FEST Writing Group

 

This is an abstract I submitted for the societal conference sponsored by the New England Seminar. I am working on the presentation but I do not have a finished version yet.

A VIEW OF THE EMOTIONAL SYSTEM – RESISTANCE TO CLIMATE CHANGE

Science has never been clearer regarding the facts of climate change. The vast majority of scientists agree on this growing body of research.   But there are those who tend to undermine the research of well-known climate scientists in an effort to enhance their own view………that questions both the degree of the impact of climate change on our planet and the role of human activity in relation to this. This small group of well-credentialed scientists continues to inject doubt in the current research findings. These scientists reportedly are connected to orgaizations that directly or indirectly have connections with the fossil fuel industry that has an obvious investment in maintaining the status quo.

As doubt is injected into the findings of scholarly and peer reviewed research, the news media has intentionally or unintentionally committed themselves to presenting a balanced view to the public. That translates into giving equal attention to both viewpoints even if the quality of the research, not just the outcomes, is substantially different. This emphasis on balance – those that support the evidence of climate change created by human activity and those who doubt it, has convinced many citizens that there is room to question the existence of climate change.

It is reported that during the George W. Bush administration, there was emotional pressure on government agencies involved in scientific research regarding climate change to include input directly or indirectly from the administration. There ware reports of pressure to control, edit, distort or delay the reporting of information that was not consistent with the accepted thinking or view of the administration. That administration held on to the thinking that research regarding climate change based on human activity was not proven and hence there was still room to doubt it. The effort went to publicize the doubt by attempting to regulate or control the information that was made public.

Even though other presidential administrations and many members of our political system have accepted the evidence of climate change, it is notable that their policies do not reflect either the urgency of the problem or the level of change required to safeguard our planet.

Climate change is based on scientific research. When we ignore solid scientific research and turn important decisions over to the political system to interpret or distort, we are ignoring the basis for sound judgment and jeopardizing the future. And yet this is precisely what we do. It would seem that in matters that are clearly scientific, scientists are in the best position to lead the way. Science is based on the pursuit of facts. In scientific matters, scientists are the most knowledgeable about their subject. But the facts of their research are put out to the subjective world of the political process. This seems to undermine science as well as the political process in the long term.

Bowen theory gives us a different way to view this process based on the facts of human functioning. Key amongst those facts is the emotional system as defined by Dr. Bowen:

In broad terms, the emotional system in man is conceived to be the function of the life forces inherited from his phylogenic past, that he shares with the lower forms, and that governs the sub-human part of man. It would be synonymous with instinct, if instinct were considered to include forces that operate automatically (Bowen, 1978,423).

The emotional system is a predictable and knowable guidance system. It has to do with how social groups, be they families, organizations, colonies, states, nations or multiples of these, interact and how these interactional patterns can serve to compromise the functioning of certain individuals in order to foster greater stability for the group as a whole.

Bowen theory posits that the human in the presence of threat, will instinctively seek alliances to support his own interests or functioning and in this process undermine the interests or functioning of others. Although there is variation in the human’s adaptability to threat, this patterned process remains consistent when the threat is greater than the human can manage effectively.

The emotional system influences how we view our environment – be it our family, work system, social group, or society as a whole as well as how we function in those environments. It can override the intellect leaving man vulnerable to moving instinctively in the presence of threat, undermining some individuals and groups in order to maintain comfort for self and one’s own group.

If man gained knowledge of the emotional system and how it influences his interactions with others, he would have more options to manage self differently in interactions with his fellow man, even those who are perceived to be threatening his stability.

With knowledge of the emotional system, and a growing capacity to self-regulate, man would be in a better position to perceive his environmental problem accurately and ultimately learn to live more cooperatively and respectfully not only with members of his own species but all species. This type of man would know what he had to do to and how far he would have to go to limit the devastation of our planet so that all species could survive and prosper into the future.

This presentation will expand on these ideas, citing more examples that reveal how the emotional system operates and how it impacts on the functioning of man and society and ultimately the planet that supports all life. There will be additional information regarding Bowen theory providing a broader view of the emotional system and how it influences human behavior.