Critical Thinking: Can Repression Allow A Society To Appear More Evolved Than It Is?

In many society’s around the world that are seen as being ‘civilised’, there are things that take place that make some people question this view. This includes how animals are often treated, how people in power often behave and how people often treat each other.

In addition to this, the kind of things that are largely seen as being a normal part of society, are the things that take palace every now and then. This includes how some people are treated when there is a demonstration and where there is a murder.

Two Extremes

While this is going on, there are all the technological advancements that are being made. It could be said that these are things that are primarily created to make things easier for humanity and to take them forward.

In one area, the focus will be on creating an even better Smartphone, in another, it will be on how to colonise another planet. Therefore, although there is a lot of behaviour that can be seen as being ‘uncivilised’, there is a lot of behaviour that can be seen as being ‘civilised’.

One Outlook

Now, it would be easy to say that most people in a society are civilised and that it is just the few that are not. If it wasn’t for the few that cause most of the problems, then, it would be very different.

This would mean that there are the people who have left their more primitive side behind and those that haven’t. By outgrowing this side of their nature, these people are able to act in a civilised manner.

Another Angle

It may appear to be this black and white, with there being those who are on one side of the spectrum and those who are on the other, but this can be seen as a very surface level assessment. For example, how common is it for a leader who comes across as evolved to end up being found guilty of behaviour that is anything but evolved?

It is not even necessary to look towards someone like this, though, as there are numerous examples at a local level where someone has engaged in behaviour that goes competently against the image that they had presented to the world.

A Closer Look

For example, someone could be a leading light in the community and do all kinds of things to help others and yet, when they are at home, they could brutalise their children and their partner. How they behave in one area of their life will then be radically different to how they come across in another.

But, without even going this far, someone can create the impression of being an evolved human being in just about every area of their life and still engage in behaviours that have more in common with how a child would behave. So, they could find it hard it control their impulses and be hooked on a number of things that are greatly undermining them.

Two Levels

What this illustrates is that human beings are multifaceted and how they come across is not always an accurate reflection of what is truly going on for them. However, not only are they good at deceiving others, they are also very good at deceiving themselves.

If they were only made up of an instinctual and emotional self, this probably wouldn’t take palace. Yet, as they also have an intellectual or mental self, this allows them to both consciously and unconsciously not only cover up what is truly going on for them; it also allows them to lose touch with it altogether.

One Big Facade

Taking this into account, thanks to the ability that someone will have to lose touch with what is truly going on for them, it means that they can deceive themselves and then others into believing that they are more evolved than they are. One can then behave in a certain way and have a well-developed intellect but, at an emotional level, they can be extremely underdeveloped.

On one level, they will be evolved and play a part in creating a civilised society but at another level, they will be unevolved and the uncivilised parts of society will be a reflection of the uncivilised parts of their own being. Nonetheless, due to what they have repressed and as their extroverted intellect will see what is going on ‘out there’ as being separate from them, there will be no reason for them to see the connection.

The Modus Operandi

There will be the mental and emotional content someone has repressed during their childhood and adulthood. Once something has been pushed out of their conscious awareness, they will have forgotten that they have forgotten about it.

When it comes to what they repressed during their childhood, this can largely be the result of not having had parents who were present. As for why this would take place during their adulthood, it can be due to them not having ever developed the ability to soothe themselves and living in a society that encourages this.

Two Ways

One can then automatically consume or do things that will push their true feelings out of their awareness or they can reach out for support and the same thing can take place. By working with a cognitive therapist, what is taking place in their mind can be changed, whilst pushing their true feelings even further down into their body.

Irrespective of whether they avoid how they feel or another person helps them to do it, the outcome will be the same; they will stay in an emotionally underdeveloped state. Thus, they will, like many of their fellow human beings, be out of balance.

Final Thoughts

The trouble is that if a society is mind-centred, the mind will be seen as the only part of one's being that needs to be developed in order for society to evolve. What is taking place at an emotional level won’t be acknowledged, let alone dismissed.

Still, what is taking place at this level for the citizenry will have a big effect on what does and what doesn’t take place. What this emphasises is that it is not enough for only the intellectual part of one's being to be developed if a civilised society and world are what is desired.