Quora — Why do so many plebs believe in ethical subjectivism when that theory is false?
This might be inconceivable to some readers, but the “plebs” lack free will, which is SELF-control. That’s all. The acquisition of self-control is emotional maturity.
In essence, these cognitively underdeveloped individuals are in a sealed room. They can see only what they can see — limited to just that room. There is, however, a door that exposes them to far more, though they cannot see it yet. That door is free will. Tragically, sapiens know nothing about that door until they have opened it … at least once. It’s neurological. Connections to a new area of the brain must be made. Here are some neurons making connections:
Buddha spent 10 years wandering around the Far East looking for a way to find that door for himself. He was told that enlightenment (the door) came through suffering, which was all the rage with mystics (walking on nails, coals, etc.). For sure, suffering does reveal the door, but individual suffering cannot be self-imposed. The mystic’s suffering is always self-imposed. So that was a fraud. This is because the individual can choose to end it. The suffering that produces enlightenment is consuming and inescapable. The brain needs new connections. This is the only escape.
The brain must shift its “execution” to the frontal lobe and away from the cortex, where decision-making and action originate (cognitive habits). Cognitive suffering occurs when the cortex is all latched up. It “thinks” all its options are bad, so it gets stuck in a doom loop. This cognitive no-win state eventually forces the brain’s locus of electrical activity to another area as an escape. New neural connections are formed, and the free will door is opened. It takes time and constant neurological pressure.
This new area of thinking is necessarily outside the SELF (the cortex). Self-awareness is acquired this way. So is enlightenment. Here, the individual is no longer stuck with what he knows. Now, the frontal lobe is in charge. It is free to consider many truths simultaneously.
This new state is emotional maturity and the beginning of cognitive maturing.
There was a movie about this process, although they did not fully recognize it. It’s magical.
