Dr JJ Hurtak - A Man Ahead of His Time

We live in an age where everything has its place! Science is one thing, quite separate from religion which is another. Dr. J. J. Hurtak, however, has integrated these seemingly disparate fields of study and uncovered the harmony between them.

The best-selling book "The Da Vinci Code" prompted many scholars to look to the similarities between science and religion and how they may complement each other. Dr. Hurtak has been doing this for years.

Prior to Dan Brown's best-seller, Dr. Carl Sagan discussed the conflicts between scientists and theologians in his book "Contact" and the movie made from it. This discussion has raged for over a century between academics of different disciplines, with no one giving an inch.

Dr JJ Hurtak - A Man Ahead of His Time

For over 35 years, Dr. J.J. Hurtak has been pointing out the commonalities and reinforcing nature between comparative religion and the social sciences. Disciplines like anthropology, archaeology, history, linguistics and the hard sciences of mathematics, physics, biology, neurology, astronomy and cosmology are complementary, Hurtak claims - and he has spent his professional life proving it. Often when experts in different fields are brought together, they feel at odds with one another. Dr. Hurtak, however, through his diverse scholarship and study, has worked to bring divergent disciplines together. He builds consensus in an evolutionary move toward synthesis, hoping that bridging these disciplines will introduce a more harmonious life for all humankind through the synergy and insight of multiple disciplines.

In other words, what Hurtak is asking us to do is to open our hearts and minds to other academic disciplines, other cultural ideas and different religious and political viewpoints for the mutual benefit of creating a better future for all of us. What follows is my interview and interpretation of Dr. Hurtak's work and why some of it is misunderstood.

One of his positive visions for planet Earth is to see the unity of peoples and a movement to establish peaceful relationships among all of us. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called out this same message in church and from the head of protest lines during the peace movement of the 1960's, and other progressives did the same. Some people are now carrying that same banner into the new millennia, and Dr. J.J. Hurtak clearly is one of them.

Hurtak is not just a beauty pageant contestant spouting platitudes about unity and world peace. He is a world renowned scholar asking other experts and scientists to see the similarities between religion and science and to consider how they can work together for positive change.

Yes, he's trying to get science and religion to work together! Historically, anybody who has supported the more speculative sciences or tried to combine multiple disciplines and theories met with considerable resistance and malice from the general academic community.

How hard was it to get doctors to consider the germ theory of disease, after hundreds of years of agreement that disease arose spontaneously from the ether. Although the germ theory was resisted at first, it is now a cornerstone of modern science.

Dr. J.J. Hurtak, Ph.D., Ph.D. (University of California and University of Minnesota) is opening minds to new ways of looking at the world, and this includes religion, science, history and the human condition.

Hurtak is a scholar and academic with no particular axe to grind, but if you were to try to distill his work into a short phrase, it would be that he is a futurist working to bring people together and raise consciousness. And he is meeting with considerable success with this all over the world.

In his desire to bring people together Dr. Hurtak taught courses on African studies at the California State University, Northridge (CSUN) and was privileged to be a participant at the historical reception of the Chinese Ping-Pong team at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1972 with Governor Edmund Brown. This was the start of open door relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China.

In a side chapter on American-Far Eastern relations, Dr. Hurtak worked to bring Chinese acupuncture texts to America. He helped to advance Chinese acupuncture medicine, which is now a serious and acceptable discipline, acknowledged by the American medical profession and a legitimate practice recognized by legal and medical experts throughout the world.

Also in the 1970's, Hurtak was able to work with scholars behind the scenes in helping to microfilm sacred Tibetan texts, an important historical move in preserving some of the world's most ancient texts of astronomy and medicine. This has helped to further the understanding of an important early chapter in global history.

For 30 years, Hurtak has visited South Africa and worked with the Zulu Shaman, Credo Mutwa, to promote and preserve African culture and music, long before the end of apartheid.

Hurtak's work has continued to span many disciplines in seeking ways to create a positive dialogue for our future. In the 1980's he was a director of Technology Marketing Analysis Corporation (TMAC) and helped to establish a strong dialogue between engineers, scientists and government leaders looking for answers to the oil embargo and the need for real energy alternatives. With Hurtak's encouragement, TMAC became well-known through its creation of the annual Renewable Energy Technology Symposium and International Exposition (RETSIE) Conference at Anaheim, California, where thousands of leading engineers and businessmen were brought together to look ahead and to honor Nobel Prize winners like Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg who changed the meaning of the energy equation. Hurtak took action to meet the energy challenge and to help young and old to see the importance of sustainability.

More recently, Dr. Hurtak along with his organization The Academy for Future Science (AFFS) has been helping the Xavante people of Brazil with ways of improving agriculture and educational futures, working to provide for genuine sustainability with new agricultural centers and opportunities for preparing their young people to go on to higher education.

Working with many musicians around the world, Hurtak has introduced humanistic and spiritual musical themes. Some of these musicians have included Gilberto Gil from Brazil and Alice Coltrane, wife of famous jazz saxophonist John Coltrane. Hurtak's work with Alice at the New Jersey Center of the Performing Arts was written up in The New York Times (2006) in an article regarding the introduction of "supersoul" music, but Hurtak prefers to see it as a spiritual renewal of unity through song and the celebration of "mantric" language.

In the field of literature, Hurtak consulted with the internationally known writer, Sidney Sheldon, on changes within the human psyche for the novel "The Doomsday Conspiracy". Sidney Sheldon's books have sold millions of copies throughout the world.

Sheldon came to Hurtak because Hurtak was the first to confirm extraterrestrial experiments with the human race. In 1979, in an El Universal news conference (Mexico City), he pointed out the need to talk openly about these and other important issues facing humanity. In 1995, he was a speaker at the historic first disclosure conference in Washington D.C. "When Cosmic Cultures Meet" sponsored by the Human Potential Foundation. This special gathering discussed the reality of cosmic visitations. Hurtak continues to encourage scholars, governments and scientists to talk openly about these controversial subjects.

