impulse vs integration — competing drives as sub personalities to be integrated rather than repressed as impulses. a higher order orchestrator who can subordinate these sub personalities and use them when appropriate. aggression must be mediated to be socialized. children learn this and this process of learning is the process of integration. skilled integration of these sub personalities is maturation.

conceptualizations of god / gods mirrors this process. for example the god of love, war, etc. most religions matured from poly to monotheistic which mirrors the maturation process in the individual integrating the sub personalities.

The pathway appears when the aim is firmly in mind

a drug addiction is more than simply an impulse. it possess our aim and everything downstream (emotions, perception, etc.) are employed in pursuit of that aim (doing the drug). it is not an impulse. it’s a personality.

sin translates to “miss the target.” humans are remarkably oriented on bridging the gap between where we are now and where we want to end up.

in the story of abraham god is conceptualized as the call to adventure. to relinquish current comforts and go pursue something greater. sacrifice is required because to become something else you must first give up what you are now.

at any given moment you can aim at the highest possible goal or that aim can be subordinated for proximal gains in shorter term things.

when you specify your aim, the pathway makes itself manifest. otherwise you could never orient with your senses. it wouldn’t be clear what to focus on. if you aim upward at the highest possible goal, the path there will manifest.

one question to ask is what your goal in this instance should be? a different question to ask is how do you conceptualize all of your goals in relation to eachother across the broadest span of time so that every goal has the highest probability of succeeding? it’s the pursuit of a mega goal. that’s what defines the religious enterprise.

a variant of that is instead of asking how do you solve the problem of any given thing that terrifies you but how do you solve the problem of the class of things that terrify you? the dragon fight mythology is the solution to that. you adopt the stance of voluntary approach in the face of terror (exposure therapy). it’s the best meta strategy. it makes you more competent and braver.

the religious pursuit is the pursuit of meta goals in relation to positive and negative emotion.

if you’re having an argument you might strive for proximal victory (winning the argument). but that would be at the expense of the higher goal which would be the make the relationship as strong and functional as possible over the longest possible time horizon. you need to focus on something better than just winning the argument. it’s the battle between the salvation of the soul and a victory in sin. if you forego the ultimate game that’s not a victory that’s a defeat.

over what timescales do i seek / derive reward? maturity is the ability to forego shorter term rewards in pursuit of longer term ones.

uncertainty / anxiety is an increase in entropy. positive emotion comes from a reduction in entropy which comes from more certainty in relation to a pursuing a goal. the more valuable the goal to which you’re progresing, the better it feels to move towers it (the higher the dopamine kick). that’s why you need to have a meta goal that spans all of your sub goals. your goal could for example be to make things as good as possible for as many people over the longest possible time scale. setting a goal like that will modify your reward system. every proximal step forward leads to a reduction in entropy in relation to achieving the meta goal. by definition there isn’t anything you can do that’s more exciting than that. this is why religion is often a cure for addiction.

positive and negative emotions help progress you along the pathway to your aim. conscience is the embodiment of negative emotion and calling is the embodied of your positive emotion. the dynamism of conscience and calling guides people along the path. calling beckons. conscience provides limitations.

there are way more ways to make something worse than there are to make it better. it’s an entropic problem.