Everyone Owns A Pyramid - How Is Yours Doing?

In the previous three blog posts we’ve looked into how we can map the world successfully, going from the simplest thing to the most complex using the Model of Hierarchical Complexity.

We’ve also looked into the most basic fundamentals of how we as conscious living interact using predictions. To understand this we introduced ideas like Bayesian inference, the Markov Blanket and the Free Energy Principle.

I also promised that next up would be more practical things. But then I realised, the groundwork hasn’t been laid out well enough yet, so a couple of more philosophical posts will follow.

This time I’ll be going through an extremely powerful framework to understand the development of animal and human cultures. I discovered this framework in Jordan Peterson’s book “Maps of Meaning”, but I’ve added my own twist to it. 

As far as I know, the framework doesn’t have a name, so I’m gonna dub it simply “Peterson’s pyramid”. Oh, by the way, Peterson doesn’t use a pyramid, just a simple flowchart. …but I’ll tell you soon why a pyramid is such a powerful way of looking at this thing, just read on!

Also, here are the links to the previous posts, if you need 'em!

1. A Smelly Fart, The Death Of God And The Model Of Hierarchical Complexity
https://isonaminustatuleeviisas.blogspot.com/2020/07/a-smelly-fart-death-of-god-and-model-of.html

2. How To Trade And Fight Fruitfully - Using The Model Of Hierarchical Complexity In Conflict Resolution https://isonaminustatuleeviisas.blogspot.com/2020/07/how-to-trade-and-fight-fruitfully-using.html

3. Everything Is Alive - Even Ideas And Mental Disorders https://isonaminustatuleeviisas.blogspot.com/2020/07/everything-is-alive-even-ideas-and.html

The Secret Pyramid That We Live In

So, first imagine a pyramid. This pyramid is going to represent the psychological development of a culture. It has ten stages, and they go like this:

1. At the bottom of the pyramid there is “Creative exploration”. This is the most fundamental way creatures interact with their environment. Every action done by single-cell organisms up to human beings is always creative exploration. It can also be other things, but there is never an action or a thought that wouldn’t partly contain the question “what happens if I do this”.

2. The next level of the pyramid is “Generation of adaptive behaviour”. For example, at one point in time, most living creatures had an ancestor that didn’t really understand that they die if the go into a volcano. But, after several tries, we - the life on the planet - figured out collectively that “stay away from too hot” is a good rule to live by. So, creative exploration morphs into adaptive behaviour.

3. This adaptive behaviour is so valuable, that we also figured out how to transmit it without everyone having to go through the same painful learning experiences. So, on this third level of the pyramid we’re talking about is “Imitation of adaptive behaviour”. If you’ve ever wondered why the saying “lead by example” is so powerful it is because of this: imitation is the most basic form of transmitting behaviours in a culture. Everything else pales in comparison.

4. On the fourth level is, rather surprisingly, “Play”. Why play? In this case Peterson is talking especially about rough and tumble play, which is coordinated physical action between willing participants. The famous neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp identified a whole brain circuit governing play. Peterson likens this to discovering a continent, and the more I think about it, the more I agree.
   
   
   The power of play is heavily underestimated. It is at the same time a very primitive but also sophisticated form of building social cohesion, understanding boundaries and it serves as the foundation of our moral concepts. (If you or your friends don’t know how to play nice, you might want just want to build a WALL between you and others, for example…)
   
   
5. Play serves as the basis for the more complex acting out of subconscious ideas - this is the fifth level of “Ritual”. Humans, other primates, and many other mammals have rituals. For example wolves may act out symbolic fights and even symbolic executions to establish their social hierarchies. Humans used to act out sacrificial rituals in very corporeal fashion, but nowadays stock investments and rock gigs are great examples of rituals - the former are about bargaining with the future, the latter about acting out a shared experience.
   
   
6. But, rituals are still not that conscious. On the sixth level of the pyramid signs of a more sophisticated conscious action starts emerging as “Drama”. The non-verbal rituals start turning into planned, physically acted out narratives that people repeat and change.
   
   
7. From drama, we get to the seventh level of “Narrative”. Here the ancient oral traditions start building up in their local forms. Complex information is stored in stories, so we don’t need to constantly keep on learning through experience. Cognitive capabilities start developing more and more, as the narratives become more complex.
   
   
8. Then, on the eighth level we reach “Mythology”. Mythologies are higher-level narratives that combine the key messages of simpler narratives into memorable and applicable stories. However, these stories are still relatively close to the physically active forms of cultural transmission of ritual, play and imitation. They are not modern, rational and logical explanations of a narrow sub-set of phenomena. Instead, they are the first attempts at abstract thinking.
   
   
9. On the ninth level have “Religion”. Religion differs from mythologies, as professed creeds, legal structures and other complex systems appear. Shamans turn into priests and the language used becomes less imagistic, although it still relies heavily in mystic and artistic expression.
   
   
10. On the tenth level, where the pyramid is the narrowest, we have “Philosophy”. This is closest to a modern understanding of what knowledge is. Logically articulated arguments, rational thinking and higher-level cognitive functions get their say here. Typically when people get frustrated arguing on Facebook, somebody is braking the basic rules that govern this stage, and then there’s a high chance that the whole discussion devolves into the lower levels.