As a well-known lecturer and author, Hurtak is respected for his knowledge of anthropology, future science and social science. Hurtak is working hard all over the world in an effort to unite rather than divide. As with all who preceded him in this endeavor, he has found many detractors. Some people misstate Hurtak's words to forward their own position. Others have misunderstood Hurtak's meaning because they do not have the background to be able to understand his writings.

Hurtak has always respected and found points of mutual agreement in his comparative religious studies and other studies. It is the misinterpretations of his religious scholarship that detractors have criticized him for the most.

For example, while teaching classes on the Dead Sea Scrolls, in the 1960's, Hurtak pointed out that it was the Muslim world's academics and scientists who helped to pass on the heritage of the Classical and Hellenic world to Europe.

Hurtak has unceasingly worked to build bridges between peoples. This task is no small undertaking. He travels the world as a lecturer, speaking publicly together with his wife who shares his philosophy and environmental concerns.

Inclusion not Exclusion

He is the author of over fourteen books. His latest book is "The End of Suffering" with co-author Russell Targ.

His books are sociological and rarely political. In fact he tries to steer clear of politics to avoid the divisiveness and polarity that is attached to politics.

Hurtak's most recent travels show what he has accomplished lately. Much of his fame stems from work he did years ago in comparative religion, and while he still works in this arena, he is now very involved in more comprehensive things. He just returned to the United States from the Parliament of the World's Religions in Australia, where he was an honorary ambassador, as well as a speaker.

Hurtak has achieved recognition through this worldwide organization as well as through his ongoing scholarly contributions in comparative religion with an emphasis on commonalities between different religions. Yet his detractors attack his reputation regardless of his good works.

Much of Hurtak's work is of a metaphysical nature. He uses concepts involving ancient history and languages. Part of the problem with his critics is that they often misinterpret Hurtak's work by trying to simplify concepts that are not simple.

His extensive work in comparative religion cannot be reduced to simplistic phrases and cliches. Hurtak speaks, for example, of the black stone in Mecca as representing the energies of our changing life and changing three-dimensional universe, an assessment that is in accord with Muslim legends that the black cube contains something sacred that fell to earth at the time of Adam and that has absorbed the sins of humanity. Misrepresenting Hurtak's words out of context, detractors have tried to use this statement from his book as a charge against him: Rather than relating his statement to the world's traditional mythologies and religions and to modern science, with its ongoing investigation of the nature of dark energy and dark matter of which more than 95% of our universe is composed, they label Hurtak as critical of the Moslem faith.

His position, stated in the voice of a metaphysicist, is not a political opinion. Hurtak's statements, taken in context, point out similarities in the major religions of the world: European Christians make pilgrimages to one of the Black Madonnas, to be cleansed of sins and to make a new start on their spiritual paths, while Moslems make the rigorous pilgrimage to Mecca to the presence of the black stone, housed in the Kaaba, for purposes of worship and purification.

Visions and Revelations

The misstatements of Dr. Hurtak's critics create the divisions he is trying to heal. When challenged as to specifics, these critics become evasive. Some critics and detractors have tried to characterize the source of Hurtak's mystical writings as "channeling". For the student of comparative religions there are many synonyms for wireless communication with something God like. "Channeling" can be used as a catch-all term for any and all revealed extrasensory messages coming from some unexplainable source. Yet, in reality, channeling is only one method of receiving information; a vision is another. And there is another way of gaining higher knowledge, called by the ancients a "Revelation".

A vision may be anything from a physical and mental experience induced by drugs - i.e., Carlos Castaneda and the Piute nation (as well as other Native peoples who use drug assisted experiences) - to that of a greater understanding given as a Divine Gift. Visions may be induced by physical stress, fasting, physical exhaustion or fevers, but they can also be induced by religious disciplines: yoga, meditation, etc.

A "vision" is clearly a more general term than a Revelation. Revelation, be it by the presence of an angel or higher entity, such as a religious epiphany, is an inspirational awakening that imparts an understanding or knowledge. A vision can be a revelation. Channeling, in contrast, is the receiving of information given to a person by means of a controlling entity spoken through the party that is channeling.

Regardless of whether it was a vision, an epiphany or a revelation, Hurtak had such a wakeup call and tried to explain it in a book, over three decades ago, called "The Keys of Enoch ". His book is a scholarly work that does not lend itself to easy, glib explanations.

It has been suggested that Dr. Hurtak would be well served if he wrote up something along the lines of Dr. J.J. Hurtak Explained so it would be clearer what he is getting at.

When I interviewed Dr. Hurtak in California he had just returned from lecturing in Australia and was heading out to speak at universities around South Africa to try to bring a positive future. My goal was to get a clearer handle on this guy and then try to put in plain language what causes the confusion about him, his writings and his positions in the public consciousness.

People with doctorates, from my experience, sometimes isolate themselves by using a specialized language that attends their field. Dr. J.J. Hurtak has two doctorates and is an expert in several disciplines and has even muddied the waters further by mastering many languages both modern and ancient.

Unfortunately, complicated language or the technical use of terminology may be used against any author to further an agenda or to discredit the scholar.

As stated above, the terms vision and channeling have often been misapplied with regard to Hurtak who has openly and publicly stated that he does not support channeling.

Therefore, it is very easy, when dealing with the work of scholars such as Hurtak, Carl Gustav Jung, Carl Sagan and others, for conmen, charlatans, pundits and academic spin doctors to take catchphrases out of the context of a scholarly work and misunderstand the meaning of the author.

More often than not, disinformation is not necessarily used for disinformation purposes alone, but for slandering a topic and those who support that field who are trying to make a positive move forward in society. In reality, disinformation is false information or damaging information, generally untrue, used to discredit enemies.

