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By Root 290 0

dilemma. At time X, while we’re functioning in the prescriptive mode, we may judge that current conditions make it safe for us to switch to the impulsive mode. But of course, even though it’s safe to be impulsive now, at X, there will come a time Y when we will need to revert to prescription. And if we permit the impulsive mode to take over, how will we recognize when moment Y arrives? Wandering aimless and free through the desert, we will not notice when we cross the point which takes us too far from home base, and we will die. The answer, says modern consciousness, is always to keep our distance from home base in mind, never to run totally free. Modern consciousness solves the problem of how to key in and out of prescription by leaving the prescriptive mode running all the time—even when it isn’t needed. Prescription may not be needed now; but if the reins are handed over to impulse, the prescriptive mode may not be keyed back in when it is needed.

It’s inevitable that such a strategy should lead to mental traps. To be trapped, by definition, is to perform mental work that isn’t needed. And the strategy of modern consciousness is to be working all the time. We feel we must always stay “on top” of the situation, just in case. The various traps are no more than different ways of trying to stay on top.

There are other solutions to the problem of keying in and out of the prescriptive mode. For one, we may hand over the keying function to an external agency that, we trust, will be vigilant for us and turn our prescriptive apparatus on and off as necessary. Those who accept the absolute authority of another person (mother, guru), an organization (the church, the government), or a system of ideas (psychoanalysis, Marxism) have much less of a problem with mental traps. When the authority tells them to do mental work, they work. And when the authority declares a holiday, they can really and truly rest, secure in the knowledge that someone else is minding the store.

This is the great consolation of belonging to a religion, whether spiritual or secular: it permits us to lay down our burden. Biblical fundamentalists and doctrinaire Marxists are better able than we are to sustain and enjoy the giddy sense of life’s simplicity and freedom from agendas. They can accept whatever the future will bring. They have no need to shape it according to their will, because they’re certain that Marx or the Bible will prove to be an adequate guide in any eventuality. True believers don’t need to study mental traps.

This is how most people lived in simpler ages. They learned the values and traditions of their society in one piece, and these values governed their actions forever after. It never occurred to them to choose a way of life, since there were no examples of alternatives around them. And because they had no choice, they felt entirely free. This archaic mode of being, still enjoyed by the contemporary true believer, is qualitatively different from the life of modern consciousness. Let’s call it traditional consciousness.

Traditional consciousness disappears when external authority ceases to be monolithic. As soon as there are two bibles, we can no longer be perfect fundamentalists. For whether we wish it or not, we must choose, on the basis of our own lights, which bible we’re going to follow. And contemporary society presents us with innumerable candidates for biblehood. This makes it exceedingly difficult to become a true believer nowadays. Even if we definitely opt for one bible or another and follow its dictates to perfection, the fact that we’ve chosen distinguishes us still from a bona fide true believer. For we must have chosen on the basis of some criterion—rationality, intuition, it doesn’t matter which—and so, whether we desire it or not, it’s this inner criterion that remains the foundation of our action. We can persuade ourselves to accept a bible as a perfectly correct and perfectly complete guide to living, but we can’t make it authoritative. Whether it pleases us or not, what’s accepted can also be rejected. In contrast,