Institutional Thought

Many people unconsciously operate under ideological or institutional assumptions. Without interrogating such assumptions people become ignorant, dangerous and uncreative.

When an individual or idea challenges one’s network of unconscious, institutional assumptions you will often find a violent, confrontational and aggressive reaction. To me this process occurs in all domains of human society and culture, for example in political and religious domains, and can be found on the left and right of the political spectrum.  

Clinging to ideological and institutional thought is dangerous because it pushes individuals and groups away from each other, discouraging cooperation. It promotes divisions and side-taking, because people will feel a vehement and aggressive need to defend specific positions, as though such positions were absolutely correct. It also greatly inhibits individual growth and the ability to see reality with clarity, sensitivity and accuracy.

I feel a significant ongoing hindrance to the development of human society and culture is that many of us unconsciously grasp to institutions and ideas and unhealthily identify with them. A degree of habit and order is necessary and we would be lost in chaos without this. But because so many of us are, I believe, fundamentally insecure, because naked reality is so frightening to the ego, many people unhealthily attach themselves to ideologies or simply established ideas and consequently resist fresh insight and genuine, fundamental change.

In my mind a healthy, psychologically mature or well-rounded individual is one who has developed a relatively consistent and flexible framework for interpreting and navigating the world and who realises the relativity of this framework, thus overcoming unnecessary aggression, delusional thought and narrow mindedness.

People might read these ideas but not deeply understand or integrate them, let alone meaningfully apply them. They might nod their heads and understand superficially but their ego, their conscious personality, would not realise them, for such insights would destroy their delusions and apparent psychological security.