In analyzing Hurtak's work it is important to understand that as a lawyer may use a specialized vocabulary, the anthropologist, archaeologist, or comparative religion specialist (Dr J.J. Hurtak) will likewise use terminology with a more precise meaning than that meaning generally understood by the public.

Dr. Hurtak wrote his book "The Book of Knowledge: The Keys of Enoch" based upon a revelation he had regarding: mathematics, history, comparative religion, archaeology, anthropology and linguistics for the future of humankind.

Revelation

Specifically, in 1973 Dr. Hurtak had what I would define as a "revelation" which means that a supernatural or rather, an infinite source "reveals" some information to the natural man who may then try to explain that information to others. This notion of getting insight from the supernatural, or God, if you will, was accepted during earlier eras as a given by many people that God or the gods revealed His (or their) will to humankind in some form or another. Since the dawn of classical modern philosophy, philosophers such as Kant and Plato have had discussions on the Noumena world (meta-physical real world beyond the five senses) vs. the phenomenal world (known by the five senses"). Nonetheless, especially since the Age of Enlightenment, the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, this belief in metaphysics has become less well-accepted among a growing segment of the population.

Hurtak had a personal revelation or epiphany and wrote a book to explain it. The subtle difference between channeling and revelation is important.

Neither Hurtak nor his organization, the Academy for Future Science have ever endorsed channeling. Though Dr. J.J. Hurtak is familiar with several famous channelers and may even respect their work, he does not endorse the process of channeling. Not surprisingly, there are just as many individuals who use Hurtak for their own credibility by tying their views, writings and opinions to Hurtak's work or to Hurtak himself, oftentimes without any real association with Dr. J.J. Hurtak or the Academy for Future Science.

Although Dr. Hurtak explained his experience in The Book of Knowledge: Keys of Enoch, this revelation and experience have been loosely described in various books by Hurtak's detractors in pursuit of their own interpretation and agendas. But these same people fail to point out the amazing facts he had in this book that were unknown at the time of writing.

For one, he calls our sun a 'variable star' in his book over thirty-six years ago. This important data was just recognized by NASA this past year (2010).

Second, he points out that there will be an unusual recognition of a change in the rotation of Saturn. This was noted by NASA with its comparison of the Voyager and Cassini probes, conducted in 2004. He also was the first to point out that star shafts of the Great Pyramid point to specific stars, "Mintaka, Aniltak, Anilam" in Orion, a point that Robert Bauval's co-author Adrian Gilbert from the book The Orion Mystery takes note of in his subsequent books. These are just a few of the myriad details that were written by Dr. Hurtak in the early 1970's that are now accepted and understood.

Consequently, Hurtak can be seen as a type of scientific prophet who is finally being understood by a humanity no longer dissuaded by scientific thinking having to be at odds with religion. In fact, he points out that the Name of God as the Tetragrammaton (Hebrew name of God) has a corresponding relation to the codons of the human DNA.

Certainly, there are those who completely do not understand what Dr. Hurtak is trying to say especially in the re-evaluation of important symbols. And The Keys use myriad symbols and pictures to illustrate consciousness development.

I like to think that is where the conflict and confusion comes in. For example, The Keys of Enoch speak of such terms as "Christ race" which is describing a people who have compassion and demonstrate a culture of peace just as Christ attempted to show. This represents an avant-garde people who use the Light of Christ consciousness as a spiritualized people of Light. Those who don't understand this have said Hurtak is speaking of a "Master race." The term "Race" has such a loaded meaning today that had Hurtak written the book today he may have used "Christ consciousness" since he was talking about the outlook or mindset of a group of people, not their genetic, religious, or national heritage.

Sometimes in discussion of the supernatural very important ideas get blurred. The popular press tries to make the controversy as accessible as possible to the widest audience. Hurtak and other scholars have entirely different audiences and are not necessarily seeking populist acceptance. He is not trying to answer the questions for everyone but is posing the question for everyone. Academics process their experiences through their training and come out the other end with their version of what happened, explained in their own words.

I have concluded that The Keys of Enoch is not a channeled work. It is a scholarly reporting of an experience the author had with a higher being wherein he experienced a great deal of information with his conscious mind (higher consciousness), and then reported it as filtered through his scholarly background.

It seems reasonable to any educated person that the reason Dr. Hurtak was chosen for this experience was that he, through hard work, scholarship, and willingness and openness to spiritual development, was qualified to reveal this experience to the world.

Being a somewhat skeptical reporter, I take all of the philosophical and metaphysical schools of thought with a grain of salt. However, I do take exception when journalists use sloppy writing style, poor or no fact checking and broad stroke characterization of other people's work; especially when they inject colloquialisms and imprecise language to explain spiritual matters.

Stargate Nonsense?

In researching this article I read many articles that had pros and cons about Dr. Hurtak. One of the most "uninformed", in my opinion, is "The Stargate Conspiracy" (by Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince) which lumped together a bunch of people who separately decided to investigate some of the archeology in Egypt as being involved in some 'secret conspiracy.' They took out of context fragments of Hurtak's work along with misstating his views to come to a conclusion that was more in accord with their own agenda as expressed in their multiple writings.

In my view, the irony about discussing "The Stargate Conspiracy," is that it elevates the authors' mis-interpretation as if it were a work of fact-checked scholarship. It is not!

Throughout the book, there is a lot of this kind of free associative writing in this genre. And correcting the conclusions is frustrating because they don't concern themselves with accuracy. The tabloids come to mind.

Why should anyone care? The only reason scholars try to set the record straight is that the record is their reputation.

A scholar and lecturer's reputation must be kept clean and highly polished to maintain credibility in order to continue working in the field.

Hurtak takes the trouble to guard his reputation regardless of the seemingly futile nature of the battles he has to fight to bring unity between the scientific mind and religious viewpoint.

Most careful readers of Hurtak appreciate his integrity. His detractors seem to disregard integrity in favor of hoped for mass audiences.

