Quote:
Originally Posted by
grotto
I totally agree on all of this, to a point though. We are all conditioned, it doesn’t matter who or what, if you have been raised, you have been conditioned, but, at some point, there are some who question, ask why and seek beyond what it is they were taught, (that in it self is conditioned thought). We are also conditioned to “accept” answers out of ignorance and fear, we are afraid to step outside of the social order because we are conditioned to be of a social species.
Humans can start to operate outside of the conditioning, when they become aware that there is conditioning. The first and paramount conditioning is imposed by DNA, which is concerned with survival and reproduction above all else. The emotion of love exists as a mechanism for DNA to reproduce itself. The various sorts of cosial conditioning are of little consequence in comparison to the chemicals that our bodies produce.
Quote:
A perfect example of conditioned thought is this forum, it’s literature! By the responses of many here, we are conditioned as to what is good and acceptable in terms of quality, not so much from individual experience, (I learned as a Lit major, my teacher said, it’s popular therefore it must be good) We are told what to understand, but not how to understand for our selves. Just look at the arguments about what some 300 year old dead poet really meant in his poem! There are the “science is all” conditioned here too, evidence and proof are their gods, it’s their belief and they hold that line as strong as any religious fanatic, their blinders just face a different way, I don’t need to even bring up the “religion conditioned”. We are socially trained to be acceptable puppets who jockey to get to a higher more esteemed level in that controlled group, pushing, nudging to be noticed while still seeking acceptance from those who we push and nudge against. We are conditioned for the answer, not the question, to be questioning shows weakness in our current culture.
Quote:
The topic is love, and we have been conditioned since we were born and have been strangled with it as a form of guilt in disguise, an owing/owning, a debt to be repaid, something to be feared or strived for, it’s a powerful marketing tool, a blinder to wear and socially acceptable when presented in front of the “right” people, but, what is it? Our conditioned society says it’s one thing, religion and science another and we all know, in order for something to be “right” we need many to agree, I however, do not agree and will not “accept” what I once was taught. So I guess it comes down to what the definition of love is and what the conditioning is that we are talking about.
Then how do you choose to define 'love'? I believe that society, religion, and science would agree what it is in the way it is expressed, but there would be some disagreement as to the fundamental nature of it. The discussion here reflects the different interpretations of the nature of love; although I think that we agree as to its effects. Some branches of science consider love and other emotions to be created by society, while the explanation of emotion as chemicals signals that reward or punish behaviour by how well it leads toward survival is held by many people in anthropology and some people in psychology. The problem is that people prefer the illusions to the reality.