Column

Let’s find a cure for war

All terrorists should be eliminated
Saddam Hussein is a terrorist
Therefore Saddam Hussein should be eliminated.

This is obviously a rational argument: if you believe your mortal enemy is a terrorist there is only one logical conclusion. Equally rational arguments proliferate in parliaments, news-media, bars and bus queues around the world. ‘Why I Am in Favour of War.’ ‘Why We Must Overturn an Immoral Regime.’ ‘Why We are Right and They are Wrong.’ But no matter from whom the arguments come, every one of them is beside the point.

Violent action is not rational. Yes, it can be wrapped about in rationality, but it does not originate from logically organised ideas. Anger, revenge and killing are irrationalities not because they cannot be argued, but because they are beneath reason. Such violence stems from fear, hatred and instinctive aggression. They are embodied emotion rooted in a time when syllogisms were unthinkable, but when there was war – a brute, natural war for the survival of species.

Neurobiology describes three anatomically distinct parts to the human brain. We share the most ancient with the reptiles and lower mammals, but the neocortex is specific to us. This human thinking cap – which enables us to use language, logic, and symbolic thought - has been superimposed on the primitive structures which control our biological drives and passions.

Unfortunately the ‘wiring’ connecting our ‘three brains’ seems to be faulty. As any one who has lost his temper knows, the neocortex cannot be relied upon to keep our instincts in check. Much worse, the neocortex is frequently unable even to recognise when the reptilian brain is in charge.

At the sniff of prey, the reptile brain dominates. Even though it cannot know their meaning, the reptile rejoices at the sound of grandiose justifications. ‘Moral crusades’, ‘Holy Wars, ‘moral imperatives’, ‘ethical invasions’, ‘justified killing’, ‘friendly fire’: the more we recite sham rationalities, the less chance of us noticing it pulling the strings.

Whenever the reptile takes over we become slaves to belligerent drives, puppets of our biological past. We become obsessed with survival, paranoid about outsiders, mentally disarranged. We say one thing, and do exactly the opposite.

When individuals exhibit such blatantly incoherent behaviour we call them mentally ill and attempt therapies to help them regain control of themselves. Yet collective madness is cause for flag waving, marching songs and stirring curses at the evil enemy.

If psychotic behaviour is a health issue for an individual human being, how much more of a health issue must it be for us all? Why do we go so crazy when we smell blood? Why do we instantly forget that the basis of moral action is compassionate creativity? Why are we so willing to destroy members of our own species? Why do so many of us worship war? If the reptile within is causing us to turn away from civilisation, can we cage it? Can we cut the beast adrift at last?

We need answers to these questions, and we need them now. Instead of passing mock rational resolutions, the United Nations should join with the World Health Organisation to instigate a massive, multidisciplinary research programme into the causes of warlike behaviours. It is the most fundamental of public health problems and should be treated accordingly. I am serious. Our situation is serious. The reptile wants us to kill each other, and the time to stop him is running out.