The "Nine" Confusion

A perfect example of this is the use of the terms "The Nine", "Lab Nine", "Council of Nine", from which the Stargate authors and others have determined, due to a reference in The Keys of Enoch, that Hurtak is associated with "THE NINE".

Strangely, Stargate wants you to think that "THE NINE" are some human governmental conspiracy group. Hurtak uses only the term "Council of Nine," in a very normal religious, scholarly context as relating to a Jungian archetype comparable to the nine Egyptian gods as mythological teaching figures and the nine ancient Greek gods again as Jungian archetypes.

Specifically, it is a metaphor or at least a description of angelic realities that probably would have nothing to do with governments on earth!

Hurtak's reference must be taken in context of scholarly writing. Hurtak is an academic in comparative religion, mythology, and anthropology, not a conspiracy buff. Hurtak defined the Council of Nine "as a tribunal of teachers governing our immediate super galactic and galactic region subject to change in evolving 'new programs' of the father's kingdom. " Although I struggle to understand his definition I am clear that he ain't talking about a quasi-governmental committee of humans.

In simple language, Hurtak is writing about an experience with an angelic or infinite type of being expressing knowledge from a creator source. We are talking about the infinite with our finite mind and limited language.

Further, Hurtak, through hard work earned two Ph.D.s, a fact that any journalist could confirm, if they would bother. Hurtak's background is not only comparative religion but anthropology and history. He is putting this group of nine teachers in the context that we have historically put messengers of the gods, or archetypes in.

Dr. Hurtak's metaphor is not "the Nine." Dr. Hurtak does not use that term in his book. He uses the term "Council of Nine." It makes no sense to conclude that he is talking about nine extraterrestrials or corporeal beings pulling the strings on humankind or that he, Dr. J.J. Hurtak, would qualify or choose to be one of this council since he considers himself a man, not an incorporeal being.

If one goes on the internet and types in "The Nine" or "Lab Nine" they would get many hits for a video game. They also might get a reference to the nine original gods of Greek Mythology or a whole set of conspiracy sites that confuse Dr. J.J. Hurtak's work with science fiction writers such as Gene Rodenberry and popular psychics such as Uri Geller and other writers such as Phyllis V. Schlemmer, who did write about "The Nine ".

Since Phyllis V. Schlemmer, Uri Geller, and a man named Puharich did work in parapsychology in the 1960's and 1970's, some authors jump to the conclusion that because Hurtak associated with and ran in the same circles of academics studying parapsychology; that they all had the same agenda, same beliefs, and are working with words of art in the same manner. This is obviously not true. He is trying to educate and inspire our world to think in terms of not only global ethics and human understanding, but an outlook that can embrace other galaxies and universes in their consciousness. Toward this end, he is concerned and active with both earth science and space law. He has published papers on a new set of space laws for peace on the "high frontier" and discussions about the multinational colonization of space.

Optimistically, I believe Hurtak is part of a new movement toward environmentally and socially active public consciousness.

If one reads the news, they could infer that over the past thirty years the Western world has lost its bearings and has begun to wager its future and lost its moral values. Ethics have given way to cynical opportunism in business, in finance, in politics and in life in general.

Guilt by Association

Finally, I cannot close this article without also laughing at the assertion that Hurtak worked for the C.I.A. based upon his association with Puharich.

It is alleged that Puharich worked for the C.I.A. I cannot say as he has been dead for over 15 years. In a recent interview and in discussion with people who have known Hurtak for several decades; it becomes clear that Hurtak was unaware of any association that Puharich may have had with the C.I.A. when they worked together.

Further, Hurtak's work in parapsychology included reviewing work by scholars all over the world, not just the U.S. He reviewed the works by other scholars in Russia, Sweden, Brazil, South Africa, Britain and all available information in the U.S.

If we were to believe modern movies, or just general common sense, we might conclude that our government and every other modern government in the world monitor the work of research scientists in various fields without ever directly contacting those scientists. Particularly if they knew that a scientist wouldn't feel comfortable working for a government intelligence agency.

Fact Checking

That is why good journalists try to talk with their subjects, check facts, and attempt to derive reasonable conclusions based upon facts.

Readers need to do the same and not believe everything written on the internet because it might be disinformation to keep them from delving deeper into the ideas of those who herald positive steps for making the world a better place.

Society prefers to keep the status quo, which means keeping you blocked from moving forward in your thinking. If we are blocked by not discerning "disinformation" when we see it, you remain locked in the old box of perpetual negativity. That is something I learned from Dr. Hurtak, who prefers to move people out of the old box into an informed and creative understanding.

In conclusion, Dr. J.J. Hurtak is a free-thinker, not anti- any religious group! He never worked for the intelligence community. And, he is working in a capacity to unite divergent philosophies not dominate them or lead them.

Hurtak is a scholar, a teacher, a lecturer and a man who should be honored for his contributions throughout the world. Although he challenges the normal paradigms, he goes to pains to offer explanation of his writings or ideas when asked.

He's a visionary and a good guy working for unity from east to west, north to south and should be given the respect he has earned. Pieces like this one, I hope, merely attempt to clarify any unintentional misunderstandings and direct the reader to make up their own mind after going to the source.

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By Andrew Morgan Copyright 2010 Andrew Morgan

Dr JJ Hurtak - A Man Ahead of His Time
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Anthropology Online Schools

Online Anthropology Schools have the advantage of allowing students the pleasure of study in the privacy and convenience of their own homes. All course materials can be managed through online or regular postal service.

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Online Anthropology Schools, colleges, and universities offer degrees in Anthropology at various levels. Students completing online BA (Bachelor of Arts) or BS (Bachelor of Science) degrees in Anthropology have come to understand the diversities found in human cultures, how these variations developed, and have gained an appreciation of cultures and world views other than their own.

MA (Master of Arts) and MS (Master of Science) students will study more in-depth concepts of cultural and behavioral theory and designs and methods used for Anthropology research.

