The ever-growing relic phenomenon also includes locations. Pilgrimages are but one example of the motivational power of these relic-like sites. Despite the obvious power of these physical locations and objects to drive human behavior, the source of their motivational energy is not physical, but instead derives from Life’s interactive relationship with information. As with Attention’s Aura, relic-like objects and locations only have motivational power on Insiders. Insiders are those that both 1) self-identify with the Relic’s Culture and 1) invest Attention’s mental energy in the cultural narrative. We finish the article with an equation-like summary of our position on the relic phenomenon.
Motivational Power of Relics includes Pilgrimages
Attention’s Aura only influences Insiders, not Outsiders.
Relic’s Power proportional to Self-Identification + Attention investment
Relic’s Numinosity: Admiration’s Emotional Power invested in Historical Aura
What are the Implications of the Emotion-based Power of Relics?
This Notebook began with a discussion of relics. The reverence for actual relics, e.g. the bones of saints, seems to be concentrated in the northeast sector of our planet. However, the veneration of relic-like objects is a cross-cultural phenomenon. Humans everywhere collect objects that were in the vicinity of people that was special to them in some way, e.g. the guitar of Jimi Hendrix or the ashes of a dead parent. Due to this universality, the reverence for relic-like objects appears to be a characteristic human phenomenon.
The relic phenomenon has several important features. Appreciators attribute special value (numinosity) to objects that were within the physical vicinity (the Aura) of a significant individual who has made a positive contribution to their life (a Contributor). This attributed value is not related to the relic’s intrinsic worth, as virtually identical replicas don’t possess this same numinosity.
In addition to being a virtually universal human phenomenon, relic-like objects have great motivational power. For instance, two rival Buddhist nations fought a war over Buddha’s teeth. People pay large sums of money to obtain objects that were in the vicinity of a famous person, e.g. movie stars, politicians, or scientists.
The power of the relic phenomenon corresponds with the level of the Cultural Contribution. If a contribution is great enough, the very cities that Contributors were born or die in attain a relic-like status. Those who admire Nietzsche frequently visit the locations in which he wrote his works.
More significantly, followers of Islam are directed to visit the ‘holy cities’ of Mecca and Medina (the locations where Mohammed did his most significant work) at least once in their lifetime. This pilgrimage, the Haj, is so important that it is one of the pillars of Islam. Similarly, many devout Christians visit Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus or Jerusalem, the place where he was crucified. Indeed during the centuries long Crusades, the Christian nations of Europe joined forces to wrest control of the supposedly ‘sacred’ city of Jerusalem from the Muslims. Buddhists travel to the very tree under which Buddha attained enlightenment. The list goes on and on.
It is evident that the cross-cultural relic-phenomenon, seeming to exist wherever there are humans, has great motivational power. What is the source of relic’s power?
Admiration is the glue of the relic-system. This emotion inspired individuals to grant special privileges to Cultural Contributors. Admiration also motivated others to contribute to the greater culture in order to gain the respect of others along with the special privileges. This emotion also inspires people to emulate the behavioral logic of their heroes.
Each of these motivations act to enhance the cultural intelligence of the human species, thereby our evolutionary fitness. Accordingly admiration/respect is a social emotion that is a result of culture-based evolution.
Memories of Contributors are infused with admiration. In addition to the special individuals, these memories include objects and locations in their Aura (their vicinity). The reverential nature of these emotion-infused memories infuses objects, and even locations such as cities, with a special value, thereby granting them the status of a relic.
Rather than trivial, this reverence for relic-like objects and places also has an important evolutionary function. Relic-like objects and places act as a reminder to both emulate and transmit the implicit logic of the Cultural Contributor. This emulation of a presumably ‘superior’ behavioral logic acts to increase our cultural intelligence, hence our evolutionary potentials.
We can’t forget the Group nature of the relic-phenomenon. The emotion-infused memories of a Culture are powerful motivators due to the potentially large numbers of involved people. The collective, admiration-infused Jesus memory has inspired both the construction of cathedrals and destructive wars.
These common cross-cultural examples illustrate that the relic-phenomenon is not trivial, but rather a powerful motivator due to its connection with admiration-infused memories that are incorporated into Behavioral Models.
We’ve seen that the relic-phenomenon is a powerful motivator that inspires a broad range of significant human activities. However, there are major limitations to this power, as it is not physical, but rather a function of our ID system. Let us explain.
It is tempting to associate the numinosity of relic-like objects and places with the Contributor’s Aura. Due to their emotional power, it is alluring to believe that a mysterious emanation from the Contributor’s Body infuses objects or even cities that were in his or her historical vicinity with some kind of magical transformative energy.
Yet it is simpler, hence probably more accurate, to attribute these motivational powers to admiration-infused memories of a special individual. An indication of this probability is that relic-like objects and places only have power to those who are under the sway of the Contributor, but not to Outsiders. Those who are unaware of or are disassociated from the historical memory only view the sacred relic as an ordinary tooth or useless old piece of wood. Sacred relics associated with Jesus can heal and transform Christians, but have virtually no effect on Non-Believers.
What is the difference? And how does it relate to Life’s ID system? Let us take advantage of this last section to summarize our position relative to Auras.
According to our ID model, Life is the interaction between Matter and Attention (or in Descartes’s famous duality, the interaction between Body and Mind).
