Resolving Life by Philosophy

Hm. Was he being metaphorical with the ghost thing? Or was he literally saying that there are ghosts in another dimension who are so bored with themselves that they have to elicit a reaction from us, and rather than, I dunno, impressing us with juggling, they have to yell ‘boo’ to get their rocks off?

If it’s the latter, then I have no response. But if he was being metaphorical, saying that there are certain types of people who are so distanced from reality that they can only experience stimuli through the most primitive of reactions, fear, then I sorta get it.

Fear is physiologically our “base” programming. At the center of the human brain is a little peanut called the amygdala, or “reptilian brain” which is a remnant of our dinosaur beginnings. It controls fear, aggression and all that crappy stuff. And yes, despite jillions of years of evolution, it still has the final say in our programming.

I suppose Watts (if he’s being metaphorical) is saying that we should defeat this fear by walking through it, thus depriving our enemies the satisfaction and also defeating our own inner insecurities. Sounds good on paper. But the fact is, we each have an amygdala that has the final say. Fake it all you can, but it’ll get you.