Anthropology Online Schools

Online Anthropology Schools focus their courses on understanding and development of enlightened perspectives on cultural and behavioral diversity. Anthropology, as a discipline, endeavors to identify universal human characteristics and cultural ethics, and to apply gained knowledge to effect social change. Online Anthropology Schools provide insights and tools to appropriately evaluate behavior and cultural diversity.

Online Anthropology School programs provide BA and BS students with basic courses in sociology and biology, and methods used for identification and analysis of social structures, patterns, and problems. Students progress to specializations chosen in various areas for large-scale or small-scale study of historical and ancient cultural influences on the present, modern cultural systems, cultural effects of technology, and many others. Anthropology students will examine possible ways to positively affect cultural and organizational behavior.

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Herbert Gintis: The Flip Side of Altruism

Economist Herbert Gintis studies why people do the things they do using game theory and mathematical models. An emeritus professor at the University of Massachusetts, Gintis has also taught at the Santa Fe Institute and Barnard College. The author of Game Theory Evolving and co-author of the forthcoming title, The Cooperative Species: Human Sociality and its Evolution, Gintis believes that most people are predisposed to cooperate and be altruistic, and they aren't even aware of it. Altruistic tendencies have a nastier flip side as well, but that's all part of what makes society work, according to Gintis.

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How did you get interested in studying altruism?

I studied all of the behavioral sciences -- biology, psychology, sociology, political science, economics, and anthropology -- and I thought that it was crazy that these fields could have completely different theories of how people behave. Not only different, they're contradictory. We're part of the Network of the Nature and Evolution Process. About 18 people work for it -- economists, biologists, anthropologists, psychologists. We use the experimental game theory to see what people want to do, what their preferences are.

Herbert Gintis: The Flip Side of Altruism

What have you found about human beings and their preferences?

Economists have a model of choice that's called the rational actor model. It generally assumes that people are selfish. In fact, that's a very important part of it. And one of the things we wanted to do is test whether or not that is the case. We found out that it is not the case. It's a rather very interesting phenomenon: People tend to be predisposed to cooperate with others at a cost to themselves as long as others will also cooperate. And people are willing to punish others when they do not cooperate.

The reason humans are so successful is normally attributed to the fact that they're smart. The reason they're smart is because humans operate in complex groups. The reason they can operate in complex groups is that they have strong reciprocity: Not only do they share, but they're willing to punish non-sharers. If you look at the whole range of social species, you find that punishing is very important.

Take bees. You always think of the hive as the big social collective, everybody does what they're supposed to do. But that's not true. Workers often try to lay eggs, even though only the queen is supposed to lay eggs. If workers lay eggs, there are other workers that run around, eat the eggs, then punish the workers that laid the eggs. Wherever you find cooperation, you'll also find punishment. Think of your own body. Each cell has its own self-interest to multiply. Why don't they go berserk? How do you get cells to cooperate? The answer is, you punish cells that don't cooperate. As far as we know, there is no other vertebrate species that punishes. Humans are by far the most social vertebrate species and we argue that that's why humans are so cooperative.

How do you define altruism? In your work, you speak of reciprocity. What is that?

An act is altruistic if it benefits another at a cost to yourself, where there is no possible mechanism whereby you could gain even in the long run somehow: Long term benefit to someone else with a long term cost to yourself. We call that altruism. By the way, it could be a long-term benefit to a group at a long-term cost to yourself. We want a definition of altruism that isn't subjective and also extends to animals. There is altruism in animals. It almost always depends on kin groups -- that is, you're nice to your kids, which is a biological objective.

There are really two types of reciprocity. Generally, before the work we did, reciprocity meant I help you if you help me. And that, of course, is not altruism. What we study -- "strong reciprocity" -- is a predisposition to cooperate, even when it's costly, and a predisposition to punish violators, free riders.

The problem with the term "altruism" is that there are many forms of altruism. For instance, unconditional altruism is where I help others no matter what. I just help. That's altruism, but it's not strong reciprocity. Mostly people think altruism is goody-goody or warm and fuzzy. But, the biggest part of making society work is needing to retaliate, wanting to hurt people who hurt you. It's much more important than the precondition to cooperate, because if you don't have punishment, you can't get cooperation. Strong reciprocity can be cooperation and conditional punishment.

So, we believe the heart of altruism is not only the willingness to cooperate and help -- empathy and caring for others -- but also this negative side of human nature: retaliation or retribution.

Let me give you an example that you would not even think is altruistic normally, but is: road rage.

What exactly do you mean by road rage and how is that altruistic?

Pathologically, it's when somebody behaves badly on the road and you shoot them. Usually, though, when people drive through a yellow light or are in a wrong lane, people honk their horns, shake their fists at them. Our argument is that this behavior of getting angry at another driver, who you're never going to see again, has strong reciprocity. It helps keep people honest.

If you don't drive the proper way, some guy honks his horn and you feel humiliated; you've done a bad thing and you got caught. But he didn't do it because he cared about keeping people honest. He honked his horn because he was pissed at you. This is true in subjective altruism. By honking your horn or yelling at someone for doing a bad thing, this is an altruistic act. It might have cost you something, not much. But it keeps the rules of the road going. It keeps people honest, so it's an altruistic act.

You're upholding the norm of fairness by hurting someone who was unfair. But you didn't do it because you wanted to uphold a norm for the group. You did it because you were angry at the guy.

What about when people do something spontaneous and show genuine feelings of empathy?

Our argument is that everybody is altruistic. But for most people if the cost gets sufficiently high, they stop being altruistic.

We argue that everyday life has little bits of altruism all over the place. They're generally not that costly, but they're extremely important. For instance, when I go on an airplane, everyone is nice to each other; they're never going to see each other again. Why be polite? You can imagine if you put chimps on an airplane, it would be a total disaster. Why go through these little amenities: "Can I help you with your bag?" "Let me move for you." "Let me get up so you can get out and go to the bathroom." Think about it. If you put a bunch of sociopaths on an airplane, it would be a disaster. But these little amenities, in everyday life, we tend to help each other even if it doesn't cost that much. This makes society work.

