Chapter 1: The Nature of Alienation

The concept of alienation has been pivotal to both religious and secular societies since the Axial Age, which began in the middle of the first millennium BCE, with the exception of China's relative calmness. In today's world, mental health professionals encourage happiness and well-being, often prescribing medication to those suffering from depression and anxiety. This raises a significant question: why do we find alienation embedded in so many cultural norms?

Indeed, the structure of our consciousness predisposes us to experience alienation. Our advanced self-awareness stems from the sentience observed in animals. Cognitive scientists, such as Terrence Deacon and John Vervaeke, suggest that the neural mechanisms of organisms include filters that distance them from the realities of their environment.

To be aware, even at a basic level, is to focus on certain aspects of something and interpret it through our subjective lens. This means that sentient beings form models based on their phenotypic conceptions, instincts, and reactions, which can either lead to an explicit understanding of something or imply it through their behavior.

Organisms with brains process information in a way that separates them from true reality, as they create internal models to categorize and interpret their surroundings. Evolution has shaped this ability, as survival depends on making sense of one’s environment, distinguishing between advantages and threats, allies and adversaries, familiar territory and the unknown.

Thus, we navigate a world of abstractions shaped by our genetics, society, and personal experiences. The philosopher Immanuel Kant referred to these constructs as "phenomena," while various Indian philosophies describe them as "maya," the illusions we mistakenly accept as reality.

Consider the nature of dogs in the vast scheme of existence. What constitutes a complete understanding of a dog? This is somewhat of a trick question, as any representation—whether conceptualizing dogs as pets or mammals—will always fall short. Paradoxically, the most complete understanding of dogs is to recognize them as they truly are, beyond any simplified model. However, articulating that reality necessitates reduction, leading to a loss of its true essence.

While we may classify dogs as a species, the ultimate truth about them transcends human categorization. Our understanding of dogs is tailored to our needs and perspectives, based on our limited information and social contexts.

To evaluate the relevance of our perceptions of dogs over vast stretches of time—five million years or more—is to confront the limitations of our conceptual frameworks. The essence of dogs, devoid of human-centric views, is inhuman and detached from our cognitive, psychological, and societal conditioning.

Although some human perceptions may be more objective than others, they still reflect human experience, and the idea that any perception could fully capture the essence of a subject is a folly. A dog is not merely a pet or a mammal but a complex organism made up of various biological components, and it exists within the broader context of life on Earth, interconnected through a shared genetic history.

To truly understand anything, including dogs, requires grasping the entirety of life’s history—a task that is nearly impossible without oversimplifying the subject matter. Hence, consciousness itself creates a barrier between living beings and the reality that surrounds them, transforming the profound nature of existence into a simplified representation.

As we entertain thoughts, we trade the complexity of reality for our constructed models, which cater to our comfort and interests. Fundamentally, the universe remains foreign to us, while our worldview is shaped by our subjective experiences and judgments of relevance.

In our understanding of dogs, we filter out irrelevant aspects and concentrate on those that serve our purposes. This cognitive process is essential since we cannot comprehend every detail of our environment. Vervaeke suggests that we discern what is relevant based on our "affordances," yet he overlooks that alienation is inherent in life, from single-celled organisms to complex human selves.

Vervaeke seeks the roots of the modern "meaning crisis" and attributes it to the objective reality presented by science, which offers a humbling view of existence. However, this inward turn of objectivity has led to the gradual erosion of myths, including the myth of the absolute adequacy of any concept, such as scientific theories. Ultimately, we are all engaged in a narrative construction, emphasizing certain features to gain advantages in a competitive landscape.

This realization—our inherent alienation—stems from the acknowledgment that, as sentient beings simplifying our surroundings for survival, we are bound to feel disconnected from the world. Religions and secular philosophies like Jainism and humanism grapple with the nature of consciousness and our essence, which inherently signifies our alienation.

The existentialist perspective posits that our primary endeavor is to confront life’s absurdity. This absurdity arises not just from the absence of a benevolent deity but from our necessary disconnection from the world: we seek meaning, utility, and control, while reality, in its true form, transcends and often mocks these desires.

Chapter 2: The Path Forward

As we navigate the complexities of alienation, it becomes crucial to seek avenues for deeper understanding and connection within ourselves and our communities.