ID model: Life = Matter * Attention = Body * Mind
In support of this proposition, everyone agrees that Attention is a feature of every living system including the single-cell bacterium from which all life forms evolved. Further Matter does not possess Attention.
Attention = Feature of Life
Attention ≠ Feature of Matter
According to our ID model, Attention has some special properties/talents/super-powers. First and foremost, Attention organizes inanimate, atomistic molecules to serve a holistic function, e.g. the cell’s survival. To provide this function, Attention issues mental energy, i.e. an organizational life force that is not random. To enhance energy efficiency, Attention employs an ID system that includes Mind. (This is why we sometimes refer to the entire complex as Mind.)
An Aura emanates from Attention (the life force) that organizes the molecules to serve a holistic purpose (the cell’s survival). The auras of multiple cells join together as a ‘field’ to form multicellular organisms. The auras of multi-cellular organisms join together in a ‘greater field’ to form dis-embodied organisms such as packs, flocks, tribes, nations and empires. The combining power of auras provides a cogent explanation for the binding power of human culture.
This joining of auras to generate larger auras is similar to but not the same as the joining of magnetic fields to generate a larger magnetic field. In particular, the power of the auras of disembodied organisms is perceptual, hence subjective, not objective like an electro-magnetic field. For instance, a country, culture, or ethnicity’s aura is only as powerful as the perception of belonging to the group associated with its members. Like voodoo or religion, the collective aura only influences believers – those who self-identify as members of the group.
Attention, whether individual or collective, is a holistic energy that organizes individual parts in service of the entire organism, whether embodied or disembodied. The spell of Attention’s holistic force only applies to Insiders, those who self-identify with the Group - the collective aura of the organism. Outsiders, those who are disassociated from the Group do not feel this force.
For example, only Insiders, not Outsiders, feel a relic’s numinosity – its ‘supernatural’ power to inspire and motivate. The numinosity of relics and relic-like objects is personal in that it only applies to those humans that self-identify as members of the group culture, e.g. tribe, country or religion; science, sports or literature. Having no physicality, numinosity is imaginary – only given power by those who have invested Attention’s mental energy in the Group.
This analysis applies to every level of Life’s hierarchy. Only the molecules and atoms that are part of the cell’s holistic system fall under Attention’s spell. Only the cells that are part of the multi-cellular organism are influenced by this same holistic organizational force. Only those people who self-identify as part of the Group, no matter how large or small, are influenced by the collective power of Attention – group-think.
The power of a relic’s numinosity to motivate us is proportional to how much Attention we have invested in the system associated with a particular relic. This investment is certainly related to how strongly someone self-identifies with the Group. Both the investment and self-identification are associated with the mental energy issued by Attention.
For instance, those who self-identify as members of the scientific community certainly admire Galileo’s achievements. But those who have studied his life and even taught students about his accomplishments (invested more of their Attention in Galileo) generally have more respect, even awe, for artifacts associated with his life (the objects that were in his Aura when he was alive.) Having written so much about Galileo, I would certainly feel a sense of reverence, almost involuntarily, for anything that had been in his presence.
Let us finish this Notebook by summarizing our position on the relic phenomenon with some equation-like statements.
Expanding Relic Phenomenon
Relic = Objects in historical proximity to Saint
Relic-like Objects = Objects in historical proximity to Cultural Contributor
Relic-like = Objects & Locations in historical proximity to Cultural Contributor
Jerusalem, Mecca, Birth and death locations
Relic-like = Location of Significant Cultural Narratives
Alamo, sacrifice
Relic-like = Objects & Locations in proximity to Admired Individual
Treasured mementos of parents
Motivational Power of Relic-like Objects & Locations
Retention of otherwise worthless objects
Bones of saints, Graveyards, Ashes
Attributing value to otherwise worthless objects
Collectors bid to possess Relic-like objects
Pilgrimages
Religious Principle: Visiting Relic-like Locations
Wars
Fighting over the right to inhabit Relic-like Locations
Crusades
Relic Logic: applies to all of above circumstances.
1) Individual(s) feel Admiration for Significant Contributors to Culture or Life
Admiration for Parents, Heroes, Saints and/or Celebrities
2) Admiration infused Memories include anything within Contributor’s Aura
Admiration extends to Objects and Locations
3) Individuals infuse Objects and Locations with Numinosity (special value)
Lacking Proximity, Replicas don’t have Numinosity
Admiration: Evolutionary Purpose
Social Emotion evolved to increase Cultural Intelligence.
Cultural Intelligence enhances Ecological Fitness
How Admiration increases Cultural Intelligence
1) Admirers grant special Rewards/privileges to Contributors
Better food, more Money, better Residences.
Individuals motivated to be Contributor to obtain Social Rewards.
2) Admirers grant Respect to Contributors
Individuals motivated to be Contributors to obtain Group Respect.
Individual (Parent) or Collective (Culture or Group)
3) Admirers motivated to emulate Superior Logic of Contributors.
Appearance
Logic of Behavioral Patterns = Behavioral Logic
Common Themes
Service or Sacrifice to Community
Respect from Future Generations > Current Rewards
Galileo
Solitary Labor/Practice for General Welfare/Mastery
Writers, Composers, Scientists, Scholars
Artists, Athletes, Dancers, Musicians, Martial Artists