It may be that you really care about the other guy, and very often that's the case. Human beings' notion of empathy is very strong. And that's what altruism is. It's wanting to help people at a cost to yourself -- but also punish people at a cost to yourself when they're behaving in an anti-social manner. And then the question is, how can human beings be this way? No other species is like this. And that's where the biology comes in. You have to show that groups in which you have a strong reciprocator, an altruist, will do better than groups that don't have altruism.

Is that how game theory fits in?

The main thing game theory does is provide a methodology for experiments. After that, you've got all the biology, genetics, sociology. But game theory pervades everything we do. There's a whole theory on that called "behavioral game theory."

Tell us about your recent findings on how altruism is transmitted.

We're basically very hard-nosed mathematical behaviorists. We take the economic model of the rational actor and we put it through the hoops.

Sociologists have a concept called socialization, which means the internalization of norms, which is completely opposite from every other behavior. There's no such thing in biology or economics or political science or anthropology.

It seems to me that the principle of socialization was one of the established behavioral universal principles in academic sociology. What we propose is that human beings have this capacity to be programmed. Humans are the only ones where humans can want things just because they were socialized to want them -- want to be fair, want to share, want to help your group, want to be patriotic, want to be honest, want to be trustworthy, want to be cheerful -- when they are costly to our selves. If you're honest as a principle, that's good for everybody else and it costs you. So being honest is part of strong reciprocity.

Where does this come from?

Within a complex society, the general approach to this is gene-culture co-evolution. In biology, you get genetic information. In sociology or anthropology, you get cultural information. But really, in human society, they go together. Genetic evolution leads to culture. In that culture, given strong reciprocity, you can be rewarded for being nice or for cooperating. So cultural evolution can lead to genetic evolution. Human beings become nicer and more reciprocal and more honest. So, you get this whole dialectic back-and-forth between cultural evolution and genetic evolution and the product is human beings.

As a result, you get this very complex society, where if individuals don't learn to share or learn to be honest, the system punishes them. People who are programmable, then, are more fit than people who are not programmable.

So in that context of programmability, socialization -- the internalization of norms -- becomes the interest of fitness. If you brush your teeth because your parents told you to or you turned the other cheek, because in the long run that pays off, then you are more fit than your neighbors who are sociopaths.

The interesting thing is, once you get people who are programmable, you can program them to do a lot of things, even things that aren't in their interest. You can program people to be honest, even when it's in their self-interest sometimes not to be honest. A lot of people won't be honest. By programmability, you can get people to be more altruistic than they would ever be if they were self-interested. Now we have all these suicide bombers. That's completely obvious. You get these people who are programmable and you can program them to be willing to commit suicide. You could never do that to an animal, not willingly. Our argument is that this is one more kind of collective social mechanism that allows us to cooperate.

People don't like to see others suffer. After 9/11, you saw in NYC, the whole city rise up, people helping each other. It's just a spontaneous empathy. Empathy itself is the result of gene-culture coevolution, because, again, people are empathetic; They help in the short run because they feel like it; they feel good helping. But in the long run it helps them because people help back or some phenomenon allows empathy to be fitness enhancing. I think that's more important than what they were taught by their parents. But some of that can come in too.

Herbert Gintis: The Flip Side of Altruism

Chhavi Sachdev is international editor at Science & Theology News [http://www.stnews.org].

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An Introduction to the Theoretical Perspectives of Sociology

Sociologists have covered a broad amount of material in their accumulated studies. Some, like Karl Marx, studied broad topics related to the whole of societies. He theorized that the root of human misery lies in the uneven distribution of wealth in society. Others, like Emile Durkheim, focused on more concise topics. He concentrated much of his effort on determining why certain sects of people are more apt to commit suicide than others. Still others, like Max Weber, studied patterns in culture throughout history to determine how much a social group can affect one's life. Though many sociologists study different topics, all use their recorded data to produce theories. These theories suggest how certain parts of the world fit together and how they work. If you break theories down further, you can sort them into three distinct categories: symbolic interactionism, functional analysis, and conflict theory. All three can use different observations to prove the same point.

Firstly, symbolic interactionism. This theory initially stated that one evaluates himself based on the conduct of others. As years went on, symbolic interactionism also showed that people use symbols to encapsulate their experiences. Symbolic interaction is generally conducted at the Microsociological level. That is - it examines small scale patterns of social interaction. For example. If you think of a family member as an aunt or an uncle, you will behave in a certain way. If the person is a best friend, you will carry yourself quite differently. Without symbolic interaction, we would have no way to define relationships, and we would be reduced to a level of animal interaction. In short, symbolic interactionists analyze how our behaviors depend on the ways we define ourselves and others.

Anthropology Sociology

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Functional analysis basically states that society is a whole made up of independent parts that work together. A sociologist that was mentioned earlier in the paper, Emile Durkheim, was one of the most prominent sociologists associated with this view. His work noted that, although the whole of society works together, individual sects of people can be more likely to do certain things than others. Most notable of all his studies is likely his work done on finding social factors that may contribute to the likelihood of a person committing suicide. He observed that how strong or weak social bonds are have a strong impact on suicide rate in a social group. For example, women and protestants are more apt to commit suicide because their ties to their social groups are weaker. Also, he noted that if bonds are too strong, the risk for suicide increases as well. A man who loses his spouse may be more likely to commit suicide, because he sees death as a better option than living without his wife. In this case, their feelings were deeply integrated.

An Introduction to the Theoretical Perspectives of Sociology

Finally, there is conflict theory. This theory came as a result of Karl Marx's studies on social equality. He concluded that the key to human history is class struggle. This meant that one small group of people controls the means, while a much larger group of workers is exploited for their benefit. This, of course, was recorded at a time when worker's rights, labor laws, and capitalism were in their infancy. For the most part, workers were at the mercy of their employers. Marx suggested that if all the wealth was shared evenly, humans could coexist in harmony.

