations, thus condemning them to catastrophic environmental collapse in the pursuit of short-term gain. This is, literally, psychopathic - or, evil. The Matrix here is the denial of the greater reality of which we are a part, the denial of interrelatedness, and he calls for choosing the red pill.

It's time to break out of our unsustainable zero-empathy matrix. To be or not to be is now the pressing spiritual question before us -- as individuals, as citizens, as a civilization and as a species.