Alright, so that’s Peterson’s model. I personally would add “Literature” between the 9th and 10th stage. This is because literature is something I consider shorter-lived than religious structures, but less rational and logical than philosophy. Perhaps some other forms of art would fit here too.

Then, on top of the pyramid, I might put science. This is because philosophy is a very high-level subject, and science seems to formulate the most detailed and narrow knowledge of the world we have.

Why A Pyramid, Explain!

Now, if you are a person who really values science, the word “narrow” in the above sentence might annoy you - and even if it didn’t, this is a very carefully chosen word that reveals the “Why” of choosing a pyramid to represent this whole structure.

Think about a pyramid as a shape. Its base is wide, and it gets narrower and narrower as you go up. Each level occupies less and less space.

So here’s the kicker: The space that is covered by a single level of this “Peterson’s pyramid” represents the number of actions taken on that level.

So, let’s follow the original pyramid that has 10 levels. How do you get to a single philosophical idea?

Let’s say for the sake of argument that you might need 10 religious ideas and extract the core message from them. Yeah, I pulled the number 10 out of my hindquarters, but you’ll get the point soon.

For each religious idea, you go through 10 mythological ideas.

And down and down you go, until you reach the stage of creative exploration, each time multiplying the number of actions you take. So if there are 10 stages, you’ll add a total of 9 zeroes to reach the number of “creative exploration acts” that need to be collectively done to get that one philosophical idea.

Look, the math isn’t the point here. I just want to communicate the idea that a ridiculous amount of things need to happen for a culture to start developing - and learning from - philosophical or scientific ideas.

It’s Always About Nietzsche, Somehow

To illustrate the above point further, let’s look at a quote by Friedrich Nietzsche:

"It has gradually become clear to me what every great philosophy up till now has consisted of – namely, the confession of its originator, and a species of involuntary and unconscious autobiography; and moreover that the moral (or immoral) purpose in every philosophy has constituted the true vital germ out of which the entire plant has always grown.”

What does this quote mean? Well, think about all the things that need to happen for someone like Plato to develop his philosophy of “forms” or write a book like “The Republic”. First, there is the massive phylogenetic line of living organisms that Plato is part of, and the genetic information stored within him that shapes who he is. Then there is the culture around him, his natural environment, his friends and enemies, his bed, his food, his walks and wrestling matches. -- And you too, you have your own philosophy of life, even if you haven't articulated it.

The point is that being alive happens mostly on the lower levels of the pyramid. This being alive is the thing that shapes the higher levels.

This is crucial, because nowadays many people seem to have forgotten this, or are not admitting this. Philosophy is cast away for narrow-minded scientism. Religion is cast away for “rational and logical” philosophizing. The rich and absolutely necessary forms of drama, ritual and play are shut off, as rough and tumble play is banned in schools, people participate less and less in real hobbies and a mindful ritualistic life is supplanted by mindless consumerism.

Wrapping It Up

My belief is that if you want to live successfully, you need to “build your pyramid” in a harmonious way. You need to go out there and just do things and pay attention to how the world reacts and adapts accordingly. You need to let imitation be your guide in shaping the social structures around you. You need to play - wrestle, joke, tickle, hug, you name it. 

You need to pay attention to the daily rituals you perform (and most of them are sub-conscious!). You need to express your emotions with the tools of drama and verbal expression to understand and be understood by others. 

You need to know the guiding mythological and religious stories of your culture, like “God”, “Saviour”, “Adversary”, “truth”, “love”, “hatred”, “Mother”, “Father”, “Evil”, “Good” and so forth.

And if you are lucky, you may also develop a deeper philosophical understanding of all this, and even divert your energies to the highly sophisticated - but narrow - acts of scientific discovery.

Unless a lower level is in order, whatever is build on top of won’t be as strong and lasting as it could be. And while this is not the place to talk about, it was Nietzsche who diagnosed with his “Death of God”, that our culture is in a deep, deep crisis, where our lower-level actions are severely cut off form our intellectual and scientific ways of being, as we’ve decided to abandon our religious and mythological traditions, instead of nourishing and pruning them like a responsible person.

A pyramid is a representation of a hierarchy. A crappy hierarchy falls apart, like the tower of Babel. But, without a hierarchy, you won't even know what is up or down, and you can't act. BTW, the previous sentence should be taken literally, not metaphorically.

Two final, fascinating points are these. 

First, If you compare this “Peterson’s pyramid” to the Model of Hierarchical Complexity I covered in the previous posts, you can’t but help see many parallels. Both of these models represent the idea of a complex and sophisticated structure emerging from more basic elements.

Second, when you start treating phenomena in the pyramid as living beings, as defined in the post before this one, you can gain a deep appreciation for how complex the world is. I believe the sense of awe and respect this can give you can serve you to make better decisions in your life, as you’ll be less arrogant and more honest with yourself.

Alright, so we’re getting closer and closer to a point where this stuff can finally be made practical. But, I’m not gonna rush the process of laying the foundation, because as expressed above, a shaky foundation prepares you for a mighty fall.

As always, thanks for reading!

P.S. I’m still paying attention to how long these things take to write. I wrote this in about 1 hour 20 minutes, but I had thought about these topics for many hours over several months.

P.P.S. And just as a note, I don't edit, these texts are basically a simple flow of pre-meditated thoughts. (Okay I use Grammarly to fix errors, but that's it.)