These three theories not only explained human interaction when they were created many years ago, but can also be applied today to more modern situations. Take Emile Durkheim. His studies on human interaction stated that the group of people one is surrounded by determines how he carries himself. If Durkheim were alive today, and he intended to undertake a study of gangs, he would likely start out by observing what type of external factors lead to an individual's desire to join one. External forces, such as parental neglect, lack of friendship, and lack of social activity could all be considered legitimate reasons for one to join a gang. Upon entering, Durkheim would follow several gang members and see how drastically a person's values would change in order to conform to the lifestyle of the gang. In short, he would show that weak bonds with family fuel a desire for strong bonds with another source - whether that source is a positive or a negative influence.

The three sub levels of Theoretical Perspectives help us to better understand how sociologists go about crafting their theories, and how they will experiment to attempt to prove them. While there is no single way to go about producing sociological theories, each one of the sub categories listed in this essay can offer a legitimate explanation for almost any sociological issue.

An Introduction to the Theoretical Perspectives of Sociology

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The Psychology of Culture

On the evolutionary, contemporary and universal dimensions of culture and identifying the main research areas in cultural psychology

The term culture would mean the entire gamut of activities, beliefs, lifestyle, habits, rituals, arts, ethics and behavioral patterns of a society. Yet despite the wide definition of culture, the elements of culture being too varied and divergent, it is not easy to provide a relationship between culture and psychology. There are two common ways by which the relationship between psychology and culture is studied, through intra-cultural psychology or behavioral patterns within a particular society and intercultural psychology or behavior and psychological characteristics between societies.

Anthropology Sociology

Intra-cultural psychology seeks to understand the cultural basis of behavior by studying the peculiarities of a society, its rules and norms and shows how traditions shape or influence the collective psyche of the people within the society. However in psychology this is simply considered as 'cultural psychology' a straightforward term denoting the study of cultural traditions and their effects on the psychology of people. This sort of categorization may be misleading as it tends to see cultures as fundamentally different units and highlights differences rather than similarities. Cross-cultural psychology focuses on finding universal patterns of behavior or beliefs that are common among people of all cultures and this is what has been described here as 'inter-cultural' psychology. The terms 'intra-cultural' and 'inter-cultural' psychology would be more conducive to finding a psychology that shows convergent patterns of cultural behavior among people across societies.

The Psychology of Culture

The psychology of culture requires further development in the areas of defining culture and in finding cultural roots that would highlight collective psyche or universal patterns of behavior. Humans are finally united by common emotions and psyche and this broader cultural psychology has been promoted by Carl Gustav Jung who focused his studies on the importance of deriving or understanding the collective unconscious with those elements or archetypes that are carried from one generation to another.

Culture has been defined as the accumulated experiences of a society as a whole that has been socially transmitted so the collective unconscious in Jungian terms would serve as a repository of cultural imprints that shape human behavior right from childhood. The three predominant schools of cultural psychology have been identified as having activity, symbolic or individualistic approach (Carl Ratner explains this well). The activity approach highlights social activities of a group, the symbolic approach defines culture as shared meanings and concepts or symbols. The individualistic approach highlights the interaction of the individual with society and through this, individuals construct their personal culture. But I would downplay the personal aspect of culture and suggest culture as mainly a group phenomenon akin to individual conformity in society so apart from activity and symbolism, culture should be defined by its beliefs, values and ethics. Culture is finally about shared activities, shared symbolisms and shared belief systems.

The story of the birth of human culture would be closely related to the story of human evolution as with the formation of tribes, humans learned and adapted to group behavior. Man was born alone but became a social animal primarily due to survival needs and the development of culture is thus rooted in man's own needs for security, safety and survival. Humans follow rules, norms, traditions of a society simply 'to live' and culture is about conformity. So the psychology of culture is also the psychology of conformity and even the non conformist in a way conforms to certain basic social and cultural rules and traditions.

As 'culture' represents a broad spectrum of human activity, cultural psychology should involve the study of:

Evolutionary and historical patterns of human behavior, closely related to anthropology Contemporary social trends (for example: celebrity culture, workplace culture, globalization) closely related to sociology, and The intra-cultural and inter-cultural patterns of behavior to recognize the universal elements in human cognition, emotion and perception

Thus there seems to be three dimensions to the study of culture in psychology - the evolutionary, the contemporary and the universal. The evolutionary and historical dimension of cultural psychology would have to be largely explained in terms of Jungian psychology whereas social psychology becomes an integral part of the contemporary dimension. The universal dimension for the study of cultural psychology uses behavioral patterns or cognitive psychology to gauge at how people are programmed to behave in certain situations and whether these behavioral patterns are common across cultures and if not, whether there are only culture specific behaviors.

Psychologists have claimed that there are certain culture specific behaviors and certain universal behavioral patterns among humans and it is important to understand whether it is possible to delineate behaviors that are culture specific or intra-cultural and those that are universal or inter-cultural. If such an attempt is made, then it is possible to say that ethics and values, legal structures, lifestyle, activities, rituals and beliefs can widely vary between cultures and these elements represent intra cultural similarities and inter cultural differences. Yet certain attitudes and worldviews or opinions, emotions and perception, as also basic human traits of say intelligence or imagination are not culture specific and may have intra-cultural differences and inter-cultural similarities. For example emotions and emotional expressions are common across all cultures so we all cry when we are sad and laugh when we are happy. We also have common attitudes and opinions such as supportive views towards honesty and we universally detest crime. This is however the universal behavior found across cultures although there may still be variations. The strong intra-cultural beliefs and attitudes that are not universal are usually related to customs rather than emotions, for example attitudes towards marriage and courtship, vary widely between cultures or even dining table manners differ between cultures.

Thus human emotions and expressions and behavior motivated by such emotions tend to be universal or inter-cultural and customs/traditions and human behavior motivated by customs tend to be intra-cultural or culture specific. Cultures in today's world are largely shaped by religious belief systems, political and social or economic systems and that is why culture seems to be almost inflexible in it roots as seen in rigid religious structures of society, although the changing cultural patterns are manifested in political and economic systems. If we provide an agenda for cultural psychology, the future research areas in the psychology of culture should involve

Definition of culture - describing and identifying the concepts and structures of culture and answering what exactly constitutes culture Identifying different dimensions of culture as they relate to cultural psychology - and studying the evolutionary, contemporary and universal aspects of culture Expanding research in the current schools of cultural psychology on activity, symbolism and belief systems as well as considering individual or personal approaches in cultural psychology Establishing the relationships between culture and anthropology, sociology, psychoanalysis and human cognition and emotions. Recognizing similarities in human emotions and expressions that are the basis of universal cultural elements and identifying differences in customs and practices

The psychology of culture is still a developing field and should try to answer basic questions on how behavioral patterns developed within cultures and why behaviors are similar or vary between cultures. The five areas of study listed above suggest the main problems and future directions in the study of culture within psychology and psychology within culture.

The Psychology of Culture

Reflections in Psychology - Part I - by Saberi Roy (2009)
http://www.lulu.com/content/5865445

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Online PhD in Counseling

In today's stressful economy, it may be increasingly difficult for individuals to establish themselves as unique for the working world. Without being in a position to stand above the crowd, your chances of being hired fall dramatically. Human Resource representatives take only twenty to thirty seconds to glance over an individual resume. Multiply that by a few hundred for the multitudes of unemployed individuals competing for the economy's remaining jobs and it becomes clear that without being bold legitimately, it's difficult to secure a well-paying job.

Any kind of alternatives for those remaining on the outside of the employment world, seeking to get in? Well, one idea has grown more popular than ever over the past decade, as the economy has dropped steadily. Returning to school for your first degree or for yet another degree might be exactly the boost you need to allow you to be noticed to possible employers. Additionally, going back to school is simpler today than before thanks largely to the internet. Today, there is a whole horde of online schools which can be attended, that provide legitimate courses and degrees. A few of these online colleges have even begun offering larger and more illustrious degrees through their online forum.

Anthropology Sociology

An online PhD in counseling is the highest amount of education attainable within the social work field. Generally, a PhD in counseling comes along with a specific licensure, making their practice more exclusive and pricey consequently. A PhD in counseling generally comes escorted with a specific type of psychology as in child psychology or group psychology. Beyond a person's specialty within counseling, you'll find often cases of a student electing to pursue research, education, clinical practice or consultation as the chief medium of the work. Most students who earn a PhD in counseling will go on to become college professors. It is quite difficult to land that treasured tenure position at a university, but part-time professors are regularly very popular and this process will better your chances of sliding in a tenured spot from the inside. The 2nd most common field of work is research, developing new treatments and healing. Additionally there is a massive amount work done by graduated counseling students in the world of private practice. This career provides a very flexible schedule and can be very profitable if you can to establish a great clientele.

Online PhD in Counseling

A PhD is what can be described as terminal degree, meaning there is nowhere higher anybody can continue on the degree scale. Once a PhD is achieved, the individual is actually a "doctor" and it is generally quite revered and respected from the academic community along with the professional and public worlds. This respect is deserved and needed though, as a PhD is more expensive than every other degree and usually requires the better part of ten years to finish the essential schooling. An unbelievable array of classes must be completed during a PhD program. Not only will a student take part in numerous psychology classes, but additionally writing, mathematics, sociology, history, pharmaceuticals, biology, anatomy and anthropology can all be within counseling PhD programs. The workload is by no means simple, and it also requires great dedication and persistent determination to finish a PhD in counseling.

An online PhD isn't any laughing matter. Before deciding, that you would like to return to school to earn your PhD in counseling you need to be sure to seek information. Speak to people you know who have tried online courses before and see what they thought of the experience. Most of all, follow your heart, only you know exactly what is right for you, so let your heart lead your life.

Online PhD in Counseling

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Sociology of Reality TV

You know something has permeated a culture when American colleges and universities are charging big money to teach classes about the sociology and psychology of reality TV.

Aside from the more traditional subjects like calculus and European History, college students are paying several grand a semester to collectively watch and discuss Big Brother, American Idol or MTV's The Real World. Students debate questions like "Why is reality TV so popular?" or "Why do people want to be broadcast while using the toilet or failing to discipline their wild children?" I am sure the founders of the great American institutions of learning are backflipping in their graves knowing that students are writing papers about Flavor Flav, but many academics argue that reality TV actually provides a new lens through which to view and interpret our culture. The question remains: Could reality TV actually be teaching us anything, or are these classes just dangling carrots to get more students to pay ,000 tuition bills?

Anthropology Sociology

No matter what, popular culture has arguably been taken over by television's version of reality. Though these shows are not something many of us wish to put into a time capsule to reflect the condition of American media in the 21st century, most of us cannot get enough of them. There are just as many closet watchers of reality TV as there are self-proclaimed reality addicts. And, it doesn't even seem like the story-line or topic matters anymore - it's the format that grabs us. The same person might watch Project Runway, Making the Band and Flip that House. So perhaps it's just exciting to peer into the minds, emotions and lives of others. The popularity of blogs would certainly affirm that. In a time when we know less and less about what goes on behind the doors of the Oval Office or the gilded lobbies of American's largest corporations, it seems we all just want a little bit of truth, or else a whole lot of candor.

Sociology of Reality TV

Sociology of Reality TV

Are you a Reality T.V. fan? There is a whole community waiting for you at Reality Community [http://www.reality-community.com] - [http://www.reality-community.com] Ed Charkow the author of this article is an avid poster and participant there. If you are a Reality TV junkie - he would love to see you there.

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